February 15, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: SAM COOKE-Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 (2003).
After reviewing Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke, I decided to check out Sam Cooke himself, since I said I didn’t know anything about him. Well, it turns out that I was totally wrong about that. I checked out this disc from the library and was rather surprised to realize that I knew at least a dozen songs by Cooke. And not just that he sang songs which I knew–they were his versions that I knew.
Granted some of my knowledge comes from Animal House, but that’s neither here nor there.
I’m not even sure what to classify Cooke’s music as, and maybe it’s not necessary to do so. Back in the day it would have been played on oldies stations (but they seem to play songs from the 60s and 70s now). Is it soul, R&B, rock? I dunno.
So, Sam Cooke sang “You Send Me” (darling, you) “Cupid” (draw back your bow); “(What a) Wonderful World” (don’t know much about history); “Chain Gang” (that’s the sound of the men working on the). And later songs like “Twisting the Night Away.”
And big surprise, who knew he wrote the great Cat Stevens hit: “Another Saturday Night” and the party anthem “Having a Party” (hey mr dj keep those records playing).
This disc has 30 song and runs about 80 minutes, and I admit that at least half of them were just okay. The genre really doesn’t appeal to me all that much (although I can clearly tell that he was a pioneer writer (with a great voice to boot)). I could see myself listening to (and enjoying) this disc as background music, and little else.
Nevertheless, it was really cool to learn that it was the same guy who sang all those songs, and I can now put a name to the songs in Animal House and other 50’s era movies.
[READ: Week of February 8, 2010] 2666 [pg 163-228]
This week’s read is all about Amalfitano. In fact, this week’s read was an entire “Part” and to learn all about Amalfitano in one go. This Part exists irrespective of the previous part, although there will be one single item that we saw in Book 1 that indicates that this Part is set before the action of Part 1. Well, actually, it is all clearly set before Part 1, but there is one detail that carriers over from there.
As the book opens, Amalfitano wonders what the hell he is doing in Santa Teresa. And that question is never really answered satisfactorily for him or for us (we learn why he is currently there, but he seems to dislike it so much there’s no really compelling reason why he stays). Continue Reading »
Posted in Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Boredom, Colin Meloy, Death, Demons, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Infinite Zombies, Mystery, Natasha Wimmer, Newspapers, Roberto Bolaño, Scholarship, Set at School, Supernatural, Translation, Violence | Leave a Comment »
February 14, 2010 by Paul Debraski
I’m moving all of the old TV Posts from my TV Tab to individual posts. Why? I’m not sure. But here’s the one from last season. I’m going to put any thoughts from today at the end of each post, as necessary.
[ORIGINAL POST BEGINS]
Okay, the TV season is half over, shows got canceled by the networks and also got canceled by us. So, we have pruned ourselves down to just a few shows, mostly sitcoms. The really bad news is that our Canadian satellite is no longer active. Bell Expressvue has kicked us out so we no longer have our access to TV up north. Sigh. Wither Corner Gas? Continue Reading »
Posted in 30 Rock, Bob the Builder, Chuck, Corner Gas, How I Met Your Mother, Little Bear, Maisy, New Adventures of Old Christine, Project Runway, Robot Chicken, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, Thomas the Tank Engine, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, TV 2009 | Leave a Comment »
February 13, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: COLIN MELOY-Sings Sam Cooke (2008).
I ordered this CD from the Decemberists website. (Sadly Colin singing Morrissey is no longer available). This is, as the title states, Colin Meloy singing Sam Cooke songs.
I don’t know much about Sam Cooke (although I knew a few tunes from this disc). And, in my head, Sam Cooke doesn’t have a “catalog” of songs, like, say, Morrissey does. So, this came across as a disc of standards. And as such it’s very good.
If you like Meloy, you’ll like this. If you don’t, this isn’t going to covert you. It’s basically just him and his acoustic guitar (and an occasional backing vocal) singing these songs.
I have always liked “Cupid” so it’s nice to have a rendition of it. As for “Summertime,” I’m not sure why that’s considered a Sam Cooke song since it comes from Porgy and Bess. I didn’t know the other three songs, but they’re all quite good, uptempo jazzy numbers.
This EP makes me want to investigate a Sam Cooke Greatest Hits, to see what I’ve been missing. And maybe that was Meloy’s point all along.
[READ: January-February 2010] Shite’s Unoriginal Miscellany
I had ordered a couple of Schott’s Almanacs from the UK, because I thought it would be fun to see what was different about them from the U.S. versions (quite a lot actually). And while browsing for them, I found this parody of the series. So, for a few dollars used, I ordered it too.
Now any book that bills itself as “extensively researched, eccentrically compiled and irresponsibly written” pretty much lets you know what you’re getting. And it does conclude its summary by saying, “more than 250 pieces of useless, misleading and possibly dangerous information.” So, what might you expect?
This is a very strange parody of the series because it does three things at the same time: 1) It provides actual lists of actual things (which are, indeed, useless and silly). 2) It provides nonsensical/hypothetical questions (more on that shortly). And 3) It has stuff that is clearly made up and intended to be funny (but often isn’t) Continue Reading »
Posted in Ben Schott, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Colin Meloy, Collecting, Dip-in Books, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), History, Language, Nature, Oddities, Research, Short Books, The Decemberists | Leave a Comment »
February 12, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: ARCADE FIRE Austin City Limits (2007).
Recorded in support of Neon Bible, this concert blew me away. I enjoyed Neon Bible quite a lot, but seeing the band in this concert setting was really amazing. The band was so exciting live.
From Win Butler’s intense performance (both on stage and in the audience) to his wife, Régine Chassagne’s multi-instrumental extravaganza (even if she does look like Susie Essman when she’s about to go off on a foul-mouthed tirade). To the exhausting and exhaustive rest of the band. They never stop. Even when they’re not playing anything, the are happy to join in on a random drum or cymbal.
Plus, how many bands do you get to see play the hurdygurdy?
There’s just so much going on onstage with this band (and of course they throw in little video screens as well!). And when Win grabs his mike stand and moves literally into the audience to finish one of the last songs, it was really invigorating (and would have been very exciting to have been in the front row there).
Even though it was televised, I felt like I was there. Oh, and it wasn’t just the theatrics, the band sounded amazing too. If I ever get the chance I hope to see them live, myself.
[READ: February 11, 2010] Wet Moon 2
I finally received Wet Moon 2 & 3 in the mail the other day. I was quite excited to get to them. And Volume 2 did not disappoint.
It is very apparent from Volume 2 that Campbell is in it for the long haul. Which is one way of saying that not very much “happens” in this book. Several plot threads from book 1 are teased out a bit, but nothing conclusive happens anywhere.
But that’s not to say that nothing happens at all. We learn the identity of the long-haired person whom Cleo runs away from in book one (an ex). We learn a little back story (and about a curious upside-down contraption from the person with no hair (who is named Fern). We learn that Wet Moon is full of more and more bizarre characters, and that there’s an FBI agent around town. We also learn that another Cleo Eats It sign has been found, although we don’t know anything more about who did it.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Arcade Fire, Austin City Limits, Boredom, Canadian Music, David Lynch, Demons, Drinking, Funny (strange), Goths, Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Oddities, Ongoing, Oni Press, Ross Campbell, Set at School, Sex, South, The X Files, Twin Peaks, Universities | Leave a Comment »
February 11, 2010 by Paul Debraski
I can’t say that I pay a lot of attention to trends on TV. But, it seems to me that the use of the insult “douchebag” had been skyrocketing in the last few months.
I’ve always kind of liked the word because it’s almost quaint and it was so underused in conversation. And it feels so 1970s, like when I was a kid and we would say, They said “Bastard” on TV; somehow douchebag fits into that childish insult category. There’s so many other insults that are used every day that to hear a weird one like douchebag was kind of refreshing. To say nothing of the fact that it is actually an object (evidently–I’ve never actually seen one to confirm this).
Yet over the last few months, I think I may have heard it used on every show that we watch. I would speculate that it’s been used on How I met Your Mother, Community, New Adventures of Old Christine, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family and Chuck. Oh and probably 30 Rock, too. (I can’t confirm this, I’m using my admittedly sketchy memory).
In fact, to confirm my suspicions I did a search and found that even the venerable New York Times has observed this increase in douchebag usage.
It’s funny as I’m not prudish at all, but I’m getting a little uncomfortable at hearing the word so much. Once in a while was fine, but it seems a little stale all of a sudden. I think I heard it three times in one night of TiVo catching up.
When it’s used that much, it’s just lazy. Continue Reading »
Posted in 30 Rock, Chuck, Community, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, New Adventures of Old Christine, The Big Bang Theory, The New York Times, TiVo, TV 2010, Word usage | 1 Comment »
February 10, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL-Of Whales and Woe (2006).
Although I was a little disappointed with Of Fungi and Foe, I enjoyed it enough to want to track down Of Whales and Woe, since it seemed to be generally better received. What’s interesting about this disc is that it sounds a lot like Primus, except that rather than guitar, other various instruments have been substituted to accompany Les’ bass. And since one of the instruments is the saxophone, (and there’s no guitar) this album sounds (at times) like beloved Morphine (with a much funkier bass and completely un-sexy vocals).
On the first few listens, when I wasn’t listening very carefully, I really enjoyed the disc. It reminded me a lot of Primus, although it had a lot of Les’ solo quirks.
However, once I started scrutinizing it a bit more, I found I didn’t enjoy it as much. The first track, “Back Off Turkey” reminds me of some of the tracks on Fungi: wild and crazy sounding music but the vocals are so muddy it’s impossible to tell what’s up with the song.
On the opposite end from the Fungi-like bass heavy tracks, we have “Iowan Gal” a light -sounding and light-hearted romp about, well, an Iowan Gal. (There’s a lot of fun little quirks in there–Bow ditty bow bow).
And yet there’s some really great tracks on here: “One Better” is an amazing track, highlighting just how great Claypool is as a songwriter and arranger. This song lasts pretty long but because there’s a lot of different things going on, it never overstays its welcome.
Most of the songs are stories about various bizarro characters. And although I love Les’ characters, this turns into one of the downfalls of the disc. In the great tradition of storytelling songs, the songs tend to be verses only with nary a chorus. And that’s fine because most storytellers use the music as a background to accompany the story. Les’ music is far too aggressive/innovative/interesting to be background. So when you get a great wild bassline, you’re attracted to it. But when it lasts for 5 minutes with no changes, it’s exhausting. And trying to listen to lyrics along with it is, well, I think your brain just shuts down (especially when they are recorded low in the mix and are hard to hear). And so, the album feels a lot longer than it is.
Maybe I miss Ler’s amazing guitars. I’m still unclear about why Primus has split, especially if Les is writing songs that are not unlike Primus. Of course, having said all that, there is no denying the awesomeness of Les Claypool. The funny thing is that even a reigned-in Claypool is still pretty out there. I think maybe sometime he just goes too far out there.
[READ: February 7, 2010] Crogan’s Vengeance
When Sarah and I went to BEA, we spoke to the Oni Press guy who was praising this book, The Crogan Adventures, as a fantastic series aimed at teens, but really readable for the whole family. The premise is that the Crogan family (and there’s an extensive family tree on the back cover), all led exciting lives. The stories about these men are being told to the youngest Crogan boy Eric, in present day.
This first book is about Catfoot Crogan, an honest sailor who was more or less forced into a life of piracy in the 1700s. And the story is fantastic. There is sailor talk, there is swashbuckling, a terrible storm, even a shark! Continue Reading »
Posted in Adventure, Chris Schweizer, Fishing, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Greed, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Oni Press, Pirates, Primus, YA Books | Leave a Comment »
February 9, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL-Of Fungi and Foe (2009).
Claypool was asked to score a video game called The Spore Wars and, at around the same time, to score a movie called Pig Hunt. According to the liner notes of the disc, he used the templates that he made for the scores and fleshed them out to make this album.
This was the first Claypool solo album I’d bought in several years (since 2002’s Purple Onion). I’d heard “Mushroom Men” on the radio and really liked it, so I decided to get the disc. And I have to say overall I’m a little disappointed.
Now, I’ve been a Primus fan for years (I even saw them right after Suck on This) so I know what I’m getting with Les. And yet, maybe I don’t anymore. The disc is very percussion heavy, with lots of rather long songs. And although I love long songs, I love long songs that aren’t the same thing for 6 or so minutes. I also rather miss Claypool’s voice. He doesn’t sing a lot of these songs in his typical falsetto. There’s a lot of very deep voiced, rather processed sounding voices here (it works great on the muh muh muh muhshroom men, but not so great elsewhere). Because when you combine that with the bass and percussion, it’ really hard to hear what he’s on about (and Claypool lyrics are half the fun).
Plus, we know that with Primus’ own brand of weirdness, a little goes a long way. So, hearing the same bizarro riff for 4 minutes can be trying.
Despite the criticisms, the disc is good in small doses. The first 4 tracks are all really solid. But that 5th track, “What would George Martin Do?” just sucks all the life out of the disc. The same goofy riff for 6 minutes with completely unintelligible lyrics. Ouch. But “You Can’t Tell Errol Anything” picks up the pace somewhat with a wonderful Tom Waits-ian soundtrack. The addition of Eugene Hutz on insane wailing vocals brings a wonderful new level of dementia to the disc.
Throughout the disc there some amazing bass riffs (of course) and some really cool effects thrown onto the bass (and other instruments). But the overall feel of the disc is just too samey. I think the music would probably work really well as soundtrack music, but it lacks a little something by itself.
I’m not suggesting that Claypool needs to be more poppy, because that’s hardly it (although he does have an amazing gift for clever hooks), but it’s possible that he needs an editor. Was that the role Ler played in Primus? Who will ever know?
[READ: February 5, 2010] Diario de Oaxaca
Wa-HA-Ca (that’s how you pronounce Oaxaca (the first question I had)).
I ordered this book for our Spanish collection without really knowing what it was about. When it arrived I had a hard time deciding where to catalog it…is it a graphic novel? a biography? It’s bilingual so does it even go in the Spanish collection, which has much less circulation than our English collection? As I flipped though the book, it looked really cool, so I decided to just read it and figure it out for myself.
Peter Kuper is, among other things, the drawer of Mad Magazine’s Spy vs Spy since about 1997. Sometime in 2006, Kuper decided to go on sabbatical from the politics of George W. Bush. He and his family packed up and moved to Oaxaca, Mexico for two years. While he was there, the city experienced a semi-annual teacher’s strike. However, this particular strike turned bloody when the President of Oaxaca turned his soldiers against the strikers. Continue Reading »
Posted in Culture Shock, Foreign Books, History, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Mad Magazine, Marriage (Happy), Memoirs, Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars, Nature, Peter Kuper, Pig Hunt, Primus, Violence | 1 Comment »
February 8, 2010 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: MUSE-The Resistance (2009).
If someone were to create a band that tickled all of my fancy spots, on paper it would be Muse. Vocals like Thom Yorke from Radiohead. Heavy heavy guitars. And yet, not afraid to have prog rock keyboard sections. On top of that, throw in pretentious titles (how about a subtitle in French?), or, just for kicks, a three part suite called “Exogenesis: Symphony.” Oh, sure and let’s just throw in a clarinet solo in one of the songs too. Okay, so that’s Muse.
I’ve been a fan of Muse for quite a few years, before they really broke in the U.S. (Origin of Symmetry being a particular favorite). I’m still amazed that they’ve had success here, given their proclivities towards excess. But more power to them.
For some reason, this disc (despite all the pros in the first paragraph) didn’t really grab me that much at first. The first single “Uprising,” is awesome: heavy, rocking, over the top choruses, everything you could want in a pseudo political rebellion type song. But somewhere after that I felt the disc drifted a bit.
Further listens changed my mind though, and I think that “United States of Eurasia” is great while “Guiding Light” (which could easily be mistaken for Queen) is fantastic. In fact the entire end of the album, “MK Ultra,” “I Belong to You/Mon Coeur S’Ouvre a Ta Voix” and the symphony are a wonderfully decadent 25 minutes of music.
Clearly Muse isn’t for everyone, but I’m really pleased that they’re finding their fans.
[READ: Week of February 1, 2010] 2666 [pg 102-159]
This week’s reading contains a lot of dreams and it often felt like a dream while reading it.
We pick up right where we left off, with El Cerdo telling our friends about his visit with Archimboldi. We learn a little about why Archimboldi called El Cerdo, but nothing about what he was doing in Mexico City. It turns out that El Cerdo knows Archimboldi’s publisher Mrs Buber. (And Dieter Hellfield speculates that she, herself, may be Archimboldi. [I secretly wondered if he might be a woman given that earlier in the book, it was mentioned that [part of what was so unusual about Archimboldi’s name was that it was a feminine form of the name.] However, his incredible height has definitely thrown me. And of course, since El Cerdo reports to have talked to him, it seems very unlikely at this point.) Continue Reading »
Posted in Art, Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Boredom, Culture Shock, Dreams, Drinking, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Infinite Zombies, Muse, Mystery, Natasha Wimmer, Queen, Radiohead, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Smarty Pants, Translation, Travel, Universities, Violence | Leave a Comment »
February 7, 2010 by Paul Debraski
In addition to reading, Sarah and I watch TV, too. In the past, I posted occasional updates to a Tab devoted to TV. But I’m going to put new information in individual posts instead. So I’m starting with this season’s TV.
Of course, in the last couple of years, TV has changed from working on an easy to summarize Spring/Fall schedule to having shows appear almost at random. This really undermines the very idea of a “season,” so I’m including a show or two from the end of 2009 as well.
One surprising thing about recent TV is how I watch almost nothing on the CW or Fox. These were my mainstays as recent as two years ago, but they’ve totally dropped the ball lately. And I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying shows on CBS (isn’t that the old people’s network?).
And so, for 2010: Continue Reading »
Posted in 30 Rock, Better Off Ted, Chuck, Community, Craig Ferguson, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, John Dore Show, Jon Stewart, Jools Holland, Late Late Show, Later with Jools Holland, Life Unexpected, Modern Family, New Adventures of Old Christine, Parenthood, Project Runway, Robot Chicken, Scrubs, The Big Bang Theory, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, The Inbetweeners, The Office, The Simpsons, The Whitest Kids U'Know, TV 2010 | 1 Comment »
February 6, 2010 by Paul Debraski
Howard Zinn [1922- 2010]
The death of J.D. Salinger totally overshdowed the death of Howard Zinn 
(which I just found out about today while reading a tribute to Salinger).
Howard Zinn was one of my favorite political writers, and I would have to say the one who has influenced me the most. I first learned about him through You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, and have read most of his works since then.
His People’s History of the United States is an amazing read, and will make you rethink what you learned (or didn’t) about American history. Zinn always spoke up for the underdog, and he tried to get people to see history (and current events) through the eyes of the average worker, not just the people who make and write history.
He was also a very outspoken anti-war activist. He even spoke publicly against “popular” wars; railing against the military industrial complex and the inevitable injustices that war creates.
And in all of his writings and speeches, he was never stodgy or dull.
I’m not sure who will pick up the torch that he has now dropped. But he will surely be missed.
Posted in Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Eulogy, Free Speech, Greed, History, Howard Zinn, J.D. Salinger, Military, Political Humor, Racism, Violence, War, WMDs | Leave a Comment »
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