Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
For those of you who missed chapter 1, we’re looking at the husband/wife performance group Pocket Vinyl as they planned to do all fifty United States in 45 days, a breaking of the previous 50 days record. While they planned to do this unofficially due to money and logistics, it will still count to them.
This is a longer chapter than last time, at 25 pages. As a prose novel that would drive me nuts. As a comic that’s still a pretty long chapter in a graphic novel that is still 11 chapters long. Still, it might not be as bad as it sounds. Considering how many novels I had to do two or even more chapters for because they were so short, it’s only my personal time that concerns me. That’s not a criticism. Nobody expects a reader to be reviewing a book one chapter at a time. Chapters are supposed to be a good place to take a break in case you have to do other things like go to the bathroom, go back to work, go to bed, prepare for open heart surgery…I don’t know what you guys do for fun. Sometimes there are even breaks in the chapter because for whatever reason they want to have more than one scene in one chapter.
That’s one thing I’ve never really figured out: why writers (or in this case comic creators) put breaks where they do. Is there a formula or is it just where the writer thinks it’s best…and why? Maybe someday I’ll find out, but for now let’s see our duo prepare to officially begin their tour.
February 21st: The tour begins at 1:08 PM at the Telegraph in their home state (and mine) of Connecticut, the town of New London. I’ve never been but it’s nice that they put a list of intended tour dates in chapter 1 and in the captions for the other two dates in this chapter. This is the only part of the tour they plan to do three states, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I’m not going to list all the states unless they do. They also have to show off 50 locations in 11 chapters and still have time for the rest of the story besides the actual events.
That’s where we hit one snag: while we see the first performance in full it’s the usual issue of trying to put a song into comic form. It’s not like they had (or had time for) a songbook. I can’t hear the music because this is my first exposure to the band. There was no section on the website dedicated to recordings of the songs featured in the book and no links to their website or YouTube channel. It’s kind of a missed opportunity not to use the book to lead people to their music. I only found their site because I was researching for this series. This, as far as I can tell, is not the fault of being the “misprint” edition. Imagine getting to read along with the lyrics while watching Eric perform and Elizabeth paint in the comic. I don’t know if they were able to make videos of the event, but that would have been an unnecessary but nice bonus. This is a mostly biographical book after all.
Elizabeth’s grandma and Eric’s friends (or maybe local fans?) show up and we do get to see what we can assume is a typical Pocket Vinyl performance. Eric performs and Elizabeth paints with the music. Then they auction off the painting, first at a silent auction to set the price, then a last chance open auction. And they have to do this at three shows today and one or two shows during the tour. They get encouragement from their loved ones and then it’s off to a Savoy, a bookstore with a cafe in Rhode Island. I attended an event in a comic store, and it was in their smaller location at the time. Here we meet their friend Marc, who will take care of their two cats and be their housesitter. That should be a commute from Connecticut to the Rhode Island. According to Google that’s about a two hour drive just between states. I don’t know where they live in the state or how close it is to the bookstore. The fans shows up again, already having pledged to see all three of today’s shows. This is a shorter version of their performance, since they don’t need to show it again; just the intro and thanks for coming part at the end. Off they go to their third gig, and they’re surprised they aren’t tired.
The final show is at Ralph’s Rock Diner in Worcester, Massachusetts. Those same fans help them set up, but they aren’t the only act that night, delaying their performance. The show itself goes okay but after the show some guys go on stage and mess with the painting. Elizabeth is tired but tries to be nice about asking them to knock it off. Eric learns what’s going on and finally chases them off. The fans try to encourage them on their mission, but accidentally puts some pressure to succeed until one guy, who was first exposed to the duo thanks to his friends, gives them a better pep talk, saying he really liked their music. That seems to put them more at ease and they go home to bed.
Chapter one set up the plot. Chapter two sets up the format. We get a taste of what a Pocket Vinyl show looks like, and showing us just how much work goes into the performance. Of course this is going to be their toughest day (or is it?), being the only three show day on their tour because they’re so close to their home. We get a good idea of what they’re going to do, but linking to a website page where we could see the performance and hear the song (I’m guessing they don’t have an image of the painting and they wouldn’t be doing this in the comic for every stop anyway) might have turned this into some free promo. Where did the tour go next, and is it as exhausting? We’ll find out in chapter three.
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