SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Music Hall, Toronto, Ontario (May 2, 1998).
This show sounds different from all of their other live shows on Rheostatics Live around this time. I don’t know much about The Music Hall, but it sounds like a more formal venue–like a bigger, perhaps seated, crowd.
There is also a string section and the ever reliable Kevin Hearn playing along with them. Well, string section might be stretching it–there are musicians from UofT playing along with them, including beautiful violins on “Self Service Gas Station” and a surprise flute on “Take Me in Your Hand.” There’s also a bunch of the musicians playing along on “King of the Past” which means I finally get to hear the great end section with a violin–but it gets cut off! Agh.
With Kevin playing with them, they showcase some tracks from the Group of 7 release (which they explain didn’t have titles but now sort of do). So they play “Boxcar Song” and “Yellow Days Under a Lemon Sun.” They also play “Monkeybird” which they say is from Harmelodia (even though it’s not out yet).
There are a lot of glitches and weird things happening with this tape which is kind of a shame as it is a pretty unique concert. It’s also only 90 minutes, which might just means a lot of the show was cut off.
[READ: January 3, 2014] The Bridegroom was a Dog
I bought this book years ago based on some recommendation or other. Then I recently received a new version of it from New Directions. Their version was just the title story. This original book (which had the same translator, Margaret Mitsutani) contains the title story and two other longish stories.
Because I just read the other book (and its the same translation) I didn’t re-read “Bridegroom.” But I did read the other two stories “Missing Heels” and “The Gotthard Railway.”
“Bridegroom” was certainly a weird story. But “Missing Heels” may be even stranger. I say this because of what may or may not be deliberate ambiguity in the word heel. As the story begins the protagonist is stared at by people because of her heels. I assumed she meant the heels of her shoes. But by the end of the story it seems that she means the heels of her feet, which is even stranger. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: An open letter to the Rheostatics (2014).
To Dave, Martin, Tim and assorted drummers:
I’ve been a fan of the Rheostatics for a long time. I recall traveling to Toronto from New Jersey back in the 90s and tracking down Introducing Happiness at Sam the Record Man. And then later driving around the Niagara Falls region listening to the strange and wonderful album. I’ve enjoyed all of the subsequent albums.
You were a unique band with a unique sound. I was sad when you split up, even if that meant that now there were three solo projects to enjoy. Of course, there’s been a lot of bands that have broken up, it’s just part of being a fan. But the thing about the Rheostatics breakup is that you three (or four or five or six) have remained friendly. You’ve done a few reunion shows since the breakup, which I think that’s super cool. It’s especially cool because RheostaticsLive tends to post them after a while so that those of us who don’t make the shows can hear them.
I’ve never seen you guys live, and I imagine I never will. And I’m okay with that. What I’m mostly bummed about is that there will be no more new music from you. You put out approximately ten albums (there’s a few miscellaneous things that are hard to qualify). Those records include soundtracks and live albums and all manner of things, so there’s really seven proper albums (the others are great, don’t get me wrong). Anyhow, my gut feeling is that there needs to be some new Rheostatics music. I know you’ve all been doing solo stuff (and I have it), but sometimes the sum is greater, etc.
Clearly I’m getting at that it’s time for a new album from the Rheostatics. Before you scoff, I’m not talking reuniting for a grand tour, or even any tour, I’m not even talking a live show. Heck, I’m not even talking about you guys hanging out for more than a couple weeks. Just an album of new songs. A decade ago it would have been unthinkable that you would get together for the expense of an album without major label support. But now, the cost is so much lower and with your fan base expanding, I assume it would be easy to recoup the expenses.
So what do you say? Since it seems like everyone is still friendly and creative, maybe you can throw some ideas around in the email, see if there’s anything magical happening. Obviously, if there’s nothing there or you just can’t work together, then don’t continue. No one wants to hear a crappy Rheostatics album. But if there’s even a chance that you guys can throw some ideas together and pull out another “Horses,” or “Northern Wish” or “CCYPA,” or holy cow, “King of the Past,” or, hell, anything you’ve done, then it’s absolutely worth it.
I don’t imagine any of you will read this, but maybe if you google yourselves, Tim Vesely, Dave Bidini, Martin Tielli, you’ll see this and think that, yes, dammit, seven records of Rheostatics music is not enough.
Thanks for the music, Paul Debraski.
[READ: January 26, 2014] Worst. Person. Ever.
I told myself that I wanted to read this book before anyone requested it. And I did. In fact, I wanted to finish it before the weekend was up, which I did as well. It’s nice to meet a minor goal.
The last few Coupland books that I read (see last week) were very dark. Since those books, he has broadened his palette somewhat, including writing a children’s book and some more non-fiction. And then we get this. A vulgar, very funny sendup of modern culture. The introduction to the book says that it was based on a short story that he wrote for McSweeney’s #31 called “Survivior.” That story was written in the style known a biji which they described as
Biji is sort of a notebook, which contains legends, anecdotes, scientific notes and local wisdom. Accounts of everyday life mix with travel narratives as well as lists. It is meant to represent a picture of the culture at the time of writing.
I thought that this style was well suited to Coupland, because he includes all of that stuff anyway. And so he has taken that story and fleshed it out into this full novel.
The worst person ever is named Raymond Gunt. He thinks he’s Jason Bourne, but he’s really just a metaphorical extra in a Bourne movie (one who probably gets killed). Gunt is a cameraman working in England. He is divorced. His wife is a raging harpy (at least from his point of view, which is all we see). Since their divorce, she has become wildly successful in television production. He calls in on her at work and she tells him about a job working as a B cameraman on a show called Survival. He knows that the job must suck or she wouldn’t give it to him, but he needs to work. Of course, he is most upset at the thought of having to work with Americans (Americans are majorly abused in this story). Although by its very nature a B cameraman position is not as good as an A cameraman, Ray needs the work, so he agrees to fly to some godforsaken tropical island to watch beautiful people starve and try to have sex with each other.
On his way out of the building he sees a homeless guy. And since Ray is the worst person ever, he kicks him. But the homeless guy is no pushover and he chases after Ray. He catches Ray in an alley and pummels him, ultimately pushing his face into some garbage. The man is Neal and although he acts crazy, he’s actually quite sharp (why he is homeless is not addressed). After forcing Ray to sing the female verses of “Don’t You Want Me,” Neal gives him this sage advice:
“Stop being a cunt to the world and the world will stop being a cunt to you.”
Advice which Ray simply cannot follow.
When ray learns that he needs a personal assistant, um, slave, he immediately thinks of Neal. So he tracks him down, cleans him up and gives him a job. And off they jet to make some TV.
In the course of the book, a series of crazy things–the kind of things only Coupland thinks of–sidetrack them from Ray’s goal. (His real goal is to get laid, naturally). First, it turns out that Neal, despite being homeless, is a total babe magnet. And throughout the story, as he gets cleaner and fresher, he becomes irresistible This, of course, ruins Ray’s plans of bedding hot women. And as Neal gets cleaner, he becomes less and less Rays assistant and more and more Ray’s equal.
They jet to L.A., (he was supposed to be in first class, but was bumped and is super angry). He also gets in trouble with the airport bartender, Lacey, who comes back to haunt him in ways one could never predict. He gets first class seats on the way to Hawaii and he abuses the privilege. Then, because of unforeseen circumstances, they have to stay in Honolulu (with lots of Spam jokes). And because of those unforseen circumstances, they need to recast the show, which means Ray’s wife has to jet down and be around them. And Ray’s wife, Fiona, is delighted to make Ray’s life miserable. Eventually, they head to their intended island and prepare to set up for the show.
In the meantime, the U.S. has decided to destroy the Great Pacific Garbage Patch–in a very imaginative way. And ray is on hand to witness the destruction. This plan causes all manner of trouble with shipping and airplane traffic. Which has the effect of isolating everyone on the Survivor island–causing a literal survival situation.
Raymond Gunt may not be the worst person ever, but he is pretty darn close. He tries to sleep with anyone. He tries to screw over everyone else (but never seems to get anywhere). And he genuinely likes to torment others. And all the while he repeats his mantra, “I consider myself a reasonable enough citizen.” Despite Gunt’s personality, he (or at least the story) is funny enough that you want to keep reading (and maybe even to succeed in some of his designs). And that made this story a major page turner. And it was very funny as well.
Coupland really gets the feel for writing a British story. It doesn’t read like any of his other books and while it’s not full of crazy accents or overt Britishisms, his main character is defiantly not American. As I said, all Americans are fat, sweaty, stupid and prudish in Ray’s mind.
This is also the worst person that Coupland has ever written. He is such an abominable person with an incredibly filthy mouth. The above quote is just one of just many curses in the book. In fact there’s a whole subplot about how prudish Americans are about people saying “fuck” despite their cavalier acceptance of violence and other things (we say friggin, when everyone knows we mean fucking).
I have to assume Coupland had a ton of fun writing this. And it really comes through. I’m also going to guess that a lot of people’ won’t like this book because Gunt is so reprehensible. But if you can get past that, the story is funny, and makes some pointedly humorous observations about a lot of contemporary life. Like “Survival [sic] is a popular reality TV show… You’re either into this show or you’re not. It’s binary.” or “‘Come on Eileen’ was a single in 1982…What’s weird about this song is that it was so huge at the time and now you listen to it and wonder, what the hell was everyone thinking? Well, that’s pop culture for you.” It even has what seem like Wikipedia entries of things throughout in the book (and a YouTube link which is bizarre to see in print).
I really enjoyed this, and I’m thrilled that Coupland has unleashed his inner black humorist.
Watch him talk about the book with Jian Ghomeshi, a great interviewer
[LISTENED TO: November 20, 2013] “The Dating Game” podcast
In the second New Yorker fiction podcast, Edwidge Danticat doesn’t read Díaz’s story but rather she discusses it and her connection to Díaz after listening to the audio from the New Yorker Out Loud 2 CD (the story is read by Junot Díaz with Gail Thomas doing the female voices).
I have yet to read Díaz’s Drown (for no real reason, I just haven’t), which is where this story appears. And I enjoyed that this story is written in the same style as his later stories about Junior (sure, I suppose he will need to move beyond Junior as a character but it seems like he has plenty of stories to tell). And I found this story unsettling and very enjoyable.
The story is a funny/obnoxious (I mean, re-read the title) story about, as the title suggests, how to date a girl–there are different specifics depending on her race (white girls will put out, but local girls you need to take to the fancy restaurant). And be sure to take the government cheese out of the fridge so she doesn’t see it–but be damn sure to put it back before your mom gets home.
The reading is wonderful and having Thomas do the female voices really adds a nice touch. I would say more about the story, but Danticat says a lot of what I was thinking about it. (more…)
[ATTENDED: November 14, 2013] Much Ado About Nothing
Despite all of my reading, I am fairly ignorant of Shakespeare. I’ve read or seen most of the big ones, but I don’t know a lot of his works first hand. As a young reader I realized that reading Shakespeare was hard—as, really, any play with dozens of characters tends to be. It’s not easy to keep character straight when there are no descriptors about them. So I more or less gave up on reading Shakespeare and decided I would watch him when I could.
When the Princeton University theater offered us tickets to see Much Ado About Nothing, it seemed a great opportunity to brush up.
This was a student production, and I have to complement all of the students on their wonderful performances. They never broke characters, and their Shakespearean dialogue was flawless (as far as I know). What I found interesting was that it took about fifteen minutes before I was absorbed in the dialogue and understood, well, about 45% of it. Well, maybe 60%. They did speak a little fast sometimes.
What was incredibly helpful about the dialogue was…the actors. Duh. But really, the language comes to life when you see people actually performing the lines (making Shakespeare’s bawdy jokes that much more bawdy). And while some of the performances seemed almost over the top, I have little doubt that that is how it was performed back in the day—why would they go for subtle when there’s jokes about sex? (more…)
Most Best of records promise you a selection of popular songs from a band. Voivod never really had any popular songs, so this is an interesting choice to start with. This may also be the only Best of compilation of a band where people who like some of the songs almost assuredly will not like other songs.
As my posts about the band have indicated, Voivod changed drastically over their first six records (which is the period this collection covers). And so in twelve tracks and 50 some minutes you get the very diverse history of this very unusual band. I’m not going to talk about each track (already done that), but I will list the songs
Voivod [War and Pain] classic screaming metal.
Ripping Headaches [Rrröööaaarrr] brutal, but I must say sounds a ton better than the original CD. I wonder if this was remastered for the compilation).
Korgull the Exterminator [Rrröööaaarrr] hard to believe they used two songs from this album.
Tornado [Killing Technology] heavy but quite catchy.
Ravenous Medicine [Killing Technology] signs of complexity enter the heaviness.
Cockroaches [EP] a strange inclusion, almost a rarity.
Tribal Convictions [Dimension Hätross] very complex with some heaviness.
Psychic Vacuum [Dimension Hätross] I’m surprised they didn’t pick other songs though from this album.
Astronomy Domine [Nothingface] their hit.
The Unknown Knows [Nothingface] very hard to choose just two songs from this masterpiece.
Panorama [Angel Rat] Their newest single and quite a departure from everything that has come before.
The Prow [Angel Rat] their prettiest number ever. If you buy this CD for this song you’ll hate the early stuff.
Although Voivod fans (like Dave Grohl)
are diehard, anyone who would buy only a Best of record from the band is sure to be disappointed. There are so many phases of the band and they are so radically different from “Voivod” to “The Prow” that it’s almost not even the same band. I’m very curious as to what sales for this album were like. (Even the cover isn’t that inspired)
[READ: September 2013] The Walrus: Tenth Anniversary Issue
It’s hard for me to believe that The Walrus has been around for ten years (even they seem a bit surprised). I still remember hearing about the magazine on Book TV from some Canadian channel that I just happened upon.
When I heard about it The Walrus seemed interesting–kind of like Harper’s and elements of the New Yorker but all about Canada. I’ve been a Canuckophile for decades now, so it seemed like an interesting prospect. And over the ten years of the magazine, while I haven’t written about every issue, I have read every article. I have written about all of the short stories that they’ve published.
This issue eschews some of my favorite elements (the short articles in the front and the arts section in the back), but they make up for it with an oversized issue (twice as long as usual and the articles are all packed with content) and some fascinating articles.
And while there are none of the short articles from the front, there are “Time Capsules,” one page articles about things that have happened in the last ten years: The iPhone, Sports Concussions, Armed Drones, The Residential School Apology, Justin Bieber, Foodies, Hand Sanitizer and Cyberbullying. It’s interesting to read about these phenomena from a slightly different perspective. We know that Canada and the U.S. share many similarities but there are, at heart some core differences. And it’s these differences that make you rethink a subject. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: TYPHOON-“Dreams of Cannibalism” (2013).
NPR was steaming this album for a while. Now they’re giving away this song.
Typhoon is yet another band that has a crazy amount of people in it (between 12 and fourteen) and they have a vast array of instruments in play at any one time (Horns, violins, xylophones, electric guitars and mandolins for example).
At the same time, Singer Kyle Morton’s vocals are distinctive enough and are used like an instrument as well as to deliver lyrics. This gives them quite a unique sound.
The song opens with an array of horns slowly building to a simple guitar melody. The verses are somewhat quiet with occasional punctuations of band (and great backing vocals). But as the song progresses, more instruments kick in (horns adding a melody line). I really like the way the end of the song shifts direction totally, bringing in a complex instrumental section with interesting time shifts and even better backing vocals..
I enjoyed the whole album while it was streaming. And while I can’t say that this song stands out more than the other songs, (I think “Artificial Light” is probably the best,) it represents the sound of the band pretty well.
[READ: September 2013] Lucky Peach Issue 8
I haven’t been reviewing Lucky Peach issues in their entirety because they are mostly about food and cooking and recipes and I don’t really have anything to say about that (I enjoy the articles a lot, but I don’t need to comment on them).
But I wanted to bring special attention to this issue because of the way it is presented. This is the Gender Issue. It has two covers (see the “female” cover tomorrow) and the magazine must be flipped over to read the different genders.
It’s not often that I think of food and gender as being connected, but there are some really interesting articles in here that talk about not only food itself, but about the people who prepare it. Like the fact that most big name chefs are men even though cooking has traditionally been “women’s work.”
The women’s side of the magazine has these interesting articles: (more…)
I have casually seen The xx on a few shows and I’m intrigued by them. I’ve never really given their albums any time though, so I can’t say anything much about them.
However, I really enjoy the sound they get live (which is funny since in the article below they talk about how much of a perfectionist Jamie, the studio tech guy, is about the recordings).
This set from KEXP (KEXP always has great audio quality) contains four songs “Fiction” “Reunion” “Sunset” and “Angels.” And I have to say the band sounds amazing. So close, so clean, so intimate. Oliver’s voice is right there, whispering in your ears, and Romy’s guitars sound gorgeous–gentle vibrato, chiming chords; her voice is also beautiful.
The thing that throws me about The xx is how spare their music is. Sometimes it’s almost like there’s no music at all. And I keep thinking of reasons why I wouldn’t enjoy such simple music (it’s usually not my thing). Or that it should only be experienced in a dark room by yourself. But the melodies are so beautiful that I think they’ve made a convert of me. I really adore these songs. And I must have heard “Angels” somewhere because it is completely familiar.
I wonder if they sound this good on record. You can watch the show here:
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #5
Grantland continues to impress me with articles about sports that I don’t care about. They style that the writers have (and the humor they impart) is wonderful. And it goes to show that if you are passionate about something you can make it interesting to anyone. So, even if I don’t know who some of the people who they’re talking about are, I can still enjoy what they say about them. Plus, their entertainment coverage is really fun, too.
BILL SIMMONS-“Battle of the Olympic Heavyweights”
I really enjoyed this article which compares Olympic swimming and gymnastics to see which one “wins” in this battle for TV coverage and the hearts of Olympic fans (hint: it’s gymnastics, but Simmon’s categories are very good).
BRIAN PHILLIPS-“The Death’s Head of Wimbledon”
Phillips tries to cover Wimbledon and finds it very difficult to manage because it is all designed for TV, not in person coverage.
REMBERT BROWNE-“I Feel Like a Free Man”
The amazing decision of Frank Ocean to come out and how little it impacted his career. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE KNIFE-Shaking the Habitual (2013).
Since I reviewed the 19 minute song from this album yesterday I thought I’d check out the rest of the disc (still a handful). I kept bearing in mind that The Knife are pretty much a dance duo. So this departure is not only radical, it pretty much undercuts the kind of music they make. The progress is probably exciting but I imagine fans would turn away in droves. I wonder how this record will play out for them in the long run. Incidentally, I wasn’t a fan before, so I don’t really have a horse in this race.
“A Tooth for an Eye” opens the record with an interesting percussion sound an a pulsing keyboard melody. The keening vocals come in sounding weird and distant and more than a little eerie. “Full of Fire” is a 9-minute song with a weird skittery “melody” that seems to float above the battered mechanical “drum.” The whispered vocals are strained and also a little creepy. The middle section has the skittery music jump around while the vocals get even more processed—making it simultaneously more friendly and less so. It’s probably the coolest weird song on the disc, with parts that are catchy and interesting and parts that are just peculiar. This is the single, by the way.
“A Cherry on Top” is 8 minutes of reasonable quietude, with the second half introducing an autoharp. It’s certainly the most mellow thing on the disc. Although it’s not exactly relaxing. “Without You My Life Would Be Boring” seems like it should be the single—it is propulsive and while the vocals are certainly odd, they are the most conventional thing on the album. “Wrap Your Arms Around Me” has big electronic pulsing drums and whispered vocals. It’s a fairly normal sounding song (at least for this album), and could easily play in a goth club.
“Crake” is 55 second of squalling feedback. The album also has “Oryx” which is 37 second of wailing noise. In between is the 10 minute “Raging Lung” which is not available on Spotify. “Networking” a skittering beat with a second beat that may just be a sample of a person making noise in his or her throat. The “voices” get stranger throughout the song, keening, twisting and spinning, reminiscent of The Art of Noise.
“Stay Out Here” is a ten minute song. It starts with a fairly standard electronic drumbeat. Whispered vocals come in giving it a kind of Nine Inch Nails vibe, until the female vocals come in (and are quickly manipulated to sound kind of male). The switch from male and female vocals is interesting, giving it an almost modern sounding Dead Can Dance feel.
“Fracking Fluid Injection” has sounds like scraping, rusted gates as the beat with sampled voices overlaid. Again, this is nearly 10 minute long. The problem with things like this, aside from their relative tediousness, is that they aren’t all that original. Now originality is nothing to hold a band to, we all know, but if you’re going to do non-form sounds that are echoed with little else to it, it would be more interesting if there was something original to pin to it. “Ready to Lose” ends the album with a steady beat and a pretty standard vocal line (even if the voices are processed).
So this album us a pretty radical departure for the band and it’s a pretty radical departure for dance music as a whole. I’m curious to see if this will lead to a anything or if this will be their one weird album.
[READ: April 15, 2013] “The Furies”
The story opens with a rather creepy man stating at his wedding reception that he is in an exclusive club: “There are not too many men who can say that they’re older than their father-in-law.” Ew. He was fifty-eight, his new wife 31. His father-in-law is 56. The father-in-law seems okay with this, but really how could he be?
Ray is a dentist and his new wife, Shelly, had been his hygienist for years. When Shelly told him she was thinking of getting a new job, he professed his love for her, and informed his wife, Angie that he was in love with Shelly. Angie took it badly, but he was surprised when she seemed mad that he didn’t do this years earlier while she still had a chance to meet someone (rather than being distraught that he was leaving her). As a parting shot she says that she wishes him ill. And she hope he suffers with the woman who took him from her.
But they had no children, just assets, and things were divided evenly and cleanly. And he thanked his lucky starts to be with a new woman, someone who was fun and so different from his first wife. (more…)
I love when Viking (Lars Gottrich) publishes his year’s best lists on NPR. Between his Metal and his Outer Sound categories, there’s always something weird and cool to listen to that I would not have heard elsewhere. This year he may have outdone himself with one of the weirdest “songs” I’ve heard. In one sense there’s nothing weird about it–it’s very natural–but the fact that Holly recorded it, manipulated it, tinkered with it and released it on an album is fascinating.
It begins with Herndon (presumably) inhaling (a gasping, disturbing inhale) and then silence. A long silence. Which I believe is Herndon holding her breath. Then she exhales. And the process begins again. The ins-and exs-are manipulated a little bit, making them sound mechanical and somehow even more desperate. Nearing the end, the breath has been manipulated beyond all recognition as a human sound. And then it comes back, sounding more male than female. It’s staggering.
This should absolutely be used for some kind of soundtrack for something. It’s utterly unique and utterly fascinating. And, best of all, there’s a youtube clip for it–no video, just the album cover, which means you can just focus on the sound.
[READ: May 26, 2012] “The Lost Order”
I was delighted to see that Galchen had a new short story in the New Yorker.
The story concerns a woman who has lost a lot recently. She is standing in the kitchen not making spaghetti (an arresting opening if ever there was one). She is concerned that she needs to lose weight, so she is trying not to eat. She has also recently lost her job–she tendered her resignation (she likes that word, tender). Her husband has recently lost his wedding ring (it doesn’t “mean” anything–they don’t care for symbols). And she has just taken a phone call from a belligerent man who orders Chinese food from her. She listens to the entire order and even frets about making it. But of course, she doesn’t.
I loved the idea of the her taking the man’s order and promising 30 minutes. This actually happened to me once. I mis-dialed and the person on the other end took my order, but when I went to the (Chinese) restaurant to pick it up they had no idea what I was talking about. I did not, as this caller does, call back 50 minutes later and call the person a cunt. I just waited for my food with a new order. Because of my personal association with that part I would have liked more of that angle of the story, but it proves just to be one part of a disarming collection of happenings for the narrator. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: PUBLIC IMAGE LTD-“Poptones” and “Careering” on American Bandstand (1980).
The Dick Clark article below alerted me to this bizarre gem–PiL “playing” on American Bandstand. The article talks about John Lydon ignoring the lip synch, climbing into the audience and generally disregarding the show’s script. The video suggests something sightly less sinister (although maybe for 1980 it was outrageous–do you really cross Dick Clark?).
Dick Clark himself announces the band nicely, and then the crazy off-kilter bass and simple guitar of “Poptones” kick in. Lydon runs into the bleachers with the kids (most of whom are dressed in New Wave finery not unlike Lydon). They shriek with glee when he comes nearby (do any of them know who he is? I have no idea). When Lydon’s spoken rambling come in a little later you can’t help but wonder what the hell they are doing on AB.
Then, Lydon starts grabbing people from the audience and pushing them towards the stage–something I believe was unheard of on AB. The fans dance around to the impossible-to-dance-to “Poptones.” The song ends and Dick asks John if he wants the kids out there for song two. Yes, song Two! He does and John faux lip synchs through “Careering,” avoiding cameras at all costs and dancing with the kids–one of the most egalitarian performances I can think of from Lydon.
And listen for Dick asking Jah Wobble his name (reply THE Jah Wobble) and him saying, nice to meet you Wobble. What a surreal moment–wonder what Dick thought of it.
Enjoy it here:
[READ: December 28, 2012] Grantland 4
Grantland continues to impress me with these books (and no, I have not yet visited the website). My subscription ran out with this issue and I have resubscribed–although I take major issue with the $20 shipping and handling fee. I even wrote to them to complain and they wrote back saying that the books are heavy. Which is true, but not $5/bk heavy. The good news is that they sent me a $10 off coupon so the shipping is only half as painful now.
This issue’s endpages were “hypothetical baseball wheel-guides created by JASON OBERG–they were pretty cool and a fun idea. They look very retro, but use contemporary batters, pitchers and catchers. I’d like to see them for real.
Each issue makes me like sports a little bit more, but not enough to actually watch them.
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Music Hall, Toronto, Ontario (May 2, 1998).
This show sounds different from all of their other live shows on Rheostatics Live around this time. I don’t know much about The Music Hall, but it sounds like a more formal venue–like a bigger, perhaps seated, crowd.
I Just Read About That... 