SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-“BU2B” (2010).
I’m a little freaked out that Rush has a song that is just initials (it’s so text message-y). And, listening to the lyrics tells me that the 2 is for “to.” That is no way for 50-some year-old men to behave!
Of course, neither is the pounding heavy song that is “Bu2B.” Like “Caravan,” the song opens with a dark and dirty riff. The song is not as complex as “Caravan” although it also features a quieter section. After the verse, the quiet bridge comes as a more natural progression (and it, too has some strong bass stuff going on).
What’s fascinating about the song is that despite its heaviness, it is layered with some really delicate keyboards that plink along the top of the sections. It showcases both sides of Rush in one track. And lyrically it’s quite dark as well.
These two early release songs have me really excited for the new album, Clockwork Angels, due out in 2011.
[READ: October 11, 2010] “The Oracular Vulva”
Jeffrey Eugenides was the next writer in the 1999 New Yorker 20 Under 4o issue.
I really enjoyed Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides, and I regard him highly as a writer (even though I haven’t read very much else by him). About midway through reading this story I realized it must be an excerpt from Middlesex (which I haven’t read, but hope to one of these days). The bad thing about realizing this is that it impacted my reading of the end, making it kind of hard to assess the story as a story (which, I realize it isn’t, so maybe it’s moot anyhow).
This excerpt focuses on Dr. Peter Luce (the famous sexologist). The title of the story certainly implies a degree of sexology, right? I was surprised however, that the story opens with the doctor in a jungle, studying the Dawat tribe. Luce, a very comfortable middle class sexologist is miserable out in the jungle, with crazy animal sounds, oppressive heat and, worst of all, little children trying to pull down his pants.
The doctor is studying this tribe because they have very specific gender roles–so specific, that the men and women are not permitted to interact with each other at all, except for once a month for three minutes, for procreation. So, for sexual outlet, the men engage in oral sex with each other (semen being a very important thing for the young men to consume). Yet no matter how progressive Dr Luce is, he simply can’t deal with the thought of this young boy, who is trying to do his culture’s most honorable thing.
But the bulk of the story is a flashback to Luce’s success. He is considered the foremost authority on hermaphroditism, and he was the pioneer who reversed a centuries-old practice that gender would be determined by internal organs. Rather, Luce concluded that gender was more than organs, it was cultural, it was how a child was raised that really determined your gender. And since this was in the sixties, the sexual revolution embraced him wholly. He even had a column in playboy (called “The Oracular Vulva”).
I enjoyed this piece very much. And although I’m not sure how it fits into Middlesex (which is about a specific individual) exactly, I’m very interested to read it and find out.
I just discovered that Eugenides has only written these two novels (and a few short stories). I am now compelled to read Middlesex a little sooner, so I can say that I’ve read all by this author.
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