Staff Picks

Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg [Music CD]

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The master melodist and provocateur, Serge Gainsbourg introduced a revolutionary recording with 1971’s Histoire de Melody Nelson. The French pop star abandoned an archetypal singing style in place of a soft and nearly spoken word delivery. This was achieved by the singer’s smokey, baritone voice captured by close microphone placement. The music behind this voice is expressive and experimental with shades of psychedelia. Groovy (and yes, there’s really no other way of putting it) electric bass lines, freak out fuzz guitar and busy drums supply the basic tracks that are augmented by a choral and haunting string score by Jean-Claude Vannier.

Jane Birkin, Gainsbourg’s then wife, appears on the front cover and also provides the voice of Melody Nelson. You see, this is a concept record. It tells a Lolita-esque tale of a middle-aged man out driving who accidentally hits a bicycling British girl. The man falls in love with his victim and a love affair follows. Melody soon decides to fly home and the man, now devastated, performs an African Cargo Cult ritual to make his love return. His desperation proves to be tragic as he discovers that this act of mysticism caused an airplane crash.

The songs of Serge Gainsbourg, and the Melody Nelson album in particular, have inspired many musicians including Air, Jarvis Cocker, Beck, Portishead, Sean Lennon and the Divine Comedy. Rarely has the marriage of lyrical ingenuity and musical arrangement been achieved in popular music.

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith [Book]

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In the latest installment of the popular No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, Mma Grace Makutsi gets married, Mma Precious Ramotswe deals with a complicated case of attacks on a farmer’s cattle, and the tiny white van takes on a metaphysical dimension. McCall Smith’s characters handle the large and small dilemmas of life with a realistic mix of (mostly) good intentions and human vulnerability. His prose is charming and the loving portrait of Botswana, always in the background, makes you want to go there.

The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [Graphic Novel]

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I.N.J Culbard illustrates Ian Edginton’s adaption of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four. This graphic novel takes on the second Sherlock Holmes story in which the famed detective and Doctor Watson must locate a mysterious stolen treasure. Holmes applies his trademark acute deductive reasoning skills while sprinkling in impatient and acerbic comments to all those within an earshot.

Being a longtime admirer of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, seeing the tale presented as a graphic novel is a quite a treat.

The Ditty Bops by The Ditty Bops [Music CD]

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Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell [Audiobook]

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The Red Shoes [DVD]

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The Red Shoes is a visually stunning dramatic work about a ballet company led by the ruthless and contentious, but often charming director Boris Lermontov. Lermontov discovers dancer Vicky Page (portrayed by famed English ballet star Moira Shearer) at a society party and realizes her unparalleled potential. Before signing her to his company she must decide what role dancing plays in her life. Is it a passion she pursues or shall it consume her entirely? Can an artist love anything or anyone more than their craft? These conflicts becomes the underlying theme of the picture.

The Hans Christian Andersen story of The Red Shoes is the source in which the main ballet within the film is based. Instead of just viewing the performance from the theater audience’s perspective, Powell and Pressburger take the camera’s inside the action for a breathtaking, 17-minute sequence. We follow Page closely via dolly shots through various enormous, painted set pieces, close-ups of dancers movements and expressions and rich colored lights. The co-directors also chose to allow fantasy to be a part of the stage presentation as well with tasteful in camera visual effects.

The Red Shoes, which melodrama and beauty reach unbelievable heights, is a remarkable achievement in cinema.

The Humanist [Magazine]

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The American Humanist Association, founded in 1941, publishes The Humanist six times a year. It covers social issues, current events, science, arts and literature from the point of view of humanism, “a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion.” This month’s issue has articles about religion, health care, technology, war, sexuality, and peace activism, plus poetry and book reviews. The writers explore ethical and environmental questions “free of theism and other supernatural beliefs,” applying intellectual analysis and practical thinking to the goals of liberty, dignity, and responsibility.

True Grit by Charles Portis [Book]

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After learning that I was a fan of the recent True Grit film the Coen Brothers released in 2010, a co-worker told me that the novel which it was based is an essential read. This recommendation certainly did not disappoint.

The story takes place in the West at the close of the 19th century. It’s narrated by Mattie Ross, who shares her story of a quest to avenge the death of her father when she was just fourteen. She searches for a man with “true grit” who is up to the task of hunting down the killer. Mattie is exceptionally shrewd, fearless and also has an advanced understanding of law and finances. Traveling on her own, she finds and hires a heavy drinking, dirty, eye-patch wearing, cursing, aging bounty hunter named Roger “Rooser” Cogburn. Mattie and Cogburn are later joined by a Texas Ranger by the name of LaBoeuf. The three set out on the trail of murderer Tom Chaney.

True Grit is a real page turner of an adventure novel where stakeouts and gun fights are standard fare. Author Charles Portis also chooses to use a great deal of humor in the storytelling thanks to the wild Cogburn his constant one-upmanship between he and LaBoeuf. There’s also the constant reminder that the young Mattie is more educated and sensible at fourteen than any characters in the story.

Spooked by Robyn Hitchcock [Music CD]

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In 2004, Robyn Hitchcock recorded one of his finest albums with folkster heroes Gilllian Welch and David Rawlings. The trio set up shop in Nashville, TN and created this very sparse and absorbing recording. The album is filled with rich textured harmonies, picking acoustic guitars and a refreshing amount of open space. Though mostly an acoustic record, the album also features spots of electric piano, minimal drums, electric sitar for psychedelic touches and Eastern flavor and a couple electric bass guest spots by NRBQ man Joey Spampinato.

On the dobro led “We’re Gonna Live in the Trees”, Hitchcock’s famed clever lyrics bounce the literary reference of Virginia Woolf had a troubled mind, it was never at ease with the song’s title/refrain. He also shows a softer side with the slow and outer-spacey “English Girl”. Her skin was clear and her mum wore pearls/I fell in love with an English girl/ She asked me for an almond whirl/ I was obliged to the English girl.
Robyn Hitchcock is one of the few recording artists whose catalog has remained consistently inspired throughout a lengthy career. Spooked, in particular, stands out from his recent output due to the stunning contributions from Welch and Rawlings.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin [Book]

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A character-driven mystery set in rural Mississippi, we are slowly drawn into the stories and lives of Silas “32” Jones, a constable who twice daily has to direct traffic when the shift changes at the local mill, and Larry Ott, a mechanic who has been ostracized from the community. Larry and Silas were secret friends as children, both on the outside, Larry a white boy in a mostly black school who would rather read Stephen King books than do most anything else, and Silas as a poor black boy with a single mother, recently moved from Chicago. They play and fish in the woods, until a neighbor girl goes missing while on a first date with Larry. Now, 20 years later, another girl has gone missing and the suspicion is back on Larry. The story goes back-and-forth between the two timelines, with an increasingly complex network of connections. Check out this ‘rural noir.’

Head by Bob Rafelson [DVD]

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Although, in 1968 the film proved to be an immense commercial failure, Head has become a cult classic and an excellent artifact in the colored history of the Monkees. Rafelson continued his maverick approach to cinema and is now considered one of the most revered directors and producers of the “New Hollywood” generation.

Two Escobars [DVD]

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This riveting documentary film was made by Northampton natives Jeff and Michael Zimbalist as part of the excellent ESPN 30 for 30 series. It examines a harrowing period in Colombia’s history when rival drug cartels were warring in the streets and the national soccer team set out to win the world cup and by extension, create a new positive image for their country. The Two Escobars of the title are Andres Escobar, the softspoken but inspiring captain of the National Team, and Pablo Escobar, who was a notorious cartel leader and brutal drug baron, but also a team owner and folk hero to many poor people in Colombia. The documentary takes a clear eyed look at a period of Colombian soccer and society which stretched from the height of the phenomenon known as “Narco-Soccer” through their ignominious and ultimately tragic loss in the first round of the 1994 World Cup. Like many of the 30 for 30 series filmmakers, the directors succeed in showing the importance and influence of sport on society as a whole, how it reflects and is influenced by the best and worst aspects of our culture. As a result the film appeals to viewers who are not die-hard sports fans, ‘soccer’ fans or familiar with World Cup Football. One of the best of the ESPN 30 for 30 series and best documentaries of 2010, it was an Official Selection at the Cannes, Tribeca and Los Angeles Film Festivals.