Of Two Minds

There are only two possible reasons for the lack of concert posts here over the past year.  The first is that I didn’t go see any live music.  The second is that I failed to post about it.

Fortunately, the second explanation is the correct one.

In an attempt to get things rolling again, this is a post about the seven Vienna Teng concerts I attended from December 2008 through December 2009.

Vienna Teng at Iron Horse Music Hall, Mon, December 8, 2008
Vienna Teng at Watercolor Cafe, Tue, December 9, 2008

Two great back-to-back solo shows with Vienna in fine form. She played some songs from the then upcoming new album, Inland Territory, including the brilliant “Antebellum.”

Vienna Teng at A Benefit for Caffe Vivaldi, Sun, February 15, 2009

One of two special shows that Vienna did to benefit Caffe Vivaldi in NYC, during which she, Alex and Ward performed the not-yet-released Inland Territory from start to finish. There were a few kinks, but overall it was an excellent way to hear all of the new material live, and for a good cause too.

Vienna Teng at Infinity Hall, Thu, July 9, 2009

This was the first time I had seen Vienna perform since the new album had come out in April, and the touring in support of that seemed to have made her even more confident on stage. She played a great set that included my request for “Augustine.” I hadn’t been following the set lists on the forum, and I assumed she’d been playing the song live during the European and U.S. release tours. I was wrong. Apparently the solo version of “Augustine” that she did was the first time she’d played it live since the benefit shows in February. Fortunately, she did an awesome job, with a solo version of the song that I like even better than the album version.

Vienna Teng at Iron Horse Music Hall, Thu, October 1, 2009

I was joined at this one by Jenn, woj, Meredith, Sarah and Kate, and it was a great show, even if the extra keyboard was blocking much of our line of sight when Vienna was sitting at the piano, which she does a lot. Fortunately, the music made up for it, with Vienna and Alex doing a great job together. The bonus for the evening was opener The Paper Raincoat, Alex’s band, who were just brilliant.

Vienna Teng live album recording at Joe’s Pub, Thu, December 3, 2009

Springing for VIP seats for the later of the two live album recording shows ended up being a great idea, as it meant there was plenty of time to get an excellent dinner at Momofuku Ssam Bar before getting in line, without having to worry about not getting good seats. In fact, we ended up getting to share a table with the fabulous Priscellie and her friend Mike. The music was great, and the energy was about what you’d expect with Vienna, Alex and Ward playing in front of an audience that was mostly made up of hardcore fans. Another benefit of the VIP tickets was getting to hang out with Vienna some at the after-show party, even though that meant getting back from the city around 4am.

Vienna Teng and Over the Rhine at The Egg, Sun, December 6, 2009

A few nights after the live recording show, a long trek to Albany was made to see Vienna and Alex perform in a co-bill with Over the Rhine. After the long drive, the fiasco that was parking at The Egg (the website lies!), and the resulting hike to the venue, I was hoping for a great show. What I got was half of a great show, but fortunately it was Vienna’s half. The vibe was definitely different from Joe’s Pub, as I’d say it was mostly an Over the Rhine audience, but Vienna and Alex did a great job of winning them over, and the fact that it was a co-bill meant they got in a nice long set.

As for OtR, I just found them to be….well, sort of boring, which I hadn’t been expecting. They also had their sound guy turn things up way too loud, and though the venue’s acoustics handled it well, it detracted from the music. The last time I’d seen them live, a couple of years ago in Sellersville, PA, the sound had also been too loud, but I thought it was probably the venue’s problem. Apparently it’s actually OtR’s sound guy that’s the problem though, so between that and not being thrilled by the performance, I don’t know how likely I am to see another Over the Rhine show. It’s always a weird feeling to realize that you’re no longer a big fan of a band you’ve been following for more than a decade.

In any case, Vienna’s performance was good enough that I was still glad I went, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing her more in 2010.

Oddly enough, all three books I read over the last two months of the summer were ARCs (Advance Reading Copies).

Four Freedoms by John Crowley [4/5]

The story of a handicapped man’s life before and during WWII doesn’t sound like something I’d normally read, but John Crowley is a good enough writer that I ended up quite liking this book. While I might quibble with some of his structural choices, the prose, atmosphere, characters and voice were all great.

Canticle by Ken Scholes [4.5/5]

This sequel to Lamentation is another brilliant outing for Ken, and it has all of the many strengths of its predecessor. My only complaint might be that the very beginning of this one felt a bit slow while it was going over events from the first book, but that’s not enough to stop me from highly recommending it.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest [4.5/5]

Let’s see, this is a steampunk novel with zombies that’s set in the ruins of Civil War era Seattle. Oh, and it’s written by the very talented Ms. Priest. There’s a reason why this book has so much buzz, and that’s because it’s both well-written and a ridiculous amount of fun. Highly recommended.

As-yet-unpublished manuscripts read:

• Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (final draft)
• Unnamed projects (7 partials, a long outline and 2 short stories)

Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America by Brian Francis Slattery [4.5/5]

A truly amazing book. There’s just something about the rhythm of Slattery’s prose and the images he draws that completely works for me. Highly recommended.

The Bone Key by Sarah Monette [4/5]

A great collection of stories about one Kyle Murchison Booth, with wonderful flavor and hints of both M.R. James and Lovecraft. My favorites from among them included “The Venbretti Necklace,” “Elegy for a Demon Lover” and “Wall of Clouds.”

The River Knows Its Own by Jay Lake [4/5]

Jay’s strong collection of stories about the Northwest. Standouts for me included “Heading West,” “Eye Teeth,” “Eggs for Dinner,” “The River Knows Its Own,” and “Changing the Game.”

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman [4.5/5]

There’s a reason that this book won awards and is still on one of the NYT bestseller lists. It’s charming and it’s dark and it’s very Neil. I wish it had gone deeper and just been more, but it was, after all, intended for younger readers.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova [2/5]

I really didn’t like this book at all. The prose was fine, but it wasn’t wonderful enough to get me through what seemed to mostly be travelogues and document research. I thought the novel was almost completely lacking in tension, and when the dreaded Count finally made an appearance, it felt entirely anticlimactic. For me, this was just 650+ pages of trudging to get to the end.

Under My Roof by Nick Mamatas [4/5]

This book is a clever and fun satire, and the fact that it’s novella length means it’s over before the whole thing can get stale.

As-yet-unpublished manuscripts read:

• Unnamed projects (1 full, 9 partials and a short story or two)

I’ve been a big fan of flute player Conal O’Grada since I first got his debut solo recording, the brilliant Top of Coom. I never thought I’d see him perform live though, and a few weeks ago, when I ended up missing another concert because of a previous commitment, I’d even joked that it wasn’t like I was missing out on seeing Conal O’Grada.

I was therefore more than a little excited when I got an email from The Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society saying that they’d put together a house concert in Fairfield featuring O’Grada, fiddle player Diarmuid O’Brien, accordion player Paudie O’Connor and piano player Ciaran Coughlan, all of whom had just arrived in the U.S. on their way to the Mid Atlantic Region Fleadh Cheoil.

Last Thursday, Jenn and I made our way down to the same lovely house in Fairfield where we’d previously seen the Kane Sisters perform, and were treated to another great music event. There’s something about traditional Irish music that makes it work especially well in an intimate setting, and our hosts had a room that was perfectly suited to hosting a few performers and twenty-five or so appreciative listeners.

It was some great craic, with Conal, Diarmuid and Paudie each taking a solo turn on their respective instruments, accompanied on several tunes by Ciaran on his piano, and then, after an intermission, they all blew through a bunch of sets together. I was, of course, especially impressed by Conal’s performance, and it was great to get to watch him play from only a few feet away, but Diarmuid and Paudie were excellent too.

Oh, and I finally picked up a copy of Conal O’Grada’s most recent album, Cnoc Bui, which is possibly even better than Top of Coom.

All in all, it was a grand way to spend a warm spring evening.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow [4.5/5]

A novel by Cory Doctorow about a teen in S.F. who uses technology to stand up for his rights, and the rights of those around him, against the abusive practices of Homeland Security. In other words, even though Little Brother was aimed at young adults, it included a lot of my favorite things, so it worked out well that I ended up loving this book as much as I hoped I would. It’s not a perfect novel, but it has a lot of great things to say about society, technology and rights. If you’re not already familiar with things like cypherpunks, onion routers, and culture jamming, you’ll learn a lot, and have fun doing it. Highly recommended for both adults and (especially) teen readers.

Fathom by Cherie Priest [4/5]

Cherie Priest’s gift for prose is on full display in this tale of old gods and their no-longer-human pawns. I found the structure of the novel to be a bit odd, but it works well as a framework for Cherie’s imagination. Recommended.

Escape From Hell! by Hal Duncan [3.5/5]

The cover copy describes this as “Escape from New York meets Jacob’s Ladder,” which seems like a fairly accurate summary of what the novella’s about. It’s all done at high speed with Hal Duncan’s wonderfully mad prose, though at times some of his stylistic choices didn’t entirely work for me, which may have contributed to me not liking it as much as I liked VELLUM or INK.

As-yet-unpublished manuscripts read:

• Pinion by Jay Lake
• A few other projects

Murder of Angels by Caitlin R. Kiernan [3.5/5]

This book rejoins some of the characters from Kiernan’s first novel, Silk, ten years later, and while the prose is extraordinary, I didn’t end up enjoying it as much as the previous novel, in part because I didn’t find the plot to be as focused as I’d have liked.

Princeps’ Fury (Codex Alera, Book 5) by Jim Butcher [4/5]

This is the fifth installment in the Codex Alera books, and it’s another great effort, with a plot that moves along quickly and lots of my favorite race, the Canim. There’s a major shakeup of Alera here, paving the way for what promised to be a really big finale to the series.

Pretties (Uglies Trilogy, Book 2) by Scott Westerfeld [ 3.5/5]

I didn’t find myself enjoying this second book in the Uglies trilogy as much as I enjoyed the first one, maybe because it didn’t feel like it broke much new ground or maybe because I didn’t like the main character, Tally, as much this time around. It’s still a well-written YA novel, but overall I’d say I was a bit disappointed, though I do plan to read the third book in the series.

Tales of Pain and Wonder by Caitlin R. Kiernan [4.5/5]

I won this collection of Kiernan’s stories in a raffle that benefited the KGB Fantastic Fiction reading series, and I’m very glad I did. There’s a lot of brilliant stuff in here, and even the stories I didn’t like quite as much (and I think it’d be weird to have somehow liked all of the stories equally) were still very much worth a read. The interior illustrations by Richard Kirk are great too, and fit well with the mood and style of the rest of the book. My only minor complaint would actually be that I wish the alternative table of contents, which shows all of the stories in narrative order rather than order of publication, had been at the front of the book rather than in the back. I guess I’ll have to try reading them in that order when I re-read the collection.

As-yet-unpublished manuscripts read:

• Gideon by Alex Gordon (later draft)
• A few other projects

One of these days I’ll actually get caught up again. Maybe.

RocknRolla [3/5] [Amazon]

I didn’t think this was as good as the two other Guy Ritchie films I’d seen, Snatch and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, but if you liked those two films you’ll probably like at least parts of this one.

Repo! The Genetic Opera [1/5] [Amazon]

I was surprised that I disliked this rock opera much as I did. Despite the presence of Anthony Head, I thought it was a complete mess, and the songs didn’t work for me at all. I didn’t even make it through the entire film before I gave up.

Changeling [4/5] [Amazon]

I think I would have liked this movie more if it was a bit shorter, but a fine performance from Angelina Jolie, a good screenplay by J. Michael Straczynski, and Jeffrey “Burn Notice” Donovan as one of the bad guys, were still enough to make me like this period piece a lot.

The Fall [3.5/5] [Amazon]

This story within a story had absolutely astonishing cinematography, but I wasn’t at all fond of the actress chosen to play the little girl, and I thought the whole thing fell apart during the last quarter of the film. It’s still worth seeing though, just for the images that director Tarsem Singh puts on the screen.

The Duchess [3.5/5] [Amazon]

Both Ralph Fiennes and Keira Knightley give good performances in this story the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, but for me the whole thing didn’t do much to rise above what felt like a too familiar style of costume drama.

Appaloosa [4.5/5] [Amazon]

Based on a novel by Robert Parker, this old-school Western has great dialogue, fine performances (especially from Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen) and lots of atmosphere. Highly recommended.

WALL-E [5/5] [Amazon]

Wow. This brilliant film from Pixar completely lived up to all of the hype, and is definitely more than just another animated feature. The script hits just the right note almost every time, the overall story is great, and the CG animation is astoundingly good. Very highly recommended.

Here it is only April, and I’m finally catching up on talking about the movies I saw during the last months of 2008!

War, Inc. [2/5] [Amazon]

This was a mess. John Cusack plays a character who is remarkably similar to Martin Blank from the movie Gross Pointe Blank, which might have been a good thing with a better script, but War, Inc. has none of the charm that made that movie so great. Instead, it’s hamfisted in it’s attempts at parody and lacks very many moments that are actually amusing. It does, however, have Hillary Duff playing an evil version of her usual characters.

The Visitor [5/5] [Amazon]

An excellent film with a brilliant performance from Richard Jenkins (who should have won the Best Actor Oscar for his work) and great supporting efforts by Haaz Sleiman and Hiam Abbass. Very highly recommended.

Get Smart [3.5/5] [Amazon]

Steve Carell was the perfect choice to play Maxwell Smart, and even if the movie is a bit uneven, there are still plenty of laughs to be had.

Oldboy [4.5/5] [Amazon]

An intense and powerful thriller that has to be seen to be believed. There’s an American remake in the works, which will most likely dumb everything down and completely miss the point, so be sure to see the original Korean version.

The Spiderwick Chronicles [3/5] [Amazon]

Some of the issues with this movie were probably caused by trying to stuff a series of books into one film, but even beyond that, the whole effort just felt rather flat.

Kung Fu Panda [4/5] [Amazon]

A very fun movie with great voice acting.

Wanted [3.5/5] [Amazon]

This one definitely shouldn’t be taken too seriously, but the stunts and CGI made for some great visuals.

City of God [3/5] [Amazon]

I didn’t find this movie to be nearly as compelling as I’d expected it to be, given it’s many awards and stellar reviews. It’s not a bad film by any means, but it just didn’t work for me.

Burn After Reading [3/5] [Amazon]

The first half of this Coen Brothers film is a slow (and sometimes annoying) set-up for a great second half, so you can safely call it a mixed effort, despite the ridiculously high level of acting talent involved.

The Bank Job [4/5] [Amazon]

I wasn’t as impressed with this as I’d expected to be, but it’s still worth seeing if you’re a fan of the heist sub-genre.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou [4/5] [Amazon]

This was my first Wes Anderson film, and it was weird and wonderful much of the time, but there were some dull patches. I don’t know if I’d have liked it nearly as much without Bill Murray in the starring role.

Redbelt [4.5/5] [Amazon]

I thought this was great, thanks to Mamet’s dialogue driving things forward and an excellent performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor. It might look like just another martial arts movie, but it’s much more than that.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day [4/5] [Amazon]

Fun and light, with fine performances by both Frances McDormand and Amy Adams.

Snow Angels [2/5] [Amazon]

I thought this was a slow-moving mess of a movie, and while the chemistry between Arthur and Lila was intriguing, it wasn’t enough to save this one.

I Am Legend [2/5] [Amazon]

Another remake that never needed to be made, this falls apart more and more as it goes along.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall [3.5/5] [Amazon]

Hilarious, with good work by pretty much the entire cast, but there were a few bits that managed to be crude without being funny (as opposed to the ones that were both).

Hamlet: Special Edition [4.5/5] [Amazon]

It’s the entire text of Hamlet performed by a host of great actors and actresses, including Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench, Jack Lemmon, Brian Blessed and more, and it’s definitely worth the four hours it takes to watch.