The Canyon Chronicle and Topanga Elementary would like to invite you to come spend a spooky evening, enjoying Topanga Elementary’s new play, SAW 3, Sawsical the Musical. Topanga Elementary invited me to review their play on behalf of The Canyon Chronicle ahead of it’s official opening this week. As it’s a school production, the actors are all members of the school’s student body. Due to the plays’ adult themes and graphic violence, participation has been limited to third grade and up. Involvement in the play wasn’t just limited to the children, however, Parents and community members were invited to lend a hand to build sets and help finish painting the spinning Iron Maiden, as well as build hydraulics for the shotgun carousel. The plays director caught up with me after the show to discuss the process of putting this massive production together. “The script went through a lot of revisions� he said. “The children are all such huge fans of the franchise that they wanted to make sure they got all the lore and nuanced character relationships right� The highlight of the play was the song “Rip and Tear� sung to the melody of “Hallelujah� by Leonard Cohen, with original lyrics written collaboratively by the kids...at least I think that’s what it was. I couldn’t really hear the song because all the children backstage where wearing hot mics. I’m pretty sure I heard one of the children accidentally confess to a murder after he left his mic on and began talking to himself while going to the bathroom, like Robert Durst. Half of the children sang the chorus while the fourth-year students walked across the stage, proudly parading the miniature crucifixes they made out of sugar cubes. I was joined at this advance screening by representatives of other local papers, as well as members of both the LAUSD School Board and the Child Well Being and Safety Committee, who, upon sitting in the front row, were asked to place their phones into Ziplock bags (as to not test their devices’ waterpoofing against the real pig blood squibs). The play received a standing ovation by members of the school board, including superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, who later tried to take a selfie with all the children, but couldn’t figure out how to work the front facing camera on his phone. Long Distance Listening Party, Vol. 18 This playlist is available on Spotify, search my username, Mileserickson-354, New songs will be added. F**k Forever, Babyshambles The Rat, The Walkmen (For A While) I Couldn’t Play My Guitar Like a Man, FREEMAN Shut Up Kiss Me, Angel Olsen Waves of Fear, Lou Reed F**k Forever, Babyshambles. I really like this song. It masterfully executes a buildup of tension followed by a satisfying release. Even so, being a punk/garage rock song it sounds weirdly overproduced; all the instrument tracks are super clean with very little distortion. The vocalist gets sloppy and scream-ey with his singing only briefly before reverting back to using proper pronunciation. If you want a good example of how to execute a good banger garage rock song I’d recommend FIDLAR’s self-titled debut album. If I was producing the track I’d probably also cut about 20 seconds off the opener as the song takes a while to actually get into its rhythm. Don’t get me wrong though, I love this song so much, it was what inspired me to make my “All Bangers, All the Time� playlist, inspired by Kendall from Succession. The Rat, The Walkmen. Speaking of tension and release, this song is too much of the former, not enough of the latter. The rhythm guitar is relentless and definitely overstays its welcome. The song doesn’t take nearly enough time to chill out and let the piece breathe. You can definitely he ar the Killers and Foo Fighters inspiration. This song would be perfectly at home on either of those bands’ earlier albums. (For A While) I Couldn’t Play My Guitar Like a Man, FREEMAN. Okay. Recently I’ve had a rule for this playlist called “No more Ween, No more David Bowie,� a rule that I constantly break. This is sort of a violation, because it was recorded by Aaron Freeman after Ween split due to Freeman’s abuse issues, which much of this album alludes to. The guitar solo at the end of this song is one of the best Freeman’s ever done, and is what made me choose this song over “Covert Discretion� (from the same album) Also, I don’t have a Bowie song this week, but have you seen Moonage Daydream? Because it’s fantastic. Waves of Fear, Lou Reed. I was debating whether to talk about this song or the John Cameron Mitchell cover. The Mitchell version is less of an acquired taste; you’ve got to be really into Lou Reed to be listening to any album he released after Transformer. Covering Reed is difficult, as he may be the most jaded man who ever lived. And that’s a hard thing to replicate. Miles Erickson is a recent graduate of CalArts, a published author, and currently enrolled in a prestigious, four-year student loan repayment program. Long Distance Listening Party’s vague intention is to discuss topics framed in the context of what I’m currently listening to.