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Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

Nell Freudenberger–“An Arranged Marriage” (New Yorker, September 6, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Barenaked Ladies, Marriage (Happy), Nell Freudenberger, New Yorker, Public Enemy, Religion, Short Story, Travel, Virginity (Loss of) on September 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BARENAKED LADIES-“Fight the Power” (1993).

Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” is one of the greatest anthems of the late 80s and 90s.  It’s got everything: noise, strength, rebellion great lyrics and Chuck D.  So, what can five white Canadians do with it?

Well, they keep the intensity of the song very strong–even in an acoustic setting–by overloading their version with a whole mess of music.  Between the noisy piano, the occasional sound effects and the fantastic noisy drumming, they manage to really capture what a great “song” this is (as opposed to being a powerful anthem and protest).  Divorced from the awesome cacophony of the original, you realize that it’s really catchy, too.

BNL are usually goofy, and they do put a bit of nonsense in the song (during the Elvis was a hero to most section).  And they clean up one of the words, with a great twist (changing “motherfuck” to David Duke” in “David Duke him and John Wayne).

BNL has been performing this song for years.  Their first version appeared on The Yellow Tape [1991] (a much simpler version with drums, bass and two vocals).  But this version (which as far as I can tell only appears on the Coneheads soundtrack, ugh) is really solid and (aside from the fact that nobody’s voice could ever compare to Chuck D’s) sounds like an good Unplugged version of the track.

[READ: September 14, 2010] “An Arranged Marriage”

Freudenberger is one of the New Yorker‘s 20 Under 40.  I have to say I was (unfairly) surprised that a story written by a woman named Freudenberger was about a woman named Amina who lived in Bangladesh.

Nevertheless, the story was a good one and was an interesting twist on the concept of the titular arranged marriage.  Amina meets George online at AsianEuro.com (after having met several men who were not what they said they were).  Amina (and her parents) had always planned for her to move to America.  Somehow.   She had considered applying for a college degree, but found that even that was prohibitively expensive.  So why not, as the Voice of America radio suggested, find a mate? (more…)

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Wells Tower–“The Landlord”(New Yorker, September 13, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Art, Consumerism, Dromedary Records, Footstone, Friends Romans Countrymen, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, New Yorker, Outside, Short Story, Wells Tower on September 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: STUYVESANT-Jihad Me at Hello (2010).

Stuyvesant (one of the hardest band names to spell) is an amalgam of the defunct New Jersey bands Footstone and Friends, Romans, Countrymen.  And so, as you might expect if you know these other bands, they play noisy rock with a healthy dose of pop.

The opener, “Bi-Polar Bears” is a great example of their punky pop (complete with an unexpected horn section).  The second track, “Tape Hiss” sounds like Footstone (Ralphie’s voice is very distinct here) although the “do-do-do” harmonies are something new to the sound.

There’s more surprise from a major break in “Ode to Bish” which features a “waka jawacka” guitar and a horn solo.  “Liars Poker” also features some cool bass vocal harmonies (something of a rare treat in rock music).

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the slow opening of “Broken Red Wing.”  I was pleasantly surprised that after the slow opening, it did not jump quickly into a song that sounded like the rest on the disc.  Guitars kick in but they are not the same crunchy style.  The track shows an unexpected diversity on the disc.

While I have enjoyed both the Footstone and FRC releases, I think this conflation of the two makes for the best overall package.  It’s a great EP, and I’m looking forward to the full length.  This EP is available for free.  That’s right, for free.  So even if you hate it, you can still download it for free.  In any format, and then you can burn it to a CD, in the format that music is meant to be enjoyed.

[READ: September 8, 2010] “The Landlord”

Wells Tower is another 20 Under 40.  I’ve enjoyed the few short stories(although I haven’t read his collection yet) and the non-fiction he’s written for Outside magazine.

This story feels like an excerpt from a longer piece because there are a lot of different characters who seem like there’s more to them.

The main character is the landlord, Mr Pruitt.  He owns a lot of properties, but in the current market he has had to sell a number of them.  And, of course, his tenants are paying him less and less frequently.  As the story opens we meet one of those tenants, Armando Colón, who is three months overdue.  Armando has a solution to his problem which he presents to Mr Pruitt.  When Armando leaves, Mr Pruitt’s worker, Todd Toole mocks him for letting people fuck him over. (more…)

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Yiyun Li–“The Science of Flight” (New Yorker, August 30, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Footstone, Friends Romans Countrymen, New Yorker, Short Story, Travel, Yiyun Li on September 10, 2010| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: FRIENDS, ROMANS, COUNTRYMEN-I am Spartacus (2010).

I’ve been aware of Friends, Romans, Countrymen for a number of years, but I’d never heard them.  The bio on the Dromedary site suggests that they broke up some time around 2003.  So, I’m not entirely sure if this CD was released back then or if this is the first time it’s seeing the light of day.

I’ve been streaming the disc all day (and yes, I will buy it as soon as can find my wallet, which, no is not in El Segundo–ooh, old school!)).  I don’t know if it’s my crappy work headphones but the recording sounds distorted in a way that makes me think it was recorded too loud.  Of course as I say it could be the headphones.

Getting beyond that, the band reminds me a lot of middle era Hüsker Dü.  They don’t sound like them necessarily, but the feel: noisy guitars, kind of sloppy (but cool) solos, smooth vocals (at times there is definitely a resemblance to Bob Mould) and harmonies, and fast, rocking beats.

The Dromedary site calls them “burly pop-core” and that’s a really apt description.  The opening song is a tribute to a fellow New Jersey band: “The Day Footstone Died.”  (Footstone’s releases have been covered here).  It’s got some great catchy guitars and a great bridge.  (And the live version that’s on the site sounds like the band never broke up).

There’s some really interesting guitar sounds on “Lee1Blu” (as well as some cool harmonies).  The rest of the disc is equally infectious, all the way down to the two closing instrumentals, “Warm” and, um, “Instrumental.”

So you get about 40 minutes of pretty fine, pretty loud alt-rock.  You can stream the disc (and buy it) here.

[READ: September 8, 2010] “The Science of Flight”

So this post really missed the point of the story.  If you read the comments below you’ll get more details.  Because of the comment, I have re-posted about the story.  You can read it here.

———-

Yiyun Li’s is one of the 20 Under 40 from the New Yorker.  This story (which I assume is not an excerpt) is about Zichen.  Zichen (whose name is unpronounceable to Westerners) emigrated from China to live in America with her then new husband.

As the story opens, we see Zichen at work at an animal-care center.  She is talking with her coworkers about her upcoming visit to England (this will be her first-ever vacation that is not to China).  The men are teasing her about the trip (why would she want to go to the ocean in the winter, she doesn’t know anyone there, etc).  The teasing is friendly, because they are friendly, although Zichen is very reserved around them.  Of course, of all the people she has known, she has opened up to them the most–which still isn’t very much. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #35

Posted in Audun Mortensen, Ben Greenman, Benjamin Cohen, Dan Kennedy, Dublin, Ireland, Ellie Kemper, Frode Grytten, Gunnhild Øyehaug, Hans Herbjørnsrud, Hilton Als, Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Irish Writer, Jim Stallard, Johan Harstad, John Erik Riley, Kari Dickson, Laila Stien, Liv Irene Myhre, Marriage Trouble, May-Brit Akerholt, McSweeney's, Ole-Petter Arneberg, Pasha Malla, Patrick Crerand, Per Petterson, Political Humor, Rannveig Revhaug, Robert Barnes, Roddy Doyle, Roy Jacobsen, Short Story, Steven Millhauser, Technology, Teddy Wayne, Tor Ulven, Victoria Durnak, Video Games on September 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SONSEED-“Jesus is a Friend of Mine” (1983).

My friend Nick sent me a link to this song.  And he said that it would  have been the theme song to his radio show back in college.  (We went to a Jesuit school, so it could be taken seriously as well).  Of course, knowing him, he absolutely would have played it as his intro music.

Anyhow, I listened to it and enjoyed the video in the spirit of gentle mockery that it was sent.  But I found myself listening to it quit a lot and I have concluded that I now enjoy it irony-free.  And how can that be?

Well, first off, Christian rock generally sucks.  In addition to many other reasons, it’s often played with a style that is inappropriate to the message.   And Gawd, forget the bombast of arena Christian rock bands (who shall remain nameless).

What I like about this song is that a) the musicians are really good. It’s a live song (I assume–they wouldn’t lip synch on  Christian TV show would they?) and they are tight.  Also, the music (ska!) is upbeat, just like the message.  Finally, while lyrically not very clever (most of the lyrics are pretty laughable), they are sincere and not aiming too high.

And, I hate to say, it’s catchy as hell (although I suppose you have to like ska to like it).

Evidently, I’m not the only one to be transfixed by this strange group (and, it seems I’m at least two years late to the party, as there is already a great deal of chatter (and even controversy) about this video).  So, let me be the umpteenth person to post it on his blog.

[READ: September 2, 2010] McSweeney’s 35

This new issue shocked me because I noticed that it was printed in Canada, not Iceland. I’m not sure when this switch occurred, but I feel somewhat saddened for the Icelandic press!

The cover is a (softcover) foldout (with two flaps).  The front shows two people crossing a street, but even more shocking than the Canada thing is the cover itself…something I didn’t notice until I left it out in the car.  The black of the cover (see above) is actually heat sensitive.  When it gets warm, it reveals a secret underworld to the picture.  Very very cool!  I was really confused when I picked up the book and it was no longer black but green with fishes swimming around, and I couldn’t imagine why I ever thought it was black.  Pretty sneaky, sis.

This issue features a newly revised letter column (although “letter” is a subjective term here).  There are four longer stories, and the rest of the book has two sections.  The first is comprised of an awesome photo series of lunch bags (which I will attempt to emulate for my kids when they begin school).  The second is “a Portfolio of Stories from Norway.”  The Norwegian Stories are great, and really show the strength of literature coming from the country. (more…)

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Anthony Doerr–The Shell Collector (2002)

Posted in Anthony Doerr, Fishing, Ghosts, Lucas, Marriage Trouble, Nature, Short Story, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Real Tuesday Weld, Violence on September 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE REAL TUESDAY WELD-“Cloud Cuckooland” (2007).

My friend Andrew linked me to the video for this song (after I showed him the video for “Lucas with the Lid Off.”   I’d heard of The Real Tuesday Weld, but never heard them, and I hope this is indicative of the rest of their (his?) stuff.

The video (which is hilarious and weird) supplies a wonderful videotrack to the music, but, unlike some other recent videos that I have watched, it doesn’t make a lame song seem interesting.

I likened this song to what I wanted the Squirrel Nut Zippers to sound like: playing old-timey music but with a real sense of silliness.  (The Zippers are great but are often too straight for me).  Rather than vocals, there’s a  sort of nonsensical sound-making.  And there’s some even some human beatbox in the track.

And it’s all over a very bouncy soundtrack that fits well with the black and white “movie” of the video.

It’s very cool.  Check it out here.

[READ: August 27, 2010] The Shell Collector

I have really enjoyed the two short stories that Doerr has written for McSweeney’s.  So much so that I decided to track down this collection of short stories.  And I’m delighted that I did.

Doerr’s stories are set all over the world (he himself has lived in Africa and New Zealand, although he is now from Idaho and grew up in Ohio) and there is so much diversity in this collection that I couldn’t believe he had this much information at his disposal.

One of the interesting things is that quite often the main character is named “The Shell Collector” of “The Hunter” while everyone else in the story has a name.  It’s an interesting conceit which brings at once a distance to the person and yet an immediacy to what he “is.”

“The Shell Collector” features a man who works with shells, specifically with the creatures that live in them (most of which are poisonous).  One day, a reporter is stung by a cone shell (that crawled from the ocean into his house) and goes into deathly coma.  The cone shell is a predatory sea snail called a geography cone has twelve kinds of venom in its teeth.  The woman was pronounced incurable, and yet twelve hours of catatonia later she emerged claiming to have had a religious experience.  From then on, the shell collector’s life is turned upside down. (more…)

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John Berger–“A Brush” (Harper’s, September 2010)

Posted in A House, Art, Harper's, John Berger, Short Story on August 28, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: A HOUSE-“More Endless Art” (1991).

Lar, my encyclopedia of music, pointed me to this second version of “Endless Art” by A House.  The original was all male artists.  This follow-up is all female artists.

I enjoyed this version very much, and it made me realize that I was tired of the original song because of the lyrics, not the music (listening to spoken word bits over and over can be exhausting). So, now I get a new version of the song with brand new lyrics to think about.

The video doesn’t go anywhere near the conceptual peak that the first one achieved, I’m not even sure who made it.

Watch it below, or look for the “Endless Art” single.

[READ: August 21,. 2010] “A Brush”

I read John Berger’s Ways of Seeing back in graduate school.  It’s a group of essays about perception and art.  I had no idea that he wrote anything else, and promptly forgot about him.  So, imagine my surprise to see this piece of fiction written by John Berger (and a little research indicating that it is the same guy).  I liked Ways of Seeing but it didn’t impact my life in any major way, this was all just an interesting (to me) coincidence.

I wasn’t really sure what to think of this story as it opened.  It talks of a paint brush.  And the wording of it was a bit odd, I felt:

I want to tell you the story of how I gave away this Sho Japanese brush.

But it’s the description of the brush that I found so compelling:

I drew often with it. It was made of the hairs of horse and sheep. These hairs once grew out of a skin. Maybe this is why when gathered together into a brush with a bamboo handle they transmit sensations so vividly. When I drew with it I had the impression that it and my fingers loosely holding it were touching not paper but a skin. (more…)

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Benjamin Percy–“Keep Doing What You Are Doing, James Franco” (Esquire, September, 2010)

Posted in Benjamin Percy, Esquire, James Franco, Keiji Haino, Pan Sonic, Short Story, Technology on August 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PAN SONIC & KEIJI HAINO @ Volksbühne Berlin 15.11.2007 (2007).

My friend Lar wrote an awesome review of the Pan Sonic & Keiji Haino live album (with the greatest title ever) Should I Download a Black Hole and Offer It To You? Read it here.

In the post he embedded the clip that is the soundtrack (which you can see here).  I don’t really know either of these artists, but I know they play extreme music (a new genre, I am told).  This is a wonderfully noisy track.  Keiji Haino plays a squalling noisy feedback filled whirl of a guitar solo.  After a few minutes the noisemakers Pan Sonic seem to manipulate the noise that Keiji was making, adding all manner of more noise to it.  (And a very large green square behind them).

The biggest surprise is how in tune his guitar is at the end of the track.

I can’t even imagine how intense of a live show this must’ve been.  And I think I’m afraid to listen to Black Hole.  Although I am very curious to hear Track 8.

[READ: August 19, 2010] “Keep Doing What You Are Doing, James Franco”

This issue of Esquire features James Franco on the cover.  There are five ways of viewing Franco presented in the feature story (online there are 8).  The trange thing is that the interview with him is actually quite short, with these other things taking up a lot more real estate.

I have not enjoyed Percy’s stories in the past, but I like Franco so I of course read this one.  It starts out amusingly enough with Franco watching himself on TV (a not unreasonable assumption).

Percy pushes the story to its illogical extreme in which everyone in the world is James Franco.  And that’s pretty much it.  (Thankfully it is short). (more…)

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John Barth–Lost in the Funhouse: Fiction for Print, Tape, Live Voice (1968)

Posted in Anachronisms, Books about writers, David Foster Wallace, Funny (strange), Gods, Huh?, John Barth, Language, Meta, Postmoderism, Short Story, Therapy?, Unfinished, War on August 19, 2010| 6 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THERAPY?: Music Through a Cheap Transistor: The BBC Sessions (2007).

I enjoy the title of this disc quite a bit.  Fortunately, I also enjoy the music quite a bit.  This is a collection of BBC recordings from Therapy?

It’s a strange collection in that they recorded songs on five separate occasions and yet there is a lot of duplication of tracks (the liner notes deal with this issue).

John Peel Sessions (and there’s much made in the liner notes about the fact that they thought they’d be meeting Peel himself when they went in, when in fact it was just a random engineer) are essentially live recordings done in the studio.  They tend to be slightly more experimental (done after a band has toured and messed around with the songs some) and for some bands (like Therapy?) they tend to be more raucous.

This collection was recorded from 1991-1995 with a final show in 1998.  Obviously the band isn’t thinking about the future CD release of the sessions when they recorded these sessions, so it probably didn’t seem strange to record “Totally Random Man” 3 times.  But it does seem strange to listen to it like that.

The songs are definitely rawer than the studio versions.  Even their more poppy tracks from 1998 are a bit harsher.  However, their first EPs were really raw, so these songs sound much better (much cleaner).  They also include a lot of fun/weird unreleased tracks and covers.

My only complaint is that neither version of  “Teethgrinder” features that awesome drum sound that is my favorite part of the track.  Otherwise, it’s a great collection.

[READ: June 1, 2010] Lost in the Funhouse

I checked out this book so I could read the title story.  I enjoyed that one quite a bit so I decided to read the whole collection.  The Author’s Note says, “while some of these pieces were composed expressly for print, others were not. For instance: “‘Glossolalia” will make no sense unless heard in live or recorded voices, male and female, or read as if so heard.”  Um, yeah.

The first story: “Frame-Tale” consists entirely of this: “Cut on dotted line, twist end once and fasten AB to ab, CD to cd.” The cut part is a strip of paper that reads: “Once Upon a Time There/Was a Story That Began.”  It’s cute.

The next story, “Night-Sea Journey” is a proper story of a night sea journey. The secret to the story is gradually revealed, and is rather amusing. (more…)

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Dinaw Mengestu–“An Honest Exit” (New Yorker, July 12 & 19, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Dinaw Mengestu, New Yorker, Racism, Short Story on August 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SARAH HARMER-“Captive” (2010).

Sarah Harmer has a new disc out.  Recently my wife Sarah has discovered her in our CD collection and has been listening to her a lot.  I’ve enjoyed her for years, and I always look forward to her new albums.

Somehow I missed that this one came out, but this track is currently #3 on the CBC Radio 3 chart.  Or you could listen to it on her page there.

This song is uptempo and catchy and could easily be a big hit. Her last album was more country/bluegrassey, but this song is pure rock (pop rock, but rock nonetheless).

The bridge of the song is a mysterious affair which adds a lot of personality to this bubbly track (with a fun chorus).  I’m glad that Sarah has more songs out and that my Sarah will soon have more music to listen to.

[READ: August 4, 2010] “An Honest Exit”

Dinaw Mengestu is another of the New Yorker‘s 20 Under 40.  This is the story of a University teacher.  His father recently passed away and he feels compelled to talk about it to his class.  So when class begins, he almost-accidentally tells them his father’s story.

Initially I was a little disappointed in the piece because, while his father’s life is horrifying and interesting, it seemed to fit squarly into my limited knowledge of what I knew about the situation: He was an engineer in Ethiopia but was reduced to nothing after attending a political rally.  He walked across the country to Sudan in hopes of escape.

When he arrived in Sudan he was starving, desperate to find any kind of work.  Finally, a man named Abrahim took pity on him and found him a job delivering hot tea to workers.  Abrahim was like a benevolent dictator to him, helping him and plotting his escape to London; however, all the while the narrator’s father was very distrustful of him, always assuming the worst (and why shouldn’t he?). (more…)

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Téa Obreht–“Blue Water Djinn” (New Yorker, August 2, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Atlantic, Death, New Yorker, Rheostatics, Short Story, Supernatural, Téa Obreht, tagged on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Barrymore’s, Ottawa, ON, February 2, 1996 (1996).

This is one of the other early shows from the Rheostatics.  It’s an audience recording.  And what that means is that there are a  few voices (young girls mostly) which have been immortalized and whose conversation has been listened to by many many people over the last 12 years.

The recording quality is okay. (And hearing somebody ask, “What do you think?” is charming.)

But the real reason to check out this download is for their cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.”  The rest of the show is definitely staticky; it’s hard to make out the nuances of the songs, which is a bummer. But on some of the tracks, the band is louder than the crowd (the remastering work is actually quite good) it’s a good (and very long) show.

[READ: August 28, 2010] “Blue Water Djinn”

Téa Obreht is the author with the most to prove in the list of 20 Under 40 authors.  Her first book doesn’t come out until next year! And as far as I can tell her only other published fiction is the short story “The Laugh” in the Atlantic (which I will likely read next week).  So, I’m rooting for her!

Nevertheless, this story is one that I wouldn’t have read based on the opening section.  Although it discusses a dead Frenchman, the remainder of the introduction is about a young boy who lives at the hotel which his mother owns.

There was just something that didn’t interest me about the setting.

The story proceeds with the hotel workers seeking the body of the Frenchman (his clothes were found piled on the beach).  They assume he has drifted off to sea.  The boy lingers at the edges of the workers (he is forbidden from swimming in the sea while his mother is away).   (more…)

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