The Song Reader issue: 20 free songs, fiction film review + homemade ranch

Even though summer no longer means the break I enjoyed in my school and college years, there's still something about the long days that makes me want to sit down with a good book and glass of homemade sangria when I get home from work. I've been on a real sewing kick, however, so lately I content myself with reading on my BART train and while eating dinner, before diving into the dress I started sewing on my recent vacation.

I need to get back to evening writing soon, but in the meantime I'm enjoying a lively Russian comedy a friend recommended, called The Master and Margarita. It's daring and entertaining and has yet to disappoint me. Should you want non-fiction reading, here are my two latest pieces:

• One Good Phrase: The Lord is kind to the undeserving (a meditation on goodness vs. kindness)
• There's No Such Thing as a 'Boy Color' or 'Girl Color'

Happy Friday!

:: Song Reader ::

I think I practiced piano almost nine hours the week of last month's sightreading party -- just one reason I'm nursing a minor obsession with Beck's sheet music-only album. Thanks to the work of my co-worker, you can hear all 20 songs from that night -- wrong notes and all. Despite the rough nature of the performance, you can still start to hear the shape of the strongest songs. Some of my personal favorites: "Do We We Do," "Sorry," "Eyes That Say 'I Love You'," "We All Wear Cloaks" and my favorite, "Last Night You Were a Dream."

After giving the public months to make the own recordings of Song Reader, Beck finally assembled an impressive cast of musicians for a July 4 performance at London's Barbicon. It looks like about seven official videos from the show have been posted (based on what Pitchfork and Paste shared), but I was able to find about 14 of the 20 songs:

• "Don't Act Like Your Heart Isn't Hard" - Beck
• "Saint Dude" - Franz Ferdinand
  
• "Now That Your Dollar Bills Have Sprouted Wings" - The Staves
• "America, Here's My Boy" - Sam Amidon
• "Old Shanghai" - Conor O'Brien
• "Sorry" - Michael Kiwanuka
• "Eyes That Say I Love You" - Joan Wasser (Joan as Police Woman)
• "We All Wear Cloaks" - The Mighty Boosh
• "Please Leave the Lights on When You Go" - Beth Orton and Sam Amidon
• "Just Noise" - Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourg
• "Why Did You Make Me Care" - Jarvis Cocker
  
• "Do We, We Do" - Joan Wasser, Conor O'Brien
• "I'm Down" - Beck
  
• "Rough on Rats" - Everyone (finale)

You can also hear the entire album performed by the Portland Cello Project and assorted guests.

:: events ::

• The Mazzarellos have brought back their film-viewing series. This summer they're going through Simon Schama's The Power of Art on Thursday nights. Learn about Bernini on July 25, Jacques-Louis David on Aug. 1. Contact them for details.

:: tunes ::

• Beck has also released the title track from his forthcoming album I Won't Be Long. You can hear it on NPR, but I have to confess I don't like it nearly as well as anything from Song Reader.
• First Listen: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
• This profile of rising radio star Glynn Washington, who's based in Oakland, highlights the influence of various Bay Area talents in public radio's "golden age."
• After months of silence and speculation about the Civil Wars -- who are still on hiatus, but will release their second album next month -- Joy Williams spoke to the Associated Press. Read the interview.
• Meet the nuns whose a cappella album beat out the 50 Shades of Grey album on the classical charts.
• You say skyscrapers, I say, yodeling with Jimmy Fallon and Brad Pitt (Yes, really). 
• 10 free songs! Download the songs from NPR's latest "heavy rotation" set of songs popular with public radio DJs.
• Get 10 more free songs from Noisetrade: download the Anti Records summer sampler, featuring Neko Case, Calexico, Mavid Staples, Tom Waits and Keith Richards.
• This is a few months old, but worth reading if you missed it: the Alan Lomax recording archive has been released.
• Lastly, those of you who got to see Matt's documentary Eighth Street a few weeks ago probably shared my delight with the short film and the beautiful cross-section of East Bay residents brought together to watch it. In particular, I loved the blues on the soundtrack, courtesy of former West Oakland resident Saunders King. I had no idea what a thriving blues scene the neighborhood used to enjoy, but this L.A. Times piece gives a hint of the lovely sounds that once competed with the BART tracks' screech. It would be wonderful if Dave's mural and Matt's documentary could, in their own way, contribute to a cultural revival in that neighborhood.

:: film & visual art ::

• Jeff Overstreet began a new experiment in film criticism earlier this year: reviews written through the form of fiction. The setting: a group of film aficionados who regularly meet up at a store called All-Thumbs Video to discuss and debate recent releases.
• Part 1: To The Wonder
• Part 2: Iron Man 3
• Part 3: Before Midnight

• On a related note, members of the Arts and Faith online community (affiliated with Image journal and the Glen Workshop organizers) compiled this list of their top 25 films on  marriage.

:: food ::
As some of you know, I left for a "sewing vacation" shortly after the Song Reader party, which meant a week at my parents' house in Riverside. In exchange for making such a long stay with them, I offered to make dinner each night. Mom sometimes handled the side dish, though, like a simple green salad for which she made a tasty homemade Ranch dressing. When I got home, I found myself craving the same thing to go with some lasagna. I'm not exactly sure this Ranch recipe is the same one she used, but it's pretty good. Notes:

• I was short on mayo, so wound up using about 1/4 each sour cream, mayo and milk for a half batch of the dressing. I liked the consistency with the milk, though; otherwise it's pretty thick.
• The flavors need more than 30 minutes to really blend nicely — which Mom also said — but even so it wasn't bad on my dinner salad.
• This recipe calls for all dry herbs, but if you prefer to use fresh chives, dill, garlic, etc., check out the Pioneer Woman's Ranch recipe. I might have to try it next time.

Song Reader party, new Civil Wars + Much Ado, zesty salad

I don't know about the rest of you, but most creative projects involve a strange emotional ricochet from enthusiastic beginnings to disinterest and procrastination, usually overcome with prayer and a decent stint of teeth-gritting, imperfect drafting that finally results in rediscovery of the initial delights and eventual, satisfied completion. Thus, today's profile of an award-winning ophthalmologist, "Choosing Marriage Over the Mission Field," began with an interview in November, progressed to a pitch in January and finally emerged from my laptop earlier this week after a long stint of stalling.

Once I got past the grinding start of the writing, Dr. Kietzman's story reminded me how much I enjoyed hearing it for the first time in Chicago, last fall. You don't always get to hear about someone's life at such length, but mine is the richer for having heard part of his fascinating, courageous journey. (See also my first story on him, for work, which focused more on the medical side of things.)

Lastly, I keep forgetting to mention this, but I recently updated the music-venues page on the artRecs blog. Though it's not a complete list, it provides a decent run-down of most major venues in the area, including nearest BART station (where applicable), parking, box office hours/tips for avoiding service fees and so on. Here's wishing you all a lovely weekend whatever you're up to!

:: Song Reader party June 28 ::

• It's finally happening! Eric and Shea will graciously open their home on Friday, June 28, for musicians (and a few music appreciators, like you) to come sightread through Beck's new, all-sheet-music album, Song Reader. If you want to join us as a performer, there's a Google doc for people to sign up for songs and parts. (I'm not asking for note-perfect readings, but ideally you'll run through the chosen parts a few times beforehand.) Hope to see you there! More details to come as the date gets closer.

:: your stuff ::

• Matt's documentary short on Dave Young Kim's Oakland mural, Eighth Street, debuts at the Parkway, June 22! Don't miss it.
• Laura recently made her debut on the Christianity Today website, profiling Bay Area anti-trafficking worker Betty Ann Boeving for CT's "This Is Our City" project.

:: visual art & film ::

• Joss Whedon has a new adaption of Much Ado About Nothing out and, though I'm a huge fan of the Kenneth Branagh version, initial reviews are very good. A.O. Scott called it the "most purely delightful movie I have seen so far this year." Anyone else want to see it, perhaps this weekend?
• Can murals curb graffiti? These SF business owners hope so (SFgate).
• Discovered at 64: I still need to read this, but I love stories about artists getting discovered late in life -- not because I rejoice in the delay, of course, but it's nice to be reminded that life's drama doesn't contain itself to our early years and abandon us once the wrinkles set in. And who's to say what could come of works we quietly toil at, unnoticed, for years?
• LA's Craft and Folk Art Museum gets yarn bombed (Huffington Post).

:: tunes ::

• Preview the new Civil Wars album! Hear their first single, "The One that Got Away"
• Elvis Costello and the Roots team up for an album due out in September (SFgate).
• Paul McCartney on Colbert: Presently on my to-watch list, but Paste liked it and when does Colbert ever fumble such things?
  

:: reading/food for thought ::

• A fascinating look at art/restoration in the digital age: "[W]hen a Web-based work becomes technologically obsolete, does updated software simply restore it? Or is the piece fundamentally changed?"
• This interview on comedy and faith with the RUF minister known on Twitter as Prodigal Sam provoked quite an online dust-up recently, with Patton Oswalt lashing out and so many people jumping into the plagiarism debate that Prodigal Sam later announced a break from Twitter altogether. All that notwithstanding, his comment that's it harder to be funny without vulgarity particularly resonated with me (not that I see myself as a comic writer). On a related note: this piece on plagiarism, homage and laziness reckoned thoughtfully with the larger issues raised by the controversy.

:: food ::

• New cocktail bar Novela features menu inspired by reading. Maybe I'll try to go there for my birthday....
• For several months now, I've been getting a CSA box every three weeks. For the most part it's great (you can choose the frequency of delivery and rule out fruits or veggies you hate), but they always bring me carrots, and sometimes radishes. Since I only use these in certain recipes, they often get gnarled and soft before I have a chance to use them. So last weekend I looked up recipes and discovered this easy carrot-radish salad -- super quick if you have a food processor to grate for you. With a light sprinkle of curry powder and a dab of hot sauce, it was quite delicious.