LISTING ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Recently I have spent countless hours pouring over a wonderful book entitled "1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die" By Tom Moon. In reading it I am struck by the staggering amount of potentially awe inspiring music that I have yet to engage with. On the other hand I am also having fun picking apart some of Moon's picks (or lack therefore in some cases - only 1 Bowie album made the list!)

Moon's official 1000 Recordings To Hear blog is also excellent, and he often posts further information about some of the recordings or related material he references in his book. He also makes recommendations for "next steps" if you like a certain recording, as well as guides for exploring certain genres, such as the recently posted "Five Steps In an Exploration of Jazz". This is a great site to use as a launching pad for further musical exploration (and eventual obsession).

It is a fascinating premise in some respects, as the concept of "essential listening" may not necessarily translate into a list of one's favourite recordings. It is a valid approach to examine what recordings would be considered essential canon, mainly those that are considered to be foundational, influential and need to be experienced to appreciate much of what has come afterwards.

A parallel would be the more common act of identifying the various pieces of literature that are foundational to Western culture or that assist one in grasping the ethos of a certain era. For example, James Joyce's "Ulysses" is justifiably promoted as one of the quintessential Modernist novels, yet despite this there are probably few who would have the tenacity, patience or desire to read through the many dense stream of consciousness passages on a regular basis.

In Moon's exploration of essential music he took a long journey and acknowledged that with some genres he knew little and had to do some exploring first, finding some hidden and perhaps more obscure gems along the way. This is an act of pure love, where the ego inherent in the notion of one's own individual taste is partially stripped away and there is an openness to wonder from a variety of previously unknown sources.

As always, it is a very subjective exercise that is bound to create debate among people who care about music. Though many of the recordings identified have historically received consensus around being essential (i.e. "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys, The Beatles "The White Album") others are slightly suspect (inexplicably a Britney Spears album made the list). Regardless, it is a great catalyst for opening up new doors and I have discovered many recordings that I never knew about that I will hopefully engage with before I shed this mortal coil.

I end with a few of Moon's selections that may be more obscure to some - enjoy!;

Oum Kalthoum (1904-1975) Recognized as the Arab world's most famous and distinguished singer of the 20th century:



Memphis Minnie (1897-1973) - A pioneering female blues singer and guitarist who was popular during the Great Depression and WWII;



Of course I will endeavor to post my own essential recordings list for the edification of others (DISCLAIMER: I'll probably start with 10 recordings, as attempting to compile 1000 would have a negative impact on my family life and would probably take me a few years living as a quasi-hermit to complete).

OOOH... I almost forgot the obligatory closing question - what are some essential recordings from your vantage point?

THE FIRST RULE OF BOOK CLUB...

I went out on a limb recently and placed an add on my local Craigslist page to see if any like-minded miscreants wanted to start a book club with me in my neighbourhood. As a result I met a co-conspirator named Kevin who came up with this great ad for our fledgling club that we can put in a few local coffee shops;

It's kind of cool really, as I have been lamenting the absence of the type of connections I had in days of yore; basically people with a wide array of interests willing to shoot the breeze about life, the universe and everything. It felt a bit risky putting the add out, though I am glad I did this and embraced a new way of finding kindred souls in the 21st century.

I am eager to see how my little experiment to start a book club from scratch will pan out. I am off to a good start really, and have already increased my group size by 100% (seeing as there are two of us now) and I am confident that beneath the orderly facade of where I live there are other like minded souls willing to read, talk and be inspired by the exchange of ideas.

FYI - the genesis for this idea happened a few months ago when I overheard two women conversing at a local coffee shop and I became mildly distraught over the commodified and purely transactional nature of their discourse (link here for my earlier post "Coffee Talk & Glossy Pamphlets") and I made a vow to wage personal war against relational mediocrity and find a meaningful way to simply connect with others over the love of ideas.

A FEW BOOKS IN MIND

I have posted a short review of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" on the Spring Reading Challenge blog, as hosted by that benevolent simian, Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein.

Drop by and check it out and read some other reviews by some great folks who have been contributing as well. It's a great place to get inspired by other people's love of the written word and perhaps get turned on to a few authors you may have looked over.

Presently I am reading "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. It is an intriguing book that examines how the world would progress and exist if suddenly there were no more pesky humans around to muck it up. He looks at history, evolution and even examines places in the world today where we can see how the absence of humanity leads to the sudden blossoming and reemergence of nature.

It is a humbling and ego stripping exercise to take, and brings to light our inextricable connection and influence on this world. It is a fascinating book and I plan to ruminate on it endlessly when I am done reading, you have been warned!

Here is a great flash piece from Weisman's site that demonstrates how the average North America house would literally decompose once they were no people around to take care of it;



Now excuse me while I go and imagine the world without me!

THE 100,000,000 BLOG UNIVERSE

Recently Sarah Boxer of the New York Times has edited a blog anthology titled "Ultimate Blogs; Masterworks From the Wild Web", where she offers a snapshot of the sublime, the absurd and everything else in between that the blogosphere has to offer. In the recent edition of the New York Times Review of Books she notes;

While I began to contemplate my own minuscule participation in all of this I stumbled upon the latest issue of Paste Magazine , where Charles McNair reviews Boxer's anthology (actually he spends most of his time ruminating on his own ambivalence towards blogging). He closes his review with the following fodder for further contemplation;

"Aldous Huxley wrote in Brave New World of a drug called soma that made society self-satisfied, internalized, indifferent to all cares. I think a case may be made that soma isn't Prozac or some other mood pharmaceutical, but modern technology - TV, iPods, the web all of it ... a symptom of some ailment that separates our 21st century souls instead of connecting them?"

Another way of framing McNair's view of blogging is as follows;

He actually makes a reasonable point on some levels about the role of technology to potentially numb the masses. Having said that, I have read lots of really engaged blog postings now that the U.S. election is gearing up and don't necessarily believe that the vast majority of bloggers are "indifferent to all cares".

If anything, there is some refreshing, playful and dynamic discourse taking place in the blogosphere, the type that is sadly missing from the mainstream media. Perhaps their is a reason why many people are turning off their TVs? And yes, there is some wonderfully inane blogging as well!

As for me, blogging has simply been a vehicle to explore my muse, to develop my writing and expand upon the passing thoughts that cross my mental landscape from time to time. It is actually quite therapeutic on some levels, a logical extension of the traditional journaling I have done from time to time in the past.

One of the pleasing bi-products of this is that I have come across a few fellow bloggers recently who appear to be anything other than "switched off", folks who have inspired me with their words and ideas and have left their mark on me, and have perhaps broadened my perspective a little bit.

It is a dynamic and rapidly changing world, and at times writing or blogging helps me get a small handle on it. There are times at night when accompanied by some good music, I write my ideas and scour for some inspiring words from others who are also trying to make sense of it all. A brave new world indeed.

BOOK BLOGGING: THE GUM THIEF - part 3

A BOOK WITHIN A BOOK, WITHIN A BOOK........

Metafiction abounds in Douglas Coupland's universe. Here's the run down; Douglas Coupland is an author, he writes a book called The Gum Thief about a sad middle aged man named Roger who himself writes a book called Glove Pond, which is itself about a failed writer going through a creative dry spell, who in turn decides to write a novel after meeting a much more successful and younger author. It kind of makes me dizzy.

It is playful, funny and at times quite sad. Roger exercises his own demons through his Glove Pond novel, and you get a unique perspective on how elements of Roger's own universe seep into his own fiction. I found myself getting drawn into the story within the story and felt a real attraction to the absurdly tragic characters inhabiting Roger's imagination. The extra insights gleamed from Roger's journal entries enhanced this experience and provided a unique window into the creative process and the catharsis that often accompanies this.

I began to wonder about how far you could go with the novel within a novel etc. If you went far enough, say you are up to your 50th story within a story etc, perhaps you would open the door to some parallel universe where you can see another version of yourself huddled over a laptop, typing furiously about your own story within a story.

Reality as you know it would likely disintegrate if you went too far with this, and the world of your dream life would begin to take shape before your eyes. You could hop between each story within a story and interact with the many characters that inhabit your imagination's landscape.

After making small talk with some of your characters you could suggest politely that they engage in some snappier dialogue once in a while. In turn they might demand better working conditions and a little more consistent attention from you.

Things might get ugly when some of the characters created by other characters demand greater aspirations from their prospective authors, who in turn would come to you for advice since you created them in the first place. The battles over intellectual property would be fierce and unending in these infinite stories within stories, though I imagine you would have the power of veto at times.

Worst of all they would all have some trace of your own insecurities or neurosis. The collective therapy bills would be staggering. They would also all speak in a similar fashion, despite your efforts to provide each within their own unique voice, often overusing annoying catch phrases that seemed like a good idea at the time.

It would be endless fun though if you kept running with it - the novel within a novel within a novel within a novel within a novel ... Ad Infinitum. Linear reality is overrated anyways. Thank you Douglas Coupland!

BOOK BLOGGING: "THE GUM THIEF" - part 2

WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU

Roger is a sad middle aged man who sees little hope of change or redemption from this point in his life until the time that he is food for worms in a few more decades. He is missing the liberation that can come from living your life within the context of a larger narrative, one that takes you out of yourself and into a realm where your connection to the larger world and to others is more important than who you are .

Perhaps this is Coupland's point, that Roger is the natural bi-product of our individualistic cultural milieu, one that teaches us how to strive for the "good life", but offers few resources to deal with its inevitable collapse at times.

Here are Roger's jaded observations about what they should be really teaching you in the school of "Real Life";

...Falling out of love happens as quickly as falling in
...Good -looking people with strong, fluorinated teeth get things handed to them on platters
...Animals spend time with you only if you feed them
...People armed with shopping carts who know what they want and where they're going will always cream clueless people standing in the middle of aisles holding vague shopping lists
....Time speeds up in a terrifying manner in your mid thirties

In the spirit if this I thought I would add a few curriculum items from my own school of "Real Life";

• Venting and cursing in your car while stuck in standstill traffic is a futile endeavor, and it only increases the awareness that you are spending countless moments of your life stuck in a people mover, spewing pollution into the atmosphere so you can get to work and thus be able to pay for this very source of your endless frustration and impotent rage.
• People are not as preoccupied with you as you are - this actually hits you as you leave adolescence and enter early adulthood - that form of egocentric thinking known as "imaginary audience syndrome" dissolves - kind of liberating and frightening at the same time. when you first realize this
  
• "Independence" is highly overrated
• Falling in love with someone is the easy part (really) - whereas staying in love is a helluva lot of work. It is not about maintaining an emotional state of "love", but it is the manifestation of a series of actions whereas as you actively, and consciously choose to love another person through your actions - therefore we progress from the involuntary (falling in love) to the voluntary (choosing to remain in love) - I honestly believe this

*******

I am on about page 84 - lots of writing back and forth between Roger & Bethany via Roger's diary. These folks are quite sure that there lives will continue in a meaningless direction until they die. Lots of detachment from the larger social order, peppered with a great deal of anxiety over a sense of impending apocalypse (i.e a typical early 21st century novel?)

As usual, there is a great use of metafiction as well via Roger's own (poorly) written novel Glove Pond, about similar middle aged characters also with thwarted ambition. Excerpts from Roger's Glove Pond novel are infused throughout the book, and you can see Roger working out his own issues through is gin-soaked characters. Perhaps this is also Coupland's playful way to explore the cathartic, and often self revelatory process of writing, albeit in a humorous manner.

The Roger & Bethany characters seem to be on a one way ticket to loserville, yet as usual Coupland has an ability to find something that is redeeming, however faintly, when like-minded misfits find connections with each other and can therefore infuse some form of meaning into their lives. Perhaps this is what makes life more bearable for some. More to come....

BOOK BLOGGING: "THE GUM THIEF" - part 1

THE NOTION OF "WANTING OUT"

I took a week away from the blogosphere, and I am still surprisingly OK, holding up nicely thank you very much. I had some withdrawal symptoms, but I am still vertical and breathing.

I Just picked up Douglas Coupland's latest novel The Gum Thief from my local library and just started diving in right away. Admittedly, ever since his masterpiece Life After God forever altered my universe 12 years a go I have felt compelled to read every book that he has come out with since.

So with little further ado, I thought I would blog as I read this book. Kind of a fun way to share my experience of it, and more engaging than just posting a review. There will likely be quite a few posts on this - you have been warned!

To start with, even if Coupland's overall narrative structures can be illusive at times, he has the ability to capture the type of thoughts or ideas that can pass through your mind in a heightened moment of angst or when you step back and really look around, though they are rarely articulated to anyone else. In Coupland's universe these types of thoughts are regular conversation pieces.

Case in point, the opening two paragraphs, taken from the diary of a middle aged man clearly unhappy with the direction his life has taken:

A few years ago it dawned on me that everybody past a certain age - regardless of how they look on the outside - pretty much constantly dreams of being able to to escape from their lives. They don't want to be who they are any more. They want out. This list includes Thurston Howell the Third, Ann-Margret, the cast members of Rent, Vaclav Havel, space shuttle astronauts and Snuffleupagus. It's universal.

Do you want out? Do you often wish you could be somebody, anybody, other than who you are - the you who holds a job and feeds a family - the you who keeps a relatively okay place to live and who still tries to keep your friendships alive? In other words, the you who 's going to remain pretty much the same until the casket?

I was chewing on this passage for a while. In terms of the notion of "wanting out", my initial thoughts were around what is the source of this perpetual self dissatisfaction that Coupland refers to? Is there an innate form of restlessness that is just part of the human psyche, or is it more a symptom of the era we live in?

Putting it another way, did kings counting their gold and serfs working their fields in the middle ages also dream of shedding their skins, or is this merely the affliction of our age, the natural bi-product of being subjected to decades worth of advertising telling us that there is always a better you?

Admittedly I am a fence sitter here; I think as humans we are naturally prone to wander and dream, though perhaps what in the past may have been fanciful musings during on an idle moment has now mutated into persistent and nagging desires that are as accelerated as the culture we live in.

Personally, I don't "want out", though like everyone else I can could easily make a list of personality traits or habits I would like to transform. I do agree that we are essentially the same person from cradle to casket, and that despite being altered by our experiences and the world around us, I believe the same overarching themes persist throughout our lives. They just become more complex, couched in different language, coloured by new experiences, but remain essentially the same.

OK, all this from the opening two paragraphs! I am actually having fun so far, and as usual Coupland's universe is inhabited by quintessentially post-modern characters riddled with enough angst to fuel 10 Nirvana albums. So far we have a middle aged man and a 20 something goth girl exchanging thoughts in an open diary in order to alleviate the tedium of working a mind numbing job at a Staples business supply store in North Vancouver. This is classic Coupland indeed.

More to come for sure - I am 40 pages in for anyone who wants to follow along and read as well - please do, I am an extroverted reader!

Also check out this little promo clip for the book from YouTube, about the middle aged Roger character - very Couplandesque!

BOOK BLOGGING: DYLAN'S CHRONICLES - part 2

KEEPING A "CLOSE EYE" ON WORDS THAT GRAB YOU.

It is priceless to read Bob Dylan's ruminations on the music and words that inspired him and shaped his universe. During a portion of his memoir where he is reflecting on making the album "Oh Mercy" he comments that his own song "Man in the Long Black Coat" was his equivalent of "I Walk the Line". Here are his words describing the impact this Johnny Cash classic had on him;

He sounds like he's at the edge of the fire, or in the deep snow, or in a ghostly forest, the coolness of conscious obvious strength, full tilt and vibrant with danger. "I keep a close watch on this heart of mine" Indeed. I must have recited those lines to myself a million times... Words that were the rule of law and backed by the power of God... it sounded like a voice calling out, "What are you doing there, boy?" I was trying to keep my eyes wide open to.

"I keep a close eye on this heart of mine". To me, one of the best opening lines to a song ever. It captured my imagination as a child hearing Cash's music on my dad's radio, and even more so as an adult when I rediscovered it. The power of a few simple words sung by a soul with a preacher's conviction.

Its difficult and perhaps unnecessary to over-analyze something that operates on a spiritual level like this. If I had to describe what it means to me I would say that is in a similar vein as Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel No. 2 where he laments being one of those "oppressed by the figures of beauty" . Perhaps one does need to keep a "close eye", letting the heart wander where it may is dangerous business.

A line from a more recent song that has come close to having the same impact is from "Hold On, Hold On" by Neko Case; "The most tender place in my heart is for strangers/ I know its unkind but my own love is much too dangerous" A haunting song, and these tragic & beautiful words have definitely taken a hold on me.

For me lines like these are snapshots, fleeting shadows that capture truth and offer a brief glimpse of a larger reality. They reference a place that exists just outside of your peripheral vision. A place that is always present, though rarely seen. Good music or poetry is a key that expands your vision and opens new doors. This was certainly the case for Dylan.

Its magical stuff reading Dylan's musings on the forces of life that shaped his identity. Its a powerful and life altering force having words or music become embedded in our mental landscape, forever altering our personal geography and giving it a dynamic new form. After a while they cannot be separated and simply become a part of who we are.

(Note: Here's the link for my first posting on Dylan's Chronicles)

A Few Thoughts Re: Nick Hornby's "How To Be Good"

I just finished this book last week, and it was well worth it. Nick Hornby is funny, observant, and in this book he manages to accurately capture the psychological make-up of middle class folks, who in this case are trying to redeem their souls in the wake of leading a comfortable existence. How, with the best of intentions, does one be good when your life force is drained from running endlessly on the hamster wheel that is modern life? A valid question in this age, and Hornby approaches it masterfully.

There are also some poignant observations regarding some of the numbing and sterile aspects of middle-class existence, and the struggle to balance the pursuit of the "good life" with the need to reach beyond our own little cocoons into a larger social responsibility. What shapes our morals in this context when we feel barely afloat ourselves at times?

When one family member in this novel has a dramatic "conversion" to a new paradigm, the other members also have a crisis as they reevaluate everything they have taken for granted up to this point. This works itself out in a playful manner, and as usual Hornby has a keen ability to juxtapose how what goes on within our internal workings and what actually comes out of our mouths are not always congruent.

I did love this book and there are some sublime moments to say the least. Highly recommended...........

I also wanted to post a passage that I love. In this a mother is observing her daughter;

"What has happened to Molly in her first eight years? More or less nothing. We have protected her from the world as best we can. She has been brought up in a loving home, she has two parents, she has never been hungry, and she receives an education that will prepare her for the rest of her life; and yet she is sad, and that sadness is not, when you think about it, inappropriate.... It seems to me now that the plain state of being human is dramatic enough for anyone; you don't need to be a heroin addict or a performance poet to experience extremity. You just have to love someone."

This is a struggle for many parents - you want to protect your kids from hurt, anguish, disappointment, the very things that are a natural consequence of loving another human being and bringing a life into this world. Our ability to hurt others and to let them down is staggering and endless.

This desire to inoculate against sadness is valid and likely comes from a good place, though I often think it can have destructive consequences. Perhaps it is healthier to provide children with a vocabulary to explore sadness, to learn how to give voice and direction to this emotion, rather than suppressing, medicating or denying it as we often do in our culture. Maybe we are unable do this ourselves, and this is where the struggle lies....

Anyways, I have been chewing on this passage for about week, and I think it will stick with me for a while. Thank you Nick for so eloquently capturing the human condition!

BOOK BLOGGING: DYLAN'S "CHRONICLES"- part 1

SURROUNDED BY BRILLIANCE

Currently I am reading Bob Dylan's "Chronicles Vol. 1" and I am completely absorbed by it. His stream of consciousness recollections are very compelling and I am utterly fascinated by his tales about the eccentrics, artists, poets and musicians that he was surrounded by during his pre-fame days in the New York City folk scene of the early 60's.

I love the stories about Cafe Wha? a subterranean venue that Dylan regularly attended when he first came to NYC. It featured a patchwork of performers during the day, including a comedian, ventriloquist, magician, and "somebody whose entire act was facial acrobatics".

Dylan mentions a guy named Billy Butcher who he describes as a "sad character", whose repertoire consisted of only one song called "High-Heel Sneakers", and who always introduced it by saying "this one is for the chicks". According to Dylan "he sang that one song pretty good though". This is great stuff!

Comedians like Woody Allen, Richard Prior and Lenny Bruce would perform at night. This is where Dylan would hang out with Tiny Tim, and would spend his time in the cafe kitchen , waiting to get stage time after some of the other more "known" performers would finish.

Needles to say, I am having one of my time travel fantasies, and this place and time is now officially on my list. I am awe struck by the number of creative (or at least interesting) individuals Dylan was surrounded by during his early years.

This reminds me that who or what you surround yourself with is very important. Admittedly, I miss some of the folks who I used to know who were of this caliber and helped bring out my own creative spirit. Thankfully, I have made a few re-connections recently via Facebook, and this part of me has begun to re-awaken (special thanks to Dave Dyment, an old friend and artist who I find very inspiring).

Anyways, I am completely taken with this book so far, so there will be definitely more thoughts and reflections to come...