One of indie-pop's busiest stars teams up with one of kid-lit's most enigmatic writers tonight. Stephin Merritt — the brains behind the Magnetic Fields — comes to Regina High School with Daniel Handler, the San Francisco writer better known as Lemony Snicket. They play songs from
The Tragic Treasury: Songs From a Series of Unfortunate Events, an album based on all 13 books in Snicket's popular series. "I try to identify the major themes in the books," says Merritt. "My lyrics are typically about how ridiculously awful life is. So, I don't need to look far in these books for themes."
Handler, who played accordion on the Magnetic Fields' 1999 opus, 69 Love Songs, regularly performs with the Gothic Archies. But this is the first time he and Merritt have teamed up to promote the Lemony Snicket books onstage. The final book in the series, The End, came out last month, and Handler (as Snicket) will read from it and sign copies tonight. "I'm not used to so many kids in the audience," says Merritt. "I caught a cold immediately."
Thu., Nov. 16, 7 p.m.
