“Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice?”
Thus begins the introvert’s manifesto, a piece by Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic titled “Caring for Your Introvert.” Published in March 2003, the short essay has triggered an unexpectedly enthusiastic response. Four and a half years later, it still draws more traffic than any other page in the archives of the magazine. Rauch explains that introverts are not shy or anti-social, but are exhausted by other people. The piece perfectly describes me, but it doesn’t give many specific pointers for how to deal with an introvert. Here are some things that have been on my mind that I think other introverts will agree with.
DOs and DON’Ts
DON’T talk to me before I’ve had my coffee. Caffeine is an introvert’s best friend. I have just as much energy as the next guy, but talking requires a ton.
DO say hello. Just don’t say anything else. As much as I may love you, I wasn’t planning on seeing you on the street. If I had something to say to you besides hello, I would’ve scheduled a lunch or something.
DON’T talk to me if I don’t know you. Trust me, if you like awkward, empty conversations with strangers, we have nothing in common.
DO call me. I have some of my best conversations on the phone. I can spend hours on the phone talking about something I wouldn’t have spent one minute on in person. Phone conversations are premeditated, one on one, and in a controlled environment. And they’re easy to end.
DON’T make conversation in a line of any sort. Talking in lines should be illegal. There’s no clearer example of a situation where I set out to do something that did not include having a conversation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to change my plans for lunch after seeing someone I know in line. I wish it were socially acceptable to wear a huge cardboard box while waiting in line. If you see me, pretend I am.
DO make conversation over a meal. Meals are another high point for introverts. Personally, I think it’s because both parties are seated. Talking is an activity for me, not something that goes on in the background. Eating tends to be automatic enough that I can give the conversation my full attention.
DON’T tell me I don’t go out enough. You don’t stay in enough. My room is my sanctuary. I’d love to spend time with you here. I have no interest in moving to a location with people I don’t know, where I’ll have to stand up, where I’ll have to yell to be heard, where no one has any interest in talking about anything anyone really cares about, and where it’s probably too warm.
DO talk to me about yourself. Whereas it completely drains me to make small talk, big talk is energizing and fun. It doesn’t have to be philosophical or important, just interesting and personal. I could write a whole guide on this one tip. Here’s a short summary: don’t talk to me about the weather, friends in common, the news, our professors, or our homework assignments. Do tell me stories about yourself, tell me what you did today, tell me what annoys you, tell me what you’ve been thinking about. Introverts are great listeners if what we’re listening to has substance. If I’m talking to you, I want to know you and I want you to know me.
DON’T call me “serious.” For some reason, it’s taboo to say anything thoughtful in a group setting. I can’t tell you how many times someone has responded to me with something like “Wow Danny, you’ve really thought that through,” and then chuckled, as if I were some sort of novelty. Of course I’ve thought it through, or I wouldn’t have said it.
DO embrace silence. If there’s nothing worth talking about, everyone’s time is better spent thinking. Most silences aren’t awkward, unless you’re just an awkward person.
DON’T think that I like being alone. I need to be alone after being in a group for a while, to recharge. But I love being around people most of the time, even if we’re not engaging in anything. There’s a great line from Waiting for Godot: “Don’t talk to me. Don’t speak to me. Stay with me.”
After Rauch’s essay was published, there was a huge response (follow up interview and email compilation). One email talked about an introvert anthem: “Every Word You Say,” by Jesse Winchester. The introverted emailer wrote that she danced with her extroverted husband at their wedding to Jerry Garcia’s cover of the song. The opening lyrics are great: “I’m no good company, I guess that’s true/I like my silence, like I love you/But if you feel like talking, talk away/I’m gonna hang on every word you say.” It turned out to be pretty hard to find, but I managed to turn up both versions. Here they are, in a Canals exclusive.
I hear so much new music every day that I’ve developed a pretty discerning ear. There are times I might be too hasty in my judgment of a new group and miss out on their music at first. Rarely does a song so catch my attention that I know for sure the artist will soon be one of my favorites. With the 1900s’ debut album Cold and Kind, I was hooked from the first track. “No Delay” is one of the best album openers I’ve come across this year. At only 1:50 long, it combines unconventional time signatures with deep harmonies and a warm sound. It’s the perfect introduction to an album: it gives you an idea of the risks the band is willing to take, and leaves you needing more. It’s the type of track that might usually be found at the end of an album, but its placement at the front gives the album a personal and inviting feel.
“Georgia,” the second track, has a completely different vibe but doesn’t disappoint. It has a simpler and catchier melody, and the singer sounds different. It reminds me of Tea Leaf Green - poppy but with a conscious, the type of music that feels like it could break out at any moment. The next track “When I Say Go” changes direction again. Featuring a female singer, it sounds a little like Carole King singing Feist. The 1990s continue to mix things up with tracks like “When We Lay Down,” an instrumental shuffle, and “Aculiplantar Dude,” a psychadelic, bittersweet elegy to a friend who died of a drug overdose.
Although the band experiments with diverse sounds on Cold and Kind, the album is cohesive and each song benefits from the songs around it. It’s a musically personal album, and you get the feeling that the band members are all utilized to their full potentials. Overall the album reminds me of the Bowerbirds. Both groups feature male and female singers who sound great together in harmony, and songs with unique melodies and strong arrangements. I highly recommend keeping up with the group and giving the album a listen.
While native Philly outfit Brown Recluse Sings might not be quite as deadly as its namesake, your skin might just melt a bit when you hear their debut EP, Black Sunday. Released in 2006 on Tequila Sunrise Records, this collection of dream-inducing psychedelic pop songs sounds absolutely nothing like Cyprus Hill’s 1993 album of the same name. But that’s beside the point. Recalling a combination of the unobtrusively pleasant sounds of Belle and Sebastian and the adventurous – almost nightmarish – arrangements of Os Mutantes (especially on “Margo Left in Bed”), Brown Recluse Sings proves to have the ability to stretch into a world of sound beyond conventional indie-pop. As I was checking out their blog for info on the band I found another great selling point. They were recently on tour in my hometown of Columbus Ohio, riding around in a vegetable oil powered vehicle. I guess they’re not trying to live up to the deadliness of their name. Kudos! We hope to see the sextet at the Khyber on October 27th, and you should too.
The life history of a parasite seems simple enough: get inside host, reproduce, get inside new host, repeat. Sometimes simple strategies are effective. The virus for the common cold causes its host to cough and project new viruses into the environment. Other strategies add a level of complexity with an intermediary host. The beef tapeworm begins in a cow, but spends its reproductive life in a mammal that has eaten infected beef. Others go a step further and employ mind control. There are examples of mind-controlling parasites from all over the animal kingdom, with effects ranging from cat-loving rats to suicidal grasshoppers. It may seem counterintuitive that a parasite should cause the death of its host, but as Richard Dawkins pointed out, “evolution is smarter than you are.”
Earworms are an interesting specimen. They come in infinite forms with infinitely diverse strategies. George Costanza had “Master of the House” from Les Miserables. In Curb Your Enthusiasm, the nanny from hell is driven to attempted murder by the theme song from Looney Tunes. And anyone without Tivo has been tempted to either smash their TVs against the wall or give homeopathic medicine a try after being subjected to the HeadOn commercial.
I get songs stuck in my head from time to time, but the other day I had a strange case. Benjy was playing “Fat Man In The Bathtub” by Little Feat, preparing for his 600 lb. miracle post. All of a sudden, it triggered a memory of a different song I’d heard recently. I kept experiencing fleeting flashes of the melody line, but they disappeared too quickly for me to identify it. I spent the next hour or so going through my recently played tracks, searching for the mystery song. I didn’t even remember if I’d liked it, but my brain was at the mercy of the earworm. In a moment of clarity, I realized just how innovative this meme was. It had implanted itself in my psyche days before, and lay in wait until just the right moment. Somehow “Fat Man In The Bathtub” was its call to action, and I was fading fast.
Well, I’m still with you today, so you know the story has a happy ending. After working up quite a sweat, I remembered the song: “I’ll Take A Melody” by the Jerry Garcia Band. I had a live version from The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 1: Legion of Mary. The infectious lick first shows up at the 1:12 mark, and then about every 15 seconds from then on. I listened to the 11 minute song three times and learned it on guitar, then decided to do some research on its origins. Turns out it was written by Allen Toussaint and first recorded in 1974 by a Scottish R&B singer named Frankie Miller on his album High Life. I ordered it from Amazon and was pleased to see that besides having a goofy, Austin Powers-esque cover, the entire album was produced and arranged by Toussaint. With Toussaint at the helm, Miller’s band put a completely different spin on the song than Jerry Garcia. Miller’s version features more parts and a much faster tempo. The doo doo doo doo doo doo doo riff sounds muted, and is completely overshadowed by the vocal harmonies and piano solos. It makes me think that maybe Garcia had a case of earworm much like my own, but he was able to take it one step farther, strengthening and perpetuating the melody.
I guess you could say that Jerry Garcia was the song’s intermediate host, and it was able to reproduce inside me after the Little Feat trigger. Talk about evolution being smart - this earworm had to think 2 generations ahead and required an eerily specific environmental input for its life cycle to complete. When all was said and done, I’d accumulated two studio takes by Jerry Garcia, a bizarre reggae version from John Holt that omits the earworm completely, and the original work. Here they are, but I’m warning you to listen at your own risk. Let me know if you hear anything in the Little Feat track that makes you think of “I’ll Take A Melody.”
I was thinking about how to make a post about the New Pornographers seem fresh. Their last album came out a month ago, and it’s hardly as if they are an unknown band waiting for intrepid bloggers to discover them. But they are a great group, and their newest album Challengers is their best effort yet. So in an attempt to make a post about them interesting, I will write about another group of new pornographers— Facebook users.
I signed up for Facebook with some trepidation. I didn’t need Dateline specials to tell me Myspace was a pervert haven, so I avoided it. But Facebook offered a certain amount of respectability. I convinced myself it was like putting my name in the phonebook: an easy way to facilitate communication. I updated my profile dutifully with new snide observations once a month, and returned wall posts.
This summer, a bit bored, I decided to see what people at my old high school were doing. After reading the incoherent ramblings of peers rebelliously relating their antics of drinking and awkward sexual encounters, acts that would shock 17th century puritans, I emerged from my room with a realization. Here, I decided, was the most hardcore pornography online. People exposing their privacy with no dignity, amplifying anything that will get attention and nothing that shows sincerity
People should not be allowed to control their own image. It leads to inane competitions of who can show themselves to be more interesting than others. And just like the baffling world of on-line skin, all you get is increasingly bizarre attempts to be more interesting than the other guy. Even attempts at honesty in such mediums are contorted. It’s Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle— observation distorts the observed.
My message: Go out, make real friends. I guess look at less porn. And listen to the New Pornographers new album. They’re on tour now, and I am looking forward to seeing them in Philadelphia on October 26. Their music has an honesty that makes me think recording it was a second thought to making it. Entirely unlike, of course, the thought process of the collective hive on Facebook.
Quick administrative note: I forgot to update our feed URL when we moved from Blogspot, so if you’ve signed up for the feed within the last month or so we’d really appreciate it if you’d resubscribe. We use a FeedBurner feed, which is great for us because we can keep track of our readers, and great for you because it’s in a better format and has more options. Just click the feed icon in the right corner of the URL or in the sidebar to subscribe to the FeedBurner feed. Thanks.
The Canals kicked off their concert season tonight with Jose Gonzalez at the World Cafe Live. It was a good, if slightly bizarre, performance.
James Blackshaw warmed up the crowd with some ambient, instrumental 12-string guitar tunes. The highlight of the act was his introduction, where he revealed his English accent. The guitar was nice to listen to over dinner, but Benjy noted that when the only dancing your music elicits is a quick wince or shoulder jerk here and there, you’re probably not cut out to be a main act.
After a 15 or so minute break, Jose walked on stage. Here’s where it started to get weird. There was a group of guys standing behind us who had acted pretty normal up to this point. They were well-dressed, in their early twenties. Stereotypical “bros” - you could tell they were the frat-boy type, but they seemed harmless enough. Suddenly they started screaming and barking at Jose. It was so over the top that we were sure they were making fun of him. They just couldn’t contain themselves. They started giggling and saying things like “THAT’S JOSE. RIGHT THERE. ON THE STAGE. RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. HOOOOLY SHIT.” One of them commented that he was “all business,” but it seemed like he was just in a bit of shock about his raucous reception.
As the performance went on, the bros got more and more awkward. Whenever a song ended, they would whoop and holler and scream out song names. Then Jose would start playing, and everyone would get completely silent and we could hear them whispering the lyrics under their breaths. Just a very weird scene. It was a whole subculture we had no idea existed, like DMB fans who took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere totally un-fratty.
Jose was good, though. His music doesn’t exactly translate into a standing-room-only performance, but he’s still a great musician. Alex had seen him on Letterman a few nights ago, and he said that Gonzalez’s guitar playing was much more impressive in person. By the end of the show I was a little hungry for a melody or two, since most of his songs consist of a cool but repetitive guitar riff with some mumbled lyrics behind it. I realized that I enjoy Gonzalez the most on a brisk, summer morning, when I don’t have to give him my full attention. The highlight of the show was Teardrop, which he closed the set with. I recognized it from Newton Faulkner’s cover, and never realized that he was covering Massive Attack (even though the original is the theme song from House). If there were any other bloggers in the audience, they’re probably writing about the idiot who kept going on about Newton Faulkner during Teardrop for some reason. Overall it was a good first concert of the schoolyear, but it also got me pretty excited for a change of scene this Sunday when Voxtrot and the 1990s come to the basement of First Unitarian Church.
By now everyone has heard (and posted) about Radiohead’s revolutionary sales model for their new album, In Rainbows, which is set to be released on October 10. I made a post back in April about a new market-priced music store called Amie Street, which I declared marked the beginning of the end of the RIAA. That may have been a little optimistic, but Radiohead’s decision to let the consumer choose its price for digital downloads just might end up sparking a revolution in the music industry. Here are some quotes I pulled from two articles (in the New York Times and Time), the first of which was written before Radiohead’s announcement, about the future of the industry. Leave a comment and let us know where you think it’s headed.
“This feels like yet another death knell,” emailed an A&R executive at a major European label. “If the best band in the world doesn’t want a part of us, I’m not sure what’s left for this business.”
“Radiohead is the best band in the world; if you can pay whatever you want for music by the best band in the world, why would you pay $13 dollars or $.99 cents for music by somebody less talented? Once you open that door and start giving music away legally, I’m not sure there’s any going back.”
“A generation of kids got used to the idea that music was free, and given the infinite amount of freely — if illegally — available music out there, it was hard to argue with the facts on the ground. Music seemed free, so it was free. It didn’t help that the industry had been gouging consumers for years with high CD prices; prices rose even as the cost of producing CDs plummeted. Digital downloads should have made it possible to slash prices for recorded music, but the majors have done their best to keep prices at around a dollar a track — an artificially high price point that makes piracy more attractive than it should be.” -Peter Rojas, founder of Engadget and co-founder of RCRD LBL, a free, online-only music label launched by Downtown Records.
“For as long as the woes of MP3s, file sharing and CD burning have existed, solutions to them have existed as well, although their attractiveness and cost of implementation may have changed. These solutions include combining advertising with free consumption, subscription services, and transactional unit-based sales of secure formats. Given the fact that the public has gotten used to sharing music for free, getting people to abandon this notion will be extremely difficult.
Regardless of what created this mess, if we accept that free music has become the model for consumption, then we have little choice but to invest in advertising-supported free services that will make this type of consumption profitable. This step will require patience, leadership and a long-term view. After formulating a way to recapture the revenue it’s losing, the industry can then address the development of a new, secure file format that offers audio, meta-data, and other digital features superior to those of MP3s. This should be an easy task, and will give the industry access to both ad-supported free “iPod quality” MP3s, and higher-quality digital products that can be sold directly.” -Scott Gottlieb, President of TVT Records
“Meanwhile, as record sales decline, the concert business is booming. In July, Prince gave away his album Planet Earth for free in the U.K. through the downmarket Mail on Sunday newspaper. At first he was ridiculed. Then he announced 21 consecutive London concert dates — and sold out every one of them.”
mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for evaluation only. If you would like me to remove any mp3s, please email me directly: thecanals @ gmail.com
