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Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

George Saunders–“Puppy” (New Yorker, May 28, 2007)

Posted in Bra Stuffer, Dogs, George Saunders, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Noble Baker, Phish, Poo, Short Story, The Simpsons, Yuck! on October 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Live Bait 04 (2011).

bait04This Live Bait free sampler is compiled of songs from some of their summer tours (all songs are from June-August).  And it’s a fun collection of mostly long jams.

“Scent of a Mule” dates from 1996 and has a very “old” quality, like the band doesn’t sound as full as normal (the vocals also have an unexpected country feel). There’s a bit of “Sunshine of Your Love” from the guitars while Page is doing an elaborate solo.  Indeed there’s a lot of piano on this track—much more than usual (and some of it is crazy).  There’s a Jewish music section done on both guitar and voice which abruptly ends when the song returns to “Scent”.

“You Enjoy Myself” is one of my favorite Phish songs.  This version clocks in at almost 25 minutes.  At around 21 minutes the song devolves into them making a bunch of silly rhythmic noises, which must be very fun to see.  The next track is “The Landlady” (from 1993), a wonderful instrumental that morphs into “Tweezer” which has a pretty wild and raucous jam component.  There’s also a repeated guitar motif (which I don’t recognize) that seems to be a cue for the band to do things (play loud and fast or really slow—including their impossibly slow rendition of The Simpsons theme song.  It’s a neat trip.

The next track is “Mike’s Song.”  It opens a 36 minute jam that devolves at around 18 minutes into real silliness with spacey effects and controlled laughter.  At about 20 minutes, it morphs into the simple song “Contact” and eventually into “Weekapaug Groove.” Which starts in an unusual way—instead of Mike only playing the bass, the band joins the song in progress.

“Split Open and Melt” has some loud bass—I hadn’t really noticed the bass so much before, and in this version in particular Mike seems like maybe he’s mixed a little louder and he’s playing some really funky stuff (and making quite a few errors, it must be said).  Next comes the silly “NO2” (from 1999), which duplicates the effects of the record pretty well, and the guitar solo at the end of very pretty.  “My Friend My Friend” is a pretty dark song but it starts with the very pretty guitar work until the minor keys take over.  It slowly morphs into “McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters,” a lyrically insane but musically great song.  Page gets a lot of solo time in this song, too.

The next song is “Twist” always a fun and energetic live track.  There’s a very slow jam in the middle of the song (which in total is 29 minutes) before it turns into a very echoey “Slave to the Traffic Light.”

The next song is a nearly 20 minute, joyous “Free”.  It morphs into a beautiful “What’s the Use” yet another or f Trey’s gorgeous rising melodies.  “Axilla” is a fast almost punky version as is the near barbershop quartet riot of ”My Sweet One” which is the fastest I’ve heard it done.  And “Run Like an Antelope” is as frenetic as I’ve heard it—the pace of this segment (from 1993!) is insane.

“David Bowie” begins but then pauses as Trey sings “Catapult” a short piece that I don’t think I’ve ever heard played before.  Then “David Bowie” resumes for the remaining 10 or so minutes and it is a fast and furious cut as well.  This great free set ends with a 15 minute “Divided Sky,” which sounds as good as ever.

Phish releases a lot of concerts, so it’s nice that they throw these free compilations to us once in a while.

[READ: October 15, 2012] “Puppy”

This story is included in George Saunders’ new collection Tenth of December.  But since I was able to find it at the New Yorker, I figured I’d read it now (this means that of all of the stories in the collection I have only not read two).

This story is dark.  Although it doesn’t seem so at first.

The story begins by looking at a married woman who has their two kids in the car with her.  She is trying to get them interested in the beautiful autumnal day but they have heard it all before.  And besides, her son is deeply engrossed in his video game Noble Baker “Not now, Mom, I’m Leavening my Loaves” (ha).  Which is better than the game he wanted, Bra Stuffer.  We go into the woman’s head and (at least in my case) pity her a little bit for trying so hard with kids who clearly aren’t interested.  Like when she read the instructions to her son’s video game so she could offer him tips while he played (and he swats her away, but at least it is “affectionately”).

She keeps her spirits up.  But every example seems more sad than nice.  When she thinks about her husband who says “Ho HO!” to anything that comes up.  Like all of the animals that they own, and how few of them are actually played with by the children.

The other day she spoke of their dog as a puppy and her daughter cried because she didn’t remember it.  So of course she had to get them a new puppy.  She saw an ad for a puppy and decided to go check it out. (more…)

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Lydia Davis—“The Two Davises and the Rug” (Harper’s, September 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Flash Fiction, Harper's, Johnny Cash, Lydia Davis, Short Story, The Avett Brothers on October 21, 2013| 3 Comments »

harper septSOUNDTRACK: THE AVETT BROTHERS-“Open Ended Life” (2013).

AvettBrothers_CVR-560658fd89bf96b9dd1bf2b2be57013e64cb38cd-s1The folks at NPR love The Avett Brothers, and while I can see the appeal of their live show, their studio output just sounds like typical Americana to me.  Not bad by any means, but nothing all that special–honky tonk swing, occasional harmonica and expected harmonies.

The album was produced by Rick Rubin, which would have surprised me a few years ago but after his work with Johnny Cash it makes a lot of sense.

This song is a pretty rollicking good time (and the pretty ooohs are something of a surprise) especially by the end when everybody joins in–I’ll bet this is a hoot live.  The melody is certainly catchy.  I just want to like it more than I do.

[READ: October 1, 2013] “The Two Davises and the Rug”

Even though I recently complained about flash fiction, there is one author who does a very good job with it.  And that author is Lydia Davis.  She can generate an entire story out of a very simple concept . And while some of her flash fiction falls into that “it’s just a sketch, not a story” world, her longer short stories pack a lot in.

Like this one.  The entire premise of this story is that two people are interested in the same rug.  And they are both named Davis (bt are unrelated).

This Davis purchased the rug many years ago and has grown tired of it.  When her apartment complex has a sale for charity she puts in the rug and asks $10 for it.  But the sales people mark it up to $50 (it’s for charity after all).  No one buys the rug but another tenant across the way (also named Davis) is interested in it. But that Davis doesn’t buy the rug.  And when the sales is over this David takes the rug back home while that Davis wishes he had bought it.

The fun part of the story is that both Davises are indecisive.  So, this Davis wonders if she should sell the rug to that Davis and if so, for how much.  But if he really wanted it, maybe she should keep it, maybe it’s better than she realized.  And that Davis is unsure how well it will go in his house and he wonders if may be he could try it for a time first.  But this Davis is reluctant to give it up in case he really likes it or in case she really likes it.  And maybe she should give $50 to charity since she didn’t sell it.

And the story goes on like the, with insecurities running rampant. Fortunately it’s not a very long story (this is one instance where the short version pays off handsomely). And after we have gone through the various permutations, it may be hard for even us to know what those Davises should do.

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Lucy Corin–One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses (2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Death, Dogs, End of the World, Fire, Flash Fiction, Funny (strange), Godzilla vs the Smog Monster, Lucy Corin, McSweeney's, Oddities, Short Story, The Dismemberment Plan, Violence on October 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

corin SOUNDTRACK: THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN-“No One’s Saying Nothing” (2013).

IDismembermentPlan_CVR-a71cdf7d3b8dde6270c3a01bb56278949eddb5fa-s1 thought I knew The Dismemberment Plan, but I must have them confused with someone else, because this song doesn’t sound anything like what a band called The Dismemberment Plan ought to sound like (which is noisy and chaotic and probably death metal).  This song has big vocals, organ and piano.  Nevertheless, it is rather raucous and is quite fun (and has what sounds like a drill sound effect in the beginning and middle).

Lyrically, the song is odd–“If you press the space bar enough, cocaine comes out.  I really like this computer.”

But it has a very fun devil-may-care, throw in everything attitude that I really like it.  The entire album was streaming on NPR, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from them–including their back catalog work, to see if they ever sounded like what I thought they sounded like.

[READ: October 1, 2013] One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses

I was excited to get this book because I thought the title was quite intriguing (and the crazy way the cover is cut out was also interesting).

There are four “stories” in the book.  The first three are about twenty pages each while the fourth is over 100 and is comprised of the titular 100 apocalypses (I didn’t count them).

“Eyes of Dogs”
This story contained marginalia (which is sort of like footnotes but not attached to anything specific). In this story a solider meets a witch and she tells him how to get money—climb down a hole and encounter three dogs.  He must wink at the first, blink at the second and hold his eyes closed for the third.  The story seems to be going along sensibly like a fairy tale but then it grows introspective and stops.  I was disappointed in this one.

“Madmen”
This story was utterly bizarre and yet by the middle of the story the bizarreness was explained and by the end I enjoyed it very much.  The premise of this story is that when children grow old they are given a madman to take care of (it is told matter of factly which makes you have to wonder if madman is code for something else.  When boys reach a certain age and when girl;s have their first period (which is an unfair division of genders) they get to go to the asylum and pick which madman (or woman) they want to bring home and care for.  The bulk of the story is at the asylum with the girl “interviewing” the candidates and her mother being mad at her choices.  Ultimately the story turns onto a nice moment between the girl and her dad, who may or may not have married his own madman.  As I said very weird, but satisfying.

“Godzilla versus the Smog Monster”
This was the most “real” of the four stories and it was my favorite.  A fourteen year old boy is watching “Godzilla vs the Smog Monster.”  He found the unlabelled video of it in his father’s sweatshirt drawer and assumed it was porn.  He’s bummed that it turns out to be this Godzilla movie.  In a parallel story, when the boy goes to school his class is watching live footage of California burning—and this burning is uncontainable.  The whole state is slowly engulfed in flames.  This fire, which seems to be some kind of attack obviously changes the minds of everyone in the story, including Sara, a girl who Peter thinks is pretty but who never talks to him.  But when she crashes her car in front of his house, he helps her and they go for a ride to a cave.  Images of the smog monster crop up in interesting ways.  Things get weird and less tangible, but because the beginning was so real it made the ending okay.

“A Hundred Apocalypses”
So this selection disappointed me because it proved to be 100 (I assume) flash fiction pieces.  And I have more or less come down against flash fiction these days.  Especially the kinds of stories that make an interesting “sketch” but aren’t really stories The other problem is that all 100 seemed to be about “apocalypses” which is a useless words when tossed around so much and which loses all meaning when there are 100 that seem to be about actual apocalypses.  Or something.  I also just learned that apocalypse means un-covering or revelation, not really the end of the world, but whatever.

There were probably 6 out of the hundred that I really enjoyed.  Sadly, I didn’t mark them and I don’t remember which ones they were.  The rest were okay or worse.

I am ready for flash fiction to go away.  And I fear that my beloved McSweeney’s is one of the prime generators of the genre, so perhaps they could knock it off for a bit.

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Diane Williams—“Living Deluxe” (Harper’s, June 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Black Sabbath, Diane Williams, Fuzz, Harper's, Huh?, Queens of the Stone Age, Short Story, Ty Segall, Unreliable narrator on October 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 harper juneSOUNDTRACK: FUZZ-“Sleigh Ride” (2013).

fuzzHow can some 3 minute songs seem like they take a long time and others feel like they are about a minute long.  “Sleigh Rode” is one of those songs that is over before you know it.  With a big old fuzzy guitar riff opening the song it sounds straight out of classic rock.  Then the verses come in with faster riffing (like a less heavy Black Sabbath) and a sleazy kind of vocal.  It reminds me of a more garage band/sloppy Queens of the Stone Age.

This is (yet another) band from Ty Segall. Robin Hilton from NPR says that Segall had put out some 6 solo albums and is in a half a dozen bands as well (and he’s only 26).  he normally sings and plays guitar, but he plays drums in this band.

While I don’t actually know anything else by him, I really enjoy this piece of fuzzy distorted sleaze pop. and may need to see what he is other releases are like.

[READ: September 20, 2013] “Living Deluxe”

Diane Williams wrote Vicky Swanky is a Beauty which I did not really like.  It was experimental and flash fiction which I am growing to like less and less.  This short piece (which is actually longer than anything in Vicky Swanky, I believe), is from a collection in progress.  I’m not sure if that means that this is finished or not (it’s hard to tell with her).

This story deals with a woman who has taken money from her mother (and sister and brother) because her mother “knew I needed to be a person with flair” (I liked that line).

The thing about the rest of the story is that the narrator acts like a five year old telling a story.  The details that are added are not necessarily relevant to the story.  So we get two paragraphs on a man sneezing, a few paragraphs on her cat, and a couple of paragraphs about Leonard da Vinci.  These details might be relevant to the story.  But interspersed with these details are things that impact the taking-money storyline—that her sister took something that was hers (the Da Vinci bit is about a present she gave to her sister). (more…)

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Tessa Hadley–“Bad Dreams” (New Yorker, September 23, 2013)

Posted in Concert, Dreams, Kiss, Marriage Trouble, Metallica, New Yorker, Pink Floyd, Short Story, Tessa Hadley on October 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_09_23_13Brunetti_spine.indd 220px-Alive_IV_KISSSOUNDTRACK: KISS SYMPHONY-Alive IV 2/28/03 (2003)

This CD is a bit out of order in the Kiss chronology, but since I’ve just looked at a few live Kiss albums and looked at “Atom Heart Mother,” the ultimate orchestra rock, it seemed like a good time to throw this in.

This is from a Kiss concert in Melbourne Australia.  The disc (and I assume the concert) is broken into three sections: regular Kiss, Kiss with the Melbourne Symphony Ensemble and Kiss with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

The first six songs rock pretty hard.  It’s an interesting collection of songs from throughout their career.  “Deuce” and “Strutter” sound good.  “Let Me Go, Rock n Roll” is a surprise and one that I like a lot, (although I find it weird that Peter Criss says exactly what he said at the end of the song on Alive! –it was in audible then and it is inaudible now).  Of course I wish they hadn’t chosen “Lick It Up” but it is better than on Alive III (I like the way he turns the “I want you, I need you” into a simple plea “to clap your hands”).  It makes me laugh that Paul is still using the “rock and roll pneumonia” schtick thirty years after I first heard it to open “Calling Dr. Love”.  And then there’s the new song, “Psycho Circus,” I haven’t mentioned that album yet but it’s a new song and they play it with verve.

The one thing about the disc that is especially obnoxious is how proud of themselves they are about doing this tour with an orchestra.  Paul says, ““Some people said we were crazy to attempt this Maybe we are crazy but that’s what makes us Kiss.”  And yet, clearly it’s not an original idea (I mean even Metallica, the most obvious comparison did theirs three years earlier).

When the Ensemble comes out, they play 5 mellow songs.  The first (and most obvious) is “Beth”.  But man does it sound lousy here. Peter doesn’t seem to have any of the oomph to make it sound any good.  (The orchestra sounds good though).  The next obvious song is “Forever.”  What I find odd about these “Ensemble” songs is that it sounds like the band is using acoustic guitars which just add a strange percussive sound (since you can barely hear the guitar over the orchestra).  I understand being unplugged for the Ensemble, but it sounds weird.

The huge surprise comes with “Goin’ Blind” in which Gene sings in a quite pretty falsetto.  He sounds old (for sure), but it’s a surprisingly pleasant voice.  Another huge surprise is the inclusion of “Sure Know Something “ from Dynasty.  And then the craziest surprise of all is “Shandi.”  “Shandi” is one of those songs that I used to joke asking if Kiss played it live.  I cannot believe they played it (even with an orchestra)  I wonder if Australia especially liked the Dynasty/Unmasked era.  Of course, I love that era as well and am thrilled to hear this song live (even if Paul sounds a little stilted singing it).

Then comes the bloat.  Disc two brings in the full orchestra and the sound is…weird.  The orchestra is sort of playing along with the band (mostly like added strings to pop songs and swells as needed). The big surprise is that the strings don’t play the iconic solos—which would be frankly amazing–imagine the whole string section playing the solo to “Detroit Rock City.”  Rather, the sounds that we hear most from the orchestra are the horns, which make it sound kind of like a marching band playing Kiss.  But the real problem is that the band seems to be fighting with the orchestra.  Since the guitar and entire orchestra are playing the same thing, you can’t really hear one or the other very well.  Worse yet, by the end, both Paul and Gene seem to be screaming to be heard over the orchestra, which makes them sound quite bad.

It’s not a total disaster.  Some songs work just fine.

“King of the Night Time World” had orchestration on the album, but in this version, they just seem to be throwing in strings everywhere.  “Do You Love Me?” works great in this setting for the exact opposite reason that I didn’t work in Unplugged—the orchestra brings up the chorus to higher levels.  “Shout It Out Loud” is pretty successful with the orchestra although Gene seems really flat.  The orchestra works well on “God of Thunder” probably because the music itself is so spare that the orchestra fills in the gaps nicely.

I’m always disappointed when Paul plays around with the vocal styling in popular songs—he does it a lot in “Love Gun.”  I’m not saying that every song should sound just like the record, but it’s weird unsettling when he mixes things up in weird ways as he does here. The orchestra is good for this one though.  And, the strings work great with “Black Diamond.”

On the other side of things, It is very creepy to have a children’s choir sing to the groupie-anthem “Great Expectations” but it does sound good—until the end when Gene doesn’t even seem to care a bout the spoken words.  “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” gets less disco and a bit more rock here.   And the set ends with “Rock n Roll All Nite” which is something of a throwaway here.  It’s the inevitable conclusion to the show, with the orchestra being little more than accents.

So the orchestra is not really a very successful addition to the set.  It may have been great to see live (the orchestra in Kiss makeup and all), but the recording leaves something to be desired.  The set list, on the other hand is pretty great and I would love to have these songs in any future show that I see.

[READ: September 25, 2013] “Bad Dreams”

I’ve enjoyed most of the Tessa Hadley stories I’ve read in the New Yorker.  And most of them have had similar themes.  But this one is quite different.

I’ve been finding with a lot of stories lately that I really like the way a story starts out and that I kind of wish it would keep doing whatever the story is doing, but that the author has something else in mind.  It’s hard to complain about that because it is the author’s story, not mine, but it still bums me out a little even if I ultimately like where the author went with the story.

So in this one, a child wakes up in the dark.  We get a glimpse of the house and where she is at, but the crux of her waking up is that she had a dream about her favorite book, “Swallows and Amazons.”  The really cool and spooky thing about the dream is that she dreams an epilogue to this story that she has read so many times.  And the epilogue is disturbing—not horrifically, but just enough to freak out a young girl.  She dreams that that one of the boys drowned, that her least favorite girl, the plainest girl went on to a long happy life, etc.

This is such an interesting idea tha I couldn’t wait to see where it went.  Of course, I can’t even imagine where you could go with that, and maybe Hadley couldn’t either.  Because instead we leave the girl’s room and head to her father’s study.

We learn about her father but during her visit she decides to upend all of the furniture in the room.  Not out of malice, but in a dreamlike state.  And then she imagines her parents’ reaction to this and thinks it will be very funny.   She vows to never admit that she did it.  Then she goes back to sleep. (more…)

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Yu Hua—“Victory” (New Yorker, August 26, 2013)

Posted in Allan Barr, Fears, Garth Brooks, Kiss, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Yu Hua on October 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_08_26_13Drooker.inddSOUNDTRACK: KISS “God of Thunder” (country version from MTV Unplugged) (1996).

unpluggedIn my post about Kiss Unplugged, I mentioned that there are videos online of the entire uncut show.  There’s also a video of this–a country version of “God of Thunder”

Three things: One, it’s weird how hokey Gene gets at the end–for a demon he’s quite goofy.  And two, it’s amazing how good this song sounds when turned into a country song.  On the Kiss covers album Kiss My Ass, I was surprised how much I liked Garth Brook’s rendition of “Hard Luck Woman and now I see that maybe all great Kiss songs are just country songs at heart.  And three, it absolutely does not sound like Gene singing–he does an impressive falsetto.

[READ: September 18, 2013] “Victory”

This is a simple story of infidelity.  The fact that the characters have such similar names bothered me a bit, but it wasn’t terribly confusing.  Lin Hong (the woman) finds a key which her husband Li Hanlin has secreted away in a drawer.  He is away on business, and she tries to figure out what the key is for.  Eventually she realizes it is for a drawer at his office.  I actually would have preferred that the story was mostly about the searching, which I think would have been more interesting.

When she opens the drawer she finds evidence of his infidelity—photo and letters from a woman named Qingqing.  One of the letters includes a phone number.  So she calls it.  She tells Qingqing to leave her husband alone and that she has ruined their marriage.  But Qingqing says that they wouldn’t have gone any further anyway and that she’s not really interested in Lin.

Li calls some of his friends but they deny any awareness of an affair.  Finally, she calls one of her fiends to complain and the friend gives some advice about how she should behave when Lin gets back. (more…)

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László Krasznahorkai—”The Exiled Queen” (Harper’s, August 2013)

Posted in Art, Harper's, History, Kiss, László Krasznahorkai, Ottilie Mulzet, Sandro Botticelli, Short Story, Translation on October 2, 2013| 1 Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: KISS-MTV Unplugged (1996).

unpluggedEver ones to jump on a bandwagon, Kiss did an Unplugged special in 1996.  They had been laying low for a while.  Conventional wisdom says they were working on the follow-up to Revenge (and the successful Alive III tour) when they got called in to do this Unplugged.  (The follow-up Carnival of Souls would eventually be released to little fanfare).

And so here we have Kiss in an unplugged setting.  The big surprise for this show was that Peter Criss and Ace Frehley were invited back on stage to play some songs.  And things went so well (and there was clearly money to be made in a reunion) that the original guys got together, made an album and even toured it (which I saw).

But to me the real surprise is what a great set list this is.  I would love to go to a Kiss show and hear these selections because the diversity is fantastic and there’s very few of the obnoxious hits that I’m tired of.  It’s true that the bulk of these songs are their more mellow offerings (which is smart since the heavier ones wouldn’t work so well with the big acoustic guitar sound), but the choices are so unexpected.  I mean look what they start with.

“Comin’ Home” a deep cut off of Hotter Than Hell that, well I won’t say Kiss fans wouldn’t know, but that contemporary Kiss fans may not know.  And it sounds fantastic in this recording.  The heavier songs don’t sound quite as good with the big acoustic guitar treatment—so “Plaster Caster” seems a little odd.  However, “Goin Blind” (however absurd the lyrics) works great in this setting (you can really hear the complex bass that Gene plays).  Surprisingly, “Do You Love Me” falls a little flat here because in the studio version the choruses are so big, but here they are gentle and it kind of undermines the intensity.  I keep reiterating how much I really dislike “Domino” lyrically.  But musically it’s pretty interesting and it works fine in this setting.

The biggest musical surprise comes with “Sure Know Something” from Dynasty.  Even though the original is very discoey, the acoustic treatment sounds great.  “World Without Heroes” is another huge surprise and it also works very well in this setting (I’m trying to imagine how all of them needed to relearn all of these songs).  With the intro to “Rock Bottom” being a sweet melody the acoustic version works well.  Surprisingly the louder part works pretty well here too.  And then woah, “See You Tonite” from the Gene solo album!  They pulled some crazy things out for this show. I suppose this set wouldn’t be very exciting in the full makeup stage show, but it would be very cool to hear these tracks live.

“I Still Love You” is an aching ballad that works well in this context because really the main feature of the song is Paul’s voice which sounds great here.  “Every Time I Look at You “ is a cheesy ballad which of course is tailor-made for Unplugged.

And then comes the surprise—Peter and Ace.  It’s the first time they’ve all played without makeup and the first reunion in years.  And as a nice treat they play “2,000 Man” the track that Ace sang on Unmasked (surprising that they didn’t do “Shock Me,” but that is not really right for an Unplugged).  “Beth” is not really a surprise as it is Peter’s song, although it is surprising to hear it on guitar which changes the song quite a bit and makes it sound quite good.  The real treat is “Nothin’ to Lose” in which everyone comes out on stage and takes a verse.  It’s always fun to hear how into it Peter is.  The set ends with “Rock n Roll All Nite” and even in this more stripped down setting the song sounds good (although they must be so tired of singing this song).

Unplugged albums tend to get forgotten in artist’s catalogs, but this is a really enjoyable set and a must for any Kiss fan.  Incidentally there are some “uncut” versions of the show online that are worth checking out for the extra tracks.

[READ: September 17, 2013] “The Exiled Queen”

This is the kind of story that makes me wonder why someone would write about the things they do.  Not because it’s bad or not worth writing about, I just can’t imagine where the idea came from.  This is a story about a boy named Filippino who is an art prodigy.  He could draw a Madonna before he knew what a Madonna was.  He learned to paint and gild frames before he could talk and his work was impeccable.

This was a challenging story for me to read because there are no paragraph breaks (and I love my paragraph breaks).  It is just an endless stream of prose about this painting prodigy.  But some details do come through the verbiage.

It is 1469 (!), the boy’s father has died, and he was soon taken under the wing of the great painter Battigello.  And Battigello began to teach him more and more, but young Filippino would learn so quickly.  he could just watch the master’s arms and imitate his brush strokes.  We later learn that Battigello would come to be called Botticelli. (more…)

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Dorthe Nors—“The Heron” (New Yorker, September 9, 2013)

Posted in Birds, Death, Dorthe Nors, Huh?, Julie Hecht, Kiss, Martin Aitken, New Yorker, Short Story, Translation on October 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_09_09_13McCall.inddSOUNDTRACK: KISS-Alive III (1993).

alive iiiI’m aware that there are questions about the real “live” nature of the first two Kiss Alive albums.  This naturally makes me suspect the nature of the live-ness of this one as well.  Not that I don’t think the songs are live, but I have to question the volume of the fans, who at times sound artificially enhanced.  I’ve also read that the “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” was taken from the soundboard during soundcheck with cheers added later.  If that’s true I have to give credit to Paul for being so “into it” during soundcheck.

back in the 70s, Kiss made a point for Alive II to not duplicate any songs from Alive!.  Obviously Kiss are much more mercenary now than they were back then–duplication is part of their thing now.  But since this is the first live album since the 70s, there’s a lot of new material to choose from.  Nevertheless, this probably shows a realistic set list for the time, so there are going to be some overlap from the 70s, and that’s okay.  And the band sounds quite good (this was 20 years ago it’s hard to believe).

“Creatures of the Night” is a rousing opener.  It’s hard to imagine they didn’t open with “Detroit Rock City” and end with “Rock n Roll Al Nite”.  “Deuce” is one of their best songs, so it’s a welcome old song.  Then there’s some questionable choices.  “I Just Wanna” is a bad song with a very obvious vocal line.  But it came from the then current album and it’s got the “naughty” singalong section (which was apparently dubbed out to avoid a Parental Warning sticker).  Despite all of the entendre in Kiss, they’ve never really been explicit, so the “I just wanna fuck” seems weird for them (especially when you know how many kids have been going to their tours recently).

“Unholy” fares much better.  It’s one of their cooler new songs.  Paul introduces “Heaven’s on Fire” in a fairly amusing way (and he can still ht those notes).  I don’t especially like that song or “Lick it Up,” but they will always be their bigger hits, so they get played.  Obviously I’m delighted to hear “Watching You” which they do very well.  I dislike “domino” lyrically quite a lot and I feel like Gene’s delivery here is disinterested at best (is it possible he is as disgusted by the lyrics as I am?).  But the song rocks musically.  “I Was Made for Loving You” is updated and sounds far less discoey.  “I Still Love You” is a great concert staple and it’s nice to have it on record.

Probably the biggest surprise on the disc is that “Rock n Roll All Nite” is not the encore (or maybe it was in concert, but it’s not last on the album.  I’d be delighted to see them and have this not be the encore.  I’d also be delighted if I never heard “Lick It Up” again.  I don’t know why this song irks me so much, but it does.  And in this live version, hearing Paul state “I wanna lick you” just creeps me out.  “Forever,” cheesy ballad and all, sounds pretty great live.   but “I Love It Loud” which is a great song sounds off here—too many backing vocals or something?  “Detroit Roock City”sounds great of course, although it’s funny to hear it have an introduction.

The disc is pretty much over for me here because I don’t like “God Gave Rock n Roll to You II” although this version is fine.  And the very end of the disc is, strangely, “The Star Spangled Banner.”  It’s a whole band version (without words) but  simple cannot imagine them doing it live for any reason.

So, this proves to be a pretty decent live album.  Not quite up to the stellar heights of Alive! and Alive II, but a worthy addition to the series.

[READ: September 15, 2013] “The Heron”

This story begins with the statement that the best place to feed herons is in Frederiksberg Gardens because they are tame.  The tone is very much like Julie Hecht–all matter of fact and somewhat indignant.

The story continues to talk about herons and the strange man who often stands on the paths that lead to the Chinese Pavilion. The narrator avoids this man by walking around to Damhus Pond (where the suitcase with the woman’s body chopped up inside of it was found).  He imagines the man who found it (well, technically the dog found it) was never the same again (nor, no doubt was the dog).  Despite the grisly scene (the narrator has never found anything there) he walks out of his way by the pond to avoid the herons.  And the strange man. (more…)

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Lynn Freed–“The Way Things Are Going” (Harper’s, August 2013)

Posted in Africa, All Songs Considered, Cheap Trick, Culture Shock, Harper's, Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band, Lynn Freed, Short Story, Threats, Violence on September 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: KEVIN DEVINE & THE GODDAMN BAND-“Nobel Prize” (2013).

PrintI’d never heard of Kevin Devine before (he apparently has 7 solo albums out).  This track is his first single with his new (radio friendly it seems) band called The Goddamn Band.  Interestingly, the album is called “Bubblegum” and it’s that sentiment that sticks out with this song.

Over buzzy guitars and pounding drums, a screamed (but not unpleasant) voice comes piercing through the fuzz.  And once the guitars come in, it’s all bubblegum pop (fuzzy and distorted absolutely, but pure bubblegum chord structures).  The song (including the voice) remind me a lot of Cheap trick–simple, catchy melodies with vocals that are urgent and intense.  Even the quieter spoken word section sounds like Cheap Trick.  The very mellow bridge or chorus or whatever it is mixes things up when it brings in picked strings and a gentle vocal.

It’s catchy as hell and could fit into a lot of playlists of poppy rock.  At only 2 and a half minutes it’s a pop gem.  Too bad no DJ would ever say the band’s name.

You can hear it an NPR.

[READ: September 19, 2013] “The Way Things Are Going”

As the story opens we read the Gwen had insisted that “Ma and I” move to America (from South Africa). Gwen wanted them to move because “sooner or later…it would happen again.”  The narrator says that what had happened was actually her fault.  But really what difference did it make whose fault it was—once they were tying you up.  She only let them in the first place because she was trying to be mannerly.

The story flashes back to what happened. The narrator had been struck across the head with a gun, praying that the men would leave her alone—just take their few valuables and go.  And then she had to worry about her mother, who was upstairs by herself.  It was only the phone call (and the answering machine) which saved them from further damage because a neighbor said she’d be right over. (more…)

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Lisa Moore–“The Challenges and Rewards of Re-entering the Workforce” (The Walrus, October 2013)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Corporate skewering, Lisa Moore, Pregnancy, Short Story, The Walrus, Venom, Voivod, Work on September 29, 2013| 1 Comment »

2013-10SOUNDTRACK: VOIVOD-“In League with Satan” (1998).

venomI wasn’t aware of this tribute to Venom, the much reviled/much beloved black metal band.  It is titled In the name of Satan. Voivod has done some covers of Venom songs throughout their career, so it seems natural that they would do one for an official tribute album.

The music is fine.  As anyone who knows Venom knows their music isn’t terribly complicated.  So it’s nothing for Voivod to do.  I’m actually wondering if Piggy wanted to spruce it up a bit.  But no, he plays it straight, as does everyone else.

But man are the vocals awful. They are a kind of high-pitched growl–very strangely affected and sounding really weird both for Venom and for Voivod.  I’m not sure who is singing on this track (I assume E-Force given the date).  It doesn’t really sound like either E-Force or Snake, but I’m siding with E-Force because there’s none of the odd pronunciations that Snake is prone to do.

I didn’t listen to anything else on the album, but even for a Voivod diehard, this one is not worth owning.

[READ: September 19, 2013] “The Challenges and Rewards of Re-entering the Workforce”

Lisa Moore doesn’t deserve to be associated with Satan or a less than stellar cover song.  So apologies to her for pairing this together, but it worked nicely in my Voivod timeline.

I was really intrigued by the title of this short story and I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  What I got was a very interesting and very interestingly structured story.  The first thing of note is the pronoun choice:  “Everybody had a target on his back.  His or her back.”  This specification continues throughout the story.  But before we learn why exactly, we learn about the devastation at this job (which is never specified).  People are let go in waves, then in clumps, and just when it seems safe, one at a time.  Some people are moved around to fill those empty spots.  In other words, resentment is breeding wildly.  Rumors spread—they wouldn’t fire people if you stand up for yourselves—but no one wanted to stand up.  And just when we think Moore can’t give any more examples of the anonymous firing, we get into specifics.

The Downeys (who both worked there) were fired on the same day.  The had just purchased a new house as well.  Of course, that was before the summer when the dump started to stink.  So we can anticipate how much they will get when they try to sell. (more…)

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