The Rabbit Hole USA

We had to do a little rearranging this weekend. We are expanding our music section, so it had to move. History will have its own reading room area now, in the area where our vinyl and cd selection was.

We had a good time with C.R. Lindemer, author of Beauly the Donkey-Mooing Beltie, on Saturday. It is a great children’s book from a local author. She left here to head out to Vermont for another signing, and we hope she had success there also. We still have signed copies in stock. You can watch a trailer for the book below:

We restock our music section every week. We post a few selections here, often along with Mp3′s – for one week only. As always, it is an eclectic mix this week.

The Cambridge Concept of Timothy Clover A Harvard Square Affair

1967 was an all-changing, watershed year for pop music. Chief among the reasons were The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour, which birthed the psychedelic pop movement and thrust open the doors to musical experimentation, through which a million other young artists followed.

Suddenly, pop had a wider palette, and through 1968, surprisingly sophisticated, sprawling, experimental and concept albums appeared by the dozens from musicians eager to stretch their creative sides. The Rolling Stones did it with Their Satanic Majesty’s Request. Small Faces produced Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake. The Kinks made Village Green Preservation Society. The Zombies succeeded with Odessey and Oracle. Additionally, a host of overlooked gems by established acts arrived in the record stores. Chad & Jeremy’s Of Cabbages and Kings is the highlight of their career. Who would have suspected Once Upon a Dream from The Rascals? By this time, a baroque-pop sensibility was entering the singles charts, too, with bands like The Left Bank leading the way.

The discriminating pop aficionado soon discovers equally captivating works of the same era from a legion of lesser-known artists. The La De Das, The Happy Prince, The Family Tree’s Miss Butters, and J.K. & Co.’s Suddenly One Summer are just a few. Of course, The Who got on board with Tommy. By 1969, the freeway to the progressive rock dominant in the early 70s was beginning to buzz.

This 1968 LP, The Cambridge Concept of TIMOTHY CLOVER A Harvard Square Affair is yet another overlooked baroque-pop-psych gem, produced locally, in 1968. Taking a lot from The Left Banke and Penny Lane, the music has a stately British slant, arranged with horns, harpsichord, and strings augmenting the standard rock bass, drums, and guitar. You can listen to Timothy Clover here.

Exploited – Punks Not Dead

The Exploited’s debut album was a reaction to critics claiming punk was dead. They also were not entirely pleased with the New Wave direction music was taking. These Scotts play hard and fast, and they are still out there touring and recording.  You can listen to Punks Not Dead.

Corrosion of Conformity – Eye for an Eye

Another debut album. This time from Raleigh, NC metal band, Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C.). Their first album is hard core punk orientated and Black Flag influenced. They came to be known for their intelligent lyrics and their lack of willingness to be confined by Punk or Metal conventions. You can listen to Broken Will and see what you think.

Bad Religion – Suffer

This LA Punk band is often credited with leading the revival of Punk and inspiring many punk musicians. Suffer is considered to by many to be their best album and fans say this is the album that saved the California Punk scene. We were lucky to get this one in stock, and don’t expect it to last long. Listen to You Are (the Government) and see what the fuss is about.

Darling Buds, Transvision Vamp, The Primitives

The so-called “Blonde Movement” was a pop music phenomenon of the UK in the late 1980s when there appeared on the scene several groups featuring blonde female singers with dark-haired male bands — all playing up-tempo tunes incorporparting buzzing guitars. In each case, one of the guys was the group songwriter and studio wizard. The sounds were similar enough that any of the bands could have covered some tunes from the others without anyone being the wiser. Chief among these rivals were three acts. The Primitives were the rawest and catchiest. The Darling Buds were the sweetest and poppiest. And Transvision Vamp singer Wendy James conveyed the darkest and most bad-girl image. Though all were successful in the UK, all had much more limited success in the USA, and none lasted for more than three LPs. We’ve got them all:

Darling Buds, 1989, Hit the Ground

TransvisionVamp, 1989, The Only One

Primitives, 1989, Keep M In Mind

Wow. Last night’s open mic was a huge hit. The place was packed, and everyone had a great time. When the crowd was asked if they wanted to do this again there was a enthusiastic, “Yes!” from the crowd.

We will be in further discussions with Bria, the event’s organizer, about holding another Thursday evening open mic. Poets, stand-up comedians, and singer-songwriters all did their thing for an appreciative and responsive crowd. The energy was great. If you missed last night, then make sure you show up for our next one.

We have some great stuff planned for this First Thursday! Read on…

Emily Chetkowski says: On April 2nd, for First Thursday, I am going to be doing two events at the Rabbit Hole bookstore here in Fitchburg, from 5 – 7. One is for kids, based on the new Mabel book. The other is for WWII buffs about my Dad’s book.

About the Mabel book:

I will have a dummy of the book that I will read, for the very first time ever, pre-publication. Yes, a Fitchburg exclusive! Mabel will be there, as will Bert, my funny talking bird, who is also in the book. The book is about taking Mabel kayaking on a Maine lake, which I do. Old Town canoe is endorsing the book so to speak. The kayak I use in the story is an Old Town kayak. They donated a yellow one, that we will be raffling off in July. I am bringing it that night for kids to climb all over. Plus, I am donating and raffling for First Thursday, the very first copy, first edition, off the press of Mabel Takes a Paddle. It wont be available until the book comes out though. The Rabbit Hole is offering a pre-order discount that night. I will sign the books once they come in a few weeks later. I will talk about the book, then read it and Mabel will do her tricks. I am sure Bert the bird will be hamming it up too! He’s adorable!

My 2nd presentation will be about my dad’s book, Just A Kid, a Guard At the Nuremberg Trials. My Dad was sergeant of the courtroom guard at the Nuremberg trials, the first trial, of Hitler’s top officers. He guarded the witness stand through all the questioning and eventual confessions that lead to convictions. He was only 19 years old at the time, son of immigrants, drafted to the front lines fresh out of High School, by chance ending up being a participant in that most historic event.

We have just confirmed that Christine Lindemer, author of children’s book Beauly the Donkey-Mooing Beltie, will be here Saturday, March 28th at 2:00.

The book is about Beauly:

‘Beauly’ is a newborn Belted Galloway. She copies her mother, but she also likes to explore her new world and try new things. And she has her own ideas! Sometimes she gets into trouble. And just like cats & dogs, farm animals have their own unique personalities…

In case you are wondering, a Belted Galloway is a rare breed of cow that originated in Galloway, Scotland. They have a distinctive white band down the middle. These cows can be spotted at Christine’s farm, and they really stand out if you are driving past. There are fewer than 10,000 of this breed in the whole world.

We restock our music department with vinyl and cd’s on Saturdays. We then regularly pick a few items and post them here, sometimes with Mp3′s. Mp3′s are available for one week only. We have loads of cool stuff in the pipeline. We take a long time to clean and play grade them, so we are always behind.

Where else, but on The Rabbit Hole blog and store are you going to get discussions of hardcore punk and great literary translations?

Gary Numan – Telekon

Ground breaking future rock from 1980. He is now considered the godfather of electronic music. On Telekon, Numan broadened his sound with strings and a lot more synth machines like the Prophet-5, Pro Soloist and the Jupiter-4. Check out I’m an Agent.

The Butthole Surfers – self-titled

This is the original 1983 Alternative Tentacles pressing of the Butthole Surfers first LP. Their sound is kind of like a mash up of punk, metal, psychedelia, and noise. Fans are extremely devoted although they didn’t achieve widespread commercial success for quite some time. Best known for their wild, chaotic, live shows. They exist as warning to parents that just because your son has gone on the become an accountant, there is no guarantee he will turn out to be a nice, conventional young man. Their name has caused them problems with some radio stations unwilling to say their name. Myself, I am afraid of the weird google hits we will now be receiving. You can listen to Suicide.

Bob Dylan – Another Side of Bob Dylan

Dylan’s fourth studio album, released in 1964 is a departure from his issue orientated folk music. The folk community didn’t have much good to say about Dylan’s departure from roots music, everyone else loved the innovation in his songwriting. The songs are still primarily Dylan solo with guitar and harmonica and sometimes piano. If you are a Dylan fan, check out our book review of Chronicles. You can listen to I Don’t Believe You.

Bauhaus – 1979-1983

The first gothic rock group. With this double, compilation album you can really get a feel for their dark, gloomy sound and image. Using their influences of punk, glam, Krautrock, funk and dub they created something unique which appealed to fans disappointed with the New Wave sound. Listen to She’s In Parties.

Gang Green – Skate to Hell

Yes, this 45 is truly of a skateboard-like shape. Those kids from Braintree, MA must have enjoyed a fun gimmick almost as much as boasting about their prodigious alcohol consumption. Skate to Hell on Side A, and the other side is We’ll Give it to You. This is an UK import from Road Racer records. No Mp3 from this one, but you can watch the video to one of their biggest hits, Alcohol. NSFW lyrics.

Minor Threat – Out of Step

DC hardcore punk band whose music has held up better over time then others from the scene. If you want to hear how the original album sounded, then the only way is by listening to the record. Future compilations remove some elements, guitar breaks, screams and an uncredited song at the end of the B side. These are the guys that pretty much launched the Straight Edge sub-culture. Listen to Out of Step.

Dead Kennedys – Frankenchrist

Another Alternative Tentacles release. This the third Kennedys’ album. You can hear them growing beyond their original hardcore punk sound, and most songs are played a bit slower than earlier releases. More of a progressive, psychedelic sound while still true to their roots. You can listen to Hellnation.

Metropole: More Kafkaesque than Kafka

Metropole is a 2008 English translation of the Hungarian author’s 1970 novel. The word “Kafkaesque” doesn’t do justice to this novel. It is not “esque,” it is more Kafkaesque than Kafka. What is it about Central Europe?

Metropole depicts a waking nightmare. A Hungarian linguist named Budai boards a plane to travel to a linguistics conference in Helskinki. He falls asleep in flight and wakes up when the passengers are deplaned in a strange city. Not Helsinki. The passengers are taken to a hotel where the protagonist, despite knowing ten languages, cannot make any sense of the spoken or written language. Nor can he find anyone who speaks any of the languages he does. They don’t use Roman letters but luckily they use Arabic numerals. At the registration desk they take his passport, and they can’t understand a word he says when he asks for it back. Budai is given a room and some local currency in exchange for what cash he has and the story begins.

The city is large and crowded with aggravated, unpleasant people. The people are of recognizably mixed racial types and wear recognizable clothing. The food is similar but all has a sickly sweet taste as do their alcoholic beverages. Budai can find no airports or any place that will have people speaking recognizable languages. There are churches but of no recognizable religion.

The hotel room gives Budai a comfortable base from which to explore and try to find a way out. What will happen when his money runs out? Will he ever make it back home? I won’t spoil it for you.

Metropole is a well-written, readable yet highly disturbing allegory. The Cold War Eastern Bloc origins of the novel are obvious. But the fact that it disturbs us today speaks to something about the human condition that hasn’t changed.