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Scratches a Pencil – An Interview with Writer/Musician TIM KINSELLA

January 15, 2012 in Interviews, Literature, Music

You may be familiar with Tim Kinsella through one of his many music projects.  It could be from his emo-pioneering band Cap’n Jazz, his ongoing avant-rock project Joan of Arc, or any of a number of other solo efforts, collaborations, or offshoots/incarnations of those groups that he’s been involved in over the years.  But, these days, Kinsella has been involving himself in more than just music and focusing his attention heavily on writing.

Aside from releasing 2 separate albums under the JOA moniker in 2011, his first novel, The Karaoke Singer’s Guide to Self Defense, was published last September by Featherproof Books.  The 376-page work zips back and forth between a handful of people’s lives, many of which are family members in the fictional town of Stone Claw Grove, Michigan.  The characters deal with addiction and aging, struggle with responsibility, and give up on brighter dreams in an attempt to settle for whatever they already have currently.  Throughout it all, strippers strip, fights break out in bars, and singers cover all of the karaoke classics.

I recently had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Mr. Kinsella and to discover more about his venture into literature and his overall approach to the creation process. Read the rest of this entry →

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SCI-FI WASABI : CIBO MATTO’s Reunion Tour Opener in Seattle

August 12, 2011 in Music, Reviews

When you are a Twenty-something college student who grew up in the 1990s, the news that Cibo Matto has reunited can be pretty exciting.  The news that you actually get to see them is even more exciting.  That was me on June 6th, just a few weeks before their tour opener at Neumos in Seattle.  But then, I experienced a radical transformation.  Suddenly, I was no longer a happy-go-lucky college student on Financial Aid -by the June 21st show date, I’d become an unemployed college graduate suffering from a bout of depression- and I didn’t really feel like watching a concert anymore.

I was never a particularly big Cibo Matto fan, but I have certainly enjoyed their music a great deal over the years.  The first time that I’d ever even heard of the group was at Bumbershoot ’99.  My friend Jacob took us to see them at the Key Arena, explaining that they were this fun band with two cute Japanese girls who sing weird songs about food, and that John Lennon’s son Sean was playing with them.  It was enough to grab my curiosity,  so I went and I was instantly hooked.  I only distinctly remember two of the songs from that day: the one about chicken (“Know Your Chicken“) and the song about monosodium glutamate (Birthday Cake).   I do, however, remember watching them bounce around on stage and I remember seeing Sean Lennon hopping in circles, which seemed particularly silly to me at the time.  Most importantly though, I remember that they made me dance, which is a hugely impressive feat, because at the time, as a young, too-cool-for-school teenager, I pretty much never danced.  It was some of the most fun that I can remember having at a show.  I’d later buy their album Viva! La Woman and listen to it plenty, but my strongest connection to the band was always seeing them live that one time. Read the rest of this entry →

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SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE BIG SCREEN

August 13, 2010 in Global Destruction, Movies / Television, Reviews

Something my brother said as we were leaving the movie theater: “Man, I’m glad that they made that into a movie, because when I try to explain Scott Pilgrim to people, it sounds soooo dumb!”

I could totally relate to that sentiment and, if you’re already a fan of the graphic novels that were the basis for the new film, I’m sure that you probably could too.  Those who are not may be asking “So, what is it all about?“  Well, Scott Pilgrim is this unemployed, Canadian twenty-something bass player who begins dating Ramona Flowers, an American hipster girl on Roller Blades (how one can remain hip while on Roller Blades is never quite explained, but it manages to work ).  It is soon discovered that for them to continue to see each other, Scott has to fight and defeat Ramona‘s ex-boyfriends.  It sounds sorta dumb, right?  I know, but there are a million reasons why its not and a million reasons as to why it is, in fact, one of my most favorite things ever.  To read through Scott Pilgrim‘s 6 manga-like volumes is to get an honest look at creator Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s tastes and hobbies.  If you have even the slightest bit of a nerd streak in you, you will instantly be able to relate.  You get references to comic books, manga, video games, and indie-rock… and the fighting ex-boyfriends thing?  It sounds silly, but look, its a metaphor.  Scott is trying to stack up against Ramona‘s past relationships.  The series itself is a really great read.

Now there’s always a danger when a beloved comic book gets adapted into a movie.  Hell hath no fury like a scorned comic book geek with a modem.  When Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was first announced, a lot of people began monitoring its development nervously.  With Micheal Cera backlash at its peak, things got even more tense when he was announced as the lead.  Still, there remained faith in director Edgar Wright (Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), and O’Malley‘s involvement/endorsement of the project.  The biggest fear, I think, was the potential to lose much of the lovable quirkiness found in the comics.  How much of the video game and comic book tributes would be lost?  These elements are integral to the feel of the series and one of the keys to its success.  A romantic comedy is all the more fun when a “save point” magically appears in the corner of the room! Read the rest of this entry →

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“Have One On Me” – Joanna Newsom Strings Together a Triple LP

March 21, 2010 in Music, Reviews

“Joanna Newsom got old.”   That is the very first thought that came to mind as I listened to Have One On Me, Newsom‘s latest release on Drag City.  Perhaps, this is an “unkind” thing to say; her protests to descriptions of her music as “childlike” are almost legendary and I get where she’s coming from.  The term “Childlike” can have some negative connotations and might suggest an element of simple-mindedness, naivety, or immaturity, for which Newsom has never been any of those things.    Her songs are rich, diverse, and, at times, profoundly moving.  Plus, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has reached for a dictionary more than once, after digging into her lyrics (who would have expected “poetaster” to be an actual word?).  Still, one can’t help but listen to earlier works like The Milk-Eyed Mender and the CD-R release Walnut Whales, and think of descriptors like “youthful” and “playful.”  Even her last album Ys inspires the imagination to wander to Princess Bride-like fairy tale settings, regardless of the fact that she’s singing about abusive relationships and the very real-world ups and downs of love. Read the rest of this entry →

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