June 6, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: AMANDA PALMER: The Art of Asking (TED Talk, February 2013).
Amanda Palmer is Neil Gaiman’s wife. She was the singer in The Dresden Dolls and has a solo career. I actually don’t know that much about her music.
But I linked to this TED speech after reading Gaiman’s book.
In this talk, Palmer talks about asking for things and how it’s hard to ask, to beg., but how it makes for a real connection, especially between musicians and fans.
And she talks about crowdfunding–she’s going to give away all of her music but she’s asking for help from fans along the way.
It’s a pretty inspirational talk–how asking for things helps you connect with people. It also made me feel a lot better about Palmer, who I’d heard negative things about.
Check it out here.
[READ: June 5, 2013] Make Good Art
As with David Foster Wallace’s This is Water, this book is a short speech padded out to 80 some pages. The difference is that while This is Water is a rather boring-looking book, this title was designed by Chip Kidd, fabulous designer extraordinaire. So every page looks interesting. It’s not so much illustration as design—with shapes and text twirling and twisting upside down and what have you.
As with most inspirational works, this book is indeed inspirational. But it is especially so if you are an artist or an aspiring artist. Because this speech was given to the graduating class of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts in May 2012. You can watch the whole speech here as well. http://vimeo.com/42372767
Gaiman explains how he never went to college and never even really had a career, he just had a list of things that he wanted to do: write an adult novel, a children’s novel, a comic, a movie record an audiobook, write an episode of Doctor Who. And how he set about achieving these things is pretty great.
So some advice from Gaiman:
1. It’s better not to know the rules so that you’re not afraid to go beyond them. If you don’t know something is impossible, it’s easier to do. Continue Reading »
Posted in Advice, Amanda Palmer, Art, Chip Kidd, David Foster Wallace, Doctor Who, Dresden Dolls, Neil Gaiman, Politicians, Short Books | Leave a Comment »
June 5, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: RODRIGUEZ-“Sugar Man” (1971).
This song was played a lot on WXPN, and when I first heard it I couldn’t imagine what new artist was talking about “sweet Mary Jane.” So it turned out that this song was over 40 years old but it had been resurrected for a movie called Searching for Sugar Man, which is a documentary about Sixto Rodriguez and how he released two albums and then disappeared.
There’s something extremely catchy about this song–the loud down strums that stand out over the quieter strumming, the crazy high frequency sound that sails throughout the song and that hint of horns that gives more depth to this simple folk song. All of these elements make this song more complex than it might have been. In fact, the song seems like it’s going to end after about two minutes but there’s the instrumental section full of crazy sounds and electronics.
And even though it seems over after that there’s one more verse and chorus to go. And then the song just drifts away echoing into nothingness. It’s quite a catchy little number.
[READ: June 4, 2013] The Invention of Morel and Other Stories
Roberto Bolaño recommended this main story (the other ones as well, I assume). He’s a big fan of Bioy Casaraes. But also, Jorge Luis Borges has a prologue to the story in which he states of “The Invention of Morel”
“I have discussed with the author the details of his plot. I have reread it. To classify it as perfect is neither an imprecision nor a hyperbole.”
Holy crap.
I can’t say exactly that it I perfect although it is quite fine. It deals with all kinds of interesting issues and is inspired by (maybe that’s not exactly the right word) The Island of Dr Moreau. The funny thing is that Morel is neither the main character, nor even a major character for half the book.
The story starts on an island with the narrator writing this book down to leave a record of “the adverse miracle.” We learn that the narrator is a fugitive and he was told by an Italian rug seller in Calcutta that the only possible place for a fugitive like him is an uninhabited island. And on this particular island in 1924 a group of white men built a museum, a chapel and a swimming pool. But no one dares to go there—not Chinese pirates, not even the Rockefeller Institute because there is a fatal disease located on the island—anyone who has visited there has been found later dessicated. Continue Reading »
Posted in Adolfo Bioy Casares, Anachronisms, Boredom, Culture Shock, Death, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Ghosts, Jorge Luis Borges, Magic, Roberto Bolaño, Rodriguez, Ruth L.C. Simms, Searching for Sugar Man, Short Story, Translation, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »
June 4, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: AKRON/FAMILY-“Sand Talk” (2013).
The folks on NPR played this song as part of a “new songs” segment and I couldn’t get over how noisy and chaotic it was. I had always thought of Akron/Family as being kind of an indie folk outfit (I know they were on Swans’ label, but I still thought of them as more folkie than noisy). So I was surprised by just how chaotic and wild this song was.
It opens with a distorted, echoey guitar that settles into a ringing sound which reminds me of Fucked Up. Then the drums come in (tribal and various) until it all settles down into a thumping song with a kind of spastic guitar riff. Then the vocals come in–full bodied and sounding like more than one person. And after the first verse, it seems like everything that happened before happens again–this time all at once. But now, the music occasionally pauses to let the vocals come to the fore. And at one point everything stops and a chorus of voices sings a nice melody as the band slowly resumes playing. And this echoing fugue-like music continues apace until it all kind of slows down and then ends.
It’s quite a challenging song and one that I found rewarding after just a few listens. I have to reevaluate what I think this band sounds like, and I definitely have to listen to the rest of this album.
[READ: May 1, 2013] “The Night of the Satellite”
What I really liked about this story was the way that Boyle plays with two ideas of randomness. The first is the possibility of a piece of a satellite falling out of the sky and landing on you. The second is of running into a couple in several different and unrelated locations.
As the story starts, a couple (graduate-school aged) are excited that the summer is upon them. They plan to take a trip to visit some friends (with their dog) to get away from it all. En route they see a car pulled over at the side of the road facing the wrong way. The young man is sitting on the hood, the young woman is crying near the road. Mallory tells him to stop the car. He is reluctant but does so (childlocking the doors). The girl says that her boyfriend is a jerk. She is crying but says she is not hurt. The boyfriend is yelling across the road that she should just get in the car and leave with them. But after a few minutes, she decides not too. So he drives on despite Mallory’s protests. Continue Reading »
Posted in Akron/Family, All Songs Considered, Dogs, Fucked Up, Funny (strange), NASA, New Yorker, Outer Space, Pets, Short Story, Swans, T.C. Boyle, Technology | Leave a Comment »
June 3, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: DEPECHE MODE-“Fly on the Windscreen” (1986).
Every time I use the phrase ‘death is everywhere” (which I don’t do often, but which I do do below) I think of this song.
I forgot how synthy this song sounds when it opens–two different very synthy sounds. After the vocals (which feature Dave Gahan’s voice at its strongest) the guitars come in and the song sounds a bit more complex.
It’s funny how the song which starts with the dark verses and “death is everywhere” can have the cool and rather sweet bridge of “Come here, touch me, kiss me, touch me, now.” (Gahan’s o’s are so wide when he sings, it’s great).
This song really marks the transition of Depeche Mode from synth pop to darker more angsty music. Indeed, all of Black Celebration, with its noisy percussions and unusual instrumentation and of course, Martin Gore’s dark lyrics, shows a band transitioning to new levels of greatness.
[READ: May 30, 2013] How to Think the Unthinkable
This play was created and produced for the Fringe Festival. I tend to think of the Fringe Festival as, you know, stuff on the Fringe, so I imagined that this play that was “After Sophocle’s Antigone” would be a modern and possibly weird update of the story. And it starts off that way with a guard coming back with three clothespins. He explains that he always draws the short straw and he was the one sent off to get clothespins to block the noses of the other guards. You see, they have been sitting watch over this body for a few days and he is starting to smell pretty bad.
But when the guard, Tom, arrives, he discovers that the other two guards (Roy and Bo) have fallen asleep and the body is gone. Tom freaks out, he tells them (and us) that the body (of Polynices) cannot possibly be given a proper burial. Polynices was a traitor to King Creon and his punishment is to be left to rot outside of the city walls. How could they have let someone take and bury his body? They were tired. See, it’s funny.
Indeed, the other guards have no answer and are more or less comic relief. Until Haemon shows up. Haemon is Creon’s son. He is super annoyed because he was the one who vouched for Tom and the others. Now he looks bad and Creon will be pissed.
Cut to Creon ensuring the City Elder that he plays no favorites and if even his son is found guilty of a crime—like burying Polynices–well, the full force of punishment will come onto him as well. Like any Greek tragedy, you can see the set up. Continue Reading »
Posted in Death, Depeche Mode, History, Play (Drama), Ryan Craig, Short Books | Leave a Comment »
June 2, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: THE STATLER BROTHERS-“Flowers on the Wall” (1965).
Vonnegut mentions this Statler Brothers song in Palm Sunday as well. I know this from Pulp Fiction–a song that I found very amusing and never would have guessed was a classic country song. Country music was very different in 1965 than it is now. I don’t even know if there was a folk or bluegrass category back then, and this song, with its banjo and bouncey acoustic guitar is a great example of the kind of country music I like. And those harmonies!
This song certainly seems to be about insanity–about a man counting flowers on the wall, playing solitaire with a deck of 51 cards, smoking cigarettes and watching Captain KAN Kangaroo. Don’t tell him he’s nothing to do. What a weird little song. And man is it catchy. No wonder it was a #1 hit.
[READ: May 31, 2013] Fates Worse Than Death
After reading Palm Sunday I learned that Fates Worse Than Death was a kind of autobiographical sequel to that non fiction book. I also learned that the two essays that make up Nothing is Lost Save Honor which is impossible to find (and for which I can’t even find a cover) are available in FwtD. However, since there is no real contents or index, you do have to read the whole thing to find out which chapters contain the essays. Or you can just look here and see that “The Worst Addiction of Them All” (which was published in The Nation) is in Chapter XIV and “Fates Worse Than Death” appears in Chapter XV.
The last time I read a bunch of Vonnegut together I got a bit burnt out on him and the same thing happened here. The problem with Vonnegut’s nonfiction is that he tends to repeat himself. A lot. And while this book is ostensibly about the 1980s, he talks an awful lot about his family and his friends from the war and his other literary acquaintances., like he did in Palm Sunday. In a number of places, he says that he doesn’t like to read himself in English, and it would seem that he doesn’t proofread to see if he said something already either.
This is not to say that the book is not worth reading. Indeed, if you read Palm Sunday in the 80s and then this one in the 90s, you might not remember all of the details that pop up again, but when you read them days apart…well. Continue Reading »
Posted in Blivit, Books about writers, Boredom, Communists, Essays, Funny (ha ha), History, Hitler, Holocaust, Humiliation, Interviews, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Vonnegut, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Morality, Nazis, Pornography, Pulp Fiction, Religion, Suicide, Technology, The Future, The Statler Brothers, Violence, War | Leave a Comment »
June 1, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: THE STATLER BROTHERS-“Class of ’57” (1972).
I don’t know much about The Statler Brothers. They are considered country, although this song is hardly country–it’s more folk with some bluegrass and, the real selling point–great harmonies (especially the bass singer with the big mustache).
The song is a wonderful coming of age song, sad and funny with a list of what happened to everyone in the class of ’57. Like:
Betty runs a trailer park, Jan sells Tupperware,
Randy’s on an insane ward, Mary’s on welfare.
Charlie took a job with Ford, Joe took Freddie’s wife,
Charlotte took a millionaire, and Freddie took his life.
John is big in cattle, Ray is deep in debt,
Where Mavis finally wound up is anybody’s bet.
But the kicker comes at the chorus:
And the class of ’57 had its dreams,
Oh, we all thought we’d change the world with our great words and deeds.
Or maybe we just thought the world would change to fit our needs,
The class of ’57 had its dreams.
And then at the end:
And the class of ’57 had its dreams,
But living life from day to day is never like it seems.
Things get complicated when you get past eighteen,
But the class of ’57 had its dreams.
Vonnegut quotes the entirety of this song in the book and I’m glad he did, it’s a very moving song and really captures American life.
[READ: May 26, 2013] Palm Sunday
After writing several successful novels, Vonnegut paused to collect his thoughts. And Palm Sunday begins: “This is a very great book by an American genius.” It is also a “marvelous new literary form which combines the tidal power of a major novel with the bone-rattling immediacy of front-line journalism.” After all the self praise, he decides that this collage–a collection of essays and speeches as well as a short story and a play which is all tied together with new pieces (in TV they would call this a clip show)–this new idea of a book should have a new name and he chooses: blivit (during his adolescence, this word was defined as “two pounds of shit in a one-pound bag.” He proposes that all books combining facts and fiction be called blivits (which would even lead to a new category on the best seller list). Until then, this great book should go on both lists.
This book is a collection of all manner of speeches and essays, but they are not arranged chronologically. rather they are given a kind of narrative context. What’s nice is that the table of contents lists what each of the items in the book is (or more specifically, what each small piece is when gathered under a certain topic).
Chapter 1 is The First Amendment in which he talks about Slaughterhouse Five being burned and how outraged he was by that–especially since the people so anxious to burn it hadn’t even read it (and the only “bad” thing is the word motherfucker). The first speeches included are “Dear Mr. McCarthy” to the head of the school board where his books were burned and “Un-American Nonsense” an essay for the New York Times about his book being banned in New York State. The next two are “God’s Law” for an A.C.L.U. fund raiser–it includes his confusion as to why people don’t support the A.C.L.U. which is working for all of our own civil liberties. Continue Reading »
Posted in Arthur C. Clarke, Blivit, Bob Elliot, Books about writers, Boredom, Communists, Daily Sun, Essays, Funny (ha ha), Gore Vidal, History, Hitler, Holocaust, Humiliation, Interviews, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Mark Twain, Mark Vonnegut, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, NASA, Nazis, Pornography, Pulp Fiction, Ray Goulding, Religion, Short Story, Technology, The Future, The New York Times, The Statler Brothers, Violence, War, William F. Buckley | Leave a Comment »
May 31, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: LAURA VEIRS-“Sun Song” (2013).
I know of Laura Veirs from her work with The Decemberists, but as she’s mostly a backup singer (and occasional lead), I couldn’t really say I knew her very well. So I was delighted to hear this song that she had written and to see just how great it is,.
The song begins with a simple folk guitar and pizzicato pluckings. Veirs’ voice has an innocence that I really love—gentle but clean. The chorus brings an unexpected harmony vocals and vibrato but nothing prepares you for the feedback squalls that the new electric guitars bring in.
The song doesn’t get faster, just a little noisier—it reminds me of the best Sarah Harmer tracks. Then the electric guitar goes away and the song feels fuller somehow. The end of the song introduces a kind of call and response which adds a cool new element until it all relaxes back into its original mellow style.
I really like this song and need to hear more from Veirs. And I see that she has released a whole bunch of albums, so there’s a lot to choose from.
[READ: May 30, 2013] “Loyalty”
This story begins with a pretty straightforward sentiment: “As much as I love her, I blame Astrid. Astrid told my wife, Corinne, that she could achieve happiness if only she’d leave me.” Indeed, Astrid made a regular suggestion out of it–leave him, be free. And so finally Corinne did–she left him alone with their son, Jeremy. Initially Jeremy wrote to Corinne but eventually the replies were fewer and further between and he gave up.
Wes was crushed, but soon after he fell in love with Astrid and they got married. I love the way it is presented:
The minute Corinne was gone, Astrid showed up. I don’t recall that, prior to that day, we had so much as exchanged a moody, sparking glance. She took me into her expert arms. It was consolation and sympathy at first, I guess. I didn’t question it. In about the time it takes to change the painted background in a photographer’s studio from a woodland scene to a brick wall, she had left her boyfriend and was presenting me with casseroles and opened bottles of cold beer.
We never really learn if Astrid had planned this all along. It seems like it, but it’s not like Wes is a huge catch. Corinne’s divorce request went though with no trouble or custody problems. And soon he and Astrid had a new child, a daughter, Lucy. Then they saw Corinne on TV, on a show about runaway moms–Wes asks, what would make her do such a thing–and no reasonable answer is given. Continue Reading »
Posted in All Songs Considered, Babies, Charles Baxter, Funny (ha ha), Harper's, Laura Veirs, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Sarah Harmer, Short Story, The Decemberists | Leave a Comment »
May 30, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: SHEARWATER & SHARON VAN ETTEN-“Stop Dragging My Heart Around” (2013).
Everybody knows this song. It was way overplayed (overplayed enough that Weird Al parodied it in 1983). So I can’t say I was all that excited to hear this cover.
What’s nice about it though is that if you’ve heard a song a million times, hearing a slightly (not radically) different version can reintroduce it to you in a new way.
It’s noisy and clunky in the music–giving a more folkie vibe. And while Sharon sounds a bit like Stevie Nicks—she gives that same raspy quality to it–she’s definitely not trying to be Stevie. The Shearwater vocalist does moderate mimic of Petty—enough to show that he knows what the original sounds like without duplicating it. The whole feel has a kind of tossed off, less polished vibe that really works with the lyrics.
It turns out that this version is live and it was released on a 7″ single (but NPR gives it to us for free). I like this version quite a bit although I do miss the “Ah ha has” and “Hey hey heys” in the bridge.
[READ: May 29, 2013] “The Gift”
T
his was a very strange little story.
In it, a woman wakes up after her house has flooded. Not entirely, but there was certainly a few feet of water (she can see the residue marks). What’s also strange is that she had not left her apartment for five days and she had just spent nearly $90 (the bulk of her grocery money) ordering a box of glacé apricots from Australia–in gold foil at extra cost–no less!
She feels guilty… but they just looked so good in the catalog. Of course, so did the mosquito netting–but really what use had she for that?
She spent some time thinking about the Australians working in the glacé apricot factory–did they ever steal an apricot? Were they hungry? Somehow she imagined them enshrouded in the mosquito netting.
She was awoken from her reverie by the water rushing around her living room–and the piglets grunting around in the mud. Continue Reading »
Posted in All Songs Considered, Consumerism, Glacé apricots, Harper's, Mary Ruefle, Sharon Van Etten, Shearwater, Short Story, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty | Leave a Comment »
May 29, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: SAVAGES-Live at KEXP (May 16, 2013).
I heard some songs from the Savages album, and I loved them–that combination of 80’s punk and goth all wrapped up in current technologies and attitude. A couple of their songs are some of my favorite of the year so far. I’d also heard that they were even better live. So here are four songs played live in the studio from KEXP. And while the audio is awesome, they are a lot of fun to watch.
In fact, the more I watch the less I know who I am most impressed by–the amazing guitarist? the great unaffected bassist? the wild drummer? They’re all a pleasure to watch.
But it also sounds great. There’s some great soaring guitar sounds on “City’s Full” which really has a Patti Smith meets Siouxsie vibe. And there’s that whole goth feel–the bass up front and dominant but with really big guitar chords and cool riffs. And the drums, man she rocks out in the whole first half of “City’s Full.” Then listen to the fabulous bass line that runs through “Shut Up.” I love the way the low bass plays off the high guitars (and the vocals sound very Siouxsie there). And the drummer is amazing at the end of the song.
A great 80s echoey riff opens “She Will.” I love when the song almost stops and it’s all fast cymbals and faster guitar (which is really cool in and of itself) until it builds back up. And just look at her drumming at 10:20. Wow.
And the closer, Husbands” just gets more and more intense. Like the crazy noisy cymbals. And the way her voice soars and soars until it just stops. Wow.
[READ: May 23, 2013] “The Dark Arts”
Julian is sick. Very sick. So sick, in fact, that American doctors can’t seem to help him, can’t even seem to effectively diagnose him. So he and his girlfriend Hayley have traveled to Europe for new medicines that the AMA hasn’t approved yet. They travel to a few places first as a kind of romantic vacation and their ultimate destination is Düsseldorf. It’s there where Julian will have his bone marrow drawn out, then boiled and tinkered with and then injected back into him.
Ouch.
But there’s been a snag. On their way to Düsseldorf, they had a fight and Hayley stayed behind. So Julian went to Düsseldorf to a hostel. Every day he goes to the train station hoping to see Hayley show up. He imagines what he must look like to the locals–a skeletal American wearing what must look like a death shroud. He barely eats, he barely does anything. In fact, he has more or less given up.
But his father and Hayley, they believe in him, they believe that these cures can help. Indeed, his father has been so great through all this offering him anything he needs–money they don’t really have and unwavering support.
And then the story gets even more interesting–we find out that American doctors not only couldn’t diagnose him, but actually believed that there as nothing wrong with him. Continue Reading »
Posted in All Songs Considered, Ben Marcus, Hospitals, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, New Yorker, Patti Smith, Punks, Savages, Short Story, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Travel | 1 Comment »
May 28, 2013 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: BOY-“Little Numbers” (Live at The Current, April 6, 2013) (2013).
I am totally hooked by this single–a song which sounds like the next huge Feist hit. It’s got a great piano melody that just grabs on and won’t let go.
So how does the song hold up on acoustic guitars? In a recent interview the two Swiss/German band members, Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass, say that the song was originally written in this slower more acoustic vein. On first listen this version is not very appealing–there’s something so bubbly and bouncy and joyous about the single version.
The immediacy of the song is gone and the “woah-o” section seems more mournful than joyous. I suppose it is actually more true to the original intent of the song (I read your name on every wall, is there cure for me at all). Although this version features Boy’s beautiful harmonies, especially the concluding moments, I still prefer the more upbeat single version.
[READ: May 21, 2013] “The Gray Goose”
When this story started, I was a little concerned that it was going to be another story about a repressed childhood under the thumb of an oppressive Jewish mother. It begins by telling us that Miraim’s father left in 1948, when she was little. One of the only presents she had been given was an album by Burl Ives. And that album could be played on her family’s hi-fi/radio housed in a rosewood cabinet—“the most fantastical item of furniture in their lives.” Her father hated that they gave into consumerism to buy such a thing, but it was revered. And all vinyl was held very delicately, as if a breath of air might warp it.
“The Gray Goose” was her favorite song and she listened to it often, trying to scrutinize the songs—just what was this gray goose that could not be killed, Lord, Lord, Lord. (The traditional meaning of the gray goose that could not be killed appears to have something to do that with the hunter went hunting on the Sabbath, so the goose could not be killed). Although in the story, Miriam’s mother, Rose, says that the goose represents the heart of the working class. For Rose and her husband, Albert were fiercely Communist. We learn about Rose and Albert’s marriage—they were passionate about their beliefs, and this passion seemed to transmit to each other. And then Rose got pregnant, so they married. And then Rose had a miscarriage, but now they were stuck with each other so they decided to have a child—Miriam. (His parents didn’t approve of any of it, especially Rose).
Then Albert was offered a job back in Germany—the only Jew to return to Germany so soon, and Rose and Miriam were on their own. Well, Miriam was on her own, Rose had many many suitors, although none could stay the night.
That’s all back story for the evening of the action—the evening that Miriam and some friends have gone to Greenwich Village to a jazz club. Miriam is precocious, having finished school a year early and started college (and apparently already dropped out). She is out with some friends, the wonderfully named Rye Gogan, the horn-rimmed glasses-wearing Porter, assorted girlfriends and Miriam’s boyfriend who is referred to hilariously as Forgettable. As in “of course Forgettable weighed in with, ‘What?’” Continue Reading »
Posted in All Songs Considered, Boy, Communists, Culture Shock, Drinking, Feist, Jonathan Lethem, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, New Yorker, Norman Mailer, Sex, Short Story, Virginity (Loss of) | Leave a Comment »
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SOUNDTRACK: AMANDA PALMER: The Art of Asking (TED Talk, February 2013).
Amanda Palmer is Neil Gaiman’s wife. She was the singer in The Dresden Dolls and has a solo career. I actually don’t know that much about her music.
