Writing for Print and Online Media

UMass Boston || English 307 || Fall 2014 || Prof. Erin Anderson

Tag: music

Titles! Whoa. (…s w e e t…)

Mystic River

I live in Winter Hill, Somerville. That river is right down my drastically steep street. I know how Whitey Bulger used to haunt this town (and that epic article on WBUR really showed it). The remnants of the dark crimes of a gangster time are rooted into this setting. The title is a setting for a murder (and revenge) with a lot of information that is centered around the local culture. The geography of this area is important to the characters and the plotline. But it is a river. When you look at one, you can still only see the surface.

weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3

This album title is vastly different from the albums that surround it. Most of the others are made of two succinct words with a lot of sonic color. (Earlier titles: Fantastic Damage, The Cold Vein.) This is an instrumental remixed beat album. Everything on it is chaotic. The beat themes never last very long, but they run into each other. El-P is a pretty intense emcee, and this beat album is likewise intense. Fiery, even.

Anchorman

This title tells me nothing about Ron Burgundy…except that he is a man. It is an unlikely job position to come up in current conversation, but it’s not saying it’s funny. It doesn’t say anything about his mustache. Or his elocution exercises. It tells us nothing about his intimate affairs or anything about a romance. It definitely does not tell us that he’s a “glass case of emotion”. Ron will tell us that. He’d also tell us to stay classy!

Audio Feature!

Storytelling: Kindness of Strangers

The piece begins with Ira Glass introducing the storyteller, who in turn introduces the story to the listener.

The way this episode uses music to convey parts of the story seems to reinforce certain details and emotions. At the beginning (45:35), we can hear “fairytales come true, it can happen to you…”. Later (46:00), the music cuts in to the narration with the line “you will go to extremes, with impossible schemes…”, which sets up the story.

Most of this work is narrated, but pieces of an interview with Nick Drakides are woven in. All of the interview segments are anecdotal. The first anecdote of the first performance occurs at about 49 minutes. Next, at 54:03, Nick tells the anecdote about the way the police officers acted the first, second, and third week of the show. Finally, at 55:10, Nick says a few words about how he was hugged by a stranger who enjoyed his performance.

I like the use of ambient sounds in this piece as well. They can give the listener a better idea of what is happening around the scene. I like the sound of Nick’s vocals throughout the piece because I can tell that his microphone is connected to a PA speaker. In other words, I can hear that it isn’t a studio recording. Aside from that, at 47:10 the sound of tap dancing on the wooden board accompanies a description of a tap dance.

Finally, I like how at 57:50, after the storyteller finishes his tale, Ira Glass mentions the program’s boss, imitates him, then plays a recorded quote from him, which gives the listener an awareness of the story of the story’s production.

Friday Night Jazz

Joel and Dave 09-19-14 edit1

The man behind the bar said this place belonged to the public.

Joel and Dave 09-19-14 edit1

Drums…Sax….People. Loud. Keyboard. Drinks. Drums.
People. Voices. Beer. Trumpet. Bass. Bass. Guitar…..Jazz.

Joel and Dave 09-19-14 edit1

“Man, this is great.”

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