September 16, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: LUCINDA WILLIAMS-Tiny Desk Concert #412 (December 20, 2014).
I set tiny, manageable goals for this blog. They often change over the course of the year, but I like to see if I can complete them. One such goal was to write about all of the Tiny Desk Concerts from 2014. And here’s the final one. (Another such goal is to write about the remainder of the 2016 shows, which is doable). I also want to write about all of the rest of the First Second Graphic Novels (there’s about 20 of them left). Insignificant goals that I find satisfying to complete.
I’ve never been a fan of Lucinda Williams. Although, while I’d certainly heard of her, I obviously didn’t know any of her music. The blurb talks about her distinctive voice. And it is certainly that. About 20 years ago a sort of friend of mine saw her open for somebody else and she dismissed Williams as trying to sound like a different singer (wish I could remember who it was). The irony that Williams has been around since the late 1970s was not lost on me.
But Williams has changed her style over the years. She originally sang country and has morphed into more of a folk and now a blues style. This Tiny Desk Concert focuses on her bluesy songs. I know she’s something of a legend, but I found her demeanor through the whole show off-putting until the end, when she loosened up a bit.
She sings four songs. “Something Wicked This Way Comes” is rocking blues song. And I have to say I was pretty shocked by her voice–rough and raspy and sounding not a little hungover. Her lead guitarist was really the start for me, effortlessly playing some great groovy licks.
For “Cold Day in Hell” (she laughs at saying the title) she straps on an acoustic guitar and then sings like Tom Waits. That seems like a joke, but the structure of the verses is pure Tom Waits–I would have even suggested he wrote the song.
The third song is the more bluesy “Protection.” There seems something so inauthentic about this song. I just don’t believe her rendition of it–I don’t believe that she actually needs protection. It’s really disconcerting.
She finally smiles after this song and says “Now I’m kinda getting used to this … I’m not a wake yet, that’s what the thing is. She straps on her guitar and says this is based on the story of the West Memphis Three. It’ my favorite song of the four–she seems to really get into it.
But all the same, I really don’t like her voice all that much–she’s got a weird drawl and sounds like there are some marbles in her mouth. It’s very strange. I listened to a bit of a song from a live show from 1989 and her voice was quite pretty–deep, yes, but very pretty. By 2007, her voice has changed–it’s deeper, with a pronounced drawl. At a show in 2013, she sounded kind of pretty again. So, I don’t know what to make of it. I’ll have to just go back to not listening to her.
[READ: June 8, 2016] The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974
I really enjoyed this volume a lot. There were a lot of really funny jokes and the characters are really nicely distributed by now. I don’t want to say that Schulz hit his stride around this time, because he’s been pretty solid right from the start, but this book was easily my favorite so far. Possibly because it contained so much of Marcie and Patty who have easily become my favorites.
The year starts off somewhat inauspiciously with the anticlimactic return of Poochie. She shows up, realizes that Snoopy isn’t a cute puppy anymore and leaves. Never to be seen again.
More interesting is that Linus decides that since Charlie has been their manager for so long and worked so hard that they ought to throw him a commemorative dinner. They plan it for a couple of weeks and when he finally hears about it, his smile is awesome. They even get Joe Schlobotnick to agree to come. Of course, then Marcie starts saying that they’d all be hypocrites if they actually showed up and said nice things about him since he’s a terrible manager. And so they cancel it at the last-minute–while Charlie is there. Continue Reading »
Posted in Angst, Babe Ruth, Baseball, Basketball, Billie Jean King, Birds, Charles Schulz, Citizen Kane, Comic Strips, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Easter, Fantagraphics, Football, Funny (ha ha), Golf, Halloween, Hank Aaron, Hockey, Joe Shlabotnik, Letters, Lucinda Williams, Mad Magazine, Math, Peanuts, Pranks, Technology, Tennis, The Future, Tiny Desk Concert, Tom Waits, West Memphis 3 | Leave a Comment »
September 15, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: YUSUF/CAT STEVENS-Tiny Desk Concert #411 December 9, 2014).
As this Tiny Desk Concert opens, Bob Boilen tells his story of being 17 years old and saving up money to buy a guitar so he could learn Cat Steven’s “Father and Son.” He says he’s now old and has a son and the song still means a lot. And that introduction makes the song even that more emotional when he plays it later.
It’s a shame that he is so known for the controversy about the fatwa back in the 1980s, but his conversion to Islam is pretty interesting: “In 1976, Cat Stevens almost drowned off the coast of Malibu. In his panic, he says, he shouted, “Oh, God! If you save me, I will work for you” — at which point he recalls a wave that came and carried him ashore. He converted to Islam, changed his name and left the pop world after one last album in 1978.”
He released his first non-spiritual album in decades in 20o6. He released another one in 2014, which was a record of some originals mixed with standards and blues covers. He plays two songs from this album here (which is a bit of a disappointment, as I could have easily listened to him play the entire Greatest Hits album). But these two songs are quite nice. “I was Raised in Babylon” is a bit dark, although his voice sounds great. “Doors” was originally written for the musical Moonshadow. It’s a delicate ballad. And it also as a religious impact with the final line being “God made everything just right.”
In between these two he says he doesn’t know what to play next, but he has some kind of gadget that he scrolls through. And he chooses “The First Cut is the Deepest.” He comments maybe some people know I wrote this one, it wasn’t Rod Stewart. I really like this song a lot. It sounds different from the record because it’s just him and his guitar, but his voice is unmistakable. and he sounds great. And if it makes him feel better, I’ve never even heard the Rod Stewart version.
He dedicates “Father and Son” to Bob and it’s just as beautiful as the original. And yes, it should make you tear up, especially if you have a child.
After listening to this Tiny Desk I really wanted to see him play live. I know that he is currently on tour and will actually be in Philly on this very night. There are still tickets available, but since the cheapest seats cost nearly $200, I’ll be skipping this one.
[READ: April 4, 2016] The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Romeo and Juliet
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, in which the zoo animals put on a play of Macbeth. Well, the zoo is ready again for their next performance. I enjoyed that the audience is aware of the previous play–the kids are even wondering why it’s another tale of woe instead of something happy. Later when the lion (who was in Macbeth) comes out, someone addresses him as the character from that play.
What I thought was interesting about the way this play was done was that they made the story kid friendly. I liked this and that it allowed me to share this story with my kids. Rather than being lovers, Romeo and Juliet want to have a play date, and rather than killing themselves at the end, they wind up hibernating. Continue Reading »
Posted in #10yearsof01, Acting, Animals, Cat Stevens, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Cows, Death, Elephants, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Gorillas, Graphic Novel, Ian Lendler, Lions, Monkeys, Moonshadow, Play (Drama), The Muppet Show, Tiny Desk Concert, William Shakespeare, Witches, Yusuf, Zack Giallongo | Leave a Comment »
September 14, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES-Tiny Desk Concert #410 (December 6, 2014).
Paul Janeway stands on Bob Boilen’s desk wearing gold shoes and singing his heart out. Janeway is the lead singer of St. Paul and the Broken Bones, a seven-piece soul band based out of Alabama.
Janway has a powerful voice and sings in a very old-school soul style. The Broken Bones consist of two guitarist, a keyboardist, a trombone, a trumpet and drums.
They play three songs, “Half the City,” and “Call Me” (in which he does some great shuffle dances on the desktop and seems to almost fall off the desk) are full throttle dancing soul music. The final song is kind of a sad song, a story about how the band got together called “Broken Bones and Pocket Change.”
There’s a funny moment when Bob asks if he’s hot way up there and he Janeway replies, “Is it hot? Naw man, we’re from Alabama.”
The band was fairly new back in 2014, but I see that as of this week, they have a new album coming out. So good for them.
[READ: March 1, 2016] The Zabîme Sisters
When I read this book, back in March, I had been reading a lot of First Second graphic novels (I’m very close to having read them all!). And reading this publishers entire catalog has led me to read amazingly detailed and interesting stories about real events. And that’s pretty awesome.
This story is set in Guadeloupe, but unlike some of the other real-life stories of horror and degradation that I’ve read, this one is a simple story of childhood in a Caribbean island.
Not a lot happens, and yet the story is charming and enjoyable.
The story is told in 3 parts. It is about three sisters, I’m not sure if they are triplets or just close on age. I like how they have similar features but distinctive hair. Continue Reading »
Posted in Aristophanes, Drinking, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Humiliation, Matt Madden, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Violence, Yuck! | Leave a Comment »
September 13, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: DUBLIN GUITAR QUARTET-Tiny Desk Concert #409 (May 15, 2015).
When I first listened to this brief concert for some reason I didn’t realize that the quartet were playing Philip Glass. Of course, once he stated that that’s who they were playing, it became quite obvious–but having Glass played on acoustic guitars instead of synths or violins, is quite an unusual experience.
The music is still rigidly repetitive, but there is a great deal of warmth added with the guitars (and the human element as well).
The Dublin Guitar Quarter has been around since 2002 and they play pretty much only contemporary and new pieces (despite being dressed in suits and playing on “classical” guitars).
They play two pieces, with two and three movements of each piece respectively. They were originally recorded for strings, so these guitar transcriptions change things quite a lot (especially in Mishima).
The first piece is called “Company.” They play Movements 2 and 3. What’s most impressive about the first piece is that you can hear all of the musical lines. Glass often interweaves line up line of music ad you can see each guitarist playing these lines on high guitar notes and low notes while the other play accompaniment–transcribing these must have been a real challenge.
The loud chords are practically heavy metal chords on the guitar as opposed to what the strings might sound like. And for all of the repetition, these two movements of clock in at less than four-minutes total.
It’s interesting to listen to the original after this and hear how it’s clearly the same piece but it sounds so very different. From tone to drama, everything is changed.
The final pieces are three movements from Mishima. In Mvt 3 there is some fast picking while the other three play chords. It’s also fun to watch them all doing similar but distinct things through the middle of the movement. This doesn’t have the fast lines that Glass is known for but it has a lot of loud repetitive notes.
What’s so interesting is that original is full of drums–and parts of only drums. Obviously these aren’t present here, but the music resonates in a similar (but again, distinct) way.
Mt 2 is a slow meditative piece, and is far shorter than the original (which is also full of drums).
The final piece opens with some chords and then grows very beautiful as the Glass riff takes on an almost prog rock feel because of the guitar and the way the bass notes contrast so wonderfully with it. It is short in this and the original and is great excerpt to listen to.
- Glass: String Quartet No. 2, “Company,” Mvts. II & III
- Glass: String Quartet No. 3, “Mishima,” Mvt. III, “1934: Grandmother & Kimitake”
- Glass: String Quartet No. 3, “Mishima,” Mvt. II, “November 25: Ichigaya”
- Glass: String Quartet No. 3, “Mishima,” Mvt. XI, “1962: Body Building”
[READ: March 24, 2015] Town Boy
This book was written (and drawn) in 1980. First Second books had it translated and published in 2007.
I found Lat’s first book, Kampung Boy to be quite charming. It was about a boy growing up in a small village in Malaysia in the 1950s. This is the sequel and it is about moving from the village into the town and being a teenager.
This book is a little less episodic than the first. Most of the story is laid out as text on one page and a drawing on the next. But the drawings also have speech bubbles, so there’s a lot of different things going on. Continue Reading »
Posted in #10yearsof01, Art, Beavis and Butthead, College, Comic Strips, Dublin Guitar Quartet, First Second :01, Lat, Parenting, Philip Glass, Religion, Set at School, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, YA Books | Leave a Comment »
September 12, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: SAM AMIDON & BILL FRISELL-Tiny Desk Concert #408 (December 1, 2014).
The first time I listened to this Tiny Desk Concert, I didn’t like Sam Amidon’s voice at all–he sings with a strangely flat delivery–almost monotone–but never actually off pitch. It’s rather unusual sounding.
But the second time I listened I found it kind of interesting–compelling in an unexpected way. I was also able to really hear what Bill Frisell was adding to the songs.
“Blue Mountains” is a folk story-song. It is played with a very simple acoustic guitar piece and then, of course, Frisell’s interesting leads and chords that dd more and more texture as the song progresses. The whole things is grounded by Shahzad Ismaily’s delicate drumming.
After the song, Amidon says, “Good morning, welcome to Washington DC.” For “Pat Do This, Pat Do That,” a song about he banjo, Amidon switches to banjo. This was my favorite of the three songs. He plays the banjo very high on his chest (without a strap) and he plays quite fast. It’s hard to decide to listen to Frisell’s interesting chords or to Amidon’s great banjo playing For this song Ismaily switches to bass, which gives it lovely low end.
For the final song, Amidon gives a very long introduction about falling asleep on a pillow but dreaming that it is a little fuzzy donkey. It’s a very strange introduction that doesn’t really end satisfactorily. The final song is him on guitar, Frissell on electric and Ismaily on bass for a time and the switching over to drums. Midway through Amidon switches to violin and plays a wild solo that he accentuates with a screeching voice.
It’s a most unusual and somewhat unsettling Tiny Desk Concert. And I know I won’t be seeking out any more music by Amidon.
[READ: March 26, 2015] The Fall of the House of West
This book follows The Rise of Aurora West with that cast involved. I really enjoyed the resolution of the mystery of Aurora’s mom’s death, but otherwise I was kind of unimpressed by this book.
As with the previous book, I hate the way Rubin draws faces, especially Aurora’s–there’s too much face and not enough expression (conversely, his profiles are lovely).
Much of this story is fairly simple. Aurora believes that she knows who killed her mother and she intends to get revenge. But her father, the superhero Haggard West doesn’t want her to investigate on her own. And her bodyguard/teacher is not going to let her do the work on her own, either. Continue Reading »
Posted in #10yearsof01, Bill Frisell, David Rubin, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, JT Petty, Murder, Paul Pope, Revenge, Sam Amidon, Superheroes, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence | Leave a Comment »
September 11, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: PAT BENATAR & NEIL GIRALDO-Tiny Desk Concert #407 (November 24, 2014).
I never liked Pat Benatar. Back in the day she was all over MTV (and even in Fast Time at Ridgemont High) and I just didn’t like her. I’m not sure why, although I was particularly bitter about “Hell is for Children” (being a child myself). Of course, I still know all of her singles really well.
But I haven’t thought about her in probably a decade. And then around 2014 that she was playing with Neil Giraldo in some kind of acoustic tour. I recognized his name but didn’t know they were married or anything like that.
And so here they are doing a Tiny Desk Concert–all acoustic–with him playing guitar and contributing backing vocals. Over the decades, Benatar’s voice has changed a bit–she sounds gruffer and it really suits her. Continue Reading »
Posted in Adventure, Animals, Big Books, Carson Ellis, Children's Books, Culture Shock, Death, Fantasy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Fears, Magic, Neil Giraldo, Pat Benatar, Rats, Tiny Desk Concert, Trees, Trilogy, Violence, War, Witches | Leave a Comment »
September 10, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: J. MASCIS-Tiny Desk Concert #406 (November 22, 2014).
J. Mascis is best known as a wailing guitarist who plays in front of a wall of speakers with Dinosaur Jr. But for this Tiny Desk Concert he busts out an acoustic guitar and plays some songs from his solo album (as well as an old Dino classic).
“Stumble” is sung in Mascis’ delicate falsetto. They zoom in on him singing and its amazing how he doesn’t seem to be straining in any way doing this really high voice. After all the falsetto, his saying “Thanks” in a deep voice is really kind of funny.
For the second song, he busts out the classic “Little Fury Thing.” This acoustic version sounds really good–so simple and clean. The original is great burst of loud rocking and it’s amazing that the song can sound so good stripped down. His voice is much deeper for this song . I love at the end how he plays the strings really really fast but continues to swing in his most languid style.
The third song is actually two songs. He switches guitars (and is apparently using sheet music) to play “Drifter/Heal the Star.” The first part is a lengthy, really pretty instrumental. For all of Mascis’ noise and rocking out, he knows how to write beautiful, lovely melodies. The main melody is played on the high strings alternating some great strumming on the low strings for the “chorus.” I could listen to this for ages.
The song segues into “Heal the Star” which sounds very Mascis–his most Mascis voice and strumming style. Although for the chorus he’s back to the falsetto vocals again. The solo a the end is great as he plays chords on the lowers strings while soloing ion the high strings (there must be a different tuning to make this sound so good).
I saw Dinosaur Jr a couple of months ago and I’m going to see them in November again. I love Mascis’ loudness, but it’s wonderful to hear him play these quiet pieces too.
[READ: April 1, 2016] Overpowered!
I loved the premise of this book right from the start. I mean, the cover alone is great, and flipping through it, there are some wonderful images of men with great mustaches in turbans doing all manner of hypnosis to people. What I didn’t expect (but probably should have if I’d read his bio on the back) is that Green himself is a practicing hypnotherapist (in addition to being an actor and performer who has created such characters as “US Country music star Tina C and pensioner rap star Ida Barr.”
It turns out that Green has been interested in hypnosis for a long time. He learned how to do it and then wanted to set the record straight for what hypnosis actually is as opposed to what we believe it is.
So this proves to be a thorough (and very funny) history of hypnosis through the years. He says the book is called “Overpowered” because “I’m fascinated by the delight human beings derive from the idea of being taken over. Being conscious may be beneficial, but it is also hard work.” Continue Reading »
Posted in 18th Century, 19th Century, Abbé Faria, Acting, Alternative Medicine, Anatoly Kashpirovsky, Dinosaur Jr., Doctors, Dr. Vint. Karlyn, Fears, Franz Mesmer, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George du Maurier, Handy-Bandy and Nadia, Humiliation, Hypnosis, Hypnotists, J. Mascis, James Braid, Joan Brandon, Kennedy the Mesmerist, Magic, Oddities, Science, Technology, The Amazing Kreskin, Tiny Desk Concert, Walford Bodie, Woody Allen | Leave a Comment »
September 9, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: DAVÍD GARZA-Tiny Desk Concert #405 (November 15, 2014).
I first heard of Garza back in 1998 with his minor hit “Discoball World.” I really liked it. And then I assumed he just went away. But apparently he didn’t.
The first song, “Texas is My Hometown” is a slow jazzy song about how much he loves Texas. He sounds like an old-timey crooner, except that he references all kinds of contemporary musicians.
And then he plays “Discoball World.” It sounds quite different because it’s all acoustic guitar (although his strumming is pretty intense). I prefer the original, but he’s really intense while singing this version.
He says he was walking around DC and he ran into his favorite singer in the whole world. Then he invites Gaby Moreno to sing the final song, an old Spanish song their grandparents used to sing. And indeed, with wonderful flair, he plays a beautiful Spanish guitar. Gaby sings lead (in Spanish) on the whole song and her voice is really amazing. She can hold a note for a really long time and then really powers through a loud note. He does backing ooohss when needed, but Gaby is the star of this song. Until, that is, he plays some great guitar at the end, very percussive, very powerful.
It’s a good set.
[READ: June 1, 2016] The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972
I took some time off from my Peanuts reading–I needed a break after fifteen years. And it was fun to come back to the strip really looking forward to the 1970s.
There seem to be three big consistent ideas in these two years. Woodstock becomes very prominent, Sally gets to complain about school a lot and Peppermint Patty comes into her own, with strips about her and Chuck, her and Franklin and her and Marcie (who is finally named!).
1971 starts off auspiciously with Charlie saying that this is going to be his year of decision–he’s going to start making changes. But Lucy interrupts saying that she is going to spend the whole year regretting the past-“Forget the future!” Continue Reading »
Posted in Angst, Baseball, Basketball, Birds, Bobby Orr, Charles Schulz, Comic Strips, Davíd Garza, Easter, Fantagraphics, Football, Funny (ha ha), Gaby Moreno, Halloween, Kristin Chenoweth, Letters, Math, Peanuts, Peggy Fleming, Set at School, Singles, Skateboarding, Technology, The Future, Tiny Desk Concert, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown | Leave a Comment »
September 8, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-El Mocambo, Toronto ON (November 1987).
After re-listening to some of the Rheostatics most recent shows, I checked the Rheostatics Live site and found out that he has added some really old shows. This show is the oldest show on the site, dating back to 1987. A brief Rheos history shows that in the earlier incarnation, it was Dave Bidini, Tim Vesely and Dave Clark. They were joined by the Trans Canada Soul Patrol and played mostly R&B and funk. Around 1985 the Soul Patrol left and Martin Tielli joined. Around the time of this show, they had released Greatest Hits. And then they broke up (circa 1988). Then they reformed in 1991 with an entirely different sound.
So this is from what I guess you’d call he Mach II era: no Soul Patrol but before the breakup. Interestingly, only two songs from this how appeared on their debut album, although many appeared on earlier demos.
They play 11 songs, including what I assume is an improvised rap from Dave Clark (the really silly one of the band). And the songs are dominated by a smooth guitar sound and often times a funky bass. Perhaps the most amazing thing about this set is the prominence of Tim. He sings many of the songs and Dave includes him in many jokes. Martin is almost non-existent.
“National Pride” dates back to 1983 and starts as a kind of goofy rap song but then turns into the funky version from the demo. Martin Tielli also released a solo song called “National Pride” which is nothing like this. They follow this with the “Greensprouts Theme Song” (which they played at the AGO almost 30 years after this show). Dave Clark calls it the “silliest song ever written,” although in the years hence they have made a few challenges to that claim.
“Good on the Uptake” is a song I’ve heard in a few places before. Tim sings lead and there’s a kind of funky bass line with lots of guitar harmonics. I think Martin is singing backup (and probably playing the harmonics).
Tim breaks a string and Dave Clark shouts, “This song is called Rheostatics learn how to string their guitar.” With a broken string they play an impromptu version of “Red Dog Ray” taught to them by Reverend Ken and the Lost Followers “about the beer strike in 1983. We were all pissed off because we had to drink Old Milwaukee and Rolling Rock and all that shit.” This song has come up in their sets in the early 2000s.
It segues right into “Ditch Pigs” from Greatest Hits and sung by Martin. The middle section devolves into a chant of “I want an egg salad sandwich and a glass of Coke.”
For “Four Upright Walls” Bidini introduces David Clark as the Poet Laureate of Etobicoke. This is a rap of sorts in which the band does response to Dave’s rap (with all kinds of crazy sound effects and even some beatboxing (!)).
“Crystal Soup” is very much a Tim song–it sounds a lot like a song he would write now–there’s a surprise guitar riff in the middle of the verses that sounds a bit like Rush. At the end of the song Dave introduces “Mr. Nigel Tufnel,” although I’m not sure to whom he is referring. “Sue’s Mining Song” (also sung by Tim) has a kind Rush feel although the lyrics are very un-Rush (“woman,” “girl” and a line about “buzzards on your Steely Dan”). It also features Tim screaming a high note! It’s a pretty heavy song (especially at the end).
It’s funny that they follow-up with “a nice song,” Martin’s sung “Crescent Moon” a very, very new wavey song that Bidini wrote, and which leads of Greatest Hits. They follow with a fun and fast rocking “People’s Republic of Dave” in which Dave encourages Tim to make silly faces. And Tim growls that he wishes his name was Dave. This seems like a great show ender, but they’ve got one more song.
“Chemical World,” has a kind of discoey guitar opening and lots of slap bass.
[READ: January 5, 2016] Zombies Need Love Too
I prefer to read series like this in order, but sometimes you can only get the books that you can get (and you don’t get upset). For reasons I don’t understand, my library only had the first two books (which were also collected in Liō’s Astonishing Tales which they also have) and the two most recent books. There’s maybe two books in between, as far as I can tell.
The good thing is that there’s not a lot of forward narrative in these stories–except perhaps for the new pets that Liō acquires.
So after four years what is Tatulli writing about? Well, largely the same stuff, which is fine with me. Continue Reading »
Posted in Aliens, Birds, Boondocks, Canadian Music, Cats, Children's Books, Death, Demons, Dogs, Dr. Seuss, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Fred Basset, Funny (ha ha), Games (Non Video), Garfield, Holidays, Humiliation, Inventions, Liō, Loch Ness Monster, Mad Scientists, Mark Tatulli, Mark Trail, Mary Worth, Parenting, Peanuts, Pigs, Rats, Reverend Ken and the Lost Followers, Rheostatics, Rush, Spinal Tap, Squids, Supernatural, Surreal, The Family Circus, The Far Side, Vampires, Yuck!, Zombies | Tagged rheoslive | Leave a Comment »
September 7, 2016 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: ROOMFUL OF TEETH-Tiny Desk Concert #404 (November 10, 2014).
Roomful of Teeth is an acapella group (with a drum on the first song). The singers all tend to sing notes (or words) in a rather unsettling style. As the blurb says, “Mix a bit of yodeling with Tuvan throat singing, add in a pinch of Sardinian cantu a tenore, fold in compositions from cutting-edge composers and you have the vocal group Roomful of Teeth. This eight-voice ensemble, which includes the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, is gleefully dismantling the traditional definition of ensemble singing right before our ears (and teeth!)…. The agility of the voices and multicolored blend they achieve are extraordinary.”
And that’s all so accurate. Everything is kind of unsettling and strangely beautiful. But definitely unsettling.
The first song was written by Australian Wally Gunn and is called “The Fence Is Gone.” There are so many different sections. It reminds me a lot of the middle of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother. With singers having an almost atonal operatic movement. But in between lyrics, the vocalists are largely singing going “oh ha” or just “bah bah.” It’s really fascinating. And the more I listen to it the more I wonder how they know just what (somewhat unusual) note to sing. The blurb adds: “verses emerge from an infrastructure of “oh-ha” syllables and a simple drum pulse, ending with women’s voices, tight in harmony, like a chord from a Casio keyboard.” That Casio remark is pretty spot on.
Before the second song, one of the men says that the “women are going to so do a song.” The men leave and Rinde Eckert’s “Cesca’s View” begins with a kind of yodeling (really good yodeling). After which the three remaining women sing a beautify low melody very hymn-like. Then the yodeling comes back (with some beautiful high notes at the end). Then they all come together to do the the yodelling melody very pretty harmonies. The blurb adds “In Rinde Eckert’s “Cesca’s View,” imagine a lonely cowgirl on some windswept plain. Estelí Gomez gets her yodel on, beautifully, while the three other women vocalize in close, barbershop-style harmony. It literally ends on a high note.” When the four are singing together, it’s really pretty.
The final song was written by the founder of the group, Brad Wells. “Otherwise” features some very intense bass notes from the men and high notes from the women. The blurb says “Warm, rounded tones in male voices contrast with a steely sheen from the women and a high drone like a Tibetan singing bowl. The harmonies take a tangy, almost Bulgarian turn, then we get something truly otherworldly. A pulsing, slightly creepy Sardinian “bim-bom” vocalise buzzes like a gigantic cicada.” The Bulgarian comment is really spot in as the women absolutely sound like the Bulgarian choirs. And that “bim bim bom” section is so alien and otherworldly. I love when they throw in some little “hey ya” mixed in. But the most amazing thing has to be “Dashon Burton’s operatic baritone [which] soars above it all.” His voice is really intense.
At first I didn’t really like their music, but after a few listens I could really appreciate what they were doing.
[READ: May 1, 2016] Human Body Theater
Maris Wicks is the illustrator for another First Second non-fiction book I loved called Primates. I thought her drawings were perfect (and also really cute). And she has done it again. Never have brains and bowels and viruses and allergies been so adorable!
But despite the cuteness of the drawings (and the title), this is a real, genuine nonfiction book about the human body.
Wicks covers just about everything you might want to know about how our bodies work. It is geared toward children (she does discuss reproduction, but in very basic terms), but it is full of so many details that I think many adults will find they learn things from this book. I know I sure did. Continue Reading »
Posted in #10yearsof01, Brad Wells, Children's Books, Cute, First Second :01, Food, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Maris Wicks, Nature, Pink Floyd, Poo, Research, Rinde Eckert, Roomful of Teeth, Science, Tiny Desk Concert, Wally Gunn | Leave a Comment »
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SOUNDTRACK: LUCINDA WILLIAMS-Tiny Desk Concert #412 (December 20, 2014).
I set tiny, manageable goals for this blog. They often change over the course of the year, but I like to see if I can complete them. One such goal was to write about all of the Tiny Desk Concerts from 2014. And here’s the final one. (Another such goal is to write about the remainder of the 2016 shows, which is doable). I also want to write about all of the rest of the First Second Graphic Novels (there’s about 20 of them left). Insignificant goals that I find satisfying to complete.
I Just Read About That... 