Hocus Pocus by Focus

In addition to being one of the most fun things to call and request on classic rock and/or college radio stations, this song manages to incorporate hard, driving psychedelic-tinged rock with yodeling and avant garde vocal techniques that presaged makigami koichi.

Howling Fantods Motivational Poster Contest

I thought this contest ended a week ago, and was disappointed I hadn’t had time to think about what I’d want to enter. So when I saw an email tonight saying that it was the last day of the contest (they extended the deadline), I thought I’d throw a few quick entries together:

Entries into the DFW motivational poster contest:

probably too offensive, but Hitler was the best image i could quickly think of when it came to visually representing hideous men.  personally, i’d find fat/hairy/disfigured pictures of real people to be more offensive.

probably to obscure, this is supposed to be the baby in “The Compliance Branch”

does it count as a motivational poster? does the lack of tagline hurt it?

I doubt any of these really makes the cut – I can only hope that few people are entering the contest!

Tokyo customs gives away marijuana

As part of a training for drug-sniffing dogs, a customs officer put a package of cannabis in a tourist’s suitcase, but then lost track of it. According to Reuters:

Customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, but the official said he had used passengers’ suitcases for similar purposes in the past, domestic media reported.

“The dogs have always been able to find it before,” NHK quoted him as saying. “I became overconfident that it would work.”

How could someone with regular access to government-rolled joints be so distracted and forgetful as to lose some?

Israeli Tourist Deploys Weapon of Mass Distraction

Fed up with the “wolf whistles” of construction workers, a female tourist in New Zealand removed her clothes, used the ATM naked, then got dressed and went on her way…until the cops tracked her down.  Apparently the police explained that her behavior was “inappropriate in New Zealand.”

Kudos for her moxie, but I don’t really get her logic.  I guess if she had been really fed up, she would have gone over to the guys and started making out?

Combination toothpick / earwax spoon

I know a few people who might be very interested in something like this, although I doubt that they’d be willing to pay $100,000 for this particular one (even if it is made of gold).

May 20, 2008 — Experts found a tiny gold combined toothpick and earwax spoon, believed to be more than 385 years old, during the search for a shipwrecked Spanish galleon off the Florida Keys. (photo included after the jump)

why i love the dfw listserv

Unlike some listservs that I regret signing up for, this one is generally pretty quiet. Usually it’s 1-2 posts per week about someone receiving some sort of literary award (although unless i missed it, nobody posted on cynthia ozick winning a couple of PEN lifetime achievement awards last week, despite DFW having raved about her work in past interviews, and also teaching her work, i believe) or someone posting something David Foster Wallace or lit-related. However, sometimes a flurry of activity will ignite and last for a day or so, and these flurries can provide much entertainment. To wit, see the following excerpts of this thread that emerged this weekend:

Sent:	Sat 4/26/08 7:12 PM
To:	wallace-l (wallace-l@waste.org)

Here’s a gossipy article on n+1 editor Keith Gessen ostensibly about his new book but mostly about how much he hates McSweeney’s.

As a founding editor of n+1, the literary magazine whose vocal fan base belies its twice-yearly 7,500-copy print run, Mr. Gessen and his colleagues have assailed other publications they believe have squandered their eminence (The New Republic) or never merited it (McSweeney’s and anything else associated with the writer Dave Eggers).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/fashion/27gessen.html?ex=1366948800

—-

Sent:	Sat 4/26/08 8:39 PM

> Here’s a gossipy article on n+1 editor Keith Gessen ostensibly about his > new book but mostly about how much he hates McSweeney’s.

“If you’re going to be a writer, you have to not make a living”, says the guy.

Yeah, right. You should also have twelve toes.

It´s so easy to sound cool saying stuff like “you have to [insert non-literary random characteristic]” in order to be a good writer. And I love most things McSweeney´s does. Are they hated by many people in the US? I don´t get it. I´ve been to 826 Valencia in San Francisco last month, it´s a wonderful place. I met Eggers there. This enthusiasm they bring to publishing (which Keith Gessen despises) is more than welcome. By the way, just finished reading “Arkansas”, by John Brandon, recently published by McSweeney´s. I liked it a lot. A crime novel with an unusual pace and some great characters. And clever dialogue, to the point of being TOO clever here and there. Daniel — Daniel Galera http://ranchocarne.org

——————————-

You can watch him on Titlepage TV with Daniel Menaker (and Sloane Crosley) here: http://www.titlepage.tv/episodes/episode-2-you-always-remember-first-time?page=1

Has anyone read his book? I’m interested. Kunkel’s book was pretty weak, I thought, but it wouldn’t be hard to knock Eggers off his perch–the guy excels mostly in design and philanthropy. Although, I must take a step back and say I have not read What is the What.

On Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 5:07 PM, Jake wrote:

> Keith who?

> > > On Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 1:35 PM, Matt wrote:

> > > Seriously sounds pretty douchebaggy. I enjoyed his novel and was pretty close to an N+1 subscription, but I’m hesitating now

> > > > > > On Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 1:28 PM, Travis wrote

> > > > > This guy kinda sounds like a douche bag.

—————————

I love how this listserv, which has a history of taking Eggers to task and generally getting pretty pissed off that Eggers and McSweeney’s get the commercial attention and critical acclaim that they do, is also quick to weigh in on someone else doing the same and claim it to be douchebaggery. Not that I agree or disagree, I just think the whole thing is funny.

I’m probably one of the few people on the list who actually likes DFW, Vollmann and Eggers, whereas most seem to have a pretty strong dislike for at least one of the three (and I’m gonna go out on a pretty sturdy limb and say that most on the list are way better equipped, whether via literary education or general intelligence, to form and express such opinions than i am). So for me, this is a great, interesting way for me to learn about Keith Gessen and n+1 enough to sound halfway intelligent if/when someone brings him/it up in conversation. It’s also fascinating to see that the literary criticism world is somewhat similar to the music criticism world, with McSweeney’s apparently being a philosophical corollary to Badaboom Gramophone.

Anyone interested in signing up for the list or learning more about DFW should go here:http://www.thehowlingfantods.com/dfw/wallace-l.html

Atlantic Monthly archives open

The Atlantic Monthly has opened its archives to the public.  My immediate thrill was finding out that this opens up links to two David Foster Wallace pieces: “Host” (available unexpurgated in Consider the Lobster) and “Just Asking.”  Having previously read “Host” in CtL, I was primarily excited to read John Ziegler’s response to the piece.

Checking out the music industry blog coolfer, I saw that there’s at least one other article in the archives that I’d like to take the time to read:

Now that the Atlantic Monthly no longer charges for access, I thought it would be a good idea to link to the September 2000 article titled “The Heavenly Jukebox” by Charles C. Mann. At the time it was published — years before iTunes was even launched — the article captured better than any other the potential, pitfalls and issues surrounding digital media. Today, the article is a time capsule that stands out as a very prescient examination of the issues surrounding the industry’s reaction to file-sharing and digital distribution. It is well researched and heavy on historical references.

William Parker – Long Hidden: The Olmec Series

Overall Rating: 7.8 (out of 10)        Label: Aum Fidelity

The Olmec group is represented on four of the 11 tracks here, and consists of the indomitable William Parker, saxist Dave Sewelson, bassist Todd Nicholson (good ol’ “cousin Todd”), and four young Merengue musicians: Omar Payano, Isaiah Parker, Gabriel Nunez and Luis Ramirez.  William plays bass and Doson ngoni on this offering, the latter being an stringed instrument somewhere between a kora and a banjo (he alternates between a traditional 6-stringed one from Mali and an 8-stringed one made for him in Paris). 

So we have four uptempo Olmec numbers, “dedicated to the forefathers of Middle America and to the Tainos Indians who first settled the country that is presently called the Dominican Republic” and four Parker solo tracks recorded around  the same time in 2005.  Add to this mix two live solo tracks from a 1997 concert in Berkeley, CA (including a passionate reprise of “Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy,” originally written for the quartet In Order to Survive and recorded on a stellar album of the same name) and this is a really nice collection of music.  Finally add the bonus track: the towering “In Case of Accident” recorded live in 1993 and originally released on Painter’s Spring on Parker’s own Centering Music label (and also included on a compilation CD that came with the second issue of the (maga)zine Halana) – a 14-minute tour-de-force that brings it all home for me.

Mixing solo and group efforts of varied styles and time periods works well here to my ears.  Rather than sounding fractured and discombobulated, it works like a good mixtape, with the various styles providing segues into each other and changing things up a bit.  Honestly, I would probably find 66 minutes of Olmec or solo bass a bit tiring to listen to regularly, but I’m happy to hit play again as soon as this CD ends.  And while the track “Pok-a-Tok,” seems a bit long at times, just knowing that it’s “an Olmec ballgame whose object is to knock a four and a half pound rubber ball through a small ring using only the elbows, wrists and hips” makes its inclusion in its entirety worthwhile.  Which brings me to the packaging – a very nice digipak with copious liner notes and track by track description written by Parker.  In these days of digital downloads, providing informative and interesting liner notes, particularly notes written by the musician, in an attractive package is indeed something to treasure. 

So, while I was a bit disappointed with this on first listen, finding it a bit shrill and jarring at times (which I’m chalking up to two things: 1) my initial listen took place while getting ready to go to sleep, and 2) the amount of fully groovy/funky Parker/Drake I’ve been aurally devouring lately), I’ve come to enjoy this CD quite a bit in the week I’ve had it.  Great for active listening and as background music while I’m doing other things.

Triptych Myth – The Beautiful

Overall Rating: 8.2 (out of 10)         Label: Aum Fidelity

I am at a loss in reviewing this, as William Parker’s review in the liner notes says everything more eloquently than I could. Triptych Myth is a downtown NYC trio featuring Cooper-Moore on piano, Tom Abbs on bass and Chad Taylor on drums. Cooper-Moore is the known entity here for me, although I’ve more often heard him playing his homemade instruments.

Cooper-Moore’s piano is center stage on this recording, if only because it’s the most prominent in the mix. The music is definitely that of a trio, though. These musicians are having conversations, listening to each other, pushing each other and the music forward. The music itself is varied in type and tone. The opener, “All Up In It,” is a thunderstorm of notes and percussion. “Frida K. The Beautiful” is a more mournful and textured piece. “Spiraling Out” is a standout that I believe would appeal to fans of Matthew Shipp and Cecil Taylor without particularly sounding like either of these men. “Pooch (for Wilbur Morris)” comes out of nowhere to break things up: heartfelt, with sometimes spare, melodic piano and bowed bass complemented by skittering and often frantic drums, this one is the highlight of the release for me.

That said, there’s not a bad track here, and the second half of the disc continues to mix things up, mixing elements of the avant garde, traditional jazz, classical and contemporary composition to wonderful effect. There are snippets that would not sound out of place on a recording of Gershwin, Guaraldi or Grubbs. Yet the music sounds like none of these, and rather than sounding fragmented, it presents a very unified, coherent and beautiful aesthetic. “Poppa’s Gin in the Chicken Feed,” another standout, is a terrific example of what I’m talking about.

It can be difficult at times to have this on as background music while reading, as many of the songs demand attention. I find that I’m most interested and impressed when listening to the bass, as it tends to be lowest in the mix, and following it closely allows me to hear all instruments/musicians equally. Triptych Myth is indeed a creative and collaborative force making some beautiful music – it’s a shame it’s taken me so long to realize it.

Lutefisk – Deliver from Porcelain: Themes and Variations

 Overall rating: 3.6 (out of 10) Label: Bong Load Custom Records

Why do I own this? Was it in a dollar bin? The better songs sound like some cross between Mudhoney and Brainiac, but many of them sound like a cross between Weezer and a bad cover band that specializes in Misfits and Guns and Roses covers. Okay, “Asymmetric Bee Factory” seems to be a nicely little fucked up piece that I could see including in a radio show set, with its meandering feedback and distorted digitized spoken word bit, and “Mindless Criminal Activity” is a nice noise-collage piece that is similarly suitable for inclusion in a college-radio set (although at 18:26 it may go on a bit too long – I’d personally recommend truncating the beginning portion). But these are buried in the CD at #’s 8 & 10. And really, I can’t see listening to them on the regular, although I can’t see listening to any of my Masonna records on the regular anymore, and I used to love that shit. Maybe I’m getting old. But the fact that this has sat on my shelf untouched for over a decade, and has a piece of paper inside with “#10” written on it – presumably to remind me to play that one on my radio show – that tells me that this CD goes in the sell pile, if anyone will take it. I think I’ve also got a Lutefisk 7” somewhere. Tracks 8-11 would actually make a nice EP, maybe I’ll copy them before ditching the rest. If I were judging this just based on those last four tracks, I’d give this 7/10.