Hey bro, I know I have pretty amazing brrr pong skillz and all, but if you’re going to hang on me like that and then spend an hour talking to boring people about the football game we freaking lost, I’m going to pretend to be a lot drunker than I really am and, no, not pass out in my room, but listen to The Decemberists.  Instead of you. Because they’re better than you.

In fact, I would say that The Decemberists, rather than Lady BabyTalk, or whatever it is your annoying friends listen to, had the best release of 2009.  They went from being a politically vexing troupe I wrote off as being sort of like Green Day, but with a string bass, to being Jethro Tull, only newer, in one fucking year. And it is amazing.

Their latest work is a 17-track song (The Hazards of Love) that tells a story I can’t compress into a small number of words without making it sound trite.  Colin Meloy’s talent for writing song lyrics that are totally warped under impressively abstruse Mount Everests of verbiage is on full display, and that’s what really makes The Hazards of Love more than just a very long love song with an abduction sandwiched in there somewhere.  To some degree, lyrical talents can be taken for granted if they are coming from The Decemberists, but the group has really made great strides with their instrumental abilities.  I felt that a lot of their older songs were either too simplistic or trying way too hard to be weird from a musical standpoint, but now their use of nontraditional instruments and bizarrely theatrical touches is seamlessly integrated into the larger picture of the music.  The Hazards of Love is an ambitious enough undertaking to have a legitimate purpose for bombast and harpsichords.  Yes, harpsichords.

But it’s difficult to describe precisely how these angular, math-y rhythms and Gilmour-esque guitar licks can possibly be so good that ____________ has left the party and wants to make sure that everybody on Facebook at 6:13 a.m. knows about it.  So here is one of my favorite cuts from their new album.  The entire thing is posted on YouTube, and I highly encourage you to check out all 17 tracks, instead of just this one:

One of the rare instances where saying EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!11!!! really is merited, imho.

- sf1

Picaresque- The Decemberists
It’s a pretty good record if you’re into indie rock sea-shanties and Colin Meloy. Of course it is a rather depressing record, with death being referenced in all but one songs. True, it’s the highly romanticized hipster indie rock version of death, but ten out of eleven songs containing references is a lot worse than truly depressing bands like Joy Division. The bright side is that out of eleven songs, most are very good like the Spanish-themed The Infanta, The Mariner’s Revenge Song which is a sea shanty of vengeance, and the pure indie candy that is Sixteen Military Wives. But then again, more death than Joy Division? What the fuck, Colin Meloy?
B+

The Back Room- Editors
Speaking of Joy Division, it’s Editors, one of the new British Joy Division knockoff bands. But what separates these guys from the rest? They’re actually pretty good, and the lead singer even kinda sounds like Ian Curtis, which is kinda creepy at times, but it allows them to pull off a lot of the tricks that Joy Division used (you know, like loud drums, bass, and depressing lyrics). Check it out.
A

Lungs- Florence + The Machine
Like Amy Winehouse-style soul(-ish) combined with Belle & Sebastian style baroque-rock. Pure indie pop confection. Check out Kiss With A Fist. Check out the whole album, especially Kiss With A Fist.
A

Foregoing straightforwardness for esoteric storylines and obscure literary references are The Decemberists, indie-folk outfit from Portland, Oregon.  Since formation in 2001, the group has carved itself a snug little niche relating sometimes grand, oftentimes tragic stories of colorful characters and lovers in peril.

Their latest effort, The Hazards of Love, fits nicely into the genre but represents a significant departure in delivery.   For one, it is essentially an hour-long epic, more closely resembling the band’s 2004 E.P. The Tain than anything else.  With that in mind however, The Hazards of Love is decidedly not shuffle-friendly and completely convinced of own importance.  Tacky vocal dialogue and an intermittent leitmotif remind the listener that strict attention is required.  Expect a good 45 seconds before the building introduction track “Prelude” even fades in.

Musically, the band has embraced a more guitar-heavy sound over the folk-centric sensibilities established in earlier releases.  Many tracks echo the funkier, dramatically fuller experimentation explored in the previous album, 2006’s The Crane Wife.  Highlights include “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid,” a violently wandering expression of yearning and desperation, atmospheric duet, “Isn’t It a Lovely Night?” and a solid finale-suite.

Newcomers Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond and Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark add interesting flavors to the mix.  Worden’s deep, emotive vibrato and killer, you’ll-regret-introducing-me-to-your-mom tone counter front man Colin Meloy’s earnest, though sometimes grating register.

There is a story buried in there, something about a woman named Margaret and her various entanglements with a man named William, a shape-shifting rake and a queen seemingly pulling the strings.  I need not recommend anyone dig deeper into this narrative as the only ones with the desire to do so already have, considering the fan base (myself included) that eats this stuff up.

Short Buzz: An audio epic dripping with irony and tinged with theatrical sensibilities that sort of ignores the whole “single” protocol.

Do you think Animal Collective is too mainstream? Do all of your opinions about music come from Pitchfork? Is your favourite webcomic old Questionable Content-s from six years ago before it was famous? Do you go thrifting often? Do you enjoy being smug? Is your favourite place to hang out a coffee shop that blasts Bulgarian noise-pop from 1995? If so, this desktop wallpaper is for you!

Get it at The Quill’s Downloads Page or directly download it here!

Download it and never feel even remotely mainstream again!

Little known fact: The editors of this site are huge fans of the board game Risk.  We aren’t totally sure how we feel about a movie  adaptation starring the Fresh prince of Bel-Air though.

Lit.

• The Faster Times takes a look at McSweeney’s taking a stab at making a newspaper.

• Three Guys One Book really, really like The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats by Hesh Kestin, but they don’t have a crush on the author.

• Colin Meloy of the band The Decemberists is writing a kids book.

• The New Yorker talks about Jonathan Safran Foer’s book, tells us “Americans love animals”, but also talks about how we love to eat them.

• Vonnegut gets a redesign.

Musica

• The Scowl saw The Dutchess and the Duke play with The Dum Dum Girls.

• My Bloody Valentine, Black Sabbath, and Cinderella will beat writers block says Chuck Klosterman.

• Sufjan Stevens a “fucking genius“.

• Folks covering punks.

Weird science

• Giant cardboard robot suit.  Emphasis on the word “giant”.

• Darwinian evolution and why we will finally get to meet ET.

• In anticipation of the disaster of a disaster film, 2012, we get the ten best failed doomsday predictions.

WTF Maine?

• L Magazine tell it like the see it. Bless their hearts.

Brooklyn

• New bookstore in Williamsburg

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To think that Colin Meloy hasn’t already written some tome based on European folklore already is hard to believe but it appears that his first attempt at the written word will be in the form of a children’s book. Once again Meloy is collaborating with wife Carson Ellis (who does all the art work for The Decemberists albums) to produce a book entitled The Unfortunate Demise of Whitley Rackham. Ellis goes on to say “It’s been in the works for years but it’s completion seems to be on the horizon.” Which has led some to speculate that it is the book she discussed with Paste Magazine back in October of 2006 concerning a “talking cat who lives in turn-of-the-century Butte, Mont.” and has something to do with a pile of dead turks apparently.

With Meloy’s knack for story telling and Carson’s artistic abilities this might just turn out to be something quite interesting.

Last night we played two hours of our favourite cover versions. Here’s the playlist + a few mp3s . . .

Mr. Tambourine Man  -  The Byrds (Bob Dylan)
Like a Rolling Stone  -  Soup Greens (Bob Dylan)
All Along The Watchtower  -  Jimi Hendrix (Bob Dylan)
Roll OverBeethoven  -  The Sonics (Chuck Berry)
Baby Please Don’t Go  -  The Amboy Dukes (Big Joe Williams)
Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone  -  Heavy Hills (The Undisputed Truth)
Wild honey pie (May 3, 1988)  -  Pixies (The Beatles)
Within You Without You  -  Sonic Youth (The Beatles)

Right. Sunday. About that.

So, we’re a little late on this one. Almost a week late. I could hit you over the head with excuses (and Devin over the head with a hammer for delaying this post), but let’s just say that the repercussions for skipping out on work to spend a weekend on an island in the Bay aren’t too kind.

It was all worth it, though:

We hit the road in Devin’s ‘96 minivan at around 12:30, and after stopping to purchase some sustenance, made the sharp turn on to Treasure Island from the Bay Bridge at around 2. Stepping out of the car, we realized it wasn’t going to be like Saturday and were immediately punished by several gusts of wind. We headed in on a brisk walk, passing Tommy Guerrero on our way in, just in time for the 2:30 set on the Bridge Stage.

They say Sunday is the Lord’s Day. If that’s so, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes played every bit the part, skipping on to the stage after arriving from what seemed like a little cult get-together. The band was simply eerie, and after entering, spent precious minutes grinning at each other trying to figure out their first song. The crowd was abound with confusion. What was up with the trench coat on one of the back up singers? Why was the trumpet player lying down on stage? Where was the kool-aid?

Photo courtesy of treasureislandfestival.com

Yet, the source of most confusion was leader singer Alex Ebert (Edward Sharpe), supposedly the very same Alex Ebert of ’90s band Ima Robot. Heavily-bearded and dressed in a tie-dye V-neck, he was very the band’s very strange and very polarizing holy Son. “It’s kinda like Jesus,” one crowd member said to another. With doubts swirling like the wind, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, were in purgatory without even having played a single note. Yet, it didn’t take long for redemption.

After getting their act together and delivering “Janglin” and “40 Night Dream,” the band showed that they were indeed in the mood, with their brand of upbeat folk rock providing their saving grace. The crowd responded positively as the Magnetic Zeroes moved fluidly past each other wielding accordions, maracas and mini keyboards to go with the clapping and chanting of their songs. Ebert proved surprisingly charming, with a Dylan-esque twang to his voice as he whooped and howled, losing his shoes by the second song, and his shirt by the third. He even made his way into the crowd, tip-toeing on the barricade as he used fans’ hands for support. “Thank you for the handjobs,” he said.

Despite the playfulness, the band also showed a more affectionate side with their song “Home,” a duet between Ebert and the trench coat-donning Jade Castrinos. The two played the part of lovers, embracing as they sang, “Home, let me come home, home is whenever I’m with you.” It was by far the most intimate performance of the festival, and proved to me at least that “Jesus” loves.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes – Home (download)

Skipping out on Vetiver, we found shelter in the media tent, which creaked and groaned with the wind. After a short respite there warm black couches, we poked our heads out at an hour later, and after seeing receding grey skies, headed over to the main stage.

Photo courtesy of treasureislandfestival.com

Grizzly Bear has enjoyed their fair bit of hype over the last couple of months, with the massive crowd gathering in front of the main stage a tribute to the widespread acclaim of the band’s latest release “Veckatimest.” Yet upon taking the stage, you wouldn’t exactly say the band looked thrilled to be there. Walking on at 4 p.m. in windbreakers, the boys from Brooklyn looked tired from the demands of their current world tour and, after lazily making introductions, simply went along with their business by playing “Cheerleader.”

Performance-wise that’s pretty much how the set went, as the band went along with their business, moping around the stage and playing song after song. Fortunately, for Grizzly Bear that’s pretty much all they had to do to. The members of Grizzly Bear were music aficionados to the core, passing on on-stage gimmicks to simply play. And the crowd, who was just content to listen, appreciated every part.

Scene girls broke out into interpretive dance and folks, young and old, mouthed the lyrics of songs like “The Knife,” entranced by the bands overlapping vocal melodies. What impressed me was the fact that every band member could sing, and each one took their turn belting out ooohs and ahhhs, while going about their instrumental business.

Even more impressive, was the translation of their sound in the capricious outdoor setting. With the elements against them for most of the set, the band played on, ignoring the whipping wind or cold temperatures. “This is the windiest show, we’ve played,” remarked singer Edward Droste, in one of their very few breaks. Yet, by the end, even Mother Nature had conceded as the sun peaked out of the clouds for the first time of the day and the winds died down to a gentle breeze. You win Grizzly Bear, you win.

Grizzly Bear – Southern Point (download)

The end of Grizzly Bear’s set coincided with a musical hibernation for me, and I skipped out on Bob Mould and The Walkmen. In a mix of slumber and reading (yes I did homework there) I also managed to miss Beirut, which one photographer said sounded like a Mexican quinceanera. My bad. I, however, did not miss The Decemberists, rousing myself out of the tent and making my way into the darkness to find a decent spot for the Portland band.

Photo courtesy of treasureislandfestival.com

While we had the privilege of knowing what was coming, many in the crowd were unaware that the band would be playing their newest album “Hazards of Love” in full. Indeed it was a dividing decision, with some questioning why the band would pass on playing their hits in favor of the hour long epic. For me, however, the question was, how in hell would they pull it off, with no breaks or breathers between songs, for a full 60 minutes?

But for all intents and purposes, they did, and it was mind-blowing. The sharply-dressed group took the stage on time and not wanting to waste time, began playing immediately. Lead singer Colin Meloy, was very much the conductor, singing and strumming with almost robotic precision, as a team of roadies worked behind the scenes, changing instruments and altering the set as the band continued to play.

The Decemberists had come prepared and were one of the few bands to have their own visuals for the night as an animated sketch provided visual accompaniment throughout the set.. Yet, it was the musical performance itself which was particularly amazing. The band was simply phenomenal, taking the crowd on a musical journey and transitioning flawlessly from acoustic songs to overpowering metal guitar solos.

Particularly impressive was Shara Worden, of My Brightest Diamond, who provided some of the most powerful vocals that I’ve seen. Ever. She belted out her contribution on “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid” and, dressed in black, claimed the award for biggest badass of the festival. She owned the stage and mesmerized the crowd, who could only pick their jaws up off the floor after she got done with the microphone.

It was performance at its best and as soon as the band finished up “The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned),” we were done. That was it. That’s all we needed. We didn’t even bother staying for Flaming Lips, as The Decemberists had effectively ended the night for us. And I wouldn’t have had it any way else.

The Decemberists – “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid” (download)

-Ryan

Remember how I said that there’s rarely any room in popular culture for a band that makes intellectual music and requires some slight bit of effort on the listener’s part? I think I was talking about it just yesterday. I was pointing out how amazing is the popularity of Jethro Tull, despite the fact that they make references to classical music that don’t take the form of looped samples. JTull has been dormant for a long time, and really brainy rock stars are in short supply in these dark days. Well, now we have The Decemberists, from their name to their lyrics a band notable for lack of mindlessness.

The first time I heard the Decemberists (yeah, they’re one of those bands) was in 2005, when NPR played Song For Myla Goldberg as the theme music for an interview with Myla Goldberg (I like how NPR does that). I thought “huh, clever” and took a mental note. Very serindipitous and appropriate, right? The second time I heard the Decemberists was in 2007, when Legionnaire’s Lament came on the air on WUVT (greatest. radio. station. ever. BTW). That was a real “Who IS this?!” moment. Now I have all their albums and I’ve been listening to them every day. (Incessantly listening to the same two albums is a traditional rite of passage for groups on their way to being canonized [by me]). I always get the feeling that this is music I’ve been listening to all my life, not in the sense that it’s derivative but that it’s so sympatico. It’s one of the best feelings in life to discover a new thing that fits in with my world (to paraphrase Syd Barrett).

When The Crane Wife was released in 2006, some clever wag called it “the best Jethro Tull album since Heavy Horses”. (See, I was going somewhere with this talking of JTull). I’m not sure how he meant it, but I say it’s the highest of compliments. And he’s right. On The Hazards Of Love it’s even more evident. They really recall Jethro Tull at their most epic, in the best possible way. The Hazards of Love is a concept album. No one’s made a concept album in two decades, and the form is unlikely to make a comeback, especially since the album itself is a threatened species. I’ve gotten used to just clicking ’shuffle’ and playing my favorite songs at random. It’s so pleasantly surprising to find an album that requires to be played all the way through in a specific order. At first I couldn’t figure out what exactly the concept was, except that there were several characters voiced by different singers. After a few hundred listens, I’ve got it straight. Hazards is a fairy tale, in the grimmest Brothers Grimm tradition. Not to spoil it for you, but it’s a love story in which an ‘amorous entwine’ with a changeling leads to nothing good for the heroine. You need to discover it for yourself. I will say I can’t think of any other album that makes such a powerful emotional impact.

I’ve already missed two chances to see the Decemberists play. They played SXSW this spring. I had way too much chaos going on in my life to even think about doing SXSW. I had another chance with ACL, but I had to make a sophie’s choice of which day I would attend, and Dead Weather day won. I have high hopes for the future, though. Judging from what I’ve seen on the ‘Tube, Colin Meloy isn’t going to be canonized as one of the greatest rock stars. Sorry. For one thing, he has an emo haircut. Emo haircuts are so over. They are all disappointingly normal looking, and they can’t even come up with neat uniforms. You know I judge rockers by their style. The Decemberists seriously need to dress better. What is it with these lazy bands these days who think it’s ok to just roll up on stage in civilian clothes? Don’t they know they have a civic duty? God that bugs me. Yeah, I’m sorely bummed out because Colin Meloy isn’t sexy enough.

And after all that, I leave you with a two minute fragment of a song. That should be enough. It reperesents the spirit of the album pretty well. There’s the sonic contrast of folky softness and very ‘eavy rock. There’s the smarty smart smartypants lyrics that you can’t imagine anyone ever singing until he sings them and they sound great. (I always knew the words “irascible blackguard” would some day make it into a song, didn’t you?). One little thing bothers me. “Our heroine withdraws to the Taiga” in search of her true love. I’m assuming that Mr Meloy with his huge vocabulary knows what Taiga is. Surely he is aware that taiga is a frozen inhospitable terrain ill suited to erotic frolics. Just a quibble.

Bands like The Replacements (above), Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and The Minutemen are featured in Our Band Could Be Your Life

Will there ever be another era in independent music like the ’80s and early ’90s? I think not, and Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 hopes to explain why. This book, published a decade later in 2001, attempts to explain and elaborate on the underground indie music scenes that defined the bands that today enjoy mainstream popularity.

Our Band Could Be Your Life focuses on thirteen disproportionately influential bands. None of them enjoyed any sort of mainstream success, but through constant touring, prolific recording, fanzine exposure and other methods of getting noticed, they all sired the bands that we today consider music gods (indie or mainstream).

Without Hüsker Dü, there could be no Pixies. Without Big Black, industrial rock wouldn’t be around. Without Black Flag, Green Day would probably have been a Cheap Trick cover band. Without The Replacements, The Decemberists literally wouldn’t exist. Without Sonic Youth and every other band mentioned in the book, Nirvana wouldn’t have changed the way we listen to music.

In The Replacements’ Let It Be’s 33 1/3, Colin Meloy mentions listening to Let It Be incessantly to get over the self-consciousness over his extended sternum. Books like this one and the 33 1/3 series are both interesting and informative. Speaking from experience, having a working knowledge of a musical genre’s history adds a lot to any critique. We salute you, Mike Azerrad.

– Eric Vilas-Boas, Managing Editor

The Hazards of Love

The Decemberists

2009

Capitol Records

Creating a story involving a shape-shifting man, a bitter forest queen, ghost-children, and a woman impregnated by the shape-shifting man can be rather difficult.  Turning this concept into an album and having it be a success is even more difficult.  The Decemberists decided to give it a go, pulling out all the stops on their fifth full length album in 2009 with The Hazards of Love.  Singer Colin Meloy called upon several singers and fellow musicians to contribute The Hazards of Love. A multitude of instruments fill the songs with enough emotion to tell the story without even using lyrics, if need be.  Meloy collaborates with Becky Stark and Shara Worden to tell his unique tale.  Meloy voices the story’s main character/shape shifting man, William as well as all other male characters in the story, which later can be a bit confusing; Stark fills songs with her soft-peaceful voice as Margaret, William’s lover; Worden booms through the  songs as the Queen, nearly stealing the show from the other two.  The Portland, Oregon based folk-rock band will catch your ear whether your into eccentric folk music about dear men or not.

The album begins, respectively, with Prelude.  The three minute plus instrumental intro to the album is what sets the overall tone for the songs that follow.  It provides the listener with preparation- a foreshadowing of whats to come.

The Prelude leads into The Hazards of Love 1(The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle the Thistles Undone). This “Once upon a time…”-esque song is sung by Colin Meloy in the “First Voice.”  He delivers this song in the third-person-narrative.  Essentially, he is presenting the listener the story of how William and Margaret meet.  Repeating “You’ll learn soon enough.” Musically, the song emits a dark, yet fantastical undertone to the story.

A Bower Scene, the song that follows is also sung by Meloy, but now in “The Second Voice.” This is where the confusion may set in due to Meloy’s multiple characters.  Regardless, this song leads into the part of the story in which Margaret finds herself in quite a predicament-she is baring the child of William, the shape-shifting man.  Instrumentally, the song presents suspense, ending heavily.

Won’t Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga) introduces the listener to Becky Stark, the voice of Margaret.  Stark’s voice brings Margaret to life, creating a kind and peaceful, enraptured by love for another-she’d do anything for her man kind of  persona for Margaret.  Stark’s portrayal of Margaret seems to exceed everything Colin Meloy intended when writing her role.

The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All) follows the seemingly desperate search in the forest for the star-crossed lovers in the song that precedes.  Opening with a mystical tone, the love between William and Margaret is evident in this song.  It isn’t a traditional love ballad, which is what makes it all the more intriguing.

Following briefly, more like twenty-nine seconds, is The Queen’s Approach. This is obviously, without visual, a representation of the Queen entering the story without the two main characters, entwined in love, knowing.

Isn’t it a Lovely Night? is a duet with Meloy and Stark as William and Margaret.  Among other instruments, the accordion is a lively presence in this song; bringing the effect of two proud lovers in the middle of the forest enjoying their time together.

This peaceful, calming, loving atmosphere is then interrupted by the Queen in The Wanting Comes in Waves. It is in this song the listener is introduced to Shara Worden.  Although Meloy and Stark are the main characters of this twisted tale, Worden steals their thunder.  With pipes like Grace Slick, she enters the album like a freight train you cannot ignore.  It is Shara Worden’s voice that delivers the power this album needed.  The chemistry is incredible.

Another Interlude is delivered and soon followed by The Rake’s Song, sung by Colin Meloy (creating further confusion, since every male character is sung by Meloy.)  The song’s macabre nature describes how a widower murders his three children and feels no remorse.  The song offers a catchy but dark beat with a great flow lyrically and musically.

The Abduction of Margaret soon follows and (obviously) is a short narrative from our “First Voice,” Colin Meloy, about how Margaret is abducted.  The riff is the exact same as the one in the Bower Scene only slightly heavier.

The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing follows, once again featuring the voice of Shara Worden.  Backed by powerful and heavy guitar riffs, which pair with her voice and presence on the album quite well, she tells the tale of how she took pity on William as a child.  The bitterness of the Queen is well portrayed and is clearly evident in this song.

The thirteenth song on the album, Annan Water, is William’s desperate attempt to save his beloved Margaret without drowning and dying along the way.  With the quickened tempo of the instrumental behind his lyrics, his desperation can be felt both lyrically and musically.

Margaret in Captivity is yet another duet with Meloy and Stark but as Rake and Margaret.  It is clear that Rake is her abductor.  Meloy delivers Rake’s role in a sinister fashion, while Stark yearns for her savior.

The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!) delivers the same riff from The Hazards of Love, except with a quickened tempo and with an orchestra of more instruments and effects added.  Rather than sung by Meloy, the lyrics (also the same as The Hazards of Love) are sung by a choir of children representing the three ghost children murdered by Rake.

The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise) is a different version of the song, also with a quickened tempo and effects.  The song is a  representation of  the falling action of the story. Ending with Meloy bellowing “And I want this night,” followed by a phaser-effect signifying the fall of our protagonist.

The final song on the album, The Hazzards of Love 4 (The Drowned), brings an end to the saga of William and Margaret.  Both musically and lyrically their tragic ending by the waves together is an emotional conclusion to the tale.  It is safe to say it is not the typical hollywood ending, none the less it is an appropriate ending to the album.  The melodic instrumental brings closure to the listener, and who knows, maybe even a tear.

Overall, the album sings true that a folk-inspired rock opera can be successfully accomplished.  Essentially, it is not the lyrical content or even the lyrics that are important to the story.  Rather, it is the whimsical yet powerful array of various instruments that on their own can tell the story, that are the main body to this album.  Although I can describe this album to you in full detail, if you so desired, I cannot. This review hardly does this album any justice. You just have to give it a listen. It will be an album that will catch you by surprise if you are a first time Decemberists listener. Well worth it.

Last.fm Page

Official Page

Buy This Album

Two weeks ago, on October 4th, I saw The Decemberists at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  My friend Riley and I decided to make a big trip out of it, so we left Fayettville on Friday, stayed a couple of days with my friend Quinn in Oklahoma City, and then headed up to Tulsa for the show on Sunday.

After battling toll roads and a dying iPhone, we finally made it to Cain’s.  We got a good spot and stood waiting for the show to start.  Fairly quickly we started talking to some of the people around us.  One guy I talked to told me The Decemberists put on the best shows he’s ever seen.  So, needless to say I was more than a little excited.

The opening act was a group who I had never heard of before, but who I’ve recently noticed being mentioned here and there since then:  Laura Veirs and the Hall of Flames.  Veirs is a solo singer-songwriter who has recently been touring with her backing band The Hall of Flames.  Their performance was very entertaining and her songs very sweet.  Before the show started, I told Riley that I really had no interest in an opening band because I was so ready for The Decemberists to start, but after Veirs began these thoughts quickly vanished.  Veirs’s music has a very folky sound to it enriched with beautiful harmonies supplied by herself and the band.  I definitely intend to check out some of her albums when I get the chance.

Following Veirs’s performance, The Decemberists took the stage, and I could barely contain my excitement.  The show was everything I could have hoped it would be.  They performed their latest album, the rock opera aptly titled The Hazards of Love, from start to finish, complete with subtle costumes.  While the band did not necessarily act out the story, there was definitely a theatrical aspect to the show.  There was a lot of hand gesturing and subtle dancing going on that made the performance seem like more than just your average rock concert.  Some of my favorite parts were during the duets between William and Margaret, the story’s lovers and main focus, when Decemberists frontman, Colin Meloy, and Lavender Diamond vocalist, Becky Stark, would be positioned front and center on stage singing to each other.  Another highlight was during the song “The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing” when My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden was running back and forth across the stage passionately singing toward the audience in her portrayal of the evil Forest Queen.

After the conclusion of The Hazards of Love, The Decemberists took a short break followed by a 2nd set of some of their older material.  I wasn’t as excited about this set simply because I’m not as familiar with The Decemberists older work, but I was definitely entertained.  One of the highlights of the 2nd set was when the band brought Stark and Worden back on stage for an incredible rendition of Heart’s “Crazy on You.” I don’t even like Heart (or that song for that matter) but I must admit that the performance was extremely impressive.

My only complaints about the show would be that I wish it had been a little louder.  There were several rockin’ points from the album that I was looking forward to hearing in a live setting, but they simply weren’t loud enough for me.  This, however, did not really take away from the enjoyability of the concert.  It’s just something I would like to have been different.

There was also a point when the guitarist invited someone from the audience onstage to provide a reggae guitar solo for one of their songs and after playing for about a minute Meloy “gonged” him offstage while making fun of his performance.  This, I thought, was a little unnecessary.  I have heard that Colin Meloy is  a bit of a pretentious ass hole and, while I didn’t really get that vibe from him at any other point in the show, I definitely felt it hear.

However, the show was a blast and I couldn’t have been more pleased as I stepped out of Cain’s Ballroom preparing to make the trek back to Fayetteville.  I would love to see another Decemberists performance in the future, and hopefully I will be a little more versed in the rest of their catalog by then.

Here are a few pictures from the show taken by Jon Haque courtesy of Carly McGehee.  Thanks guys!

And here’s a video of “The Rake Song” from the performance:

Another installment of me going on YouTube. Posting on a whim. That’s how I do. Haha.

Anyway, I was on eMusic to see if I could grab the most recent Decemberists’ album and some Nick Cave. I found myself on the Colin Meloy Sings Live! page on eMusic, and noticed a video in which he does ‘The Mariner’s Revenge Song’ alone (w/audience participation).

I would have loved to have been in that audience when that happened! Definitely check out the full studio version when you get the chance. It’s wicked long (about 8 minutes, 45 seconds) but it’s really engaging. The storytelling aspect sucks you in.

This video is Colin Meloy and Ben Gibbard both covering Blur’s “End of a Century.” They almost look alike–so eerie, it’s like they’re nerd twins. Anyway, lovely cover in any case.

-j

Colin Meloy, American singer (The Decemberists)

We’re dying to hear more about (and from) Laura Veirs’s seventh (!!!) record July Flame, to be released sometime in 2010. With artwork by Carson Ellis (of Decemberists’ fame) and these rave reviews, it will surely be a record to compete with next year.

“Laura’s like the queen bee and my ear is her hive; she nests and makes honey in the hairs of my cochlea.”
-Jim James of My Morning Jacket

“The best album of 2010.”
-Colin Meloy of the Decemberists

Sport is not the most common song fodder. Sure, there are the classic sporting songs: “Centerfield” by John Fogerty, “We Are The Champions” by Queen, “Super Bowl Shuffle” by the 1985 Chicago Bears et al., etc. In general, however, sporting pursuits do not often get mentioned in music.

Every so often, though, someone who seems to be the farthest thing from an athlete writes a song about playing a sporting contest. These songs often lead me to wonder whether or not those writers are, indeed, talented athletically.

With that in mind, I’d like to look at a couple of songs written by two men I respect very much as songwriters: “The Sporting Life” by The Decemberists, and “Nothing Better” by The Postal Service.

These aren’t necessarily the songs that come to mind when you think of sports, but they have all the neceassary requirements for debating who might have been the better athlete in his youth: Colin Meloy or Ben Gibbard.

First, let’s dissect the songs to get a sense of what each gentleman knows of sports.

Meloy’s entry will certainly get him off to an inauspicious start. The first line of his song describes his falling in the middle of a match, which immediately leads us to believe that he may not have been the best athlete. However, as the song goes on he discloses that he has had a decent season up to this unfortunate moment.

The season was almost done,
we’d managed it 12 to 1.
So far I had known no humiliation
in front of my friends and close relations.

When I had the opportunity to see The Decemberists play in Indianapolis, the singer disclosed that this song was loosely based on his own experiences on a Montana YMCA soccer team. Which means to me that if Meloy was even playing, he must have had some athletic prowess to speak of in his day, despite his unfortunate accident.

Gibbard, on the other hand, seems to have less going for him. “Nothing Better” is not, strictly speaking, about sports. In fact, there’s really just the one line about sports in the song.

However, that line, to me, speaks volumes about Gibbard’s personal sporting experiences:

I can’t accept that it’s over…
And I will block the door like a goalie tending the net
In the third quarter of a tied-game rivalry.

Read that quote carefully, and try to distinguish what sport he is describing. I’ve done this several times myself, and I’ve yet to come up with an answer.

There are only a few sports that even feature nets and goalies: hockey, soccer and lacrosse. Of those, only lacrosse uses quarters to break up the time; soccer uses halves and hockey uses three periods. Which means we’re left to believe that he is singing about lacrosse, which is strange in and of itself, but for a tied game in the third quarter to be significant leads me to believe that the third would need to be near the end of the contest. That inevitably makes me think that his intentions were to describe a hockey game.

The confusion that derive from these lyrics is my strongest case against Mr. Gibbard’s sporting ability. This is based on the fact that you must have a good knowledge of a sport in order to be successful at it.

However, Gibbard undermines my argument on Death Cab for Cutie’s The John Byrd EP, which is a collection of live songs. On “Photobooth” Gibbard addresses the crowd and discloses that he is not truly following his dreams by being a musician, rather, if he had followed his dreams he would be the shortstop for the Seattle Mariners.

This little glimpse into Gibbard’s childhood might lead us to believe that he was a star baseball player in a former life. It might also mean that perhaps he simply adored the Mariners, as many children from the Northwest tend to do.

Aside from the songs I’ve picked apart, we can look at their lifestyles and physique to gather more information about their potential sporting aptitude.

Both singers have similar builds, not necessarily athletic, but not unfit either. Both have the slightly shaggy look of an indie-rocker and sport thick black rimmed glasses, which tend to signify an aversion to athletics.

Gibbard is a noted pescetarian, which means the only meat he consumes is fish. There is no information available about Meloy’s diet, so we can assume that he benefits from the extra protein that is in beef, pork and fowl.

In an IGN article Gibbard does comment that he wasn’t allowed to watch television during the week or play video games which led him to play more sports. As noted, however, Meloy was active in sporting leagues as a youth.

Both men are also very intellectual and their love of literature is exposed in their music.

Meloy specifically references Billy Liar, a character in a novel by Keith Waterhouse, in The Decemberists single from Her Majesty titled after that character. Likewise, The Crane Wife and The Tain are adapted from traditional Japanese and Irish folk tales, respectively.

Not to be outdone, Gibbard recently collaborated with Jay Farrar on an album based upon the works of Jack Kerouac. Also, in the song “Bixby Canyon Bridge” he specifically writes about a visit to Kerouac’s Big Sur.

I would not say that all jocks are uneducated, because that would be ignorant. Nevertheless, academic pursuits and athletic achievement are not synonymous, which leads us to believe these two highly educated individuals might not have had the best sporting careers.

Both gentlemen have a strong case for and against their own sporting competence. Short of some sort of indie-rock olympics or maybe a personal interview with the two in question, I am forced to make a distinction based upon the information that has been given to me.

Thus, I rule in favor of The Decemberists frontman.

In the end it was the confusion in Gibbard’s lyrics that pushed me over the edge. I understand that he may have written it in that way to maintain the rhythm and rhyme of his verse, but it has always bothered me.

Until our next quest for Trivial Pursuits I implore you, my reader, to think outside the box and examine everything.

That sounds like a good title for a Decemberists song, right? Well dont worry – this is about the Decemberists

Ive decided that Im going to get back on the game (or is that the horse) and start to update this on a regular basis. Theres so many great concerts out there – and so many Ive seen.

According to The Decemberists website this is what we would get – Decemberists will perform a set that will be entirely left to the hands of fate — we will draw songs from a lottery and dutifully play them, regardless of their quality or presence in our memory. Decemberists songs, naturally, but you do never know what bizarre cover songs or strange commands may end up in the pile.

And yes – this was a set left entirely in the hands of fate – along with also the hands of John Wesley Harding. As emcee of the show, he did quite a good job. He was a little too talkative for my taste, as Id have preferred to have heard more songs. And I definitely was not a fan of him throwing out songs at the end. What no “Engine Driver”, which happens to be one of my favorite songs. But he was entertaining and had to throw about some other ridiculous requests. Not sure how many other crowd surfing requests there actually were.

Decemberists did their best to keep things in order. The only thing actually not in order was they did play Crane Wife 3 and then went straight into The Island. And that worked out quite well. It was great to see Laura Veirs on Yankee Bayonet as the last time this was supposed to happen their show was cancelled. The songs were pretty all over the place and Id have loved to have heard even more of their popular songs, but – as left to the hands of fate you never know what youll get.

The Tain was definitely interesting and lasting 20 mins. Im quite sure this will be the first and last time I ever get to hear it played. Colin did write a song about The Hudson River, NYC and Sully and considering it was on the fly, it was pretty damn awesome. Marcel did some crowd surfing which was pretty funny and yes, even Nate and John made out, although Im almost sure there was no tongue. I was right in front of Jenny and she was looking like she was having a great time as always.

The final song was just awesome. Im a big fan of ELO, hahaha, and this was an awesome cover. I got some great video of it and Colin hopping around.

The good: hearing songs Id never have heard otherwise and in general an awesome idea. it was the perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect crime!

The bad: not enough music. 15 songs in 2 hours really. Not much of Colin Meloy talking and way too much John Wesley Harding talking.

Laura Veirs was a good opener. She plays a folky-indie style of music and has a great voice. Her backing band is also quite good. Plus, without her we’d not have her wonderful addition on “Yankee Bayonet”.

Setlist:

1. Yankee Bayonet (w/Laura Veirs)
2. July July
3. The Raincoat Song
4. Bridges and Balloons
5. From My Own True Love
6. Bachelor & The Bride
7. Rake Song
8. Culling of the Fold
9. Marcel crowd surfs to a waltz
10. I Was Meant For The Stage
11. The Island
12. Crane Wife 3
13. Annan Water

Encore 1

1. Nate & John Make Out
2. Colin Writes a Song
3. The Tain
4. The Perfect Crime 2

Encore 2

1. Mr. Blue Sky (ELO cover)

Please don’t sue me people I’m making fun of in this comic…

For those of you who missed the radness, @colinmeloy, of the Decemberists let one Twitter follower be his Ghost-Twitterer for the day.

Who wants to be my ghostwriter-for-a-day? Tomorrow, Friday Sept. 10. Apply by responding to this tweet. Details here: http://bit.ly/9k2lD
–@colinmeloy

Check out all of her posts as him, as well as the guest-tweeter herself (@olivejews).

File Under: First time I’ve liked the idea of ghost-twitterers.

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000).

In the midst of all of the experimentation with the SYR discs. Sonic Youth released this “proper” release.

At the time, it was actually the impetus for me to stop buying Sonic Youth records.  Between the experimental discs and the expanding palate of 1,000 Leaves, it felt like Sonic Youth were sort of drifting away from rock altogether.  It was certainly a way to alienate fans of Goo and Dirty.

You get two two songs over seven minutes and three over five (there are two short blasts in the middle which add some heaviness to the proceedings). But for the most part, this is a very spare, almost atmospheric affair.

Prior to recording the disc, the bands custom gear was stolen.  So they started from scratch for this recording.  And that may have something to do with the ambient, almost spatial sound.  It is quite mellow, (although still angular and dissonant) with a number of spoken word/beat poetry vocals.

Whether it’s pretentious or artsy depends on your take for recited lyrics (and SY’s lyrics are inscrutable anyhow).  Although Lee’s piece “NYC Ghosts and Flowers” seems to fit the style best (he has done a number of spoken vocal pieces in the past).  And “Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)” has a sort of commercial appeal.  The closing tack “Lightnin’” even features a trumpet, which I assume is played by Kim.  It’s the most noisy piece on the disc, with all kinds of fun sound effects showing up.

I’ve been listening to this disc a lot lately.  I think because I’ve revisited the experimental discs, this one makes more sense.  It’s not what I’d call a typical Sonic Youth album, or even the best Sonic Youth album.  It is certainly their most jazzy/mellow experiment (especially compared to the noise of says the SYR discs) and is about as far from their commercial peak as they could get.

The strangest thing to me though is that, despite all of the experimentation and slow-building songs, the whole disc is under 45 minutes.  So, they aren’t just making noise to fill space.

[READ: Week of August 31] Infinite Jest (to page 808)

In all of the talk about DFW’s “psychic” abilities with regard to technologies, one thing no one has mentioned–that I’ve seen–is his love of Venus Williams. Her name keeps popping up (I’d say at least a half dozen references so far).  And in many ways one doesn’t think too much of it (she is the #3 player right now, bested by her sister Serena who is #2).  But the amazing thing about his embrace of Venus is that as of 1996, when the book was published, she had barely played any pro tournaments.

Look a these tidbits from Sports Illustrated:

October 31, 1994: Venus wins her first pro match, defeating Shaun Stafford at the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland. … Venus faces Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the No. 2 player in the world, in her next match. Venus races out to a 6-3, 3-1 lead but then folds as Sanchez Vicario wins 11 consecutive games. In an interview after the match, Venus is asked how the loss compares with previous defeats. She answers bemusedly that she has never before lost a match.

May 22, 1995: Reebok announces it has signed Venus to a five-year, $12 million deal. Thus far, Venus has played in one pro tournament.

Although much has been speculated (by me and others) about when he was actually writing this book (and when he was able to send in last minute changes), she would not break into the Top 20 until 1998.  He clearly saw something in her.

I write these posts as I go along.  So, I read the day’s pages take notes and then type them up.  This is why I get moments of speculation in the posts.  But mostly it means that when I start writing I don’t know how much there will be in total.  This is now the second week in a row where the early reading started off, if not slowly, then certainly without all too much happening.  The notes I took were very simple, along the lines of: Marathe in Ennet House or Kate & Marathe talk.  I knew I could remember what they were talking about, but there wasn’t a lot of notable moments.

And then, we get the trifecta of Endnotes and Tine’s interview. Holy cow, a torrent of information flooding out at once.  It doubled my word count almost immediately. Phew.

As this week’s reading starts out we see Marathe trying to check into Ennet House.  Okay, actually he’s there as the final part of his recon looking for the veiled girl who was in the Entertainment and is now in rehab.

His new-eyes-looking-at-the-place is rather enlightening as I hadn’t realized just how dreary and drab the House is (nor just how weird most of the residents would be).  The supporting cast is in good form: some of them sleeping, some of them talking loudly, others just staring.  And Marathe takes it all in.

He is disguised as a Swiss addict, being sent over from a rehab house in Pennsylvania.  He is also wearing a veil to get sympathetic insight about the UHID girl (and of course as a very simple disguise).

And then we get a lengthy look at Joelle (and by extension the Incandenza family). Joelle used to like to get high and then clean.  And now that she’s not getting high she learns that she actually just likes to clean.  While meticulously cleaning her room (and studiously avoiding everyone else’s belongings) she reflects back on Orin and the Inc family (something she hasn’t done in a long time).

Orin had really weird attachment issues to both Himself and the Moms (and since Joelle got an A- in Developmental Psych, she felt everything that he said was pretty textbook psychodrama).  She was actually a little bored by his angst since it seemed so obvious.

We also learn that Joelle’s mom called the little bits that come off a Kleenex when you overuse it “Greebles.” (Wikipedia tells us that a greeble is something else).

And as for Joelle’s family: her father called her Pokie (which her mother refused to call her).  In fact, Joelle’s mother seemed genuinely put out by the level affection that her dad showed to her (Joelle).  Her mother was a rather quiet and religious woman.

It was inevitable that Joelle would be introduced to Himself’s Work.  She found it amateurish at first (or rather, technically brilliant but amateurish in storyline and anything emotional).  But then she grew appreciative of his techniques.  She also had no intention of being in his films as she wanted to be behind the camera.  So it was a relief when James felt she was too conventionally pretty. Orin James and Joelle have dinner together at Legal Sea Foods which turns out to be a shambolic disaster (as one might expect) with Orin babbling on and on trying to fill the air.

An interesting insight: James can’t talk to Orin or Hal because when James comes around Orin babbles like a lunatic and Hal just clams up.  It’s only Mario who James can spend any time with because they can both endure the silence without it feeling awkward.

And then comes a Thanksgiving dinner Incandenza-style (no Turkeys allowed).  The scene is practically Lynchian in its intensity.  Everyone smiles, a lot (including Joelle whose face hurts by the end). Avril seems to address a question to everyone at the table (except Himself) in sequential order.  Himself is the only one not drinking the wine that everyone else is having.  Rather, he is up several times refilling his glass (until he simply doesn’t come back).

Hal is there with two E.T.A. friends.  They are all shoveling food repulsively, but no one seems to mind.  When things settle down Hal starts showing off his encyclopedic knowledge.  (This contrasts to the scene in Avril’s office where Hal seems put out to be “on display” with his O.E.D. memorization–so is Joelle wrong or has Hal changed from eager-to-please to sullen and withdrawn?)  Joelle really, really doesn’t like Hal.

And then there’s Mario.  Joelle is totally freaked by Mario (as it seems anyone would be upon first meeting him). He has to has his food cut up, he’s the size of a fire hydrant, he’s smiling all the time, he even falls out of his chair (which makes everyone laugh).  And Orin reveals that he once tried (or at least plotted) to kill Mario when he was a baby, such was his jealousy.

And the Moms.  She is obsessively nice.  To one and all.  And even stated that Joelle was family.  And yet Joelle was certain that at any moment Avril could leap across the table and stab her in the heart.  Oh, and Joelle thinks that the whole Inc family was full of secrets, from each other and from themselves.  But she knows that we can know a lot more about our lovers’ families than our own.

Back to Ennet House.  Marathe finally gets in to see Pat. She is empathetic and welcoming.  Marathe surveys the situation, including Pat herself, and takes everything in.  While Pat reached into a filing cabinet to get some forms for Marathe to sign, he notices that there are TP cartridges, some which appear to have the smiley face and French phrase on them).   Johnette knocks on Pat’s door and is informed that new donated cartridges from E.T.A. have come in, and would she preview them (this seemed a little too convenient for Marathe to overhear, but it’s not an unreasonable thing to happen).

Pat also lets him know that there is another UHID member in the building.  (He found the Entertainment girl!)  Marathe spends the bulk of the rest of his interview wondering if he should call Fourtier and inform him about the Tapes and the Veiled Girl or if he should call Steeply and tell him about the Tapes and the Veiled Girl or one of each. He also wonders when he should jump ship to the U.S side: before or after the Entertainment is disseminated. And then his reverie is broken when Pat offers him a bunk for that very night, something he hadn’t counted on.  And he has to wonder whether or not to accept the offer, or just to break Pat’s neck and get the hell out of there.  (He opts no to do the latter option).

Then we get back to sweet Mario. There are many references to Mario’s height in the book.  Joelle is told by Orin that he is no bigger than a fire hydrant.  Which cannot possibly be true (unless it is a large one). A later scene suggests that he is about as tall as Lamont Chu who isn’t terribly tall himself, and that he wears Himself’s overalls from when he was in grade school (but don’t forget Himself was very very tall).  So, Mario’s actual height is still a mystery to me.

But anyhow, Mario is aprowl on the E.T.A. grounds filming for a documentary.  He films some empty courts and then films Schtitt asleep.  (Schtitt can only sleep with unreasonably loud Germanic opera music blaring–his office is soundproofed).  Then he wanders the dorms.  His presence is tolerated (although a girl in a towel is displeased about being on film).  And then he has a frustrating conversation with LaMont Chu.  Chu hopes that Inc and others don’t get in trouble for Eschaton, and has Mario heard anything w/r/t Hal and the others?  Mario interprets all of this as Chu “talking to the camera” so he doesn’t answer.  Both parties leave confused.

Finally, Mario gets to the main office where he realizes that The Moms is in.  She is on the phone when he walks in and he is never clear if she actually hangs up.  But they have a  lengthy chat nonetheless.  And the scene displays how Avril tries her best to be nice and loving and yet just comes across as utterly dysfunctional.

Mario is asking the Moms how you can tell when someone is sad.  Even though she prides herself on complete honesty with no prying, she can’t help but ask if Mario is talking about Hal, or Uncle Charles or even himself.  But while the Moms’ lesson reaches home somewhat for Mario, she retains every characteristic of being her grammatically anal retentive self with him (which is her way of trying not to talk down to him–even though he says he gets scared when she uses really big words).  My favorite example of this is when he asks:

‘How can you tell is somebody’s sad?’
A quick smile.  ‘You mean whether someone’s sad?’
A smile back, but still earnest.  ‘That improves it a lot. Whether someone’s sad, how can you tell so you’re sure?’

If Mario could be sarcastic, you’d take his reply as sarcastic.  But he can’t be; so he is sincere, and that kind of broke my heart a bit.  As did the utter futility of Mario trying to get through to her.

Mario also notes that there are footprints and what look like knuckle or hand prints on the floor (as if someone were hunched over).  And as he continues to scan the room we notice Orin’s old football uniform on the bookshelf, which gives an even creepier reality to the Avril/Wayne scene from earlier.

Another thing that says a lot about Mario is that whenever Avril gets on a long tangent, Mario keeps interrupting by saying, “Hey Moms?” which is something my four year old does when he is really trying to get a thought across.

There’s also a lot of backstory for Avril’s father and grandfather.  Her grandfather had a chance to invest in Coca-Cola but chose to invest in Delaware-brand Punch (which Wikipedia says is now owned by Coca Cola, huh).  But then his crops failed and he lost most of his money and became an abusive (to her dad) alcoholic.  Her dad followed suit (although he wasn’t abusive, just an alcoholic).  But she was lucky he died when he did as it enabled her to go to college (which her dad didn’t believe in for women).

And then a quick jump to Hal’s room, and the familiar lump of Mario is back in bed.  Hal is quite pleased (he woke up from another teeth-related nightmare) and they have a lengthy chat.  The bulk of the chat is about lying, and how Hal has made a list of types of liars.  He confesses that he no longer believes in monsters; he thinks the most monstrous thing is someone who lies but you absolutely can’t tell he’s lying.

Mario doesn’t know when people are lying. It never crosses his mind.  And yet, he has an excellent memory, especially for things that makes him laugh. (Again, like my 4 year old).   He remembers a lot of details about S. Johnson.(and thank you to Journeyman for pointing out that clearly S. Johnson is a reference to Samuel Johnson).   When S. Johnson was alive the Moms took him everywhere,  to the theater (to one of James’ film premieres) and even had a doggie car carrier specially fitted for him.  When she was away, she would tie S. Johnson to the Volvo and let the phone ring for him (he knew the ring(?!)) and once Orin picked up the phone and barked.  Ha!  (And threatened Indian burns if anyone told Avril the truth about the barking).  Hal recalls when Orin killed and lied about S. Johnson, but Mario doesn’t, really.

Next we see an unlikely couple: Kate Gompert (just after getting robbed by Poor Tony) and Remy Marathe hanging out in Ryle’s Jazz club together (either DFW loved this place or they paid a nice product placement fee).  Kate is drinking (!) but she also states that she never drank before.  Her parents didn’t allow it so she’s never even had so much as a beer (she’s a drug abuser not an alcohol abuser) and boy does she love the Kahlua and milk!  And Marathe had come into this club to not report to the AFR about his findings.

Then we get some weird/touching/sad back story about Marathe.  After losing his legs, he was pretty despondent.  He simply rolled around “Switzerland” trying to kill himself.  (I loved that Marathe is keeping up the charade even for Kate, and that the charade is ever so tenuous.  The hilarious “locations” in “Switzerland” are quite amusing, as is the idea that the country to the south is trying to destory them.)   And yet he never got up the nerve to go through with it.  And then when he was on top of Mont Papineau he saw a woman in the middle of the road (like a Swiss moose in the headlights) with a truck barreling down the road at her.  So he let loose his brakes and sailed down the hill, rescuing her and then proceeding down the far hill where he was thrown from his chair and she lost her metal helmet.  Said metal helmet was keeping her head intact since she was born without a skull (and this part gets kind of gross, frankly).

Her heads is so formless she has trouble breathing.

So he took her to a hospital and had her taken care of, for she gave him a reason to live.  She gave him meaning.  She was his savior.  And as he rolled away, his sense of depression came back, and he realized that he needed her. For it was she that inspired him not only to go on, but also to fight the Swiss neighbors who are throwing garbage into his beloved country.

And so he stayed with her and got her operations and is now trying to get her an exterior heart (like the one poor Tony stole).  And if she gets one, it will prolong her life, which at this state is simply vegetative and in a coma.

Kate is initially charmed by this story but then realizes that he is totally defendant on her.  That he is chained to her.  He says that the chain is voluntary so it is okay.  She is getting more and more angry (and presumably more and more drunk) as the conversation progresses.  And when he offers to show her something that will give her more pleasure than she can ever imagine, she practically slaps his face.  Although we do end on a question with no outright refusal from Kate, so who knows what that means.

And then back to Hal and Mario.  Hal comes clean with Mario and admits that he has been smoking pot in secret.  And he knows that it would kill the Moms to find out, mostly because he felt the need to keep it a secret.  And he is sorry for lying and hiding it from Mario too, but Mario promises he isn’t mad.

Earlier, Mario had asked Hal what had happened with C.T. and the urine guy, and said that Lamont Chu (who Mario likes despite the misunderstanding earlier) was also asking a lot of questions about Hal and what happened.  And so Hal gives all the details here.  He says that Pemulis convinced the urine guy to give them 30 extra days for a complete urine scan (something about being downwind of a bagel store).  And that there’s a person from Moment magazine on campus and there’s big tourneys coming up and the whole debacle would be devastating for the school.  And since O.N.A.N.T.A doesn’t want to bust anyone really (good clean fun and all) the urine guy acquiesces.

But really, Pemulis could pass a drug test if they guy was holding his member, he’s got such a extensive secretive plan at work. So his lie is all for Hal’s benefit.  Even though Hal knows he can’t really get kicked out of E.T.A.  I mean, come on.

There’s also a lengthy Endnote about how Pemulis is quite functional even when he has Abandoned All Hope.  (Hal has been clean for about 3 days and feels a pit inside of him).  Pemulis is trying to explain the ease of trigonometry to Hal.  Hal demurs and starts talking about detoxing.  Pemulis is basically agreeing that Hal should give up the Bob Hope; that it’s no good for the Incblob.  He’s just going to turn into a fat guy with the munchies watching TV all day.  And that he, Pemulis, cycles through drugs so as not to get addicted to any one.  He also convinces Hal that he should totally do the DMZ with them: first,  because he needs to switch to something else for a while and second, because it doesn’t show up on any drug tests.

Then we jump to November 17th.  Which I believe is the first instance of Nov 17th in the book.  Someone, presumably Hal, shows up at The Ennet House drooling like crazy looking for a list of Substance Abuse meetings.  I loved the critique that this young man, clearly well off, and who was smart enough to use whom in a sentence wasn’t smart enough to use the Yellow Pages.

And then, we get an endnote that is a note attached to blank space!  Is that even legal?  Well, who cares, becaus it is easily my favorite Endnote of the book, and possibly one of my favorite sections of all.

Endnote 324:  Pemulis is scheduled to play Freer, and if Pemulis wins he will be eligible for WhataBurger.  When he enters the locker room, Freer is there and so is a sobbing Todd Possalthwait.  Postal Weight is sobbing because “nothing’s true” and evidently it has something to do with his dad and Disneyland (although we never do find out for sure).

Pemulis is PW’s big brother so he tries to do some soothing chat (all the while with some heavy duty descriptions of the locker room and its surrourndings (and how meticulous Pemulis’ locker is) and the mirrors and just how idyllic it is when the locker room is empty). Freer is mocking young PW since he’s only 13 and has no idea of what angst is (pronounced with a hard G it is noted that Hal would have noticed).  But Pemulis is trying to be helpful.  And somehow this morphs into a lecture that if PW wants capital T Truth he just has to get involved in math!  (There’s some more math, too).

Some 16s, who are in a sort of club of their own bound in and start whipping towels at each other.  And one of the 16’s Kornspan, is generally accused of being the one evil shit who burned a couple of cats who died on E.T.A. property (cough, Lenz, cough).  As the Endnote follows them, I really enjoyed the concept that the 16s are more cliquish than any other group (and the story about them all simultaneously behaving like apes while in a Customs Line was quite funny).

I enjoyed even more the class differences about dressing oneself.  Upper class college kids put their Tshirts on sleeves first and then pull their heads through…I wish I could confirm this but I have no way to know.  And, even better, they also put on one sock and one shoe before switching to the other foot to do the same.  This turns out to be useful when we see John Wayne standing in Pemulis’ room with one sock and show on looking for the killer antihistamine that Troeltsch said was on his dresser.

Among the other fun tidbits in this Endnote are the inexhaustabale fantsties of wrong-doing Pemulis has about Freer, like him getting buggered at midcourt by a bunch of Bedouins.  And the absolutely informative piece of information that Pemulis in fact did not lie to get out of the urinalysis, he simply blackmailed Avril with the John-Wayne-in-football-uniform scene.  Ouch!  And if Avril didn’t like him before (and she didn’t)….

And while Pemulis and Freer and PW are chatting and arguing, Stice bursts in to say that Troeltsch has Wayne on the air (it’s the weekly radio broadcast) and Wayne is losing his mind!  And how can you end the Endnote like that??

And, yet, don’t be sad, because up next is Rodney Tine Jr.  interviewing Molly Notkin and, wait who is Molly Notkin?  Oh right, she’s the host of the party where Joelle tried to kill herself ten days ago.  And Molly Notkin has a bright light shining in her face like in noir detective movies and she is spilling her guts (in an exceedingly roundabout and highly loquacious manner with more 50 cent words than you can shake a stick at).  And what is so interesting about having her talk is that: She reveals AMAZING FACTS about this story.  She’s the lynchpin that everyone has been looking for.  She knows more details about more things than anyone else.  And yet she is so longwinded and academic that it’s not always entirely clear what the hell she’s saying half the time!

So, Molly Notkin reveals, in a series of near-bullet points:

That in Infinite Jest (V) or (VI) Madame Psychosis plays a maternal Death figure (we knew that).  She is naked and pregnant (although she was never pregnant in real-life).  Molly notes that you can always tell if a woman’s ever carried anything past the first trimester if you look at her naked.  Endnote 329 says: “Which is actually complete horsehit, but goes unchallenged by the O.U.S. operatives, who are pretty savvy at choosing their heuristic battles”.  M.P. is leaning over and talking down to the camera.  It is all designed to show Death as Mother.  And the woman who kills you is your Mother in the next life.

And all of this is filmed with a very special Bolex lens.

She says that Joelle often asked rhetorically why Jim has to use her as Death when he had the living embodiment of Death (ie,. Avril) right in his house.  And heck, she’s also really strikingly pretty so she would have made a perfect Death for the film.

Molly continues, Joelle has never seen the finished product and thinks it can’t be very good.  It was also to be her last film with Jim.  And, as something of a threat, she wouldn’t do it unless Jim quit the Wild Turkey cold turkey.  Which he did. From Christmas until his suicide in April,. J.O.I. was clean (and clearly Hal couldn’t tell, as he assures Pemulis in the above footnote that he had the bottle with him when he killed himself.  (Pemulis argues that some people who go straight will ultimateoly kill themselves becauise of the void. Hal argues that Jim wasn’t straight. Pemulis says he was talking baout Allston mates, not Jim).  Said bottl, Molly speculates, was a gift from Avril, as a sort of She-got-you-to-give-up-the-booze-but-I-couldn’t-fuck-you-gift, that only a spouse could give.

Oh and speaking of sucides, Molly tells us that Joelle’s mom also killed herself. On Thanksgiving Day.  Orin was visiting for Turkey Day dinner and things grew uncomfortable really fast.  Molly thinks that Orin is a shit, a thoroughgoing rotter.  Not the least reason is becuse of what happens below:

When Joelle (whose real name is Lucille Duquette, by the way) tries to rearrange her childhood bedroom so that Orin and she can bunk together for the holiday, all hell breaks loose.  Turns out that Joelle’s own Personal Daddy completely loved her.  Like, obsessively.  Never physically; he coudln’t do that because his love for Joelle was too pure.  And that is why as she grew prettier and prettier he infantilized her more and more, with stuffed animals and stupid nicknames and childrens’ films every day. Even to the point of cutting up her food for her on this very Thanksgiving Day.  And it was this obsessive behavior possibly more so than her unfathomable beuaty that kept the boys away.

Joelle’s mom who had been quiet and resevred the whole dinner freaked out when he revealed this.  She then blurts out that he own father molested her and her sister, and now she learns that she married a copy of her dad.  She runs to the basement where Joelle’s dad (the low Ph chemist) keeps his acids.

She hurls a beaker of acid at Daddy who ducks.  Orin is behind him and he (being athletic) also ducks.  The acid hits Joelle right in the face.  [So evidently, she had been lying to Gately that the veil was because she was too pretty].

Although it is noted that Molly has never seen Joelle veillless, so who knows for sure.

And then her mom put her extremities down the garbage disposal.

Molly thinks that Orin is a shit for ducking out of the way, although honestly, who wouldn’t?  She also claims that it is quite obvious that Orin dumped Joelle because of the acid thing and not because of any filmwork or frequency of attachment to Himself.

Oh, and Molly says that Jim didn’t kill himself because of the film, he killed himself because he knew his wife was sleeping around town.  Including possibly with Orin.  Wait what?  Avril sleping with Orin?  (And she makes Wayne wear Orin’s football uniform?)

And a rather minor point, Molly mentions yet a nother film that isn’t in the official filmography: The Unforgettable Case of Me (although it is not described at all).

So, Molly has given us a huge amount of information to digest.  But how trustworthy is it?

Holy crap, so much revealed. And it’s all so….  Wait there’s ANOTHER floating Endnote!

Turns out that when Wayne was searching for the antihistamine, he mistakenly happened upon some of Pemulis’ stash that Troeltsch had hidden away.  And Wayne, whose system is completely clean, took the drugs and totally flipped out.

And so, broacast over the radio (which evidently staff don’t even think about listening to) is Wayne dishing and mocking just about everyone on campus. And Pemulis is called into C.T.’s office.  He is sitting with various and sundry staff as CT reveals the lurid details of Wayne’s on-air meltdown:

• A fantastic impression of C.T. (putting Stice’s to shame!) asking out an adolescent girl. And (creepily) using one of Orin’s own favorite techniques for asking someone out (I’m afraid of getting my feelings hurt, so I’m going to ask you out tomorrow.  But this gives you enough time to think of a good excuse that won’t hurt my feelings).
• Corbett Thorp is a palsied twit.
• Disney Leith is the sort of man you sit next to at civic functions.  (I’m not sure what that one means).
• Ms Chwaf is chair of the itty bitty titty committee.
• Coach Schtitt had been denied some important fluid since birth.
• Mr Nwangi (who is in the room with Pemulis and C.T. laughing the whole time) is the kind of guy who won’t share at a Chinese restaurant.
• Mary Esther Thode has a face like a pancake.
• J.O.I. was so full of himself he could shit limbs. (My personal favorite).
• Hal was addicted to everything that’s not tied down, cannot outrun him and is insertable in the mouth
• C.T. would not lend his mother a quarter for a rubber tip for her crutch.
• Ms Heath cries at card tricks and is always at the edge of a continent of menstrual hysteria.
• Rik Dunkel could not find his own bottom with both hands and a nautical compass (it must have been so much fun to come up with unusual ways to say cliched insults!)
• Tex Watson (also sitting right there in the room) has a tiny liquid filled nubbin at the top of his spine where his brain should be.

Pemulis tries to argue his way out of things.  But then someone holds up his paraphenial-laden hat.  Pemulis says he needs to see Avril regarding US Canadian relations.  Nwangi says that Avril sends he regards.  And C.T. informs Pemulis that he can finish up the term for credit or go elsewhere and see if they’ll take a senior with no positive references.  And Pemulis is speechless.

So you’re saying that Pemulis is very likely kicked out of E.T.A., and you tell us in and Endnote!   I love this book.

Wayne, by the way is going to be okay.

This next section (there’s more?) drifts over the Spoiler Line by a few pages.  I’ll note when we technically go too far.

The week’s reading ends with Hal (for it was he) inspecting his A.A. brochure and selecting the furtherst away N.A. meeting, which is in Natick.  Hal blows off the evening weight room (and dinner(!)) and drives way out into the boonies to this meeting at a remote, fascinating-in-architecture, and decidedly empty building.

He finally finds the room that he is supposed to be in (and I love that he is walking around this empty building basically holding out the A.A. brochure like a sign of intent).  When he enters, he sees several bearded men in chinos and sweaters holding teddy bears.  One of the men is weeping.  Hal sits, discomfited by the scene, but awaiting the moment when the drug-withdrawal-assistance starts flowing.

The rest of the post comes after the Spoiler Line:

The man who is weeping is weeping for his Inner Child.  His inner child is crying out for his mother and father who were killed in a traffic helicopter crash.  This made me laugh as yet another funny coincidence until Hal realizes that this is Marlon Bain’s older brother Kevin who never would have done a drug in his life.

Hal is in the wrong meeting!  And he looks at the brochure and realizes it is two years old, and likely out of date and that he is trapped in some kind of Robert Bly Men’s meeting.

The remainder of the scene plays out for some comic effect as Kevin implores another genntleman to hug his Inner Child.  And we leave the room with Kevin crawling on all fours, teddy bear tucked in his arms, face crumpled up beseechingly.

In Colin Meloy’s fun post on Infinite Summer he jokes ” that I’m well over ¾ of the way through this 1000 page book and I think I’m still getting exposition.”  But that now:

all of a sudden, things are changing: it was like witnessing the meeting of two old friends, you know, like one from college and one from high school. When Steeply was watching Hal play tennis. When one of the assassin roulants scoops up the unsuspecting engineer. When – holy shit – Marathe infiltrates the Ennet house! These perilous orbits are crashing closer and closer together, I think. We’re moving out of exposition, dear readers!

And he couldn’t be more right.  If you get absorbed in this emotional book and become vested in these characters (with so many different things happening to them) it never really dawns on you that nothing is really happening plotwise.    There are obvious plot points, and things are progressing somewhere, but we’re still (at 80% done) learning more and more about the main characters.

And yet, after last week and this exciting week, things are really starting to come to a head.  And I’m having an even harder time putting the book down.