Ask the Dust By John Fante

Reading John Fante’s Ask the Dust is like a revelation. Halfway through you’ll be slapping your forehead and wondering where the book has been all your life. You’ll wonder why you haven’t heard of it before and why it isn’t required reading. This novel, which was originally published in 1939, is responsible for the influence of many great writers. Reading Ask the Dust you can’t help but be reminded of books such as Larry McMurtry’s All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers, J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, and everything Charles Bukowski has ever written.

The story centers around Arturo Bandini, who moves out to Southern California to follow his dream of becoming a famous writer. He is obsessed with this goal at the expense of other facets of his life. Arturo is a troubling man; emotionally disturbed and awkward but not necessarily threatening. While some of his encounters are humorous, others are tragic. One of the few relationships Arturo develops is with Camilla Lopez, a waitress working at a restaurant which Arturo frequents. The relationship begins antagonistically, practically hateful. Arturo fears women and reacts with hostility toward Camilla. However, they continually spend time together. Some moments they share together are almost sweet in a twisted sort of way, other times they are horrible to each other. Overall a strange relationship, ended in tragedy.

Ask the Dust feels autobiographical despite being a work of fiction. It is realistic and avoids flights of fancy, instead showing the grim reality of depression era life. The language is simplistic yet poetic. There are no needless words in this novel nor is there one chapter out of place. It is short and concise yet deep and mesmerizing. It is an easy story to get caught up in since you do not know where the next chapter will take you. Arturo is a baffling, sometimes absurd character that readers can empathize with and feel compelled to read on. Although the book is written very simply, it tells the story without unnecessary flourishes, this is not to say that it lacks in depth or charm. The characters are recognizable despite their eccentric qualities.

Fante wastes no time setting up the character. From the very beginning of the novel you are immediately thrown into Arturo Bandini’s world. This is a rare quality in novels, a quality that implies the work of a fantastic story teller. If you are at all familiar with greats of the 20th century like Bukowski, Kerouac, McMurtry, and Salinger, then you will immediately understand the impact of Ask the Dust. At the heart of Ask the Dust is a story which anyone who has ever pined for greatness can relate to. It’s the story of a poor man who hungers for the fame and the power to take and keep what has been denied to him, yet when he finally achieves his goal, realizes that it isn’t what he wanted at all.

Whatever Works

After filming the majority of his most recent films in Europe, Woody Allen has finally returned to New York City with the delightfully funny Whatever Works. The movie stars Larry David, a neurotic Jew who fits in perfectly to Allen’s universe. David’s role was originally written back in the 1970’s for Zero Mostel. Aside from a few lines in the film that reference current events it’s clear from the opening that the bulk of this film was written during Allen’s heyday back in the 1970’s. Whatever Works has the look, feel and hilarious one-liners of a classic Allen film. The look, of course, is a hermetically sealed version of New York City that really only exists in the mind of Allen.

The movie centers around the misanthropic Boris Yelnikoff a brilliant, former physics professor at Columbia University who has become somewhat of a hermit after a failed marriage, and a failed suicide attempt (he landed on the canopy). Change comes for Boris in the form of a young runaway southern belle named Melodie St. Ann Celestine, who literally shows up as his doorstep one night. Boris reluctantly lets her stay.

By some stretch of the imagination Melodie winds-up being charmed by Boris’ pessimism and they are quickly married. Although David is slightly younger than Allen it’s still slightly disturbing to think of him having a relationship with such a young girl, even though the film acknowledges its abnormality. The idea of love being where you’re least likely to find it seems to be a prominent theme in this film, and though this relationship sounds ridiculous on paper Boris assures us “life isn’t on paper.” Whatever Works succeeds, as many Allen films do, as a study of relationships. This film is preoccupied with the idea of the randomness and “meaningless blind chance” involved in the relationships we form.

The performances might have been one-dimensional if performed by lesser actors. The characters of Melodie and her Mother Marietta are stereotypically southern. However, Evan Rachel Wood and Patricia Clarkson breathe life into these roles which could easily have wound-up as caricatures. David’s portrayal of Boris is a lot like his character on his show Curb Your Enthusiasm only exaggerated. Boris is rude, pessimistic, neurotic and hilarious. In short, everything you could ask for in an Allen character. Though it’s easy to imagine Allen himself in David’s place, David definitely brings his own angry voice to the character.

Even though the film is enjoyable there are some elements which prevent it from joining the ranks of the greatest Allen films. Whatever Works feels rushed and the characters are not nearly as identifiable or lovable as characters in his best films. Overall, this will be regarded as one of Allen’s lighter efforts but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Though the movie doesn’t quite succeed as well as some of his best work of that era such as Stardust Memories or Manhattan it’s still a charmingly hilarious film. It may not be a grand slam, but it’s a really well executed bunt.

Sugar Ray - Music for Cougars

After the failure of 2003’s 'In the Pursuit of Leisure' it seemed as if Sugar Ray was willing to take the hint and bow out before any further embarrassment. Now, after a seven year hiatus, Sugar Ray is crawling back with the abysmally titled 'Music for Cougars'. The album opens in the worst way possible with an adaptation of the early 60’s hit (Girls Girls Girls) Were Made to Love. The song features guest vocals by Collie Buddz who brings a reggae flavor to the song reminiscent of the group’s first smash hit Fly. Unfortunately, the song remake ends up sounding more like a bad Shaggy song than a hit from any decade. Poor Eddie Hodges must be spinning in his grave.

The first single from the album is the summer anthem Boardwalk which channels Beach Boy’s style cheesiness without any of the charm. But possibly the worst track of all is She’s Got The (WooHoo) which, as the album title blatantly declares, is a cougar anthem. With the song’s not-so-subtle innuendos and intended older fan base, one wonders why it is that 40 year old lead singer Mark McGrath is using euphemisms like "Woohoo".

McGrath’s vocals have seen better days. The vocals on this album are tastelessly drenched in auto-tune. It’s as if the band is attempting to sound hip and young, of course they are neither. This is most embarrassingly apparent on the Katy Perry knockoff Closer and the electro-dance flavored Last Days. From the embarrassingly attention grabbing album title to the bland, radio friendly songs within, this band is trying a little too hard to fit in. ‘Music for Cougars’ brings light to Sugar Ray's fall from pop superstars to the cougars of today's music scene.

Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

After twenty plus years of making music breaking new ground is not to be expected. Yo La Tengo is no exception to this rule. By this point in their career they have mastered their sound, varied though it may be, and in general we know what to expect from the Hoboken trio. 2006’s I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass was a mixed bag and showed the band at their most fun and spontaneous. However, it lacked a kind of cohesion in feeling previous albums such as And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-out and I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One captured so well. In that sense Popular Songs is a return to writing songs that genre-hop but still manage to keep that cohesive feeling.

The album opens with Here to Fall, a song that starts off sparse using only the bleep of a lonely synthesizer, recalling their soundtrack work The Sounds of the Sounds of Science before the drums kick in with full-force followed by a copious amount of heavily-layered strings. Make no mistake, even though this album harkens back to some of their earlier work the production itself, for the most part, pulls away from the bare-bones approach of previous albums and instead has a more densely layered feel. This is especially apparent on the Motown sounding If It’s True which appropriates it’s opening from the classic Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch and features an adorable trade-off vocal by Ira and Georgia.

Popular Songs ends with a trio of epic, meditative songs that capture the mood of nostalgia so succinctly that listening to these instrumental tracks evokes memories of old friends long gone. Yo La Tengo has just proved they have more heart than any other band, and Popular Songs may just be their best effort to date.