Hey, Nostradamus and three concerts I didn't see in June
June.
I put in a bid for a New York flight on June 11, to see TMBG. I didn't get it. But in late May, I bought a Tori Amos DVD and looked up her tour dates. She was playing in London on June 3. I would be in London on June 3. I vowed to see her... Alas, our flight was delayed, meaning I might see the last 15 minutes of her show, and on top of that, I packed several shirts - but no pants or skirts - in my suitcase. No Tori for me.
I was in London again on June 18. On this day, I read on http://throwingmusic.com, Kristin Hersh would be playing with Patti Smith in London. I arrived in London, checked the listings in Time Out, and realized that the concert was not only Patti and Kristin, but also Sinead O'Connor, Tori Amos, Beth Orton, and several others. Yeah. Unsurprisingly, it was sold out.
So I bought and read Hey, Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland. It's cool again to believe in God, according to the cinema and literature of the past few years, and who am I to disagree? This book is a single story told by four different individuals. Cheryl is "born again" to snag a man; Jason is the boy she catches, and he is only Christian enough to avoid disownership by his fundamentalist father. Heather meets Jason a decade or so after Cheryl's death, and when she loses him she looks for answers among the supernatural. The fourth chapter is narrated by Jason's fundamentalist father himself.
I realized this was a Coupland novel the moment Reg's wife shattered his kneecap with a household statue. Someone suggested to me that once you've read a certain number of Coupland novels, the (er) novelty wears off. I haven't found that to be the case, and I was absolutely in the grip of his imagery in this book. The white casket covered in Sharpie-inked good-byes. The debonair giraffe in the sheepskin jacket - oh, I say! I'm impressed by any author (hey, PKD!) who can tell a single story from so many viewpoints.
I went to Sydney a couple of days ago - arrived home this morning - and you know what I forgot to take with me? Pants! So I read the first few chapters of Sun After Dark by Pico Iyer (he meditates with Leonard Cohen in this book!!) and watched Alfie on the pay-per-view thingy. I liked it - it had hot babes, actors talking to the camera, AND not to mention Susan Sarandon cooking absinthe. Okay, I'll watch anything with Marisa Tomei, Jane Krakowski, and Jude Law. I slept on it and woke up thinking about that commercial scene in I <3 Huckabees that went something like: "These are the best tops around. Last year, not so much." (Sorry, can't remember the exact line.)
I also watched an episode of Watching Ellie with Julia Louise-Dreyfus, and Normal, Ohio with John Goodman. Now, I love Julia AND John. And I love TV. So why was I so disappointed with these sitcoms? Do they sock that hard? YES!! THEY DO!!
Anyway. So I was saying... Three concerts I didn't see in June. Babes, if you know what's good for you, you'll go to http://throwingmusic.com and click on the right-hand side to see the new 50 Foot Wave video, here. It streams really well on my stupidly slow connection. Watch it.
I put in a bid for a New York flight on June 11, to see TMBG. I didn't get it. But in late May, I bought a Tori Amos DVD and looked up her tour dates. She was playing in London on June 3. I would be in London on June 3. I vowed to see her... Alas, our flight was delayed, meaning I might see the last 15 minutes of her show, and on top of that, I packed several shirts - but no pants or skirts - in my suitcase. No Tori for me.
I was in London again on June 18. On this day, I read on http://throwingmusic.com, Kristin Hersh would be playing with Patti Smith in London. I arrived in London, checked the listings in Time Out, and realized that the concert was not only Patti and Kristin, but also Sinead O'Connor, Tori Amos, Beth Orton, and several others. Yeah. Unsurprisingly, it was sold out.
So I bought and read Hey, Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland. It's cool again to believe in God, according to the cinema and literature of the past few years, and who am I to disagree? This book is a single story told by four different individuals. Cheryl is "born again" to snag a man; Jason is the boy she catches, and he is only Christian enough to avoid disownership by his fundamentalist father. Heather meets Jason a decade or so after Cheryl's death, and when she loses him she looks for answers among the supernatural. The fourth chapter is narrated by Jason's fundamentalist father himself.
I realized this was a Coupland novel the moment Reg's wife shattered his kneecap with a household statue. Someone suggested to me that once you've read a certain number of Coupland novels, the (er) novelty wears off. I haven't found that to be the case, and I was absolutely in the grip of his imagery in this book. The white casket covered in Sharpie-inked good-byes. The debonair giraffe in the sheepskin jacket - oh, I say! I'm impressed by any author (hey, PKD!) who can tell a single story from so many viewpoints.
I went to Sydney a couple of days ago - arrived home this morning - and you know what I forgot to take with me? Pants! So I read the first few chapters of Sun After Dark by Pico Iyer (he meditates with Leonard Cohen in this book!!) and watched Alfie on the pay-per-view thingy. I liked it - it had hot babes, actors talking to the camera, AND not to mention Susan Sarandon cooking absinthe. Okay, I'll watch anything with Marisa Tomei, Jane Krakowski, and Jude Law. I slept on it and woke up thinking about that commercial scene in I <3 Huckabees that went something like: "These are the best tops around. Last year, not so much." (Sorry, can't remember the exact line.)
I also watched an episode of Watching Ellie with Julia Louise-Dreyfus, and Normal, Ohio with John Goodman. Now, I love Julia AND John. And I love TV. So why was I so disappointed with these sitcoms? Do they sock that hard? YES!! THEY DO!!
Anyway. So I was saying... Three concerts I didn't see in June. Babes, if you know what's good for you, you'll go to http://throwingmusic.com and click on the right-hand side to see the new 50 Foot Wave video, here. It streams really well on my stupidly slow connection. Watch it.