Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

Maybe a year ago I first heard of an old show called Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman that ran in syndication from 1976 to 1977. I had heard of it because Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden beautifully covered the theme song of the show on their 1977 duo album Soapsuds, Soapsuds. I must have gotten curious about the show and tried to find episodes online. All I could find were some tiny Youtube clips, and I was fascinated by how weird the show seemed.

Long story short, I bought the DVD of the first 25 episodes for my mother on her birthday. It's a selfish gift because now I can finally watch the show. It really blows me away. The characters are very rich and vibrant, and the writing is awesome. Two things in particular really grab me about the show.

First, it's very intentionally a commentary on American society in the mid-70s. I won't go into details about the commentary because I don't want to make an essay out of this. But basically it's fascinating to me because the mid-70s of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman seems to be this time when so much of the contemporary mass-produced and mass-marketed style of consumer culture emerged. The kind of culture in which Folgers produces 17 different kinds of instant coffee to suit the needs of the consumer. The characters on the show try to make sense of and embrace these changes in modes of production and consumption that they are swept up in. (It's just like these days when a show or movie makes a reference to all the new electronic social networking tools like Blackberries, Myspace, Facebook, and Gmail.) There are lots of other themes going on in the show, and many of them I'm probably not catching because I wasn't alive during that era.

Second, it's a very moving show. The characters are all experiencing emotional challenges in their lives, and the writers were unafraid to portray some very heart-breaking and uncomfortable scenes. They let us into the bedrooms at night and into the kitchens in the morning, and we witness a range of intimate human interactions, from the sublime to the depressing. The most heart-breaking character is Mary Hartman herself, who goes through hell trying to get a grip on her decaying relationship with her uncommunicative husband.

And despite the intensity of the subject matter, the show is hilarious. The humor is often irreverent and surreal and plays heavily on the ambiguity of human language. It's almost like a Woody Allen movie or Airplane. It also reminds me of the verbal and cognitive high jinks of Samuel Beckett, but that might be because I've been trudging through his novels Molloy and Malone Dies recently.

From what I've read, it seems that Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman bares certain hallmarks of creator Norman Lear's approach to sitcoms. His shows, which also include All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Good Times, have more of a theatrical production quality, center around richly conceived characters, and exhibit social commentary in the subject matters they address. Lear seems like an interesting creative type.

Neil Young

In that Tori Kudo interview I posted a while back, Kudo said this about Neil Young:

"I would prefer believe that he sings as though there were something that needed to be sung, and plays guitar as though there were phrases that needed to be played, not because of his convictions but because of his physical make-up."

Despite one of my best friend's being obsessed with Neil Young, I never tuned into his music. Never listened to it. Then I came across a posting of Young's 1975 album Zuma. I listened to it, and damn if it didn't hit me really hard. Particularly the two epic tracks "Danger Bird" and "Cortez the Killer." It's exactly the kind of guitar music I like. Heavy, plodding, and with a generous amount of blood-wringing guitar solos.

I've now started reading Jimmy McDonough's Shakey: Neil Young's Biography. So far it's fascinating, very well-written. It's also epic, something like 700 pages long.

Lastly, here's a quote from an interview I found with Young:

"Q : What advice would you give a guitarist just starting out?

NEIL : Start playing, learn a few chords and play with somebody a little bit better than yourself. Don't try to learn from books anything you don't already know. Music is learning directly from others. Take certain riffs from here and there and use them to write songs and to discover new sounds and new chord progressions. Create. But even if the results sound shitty, keep creating. Soon, it'll be great."

55 Cadillac

Yesterday I read this review, written by Josie Clowney, of Andrew W. K.'s new album 55 Cadillac. My first thought was being really intrigued that A.W.K. recorded a solo piano album. I never have listened to his music beyond the popular songs of his that I've heard on the radio, and it surprised me that he could play piano or anything really. It seemed to me that his only instruments were his energy and personality.

My next thought concerning this review was, "Wow, this reviewer totally dismisses the music as crap." I listened to the sample song, and I was pretty impressed by the competency of A.W.K.'s playing and his melodic and harmonic sense. Sure, it might c0me from standard musical pedagogy from when he was a kid, but nonetheless I couldn't sit at a piano and improvise such pleasant and joyous music.

I tracked down the album online and listened to it. I won't say that it's the most interesting or beautiful music I've heard this year, but I also would not consider it worthless throw-away music. At many points I find the music to be genuinely good, exciting, and uplifting. Sometimes he has musical ideas that don't thrill me, but they are never so bad that I'd dismiss the whole album. And as for its hackneyed quality that Clowney talks about, it didn't bother me too much. It reminded me of Moondog's album H'art Songs, particularly the latter album's beautiful songs "High on a Rocky Ledge" and "Do Your Thing." It also reminds me of the Kudo's album Light that I've talked about on this blog.

I did agree with Clowney's sentiment about the album being a display of A.W.K. making music for the joy it brings him. However, I don't know if the album needs to be thought of as a statement, as an attempt by A.W.K. to "say something" to cynical adults. Maybe he does feel that way, who knows? On his YouTube promo for the album, A.W.K. says, "I really want the listeners to feel like they are in the car with me and that I'm playing piano just for them. Inside the car, together, that feeling is 55 Cadillac." So it seems more like a genuine attempt to make a touching and evocative album rather than a statement about the value of music acknowledged by its creator to be bad. Because I don't think he'd consider this music bad.

Another thing about the album is that there's a running theme of cars and Cadillacs. While I don't have much of an appreciation for cars, I find it very touching that he incorporates his love of cars into the album. Actually, this summer was the first time I've ever understood the appeal of old cars. My housemate is a huge drag racing fan, and he took me to a drag race at the Brainerd International Raceway on the 4th of July. There I saw an old 70's Monte Carlo.

I thought this was a beautiful car, and in a way I identified with it. It's very long, and I'm very tall. It has a round bulge over its back wheels, and I've got pretty big round thighs. I now think that if ever I am interested in getting a nice old car, it's going to be an early 70's Monte Carlo.

Before this experience this summer, I never would have paid old cars much attention. In fact, I'd probably be judgmental of their owners because I saw no value in the hobby and only dumb manliness on display. But now, in a way, I can understand A.W.K.'s love for cars and why it's a very personal thing for him to incorporate into this album.

A lot of what Clowney says is insightful, and her review contextualized the album in a way that got me thinking. I guess in the end Clowney sees 55 Cadillac as bad music with a noble purpose. The fact that she finds the music to be obviously bad is pretty much what drives her analysis of the album's meaning. I, on the other hand, don't agree that the music is that bad. In fact, I think much of the music is good.

I see 55 Cadillac as something made by A.W.K. to capture and share some of the things that give him joy, and it's an album that gives me joy.

Tidal Wave

The other day I was sitting at home, and I remembered that I had recently had a conversation with someone. In this conversation, a guy told me of how he was obsessed with an Oh Sees song called "Tidal Wave". This was a surprise because I too have been a big fan of that song this year.

The funny part is that as I was sitting here vaguely remembering this conversation, I seriously thought it might have been a dream, one of those fake memories that seem real. Almost like it was too good to be true that I actually had that moment of connection with someone about Thee Oh Sees, one of my favorite bands.

This friend's name is Greg Hunter. He's a real person. Look him up on Facebook for the proof. We went to college together, and we ran into each other at a mutual friend's birthday party last week.

Arrested Development

I heard that the entire series of Arrested Development is streaming free and legally from Hulu.com. Too good to be true, I thought. Well, it's true. Some generous soul who really loves humanity must have made the decision to give us the series for free. It's a gift to the world.

El Día de Seis Flores

Yesterday my housemate came up to me and said, "You know, today is a special day." I said, "Is it your birthday?"

"No."

"Is it the day you first moved into this house?"

"Oh, no, but that's a good guess."

"What day is it?"

"It's El Día de Seis Flores."

He showed me a large hibiscus plant in a room at the back of the house. During the course of the day six flowers had bloomed on it. They looked really gorgeous. The hibiscus originally belonged to his grandfather in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Wet Hot American Summer

I searched out Wet Hot American Summer because I've been loving all things State-related the past few weeks. I found it here. Wow, what an amazingly funny movie.

Japanese Poems

The Kudo's album Light inspired me to check out some Japanese poetry from the library. Here are a couple of my favorite poems from the book One Hundred Poems from the Japanese, translated by Kenneth Rexroth.

"The white chrysanthemum
Is disguised by the first frost.
If I wanted to pick one
I could find it only by chance."

-Oshikochi No Mitsune

*********

"Out in the marsh reeds
A bird cries out in sorrow,
As though it had recalled
Something better forgotten."

-Ki No Tsurayuki

New Bharat Brass Band

There is some great music by the New Bharat Brass Band posted on the stellar Bravo Juju blog. It's very bright and invigorating. Wonderful rhythms, compositions, and ensemble playing.

I also have Bravo Juju to thank for turning me on to one of my favorite guitarists, Joe Morris.

Tori Kudo Interview

I stumbled upon an interview with Tori Kudo, the guy behind Maher Shalal Hash Baz. It can be found at Psychedelic Noise from Japan and NZ.

My favorite quote in the interview is when Kudo says, "Now that I have gained a correct understanding of absolute north, the comical nature of all lyrics about passing through darkness has been revealed to me."

The website also features a great interview with Asahito Nanjo.

Variety SHAC

I've been watching the video shorts of Variety SHAC over and over this past week. It all started when I was watching TV a couple weeks ago. I saw that The 40 Year Old Virgin was on. I hadn't seen it before, but it was almost over. I tuned in right when Jane Lynch was singing a seductive song to Steve Carell, and I was laughing really hard already. I knew I'd have to just rent the movie and watch it from the beginning.

So I went over to the video rental store. They seemed to have been rearranging their stock. I couldn't find The 40 Year Old Virgin, but I did notice Reno 911!: Miami sitting on the shelves. I didn't even know they made a movie of that show. So I went with that.

Got home, watched it, enjoyed it a lot. That got me really curious about the cast and writers. That led me to The State, Stella, and David Wain (the last time I paid attention to that gang was when their show on Comedy Central came and went). I wound up watching all the Wainy Days series, which is amazing. In one episode I saw Andrea Rosen, who I traced to the Variety SHAC group.

My favorite shorts are "Hot Apple Cider," "Book Club," and "River Thoughts," but they're all awesome and genius. Comedy people blow me away. I'm not sure why weird music and comedy are what excite me the most, but I'm happy about it.

Also, I got obsessed with this clip from Michael and Michael Have Issues. Genius!

Reiko & Tori Kudo

In hunting around for more Maher Shalal Hash Baz recordings on the web, I came across a new album released by Reiko Kudo and Tori Kudo (though the music was recorded in 2005 and 2006). It's called Light, and I found it at the fantastic blog Experimental Etc. It's one of those album postings where I could have been like, "Eh, it's just some odd release by two people that are in a band I like, but I don't really care to check it out. I'll pass."

For some reason I decided to listen to Light, and thank goodness I did. It's beautiful. Much like the music of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, the songs on Light radiate some kind of emotional power I can't describe, but every time I play this album it draws me in and leaves me breathless.

And that's just the music. When I checked out the liner notes and read the translations of the lyrics, the album took on a whole new level of beauty.

Maher Shalal Hash Baz

I'm a big fan of a bunch of Japanese rock bands. Miminokoto, Fushitsusha, and Musica Transonic in particular achieve this ecstatic guitar greatness that I really crave. I had heard of this band called Maher Shalal Hash Baz here and there, but I never listened to them. Now, thanks to Mutant Sounds I finally gave them a listen. They don't pull off the guitar pyrotechnics associated with Keiji Haino, Kawabata Makoto, or Munehiro Narita, but they do something else totally amazing and just as awe-inspiring as the other Japanese bands I love. For me, their music is endlessly fascinating and beautiful. I've been listening to Return Visit to Rock Mass the last couple days while noodling along on my guitar. It's perfect for that.

Also, check out this incredible picture of John Dwyer, one of the non-Japanese ecstatic guitar heroes of our time. His project Thee Oh Sees is one of my favorite bands currently making music.