Thursday, August 1, 2013

Qs, Cale, R3

I am limping my way to the finish of my Swimming Pool Qs feature, both helped and hindered by the fact that my interview with Jeff Calder ran well over an hour (I also have some email quotes from Anne Richmond Boston). So I'm sort of lost in early 1980s Athens/Atlanta this morning, pogoing at least in my head to the sounds of R.E.M., Pylon, B-52s and, naturally, the Swimming Pool Qs. It's not a bad part of recent history to get lost in, though I'm hoping I can surface in a couple of hours and do some paying work.

Meanwhile, I've been listening to the alphabetic end of my to-do pile...Venom P. Stinger (the first band together for future Dirty Three mainstays Mick Turner and Jim White), White Hills (awesomely rock outing for the more typically drone-y guitar band) and Zola Jesus.

All three of these are albums that I think I'm going to review and send to Dusted, which has been dark for months but may be reviving soon. I've done the initial what-the-fuck-is-this listening, now I'm trying to figure out what to write...but the new one in the stack is from Zachary Cale (hah, you thought I was going to write about JJ, didn't you? RIP, but no.) He's a really good songwriter, well connected (last album had a guest shot from Christopher Brokaw and a couple other musicians' musicians) and just a quality act. this album Bluerider is also possibly named after one of my favorite mini-periods in modern art (or maybe not) and it's a lot more laid back and acoustic than the last. If you like Kurt Vile, and these days who doesn't, you should check it out.

Try this one, then.


We are also heading down the stretch for Sean's very last New England Youth Theater production, which is Richard the III. He was initially pretty bummed to be playing King Edward, who has one really good speech before kicking it in the first act. However, he has gotten a couple of other parts as he's gone along. He has picked up Richmond who kills R3 and takes over, and a little bit of Henry the VI, so now he is all the kings but Richard (which is the one he really wanted, but oh well). Anyway, they're doing it Mad Men-style in sharp suits and it's going to be super super cool and now I want to cry because it's the last one ever and then he's leaving.

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