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Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

Akhil Sharma–“A Life of Adventure and Delight” (New Yorker, May 16, 2016)

Posted in Akhil Sharma, Canadian Music, Charles Baudelaire, Charles Bukowski, Essays, History, Kevin Hearn, Lou Reed, Mirrors, New Yorker, Prostitution, Ratt, Rheostatics, Sex, Short Story, tagged on May 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 may162SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (December 9, 2016).

First of two shows at The Horseshoe Tavern featuring the return of Dave Clark on Drums. Featuring Hugh Marsh on Violin and Kevin Hearn on Vocals and Keyboards.

I’m not sure how many shows the band played since the previous show in April.  This show was eight months later and the improvement in Martin’ on stage behavior is remarkable.  He seems calm and comfortable.  He hits his notes and (almost) doesn’t forget any lyrics.  Hugh Marsh is on violin.

This is a really remarkable show.

It’s also the introduction of five new songs!

The recording sound is quiet and a little flat, so you really don’t get a good exposure to the new songs which don;t sound that great in this setting.

They start the show confidently with “Stolen Car” and Martin sounds great.  Tim says, we don’t have any setlists (no sure if that’s bragging or complaining).  It is followed by “King of the Past” with some soaring violins from Hugh.

“Claire” feels quiet, but the whole show does, like it’s missing a low end or something.  After the song, Tim says, “That’s it for the hits, sorry.”

But Dave counters, “Here come the near misses” and they launch into “P.I.N.”  Followed by a song from The Story of Harmelodia (Don;t worry it ends well) “It’s Easy To Be With You.”  They both sound poppy and great.

Dave mentions the “wintertime seasonal shenanigans” as Kevin starts playing samples of Mister Rogers: “Sandwiches.  I like to talk to you.  You’re very special to me.  Even if it were raining I’d like it with you.”  This is the lead in to “Michael Jackson” which has a lot of fun keyboard sounds on the verses.  The song instrumentation sounds very different, even if music hasn’t changed.

Then come the five new songs:

Music Is The Message (Tim Vesely) 4:45  This is a slow Tim song.  It is heavy on piano and,in fact, feels like the other guys aren’t really part of it (I assume the recorded version will sound bigger).

Before Dave’s song, Martin says:

“Remember… eye contact with the first three rows. Make love to their faces.”
Dave: “I don’t know if i can do that with all of those people.”
Martin: “You can a little bit.”
Dave: “I have my eye on someone special, Martin.”
Kevin: “You’re a man of great stamina.”

Mountains And The Sea (Dave Bidini) 5:05  This song has a sing-song quality with a kind of farty keyboards (a recording issue no doubt).  But once again, heavy on the piano and rather mellow.  There’s a kind of orchestral middle section that’s quite unlike a Dave song (there’s even soaring vocals).

Dave Clark: “Martin,  I’m not going to cheer because of those miserable people on deck.”
Martin: “The boys of the crew.”
Kevin: “Why don’t you like the boys of the crew?”
Dave: “They’re so cruel.”
Martin: “They kill stuff for fun.”
This is a lead in to The Albatross (Martin Tielli) 5:35 which Martin explains is pretty directly from a [Charles] Baudelaire poem called “The Unlucky Albatross.”   It’s a very Martin piece, quite theatrical.  It’s about the boys beating to death the unlucky albatross.  The middle section is a very theatrical waltz with muzzy keyboards and a plucked violin.

At the end, Martin says: “That was in 16/11.”  I’m not sure if he means the tempo or the year.

Someone shouts, “When are you releasing a new album?”
Bidnini: “It’s complicated.”
Martin: “We gotta get out of our contract with Sire Records, first.”  [much laughter]
Tim: “Forty more years don’t worry about it.”

Kevin’s gonna lead us in this next song, Chemical Valley (Kevin Hearn) 5:27.  It’s a very Kevin slow song (and quite long ).  Again lots of keys and limited guitar (sounds like maybe Martin is soloing trough).

Bidini: “Dave Clark on the drumset tonight.”
Someone in the audience shouts: “I love you, Dave.”
Bidini: “I love you too, ma’am.”
Tim: “Other Dave.”
Clark: “Wow, Tim is a tough crowd.”
Super Controller (Dave Clark) 4:55 has a big “ba da da” verse.

Then back to the older stuff with a great “California Dreamline.”  Martin sounds terrific.  And they joke about “spooning in the dry sand.”  Bidini: “We were into spooning like way before it was popular.”  Martin: “Before there was a word for it.”  Clark: “They tried knifing, they tried forking.”  Bidini: “You guys ever whisk?  That was dangerous.  We learned how to whisk in Vancouver.”

“Legal Age Life At Variety Store” has a wild wah wah solo from Hugh Marsh, it also has part of “Uncle Henry” and a song with lyrics “We’re digging a hole on a military trail” which I can’t place.

“Queer” sounds great (with excellent backing vocals) and has a reading by Kevin dad of “The Laughing Heart” by Charles Bukowski.  Kevin takes a little vamp through “I’m Waiting For My Man” before the song ends properly.

“Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” is wild with some cool keys floating over the top and then an effects-filled drum (and keyboard?) solo and then an “Alomar” type solo before the howls and sirens bring the song to an end.”

The pages says “Shaved Head” but there is no “Shaved Head,” just a long encore break.

They return with a walloping “Peoples Republic Of Dave” (“You ready for G sharp?”).  That was Martin’s request.
Kevin: “Was it from before you joined the band?”
Martin: “It was as I joined the band.”
Dave B:  “It was before I joined the band …weird.”

Martin sounds great on “Saskatchewan” and “Northern Wish.”

And they do come out for a second encore.  Clark says, “I’m gonna play brushed on this one.”
Martin: “We are Ratt.  This is called “Round and Round”

They start “Self Serve Gas Station,” with Martin messing up and joking (!) “Sometimes its gotta start right.”  He even throws in a jokey line: “What went wrong with Bilbo, is he dumb?”

In addition to Martin sounding fantastic, Clark is remarkably restrained.  back in the day he was t he wild and checked id of the band, making jokes, reciting poetry.   In this show he made one or two comments but was otherwise just an amazing drummer.

Knowing that they sound this good now means that I absolutely must see them again when they play next time.

[READ: June 16, 2016] “A Life of Adventure and Delight”

I found this story to be a little confusing.  The action all made enough sense, but there was something that felt…off about it.

As the story opens, Gautama is shoved into a police van with a bunch of other men.  It’s the first time he was arrested for calling a prostitute.  He was 24 and a student at NYU.

He was from Gwalior and knew he would have to get married one day, so he wanted to have as much sex as possible.  Perversely, he though that any woman who would have sex before marriage was depraved and foul.

Gautama had hired many prostitutes although his favorite thing was the negotiation (the actual sex was so immoral it was hard for him to enjoy it).

He was released the next day and made to do community service. (more…)

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Edwidge Danticat–”Without Inspection” (New Yorker, May 14, 2018)

Posted in Calgary Stampeders, Canadian Music, Cuba, Culture Shock, Death, Edwidge Danticat, Haiti, Live at Massey Hall, New Yorker, Short Story, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Tiny Desk Concert on May 15, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE-Live at Massey Hall (July 8, 2014).

The video opens with Nils Edenloff saying that this concert is an amazing posterity thing.  That it’s ungraspable for them right now, but they’ll look back after the fact and say, “Oh wow, I looked great then.”

“As a scrappy indie band it feels wild to be allowed to set their gear on stage for a spell.”

I have hears some songs by the band, but, wow, live they are a powerhouse.

The way “Luciana” opens is incredible: Drummer Paul Banwatt is a maniac sounding like two or three drummers as he crashes through some snare drum pattern variants and cymbals galore.

Nils Edenloff’s guitar has a great loud sound–very electric and large.  It sounds like the strings are loose wires smacking against the guitar and the fretboard (bot not detuned or anything).  And he sings with abandon.

Amy Cole’s keys are not as powerful as the rest but they provide a foundation for the rest of the band to play on

Muscle Relaxants has Cole singing backing vocals which fleshes out their sound even more.  They make a large racket for a trio that’s almost all acoustic.  Between songs, Nils comments:

“Wow you guys are quiet, no phones out, I guess.”

Don’t Haunt This Place is slower.  The vocal melody is familiar if not common, but the drums are just so thumping, it sounds great.  And the backing vocals are perfect.

Introducing “Tornado 87” he says

For those not from Alberta, you don’t have to sing Alberta songs if you’re from here, it’s just something we stumbled on.  Oddly enough we played part of this song last weekend at the Stampeders home opener and there happened to also be a tornado while we played this song.  Lets hope for the best tonight.

The song continues with the intensity of the other songs but it has a wonderful quiet middle section which erupts into an explosion at the end.

Two Lovers is solo, just Nils and his guitar.  It’s a nice break from the intensity.

“Terrified” is a new song that opens with just a guitar but then …boom…  great harmony vocals and a powerful chorus.

The show ends with “Stamp” which has a great clap-along section and wonderful ooohs to end the song.

This was the final video in Season One of the Live at Massey Hall series.   There are four seasons in total thus far.

[READ: May 9, 2018] ”Without Inspection”

This is the story of a man falling to his death: “It took Arnold six and a half seconds to fall five-hundred feet” is how it opens.

The story zooms in on Arnold’s mind for those six and a half seconds and the few seconds that remain before he actually dies.

He sees his son, Paris and Paris’ mother, Darlene.  And he flashes back to how they met, what has happened since they met and what he hopes will happen after he is gone.

The fall was unplanned and occurred when his left foot slipped off a scaffold and he fell out of the loosened (or broken) safety harness.

The story also details the fall–faster by the second. (more…)

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Daniel Mason–“Death of the Pugilist Or, The Famous Battle of Jacob Burke & Blindman McGraw” (Harper’s, March 2011)

Posted in Boxing, Daniel Mason, Gordi, Harper's, History, Justin Vernon, Research, Short Story, The Tallest Man on Earth, Violence on May 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GORDI-Tiny Desk Concert #740 (May 7, 2018).

I had an idea of what Gordi sounded like (a much more rocking band, who was I thinking of?)  Rather, Gordi is Sophie Payten a woman with a piano (and a harmonium and a guitar).  Gordi has a lovely deep voice (dusky and evocative) that is not afraid to break.

The blurb says her voice

usually gets enshrouded somehow: It often sounds like it’s echoing down a stairwell, or else she’s bathed it in vocal effects a la Imogen Heap or Gordi’s occasional tourmate, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. But Payten’s voice is an expressive and powerful instrument on its own, as her debut appearance behind the Tiny Desk demonstrates.

Aside from a bit of looping — in the strangely infectious notes that open “Heaven I Know,” from last year’s terrific Reservoir — Gordi here keeps her voice both unadorned and centered within warm, cool arrangements that include piano, acoustic guitar, pedal steel, a harmonium named Barbara, a saxophone played by Yellow Ostrich’s Alex Schaaf, and more. The effect here is rawer than on Reservoir, but that’s part of the point: These songs stand up to being stripped down, every time.

“Heaven I Know” is really pretty with a staggering sense of loss.  She met her backing badn while they were playing with The Tallest Man on Earth.  She plays piano, there an electric guitar and some kind of synths in the back.  And the drums (played by Zach Hanson) crescendo as needed.  The song runs a little long but it’s quite pretty.

For “Can We Work It Out” guitarist Alex Schaaf switches to saxophone.  Gordi pulls out the harmonium.  She says she bought the harmonium on the Australian version of Craigslist called Gumtree.  She bought it from an Indian lady named Barbara so the harmonium’s now called Barbara.

For the final song, “On My Side” she’s on guitar and Ben Les switches from keys to pedal steel.  The song is a little faster with some great harmonies from the drummer.

This is really lovely stuff.

[READ: October 10, 2017] Death of the Pugilist

Okay, so this is a boxing story.  That means that there is going to be a fight and the guy he is writing about is either going to win or lose.

That’s the attitude I took when I started this story–I don’t care for sports stories in general and feel that they have to work very hard to be more than just win or lose.

This story is a little different because each section starts with a question.

Who was Burke? His beginnings. (more…)

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Colin Fleming–“Find the Edges” (Harper’s, April 2018)

Posted in Arundhati Roy, Colin Fleming, Darlingside, Death, Harper's, Jealousy, Parenting, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on May 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DARLINGSIDE-Tiny Desk Concert #739 (May 4, 2018).

I genuinely can’t believe that Darlingside hasn’t done a Tiny Desk Concert before as they are a perfect band for it–four guys playing primarily acoustic instruments, singing gorgeous harmonies around one microphone–perfect..

But here they are for the first time sounding somehow bigger than they do live (must be the small space and the surprisingly loud bass).

If you’re Darlingside and you have three albums out (but two that fans really love) and you can only play three songs, what do you choose? You must choose something from Birds Say, of course, but what?

They chose “The God of Love” one of several gorgeous songs on the album and a showcase for Don Mitchell’s 12 string guitar and Auyon Mukharji’s violin.

I did not know that

“The God of Loss” was inspired by the Arundhati Roy book The God of Small Things, and by the main character’s attempts to preserve humanity in the face of competing forces.

As is standard practice, Harris Paseltiner give the opening introduction.  He speaks of being up since five and drinking decaf and eating a delicious quiche.  Don quips, “don’t worry you only have to hear about Harris’ morning in minute detail, not he rest of us.”

And then it’s time to move on to the new album.  The current single “The Best of the Best of Times” allows them to show off the new electronic gizmo that adds sounds to the album as well as Auyon’s mandolin.  It’s also really catchy, and Don throws in all kinds of unexpected dissonance with that little electronic thingy.

Auyon introduces the band by saying how they are similar to Bob Boilen (I did a little research on the internet).

Don: Tiny Desk Concert is named after a band that Bob was part of (Tiny Desk Unit) with a friend named Michael Barron.  Don has a friend named Michael with whom he plays music (Michael Cohen, different Michael, same idea).

Don: has a friend name Michael who whom he played music.  (Michael Cohen, different Michael, same Idea)

Harris: Bob grew up around Italian people and uses his hands to speak.  So does Harris.

Dave: thinks about the sound of words and how good it feels to say things and Bob’s “stage name” Bob Boilen is very pleasant to say so they probably gave that in common.

Auyon: Bob sometimes wears bolo ties I also sometimes wear bolo ties.

The end the set with Harris on cello and Auyon on violin playing the gorgeous, melancholy “Extra life” which

starts off the album with these lines:

“It’s over now
The flag is sunk
The world has flattened out
Under the under grow
I’ve always found
A level further down
As I begin to lose hold of
The fiery flowerbeds above
Mushroom clouds reset the sky
Extralife”

After the string-filled opening Harris jumps back to guitar and Auyon is back on mandolin while Dave Senft is playing the little electronic gadget this time

The opening is nearly a capella so that when the band kicks in, the full instrumentation on the second verse, it feels huge.

Through these end-of-time lyrics comes deep appreciation for what we have and what’s worth holding on to. And through it all Darlingside’s humor shines, with in-between chatter about quiche and common bonds. Don’t miss this band’s music. This is the perfect introduction to Darlingside, right here.

Every time I’ve heard them they’ve been great.  The only downside to this show is that it’s so short.

[READ: March 30, 2018] “Find the Edges”

This was a very sad, rather short story about death and a family disintegrating.

The central metaphor of putting a puzzle together was really effective without being obvious.

His wife loved jigsaw puzzles.  She always said to find the edges and work your way in. But the kitchen table, which usually held her puzzles was now filled with papers, bills for wreaths and the like.  Also on the table was a pie from the Rendons next store. (more…)

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Isaac Bashevis Singer–“The Boarder” (New Yorker, May 7, 2018)

Posted in Atheism, Canadian Music, Dan Behar, Destroyer, Holocaust, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Live at Massey Hall, Nazis, New Yorker, Religion, Short Story, The New Pornographers, Translation on May 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DESTROYER-Live at Massey Hall (July 10, 2014).

Destroyer is Daniel Behar (who is also part of New Pornographers and other bands).  Usually, Behar is surrounded by a lot of other people when he plays.  His music tends toward the symphonic.

But for this show (his first time at Massey Hall), it is just him with his acoustic guitar.

In the introduction he says that he gave up playing the guitar a long time ago, but he couldn’t just do a set with him signing a capella so….  He observes that he’s been playing with an 8 piece band–they solo forever and I’m barely singing anymore.  So this is quite something.

He seriously downplays the show saying he doesn’t even really like “guy with guitar” music, he’s more into Sinatra or the Stones.  “This is an anti-advertisement for the show I’m about to play.”

He plays songs from throughout his catalog.

“Foam Hands” is not that different, although I do prefer the recorded version.  In this version, though, I like the way he plays the end chords loudly and dramatically and the way the song abruptly.

“Chinatown” is a much bigger song on record with backing vocals and a rather cheesy sax throughout.  So I like this version better.

He introduces “Streets on Fire” this way: “Here’s a song I wrote 20 years ago.  Showing off because lots of you couldn’t write songs twenty years ago because you didn’t know how to say anything.  Couldn’t play guitar.  Didn’t know the chords didn’t know words.  Pathetic.

The song is from his debut when it was just him and a guitar.  This version sounds 100 times better.

“European Oils”  I love this song from Rubies and I especially love the orchestration of it.  So while I enjoy this stripped down version I’ll take the record.

The original of “Your Blood” is a romping fun song (also from Rubies).  This is slowed down but still nice.  And of course I enjoy that my daughter is mentioned; “Tabitha takes another step.”

“Savage Night at the Opera” has a great bass sound in the original, although this stripped down is very nice.

“Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Sea of Tears)” is a quiet song (the original has drums and piano but’s not that different from what’s here).  It’s quite pretty as is the whole set.  A real treat for fans of Destroyer.

[READ: May 3, 2018] “The Boarder”

This story was translated from the Yiddish by the author.  Singer died in 1991, so I’m not sure if this is a recently found story or an old one that has just been published..

This is a simple story about a pious man and a non-believer.

Reb Berish is the pious man.  He eats only twice a day; he prays for many hours a day.  He had recently retired from his business in fabric remains and had little to do.  Over the last forty years, his wife had died, his son had died and his daughter had married a gentile in California.

He didn’t want to live alone so he took in a border, Morris Melnik. Melnik paid $15 a month, but that wasn’t the point.  Berish was taking pity on the man who had literally nothing left in his life–no family, no job, no God.  Melnik was a heretic; a nonbeliever.

He mocked Berish for praying “to the God who made Hitler and gave him the strength to kill six million Jews.  Or perhaps to the God who created Stalin and let him liquidate another ten million victims.”

It sounds like the premise for a sitcom, but this story does not do that. (more…)

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Gail Hareven–“The Slows” (New Yorker, May 4, 2009)

Posted in Bry Webb, Gail Hareven, Live at Massey Hall, New Yorker, Racism, Sci-fi, Short Story, The Future, Yaacov Jeffrey Green on May 4, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BRY WEBB-Live at Massey Hall (May 31, 2014).

I thought I hadn’t heard of Bry Webb, but it turns out that he is the singer for the iconic brash band Constantines.  I have enjoyed almost everything they’ve put out.  But I had no idea that Webb also wrote pretty, acoustic ballads.

For this show he is backed by The Providers, a five piece band with interesting instrumentation.  Aaron Goldstein plays pedal steel and Rich Burnett plays lap steel guitar, two similar but distinctive sounding instruments.  They’re with Anna Ruddick on upright bass, Nathan Lawr on drums and Tom Hammerton on keys.

He opens with two songs from his first album.  “Undertaker” opens the show and sets the tone of catchy folk songs.

“Asa” starts with a nifty drum intro before settling into a nice folk song with a prominent lap steel and pedal steel (I’m not sure which is playing what).

“Big Smoke” is a newer song with a bit more complex arrangements.  Webb has a great, gritty deep voice that works nicely for his songs.

Then he returns to his first album for “Lowlife.”  The two-guitar interplay at the end is really pretty.  He jokes, “We put that little jam rock session there for the folk festivals this summer.  Picture yourself a hippie mom… flowing…  doing the hippie mom dance.”

He tells a story about his friend Will who was an usher at Massey Hall and used to get him into shows.  Will said that an usher was not to look famous guests in the eye.  But Gordon Lightfoot came to do a small comeback run.  Will worked up the courage over the course of a week to look at Gordon in the hallway.  On the last night, Will walked past him and nodded to him.  He got a scolding but it was totally worth it.

“Fletcher” is a mellow folk song that starts with just him on the guitar.  After a couple of verses, the band adds in their quiet additions. The song builds to a long jam with two pedal steel guitar solos at he end  “There’s that hippie jam again.  We lifted that one right from the Dead.”

For the final song they play “Receive Me” a new song that has some really cool moody elements including a lot of organ and a wild noisy lap steel solo.  There’s another rocking jam at the end.

I’m used to Constantines breaking things and being wild, but this is a great other side to Webb.

[READ: April 4, 2016] “The Slows”

I loved this story.  The construction was fantastic.

There’s something compelling to me about that fact that it was written in Hebrew (translated by Yaacov Jeffrey Green).  I don’t think of Hebrew as being the language of choice for interesting, futuristic, sorta sci-fi stories.  Maybe it’s time I do, though.

The story opens with bad news.  The Preserves, home of The Slows, is going to be closed to further study.  The narrator is especially dismayed about this because not only is it his job that has been cut but he has grown strangely attached to the Slows.

He met the news of the closing with a lot of whiskey and a terrible hangover the next day.

The Slows, it turns out, are a kind of primitive human.  On this particular day, one of the Slows has managed to get past security and into his office.  She has brought her human larva with her and is complaining that her grandmother was one of the people to sign the treaty protecting the Slows. (more…)

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Robert Coover–“Treatments” (New Yorker, April 30, 2018)

Posted in Anachronisms, Fairy Tales, Feminism, Film & TV, Funny (strange), Huh?, Language, New Yorker, Postmoderism, Robert Coover, Short Story, Superorganism, Tiny Desk Concert on April 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SUPERORGANISM-Tiny Desk Concert #735 (April 25, 2018).

Superorganism came out of nowhere with the weird song “Something for Your M.I.N.D.” a weird hybrid of pretty much every genre.  Is was catchy and irritating at the same time.

I didn’t really think too much of them until I started hearing a but more about them.  And that their show at a small club in Philly sold out really quickly.  Then I learned more about the band and saw a live video performance and they seemed really interesting.

Are they a novelty band?  Sure.  But they are having a lot of fun, and that goes a long way with me.  Especially if the songs are catchy.

Why does it take 7 people to make simple, catchy pop songs?  I have no idea.  But they all seem to be important in their own way.

The multinational band of theatrically fun and talented musicians in Superorganism mix melody and mischievous with almost Seussian folly. In addition to the 20-plus inflatable whales they provided, the band requested via email that we provide “7 x Crunchy apples, 7 x cans of Coca Cola (or similar, as long as they are 330mls/12oz cans it doesn’t matter).” They added, “PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT A RIDER BUT PART OF THE PERFORMANCE.”

When the seven members of the band arrived and huddled behind my desk, they blew into straws, making percussive noises, used toy cars and radios for sound effects and added lots of handclaps. And in the midst of it all was Orono Noguchi, a small-framed, self-described “average 17-year old Japanese girl living in Maine.” (That’s from an email she wrote me last year). The band set up a couple of belt pack guitar amps for their Moog and electric guitar, along with a big Anvil road case to beat on for percussion – and then they sang about prawns.

The first song “The Prawn Song” really shows everything you need to know about the band (and whether they are for you or not).  Noguchi sits, sing/speaking deadpan lyrics.  The other six splash in buckets of water, blow bubbles in glasses, honk horns and clap a lot.  There’s also a lot of backing vocals.  And a guitar.  And the word?

“Oh, have you ever seen the prawn cause a world war?
Have you ever kissed a prawn; got a cold sore?
Have you ever seen a prawn kick off?
Have you ever seen a prawn in a pair of handcuffs, oh

You people make the same mistakes
Over and over, it’s really kinda dumb, oh
Slow learning is kinda your thing

You do you, I’ll do me / Chillin’ at the bottom of the sea and I say…

[Chorus]  I’m happy just being a prawn.

“Night Time” has a bit more “music” and fewer  effects (relatively), but still a lot of handclaps.  It’s catchy and quieter than their usual frenetic songs (being about nigh time).  But there’s still some fun quirk in it (especially the end).

Then they play “Something for Your M.I.N.D.” (and not their new single “Everybody Wants to Be Famous,” which surprised me).  There’s a Beck’s “Loser” aspect to the lyrics of this song.  Once again for a seven piece band, their music is surprisingly minimal.

And they do actually use the apples in this song.

There is much fun to be had with all the songs and I can’t decide if Noguchi’s deadpan makes things even more fun or if I just want to assure her that it’s all okay.

I bought tickets to an upcoming show of theirs because who even knows if they’ll be around in a year, so enjoy them while I can.

[READ: April 25, 2018] “Treatments”

I often feel like Robert Coover’s writing consists of him getting an idea, writing it down as it comes to him, editing it for spelling and then releasing it.

This is actually three short pieces here and each one is a “treatment” for a terrible/absurdist take on a clichéd movie.

“Dark Spirit” is a surrealist twist on the Beauty and the Beast Tale.  I love when Coover puts in a nugget that makes you go, woah!, like “The industry is obsessed with this hackneyed tale, once inflicted upon young virgins to prepare them for marriage to feeble old buzzards with money.”  Woah, that blew my mind.  It seems so obviously true, and yet I never heard it put that way before. (more…)

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Guillermo MartInez–“Vast Hell” (New Yorker, April 27, 2009)

Posted in Alberto Manguel, Death, Guillermo MartInez, John Moreland, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Thirty Called Arson, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation on April 27, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JOHN MORELAND-Tiny Desk Concert #733 (April 20, 2018).

I don’t know John Moreland, but the blurb says he was in a metal-core band.  That band was Thirty Called Arson.  The blurb also says it’s hard to believe that he was in such a band, but I can hear the gravel in his voice, as sweet as it may seem.

Moreland falls into that Steve Earle kind of alternative country that I begrudgingly like.  I especially liked the first song.

Moreland and his musical partner John Calvin Abney kick off the Tiny Desk Concert with “Sallisaw Blue,” a song originally recorded in a bar in Moreland’s hometown of Tulsa.

“Down for the count, along for the ride
Sipping cold medicine, ruining our lives
Slumming I-40 with American songs
They can bury our bodies in American wrongs”

This is one of those funny situations where the main guy’s sidekick is the far more musically talented fellow.  John Calvin Abney plays a wild harmonica and some cool solos as well as adding all kinds of grace notes to the song.  Of course, it is Moreland’s voice that is the centerpiece.  And really, I love the chorus of this song.  I love the chord progression and how unexpected it is coming from those verses.

“Old Wounds,” is a slower song.  It’s got the disturbing lyric, “if we don’t bleed, it don’t feel like a song.”

It’s a style of storytelling and image-painting that John Moreland has been making with his guitar for at least the past ten years, over seven albums. His songs are filled with characters and tales of broken love and broken people.

“Cherokee” continues with those broken people: “I guess I’ve got a taste for poison / I’ve given up on ever being well. / I keep mining the horizon / digging for lies I’ve yet to tell.”  The melody is pretty and the accompanying guitar is quite lovely.

Moreland would be a treat if he opened for someone I wanted to see.  I would enjoy a 30 minute set from him.

Especially if he plays a Thirty Called Arson song

[READ: April 12, 2016]: “Vast Hell”

This was a short story (just a couple of pages) but it was packed with so much.  And I loved how by the time it was over I had more questions than answers.  I also loved the very strange way it was constructed.

With such a great opening sentence

Often when the grocery store is empty and all you can hear is the buzzing of flies, I think of that young man whose name we never knew and whom no one in town ever mentioned again.

(more…)

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Yiyun Li–“A Flawless Silence” (New Yorker, April 23, 2018)

Posted in Arranged Marriage, Digging In the Crates Crew, Fears, Hillary Clinton, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, O.C., Parenting, Racism, Short Story, Soul'D U Out, Tiny Desk Concert, Yiyun Li on April 23, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: O.C.-Tiny Desk Concert #732 (April 18, 2018).

This is where I get to complain again that The Breeders had three songs when O.C. [Omar “O.C.” Credle], whom I have never heard of (although he is apparently a classic) gets five songs in nearly 19 minutes.  Bogus.

As a member of Brooklyn rap collective Diggin’ In The Crates, Omar Credle, aka O.C., helped shape what was known as the golden age of 1990s rap. Marked by loops sourced from jazz recordings and lyrics rooted in one-upmanship, O.C’s two ’90s albums made him a rapper’s rapper, an underground star.

I’ve never heard of him but he is sure confident in his crew’s impact (which seems about right I guess.  It’s interesting that they were known for sampling, but they have a live band.  The band sounds fantastic by the way.

O.C. was joined at his Tiny Desk by Soul’D U Out, a jazz ensemble led by Grammy-winning trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown. The live instrumentation replicated the sample-heavy original recordings perfectly.

They mostly play old songs, but they start with a new one: “New Day,” from O.C.’s 2017 album which features young R&B singer Tay Bell on the hook.  Bell’s vocals are quite high-pitched.  I thought he was a woman at first (just hearing him, not seeing him).  But his voice adds a great fullness to the song.  That live trumpet is amazing, as is the quiet fuzzy guitar from Marcus Machado that runs throughout the song.

He says he wants to get into the old stuff.  He asks, “How many over 45?”  A woman replied, “Oh, that’s wrong.”  He laughs and says, “I’m only 23.”

The rest of the set was vintage cuts from O.C.’s heyday. “Day One,” a D.I.T.C. posse cut, featured emcee and producer Lord Finesse.

Robert “Lord Finesse” Hall gets a verse, which he delivers with a great style I actually like his more than O.C.).  I also love the vibes even if they are only on keys (by Chris Robs).,  He says that the song is about “20 years of history.”  Referring to other rappers, he says, “we birthed a lot of them, they might not say it, but I will. without D.I.T.C, there’d be no digging n the record crates. ”  I seriously doubt that statement, but whatever.

Then O.C. treated the crowd to a version of “Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers” (the one and only song by him, Jeru The Damaja and Chubb Rock).

I was more impressed by the trumpet than anything else.  The sounds he gets at the end are amazing.

He had to fit in his seminal banger and arguably most popular song, “Time’s Up,” from Word…Life.

He says “I hated this record when I made it but people convinced me to do it.”  Huh.  I like the cool bass from Parker McAllister that runs through the song.

The finale got personal when O.C. relayed the importance of the song “Born 2 Live.” “This is dedicated to a friend of mine who got killed down in Baltimore,” he said. “Every time I do this record, it’s somber. … But it’s a celebration at the same time. So I’m a just party it out and have a good time with it.” With a little help from Soul’D U Out, we did, too.

I’m only a little disappointed that the drummer (Camau “Klutch” Bernstine, whose hair is awesome) didn’t get to show off a bit more. He was really solid but there was nothing fancy.

I’m not bummed that he got 20 minutes, because I enjoyed his set, but let some other folks go over time too!

[READ: April 17, 2018] “A Flawless Silence”

Yiyun Li is perhaps the most consistently enjoyable New Yorker author for me.  I love the pacing of her stories and I love the way she tackles large and small personal issues sometimes at the same time.

This story is about a woman, Min.  She grew up in China but moved to America when her now husband proposed to her. As the story begins, she is with her twin daughters in the car.  They are fighting , of course, until one of them says that Kevin, a boy in their class is a Republican.

How do they know?  Because the teacher instructed them to write to either presidential candidate and while everyone class wrote to Hilary Clinton, he chose to write a supportive letter to the male candidate (Yiyun Li uses his name but I don’t feel compelled to). (more…)

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Jesse Eisenberg–“I Didn’t Win Any Pulitzer Prizes This Year” (New Yorker online, April 17, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Funny (ha ha), Jeff Tweedy, Jesse Eisenberg, Kronos Quartet, Music, New Yorker, Play (Drama), Short Story, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco on April 17, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JEFF TWEEDY-Live at NPR Music’s 10 year Anniversary Concert (December 2, 2017).

I’m going to be seeing Jeff Tweedy live tomorrow night.  So I prepped for the show by watching this 20 minute session from NPR Music’s 10th anniversary.

There were a lot of performers at this Concert but for me Tweedy’s 20 minutes was the highlight.  He stood on stage with his white jacket and white cowboy hat and he effortlessly played five songs that spanned nearly 25 years. (There’s a terrific version of “Born Alone” which Tweedy sings with Kronos Quartet here).

His guitar playing is simple but effective and works as a perfect backdrop for his the focus of his voice and lyrics.

Thankfully for us and the audience at our 10th anniversary concert on Dec. 2 at the 9:30 Club, Tweedy’s set managed to run the gamut of [his] celebrated career. From his beginnings as a slack, alt-country rocker (playing Uncle Tupelo’s “We’ve Been Had”) and A.M.-era Wilco (with “Passenger Side”) to his recent turn as Mavis Staples’ producer and songwriter (on “Jesus Wept”) and later, Nels Cline-era Wilco (“Locator”).

The constant in all this experimenting is Tweedy’s voice as a singer and songwriter — one that invites a deep trust, even when it courts darkness. Performing solo with an acoustic guitar, his voice was once again at the center of it all.

The first song, “Bombs Away,” was previously unreleased.  The lyrics were thoughtful and stark

“I leave behind a trail of songs / from the darkest gloom to the brightest sun,
I’ve lost my way, but it’s hard to say / what I’ve been through should matter to you.”

When he starts Uncle Tupelo’s “We’ve Been Had” the smoke machine sends wafts across his face.  “Is something on fire?  …  I am cooking!”  The song soars and is one of the more upbeat songs he plays.

He follows with “Locator” from Schmilco.  It’s certainly odd on the record, but this acoustic version lets you see the foundation of the song before all of the cool effects are added.

He plays the pretty but rather downbeat “Jesus Wept” which is something that he worked on with Mavis Staples for their collaborative album.  I don’t know her version, but his is delightful.  When it’s over he says, “I thought I’d pull that one out because it’s such a big celebration….  It’s a fun song.  Can anyone think of a song I should play that’s celebratory?”  [audience shouts out].  Jeff continues, “so you don’t know any of my songs, that’s cool.”

Someone shouted out “Passenger Side” and he plays that.

He ends with “I’m The Man Who Loves You” which gets lots of applause.  He has some fun with fast guitar playing, and he is clearly having a grand time.

I can’t wait to see what he does with a full set.

 

[READ: January 25, 2017] “I Didn’t Win Any Pulitzer Prizes This Year”

This piece was not in the magazine.  It was in the Daily Shouts section online.  I am refraining from writing about these online-only posts in general, but this one slipped past my print-only radar.

Just how do you stretch out a premise like this for an entire essay?

He explains that this egregious omission continues his twenty-nine year streak of not receiving even one of these prizes.

Overlooked in nonfiction: an email with the subject line “Re: (No Subject).”  The Prize committee did not conclude that the email was informative “but its brevity was what pushed it over the edge.” (more…)

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