The band's lives and personalities are certainly strange and maybe deprived of certain social aspects. After the release of their album, the band members constantly check record stores for any sales, and if any copies have been sold, they had to find out who bought them. Penguin fires questions about the customers: "Were they male or female? How old? What race? Were they short or tall? How were they dressed? What color were their eyes? How did they pay?" (62). It seems that Molimo m'Atet may not be the most successful music group and want to try to appeal to more audiences. Also, we can't forget the balloons. While the band is doing a gig at a party, the balloons begin to appear from where the dancers' fists and bear these unusual words: "He straddles me, down on all fours, his head between my legs, my head between his. I press my nose against the crack of his ass, put my mouth around the sack his balls hang in"; and for males, "my mouth to the matted hair of her cunt" (69). These words are strangely explicit and descriptive, but it's very hard to understand why they appear and what they truly mean.
~ Outside Reading #3
Mackey, Nathaniel. Bass Cathedral. Grand Rapids: New Directions Corporation, 2008.
4 comments:
I think the description of the members of the band wanting to find out who bought their album is very interesting. It's possible that the members of the band are just interested to see who their music appeals to, but it seems more likely that they are doing this because they crave acceptance. If they can just get the right number or type of people to buy their album, maybe the band members will feel like they are worth more or are better.
I completely understand the band members. They're trying to reach out to and speak to a certain group of people, rather than trying to be famous. They have a message that they're trying to share. They're artists and they want their art to be appreciated by the right people, not just enjoyed by random people.
I think N. must have a very close connection with his bandmates if he writes a libretto about them and their stories. I think it is comical, yet very realistic, how the band members check to see if any of their records have been sold. If you are a full-time musician and rely on it to bring in money, selling albums is extremely important. I also think this is partially why they continue of ask cashiers who bought their album. The wider the audience, the more copies sold, the more money made. Finally, I cannot understand the balloons. The sayings on them are fairly awkward and I have no clue why they would appear on balloons. Maybe this will be disclosed in the rest of the book.
Well, that was exceedingly explicit. Wow.
I can see why the band is so interested in who is buying their records. They don't know who listens to their music, so they want to find out. If they can learn who listens to them, they can target those people more closely.
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