HEART AND SOLO
Wombats frontman takes chance on new project
Bklyn looks back this weekend
COURIER L 36 IFE, SEPT. 6-12, 2019
The best reads
— handpicked by
some of the best
Bklyn bookstores
Word’s picks: “Frankly In Love,” by
David Yoon
When a book manages
nages
s as
oes,
you
nto
kly
un
nd
to exceed expectations much as this novel does,
it’s mandatory that try your best to get it into
everyone’s hand. “Frankly
in Love” is a home run
of a debut novel. It manages
to be hilarious and
heartfelt in the same
breath. Yoon perfectly
encapsulates what it is
like to be the child of
immigrants, tackling
identity in such a real
way.
— Kim Small, Word 126 Franklin St. at Milton Street
in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbookstores.com .
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick:
“Inland,” by Téa Obreht
I’ve been on a bit of a
a
cowboy kick — the kind
kind
where I am absorbed in tales
tales
of the Southwest, but am
am
also critical of laudatory
ory
stories about homesteaders
ers
and white colonialist horse
rse
boys — so this book was
as
a cool drink of water for
or
me. “Inland” is a deftly
y
written and well-plotted
d
novel; it’s a great read
for those looking for an
escape from New York
or a literary equivalent
of “Old Town Road.”
— Nora Tjossem, Greenlight
Greenlight
Bookstore 686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place
and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200,
www.greenlightbookstore.com .
Community Bookstore’s pick:
“Mount Analogue,” by Rene Daumal
Daumal’s surrealist masdean
masterpiece
of “non-Euclidean
adventures in mountain
climbing” follows our narrator’s
tain
narrds
expedition towards
a fantastical mountain
that connects Earth to
Heaven. An inspiration
to generations of artists
from Jodorowsky to
John Zorn, this beautiful
re-issue is now
available from Exact
Change, in the original
in
to
n
s
English translation
by Roger Shattuck.
n
Get yours now before it goes out of print for another six
decades!
— Samuel Partal, Community Bookstore 43 Seventh Ave.
between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Slope,
(718) 783–3075, www.commu nityb ookst ore.net .
By Tammy Scileppi He’s taking a chance on Love.
The frontman of popular
British indie-pop act the
Wombats is flying solo for the next
year or so. After 16 years as the guitarist
and singer for the Liverpool
three-piece, Matthew “Murph”
Murphy will play with his new project
Love Fame Tragedy at Rough
Trade in Williamsburg on Sept. 25.
Playing an intimate show in the
back of a record store will mark
a major change from his last stop
in the New York area, when the
Wombats opened for the Rolling
Stones at Metlife Stadium. But
Murph says that he needed to shake
things up a bit, even as his band’s
following keeps growing across the
United States.
“Whether this project succeeds
or fails, I think it’s important for my
creativity and my brain,” he said. “I
just wanted to try something new. I
wanted to give myself an avenue in
which to do that.”
And he is not breaking up the
Wombats, he insists — he’s just adding
something else.
“I don’t really think I’m going
solo, just starting up another project;
maybe focusing more around collaborations
involving similar kinds
of people I’ve met over the years,”
he said.
His debut album, “I Don’t Want
To Play The Victim, But I’m Really
Good At It,” which he recorded in
2018, features a stellar lineup of
Gone to ‘bat: Matthew “Murph” Murphy, lead singer of the Wombats, will bring his
solo project Love Fame Tragedy to Williamsburg’s Rough Trade on Sept. 25. Kate Biel
musical friends and collaborators.
The name Love Fame Tragedy comes
from a Pablo Picasso exhibit that
resonated with the singer, he said.
“I was after a title for the new
project that had this looping feeling
to it; it seems like an endless cycle
or way of being. It triggered a lot of
things and a lot of songs flew out
after that,” Murph explained.
The album features catchy
anthems and classic synth-pop confessionals,
where hedonism, responsibility,
anxiety, and the fragility of
love collide.
“It’s kind of melodic alt-pop rock;
there’s always hints of self-deprecating
humor kind of coming through
it,” said Murph.
Despite the angsty tone of some
of the songs, Murph said that a snapshot
of his life now would reveal he is
the happiest he has ever been.
“My last bunch of albums and
reaction to going solo has been
great,” he said. “It’d be a picture of
me with a big cheesy grin!”
Love Fame Tragedy at Rough
Trade 64 N. Ninth St. between Kent
and Wythe avenues in Williamsburg,
(718) 388–4111, www.roughtrad enyc.
com. Sept. 25 at 8:30 p.m. $18.
By Bill Roundy Long live the King!
This weekend, we are
going to celebrate some
of Brooklyn’s grand old
traditions —and nothing
is grander than
the Kings Theatre
(1027 Flatbush Ave.
between Beverly
Road and Tilden
Avenue in Flatbush,
www.kingstheat re.
com). The opulent
movie palace turns 90
this weekend, and you can
celebrate the birthday of the Art
Deco arthouse theater by joining
the King Theatre Happy Hour Tour,
Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Your $30
ticket will get you a glass of wine
and a behind-the-scenes tour of the
3,500-seat auditorium, with details
about the $94 million renovation
that restored the space to its Jazz
Age glory in 2015, and along with
its recently added outdoor courtyard
and comedy space.
Saturday evening, the hirsute
hordes will once
again gather at the
beach for the 12th
Annual Coney
Island Beard
and Moustache
Competition, at
Sideshows by the
Seashore (1208
Surf Ave. at W. 12th
Street in Coney Island,
www.coneyisland.com). A
dozen years makes it a hallowed tradition
in our book, so head over and
wonder at the strange and extravagant
facial hair on display, in categories
that include “Coney Island
Curl” for the best styled moustache
Styled and — in the finest tradition
of Coney Island — “Hokum
and Hoodwinked” for the best fake
beard. It will cost you $25 to watch
or to participate in the event —show
up at 6:30 p.m. if you want to enter
the contest, which officially starts
at 8 p.m.
Finally, on Sunday we will
celebrate our greatest treasure —
the written word! The Brooklyn
Antiquarian Book Fair celebrates
the beauty of old-school bound volumes,
with vendors hawking first
editions and out-of-print masterpieces,
along with art prints and rare
papers. The show happens at the
Brooklyn Expo Center (72 Noble
St. at Franklin Street in Greenpoint,
www.brooklynbookfair.com), starting
at 11 a.m. and lasting until 5
p.m.
Tickets are just $10, so drop
by to browse the books, examine
a special exhibit on the history of
Afrofuturism, or join the “show and
tale” session to share a story about
your favorite children’s book.
/www.wordbookstores.com
/www.greenlightbookstore.com
/www.commu
/www.roughtrad
/www.kingstheat
/www.coneyisland.com
/www.brooklynbookfair.com
/www.wordbookstores.com
/www.greenlightbookstore.com
/www.commu
/ore.net
/www.roughtrad
/www.kingstheat
/www.coneyisland.com)
/www.brooklynbookfair.com)