Fiona Apple Part One

On April 17, Fiona Apple released her fifth studio album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters.  I had planned to continue my research on Apple and publish a blog post about it. But I keep not doing it. Even though I still feel not ready to write the piece, I decided to just sit down and write anyway, feeling that I might be able to come up with something.

I continue my early Sunday morning ritual of biking out into the city to find a copy of the Sunday New York Times.  I am sometimes not successful when we are on the road camping, but it’s really fun to try. Carol decided to subscribe again to The New Yorker, after dropping our subscription 10 or so years ago. I guess we love New York!  Anyway, I started reading a long Profile of Fiona Apple by Emily Nussbaum in the March 23 issue of The New Yorker.  When I realized after half an hour that I was only half way through the piece, which was really going deep, and that I had been fairly distracted while reading, I went back and started over.  I eventually finished the article and went on to listen to all 4 of her previous albums, starting with Tidal in 1996.  I read the lyrics to all her songs on Vulture. 

A few days ago and a month and a half after reading the New Yorker piece, I prepped with a couple tokes of Washington State Indica and finally listened to the new album.  I find that cannabis enhances my appreciation of music and helps me to pay attention to it.  It’s rare for me to smoke pot these days, since a “new rule” for me in 2020 is to drink alcohol and smoke pot together only on Mardi Gras day, all other days I have to choose just one (or very rarely, none).  And lately we have been getting take-out beer from our local micro-breweries and drinking it every day.  But I finally held off on the alcohol and had my solo THC-enhanced dance party with headphones.  Turns out that there is a lot of interest in my dance parties, but unfortunately for those interested, there are no video recordings and no plans to record future sessions.  Now these days one muses about what is to come…group dance parties? Interesting.  Lots of room to get flamboyant (keep your distance!).

But seriously, getting in a room with great speakers or wearing a good set of headphones, making space to move around and dance or sit or lie down as needed, and play the entire record all the way through was for me remarkably entertaining and interesting.  I love taking the time to experience new music that way, and I’m almost always blown away by it. Like TV these days, the new stuff is often sooo good! And I was indeed blown away by this record.

I’m not ready to say much more yet.   However…using this word (“however”) reminds me of 2 things: 1. a friend had a “vanity” car license plate that was simply the word “HOWEVER”, and 2. that same friend sent me a piece a few days ago that he had written, asking for my comments on it, and I haven’t even scheduled time to read it yet!  However… I need more time to write and read, or I’m afraid I won’t be able to write what I want to write, or it’s the coronavirus, or whatever.  Yet I’ve gotten this far so I hope this pushes me to continue the project.  Stay tuned for the next installment, where I’ll share my impressions, thoughts, and inspirations about this music.

In the meantime, here’s the article. Check out the song comments on Vulture, a link is above. Listen to any or all of Fiona’s five studio albums. See her controversial video for Criminal. These days we can’t be with our musicians as they perform but content access is unbelievably rich and accessible on our little screens. 

Lake Ponchartrain, south shore, late April 2020

The dryer gave up the ghost. Cat claw vines post-bloom

Grand canopy of Live Oaks, Northline Street near Metairie Country Club. Member of the Riff Raff (me) in shadow.