SOUNDTRACK: THE CRISTINA PATO TRIO-Tiny Desk Concert #305 (September 21, 2013).
I didn’t know who Cristina Pato was or what instrument she played. So when the show started (without visuals), I assumed she was the accordionist (because the show starts with some wild accordion music). But in fact, Pato is playing the bagpipe. Pato’s instrument is the gaita, a Galician bagpipe, and her roots lie in traditional Galician music — though she also boasts graduate degrees in classical piano, music theory and electronic composition.
I love the sound she band gets together with the funky staccato accordion notes and the wild racing pipes. They are very jazzy and very idiosyncratic. Her percussionist uses several different types of drums—the ubiquitous box drum and a hand held drum as well as various shakers and other sound makers.
They play three songs. It’s interesting how much of the first song is taken up without the bagpipes—there’s lenghy sections where the accordion has the floor and she is just happily dancing around. And the accordionist is amazing. he plays all kinds of different styles and gets an amazing range of sounds out of that one instrument. He wails! Of course I see now that the song is actually written by the accordionist: “Victor Prieto: ‘Mundos Celtas.'” So it’s no wonder that she is happy to sit back and let him shine. (Prieto , like Pato, is a native of the town of Orense in Galicia). While he is playing, she whoops and hollers to get everyone pumped. But once she gets her instruments going she is a nonstop blur of fingers and wild notes. I particularly like that she has a section where the note is slightly flat and she continues to slowly raise it until it gets in pitch. I also love–due to the nature of the bag pipes–that she can scream and whoops while still pressing air out of the bags. And at the end of the song, she is just wild with fast notes. It’s a very intense piece.
The second piece “Traditional/Cristina Pato: “Alalá Re-rooted” starts with her singing. She is unmiked so you can’t really hear her, but I don’t really enjoy her singing as much as her playing so it’s okay. I do love the interesting sounds the percussionist Shane Shanahan (Shanahan is American, but is also a longtime member (with Pato) of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble) is making. Overall, this is a fairly dissonant piece—with her sounding almost like a free jazz players (but on pipes rather than sax). I do love near the end where she almost seems to get a harmonic overtone on the pipe. It’s a great moment—but fairly weird how the song just sort of fades away before seguing into the final song.
Victor Prieto & Emilio Solla: “Muñeira For Cristina” this song seems to be all about percussion with lots of drumming and a very noisy tambourine that Pato plays. She gets the crowd clapping along and then when she and Prieto play the same awesome riff together,it sounds great. I love watching her shake the finger part while she’s playing it, to get a cool almost whammy bar sound out of it. The song totally rocks and the whole set with the unlikely combo of accordion and bagpipe is startlingly wonderful.
[READ: April 20, 2016] Comics Squad: Lunch!
I really enjoyed the first Comics Squad book and I was delighted that a second one came out. I just recently saw that a third one is coming out the summer–I love that it is called Detention and is coming out on Independence Day.
Like the first collection, this one is edited by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Babymouse/Squish) and Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Lunch Lady).
But the rest of the line up is quite different this time around, which is cool–allowing other artists to shine. This time there are stories from Cece Bell (El Deafo) ; Jason Shiga (a great indie artist who does some kid-friendly and some decidedly not kid friendly books) ; Cecil Castelucci & Sara Varon ; Jeffrey Brown and Nathan Hale (his own series of historical stories).
Like the previous book, the Holms and Krosoczka sprinkle the book with comments and interstitials from Babymouse and Lunch Lady.
CECE BELL-“Crazy Little Thing Called Lunch!”
This story is very funny. Bells’ style seems simple and maybe even sloppy (the way the main character’s hair is done looks easy but is actually not). But it is very welcoming for it. The story is about a girl who eats the same thing every day for lunch and doesn’t want to change. Because if she does something different…maybe everything else in her day will be different as well (and she gives examples of how that might be). But beyond her control, things do go differently. Franklin, a boy she thinks is really cure asks her if she’d like to buy a candy bar for the drama club. She is star-struck but agrees to buy one. When he asks her to try a bite –she decides to change her routine. Things go slightly awry and, amusingly enough, the story actually addresses a current real problem in a funny way.
PEANUTS-“Snoopy In… Lunchtime Beagle”
Even though I love Peanuts, I don’t really like this story. It focuses on snoopy as a “lunchtime beagle.” The story is mostly cute without being really funny (and obviously Schulz had nothing to do with it).
JENNIFER L. HOLM & MATTHEW HOLM-“Babymouse: Lunch Table Champion.” I love how much the Holms are able to cram into these short stories.
Babymouse is super excited because it is almost luncthtime. But when they get to the caf Felicia Furrypaws and her evil pals have taken their table. So she imagines herself as Robin Hood–champion of the peasants. And she challenges Felicia to a duel–which turns out to be in dodgeball. Babymouse’s team is doing very well until Felicia picks up on a weakness. It may not be the funniest story but the ending is wonderful.
JASON SHIGA-“The Case of the Missing Science Project”
This story stars Little Jimmy, Kid Detective. Like his (awesome) book Meanwhile, in which you follow different arrows in a choose-your-own-adventure type story, this one also has you following arrows all over the place.
CECIL CASTELLUCCI & SARA VARON-“Pikput & Cullen in … Worst Day Ever!”
Castellucci and Varon have worked together before and this story keeps up their partnership of funny stories with a good message. In this one, two students Pikput and Cullen are total opposites. And they do not like each other. Pikput is a nerd–he speaks Latin and wears a bow tie. Cullen is a jock. She loves kickball and wears a sports jersey. But in science class they are made partners “it is the worst day ever.” They are so bad together that they wind up with lunch detention. They trade sandwiches (which doesn’t mean they are friends) and then learn something about science while they are away. The fun of experimentation bonds them and soon they are trying all kinds of gross things together.
JEFFREY BROWN-“Lucy & And Neanderthal: Cave Soup”
I was totally unfamiliar with Brown and his Neanderthal family. This story was pretty long and it involved the entire Neanderthal family. An older kid (with hair in his eyes tries to get Lucy and Andy to do all the chores. First he tries to get them to hunt a rabbit (I love the rabbit’s reaction). Then they are told to collect peas. But they hate pea soup so Lucy decides to bring back bad peas so they can’t use them. They call on Margaret (who must be from another family as Andy sucks up to her to Lucy’s dismay). But Margaret is a sullen teenager and doesn’t do much to help. There’s a cool factual moment as the cartoon shows how Neanderthals might have made soup (I wonder if it is true). The end of the story flashes forward to today and shows archaeologists discovering the cave where the family ate.
NATHAN HALE-“Lunch Bomb 1943”
Nathan Hale writes hazardous tales–comic book stories of true events in history. This one is quite unusual and rather funny. I really enjoy the way the story is set up. Prisoner Hale is about to be executed but he keeps extending his life by telling fascinating stories. This one is set in 1943 as the American Navy is trying to battle Japan for control of islands in the Pacific. The story settles in Iron Bottom Sound where the U.S. forces were soundly defeated (unclear why exactly, and I wish there was a little bit more information about why the U.S. ships seemed so confused). The next morning, one of the ships accidentally comes up right next to a Japanese sub. They are too close to fire their guns, so the sailors do whatever they can to confuse the Japanese. They start throwing their lunch (which is potatoes that look like grenades). This cases enough panic for the U.S. ship to get far enough away to open fire. True story (with bibliography and everything).
JARRETT J. KROSOCZKA-“Lunch Girl and the Ominous Origin: A Lunch Lady Mini Comic”
Since reading the first book I have read some Lunch Lady books and really enjoyed them (I also learned that Amy Poehler signed on to do alive action version of a Lunch Lady movie–but that was like 5 years ago and nothing ever came of it). In this story, Janice is a new girl who is a doesn’t know where to sit. Then she sees a girl sitting by herself. The girl is crying because Christine stole her lunch money. When Janice stands up to her, Christine seems contrite–until she exacts swift revenge. It is at recess that Lunch Girl is able to make Christine look like a fool. But the next day when she sees Christine sitting by herself again, she feels bad for what she did and she offers to sit next to her. However, once a bully always a bully and Christine exacts swift revenge. What should Janice do?
Throughout the book there are little jokes about the two creators’ stories like mashups between some of the characters. I also love the “ad” for a hypno disc which helps to hypnotize anyone in minutes. It’s free (except for the $19.99 you need to send for the free booklet).
The end of the book has a fw blank squares for you to fill in your on origin story “that was the day that our lunch lady served my favorite lunch and it gave me SUPERPOWERS!” There’s also a very funny thing about learning to draw Babymouse…and she looks rather…different.
I wonder who will be in the next installment.
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