SOUNDTRACK: NIGHT BEDS-Tiny Desk Concert #266 (February 18, 2013).
Typically we don’t see what happens before the Tiny Desk Concert begins, but for this show, there’s a very funny introduction. Robin clacks the clacker and as the Winston Yellen starts singing you hear Robin interrupt him and say something. He sings “When the sorrow goooozz….” and laughs as Robin says “much more important than your singing is my introduction.” Someone in the band jokes, “gather round, take a knee.”
Night Beds are certainly anchored around Yellen’s voice. The first song is a brief a capella track called “Faithful Heights.” It segues perfectly into “Ramona,” where you get a better sense for what the band sounds like. The band kicks in with some lovely guitar work on the electric guitar while Yellen plays acoustic. Near the end of the song he launches unexpectedly into some really powerful falsetto. It’s a very pretty song.
“22” features a more pronounced slide guitar which offers some cool spare, echoing sounds. The final song is “Hide from It,” and older song tha they haven’t played much. It’s a bit faster with nice backing vocals. There’s a very pretty guitar riff (I love the gentle echo) and keyboards instead of slide guitar.
I found Might Beds to be quite winning.
[READ: January 17, 2017] LastMan 3
This book was originally written in French (and called Lastman there as well). These editions were translated by Alexis Siegel.
The art is black and white (and grayscale) and the characters are what I can only describe as very French looking. The faces are very minimal, with some of them looking almost bleached out but for eyes and a mouth. Some of the men are rather grotesque-looking while the one woman is a knockout. For the first book I said that it might be okay for a slightly younger audience, but this book changes things–prostitutes, porn mags, threats of violence–nothing explicit but still, way too much for young kids.
This book is also very different from the first two in that it is set in an entirely in a new location.
Adrian and his mom, Marianne, have ridden out to the Rift on her motorcycle. His mom says that she is going to walk into the mist for a few minutes and she wants him to stay where he is. And I love this bit:
-Listen Adrian, they say a lot of things in school and at church but in the end what should you always listen to?
-Uh, yes, I know. Your heart?
-No Silly, what your mother says.
She comes back with a map and realizes that the rift is passable. They arrive on the outskirts of a town and are caught by some thugs. It’s very Mad Max looking with the men being really grotesque and planning to proceed with the rape of the delinquent. Yikes.
As they get close, Adrian’s mother does a summoning and knocks everyone around her down–many of them flee. Adrian is in awe of his mom.
They ride into Nillipolis and she is convinced that Richard is there. But Nillipolis proves to be a scummy town. We meet a guy who works at a brothel, Francis. He’s the only nice person in the whole town (as are the prostitutes, particularly Flora, the prettiest woman in the book). They suggest looking in the pawn shop for evidence of Richard. And indeed in the shop they see the cup that he and Adrian won–it’s even got their names on it.
There’s a lot of excitement in this book with Adrian and his mom fleeing from the thugs who are with the police and the fireman and then dealing with two attorneys: Raven and Delacruz. She is being placed under arrest for charges of false prostitution. But it’s really because they have tied her to Richard–who is in fact in the same prison.
The last quarter of the book is taken up with the trail. And this trial is unlike any you’ve seen. There are cheerleaders. And, it quickly becomes obvious that you win your case through violence and strength and little else. If your attorney is killed, then you get the death sentence.
We also learn that there’s a grizzled old creepy dude in a wheelchair who wants the map that she has–he believes that the Valley of Kings–where Adrian and his mom are from–has the secret to eternal life.
The book ends on board a ship to Paxtown–a questionable city. Richard is heading there as well, and it looks like Cristo, the person in the mask who Richard defeated in the battle is there too.
But we’ll have to wait until book 4 to find out just what’s going on.
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SOUNDTRACK: PHOEBE BRIDGERS-“Smoke Signals” NPR’S SOUTH X LULLABY (March 22, 2017).
Bridgers’ “Smoke Signals” is a beautiful haunting song that reminds me a little of Liz Phair in her delivery. I had heard this song before and really liked it–I especially loved the arrangement, which had echoing guitars that reminded me of Twin Peaks.
I Just Read About That... 