Pazar 30 Oca 2011, 6:58
I admit i haven't been keeping abreast of Kristin Hersh's career in recent years (being mostly a fan of her Throwing Muses stuff) so i had no idea she'd even written a book, never mind that she would be reading from it at the gig. Never mind, the book, a memoir based on a diary she kept in her late teens, is a delight as is Kristin's reading of it - at once world-weary, caustic, ironic and at the same time innocent, almost gauche.
Each reading was followed up by a song, none of which were familiar to me. I had the impression they were specially written to compliment the readings but i may be wrong about this. At any rate, they were interesting songs, sometimes good songs, but for whatever reason didn't really grab me. I actually found i was looking forward to her reaching the end and starting the next excerpt.
Maybe part of the problem was that i've never really got over the end of Throwing Muses (i miss that wonderful NOISE) but i think it may also have had something to do with the concert's format: as much as i did love the readings it meant the songs themselves were broken up and the music struggled to build up steam.
At the end of the gig, after considerable persuasion (we clapped and clapped!) Kristin came back on and did a number of older songs. These i did recognise. They included "Your Ghost" and - most thrilling of all - a song from The Real Ramona, my absolute favourite Throwing Muses album:"Hook in Her Head". Wish she'd done Two Step but you can't have it all!
Afterwards i bought the memoir: "Paradoxical Undressings" (it also seems to go under the title "Rat Girl"). I'm looking forward to reading through her tales of a squat 'haunted' by a ghostly unidentified animal and her friendship with a former movie star and that lady's priest. It'd be even better if Kristin would release it as an audiobook though. Or maybe she has? I must look.