Five Bullets 5.2.25
Audiobooks, Oral history, Phish, & more.
Good morning and happy Friday friends.
The weather in New York City has been perfect this week: 70 degrees, sunny, blue skies. Spring is certainly living up to expectations after a long, cold winter.
This week I’m reading The Drum: A History as part of my research into the modern drum set. The stories of ancient drum use in rituals, ceremonies and celebrations from across the globe are fascinating. I’ll share more down the road but here’s an example: the djembe, a drum from West Africa traditionally carved from the lenke tree whose “sacred wood would be obtained following the offering of cola nuts, sacrificing a chicken and asking the tree’s permission to be chopped down.” There are similar stories in other parts of the world about the drum’s spirit, ability to speak, or commune with the gods and ancestors.
Here’s five bullets capturing my attention this week:
Books: While I’m working through drum history books, I’m revisiting Frank Herbert’s Dune by listening to an audiobook. My version is read by Simon Vance (I love his work) joined by additional voice actors plus some music and sound design which brings the story to life. I like productions which remind me of a radio show, something more than just a narration of the original text. This version combines Herbert’s idiosyncratic writing with the aspects I enjoyed in Denis Villeneuve's movies.
Movies: Warfare, directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland, is not the typical war movie. It’s a brutal assault recreating every second of a 2006 Navy Seal mission in Ramadi, Iraq. Mendoza was there - his purpose for making the film was to show teammate Elliott Miller what happened. Miller (played by Cosmo Jarvis) was severely injured and has no memory of the event. This film’s not for everyone but the only way to see it is in theaters. The sound design is incredible, the set feels dusty and claustrophobic, and there’s nothing gung-ho about it. Warfare is a realistic recreation of combat placing the viewer right in the crossfire.
Music: After Forty Years, Phish Isn’t Seeking Resolution. I’ve never seen a Phish show and I can barely name one of their songs. Their music hasn’t drawn me in (yet) but I love several bands that are Phish acolytes. It wasn’t until I read this piece by Amanda Petrusich that I realized how influential Phish has been not just in the jam band scene but across the music business while simultaneously existing wholly ‘outside’ of it. Petrusich travels to the Mondegreen festival, chronicles the band’s history, talks with Trey Anastasio about Leonard Bernstein and captures the feeling every Phish fan is waiting for during a jam: a “fleeting doorway to nirvana.”
Oral History: How Interviewing Your Own Family Can Change Your Life. Kevin Nguyen writes about his father’s oral history interviews with brothers and sisters who fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Nguyen “craved more clarity” while his father hoped to capture an “emotional history, as opposed to a factual history”, highlighting the differences between journalistic and oral history interviews. Maybe there’s more to an oral history than just getting the facts down; how we tell a story is as important as the story itself.
TV: The Old Man. Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) is an aging former-spy whose past comes back to haunt him revealing events during the Soviet-Afghan War which Chase thought were long buried. With Alia Shawkat and John Lithgow the writing and acting elevates this thriller spy story into a compelling drama. I’ve read that the show was cancelled after two seasons so I’m interested to see if it holds up. The series is based on a novel by Thomas Perry.
That’s all for this week. I really enjoy sending this newsletter out each Friday. I get to dive into my interests, learn more, and share it with you so thanks for reading.
Have a great weekend,
Keith.