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Monday, April 30, 2007
The Outsider
Lake of the Long Sun
by Gene Wolfe
If Nightside the Long Sun (here's my review) was about a moral dilemma, Lake of the Long Sun is a coming-of-age for Patera Silk. Or perhaps he's just getting better at matching the world in his head to that outside his skull.
Memory is on a par with religion and politics as a theme, as the politics of Viron are brought more to the forefront. "Silk for Calde" is the poem on the walls of the Whorl, and the good Patera is considered a bit of a rabble-rouser. While his mission to sane his manteion recedes to the background for a while (as survival takes precedence for a while), Silk's resolve is as strong as before.
What makes this more than just an adventure in church politics is the sophistication Silk is gaining with nearly every chapter. And what makes this admirable is that only a few days have passed in the first two books combined.
Better even than Nightside was, Lake of the Long Sun is possibly my favorite volume of the series so far. And I have two more to go!
by Gene Wolfe
If Nightside the Long Sun (here's my review) was about a moral dilemma, Lake of the Long Sun is a coming-of-age for Patera Silk. Or perhaps he's just getting better at matching the world in his head to that outside his skull.
Memory is on a par with religion and politics as a theme, as the politics of Viron are brought more to the forefront. "Silk for Calde" is the poem on the walls of the Whorl, and the good Patera is considered a bit of a rabble-rouser. While his mission to sane his manteion recedes to the background for a while (as survival takes precedence for a while), Silk's resolve is as strong as before.
What makes this more than just an adventure in church politics is the sophistication Silk is gaining with nearly every chapter. And what makes this admirable is that only a few days have passed in the first two books combined.
Better even than Nightside was, Lake of the Long Sun is possibly my favorite volume of the series so far. And I have two more to go!
Enlightenment
Nightside the Long Sun
by Gene Wolfe
If what you hold dear is a thing that helps people by its nature, is it morally correct to steal and perhaps murder evil men to protect it? I'd think not, but it's a dilemma that Patera Silk, the protagonist of the first volume of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the Long Sun.
While many of the same themes that Mr. Wolfe explores in The Book of the New Sun are present here - transformation, religion, government - yet are given new twists. The author's trademarked unreliable narrator is here more self-deluding than a liar. Silk nearly always tells the truth, but it's tinted by his desire for happy endings. While he is a priest of sorts, he has a remarkable loss of remorse at descending into criminal acts, even to save his parish.
Religion is here portrayed as both noble and worthy or ridicule, depending on the point of view. Or perhaps both. The gods of the Whorl, the miles-long generation ship the story is set in, are kind, or perhaps cruel.
To summarize the plot is to do it a disservice. But here goes: To save his manteion, as a god has instructed him to do, Patera Silk must accomplish the impossible task or convincing a criminal to show charity. That's pretty trite, actually, and it leaves out the grand society that's grown up (or perhaps not) in the Whorl. It leaves out the characters of Auk, professional thief and Silk's mentor; the semi-respectable criminal Blood; Maytera Marble, 300 year old sibyl of the manteion.
Not to be missed. Nightside the Long Sun is a continuation to the New Sun books. But you can start here, I think, since the characters and events are very different. However, having read the earlier books will enrich the experience.
by Gene Wolfe
If what you hold dear is a thing that helps people by its nature, is it morally correct to steal and perhaps murder evil men to protect it? I'd think not, but it's a dilemma that Patera Silk, the protagonist of the first volume of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the Long Sun.
While many of the same themes that Mr. Wolfe explores in The Book of the New Sun are present here - transformation, religion, government - yet are given new twists. The author's trademarked unreliable narrator is here more self-deluding than a liar. Silk nearly always tells the truth, but it's tinted by his desire for happy endings. While he is a priest of sorts, he has a remarkable loss of remorse at descending into criminal acts, even to save his parish.
Religion is here portrayed as both noble and worthy or ridicule, depending on the point of view. Or perhaps both. The gods of the Whorl, the miles-long generation ship the story is set in, are kind, or perhaps cruel.
To summarize the plot is to do it a disservice. But here goes: To save his manteion, as a god has instructed him to do, Patera Silk must accomplish the impossible task or convincing a criminal to show charity. That's pretty trite, actually, and it leaves out the grand society that's grown up (or perhaps not) in the Whorl. It leaves out the characters of Auk, professional thief and Silk's mentor; the semi-respectable criminal Blood; Maytera Marble, 300 year old sibyl of the manteion.
Not to be missed. Nightside the Long Sun is a continuation to the New Sun books. But you can start here, I think, since the characters and events are very different. However, having read the earlier books will enrich the experience.
Um... No.
I sincerely hope this is a joke.
Crow calls for limit on loo paper
Singer Sheryl Crow has said a ban on using too much toilet paper should be introduced to help the environment...
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Saturday ride
Rode for about 5 miles this morning. Need to have the back brakes of the bicycle tightened a hair, and maybe get the back wheel aligned, but the bike is in good shape.
Labels: bike
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Best new music I've discovered lately
Kevin Gilbert, Thud
An amazing collection of songs by multi-instrumentalist and composer Kevin Gilbert, who sadly died after completing this. Think rock tinged by pop with a little prog thrown in and you're in the ballpark, but Gilbert's style was all his own. Most of the production on Thud is pretty sparse, but there are moments of appropriate complexity in almost every track.
It's worth buying the albumn for All Fall Down or Shadow Self alone, but When You Give Your Love To Me, The Tears of Audrey, and Goodness Gracious (my personal favorite) are all excellent, and there's not a bad song here.
Edit: I was thinking about this last night, and I think the best way to describe Thud would be "post-progressive" rock. No longer experimentation for the sake of being radical, it's applying the best bits that came out of the lab. (Also check out King Crimson's work after the Projekct tour discs, it shows the benefit of an "R&D" period.)
Brian Wilson, Smile
I've written about this before, so I'll be short. Smile is a legendary "lost" album project that Brian Wilson abandoned, although the Beach Boys recorded some of the songs here and there.
It's a bloody shame this didn't get finished by the Beach Boys. As amazing as this album is, I can only imagine what they'd have done with this material in their heyday. That said, this disc is a masterpiece.
The orchestration is far ahead of anything else done in the 60's - and most of what's being done today. And the album sounds amazing enough to make me thing that it was worth waiting for modern studio recording to do justice to the material.
Jason Webley, Against the Night
I first met Jason Webley when I did sound for him at a concert in Raritan Center. His music impressed me enough that I bought one of his CDs, Against the Night. I had heard a lot of new music that day (a 12-hour live event will do that) but this was the only CD I came home with.
It's all about the lyrics and Jason's voice, I think. Goth accordionist meets Tom Waits, maybe?
A word of warning: If you buy this, you'll end up getting all of his albums (4 and counting) and they're all excellent. You can check him out on Youtube I'm in the audience for a Redbank performance, the guy to the left of theidiot guy checking his cellphone. All his work is great, but If I had to pick one (which I don't) it's Against the Night because I love that 2AM credits vocals to a particular pub. See this guy live if you possibly can.
Tori Amos, Under the Pink
Pretty Good Year, The Wrong Band, Cornflake Girl... a perfect album. Sophisticated piano/vocal music, with a flair for the dramatic. (Tori Amos fits somewhere in between emo, folk, and a broadway musical revue.)
Her amazing voice is pretty much taken for granted, but it shouldn't be. Fortunately she writes her material even better than she sings.
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
This album is not exactly new, but it's new to me. Amazing emotional jazz from one of the biggest innovators in the field. There are standout tracks, but you need to hear the whole disc. If you're not into jazz (I wasn't), this is a great place to start.
An amazing collection of songs by multi-instrumentalist and composer Kevin Gilbert, who sadly died after completing this. Think rock tinged by pop with a little prog thrown in and you're in the ballpark, but Gilbert's style was all his own. Most of the production on Thud is pretty sparse, but there are moments of appropriate complexity in almost every track.
It's worth buying the albumn for All Fall Down or Shadow Self alone, but When You Give Your Love To Me, The Tears of Audrey, and Goodness Gracious (my personal favorite) are all excellent, and there's not a bad song here.
Edit: I was thinking about this last night, and I think the best way to describe Thud would be "post-progressive" rock. No longer experimentation for the sake of being radical, it's applying the best bits that came out of the lab. (Also check out King Crimson's work after the Projekct tour discs, it shows the benefit of an "R&D" period.)
Brian Wilson, Smile
I've written about this before, so I'll be short. Smile is a legendary "lost" album project that Brian Wilson abandoned, although the Beach Boys recorded some of the songs here and there.
It's a bloody shame this didn't get finished by the Beach Boys. As amazing as this album is, I can only imagine what they'd have done with this material in their heyday. That said, this disc is a masterpiece.
The orchestration is far ahead of anything else done in the 60's - and most of what's being done today. And the album sounds amazing enough to make me thing that it was worth waiting for modern studio recording to do justice to the material.
Jason Webley, Against the Night
I first met Jason Webley when I did sound for him at a concert in Raritan Center. His music impressed me enough that I bought one of his CDs, Against the Night. I had heard a lot of new music that day (a 12-hour live event will do that) but this was the only CD I came home with.
It's all about the lyrics and Jason's voice, I think. Goth accordionist meets Tom Waits, maybe?
A word of warning: If you buy this, you'll end up getting all of his albums (4 and counting) and they're all excellent. You can check him out on Youtube I'm in the audience for a Redbank performance, the guy to the left of the
Tori Amos, Under the Pink
Pretty Good Year, The Wrong Band, Cornflake Girl... a perfect album. Sophisticated piano/vocal music, with a flair for the dramatic. (Tori Amos fits somewhere in between emo, folk, and a broadway musical revue.)
Her amazing voice is pretty much taken for granted, but it shouldn't be. Fortunately she writes her material even better than she sings.
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
This album is not exactly new, but it's new to me. Amazing emotional jazz from one of the biggest innovators in the field. There are standout tracks, but you need to hear the whole disc. If you're not into jazz (I wasn't), this is a great place to start.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Bike ride
Looking out the window while doing laundry, I thought it's be a perfect day tp go for my first bike ride of the season. I inflated the tires and lugged the bike up the basement stairs, and off I went.
After taking last summer off the bike after my nasty bike accident in Highland Park, I'm in better shape than I feared. I covered about 4 miles or so of local streets and wasn't tired at all. My left knee complained a tiny bit, but nothing alarming. More like "ahem... yew might want to think a-bout this here hill a little more closely, Neil". Aheheh.
The rear brakes need to be tightened a touch, and I slipped a chain once -- near the Edison train station, which has a bathroom and, more importantly, a sink. The treads might be getting on a bit, but I have at least another season or two in those tires.
After taking last summer off the bike after my nasty bike accident in Highland Park, I'm in better shape than I feared. I covered about 4 miles or so of local streets and wasn't tired at all. My left knee complained a tiny bit, but nothing alarming. More like "ahem... yew might want to think a-bout this here hill a little more closely, Neil". Aheheh.
The rear brakes need to be tightened a touch, and I slipped a chain once -- near the Edison train station, which has a bathroom and, more importantly, a sink. The treads might be getting on a bit, but I have at least another season or two in those tires.
Labels: bicycle
Friday, April 20, 2007
Stuff played at Open Mic 19 Apr 2007
Last night's HPMC open mic wasn't as bust as the last one, but a great time was had by all! Performers included myself, Bruce, David Slade, Artistic Differences (including Grazina Strolia for the Bile song), and a guy who played very good spanish guitar (whose name I can't recall, sorry). Pics to be posted soon.
Songs I played solo:
When I Was a Monkey
Eyes Up Front
Woke Up On the Fourth
Welcome Home
...and with Bruce:
Hold on Loosely
There's That Song
Ouch
Bugs
...with ArtDiff:
Bile
Baby Driver
...and more solo songs (I think this is all of them):
Time in a Bottle
Flowers on the Wall
Never Had a Brother
The next HPMC open mic is on May 17th at PJs.
Songs I played solo:
When I Was a Monkey
Eyes Up Front
Woke Up On the Fourth
Welcome Home
...and with Bruce:
Hold on Loosely
There's That Song
Ouch
Bugs
...with ArtDiff:
Bile
Baby Driver
...and more solo songs (I think this is all of them):
Time in a Bottle
Flowers on the Wall
Never Had a Brother
The next HPMC open mic is on May 17th at PJs.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Open Mic
Folks have been asking: The Highland Park Musicians Coop open mic at PJs is now the third thursday of each month. (Will post updates to my calendar.)
More info, directions
More info, directions
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
11-M. Palabras que todo lo ven
Not my photo (click on the photo to find out more about it) but it's extremely cool. Photo by Miss Soul.
Labels: notbike
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
12, 13, 14
I Don't Get It - 3:46
Sunday - 2:30
Old Post - 1:48
Mitch & Emerson - 2:25
Tacks - 1:48
Hoyland - 2:14
Of - 0:44
UV Black Velvet - 1:40
Choose This - 1:30
Swamp Gas - 1:15
Notch - 2:32
Ride - 2:04
Roto-Tiller - 3:29
The Sidewalk and the Sunflower - 2:44
Total - 30:29Ride is one of the first things I ever recorded on a computer, with a wordless vocal run through an amp simulator. Roto-Tiller is a straight-ahead prog-rock instrumental. The Sidewalk and the Sunflower is a theme-driven piano/strings/brass piece.
Tags: music, R+D, recording
Labels: music, notbike, R+D, recording
5767 Seder 1
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