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Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

James Tate–“Terminix” (Harper’s, June 2007)

Posted in Harper's, Huh?, James Tate, Pandas, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Tower of Power, Work on August 25, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TOWER OF POWER-Tiny Desk Concert #775 (August 13, 2018). 

I don’t listen to a lot of soul, but when the soul is firing, it is utterly infectious.

And when the soul is performed by veterans (Tower of Power formed in 1968), it’s even better.

The Tower of power features five horn players, a bassist, guitarist, drums and keys.  And they all gathered behind the Tiny Desk.

When the 10 members of Tower of Power were in place behind Bob Boilen’s desk, strategically positioned around the band’s famous five-piece horn section, their first collective blast three beats into the sound check literally made the video crew jump. It was more a force of nature than a sound, and an impressive display of the “five fingers operating as one hand” concept of band cohesiveness.  A band this big will inevitably have some members come and go, but it’s important to note that the original songwriting nucleus of bari saxophonist Stephen “Funky Doctor” Kupa and bandleader/tenor saxophonist Emilio Castillo continue to write and perform, as does original drummer David Garibaldi.

Meanwhile, lead singer Marcus Scott stood on the desk.  And man he was a powerful singer.  He could wail and hit some fantastic high notes while he was at it.  He really sets the stage well with “On the Soul Side of Town.”  It’s a new song and is nearly five minutes long/

The backing vocals are dynamite as is the wonderfully retro-sounding keyboard solo from Roger Ray.

Things quiet down for a guitar solo from Jerry Cortex that takes a few seconds to get gong but it sounds great once it gets there.

The other two songs were classics from their 1973 album Tower of Power.  The backing vocals sound old school (and totally right on).

The first “So Very Hard to Go” was introduced: “If you ever had your heart broken before, you’ll understand the words of this song.”  It’s a surprisingly mellow track after the wildness of the first song.  And as the blurb notes, “the playing, the passion and the precision remains unchanged after all the years.”

The next song has Marcus asking “the eternal question.”  “What is Hip?”  starts with a wailing guitar solo and then asks some questions, most of which are still more or less relevant  today:

So you want to jump out your trick bag
And ease on into a hip bag
But you ain’t just exactly sure what’s hip
So you start to let your hair grow
Spend big bucks to cop you a wardrobe
But somehow you know there’s much more to the trip

So you became part of the new breed
Been smokin’ only the best weed
Been hangin’ out on the so-called hippest set
Being seen at all the right places
Being seen with just the right faces
You should be satisfied
Still it ain’t quite right

You done even went and found you a guru
In your effort to find you a new you
And maybe even managed
To raise your conscious level
As you striving to find the right road
There’s one thing you should know
What’s hip today
Might become passe

By the end with the Scott leading everyone on to call and response cheers, it’s impossible not to feel good.

[READ: January 22, 2017] “Terminix”

This was a willfully deceptive story ad I enjoyed how crazy it would make anyone working in such a situation.

The narrator worked at a job that he felt was totally beyond his comprehension.

Finally, he asked the boss’ secretary is she could shed light on the work they did. She said, of course not

“It’s all set up so you can do your job without knowing. You’re supposed to enjoy the mystery of it.  I know I do. It’s very satisfying to me at the end of the day to know I’ve helped out without knowing anything. You have so much less baggage to carry home with you,”

He asks her is it has anything to do with pandas.  She laughs but doesn’t know.  He said there was a huge order of bamboo.  She says she assumed it was something to do with missiles.

Later the boss came to him ans asked what he and his secretary talked about. (more…)

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Susan Swan–“Boat Trouble” (The Walrus, July/August 2017)

Posted in Bachman Turner Overdrive, Boats, Buffalo Sabres, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Rheostatics, Sexism, Short Story, Tamara Williamson, The Spoons, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, Triumph, tagged on August 25, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Marine Midland Arena (November 26, 1996).

I’m not sure how many shows Rheostatics opened for The Tragically Hip, but there are quite a few of them available on Rheostatics Live.   I’m also not exactly sure where the tour took these bands, but this show in Buffalo is the only live recording on the entire Rheostatics Live site that was recorded in the U.S.

It’s interesting how different the band sounds in an arena–not their playing, just the bigness of their music.  The fans are clearly there for the Hip (you can hear lots of chanting of Hip! Hip! Hip!which is either obnoxious or fun, depending.  But they get a good reaction at least on recording,

They opened the show to “ding dong the witch is dead” from the Wizard of Oz.   There’s no graceful segue into the music, Martin just starts playing “A Midwinter Night’s Dream.”

This is a weird song (that I love).  It’s 8 minutes long with many different parts and no real catchy melody at all.  What a strange choice to play open an arena show as an opening act in the States.

In fact six of their eight songs comes from their new album.  This makes sense, except that they have actual hits that they could have played for potential fans, right?  Whatever, the show is great and the quality is mostly good.  Occasionally there’s some audible talking by (obnoxious, presumably drunken) men over the quiet parts.  But it’s not too bad.

They play a really good “Fat.”  Then Dave introduces the band in this way:

We’re the Rheostatics from Toronto, Canada.
We’re B.T.O. from Red Deer, Alberta.
We’re The Spoons from Burlington, Ontario.
We are every Canadian band that ever was and some that haven’t even been born yet.

The play “Motorino” which is about a motorcycle or scooter and dedicated it I believe to Brad May, the Buffalo Sabres player.

Tamara Williamson joins them for “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine.”  She and Martin sound great together.  It’s a bummer that during the quiet opening you can hear some meathead complaining about something–best not listen too closely to find out what.  There’s some loud tussling but it subsides.  The song has a great ending–although Martin doesn’t quite pull off the roaring guitar sound after the final Rich.  Strangely, he breathes very heavily into the mic after the song.

Don says “So far all of these songs have been from our brand new record.  And this next one is too.  And I think the only place it’s available in the States is right here in the lobby.”  They play a great “Bad Time to Be Poor” and I feel like Tim emphasizes the “don’t give a shit no more” line.

They finally play an older song with “Self-Serve Gas Station.”  Before playing the final song Dave says “To all those people in the cheap seats, we can hear your cheers.  We appreciate them.”  The final song is “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson.”  Way back when, this was the first song that I’d heard by them and I was instantly hooked.  I had to wonder if the Buffalonians felt the same way.  Although it’s interesting that instead of shouting “Michael” the first time around, Dave shouts “Triumph!”

During the verse, Dave says, “I see two angels with funny lights on their heads in the 11th row.  It’s like some kind of dream or something.”

Rather than doing their cool dissonant harmony ending, they gently fade the song out.  Its’ a very different ending and quite pretty.

It’s a solid 40 minutes of new material.  I’m also intrigued to see that they played a different set almost entirely at each future show.

[READ: June 20, 2017] “Boat Trouble”

This is The Walrus‘ Summer Fiction Issue with new fiction & poetry from 6 writers in total.  I won’t be reviewing the poetry, but I’ll be talking about the three short stories.

Stories in The Walrus have been on the dark side lately but while this one was a source or trouble for the characters, it was more dangerous than disheartening.  Except for the fact that the main character was a woman who was stupid enough to get involved with a cocky know-it-all who almost got them killed (and, even worse, apparently stayed with him for a time after that).

She was a native of Georgian Bay and she met François, a Parisian, at a yoga retreat in the Bahamas.  They maintained a long distance relationship and eventually she invited him out to the Bay. (more…)

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Alix Hawley–“My Pleasure” (The Walrus, May 2017)

Posted in Alix Hawley, BB Gabor, Boredom, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CFNY-102.1 The Edge, Toronto, Cooking, FM, Food, Funny (strange), Goddo, McDonald's, Moist, Pink Floyd, Prawns, Pure, Rheostatics, Short Story, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, tagged on August 24, 2017| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Etobicoke Collegiate Institute Auditorium, Etobicoke, ON (October 24, 1996).

This was a homecoming show for the Rheos performing at their old high school Etobicoke Collegiate Institute about a month before heading on the road to support The Tragically Hip on their 1996 Trouble At The Henhouse tour.

They play 6 songs from the soon to be released (in a week and a half) Blue Hysteria.

The band opens with a quiet, almost whispered version of “Self Serve Gas Station.”  The sound cuts out briefly after the “Is he dumb?” line but it quickly comes back up and then the song really takes off.

There’s some long banter.  After some silence, Martin says “Hi, we’re the Rheostatics, we’re playing in a high school.”  He continues, “That was a song about working in a gas station out in Rexdale at night.  I used to work there and bad stuff used to happen.  Tough guys at night.”

Dave wonders where they go know that the self-serve gas station is closed.  They go to the donut shop across the street.  No that’s gone too.

Martin says, No, it’s still there, it’s a little slicker–they franchised it.

Dave: So it’s a bittersweet return.

Martin: we should have built a little more momentum before the banter.

How about two songs in a row–go for two?

The first of the Hysteria songs, “All the Same Eyes” rocks along until a really bad chord right in the middle–but it doesn’t hinder them.  And then a great version of “Fat.”  Then Dave says, “Oh its says right here in the set list: “banter.””

Don, you’re not actually a native Etobicokian?

Don: No, but I did plenty of gigs down in Mimico high.  Tough crowd down in Southern Etobicoke.  The accent is slightly different.  They’re very crude.  And that currency thing.  And those little skirts the guys wear.  [much laughter].

Dave says the new album is coming out in a week and a half.  It’s named after Martins double neck guitar, The Blue Hysteria.

We don’t expect this one to be included in the record of the month club.  It’s a high o honor because all your aunts and uncles across Canada know you’re alive when they see your album in the record of the month club.

That’s all introduction to the title track form the album that was in the record of the month club.  “Introducing Happiness” starts out quietly but gets really rocking–the drums especially.

Someone shouts “Alien Song 88,” Dave replies, “you must be confusing that with “Aliens Christmas 1988.” From Dolphin Music? (Martin does a cool dolphin sound on his guitar).  Dave: “Who’s your favorite dolphin besides Flipper see you can’t name one can you?”

Another new song in “Four Little Songs” which they never get entirely smooth but which sounds good and gets a great response.

Then back to some old songs with a mellow, meandering “Saskatchewan.”

Dave tells a story: The first band I ever saw out of high school was FM–a progressive rock band, they had four albums.  “Phasers on Stun” was their big song.  But this was later FM, their fourth album.  Cameron Hawkins was no longer in the band. They had a Cameron Hawkins look-alike.  More like a tribute to FM.
Tim: It was late in their career when they were playing high schools.
Don: I saw Goddo at my high school.
Dave: Did he have the tearaway suit?  Martin: What was underneath it?  Dave: His big naked body, so it’s probably best that he didn’t have it.
Martin says “I saw Goddo at my high school BB Gabor”

Gabor Hegedus (1948 – 17 January 1990), known by the stage name BB Gabor, was a Hungarian-born Canadian pop singer. Gabor is best known for his 1980 single “Nyet Nyet Soviet (Soviet Jewellery)”, and had other minor hits with “Metropolitan Life”, “Consumer” and “Jealous Girl”.

Don: My friend ate french fries with Greg Godovitch once.  Martin: I met him in New York City in the lobby of a hotel and he said I might go far.
Dave: he said if you can make it out of Etobicoke Collegiate, you can make it anywhere.

Then for “Take Me in Your Hand,” Martin starts by playing and singing a half-assed verse of “My Sharona.”  But it resolved into a very pretty version of “Take Me.”

Before “Bad Time to Be Poor,” Martin says, “this is about scented toilet paper.”  Dave brings it back: we put out a CD pro single.  We sent it to CFNY.  They’ve been playing it a lot between Moist and Pure and stuff so we feel like we’re making progress.

It’s a kind of mellow “Bad Time” but you can really hear the powerful words.

There’s a nice acoustic guitar outro which segues into a lengthy “Claire” intro.  “Claire” is all chords to start–no finger picking.  There’s a rocking middle section with some awesome soloing from Martin–a noisy Neil Youngish solo and then a very mellow return. (Tim is singing kind of funny throughout).

Dave: How many people actually go to this school?  (silence, but presumably a bunch).  Thanks for those who actually go to this school.  It’s a tough call.  You’re in school all day and you wanna actually come back to the school?  (Someone shouts: It was worth it!).  Excellent…well it all down hill from here.

“California Dreamline” Dave misses the squealing guitars during the dolphins line, but no one is bothered by that.  It shifts into a rocking “Feed Yourself.”  The middle gets whispery, but a roaring end segues into “Aliens.”  It’s a little sloppy but it’s got a cool little circular riff in the middle of the instrumental section.

Tim says, “This is our last song, we gotta rush home and watch ourselves on TV after this.”  Dave: “We’re on The National tonight. They filmed us at Algonquin Park and our Group of Seven concert in Vancouver.” It’s an 18-minute documentary.

The final song is “Michael Jackson” which sounds kind of different.  They halt before the “it feels good to be alive” part and the Dave says “Lets do the first verse again.”  There’s a lengthy guitar solo jam at the end (and they do play that last part).

After the encore break, they ask “what would you like to hear?” (Lots of shouts.  Many for “Horses” someone shouts for “Torque Torque.”  And then someone else shouts for “Metropolitan Life” [a BB Garbor song].

Martin says, “Get ready for an onslaught.”  Dave: That’s the band that’s coming up after us.

The National‘s not on for an hour so we have time although we did pick our longest songs–lets hear it for epic rock.

Dave tells a story about going to high school classes to talk about what it’s like to be a musician.  It usually goes pretty well.  Although at Lakeview Collegiate it was a dead class–no feedback.  So he pulled out “my famous people I know thing.”

He smoked a joint with Neil Peart at his house.  He played road hockey with Metallica.  He met Michael Stipe.  Nothing registered Then someone asked, have you ever met Kurt Cobain and I had to say, no I hadn’t. Bummer.

Not a very happy story.

They play a great version of “A Midwinter Night’s Dream” (the first time they’ve played it on this site).

Dave asks: “You guys have school tomorrow?”  Cancelled!”  Cancelled on account of unity!”  A nice introduction to “Horses.”  It rocks.  In the middle they throw in a verse of “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2.”

This is a really great show in front o f home town crowd with decent audio.

[READ: April 17, 2017] “My Pleasure”

I did not enjoy Hawley’s previous story in The Walrus, which I felt was needlessly violent.

This story was far more interesting, but whereas I liked the brevity of the previous story, I felt like this one dragged on (and it was pretty short).

I enjoyed the beginning quite a bit.  Jasper is a twenty-five year old guy working at a McDonalds.  But he has a very distinct memory from when he was a child about a commercial for the short-lived McPrawnster sandwich: Arrrr!  A treasure with kick.

He didn’t like the job but he also didn’t mind it because interesting things happened sometimes. (more…)

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Italo Calvino–“The Adventure of a Skier” (New Yorker, July 3, 2017)

Posted in Ann Goldstein, Eric's Trip, Italo Calvino, Jane Siberry, John Tielli, New Yorker, People From Earth, Rheostatics, Short Story, Skiing, Snow, Spirit of the West, Translation, tagged on August 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATCIS-The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, Ontario (August 24, 1995).

24Aug1995-adThe blurb tells us: This was the first proper Don Kerr show in Toronto. They had played the Roadside Attraction tour but this was the first in Toronto. It also features 4 songs played for the first time – Connecting Flights (aka Two Flights of Stairs), Four Little Songs, Sweet,Rich,Beautiful and Mine, and All The Same Eyes (aka Crescent II). Also the only known cover version of Joe Jackson’s I’m The Man.

As the show opens, you can hear Martin playing some cool sounds but you can also hear people asking questions on the tape, like “what are you guys doing after?”  “It depends on who has what where.”  And the snarky response, “Oh I think I know who has what and I can tell you where it is.”

Then you can hear even more chatter: “We got the best seats in the house.  You’ve seen them before haven’t you?  We have to get right up front.  When we finish our drinks.”

Martin’s noodling resolves into a lovely “Song of Flight,” and once the song starts properly you can’t hear the talkers (aside from occasional shouts).  This segues into a gentle “California Dreamline.”   After Martin sings the line, “in love with each other” Dave chimes in “and all of them wearing shirts like that” (this is not the first time I wish there was a visual).  Shockingly, or not, you can hear the chatter again during the quiet section of the song.

There’s a kind of weird version of “MJ”—it feels like they’re being a little goofy with it.  It segues into a more folkie sounding than usual “Cuckoos.”

Dave chimes in that these “songs feature all kinds of strange beings and creatures cuckoos Michael Jackson (Martin: that’s the weirdest one of them all) whale people, bird people, turtle people, and people from space;  not to be confused with People from Earth [the opening band] who use their talent for good not evil.”  This is a lengthy intro to “Aliens” a song I love which I feel they hadn’t been playing very much.

This is the first known recording of “Fat” which wouldn’t come out until 1996.  It sounds great.

For some reason, Dave says, “I told you you shouldn’t have worn such a flashy shirt, Martin.”

For “Introducing Happiness,” Dave says, “Make us happy Tim, send us a little message of joy.”

“Claire” opens with Tim singing a couple of lines Spirit of the West’s “Scaffolding”  (from their then-new  album).  “Claire” features Tim oohing in the beginning (with a la la thrown in), I think this was  fairly recent convention.  There’s a pretty wild solo from Martin.  The whole song is nearly 7 minutes and when it’s over, Dave says, “That’s the weirdest version of ‘Claire’ we’ve ever done.  And that’s something, I think.”

Dave says they’re going to debut some new material tonight (I guess they’d played “Fat” before?).  The first is Tim’s brief “Connecting Flights.”

“Fishtailin'” has a quiet ending.  But it’s followed by a rocking “Dope Fiends.”  Dave says it’s a song about Etobicoke.  The middle features a drum solo (a good one with different drum sounds like in the previous show which also featured Don Kerr–although Dave calls him  something else.  It has a great soaring ending.

Dave says, “We’re going to do a very serious piece now. I think it’s our most profound work to date.  Tim chimes in: Especially the very end.   Before continuing, Tim says, “I think this is  our first proper show in Toronto with Don Kerr on the drums.”   Dave: “It won’t be our last we’re playing here tomorrow and Saturday.”

The “serious” song is “Four Little Songs” which they mess up right away and then start again.  The song sounds pretty much as the record does, except he says “I had a dream I was in Neil Peart’s kitchen.”

There’s a kind of cut in the tape and when it comes back, someone is shouting “finally, finally, it’s about fuckin’ time” and Dave says “no kidding eh, it’s about time we got serious and …”  Then he is interrupted: “you want me to take off my hat?  That’s a steel-rimmed hat.  That’s a Kodiak hat.  (Tim: it’s pure dachshund, that’s very expensive).  Dave: Do you want to wear it or do you just want to touch it?  What do you want to do?  There’s a thing with the scabies on the scalp. Not cooties… scabies.  Or is it rickets?

Dave continues, “We had a great summer we opened for The Tragically Hip on their Roadside Attractions tour.  They played with Eric’s Trip.  Julie from Eric’s Trip is going to open for us… Welcome Julie to Toronto! and Benji and Julie’ husband whose name I forget.”

They play another new one: “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine.”  After the song, Dave says, “Martin, I think that can be the slogan for the 90s what do you say.”

We’ll complete our new song trilogy with another new song: “All the Same Eyes” is another gentle Tim song which segues into a furious “RDA.”

Introducing “Self Serve Gas Station,” they tore down the gas station and the hopes and dreams of little Rexdale boys everywhere.  I’m awfully settlement about it.  How about you?”  Martin: “little boys love gas stations.”

Martin thanks the People From Earth for opening.  Some shouts they sounded too much like you… Martin replies.: “they’re related”  (Martin’s brother John Tielli was the lead singer).

“Self Serve” starts and then Martin stops it: “I thought Dave hit a wrong note but he was tuning, I forgive him.”

“Soul Glue” is as usual boppy and fun.  After the “They dragged the bottom of the lake” line, there; s a rough scratching guitar noise and Dave shouts “I found a shoe!.”  When they get to the end section Martin sings “didn’t say anything at all” (he hits a really high note–atypical for this song and it sounds great.”

They start the vocal introduction (you you you you) to “Horses” and someone in the audience shouts “Here we go.”  After Dave does a little chant the band starts.  It’s a very unusual version as the first verse is very quiet with Dave practically whispering the lyrics and the only loud thing is Tim repeating the “you you you” the song itself grows really intense, as it should.

During the encore break, Tim says “Don had to go to the bar to get beer for them. Sorry it took a little while.”

They end the show with two covers.  Dave announces that Jane Siberry has a new album out (that would be Maria). This is from her new wave period, her pink period, which is my personal favorite period.  “One More Colour,” obviously.  It’s followed by a fast, wild and chaotic version of Joe Jackson’s “I’m the Man.”  I can’t quite tell who is singing lead.

This is a really fun show with the introduction of new songs and some experimenting.  It was the last show of 1995 (on this site) excluding the Group of Seven show which was quite a different thing entirely.

[READ: March 4, 2009] “The Adventure of a Skier”

This is the first piece I have read by Italo Calvino.  Calvino’s name has been around for ages, but I honestly didn’t know a thing about him.

So, with that in mind, Italo Calvino was, at the time of his death, in 1985, the most translated contemporary Italian writer.  This story was translated by Ann Goldstein.

This was a simple, very simple story.

It begins with a bunch of disorderly boys clamoring for the ski lift.  There’s some wonderful details of just what an uncoordinated pack of rowdy boys looks like. (more…)

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William Trevor–“The Piano Teacher” (New Yorker, June 26, 2017)

Posted in Culture Shock, Das Efx, Deftones, Gang Starr, Jeru the Damaja, KRS-One, M.O.P., Marriage Trouble, Metallica, Nas, New Yorker, Royce Da 5'9", Short Story, Tool, William Trevor on August 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DJ PREMIERE & THE BADDER BAND-Tiny Desk Concert #644 (August 21, 2017).

This is a fascinating Tiny Desk Concert. DJ Premiere plays turntables–scratching records and hyping the audience.  But he is accompanied by a live band: a five string bass, a trumpeter, a trombonist and a drummer.

Who is Premiere?  Three-time Grammy winner DJ Premier, one of the definitive architects of New York hip-hop, brought a new type of life to NPR’s Tiny Desk: our first concert helmed by a DJ.

The set list rested on the undeniable footprint of Preemo’s classics, but this was more than just another DJ mix. His touring outfit, The Badder Band, overlaid Premier’s blends with an undulating electric bass courtesy of Brady Watt, a steady accent on the one from drummer Lenny “The Ox” Reece and boisterous horns from Mark Williams and Jonathan Powell.

I don’t know much about DJ Premiere, although I have learned that he was part of Gang Starr (which explains why there is so much Gang Starr represented here).  He medleys these songs together in a 24 minute mixtape

  • KRS-One – “KRS-One Attacks”
  • KRS-One – “MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know”
  • Das Efx – “Real Hip-Hop”
  • Nas – “Nas Is Like”
  • Jeru The Damaja – “Da Bichez”
  • Gang Starr – “Step In The Arena”
  • Gang Starr feat. M.O.P. – “1/2 & 1/2”
  • Royce Da 5’9 – “Boom”
  • Gang Starr – “Moment Of Truth”

So he spins the discs and includes some of the raps from the records.  Especially the ones where he himself is mentioned:

Clap your hands everybody, if you got what it takes
‘Cause I’m KRS and I’m on the mic, and Premier’s on The Breaks
(from “MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know”)

there’s also this line

If you don’t know me by now I doubt you’ll ever know me
I never won a Grammy, I won’t win a Tony
[Premiere points to himself and holds up three fingers at the Grammy line]

He gets the Tiny Desk crowd hyped with them repeating “Hell yeah, fuck yeah, the real hip hop.”

He does a lot of scratching and repeating with Das EFX

And he features some of these great lines:

Yo, you niggedy know that I’m back man
You’re wack man, I eat a rapper like I’m Pacman
I briggedy bring it, straight from the cella
Fo’ realla, packin more hits than Lou Pinella

It’s me the Nigga wit G’z
The B double O K-S
So say yes I’ll bust your caliber
When I pop shit and rock shit like Metallica

The original song is a simple slap bass line, but here the live band adds a cool funky bass line and live drums.  It’s really cool watching how he does all his turntable work

As it switches to Nas, the horns come in, playing a jazzy riff with some nifty bass underneath.  Premiere hypes everybody up Tiny Desk WHAT! Don’t be no motherfucking bitchez (from the Jeru the Damaja song).  There’s a ripping trumpet solo followed by an interesting trombone solo

Gang Starr gets a pretty lengthy rap from “Step in the Arena.”  There’s a pause and then the violins from “1/2 & 1/2” kick in.  Premiere air violins (poorly) before a shout out to M.O.P.  He raps the end line with the record.

He does a very long scratching intro to Royce Da 5’9’s “Boom” and the drummer spins his cymbal.  Premier adds some clicking sounds from another record.  He gets another name check in this song:

Me and Premier, we kind of the same in ways
We both speak with our hands in dangerous ways

He seems to be adding samples to Gang Starr’s final song.  He’s pressing buttons and making sounds but I don’t know if they are part of the original or not.

When the rapping is done, they jam for two minutes.  Premier plays some samples, the bass rumbles away, the drums keep a fast beat and the horns kick in to rock out to the end.

This is a really fun show and I could totally see how much fun a live DJ show like this would be if you knew the songs he was mixing.

[READ: June 25, 2017] “The Piano Teacher”

This is a short piece about a piano teacher, Miss Nightingale.

She was in her early fifties and was a quiet beauty.  Although single, she felt she was fortunate.  She might have married but is involved with a married man instead.

But mostly she is happy that she can make a living teaching students to play piano.

The boy with her now was a delightful student, eager and talented with a bit of cockiness.  Although he was always silent.  He seemed shy somehow–never prattling on and she couldn’t understand why he had been moved through several teachers already. (more…)

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Andrew Sean Greer–“It’s a Summer Day” (New Yorker, June 19, 2017)

Posted in Airlines, All Songs Considered, Andrew Sean Greer, Barenaked Ladies, Books about writers, Contests, Funny (ha ha), John Paul White, New Yorker, Newport Folk Festival, Poets, Sepultura, Short Story, The Civil Wars, Tiny Desk Concert on August 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JOHN PAUL WHITE-Live at the Newport Folk Festival (July 29, 2017).

I don’t really know all that much about John Paul White, except that he was in the fabulous duo The Civil Wars, and that he writes intelligent but downbeat folk music.

For indeed, his songs are not cheery by any stretch.  But they are very pretty.

I know the first song, “Black Leaf,” from his Tiny Desk Concert.  I loved it then and I love it now. After the song, he asks, “How are you?  Are you well?  You should be well.  No one should be complaining, least of all me in this black suit.”

And, despite his tone, he is not above making jokes with his audience.  Like when he introduces the second song, “Martyr,” he says, “We’ll be doing  while lot of death metal covers. I figured this would be the place. This song is by a band called Sepultura.”  [Nervous titters from the crowd before he starts playing a pretty JPW song that sounds not unlike a contemporary Barenaked Ladies song, especially his delivery of it].

“The Once and Future Queen,” is a slow, quiet song with a big chorus full of pretty harmonies.  When it ends, he says:

I guess it’s probably my duty to warn you….  You came to a folk festival so you probably weren’t looking for happy songs anyway…  If you came to this set looking to be cheered up, you’re screwed.  Let’s get that out of the way.

I loved “Hate the Way You Love Me,” during the Tiny Desk Concert, but when the backing singers accompany him on the chorus and the gorgeous fiddle from Kelli Jones fills the song, it’s really wonderful.

He jokes, “Glad you’re enjoying the death metal.  I didn’t think it would go over as well as it has.”  But he then plays “Fight for You,” a fairly rocking song–with some rocking distortion on his guitar and a snarl in his voice (and a pretty heavy chorus).

I tend to think of JPW as kind of a mellow singer with a great voice, but he really lets loose in the middle of “Hope I Die.”  In addition to a really powerful singing section, there’s a pretty wild solo going on (violin or guitar or both).  He introduces Adam Morrow over here on the guitar, so I assume he had something to do with it.

He says, “I’m not gonna pretend that all of you have any idea who I am.” [cheers]  He jokes, “That’s called fishing for a compliment.”  But he continues,

To those of you who do I apologize.  It’s been awhile.  it took a lot to get me out of the house.  I was incredibly happy sleeping in my bed and going to dance recitals and football games and the lot. And then these melodies started coming back in my head.  And if I gave into it I’d be back out here doing this.  I and I didn’t want that at all.  No.  No offense, but I didn’t want of see any of your faces.  But once I wrote these songs I wondered if people would connect with them…  and I still doesn’t know why I did that.  So thank you.

In introducing the slow ballad “I’ve Been Over This Before,” he says “This is one of the first songs that came to me. I was obviously listening to a lot of old country music, because that’s where it all starts for me.”

He continues, “I promise you I won’t bore you with song meanings because most of the time I have no idea what they mean most of the time.  But this one is personal for me.”  He says “Simple Song” is indicative of the folk spirit of telling stories and passing them down to further generations.

This came from my grandmother.  When my grandfather passed away he was battling many demons that everyone was having to battle alongside him.  She was raising 14 kids because of those demons.  So… I thought he was perfect, I though that he was always happy, but that was not true and when he passes away, she didn’t cry.  I asked her why  and she said ‘I cried so much for your grandfather when he was on this earth, there’s no way I’m gonna cry for him now that he’s better off.’  And so I thought, ‘Number 1, I want to punch you  in the face.  And then 2 much later in life, that that is a song waiting to happen.’  So this will also cheer you up.

The song and sentiment are beautiful with plaintive lap steel guitar: “I will remember I will remember I will remember you… but I will cry for you no more.”

He continues, “So it’s said that festival crowds… this quiet does not happen.  This is beautiful I really do appreciate it.  I’m a very dynamic performer and I need this kind of environment so…  Festivals scare the shit out of me.  I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart.  This is an unbelievable atmosphere to play in.

before the final song, the rocking “What’s So,” which I also know from Tiny Desk, he says “This is the first time Newport for all of my band so they’re geeking out pretty hard.”  In addition to Jones and Morrow, there’s Reed Watson on drums and Matt Green on bass.

“I need more band members so I have time to tune.”

“What’s So” has an aching descending chorus line that is just terrific.

I really like John Paul White’s music and I’d love to see him live in a quiet sit down club..

[READ: June 24, 2017] “It’s a Summer Day”

I know Andrew Sean Greer from a few McSweeney’s books.

This was a simple story but told in a really cool style.  It concerns Arthur Less, a writer, who has been called to an international conference where he is in the running to win a prize.  But the prize is minor and no one–not he nor his agent–thinks he has a chance.  In fact, the only reason he went was to get out of going to a wedding of an old flame, Freddy.

Freddy had once given him advice about international flights: “They serve you dinner, you take your sleeping pill, they serve you breakfast, you’re there.”

I love the narrator’s voice in this story.

He had been to Italy before. Once when he was 12.  And the second time with Robert Brownburn (Yes, that Robert Brownburn, the famous poet).  They had been dating for a while and were at a good point in their relationship.

He did as instructed with the pills, but woke up in the middle of the night–only two hours having passed!  He takes out another pill and then it’s time for breakfast.  He is in a fog and the first few pages are an amusing comedy of him possibly going the wrong way.  He barely makes his local flight (and is shocked to see ashtrays in the airplane seats–charming or frightening?) And then… was it a mistake to get in the car marked for Sr. Ess?  The driver speaks no English and it sure looks like he is heading in the wrong direction. (more…)

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Curtis Sittenfeld–“Show Don’t Tell” (New Yorker, June 5 & 12, 2017)

Posted in Books about writers, Cigarettes, Curtis Sittenfeld, Drinking, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, New Yorker, Rheostatics, Sex, Short Story, tagged on August 18, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Another Roadside Attraction: Cayuga Speedway – Hagersville, ON (July 20, 1995).

The band sounds kind of different for a festival like this, they downplay some of their weirder elements, to be sure, although maybe it’s just practical to play your more popular work to a wider audience.  This looks like a pretty good festival, check out the line up –>

The beginning of the set is kind of muddy–mostly because you can hear audience chatter, but it clears up okay.

After a warm introduction (You’re gonna love these guys), they play a nice “Self Serve Gas Station”

For the next song Martin says, “This is a song about a kid writing a letter to Michael Jackson.”

After a nice “Soul Glue” Martin says “Dave, I’m the CN Tower.  You be the Bank of Montreal.”

Before “California Dreamline,” Dave says, “That last song was about a lake, this next song is about an ocean.”  During the song, Martin sings “spooning” instead of “fucking” in the dry sand–is that a festival decision?

There’s a lengthy, trippy, swirling opening to “Claire” with a Dave announcing: “Tim Vesely has gone electric, stop the presses.”  Martin does a really wondrous guitar solo.

The most notable concession to “normalcy” is their cover of “One More Colour” which lessens some of its heaviest noises.  The ending. which can go pretty far afield, is also pretty straightforward.  “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” sounds a little prettier than usual.  The middle section has a kind of instrumental section with a drum solo and waves of sound.  (This is the first show on this site with Don Kerr on drums, although no mention is made of him).

The end segues into RDA which is fast and cool but leaves off the final “Americas!”

This is a very unchatty show for the band, although at the end Dave says they’re playing at Woolsock (Woolstock?) on August 12 in beautiful Welling.  Welling is in Alberta, but I find a Woolsock Music Festival listed in Nova Scotia, so I’m at a loss.

[READ: June 27, 2017] “Show Don’t Tell”

I can’t get over that Curtis Sittenfeld has had three stories published in the New Yorker in the span of about a year.  This one is set in a graduate school writing program.

The narrator explains that the most prestigious fellowship one could earn at their school was the Peaslee–$8,800 with no work requirements. It was the gold standard.  Other ones paid less and required a fairly heavy work load.  Ruth is in her first year and, like everyone else, hopes desperately to win this fellowship.

No one knew exactly when the acceptance letters went out, but there was also a rumor, so Ruth waited in front of her mailbox to wait for the mailman.

When her neighbor heard the door shut, she assumed Ruth had left so she came out with her cigarette–something that she and Ruth had had words about several times. (more…)

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Will Mackin–“Crossing the River No Name” (New Yorker, June 5 & 12, 2017)

Posted in Essays, Maggie Rogers, New Yorker, Pharrell Williams, Short Story, Swimming, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence, War, Will Mackin, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on August 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MAGGIE ROGERS-Tiny Desk Concert #642 (August 7, 2017).

I had been hearing Maggie Rogers’ name on WXPN and have liked “Alaska” which they’ve been playing.  But I didn’t know much else about her.

But reading the blurb reminded me of where I had initially heard of her:

Maggie Rogers became a viral star on the strength of a video in which Pharrell Williams raves about a demo of what’s become her signature song, “Alaska.” Since then, Rogers has signed a label deal, toured extensively and released a sweetly approachable, inventively arranged EP called Now That The Light Is Fading.

For her Tiny Desk debut, Rogers performed all three of the EP’s best-known songs, opening with the recent singles “On + Off” and “Dog Years,” the latter of which she calls “a song for all the pups.” Then, after dismissing her band, she treated us to a few warm words about public radio before introducing “Alaska.”

Maggie has an interesting voice that sounds similar to someone (it’ll come to me), but with a slight country twang.  It seems like she could easily fall into the country umbrella but her songwriting goes in a slightly different direction.  (I’m also astonished that she looks to be about 18).

She plays three songs (there are 5 on her EP),

“On+Off” starts with a piano intro and Maggie singing. When the middle section kicks in and she plays guitar there a much louder sound. It’s quite catchy.  I really like the delivery of the “Ooohs” that she adds.  There’s something about the way she does it that sounds very cool.

“Dog Years” is a slower, slightly more country-sounding song, but again the “ooohs” won me over.  This time the ooohs are harmonized by her band and it sounds even better.  She also demonstrated some wonderful high notes.

Her band leaves for the final song which she starts by telling everyone that “public radio has been a part of her musical discovery–since she used an NPR compilation to DJ her middle school recess.”  She’s very sweet.

Th final song is “Alaska” which she says is a song about coming back into your body.  It has a really pretty chorus–once again, her voice soaring to lovely high notes.  I prefer the recorded version to this solo version, but she sounds great by herself as well.

[READ: June 27, 2017] “Crossing the River No Name”

I was a little concerned about this story because it was set in Khost, Afghanistan and I thought it was going to be an intense war story–and war stories, like sports stories, pretty much end one of two ways.

So it begins on a rainy night in March 2009.  The narrator and his patrol are sent to interrupt a group of Taliban.  They reached a river and Hal, the leader, called on the best swimmers to swim across and set up the guide rope.  They made it across and secured the line.  The rest of the patrol got across but when it was the narrator and Hals’ turn they hit trouble.

Hal was afraid of the water.  He’d joined the Navy to get over that fear and it worked.  Most of the time.  He knew of one other example when Hal had had a brief freak out.  But this was the second one.  The river grew darker and they were pulled under. (more…)

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Sherman Alexie–“Clean, Cleaner, Cleanest” (New Yorker, June 5 & 12, 2017)

Posted in Blue Rodeo, Canadian Music, Dan Aykroyd, Death, Drinking, Frank Zappa, Ghostbusters, Moxy Fruvous, New Yorker, Now Magazine, Poo, Racism, Ray Hnatyshyn, Religion, Rheostatics, Sex, Sherman Alexie, Short Story, Yuck!, tagged on August 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto Ontario (August 11 1994).

This is a monster show.  Nearly three hours long!  I’ve said before that I’d love to have professional recordings of certain shows and this would absolutely be one of them. Most of the show sounds pretty good although near the end the audience starts talking a little too loud. But man, what a set list.

This is one of the last shows Dave Clark played before leaving the band. This show was on the same day Introducing Happiness was reviewed as a new release in Now Magazine. (See the review below right).  The Setlist was a carefully constructed chronologically arranged 36 song, 2-set night.

They open the showing by thanking everyone for coming out on short notice, whatever that means.  Dave says they had 35 songs on the list  (they play 36 in total).

The first four songs are from Greatest Hits
Higher & Higher, Crescent Moon, Canadian Dream (which hasn’t gotten much play in the available shows) and Ditch Pigs.  They joke about their older songs: because we play some older music sometimes, like now, we forget the words, right Tim?  They also thank “anybody who helped us last night to cut our live track and video of Claire.”

The next song is “Royal Albert (Joey II)” which never appeared on an album, formally, so who knows how old it actually is.

Then there are five from Melville  (+1 later on)

A slow “Saskatchewan” builds very big by the end with Dave taking some of the last verse.  Tim observes that it’s a rough start tonight, although it all sounds quite good.  “Chanson sans Ruelles” has a quiet middle with a brushed section on drums.  When the song is over, because it is sung in French, Clark chimes: Tim Vesely for Governor General.  Bidini agrees saying, “he is Ray Hnatyshyn of rock.”  Upon assigning the rest of the cabinet: Bidini would be minister of sport; Tielli would be Finance Minister (of course) and Clark would be Minister of National Resources he is a national resource unto himself.

They start “When Winter Comes” and then they state:   at this point in When Winter Comes we’d like to express individually what the review in Now Magazine meant to us (if you click on the image it seems to come out a little more clearly).  Each of the four sings something.  Bidini: “nothing sweet nothing.”  Clark recites to the rhythm of his drum beats: “you know, Dave, I really like the things that they say all day but I got to know so I can tell you.”  Giving up he says, I love that Sloan album they gave one N–it’s better than the last one it’s better it’s cooler… why be mean to such a good band?  Bidini chimes in: “So the reason our album sucked is because Dave Clark listened to Sloan too much, obviously.”  Martin kind of mumbles his response but it’s something along the lines of, “I guess it mad me sad but it’s just another thing for a shirt.”  Tim says 1) we have to work really hard to complete that hoser rock opera.  The other thing is that its my weekly paycheck … 120 bucks?”  The rest of the song sounds great.

Clark: the next song [“It”] is one of my favorites and we don’t play it enough.  It’s followed by a fairly slow version of “Record Body Count” that gets the crowd really riled up.

“Woodstuck” is also not on a record.  But it’s a great song which they introduce as an “ode to a friend of ours who was really really into the hippie culture.”  1994 is the 25th anniversary of Woodstock (and the Woodstock ’94 concert).  Dave says to someone “you got that at the original Woodstock at the Pizza Pizza kiosk. Woodstock ’94 is brought to you by Pizza Pizza and their new… herbal pizza.”   In the “intermission” of the song Bidini throws in the lyrics to “Blitzkrieg Bop” with the same melody as the main song.

Referencing something, Bidini says Dan Aykroyd walked by and he was really polite, he said “excuse me,” which is pretty nice.  Clark jokes, “Did you say Ghostbusters?”

Next there’s 8 from whale music (+2 songs later)

“Sickening Song” sounds great and bright.  Afterward Dave sees “Matthew” and says “You got engaged?  Cool, congratulations young lovers. It’s our second Green Sprouts anulmen….no engagement.”

“Who” sounds good but they have a little trouble with those last few thump thump notes.  Soul Glue adds a heavy rocking coda to it.

Dave starts “Queer” by chanting “We’re here, we’re queer, we will not go away.”  At the end, Dave recite sa poem that ends, “Acceptance, forgiveness, and love.” which he says is from Broadway Danny Rose.  They also throw in a verse from “Good Guys and Bad Guys” from Camper Van Beethoven.

During he first verse of “Self Serve Gas Station,” the tape gets a little wonky.  And Martin’s changes the line: “What went wrong with Martin?  Is he stoned?” Someone shouts “yeaahh” and there’s the retort: “how do you know?”

Martin plays the blistering riff to RDA a few times before they take off with the song.  And then it’s time for a short break.

Clark announces, “we’re back.  This song is called “You Shook Me All Night Long with a Shaved Head.”  “Shaved Head” is quite pretty and slow.  They introduce James Gray of Blue Rodeo on keyboards and Tim plays accordion for “What’s Going On?”

They play 2 from the Whale Music Soundtrack.  About “Song of Flight” Dave says, “we played that song in Kingston and a smallish college student did a bird dance in 7/8.”  And then for those who got a free single at the Bathurst Street Theater, they play “Torque, Torque.”

Then there’s 10 from Introducing Happiness (+1 song later).  They introduce “Claire” as “Wet Home Alabama.”  After Fan Letter to Michael Jackson, they say, “The king is dead long live Lisa Marie and Michael.  Congrats to Michael on his wedding… that’s three Green Sprouts weddings.”

After mentioning a convoy, Bidini asks Clark “What was your CB handle?”  “Fuzzy Wuzzy.  I played CB with my best friend–it was strictly platonic.”

As Earth/Monstrous Hummingbird opens, you can hear a lot more crowd noise.  Talk of “I’d like to hear that recording.”

After “Me and Stupid,” Dave says “I’m afraid that when we go to England and play in front of  packed house of 150 British screaming Moxy Fruvous fans and we get up there to play California Dreamline” this is all that’ll come out  (some crazy nonsense noises) and they’ll love us and we’ll be on the cover of all the music magazines and we’ll never be able to face anybody in Canada again.”  Clark disagrees: “bullshit don’t believe your own mythology.”

“The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos” is “about a great Canadian band.”  And “Artenings Full of Gold” is weirder than ever, the “digging a hole” section sounds very much like Zappa (with high-pitched laughing whoooos).

Really fast PROD after which Clark asks, “how’s it feel to be in Ontario after the legal drinking hour?”

In the beginning of “California Dreamline,”Martin messes up and has to start over.  And then they all mess up…hold on false start.  Someone jokes, “Sounded like the Stones alright.”  They resume mid-song.  Martin says, “Stop.  Fuck this song let’s move on.”

So they pick right up with “Horses.”  Its fast and powerful and at the end he chants: “help break the owners of Major League Baseball, boycott professional sports.”  Speaking of sports, “Might as well award the Montreal Expos works series champion right here and now, ok.”  Then Dave says, “to my friend Steve from Hamilton…that didn’t count the CFL in that boycott of professional sports, all teams except the Hamilton Tigers.”

Bidini continues, “You braved the cold and blizzard conditions… oh it’s August, sorry.  So our record came out Tuesday with general release in October when they’ll play the Bathurst Theater.  He gives a plea to “Help Canadians music dominate worldwide in the 1990s.”   Clark, “And don’t forget those condoms when they’re at the Commonwealth Games.”

They come back for an encore with “Row.”  It’s sweet and quiet—not a really exciting encore, honestly.  But it’s followed by a romping “Legal Age Life,” which gets everyone really moving.

Such a great show.  It’s shows like this that make me wish that a) I knew about the band back then and b) I had actually seen them live.

[READ: June 5, 2017] “Clean, Cleaner, Cleanest“

This short story is a brief description of an older woman’s life.  Not a lot happens in terms of plot, but it is a wonderful story full of detail and character with a satisfying ending.

Marie is a maid at a motel.  She has worked there for nearly 30 years.  She is Catholic and goes to confession often.  But “she was more flexibly Catholic than strictly Catholic, so she did believe in birth control.”  The condoms she found stopped bothering her because safe sex was better than abortion.

Over the years she had seen the drug users go from needles to pipes to meth and now back to needles.

She also learned to be clinical about the messes she cleaned up: feces and urine to made it sound like she was helping people rather than dealing with the worst of them. (more…)

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Joseph O’Neill-“The Mustache in 2010” (Harper’s, July 2017)

Posted in Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Harper's, Jesus and Mary Chain, Joseph O'Neill, Marriage Trouble, Mustaches, Set at School, Short Story, The Shins, Tiny Desk Concert on July 31, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE SHINS-Tiny Desk Concert #639 (July 24, 2017).

Although this is billed as The Shins, it is actually James Mercer solo (although really The Shins are more or less Mercer’s solo gig anyway).

Mercer plays three songs with just his voice and acoustic guitar: two new tracks and one that reached back to 2003 from the album Chutes Too Narrow.

The first two are slow and very folky–I don’t know the new album yet.

“Mildenhall” has a country flare and is something of an autobiography.  “I thought my flattop was so new wave until it melted away.”  The chorus is nice: A kid in class passed me a tape a later chorus reveals: “a band called Jesus and Mary Chain.”     Started playing his dads guitar and that’s how we get to where we are now.”  I love the unexpected ending chord.

“The Fear” is a delicate, simple song that fits perfectly with his voice.  It’s also quite sad.

“Young Pilgrims” is the recognizable song from Chutes to Narrow (the song even mentions that phrase).  It doesn’t sound that different in this stripped down format–there’ some missing extra guitars bit other wise the acoustic format fits it well. The biggest difference is that he seems to be singing in lower register here.

In fact none of the songs sounded like him exactly and I think that’s why– he usually sings in more of a kind of higher pitch, so it’s interesting to hear it slower and lower.

[READ: June 29, 2017] “The Mustache in 2010”

I really enjoyed the story.  I loved the strange way it was constructed and that even though it didn’t seem to start as a story, it certainly was one.

It begins

Social historians will record that in the early twenty-first century, the fashion for a clean-shaven face lost its dominance in metropolitan North American Bourgeoisie society.

After some lengthy discussion about the merits of various facial hair construction ,we meet Alex, a youngish (36 is youngish in New York City) businessman.  He availed himself of this trend by shaving only every third Monday.  His growth was dense and black.

One morning he realizes that he had left large sideburns, which amused him.  Thereafter he “subtracted facial hair so as to create an amusing residue.”  He never wore the stylized looks outside, they were private jokes for him and his wife.  Although there was always a scream of horror because he would sneak up on her.

This all l leads to some more details about Alex.  He was Québécois living in New York.  His English was fine but “fell just short of the level required for wittiness.”  This left him with an unjustly wooden personality.  So his wife was always looking for nonverbal diversion for him. (more…)

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