September 5, 2010
32 Down, 20 To Go "The Hunger Games" (52 Books, 52 Weeks)
I always approach extremely popular fiction series with a great degree of trepidation. Family and friends have gobbled up series like Twilight and Harry Potter, but I couldn't get past a handful of pages in either.
Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy is the exception. Admittedly, I am a fan of dystopian fiction, and The Hunger Games is a wonderful, fast-paced example of the genre. The Hunger Games is fast-paced, and her characters are crisply drawn and always relatable, and its strong young female protagonists offer a needed and refreshing perspective.
I finished all three books in this series in a couple of days, the story was that compelling. This may be the best YA fiction series I have ever read.
My next book is Anthony Bourdain's book Medium Raw.
also at Largehearted Boy:
other 52 Books, 52 Weeks reviews
Online "best of 2009" book lists
Online "best of 2008" book lists
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
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September 5, 2010
Shorties (Michael Gira, Anthony Bourdain's Graphic Novel, and more)
Michael Gira talks to the New York Times about the Swans reunion.
The Omaha World-Herald interviews Anthony Bourdain about his new book, Medium Raw, and forthcoming graphic novel.
Q: Any other projects in the works?
A: I have a graphic novel coming out next year with DC Comics. I think it's going to be called “Get Gyro.” It's about ultraviolent food nerds. It's a gourmet slaughterfest, sort of like “Fistful of Dollars” meets “Eat Drink Man Woman.”
The Answer Sheet examines how dark fiction affects teen brains.
The Los Angeles Times profiles Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.
The Observer interviews Queen guitarist Brian May about daguerreotypes, astronomy and blogging.
Apple 2.0 asks the question, "Can Ping be saved?".
Filmmaker Tran Anh Hung discusses his film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood with Speakeasy.
The Comet lists the 20 ultimate summer songs for Labor Day weekend.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic series is being adapted into a television show.
Robert Plant talks to the New York Times about his new solo album, Band of Joy (out September 14th).
The Books talk to All Things Considered about their new album, The Way Out.
Win a copy of Dante's Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.
Follow me on Twitter and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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Daily Downloads (Alejandro Escovedo, Olivia Tremor Control, and more)
Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Alejandro Escovedo: 2010-08-30, Tulsa [mp3,ogg,flac]
Alejandro Escovedo: "Beast of Burden (Rolling Stones cover)" [mp3]
other Alejandro Escovedo posts at Largehearted Boy
Camper Van Beethoven: 2010-08-24, Sebastopol [mp3,ogg,flac]
Camper Van Beethoven: "Cowboys from Hollywood" [mp3]
other Camper Van Beethoven posts at Largehearted Boy
Grace Potter: 2010-08-28, Paola [mp3,ogg,flac]
Grace Potter: "White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane cover)" [mp3]
other Grace Potter posts at Largehearted Boy
The Greencards: 2010-07-16, Oak Hill [mp3,ogg,flac]
The Greencards: "I Want You to Want Me (Cheap Trick cover)" [mp3]
other Greencards posts at Largehearted Boy
I See Hawks in LA: 2010-06-04, Los Angeles [mp3,ogg,flac]
I See Hawks in LA: "I Fell in Love with the Grateful Dead" [mp3]
other I See Hawks in LA posts at Largehearted Boy
Olivia Tremor Control: 1997-10-17, San Francisco [mp3,ogg,flac]
Olivia Tremor Control: "A Sunshine Fix" [mp3]
other Olivia Tremor Control posts at Largehearted Boy
Over the Rhine: 2009-08-20, University City [mp3,ogg,flac]
Over the Rhine: "Professional Daydreamer" [mp3]
other Over the Rhine posts at Largehearted Boy
A Silver Mt. Zion: 2010-06-04, Montreal [mp3,ogg,flac]
A Silver Mt. Zion: "There Is a Light" [mp3]
other Silver Mt. Zion posts at Largehearted Boy
Smashing Pumpkins: 2010-08-28, West Hollywood [mp3,ogg,flac]
Smashing Pumpkins: "Freak" [mp3]
other Smashing Pumpkins posts at Largehearted Boy
Ween: 2010-08-27, Dallas [mp3,ogg,flac]
Ween: "She's Your Baby" [mp3]
other Ween posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Bobby Birdman: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Bobby Birdman posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
2010 Bonnaroo downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
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September 4, 2010
Contest - Win Dante's Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation
Every week, two of my favorite bookstores in the world, Baltimore's Atomic Books and Brooklyn's WORD Bookstore recommend new books on this blog. Since Atomic Books recommends comics and graphic novels, and WORD new books of all genres, their choices rarely overlap, but when they do, I know I am in for a reading treat.
This past week both bookstores recommended Seymour Chwast's graphic novel adaptation of Dante's Divine Comedy. Needless to say, I immediately picked up this book (and will be reviewing it soon for the 52 Books, 52 Weeks series).
Adapting literature (both classic and modern) into graphic novels is very popular these days.
To enter the contest, leave a comment in this post with the name of the literary work you would most like to see given the graphic novel treatment. Personally, I think Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You Mr. Rosewater would make a great comic.
The winner will receive a copy of Dante's Divine Comedy.
The winner will receive the following prizes:
Dante's Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation, adapted by Seymour Chwast.
The winner will be chosen randomly at midnight CT Friday evening (September 10th).
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous and ongoing contests at Largehearted Boy
52 Books, 52 Weeks (my yearly reading series)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's new comics)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
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Shorties (Radiohead, Anthony Bourdain, and more)
Radiohead released a fan-made concert film of the band's August 23, 2009 Prague performance.
The Irish Times profiles Anthony Bourdain and his new book, Medium Raw.
The Financial Times profiles author Gary Shteyngart.
Gary Shteyngart is one of those rare writers who is as funny and resplendent in person as he is on the page. Which does make one wonder how he gets his motivation to write, since he could just sit around having lunch. Before we are finished he will put on several different accents – Italian, Russian and a couple of others – invent six different characters and speak for them, and neatly cycle through several comic motifs, so it will kind of feel, by the time we leave the restaurant, as if I have just put down a lively short story.
Salon examines the forces that caused Paste magazine's demise.
The Independent examines how an excerpt from a new translation of Emma Bovary came to be printed in Playboy.
Pop & Hiss lists twelve L.A. indie music labels you should know.
The Sydney Morning Herald offers a travel guide to New York City locations made famous in comics.
Emma Donoghue talks to the Globe and Mail about her novel, Room.
On sale at Amazon MP3: Teenage Fanclub's latest album Shadows for $2.99.
Robot 6 interviews comics artist Dean Haspiel.
Out later this month: The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography.
Flavorwire lists five great music magazines to ease the pain of losing Paste.
The Guardian lists 10 of the best religious zealots in literature.
WXPN is streaming a live performance by singer-songwriter Birdie Busch.
Follow me on Twitter and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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Daily Downloads (The Walkmen, My Morning Jacket, and more)
Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Betsy Franck and the Bareknuckle Band: 2010-08-25, Fort Collins [mp3,ogg,flac]
Betsy Franck and the Bareknuckle Band: "Cold Coffee" [mp3]
other Betsy Franck posts at Largehearted Boy
Blitzen Trapper: 2010-08-10, Iowa City [mp3,ogg,flac]
Blitzen Trapper: "The Tree" [mp3]
other Blitzen Trapper posts at Largehearted Boy
Camper Van Beethoven: 2010-08-28, Denver [mp3,ogg,flac]
Camper Van Beethoven: "When I Win the Lottery" [mp3]
other Camper Van Beethoven posts at Largehearted Boy
Carolina Chocolate Drops: 2010-08-28, Madison [mp3,ogg,flac]
Carolina Chocolate Drops: "Salty Dog" [mp3]
other Carolina Chocolate Drops posts at Largehearted Boy
My Morning Jacket: 2010-08-29, Philadelphia [mp3,ogg,flac]
My Morning Jacket: "Off the Record" [mp3]
other My Morning Jacket posts at Largehearted Boy
Olivia Tremor Control: 1999-04-08, Carrboro [mp3,ogg,flac]
Olivia Tremor Control: "Jumping Fences" [mp3]
other Olivia Tremor Control posts at Largehearted Boy
A Silver Mt. Zion: 2010-06-05, Montreal [mp3,ogg,flac]
A Silver Mt. Zion: "There's a River in the Valley" [mp3]
other A Silver Mt. Zion posts at Largehearted Boy
Vienna Teng: 2010-08-20, Schwenksville [mp3,ogg,flac]
Vienna Teng: "Brooklyn Blurs" [mp3]
other Vienna Teng posts at Largehearted Boy
The Walkmen: 2010-08-25, London [mp3,ogg,flac]
The Walkmen: "New Country" [mp3]
other Walkmen posts at Largehearted Boy
Ween: 2010-08-28, Austin [mp3,ogg,flac]
Ween: "Roses Are Free" [mp3]
other Ween posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Sam Quinn: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Sam Quinn posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
2010 Bonnaroo downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
September 3, 2010
Book Notes - Grace Krilanovich ("The Orange Eats Creeps")
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
The year's most horrifying novel won't be found in the horror section, unless Grace Krilanovich's debut novel, The Orange Eats Creeps, is mistakenly shelved there. This postmodern gem is both intense and surreal, and one of the most spectacular debut novels I have read in a long time.
Rarely do I agree wholeheartedly with book reviews, but Tobias Carroll could have been reading my thoughts when he wrote at Vol. 1 Brooklyn:
"Krilanovich is borrowing elements here from pulp horror, but it’s key that an unseen killer is far more sinister than either the gang of vampires or an ominous street that resurfaces throughout the book. Her novel shares a disorienting quality with the final section of Brian Evenson’s The Open Curtain, in which time, character, and action collapse in on themselves. That actions are horrific isn’t the only thing at work here — there’s also the way in which actions begin to blur and lose cohesion, which is in its own way even more horrific. And in the end, the most resonant pit-of-your-stomach dread doesn’t come from a roadside killer or fangs poised above a neck. Instead, it’s a much simpler scene, something rooted in mundane indifference that brings this novel to its unexpectedly domestic and achingly painful conclusion."
In her own words, here is Grace Krilanovich's Book Notes music playlist for her debut novel, The Orange Eats Creeps:
My slutty teenage hobo vampire junkies have a soft spot for the puerile, the ridiculous, the soothingly medicinal sludge of heavy metal and the trebly frayed ends of punk rock. They like sounds that are messy and unhinged, unpopular, out of step, abrasive and overwhelming – rock 'n roll that's violent in its truth, disorderly in its agenda, artful in its perversion.
Throughout the novel there's the sense that something important has been lost. Efforts to recover buried knowledge lead to digging in the dirt, pouring over half-decipherable texts and obscure objects, looking for some clues. There's frequent reference to excavation, secret codes, speculation about the past. An obsession with ruins. They don't really know what they're looking for, just a vague sense that it was important and that continuing life in its absence is hard. They know something really important got away.
The underground rock thing kept cropping up during the writing of this novel. It seems like a given when writing about teens in the Pacific Northwest of the early '90s. But there's something more at stake here: the kids are compulsively drawn to the spectacle on stage, as if that could communicate some essential truth. I didn't want to get specific by using real bands in the book, instead the idea was to sprinkle the narrative with made-up bands, near misses, dead ringers, etc. – to create a heightened reality of what life could have been like at that place and that time, in the middle of what was once a constellation of regional scenes dappling the country. A slice of life on the fringes of heavy metal, punk and indie rock, cast through the lens of a silent movie on acid.
I wanted the music to play into the idea of "excess." That is one of the great things about the form of the novel, that possibility of (invitation to?) excess. Here you have this vast space you can run amok in, with so many places to hide. And it was especially in the excessive, sometimes violent stage antics of GG Allin, Lux Interior, Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins, Darby Crash and others that there was a kernel of . . . possibility -- of what exactly? transcendence? art? Much of it had to do with the public spectacle of them hurting themselves.
Even on the fringes there were limits. With so much of The Orange Eats Creeps rooted in the politics of the female body, the hijinks of shock rockers (male) is telling because even here, at the very edge of decency, there was a glass ceiling. They say nothing's shocking any more, but I promise you if a woman did any of the things late-period GG did on stage people would freak out. They would try to stop her. Any of that cutting shit, you can't do. A woman making herself bleed on stage, punching herself in the face with the mike? Forget it.
I spent a great deal of time trying to untangle that thread – not to undermine the value of chops, by any means. Many of the real-life bands I took as an inspiration for the novel were innovative and genre busting, and could care less about labels or scenes. It was mostly about letting it take over their lives, and the weird, uncanny shapes they dreamed up and put down on wax, or unleashed at shows.
The good-natured antagonism from band and audience alike was indicative of people taking a stand. True heckling is such a lost art. Young bands don't know what to do when some old geezer hisses at them from the audience; they don't know how to be smart and witty about it. Back then it seemed like people took unfamiliar sounds at face value and wouldn't hesitate to tell you if you blew. At least bands knew they were ruffling feathers. Now audiences are often deadpan, unless it's their favorite band. I wanted to create a world where the stakes were really high, where things were full of meaning, good and bad. You could grab hold of it. I think of a band like Black Flag and how they actively sought to make you mad by playing too loud, too fast, too slow, too weird, how they didn't care if you hated their new songs and only wanted to hear the old songs. They aimed to antagonize, which is way less charming if you suck musically. Fortunately for us listeners, they had chops and were truly on their own trip. They worked really hard and strove for excellence no matter what. The sheer effort they put out is mind-boggling; it didn't even make sense.
The writing of this book wouldn't have been possible without the antics, abandon and illegal proclivities of bands I hold near and dear spurring me along in my artistic endeavors, safe in the knowledge that somebody out there was pushing the limits, truly alive in their mind, even though they may have been out of step with the rest of world.
For the purpose of assembling an Orange Eats Creeps Playlist, I've chosen a selection of tunes reminiscent of the place (Pacific Northwest) and time (1990's) in which the novel is set. Luckily this coincides with the last time I identified with or even cared about any new bands, making me not unlike the aging hippies of the early '80s who were still rocking Sopwith Camel and Vanilla Fudge – on wax, natch. (Actually, I just described my dad. I was raised up right, on a steady diet of creepy acid rock.)
Now that I've outed myself as a snob and a taste-geezer, it's only proper that I lay out the list, with a link to a Two Dollar Radio blog post that has a few of the vids.
Melvins, "With Teeth"
Oddly short for its share of ear-punishing metallic density. A two and a half minute blast of sonic perfection. I would describe this as a fine spray of guitar, hammered down by Dale Crover's Drums from Hell™. The vocals are indecipherable. I take comfort in the abrasive weirdness and "almost too much" of this band, and am thankful that – after more than 25 years – they're going strong and better than ever, having annexed the bass player and drummer from Big Business. That's right: two drummers.
Screaming Trees, "In the Forest"
People may not realize it, but the 'Trees go way back, to 1985. This is a far cry from "Nearly Lost You," which is okay; I like bands that go through different incarnations (Roxy Music, Cheap Trick, Redd Kross). Lanegan hadn't even gotten his signature growl down yet. Here he sounds like a garage rock Fraggle. And I like it!
Earth, "Tallahassee"
A rare radio-friendly Earth song, with vocals. "The World, it spins on a crooked axis/ left it twitching by the road," apparently is the entirety of the lyrics. Their album "Earth 2: Special Low-Frequency Version" (comprised of three lengthy drone tracks) is also excellent, and puts my cat in a trance when I play it at home.
Dead Moon, "D.O.A"
From the wilds of Clackamas . . . Fred and Toody are in it for life. The through line of this band's scrappy, principled output carries with it the gravity of all those years passing by, and the idea that being a punk iconoclast can also be a process reclaiming what it means to be "slow and steady," modest, true and self-sufficient. They show that you can hunker down on the periphery and do your own thing, decade after decade -- a kind of rural Survivalist compound of the mind.
Poison Idea, "Punish Me"
This is just an all-around, awesome music video, period. Definitely one of the biggest bands to come out of Portland, and I mean in sheer poundage, with their inexhaustible appetites for food, booze and drugs fueling a happy-go-lucky brand of nihilism that was uniquely their own. And a bass solo is always appreciated.
Wipers, The Herd (album)
Some later Wipers stuff. And although the uniform 4/4 mono-fuzz of this album reminds me of the movie Repo Man (driving around L.A. late at night it seems to fit), the Wipers/Greg Sage are Portland all the way. Not even Kurt could lure them out of their little PDX shell to join Nirvana on tour. Something about not wanting to "sell out." Seemed like the go-to excuse of the era.
Black Flag, "Black Coffee"
The shadow of Black Flag looms large over the Northwest scene. It's crazy to think back to a time when, going to a show, there was a chance you could get really badly hurt, arrested, or – at best – mercilessly harassed by cops and punkers alike. Those days are gone; I never knew 'em, even though I've seen my fair share of band members barfing on stage, getting naked (Dino!) and verbally abusing the audience. Greg Ginn's a stealth nerd, which is something to aspire to. Who would ever expect all those fucked up lyrics, all those outlandish guitar sounds, to come from an impassive, polo shirt-wearing Deadhead?
Tex and the Horseheads, "Oh Mother"
Frontwoman Texacala Jones is an enigma, her past shrouded in mystery, while on stage she was a ball of clanking jewelry, whiskey-stained lace and quizzical banter. I was lucky enough to catch the Horseheads' last few shows before they called it quits – some 25 years after their brief heyday. They wouldn't play this song (one of their best) for some reason. Is it because it feels really shitty? "Oh mother, can you hear your children crying/Crying for the love that walked away/Oh mother, why do I feel like dying?/Say something to take away the pain…" All this, mind you, sung in a most original, husky cowgirl yawlp. Tex whoops and dips through her squalling cow-punk surroundings. One of the most beloved bands to come out of the L.A. punk scene, and one to which Guns 'n Roses owe a great deal.
Saint Vitus, "Look Behind You"
The only band I can think of fronted by a male witch. His name is Wino, and he is a legend. "Foggy morning drifting 'round you/Blackened haze/Can't see past your trembling hand/Pounding footsteps right behind you/Every day" . . . You are being followed. Well, the male witch asks, What are you gonna do? One of the band's other signature tracks, "Born Too Late," aside from its obvious defense of slow metal, long hair and out of date threads, is about the bigger picture of missing out on a chance to be favored by history. Here we are, crippled by a longing for a past that seems like a great fit, if not a refuge; nostalgia, a dark dreamy cave padded with the feeling that we should know better. But why resist? When has it ever been any other way for misfits among misfits?
Hüsker Dü, "Eight Miles High"
The song is a bridge. Through the act of reclaiming a hippie signpost – the Byrds' early folk rock drug anthem -- and applying primal scream therapy à la Plastic Ono Band-era John Lennon, Hüsker Dü fashions a transcendent double crossing of inward-turning hippies and the drugs that were making empathy increasingly difficult, as they simultaneously challenged the close-minded punkers who held a palpable distain for all things David Crosby. This choice of cover song has none of the camp or irony of, say, X covering "Wild Thing," or Devo's version of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." It is an act of standing in the enemy camp, in solidarity, as you take their art and bend it into a new statement of personal, specific, unique lived experience. A catharsis that demands, over and over: Do you remember?
Grace Krilanovich and The Orange Eats Creeps links:
the book's introduction
excerpt from the book (chapter one)
the book's video trailer
Comics Comics review
Vol. 1 Brooklyn review
Two Dollar Radio interview with the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Book Notes playlists (authors create music playlists for their book)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (weekly book reviews)
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly comics highlights)
Daily Downloads (free and legal daily mp3 downloads)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (weekly new book highlights)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily music, literature, and pop culture links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from the week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Book Notes - Kate Bernheimer ("Horse, Flower, Bird")
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
I have read more fairy tales as an adult this year than I ever did as a child. I just finished a classic collection, Swedish Fairy Tales, that introduced me to another culture's take on the genre, but two modern takes on fairy tales have impressed me most. Earlier this year I raved about Jim Knipfel's wonderful These Children Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales, and I also adored Kate Bernheimer's new collection Horse, Flower, Bird.
Bernheimer's prose is bold yet spare, and always poetic. She has been compared to both Aimee Bender and Kelly Link, but these stories brim with imagination and their own uniue charm.
Library Journal wrote of the collection:
This is a collection of eight imaginative if not downright unusual tales that will delight readers but also evoke sadness and loneliness. Bernheimer's lean and lyrical writing conceals forceful and spirited stories that will definitely prove disturbing, as in the collection's last, dreamlike tale, "Whitework." Other stories, like the penultimate "A Star Wars Tale," will bring back strong memories of childhood as they communicate an innocent understanding of the world that is simultaneously beautiful and perhaps brutal."
In her own words, here is Kate Bernheimer's Book Notes music playlist for her book, Horse, Flower, Bird:
Horse, Flower, Bird is a sparse collection of tales that I wrote over a long period of time; on each page, there is just a little bit of text, as if the pictures in a child's book have gone missing—or are simply ghosts on the page. This leaves a lot of space for the idea of music as well. I feel about songs I love just as I do about books: I want to inhabit their worlds completely, over and over again. It's a kind of magic—the idea that the characters in books or in songs live forever, trapped and imagined in there. I've given each story in this book a chance to play music.
"Star Wars Tale"
This story of two sisters playing out scenes from the movie as a fairy tale of impossible, violent love has the theme song from "Star Wars" presiding over it, of course. I saw the movie in a theater with my three siblings and parents, and the music really was quite overwhelming to me. I didn't understand the plot very well.
In my story, the little girls who play Leia, Darth Vader, and Luke pass a tape recorder back and forth, recording love letters to one another. I had a tape recorder in the early seventies and mangled my favorite cassettes by playing them too often. The first song I remember ruining from overuse is "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)" by Jim Croce, which I'd play and sing, weeping.
Yet the song "1972" by Giant Sand, on the luminous Chore of Enchantment, is the brutal and beautiful brief tune that completely encapsulates the mood of "Star Wars Tale" for me: its entire lyrics, which go around only once in Howe Gelb's tender, perfect, rough voice, are 1971, 1972, 1973.
"Whitework"
This story's narrator is a nameless woman who has no use of her legs and no idea where she is—she's in a cottage in the woods with a brother or friend, trapped or at peace in a turret with only one tiny book and some embroidered pictures of ravens and priests on the walls. Despite her confusion, she feels consoled and enlightened, because everything in her whole world is contained.
A song that gives me this exact feeling of peaceful bewilderment is "Everything in Its Right Place" by Radiohead. I listen to it a lot—for the past year maybe three times a day. Its repetition and nonsense are haunting ("Yesterday I woke up sucking on a lemon"). Beautiful, horrible, too-big, miniscule, threatening, loving, all at the very same time. I really cherish that song.
"A Garibaldi Tale"
The poor narrator of this story has webbed toes and a simple mind. She's experienced something unspoken and dark to do with desire and rejection—and yet brims still with innocent affection. She does not understand her world, and at the same time she is misunderstood. I feel sad about her.
The tender song "Nightswimming" by R.E.M. evokes her clarity and vulnerability for me. "Nightswimming deserves a quiet night/I'm not sure these people understand"—the way the piano folds into the longing.
I heard R.E.M. play for the first time at a concert in a gymnasium at my sister's college (in 1983 I think). In many ways the band's entire body of work comprises the play list for my whole adult life, my sense of what was possible in the world and in the life of an artist.
"Petting Zoo Tale"
The wife in this story keeps a petting zoo in her basement and has great plans for it. She's worried about her husband, who hates his job. The tenderness she shows toward him and the secret chickens and ponies, however, won't help keep sadness at bay in their house, though she does not know that.
This story was set to music by a wonderful Italian composer in Born Magazine (an electronic journal that was way ahead of its time and is still incredible). In that version, there are little chickens clucking in the background, so sweet! Those chickens are great. I love the idea that possibly you could open a book and—like in a kid's pop-up book—a sound might come out. Eric Carle has some sounds in his picture books ("The Click Beetle" for example). If any story in Horse, Flower, Bird would have sounds come out of it, it'd be "Petting Zoo Tale." You'd turn the page and out would come the sound of soft, clucking chickens. Nuzzling ponies. Squawking monkeys and birds. And pinball dings.
"A Tulip's Tale"
The tulip bulbette at the heart of this story misses her mother, a bulb. (A bulbette is the real name for the little bulb that grows from the bigger bulb of a tulip—that's how they reproduce!) She is, as in many fairy tales, banished from home. Another girl in this story also is banished; she's Jewish, and sleeps in a bureau drawer.
Longing for home: there are so many songs about this. "This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)" by the Talking Heads is incredible: Home is where I want to be/Pick me up and turn me round/I feel numb - born with a weak heart/I guess I must be having fun/The less we say about it the better/Make it up as we go along/Feet on the ground/Head in the sky/It's ok I know nothing's wrong . . nothing. What poetics.
And Richmond Fontaine's masterful We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River, which Willy Vlautin wrote the year after his mother had died, is one of the best elegiac records I've ever heard (the afore-mentioned "Chores of Enchantment" by Giant Sand is another).
The sweeping and romantic sound of Richmond Fontaine's "You Can Move Back Here" especially makes me think of my motherless tulip—I hear it in Willy Vlautin's cracking voice with its shy, broken-down tone. The big shape of this song has a delicacy that is really hard to bring off. The whole record is gorgeous; I love the song "The Boyfriends," narrated by a guy whose dad left his mother. That eerie and uncomfortable sense of abandonment: Vlautin really gets it, in his novels and in his music. The record makes you both rock out to it, while you cry. It's very real.
"A Doll's Tale"
The stunned girl in this story is rejected by her sister, loses her favorite doll, and then her life-size imaginary friend runs away from her too. She basically goes nuts after that—she gives up friendship and feeling, is lost in a kind of sad universe, mute in a sense. She disappears into herself. I have sad feelings about that story. I wrote it at a bad time.
That year, I often played the beautiful record "Slush" by OP8, which was produced over one weekend by Lisa Germano with Giant Sand and Calexico musicians Howe Gelb, Joey Burns, and John Convertino. "Was a Rainbow" is on that record and I think it's one of the saddest and loveliest songs I ever have heard. Also, it's about not being able to see a rainbow---the sadness of that--and yet it never becomes cliche. As a writer I so admire that. "Blame me, blame me," the song repeats again and again. It ends with one of the most depressing, beautifully delivered lines in American musical history: "Alcoholic, alcoholic/That's a word my/Friends call it." In an interview about another record, Germano says “it's about behavior, the behavior of very lonely people who don't understand why they're so lonely." That’s what "A Doll’s Tale" is about, exactly.
"A Cuckoo Tale"
This story takes place on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In the story the narrator is dizzy with guilt, shame, and hunger; she is overwhelmed with a fear of being killed in a war even though she lives in the 1970s suburbs. The only music I can truly associate with anything to do with Yom Kippur are the sounds of my small temple's cantor, singing, but specifically her voice as it sounds to a person who is very, very hungry from fasting. Hallucinatory, then, and lilting and haunting. We had a rabbi who often would say "And now we'll pray to God, if there is a God" in a sort of Woody Allenesque tone but without trying to be very funny. The music wasn't entertaining; it was mournful and sad.
"A Cuckoo Tale" also has imagistic connections to the Russian fairy tales about Baba Yaga. She's a witch who either eats or protects animals and children, depending on the version and interpretation on hand. There's a song called "Baba Yaga" on a record I used to have—a compilation of pieces called "Stravinsky's Firebird." "Baba Yaga" was not by Stravinsky; I'm not sure who composed it. The record used to be my grandfather's and the cover image was gorgeous, a colorful graphic featuring a fantastical bird.
I could probably find the image and song by searching online, but there's something magical about keeping it silent—locked in the past. I remember listening to "Baba Yaga" and not quite comprehending the music. I had no training in classical music but I loved the song and knew the Russian folk tale. I wanted nothing more in the 1970s than to be a ballet dancer and I often listened uncomprehendingly to classical music, lost in a colorful dream featuring myself as the prima ballerina. When I listened to "Baba Yaga" I always imagined the witch played by a man lumbering around in a black dress in black toe shoes, and myself as the hut on chicken feet (which were also toe shoes). I wish Mark Morris would stage "Baba Yaga"—he's a genius at pairing music with story.
"A Cageling Tale"
This story is about a girl who grows up in the suburbs and has a parakeet that she lets die; later on she becomes a stripper and builds herself a cage to live in. When I summarize this story it sounds dirtier and darker than it really is. It's told in what I think is a pretty wholesome, sweet tone.
When I wrote the story, some of my friends and I, and my boyfriend (now husband), were regulars at a tiny strip club in Portland called Magic Garden. I think it's still there. The stage was miniscule and the dancers chose their own music. They'd come out in lovely robes and put on their own music behind a curtain—very Wizard of Oz. Sometimes in my living room I'd put on impromptu, late-night performances for friends, to music that would be entirely inappropriate for strip clubs: "Rainy Days and Mondays" by The Carpenters, "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot, "Visions of Johanna" by Bob Dylan, "Shiloh" by Neil Diamond. I remember one particular rendition to Mazzy Star "Fade into You" which might have been the only song I danced to that would have also been appropriate for Magic Gardens.
I guess the dancing was kind of outrageous—more interpretive than erotic. But I hope I was appealing. I don't remember, because I usually was drunk. These are the songs I imagine Edith would choose for herself to strip to as well.
Kate Bernheimer and Horse, Flower, Bird links:
the author's website
the author's collaborative blog, The Fairy Tale Review
Bookmunch review
Denver Books Examiner review
January Magazine review
Kirkus Reviews review
Library Journal review
Powell's Books interview (the author interviews Willy Vlautin)
Willy Vlautin interview with the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Book Notes playlists (authors create music playlists for their book)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (weekly book reviews)
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly comics highlights)
Daily Downloads (free and legal daily mp3 downloads)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (weekly new book highlights)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily music, literature, and pop culture links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from the week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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Shorties (Wisconsin Bands Cover Summerteeth, Howl: A Graphic Novel, and more)
Muzzle of Bees shares Wisco: A Tribute To Wilco’s Summerteeth, a tribute album by Wisconsin artists that benefits the Wisconsin Humane Society.
Comics Alliance previews Howl: A Graphic Novel, a visual adaptation of Allen Ginsberg's poetry.
The Philadelphia Inquirer profiles the Pixies.
The Vine interviews music writer Michael Azerrad.
On sale today at Amazon MP3: Johnny Cash's 19-track Live at Folsom Prison album for $3.99.
GalleyCat lists the best authors on Facebook.
Cool Hunting shares several of Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard's collages.
io9 lists what science fiction writers can learn from the flood of SF lit novels.
Nick Cave talks to the Guardian about his band Grinderman.
The New Statesman analyzes the demise of Paste magazine's print edition.
Comics Alliance previews Howl: A Graphic Novel, a visual adaptation of Allen Ginsberg's poetry.
Drowned in Sound interviews Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino.
Entertainment Weekly lists 24 classic steamy books.
We Listen for You has created a music video for The Pass that gathers nods to several music blogs.
Flavorwire lists the top 10 bookstores in the US.
The Guardian explores pop music as branding.
In the Guardian, author Lionel Shriver explores how writers and readers are treated by the publishing industry from her personal perspective.
Spontaneous Wednesday is a website devoted to offering mp3 downloads of shows by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings.
The Huffington Post lists the most anticipated books for the rest of 2010.
Win all three books in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay) in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.
Follow me on Twitter and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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Daily Downloads (The Drums, The Mommyheads, and more)
Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
The Biters: "Melody for Lovers" [mp3] from It's Okay to Like the Biters EP
other Biters posts at Largehearted Boy
Crocodiles: free and legal Fires of Comparison EP [mp3]
other Crocodiles posts at Largehearted Boy
Delay Trees: "Cassette 2012" [mp3] from Delay Trees (out September 29th)
other Delay Trees posts at Largehearted Boy
The Drums: "We Used to Wait (Arcade Fire cover, live at BBC Three)" [mp3]
other Drums posts at Largehearted Boy
Grand Lake: "Hey Sandy (Polaris cover, theme song of The Adventures of Pete & Pete)" [mp3]
other Grand Lake posts at Largehearted Boy
Hudson Bell: "Gunslingers" [mp3] from Out of the Clouds
other Hudson Bell posts at Largehearted Boy
The Intelligence: "Like Like Like Like Like Like Like Like" [mp3] from Males (out September 7th)
other Intelligence posts at Largehearted Boy
The Interns: free and legal The Interns album [mp3]
other Interns posts at Largehearted Boy
Lavinia: "A Damning Confession" [mp3] from There Is Light Between Us (out November 16th)
other Lavinia posts at Largehearted Boy
The Mommyheads: "Needmore, PA" [mp3] from Finest Specimens, (out October 19th)
other Mommyheads posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Rocky Votolato: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Rocky Votolato posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
2010 Bonnaroo downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
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September 2, 2010
Book Notes - Andrew Ervin ("Extraordinary Renditions")
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Andrew Ervin works literary magic in his novel Extraordinary Renditions. Vividly exploring Budapest's past and present in three linked novellas, Ervin's true mastery of the language becomes apparent as the stories converge.
Novels consisting of linked stories tend to disappoint me, in fact in recent history only Josh Weil's The New Valley has impressed me as much as Extraordinary Renditions.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
"With dexterous sensibility and fluid prose, Ervin’s protagonists find liberation from the onerous strictures of Budapest’s Nazi and Communist past."
In his own words, here is Andrew Ervin's Book Notes music playlist for his novel, Extraordinary Renditions:
Here's a short look at the musical life of Extraordinary Renditions.
Béla Bartók, "Konstrasztok"
If there's any one piece of music that can explain how the three parts of Extraordinary Renditions fit together, this is it. Bartók completed his "Konstrasztok" in 1938, a tumultuous time in his native Hungary to say the least. It's scored for piano, violin, and clarinet, three instruments that don't always play nicely together here; the contrasts, as the title suggests, are clearly more important than the harmonies. There's an amazing recording from 1940 with Bartók himself on the piano, József Szigeti on violin, and Benny Goodman of all people on clarinet. Even if Szigeti appears to shit the bed every once in a while, or maybe because he shits the bed every once in a while, this recording has meant a great deal to the development of this book as a whole.
"14 Bagatelles"
Béla Bartók, "14 Bagatelles"
The first novella in the book is named after another Bartók composition. The protagonist is an elderly Hungarian composer named Lajos Harkályi who survived the Holocaust. In a flashback to the infamous Terezín ghetto, he transcribes the original piano piece for solo violin. This section of the book has fourteen chapters and they correspond with the time signatures ("andante," "grave," "vivo" and so on) in various ways. The only recording I've heard—though there are certainly others out there—is by the pianist Zoltán Kocsis.
Henryk Górecki, Symphony No. 3 ("Symphony of Sorrowful Songs")
There aren't many recordings of contemporary Eurocentric art music that sell a million copies the way this once did, and the way Harkályi's Symphony No. 4 ("Musik Macht Frei") does in the world of Extraordinary Renditions. In my first apartment in Budapest, back in 1994, my girlfriend (now wife) and I lived next to a man who had survived several concentration camps. We gave him a copy of David Zinman's recording, which we could hear just as clearly through the walls.
Pavel Haas, String Quartet No. 2 ("From the Monkey Mountains")
That Terezín really did have such an amazing musical life is still almost impossible for me to fathom. For example, Hans Krása's opera "Brundibar" was performed there more than fifty times. The CD "The Music Survives" will make an excellent For Further Listening compilation for people interested in the music of the Holocaust. For me personally, Haas's String Quartet No. 2, composed in 1925, exemplifies all too clearly what was lost during the greatest horror of the 20th century: Haas was murdered at Auschwitz in 1944.
"Brooking the Devil"
Pubic Enemy, "Black Steel In The Hour of Chaos"
"Brooking the Devil" is about a black U.S. soldier named Brutus who is stationed at a NATO base in southern Hungary. "They wanted me for the army or whatever/ Picture me giving a damn I said never/ Here is a land that never gave a damn / About a brother like me and myself…" Chuck D deserves one of those MacArthur "genius" grants. He's an invaluable American voice whose influence will be felt for generations, in large part because Public Enemy managed to work within the system in order to critique it.
Fela Kuti, "Mr. Grammarticologylisationalism Is The Boss"
The spoken-word intro to this track gets right to the burning heart of colonialism: "They called our languages 'vernacular.' So English was the real language you had to speak in schools, so everything was in English." And while everyone talks about the rhythms in Kuti's music, and his radicalism, it's the keyboard tones here that just floor me. They carry the authority of a church organ, but the song preaches something I feel like I can actually buy in to. Then those horns…
The Roots, "I Will Not Apologize"
As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a better band in America right now. In a few years we will look back at the records they're making today the way we do Monk's from the nineteen fifties or Coltrane's from the sixties. More importantly, though, the Roots simply rock. "I Will Not Apologize" samples Fela Kuti and it's the best of both worlds, Afrobeat and hip-hop. I'm honored that I got permission from Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter to quote from this song, which is on the Rising Down record named, yes, after William T. Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down.
"The Empty Chairs"
Poni Hoax, "Budapest"
The French band Poni Hoax captures the atmosphere of Budapest here as well as anything I've read since Tibor Déry's Love and Other Stories (New Directions, 2005). The song, like the city, combines many different styles into something unique. There are references to "Transylvanian guns" and even a "burning synagogue," both of which figured into the book. I can see my characters Melanie and Nanette grooving to this at the birthday party on the Danube.
Craig Elkins, "This House"
The former frontman for Huffamoose now lives in California and is working on a solo record. There isn't a more brutally honest songwriter in America. You know how when you're reading Roth or Yates you sometimes find your innermost thoughts—thoughts you didn't even consciously know you had—getting exposed to the entire world? "This House" does that. "We are doomed / Then we got nothing left to lose / Might as well take a shot at honesty." It's the perfect song to describe the disintegrating relationship between Melanie and Nanette. It's devastating.
Das Racist, "Chicken and Meat"
Das Racist's self-released mixtape Shut Up, Dude is an hour of post-colonial theory you can dance to. I'm a sucker for any hip-hop that references Gayatri Spivak. Once a day or so I catch myself singing (terribly) lines from "Chicken and Meat." "People eating bacon all across the nation!" It would make a great soundtrack for the newly cosmopolitan Budapest.
Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit"
What can you say about "Strange Fruit"? If you don't get goose bumps every time you hear this song you're just not paying attention. Finishing Extraordinary Renditions in the deep South gave me a whole new appreciation for this song, which is as powerful as any work of art ever created on this landmass. Those funeral-dirge block chords can stop your breath, sure, but it's that little guitar part throughout that make me question what I'm doing with my life. In Extraordinary Renditions, a remix of this song that keeps popping up, but Holiday's version is where it all begins.
Andrew Ervin and Extraordinary Renditions links:
the author's website
the author's blog
the book's website
video trailer for the book
The Black Sheep Dances review
The Longest Chapter review
New York Journal of Books review
Publishers Weekly review
Believer book reviews by the author
HOBART interview with the author
HTMLGIANT guest post by the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Book Notes playlists (authors create music playlists for their book)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (weekly book reviews)
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly comics highlights)
Daily Downloads (free and legal daily mp3 downloads)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (weekly new book highlights)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily music, literature, and pop culture links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from the week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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Note Books - Dean Wells of Capstan Shafts
The Note Books series features musicians discussing their literary side. Previous contributors have included John Darnielle, John Vanderslice, Mark Olson, Mac McCaughan, and others.
Dean Wells records under the moniker Capstan Shafts. His songs are short, powerful, and lyrically interesting lo-fi indie pop gems.
The Capstan Shafts' latest album, Revelation Skirts, was released last month.
Wells is the first Note Books participant to contribute an original poem as his entry in the series.
In his own words, here is the Note Books entry from Capstan Shafts' Dean Wells:
richard brautigan
the problem with most people is 'post office'
bad job accomplishing little outwardly ....big genius of write it down later
justifies everything and there is the romance of the delusional alcoholic that you either love or join al qaeda
no points for loving bukowski anymore
a very good looking woman once told me a lot of shit bands referenced her
she didn't say shit bands but they were....touchpoints are tricky
i have no idea why anyone likes anything past new skin for the old ceremony but beautiful losers
is almost as fantastic a novel as a night of serious drinking; by rene something between the wars in france
fantastic in expletive sense as well as descriptive (kerouac implied though my sweetest thought is borrowed
he hears beethoven and wants to be a genius..not a writer strickly speaking
but a genius.......rarefied air.....that he was an nfl prospect amplifies the love of ...
well all non hippie......jack was pals with william f. buckley....technically a superior writer
and likely a better mayor were it to come to that
...dont let kids read burning in water etc
its bad for them and you.....is being a poet good for anyone
the pinnacle of self indulgent nonsense that has been perverted by the total awareness agenda
.....you just cant poet anymore.....even god's a verb now.....edit me willy nilly
i'll smoke it's almost three...i had completely forgotten about smoking and 3 a m from this side
as a shy boy i love internet pornography, though even faceless i remain timid
i'm not sure how i got here
"rommel drives on deep into egypt"
as pure as it can be as far as put whatever the fuck you want on a page and its the poem
or whatever between 001 seconds and however many it goes
and we all want to marry her
that chick on the cover
we all want to write those poems ....if you don't ....well then you are stupid
and i'm sick of it...the sex is good ...but that's true of anyone that lets me have sex with them
you assume any guy can get you off that way...and hey i hope that's the case
i'm just saying.............
Capstan Shafts links and free and legal mp3s:
the band's MySpace page
the band's Wikipedia entry
"Heart Your Heart Out" [mp3] from Revelation Skirts
free and legal Cretin Flowers EP [mp3]
free and legal Halaluah Moancoaxers! EP [mp3]
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Note Books submissions (musicians discuss literature)
52 Books, 52 Weeks
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
daily mp3 downloads
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
musician/author interviews
Soundtracked (directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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