Grantland Quarterly, Number 4 (2012)

SOUNDTRACK: PUBLIC IMAGE LTD-”Poptones” and “Careering” on American Bandstand (1980).

The Dick Clark article below alerted me to this bizarre gem–PiL “playing” on American Bandstand.   The article talks about John Lydon ignoring the lip synch, climbing into the audience and generally disregarding the show’s script. The video suggests something sightly less sinister (although maybe for 1980 it was outrageous–do you really cross Dick Clark?).

Dick Clark himself announces the band nicely, and then the crazy off-kilter bass and simple guitar of “Poptones” kick in.   Lydon runs into the bleachers with the kids (most of whom are dressed in New Wave finery not unlike Lydon).  They shriek with glee when he comes nearby (do any of them know who he is?  I have no idea).  When Lydon’s spoken rambling come in a little later you can’t help but wonder what the hell they are doing on AB.

Then, Lydon starts grabbing people from the audience and pushing them towards the stage–something I believe was unheard of on AB.  The fans dance around to the impossible-to-dance-to “Poptones.”  The song ends and Dick asks John if he wants the kids out there for song two.  Yes, song Two!  He does and John faux lip synchs through “Careering,” avoiding cameras at all costs and dancing with the kids–one of the most egalitarian performances I can think of from Lydon.

And listen for Dick asking Jah Wobble his name (reply THE Jah Wobble) and him saying, nice to meet you Wobble.  What a surreal moment–wonder what Dick thought of it.

Enjoy it here:

 

[READ: December 28, 2012] Grantland 4

Grantland continues to impress me with these books (and no, I have not yet visited the website).  My subscription ran out with this issue and I have resubscribed–although I take major issue with the $20 shipping and handling fee.  I even wrote to them to complain and they wrote back saying that the books are heavy.  Which is true, but not $5/bk heavy.  The good news is that they sent me a $10 off coupon so the shipping is only half as painful now.

This issue’s endpages were “hypothetical baseball wheel-guides created by JASON OBERG–they were pretty cool and a fun idea.  They look very retro, but use contemporary batters, pitchers and catchers.  I’d like to see them for real.

Each issue makes me like sports a little bit more, but not enough to actually watch  them.

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Maxwell Eaton III–The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Fishy Business (2012)

SOUNDTRACK: KINDERANGST-”Let’s Play” (2012).

I heard this song on Kid’s Corner recently and I loved the verses.  This is a very funny song, in which two girls play together.  The verses are sweet, musically–a kind of retro synth sound.  They have a sing-song melody with the lyrics, “it’s so much fun to play with you, you’re my best friend.”

 Of course, as games go, the game devolves, so when they play Princess, the singer is the pretty one and the friend has to stay home.  Or in the pirate game, the friend gets caught by the Navy and is forced to walk the plank.  In the background you hear the friend getting more and more upset:  Huh?  Hey!   So true and so funny.

The chorus turns into a much punkier song, “I don’t like you any more…  If you’re really my best friend, we’ll never ever play this game again.”  I don’t really like the way the chorus fits in with the verse–I think more for the forced rhymes than the music.  I also wish the song had more resolution…it just kind of ends.  But the verses are very enjoyable.  Even if (especially because?) they are kind of mean.

[READ: November 5, 2012] The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Fishy Business

Book #2 in the Flying Beaver Brothers series is even more fun than the first book.  Why?  Because two of the “evil” penguins from Book 1 are back, but this time they help out the Beaver Brothers (one of whom speaks, the other just says “Ka”, (which I find very funny) and neither has eyeballs–in other words, they are adorable).  The two of them have moved into the Beaver’s house (without asking).  At first the brothers are freaked out (at seeing evil penguins) but the penguins prove to not be evil (they make pancakes for everyone).  But before anyone can determine what’s happening with these penguins, Ace notices the volcano that has appeared out their window.

The “volcano” proves to be a factory belching smoke.  And the factory is making Fish Stix Environmental Manufacturing.  Fish Stix are the most popular, best-selling sticks around and they’re good for the environment!  (That last claim must be true, they keep telling us it’s true over and over).  No one’s exactly sure what Fish Stix are, but they are the best!

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Maxwell Eaton III–The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Evil Penguin Plan (2012)

SOUNDTRACK: SPARE THE ROCK, SPOIL THE CHILD PODCAST (2005-present).

Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child started as a small radio show in Massachusetts and is now syndicated to whomever wants it.

In browsing their playlists, I see a wonderful selection of tunes for kids (and adults).  There is a definite They Might Be Giants connection (I gather they did the theme song).  But in between bands like Deedle Deedle Dees, Trout Fishing in America and Wee Hairy Beasties, they also play Superchunk (“Hyper Enough”), NoMeansNo (“Joy”) The Beastie Boys (“Intergalactic”) and Firewater (!) (“Ponzi’s Revenge).  These are songs that any kid would love and the fit in very well with some of the more energetic music featured in the rest of the show.

You can see their blog site here.  You can listen to the archives (and subscribe) here.

[READ: November 5, 2012] The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Evil Penguin Plan 

I stumbled upon this book at the library.  I’m always looking for books for the kids, and this graphic novel seemed great for Clark to read before bed.  It turned out that Sarah really liked it and so did Tabitha and now so did I.

Maxwell Eaton III has written several different children’s books, like The Adventures of Max and Pinky which we loved, and Two Dumb Ducks, which was okay.  But we loved The Flying Beaver Brothers.  The brothers are Ace and Bub.  Ace loves adventure!  (The opening sequence is awesome!).  You can see his surfboard by the door and everything.  Bub, on the other hand, would much rather simply nap.  But it is time for the annual island surfing contest and Ace stands a good chance of winning, that is, if the huge beaver, Bruce, doesn’t get in their way (he wouldn’t be plotting something nefarious would he?).

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Simon Rich–Elliot Allagash (2010)

SOUNDTRACK: KISHI BASHI-Live at the 9:30 Club May 1, 2012 (2012).

I had never heard of Kishi Bashi before this concert.  Kishi Bashi is a one man band headed by K. Ishibashi.  He plays violin and sings and, as is the trend it seems, he records and loops his own beats and melodies.  Whether or not this is overdone by others, Kishi Bashi does an amazing job.  His songs are powerful and his soaring falsetto is fantastic.

I find myself singing lines from “Atticus in the Dessert” all the time.  And who could resist the title “I am the Antichrist to You.”  Hearing him pull this stuff off live is really impressive.  When he’s not sampling and beatboxing, his violin is gorgeous–I never really understood the folks who could violin and sing at the same time, but he does it wonderfully.  He’s got a funny, charming stage presence and this whole brief set is really enjoyable.  Check it out (audio and video!).

[READ: September 1, 2012] Elliot Allagash

I really enjoy Simon Rich’s humorous pieces.  But somehow I totally missed that he had written a novel (or two–the second one came out in August).

This novel eschews Rich’s humor style–there’s no absurdist takes on life–and focuses on a plot. The plot is pretty straightforward.  Seymour Herson is a middle school loser–everyone picks on him.  In a nice twist on the high school loser, Seymour’s family is pretty cool.  They play Monopoly every Friday night, they eat together and are generally supportive of each other.  While they might be somewhat geeky, they are not played as straw men for Seymour’s problems.

At his school there are three rows of lunch tables.  The popular kids sit at the first row.  The rest of the kids sit at the second row.  And Seymour sits in the final row.  By himself.  In part that is his plan, so he can score a minimum of 5 chocolate milks at lunchtime without the other kids seeing.  Then one day Elliot Allagash sits next to him.

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Grantland Quarterly, Number 3 (2012)

SOUNDTRACK: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS-”Magic Johnson” (1989).

Just before the Red Hot Chili Peppers totally took off and became stadium stars, they released Mother’s Milk.  It was a commercialized realization of their three earlier more raw sounding funk rock records.  It was one of my favorite records of the late 80s.

Since Flea is interviewed in this issue of Grantland, and since he’s still a fan of the Lakers, it seemed like a good time to mention this song.

It opens with some martial drums (from then new drummer Chad Smith) and band chanting about M A G I C.  The lyrics are sung very quickly (I’m not even sure what they say half the time).  About 80 seconds in some wild guitar work burst forth, but it’s largely a chanted song of bass and drums.  There’ s a brief jam at the end where Flea shows off some great basswork and John Frusciante gets to do his thing again.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played anywhere (maybe at Lakers games?), so here’s a chance to hear it:

[READ: May 8, 2012] Grantland 3

One thing is for sure, Grantland loves it some basketball.  Basketball is the most widely covered sport in the published Grantlands so far. (The first issue even looked like one).  Since basketball is such a pop culture-referencing sport it actually works pretty well as a subject–with lots of different angles–especially given the state of the NBA lately.  Some other things on the Grantland staff’s minds include–the dangers of football and inadequacy of helmets to protect kids and Tim frickin Tebow (still!).  I don’t think an issue has past without talking about him yet.  I realize that’s a function of the time of these publications but… ew!

Nevertheless, the writing remains exciting and interesting, even for a non-sports guy like me.

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Jason Planer–”Arach niD” (unpublished, 2012)

SOUNDTRACK: MODEST MOUSE-”Lives” (2000).

This song (quoted in the story) comes from the first Modest Mouse album that I ever bought, The Moon and Antarctica.  I have very vivid memories of listening to this album on a long dark stretch of road–not a bad image to connect with the album.  This song comes near the end of the album after the stomper “I Came as a Rat” and the slow guitar and slightly ill sounding bendy note really set the unease of the song.  After about 45 seconds the tribal drums kick in and change the pace of the song.  But rather than bursting forth, the song kind of falls back in on itself until what feels like a brand new song comes out of this little cocoon–an upbeat acoustic number with strings that tries to remind you to live before you die.  After a brief flirtation with yet another style, the song returns to whence it started.

It’s representative of Modest Mouse’s quieter side, although it barely showcases the extremes that the band is capable of.

[READ: July 11, 2012] Arach nID

My former co-worker Jay is one of the few people I know who is “writing a book” who has actually written most if not all of said book.  He has been writing a sci-fi opus for a few years now and at last count it eclipsed 600 pages.  I mean, sure, I’m “writing a book” but it’s all in my head.  Anyway, I told him about a short story contest and asked if he had any short stories to submit.  We once had a discussion about how novelists shouldn’t really write short stories if what they wanted to write was a novel, so I didn’t know if he had anything handy.  He told me he had this work partially written and, with a deadline in mind, he polished it up and finished it off.

Because the story is unpublished, I’m not going to give away too many details, as that’s not cool (and because he may always revise it).  But I will talk about the basics of the story because I think it’s pretty interesting.

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Karen Russell–”Quests” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-”In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” (2010).

My friend Jay sent me this clip of Phish covering Neutral Milk Hotel’s wonderful song.  He was at the show and sent me a link  to the YouTube video.

The original of this song is wonderful–always sounding like it’s going to collapse in on itself but never actually doing so.  It is full of angst and emotion and after the first listen, where you say, “is he really going to sing the whole thing like this?” you are totally hooked.

The Phish version evens a lot of that angst out.  It’s a strange thing to say about Phish, but they make this song far more commercial.  They turn it into a pretty ballad.  And that’s kind of a shame since the original is so iconic.

In Phish’s defense, this is part of one of their sets (they unveiled a new cover on every day of the tour), and it’s not like they are trying to record a definitive version of it or anything.  So they make it into a Phish song–with a long solo and everything.  And the solo sounds like a total Trey solo.  I’m not sure what songs surrounded this one, but it sounds like it fit perfectly into their set.

As the folks at Stereogum say, “If you’ve always felt “Aeroplane” needed more guitar solo, this is your lucky day.”  For me what it did was make me want to listen to the original–and that’s never a bad thing.

[READ: June 5, 2012] “Quests”

This essay opens up with a history lesson.  In the early nineties, Pizza Hut sponsored the Book It! program to promote reading.  For every ten books you read you got a free pizza.  Well, it turns out that they either still do this or they do it in a modified form because my son has been getting these free pizza coupons all year.  Of course, we live in New Jersey, where the pizza is plentiful and delicious (there are at least 4 excellent pizza places within ten minutes of our house).  And you’d be a fool to eat Pizza Hut, even if it is free.  My son is pretty bummed about this, because of course he wants to redeem his prize.  And I suppose one day we’ll let him do it, but it would painful.  I actually don’t even know where a Pizza Hut is by us.

But that’s got nothing to do with Russell’s essay.  She realizes the truism that there is no greater pleasure than reading for pizza.  Because it’s not just reading for escape and fantasy, now you’re a breadwinner. Literally.  Russell’s genre of choice was fantasy (Terry Brooks in particular–I love that she realizes later in life that he took his ideas from Dresden and Hiroshima and how it blew her mind).

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Chynna Clugston–Queen Bee (2005)

SOUNDTRACK: Retro songs for teen audiences (ie. Glee) (2012).

I’m not really going to talk about Glee here.  I’m using it as a springboard for a question that the show has raised for me.  And this question pops up a little in Queen Bee as well.  I know that retro things are always cool.  Full stop.  And I know that the retro coolness shifts accordingly to be always 20/25 years in the past.  But in my experience, the retro craze pretty much applies to fashion, not necessarily to music.

So given that, it makes me wonder about the premise of some of the music on Glee.  Now, I know, Glee is about as far from reality as anything on the Syfy Channel.  I accept that.  I accept that the universe in which the show is set is more or less not even our own.  But when they have nods to actual history, I’m curious.  And this leads me to ask:  Do kids in high school really care about Michael Jackson?  Or, more to the point, about Whitney Houston?  I mean, sure if you’re in glee club, you’ve probably had to sing “I Will Always Love You” a million times.  But were high school kids really upset when she died?  I mean, sure she released an album in 2009 (that I didn’t even know about) and it went to #1 (really?), but in terms of actual pop relevance, she’s been on the down low since the 90s.

I don’t know any high school kids well enough to ask them about this, but I knew some middle school kids when I worked at the library, and they were all about whoever the flavor of the minute was.  Again, musically talented kids may be different, but it seems really odd to me that even on Glee, the kids seemed to love some retro songs and then of course were arbitrarily against some other ones.  [That's a good subtitle for the writing of the show: "Glee:  It's All Arbitrary"].  I think back to my high school years, and I didn’t like anything retro, in fact I thought all old music sucked.  (Of course I listened pretty much only to heavy metal, so I’m not a good sample audience).  But aside from some Simon & Garfunkel, I don’t recall there being a lot of folkie kids in my high school.  The cool kids listened to 80s pop and the alt-kids listened to college music.

This brings to Queen Bee.  The song that she chooses to sing (see below) is The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat.”  A classic of 80s pop music, undoubtedly.  And yet, I have to wonder how many kids in her middle school class even knew the song.  A bit of research shows that it has been used in films and such, but would that have garnered any real recognition/excitement?  Aside from the fact that it’s catchy as anything and the drumming is awesome, of course.  [I also realize that that isn't the point of her using the song in the story, I'm moving beyond the text here].

I know this is all fiction and I just need to relax.  But I’m mostly curious.  Aside from getting stuck listening to their parents iPods, do kids actually listen to older music?  When I was little my parents listened only to big band music.  And I hated it.  Until I got to college and realized it was pretty cool.  But still, in my teen years, I was all about the present.  Isn’t that the point?

[READ: June 5, 2012] Queen Bee

I have enjoyed most of Chynna Clugston’s books (Blue Monday and Scooter Girl in particular).  I love her style of drawing (anime, but with a twist) and her pop culture sensibilities.  I had no idea that this book existed until I saw it in the children’s comics section at the library!

I also assumed that this was an earlier work by her (what’s she doing writing for Scholastic?).  But no, this book came out many years after the books I love so well.  It’s kind of funny that she went from alt rock hipness to middle school (and then moved to Legion of Super Heroes).  But wait, she hasn’t done anything in five years?  Gasp.  Actually I see she has a new blog and a new husband–so she’s clearly busy.

Anyhow, back to the book.

This book is set in middle school.  It features a young woman named Haley Madison (that must be a joke about over-common names).  She is a geek and a loser.   But when her mom gets a new job at the hippest and coolest teen magazine, Haley gets to move to a new school.  Which means fresh start!  And she plans on becoming the queen bee at JFK intermediate.  She is introduced to a nice girl named Trini.  Trini shows her around and introduces her to her cool friends (who are super nice to her).  But when Trini shows her the Hive–five girls who are super duper popular, Haley has a goal in front of her.

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Gabriel Tallent–”Men Against Violence” (Narrative, Winter 2012)

SOUNDTRACK: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE-“Kicked In” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

Death Cab for Cutie are immediately recognizable here.  And they take this Superchunk song and make it sound like a Death Cab for Cutie song.

This cover is the rare cover in which the band takes a song and makes it clearly their own, and yet they don’t alter it all that much from the original.  The Superchunk version is slow (for Superchunk), with buzzing, distorted guitars and Mac’s vocals riding over the top.  The DCFC version features Ben Gibbard’s voice riding over the top as well.  But DCFC make the song a bit cleaner.  Rather than distorted guitars, we get chiming guitars and simple notes.  Instead of being a kind of grungy anthem, it feels somewhat uplifting.  And in true DCFC style, the uplifting sounding song really disguises something darker.

Even though the DCFC version feels slower, it’s not any longer than the original, and I think the pacing is pretty much the same.  It’s a neat trick.  I like both versions equally.

[READ: May, 2, 2012] “Men Against Violence”

This story came in third place in the Narrative Magazine Fall 2011 short story content.  It had a very different feel from second place winner.  It is set in college.  It feels contemporary and it reads young.  This, of course, means that I liked the style immediately.  I admit I was a little confused by the opening—I felt the exposition was  little convoluted and relationships were not established effectively.  But once it got moving, the story was really engrossing.

This is a reasonably simple story.  Kyle has a Hennessey scholarship—he received hundreds of thousands of dollars over his four years of college.  As the story opens he is attending the dinner which announces the newest scholarship grant, and introduces Kyle to the latest scholarship winner, whose name is (in all lower case letters) madison pepper.

The guest speaker at the banquet is Brooke Hennessey.  She is the granddaughter of Dorothy Hennessey and is currently is Kyle’s class at the college.  She speaks eloquently about her family’s donation (of the Hennessey Art Museum).   What she doesn’t say is that she ran away at 15, spent two years living in a car in Portland and that she accepts no money from her family (and has a mountain of debt).  She also doesn’t say that she is currently dating Kyle.

Kyle has problems of his own.  He recently got into a fight with a Trevor, a fairly important person on campus and he is now on a kind of probation—if he fights again, he loses the scholarship and has to back all the money.  This is why he joined Men Against Violence.  There’s a funny (but not really) insight into the existence of MAV on the campus, which leads to many unanswered questions about gender relations.  And the subject of gender relations is all over this story.  That delicate subject is handled very well.

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What is it with Busses? The problem(s) with Reality TV

[RANTED: January 29, 2012] What is it with Busses?

I don’t often post things that are just me blathering, but now that I’ve started swimming every day I have a lot of time to mull.

I’m more or less opposed to the Reality TV. It bothers me that writers and creative people have been given the shaft for ephemeral “stars” who are memorable only because of how annoying they are.  But hey, the genre is here to stay (I’m already like 20 years too late to complain about it, I know).  And, in fairness, there are a number of shows that I do enjoy (I still wish they were relegated to cable to get real shows back on the networks, but I guess cable is where all the real shows are now anyhow.

The shows that I like are the ones that celebrate creativity.  Even though a friend pointed out, the participants are forced into being creative, and it’s more like art school than real art, these shows are as close to art on TV as you get most of the time.  How likely are we to see craftsmen and craftswomen at the peak of their game on prime time TV (or even not prime time TV)?

So, the four reality shows that I watch are America’s Next Top Model, Project Runway, Work of Art and (newly added) Face Off.   I don’t watch Top Chef because I don’t really believe in a show that I can’t experience the final product.  If I can’t taste it, so I don’t trust who thinks it’s the best.  Having said that I loved the Japanese Iron Chef (not so much the American one) because it was crazy and theatrical and wonderfully Japanese.

I realize that these shows are more like game shows than genuine reality TV.  The real difference between these shows and game shows of old is that these shows take the Real-World approach and try to drive up drama by having them live together, or, more specifically, interact with each other in ways that are not normal.  (Face Off doesn’t seem to do this and, as far as I can tell, Work of Art seems less inclined to focus on this aspect).  But most “reality” shows seem to focus on the “drama” rather than the product, and I think that’s a real shame–leave that nonsense to Big Brother and The Real World.

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