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Archive for the ‘Violence’ Category

Mike Chen–We Can Be Heroes (2020)

Posted in Canadian Music, Death, Farm Fresh, Mike Chen, Mind Robber, Rheostatics, Storyteller, Superheroes, Supernatural, Throwing Star, Violence, tagged on February 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-3rd Annual Green Sprouts Music Week Night 3 (Ultrasound Showbar, Toronto Ontario September 20 1995).

It has been a while since I’ve listened to a live Rheostatics show.  Darrin at Rheostatics Live has added a number of new shows in the last eight months.  Like this full week of shows from the Third Green Sprouts Music Week

Third night of the third annual Green Sprouts Music Week held at Ultrasound Showbar September 18-23 1995. Shorter mid week set though I believe the first song is missing and not sure if there were any encores. The show focused predominantly on Blue Hysteria material they were working on at the time with 8 of the 14 songs being unreleased. The show builds pretty nicely to epic song territory. The last four songs alone make up almost 1/3 of the show.This tape starts with “All the Same Eyes,” which sounds great–martin adds in some cool noisy guitar effects.

But, as seems to happen a lot for these guys, there’s technical problems.  The first song does appear to be missing because after this, Dave says something about being only two songs in.  Someone shouts “Tell me a story, Dave.” “I don’t have a story at the ready.”  “Tell us the Milli Vanilli story.”  “I don’t have a Milli Vanilli story….  And if I did I wouldn’t be at liberty to release that information.”

Martin tells everyone, “On New Years Eve we sat down and wrote four songs and if we made a whole song of any of them it would be awful.  So we put them into one song.”  “Four Little Songs” comes out perfectly.  Dave says that he’s in Neil Finn’s kitchen.  At the end of the song “And now they’re gone,” he asks, “Did you eat them?”

Introducing “Desert Island Poem” Dave talks about writing a song about cannibalism already: IOn “Oneilly’s Strange Dream” he has to eat his friend to survive.  So we have reprise the theme in this song.  Tyler from Farm Fresh adds some scratching.  Don says “I feel like we’re being attacked by one of those beam swords from Star Trek or Star Wars.  Everyone cracks up that he can’t remember light saber.

Martin says he was once hurt by a toy torpedo.  Did one of your brothers do that to you?  Martin: The mean one, the one they don’t talk about.   Gus, the hidden Tielli.

Then comes three Tim songs in a row.  In “Introducing Happiness’ Tim sings “your sister lives in … wherever the hell she is.”

Dave asks “How are the cats doing?”  Tim: “They’re a little bored.”  Dave” Bring them to the show–all kitties half price.”  But…  Is Dale [the Rooster] here tonight?  There would be a problem.

Up next are “Connecting Flights” and “An Offer.”

Martin follows up with “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine” which has some outstanding drumming in the chorus.

Dave plays “My First Rock Concert” and I noticed that instead of “Paul Weller was Christ” he says he’s seen “The Special Beat thrice.”

They’re going to take a little break (it’s pretty early for that, frankly) and then they come back for “California Dreamline.”  Martin had no monitor and couldn’t hear anything–“I sang it deaf.”  Don: “That was def man.”

It’s weird how many people are talking but then how many people are excited to hear it.

A gorgeous “Northern Wish” segues into “Saskatchewan” which has a cool buzzing sound that goes from one ear to the other.  Was that on purpose?

Throughout the week, there is some concern in the audience about people standing up.  I guess this is a seated venue, maybe with tables?  Before they start “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson,” Dave says, “you can stand up now.”  As they start the song, Dave starts singing Bowie’s “Fashion” (turn to the left).  Then he starts singing a refrain that pops up a lot this week and I cant figure out what it’s from

It’s tuesday night in the discotheque / I can’t dance what the heck / I’m an Uzbek.

Farm Fresh gets the Michael Shout out and Tyler does a scratching solo.  There’s a fantastic vocal ending from Martin and Tim.

They follow this with “When Winter Comes, with a stomping honky tonk guitar before the main riff comes in.  Someone else is sings the “blue Canadian winter” part.

Dave says they’re going to do a couple more, but the tape only has one more–a really good version of “Fat.”

[READ: February 20, 2021] We Can Be Heroes

S. brought this book home and after describing the premise I wanted to give it a read.  I’d never read Mike Chen before.  Apparently his books are typically a lot darker than this one.  So I’m glad I read this as I don’t think I’d like the darker ones.

This one comes from an amusing premise.  It also comes from a short story that he wrote that had a similar premise but when in a different direction.  In that story (called “Anonymous,” from Storyteller Vol. 1 No. 3 which I can’t find anywhere) two superheroes meet in A.A.  The premise of the novel is similar–two superheroes meet in a memory loss group.  But it’s that memory loss that really changes the direction of the story.

The book opens on Jamie Sorensen–a villain. He is the Mind Robber and he is robbing a bank.  He is able to look into people’s minds and flick through their memories like pictures on a phone (I liked that detail).  He can read them or erase them or just stun people’s memories with a flick of his finger.  He doesn’t want to hurt anyone in the bank, but people are afraid that he is going to wipe out their entire memory.  He just wants to get a ton of money so he can go to the tropics and hide out for the rest of his life–not an ambitious villain, really.  Plus he had heard that banks are insured so as long as he doesn’t take too much at a time, no one really gets hurt. (more…)

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Felix Mertikat–Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Down (2018)

Posted in Andre Wiesler, Andrea Bottlinger, Bernd Perplies, Bernhard Hennen, Cyborgs, Death, Dragons, End of the World, Farm Fresh, Felix Mertikat, Mrs. Torrance, Tsukuyumi, Verena Klinke, Violence, tagged on February 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-3rd Annual Green Sprouts Music Week Night 2 (Ultrasound Showbar, Toronto Ontario September 19 1995).

It has been a while since I’ve listened to a live Rheostatics show.  Darrin at Rheostatics Live has added a number of new shows including this entire week from 1995.

Second night of the third annual Green Sprouts Music Week held at Ultrasound Showbar September 18-23 1995. This show is much tighter than the first night. Of note this is the third show that Martin played his double neck guitar (the second being the night before). First live performance of Feed Yourself, An Offer and My First Rock Concert. I believe this is the first time Stolen Car made a live appearance as a verse in the middle of Dope Fiends and Boozehounds. Also Farm Fresh from Brandon Manitoba opened all the shows this week and guested on an amazing version of Fat which had also only been played live a couple times.

“Digital Beach” is a quiet opening and I’m glad the crowd are pretty respectful  It segues into “Earth with its “Monstrous Hummingbird” crashing end and a pretty guitar trilling at end the song.

“Aliens” has a middle slow down part which is pretty unusual–the music cuts back to a simple groove.

Dave notes that “the one wearing the Green Sprouts jersey is the first to start the mosh pit.  Then he addresses Dale the Rooster.  More about Dale later in the week.  But Dave says they don’t allow chickens in the mosh pit.  Dale the rooster has seen five shows.

A swinging “All the Same Eyes” is followed by “Four Little Songs.”  They coordinate ahead of time but they get the countdown perfect.  After the “can’t go wrong” but Dave prepares us for the next verse with a scary “UNLESS!”  And in what would be a weeklong thing Dave starts picking a different Neil whose kitchen he was in.  Tonight it’s Neal Schon’s kitchen.

At the end of the song Tim says “We got the 1234 right–nothing can be harder than that.”

Dave: This is the second night of our residency.  Of the third Green Sprouts week.  There’s an all ages matinee saturday at 6.  Three years old? We’ve had younger than 3.  We birthed a baby onstage at last GSMW and they named it Green Sprouts Music Week.

MT: [“Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine”] is a song I wrote the chorus to [not true, so I must have misheard].  He messes up the chord, which leads to a “Capo Problems” reprise this time with an avant garde solo by Dave.  He wonders, was the person who invented the capo named Capo?  Don: Victor Capo.  MT corrects: this is a song I stole from Mrs. Torrance.

Mrs. Torrance is here every Tuesday in September.  And Farm Fresh drove all the way from Brandon, Manitoba.  They play dope shit or is it shit dope?

“Fan Letter” gives another shout out to Farm Fresh instead of Michael Jackson.  Dave says “we just re-recorded that song and are selling it on white vinyl.  Two sides of the record have music–quite an idea.  Side 1 is the Springfield Duff mix and side two is the Shelbyville Fudd mix.

Up next is a song about Etobicoke: “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” gets a big reaction, then Don throws ina drums solo and the song segues into “Stolen Car” (sung by Dave!).

Don tells a story about the first time he tried to smoke a joint.  It was in Etobicoke at a condominium complex on Islington and Dixon called Fortuna 2000  MT: He once saw a girl going in there with Simon Le Bon.  Don: That’s who I was with!

Up next is “Desert Island Poem” or “Drumheller” (name undecided as of yet) a “happy song about cannibalism.”

Dave says tonight’s show is better than last night–suckers who paid last night got a bad show.

It’s the first time they’re playing “An Offer,” in which Tim sings in a major falsetto, they play a rocking “Feed Yourself.”  This is the first time they’re playing it as well and Dave is still tinkering with the words, instead of “sucking his thumb,” he sings “fucking his mom” (!).  The end is chaos.  Tim says we’ve haven’t even done it yet and we’re trying to change it.

Dave: We’ll play a few old ones now–sweatin’ to the oldies tonight.

Dave asks about Martin’s double neck guitar.  Martin: I’m getting used to its weight.  Dave: I’m a little afraid that you’re gonna be buff like Thor.  Tim: It’s only the third show you’ve used it in, and you brought it out and it didn’t get a laugh.  It got a laugh the night before because Tyler was there–everything is funny when Tyler Stewart (from Barenaked Lades) is there.

A solid “Northern Wish” (Martin forgets a line but it’s fine) is followed by a really funky “Soul Glue” in which Dave plays a great scratching sound for “Dragged the bottom of the lake.”

Drum roll ladies and gentlemen for “My First Rock Concert” (the first time Dave played it live).  Some of it is different–the Joe Jackson part is more improv sounding.  Martin: that’s a song we’re just gonna learn on stage.

Dave says he tried to fit in a verse about Tim passing out at a Devo concert.  Tim: in the early 80s when everyone was wearing those big heavy winter overcoats. Tim wore it to Massey Hall.   Devo were marching on treadmills and it freaked him out and he passed out and thought he was going to hell.

A delightful “Introducing Happiness” is followed by “Fat.”  They call Farm Fresh up to rap.  They say that really nice people come to see the Rheostatics because people actually listen to the music.  Tim: I heard 18 Farm Fresh tapes were sold last night is that true?

Farm Fresh do a freestyle over an awesome intro jam (there’s lots and lots of “shit” and “fuck” in it).  Although the refrain of “when I say ‘What do you think of Farm Fresh’ you say ‘they suck'” will appear throughout the week.  “Fat” sounds great with a lengthy jam at the end and some more freestyling that you can’t really hear.

They end the set with a combo of “Legal Age Life at Variety Store” and “Bread Meat Peas and Rice.”

Tim: I know it’s time for us to go because the bartender has put on Conan O’Brien.  Dave: We have commemorative T-shirts for sale, as well as pamphlets and biscuits and bowling shoes–we got all kinds of stuff.

They end the night with a two part–“The Royal Albert” and “Record Body Count” which get a huge reaction.  This is a really solid set and a great sounding recording.

[READ: February 10, 2021] Tsukuyumi

I found this book at work and thought it looked really interesting.

Then I saw that it was all in German.  But when I flipped through it, it didn’t seem like there was all that much dialogue.  So I thought I’d translate it for myself.  This took longer than I anticipated it would and no doubt I missed a lot, but it was still fun.

It turns out that this book was created to go along with a board game of the same name.  This book came with certain pledge levels.  There was an English version that came with a lesser level.  but i’m not sure if it’s the same story.

Felix Mertikat did all of the drawings in the book and there is a different author for each story.  All of the stories seem to be setting up something bigger, like this is the first intro part to a much larger saga.

The general idea: Man lives in fear all the time–fear that his creators could destroy him just as easily as they once created him. (more…)

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Scott Westerfeld–Leviathan (2009)

Posted in Al Purdy, Alternate Reality, Animals, Death, Jane Siberry, Keith Thompson, Platinum Blonde, Rheostatics, Scott Westerfeld, Sexism, Steampunk, Supernatural, Superstitions, Surreal, Technology, Teenagers, Trilogy, Violence, World War I, YA Books, tagged on February 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-3rd Annual Green Sprouts Music Week Night 1 (Ultrasound Showbar, Toronto Ontario September 18 1995).

It has been a while since I’ve listened to a live Rheostatics show.  Darrin at Rheostatics Live has added a number of new shows in the last eight months.  Like this full week of shows from the Third Green Sprouts Music Week.

He writes:

Rheos had just come off of the 2nd Another Roadside Attraction tour with The Tragically Hip in July. The band would perform their Group Of 7 commission in Ottawa a month later and during this run were working on material for what would become The Blue Hysteria album. Some of the working titles are listed (Crescent II, Two Flights) as well as Drumheller which would end up as “Desert Island Poem” on Dave’s first Bidiniband album The Land Is Wild.

I don’t regret missing many shows that I’ve missed, but I do very much wish that i had been able to go to a few nights of a Green Sprouts Music Week.  Seeing them in a small club with them chatting away and experimenting seems like it would have been a wonderful experience.

As the tape starts on this first night, someone asks

“Are we going to play that song tonight?”
“What song?”
“The $1.79 song.”
“Of course it wouldn’t be a Green Sprouts…”

Never find out what that is.  But then Dave tells the audience

The plan is over the next 7 days to pay every song we know and even songs don’t know.  He says that it’s Roger the sound man’s first Green Sprouts week and he hasn’t caught Green Sprouts fever yet.  This is also Don Kerr’s first green sprouts, too.

We’ll lay a couple old ones to start.  Someone shouts “YAY!”  Dave: “Hey you haven’t even heard the new ones yet.”

They start with “Me & Stupid” which features the spoken part of the poem “Wilderness Gothic” by Al Purdy:  “Something is about to happen two shores away a man hammering the sky”

Dave: “The great thing about green sprouts is you forget different stuff each night.”

Up next is “another Southern Ontario song” “Fish Tailin’.”

Then Martin unveils his new (as yet unpainted double neck) guitar: “overcompensating for the lack of headstock for the last 6 years.  Now he’s got a guitar with two big ones.”

Tim gets the first new song with “All the Same Eyes,” a song that doesn’t change much between now and the record.

In what will be a theme for the week, they have a really hard time coordinating the opening countdown for “Four Little Songs.”  They have to start it three times.  And they mess up the 4321 at the end.  Martin’s verse seems different.

Kevin Hearn joins them for the next song.  Dave says they stole some part of “Four Little Songs” from [Kev’s “on patrol?  Cabs On patrol?   No idea].

Kevin plays on “Fan Letter” and in they chant “Farm Fresh” instead of Michael.

Over the course of the week we’ll get more details about the creation of “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine.”  Onm this first night, Martin forgets the second verse.

Dave says that Neil Peart said that he preferred playing smaller places (meaning arenas) because he could hear himself (he preferred arenas to open air venues).  But in arenas there’s big speakers but it sounds small.  But it’s snugsville in here, boy.

It’s been a long time since we did this song (“Palomar”), which gets a good response.  After which “it’s the fall but we can still play summer music” (“Introducing Happiness”).

Dave says he saw Asleep at the Wheel and the last song everyone did a solo.  Then the lead singer had a guitar shaped like Texas, but instead of his solo, he picked up three balls by his feet and did some juggling. The last one he threw up in the air and it landed on the brim of his cowboy hat.  They’re working on that for later in the week.

They start the new “Connecting Flights” but can’t find a capo.  They do an improv “capo shortage,” a goofy bit a fun.  Up next is the new “Desert Island Poem,” which sounds great.

Then comes the popular section.  A rocking “California Dreamline” which segues into a lovely “Song of Flight” and right into “Fat.”

They haven’t played “Queer” in a while (which is a surprise).  As they start Dave says, “now there’s a little matter of the words.”  Someone recites them for him.

Dave is going to play “My First Rock Concert” every night this week and the and are kind of learning it on the fly.  In the middle of the song, some words are different.

Dave: “I sense something funky coming on (start of “Soul Glue”).

The last song before “our first encore” is a rocking version of Jane Siberry’s “One More Colour.”  I love their version.

Heading into the encore break Don says, “We just played 18 songs without a pee break.”

That reminds him of a gig they played in Pennsylvania: drinks were free until the first person has to pee.  It was a real classy establishment.  The most boring place on earth–Harrisburg, PA.  It’s a great place if you have a huge bladder.

Martin says “My assessment of tonight is that it started out very vague and hazy, like we haven’t played in six months or like we’re getting back together after a year breakup.  But it gelled together in the last three or four songs.”

Martin tries to remember the new song “A Midwinter Night’s Dream.”  He doesn’t go for the high note in the middle of the song–choosing a lower growl instead.  It works pretty well, but I love the high note.

Dave jokes: You don’t know what it was like touring in Platinum Blonde town after town having to play the hits with the drummer under the stage playing the parts for the fake drummer on the stage.

A delicate “Take Me in Your Hand” is followed by Don Kerr’s first time playing “Northern Wish.”  Martin gets the first line but missed the rest of the verse and starts the song again.

The first night ends with a ripping “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds.”  There’s a drum solo for Don and then martin ends the song with interesting guitar effects.

It’s a good start to a great week.

[READ: February 20, 2021] Leviathan

I signed C. up for a YA program at the library.  His subject was steampunk and they chose this book for him.  S. had read this series and loved it, so I decided to give it a read while it was still in the house.  I found it to be a fast and fun read.

The story is set in 1914, the dawn of World War I. But it’s an alternate reality–one where zeppelins and other hydrogen-based flying machines dominate the air  It also has a very cool component of animal/machine hybrids that are really quite impossible to explain except to say that the Leviathan is a living airship that is made out of whale–they are in side of a whale–but it’s also a machine.  Or something.  Best not to think too much about that.

It’s here that I should mention the drawings by Keith Thompson. They are wonderful pencil-looking drawings–dark but detailed.  They really help to get the visuals down of thes extradoridfanly machiens tah Westerfeld has createa.  I’m not always certain that I could picture the without the drawings.

The book opens on teenaged Prince Aleksander, the heir to the Austrian throne.  While he is playing with toy soldiers, imagining a war, two of his servants enter the room and tell him they are off to do some training in the dark–his father’s orders.

The machine that Aleks is being taken to is a Cyklop Stormwalker.  This is a giant machine that walks on two legs (Star Wars, yes). Alek has never piloted something this large before, but they tell him it’s important for his training. But Alek senses something is wrong and that’s when they tell him this is not a drill.  His parents, the King and Queen of Austria, were killed that very night. He is probably another target and they are trying to keep him safe. (more…)

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Greg Pak, Valeria Favoccia–Stranger Things: Zombie Boys (2020)

Posted in Graphic Novel, Greg Pak, Horror, Pillow Queens, Set at School, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Valeria Favoccia, Violence, YA Books, Yuck!, Zombies on February 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PILLOW QUEENS-“Liffey” (Live on the Late Late Show, January 13, 2021).

I learned about Pillow Queens from the book about Irish Drummers.  Rachel Lyons, Pillow Queens’ drummer is interviewed for the book and I thought their band sounded interesting.

I had no idea how good this band would be.  They have released a few EPs and a number of one-off songs on bandcamp.  They released their debut album in September.  To celebrate, the band made their American TV debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden performing “Liffey.”

The band has two leads ingers and all four members sing backing vocals.  As this song opens, Pamela Connolly sings an opening verses while everyone else sings harmony and counterpoint until everything comes crashing in–drums, guitars and bass.  (That’s Sarah Corcoran on bass and Cathy McGuinness playing lead guitar).

There are some cool parts in this song.  The bridge has as series of two note punches, while the verses are supported by soaring single guitar notes.  Lyons’ drumming is a real high point.  There’s martial beats and lots of floor tom (in the video you can see that she’s using mallets all the way though).  Noting her sounds expected and yet it all works together really nicely.

The roaring buzzsaw guitar that ends the song is just perfect.

I’m looking forward to listening to the whole album.

[READ: February 10, 2021] Stranger Things: Zombie Boys 

I get to see all kinds of unexpected things at work–books from other countries, books graphic novels in other languages, even popular novels.  One thing I never expected to see was a Stranger Things graphic novel.  In part because I didn’t know there were any.

But here one is.

This book is set right after Will is rescued from the Upside Down.  He’s been drawing pictures of their adventure.

But at school kids are calling him zombie boy.  Which is no fun.

The only bright spot is AV Club.  But even that’s no fun lately because the boys are all behind in school (what with fighting the forces of evil) and their AV advisor is making them do school work.

Until a new kids comes into the picture.  Joey Kim has just moved to town from San Diego.  His mom works for Sony and he has a brand new betamax film camera.

Their AV advisor says that he’ll see if they can make a movie for extra credit.  But what movie will they make?

That’s when Joey pulls out a drawing that Will made (it fell out of his bag).  The boys love the drawing and think it will make for an awesome zombie movie.

Will’s mom isn’t too keen on him drawing scary pictures–she even takes him to the doctor.  (The doctor is affiliated with the bad guys, but that doesn’t have an bearing on this story).  So Will changes the drawings into zombie joke pictures–it’s a pleasure to eat you, etc..  But the guys are having none of it. And Joey Kim says that it’s horror or nothing.

So they play with make up effects (kielbasa for eaten flesh!) and draw on some of their darker moments (of which they have many) to pull out some acting chops.

Lucas has an important demand though–the black guy always dies in horror movies and he wants Joey to know that this black guy is not going to die.

The book is pretty short and aside from a few of the bullies there’s nothing too dramatic in it–except for a moment when Will goes too deep into a dark place.  But the story line is cool and it feels like a setup for more to come.

I have no idea if Joey Kim is coming in the new season or if he is comics only, but he’s a fun addition for this story line.

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Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Gregory Toner–A History of Ireland in 100 Words (2019)

Posted in Accents, Adventure, Airlines, Animals, Curses, Death, Demons, Dictionary, Dip-in Books, Disease, Drinking, Fables, Fairies, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Farming, Festivals, Food, Gaeilge, Gods, Gregory Toner, History, Hurling, Ireland, Irish Writer, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joe McLaren, Language, Law, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Monsters, Morality, Myths, Poetry, Poets, Politicians, Pranks, Sharon Arbuthnot, Sports, Superstitions, Taxes, Turkeys, Violence, War on February 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »

 SOUNDTRACK: THE REDNECK MANIFESTO-The How (2018).

Despite a terrible name that would keep me away from wanting to see them, The Redneck Manifesto are a very interesting and complicated band.  I discovered them through the book of Irish drummers.  TRM drummer Mervyn Craig is in the book.

The How is the band’s fifth album (and first in eight years).  The album is chock full of instrumentals that touch all genres of music.

There are jazzy elements, dancey elements and rock elements.  There are solos (but never long solos) and jamming sections.  Most of the songs are around 4 minutes long with a couple running a little longer.

“Djin Chin” has jangly chords and quiet riffs that switch to a muted melody.  All the while the bass is loping around.  It shifts tempos three times in the first two minutes.  Around three minutes the bass takes over the lead instrument pushing the song along with deep notes.

“The Rainbow Men” has a circular kind of riff with swirling effects that launch the song during the musical pauses.  After a minute and a half it drastically shifts direction and the adds in a cool solo.

“Sip Don’t Gulp” starts with a catchy bouncy guitar riff and bass lines.  At two minutes it too shifts gears to a staggered riff that sounds great.

“Kobo” is the shortest song and seems to tell a melodic story.  The two guitars play short, fast rhythms as call and response while the bass rumbles along.

“Head Full of Gold” is over 6 minutes with a thumping bass, rumbling drums and soft synths.  “No One” is nearly 7 minutes and feels conventionally catchy until you try to keep up with the beats.  After a middle series of washes from various instruments, the back half is a synthy almost dancey rhythm.

“Sweep” is a pretty song until the half-way mark when it just takes off in a fury of fast drumming and complex chords.  The end builds in upward riding notes until it hits a calming ending

“We Pigment” is a poppy staccato dancey number.  The second half turns martial with a series of four beat drum patterns and a soaring guitar solo.  More staccato runs through to the end.  “The Underneath Sun” also has a lot of staccato–fast guitar notes interspersed with bigger chords.  The end of the song is just littered with sweeping guitar slides until the thumping conclusion.

This album is great and I’m looking forward to exploring their other releases.

[READ: January 10, 2021] A History of Ireland in 100 Words

This book looks at old Irish words–how they’ve evolved and how they show the way Irish history came about.  The authors say:

our store of words says something fundamental about us and how we think.  This book is meant to provide insights into moments of life that may be otherwise absent from history books.  The focus is on Gaelic Ireland throughout as Gaelic was the native language of the majority of the inhabitants of the island for the last 2000 years. It yielded its primacy to English only in the last 150 years.

We selected words with the aim of illustrating each of our themes as broadly as possible.  We wanted the words in all their richness to tell their story … like how the word that originally meant noble came to mean cheaper (saor).

Almost all of the entries reference The cattle raid of Cooley (The Ulster Cycle) which features the hero Cú Chulainn.  This story is at the heart of most of historical Ireland and it’s pretty fascinating how many of these Gaelic words either originate with that story or get their foundation from the story.

There’s a general pronunciation guide although I wish each word had a phonetic guide because anyone who speaks English will look at Irish a if it is just a jumble of nonsensical consonants.

The book is broken down into sections, although the authors insist that there is no correct way to read the book.

  • Writing and Literature
  • Technology and Science
  • Food and Feasting
  • The Body
  • Social Circles
  • Other Worlds
  • War and Politics
  • A Sense of Place
  • Coming and Going
  • Health and Happiness
  • Trade and Status
  • Entertainment and Sport
  • The Last Word

There are also delightfully weird wood carving-like drawings from by Joe McLaren scattered throughout the book.

The words are listed below with either a definition or an interesting anecdote included. (more…)

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Martin Roper–“Our House” (New Yorker, November 26, 2001)

Posted in Book Club, Boris, Cormac McCarthy, Irish Writer, Marriage Trouble, Martin Roper, Merzbow, New Yorker, Short Story, Violence on February 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BORIS with MERZBOW-Gensho (Disc Two: Merzbow) (2016).

In 2016, Boris teamed with Merzbow to create Gensho, a 2 CD package that was designed to have both CDs played at the same time.  Not the easiest thing for many people, but with the advent of digital recordings it’s now pretty easy to play both discs at the same time (this release is on Spotify).

Disc 1 was all Boris.  Disc 2 was all Merzbow.

Merzbow is a real challenge for me.  I’m not really sure how anyone can listen to his music for pleasure.  It’s harsh, electronic sounds, with high pitched squeals and low staticy distortions.  As an exercise in noise, it’s fairly interesting, but never enjoyable.

This disc includes four songs.

“Planet of the Cows” is over 18 minutes long.  It’s high pitched squealing and a low distortion.  There’s a thumping that works almost like a rhythm.  After ten minutes it sounds like a space alarm is sounding.

“Goloka Pt. 1” is 20 minutes long.  It feels bigger and more metallic.  The noises seem to coalesce into a distant screaming sound.

“Goloka Pt. 2” is 19:30.  It’s got a slightly lower tone, with slower movement among the noises.  Although sirens and pulsing sounds are present.  Then at 12 minutes all the sirens drop out to just a quiet robotic pulsing with thumping that sound like a heartbeat.  The track ends in what sounds like mechanical breathing.

“Prelude to a Broken Arm” is the shortest song at only 16 minutes.  It is quieter with a low crunching and bug-like sounds.  At 6 and half minutes the distortion comes in really loud with a mechanical drum/broken engine sound and then a looping siren with the kind of static noise that sounds like more screaming.

It is an unsettling and challenging listen and not for the squeamish.

[READ: February 10, 2021] “Our House”

Irish writers are often known for their humorous storytelling.  But wow, can Irish writers really hit hard with the tragedy, too.

This is one of the darkest stories I’ve read in a long time.

The story begins with the narrator saying that his father always told him to never buy a house on a  corner.  But the narrator and his wife did anyway.  It was in bad shape and needed a lot of work, but they fell in love with the place and felt they were up to the task.

The story sets up the spouses as opposites in love.  She is a non-practicing Protestant with a Catholic name (Ursula) and he is a non-practicing Catholic with a Protestant name.  She thinks he is funny and he never dares to admit that she rarely gets the jokes.

The previous owner died three years ago and they are the first people to check out the place.  The more they clean the more work they see needs to get done.  Although there are some nice surprises (like the five hundred pounds in cash they find under the carpet).

But it’s the neighborhood that proves to be more hostile to them than they could ever have imagined.  Children began gathering at the corner every day.  They get up to mischief right away–ringing the doorbell and running, bouncing a ball off the house.  But there is an underlying air of menace behind all of this. (more…)

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Lauren Groff–“The Wind” (New Yorker, February 1, 2021)

Posted in Agnostic Front, Domestic Violence, Lauren Groff, Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, Pearl Harbour, Short Story, Talking Heads, The Cars, Violence on February 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PEARL HARBOR AND THE EXPLOSIONS-Pearl Harbor and the Explosions (1979).

In a post from a couple of days ago, Rebecca Kushner mentions a bunch of punk band members that she either knew or hung out with.  I was amazed at how many of them I’d heard of but didn’t really know.  So this seemed like a good opportunity to go punk surfing.

Until about a decade ago, I had never heard of Pearl Harbor & The Explosions.  Then a friend of mine was moving and she gave me her vinyl collection.  It was a lot of punk and new wave and, inexplicably she had two copies of this album.  I never listened to it until just now.

Kushner mentions Pearl Harbor in this essay.  I read the essay that Pearl Harbor was opening for Agnostic Front, but that seems like a recipe for disaster.  Maybe Pearl Harbor was just in the audience when Agnostic Front played.  Because this album is not hardcore.  Not even punk.  It’s punky new wave but it is certainly more on the new wave scale.

The first song was the single “Drivin’.”  The guitars are angular, the bass is very busy, it feels rather like the Talking Heads.  The backing vocals are short and direct while Pearl Harbor sings in a perfect new wave style.  The weird thing is how the song seems like it’s funky, but it’s very unfunky.  I don’t know if it’s because the record has no low end–everything is at the high end–the guitar chords, the backing vocals, the bassm even the drums feel like all snare.  But the guitar chords and change-ups are really quite interesting and the solo is really quite erratic and interesting.

“You Got It (Release It)” is really catchy pop with a nice noisy guitar solo.  “Don’t Come Back” pays off a few different styles.  There’s a kind of loping almost country bass and some wildly reckless guitar chords thrown all over them.

“Keep Going” has a wonky sounding bass that pushes this song forward with jagged guitars and dreamy vocals.  “Shut Up and Dance” is one of the harder rocking songs on the disc with a quick descending main riff and loud distorted guitar chords.  But the chorus and middle part are pure new wave.

“The Big One” has a halting guitar and bass line that makes the song catchy and slightly off at the same time.  “So Much for Love” has a disco bass line and some curlicue guitar riffs in between the angular chords.  Then after two minutes the song turns pretty conventional with a catchy reprise of the chorus.

“Get a Grip On Yourself” throws in a wildly funky bass and guitar chords straight out of Bowie’s “Fashion.”  It’s a bouncy song and even has a very disco high-pitched “ooh ooh” and a rather fun “6,5,4,3,2,1, here it comes” refrain.  It also has two false endings, just to mess with the DJ.

“Up and Over” is the longest song on the album by far.  It’s got a catchy chugging riff very reminiscent of The Cars.   The reason for the length is a middle instrumental jam high bass notes and a bunch of guitar mischief.

I’m not sure why the band never did anything else.  Or why Kushner saw Pearl Harbor hanging around in what I’m guessing was the mid 1980s.  Pearl Harbor married Clash bassist Paul Simonon and also hate a solo career as Pearl Harbour.  She also sang with The Tubes (before The Explosions album).  And, best of all, her real name is Pearl E. Gates.  Here’s a fascinating interview I found with her from the Patterns and Tones blog.

Seems like Pearl Harbor was (and still is) pretty cool.

[READ: February 8, 2021] “The Wind”

This was a very sad story, told in a nail-biting way.

The narrator is relating a story that her mother would tell to her whenever “her limbs were too heavy to move and she stood staring into the refrigerator for long spells, unable to decide what to make for dinner.”

In the story, the narrator’s mother was a young child, living with her parents (the narrator’s grandparents) and her two younger brothers.  The grandmother told her daughter that the next day she should pretend it was a normal day.

What that meant was getting out and onto the school bus just like usual.  However, once she was on the bus, she asked the bus driver to let them off at a stop a few stops away.  The bus driver was taken aback but when she looked at the girl and saw her black eye, she knew what was going on and agreed to the deceit.

Their mother was waiting for them and they all got in the car. (more…)

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Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui & Aziza Ahmad–Fearless. Stories of Amazing Women from Pakistan (2020)

Posted in #girlsatdhabas, Aditya Prakash Ensemble, Angélique Kidjo, Assassination, Astronauts, Bano Qudsia, Bapsi Dishwa, Benazir Bhutto, Biography, Coronavirus, Deafness, Fatima Ali, Fatima Jinnah, Feminism, Fortune, GlobalFEST, Kishwar Naheed, Malala Yousafzai, Maria Toorpakai Wazir, Namira Salim, Nazi Hassan, Nergis Mavalvala, Noor Jehan, Pakistan, Parveen Shakir, Perween Rehman, Qandeel Baloch, Quarantine, Reshma, Salima Hashmi, Sana Mir, Science, Scientists, Sexism, Shah Aldul Latif Bhittai, Shahzia Sikander, Shamin Ara, Squash, Suicide, Technology, Theater, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Universities, Urdu, Violence, War, Work, Yasmeen Lari on January 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ADITYA PRAKASH ENSEMBLE-GlobalFEST Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #135 (January 13, 2021).

Aditya Prakash EnsembleGlobalFEST is an annual event, held in New York City, in which bands from all over the world have an opportunity to showcase their music to an American audience.  I’ve never been, and it sounds a little exhausting, but it also sounds really fun.

The Tiny Desk is teaming up with globalFEST this year for a thrilling virtual music festival: Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST. The online fest includes four nights of concerts featuring 16 bands from all over the world. 

Given the pandemic’s challenges and the hardening of international borders, NPR Music and globalFEST is moving from the nightclub to your screen of choice and sharing this festival with the world. Each night, we’ll present four artists in intimate settings (often behind desks donning globes), and it’s all hosted by African superstar Angélique Kidjo, who performed at the inaugural edition of globalFEST in 2004.

The second band on the third night is the Aditya Prakash Ensemble.

Performing from their home base in Los Angeles, Aditya Prakash Ensemble highlights songs borne from South India’s Carnatic tradition. Prakash uses his voice as an instrument to tell powerful, emotive stories — which he reimagines in a fresh, dynamic way. Aditya Prakash Ensemble’s modern take on traditional music mixes in jazz and hip-hop and features a diverse L.A. ensemble.

The Ensemble is a quintet.  With Julian Le on piano, Owen Clapp on Bass, Brijesh Pandya on drums and Jonah Levine on trombone and guitar.

As “Greenwood” starts, I can’t quite tell if he’s actually singing words (in Hindi or some other language) or if he is just making sounds and melodies.  It sounds great either way.  He sings a melody and then the upright bass joins in along with the trombone.  He displays a more traditional singing and then Le plays a jumping piano solo which is followed by a trombone solo.  The ending is great as he sings along to the fast melody.

“Vasheebava” is a song about seduction.  Levine plays the guitar on this song.  It starts with gentle effects on the cymbals (he rubs his fingers on them).  Prakash sings in a more traditional Indian style and Levine adds a really nice guitar solo.

“Payoji” is a traditional devotional song and Prakash sings in a very traditional style.  But musically it’s almost a kind of pop jazz.  It’s very catchy with a nice trombone solo.

This conflation of Indian music with jazz is really cool.

[READ: January 11, 2021] Fearless.

“If one man can destroy everything, why can’t one girl change it?”-Malala Yousafzai

This book begins with this wonderful sentiment:

Not long ago, a wave of exciting books uncovered stories of women through history, known and unknown, for young dreamers around the world.  Women who had been warriors, artists and scientists.  Women like Ada Lovelace, Joan of Arc and Frida Kahlo, whose stories changed the narrative for girls everywhere. Readers around us were thrilled to discover this treasure trove. But there was something missing. They rarely saw women of color and even fewer South Asian women in the works they were reading.

It’s a great impetus for this book which opens with a timeline of Pakistani accomplishments (and setbacks) for women.  The timeline is chronological in order of the birth years of the woman in the book.  Interspersed with their births are important events and the year they happened.

Like in 1940 when women mobilized and were arrested or in 1943 when the Women’s National Guard was formed. In 1948, a law passed recognizing women’s right to inherit property.  In 1950, the Democratic Women’s Association formed to demand equal pay for equal work (it doesn’t say if it was successful).

In 1973 the Constitution declared there could be no discetrmaton on the basis of race, religion, caste or sex.

But in a setback in 1979, the Hudood Ordinance passed which conflated adultery with rape, making it near impossible to prove the latter–and the punishment was often death.

And yet for all of the explicit sexism in Pakistan, the country accomplished something that America has been unable to do–elect a woman as leader. In 1988 Benazir Bhutto became the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The woman in this book are given a one-page biography and a cool drawing (illustrations by Aziza Ahmad).  They range from the 16th century to today.  (more…)

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Seishi Yokomizo–The Inugami Curse (1951) [translated 2007/2020]

Posted in Coronavirus, Death, GlobalFEST, Japan, Louise Heal Kawai, Minyo Crusaders, Mysteries, Mystery, Quarantine, Seishi Yokomizo, Threats, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Violence, Yumiko Yamazaki on January 16, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MINYU CRUSADERS-GlobalFEST Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #134/142 (January 12, 2021).

Minyo CrusadersGlobalFEST is an annual event, held in New York City, in which bands from all over the world have an opportunity to showcase their music to an American audience.  I’ve never been, and it sounds a little exhausting, but it also sounds really fun.

The Tiny Desk is teaming up with globalFEST this year for a thrilling virtual music festival: Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST. The online fest includes four nights of concerts featuring 16 bands from all over the world. 

Given the pandemic’s challenges and the hardening of international borders, NPR Music and globalFEST is moving from the nightclub to your screen of choice and sharing this festival with the world. Each night, we’ll present four artists in intimate settings (often behind desks donning globes), and it’s all hosted by African superstar Angélique Kidjo, who performed at the inaugural edition of globalFEST in 2004.

The first band on the second night is Minyo Crusaders from Japan.

Min’yō folk music was originally sung by Japanese fishermen, coal miners and sumo wrestlers hundreds of years ago, and the Minyo Crusaders are on a mission to make these songs relevant to an international audience. For their performance, the Crusaders found a unique take for their desk: a “kotatsu,” which is a heated Japanese table traditionally used for gathering in the winter months.

The diversity of music melding together here is quite impressive.

They open with “Hohai Bushi” (The album credits the style of this song as “afro”).

It starts with high notes like a theremin then quietly jangly guitars.  Cumbia-sounding horns (sax and trumpet) and complicated percussion (shakers and cowbells) flesh out the song.  Once everybody is established, a groovy bassline underpins the whole thing.  The male singing starts singing and the female adds some nice high backing oohs with it. Sadly, band member names are not given so I can’t credit anyone.

When the song is in full swing the guitars play loud and the keys play a retro sound including a retro fuzzed out keyboard solo.  Toward the end, a bass line slowly builds and the drums add intensity as they sing “ho hai ho hai.”

The guitarist speaks between songs.  He says his English is very poor but he does a fine job.

The second song “Yasugi Bushi” (bolero) is much more chill.  The male singer sits aside and the female singer takes lead.  There’s some nice basslines that repeat although for this song it’s really the saxophone that takes the lead with a lot of soloing.

The guitarist says these songs are old work songs and festival songs: “Minyo is dead in Japan but they are trying to bring it back.”

They end with “Aizu Bandaisan” (latin).  This song is much more dancey.  Lots of Latin horns, groovy bass and congas.  The lyrics are in Japanese (of course) but there’s a fun part where it sounds like they are singing “soy soy.”  As the song jams toward the end, there is lots of whooping and yelping and a wild trumpet solo.

This is a super fun set.

[READ: January 14, 2021] The Inugami Curse

Seishi Yokomizo was a hugely prolific writer.  He created Japan’s most famous detective (comparable to Sherlock Holmes in scope), Kosuke Kindaichi, who featured in seventy-seven books!  The Inugami Curse is apparently one of the best known of the stories and has been adapted into film and TV.

There are only two of his novels translated into English, this one (translated by Yumiko Yamazaki) and The Honjin Murders (1946) (translated by Louise Heal Kawai).

This book was an absolutely fantastic, complicated mystery.  There were many twists and turns.  And the way the story was plotted was perfect.

Sahei Imugami was a wealthy man.  He was called the Silk King of Japan and his business provided work for many many people.  He was a local celebrity to be sure and even had a biography written about him.

Sahei never married, but he did have three daughters with three different women.  The book opens with a character list which is quite helpful.

DAUGHTERS: Matsuko; Takeko; Umeko
GRANDONS:     Kiyo;       Také;    Tomo

There are some husbands involved as well.

There is also Tamayo Nonomiya, the granddaughter of a married couple who took Sahei in when he was just starting out.  He thinks of them as family, so when Tamayo was orphaned, he took her in. (more…)

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Jen Thorpe–The Fall (2020)

Posted in #FeesMustFall, Activism, Alternate Reality, Angélique Kidjo, Coronavirus, Dedicated Men of Zion, Desert, Dictators, Drinking, GlobalFEST, Jen Thorpe, Newspapers, Politicians, Quarantine, South Africa, Supernatural, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Universities, Violence on January 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DEDICATED MEN OF ZION-GlobalFEST Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #133/138(January 11, 2021).

Dedicated Men Of ZionGlobalFEST is an annual event, held in New York City, in which bands from all over the world have an opportunity to showcase their music to an American audience.  I’ve never been, and it sounds a little exhausting, but it also sounds really fun.

The Tiny Desk is teaming up with globalFEST this year for a thrilling virtual music festival: Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST. The online fest includes four nights of concerts featuring 16 bands from all over the world. 

Given the pandemic’s challenges and the hardening of international borders, NPR Music and globalFEST is moving from the nightclub to your screen of choice and sharing this festival with the world. Each night, we’ll present four artists in intimate settings (often behind desks donning globes), and it’s all hosted by African superstar Angélique Kidjo, who performed at the inaugural edition of globalFEST in 2004.

The first band on the first night are the Dedicated Men of Zion from North Carolina.

Dedicated Men of Zion come to you from their backyard barbecue in North Carolina, bringing with them an electrified version of sacred Gospel soul music. This family band (all related through blood or marriage) has been isolating together during the pandemic, and the members are excited to provide an uplifting note during difficult times.

They sing three songs in front of an amazing looking barbeque in Dex’s backyard.  The first, “Father, Guide Me, Teach Me” is a rocking gospel song.  There’s a great old-fashioned organ sound from Aaron Adams.  The four men sing.  Anthony “Amp” Daniels sings lead, Dexter Weaver [his nephew-in-law], Antwan “Ace” Daniels [his son], and Marcus Sugg [his son-in-law] sing great backing vocals.  There’s a fun jam at the end.

“Can’t Turn Me Around” opens with Mark Richardson playing a simple blues riff on the guitar. Then Jerry Harrison joins in on bass.  Amp is full on power singing through it.  He sounds great.

For “It’s A Shame,” Ace takes over lead vocals.  He has a good voice, but not nearly as commanding as his father.  Drums throughout are provided by Amp’s little brother Jaheim Daniels.

They sound great, but honestly I kept thinking about that barbeque.

[READ: January 2, 2021]

Despite the boring title I was really intrigued by this story.  The cover is tshirtking and the blurb was really intense-sounding.

So, I was really fascinated that the fundamental basis of the story the #FeesMustFall Rally was real: #FeesMustFall was a student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa.  Much of the story is grounded in the reality and danger of this movement.

The story takes place over the course of a week and each chapter is told from one of six character’s person’s point of view.

Hector, a student protester is looking to get everyone riled up about the cost of education in Cape Town.

Noné, South Africa’s president is not ready to deal with this interruption because she has a big public event coming up–an extraordinary zoo.  Noné was once a student protestor herself but she has since become The System.  She can’t trust anyone because everyone is out to get her.  The only reliable face she knows is Alice.  Alice is young an beautiful and while Noné knows that Alice probably wants her job (and is undoubtedly prettier than she is), at this point Alice is a perfect assistant and only makes Noné look better.

Thuli is a student and friend of Hector.  She has been “glitching” where she can see seven days in the future.  She knows that Hector’s life is in danger.  She has to try to convince reporter Helen that what she’s saying is true. (more…)

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