Snobcast: Rorschach Jukebox Edition !!
By Col. Hector Bravado • Jul 21st, 2008 • Category: Snobcast 
Jonathan Evison is on a roll: Publisher’s Weekly, in a starred review, had this to say of All About Lulu, his debut novel from Manhattan’s Soft Skull Press: “Evison’s debut is a stunner! . . . viciously funny and deeply felt . . .” And Crossroads Films has already optioned it for a film.
Jonathan Evison lives with his wife on Bainbridge Island, Washington. In this edition of Snobcast: Rorschach Jukebox Edition, we gave Mr. Evison the chance to score the movie before anybody else does, and threw in a few curveballs. The catch, as always: the subject of the interview can only answer with song titles. Hear Jonathan’s “answers” in their entirety by hitting any of the MP4 buttons that litter this page.
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What is playing when Will, rapt, explores his stepsister Lulu’s body for the first time?
“Jesus Is Waiting” Al Green
This is the first of three montage scenes you’ll get to score from All About Lulu: some of the things we see here are Will’s bodybuilder father, Big Bill, at the gym and on stage at a competition; Will and Lulu are blinking their secret codes to each other in the back yard; Will’s twin brothers cavort in their matching sweatsuits; the camera pans over the mounds of meat at the family dinner table. What’s playing?
“Summersong” The Decemberists
Montage 2: Lulu has returned from cheerleading camp a changed woman: sullen, distant, denying Will acknowledgment and affection. He pines at the ray of light coming from her bedroom door. He skulks in the high school hallways as she stays late with her drama teacher Scott or hops into the car of Troy, her rich, hapless new boyfriend.
“In California (Live)” Neko Case
Montage 3: The clouds are breaking. Will is finding his talent as a college DJ. We see him in front of the microphone, headphones on. We see him with Eugene and Joe — his irrepressible Russian super and his profane In N Out GM — laying the groundwork to open Hot Dog Heaven on the boardwalk.
“Hot Dog” Detroit Cobras
[Editor’s Note: We were not able to find this song in time for the Snobcast]
Will has left his drunken father in the park, having heard the secret about Lulu that they kept from him for so many years. What do you hear?
“Comin’ Home Baby” Herbie Mann
Okay, let’s switch gears. You’re tired, driving on Bainbridge Island, and you look over to see — OH HAI — Marcel Proust in your passenger’s seat. Giving him no time to acclimate, you play:
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” Paul Anka
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What was stuck in your head when you got up this morning?
“Law and Order Theme” Mike Post
Play me a blues song that I’m not sick of.
“Shaggy Dad” Lightnin’ Hopkins
[Editor’s Note: We were not able to find this song in time for the Snobcast]
What is the worst song you can possibly imagine?
“Philosophy of the World” The Shaggs
Play some fucking heavy metal.
“Run for the Hills” Iron Maiden
Play me a song whose lyrics you love, whose meaning is like a gem that keeps revealing new facets as the years unfurl.
“The Stranger Song” Leonard Cohen
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Dedicate a song to your wife.
“Love Gets Sweeter Every Day” Finley Quay
Some songs seem to resonate strongly with incipient story ideas: you don’t know exactly where the story is going to go, but you hear this song and you see a scene around which the inchoate work could congeal. One of these songs is…
“Stagolee” Mississippi John Hurt
We’re meeting for drinks in Seattle. This song comes on that you haven’t heard for a long time. It seems like an epiphany on our fourth beer. Holy shit, you haven’t heard this in forever! You love this shit!
“Ca Plane Pour Moi” Plastic Bertrand
Well played, Mr. Evison. Now take us home with a little jazz.
“Swing Brother Swing” Billie Holiday w/ Count Basie
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Snobcast mixed by your grandaddy…
Father Guido.
Col. Hector Bravado is a rant afficionado, handjob connoisseur, and writer of Stuck in My Head.
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Leonard Cohen is all up in my lattice of coincidence. My wife bumped into a YouTube video of Bob Dylan playing one of his songs, Hallelujah, and from there to Cohen singing it (that’s a funny video). She mentioned this to a friend of ours, who, it turns out, is into Leonard Cohen, so now he’s playing five times a week in our house.
By the way, have you seen McCabe and Mrs. Miller? The Stranger Song features heavily in it. Be warned, though: it’s a beautiful movie, but watching it is pretty rough on the old constitution.
. . . mccabe and mrs. miller is my favorite altman film . . . in my experience, people who approach cohen in a purely musical context usually hate him . . .it’s when you add the lyrics that the guy is a total genius . . .
This was such a great idea guys, and excellently executed.
Hats off to Father Guido for putting this together. That’s my DJ!
Yeah, still, I feel a little empty, inside, for not getting to hear Hot Dog by the Detroit Cobras. My guess is that’s not an emo track.
Before I knew my friend was a Cohen fan, we were talking about another Altman movie, The Prairie Home Companion. He’d watched about half of it on DVD, and asked if it was going to get tied together at all. I asked him if he’d watched many Altman movies. I love about the ones I’ve seen, and especially McC & Mrs. M, that you can watch them ten times and still be stunned by a tiny detail with just explosive significance.
I haven’t seen McCabe. Of all the Altman I’ve seen, Gosford Park is the one that blew me away, re: the detailing you speak of.
Gosford Park is sick. Have you seen Nashville? My wife still gives me a hard time about making her watch it. (Are you sure you want to watch the second tape?) I still think it was worth the time. The sing-song at the end is awesome.
Nashville is another on the “to-watch” queue. I’ve heard it’s one of his best.
Good stuff, bra. I’d like it better if it were paying your bills (and then some), though.
Hey! I just say Leonard Cohen in San Diego. It was a pretty good show. Something interesting though, re: jonathan evison’s point about musical versus lyrical content. We saw the show with a Spanish fellow, who said his dad got him into Cohen without knowing a work of English, and that that is pretty common in Spain.
The music at the show was really good. It was a big band, playing really tightly together, and all talented musicians. They had obviously rehearsed a lot.