| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10628 Registered: 05-2005 |
Daniel Clowes - Wilson | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2246 Registered: 10-2006 |
Tough Crowd – Graham Linehan Between the (entertaining and informative) first part and the (agonising) second part, GL, once a rock writer himself, recalls a nugget regarding the NME’s frankly weird 1986 idea of getting a funk/dance critic to review the GB’s Liberty Belle album and a rock/pop critic to review Prince’s Parade – the former of course self-confessed enormous admirers of the latter – and placing them in face to face conflict on opposing pages, thus procuring two highly negative reviews of two stupendous works. High five! | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 520 Registered: 02-2007 |
The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 521 Registered: 02-2007 |
The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4889 Registered: 03-2005 |
Revolutionary Spirit - Paul Simpson "Sitting on the yellowed Formica shelf beneath the strip-lit mirror surround in the girls' toilets in Eric's . . . we're just talking about great new bands and what sessions Peelie played on his show last night when a submarine-deep voice with a cartoon Scouse accent thick as molasses enters the conversation. 'Way-o! Av yer seen the 'ed on that bouncer? It looks like it's made of soddin' granite. What a no-mark!' It takes a moment for my brain to translate this near gibberish to 'Hello all. Did any of you happen to notice the doorman's unique physiognomy? He's a loser." I'm staring into a pair of spectacle lenses so thick they magnify dust mites. At first I think they're being worn as some kind of punk affectation, like Pete's plastic lobster or the toilet seat he used to wear around his neck. 'Alright, Mac!' says Wylie. I'm agog. This! This is the legendary Ian McCulloch? The bloke everyone has been banging on about for weeks? No way could I ever be friends with this guy. I mean, check him out -- he's got the fashion sense of a halibut. I'm fascinated. Leaning in close enough to do retinal surgery on me, Mac assesses and judges me on the spot. 'Good cheekbones,' he deadpans. 'But you'll look like Peter Cushing when yer old.' I think I've passed his audition." I'm a big fan of early Wild Swans and get enough enjoyment out of the rest (even "Space Flower") and have always loved the Abba-esque camp of Care's "Flaming Sword". I'm only a third of the way into the book so far but it starts with a fraught account of the 2016 version of the Wild Swans (yes!) touring the Philippines (yes, again!) in the path of a couple typhoons. It then starts over with something I always lap up: a scattershot account of milestones growing up late baby-boomer Britain when you're from a somewhat fractured household. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2250 Registered: 10-2006 |
Entertaining reading. The Wild Swans flew right by me, unfortunately. Why are they sitting in the girls' loos? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4890 Registered: 03-2005 |
Punk clubs in Liverpool were apparently more relaxed about that sort of thing at the time. A quick musical intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdrLarbW EMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbzbpJGt VPM Their 2016 album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbaGkwUS HDE And for the sheer trashy pop joy, Simpson's collaboration with Ian Broudie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdCmjyYE O2c | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 522 Registered: 02-2007 |
Black Spring - Henry Miller | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 2058 Registered: 08-2006 |
You Dreamed of Empires – Álvaro Enrigue One of the more original and exciting novels I've read recently. Kind of a reimagining of the fateful meeting between Moctezuma and Cortez in what would become Mexico City. Enrigue obviously has a crazy amount of knowledge about the great Mayan city and its culture, but the way it's woven into the narrative, plus the inclusion of fictitious people and events, jettisons it outside what I'd call "historical fiction." Recommended to anyone who's a fan of the great Latin American novelists, Mexican history or just likes a book that's simultaneous a page-turner and a mind trip. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2254 Registered: 10-2006 |
Sounds good, Rob! As long as nobody levitates in it, I'll give it a try. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2255 Registered: 10-2006 |
As for the Wild Swans, well, there was no reason for me never to like them, that's for sure. The voice is always a deal-breaker for me, and Simpson's has just the kind of tender, slightly metallic warmth I like. Looking forward to more exploration. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 524 Registered: 02-2007 |
The Magician - Colm Tóibín | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4891 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Enrique book sounds really interesting Rob. I should be able to get it at my local bookstore. My knowledge of ancient American civilization is decidedly skimpy. Absorbing a bit of new information via a ripping good yarn written by somebody who knows what he's writing about sounds great. And, yes, I understand there are fictitious people and events but I'm a big picture/gestalt kind of guy rather than a details guy. If this novel can create the general sense of this massively important human collision it'll teach me a lot. And speaking of my not being a details guy I see that I wrote about a 2016 album and tour in my Wild Swans comments above. Ahem! It was a 2011 album and tour. Maybe I got my wires crossed with my own experience as I'm pretty sure I did not learn about that final Wild Swans album until after I moved to my current house in 2014. Maybe I got my copy in 2016. Who knows the workings of the enfeebling aging mind? I've become pretty tolerant of odd singing voices. I now consider them part of the individuality of an artist. What will make me immediately hit the "stop" button and discard the disc is if the voice has been subjected to digital tinkering such as auto-tune or vocorder effects. I will never want to hear a robot or machine sing. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2257 Registered: 10-2006 |
The autotune is the devil's work. Here in Italy, even talented singers resort to it because that's the expected sound for modern pop. Argh. The natural human voice is such an expressive instrument by itself, in all its varied forms, that tampering with it excessively always makes me shudder. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10643 Registered: 05-2005 |
Add me to the autotune hater’s list. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1548 Registered: 04-2005 |
And me too. Horrible noise. Personally I blame Peter Frampton and his vocoder on "Show Me The Way"  | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4892 Registered: 03-2005 |
I clean forgot about that Andrew! I guess he was a pioneer. My musical best friend and I used to make fun of that song for its rhymes. Back to the subject of books, I picked up a copy of "You Dreamed of Empires" at my local bookstore. It was in stock as I hoped, though I managed to overlook it the first time I went to the store for the purpose. The problem with the first attempt is that I went to look for the book several hours after reading Rob's recommendation and also a New York Times review. I hadn't bothered to refresh my recollection and only remembered that it has a yellow cover and the author's last name is Enriguez. I figured that was enough to find it, but it wasn't enough information to ask a clerk. So on that first visit I bought a copy of Patti Smith's "Just Kids" instead. Her era (and Robert Mapplethorpe's) in NYC is of great interest to me, before the city became a playground for the super wealthy and a hamster wheel for the stressed-out upper middle class. I have a lot of reading lined up! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10652 Registered: 05-2005 |
American Scream - The Bill Hicks Story, by Cynthia True. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1550 Registered: 04-2005 |
Don Paterson - "Toy Fights: A Boyhood" Wonderful. The "London Magazine" says it better than I can about this book by Dundee poet and jazz guitarist. https://thelondonmagazine.org/review-toy -fights-a-boyhood-by-don-paterson/ His writing on music is opinionated and passionate and his description of Scottish tablet is hilarious. No wonder the nation has such bad teeth. My grandmother used to make it and you could almost sense your teeth dissolving in all that concentrated sweetness. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2261 Registered: 10-2006 |
Just had a quick flick through it, on the "still unread" shelves behind me. I think he grew up in part of Dundee I'd have been frightened to set foot in! (The same area also produced a very fine watercolour artist called Angus McEwan). Paterson's dad apparently worked in Draffens at one point, a department store with a basement record department where I bought some of my first LPs. Odd to see his granddad had four fingers on one hand, like my father! Will have to read the whole thing, one day. Oh god, tablet. Just the thought gives me nausea now, but as a lad it was a sweet slab of heaven. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4893 Registered: 03-2005 |
My dad used to make fudge and something called penoche that was unlike any candy I encountered anywhere else until he was under the cold ground and I visited a candy shop in Edinburgh. The shop was on the Royal Mile and obviously aimed at tourists so it didn't use the unfamiliar word "tablet" on the labels for the candy. I bought some out of curiosity and when I recognized the basic granular sugary texture with the underpinning of butter from my childhood I couldn't get enough. It was a very lucky thing my flight back to the States was the next day. Sometime later the Guardian ran an article on tablet. I hunted up a recipe and, by god, I managed to make an entirely successful batch. The problem is that I live alone. And I had already retired by then and thus had no office staff with whom I might share my achievement. Yes, I ate the entire flat of it. When Christmas rolled around I made another batch of tablet. Most of my friends couldn't deal with it. I guess they had to grow up in my family. But the guests at one of the Christmas dinners included a family with four sons spanning from teenage to young adult. It was fun to watch them sneaking up to the dish to snatch just one more piece as their parents were trying to get them out the door to go home. I definitely can't recommend it for a meal where you've had much wine though. It's quite a pitched battle that results in your stomach. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10653 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrew, Stuart and Randy, I share your obvious sweet teeth and want some tablet. Next time I’m in Scotland I will seek it out. Are we morphing into a recipe swapping chat room in our autumn days? | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 780 Registered: 08-2005 |
I don't think my dentist, dental hygienist or my gum specialist dentist (sic) would be very impressed with tablet, which I'd never heard of and it doesn't do it for me... so my dental professionals can breathe a sigh of relief! (I've ongoing gum issues, hence the battery of people I see...) | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2262 Registered: 10-2006 |
I'll hold off on my fab leak quiche for the moment then... often the best part of tablet making was actually getting to scrape the condensed milk tin! Yum. Was a very Proustian moment when I went to work in Valencia and found they did a perfectly segregated espresso with condensed milk, called a "bon bon". Right, enough All our Scottish Yesterdays... back to the jangle! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10655 Registered: 05-2005 |
What happened to Nina by Dervla McTiernan, a Perth-based Irish woman. That's Perth, WA, btw, not the original Perth in Scotland. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 525 Registered: 02-2007 |
Life Class - Pat Barker Toby's Room - Pat Barker | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2263 Registered: 10-2006 |
I thought she'd've exhausted her First World War inspiration with the Regeneration books, which I liked a lot, but it seems not. Good reading, David? I haven't been attracted by the Trojan stuff she's moved on to, but these sounds interesting. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 526 Registered: 02-2007 |
Another World, Border Crossing & Double Vision are also worth reading Stuart. These are not WW1 related. I agree the Regeneration series was quite remarkable and the two books I mentioned are in the same vein although the 2nd (Toby's Room) packs more of an emotional punch. Def worth reading. The usual war themes but this time the role of Art during war is explored. Some of the characters are Drawing students under the famous Surgeon/Artist Henry Tonks. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4894 Registered: 03-2005 |
An article in the New York Times about the art exhibit "Ladies Lounge" at the Museum of New and Old Art in Hobart. Men are not allowed to view the exhibit. Predictably a male has complained of discrimination. The exhibit was created by Kirsha Kaechele, an American it turns out. This passage caught my attention: "Ms. Kaechele, who is married to David Walsh, the founder of the museum, appeared at the hearing on Tuesday trailed by a phalanx of 25 women in pearls and navy suits, many of them also artists, who silently read feminist texts and posed, crossed their legs and applied lipstick in unison." How I would love to see that performance! And Lindy should be among those 25 women. Meanwhile the book I am slowly slogging my way through is the imaginatively-titled "Me" by Elton John. I'm not exactly an Elton John fan but someone handed the book off to me and I decided I might as well see what I might find that is interesting, especially from the early years. I think the only new thing I learned is that Long John Baldry was gay. Being the disciplined sort I am forcing myself to finish it. There's the usual drug-a-logue and tedious name-dropping of tedious famous friends and acquaintances but I'm hoping that by the time I'm done I'll have gotten something vaguely useful out of it aside from the tidbit about Baldry. I'm now at the phase where EJ meets his current partner David Furnish, with about a third of the volume to go. I suspect "Just Kids" will be far more interesting once I get to it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10658 Registered: 05-2005 |
For those of you without an NYT log in, you can read my coverage of the story Randy mentioned here https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article -13216533/Male-visitor-famous-art-museum -denied-entry-ladies-lounge-exhibition-t akes-venue-court.html?ico=authors_pagina tion_desktop | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10659 Registered: 05-2005 |
And there's a video of the ladies dancing here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-20/m ona-ladies-lounge-legal-fight-men-exclud ed/103605236 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4895 Registered: 03-2005 |
Thank you for the links Pádraig. It's nice to see that even in comparatively small Tasmania people are making the citizenry stop and think about things we mostly take for granted. I believe TAS is one of the more conservative states and yet we see this terrific exhibit with a wonderful undercurrent of good humor. For all I know I may have to apply to Oz and flee to Tasmania myself if my house is invaded by a bunch of National Guard goons deputed from Texas and Arizona searching for nonexistent illegal aliens after the next Presidential inauguration, minus any undercurrent of good humor. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 527 Registered: 02-2007 |
Water - John Boyne Lunar Park - Bret Easton Ellis | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 528 Registered: 02-2007 |
Go Tell It On The Mountain - James Baldwin I Am Mary Dunne - Brian Moore |