January 24, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: KATHLEEN EDWARDS-Live from the Bowery Ballroom (2003).
This is a live
EP released just after Failer. I assumed that the Bowery was the New York one, but I just leaned that it is a Ballroom in Vancouver. The CD has three live tracks, two from Failer and a cover of an AC/DC song (!).
She sounds great, her band sounds great, and the quality of the recording is great.
Side two of the disc is a DVD. It contains two videos: “Six O’Clock News” and “One More Song the Radio Won’t Like.” Both videos are okay at best. They are fairly pedestrian clips of her singing, close-ups of her face, shots of her singing standing in the street etc. “Radio” is slightly more inventive in that there’s a vague sort of plot, but she gets to wear some wigs. But the overlays of her in various wigs come about half way through and seem like an afterthought. The songs are great, but the videos are just so so.
So, if you’re a fan, this might be worth finding. But it’s not an essential addition by any means.
[READ: January 15, 2010] Maintenance Vol 3.
This is the latest (and possibly last?) volume in the Maintenance series. Unlike the previous collections, this volume contains an entire story arc. And it’s a good one.
The evil-looking creature from the final page of volume 2 has kidnapped the gorgeous TerrorMax secretary Mendy (just as Manny was about to ask her out!). And Doug and Manny, janitors extraordinaire, are determined to get her back. When they learn that a spacecraft will be required, they’re quite happy to know that a certain grumpy alien has one that he’s pretending not to remember how to start. And the adventure begins. Continue Reading »
Posted in Canadian Music, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Jim Massey, Kathleen Edwards, Mad Scientists, Outer Space, Robbi Rodriguez, Supernatural, Technology, Threats, YA Books | Leave a Comment »
January 23, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: NO FORCEFIELD-God is an Excuse (2001).
I was looking up what Larry LaLonde, guitarist for Primus, had been up to while Primus seems to be on hiatus. I hadn’t heard a word from him, so I was surprised to see that he had released two albums with a band called No Forcefield.
I looked for the discs, and found both of them used for $1.00 each. So I ordered them without really knowing what they were about, except that they were described as “experimental.”
This is the second disc by the band which consists of Brain and Ler from Primus as well as assorted other fellows (Bob Cock) and guests. And experimental is an okay word to describe the record. But a better one is disappointing.
With the lineage that these guys bring to the band, it’s surprising how mundane the disc is. It opens with a phone message about Bin Laden and God which morphs into the hilarious Denis Leary bit about CDs and the silver dog bone thing. It then becomes a fairly straightforward electronic track. And this electronic stuff is kind of the purpose of the group, I think. There are at least 3 long, simple instrumentals that are little more than a few notes repeated over a drum beat.
The other tracks are complete nonsense: a faux TV show with “products” for sale which is a teensey bit funny, but not really. There’s also Billy Roz, whoever that may be, crooning “You Are My Sunshine” as well as some polkas over a drum machine (he sings like an old doddering man). And finally a short drum solo.
It’s not even clear to me why Ler is in the band as it seems to be mostly drums and a simple keyboard chord. The only interesting track on the disc is “How to Purify Street Heroin” which is an awesome scratchy workout which I assume is by DJ Disk from the Invisbl Skratch Piklz. And that’s pretty much it.
I was really disappointed my first go around, as I was expecting something, anything, more than this. On subsequent listens, I can appreciate the disc as background/comedy although really neither one is a reason to hunt this down.
[READ: January 21, 2010] Too Much Hopeless Savages
This third collection of the Hopeless Savages saga sees many new revelations. Turns out that Nikki Savage’s mom has come under the influence of a preacher who is intent on praying at the Hopeless-Savage house trying to get them to react in some way. (I’m a little unclear exactly what his goal is here).
At the same time, Arsenal and her boyfriend and Twitch and his boyfriend (the boyfriends are brothers) are off to the boyfriends’ homeland of Hong Kong. Arsenal is there for a martial arts competition and Twitch heads along so that the H-S siblings can meet their boyfriends’ great grandmother.
Hijinx naturally ensue. In this case, Arsenal is slipped a very valuable package and she soon has numerous groups of men after her (it’s unclear if any of them are up to any good). The rest of the family decamps for Hong Kong to escape from all the praying (and they bring grandma along to de-brainwash her).
What is surprising about the story is the emotional depth that comes out of an incident from Arsenal’s past. Continue Reading »
Posted in Adventure, Books about music, Christine Norris, Corporate skewering, Funny (ha ha), Gangsters, Graphic Novel, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Jan Van Meter, LGBTQ, Mystery, No Forcefield, Oni Press, Primus, Punks, Religion, Ross Campbell, Threats, Travel, Violence, YA Books | Leave a Comment »
January 22, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: KATHLEEN EDWARDS-Failer (2003).
I really enjoyed Edwards’ Asking for Flowers. So much so that I decided I had to track down her earlier discs, too. This is her debut album (aside from a self released demo type EP that I don’t think is available anymore). And, no doubt, it will get re-released one of these days making the 500 holders of that first EP very cross indeed.
I’m very torn as to whether Edwards is a country singer or not. My gut says no, because I like her so much. And yet, there are many country tinges that sprinkle this disc.
But that’s really irrelevant, especially if you like the disc, which I do. The amazing thing about Edwards is that it’s hard to tell what disc her songs come from. She has a singular style of writing and singing that makes her songs timeless. This is not to say that she’s stuck in a rut by any means, because nothing sounds tired.
Edwards is a wonderfully talented songwriter, with a gift for storytelling and a wonderful twist of wordplay: “One more song the radio won’t like”; “And if you weren’t so old I’d probably keep you / If you weren’t so old I’d tell my friends / But I don’t think your wife would like my friends.” And beyond that there are simply great songs: “Hockey Skates” is a wonderful metaphor (and a damn catchy song). “National Steel” has a wonderful hook.
I really can’t get enough of this disc. Or her follow-up either.
[READ: January 20, 2010] “A Death in Kitchawank”
My recent comment about T.C Boyle’s named being shortened from Coraghessan must have been an editorial choice by Harper‘s because here it is in full splendor in the New Yorker. I also find it odd when the same writer appears in two locations very close together. Is it like when an actor has a big movie out and appears in several periodicals in a month? I suppose Boyle has a book coming out?
Whatever the case, I enjoyed this Boyle story quite a lot too. And, once again, it undermined my expectations of what he writes (so I guess my expectations should change by now, huh?).
This story is set in a lake community in Kitchawank, NY. When the story opens we see a woman tanning herself to a golden brown (this is the first clue that it’s set in the 70s. Which it is). We watch as the woman, Miriam, relishes her family’s life and their friends in their close-knit, Jewish, lakefront community. Continue Reading »
Posted in Boredom, Canadian Music, Kathleen Edwards, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Nostalgia, T.C. Boyle | Leave a Comment »
January 21, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-Ten Revisited [VH1] (2009).
This 30 minute special about Pearl Jam’s Ten album (or more specifically about the remastered edition) was a fine few moments of TV nostalgia. The most interesting nugget of information was that the “Jeremy” video originally contained a scene of the boy putting a gun in his mouth. That was cut prior to airing. (Although they show the footage in the special).
I wish that the show explained the band’s decision to actually make a video for “Jeremy” since they showed several earlier interview clips about why they chose not to make videos originally. They okayed live clips for airing. But that issue is never addressed.
The other really fun thing about the show was seeing the insane hats that Jeff Ament used to wear. It seems like a fetish, with the crazy assortment he used to sport. I either never paid attention at the time, or I didn’t think much of it given the sartorial choice of the rest of the band. Since they are much less adventuresome clothing-wise these days, his hats really stand out in the old video clips.
It’s nothing earth shattering, but there are definitely some good scenes and concert clips. And, it’s also fun to see how young (and long-haired) the band was all those years ago.
[READ: January 20, 2010] “Udder Madness”
After having just besmirched the nature of the New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs section, I get to retract my complaint because of this really funny piece by Woody Allen.
Many of the Shouts & Murmurs pieces run out of steam long before the story comes to an end. It must be hard to maintain an often thin concept for two pages. This one, on the other hand is longer than most and is a wonderfully detailed story with many layers.
The premise is taken from a humorous new story that 20 people a year are killed by cows, and that “in at least one case, the animal attacked from behind.” Allen takes this last sentence and constructs a very funny story in which a cow plots the demise of an insufferable prat. Continue Reading »
Posted in Funny (ha ha), New Yorker, Noir, Pearl Jam, Set in New Jersey!, Woody Allen | Leave a Comment »
January 20, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: KISS-KISSology: The Ultimate Kiss Collection, Vol. 1: 1974-1977 DVD (2006).
I finally got to watch all of disc two of this DVD and it was quite a treat. Disc two covers Kiss while they are pretty much the hottest band in the world. And the fun begins right off with an appearance on The Paul Lynde Show! They don’t make camp like they used to! I only wish they showed all of the footage, as I think they left out something (or at least they talk about Peter Criss playing a piece of wood painted to look like a piano).
This is followed by two full concerts. The first is from the Destroyer tour in Tokyo. The sound is not great (Gene’s bass sounds really bottom heavy and muddy). But it’s fun to see the Japanese audiences go wild and then politely sit down as soon as Paul starts speaking.
I also had to wonder if the sight of a room full of Japanese fans was a culture shock for 4 boys from New York. In college one of my teachers made a joke about how when she was living in Germany it was weird because everyone around you was German. And we laughed because, duh. But that’s got to be weird to be immersed in a mono-culture unlike here where diversity is pretty prevalent. So seeing an audience of all one nationality must be pretty unusual (at least of me anyhow).
The second show sounds and looks better. It comes from the Love Gun Tour and was filmed in Houston. By this time the band is completely over the top with their stage show: Gene still breaths fire and spits blood. But now Ace’s guitar smokes and he shoots a laser beam at it from a new guitar. Peter’s drum riser goes about 12 feet in the air. The other three guys also have risers so that at one point they’re all 12 feet in the air. I mean, for 1977, this is pretty massive. No wonder their live shows were such a success.
And they have nothing but energy. It’s really impressive. Although I still laugh imagining them practicing walking in those 7 inch platforms. The fact that Paul Stanley can do leaping splits and not break an ankle is tremendous.
There’s another short segment from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. I wish I knew if that is what my cousin called me up to tell me was on TV that night. I would have been 8 years old and a new Kiss fan. He called me past my bedtime and I heard my mom saying something about Kiss on TV. I turned it on but when my mom came in I quickly turned it off. I secretly hope that’s what it was, so now I finally got to see it. Although realistically I’ll never know for sure.
I have to say though that it seemed lip synched to me.
The bands sounds great during all of these shows. The only real problem once again is the backing vocals. They just sound wrong somehow. Either mixed too high or like they just aren’t trying to find the right notes. Or something. It just feels off (Except in Black Diamond, where the ooooh oooohs are always right on). Oh, and for God’s sake. Ace’s “singing” of “Shock Me” sounds like he’s never opened his mouth before. He barely speaks the words much less tries to find the tune. Wow.
But despite those foibles (and the fact that Gene Simmons comes off as a total dick in the liner notes (and, let’s be honest, in every interview I’ve ever heard him do)) it’s been a fun nostalgic trip watching these old concerts. I can’t imagine how much I their show would have blown my mind if I had been allowed to see them back when I was 10 years old.
[READ: January 19, 2010] “Heavy Artillery”
I’ve said before that I find George Saunders to be really hit or miss. I mean I absolutely loved his short story in the recent McSweeny’s Issue. But then we get a piece like this. I’m starting to wonder if it isn’t something about the Shouts & Murmurs section of The New Yorker that brings out the lame in good writers.
This piece had so much potential. The opening quote (which the story is based on) says that young people today (ie. future soldiers) are too fat for fighting and that “a group of retired military leaders is calling for more investment in early childhood education to combat the insidious effects of junk food and inadequate education.”
The possibilities are devilishly clever: spending money on kids to prep them to get killed in battle. Teaching them head start programs so they can kill people later on. Oh, ripe pickings all.
But Saunders basically makes a two page fat joke. Continue Reading »
Posted in Culture Shock, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, George Saunders, Kiss, Military, New Yorker, Paul Lynde | 1 Comment »
January 19, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLAND (Ovation TV) (2010–but obviously not really).
I’ve known about Jools Holland for years, and even knew about Later… from some other source (maybe it was on BBC America?). But anyhow it is now being broadcast on Ovation TV (and what is that? I’d never have heard of it except that TiVo found a Flaming Lips show for me).
The premise of Later is that there is one center stage, and encircling it are five or so bands. The bands all face the center (where the camera is) so they get to watch the other bands, too. Each band plays a song or two or three (depending on popularity I guess). And it’s live and fun and generally a good time.
This episode, as I said, had the Flaming Lips on it. I noted that the TiVo info said 2010, but the Lips played songs from At War with the Mystics, so it was more likely 2006. Also on the bill were The Divine Comedy (and I was very excited when it said 2010, because I thought that DC had a new disc out, sigh). The Strokes, Cat Power and a couple other folks rounded out the bill.
It was quite a show, and felt like they packed in a lot more than an hour’s worth of music. The Lips especially pulled of an amazing three song set (scattered throughout the program, by the way) with a ton of scaled back, but still fun live gadgets (oversized hands, confetti etc). And, they did a rocking cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”
I asked TiVo to tape more Later. If the diversity of artists here is any indication, I assume you;’e bound to get at least one band you like on every show. Cool.
[READ: January 19, 2010] “The Dime Store Floor”
I don’t often review Personal Histories from The New Yorker, but every once in a while one grabs me. And this is one of them.
I have to assume that everyone feels that smells are highly evocative, so I’m not unique in feeling that scent is super powerful. And yet, I think I tend to overlook smells in my daily life, even though I’m always secretly hoping for one to whack me up the side of the head and say, hey remember this!
And this piece is all about revisiting scents: both intentionally and accidentally.
I really enjoyed the closing where he opens the Old Spice deodorant and flashes back to his father. However, I had one major question/quibble with the author. Well, two actually.
The first was this: “A few years ago, an online store I’d been using ran out of my regular brand of deodorant, and, because I was unable to think of anything else, I switched to Old Spice, the kind my father used.” Okay, that, wait what? You buy your deodorant online? You couldn’t go to any store anywhere and just buy another roll-on? What kind of unique deodorant could this possibly be and conversely how could Old Spice possibly compare?
The second, a little further down: “…went to a local drug store to buy replacement [toiletries]. There I saw that Old Spice deodorant comes in more strength, formulations and scents than I had thought and realized that the one I’d been using High Endurance Pure Sport couldn’t have been my father’s.” Where exactly does David Owen live that he didn’t know Old Spice had a huge line of deodorants out? Go to any store in America, heck open a magazine, you can’t miss it! I myself am monogamous to Tom’s of Maine, and even I know there’s like a half dozen Secret containers on the shelf!
Owen clearly has the internet, so it’s not like he’s unaware of the outside world, and the whole story is about interacting with others, so he’s not a recluse. I’m just baffled by all this. (And Sarah and I had a good laugh too). Continue Reading »
Posted in Black Sabbath, David Owen, Jools Holland, Later with Jools Holland, Nostalgia, The Divine Comedy, The Flaming Lips | Leave a Comment »
January 18, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS-Glitter and Doom Live (2009).
Sarah bought me Tom Waits’s 3 disc collection for Christmas last year and I was sure it would be another Waits Xmas since this was nicely timed for an under the tree gift. But no! I had to buy this one myself (she says she forgot, but as punishment I may just make her listen to this one).
It’s a two disc set. The first is a collection of live tracks from all over the world (well actually Birmingham, Edinburgh, Tulsa, Knoxville, Milan, Jacksonville, Paris, Dublin, Atlanta and Columbus–a strange Western Europe-Southern U.S. Tour, apparently).
I’ve never seen Tom live, although I have seen videos from Big Time. And this is the first batch of live tracks I’ve heard in these latter days of his career. And I have to say he sounds great. The gravel in his throat is thick and gritty, yet he still hits all the notes. And while his studio tracks are full of all kinds of cool instrumentation and embellishments, the spare live band (who sound fantastic) shows that his songs are great even without the bells and whistles.
The funny thing to me is how “Dirt in the Ground” an older song that I love sounds so very different, even though Tom’s voice isn’t all that different. Of course, he plays some even older tracks that are totally reworked. And they sound great, too. This all keeps the tracks fluid and seamless, and while the older tracks wouldn’t sound dated anyhow, it makes them all sound new.
Disc Two is a 35 minute track called “Tom’s Tales.” It is a spliced together “story” of all the interstitial talking bits that Tom throws into his shows. There’s jokes, there’s stories, there’s nonsense, and it’s all good fun. For all his dour music, he;s quite a funny performer. It’ll probably get one or two plays at most, but it’s certainly fun to listen to.
I just read a review of the disc that complains about the separation of music and talk. And I see the critic’s point: cutting out the banter removes an essential part of Tom’s shows, while having all the talking bits together kind of dooms that disc to be listened to only once or twice.
While I agree with the sentiment, I’m not sure about the musical disc lacking something without the banter. While it would be fun to have it in there, there is something nice about having just the music. (And of course, there is one tale tacked on like an encore break (and one song at the end of the music disc, too). It keeps the flow very solid and makes for an excellent song collection.
It’s a great place to find out what Tom has been up to on the last half dozen or so albums.
[READ: January 17, 2010] Ground Zero
Trade paperback #2 of Hopeless Savages collects the entire second series, with a few extras thrown in (and a very nice introduction). And while I enjoyed the first series, Ground Zero is leaps and bounds more sophisticated and satisfying. Even the title is a pun, what with Zero, the youngest Hopeless-Savage being grounded for most of the story.
The main focus is Zero’s burgeoning romance. She is mostly off the boys at her school (typical comment: Your name is Skank, you must be easy), until she meets a boy in her science class who totally impresses her. He’s named Ginger, after Ginger Baker, nice touch there. And in a flashback we learn that although she hasn’t paid him any attention, he has loved her for years since their first accidental meeting.
I’m going to quote from Andrew Wheeler’s introduction because he sums up exactly what I think of the story: “It tells us that the most courageous thing of all is simply to fall in love. The bravest thing to do is to place your heart in someone else’s hand.” And that hits the nail on the head. Pretty good for a comic book. Continue Reading »
Posted in Andi Watson, Books about music, Boredom, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Christine Norris, Chynna Clugston-Major, Corporate skewering, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jan Van Meter, LGBTQ, Marriage (Happy), Oni Press, Punks, Romance, Set at School, Tom Waits, YA Books | Leave a Comment »
January 17, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: SARAH HARMER-I’m a Mountain (2005).
I first heard Sarah Harmer in 2000, with her “Basement Apartment” single (which always made me think of my friend Ailish who, at the time, lived in a basement apartment in Brookline, Mass.)
My wife Sarah has this CD playing in the car and I’d forgotten how much I liked it. Unlike the You Were Here, I’m a Mountain is much more country music sounding. I’m not much of a fan of country music as a rule, but there is something about country music from Canada that just sounds better to me. It tends to have more of a crossover sound, and is lyrically more interesting to me. Maybe it has something to do withe Calgary Stampede.
While two or three tracks on here could easily fit on a country station, the album still got nominated for a Juno for Best Adult Alternative album.
To me, the album really kicks into high gear with the title track, which is funny and catchy (the line about Wal Mart is a good one). The cover of Dolly Parton’s “Will He Be Waiting for Me?” is beautiful. And the French song “Salamandre” sounds gorgeous even if I have no idea what she’s on about.” The disc closes with my favorite song: “Luther’s Got the Blues” a wonderfully funny country song written by Luther Wright. And in Sarah’s hands, it turns into a yodeling masterpiece.
You might hear Sarah’s voice backing up all kinds of bands. And her voice really is fantastic. So, should you tend to shy from country music as I do, this may be an entry way for you.
[READ: January 15, 2010] Hopeless Savages
I read this comic years ago, and loved it quite a lot. I found it right around when I found Blue Monday. I recently tacked down the third trade paperback, so I figured I’d read all three again.
The premise here is that Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage, two old school punk rockers fall in love and settle down. They have four kids: Rat Bastard, Arsenal Fierce, Twitch Strummer & Skank Zero Hopeless-Savage. Each kid is a traditional punk: bad assed, fierce and take no shit. But they are also pacifist by trade (Ronald Reagan took on the world with force, so force is for fascists, too right!). Self defense is okay, mind you.
In this first story (there’s three trade volumes published so far), there’s not too much punks-in-proper-society comedy, because it’s all action. The kids’ mum and da have been kidnapped, and its up to the four of them to find them. Well, actually it’s up to the three of them to find Rat and then find their parents. For you see, Rat Bastard has sold out and gone commercial. Continue Reading »
Posted in Adventure, Books about music, Canadian Music, Christine Norris, Chynna Clugston-Major, Corporate skewering, Dolly Parton, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Jan Van Meter, LGBTQ, Luther Wright & The Wrongs, Marriage (Happy), Morality, Oni Press, Punks, Sarah Harmer, Short Books, Threats, Violence, YA Books | Leave a Comment »
January 16, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: DO MAKE SAY THINK-Other Truths [CST062] (2009).
I’ve always enjoyed Do Make Say Think’s CDs. They play instrumentals that are always intriguing and which never get dull.
But this CD far exceeds anything they have done so far (and they’ve done some great work). There are only four tracks, and they range from 8 to 12 minutes long. Each track is named for a word in the band’s name: Do, Make, Say, Think. And each one is a fully realized mini epic.
“Do” sounds like a gorgeous Mogwai track. While “Make” has wonderfully diverse elements: a cool percussion midsection and a horn-fueled end section that works perfectly with the maniacal drumming. “Say” is another Mogwai-like exploration, although it is nicely complemented by horns. It also ends with a slow jazzy section that works in context but is somewhat unexpected. Finally, “Think” closes the disc with a delightful denouement. It’s the slowest (and shortest) track, and it shows that even slowing down their instrumentals doesn’t make them dull.
It’s a fantastic record from start to finish. This is hands down my favorite Constellation release in quite some time.
[READ: December 2009 – January 13, 2010] McSweeney’s #33.
The ever-evolving McSweeney’s has set out to do the unlikely: they printed Issue #33 as a Sunday Newspaper. It is called The San Francisco Panorama and, indeed, it is just like a huge Sunday newspaper. It has real news in (it is meant to be current as of December 7, 2009). As well as a Sports section, a magazine section and even comics!
[DIGRESSION] I stopped reading newspapers quite some time ago. I worked for one in college and have long been aware that the news is just something to fill the space between ads. I do like newspapers in theory, and certainly hope they don’t all go away but print issues are a dying breed. When I think about the waste that accompanies a newspaper, I’m horrified. Sarah and I even did a Sunday New York Times subscription for a while, but there were half a dozen sections that we would simply discard unopened. And, realistically that’s understandable. Given how long it took me to read all of the Panorama, if you actually tried to read the whole Sunday paper, you’d be finished the following Sunday (or even two Sundays later).
Their lofty goal here was to show what print journalism can still do. And with that I concur heartily. Even if I don’t read the newspaper, the newspapers as entities are worth saving. Because it is pretty much only print journalism that finds real, honest to God, worthy news stories. TV news is a joke. There is virtually nothing of value on network TV. Fox News is beyond a joke. CNBC is sad (although Rachel Maddow is awesome!) and even CNN, the originator of all of this 24 hour news nonsense still can’t fill their airtime with non-sensationalized news.
Obviously, there are some decent internet sites, but for the most part they don’t have the budget to support real news investigation. You either get sensationalized crap like Drudge or rebroadcasts of real news.
So, print is the last bastion of news. And you can see that in journalistic pieces in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Walrus, Prospect and, yes, in newspapers.
But enough. What about THIS newspaper? Oh and unlike other McSweeney’s reviews I’ve done, there is NO WAY that I am writing a thorough comment on everything in here. There’s just way too much. Plus, there are many sections that are just news blurbs. Larger articles and familiar authors will be addressed, however. [UPDATE: January 18]: If, however, like Alia Malek below, you bring it to my attention that I’ve left you out (or gotten something wrong!) drop me a line, and I’ll correct things.
There is in fact a Panorama Information Pamphlet which answers a lot of basic questions, like why, how and how often (just this once, they promise!). There’s also a Numbers section which details the size, scope and cost of making this (it shows that with an initial start up, anyone could make a newspaper if they talked enough about what the readers were interested in). Continue Reading »
Posted in Adrian Tomine, Airlines, Alia Malek, Andrew Sean Greer, Art, Art Spiegelman, Big Star, Book Reviews, Books about music, Books about writers, Brent Hoff, Caddyshack, Canadian Music, Cars, Carson Ellis, Children's Books, China Miéville, Chip Kidd, Chris Adrian, Chris Ware, Comic Strips, Constellation Records, Daniel Handler, Dave Eggers, Deb Olin Unferth, Dicky Murphy, Dip-in Books, Do Make Say Think, Don DeLillo, E.L. Doctorow, Edna O'Brien, Entertainment Weekly, Essays, Flash Fiction, Food, Free Speech, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Geoff Nicholson, George Saunders, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Greed, Harper's, J. Malcolm Garcia, J.G. Ballard, James Franco, Jessica Abel, Jon Scieszka, Jonathan Safran Foer, Kara Walker, KPOO 89.5--San Francisco, CA, LGBTQ, Mary Williams, Matthew Klam, McSweeney's, Meatballs, Michael Chabon, Miranda July, Mogwai, New Yorker, Newspapers, Nicholson Baker, Prospect, Rachel Maddow, Roddy Doyle, Salman Rushdie, Seth, Seth Fried, Short Story, Sports, Stephen King, The Blues Brothers, The New York Times, The Onion, The Walrus, Tom Bissell, Travel, Universities, Violence, Wajahat Ali, War, Wholphin, William T. Vollmann | 8 Comments »
January 15, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: THE DECEMBERISTS-Austin City Limits (2007).
I’ve recently discovered the aw
esomeness of Austin City Limits. And in the two or so years that I’ve been watching, I’ve seen some great live shows (even is most bands are reduced to 30 minutes). This re-broadcast of The Decemberists, however, just blew me away.
The concert comes from The Crane Wife tour, and it is just a wonderful exploration of this fantastic CD. I’ve liked the Decemberists for years, and have listened to all of their discs multiple times, but there was something about this recording, in particular the wailing guitar work of Colin Meloy (seeing him lying on the floor making crazed feedback was pretty impressive), and the amazing solo work of Chris Funk that gave me even more respect for this wonderful album and the band.
It is highly recommended. For more info see here.
[READ: January 14, 2010] 100 Page Tribute to David Foster Wallace
I was able to order a copy of this journal directly from The University of Arizona and received it not too long ago. It is a two part issue (55/56) that is chock full of all kinds of things, including this 100 page tribute to DFW. I intend to read the whole thing, or at least more than just the DFW stuff, but as I don’t see that happening too soon, I wanted to address this tribute section directly.
DFW received his MFA from UA and he was also an editor at Sonora Review. He also published “/Solomon Silverfish/” there shortly after getting his MFA. So the tributes make sense from this publication. All of the tributes here come from varied people and are all either interesting or moving to the Wallace fan. Continue Reading »
Posted in Austin City Limits, Big Books, Books about writers, Bret Easton Ellis, Charles Bock, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, Death, Demons, Eschaton, Essays, Funny (ha ha), Greg Carlisle, Harper's, History, Infinite Summer, Jonathan Franzen, Karen Green, Ken Kalfus, Language, McSweeney's, Premiere, Research, Rick Moody, Sonora Review, Suicide, Sven Birkerts, The Decemberists, Tom Bissell, Word usage | Leave a Comment »
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