August 11 BACK TO BUSINESS .... So here I am, back in England I just moved into a new apartment and in October I become and here on E&D I will perk things up forthcoming are reviews of books by Paul Violi and Charles North and there will be music, because I can go to gigs again oh, and don’t ask me if I miss China August 13 GIVE IN So, if you've not looked at it lately because the sidebar (over there on the left) never changes, it's changed a bit. Look especially at the "Give In" section, because there's proof that I've finally lost it. Or have a sense of adventure. Or maybe I'm just feeling, what's the word? Yeah ~~ stupid. August 15 AN OK STRETCH Full Stretch: Poems 1996–2006 by Anthony Wilson Review by Nathan Thompson Anthony Wilson’s poetry is often quiet, gentle even, and it’s always well-wrought. That’s not meant to be pejorative, or to damn with faint praise. Reading this Selected Poems is like listening to someone with a really beautiful voice who, even in the most perilous circumstances, always speaks in perfectly constructed sentences. But there are more surprises here than that description implies. Let’s start with the quiet and gentle though. Wilson describes the day-to-day with a sharp eye and an easy-going, readable style:
(from "Errand") This is deftly economical writing. No word is extraneous. Adjectives are used sparingly and linguistic dexterity is never an end in itself, though clearly Anthony Wilson possesses it in bundles:
(from "Parenthood") Sometimes, as here, there’s almost the rhythmic Anglo-Saxon consonant banging of early Ted Hughes, though in a quite different, domestic, setting. Allied to this is an occasional Larkin-like bleakness of tone, an urban ennui:
(from "After Love")
That’s just great as far as I’m concerned: it’s poignant, intelligent and funny and you can’t ask for much more from a poem. Well, I suppose you can but maybe you shouldn’t, at least, not always. © Nathan Thompson, 2007 August 18 I'M WIDE AWAKE AND YAWNING One day about four years ago Emily sent me a CD-R with a selection of tunes on it and I played it all the way through because it was from Emily and one of the tunes was called “A Bowl Of Oranges” by Bright Eyes and although a few people have been known to describe me as cool I am not really very cool at all and at that time I had not heard of an artist called Bright Eyes but this song I thought was really good and interesting because the words were great and also somehow I couldn’t figure out how he got those words to fit August 23 WELL THEN .... Ok, Bright Eyes didn’t show last week, so all my hopes for a good first gig back in the UK rested with Rilo Kiley at The Rescue Rooms last night. And I’m a big Rilo Kiley fan. They do that kind of quite easy on the ear but with an edge alt stuff (I have no idea how to describe it; there’s probably a good label somewhere but I don’t know what it is. Guitars are involved.), singer Jenny Lewis has a really good voice, and their lyrics are intelligent and, more often than not, sexy and realistic and to the point. Their new record sounds, on first listenings, like it’s had a bit more money thrown at it than their previous records, which is probably the case because it’s on a major label; I’ve had it for a couple of days and it gets stronger on each play. They do good tunes, which is more than can be said for some. So what happened last night? Well, I’d forgotten what a wanky thing it can be standing around waiting for the top of the bill to come on stage. You’ve tolerated the support, one of those amiable chaps with a guitar (a singer-songwriter, that’s what he was) who wouldn’t know a decent tune if it came and kissed him, and now you’re waiting. And waiting. You wonder what the hell they’re doing back there, or if they’re even in town yet. Roadies are pratting around on the stage. One of them makes a big deal of laying out beer and water for the band. It’s tough work but someone has to do it.
I’m sure that by now you’re thinking I’m less than enthusiastic, and difficult to please. I mean, here’s one of my favourite bands, playing songs I like, and playing them pretty damn well, and I’m feeling less than excited. The thing is, they were playing pretty damn well but it was also sounding pretty damn routine and, at times, dull. At one point I perked up: Lewis abandoned her guitar and went on to the keyboards, and for 30 seconds or so and some good strong chords I thought they were going to metamorphose into The Postal Service (a band of which Lewis was a part) which would have been great, but it kind of came and went and another Rilo Kiley song came along and Rilo Kiley songs are not Postal Service songs and I was left wondering what that little burst of electricity was all about. Something, something was missing from the show. A spark of passion. A bit of excitement. Being good humoured and friendly is good. Playing well is good. But I’d trade a portion of those things in for a bit of bite and the odd fuck up, to be honest. When Lewis got to talking to us, and they got into some of the funkier songs from the new record, things woke up a little, but it was getting late, and her moves to get close to the audience and actually touch hands were routine rather than inspired. Calls for the usual encore were also routine, and somewhat short, and singularly lacking in energy. Of course, they did an encore, and then we all went home. I realise I’ve used the word “routine” a lot; so it goes. It was the word in my mind most of the evening, so I’m using it here. I really like Rilo Kiley. I’m playing the new record now, as I write this. You can hear the title track by going over to the sidebar. But it wasn’t the greatest gig I’ve ever been to. I really wish Bright Eyes had shown up last week. That was the one I reckon would’ve been hot. August 28 CLOUDS I’ve been meaning for several weeks now to draw your attention to David Caddy’s Poetic Letters From England. David is the editor of the fine Tears in the Fence magazine. Anyways, at this website David writes at length and interestingly about his poetic heritage and the line of English and American poetry he feels closest to. The “Letters” are also available in audio format, so you can read and listen at the same time -- though I have to say I found that impossible to do, because David speaks quite slowly on the recordings, and my reading was racing ahead of him, even though I was trying to hold back. Whatever, it’s good and serious stuff, packed with information, and particularly strong on the connections between various writers and artists, not all of whom are household names but who have an importance nevertheless. August 29 PVM Visit here and maybe follow the links ....... ..... I know one of the blokes who dreamed up the machine idea |