For my birthday, Emily got us tickets to the Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova concert in D.C. The two musicians are the stars of Once, a movie I’ve written about here (a great movie, by the way).
Emily and I love the soundtrack for the film and were very excited about seeing them in concert. The duo also released an album called The Swell Season which I think has four or five songs from the movie, with the balance comprised of other material by the duo.
To get right to the point, it was a fantastic show. The songs were every bit as good as they were in the film. I was especially blown away by Glen Hansard’s powerful voice and energetic performances. Marketa Irglova sounded terrific because she has an amazing voice, but she is definitely the shier of the two and perhaps as a result her voice didn’t always leap off stage like Hansard’s.
The group (mostly, though not entirely, Hansard) also shared some funny stories and insights into the music which made the concert a richer experience.
Been listening to this one a lot, pretty much the whole way through.
This novel was published after the Chilean-Mexican author's death, and I'm not even sure if it was entirely finished or not. It is broken up into five parts which, while connected, stand pretty much on there own. I have not yet made it to the grim part about the murders of hundreds of women in Mexico, so I have so far found it enjoyable and even funny despite some dark underpinnings. It's had a ton of critical praise, and I like it much more than my last foray into the violent novel genre: Blood Meridian.
