Closing chords

N. recounts an interview that he has about life and the cartoon balloons. The interviewer asks very specific and personal questions, but N. remains very calm and intelligent throughout the whole process: "Q: Does it [Djband] fear that the balloons might overshadow the music or even that they already have?...A: Of course, I'm tempted to say, but Djband, as with so much else, is of more than one mind when it comes to the balloons" (148). It seems that the press is making a big deal out of Molimo m'Atet's business and the strange things that follow behind the band. In another letter to Angel of Dust, N. is expressing his self-revelation about the balloon's image, which Dredj roughly sketched before; now, N. wonders if someone could photograph the balloons. N. questions, "What if, soul inscribed balloons' body, spirit to the inscribed balloon's letter, the sketch were a pneumatic outline shadowing autoinscriptive hush?" (163). The balloons actually have a very googly appearance, as shown before, but N. cannot explain why that is.

To close the novel, N. inserts another after-the-fact lecture/libretto (see #3), except this one is titled "Unit Structure (Beach Variance)" (the previous one is called "Orphic Shore ('Nansic Breach)"). He starts writing with "'Mistakes have been made and more mistakes will be made.' So declared the Hotel Didgeridoo Resurrection Project's Commission of Inquiry" (169). The Commission's chair, Bl'under, and a leading critic, Djbot, debate about the maintainibility about the hotel, which doesn't seem to be doing very well. Their argument also encompasses music and literature as well. N. states, "So went Bl'under and Djbot's thought war, raging as evidently it always would, the Kingdom's two most formidable houngans locked in head-to-head combat" (180). It seems that in the end, Djbot exploding in frustration and shoveling the ground until he reaches "a truly new world...far away, far over" (183). Wherever he goes, I'm sure it will be wonderful. And with that, the novel is over.

~ Outside Reading #6

Mackey, Nathaniel. Bass Cathedral. Grand Rapids: New Directions Corporation, 2008.

Love's song

We see the return of Melanie (see #2) by a note that she mails to Lambert. She writes with a peaceful tone, though very specifically: "we went into a back room...we closed the door behind us...spent what seemed a good hour or so just kissing" (112). Melanie almost seems like a very manipulative woman, and although Lambert was not thoroughly swayed by the letter, he did write a new song, entitled "Book of Opening the Mouth", after receiving the note and having trouble with his new mouthpiece. During the rehearsal, more balloons appear, which catches everyone by surprise, especially Lambert. The band continues, and N. narrates about how Lambert's solo "had Melanie written all over it, beautifully, bewitchingly so" (117). N. also says how Lambert's new piece is not about the balloons, but this "book", which reveals to him the aspects of his life needed to revive his inner self. Yes, a very deep song, indeed.

The balloons become much more apparent, appearing many more times, both in real life or in someone's mind. As mentioned before, they rise from Lambert's new piece, "Book of Opening the Mouth", bearing the lyrics "I am he of the twice-touched eye, mouth, hand, my mouth is that of a newborn calf...Lips made, mouth slit, statuesque" (114). The balloons had essentially stolen the words from Lambert's mouth, and he's exasperated. Another balloon comes to N. in his dream, sneaking up on him. This one can be considered a unique example of the sort: "[it] crooned ever so seductively, 'Boo'... caressing the back of my ear like a lover's breath or a slowly blown kiss" (129). What kind of weird object would do such an action? There is definitely a huge unsolved mystery behind these balloons, and we have yet to discover why and what purpose, if any, they have in N. and his friends' lives.

~ Outside Reading #5

Mackey, Nathaniel. Bass Cathedral. Grand Rapids: New Directions Corporation, 2008.

New dynamics

As you may recall, N. wrote a new piece called an "after-the-fact lecture/libretto" (see #3). Not only are there stories about his bandmates, he also seems to have a fictional tale because of a few new names. One in particular is Dredj, who, actually, now writes some letters of his own to Angel of Dust. Dredj states, "The book spun my head with its implication of romance's nearness to but ultimate default on revolution" (85). Like N., Dredj seems to also possess an artistic and dramatic side of his personality. Next, in one of N.'s letters, he discusses Dredj by saying, "Please forgive "House of Dredj Revisited...Dredj's house of beauty" (109). Like many other characters, there are no definitive answers to who Dredj is or what he's doing. One possible inference is that Dredj is actually just an alter ego for N.; they both are very similar in character and address Angel of Dust the same way. Dredj may have a much larger role later in the story.

In regards to the central mysteries of Bass Cathedral, the strange cartoon balloons continue to appear spontaneously; however, not only are the balloons visible to N. and his bandmates, anybody can also see them, if they have Molimo m'Atet's album. Customers report, "balloons rise from the records surface, aalbeit there continues to be no pattern" (93). It almost sounds like these balloons are some kind of a threat to the band, for they constantly materialize from their discs. Another weird occurrence is the presence of the cowrie shells. Based on N.'s explanations, it seems that the shells sharply attack his body; he describes this strange and disturbing image: "unshattered, studding my forehead, visibly protruding...the usual feeling of impactedness was there" (86). N. also implicitly states that Dredj, whether him be someone different or N. himself, is also attacked by the cowrie shells. These odd things keep happening, but unfortunately, no one can explain why.

~ Outside Reading #4

Mackey, Nathaniel. Bass Cathedral. Grand Rapids: New Directions Corporation, 2008.

Descriptively lyrical

With one of his letters to Angel of Dust, N. encloses something he calls an "after-the-fact lecture/libretto". A libretto is the text of an operatic work, and N. states why he wrote it: "I feel a need...to move in a somewhat new direction...to literalize operatic inflation via the presence onstage of what I call puppets" (41). N.'s lyrical tale is quite fascinating, for it includes himself and his bandmates in a seemingly true story. He dives deep into many character's most inner thoughts and stories. At the end, N. writes, "The alcove he occupies turns to sand, wet sculpted sand wiped away by the tide on Orphic Shore. The soprano fades as the alcove dissolves into the sea, revenant shelter gone the way of all shelter" (52). As evident through these passages, N. seems to have a very distinct way of expressing a story, not just this one, but the whole novel, which solely unfolds through his letters.

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.

Music and dreams

The main impression that I am getting from Bass Cathedral is that N. has a lot of deep thoughts and always recounts the smallest details of his life, especially the balloons and music. He also may feel the need to communicate with and look up to someone, namely Angel of Dust. The cartoon-strip balloons, which have actually been in the character's lives for a very long time, seem to have a somewhat large effect on N.: "The balloon's rise rode my sunken heart...breath held on high buoyed me up, made my recourse to problematic romance pan out" (26). The balloons N. refers to here appeared with a choir, which proves that they have some unknown association with music. Also, N. seems to have very random thoughts, particularly about music: "I heard exactly the trumpet sound I want. It was an in-between place that I heard it, half here, half gone" (27). N. probably has a very special way of expressing himself and revealing emotions through music.

After attending music shop, N. and Lambert eat wontons at Yang Chow (yes, Chinatown!) and have an unexpected surprise: a woman slides in to the booth next to Lambert, which, of course, takes both of them by surprise. The stranger turns out to be Melanie, who says she's just an old friend of Lambert's from college, but her actions tell much more: "A simple peck whose gallantry and restraint made it almost lewd, it too suggested bedspreads and blankets tossed aside" (34). Interestingly, this brings up one of the most important topics of novels: love. Passion and affection for another always intervene in any situation. After opening up, Lambert discusses his involvement with Melanie: "the certain something...I love but grow weary of but can't help, even having grown weary, going back to again and again" (36). This seems to be one of those I-like-you-but-I-don't-like-you relationships, and it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Though it may seem irrelevant to a tale about music, love will come into play and influence the telling of the story.

~ Outside Reading #2

Mackey, Nathaniel. Bass Cathedral. Grand Rapids: New Directions Corporation, 2008.

Resonance of mystery

Bass Cathedral unfolds solely through letters written by N., who is a part of a jazz band named Molimo m'Atet, which also includes Aunt Nancy, Drennette, Djamilaa, Penguin, and Lambert. They are now in the process of releasing their new album entitled Orphic Bend. But during a test pressing of the music, the band members see an extremely strange image: speech balloons appear at the moment Aunt Nancy's begins her bass solo, forming from the exact points where she plucks the string. The balloons enclose vague and mysterious phrases: "I dreamt you were gone...flew in the face of post-expectant aplomb...It was all only a dead expanse...bore the lament I laid your leaving to rest with" (3,4). One can only guess what these balloons have to do with anything and what their words mean. Aunt Nancy comes up with a possibility: "pestered by a gremlin or a ghost...the ghost of my father" (6). The balloons' words suggest memories of Aunt Nancy's father, who died when she was very young.

The letters N. writes are addressed only to a character called Angel of Dust; but who is Angel of Dust? Not much, if anything, is known about him or her, except that he or she is very close to N., through their exchange of letters. N. reveals everything about his and his ensemble members' lives to Angel of Dust, and he seems to want to maintain a strong relationship with whoever this figure is. In his first letter, N. writes, "I've been meaning to write for a while now, a while that seems like years though it's only been weeks" (1). Not being in contact with Angel of Dust for only a short time evidently has a large impact on N.; their bond must be exceptionally strong. He also looks up to Angel of Dust as a wise and eloquent individual: "Who but you could've written so movingly" (20). Angel of Dust seems to be experienced in the ways of life, perhaps a role model for N. Angel of Dust's part in N.'s life is quite unclear at the moment, but the truth will hopefully reveal itself soon.

~ Outside Reading #1

Mackey, Nathaniel. Bass Cathedral. Grand Rapids: New Directions Corporation, 2008.