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David Seymour–“Kelso Lake” (West End Phoenix: That Summer Feeling, Summer 2019)

July 5, 2019 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: MIYA FOLICK-Tiny Desk Concert #864 (July 5, 2019).

I feel like I’ve heard of Miya Folick, but I’m not sure where.

Miya Folick was raised a Buddhist in Santa Ana, Calif., and is of Ukrainian and Japanese descent. She sings of conviction, not fiction. I find a stirring sense of truth driving that powerful voice of hers.

She portrays a nice mix of tough and vulnerable in this Tiny Desk Concert.  Between the pink hair and her at times gruff voice (and lyrics), she is bad ass.  But she also sings in a delicate falsetto.

Like on the opening song, Thingamajig” in which her voice (with minimal backing music) fills the room.

Miya Folick began her Tiny Desk Concert with an apology in the form of a song. “Thingamajig” opens with Wynne Bennett’s stark piano. The song is also the lead-off track on Miya Folick’s 2018 album Premonitions. On that version, the song crescendos with strings backed by a vocal loop. Here at the Tiny Desk, we get to hear why Miya Folick is such an astonishing performer, her classically trained voice taking charge, wrapping around those melodic piano lines while singing, “I am sorry / I know I am wrong / So take it all / I want to be out of control.”

For the last verse, Wynne Bennett adds some bass synth notes to flesh out the low end.

She is sweetly nervous after the song… I’m talking because I’m not ready.  I was surprised when she said “This song is called Dead Body,” but I enjoyed the way she turns that title around.

For her second tune at the Tiny Desk, “Deadbody,” she sings, “I need you to know I’m not powerless / My strength lies within my gentleness.” And by the time the chorus kicks in, her little band of two is in full throttle while Miya sings, “Over my dead body,” addressing the cruelty of men toward women.

The song opens with a cool shuffle on the drums from Garet Powell and a single repeated bass piano note while she sings.  For the chorus she adds some simple acoustic guitar chords that add a surprising amount of body to the otherwise stark song.  And she sings really powerfully and intensely for the end of the song.

The last song is called “Cost Your Love.”

I could see a deep appreciation for this day in Miya’s eyes. And before she played her final song, she took a moment to be thankful for being in this space. Miya stopped to say that she’s been watching Tiny Desk Concerts since before she was even playing music. Then she tuned her guitar, took a deep breath and launched into the darkness for her final tune.

Despite the intensity of her vocals and lyrics, she’s funny and personable.

She jokes: I only play one string so that string better be in tune.

Although it’s not a joke because she does only play one string.  But the melody is pretty cool and the songs shifts between that low string melody and very pretty piano.  She showcases both extremes of her voice–rough and growly and gentle and tender.  It’s an impressive performance.

[READ: July 1, 2019] “Kelso Lake”

The Summer 2019 issue of The West End Phoenix was a special all comics issue with illustrations by Simone Heath.  Each story either has one central illustration or is broken up with many pictures (or even done like a comic strip).

Each story is headed by the year that the story takes place–a story from that particular summer.

1979.  This story is sort of like a comic strip, but with more elastic panels than the standard boxes.

Every weekend that they could, David’s family would cram into the car with a cooler and towels and head off to Kelso Lake.

There’s even an illustration of Kelso Lake–a bent thumb near the Niagara escarpment.  It was light years from a Mississauga apartment and might as well have been Turks & Caicos. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Content, David Seymour, Essays, Fears, Lakes, Miya Folick, Nostalgia, NPR/PRI/PBS, Summer, Tiny Desk Concert, West End Phoenix | Leave a Comment »

Dave Bidini–“Bad Dream Job” (West End Phoenix: That Summer Feeling, Summer 2019)

July 4, 2019 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: BETTY WHO-Tiny Desk Concert #861 (June 26, 2019).

I had never heard of Betty Who before this show and my word did she win me over.  She is so much fun, so entertaining that it makes me want to explore her music (and maybe even see her live show).

However,  Betty Who is an Australian cellist who plays dance pop music.

Her third LP, Betty, falls squarely in the … sun’s-out, buns-out pop genre.

I suspect that as with most of the pop stars who play quietly at Tiny Desk, I will probably much prefer these version to the original–so maybe I should just leave it here.

Some background

She grew up in Sydney, Australia, and started playing [cello] at the age of four (just like Yo-Yo Ma). Maybe it had something to do with her mom being in the room, but emotions ran high for the charismatic and chatty singer. “I didn’t want to be the girl who played cello and sang,” she told the crowd gathered to watch. “‘Cause that girl feels really far away from ass-out, sparkle-covered pop-star me.”

I would not have guessed her pop star ambitions as the first song starts with just her voice and cello.

When all the studio production is stripped away, what’s left are intricate melodies that soar through Betty’s impressive vocal range and relatable lyrics. As the audio engineer for the Tiny Desk concert series [Josh Rogosin], I’m always curious how the vocals will translate without the aid of pitch correction and tons of effects you hear on the album. I’m a sucker for great melody and Betty Who’s raw vocal performance at her Tiny Desk had me in a state of aural ecstasy.

It sounds fantastic.

She plucks the cello for the beginning.  She has a terrific voice, although she sings a little too pop for my full appreciation.  After the first verse, Myla Bocage adds some keyboard notes to flesh out the song.  After another verse, Jemila Dunham adds some cool bass lines.  Her bass throughout the show is pretty excellent.

After a chorus or two, she throws in a bowed cello solo which works perfectly (and sounds great of course).

After the song she is so bouncy and bright and energetic.

She tells us that she always wanted to be a pop star–she likes sparkles and have her ass out.  She wanted to be the love child of Beyonce and Britney Spears.  But she studied classical music since she was little.  She says, “I told myself I would commit to pop star life and dance and do what I always wanted to do and make that vision come true.  And then one day I’d just whip out my cello and say oh P.S. By the way.…  And this is the first time I’ve been able to do this.”

One of my favorite things about Tiny Desk concerts is that artists are often inspired to experiment. Betty Who was in town recently for a three-night residency at D.C.’s famed 9:30 Club where her sound was larger than life. The subwoofers cranked out backing tracks you could feel in your gut and dancers flanked the pop star, punctuating every pulsating beat. But she began her Tiny Desk performance with only her cello and her voice — the first time she’s ever accompanied one of her original songs with the instrument.

Song two is “Friend Like Me,” which is one of her favorite songs she’s written.

She wanted to wrote a song that said, I love you but you make me fucking crazy and I want to punch you in the face or I love you so much but you’re your own worst enemy and you’re taking yourself down.

It’s just her on the acoustic guitar and her voice is really lovely (less loud and poppy)  After a couple of verses Bocage adds some keyboard twinkles.  Some bass fleshes out the song, but it remains a very pretty ballad.

Before the final song, “I Remember,” she introduces the band and says “Ian Barnett on the [drum] pad.  You should come see us, he does much more than this.”

Betty Who says she dreamed of having a Tiny Desk concert ever since she was a teenager. She chose to end hers by asking everyone to sing along to the track, “I Remember.”

Dancing under the stars
Kissing you in the dark
I remember your love, oh
Never giving you up, giving you up, oh.

I love that she gives hand motions and massive encouragement as she teaches everyone the words.  She says she has three plants in the audience.  They’re going to sing loud and you can all mumble along if you want.

She says this song is about real couples “not kind of Instagram we love each other so much.  People who don’t fight, ick, what is that.  The best couples know each other the best and can push each other’s buttons.  It’s an amazing feeling to love someone so much but also want to strangle the life out of them,  They make you the most crazy, but that’s what makes you love them so much.

Betty’s reaction to their singing is wonderful.

She’s great and I hope she starts selling bigger venues.

[READ: July 1, 2019] “Bad Dream Job”

The Summer 2019 issue of The West End Phoenix was a special all comics issue with illustrations by Simone Heath.  Each story either has one central illustration or is broken up with many pictures (or even done like a comic strip).

Each story is headed by the year that the story takes place–a story from that particular summer.

1978: Dave Bidini got his first job working in a record store at the Albion Mall (made famous (to me) in the Rheostatics’ song “Jesus Was Once a Teenager Too”).

It was a dream job–that’s where he bought his 45s and LPs.  It was right across from an Orange Julius! Continue Reading »

Posted in Australia, Betty Who, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Canadian Music, Dave Bidini, Essays, NPR/PRI/PBS, Rheostatics, Simone Heath, Summer, Tiny Desk Concert, West End Phoenix, Work, Yo-Yo Ma | Leave a Comment »

Janet Morassutti–“The Not-Okay Corral” (West End Phoenix: That Summer Feeling, Summer 2019)

July 3, 2019 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: SAINT SISTER-Tiny Desk Concert #863 (July 3, 2019).

The first surprise from Saint Sister is the harp.  The second surprise comes when you realize that Saint Sister’s music isn’t going to be traditional harp-centric folk songs.

The third is when Morgan Macintyr speaks after the first song and she has a pretty heavy Irish accent.

It’s a surprise because their voices are angelic and accent-free while they sing their pretty songs.

Saint Sister makes the sort of music I’ve been fascinated with for much of my life, music that mixes the organic with the electronic. In this case, the organic sounds come from that Dusty Strings harp and the harmonies of Gemma Doherty and Morgan Macintyre, with electronics performed on keyboards by Morgan and Dek Hynes, and the mostly digital drums of Shane Gough.

So, yes, even if the harp is the centerpiece (“[when] Gemma Doherty pulled her 34-string lever harp from the band’s vehicle; it seemed bigger than all of us”) the rest of the band fleshes out the harp with waves of synths and percussion.

Causing Trouble” opens with single harp notes and echoing drums.  Then Gemma and Morgan start singing and their voices blend beautifully.

You can tell the Irish connection in the lyrics of this song:

We danced from Belfast to the Basin
When you sang, “And it stoned me”
Well it stoned me

“Shape of Silence” is a short instrumental made up of unearthly sounds and voices as Gemma plays a lovely harp melody.  It’s about a minute long and segues into “Is It Too Early? (Kilmainham).”  They sing in a kind of staccato style (and remind me a bit of Lily & Madeleine here).  There’s no much harp in the verses–it’s almost a dance song, but when the synths fade off, the harp returns and sounds even lovelier somehow.

For “The Mater” Dek and Shane leave so it is only Gemma and Morgan.  This song is quieter with just the harp and their voices.

Although the melding of harp and electronics is cool, they sound beautiful with just harp and voices.

[READ: July 1, 2019] “The Not-Okay Corral”

The Summer 2019 issue of The West End Phoenix was a special all comics issue with illustrations by Simone Heath.  Each story either has one central illustration or is broken up with many pictures (or even done like a comic strip).

Each story is headed by the year that the story takes place–a story from that particular summer.

This story is told in comic book style with panels.

1976: If you are Janet, when you are ten years old, the worst thing about horseback riding camp is the horses.  They are massive and muscular and totally in charge.

Much of the camp seemed to be about teaching the horse who was boss. When the kids were told to walk the horses around the ring, that was okay, even if Janet was clearly letting the horse lead.  But when they left the ring to return to the paddock, the horse let Janet know who was actually in charge.  It stopped following the horse in front of it and stopped to eat some grass. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Content, Comic Strips, Essays, Horses, Humiliation, Janet Morassutti, Lily & Madeleine, Nostalgia, NPR/PRI/PBS, Parenting, Simone Heath, Summer, Summer Camp, Tiny Desk Concert, West End Phoenix | Leave a Comment »

Michael Winter–“Bacon Fat” (West End Phoenix: That Summer Feeling, Summer 2019)

July 2, 2019 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: LARAAJI-Tiny Desk Concert #846 (May 2, 2019).

Who is Laraaji?

I had no idea, and yet, it seems like I should.

40 years ago … Brian Eno produced an ambient album of his music called Ambient 3: Day of Radiance as part of a series of ambient records from Eno that began with 1978’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports. Edward Larry Gordon, now known as Laraaji, was a comedian as well as a musician. I suppose that explains the laughter as part of his meditative and therapeutic music. Laraaji is now in his mid-70s, has released over 50 recordings as well as an abundance of sound-healing sessions.

Laraaji and his musical partner Arji “OceAnanda” Cakouros (“draped in loose-fitted, saffron-tinted clothes, with a table draped in a similar orange fabric — almost the tones of a setting sun”) play an uninterrupted 15 minutes of chillout, which they call “12345678…”

It begins with a small bell, a set of tiny wind chimes and a plucked, angelic zither sounding much like a harp.

Laraaji plays the electric autoharp/zither and has a cool swirling echoing effect on it.  Meanwhile OceAnanda has all manner of percussion at her disposal, including, chimes, shakers, and most surprising, and iPad synth (but that comes later).

The opening is incredibly soothing with just chimes and the autoharp  Laraaji uses a pick and his fingers to create notes and chords.  With the delay on it, it is incredibly chill.

After about two minutes OceAnanda plays some notes on the iPad.  Then around 3 and a half minutes Laraaji picks up drum stick brushes and begins gentle tapping the autoharp.  OceAnanda plays the kalimba, which is a little too loud, but still works nicely.

Then Laraaji began to laugh. I smiled. (His laugh is infectious). Then more of us in the office smiled as he brushed rhythms on his zither and processed the sounds to add delay and intensify the hypnotic pulse.

I agree that his laugh is infectious, but I found it so jarring that his laughter turned into him singing.  Rather than it being fifteen minutes of blissful chill out, it was now a song with words–even if the words were meaningless, or very familiar.  He sang “12345678” and “lum lum lum lum lumalum la”

But since the majority of the song has him singing over it, I soon got used to it and allowed it to wash over me as well.  But, really his voice definitely brings you out of the headspace you’ve created for yourself.  Even if his laugh is indeed infectious.

At seven and a half minutes OceAnanda starts playing a violin melody on the iPad and it works very nicely–slow and pretty with a melody that works, even if it is random.  After a couple minutes she changes the sound of the violin to a more synthy sound, which fits in even better.

With a few minutes left, OceAnanda switches to a shaker which works its own hypnotizing momentum.  And then for the end, she plays a bit more of  that violin iPad while Laraaji sings the words from “this little light of mine.”

And then it all fades and you come back to reality.

[READ: July 1, 2019] “Bacon Fat”

The Summer 2019 issue of The West End Phoenix was a special all comics issue with illustrations by Simone Heath.  Each story either has one central illustration or is broken up with many pictures (or even done like a comic strip).

Each story is headed by the year that the story takes place–a story from that particular summer.

1974: This is a short story about the summer that Michael’s family wanted to build a log cabin on a piece of land in Newfoundland.  It was a popular place and they had next door neighbors at the lake who built a log cabin in what seemed like a weekend.

His parents were from England. But his dad always wanted to be a cowboy and his mom always wanted to live in New York City.  So they settled on Newfoundland. Continue Reading »

Posted in Bears, Brian Eno, Canadian Content, Essays, Lakes, Laraaji, Nostalgia, NPR/PRI/PBS, Simone Heath, Summer, Tiny Desk Concert, West End Phoenix | Leave a Comment »

Emma Cline–“Son of Friedman” (New Yorker, July 1, 2019)

July 1, 2019 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: “BE MORE CHILL” Tiny Desk Concert #862 (July 1, 2019).

Be More Chill is a musical based on the YA novel by Ned Vizzini.  I hadn’t heard of the musical, but this Tiny Desk Concert makes me wish I had seen it [it closed August 11] (or that they make a movie out of it).  Or at least I’ll read the book now.

This performance was done on the night after the Tonys [June 9] where it went 0 for 1.

winding down a disappointing awards season. Even its big Tonys moment — a skit in which host James Corden parodied the musical’s breakout song, “Michael in the Bathroom” — passed by without anyone bothering to name the source material.

But you wouldn’t have known it the next morning, as the Be More Chill crew — composer Joe Iconis, all but three members of the principal cast and a handful of musicians, each of whom held a key role in shaping the musical’s sound — bused from New York to NPR’s D.C. headquarters.

Their arrival was a genuine event: For our Sesame Street Tiny Desk concert earlier this summer, we’d encouraged our coworkers to bring their young children, but this time around, we asked for their teenagers — the young theater enthusiasts in their lives, and anyone else they knew who’d fallen under the spell of Be More Chill and its pair of prolifically streamed cast albums.

All the performers seem to be having a great time (especially Lauren Marchus who is a treat to watch).

From the moment they arrived for their Tiny Desk debut, the cast and crew of the Broadway musical Be More Chill radiated kind exuberance. They posed for selfies behind the desk, shared stories from the previous night’s Tony Awards and clowned around with cast member Jason SweetTooth Williams, who’d torn a muscle in his leg 48 hours earlier and used a wheelchair to get from the charter bus to the desk and back

Joe Iconis wrote the music and plays piano. He also introduces the story of an avergae kid named Jeremy.  But there’s a thing called a squip, a supercomputer inside of a pill which tells you how to behave.  The story is how Jeremy now navigates high school.

Iconis also explains that this isn’t a show where people play instruments (like Once), but everyone in the cast CAN play an instrument, so they decided to rearrange the songs for the Tiny Desk.  In the show, the music is

set to wiry, hard-driving synth-rock music.  The show has been a true cult phenomenon, with an intense online following and one of the youngest audiences Broadway has ever seen.

So rather, for this show, there is acoustic guitar, upright bass, melodica and even a washboard.

The blurb is one of the longest and most detailed of any Tiny Desk Concerts as it provides a lot of context for the songs.

In the run-up to “The Pants Song,” Jeremy’s recently divorced dad (played by Williams), who’s been embarrassing his son by moping around the house in a bathrobe, senses that Jeremy is in trouble. So he enlists Jeremy’s newly estranged best friend Michael (played by George Salazar) to step up and intervene. As lighthearted as it is, the song conveys a powerful message about loyalty, parenthood, friendship, forgiveness and advocacy, all wrapped up in a simple mantra: “When you love somebody, you put your pants on for them.”

It is funny and really catchy and features the show’s musical director Emily Marshall on melodica, Charlie Rosen who did the orchestration on upright bass, Gerard Canonico who plays Rick on guitar and Tiffany Mann who plays Jenna Rolan with a tasty backing vocal part.

Britton Smith  washboard

“A Guy That I’d Kind Of Be Into” is a showcase for Jeremy’s crush, an oddball theater kid named Christine, who’s played on Broadway by Stephanie Hsu. But Hsu couldn’t make the Tiny Desk, so she’s replaced here by the charming Lauren Marcus, who normally plays Brooke Lohst onstage. It’s a sweet song about the early flowering of romantic interest, but it’s also a wise and insightful nod to the way declarations of young love can be so guarded and tentative that they seem, by design, almost nonexistent.

This song is catchy and very funny.  It’s a wonderfully endearing song.  I can’t comment on Hsu, but Lauren Marcus is terrific.  She plays ukulele and is so visibly emotive.  She totally makes the song come alive.  Britton Smith who plays Jake also does vocals [he played washboard in the previous song].  There’s backing vocals from Emily Marshall and Will Roland who plays Jeremy.

“A Guy That I’d Kind Of Be Into” holds its emotions at arm’s length, but “Michael in the Bathroom” is an atomic bomb of teenage feelings — not to mention one of the most broadly relatable songs from any genre in recent years. The backstory is simple enough: Michael, having been abandoned by his best friend, shows up at “the biggest party of the fall,” only to sequester himself in the bathroom and practically dissolve under the weight of his alienation, self-doubt, betrayal and regret. How George Salazar didn’t get nominated for a Tony will have to remain a mystery, because his performance — like the song itself, which feels like a true standard — will be talked about for years.

George Salazar is really fantastic in this performance.  He is funny and nervous and mad and scare and his voice is terrific.  I love the little Whitney Houston musical quote.  Emily Marshall adds xylophone to the melody.

Before the finale, Iconis says that after Vizzini killed himself, Iconis was able to complete this finale in Ned’s memory.    He then notes that this is the first time they’ve done this arrangement so it could be a total train wreck.  But it isn’t.

Finally, “Voices in My Head” closes Be More Chill — and this Tiny Desk concert — with a rousing celebration of Jeremy’s return from the brink. Played by Will Roland, Jeremy seizes center stage here, taking mental inventory (“might still have voices in my head / but now they’re just the normal kind”) as the other cast members pipe up with their own commentary on his life. Above all, it’s wonderfully rousing, building to a buoyant finale.

Will Roland really impresses with his singing–especially at the end when his voice really soars. The whole cast chimes in in sequence: Jason SweetTooth Williams, Gerard Canonico, Tiffany Mann, Lauren Marcus, Britton Smith.

I really enjoyed this and am very curious to hear what the original soundtrack is like.

[READ: July 1, 2019] “Son of Friedman”

This is an interesting story of a father, a son and fame.

George was once a famous actor.  He could pick his own scripts and lived fairly large.  He had divorced twice.  He was meeting his old friend William.  He and William worked together on many projects, although William’s star never really sank like George’s did.

While they are sitting in the restaurant, George is aware that people are checking out William–but ignoring him.

When George’s son Benji was born, George asked William to be the boy’s godfather.  And he was a great godfather–he celebrated Benji and spoiled the boy.   George and William hadn’t been in touch much in the last decade because of their mismatched celebrity.

But Benji brought them together–somewhat inadvertently. Continue Reading »

Posted in Be More Chill, Emma Cline, Film & TV, Ned Vizzini, New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Parenting, Short Films, Short Story, Suicide, Tiny Desk Concert, YA Books | Leave a Comment »

George Saunders–“Pastoralia” (New Yorker, April 3, 2000)

June 30, 2019 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: WIRE-Kidney Bingos (1988).

Wire’s first three albums are punk and post-pink classics.  So classic that a Britpop band ripped off one of their songs to make an even bigger hit.  (I rather like Elastica too).

After their hiatus in the early 1980s, they returned with a new sound.  Like King Crimson only with fewer notes.

Their second post-hiatus album A Bell is a Cup even had a single, “Kidney Bingos.”

This song is remarkably far from their early punk sound. It’s almost as if on their first albums, their guitars only had the low strings,  And on this one, they only have the high strings.

The guitars on this song are gentle and jangly.  The bass is pretty similar–nice and deep with a great resonance, although the tempo is much slower and more chill.

The chorus is a really catchy bit if pop fun, even if for 30 years I had no idea that he was saying

Money spines paper lung kidney bingos organ fun

which makes as much sense as what I thought he was saying.

The end of the song throws in some synths and a wordless singalong that shows a real depth to Newman’s voice.

[READ: June 29, 2019] “Pastoralia”

I was sure I had read this story before.  But it turns out I’ve had his collection Pastoralia on my “too read” list but had never actually read it.  In the collection, this story is almost 70 pages.  It’s pretty long in the New Yorker, but i do have to wonder if it is an excerpt as there’s so much that is unexplained.

This story is set in what I think of as the Saunders future.  There’s no ProperName objects as there usually are.  But this future has a lot of the mildly dystopian qualities that Saunders tends to put in his stories

This one includes an exhibit where humans act out historical scenarios in a museum of sorts (the details are never given).

The narrator’s name is never given.  Over the course of a few pages we determine that he is a caveman in an exhibit.  Every day he is supposed to “eat grubs,” “see” a herd of animals and not speak English.  He has a “wife,” Janet.  She is not his real wife, he has a real wife and children.  In fact he doesn’t especially like Janet. She tends to speak English a lot and disregards most other work protocols.

In many respects it doesn’t matter because hardly anyone comes into the museum.  But they are doing a job and they do have supervisors.

When the light dims as if it were night time they each go to their separate personal quarters where they have such modern amenities as a fax machine (this was written in 2000 so that’s not a goof, I don’t think).  Continue Reading »

Posted in Anachronisms, Cavemen, Elastica, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Saunders, King Crimson, Museums, New Yorker, Short Story, Wire | Leave a Comment »

Phish (BB&T Pavillion, Camden, NJ, June 29, 2019)

June 29, 2019 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 29, 2018] Phish

I was very excited to see Phish again this summer.  I bought tickets for all three shows at the BB&T Pavillion.

But then my week had turned very busy with shows and other commitments.  When I heard Cate Le Bon was playing at Boot & Saddle on the Friday night, I decided to sell Friday’s ticket.  I mean, let’s be honest, BB&T is a pain in the ass to get to (and parking is insane and expensive).   (I wound up not even going to Cate Le Bon either, boo).   I also decided to sell Sunday’s ticket because Saturday was a long night and I had had enough of the late nights for a time.

But for the Saturday show I had originally bought two tickets so that S. could go to her first Phish show.  I was bummed that they were lawn seats, although I think she felt this added to the experience because she got to see all of the people dancing and milling about.  We were supposed to meet my friend Armando, which would have made the whole night really fun, but he had car trouble and wound up not making it.  (boo).

So it was just S. and I.  Traffic sucked, parking sucked and the weather was questionable.   We arrived literally as “Mike’s Song” started.  So we found a somewhat unused spot on the lawn and settled in.  Phish fans are very friendly but for some reason the group around us wasn’t very inclusive.  In what has to be a first, no one offered either of us a joint the whole night!  They must have thought we were narcs. Continue Reading »

Posted in BB&T Pavillion, Camden, NJ, Mike Gordon, Newport Folk Festival, Phish, Set in New Jersey!, Trey Anastasio, TV on the Radio | Leave a Comment »

Tim O’Brien–“Winnipeg” (New Yorker, August 14, 2000)

June 29, 2019 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: THE WEAKERTHANS-“One Great City!” (2003).

How could you not pair this song with this story?

A fast, pretty acoustic guitar plays as John K. Samson sings

Late afternoon, another day is nearly done
A darker grey is breaking through a lighter one
A thousand sharpened elbows in the underground
That hollow hurried sound,

The bridge switches chords but not tempo as the meldoy rises

feet on polished floor
And in the dollar store, the clerk is closing up
And counting loonies trying not to say

I hate Winnipeg

Back to the opening melody

The driver checks the mirror seven minutes late
The crowded riders’ restlessness enunciates
The Guess Who sucked, the Jets were lousy anyway
The same route everyday

The bridge

And in the turning lane
Someone’s stalled again
He’s talking to himself
And hears the price of gas repeat his phrase

I hate Winnipeg

Instrumental break before the bridge resumes

And up above us all
Leaning into sky
Our golden business boy
Will watch the North End die
And sing, “I love this town”
Then let his arcing wrecking ball proclaim

Then stretch out the final line

I …  hate … Winnipeg

Few songs paint a city and its population in less than 3 minutes with such a pretty melody.

[READ: June 28, 2019] “Winnipeg”

There are few things worse than a person holding a grudge.

It doesn’t do anything in the long run.  Usually it just makes the person miss out on a lot of opportunity because they are too focused on something that nobody else (not even the person the grudge is against) cares about.

I’ve held a grudge and in retrospect, regretted the time and effort it wasted.  So I now try to, as the kids say, just get over it.

So when you read a story about a guy who holds a grudge, you just want to smack the guy. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Death, Grudges, Short Story, The Weakerthans, Tim O'Brien, Vietnam War | Leave a Comment »

Khalil Sweileh–“The Tortoise and the Hedgehog” (Harper’s, June 2019)

June 28, 2019 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: UMM KULTHUM (أم كلثوم‎‎)-“It is Too Late” (Fit al-ma’ ad) (1967).

I picked this song because it is mentioned in the story.

I don’t really understand the song and I didn’t really understand the story, so I guess it all fits.

Umm Kulthum was an Egyptian singer, songwriter, and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title Kawkab al-Sharq (كوكب الشرق, “Star of the East”).

The version of the song that I found is 27 minutes long with three sections.  I can’t find anything useful in the way of translation (even of the title) which means “It’s too late” or “The rendez-vous is over.”

There are several parts to this song, although it is so traditional it is hard for me to determine them.  I also have a hard time understanding why her voice is so remarkable as she doesn’t really “do” very much.  She seems to have a limited range although with a lot of stamina.

Perhaps there is a different standard of excellence in Egyptian music.  Although I do understand how in the story she hears the song in the cab and calls him and he seems to take a Panadol then lays down and relaxes before turning on the radio and the song is still on.

[READ: June 1, 2019] “The Tortoise and the Hedgehog”

This is an excerpt from Sweileh’s novel Remorse Test.

It was translated from the Arabic by Jonathan Wright.  The original won an award for literature in 2017.

I include this last part because I found this story really hard to follow and even harder to enjoy.

It is written from the narrator to “you” and wonders what “remorse” is. Continue Reading »

Posted in Excerpt, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Harper's, Huh?, Humiliation, Jonathan Wright, Khalil Sweileh, Poetry, Poets, Regrets, Relationships, Romance, Translation, Umm Kulthum, أم كلثوم‎ | Leave a Comment »

Kikagaku Moyo (Monty Hall, Jersey City, NJ, June 27, 2019)

June 27, 2019 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 27, 2019] Kikagaku Moyo

I ‘m not sure where I first heard about Kikagaku Moyo (which means “geometric patterns”), but I know it wasn’t very long before this show.

I have more or less gotten to the point where any Japanese psychedelic band that comes to town I’m going to want to check out.

I’ve loved Acid Mothers Temple, I’ve loved Boris (heavy psychedelic, but still) and now I’m adding Kikagaku Moyo to the list.

The band consists of Go Kurosawa (drums/vocals), Tomo Katsurada (lead guitar/vocals), Daoud Popal (guitar), Kotsu Guy (bass) and Go’s brother Ryu Kurosawa (sitar).  They’ve been around for about 6 years and have developed a dedicated following here in the States (everyone at the show appeared to be buying their vinyl).

One of the reasons that Monty Hall is such a fun venue is because while I was waiting online to get into the place, the five guys from the band walked in the same door carrying a pizza.  At first I thought a group of people was just pushing in the line, but their outfits pretty much gave away that they were the band. Continue Reading »

Posted in Jersey City, NJ, Kikagaku Moyo, Monty Hall, Pandit Manilal Nag | Leave a Comment »

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