Author: vish

Ep. #127: “Weird Al” Yankovic

Post author By vish
Post date September 2, 2014

“Weird Al” Yankovic is the most successful, astute, and wickedly funny song parodist of our time. On his latest album Mandatory Fun, Yankovic performs his usual balance of style parodies and send ups of big singles, which, in this case includes songs by Robin Thicke, Lorde, Iggy Azalea, Imagine Dragons and Pharrell Williams, replacing their content with lyrics about bad grammar, aluminium foil, DIY home repair, and being a douchebag. A couple of months ago, Al agreed to answer Exclaim! Magazine’s Questionnaire. Here, he ponders what he’s up to, watermelon, living in the house he owns, the work of Mark Ryden, playing Bonnaroo, the glorious highs of Mandatory Fun and the traumatic low of opening for Missing Persons, being told he sucks, LeBron James, having good handwriting, his idea of a perfect sundae, his idea of a perfect Sunday, being amazingly advisable, Canadians know comedy, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and never having met Elton John, being an accordion repo man, spoiling yourself, vocational dreams, spiders in your mouth, vegan police, hat manners, meeting Linda McCartney, wives and Indian food, supportive parents, “Back in Black” by AC/DC at your funeral, what songs and styles he parodies on his new album, the dictatorial flavour of Mandatory Fun, his future album-making plans, Robin Thicke, grammar, Prince might be loosening up, spoofing Arcade Fire or the National, writing parodies when the mood strikes, writing books for kids and a Broadway musical, making a movie, the song “Now That’s What I Call Polka!,” and then our mandatory fun was over.

Related links: weirdal.com exclaim.ca/Features/Questionnaire/weird_al_yankovic vishkhanna.com

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Tags "Weird Al" Yankovic, AC/DC, Arcade Fire, Bonnaroo, Elton John, Exclaim! Magazine, Iggy Azalea, Imagine Dragons, LeBron James, Linda McCartney, Lorde, Mandatory Fun, Mark Ryden, Missing Persons, Pharrell Williams, Prince, Robin Thicke, the National

News Podcast

Ep. #126: Carrie Snyder

Post author By vish
Post date August 29, 2014

Carrie Snyder lives in Waterloo, Ontario and is the author of two story collections, including The Juliet Stories, which was a finalist for Canada’s 2012 Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Her debut novel, Girl Runner will be published in Canada by House of Anansi on September 6 and in the United States via HarperCollins and in the U.K. via Two Roads in 2015. Snyder is also a dedicated recreational athlete, the mother of four children, and the author of the popular literary blog Obscure CanLit Mama. Ahead of her appearance at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival on Sunday September 14, Snyder and I discuss her lovely home in Waterloo and its century-long history, a ghost house, oh, the places Carrie has lived in, birthday to birthday, the inspiration behind Girl Runner, running, writing a story collection like The Juliet Stories that reads like a novel, melding the present with the past in a double narrative structure, figuring out who characters are after you’ve written them, sibling couples and confusing spaces, the tangled and large Smart family tree, emotional conflict, whether or not we’re supposed to like Cora, Aganetha, womanhood and gender and sexual dynamics in sports and marketing, David Beckham, the shelf-life of athletes as competitors and public figures, amateur versus poor Olympians, athlete’s bodies, Aggie’s comfort with her own being and intellect, the parallels between Aganetha and Carrie, getting into running mid-life after thinking it was kinda dumb, the 25 KM Run for the Toad, hot yoga, learning how to swim when you’re not buoyant and in your mid-30s and then doing a triathlon within like a year of that, panicking in the pool, dredging up a near-drowning experience from your childhood, a fear of bicycling, bouncing between brief samples of the present and huge sections of historical memoir, the biological powers of women, the impact of child-rearing on artistic creativity and output, telling this quasi-fictional story about people who do special, unconventional things with their lives, the mystery and history of Girl Runner, always wanting to be a writer, sending letters to authors as a kid, learning the ins and outs of the publishing industry, if you want to write you have to keep doing it no matter what, responding to one’s calling, competing with yourself rather than your colleagues, Glad versus Aggie, American versus Canadian editors, House of Anansi and HarperCollins and Two Roads, researching for the next book, writing every day, My Struggle, book reviews, Obscure CanLit Mama, and then the finish line.

Related links: carriesnyder.com edenmillswritersfestival.ca vishkhanna.com

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Tags Carrie Snyder, David Beckham, Eden Mills Writers' Festival, Girl Runner, HarperCollins, House of Anansi, Obscure CanLit Mama, Olympians, Run for the Toad, running, sports, temporality, The Juliet Stories, Two Roads, Waterloo Ontario, womanhood

News Podcast

Ep. #125: John Reis of Drive Like Jehu

Post author By vish
Post date August 22, 2014
7 Comments on Ep. #125: John Reis of Drive Like Jehu

John Reis is a fantastic guitarist and songwriter based in San Diego California. Over the past 25 years he has played in remarkable and influential bands like Pitchfork, Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Sultans, and the Night Marchers among others, and he also started a cool label called Swami Records. One of his most significant bands was Drive Like Jehu who stopped playing together shortly after releasing their second album, Yank Crime, in 1994. Earlier this week the band, including singer/guitarist Rick Froberg, bassist Mike Kennedy, and drummer Mark Trombino, announced they would be playing a single, free show at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego’s Balboa Park on August 31, accompanied by civic organist Dr. Carol Williams. Here, John and I talk about making pancakes, the comings and goings of the sun, why Drive Like Jehu is getting back together to play a single show, collaborating with the Spreckels Pipe Organ, how his friend Dang is on the board of directors for the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, sonic energy and jamming with Godzilla, how organs fit into the music of Drive Like Jehu, trash cans, how this reunion show has nothing to do with any historical landmarks beyond this organ, how Drive Like Jehu never ever broke up, the circumstantial reasons why Drive Like Jehu stopped playing together, why John thinks of himself mostly as a guitar player, how people seemed more stoked about the band after they went away, how Drive Like Jehu started after Pitchfork stopped playing together, Mike Kennedy and Mark Trombino’s band Night Soil Man, getting Rick to play with John, Mike, and Mark, having a small fanbase, the forthcoming Drive Like Jehu/Megadeth Megatour, playing with the organ, when Drive Like Jehu will actually practice together for the first time in 20 years, five songs in 30 minutes, no one knows what’s going to happen at this show, “Louie Louie,” never say never, turning people on with an organ, documenting this one Drive Like Jehu show, what’s up with new Hot Snakes songs and shows, when Rocket From the Crypt played Riot Fest in Toronto, the Rick Froberg Hot Snakes challenge, the John Reis Hot Snakes challenge, a Drive Like Jehu medley, the songs “Bullet Train to Vegas,” “Luau,” “Do You Compute,” and “Caress,” and then it was time to turn it off.

Related links: drive-like-jehu.com swamirecords.com vishkhanna.com

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