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Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

John Edgar Wideman–“Williamsburg Bridge” (Harper’s, November 2015)

Posted in Angst, Harper's, John Edgar Wideman, Lizz Wright, Short Story, Suicide, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Tiny Desk Concert on January 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

novSOUNDTRACK: LIZZ WRIGHT-Tiny Desk Concert #116 (March 14, 2011).

lizz Lizz Wright is a gospel singer with a lovely voice.   For some reason she only has two songs here (the editing makes it seem like she does at least one more).

I don’t know Wright at all, but the blurb gives context: Raised on church music in Georgia, Wright is well-versed in the freedom songs of Sweet Honey in the Rock, without whom none of the music here would exist; “I Remember, I Believe” is by that group’s leader, the great Bernice Johnson Reagon, whose daughter Toshi Reagon (Wright’s best friend) co-wrote “Hit the Ground.”

“Hit the Ground” is upbeat and lively.  Whereas “I Remember, I Believe” is far more powerful, but much slower.

Sadly for me, I don’t really like gospel music, especially the slower songs like the second one here.  So I didn’t love this Tiny Desk, but I can certainly appreciate how good a singer she is.

[READ: January 15, 2015] “Williamsburg Bridge”

I don’t know anything else by John Edgar Wideman, so I didn’t really know what to expect with this story.

I certainly did not expect a long (rather dull) story about a man on the Williamsburg Bridge contemplating suicide.

There were some beautiful passages and phrasings here, especially the reflections on Sonny Rollins, but man, this thing just seemed to go on and on. (more…)

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Ludmilla Petrushevskaya–“The Story of a Painter” (New Yorker, January 18, 2016)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Anna Summers, Art, Books about writers, Damien Jurado, Greed, Humiliation, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, New Yorker, Russia, Short Story, Surreal, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation on January 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1182016SOUNDTRACK: DAMIEN JURADO–Tiny Desk Concert #114 (February 28, 2011).

damienI had always assumed that Damien Jurado was someone else entirely.  I had no idea that he was (as the blurb describes him) “a big dude playing sad songs.”

And he is.

For this Tiny Desk it’s just him and his guitar.  He keeps his eyes closed tightly as he sings these sad songs.  His guitar playing is simple–just strummed chords and his voice is simple as well–there’s no tricks.  It’s all about his songwriting.

I liked all four of these songs: “Cloudy Shoes,” “Newspaper Gown” (that was my favorite), “Arkansas,” and “Beacon Hill.”

The strangest thing about him was how uncommunicative he seemed to be–almost nervous.  He barely spoke and when he did it was hard to hear.  And as soon as the set was done he immediately stood up to leave.

Although he does say it’s “nice.”

His songs were lovely although I don’t think I’ll be seeking him out anytime soon.

[READ: January 12, 2016] “The Story of a A Painter”

This story was translated by Anna Summers and, as the title suggests, it is about a painter.

But this story delves into surreal territory pretty quickly.  It may even be a fairy tale as the opening line is “There once lived a painter….”

This painter has had some bad fortune as of late.  His landlord promised to get him a lot of money if he would sell his large apartment.  But the landlord sold the place and kept the money (a lawsuit is pending).  Then the landlord offered him a place under the stairs–no running water–which the painter accepted.  But he can’t pay the landlord, so the landlord gives him grief every day.

On another day a man asked if he would rent him his “apartment.”  The painter said yes for money up front.  The man gave him the money then moved his entire family into the tiny, below-the-stairs place and planned to never leave.  Now the painter was destitute and homeless. (more…)

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Louise Erdrich–“The Reptile Garden” (New Yorker, January 28, 2008)

Posted in Anaïs Nin, Drugs, Hospitals, Louise Erdrich, Mariachi Flor De Toloache, Native Americans, New Yorker, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on January 11, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1282008SOUNDTRACK: MARIACHI FLOR DE TOLOACHE-Tiny Desk Concert #499 (January 8, 2016).

florI enjoyed Mariachi El Bronx not too long ago.  I guess I didn’t expect much more from Mariachi Flor De Toloache.  But wow, they blew me away.

I compared them to Mariachi El Bronx because they also wear the traditional Mariachi outfit and they use the somewhat comically over sized guitarron (played by Lisa Maree Dowling).

But about a minute through the first song, “Let Down” when the three women sing harmony (a wonderful three-part harmony)–it’s already amazing.  And it just gets better.

“Let Down” is a slow song sung (in English and Spanish) by Shae Fiol who also plays vihuela (which has a great sound for a tiny four-stringed guitar).  The trumpet solo (by Anna Garcia) is great and interesting and the pizzicato violin notes really add character.  But when the song suddenly picks up tempo half way through it gets really fun.  And then Shae sings the first of several beautiful and amazingly long notes.

The second song is a cumbia called “Dicen.”  This one is sung by the violinist Mireya Ramos who says “dont be shy, shake you shoulders “.  There’s group harmony and then she gets the audience to sing the chorus “Ay Ay Ay.”  The song merges into a verse of “Blue Skies” which makes the song even more fun.  Shae sings this part and once again shows off her vocal skills with some more amazingly powerful high notes.  And then Mireya really shows off her fiddling skills with a great solo and some dexterous bow work.  And then she shows off her own amazing vocal notes–holding an incredibly long note through several octaves with great control.

After those first two songs (16 minutes worth), they do yet another one.  This one straight from Mexico (the roots of mariachi) called “Guadalajara.”  It opens with great harmony vocals and a cool vihuela strumming until the trumpet announces a good old mariachi song.  Shae once again amazes with her high shrieks and calls.  And by this time the entire audience (even those of us listening at home) are totally into it.

How do they hold these notes for so long?  (Some are around fifteen seconds). It is truly a wonder to behold.

This was only a fraction of the band and apparently when they are all together live they are really something to see.

[READ: January 9, 2015] “The Reptile Garden”

With a name like “The Reptile Garden,” this story did not do anything that I thought it was going to. In fact, when I finished I had to rethink the story to remember why it was even called that.  That’s pretty cool (since it works).

The story is set in the fall of 1972.  The narrator is a half Native American woman who is going to study at the University of North Dakota.  She is very smart but she knows she doesn’t fit in.  She chose to study French because she dreamed of going to Paris some day.

She says the white girls listen to Joni Mitchel and grow their hair long, while other girls–Dakota, Chippewa or mixed blood like her were less obvious on campus.  Aside from a few who swaggered and had American Indian Movement boyfriends.  (more…)

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T. Coraghessan Boyle–“Ash Monday” (New Yorker, January 21, 2008)

Posted in Basia Bulat, Fire, Japan, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Rats, Short Story, T. Coraghessan Boyle, T.C. Boyle, Tiny Desk Concert on January 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »

S2008_01_21OUNDTRACK: BASIA BULAT-Tiny Desk Concert #106 (January 24, 2011).

basiaFor some sad reason, this video cuts off about half way through the second song, so you need to watch it on YouTube instead.  Basia Bulat is a Canadian singer of Polish descent.  She’s adorable and plays weird instruments.  What’s not to like?

The first song “The Shore” is done entirely on a pianoette–she may be the only singer to play one.  The pianoette is a zither-like instrument with a strummed section and a hammered section.  Her voice is low and breathy.  And when, during the second verse, her backing band’s harmonies come in, it’s quite breathtaking.

The second song is done on guitar. It’s a Polish folks song–she says it was a big hit in the 60s in communist Poland.  She sings it in Polish and says it was a great way to learn her Polish words and pronunciations.  “W Zielonym Zoo” means “In The Green Zoo.”  It’s cute how happy and smiley she is as she explains this song.  It begins with just her on guitar and it’s quite a delight when Holly Coish on ukulele, Allison Stewart on viola and Ben Whiteley on bass join in.

pianoetteHer brother Bobby Bulat joins her on percussion for “Heart Of My Own.”  This song is louder and more dramatic and a lot of fun. The final song  “In The Night” is one she normally plays on the autoharp (see, unusual instruments) but she didn’t have it so she plays a rollicking guitar version with the full band (there’s some great violin solos in it).  Just before it starts she says that if it sucks, don’t use it.  It doesn’t suck at all.

I really like Bulat’s music a lot and this is a great way to witness it up close.  And here’s a picture of a pianoette.

[READ: January 8, 2015] “Ash Monday”

I wasn’t sure how much I would like this story (same old intro from me) because I didn’t like the main character (or one of the two main characters).  Dill is a delinquent.  He’s 13 and with a car (well, he has the car, he just cant drive it).  And hes loves the smell of gasoline.

When his mother tells him to goes outside to light the grill (as he does most nights–his mom doesn’t cook in the house apparently), he puts gasoline in it to light it up.  On this night he discovers a rat in the grill, so he takes the opportunity to dose the rat with the gasoline and set it on fire.  (If you’re squeamish, there is also the death of hundreds of chinchillas although that is from natural causes).

We don’t learn much about Dill’s mother except that her husband is gone and she is looking to date someone new.

The scene cuts to the next door neighbor, Sanjuro Ishiguro (Dill calls him “Itchy-goro” and once called him a motherfucking gook).  Ishiguro is a respectable businessman.  He works long hours often getting to work before everyone else.  And although he gets along with his workmates, he is definitely not one of them.  They like to ask him about sports when they know he knows nothing about it. (more…)

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E.L. Doctorow–“Wakefield” (New Yorker, January 14, 2008)

Posted in E.L. Doctorow, Iron & Wine, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Unreliable narrator, WNYC--93.9 New York, Yuck! on January 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1.14.2008 SOUNDTRACK: IRON & WINE-Tiny Desk Concert #105 (January 21, 2011).

irionwineI have enjoyed Iron & Wine, but not extensively.  I knew that it was more or less a Sam Beam project (until recently, as the band has since grown in size).  And I knew that he sang beautiful folk songs. I did not know that he was such an amiable and sweet fellow.

For this Tiny Desk, Beam plays four songs.  Three are from his then new album, Kiss Each Other Clean, and they are great.  Beam’s voice sounds fantastic and his playing is excellent too.

After the first song, “Half Moon,” Bob Boilen asks him when he has time to write songs and Beam replies that he has less and less time.  He has to get up early to take the kids to school, so he works like a day job for song writing.

For the second song, “Big Burned Hand” he begins with the capo on fret five and then switches it to fret four apologizing that it’s early.  It’s another beautiful song.  At the end he apologizes for the word “fucking” in the final line (“the lion and the lamb are fucking in the back row”) but says that no other word would have had the same impact.  He doesn’t use words like that lightly in his songs.

He says that “Tree By The River” is a song he had been writing for ten years.  He was afraid it was always turning out saccharine, but thinks he finally got it.

Before playing the final song, Robin Hilton requests an old song (I can’t hear it) which Beam says he will butcher.  Robin says he will die happy if Beam plays it, but Beam says he’ll die unhappy if he plays it badly.  So instead, the final song is an older one, “Naked As We Came,” which has become a set-ender for the band.   Stephen Thompson says it’s great to hear this in this stripped down acoustic format instead of the full band version that has been common now.

And speaking of the full band, when Kiss Each Other Clean came out, the full band of Iron & Wine performed it live on WNYC (you can hear all four of these songs with the full band). And NPR has archived that performance, which you can download here.

[READ: January 7, 2015] “Wakefield”

I have always intended to read more from Doctorow, but he always seems to fall off my radar.  So I don’t know how this compares to his other works.  I really enjoyed it even if I felt like I had to suspend my disbelief a number of times in what was otherwise a somewhat realistic story.

Realistic or not, I really loved the conceit behind it.  The narrator and his wife of many years have had a fight about something stupid.  He went off to work as usual, but on the way home strange things happened.  First there is a problem with is train and he winds up arriving home much later than usual.  And then he finds there’s a power failure (it was interesting to read this right after Updike’s power failure story last week).

He gets out of his car and sees that there are raccoons behind the garage so he chases them away.  When he goes upstairs in the garage he sees that there are baby raccoons there too.  He chases them away and, since the power is still out and he is mentally taxed, he sits in a tattered rocking chair.

He only wakes up the next morning.  And he knows that his wife will never believe the truth. (more…)

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Diane Williams—“A Little Bottle of Tears” (Harper’s, July 2015)

Posted in Diane Williams, Harper's, Heligoats, Huh?, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Troubled Hubble, Unreliable narrator on January 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

july2015 SOUNDTRACK: THE HELIGOATS-Tiny Desk Concert #98 (December 15, 2010).

heligoat I thought that I would have written about all of 2010’s Tiny Desk shows last year, but it turns out that I missed two.  This was one and tomorrow’s will be the second.

According to the blurb, Stephen Thompson says that this was the 100th Tiny Desk Concert.  I have counted all the shows (twice) and using my counting method, I found this to be the 98th show.  So either this was aired out of order or they never aired two shows.  I have noticed that I’ve been off on all of their milestones, so something is up (and I’m pretty sure it’s not my counting).

Chris Otepka is the Heligoats. He has another band called Troubled Hubble, but Heligoats are his acoustic unplugged band.

In addition to singing unusual songs (he’s a songwriter for whom lyrics are very important (if not always comprehensible)), he tells some elaborate stories between songs.  His stories seem spontaneous, although I expect that they are not (especially the cremation story)

“Goodness Gracious” is a slower song (although he somehow makes a really full sound with just his (small) acoustic guitar).  There’s some great lyrics and twists of phrase in this song.  And his voice is quite nice, too.

“I’m Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules” is a song he says he started writing when he was 8 years old.  He says he liked pushing his fingers back into his eye sockets to see what kind of fractals appeared.  He gives a lengthy explanation about this phenomena which he says is the cause of floaters.  All of this is an introduction to this uptempo song.  I really like the somewhat “off” chord he plays between chorus and verse.

Before “A Guide to the Outdoors,” he talks about cremation and the metal parts in his body.  And about having his will explain about his robotic existence.  The song seems to be a letter written to the person who has found his dead body?  It’s surprisingly upbeat though.

The final song, “Fish Sticks,” is my favorite.  It is about a man named Carl Beakman who gets a grant to protect a wetland for migratory birds (I suspect all of this is nonsense, but whatever).  I like the way the song has super fast strumming and the bouncy chord progression in the verses.

The Heligoats require close listening, and the songs are worth it.

[READ: January 6, 2015] “A Little Bottle of Tears”

As part of last year’s push to read a lot of books, I blew off most of my magazines.  So this year I’m going to get back to all the issues I missed and I’m going to try to keep up with my subscriptions going forward.

I’m starting with the Harper’s that I hadn’t read in 2015 and then I’m going to move on to the errant New Yorkers.

I’m starting with this story.

I haven’t really liked any of Diane Williams’ stories.  I find them maddeningly elliptical.  She has some excellent sentences and turns of phrase but as for an entire story, I’m always left wondering what I just read.

This is a short piece about how people could have better friendships if they weren’t so old. (more…)

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John Updike–“Outage” (New Yorker, January 7, 2008)

Posted in John Updike, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Power Failure, Rapsody, Sex, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on January 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

17208SOUNDTRACK: RAPSODY-Tiny Desk Concert #498 (January 5, 2016).

rapsAs part of my New Year’s resolution, I’m going to try to keep up with the Tiny Desk shows as they happen.

This is the first Tiny Desk Concert of 2016, and I’m afraid it was pretty disappointing.

Rapsody is a rapper, but I feel like she doesn’t have a lot of flow.  Or if she does, it’s kind of slow and meandering.  There was nothing really captivating about her style.  And her rhymes weren’t all that exciting either.

“Godzilla” is a very pro-God song (the twist on God and Zilla is interesting), but the song isn’t that inspired.  She spends most of the song asking people to clap (the room is full of students from Howard University).  Her rhymes are just not that interesting in this song.

Her second song (with a horrific cheesy sax solo throughout) has a great premise–a song about the boys who have grown up too fast because they lack strong black fathers.  The problem with it is that a song like this, which could be powerful as a message, has a chorus of “I been the motherfuckin ….”  Which ain’t going garner much airplay.

“Hard to Choose” is about being a black female in hip hop.  She wanted to be a good role model for young girls.  Once again, her flow isn’t that exciting and her rhymes don’t really  do much for me.  Of course, she disses hipsters who don’t understand, and I guess that’s me.

Rapsody has some great messages.  I wish her a lot of success and I hope that her positive messages are heard by millions.  I just wont be listening.

[READ: January 5, 2015] “Outage”

As part of my new year’s resolution, I’m going to read all of the old New Yorker stories from 2008-2015 to fill in any gaps (I’ve missed about 50 stories in seven years).  In a few months I should have all of the stories from 2008-2016 (or close to the current story as possible) read and posted.  How exciting!

This was something of a perfect short story and a great way to start the back issues.

I don’t read a lot of Updike, for no particular reason.  So I don’t really know if this is the kind of thing he typically writes.   But the way it was constructed and the details he put in made this story seem so effortless and very true.

Set in the suburbs of Boston, Brad Morris is working from home when a storm comes through the area.  The weatherpersons had made a huge deal out of it since they are “always eager for ratings-boosting disasters.”  But the actual weather seemed to be on and off heavy rain.

And then just as the storm seemed to be over, the power went our.  The description, “the house seemed to sigh, as all its lights and little engines, its computerized timers and indicators, simultaneously shut down.”  That is exactly right. (more…)

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The Amoeba People–The Complicated Saga of Eggnog and Yule Log (2011)

Posted in Christmas, Christmas Album, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Short Story, The Amoeba People on December 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

eggnogSOUNDTRACK: THE AMOEBA PEOPLE-“The Night The Hippies Hijacked Christmas” (2010) “Christmas Ferret” (2010) “Robotic Christmas Tree” (2014).

roboticA few years ago I backed The Amoeba People in a Kickstarter campaign.  And they sent me a booklet and CD of The Complicated Saga of Eggnog and Yule Log.  I had been putting off listening to it until the holidays because it seemed perfectly holiday themed.

But as it turns out, the entire collection (four songs) is sort of tangentially Christmassy.  Since they do have three specifically Christmas songs that they have also released, I’ll mention them first.

Of the three, the promisingly titled “The Night The Hippies Hijacked Christmas” is my least favorite.  It’s overly long and uses music to fight music.  But it is “Christmas Ferret” that really steals the show.

When coal isn’t enough for someone who has been naughty at Christmastime, why not send them a present that will bite back. The way the song is sung–in a weird falsetto and staccato delivery (making it almost like a hymn) is fantastic.

The newest song is “Robotic Christmas Tree,” a dancing riotous song about trees attacking people on this festive holiday:

You think your tree
Is perfectly organic
But on Christmas Day
There will be widespread panic!

It’s a fun song, although it doesn’t quite match up to “Christmas Ferret” either.

[READ: December 21, 2015] The Complicated Saga of Eggnog and Yule Log

This collection comes with four songs.  The booklet includes the lyrics to all four songs, but it also includes two extra texts.  One is the diary musings of Uncle Leon for his extra verses to “Omaha.”  But the real treat is the extended story of Yule Log and Egg Nog.

But first the songs:

“Uncle Pat” is a great bouncing song.  It’s about Uncle Pat who claims to be Irish but isn’t (the song has a fun traditional Irish feel to it).  He tells stories about his life which everyone knows to be lies.  It’s really quite funny (we also get Uncle Pat’s recipe for egg nog, both the kid friendly and the super unfriendly versions!)

“Eight Nights of Bowling” is about how three rabbis spend their Hanukkah nights: “ten pins, eight nights you know it’s really out of sight.”  This is an unexpected punk blast.

The final song is sung by Crazy Uncle Leon (who is also mentioned in their earlier song “Cosmology, Your Futon and You”).  There’s a long opening in which Leon talks to his nephews.  He asks them why they have coats on.  And they say it’s 68 degrees in Hollywood, a really cold winter.  He is appalled and then proceeds to sing to them his tales of winters in Omaha.  Well, not tales so much as just a few words and a lot of chorus (Leon can’t think of many words as you can see from his diary entry).

The title song is actually quite short.  Eggnog wants to play, but Yule Log is angry and wants to fight.   But eggnog says “I don’t want to fight him/Like me he’s a seasonal item.”    The song is slow and sweet until it becomes fast and punky (with the same words both times).

But so much is left to wonder about with this song.  Why is Yule Log so mad?  Well, thankfully, the booklet tells us the full story.

In the fuller version,

Tchristmasferrethe logs piled on the rack congratulate the Yule Log on being picked to be used for the Christmas fire.  They say that only one log is given such an honor.   But Yule Log is pragmatic–what does it matter if I’m chosen, we’re all gong to be burned anyway.

The rest of the decorations are appalled by this attitude.  The Christmas Tree shames him saying that everyone plays a part in the Christmas tradition.  And one of the chocolate Santas says that Yule log is lucky that the Santa is stuck in the bowl or he would punch Yule Log.

As they were arguing they had to hush quickly because they head someone coming. But it wasn’t a person it was a fetching yellow carton with skinny legs and arms.   He wishes everyone a happy holiday and says that he is Eggnog.  He wishes everyone good cheer but Yule Log wants nothing to do with it.  He tells Eggnog that he is just going to be drunk tomorrow so what is he so cheerful about?

Eggnog says its better to be drunk than to go sour.  Yule Log is dismissive.

Eggnog then posits that they can fight or they can play holiday games.  The only game Yule Log is interested in is beating up Eggnog.

So what happens on Christmas Day?  Will they meet their fate?  And if so, whose attitude is better?

This is something to ponder while you sit by the fire and enjoy your own Egg nog.  Happy Christmas.

 

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Charles Dickens–“The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain: A Fancy for Christmas Time” (1848)

Posted in 19th Century, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, History, Marriage (Happy), Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on December 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

books SOUNDTRACK: PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND-Tiny Desk Concert #328 (December 21, 2013).

peshallThis show is tangentially Christmassy.  I mean, it does feature a tuba player in a Santa Claus outfit, after all.  But the music isn’t Christmassy per se (except for one song).

Rather, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band does what it does best–play fun dancey jazz songs.  There’s trumpet (and trumpet solos) and trombone, there’s saxophone and piano and most importantly, there are two, count em, two tubas!

“Sugar Plum” is their instrumental version of a holiday song (about the sugar plum fairy).  It’s a fun bouncy swinging song.  “I Think I Love You” has vocals, and they are fine, but it makes the band swing a little less.

“Happy Holiday” is indeed a Christmas song, and a nice one with sweet lyrics.  It’s also got a lengthy some trade off trombone and saxophone solos.

The final song, “Dear Lord,” sees the Santa tuba player removing his instrument and taking over as lead singer (and commenting that he’s from the South Pole which is why he is so hot).  This final song seems to be a familiar one with people singing and clapping along as he blesses everyone from South Pole to North.

[READ: December 23, 2015] The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain

This is the final book in the Christmas Books collection. And it does return to the Spirit of Christmas more than the previous stories did.

As I learned from the previous story, the plot is quite simple but its length comes primarily from Dickens’ intense amount of detail (and lots of humor).

The story focuses on Mr. Redlaw.  Redlaw is a chemist and a kind man.  But he is beset upon by sadness at all of the things that have happened to him in his past.  One night he is visited by a spirit (who seems to be something of a version of himself, maybe?).  The spirit tells him that he can help to “forget the sorrow, wrong, and trouble you have known.”  Basically he proposes that he will remove all of the bad memories Redlaw has ever had.  And if he accepts this proposal, he will also be able to do this to everyone else that he meets.

This seems like a good deal–no bad memories!  So he accepts. (more…)

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Charles Dickens–“The Battle of Life: A Love Story” (1846)

Posted in 19th Century, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Death, History, Marriage (Happy), Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O, Romance, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on December 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

books SOUNDTRACK: MATT WILSON’S CHRISTMAS TREE-O-Tiny Desk Concert #99 (December 20, 2010).

trreoMatt Wilson is a jazz drummer.  And he joined forces with Paul Sikivie on bass and reedman Jeff Lederer on saxophone, clarinet and piccolo.

Wilson is a great drummer and he normally plays standard (if wild) jazz.  But for this group (the name is an indicator of the silliness), they play a spirited and fun set of Christmas songs–some of them crazy and unrecognizable and others simply fun and jazzy.  And despite the fact that Wilson does some amazing things with just a snare and a cymbal, it’s hard not to say that the show belongs to Lederer.

“Hark the Herald Angels Sing” starts out pretty straightforward.  The initial melody is present and then Lederer goes off on a lengthy solo in the middle.  “O Come All You Faithful” is a sing-along in which Lederer plays a very slow staccato line on clarinet for the audience to sing along with.  It’s Sikivie’s steady bass that keeps the crowd in line.  Meanwhile Wilson is playing his brushes on everything–his snare, a desk, anything that comes along.  It’s good fun with everybody really getting into it by the end.  “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” starts out slow with Lederer’s sax laying down a smooth melody line and then drifting into his own space.  It’s quite pretty if unusual.

“Angels We Have Heard on High” is audio only and it begins with a rattling of jingle bells and Lederer’s skronking sax (I’d actually like to see that part–it seems like the most interesting visual songs are the ones left off the video).  Then he starts playing a sax melody (although nothing like “Angels” normally sounds).  There is some notation of “Angels” by the end, but it’s very minimal.  The most unlikely Christmas song ever (well, until what comes next).

The final song is a version of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” and it is completely unrecognizable.  It opens with skronking sax noise and martial drums.  Aside from a few seconds where the bass plays a part of the familiar melody, the rest is mostly noise.  As the song draws to a close Matt starts playing the four note “ha – leh – lu – jah” on the snare, he then starts hitting that rhythm on everything–the rim, the bookcase, he even grabs a mug off the shelf and plays it on that.  It’s pretty funny and clear that Wilson is having a grand old time.

This nonsense ends when Lederer picks up the piccolo and plays a fun if silly version of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” which is very slow despite Matt’s super fast drumming.

It’s a funny, silly good time and an unexpected way to sing Christmas carols.

[READ: December 18, 2015] The Battle of Life

This book is the third of four in the collected Christmas Books.  This book is very tangentially related to Christmas (although he did publish it as a Christmas book) as one section takes place at Christmas time.

The thing that I really caught on to while reading this is that Dickens’ stories were really written for a very different time.  His books unfold slowly.  I find that I like to read fast (as many others do, I suspect), and I think the reason people dislike Dickens is because he really forces you to slow down.  But if you do slow down, you can really appreciate his descriptions and his humor.

This story begins on a battlefield.  And Dickens tells us all about the battle that took place here and all the people who died here.  For several paragraphs he goes on about it.  And then you learn that the battle has nothing to do with the story–except as an underpinning to the attitudes of people who live there.

Rather, the story is set on the battlefield many many many years later (and has nothing to do with the battle).  For this is a love story, after all. (more…)

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