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Archive for the ‘Supernatural’ Category

oddSOUNDTRACK: THE ZAMBONIS and JAMES KOCHALKA SUPERSTAR-“Hockey Monkey” (2005).

jksI once saw James Kochalka Superstar perform at a party in Vermont.  He was a lot of fun and the kids in the audience really dug it too.  This song is a perfect encapsulation of the JKSuperstar ethos–silly, irreverent, rocking, and more than a little off-kilter.

Kochalka’s voice is a little strainy and whiny which works perfectly for this kind of song.  The backing band, The Zambonis, write exclusively hockey-based songs, so although JKS wrote this one, they are perfect for this song about a hockey monkey.  And they rock through this simple, funny song with lyrics like:

all the scientists are running around
looking for the monkey but he can’t be found
cause he’s down by the pond playing hockey with the kids

and all the mothers are running around
looking for their children but they can’t be found
cause they’re down by the pond playing hockey with the monkey

and its 1..2..3.. the kids love the monkey and
4..5..6.. the monkey’s got a hockey stick
7..8..9.. havin a good time yeaaaa

In my mind, James Kochalka is more known for his books (done in the cool style of the album cover above), which are wild and very funny.  And so is his music.  Go on up to Vermont and check him out.

[READ: August 10, 2014] Odd, Weird and Little

Since we were on a Patrick Jenning’s kick, I decided to grab Odd Weird & Little.  I didn’t realize it was his newest book, and I really liked it a lot.  And so did the kids.

They both pointed out how the cover drawing looks like an owl and how the initial letters spell owl.  Well, the chapter titles also spell O W L all the way down.  It’s weird and funny.  And so is the story.

As with Jenning’s other stories where mildly supernatural things happen, we never quite learn enough about this odd, weird, little character.  His name is Toulouse Hulot (I loved that) and he comes from Quebec, Canada.  He is definitely little, and definitely odd–he doesn’t take off his gloves or his hat in class (which the teacher allows because he is new).  He barely speaks and he is so…proper.  He wears a suit and has excellent penmanship.  It’s weird.

Toulouse Hulot is not the only funny name in this book.  The narrator’s name is Woodrow Schwette.  And he tells us all about Toulouse, as they are in the same class.  He relates how the two bullies are preparing to gang up on the new kid (which is okay with Woodrow as they usually gang up on him).  But he feels sympathy for Toulouse, because he is so weird.  And little.  And, actually, kind of cool. (more…)

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gd2SOUNDTRACK: GLORIA BALSAM-“Fluffy” (1983).

wwrThis song is also on Greasy Kid Stuff 3 (I was disappointed to realize that I couldn’t find all that many of the other songs online).  But when I found the video for it, it had also been gathered on a compilation called The Rhino Brothers Presents The World’s Worst Records.

The song is about the narrator trying to find her missing dog, Fluffy.  In all honesty I don’t know if she ever found the dog because her voice is so (intentionally, I hope) off-key and distracting that it’s hard to pay attention to what she is saying  The music is a big sweet ballad, which is completely undermined by her voice.

I suppose this is funny, but I’m honestly not sure what to make of it and I don’t intend to listen to it again to find out.  Maybe that Greasy Kid Stuff album isn’t as desirable as I thought.

[READ: August 3, 2014] Guinea Dog 2

When I picked up Guinea Dog, I also grabbed Guinea Dog 2.  Since the kids enjoyed the first one so much that we started #2 right away.

This book picks up right where the first one left off. It may even be the next day.  Everyone has learned about Fido and her amazing tricks (thanks mostly to Dmitri taking a video and threatening to show it on YouTube).  And Lurena is so totally in love with her (she has offered to take her home many many times, but Rufus keeps refusing).  Heck even his dad seems to like her now.  Rufus has had it with the attention.

So he decides to stop playing with her like a dog.  He doesn’t let her out of the cage as much.  He stops treating her like a dog too–he wants to untrain her, to make her a proper guinea pig.

Now, like in the first book where I didn’t understand the motivations behind Rufus’ actions, here again I don’t get it.  No matter how much he hates the attention, how can he not think that having a guinea dog is awesomely cool.  (We have guinea pigs and they are certainly cute but they are not awesomely cool).  So the more he protests and tries to hide how cool she is the more weird it seems to me (and to his friends).

Murphy of course wants to get a guinea dog just like Fido, even the wicked Dmitri wants to buy her from him.  And rodent loving Lurena would do anything to own her.  But Rufus doesn’t want to give her away, he just wants her to be normal.  Which I guess is motivation enough, I suppose. (more…)

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gdSOUNDTRACK: KEY WILD & MR. CLARKE-“Favorite Names” (2012).

wild This is a simple song (as kids songs should be).  But what appealed immediately was the big fuzzy guitar that introduces the song.  Lyrically it’s very simple: a list of the singer’s favorite names (all of which start with the letter J).  After repeating them twice, a voice asks about girls names, and we get a few J fronted  girls names.

The twist comes with the next verse when it is sung “en Espanol” and a new collection of Spanish names crop up (with the rest of the words in Spanish, too).  And then they switch the en Francais.  It’s multilingual!

greasyI found out about Key Wild & Mr Clarke from WXPN, but I see that this song comes from an album that sounds awesome: Greasy Kids Stuff 3, a collection of songs from KNRK in Portland.  The collection sounds great and I’ll mention more songs from it this week.

[READ: July 31, 2014] Guinea Dog

I was unfamiliar with Patrick Jennings when I grabbed this book.  The title sounded intriguing, especially since we own guinea pigs.  Interestingly, after reading this book we read several other Patrick Jennings books, so this will be like Patrick Jennings week here at I Just Read About That.  I enjoyed reading this book to the kids, and they found it rather funny as well.

Guinea Dog is about a boy named Rufus. All he wants is a dog.  He would like a big, friendly, fast, funny dog.  Like the one his best friend has.  In fact, he would love his best friend’s dog.  The problem is that his father hates dogs. He hates them big time.  He has a list of reasons why he hates dogs and that list goes on for two pages (and it was fun to read aloud).

Rufus’ father is an anal retentive, stay at home annoyance (a little over the top frankly, but it works for dramatic comeuppance, right?) who needs everything to be perfectly clean and who doesn’t want to be bothered while he is working.  And there is no way he will cave on the dog thing.

Rufus’ mom looks for a way to make things better, so she buys Rufus a pet.  The pet is…  a guinea pig.  Rufus is devastated.  He decides to mock the guinea pig by naming her Fido.  Rufus and his dad finally agree on one thing–they want the guinea pig taken back to the store.  But when they go look for Petopia, the store is gone, without a trace.  They are stuck with Fido.

But very soon, Fido starts acting like a dog.  She makes little barking sounds, she plays, she catches Frisbees (sort of), she runs with him, she fetches things.  She does everything a dog can do.  Frankly, she is amazing (I certainly looked askance at my guinea pigs after reading this).

And yet, Rufus doesn’t want anyone to see this creature.  He doesn’t like having attention drawn to himself (unlike his best friend who is a major attention hound). So he doesn’t want anyone to know about Fido’s skills.  But of course Fido is a playful, outgoing creature (who follows hm to school one day).  And soon, more and more people are aware of Fido. (more…)

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tpk6SOUNDTRACK: BOREDOMS (various).

borepageBoredoms are an experimental noisy band from Japan.  I am completely unqualified to talk about them as I only know snippets of their output.  But I have always been intrigued by them.  Lead dude Yamataka Eye has been the main impetus behind the band.  And it seems like exactly the kind of noise/music one might play if one were horribly bored.

Yoshimi P-We is the longest serving drummer with the Boredoms.  She is the “Yoshimi” in the title of The Flaming Lips’ album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.

Over the years they have gone from outright nose (listen to the track “Bubblebop Shot” from Soul Discharge or “We Never Sleep” from Onanie Bomb Meets the Sex Pistols which is mostly screams and drums) to a more ambient (but still noisy) style. They performed a live show with 77 drummers  on 7/7/07.

They’ve even changed their name to V∞redoms.

Here’s an interesting clip of the band from All Tomorrow’s Parties in 2012, being a lot less noisy but still pretty weird.

[READ: August 11, 2014] Pale Summer Week 5 (§27-§34)

There were a few things in this week’s reading that seemed to contradict other things in the reading.  This is not surprising as Pietsch says that there were things that he knew DFW would eventually change.  The notes at the back of the book (yes, I peeked, bit no spoiler here) say that there were different possible plotlines for some of the characters and even a duplication of a weird character trait.   But it’s funny to see it evolving in front of you.

In §27, Sylvanshine seems to be able to control his Random Fact Inference somewhat–and he seems to be using it rather than being inflicted by it.  This is either a big change or a cool development in Claude’s life.

There is also what I think is an actual mistake: two people have the same number: 907313433 (see §30).

In another “unfinished” issue, the surveillance in §29 is one of those situations that would certainly have been explained in greater detail (or had another scene about it).  I initially assumed they were doing surveillance for deadbeat companies (maybe for new vehicles), but there are indications (in later sections) that perhaps something else is going on, maybe to do with the Glendenning/Lehrl issue that Reynolds and Sylvanshine are talking about in §30.

One thing that I hadn’t explicitly noticed earlier, but which comes out in Cusk’s section below is the idea that “more information is not better.”  While this seems to be very true for their job, it can certainly be a debilitating world view and I wonder if that is at play as well. (more…)

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ericSOUNDTRACK: JAKE BUGG-Tiny Desk Concert #342 (March 10, 2014).

buggJake Bugg is the least charismatic person I’ve ever seen at the Tiny Desk. He doesn’t look up, barely says anything and when he’s not singing, he seems bored out of his mind. It’s amazing he has any energy at all to sing the songs.  But he does, and his voice is deceptively strong and his songs, while simple, are really rather fun.

He plays four songs.  “Slumville Sunrise” is punky and fast–his voice is very British and a little abrasive, perfect for punk folk.  But in the chorus, he can really belt out the lyrics. “Me and You” has a nice melody and is a good change of pace from the first song.  “Storm Passes Away” is a more folkie song, mellower than the others and almost upbeat sounding.  The final song, “Lightning Bolt” is apparently one of his big singles.  It is fast and rollicking and has an unusual and rather catchy deliver style.

I came away from this concert thinking that Bugg was a real jerk, but I was impressed by his voice and his song writing chops.

[READ: July 1, 2014] Eric

Eric is a very simple children’s story done with the great exacting style of Shaun Tan’s best artwork.  The narrator explains that Eric is a foreign exchange student.  Eric is very curious about so many things; however, since Eric is only a few inches high, most of the things he is curious about are tiny incidental things that we take for granted–buttons, the shapes of drains, plastic wrappers, etc.

The narrator’s mum says it is a cultural thing, and it must be, because Eric doesn’t do things that most normal people do (probably because he is only 3 inches tall).  The end of the story is a wonderful surprise. (more…)

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CV1_TNY_01_27_14DeSeve.inddSOUNDTRACK: RODNEY CROWELL-Tiny Desk Concert #365 (June 16, 2014).

rodneyI’ve never heard of Rodney Crowell, although he’s apparently been writing country songs for nigh on 40 years.  And he looks like a rugged old country music star.

But his songs don’t feel all that country.  His first song “Famous Last Words Of A Fool In Love” is a delicate ballad with a pretty guitar melody.  The second song “Jesus Tell My Mama” is more of a blues song (especially when his female backing vocalists kick in and help out).  The final song “God I’m Missing You” (which is not about God) he does solo.  It’s another sad, simple ballad.

Crowell’s voice doesn’t really sound country, although I can see how it would be considered such.  It’s just a powerful voice and I enjoyed hearing him.

All told these three songs barely stretch to ten minutes.  But it’s an interesting snapshot of how an older singer can move out of the genre that he is known for.

Incidentally, NPR is putting up these Tiny Desk concerts so frequently I’m never going to be able to catch up.  Slow down guys!

[READ: June 11, 2014] “The Frog Prince”

I’m surprised to see a second Robert Coover story in the span of just a few months in The New Yorker.  Perhaps because these are only one page, he gets to have a second one.  Like “The Waitress” (which appeared in May), this story plays around with a fairy tale.

I enjoyed this one more than probably any fairy-tale-related story that Coover has done.  Because in this one he really explores the harsh reality behind falling in love with a frog prince.  For indeed a woman does–she kisses a frog and he turns into a prince.  Naturally, she has to divorce her current husband, but she does so willingly to be with this magical prince.

But the harsh reality is that a prince that comes from a frog is going to be very frog-like: bulging eyes, a whip-like tongue and a kind of constant slurp.  However, he also has the secretions that get her very very high.  She enjoyed licking him when he was an amphibian, but when he turned, there was only one place left that had those secretions, his nether regions: “he wasn’t the cleanest of princes, but the trip was worth it.”  She looks forward to spending more and more of her time high. (more…)

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steamiiSOUNDTRACK: MOON HOOCH-“Bari 3” (2014).

bari3Man, I love Moon Hooch–that loud crazy baritone sax and the other skronky sax.  But there’s also the great drumming.  And, in this song, there’s so many stops and starts, it’s amazing they can do so much with just 2 different types of instrument.

Just how many different things can one band do with two saxophones and a drummer?  Well, in the case of Moon Hooch, the answer seems to be limitless.  This song jumps and twists–it has a heavy loud section and a smooth groovy section, it even has a loud thunderous section.  Between Colin Stetson and Moon Hooch, the saxophone is definitely cool again.

And why not watch Moon Hooch play this song at a scenic rest stop on a Pennsylvania highway:

[READ: June 10, 2014] “Balfour and Meriwether in The Adventure of the Emperor’s Vengeance”

After having read the other two Balfour and Meriwether stories, it seemed only natural to track down the first of the stories.  And it happened to be collected in this Steampunk anthology.  I didn’t read anything else in the anthology even though I like steampunk, mostly because I didn’t have time.

This story opens, as the others do with Balfour and Meriwether sitting at home by the fire.  Then Lord Carmichael bursts in with news.  This means Balfour and Meriwhether know it is time to save Queen and country.

In this case, the crisis involves Napoleon and some old plundered Egyptian goods.  This proves to be a similar premise as Tales from the Clockwork Empire and I have no idea if Napoleon’s plundering of Egyptian artifacts led to any clockwork machinery for real or not–I may have to look that up.  But this story ups the ante by having a Jewish conspiracy as well.

The British museum has several Egyptian artifacts (taken from Napoleon’s army), but it is believed that Napoleon’s men included false items with the loot in order to discredit anyone who thinks that all of the items are real.  One such falsity was believed to be a sarcophagus.  Lord Abington (the anti-Semite) wants that sarcophagus opened while no one else around.  But when he opened it the others in the next room heard a scream, a thud and then silence.  Meriwther and Balfour speculate about what was in there–perhaps it was plague and the whole museum may need to be razed.  This freaks out Lord Carmichael, naturally. (more…)

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CV1_TNY_05_19_14Drooker.inddSOUNDTRACK: FANFARLO-Tiny Desk Concert #39 (December 16, 2009).

fanfarloThis is a Christmas-themed Tiny Desk Concert, with a yule log in the TV and everything.  I’ve liked most of what I’ve heard from Fanfarlo.   I think of the band as synthy, but this version is acoustic guitar and mandolin (and three backing vocalists).  The male singer has a unique voice.  “Drowning Men” sounds great and they make quite a lot of noise for just the two instruments–when the xylophone solo kicks in, it quite a nice touch.

For song two (“Comets”) they bust out a harpist–she is not part of the band, but is a friend from New York.  She plays excellent accompaniment and the melodica is a nice touch as well.   Perhaps most interesting was hearing their biographies.  The band is based in London, and they have members from Sweden, Belgium, someone who lived in Abu Dabi, Scottish/Samoan, half Polish/half English and half English half Icelandic.  Cool.

For the final song it’s a cover of Low’s “Just Like Christmas.” It’s a simple stripped down version with guitar and melodica and it is quite beautiful.  And they don’t stop until everyone sings along.

[READ: May 27, 2014] “The Waitress”

In “The Waitress,” Coover takes a fairy tale premise and brings into the contemporary world.

This is a concept that Coover plays with a lot (with different degrees of success) and I found this one to be very good.  It is only a page long, which may have had something to do with why I liked it–it didn’t overstay its welcome.

It was also not terribly ambitious.  And, as with all stories like this I kind of have to wonder what’s the point.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. (more…)

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bm-cover-sm-225x300SOUNDTRACK: ERIC CHENAUX-Dull Lights [CST043] (2006).

dullI’ve talked about other Eric Chenaux discs before, and this one is similar to those–very mellow with Chenaux’s gentle voice running through some melodies.  The instruments include electric guitar, 12 string banjo, lap steel guitar, harmonica, electric banjo, portable sample keyboard and drums.

It’s never always clear to me what he’s signing about because his words are stretched out quite long and I’m often very distracted by the music that is accompanying the songs.

The first song “Skullsplitter” is in no way what you might be expecting from a song with that title.  There are cymbals, but no real drums, there’s a scratchy sound like a violin (although none are listed in the credits so perhaps it is samples) and what sounds like randomly plucked notes on a muted banjo.   The martial drums on track 2, “Worm and Gear” really help to coalesce the elements of this song  so you can really appreciate what Chenaux is doing here.  “I Can See It Now” has a woozy almost drunken feeling.  Chenaux has such a pretty voice that you want to lean in but the music seems so unusual.

Later in the disc, “Memories Are No Treasure” is catchy with a nice vocal melody, showing that Chenaux can write a more conventional song.  “White Dwarf White Sea” has a banjo line that has always reminded me of lines from “God Bless America”–in the middle of the riff, the banjo seems to play “from the mountains to the prairie.”   “Ronnie-May” has a very catchy county melody.  A pretty wild (genuinely wild) guitar solo, breathes crazy life into the record.  “However Wildly We Dream” concludes the record with that same kind of drunken feel (the drums are just insane).

I definitely didn’t enjoy this one as much as his other discs

[READ: April 7, 2014] Balfour and Meriwether in The Vampire of Kabul

This is a short story that I discovered because I enjoyed the (written later but not impacting this story in any way) novella that came out this year.

Abraham has written three stories about these two turn of the 20th century “detectives.”  They are like a supernatural Holmes & Watson (with a tad more violence).  In this story, which, again, is completely independent of the others, Meriwether & Balfour are sitting at home on a December night in 188- bored out of their minds.

Just as Meriwether says he wishes that something would break their malaise a ninja comes crashing through their giant window.  In a trice she has a gun at Balfour’s head. Meriwether is helpless to assist.  But they both recognize who it is almost immediately–Maria Feodorovan, the czarina of Russia and sworn enemy of Meriwether & Balfour.  As the dust clears, we learn what Maria is here for–she is daring to ask for help from our duo.

It appears that the Czar has gone mad.  But not from natural causes–someone or something attacked him.  There was “an ectoplasmic darkness” in the corners of the room and while he has recovered somewhat, it seems that his mind is no longer his own.  And, she explains based on overheard knowledge that the Queen of England is next.  As she says this, the police rush in to say that The Queen has been attacked. (more…)

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 superheroSOUNDTRACK: ELIZABETH ANKA VAJAGIC-Stand With the Stillness of This Day [CST028] (2004).

eavlpElizabeth Anka Vajagic is a singing in the vein of Carla Bozulich (whose solo album CST would release a few years after this one).  She has a powerful, raw voice that can go low but can also rage.  She has a lot of control over her voice (which is seems sometimes Bozulich doesn’t) which leads to a lot of tension-filled songs.  EAV plays guitar and some piano.  These songs are also filled with cello, harmonium and an oud.  The songs are slow but powerful, and her voice suits the melodies very well–dark and full of longing.

“With Hopes Lost” has that mournful keening vocal, and the cello really provides that hopeless-feeling component.  “Around Here” is a dark stormy song with aching strings and piano.  “Where You Wonder” is a dark song but with a fight left in it–resistance to the darkness it feels.  The song feels mostly sparse until 4 and half minutes when it rages with a screaming guitar solo and big bold chords.  “Iceland” has probably the most fun chorus of the bunch, something actually sing-alongable.    The next song is called “Why.”  I’m always suspicious of a song called “Why” and this one is a little deservedly so–vague statements are not really anyone’s forte.  She has the keening down well, but it feels a little flat–brevity helps on this one.  “And the Sky Lay Still” opens with a slow echoing guitar, and as it slowly builds, ther’s a great vocal melody that builds for the verse  “Sleep with Dried Up tears” is an acoustic song.  It’s definitely a bit of a downer after the intensity of the album (which is dark but powerful).

EAV is definitely not for everyone.  It depends on your taste for screaming and, your taste for strings instead of heavy guitars to accompany those screams.

[READ: April 23, 2014] The Adventures of Superhero Girl

I grabbed this book from the library because I like Hicks’ work.  When I brought it home, Sarah thought that I brought it for her because it is on her Hub Reading Challenge List.  But no, I liked Hicks enough for myself (so selfish–although I did let her read it first).  She loved it, and so did I.

The Adventures of Superhero Girl is an online comic which Hicks seems to have started in 2010.  Online it is black and white (this book is done with colors by Chris Peters). I didn’t check to see if this is the entire series, but I assume it is. It went on hiatus in 2012 and has been eerily silent ever since.  So at least we have this pretty hardcover document of this hilarious series.

The strip is a genuine, honest to god, comic strip–8 panels and a punchline!  (okay most have fewer than 8 panels, but that’s the set up).  It’s sort of a goof on superheroes, but as the introduction by Kurt Busiek points out, it is really not a parody of the genre.  Superhero Girl is a superhero, with powers (but not amazing powers) and she does help people and she suffers angst from it.  But Hicks plays around with the most basic tropes of super heroes.

Superhero Girl, first of all, doesn’t have a superhero name.  She’s not hugely muscular, she’s not super sexy, she doesn’t wear a sexy costume.  She’s a young Canadian girl in a mask and (sometimes) a cape. She doesn’t have an agonizing backstory.  She just has superpowers and wants to help people. (more…)

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