This video needs like explanation or introduction:

It’s not that I’m an idiot (although, in the spirit of full disclosure, I sometimes am), it’s that I’m sometimes clueless. Or, forgetful. Or, mentally misplaced. You see, there’s a lot of shit floating around in my cranium. Some numbers, some interesting data, some bullshit ephemera about what episode of what season in what obscure TV show a character walked down the wrong hallway to go to the bathroom, tons of music, a few memorized beautiful things I’ve seen in my days, some horrors I’ve always memorized, and a collection of all the breasts I’ve come across and been mesmerized. Yeah, there’s a pun there. A bad one, at that.

This morning, I woke up and smiled that kind of smile that only happens on a day off. I got up, stretched, did the various things I do when I wake up alone, the scratching of places and releasing of certain human fluids, then went to the internet and began absorbing facts. A typical day. There’s “significant amounts” of water on the mother fucking moon!

from here.

And I was reading some stuff about the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which I knew I was a few days late to, but it’s still fascinating, right?

I even put on some music as I did this. Made myself a little playlist in my music player and put it on random/shuffle, and you know what song came on several times? My favorite song by the Cure, that’s what. This one:

That’s “The 13th,” and I just adore it. Not the video so much, but the song, definitely.

There was a commercial on TV for a Friday The 13th marathon. And I thought, “Huh, that’s interesting.” Thought about 2012, the batshit crazy stupid but fun looking Roland Emmerich movie that came on today that I’ll probably see tomorrow with Conrad Noir, who tells me he’s not all that interested because he was let down by The Day After Tomorrow. Well, no shit you were let down by The Day After Tomorrow, right? Anyway, that’s most likely on tomorrow’s agenda.

Long story short, it took me until like noon or later to actually fucking realize that it was Friday the 13th. I probably shouldn’t be bragging about that.

It happened at some local coffee shop that I went to, and, well, it was embarassing, but interesting. I live in a small town, the kind where it’s hard to not get to know everyone and their quaint little stories. And all the Southern gothic ghost stories that goes along with it. So I do my best to avoid people as best I can, but today I felt like getting out of the domecile for a bit and going for a run and experimenting with various Pandora stations on my smart brilliant phone.

The search for the perfect Pandora station is man’s constant crawl towards enlightenment, nirvana, and the fingerbanging of God. The pleasure is in the quest, not the capturing because the goal is unreachable, but we still try. That’s the beauty of the humans, or something. Regardless, I’ve been bouncing back and forth, trying to find a good station while running/walking, and I took a chance on an 80s station.

Not bad, but you know what? As great as they can be, Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood and “The Safety Dance” just felt a little too gay for this job. I needed something less festive, so I figured I’d shift a decade forward and did a search for an appropriate 90s station. Came up mostly zero, no joke, except for a fascinating station that played 80s music stars trying to make a comeback in the 90s:

Okay, that’s the lovely Bryan Adams song from the Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves soundtrack, which is fantastic all on it’s own (except when it’s used for a Dawson’s Creek fanvid, sorry), but in actuality, the first song that came on that station was Adams’ “Run To You,” which isn’t bad. And following that was some Tom Petty, which is always good in my book, and some Bon Jovi, which is atrocious (though old Bon Jobi works appropiately in some bar settings, I’m loathe to admit), and a whole fucking lot of Guns N’ Roses. It was weird, but I guess it did the trick, workout-wise.

Then I got to the coffee shop, got something to eat, something to drink, and meant to hide myself in the corner with some headphones and devour my meal and some more internet on my phone. Also with me were some printouts of various things I needed to revise and a copy of Warren Ellis’ new POD book, Shivering Sands, which had just come in the mail today. I feel like I’ve read most of it previously (it’s a collection of various writings of his from the internet of the past few years), but still, I was excited.

But as it sometimes can be when interesting people are in the vicinity, and frightfully true when there’s less than interesting people buzzing around you, I got sucked into some conversation. Found out it was 13th day of the month coinciding with the fact that it was also a Friday. Also absorbed some recent gossip. And, because of the recent anniversary, got involved with a conversation about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.

You see, the conversation got even more interesting when it turned out that one of the women there was German, a former resident of East Berlin, who had been 18 when the wall came down, and moved to America shortly after. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with Germans in the past (and no, I’m not referring to World War II, though that was no picnic either, ha ha!), but every once in a while, I have a good experience with their women.

The woman and I talked for some time about the Berlin Wall, and primarily what it was like for her growing up in East Berlin. Essentially, it was bleak, but fascinating. And we had one of those conversations that always pop where she mentions that she was feeling uneasy today because she had left her cell phone at home and she just feels like she’s naked and out of touch, but growing up poor in Germany, they didn’t even have a phone in their house til she was 16. “How did we live in that ancient, strange world?” she asked with a laugh.

She had just seen The Lives Of Others a few weeks ago, she told me, and we talked about the movie, which is really quite good if you haven’t seen it yet, and about the Stasi in general. She told me that the movie scares her because back then, when she was growing up, you just always knew you were being watched, being monitored. You always suspected who was a Stasi man, but you never really knew for sure. And it didn’t hit you until later that it wasn’t so much agents of the Stasi you had to worry about, but those around you because everyone was informing on each other to get ahead.

Could’ve been worse. He could’ve thrown up in her lap.

From there we went into little aspects of German history, talking about “The Iron Chancellor” and how the Prussians united the country a hundred years before the Wall fell, and we even talked a little about Merkel, or “Angie,” as she called her, and told me what a fan she is, being that they’re both East German girls. She told me how it was so weird for her to come to America in her twenties and get a more full view of her own little world up til then and to compare it to growing up in communist Germany, where history was repainted with a propaganda slant. She mentioned that as a teen they were never allowed to refer to the Wall as just “the Wall,” it was always as the “tool for anti-fascist defense” or something like that.

She told me how when she was in school, it was a mandatory field trip for the kids to be taken to the concentration camps and shown all the gross details, the rooms with human remains permanently staining the walls, with the empty shoes of little babies that were turned to dust, the lampshades made out of flayed skin featuring Jewish tattoos. She told me how the physical evidence of the darkest corners of history would never leave her mind and part of her was glad that she was forced to see that shameful part of her country’s past, but that it’s something she knows kids don’t go to see anymore.

I don’t want to use the word “fascinating” again in this post, but that’s what it was. A fascinating conversation, and a fantastic one, informative and insightful. I thanked her for her time and being so patient with my curiousity, and of course for letting me know that it was actually Friday the 13th. Then I left, since I had been there for quite some time and it was starting to look like it might rain. I wasn’t interesting in listening to sad old men with hair plugs crooning bar anthems into my ear, so I just walked in silence, my head heavy with thoughts about everything we discussed.

“Komm rüber!” Hans Conrad Schumann defects, from here.

It did start raining before I got back to my front door, of course, but my mind was elsewhere and I didn’t actually realize it until I was pulling my key out to let myself back in and realized I was shivering there as the water dripped off of me.

And how did you spend your Friday the 13th?

1. Calling yourself  Men Without Hats while singing about ‘The Safety Dance’ comes across as ironic, if not hypocritical. Maybe calling yourself Men With Hats or even Men with Safety Shoes would be more appropriate.

2. If you’re gonna go off making friends with a guy who can dance, make sure he’s well worth leaving your real friends who can’t dance for shit.

3. Maybe you can give your friends who can’t dance dancing lessons so they can be friends with your new friend who only makes friends with people who can dance.

4. Being able to dance at will may give you an all-access pass to “go where (you) want to,” but there are exceptions like an all-steak lunch buffet.

5. Be careful when making friends with someone who is biased against non-dancers and promises to lead you to “a place where they will never find.” He might be the dancing equivalent of Ted Bundy. (edg)

I ride my bike down 2nd avenue every day on my way to work. A few weeks ago, during the United Nations 64th General Assembly, there was a week where cops everywhere diverting traffic away from 1st avenue, closing down entire lanes on 2nd avenue, shuttling diplomats to and from the U.N., and generally making commuters insane. One morning on my way to work, the phrase “Protect Dem Diplomatz” popped into my head, and I knew it had to become a song.

I culled samples from about 20 different songs and just lined them up end to end, recorded some vocals and here is the finished product. I wish the refrain sounded a bit less like “Who Let the Dogs Out,” but it’s not bad for about six hours work, and it’s always nice to have an excuse to break out my vocoder. Oh, and since no one seems to understand the sample at the end except me, it’s Method Man saying, “he’ll be like ‘oh sh*t, that’s the jam!’”* Special thanks to Sarah for the “say whaaaaat?” at the very end.

*This song is not work safe. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Streaming:

Download:

Dem Diplomatz

(right-click and press “save target as” to save the song to your desktop)

For September, I’m changing up the music round just a bit. During the month, all music round songs will come from the 1980s. So pull out your old cassette tapes of Madonna, Tears For Fears, The Police, The Cars, et al. because some of those tunes are bound to show up at some point.

Here’s a few clues to songs that could be used in the music round on Sept. 2. The link will take you to iTunes to hear a sample of the songs.

The Safety Dance – Men Without Hats

Tuff Enuff – The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood

You Dropped a Bomb On Me – The Gap Band

It’s Tricky – Run-DMC

Keep Your Hands to Yourself – The Georgia Satellites

Dancing Dwarf… check!

Bouncy blonde babe… check!

Medieval imagery… check!

Pagan overtones… check!

What else, really, is there to say about the bonkers brilliance of the video for Men Without Hats‘ 1983 (in the UK, 1982 in the US) hit The Safety Dance?

Enjoy!

August 7, 2029—Sony Universal EMI Music Group on Tuesday will release a holographic version of  The Essential Michael Jackson collection, marking the first time a complete album has been released in 3D immersive format.

The new release will allow users to actually feel as if they’re in the videos with the late King of Pop. They can strut with Jackson and the gang-bangers on “Beat It,” moonwalk with him on stage to “Billie Jean,” morph from one ethnicity to another in “Black or White,” and boogie with the zombies on “Thriller.”

While this marks the first immersive album ever released, Sony Universal EMI has been releasing a number of holographic singles from the vintage days of elaborately-staged music videos. Those include Men Without Hats’ “Safety Dance,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, and the beloved “Karma Chameleon” by Boy George and Culture Club.  Costumes are not included.

A video which has probably more hits on youtube than actually copies sold. Big budget video with trained dwarfs dancing plus a whole village turnout should on paper make this a great video. Instead its just a very strange moment in time.  ”We can dance we can dance, everybody use your hands” has to be the strangest lyrics for acouple of years. It reminds me of maid Marion on cbbc in the late 80s/early 90s. Enjoy

I love this song it makes my day every time I hear it. If I had a show this would be my theme song.

safety dance

Good morning people! I’m still not used to being back- something about all this noise is really hitting me hard! Damn, even the suburbs are ridiculously noisy all the time, which is why my 5 am run this morning was such a pleasure. Simply put, it was quiet. Which reminded me again why I must try to get away from it all more often than I do.

Delta police are finally recommending charges against the mountie involved in a fatal accident that took the life of  21 year old Orion hutchinson back in October 2008. Constable Benjamin Monty Robinson could be facing one charge of impaired driving causing death, and one count of dangerous driving causing death, as police have forwarded the charges to Crown for approval. Orion Hutchinson was struck by the mounties vehicle and died of his injuries. At the time, Robinson was driving with his two children in the car, and left the scene immediately. He was later arrested, given a breathalyzer which he failed. He claims he was not drunk while driving, but upon leaving the scene with his kids, had two shots of vodka  that put him over the limit. Yeah…… sure. You may recall Robinson is also one of the officers directly involved in the taser death of Robert Dziekanski ( warning: this link takes you to the video of the incident)at the Vancouver Airport in 2007, the investigation of is still ongoing in the Braidwood Inquiry. At this time, none of those officers are facing charges.

This is what I think about drunk driving related charges. In my opinion, any death as a result of someones choice to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs is not an accidental death. I would compare it to a homicide. I don’t care what defense the sleazy lawyers come up with, if you know you are going to be drinking, make arrangements. No excuses. Robinson has set up the perfect defense so far, as I hear it. Left the scene, but allegedly left his identification and returned to the site of the accident, thereby he didn’t ” hit and run”.  By leaving the scene, he gives opportunity for the defense to show that the possibility was available that he could have consumed alcohol after the collision, although a judge has already denied that claim in the officers attempt to get his licence back earlier this year. This is one case that is sure to receive much media attention because of the notoriety of the officer involved.

Over the past few years, there have been a a number of missing persons cases that remain unresolved in the lower mainland, in particular, several surrounding the abrupt disappearances of young men between 18 and 35. Some of the victims families believe the cases may be related and some are said to have similarities, although RCMP have not made any connections.

 CBC has now compiled a list of the men, complete with photos, descriptions and the particulars of each case- all of which can be accessed HERE. In the interest of closure for the families, I’d urge you to look at the photos and if there is anything you know – no matter how insignificant it may seem – or anyone you recognise, get in touch with the RCMP or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 to remain anonymous.

Summer in near and that means that B.C.’s recreational areas are about to be flooded with people escaping the confines of the city. Although most people take precautions against mosquito and fly bites, surprisingly there are still many who are not aware of the potential danger of tick bites.Here in BC we have a majority of western black-legged ticks, otherwise known as deer ticks. The danger in a tick bite comes if the tick is carrying Lyme disease, something that is easy to handle if diagnosed early, but creates a multitude of health problems if not caught. The problem is that diagnosis here in BC is not often easy, and so often physicians will give antibiotics with a reported tick bite, regardless of whether the tick has Lyme or not.

This is something I dealt with last year after my 4 year old son received a tick bite in May while at our getaway place off the sunshine coast. It seems the tick hopped on his clothing while going up or down the beach cliff trail, and not knowing ticks were found on the island, I didn’t think to check his body after the beach excursion. it wasn’t until later that afternoon when I noticed a dark spot on the back of his head, among his hair under the little hollow at the base of his skull. Sure enough, the deer tick had embedded itself and was already feeding and starting to swell. Ick! Never having removed one, we called someone on island who was familiar with their removal, and she had it out in no time. We kept the tick in a small jar -as everyone should- for testing if need be at the CDC in Vancouver.  Unfortunately, in the week after our return, my son developed a fever and swollen glands, and it was decided that a full course of antibiotics would be the safest bet for a full recovery.  So, learn from this mistake, because ticks are found all over the lower mainland , the Fraser valley, the sunshine coast and the rest of BC.

And last, but not least, if you are a child of the eighties like I am, you’ll,like,totally get me,dude, when I tell you that this was one of the most totally bitchin’ music videos of my youth….. ( ohmygod,I’m like,totally, like, dating myself here..) But hey, it still makes me get up and dance!

El canal de música VH1  difundió en Latinoamérica por varias semanas la serie “Los  100  más grandiosos one hit wonders de los 80″ donde  se mostraron a bandas o cantantes que sólo gozaron de la fama de una canción en las listas de popularidad Estados Unidos,  aunque algunos continuaron siendo famosos en sus países de origen.

Actualmente cuando se habla de una agrupación que sólo tuvo un hit,  se le identifica con el sello del fracaso por no lograr más en la industria musical, sin embargo al conocer la dificultad de mantener un prestigio por cuestiones de creatividad o incluso de negocio, esta percepción debería cambiar, ya que no es fácil hacer un sencillo y menos aún que sobreviva al paso del tiempo, y que además marquen una época, en este caso los 80’s.

En Inquisidor71  sólo escogimos los 20 primeros de la lista de VH1, aunque no todos fueron temas importantes en México u otras partes de Latinoamérica. Esta es la lista:

20.- Rockwell – “Somebody’s watching me”. Esta canción de este intérprete de color llegó en el momento en que Michael Jackson estaba comenzando su dominio mundial, así que escuchar sus coros en ese tema fue un gran apoyo para este cantante.

19.- Dead or Alive – “You Spin me round (Like a record)”. En Inglaterra no sólo estaba la drag queen de  Boy George, también estaba  Pete Burns de Dead or Alive, que a ritmo de high energy lanzó una exitosa canción para las discotecas ochenteras, mostrando que era todo un genio de la música bailable. Actualmente este cantante en Inglaterra es más conocido por su cambio de imagen femenina con puro bisturí.

18. Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock – “It takes two”. Este tema no nos dice mucho en Latinoamérica, pero en Estados Unidos es un clásico de la música negra, antes del hip-hop, y es un cover de Lyn Collins de su tema  “Think (about it)”. En este blog se los cambiamos por “Words” del francés F.R David que en la radio de los 80’s en México fue una bomba, la pasaban interminablemente, y en Europa también tuvo un gran éxito.

17.- Men Without Hats – “The safety dance”. Este tema y su video puede considerarse como bizarro, debido a que se realiza en una supuesta feria medieval, pero con sonido de sintetizadores que en ese tiempo fue la pura vanguardia.

16.-  Nena – “99 Luftballons”. Esta banda alemana irrumpió con su tema en todo el mundo, en Estados Unidos gustó su versión original y no la del idioma inglés que realizaron para ese mercado, aunque en México la canción en ambos idiomas gustó de la misma forma.

15.- Devo – “Whip it”. Todos pensaban que esta banda de tecno-rock podría dar más sencillos, ya que “Whip it” era realmente una joya en las listas de popularidad, pero seguramente las regalías que lograron con este tema aún deben mantener perfectamente sus cuentas bancarias.

14.-  Big Country – “In a big country”. La primera vez que vi a Big Country fue en los Grammy  -no recuerdo el año- pero fue cuando también Culture Club fue premiado. Me gustó mucho su canción con adornos escoceses, de esa región británica eran originarios.  Su vocalista Stuard Adamson se suicidó a los 43 años de edad, tras varios años de luchar contra el alcoholismo.

13. Thomas Dolby – “She blinded me with science” . En los 80’s Dolby era visto como el nuevo David Bowie, no tanto por su imagen sino por el ingenio que mostraba en sus canciones. Aunque este tema lo catapultó en las listas, la realidad es que tenía más material interesante, pero declinó en seguir el camino de Depeche Mode, uno de sus contemporáneos.

Sin embargo, Thomas Dolby es el creador de la tecnología del ringtone, que es usado actualmente en 50 por ciento de los teléfonos móviles del mundo. Sin duda siempre tuvieron razón los críticos que lo catalogaban como un nuevo genio de la música.

12.-  Animotion – “Obsession”. Seré sincero, nunca supe cómo eran los Animotion hasta ver este programa. En los 80’s en México para un chico de clase baja era muy difícil tener acceso a MTV, los únicos videos que se veían eran los que presentaba la televisión abierta, y eran poco los espacios, pero yo los veía todos. A esta banda nunca la encontré en el televisor por casualidad, pero su canción sí sonaba mucho en las estaciones FM.

11.- Gary Numan -” Cars”.  Numan es visto como una gran influencia para muchas bandas electrónicas por este gran tema innovador para su época. A finales de los 90’s Fear Factory hizo un cover de este tema y en los coros tuvo a su mismísimo creador.

10.- Frankie goes to hollywood -  “Relax”. Todo mundo en los 80’s usó las camisetas que decían “Frankie say Relax”, aunque nadie tenía idea de a qué se refería. El tema fue censurado por la BBC  en Inglaterra y en Estados Unidos fue todo un suceso, además es un tema emblemático de la comunidad gay. 

9.- Kajagoogoo – “Too Shy”.  Los Kajagoogoo nunca me agradaron mucho, “Too shy” se me hacía una canción con un precoro muy bueno, pero lo demás nunca me sorprendió, sin embargo para el mundo fue una joya del pop. 

8.- Bow Wow Wow – “I want candy” . Esta canción es un clásico en Estados Unidos pero en México no lo es, lo único rescatable es que esta banda fue otro descubrimiento de Malcom McLaren, el ex manager de los Sex Pistols.  Les cambió esta canción por el tema de los ingleses Katrina and the waves, “Walking on Sunshine” que no fue incluido en la lista de los 100 Hit Wonders, se les fue o hubo problemas con los derechos de pasar la canción en televisión, es un misterio.

7.- Modern English – “I melt with you”. Este tema era un clásico de aquella estación FM Rock 101, ya que otras radiodifusoras no la pasaban, porque era considerada muy new wave, y no todo el público era fan de ese estilo. En Estados Unidos fue y sigue siendo un himno.

6.- Toni Basil – “Mickey”. Al principio podría parecer una canción ridícula, pero fue de los primeros temas que tuvo un video constante y sonante y eso la ayudó mucho a posicionarse a nivel mundial como número uno. En México no fue la excepción.

 5.- Soft Cell – “Tainted Love” . En 1981 el dueto liderado por Marc Almond hizo uno de los mejores covers de la historia, al darle un giro al tema de Gloria Jones de 1964 para convertirlo en una potente canción pop con una excelente calidad musical. A Soft Cell no se le puede considerar ser una agrupación de Hit Wonders, porque tuvieron más temas en las listas de su país, Inglaterra. 

4.- Tommy Tutone - ”867-5309 Jenny” . Este tema pudo haberlo escrito Bruce Springsteen, porque era una canción de formato puramente americano. El número telefónico que titula la canción lo tenía casualmente un DJ en Nueva Jersey, quien lo subastó por Ebay en febrero 2009 a un precio récord de 186, 853.09 dólares.

3.-  A- Ha – “Take on me”. Quizás sea la mejor canción hit wonder de los ochentas,  aunque VH1 la colocó en el número tres, y además también puede ser el mejor video de todos los tiempos, porque ha logrado trascender el paso del tiempo y las nuevas tecnologías. A-Ha sigue siendo muy famoso en Noruega, su lugar de origen,  y en México también se escucharon más sencillos de ellos, incluso llegaron a ser un acto estelar en el Rock in Rio en Brasil.

2.-  A Flock of  Seagulls –  ”I ran (So far away)”. Este tema es new wave puro, es prácticamente la esencia de ese movimiento que inundó el mundo del rock en los años 80’s. Y aunque el peinado del cantante es lo más ridículo y extravagante que he visto en mi vida, la forma de tocar  la guitarra en ese tema es una lección de como mezclar tus efectos y una forma sencilla de ejecutar una canción para oírte muy sofisticado.  

1.-  Dexys Midnight Runners – “Come on Eileen”. En  1982 me llamó mucho la atención esta canción de esta banda irlandesa, que se vestían con overoles de mezclilla, y que a pesar de que tenían un estilo muy folclórico, entró curiosamente en la categoría del new wave. VH1 la puso en el número uno, yo la hubiera dejado en un 20.

Nota: Increíblemente los videos de “Take on me” y “Mickey” de A-Ha y Toni Basil, respectivamente, no se encuentran en Youtube, aunque están en otras plataformas como Dailymotion, pero wordpress ya no los lee. Ni modo, puse algunas actuaciones alternativas de estos intérpretes.

5. Pop Goes The World (Men Without Hats)

4. Love, Sex, Intelligence (Shamen)

3. Mistadobalina (Del Tha Funkee Homosapien)

2. I wanna be your Dog (Iggy Pop)

1. Me Against the Music (Britney Spears vs. Madonna)

There are days when using shuffle on my Ipod is absolutely stellar.    I hear songs I haven’t heard in years and often completely forgotten.    I mean,   would I actually scroll around for Men w/o Hats and play Safety Dance?    When I can’t think of what to play,  shuffle can nail a band or energy level that perfectly matches my mood.   Surreal.  Suddenly and magically it strings together song after song and I get all jacked up and I forget I’m even driving.  Or once again playing air guitar on the steering wheel.   Which is a presumably horrifying scene for fellow commuters.   I am suddenly Milli Vanilli with grey hair.

And there are times when I wonder how the fuck a song ended up on my Ipod.   Or I’m being held in some interrogation cell in Guantanamo — forced to hear the likes of Barry Manilow .  He sure as shit did not write the songs the whole world sings.    I shriek when I shuffle onto such songs.   Terrified and embarrassed that someone may hear it.   And then there’s the rap, hip hop and bands like Rage Against the Machine.   Harsh, harsh lyrics.

Sometimes I leave my office for some coffee and come back to find that I’m blasting PIMP by 50 cent and other profanity-dominated lyrics down the hallway.  And for some reason,  I always end up with the unedited,  not-for-radio-play versions.  Which many of you never hear.  Listen at least half way to the parents advisory version of Jay Z’s “Can I get a “.   Okay.  Another fella I want to bring home to mother.

Basically accept that absent ear-buds, shuffle is never a good idea at work (or anywhere in public) unless you are able to directly,  and swiftly manage.

When this entire MP3 thing started I became obsessed.   All the songs I never owned could be mine.   In fact,  songs that I never even heard, but thought it would be nice to have for some reason.   One-hit-wonders where I would never buy the entire CD.  And so I began my mission to amass the largest library ever.   Sucked libraries from anyone that had a portable hard-drive.   Got up to 120 gig.   A complete mess.    Duplicates, triplicates,  songs with encrypted squeals to discourage file sharing.  And an Ipod that holds 80 gig.

It’s still a mess.  I have things backed up on 4 different hard drives now.   And each is different.   Completely.   Added to some,   cleaned others.  no idea how to merge.   I had collected music just in case someone would someday want to hear it a at party or something.    I don’t even have parties anymore.   And I never even liked Dave Matthews.    But I have about 78 Dave Matthew songs now,  just in case.

And I collected music from my travels around the world.   Some of it’s awesome.   Will I ever be in mood to hear flamenco dancing music,  Russian ballads,   Indian rap or bagpipes?    Dunno.   But I have it.    That and every Xmas album I owned.  Including one with 9 versions of Ave Maria.    And just in case,  40 TV tunes from the past.

Monty Python,  Miles Davis,   Skid Row,  Beethoven,  Led Zeppelin,  Donna Summer, the Stones,  Enya & the Clash.  It never,  ever ends.  Which goes to my first point.   Sometimes shuffle works and other times it’s excruciatingly confused.

And I’m screaming and running down the hall to push pause,  stop,  please,  sorry.

I’m not having the best of days.  When I’m in the funk there’s only one thing to bring me out of it:  midgets dancing to 80’s tunes……………..

Quite possibly the best song/video combo ever.  If you don’t think so……… well then you are just wrong.

by The Great White Gypsy

I need to start reading more.
The Informers is the latest adaptation of one of Bret Easton Ellis’ novels (he wrote Less than Zero, Rules of Attraction, and American Psycho), and it’s on par with its predecessors. The story has been done in every sub culture in every decade since the 1930’s. A bunch of people living in L.A. in 1983 lead seemingly glamorous lives, full of sex, drugs, and music. But beneath the trendy, hedonistic cultural expectations lie real people with real emotional problems.
The film starts at an upscale party in Beverly Hills, where one of the “popular” kids is hit by a car and killed in front of everyone. In the aftermath of this tragedy, the main characters start to reexamine their lives and their priorities. Several different characters and storylines intersect and parallel each other. Dynamics are explored between husband and wife (Billy Bob Thornton and Kim Basinger), father and son, estranged down-and-out relatives (Brad Renfro, Mickey Rourke), and committed relationships involving orgies (all the best ones seem to).
One of the failings of American Psycho (personally my favorite Ellis adaptation) was that it was difficult to successfully portray it as a period piece set in the ‘80’s. Aside from the ridiculously large “cell phones”, it didn’t look all that different from the year 2000. The Informers, however, is 1980’s through and through. From the cinematography and editing (very well done by Petra Korner and Robert Brakey respectively) down to the period- and tone-setting soundtrack which includes Flock of Seagulls, Wang Chung, Pat Benatar, and Men Without Hats (everybody look at your hands!)
There are many compelling characters in The Informers. The title is actually the name of a popular band in town for a tour during the film, and the lead singer is the typical drug-addled, oversexed icon with a failed marriage and self-destructive tendencies. Thornton and Basinger give great performances as another failed marriage giving it a second chance. Jon Foster (who actually looks like a young Christian Bale) is fed up with the superficial aspects of the high life, and wants more from his girlfriend (both of whom are sleeping with their best friend, Martin…damn ‘80’s). Even Renfro and Rourke add an interesting element to the story as part of the lower class struggling to make it in L.A.
As with most films involving intersecting storylines, however, The Informers falls into the trap of never really flushing out all of the stories or characters enough to make you feel like any significant progress is made. At crucial scenes towards the end, when characters are supposed to be having breakthrough developmental moments, it still comes off as insincere and forced. It’s bad enough to be left hanging by one plot course, but four in one film is even more dissatisfying.
Inexperienced director Gregor Jordan does a respectable job all in all, never really lacking in the technical aspects. This just seems like one of those movies that, though not a complete waste of time (like Rules of Attraction) was probably better as a novel. And seriously, with everything going on in the world right now, do I really need another movie showing me the “downside” to being rich and beautiful in L.A.? If I need a dose of that, I’ll turn on The Hills for a minute (damn those rich white people have it rough…)
Final Grade: B

Brittany Snow in the Gossip Girl episode "Valley Girls"

OMG! When last night’s “Valley Girl” episode of Gossip Girl began with Brittany Snow as a young Lily Rhodes (pre-Van Der Woodsen) driving a convertible through Malibu to the sounds of Missing Persons’ “Destination Unknown,” I knew we were in for a real treat. The 1983 flashbacks of Kelly Rutherford’s Gossip Girl character as an L.A. teen are the beginnings of what will hopefully be a spin off series on The CW this fall. Bring it on! I won’t reveal plot points in case you haven’t seen it yet, but I will say that the show’s music supervisor should be commended for the best selection of ’80s tunes ever: Huey Lewis’ “I Want a New Drug,” The English Beat’s “Mirror in the Bathroom,” Modern English’s “I Melt With You,” Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself,” The B-52’s “52 Girls,” New Order’s “Blue Monday,” Men Without Hats’ “Safety Dance,” and Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” are all featured prominently in the show. There’s reason to set your Tivo right there. Comment below on what ’80s gem(s) you’d like to hear in future episodes. And while you’re at it, voice your choice in today’s featured poll on which actor will have you tuning in this fall when The CW (hopefully!) picks up the show: Brittany Snow as Lily Rhodes, 80s teen heartthrob Andrew McCarthy as Richard Rhodes, or Krysten Ritter as Carol Rhodes.

Fick veta att jag lovat att gå på ett bröllop imorse. Jag fick veta det imorse alltså, bröllopet var inte då. Och jag ska tydligen hålla ett tal. Äntligen, är allt jag har att säga om det.

By now, it should be apparent that I have an affinity for synthesizer-driven 80’s music. In fact, there is very little of 80’s synth-pop, New Wave, avant-garde that I don’t like.

I also happen to have a healthy admiration for much of the music that evolved out of Canada during that time. Men Without Hats is no exception. Widely known for their heavily-rotated MTV hit “Safety Dance” featuring the rich baritone voice of Ivan Doroschuk and a very-80’s catchy dance-beat, the band endured through the 80’s with several line-up changes.

The founding duo, Doroschuk and brother Stefan formed the stable nucleus starting with the band’s first release Folk of the 80’s in 1980, while a host of other musicians wandered in and out over the span of about 11 years. Two one-time members went on to find fame in their own bands; Jean-Marc Pisapia as front-man for the widely popular Montreal-based band called The Box, and Terry Howe who went on to form Canada’s own Rational Youth.

“Safety Dance” broke the band in a huge, international way, coming from the album Rhythm of Youth released in 1982. They managed another international hit with “Pop Goes The World” from the album of the same name in 1987. Another LP, The Adventures of Women & Men Without Hate in the 21st Century, hit the bins in 1987. The band decided to drop the synthesizers for a more guitar-driven sound and released an album called Sideways in 1991. Unfortunately, that effort never gained any traction and the band broke up shortly after.

Their two international hits aside, Men Without Hats had so much more potential that was not fully recognized. A personal favorite, “Antarctica,” from the Rhythm of Youth LP blends the urgent post-punk vocals with the new Wave Dance beats flawlessly. The frenetically-paced “Ideas For Walls” from the same album is a masterpiece of 80’s composition. In fact, the entire album stands on its own as a perfect showcase for the true talents of this brilliant band, leaving its listeners aching to hear more.

Unfortunately, it was not to be, which is why in my estimation, Men Without Hats has earned its spot along with so many other Criminally Underrated 80’s artists and bands.

“Safety Dance” via YouTube user taze:

“Pop Goes the World” via YouTube user Standard999999:

“Antartica” via YouTube user kkkkkklf:

Discography

Purchase Men Without Hats Here

Folk of the 80’s (1980) EP – Canada only

Rhythm of Youth (1982)

Folk of the 80’s (Part III) (1984)

Freeways (1985) – Canada only

Pop Goes The World (1987)

The Adventures Of Men and Women Without Hate in the 21^st Century (1989)

Sideways (1991) – Canada  only

No Hats Beyond This Point (1993)

Last week, Heaven 17 announced that they are dropping out of this summer’s Regeneration Tour set for dates around the United States. A statement on the tour’s Web site says the band has canceled its participation due to “financial considerations” related to “unanticipated costs” and an “unfavorable exchange” rate.

As such the tour basically is reduced to four bands: ABC, Berlin, Wang Chung and Cutting Crew. Missing Persons will take some of the dates from Berlin it seems.

The withdrawal of Heaven 17 follows the withdrawal of Men Without Hats back in February, right after the tour lineup was originally announced. Men Without Hats had this to say:

“Due to circumstances beyond our control, Men Without Hats will not be joining the Regeneration tour this year. We would like to thank you very much for your continued support and for helping us land the gig in the first place. Hopefully we will be able to rectify the situation and see you all in the very near future.”

It’s a shame that the tour has lost two great synthpop bands that Americans haven’t been able to see very often (if at all) in recent years. I can attest that ABC and Berlin are both very much worth seeing, but I’m less certain about Wang Chang and Missing Persons–and I traditionally haven’t cared at all for the Cutting Crew.

I have to wonder if some further calamity will befall the Regeneration Tour’s lineup this year.