All work makes us dull.
Scribblers Music Review
Dolce Désir, Le Couleur. I like dance-pop, but I do not actually like to dance. So I need there to be some cleverness to the non-dance elements of the music in order to catch my ear. The Canadian trio Dolce Désir satisfies this requirement for me with a level of silliness and irony (on such peppy compositions as “Concerto Rock”), not to mention the flowing French lyrics. Another distinction is brevity: none of the five songs on this EP is over four and half minutes, and the percussively precocious “Autovariation #64” clocks in at 2:28.
Monday the 16th of February
Magic number: 73925
Magic word: grasping
Rock Gods #344: Adventures in Our Little Music Scene
Bit Lie wrote “consciousness” when she felt she’d lost hers.
“It was originially an instrumental about the depression I went through when my dad died and my relationship broke up. No boards, you know? Then they came to me, but not all of them were, like, words.”
She won’t write down or otherwise spell out the lyrics, describing some of them as “words destroyed by weeping” and “the sounds of the middle of the night. I kind of make a door slamming noise with my mouth.”
“consciousness” (lower-case “c”—she’ll give us that much) is a slow, slow ballad—drone and pitch plus those mournful sometimes-words.
“It’s a weird song to be known for. I feel better now; otherwise I don’t think I could do it. But there’s always someone at every show who’s living it, right then, and has to share. I’m up for that, but sometimes it’d be nice to be known for, you know, a funny sing-along thing or something.
Tonight: The Ballad of the White Horse at The Bullfinch. One set is “Queen of Seven Swords” in its synth-orch entirety. … A Miscellany of Men at Hamilton’s. Covers, but good ones like “Brave New Family.”… An Evening With Manalive at D’ollaire’s. No original members and they have the nerve to call themselves Manalive…
Riverdale Book Review
SIxty or so years ago, you could have heard the Archie radio series in Connecticut on WELI in New Haven, WNBC in Hartford and WNAB in Bridgeport.That was still the so-called Golden Age of Radio, before TV caught on. The Archie Andrews program debuted at the end of May, 1943 on the NBC Blue network, moved to the Mutual network in 1944 and then back to NBC for another nine seasons, 1945 to 1953. Considering that it ran for a decade, it’s appalling (but not that surprising, given the cavalier treatment of old tapes by their original owners/broadcasters) that only around three dozen episodes seem to still exist. You can find the shows at https://archive.org/details/ArchieAndrews.
Just as the comic book Archie was clearly derivative of literary bad boys such as Tom Sawyer and Penrod, the radio show leaned on existing film and radio awkward-teen archetypes such as Andy Hardy and Henry Aldrich. Unfortunately, the radio forebears didn’t line up clearly with the radio ones. Archie Andrews, too often, was a family sitcom about a family. On many of the extant episodes, there’s way too much of Archie’s father Fred. Fred Andrews tries to take a bath, and keeps getting interrupted by Archie and his friend. Fred Andrews tries to paint a room, and the kids interfere. Fred Andrews has a cold. Etc.
It should be said that the Archie comics had this same problem when they first started. Authority figures were all over the place, defining the teenagers’ place in the world rather than letting them set their own comic boundaries. But within a few years—well before the radio show came along and made the same mistakes—the teens were largely on their own.
For Tomorrow We Shall Die: Diary of a College Chum #294:
Up us!
Scribblers Music Review
JMSN, JMSN (Blue Album). JMSN, the artist otherwise known as Christian Berishaj, could be dismissed as a Prince disciple, but there’s more of a Stevie Wonder brilliance to this blend of gospel, soul, funk, pop and poetry. It’s that mix of big cosmic questions (“Ocean”) and compelling overstatements (“I’m addicted to your love”) and ’68 Beatles keyboards and an infinite amount of intiriguing sound samples. So immaculately produced, it can touch you deeply, while also giving you a good chuckle at its overblown majesty.
Friday the 13th of February
Magic number: 62486
Magic word: reformation
Turnip Your Doughs
I have a sourdough starter I created years ago, a sturdy rye/potato base inspired by a recipe in the cookbook put out by the Blood Root restaurant in Bridgeport.
Last week I had some turnip water lying around after making mashed turnips for dinner.
This may be a fantasy, but it appeared to me that the resulting loaf baked more evenly, and lasted days longer, than much of the sourdough I bake. I’ve used potato water as an extra ingredient many times, and typically put dried potato flakes in my non-sourdough sandwich breads. But turnip water, no, and I don’t think turnips have the same starchy properties of potatoes. I’m not getting any internet research action on the qualities of turnips in bread dough.
How did it taste? Sour and turnippy. Great for grilled cheese and Tofurky sandwiches. Great for buttered toast. Not so great for jams.
In any case, here’s the recipe. Note that I had yeast in this sourdough. That may seem like cheating, but it’s more about reliability in the rising. I add sourdough mainly for the taste. When I use my sourdough regularly, it can be the only rising agent I need, but gosh, I don’t need it to do everything. The yeast is right there in the refrigerator.
Sourdough with turnip water
Half-cup sourdough starter (mine is pretty heavy, fueled with rye or spelt flour and potato water)
2-and-a-quarter teaspoons yeast (my handy “yeast spoon,” purchased at the King Arthur Flour store)
3 cups turnip water (from the act of boiling turnips)
3 cups (approx.) white flour
1 cup (wheat flour
That’s it. No salt, no oil, no other added veg or fluids.
In a mixing bowl, ake a soft dough that’s not so soft that you can’t knead it with your hands. This can get sticky fast. You may need more flour than I suggested.You don’t have to knead as long as with white or non-sourdough—just so long as it’s blended and smooth and a little sticky.
Roll the dough into a ball, keep it in the bowl, and throw a dishcloth over the top. Let rise for 90 minutes.
After that 90 minutes, punch down the dough, knead it a little more, and put in a loaf pan. (I use a long ceramic loaf pan. Metal pans are not to be used with sourdough. Sometimes I use a rising bowl or no shaping vessel at all, but unless the dough is really firm it’s likely to sprawl a bit.)
Second rise should be 45 minutes to an hour.
Bake in a pre-heated 375-degree oven for an hour. You really want to make sure sourdough is fully cooked through.
Really interesting taste, with the turnip water. I’m going to turn what’s left of my last loaf into breadcrumbs/croutons now.
Rock Gods #343: Adventures in Our Little Music Scene
Somebody leash the Doo Doggies! They were unrestrained at the Bullfinch Thursday to the point of nausea. Literally. Dan Doggie (bass) puked on Jim Doggie (guitar) duyring a long, revelatory jam on “Stepped in a Poodle.”
We make them sound like it, but the Doo Doogies is not some catastrophic apoco-punk act. They’re a lighthearted but well-oiled fusion combo. Their name and song titles verge on the ridiculous—unless, we guess, you’re canine.
Tonight: Chelsea Rooney at the Bullfinch, a three-night engagement… AnnieTommy in the doghouse at Hamilton’s… An Evening With V.A. Kay at D’ollaire’s…