June 19, 2013
Book Notes - Eli Brown "Cinnamon and Gunpowder"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Bret Easton Ellis, Kate Christensen, Kevin Brockmeier, George Pelecanos, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Myla Goldberg, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
Eli Brown's Cinnamon and Gunpowder is a colorful and entertaining pirate tale, one that centers around a kidnapped chef expected to create gourmet meals from the ship's meager provisions.
Kirkus wrote of the book:
"Brown is able to make his narrative both sizzling and swashbuckling."
Stream a Spotify playlist of these tunes. If you don't have Spotify yet, sign up for the free service.
In his own words, here is Eli Brown's Book Notes music playlist for his novel, Cinnamon and Gunpowder:
In Cinnamon and Gunpowder, kidnapped chef, Owen Wedgwood, plays a synesthetic game with flavors, assigning each of the principle tongue sensations a color and theme. To him, flavors are too important to leave in the mouth. They are what cardinal directions are to a cartographer, what chords are to a composer. He compares the mouth to a cave our earliest ancestors peered out of with awe.
In this spirit I will play a similar game with the music that was with me during the writing of the book. In the early stages, when the characters were still introducing themselves to me in eddies of black smoke and spilled wine, I used these songs to prime my mood. The premise of the plot is simple: a chef gets kidnapped by a notorious pirate and is forced to cook on her ship. But it is also a story of a dawning consciousness, of a long and desperate search, and of finding passion in the most unlikely of places. These songs are haunting, anachronistic, nostalgic, and heavy on the squeeze-box. Of course they could serve as a movie soundtrack but they could just as well accompany a seven- course meal, a trial and judgment, a parade, or a sacrifice.
The rhythm knocked out by an empty bottle rolling on a deck. A story being told by an old lecher. The promise of a journey.
The Eels - "Bride of Theme From Blinking Lights (Live At Town Hall)"
Memories of a long-lost lover. The bleary morning after a savage storm, when the birds themselves seem surprised to be alive.
Devendra Banhart - "Cristobal"
The erratic journey of a letter doomed to arrive much too late. The hypnotic coastline of an unexplored world. The first vertiginous signs that a drug has taken hold. A surrender.
The erotic, coercive thump of the tide beneath a boat. The realization that you were wrong. The sigh of a whale and the dance of circling sharks. The sunset color of saffron rice.
Bulgarian State Television Female Choir - "Messetschinko lio Greilivko"
The losers of a battle picking through the ruined field. The recognition of a relative’s face. The hum of wind through the ropes.
The sweet sweat smell of people laboring together. A drink with new friends. Picking flowers you don’t know the names of.
DeVotchKa - "Charlotte Mittnacht"
The dizzy course traced by a body floating on the water. The jumbled waltz of a new set of crutches.
Reedy, lonesome moans of a ship without a crew. Witnessing the last sunrise. A body preserved in a barrel of wine.
Realizing that the loved ones are still alive. Waking in a bed with a new lover.
Eli Brown and Cinnamon and Gunpowder links:
video trailer for the book
excerpt from the book
excerpt from the book
audio excerpt from the book
Kirkus review
NPR review
Publishers Weekly review
Work in Progress essay by the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
Book Notes (2012 - ) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2005 - 2011) (authors create music playlists for their book)
my 11 favorite Book Notes playlist essays
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
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)
June 19, 2013
Largehearted WORD Books of the Week - June 19, 2013
In the Largehearted Word series, the staff of Brooklyn's WORD bookstore highlights several new books released this week.
WORD is an independent neighborhood bookstore in Greenpoint, the northernmost neighborhood of Brooklyn, that recently celebrated its sixth anniversary. Our primary goal is to be whatever our community needs us to be, which currently means carrying a lot of paperback fiction (especially classics), cookbooks, board books, and absurdly cute cards and stationery. In addition, we're fiends for a good event, from the classic author reading and Q&A to potlucks and a basketball league (and anything set in a bar). We're a small operation, just 1000 square feet and four people, but we read too much, so it all works out. If a weekly dose of WORD here isn't enough for you, follow us on Twitter: @wordbookstores.
WORD also hosts the monthly Largehearted Lit reading series, featuring authors who participated in this blog's Book Notes series and musical guests.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
by Neil Gaiman
Molly and Jenn have been anxiously waiting for this to come out so we can talk about it with everyone. We have Many Thoughts!
Lexicon
by Max Barry
We've been fans of Max Barry since Jennifer Government; no one tackles present-day issues with outlandish sci-fi twists quite like him. His newest is a privacy/brainwashing/data-obsessed thriller, which, how can you not want to read that?
Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway
by Sara Gran
Jenn is still inarticulate about exactly how wonderful Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead was, so she's extra speechless about the sequel. Basically all you need to know is that Gran is whip-smart, a hell of a writer, and a genius with twists and turns.
Flip the Script: A Guidebook for Aspiring Vandals & Typographers
by Christian P. Acker
This exhaustive guide to street styles nationwide is perfect for both coffee-table viewing and serious artists.
WORD Brooklyn links:
WORD website
WORD Tumblr
WORD on Twitter
WORD's Facebook page
WORD's Flickr photos
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Largehearted Word Books of the Week (weekly new book highlights)
Online "Best Books of 2012" Lists
52 Books, 52 Weeks (my yearly reading project)
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly comics & graphic novel highlights)
Book Notes (authors create music playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Atomic Books Comics Preview - June 19, 2013
In the weekly Atomic Books Comics Preview, Benn Ray highlights notable new comics and graphic novels.
Benn Ray is the owner of Atomic Books, an independent bookstore in Baltimore. The Mobtown Shank is his blog, and his comic Said What? is syndicated weekly in the Baltimore Sun's B-Paper.
Atomic Books has been named one of Bizarre Magazine's 51 geekiest places on the planet, as well as one of Flavorwire's 10 greatest comic and graphic novel stores in America.
Gabba Gabba Hey!: The Graphic Story Of The Ramones
by Jim McCarthy / Brian Williamson
In the history of punk, few bands lived as perfectly as comic book characters as the Ramones, so this graphic novel band history is a very appropriate format to tell their story.
It Will All Hurt
by Farel Dalrymple
I'll be honest, if it's a web comic, it may as well not exist as far as I'm concerned. Maybe that's because it, technically speaking, doesn't. Exist, that is. But once it's printed with real ink on real paper, then I might be interested. This arty, Falrymple sci-fi book was a web comic - but this print version is just so gorgeous, it's hard for me to understand why anyone would prefer pixels to paper.
Raw Fury #1
by Peter Miles Bergman / Eric Von Haynes (editors)
This street art zine is one of those finely hand-crafted publications where the editors pay so much attention to detail, and so obsessively slave over the final product, that it's just impossible to not pick up, thumb through and need to own. It even includes a poster.
Saga Volume 2
by Brian K. Vaughan / Fiona Staples
This is the newest collection of Vaughn and Staples' controversial hit sci-fi fantasy comic.
Study Group Magazine #2
by Zack Soto / Milo George (editors)
Soto and George have compiled an excellent, gorgeous and very readable comics magazine. #2 features comics by Aidan Koch, David King, Lilli Carre, Michael Deforge, Lark Pien, Jeremy Onsmith, Dan Zettwoch, Julia Gfrorer and many more. There are also interviews, essays and more. You won't be able to stop 'til you've read Study Group from cover to cover.
Sweet Tooth Volume 6: Wild Game
by Jeff Lemire
This volume concludes Lemire's hit, acclaimed post-apocalyptic tale of human/animal hybrid mutations.
Questions, concerns, comments or gripes – e-mail benn@atomicbooks.com. If there’s a comic I should know about, send it my way at Atomic, c/o Atomic Books 3620 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD 21211.
Atomic Books & Benn Ray links:
Atomic Books website
Atomic Books on Twitter
Atomic Books on Facebook
Benn Ray's blog (The Mobtown Shank)
Benn Ray's comic, Said What?
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Atomic Books Comics Preview lists (weekly new comics & graphic novel highlights)
52 Books, 52 Weeks
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Book Notes (authors create music playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (weekly new book highlights)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Shorties (Questlove on His New Memoir, Recommended Graphic Novels for Summer Reading, and more)
Pitchfork interviews Roots drummer Questlove about his new memoir, Mo' Meta Blues.
NPR Books recommends five graphic novels for summer reading.
Up on the Sun lists 10 metal albums you must hear before you die.
Hari Kunzru interviews Rachel Kushner about her novel The Flamethrowers at BOMB.
Jarvis Cocker talks to the Guardian about his new documentary, The Big Melt.
The Atlantic Wire profiles author Ben Greenman.
Aquarium Drunkard shares a mixtape of Brazilian music.
Hero Complex interviews Jim Ottaviani about his new graphic novel Primates.
West Coast Sound interviews comedian marc Maron about how he chooses music for his television show.
The Marshalltown recommends graphic novels to readers new to the genre.
The Guardian Music blog is listing the 101 strangest albums on Spotify.
James Franco is crowdfunding three films to be adapted from his short story collection Palo Alto.
NPR Music is streaming Bosnian Rainbows' self-titled album.
Amanda Palmer reviews her husband Neil Gaiman's new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Browbeat makes a case for a "Mrs. Dalloway" day.
This year, a handful of literary folk in London celebrated another modernist masterpiece, Virginia Woolf's slender Mrs. Dalloway—which also takes place on a single day in June—by taking a walk around London. They walked "in the spirit of Bloomsday," and it is cheering to see Woolf's novel celebrated in this way. But it seems unlikely to catch on.
Win Hilary Mantel's novels Bring Up the Bodies and Wolf Hall and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's contest at Largehearted Boy.
Amazon MP3 offers 100 albums on sale for $5 each.
Amazon MP3 offers over 2,400 albums on sale for $3.99.
Amazon MP3
Amazon MP3 offers over 400 jazz albums on sale for $1.78.
Amazon MP3
Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week's best new comics & graphic novels)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week's best new books)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Daily Downloads (Ivan and Alyosha, Josh Ritter, 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:
Bells Atlas: "Kazoo" [mp3] from Bells Atlas
Bronze Radio Return: free and legal A Bit of Bronze album [mp3]
Columboid: "Gorky" [mp3] from Monster Vision
A Grave with No Name: "Dig Me Out" [mp3] from Whirlpool (out July 16th)
Ivan and Alyosha: free and legal All the Times We Had album [mp3]
Josh Ritter: free and legal 2013 NoiseTrade Sampler album [mp3]
Potty Mouth: "The Spins" [mp3] from Hell Bent (out September 17th)
Various Artists: free and legal Ghostly 2013 Selected album [mp3]
Various Artists: free and legal Kanine Records Sampler album [mp3]
Various Artists: free and legal Warped Tour '13 Free Sampler album [mp3]
Free and legal live performances at other websites:
The Lumineers: 2013-06-08, Hunter [mp3]
search for more free and legal music downloads at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
covers collections
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily music, books, and pop culture news and links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtrack)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from the week's CD releases)
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
June 18, 2013
Book Notes - Lori Carson "The Original 1982"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Bret Easton Ellis, Kate Christensen, Kevin Brockmeier, George Pelecanos, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Myla Goldberg, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
Singer-songwriter Lori Carson impresses with nuanced and crisp prose in her debut novel, The Original 1982.
Booklist wrote of the book:
"A lyrical story of love, longing, and acceptance. Beautifully imaged and authentically told, the result is a deeply meaningful exploration of an often painful subject."
Stream a Spotify playlist of these tunes. If you don't have Spotify yet, sign up for the free service.
In her own words, here is Lori Carson's Book Notes music playlist for her debut novel, The Original 1982:
In my book, The Original 1982, singer/songwriter Lisa Nelson, revisits the 1980's in order to become a mother, something she never got to do the first time around. In parallel stories, Lisa becomes a mother in one life, and a successful musician in the other, learning about regret and acceptance, love, loss, and the beauty of life, along the way.
I don't usually listen to music when I write because it's too distracting. It's like trying to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time. I'm not that coordinated. But obviously music plays an important role in my book. All of the songs on this list make an actual appearance with the exception of one.
"Every Breath You Take," The Police:
This song by the Police influenced a lot of songs in the eighties. It was ubiquitous then, and has been ever since. In my book, Lisa borrows its arrangement for her song "Still True" in 1982, a bit of poetic license since the Police didn't actually release "Every Breath You Take" until 1983.
"Still True":
Lisa's love song applies to different situations at different times in her life. It's a real song of mine. I wrote "Still True" in the mid eighties. The song didn't make it onto my Geffen debut though I wanted it to. I always thought it could have been a hit. Later, I recorded a lame version (with a hastily written bridge) that was released on a record of demos called House in the Weeds. The definitive version exists only in The Original 1982 on Lisa Nelson's second record "Room Inside." Unfortunately the record is imaginary.
"Down Under," Men at Work:
"Down Under" was another 1980s staple. The video for this song, by the band Men at Work, was played constantly on MTV. It had a reggae feel; Reggae played, by white bands especially, was big in the eighties. In The Original 1982, Gabriel Luna, a successful Latin musician watches the video, as he dreams of a crossover hit.
"Sexual Healing," Marvin Gaye:
Marvin Gaye's song "Sexual Healing" was a revelation when it came out in 1982 (on Columbia Records -- his first after leaving Motown). And when I get that feeling I want sex-u-al healing. I don't remember a song before it that was as blatantly sexual (there's a line about masturbation in the outro). When Gabriel sings the song at the Vantage, the women in the audience start to howl, and jealousy comes over Lisa like a creeping rash.
"People's Parties," Joni Mitchell:
Joni Mitchell's songs have been playing in my head forever. She was the one who taught me that personal revelations had a place in song lyrics. Yeah, I know, Bob Dylan. Whatever. There's something so honest and real about those early Joni songs, and her melodies were great too. When Lisa first hears her baby's heartbeat, she finds herself laughing and crying and, off course, Joni Mitchell's "Peoples Parties" comes to mind. Laughing and crying/ you know it's the same release.
"Company," Rickie Lee Jones:
Rickie Lee Jones released "Company" in 1979 on her eponymous first record. It's one of the saddest songs I've ever heard. It aches. The whole record is great. When Lisa spends New Year's Eve alone with Minnow, missing Gabriel, she listens to RLJ sing "Company," and thinks her voice is like a sob.
"My Favorite Things," Julie Andrews:
This song is one I associate with childhood and magic. The lists, the comforting last line: and then I don't feel so bad. The Sound of Music was big when I was a kid. When Minnow joins her mother to play in the snow, Lisa thinks of warm woolen mittens and snowflakes on eyelashes.
"Spirit of Eden," Talk, Talk:
Lisa and her friends listen to this late one night. When I thought of a record that might have been playing in the late eighties/early nineties, on a mellow Sunday night, relaxing with musician friends, I thought of "Spirit of Eden." Rock, jazz, ambient music, it had a mixture of styles that felt fresh and really took you someplace. Don't you just love when a record does that? You lose awareness of all the individual instruments being played, the musicians playing them. The music becomes a place. I wish I still owned a copy of this record.
"Heart of the Matter," Don Henley:
For a long time I had the entire chorus of this song written out in a chapter near the end of part two. Lisa is saying that Gabriel's life has turned out well, and that she's not angry with him anymore. She wishes him the best. She says that it's like this song: I think it's about forgiveness/forgiveness/even if/you don't love me anymore. "Heart of the Matter" got cut, and now the song isn't even in my book. But I still see it there.
Lori Carson and The Original 1982 links:
the author's website
the author's Wikipedia entry
Kirkus review
Vol. 1 Brooklyn review
Page-turner interview with the author
PopMatters interview with the author
Virtual Memories interview with the author
Washington Post essay by the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
Book Notes (2012 - ) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2005 - 2011) (authors create music playlists for their book)
my 11 favorite Book Notes playlist essays
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
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 - Richard Melo "Happy Talk"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Bret Easton Ellis, Kate Christensen, Kevin Brockmeier, George Pelecanos, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Myla Goldberg, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
Richard Melo's Happy Talk is an ambitious and delightfully absurd novel from the author of Jokerman 8.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
"Melo is a great spinner of yarns through polyphonic hearsay."
Stream a Spotify playlist of these tunes. If you don't have Spotify yet, sign up for the free service.
In his own words, here is Richard Melo's Book Notes music playlist for his novel, Happy Talk:
Born at the height of the rock era, I'm one of those novelists -- and there are plenty in my generation -- who channels music into writing. I am not talking about lyrical ideas as much as the infusion of atmosphere and the type of emotional substance that comes across as effortless in music but requires delicacy on the part of the novelist.
It's like a Wes Anderson movie without the movie. Take, for example, the famous scene in Rushmore when the Who's "A Quick One (While He's Away)" plays over an unrelated series of cruel pranks played by the Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman characters. It's an astonishing moment in the movie, and it's the song that makes it. More than that, it's a window inside Anderson's creative process as the scene was built around the song.
You hear a song and set elements of story that play on its moods.
Film directors have the advantage of using soundtracks and scores to create atmosphere, and as a movie fan, I fall for the Wes Anderson technique all the time. Novels inspired by music, on the the other hand, can be so subtle that readers won't even know there is a song playing in the background. I'm not sure readers need to "hear" or even know a novel's underlying soundtrack to appreciate the musical effects of the Wes Anderson technique as applied to novel writing.
Here's more on what I mean, a glimpse into what I do, and the way music acts upon my writing.
"Left of Reckoning," by R.E.M.
Though it's not the story of a band or fans, my first book, Jokerman 8, is a full-on rock novel. It makes references to just about to everything I was listening to in the 12 years it took to write. In 1988, I started creating mix tapes (which eventually became playlists when that technology came along) that cataloged the series of moods that defined the story. Before finishing, I eventually collected several hundred songs.
In the end, Jokerman 8 became a lovingly ineffable book with a choppy, improvised feel. My intent was for reading the novel to mimic the experience of listening to a rock ‘n' roll record of the early 1980s college radio variety -- in particular R.E.M.'s amazing 1984 album, Reckoning. At times, it reads like a box of dishes tumbling down a flight of stairs, which to me is how the album sounds. (See an artsy 41-second clip from the album's fadeout that captures its disorganized mood and was left off the CD release.)
There's a good chance not a single reader made the connection between my novel and Reckoning, but that's not the point. Without R.E.M., Jokerman 8 simply would not exist in the same state. There's even a chance it wouldn't exist at all.
"Happy Talk," by Captain Sensible
The title of Happy Talk, my new novel out this month from Red Lemonade, comes from South Pacific, and though I consider Rodgers and Hammerstein vapid in the extreme (and ripe for parody), I discovered this song via Captain Sensible in the mid-1980s. I've spent years admiring the Captain's rendition. (Check out the music video. It has much parrot face time.)
My Happy Talk novel is set among Americans living in Haiti during the 1950s. By design, it was going to be less a rock novel than a novel posing as a piece of musical theatre. Calling the novel Happy Talk seemed like the right thing to do, as it's also filled with playful banter. At the last minute, I nearly retitled the book "Sweet Touch of Love" after an Allen Toussaint song that not only captures many of the book's moods but also suggests its voodoo soul-switching themes. "Sweet Touch" is a much better song, and Allen Toussaint is the novel's patron saint, and in the end, it could have gone either way.
"Lover," by Les Paul
No other song influenced Happy Talk more than Les Paul's "Lover" is. A sped up, high-pitched, and impossibly intricate guitar instrumental, it might just be the most frenzied song I have ever heard. "Lover" suggests island imagery, love themes, vertigo, and multiple voices speaking all at once. It's the type of song that makes you want to get up and do something. In my case, I it made me want to write a novel. (You can hear the song right now via Youtube. Many of these songs also appear on the Happy Talk Spotify playlist.)
"Magic to Do," Ben Vereen (from Pippin)
Not only is this an extraordinary song, I've always admired this opening number from Pippin because of the joyous way it introduces themes and builds atmosphere and anticipation. Happy Talk's prologue attempts to recreate this song's effect as closely as possible starting from the novel's opening line, "Dry ice fog rolls in from the wings of the stage, accompanied by a piano jazz vamp and murmurs of the backstage chorus ready to take places." (See Ben Vereen performing "Magic to Do.")
"Eli's Comin'," by Laura Nyro
I can't put my finger on why, but Laura Nyro always makes me want to write. She has inspired my favorite parts of nearly everything I've written. Happy Talk's opening sequence with the Nightingale student nurses making their beds and chattering about the return of Culprit Clutch (the novel's anti-hero) plays straight out of this song.
"Sweet Blindness," by Laura Nyro
My writing process involves diving so deeply into the material that it feels more remembered than imagined. As an experiment in this kind of immersion, I started looking for old film clips related to the novel and editing them to the song that inspired specific scenes. This first short film edits together a variety of shots of student nurses from the novel's era, while this song plays in the background. The playfulness of the song and images -- as well as the fluid succession of the faces -- gave character to the scenes with the student nurses. (See my "Student Nurses" film here.)
"S.O.S.," by the Mumps
I like when a period piece gives off the air that it was created in the era it portrays. I worked hard to make Happy Talk seem as authentic as possible. At the same time, I couldn't avoid the influence of a few songs from the 70s and 80s that don't connect to the book's era. Lance Loud and the Mumps were a terrific CBGB-era NYC punk band with a flair for lo-fi theatricality. Listening to this song, I have no idea what it's about, but I like it. I was writing a scene in the book about a hospital patient in plaster casts from head to toe, and somehow this song seemed to connect.
"You're the Top," by Cole Porter
I'm usually not a fan of the practice of including full song lyrics in fiction, but since Happy Talk has a musical theatre vibe, and I wanted to characters to break out in song, I needed to find a way to make it work. The trick, I believe, is to find an original song with lyrics so witty that the words can stand alone. The next step is to rewrite the song line by line while trying to maintain its wit. When two of the novel's more manic characters take the stage, it's their own version of this Cole Porter tune they sing. I'm not a songwriter, but this was about as much writing fun as I've ever had. (You can hear Cole Porter's original on Youtube. The lyrics I rewrote are also published online.)
"Daddy's Song," by Harry Nilsson
There's a thrilling car race down the length of Mexico in the middle of the book. As another film experiment, I cut together vintage scenes from racing and car culture to one of my favorite Harry Nilsson songs. (See the "Auto Races" short film here.)
"Night of the Thumpasaurus People," by Parliament
All too often, Happy Talk's imagery involves large objects spotted in the sky. Late in the novel, talk turns to the Mother Plane from the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, which later inspired Parliament's Mothership Connection, which is brilliant in how interweaves its literal and musical themes. I always imagined that if Happy Talk were a movie, this song would play over the closing credits. All my writerly instincts tell me this is the funky note on which (when all is said and done) the book ends.
Richard Melo and Happy Talk links:
the author's website
the author's blog
the author's Wikipedia entry
short films inspired by the book
Portland Monthly review
Publishers Weekly review
Portland Monthly interview with the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
Book Notes (2012 - ) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2005 - 2011) (authors create music playlists for their book)
my 11 favorite Book Notes playlist essays
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
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)
Shorties (Daft Punk Plays DJ, Recommended Shakespeare Biographies, and more)
The Daft Punk duo spins songs that inspired their latest album Random Access Memories at All Songs Considered.
Biographile recommends Shakespeare biographies.
LA Music Blog recommends indie running music.
The Guardian Architecture and Design blog reviews a show of artwork inspired by Hari Kunzru's novella Memory Palace.
On sale for $5 today at Amazon MP3: She and Him's Volume 3 album.
Talk of the Nation interviews cartoonist R. Crumb about his graphic novel The Book of Genesis Illustrated.
The A.V. Club interviews David Shwarts, composer for television shows Arrested Development, Deadwood, and Northern Exposure.
Fresh Air interviews Charles Glass about his book The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II.
Pitchfork gives the new Kanye West, Yeezus, album a 9.5.
All of these unlikely choices demonstrate how cohesion and bold intent are at a premium on Yeezus, perhaps more than any other Kanye album. Each fluorescent strike of noise, incongruous tempo flip, and warped vocal is bolted into its right place across the record's fast 40 minutes.
Tan Twan Eng has won the 2013 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction with his novel The Garden of Evening Mists.
NME reports that Jay-Z's new album will go platinum in advance of its release, due to one million copies bought by Samsung and given to its smartphone customers.
The Oxford American interviews author Chris Offutt.
JMR: Writer Tom Franklin feels you haven't gotten the credit you deserve as a Southern or rural writer. Do you think that's the case, and what would that acknowledgment mean to you?
CO: A) No writer gets the credit he or she deserves. B) Money, cars, women, moonshine. And a complete set of The Jetsons on DVD.
Flavorwire lists the 50 greatest summer albums of the past 50 years.
Paste recommends 20 books for summer reading.
Win Hilary Mantel's novels Bring Up the Bodies and Wolf Hall and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's contest at Largehearted Boy.
Amazon MP3 offers 100 albums on sale for $5 each.
Amazon MP3 offers over 2,400 albums on sale for $3.99.
Amazon MP3
Amazon MP3 offers over 400 jazz albums on sale for $1.78.
Amazon MP3
Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week's best new comics & graphic novels)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week's best new books)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
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 Antlers, Kyle Andrews, 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:
Beach: "Love Was a River" [mp3] from In Us We Trust (out July 16th)
Chance Wisener: "Wandering One" [mp3]
Elusive Parallelograms: "8-Bit" [mp3] from Fragments (out July 2nd)
Esmerine: "Translator's Clos Part II" [mp3] from Dalmak (out September 3rd)
Kyle Andrews: "Crystal Ball" [mp3] from Brighter than the Sun (out July 23rd)
Murray A. Lightburn (of the Dears): "Motherf**kers" [mp3] from Mass: Light
One Finger Riot: "Freedom Song" [mp3]
Oval: five free and legal albums [mp3]
Pressed And: "Creed Unlove" [mp3] from Stone Candies
yOya: "I'll Be the Fire" [mp3] from Go North (out July 16th)
Free and legal live performances at other websites:
The Antlers: 2013-06-12, New York [mp3]
search for more free and legal music downloads at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
covers collections
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily music, books, and pop culture news and links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtrack)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from the week's CD releases)
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June 17, 2013
This Week's Interesting Music Releases - June 18, 2013
Sigur Ros's Kveikur, the band's first release from XL Recordings, is out tomorrow.
Austra's Olympia, The Purrs' The Boy With Astronaut Eyes, and Tunng's Turbines are all albums I have heard and can heartily recommend.
Kanye West's Yeezus is also in stores tomorrow.
What new releases are you picking up this week? What can you recommend? Have I left anything noteworthy off the list?
This week's interesting music releases:
Austra: Olympia
Bill Frisell: Big Sur
David Sylvain: Wadermude
Delbert and Glen: Blind, Crippled, and Crazy
Donna the Buffalo: Tonight Tomorrow and Yesterday
Eddie Spaghetti: The Value of Nothing
Gaslight Anthem: Singles Collection: 2008-2011 (9-disc box set) [vinyl]
Hospital Ships: Destruction in Yr Soul
Jack Wilson: Spare Key
Kanye West: Yeezus
The Mantles: Long Enough to Leave
Marco Beltrami: World War Z: Music from the Motion Picture
Midnight Faces: Fornication
The Mowgli's: Waiting for the Dawn
Pere Ubu: Live At The Longhorn April 1, 1978
Phish: Ventura (6-CD box set)
Primal Scream: More Light
The Purrs: The Boy With Astronaut Eyes
Quasimoto: Whatever
Saint Motel: Voyeur
Sigur Ros: Kveikur
Slaid Cleaves: Still Fighting the War
Spectrals: Sob Story
Stephen Kellogg: Blunderstone Rookery
Steve Gunn: Time Off
Tunng: Turbines
Valient Thorr: Our Own Masters
Various Artists: Athfest 2013
Various Artists: Putumayo Presents Acoustic America
Woody Guthrie: Woody at 100 (CD and DVD)
also at Largehearted Boy:
other weekly music & DVD release lists
100 online sources for free and legal music downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (music from this week's releases)
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This Week's Interesting DVD Releases - June 18, 2013
The Criterion Collection releases expanded editions of three films this week, Harold Lloyd's classic Safety Last!, William Cameron Menzies' Things to Come, and Frantisek Vlacil's Marketa Lazarova.
Happy New Year is a documentary that profiles veterans struggling with PTS and PTSD.
Television highlights include the BBC drama Call the Midwife: Season Two and the comedies Wilfred: Season Two and Workaholics: Season Three.
What new releases are you picking up or adding to your streaming queue this week?
This week's interesting DVD releases:
21 and Over
The Amazing Adventures of the Living Corpse
American Mary
The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations Tour
Before Sunrise / Before Sunset
Body of Proof: The Complete Third Season
Brass Teapot
Call the Midwife: Season Two
Doomsday Preppers: Season 2
Drop Dead Diva: The Complete Fourth Season
Exhumed
Fraggle Rock: Season 4
The Ghost Army
Gibsonburg
Glastonbury The Movie: In Flashback
Happy New Year
The Howling (Collector's Edition)
Jack the Giant Slayer
Jackson Browne: I'll Do Anything: Live In Concert
The Last Exorcism Part II
Led Zeppelin: Music in Review: Volume 1
Let My People Go
Lifeforce (Collector's Edition) [Blu-Ray/DVD Combo]
Marketa Lazarova (Criterion Collection)
Moonshiners: Season 1
Movie 43
Plastic
Prank
Quartet
Rectify
Room 514
Safety Last! (Criterion Collection)
The Source Family
Springhill: Series 1
Stephen King's Golden Years
Stephen King's The Langoliers
Stephen King's The Stand
Stoker
Summoned
Things to Come (Criterion Collection)
Tribute to Ron Asheton Concert With Iggy and The Stooges and Friends
Ultraman: Series One, Vol. 1
Web Therapy: The Complete Second Season
When Things Were Rotten
Wilfred: Season Two
Wonder Women
Workaholics: Season Three
Zombies and The Undead Box Set
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous weekly music & DVD release lists
Soundtracked (directors and composers discuss their film's soundtrack)
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Shorties (A Whisky and Poetry Reading Series, Stream New Albums by Mavis Staples and Smith Westerns, and more)
Hometown Pasadena profiles the Los Angeles reading series, the Whisky & Poetry Salon.
Every two months, Salon attendees bring a poem, original or not, and read it in a candlelit loft surrounded by 30-40 whisky and poetry aficionados. In return, they get a flight of fine whiskies with tasting notes and history.
NPR Music is streaming the new Jeff Tweedy-produced Mavis Staples album, One True Vine.
Author and critic Carl Wilson talks about his bookshelves at Hazlitt.
Pitchfork follows two members of Pussy Riot as they tour New York City.
Letterology shares 60 years of 1984 book covers.
NPR Music is streaming the new Smith Westerns album, Soft Will.
John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats discusses novel writing with NUVO.
In addition to music, Darnielle is currently working on a novel (his second). He says work on the novel is necessarily different from his lyric writing.
"Writing longer things takes more focus, requires bigger vistas."
Obviously, writing a novel takes more time than a three-minute pop song. Asked if this more extended process ever chafes with his rapid-fire songwriting instincts, he says it's not an issue.
"I would have to be pretty naïve to think that I could build a ship using the same tools I'd use for whittling a spear point. ... If you've gotten good at whittling spear points and you say, 'Cool, I'll make a ship, I'll do it exactly like I do the spear points because I enjoy that process,' then your focus is all messed up.
Drowned in Sound debates Radiohead's Hail to the Thief album as it turns 10.
NoiseTrade now offers free and legal downloads of audiobooks as well as music.
On sale for $2.99 today at Amazon MP3: the 101-track The Essential Blues Album compilation.
Morning Edition profiles author Stuart Neville.
The A.V. Club lists 26 songs about Superman.
Win Hilary Mantel's novels Bring Up the Bodies and Wolf Hall and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's contest at Largehearted Boy.
Amazon MP3 offers 100 albums on sale for $5 each.
Amazon MP3 offers over 2,400 albums on sale for $3.99.
Amazon MP3
Amazon MP3 offers over 400 jazz albums on sale for $1.78.
Amazon MP3
Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week's best new comics & graphic novels)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week's best new books)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
