Getting Stoned With Savages by J. Maarten Troost

Ever dreamed of turning your back on your life, your job, traffic, and all the stress that comes with it and moving to a small remote island in the South Pacific?

J. Maarten Troost and his wife did just that. Originally the plan was to quit his job, and for his wife to transfer to her company's offices in Fiji. Fortunately or unfortunately-- depending how you look at it-- life had a way of changing those plans. A coup in Fiji and Troost getting laid off from his job expedited the move and changed its location... And before they knew it Troost and wife, Sylvia, were on their way to Vanuatu. A pregnancy and a doctor's urging to, if at all possible, NOT have their child in Vanuatu in turn expedited their eventual move to Fiji.

As far as travel memoirs go, this is one of the better I've read (not that I've read a lot of them). The snippets of humor and general lightheartedness make this book an easy and, at just over 200 pages, rather swift read.

Troost's writing style comes across as what one might expect if they were to bump into him at their local pub. His portrayal of South Pacific island life isn't entirely glamorous. He makes a good point of including the good, the bad, and the ugliness of his experiences with the natives, the weather, and the local wildlife.

In short, it's a thoroughly enjoyable, albeit short, read that keeps this reader hoping that there is more to come from this author.

Related Links
Getting Stoned With Savages (Amazon.com link)
The Sex Lives of Cannibals (Troost's first book, Amazon.com link)
J. Maarten Troost (Rolf Potts' Vagabonding Interview)
The Sex Lives of Cannibals (Review on blogcritics.org)

Peter Cetera - One More Story (1988)

After 18 consecutive years on the road with Chicago and the success of his Solitude/Solitaire album, Peter took some time off to spend time with his wife and young daughter and to produce former Abba vocalist, Agnetha Faltskog's I Stand Alone album (incidentally he also contributed his vocals on the duet I Wasn't the One Who Said Goodbye and co-wrote the title track)

His batteries re-charged, he re-entered the studio for what is possibly Peter's best, and if not best, certainly his most polished solo effort. Trading in the over-synthesized power-pop production of Michael Omartian on his sophomore Solitude/Solitaire Peter switched gears and changed directions for One More Story, this time teaming with Patrick Leonard who was still riding the success of Madonna's Like a Prayer album. Leonard even paid Peter the courtesy of bringing Madonna along for the ride (she went by the pseudonym of "Lulu Smith" for her very noticeable background vocal contributions on Cetera's Scheherezade).

Opening with the uptempo and upbeat Best of Times, which shows hints of Omartian's stylings from the previous album the album then shifts to One Good Woman which had been considered for use in the Tom Hanks hit movie, Big Hints of the Big influence are still evident in the opening lyrics: (although it was pulled before the film was released)

You can read me like a book
Just like a fortune-teller
Everybody needs a fortune-teller
Telling you the very truth

While One Good Woman was released as a single, it was unable to match the success of Glory of Love from Solitude/Solitaire, which had been a huge hit for Cetera. Who knows if the song might have been more successful had it actually been used in Big?

One of the other notable guest contributions is the beautiful and haunting guitar work by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on You Never Listen to Me. But on the whole it's not Madonna's vocal contributions nor is it Gilmour's stirring guitar work; One More Story benefits the most from Patrick Leonard's production and keyboards.

Peter also continued his practice of writing/dedicating at least one track per album to one or the other of his daughters. On Solitude/Solitaire it was Daddy's Girl (which was featured quite prominently in the 1987 hit film Three Men and a Baby) this time around it was the stark and beautiful One More Story which featured only Cetera's vocals and Pat Leonard's keyboard the end result is possibly one of the most beautiful tracks Peter has ever recorded.

Other notable tracks include Save Me (which was the theme song for the first season of Baywatch), Body Language (There In the Dark), and Heaven Help This Lonely Man. Truth be told though, there's not a clunker on this album. While it doesn't have the hits that its predecessor had, it's far more consistent and the quality of both the music and lyrics on this gem surpass those on Cetera's previous effort.

Related Links
One Good Woman video


Peter Cetera artist overview
Peter Cetera s/t debut (1981)
Chicago Transit Authority (1969)
Chicago Tranist Authority (1969)
Chicago II (1970)
Chicago XI (1977)
Chicago Hot Streets (1978)
Chicago What You're Missing (1982)
Chicago Live at Park West (1982)

Dream Theater - Images and Words (1992)

After taking a few years to re-group, change labels, and lead singers Dream Theater burst forth with what was the sophomore surge of all sophomore surges.

Their 1989 debut, When Dream and Day Unite, went largely unnoticed despite its superlative musicianship and finely crafted songs. Images and Words would not suffer the same fate.

Gone was Charlie Domenici, in his place was the operatically trained James LaBrie. And as good as the material on When Dream and Day Unite had been, it was and is imminently forgettable when compared to the calibre of the material on this stellar release.

The album opens with a bang on Pull Me Under, the song that put Dream Theater on the map and into heavy rotation on MTV's Headbanger's Ball with its music video. Pull Me Under doesn't just catch the listener's interest... it grabs the listener by the proverbial balls and doesn't let go for over eight minutes on a fantastic musical ride. To this day this song is a fan favorite at Dream Theater's live shows .

Another Day is a beautiful song written by John Petrucci for his father... Petrucci would mourn his father on 1997's Falling Into Infinity album with the song Take Away My Pain. Another Day bears a bit more optimism than the mournful Take Away My Pain but at the same time it doesn't have quite the emotional punch of the follow-up track.

While there are no weak tracks on this album, the best 1-2 punch are tracks four and five, Surrounded and Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper. Surrounded is probably the most accessible song on the album, had it been released as a single it would have had serious hit potential-- it's a testament to keyboardist Kevin Moore's lyrical talents. Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper is another musical journey, much like Pull Me Under it grabs hold of the listener from the start and doesn't let go until the song ends over nine and a half minutes later. The big difference being that it grabs hold even tighter than the album's opener.

Of the remaining tracks, Under a Glass Moon and Learning to Live are great uptempo tracks of the same mold as Take the Time, whereas Wait For Sleep is lyrically one of Dream Theater's best songs-- again penned by the talented Kevin Moore. After Moore's departure the band replaced his keyboard parts with an acoustic guitar when playing the song live. Either way the song is absolutely beautiful and shows a softer side of this emminently talented band.

While this isn't my favorite of Dream Theater's albums, it's status as a "classic" in a genre they helped create, progressive metal, can't be denied. Messrs. Portnoy (drums), Petrucci (guitar), Myung (bass), Moore (keyboards), and LaBrie (vocals) are all truly masters of their craft, and it is rarely more evident than it was on this sophomore release.

Related Links
Pull Me Under (live performance)

Pull Me Under (music video)

Metropolis Pt. 1 (live performance)

Surrounded (live in Tokyo)

Wait For Sleep (live performance)

Chroma Key - Dead Air For Radios (Review Revue)
Dream Theater - Awake (Review Revue)
Dream Theater - Home (Review Revue)
Dream Theater - Live in Cleveland 9/3/02 (Review Revue)
Dream Theater - Octavarium (Review Revue)
OSI - Free (Review Revue)

Chroma Key - Dead Air For Radios (1999)

In 1994, keyboardist Kevin Moore left, Dream Theater, a band he had been with since their inception in the mid eighties to take his music in a rather different direction. In Moore's departure, Dream Theater lost their strongest lyricist. His contributions to Dream Theater included Pull Me Under, Surrounded, and Wait For Sleep off their break-out Images & Words album and 6:00, Lie, and the beautiful and dark Space-Dye Vest which, in hindsight was Moore's final farewell to his band and provided a glimpse at the direction he ended up taking his music following his departure.

If one is expecting the heavy metallic crunch of Dream Theater, they'll be sorely disappointed as the direction Moore took was considerably different than the direction Dream Theater has gone since his departure.

In the wake of Moore's departure he's released 3 Chroma Key albums, collaborated with Fates Warning as a guest keyboardist, and released 2 OSI albums with guitarist Jim Matheos of Fates Warning and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater.

Each of the Chroma Key albums offers something different, but his debut, Dead Air for Radios, is easily the most accessible. One can hear the influences of Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, and even Pink Floyd on many of the tracks of this beautifully ambient CD. Moore seamlessly fuses elements of seventies prog-rock with eighties synth-pop creating a sound that is distinctly his.

While Moore's voice is unremarkable, it's perfect for this style of music which benefits greatly from his understated vocal delivery. The one constant in the songs on this album is that each track isn't so much a song as it is an aural painting and Moore isn't so much a musician as a painter who uses your eardrums as his canvas. His music isn't mere music, it's entire moods. On his own terms, Moore is able to inject a certain emotional ambience that was never fully realized during his tenure in Dream Theater.

The only link one might hear to Moore's work with Dream Theater are his clever lyrics which are just as sharp now as they were then:

from America the Video:
"lost my head in my hotel room when the ground shook
had to choose between the bible and the phone book"

from Colorblind:"stopped in the shade of a road sign
when the sun rose like a bomb
tried to read the simple writing
but the letters came out wrong
it's all white lines to me
but things are getting clearer
i can almost read the writing in the mirror"

from S.O.S.:
"cry blackbird cry over the waves i hear you
coalcovered clouds white snow there they go
ice on your wings songless he sings i hear you
nowhere is home go alone there's a phone"

from On the Page:
"maybe i should write it first
and do the living later
'cause life is so much cleaner on the page"

The only weak spot on the album is the apocalyptic final track, Hell Mary, which sounds out of place in the context of the album as a whole. If you're bored of the same old same old, and looking for something new or different Dead Air for Radios is an excellent place to start.

Related Links
Chroma Key website (you can listen to a stream of the album in its entirety here)
Dead Air for Radios (All Music Guide Review)
O.S.I. Free (Review Revue)

Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart

Once in awhile a cleverly written book with an unusual protagonist comes to my attention. On the recommendation of a friend, I gave this delightfully peculiar tome a chance. Gary Shteyngart did not disappoint.

Misha Vainberg is a spoiled overweight Russian heir to a fortune his father accumulated in post-Soviet Russia. Misha wants to believe that the world is generally good as are the people he encounters. Unfortunately, in his encounters he learns that the world and its people are far from scrupulous and there was and is more to his father than he'd realized.

After a brief stint in the United States attending college at the fictituous midwestern "Accidental College" (a not so subtle jab at many private midwestern liberal arts colleges such as Albion, Adrian, Alma, and Antioch) and living briefly in Manhattan Misha reluctantly returns to Russia.

Due to his father's shady dealings, an Oklahoman with the ironic name of Roger Daltrey, ends up dead. And thus poor Misha Vainberg is denied re-entry into the United States and a reunion with his girlfriend, Rouenna Sales, from the Bronx.

The book is written as an appeal to INS, or perhaps a love letter to America where Misha so desperately desires to return to. In Misha's struggle to secure a false Belgian passport in the fictitious former Soviet Republic Absurdistan he encounters a bevy of fun and unusual characters. The book is an exceptional satire of the American dream as soon through the foreign eyes of burgeoning democracies, the defense industry, and even takes a few not so subtle jabs at Haliburton.

The one flaw of this otherwise enjoyable tale is the intellectual condescension that seeps through in Shteyngart's writing. Misha's attraction to Rouenna is largely due to their multicultural pairing. He seems to have a hero complex, like he's rescuing a poor girl from the Bronx. Maybe he is doing just that, but there's still that hint of condescension that he's better or knows better what's best for her. The poor are portrayed as an object of pity, whether or not they're deserving of that pity is beside the point. Granted, this is a minor flaw, that only detracts slightly from Shteyngart's enjoyable writing style.

Related Links
Absurdistan on Amazon.com
An Interview with Gary Shteyngart (Del Sol Literary Dialogues)
Absurdistan NY Times review