I wanted to put together a little post yesterday morning, but only managed to walk around the house gibbering Yoda-like pronouncements before going off to work. Hard to write a cogent entry when the only words I could manage were “Flip the burgers I must.” After a few cups of coffee I was fine (relatively. Until experts declare me legally and clinically fine, that is). The past few mornings I’ve been looking at the end-of-decade lists posted by various news organizations. For the most part they’ve been pretty dour. What really was there to get excited about? In a decade permeated by listmania and obsessively compiled groupings of the best and worst of everything, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of excitement to list the greatest achievements of the ’00s. Understandable. For me, the decade really is marked by its extinctions. Not just wildlife or the structure of the earth itself. No, I mean the cultural extinctions. A lot of time-honored ideas went by the boards in the past ten years and will be relegated to existence only as entries on Wikipedia.

>>   Pay phones died this decade, but before you assume I’m going to go all Andy Rooney here, let me assure you that I hated them. The only way I’ll ever be able to explain the concept to my kid is that when you wanted to make a call and you weren’t home you drove somewhere to find a phone that you could rent for three minutes provided you were carrying enough money. Oh, and providing that the phone worked. Usually it didn’t. The line was nearly always cut and the coin box jammed. Sometimes you’d find a phone only to realize that you didn’t like the people near it and went to find another one, maybe several blocks away. The phone didn’t have apps, but it did have a voice to remind you to add more money. One slight benefit of the pay phone was that you could leave the number at your job in case they ever needed to find you. I gave one employer the digits for a bar pay phone several towns over.

>>The network movie of the week. Every Sunday night you could see a really bad movie after a day of church or starchy family dinner in the comfort of your own home. Patrick Swayze winning the Civil War, or Meredith Baxter-Birney throwing up in dumpsters. It didn’t matter.  They were the wallpaper of our lives.

>>Four Non Blondes. Any group that leaves the world with the most messed up, bowel loosening song ever (“Whats Going On?”) and doesn’t do a decent follow-up (or issue an apology for their one-time existence) should be tried before the World Court.

>>Saturday Morning Cartoons. When my child was a few months old we got ready to watch our first morning of sugar sponsored madness only to find that the shows had been replaced by Lester Summerall and some bimbastic colleagues. As a mortgage paying, hard-working, stand up citizen I don’t want to watch Sting play his new songs on Saturday morning, or view proper toothbrushing techniques. No, I want bad foreign cartoons on all 140 channels and a bowl of Honeycomb in each hand. Another wish gone with the decade, I suppose. Onward and Upward.

An 18 year old employee of mine asked me the most ridiculous question today, she rudely put forth, ” you don’t like Lady Gaga?” This young lass asked this question with such audacity and awe that I was forced to ponder the question, call it mental rendition. I answered with a pathetic “I guess she’s OK.” Complete fail, she’s OK? She’s agitating, she’s trendy, she’s terribly untalented, she’s somewhat sexy in the bestiality kind of way, but she’s not “OK.” After hitting up Natural High to peep Karma tonight I knew my preference for substance was not music nerdy or socially elite, it was a simple dismissal of terrible radio junk. Lady Gaga is the type of artist that ends up in a figurative garbage can, considering it’s Gaga, she may end up in a physical one to boot. I can’t think of a reasonable historic example to exemplify my point here, but 4 Non Blondes and Milli Vanilli come to mind for some reason. Either way, this YouTube character, Lord Gaga, is the kind of viral identity I would usually dismiss with a passive glance and a wave of the mouse. But this character hammers my proverbial nails in Lady Gaga’s coffin, I can’t help but stare awhile, and yes, free my mind from an unknown interrogation cell in Syria.

Check this video of Lady Gaga while she was still human and a student at NYU.

]]> http://hdvn.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/whats-up/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:19:04 +0000 e Chíp http://hdvn.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/whats-up/ http://songbookofkartika.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/4-non-blondes-whats-up/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:36:15 +0000 kJouL http://songbookofkartika.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/4-non-blondes-whats-up/

Twenty-five years and my life is still

Trying to get up that great big hill of hope

For a destination

I realized quickly when I knew I should

That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man

For whatever that means

And so I cry sometimes

When I’m lying in bed Just to get it all out

What’s in my head

And I, I am feeling a little peculiar.

And so I wake in the morning

And I step outside

And I take a deep breath and I get real high

And I scream from the top of my lungs

What’s going on?

And I say: HEY! yeah yeaaah, HEY yeah yea

I said hey, what’s going on?

And I say: HEY! yeah yeaaah, HEY yeah yea

I said hey, what’s going on?

ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh

ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh

and I try, oh my god do I try

I try all the time, in this institution

And I pray, oh my god do I pray

I pray every single day

For a revolution.

And so I cry sometimes

When I’m lying bed

Just to get it all out

What’s in my head

And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning

And I step outside

And I take a deep breath and I get real high

And I scream from the top of my lungs

What’s going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey

I said hey, what’s going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey

I said hey, what’s going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey

I said hey, what’s going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey

I said hey, what’s going on?

ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh ooooooooooooooooh

Twenty-five years and my life is still

Trying to get  up that great big hill of hope

for a destination

Click here to view the video on youtube

Had a spectacular time at Chewy’s Rockeoke-inspired 32nd birthday bash last night.

We played a lot of truly horrible, yet mind-blowingly magnificent songs with a mix-and-match lineup starring various members of the Mijares family, and Chewy’s friends from all over.

I can’t recall exactly what song was the most painful to play through, but I do remember feeling like I was violating my hardcore 90s rock n’ roll roots by the time we were knee-deep in playing true relics best-forgotten, like Alamid’s “Your Love” and the 4 Non-Blonde’s “What’s Up.”

MDJ Superstar just had to close his eyes and flash back to happier days when truly awesome music was on my set list, like Guns n’ Roses and Green Day.

I also remembered why the bass guitar is my weapon of choice – it provides the most real estate with which to hide my tummy bone.

I am also realizing that white jeans are totally unflattering for chunky, heavy-set males such as The Superstar.

As much as I think that our awesomest cover of the night was a heavy metal opera remake of Miss Saigon’s “Last Night Of The World”, there is one song that I think truly deserves to be revived and revitalized for today’s Children Of The 2000s.

Alone.

This, my friends, was the true start of emo, but nobody had realized it yet at the time.

P.S. I must say, however, that Bryan Adams’ “Heaven” deserves honorable mention on this list. Seriously. You sing this to any girl, her pink Punky Brewster panty is dropping to the floor in 4 seconds flat.

La banda compuesta por mujeres 4 Non Blondes tuvo su auge en el año 1993 cuando lanzó el sencillo What’s Up. Luego de permanecer varias semanas en el primer lugar intentaron repetir el éxito con otro tema pero nunca lo consiguieron.

Dos años más tarde, por diferencias entre sus integrantes, la banda se disolvió antes de sacar su segundo disco. La líder Linda Perry siguió conectada a la música y, además de colaborar con diferentes artistas, fue productora de varias cantantes femeninas como Pink, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keys y Celine Dion.

Los dejamos con el video que, a pesar de que fue el único hit de la banda, sigue estando muy vigente en los canales musicales.

In Ally McBeal, season one, episode 17 (“Theme of Life“), Ally’s therapist, Dr. Tracy Clark asks Ally to think of a theme song – something she can play in her head to make her feel better, when necessary.  In this episode, Dr. Clark says her song is “Tracy” (by The Cuff Links), like her name.

Ally has trouble choosing a theme song, but I think she settles on”Tell Him” (by The Exciters) in the end.

I really related to this episode (not sure if that’s a good thing…!) and have since been trying to come up with the perfect ‘theme song’.  I actually have a playlist on my iTunes called ‘Theme Songs’ which I regularly listen to.  I’m down to a top 5 now I think.  And they are…

What’s Up – 4 Non Blondes

This is a classic for me, and one I always sing at karaoke!

☆★☆

Ain’t Never Been Cool – Lucky Soul

I can just relate to the lyrics of this one – it reminds me of being a kid at school, and I’m disturbed to find that life doesn’t change as you get older!

☆★☆

Perfect – Fairground Attraction

I’m a perfectionist – what more can I say?

☆★☆

Dare – Stan Bush

Classic get-up-and-go song!

☆★☆

Vienna – Billy Joel

This one is probably more of a movie montage song than a theme song. It calms me down though.

☆★☆

So, what do you think?

(1) What should I choose as my personal ‘theme song’?

(2) What would you choose?

Please leave your thoughts and musings (and YouTube links) below!

Oh, and by the way, you’ve gotta love John Cage’s theme song in Ally McBeal…

Men bra musik är det (och var det)

A couple more girl bands and then we’ll get back to my random ordering of music.  It’s another dark Saturday morning (I’ve been up since 4am) and I’m feeling pretty tired.  I should be better once the sun decides to come up (is it me, or is it staying dark later these days?  Another month or so until the clocks change).  Right now, I’m just struggling to keep myself up while I wait for things to pick up at work.  We’ve got another exciting day of college football, so I’ll make a few predictions here (I’m 2-0 so far, hitting the SC-OSU game last weekend and the Miami – Ga. St. game on Thursday):

USC over Washington 42-17

Oregon St. over Cincy 34-24

Virginia Tech over Nebraska 27-20

Steve and I will get together this afternoon and give you our NFL picks for tomorrow’s games.  And now, back to the music…

Today’s song comes from a group that was a bit of a one hit wonder, but I always really enjoyed this particular hit, and I’m pretty sure that back in the day my Dad’s former girlfriend knew one of the band members.  At a time when there are still so many key cahnges that need to happen to improve the country (what’s the deal with health Care or the Economy?), this tune seems, once again, fitting.  Today’s jam: 4 Non Blondes – What’s Up.  Enjoy….

4 Non Blondes’ folky, slow, drawling brand of blues rock may not have propelled them to superstardom, but their efforts did make them one hit wonders. Their leading single, ‘What’s Up’ was and still is a radio favorite, even if the band can’t boast much more than a cult following for their other work. Still, using acoustic guitars, harmonicas, raspy female vocals and slow, fuzzy distortion, ‘Bigger, Better, Faster, More’ allowed the group to find their footing on the booming nineties alt. rock scene. The eleven tracks on ‘Bigger’ don’t explore much outside of the blues rock genre, although some are hectic and distorted whereas others are slow and strictly acoustic.

The intense well of emotion that 4 Non Blondes have is almost overwhelming to a listener. There’s soul and feeling in the music, nothing fake or scripted about it. The vocals in particular are all about emotion, from the desperate cries in ‘Spaceman’ and ‘Drifting’ to the grungy howls in ‘Old Mr. Heffer’. ‘Bigger’ is an unusual rock album because it’s not afraid to be quiet and gentle. The slow moments on the disc are the best by far. ‘What’s Up’ was a hit because it was a mournful, yet scathing tribute to everything that’s wrong with the world. The band gets listeners to pay attention and relate to the music with lyrics like, ‘I cry sometimes when I’m lying in bed, just to get it all out, what’s in my head’ and ‘it’s such a beautiful city, but the world is burning it down’. From social, to political, to personal commentary, ‘Bigger’ attacks everything with a grace and wisdom that isn’t all that commonly found in rock.

As with all one hit wonders, 4 Non Blondes are a little bit of a one trick pony. They can pass the boundries between artist and listener with ease by way of their emotion, but they don’t have a  relevant sound, musically. Some is even unpleasent to listen to. Songs like  ’Morphine & Chocolate’ and ‘Superfly’ aren’t particularly fun listening, nor are they very playable. The music is too soft to get away with the dischord often heard in heavier rock, and at times one will be left wondering if they’re listening to nothing more than a cheap ripoff of Led Zeppelin with a female singer. Those guitar riffs come straight out of the 1970’s, but most of them have a spin put on them that makes them not complex or mindbending enough to appease guitar enthusists, but not catchy enough to make average listeners happy.

Overall, 5 / 10. ‘Bigger, Better, Faster, More’ fails to consistently hit good sounds, their only real advantage is a powerful vocalist who knows what she’s doing and a couple of playable tracks. The rest can be skipped over just as easily and aren’t worth more than a couple of listens.

originally performed by 4 non blondes, from the cd bigger, better, faster more!

copyright © 2009 fearless spirit media. all rights reserved.

Desde muy temprano en la década de los 90s, se volvió muy común hacer música Indie (Diminutivo de música independiente, producida por pequeñas compañías de grabación).

Usualmente, aunado a este deseo de ser diferente, contestatario y marginal, viene la consecuencia de tener un sin fin de bandas de las que solamente se les conoce un disco, o, un sencillo… Talento hay, lo que ha faltado es consistencia y esto indudablemente ha contribuido al continuo deterioro de la industria musical tal y como se le conoció por varias décadas…

Uno de estos grupos indie, del área de la Bahía de San Francisco, es “4-Non Blondes”, cuyo sencillo de 1992 “What’s up” con su estilo neo hippie, se instaló en las listas de popularidad rápida y exitosamente, opacando a una muy buena canción del mismo LP, “Bigger, better, master, more!”, denominada “Spaceman”.

Esta canción, de ritmo semi lento, contiene los ya muy probados ingredientes de una buena letra juvenil: frustración, necesidad de evasión y un sentimiento de evocación de un tiempo y/o un lugar mejor (¿La niñez?, ¿La madurez?).

Letra

La magnífica letra de esta canción se complementa con la muy expresiva voz de Linda Perry, todo ello enmarcado en una producción muy sencilla, consistente en dos guitarras con largos y suaves rasgueos y repentinas explosiones de emoción; una batería con cierto aire marcial y un bajo que marca el ritmo que le da unidad a toda la canción a través de sus altas y bajas de intensidad.

Desde la Ciudad más grande del Mundo

JH

PD: Ahora la canción de la semana también disponible en: http://lacanciondelasemana.wordpress.com/ (Gracias a Roberto Anhell !!!!)

PD 2: Linda Perry escribió  para P!nk, en 2002, el éxito “Get the party started”. En ese LP, “M!zundastood” también produjo, tocó instrumentos e hizo coros, al lado de gente como Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) y Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)

PD 3: Linda Perry también es autora de la canción “Beautiful”, mega éxito interpretado por Christina Aguilera y entonces, ¿Dónde quedó el espíritu Indie?

Hoewel ‘uit de oude, stoffige cd-koffers’ een betere omschrijving zou zijn.

What´s up? Upon posting our latest snap it struck me that out of the five pics we´ve posted so far, there has been only one blonde sharing her hair. Which means there have been 4 Non Blondes. C´mon blondies – we don´t mind if you´re natural or it´s from a bottle, but we think more of you would have fun sharing your hair too! And what about the redheads?

Today´s pic features our posterboy Nick (again), but this time it´s Micky who´s generously sharing her hair. Which style do you think suits him the best? Answers in the comments box below, please. Or send in your own pics to notabaldy@gmail.com.

morenas, rubias, pelirrojas, castañas…………yo no soy racista…Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

4 Non Blondes fueron una banda de rock formada en 1989. Se trata de Christa Hillhouse bajista, guitarrista Shaunna Hall, el baterista Wanda Day y vocalista Linda Perry. Antes del lanzamiento de su primer álbum, Roger Rocha sustituye Hall a la guitarra, y Dawn Richardson Day sustituirá en la batería.

Es la primera vez que asisto a una reunión en la que hay mas ponentes que asistentes, menudo nivelazo juas juas juas, sorpresas te da lavida…….