Happy Thanksgiving.

I hope our Native American friends like what we’ve done with the place.

Well.

Been AWOL for a while, but I now return with another entry in my ever expanding cache of pointless lists that nobody asked for.

Recently I was involved in a discussion about cover songs. No, I don’t know why. The point is, it spawned this little ditty -

The Top Ten Cover Songs You Probably Didn’t Even Realize Were Cover Songs.

It really is exactly what it says.

Ten: “The Man Who Sold the World.” (Nirvana)

I almost hate to admit it, but I think I genuinely prefer Nirvana’s live, unplugged version of this song to David Bowie’s 1970 original album version. While such a statement may seem somewhat blasphemous, in Nirvana’s defense I heard their version first – and, to add insult to injury, it’s really good. I suppose that your enjoyment of this song, like most on this list, simply boils down to when you were born, or when you first heard it. If you’re a child of the ’70s, you’ll probably prefer Bowie’s version. If, however, you are a child of the glorious ’90s, you’ll probably go for Kurt’s take on it. Regardless, the irony of the situation does not seem lost on Bowie himself. Thanks to Cobain covering it, even to this day when Bowie performs the song himself he comes across “kids that come up afterwards and say, ‘It’s cool you’re doing a Nirvana song.’ And I think, ‘Fuck you, you little tosser!’”

I think even Kurt Cobain could get behind that one. And he wasn’t really known for shooting off his mouth. (Just the area above it.)

Nine: “Black Magic Woman.” (Santana)

I honestly was not aware, literally up to this very moment, that this was originally a Fleetwood Mac song. Peter Green wrote it in 1968; Santana made it a hit in 1970. Better luck next time, Peter Green. Well, at least you still have Fleetwood Mac who I’m sure is going to be huge andOH YOU QUIT THE BAND.

BTW…who the fuck is Peter Green?

Eight: “Mr. Tambourine Man.” (The Byrds)

Bob Dylan is probably one of the most covered artists of all time. I say “probably” because I don’t know for sure and I’m too lazy to look it up. But rest assured, he’s gotta be, like, top twelve at least. Anyways, this is another instance of a song taking me by surprise. I’m sure more people are familiar with the Byrd’s trippy version of this song than Dylan’s original – myself included. Either version is solid, though – in fact, it has the (meaningless) honor of being only one of three songs to be included twice on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Songs. Not too shabby for a song about tambourines that (at least in Dylan’s version) doesn’t include any tambourineing.

Seven: “Lovers in a Dangerous Time.” (The Barenaked Ladies)

Little bit of Canadian content for y’all.

The Barenaked Ladies are a strange beast. They’re all fairly talented musicians who can write a hook filled pop masterpiece seemingly whenever they want to. It’s usually combined with bizarre to nonsensical lyrics that range from obscure pop culture references, to abstract fragments, to genuinely insightful commentary – all the while being either rapped by Ed Robertson or operatically sung by Steven Page with gleeful abandon.

Occasionally, they have curbed their wackier tendencies to produce something much more subdued and restrained, which can at times border on being fully beautiful.

Like their cover of this Bruce Cockburn song. After it’s release in 1991 (fittingly for a Cockburn tribute album) it became a Canadian radio staple – a certifiable hit for the band. Even now it continues to crop up on the radio from time to time, though you rarely – if ever – hear Cockburn’s original.

Six: “No More I Love Yous” (Annie Lennox)

This song easily could have made my Thirteen Guilty Pleasure Songs You Hate to Love. (Or Love to Hate) list as well. But it didn’t, and luckily it’s found itself a new avenue for infamy on my blog as being a catchy as hell song we all instantly recognize as an Annie Lennox ditty, but was in fact originally written and performed by some band called “The Lover Speaks.” No, I’ve never heard of them either, and when I type the name into Google image search, a confusing array of pictures, none of which features anything remotely similar to a band, comes up. So apparently even the internet has forgotten about them as well.

I think that what I’m trying to say is, cover though it may be…I think Annie’s pretty much got a monopoly on this song. Good for her!

Five: “Downtown Train.” (Rod Stewart)

Rod Stewart covers Tom Waits. There’s something funny to be said here, but I honestly don’t know what it is.

No, not funny – weird.

The Stewart song is the radio friendly one; the Waits version is the “good” one. In fact, if there ever comes a time when you’re contemplating downloading or buy Rod Stewart’s entire discography, I urge you to just download Wait’s 1985 masterpiece Rain Dogs instead. You can thank me later.

Four: “Hallelujah.” (Jeff Buckley)

Now, to be fair, I think people are about as aware of the Buckley version of this beautiful song as they are of the Leonard Cohen original. Both versions are excellent, by the way – thanks to Cohen’s poetic lyrics and simple, yet evocative melody. But it will forever be associated with Buckley – partly due to his untimely and tragic death, and partly do to his stunning and haunting arrangement of it. Cohen wrote a classic, artistic ballad; Jeff Buckley perfected it.

Three: “Nothing Compares 2 U.” (Sinead O’Connor)

I had no idea this was originally a Prince song. I suppose the number “2″ and the letter “u” in the title should have helped tip me off, but it didn’t. I truly thought this was an original song by Sinead. And, after hearing Prince’s version, I’d like to continue thinking that, please.

Incidentally, this song title was the inspiration behind U2’s name.

No it wasn’t.

Two: “Respect.” (Aretha Franklin)

“Respect” is to Aretha Franklin what “Nothing Compares 2 U” is to Sinead O’Connor – a signature song. A song that we immediately identify with these artists, and, when thinking about these artists, it’s usually the first one that pops into our noggins’. It seems odd then, that both these womens signature songs should be covers. I don’t really know what that says about them, except that they both totally own these tunes. Otis Redding may have been the first to spell out the word “respect” for mass audiences, but it was tailor made for the Queen of Soul. I’ve never heard Otis Redding’s version of the song, and have no need to; no one could possibly come close to matching Aretha.

One: “All Along the Watchtower.” (Jimi Hendrix)

Dylan’s was good. HIS was better.

From the iconic opening guitar riff, to the whacked out solo, this is the definitive version of Bob Dylan’s tune. It’s been covered countless times since, but Jimi’s 1968 version remains the one to top. It’s a song that makes people go “REALLY?” whenever somebody mentions that it’s not a Hendrix track, but one of Dylan’s.

Which I think perfectly sums up just what this list is all about.

Well.

There were a few more songs that I came across that would have fit this list, but I tried to wittle it down to the best ten. Feel free to tell me what I missed and mock my attempt in general below.

So, until tomorrow, enjoy some Annie Lennox.

And you damn well know you will.

Doo doo doo doo doo doo…WHOA OH.

I feel like I need to rant.  I’m probably going to upset some people, but if I do, I will take the kicking.  If I can dish it out, I can take it in return.

What is it about entertainers who feel the need to “push the envelope”?  Especially when historically, pushing the envelope seems to be all about sex?

Is this about Adam Lambert?  Only in part.  Is it about Adam Lambert being gay?  Not at all.  What is it about?  I guess, in a nut shell, it’s about sexually charged “entertainment” on television.

Adam wasn’t the first entertainer to cause controversy.  Remember Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction?  How about Madonna sharing an open mouthed kiss with Christian Aguilera and Britney Spears?  Then there was Sinead O’Connor and her attack against the Catholic Church (ok, this one was sexual, but political).  How many people remember the controversy that Jim Morrison of the Doors caused when he not so mistakenly sang the original lyrics to “Light My Fire” after agreeing not to? (which ok, wasn’t sex related but drug related, but maybe still sex related because the line in the song referred to a girl).

Maybe you will see me as an old fogey or something, or simply to conservative, but over the top sex, drugs and political messages do not belong on National Television where the younger citizens can see it, and perhaps be influenced by it.

I have to agree with TV Critic Jack Gould, back in 1965 when he commented about Elvis Presley’s gyrating.  “It isn’t about censorship, which solves nothing.  It’s about common sense.”

Really, I couldn’t agree more.

I didn’t watch the AMA award show.  Why?  Frankly because, although I love music, I have become increasingly tired of watching senseless over-indulgence in the name of entertainment.

I’m not a big fan of Adam Lambert, I don’t like his style of music.  But if I were, and I went to one of his concerts, I might have been shocked by a similar act, but ok, I paid for a ticked so I get what I pay for.  But to know that so many younger children saw that performance on television frankly makes me ill.

The other people I mentioned?  I feel the same way, except for maybe the one about The Doors, but maybe back then I would have felt the same.

The problem is this.  I have enough trouble trying to teach my child that sexually based entertainment isn’t an accurate portrayal of sex as it is.  I don’t need some entertainer, citing free speech, showing their breast, gyrating like a loon, endorsing drugs, or depicting sexual material, especially when it’s so “alternative lifestyle” like bondage fueled performances.  Frankly, I would hate the dreaded question from my pre-teen (which I no longer have by the way, she is grown) of, daddy why is that woman kissing that woman, or that man kissing that man, or even why is that guy leading that guy around on a leash like a dog?

These types of things are inappropriate to the general public.  You want to do it in one of your concerts, fine.  Go right ahead.  At least then I have a choice of paying to see it.  When I’m watching a live performance on television, I don’t have a choice of seeing it and if you’re an entertainer, pay attention.  I don’t want to see crap like that.  Many people don’t.  Many people do, but it shouldn’t be forced on me, or my chosen lifestyle.  If I can’t force you to stop participating in drug fueled sexual parties, then I shouldn’t be forced to participate in them.  Get it?

Come on people.  Try waking up a little.  How far are we going to go with this?  Are we going to keep pushing the envelope so much that sex becomes nothing but a thoughtless act?  Or drugs to become acceptable?  Or political gestures of any kind common place?

That’s not entertainment, it’s destruction.  Destruction of common sense, morality, decency, and general entertainment.

Maybe it’s time there was a little censorship.  I don’t normally agree with censorship, but I think if people can’t have the decency to act appropriate in situations like this, something must be done.

And you know what really ticks me off?  If I was an entertainer, and I stood up after my performance on National Television, and started preaching about Christ, and Sin, I would have been run out of town.  But it’s ok to act like a deranged sexual deviant, or attack religion, or endorse things that are illegal.

Does that make sense?  Not to me.

So I guess I will close with this.  If you are an entertainer, keep your kinks to the appropriate venue and to the society in general, wake up and stop supporting those who refuse.

~ Kev

todos merecemos ressurgir depois de ter Tróia queimada.

There is no other Troy for you to burn.

Doug Chaplin has tagged me on this one. It’s a bloggers (though I’m still not so sure I am one) chain-letter. The meme asks us to share eight memorable musical moments, not favourite pieces, but the moments in which music combined to create memory. The rules are

Think of eight memorable musical moments, not necessarily all time favourites, but those when, for example, you felt compelled to wait in the car when listening to this amazing song on the radio because you just had to know who it was by. Or the piece you heard on the tv in a drama that drove you straight onto iTunes to download… (remember once we spent the princely sum of 6s 8d on a vinyl single?!). Optional details for each song give where, why and Spotify or youtube links …

At least I can say that I’m still too young to ever spent 6/8 (that’s 33⅓ p) on anything. Here are my eight, in no particular order

1. A Love Supreme by John Coltrane. When I was twenty, I bought a couple of editions of a jazz magazine. Each copy came with a cassette, and an excerpt from A Love Supreme was on one of them. I was rapt by its troubled passion, its prayer is total humanity communing with the divine. I love it, but jazz is musical marmite.

2. Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards by Billy Bragg. I remember buying a cassette of his album Workers Playtime as a teenager. This track is the last on the album, and I remember playing it over and over. The mixture of protest song, poetry and humour was an inspiring first to me, and turned me into a complete Bragg fan. Below is an updated version rather than the one I know. It’s still good, but I miss the lines “Doctor Robert Oppenheimer’s optimism fell at the first hurdle” and “The revolution is just a t-shirt away”.

3. Cantique de Jean Racine by Gabriel Fauré. This was sung by friends of the bride and groom at a wedding I took. The wedding was moving for pastoral reasons, and the gentle, thoughtful beauty of this song has remained with me. Last year, I sang this with the Wolfson(g)ians and loved singing its soaring, melodic tenor line.

4. Prelude, Adagio et Choral varie sur le theme du ‘Veni Creator’, Op. 4 by Maurice Duruflé. This magnificent organ piece came on the radio one dark and stormy evening. It’s a musical history of the Holy Spirit, and leads into the ancient hymn Veni Creator Spiritus.

5. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2. Just as U2 were getting big, before they got messianic, there was the Joshua Tree album. The live recording with New Voices of Freedom on Rattle & Hum is still my favourite.

6. Deus in adjutorium by Claudio Monteverdi. I sang this in a choir in Durham Cathedral as a young undergrad. It was my introduction to early music. Its monotonous opening is almost shocking, punctuated by outbursts of brass, before opening out like an estuary in the alleluia.

7. Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinéad O’Connor. I remember when this was all over the radio, and then I saw this video.

8. Goldberg Variations by JS Bach. I’ve got a Glenn Gould recording. This is perfect for sunny mornings at home.

I now tag cycads.

Niste piese care “m-au lovit” acasa care imi palc mult si mi-au dat o stare de ….. nu stiu cum sa ii spun, dar poate o sa gasesc vreo babuta ghicitoare sa im spuna ea ce, unde si in ce fel am fost “lovit”

si

Este drept ca au fost mai multe doar, recunosc, doar pe ele le-am retinut.

It’s amazing how much of a woman’s identity is wrapped up in her hair. Even if it’s terrible hair, it’s still a defining characteristic. Can you imagine trying to describe someone without being able to talk about their hair? “She’s about my height, and she has lips and ears,  brown eyes. You know who I’m talking about, right?”

When I’m bald, I could be anyone, any ethnic derivation, any age. First thing in the morning, in my bathroom mirror, I could be  a hundred-year-old Chinese man. Late at night, in a dark room, maybe a little Yul Brynner around the eyes. Now that it’s growing in a wee bit, possibly sort of Sinead O’Connor, sans sunglasses. (Although I was hoping for G.I. Jane.)

But of all the things I’ve lost to cancer, I miss my eyelashes the most. Eyebrows can be penciled on; a good wig can fool most people into thinking I have hair. But you just can’t fake eyelashes. Even though dark lines of kohl on top and bottom lids come close, they lack the softness of a fringe of actual hairs. And have you ever tried a full line of artificial lashes? It looks like leggy caterpillars have parked on your eyelids. ::shudder::

The really odd part (I know, like there needs to be another one?) of being hairless is how you look in photographs. Even if your makeup and “hair” are perfect, there’s a shiny reflectiveness to your skin that the flash creates that strikes me as the real tell-tale of a chemo patient. Because your skin has lost all its hair, including the downy little hairs that cover the skin all over your body, especially your face, the naked skin looks greasy and plastic in pictures. No one warned me about that part: no matter how deft your hand at decoy, the picture tells a thousand words about what’s going on inside.

So now that the lashes/peach fuzz/brows are growing back (yea, shaving!), it’s so much easier to look like a girl. Don’t miss my curls yet, as my wig is so fabulous. But it’s such a delight to have lashes again. Keep your eyes peeled for excessive eyelid batting.

Following on from her involvement in the ActionAid 6 Degrees recording of ‘I’m Every Woman’ earlier this year, Sinéad O’Connor has re-recorded one of her own songs in aid of anti sex trafficking organisation GEMS (Girls Education and Mentoring Services) to raise awareness about the rising incidence of child prostitution in the United States. The new version of ballad ‘This Is To Mother You’, originally from her 1997 EP Gospel Oak, was recorded over the summer at Dublin’s legendary Windmill Lane Studios. Headed up by production team Doc McKinney (Santigold, Esthero) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest, Lucy Pearl), it also features Mary J Blige and GEMS member Martha B on backing vocals, recorded separately at a studio in New York. “It’s a song about survival,” she told journalists at a press conference. “I myself am a survivor, not of sex trafficking but of severe child abuse. So this is obviously a subject that I can identify with when it comes to young girls trying to get out of bad situations and make a good life for themselves. To me, the song was a part of me talking to me.”

“I’m honored that Sinéad donated the song for our campaign,” said Rachel Lloyd, GEMS Executive Director. “To have artists of her and Mary’s caliber taking a stand and joining our campaign to promote girls’ empowerment and education as critical tools in the fight against child traffickers is incredible. It is even more special to have Martha, a GEMS member who I have known since she was 14, realise her dream and be included on this song.” Mary J Blige, who recently opened a women’s refuge in upstate New York, speaks just as highly of the track, saying ”It describes how I feel about my work and how so many fans view me – as a mentor and a mother figure. It has always been my dream to be able to encourage women and let them know that if I can make it, they can make it too despite any physical and emotional abuses they may endure.”

The new version of ‘This Is To Mother You’ gets a digital release on December 2 with profits being donated to GEMS’ Girls Fund. Do a good deed and download it.

Alan Pedder

Hace 20 años, un 9 de noviembre de 1989, se desmoronaba el último símbolo de la guerra fría en Alemania, el muro que dividía a Berlín…

Mother do you think they’ll drop the bomb
Mother do you think they’ll like the song
Mother do you think they’ll try to break my balls
Ooooh aah, Mother should I build a wall
Mother should I run for president
Mother should I trust the government
Mother will they put me in the firing line
Ooooh aah, is it it just a waste of time *
Hush now baby don’t you cry
Mama’s gonna make all of your
Nightmares come true
Mama’s gonna put all of her fears into you
Mama’s gonna keep you right here
Under her wing
she won’t let you fly but she might let you sing
Mama will keep baby cosy and warm
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
Of course Mama’s gonna help build the wall

Mother do think she’s good enough for me
Mother do think she’s dangerous to me
Mother will she tear your little boy apart
Oooh aah, mother will she break my heart
Hush now baby, baby don’t you cry
Mama’s gonna check out all your girl friends for you
Mama won’t let anyone dirty get through
Mama’s gonna wait up till you come in
Mama will always find out where
You’ve been
Mamma’s gonna keep baby healthy and clean
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
You’ll always be a baby to me
Mother, did it need to be so high.

Acaban de pasar las celebraciones del día de muertos, en algunas partes se celebra de alguna forma, en algunas otras partes se celebra de otra manera, en algunos lugares se celebra Hallowen, hace un año en nippix lo celebramos con una semana temática, este año simplemente no nos organizamos, síndrome de tiempos complicados… más allá de haber caído en este lapsus melodramático, la idea de hacer este post me vino precisamente pensando en que canciones son mis preferidas para cuando llegue el momento de rendir cuentas con el altísimo (cualquiera que sea su concepción del mismo) llegue.

Si hubiera un fin del mundo tipo “War of worlds”, “Independence day” o “Evangelion” y mientras este montado en un mecha gigante matando marcianos esta es la rola que me gustaría escuchar:

la canción se llama Where do you go to my lovely y es tocada por el indú Peter Sarstedt, sin más razón porque en mi cabeza ese escenario encuentra esta canción como la canción perfecta.

Otra canción es la de Jackie, que originalmente es de la artista irlandesa Sinéad O’Connor, pero que Placebo la toca con especial sentimiento:

and I remember the day
that the young man came
said your jackie’s gone
he’s lost in the rain
and i ran to the beach… and lay me down

En un tono más alegre, otra canción que habla acerca de la muerte es “The Golden path” de los Chemical Brothers, el video es bastante alegre a pesar de que si analizamos la letra, esta no lo es tanto:

Vera Lynn, canta “We’ll meet again” que Stanley Kubrick utiliza al final de la película “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”, habla de dos personas que se volverán a ver, sin saber donde ni cuando, pero cuando se vuelvan a ver será en un día soleado y habrá felicidad. Mucho de como nos pintan la vida, después de pasar.. el túnel de luz.

Johnny Cash en su disco “American IV The: man comes around” es una apología de canciones que bien podrían haber sido su epitafio, poco tiempo despues de haberlo publicado, el cantante de Country murío, este disco fue un regalo póstumo de este autor.

Con una fuerza melodramática, Cash interpretó un cover a NIN: Hurt, el video esta plagado de imagenes extraídas de su vida, combinadas con un Johnny Cash añejo, listo para lo que venga.

Simon & Garfunkel tienen varias canciones que han salido en varias películas, una de ellas es, precisamente, una de las mejores películas que se estrenaron en México este año: Watchmen.

The sound of silence, aunque no es una canción que hable acerca de muerte, la visión que se lee en las líricas es de un ambiente onírico, surrealista e hiperrealista, se dice que el sueño es como morir un poco, por lo que los terrenos del sueño, no le son extraños al tanatos.

Por último, una canción del grupo inglés Radiohead: “last flowers”, desde el título la imagen nos remite a las últimas flores que alguien reciba, dentro de la canción el coro final dice:

it’s too much, too bright, too powerful
too much, too bright, too powerful

Lo que se relacióna directamente con el tunel de luz que algunas personas que han regresado de la muerte, afirman haber visto, sin más que decir…

Como diría el poeta tabasqueño Carlos Pellicer en su “Discurso por las flores“:

El pueblo mexicano tiene dos obsesiones:
el gusto por la muerte y el amor a las flores.

DEBASTEITOR... SMASH!!!!

**WARNING/Clarification**  This post is not addressing transsexual lifestyles.  The subjects of this post are guys and girls who are “guys” and “girls” Ex. Guy = penis, girl = vagina.  Guys that want to be guys but happen to look, dress and act like girls.  Girls who want to be girls but look, dress and act like guys.**

In fashion, androgyny is a style.  Many celebrities have adopted this style – see photos below.  But what really adds to an already confusing world is day-to-day androgyny.  Unexpected androgyny!

Have you ever been out and about, and had someone walk by you and had no idea if they were a guy or a girl?

For many of us, this is an every day occurence. With the large number of fat people in this day and age, it’s becoming harder and harder to tell. There are many men who have breasts larger than 50% of the female population. This is disgusting. Most of them make no attempt to hide their hideousness with a mumu or large baggy clothing. Some even resort to buying a man-bra to hold those fatty love sacks in place. We do not want to see this. Please get another XXXL shirt, and write “I AM A MAN” on the back, that way there will be no confusion.

The number of men and boys these days that are wearing skinny jeans is increasing, attempting to make themselves more attractive and show off their skinny legs. The number of men with long flowing locks is also increasing, many men purchase female hair products to maintain such hairstyles. These two factors combined with a sharing of clothes amongst genders provides a large amount of people who look like the opposing sex. This needs to be stopped. If you choose to wear the opposite sexes clothes, for their style, then please use the rest of your outfit to clearly state whether you are male or female.

This problem doesn’t just apply to men. Women are just as bad.  Some girls go out of their way to HIDE their distinct womanly features making it even harder to distinguish. Ladies, you were given boobs so show them off. At least let us know that you have them. It’s not like we all have X-Ray vision and can see through your pants to tell if you have a vagina or not. We are all aware that women in the workplace choose to wear coats and suits with broader shoulders to make themselves seem more masculine and equal to their male counterparts. You do not have to look like a man to be powerful. We all know straight men are more turned on by attractive women then women trying to be equal to them. Be a woman, rise above the men and make them unequal to you.

The Queens of Androgyny: Sinead O’Connor, Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton

People get mad when you accidentally address them as the wrong gender. And who are they to get mad at you? It’s their fucking fault for being a fatty or wearing manly clothes. If you look like a man, I’m going to address you as a man. I am not going to take the time to try and figure out “what you are.”  This isn’t London Fashion Week, you are not famous and cannot pull off the look.

This is even worse when a couple has one member that is genderless. Then you don’t know if the couple is gay, or straight, or IS one a girl? Or which one is the girl?

This is why the The Extreme Tomboy Effect is the bitch of the day. So please, ladies, let us know you’re ladies. And fat guys who look like ladies, lose some fucking weight.

a lot of people wish that they read more. i am one of them.

so i’m making my own valiant effort to get a book under my belt every month.

last month was the new donald miller.
and what an amateur thrill to get to the afterword and be that excited that i finished it. i have an enormous habit of reading a quarter of a book and then losing interest. i have stacks of “i only read to chapter 3″ books.

octobers was another book that almost fell victim to the same habit. i had picked up “scar tissue” by anthony kiedis back in cape town sometime in june. i started reading it, got distracted, and it felt no love for a couple months.
then i strictly implemented this goal and since i didn’t want it to be yet another book i sort of read, i picked it up again.

the lead singer of the red hot chili peppers has lived an insane life. an insane life.
it took 465 pages for his life to unravel so i can’t exactly sum it up well, but he has done and felt and been everything under the sun.
he has gone full tilt since infancy and its this awesome, awesome story. and it wasn’t even the typical he-did-a-lot-of-drugs-and-bed-a-lot-of-women story (even though he did those things in excess). he did it with this huge, real-life pumping and beating heart, just like everyone else has, and the emotion and awareness behind his story speak higher than just the typical rock-and-roll lifestyle.

he had a wild father who was lord of the sunset strip. he started smoking dope at 11, was quietly schooled by george clinton and mentored by sonny bono. he went out dancing in a frock dress with no underwear and black combat boots and faxed love poems to his girl, sinéad o’connor. he spent new years with kurt cobain and helped put a then unknown pearl jam on the map by giving them an opening gig. 

here are some of my highlighted lines:

“go get out of yourself and do something for someone else, voila, you don’t feel like shit anymore.”

“i’ve wanted to feel pleasure to the point of insanity. they call it getting high, because it’s wanting to know that higher level, that godlike level. you want to touch the heavens, you want to feel glory and euphoria, but the trick is that it takes work. you can’t buy it, you can’t get it on a street corner, you can’t steal it or inject it or shove it up your ass, you have to earn it.”

“to me, my life was what was in front of me.”

i love that he articulated this, because it is so, so true: “a lot of times people will judge you on their perceived idea of how you’re acting. if you’re in a room and you’re feeling shy and you don’t want a certain amount of attention, you’re not going out of your way to make friends with everybody. then someone’s going to walk away going, “that arrogant motherf*cker, he didn’t even try to talk to me.” you’re trying to lay low and not make a big deal about yourself, but they’re seeing you as this guy who’s all that and a bag of f*cking chips.”

“time and distance have a way of playing tricks with your best intentions.”

talking about drug addiction, “you’re not creating the ripple of love; you’re creating the vacuum of shit.”

and the clutch quote:

“i had a distinct feeling, even though i didn’t have a concrete means of achieving it, that whatever i ended up doing with my life, i wanted to make people feel the way this music was making me feel. the only problem was that i wasn’t a guitar player and i wasn’t a bass player and i wasn’t a drummer and i wasn’t a singer, i was a dancer and a party maniac, and i didn’t quite know how to parlay that into a job.”

he turns 47 today. so hey, happy birthday mr. kiedis.

A perfect song for this Gloomy/Cloudy/Sexy/Rainy day.

Sinéad O’Connor – Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered

This song is great, huh?  Most people know that Prince wrote it, I’m not bending any minds with that factoid.  But I was wondering today how those two ever collaborated, as they seem like they live in different universes.  So I looked it up, and holy shit do they have history.  Click to read it.

In a 2007 interview, the always weirdly angry Sinead told the Mirror:

“I met him twice when Nothing Compares 2 U was a hit,” she recalls. “At the time he had a lot of female protégées and I had covered his song without having anything to do with him. He invited me to his house in Los Angeles and started to give out to me for swearing in interviews. When I told him to go f*** himself he got very upset and became quite threatening, physically. I ended up having to escape.”

But he’s such a small guy.

“He can pack a punch,” she says. “A few blows were exchanged. All I could do was spit. I spat on him quite a bit.”

In 2005 when someone yelled out “PRINCE!” during one of her concerts, she yelled “Fuck that fucking midget!”

I think I like Charlie Murphy’s Prince story better.  Any story that ends in pancakes, really.

 It’s another grim day following a night of rain. The sky is gray and threatening but the temperatures are climbing, so it’s as warm and humid as dog’s breath. Wet leaves blow down from the trees and plaster themselves on the lawns and sidewalks. Still, I managed to get out for a walk between showers and returned home only minutes before a new deluge. Here’s what I heard on the iPod shuffle.

 (1) Walter Becker. “Hard Up Case” from 11 Tracks of Whack. A song from Becker’s first solo album, an overlooked gem. Had Donald Fagen been singing the vocals it could have been one of the best Steely Dan albums ever. Becker’s vocals aren’t bad, but they are a bit of an acquired taste. Definitely an album worth checking out. I waited a while before I bought it, and then scored it cheap in a cutout bin in D.C. I got more than my money’s worth. Becker’s follow-up, Circus Money, is also excellent.

(2) Hoodoo Gurus. “Death Ship,” from Stoneage Romeos. I got a review copy of Stoneage Romeos when I was editing a now-forgotten rock magazine in Boston. That must have been back in 1983 or ’84, and I fell hard for it. It was great guitar-oriented pop, with stick-in-your-head melodies, some edginess, and a lot of humor. The band included Larry Storch (F Troop) and Arnold Ziffel (the pig from Green Acres) among the personages to whom they dedicated the album, and the title comes from a Three Stooges short. Obviously not a band that was taking themselves too seriously. I saw them on that tour when they played a place called The Channel, a big, sprawling warren of bars and side rooms in South Boston. (Either the dBs or the Replacements opened.) The Hoodoos put on a great show, even though, as I learned later, they played with borrowed instruments because theirs had been stolen from their van a night or two previously. A couple years later, after I moved to Washington, I got to interview the Hoodoos in the somewhat shabby Hotel Harrington, also home to a bar called The Pink Elephant Lounge. I was impressed when guitarist Brad Shepherd returned to the room after doing his laundry and dumped out a trash bag that seemed to contain nothing but paisley shirts.

 (3) Donald Fagen. “New Frontier,” from The Nightfly. Fagen’s solo album was the first record I ever reviewed for publication. I wrote about it for the Maine music paper Sweet Potato just after I returned East the fall after I graduated from college in California. I didn’t get paid for the review but I got the album for free, which was payment enough.

 (4) Garbage, “The World is Not Enough,” from The Best of Bond. I paid for half of The Best of Bond CD, splitting the cost with my son, who must have been all of seven at the time. We were both Bond aficionados. The first Bond film we all watched together as a family was You Only Live Twice, which I figured was a good place to start because it contained enough gadgets and spectacle to keep the young minds interested. It worked, especially for Sam. I still get emotional whenever I hear the great string arrangements that kick off Nancy Sinatra’s performance of the theme song. Garbage is no Nancy, but this is one of the better songs from the more recent Bond movies. The movie itself is nothing to write home about, though.

 (5) Stevie Wonder. “Joy Inside My Tears” from Songs in the Key of Life. It must have been 1977 when a local radio station awarded my friend Bob the opportunity to do a “record run” at the Sonnet and Song. That meant he had a minute or two to go through the record store and grab as many records as he could. In the days leading up the big event everyone in school advised Bob about what he should grab. I think all the coaching just confused him, because he didn’t snag that many albums, certainly not as many as previous record run winners had scored. He gave me a bunch—or sold them to me, I can’t remember—and I went to various department stores around town and exchanged them for albums I wanted. Anyway, I noticed that before the record run, the owners of Sonnet and Song had taken all the copies of Songs in the Key of Life and hidden them away. I guess they didn’t want Bob getting any copies of that mammoth three-records-plus-bonus-disc set for free. At some point I bought the vinyl version (when my daughter was born my wife and I used “Isn’t She Lovely” for our answering machine message), but I recently found the CD version in the library and burned it. Stevie used to be Godlike, the kind of artist who appeared on the cover of Time magazine when he released an album. He doesn’t have that stature anymore, but who does?

 (6) Belly. “Feed the Tree,” from Stolar Tracks Volume 2. I first heard this song on Maryland’s WHFS back when that station was still great. I was driving down Connecticut Avenue in D.C. at the time. The song’s from Belly’s debut album, Star. I bought the CD, but I loaded this on my iPod from a great collection I ordered sometime around 1993 from Stolichnaya Vodka for some nominal charge to cover shipping. Stolar Tracks Volume 2 was a superb collection with songs from Eleventh Dream Day, Dinosaur, Jr., School of Fish, Pure, the Pooh Sticks, and a bunch of other bands who have faded into obscurity. The song by Eleventh Dream Day, “After This Time Is Gone,” turned me into a fan, even though I had already seen them live, when they opened for the Meat Puppets at a show I caught in Chicago. The Pure song, “Blast,” is also a classic.

 (7) Louis Armstrong. “S.O.L. Blues.” Shortly after getting my first CD player (a gift from my brother—I was a stubborn CD holdout because I resented the way the record companies were shoving them down our throats with the obviously false claim that they would last “forever”) I bought a cheap Laserlight collection of early Louis Armstrong stuff, recorded with the Hot 5 and Hot 7. As a former trumpet player myself, I felt I had to have some Armstrong. Man, that cat could blow!

 (8) Hoodoo Gurus. “Good Times,” from Blow Your Cool. The Hoodoos again! This time they’re helped by members of the Bangles, who used to be great, before that “Walk Like an Egyptian” crap. I saw them once in Boston and I swear Susanna Hoffs was batting her eyes at me. I bet all the guys in the audience through that. I remember buying Blow Your Cool in DC and heading off to a friend’s house to listen to it. We played side one and then he decreed that everyone else in the room would get to play the side of an album before it was my turn again. I was pissed. It’s not the Hoodoos best, but it has a few great tracks, especially “What’s My Scene?”

 (9) Stevie Wonder. “All in Love is Fair,” from Innervisions. Stevie again! This turned out to be a great song to hear on a gray, dreary day with the leaves falling all around. The guy had a great set of pipes.

(10) Henry Mancini. “Pink Panther Theme” from some Best of Mancini disc I got from the library. We used to play this song in my high school dance band. The sheet music had the best tempo direction I’ve ever seen: “Groovy mysterioso.” If I ever form a lounge band that’s what I’ll call it. We’ll play strange, David Lynchian cocktail jazz. I used to have the soundtrack album to The Return of the Pink Panther, still my favorite movie of the series. I remember when it came out in 1975 I was reading a Time magazine review of the movie out loud to my parents and I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get through it. And that was just a review! I think it was the description of the blind man and his “minkey” that got me. Peter Sellers was a genius. Several years ago I watched this movie with my kids and young Sam was choking with laughter when Clouseau fights with Cato. Good times. Don’t even mention the Steve Martin travesties.

 (11) Frank Sinatra. “I Get a Kick out of You,” from Sinatra and Swingin’ Brass. I could go on for a long time about Frank. Some day I will. This is from one of his more overlooked albums, a Reprise release that was arranged and conducted by Neil Hefti. That’s another high school dance band connection—we used to play Hefti’s song “L’il Darlin’,” but at a funereal pace. It was neither groovy nor mysterioso. The Swingin’ Brass album, though, swings with a vengeance and Frank sounds great. You know it must swing hard because they had to drop the“g” from “swinging” in the title. (Why was Hefti hoarding all those gs?) Hefti, who did a lot of arranging for Count Basie, died recently. He also composed the theme song for TV’s Batman. He belongs in some Pop Culture Hall of Fame.

 (12) Al Stewart. “Palace of Versailles.” This song was originally from Time Passages, but I got this version from a live 1976 concert that I found on the web. There’s a skip in this song on my vinyl copy of Time Passages–I guess you could say that’s kind of a time passage itself.  Weird. Strangely enough, just before I set out on this morning’s walk WXPN played an Al Stewart song, “Sleepwalking,” from his most recent album. I had never heard it before, but it sounded pretty good. My love for Al Stewart betrays the geek side of my musical tastes. At some point today I might throw my vinyl copy of Modern Times on the turntable and give it a whirl. Maybe Past, Present and Future too.

 (13) Sinead O’Connor. “You Do Something to Me,” from Red, Hot and Blue. I’ve added a few songs to the iPod from this Cole Porter tribute album, which was recorded to raise money for AIDs research. Sinead does a pretty good version of this Porter tune. She’s a little breathy, perhaps, but not bad. I like to think she’s singing it to the Pope.

 (14) Benny Goodman Quartet. “The Blues in Your Flat” from The Legendary Small Groups. The first swing music I listened to, back in high school, was Glenn Miller. When I read books about the swing era, though, writers usually disparaged Miller and said that Benny Goodman was better, which made me resent Goodman for a while. The only Goodman we had in the house was my uncle’s LP of music from The Benny Goodman story (Steve Allen played Goodman) . It had the live Carnegie Hall version of “Sing, Sing, Sing” on it, and I played that cut over and over, mainly for the Harry James trumpet solo. (I got to see James perform a concert in Augusta, Maine, in 1977 and still have an autographed ticket stub. The concert, a “cabaret dance,” cost a whopping three bucks. At the intermission James, whom I remember as a somewhat morose old man, sat at a table in front of the stage and quietly signed autographs.)  I eventually came to realize that, yes, Goodman was better than Miller. These small group recordings are terrific.

My Harry James ticket.

 All in all, not a bad set list.  There’s nothing particularly new on it, I realize, but you can’t have everything. Because, as Steven Wright asked, where would you put it? Certainly not on an 8 gigabyte iPod.

I have a confession to make.

As a teen and young adult in the 1990’s, my large music collection was notoriously sexist. Now, I don’t think I ever had an overt disdain toward female artists, but for some reason I never really paid them any attention. This glaring omission may have been from the mistaken belief that women couldn’t rock like most of the testosterone-fueled artists I did enjoy or from lumping all female artists into the same pop diva music box, but for whatever reason, my CD case stayed almost exclusively male-dominated.

I’ve grown up a good bit over the past decade, though, and the contributions of female artists have become much more important to me. Today my music collection is quite expansive and women performers have become an integral part of my regular listening. So, for this installment of Ten for Tuesday, I wanted to give you ten of my favorite female-dominated albums from the past decade. Many of these additions have come since I joined emusic in 2006, so it is weighted to the last few years, but there are some that I picked up prior to that. Let me know of any others that you think should be added.

10. She & Him – Volume One
When this album was released in 2008, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the collaboration between actress Zooey Deschanel and retro folk artist M. Ward, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Deschanel’s voice fits very well in the simple, old-style mold that M. Ward helps to craft. Like many of his other recordings, this sounds like something you might listen to on an old transistor radio and that’s a good thing.

9. Portishead – Third
Though the comeback album of this seminal trip-hop outfit may not be to the level of 1994’s classic Dummy, it is still pretty good and it was especially nice to hear the familiar sound of Beth Gibbon’s voice after more than a decade. I am really looking forward to hearing what else the band has in store for the future.

8. Lucinda Williams – Little Honey
Little Honey was a wonderful return to form for one of the best known voices of the alt-country movement. The album is a rollicking tour-de-force that proves that women over 50 can still contribute great things to the world of music.

7. Emmylou Harris/Mark Knopfler – All the Roadrunning
Though folk legend Harris shares the spotlight with Knopfler, the guitar maestro behind Dire Straits and several excellent solo releases, she still shines brightly as one of the most distinctive voices of the past few decades. Their voices meld wonderfully throughout this gem of an album.

6. Allison Krauss/Robert Plant – Raising Sand
Though rock legend Robert Plant is given equal billing on this album, this work is more of a Krauss album with Plant singing backup. The songs are mostly downbeat and drowsy, but not in a way that tires the listener. Instead, Plant and bluegrass queen Krauss turns this into a seminar of how two very different halves can make one beautiful whole.

5. Sinead O’Connor – Theology
By the time this album came out, I had pretty much forgotten about O’Connor. Sure, I remembered her tirade on Saturday Night Live in the early 90’s when she tore up a picture of the pope, but I had lost track of any music that she had recorded over the years. I first heard of this album from my friend Scott and thought that he must be kidding – really, Sinead O’Connor? But then I listened to this collection of gospel numbers and was immediately drawn into it, especially the CD (this is a 2 disc set) of the more sparsely accompanied songs. In her voice was something beautiful and heartfelt and spiritual that puts the entire CCM industry to shame.

4. Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)
With this album (and the two preceding it), Welch proved herself to be one of the most important voices in the neo-traditional folk movement. Her style draws from bluegrass and folk genres, melding the old forms into something relevant in today’s fast-paced 21st century and it is a sound that deserves to be heard by everyone.

3. Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose
In 2004, an unlikely pairing emerged in the world of music – country music legend Loretta Lynn, age 69 at the time, and indie rock star Jack White of the White stripes, age 28. I imagine that the seeming strangeness of this collaboration must have raised some eyebrows, but somehow it worked perfectly. The duet of Lynn and White on the song “Portland, Oregon” is especially great and helped to make this one of the better albums of the entire decade.

2. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
Look, I know she’s a crackhead and I know that my giving this much credence to her work doesn’t help her on the path to self-destruction, but I really love this album and have for quite sometime. I think of her raunchy jazz/soul sound as the anti-Norah Jones, the type of music you would never hear on an elevator. She has one of those retro smoky voices, which I’m sure was probably self-inflicted, that just blows me away.

1. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
What brought the idea for this list on? The fact that I’m about to purchase a ticket to see Neko Case in just a matter of weeks here in Memphis. I fell in love with her powerful voice in 2007 when I purchased this album and I have been a devoted follower ever since. I could listen to this every day of my life and never get tired of it.

What else should have made the list?

Sometimes, when I put the iPod on shuffle, I truly believe it has an inner sensibility. It seems to work like Last fm or Pandora, playing combinations of tracks that segue beautifully from one into the next, either musically or thematically.

And, as if by magic, as I was walking from my car to the office last Thursday morning I was treated to an eclectic collection of love songs. Now I love a good love song, mainly because I’m lucky enough to be happily married with gorgeous daughters, so I have something to relate it to, but also partly  because of the almost infinite ways we human beings are able to express ourselves; as illustrated by the following five songs…

 Starlight (Muse). Ok, so not the most obvious choice for a Love Song playlist, but it’s as close as Muse are going to get. This falls into my ’sing-along-but-only-when-I’m-alone-in-the-car’ category: my falsetto isn’t quite what it used to be. I saw Muse live at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2007, and this song was a real ‘Radio Ga Ga’ moment,  with the entire crowd clapping along.

Scorn not his Simplicity (Sinead O’Connor). This is a simply gorgeous song, from her Universal Mother album. My sister-in-law Clare is a musician who has played & toured with Sinead O’Connor over a long period, including on that album, which holds a place in our lives, as her recording of In This Heart is simply beautiful. Rachel and I adapted some of the lyrics and had it sung at our wedding. This is a live version she sang on Jools Holland’s TV show: Clare is the first singer to join in, standing at Sinead’s left shoulder…

You Give Me Something (James Morrison). What I love about this is the unabashed homage to groups like the Isley Brothers, with fantastic brass & string arrangements and wonderful production. And he can sing too.

I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob Dylan). I’m not the greatest Dylan fan, with a collection that doesn’t extend beyond a ‘Greatest Hits’ CD. However, for all that, he is a tremendous songwriter, and this is absolute proof that Bob Dylan can sing. Just listen to his control during the chorus – there’s no extra breathing at all. He sustains the phrase fantastically, which makes all the difference. And his harmonica playing is gorgeously restrained. Apart from the legendary Subterranean Homesick Blues, this is probably my favourite Dylan song.

Exit Music (for a film) - Radiohead. I love Radiohead’s music, from the grungy to the weird electronica. Like Muse, they don’t tend to write many love songs, and even when they do, it’s not exactly You are the sunshine of my life…  This Youtube clip is really interesting to me, as the song was written for Baz Luhrmann’s updated / reimagined version of Romeo & Juliet, whereas the images here are from an earlier, more traditional film. The way the song changes tone around 3′00″ is fantastic, and Thom Yorke’s singing is terrific.

So, that was my Thursday morning set of love songs, chosen apparently at random by my iPod. And as is always the way, just as I’m thinking that the iPod really is intelligent and can do that, it throws in something to break the mood. Thursday was no exception.

This came next. Pretty brilliant track, the barnstorming first song from a brilliant debut album. But definitely not a love song.

Album “Soul Mining” (1983) dowodzonego przez Matta Johnsona zespołu The The, to jedna z najlepszych płyt lat 80. i klasyka antythatcheryzmu w brytyjskiej muzyce lat 80. Nieco zapomniany zespół przeżywał niedawno w Stanach pewien renesans popularności, mimo, że zawsze większą publicznością cieszyli się na Wyspach, a i tam nigdy nie byli Beatlesami. Stało się to za sprawą wykorzystania piosenki “This is the Day”, właśnie z “Soul Mining”, do reklamy orzeszków M&M’s. Zresztą niejedna niezależna kapela zyskała poklask właśnie dzięki reklamie (casus “Bohemian Like You” Dandy Warhols czy “Bruises” Chairlift). Poniżej rewelacyjne “This is the Day” z oryginalnym (fatalnym) teledyskiem:

Sukcesem artystycznym The The  była także płyta “Mind Bomb” z 1989 roku, na której znalazł się  utwór “Kingdom of Rain” z gościnnym udziałem Sinead O’Connor:

The The i jesień to połączenie idealne.

by: Adam Kruk 2009

This blogging/reviewing caper does throw up some surprises. I didn’t know we had any Cranberries CDs on the shelf (let alone the two I found).

Fear not, this isn’t a case of early-onset Alzheimer’s. I’m just unobservant. These recordings are presumably further gems from my missus’ enormous dowry of musical wonder.

Until now I had been pretty oblivious to the Cranberries phenomenon. Their various hits had never grabbed me, and I had dismissed them as some mongrel hybrid of Sinead O’Connor, Enya and The Corrs. The wavering vocals and grandiosity of it all were the drivers of that perception.

Well, this CD has cycled through a startling eleven times of the past couple of days (I’m a masochist).

There is nothing fundamentally annoying or aggravating about this collection. But nor is there anything that delights and engages me. The lead vocals from Dolores (has there ever been a less rock-n-roll frontperson moniker? Well, maybe Alice Cooper I guess), are the only thing that differentiates this from a million other wannabee U2s. And unfortunately they do eventually grate. The scale exploration is more distracting than enamouring. If I’m chasing breathy and ethereal, I’ll head for the Cocteau Twins‘ Liz Fraser (hmmm, another “C” I’m lacking).

File under: If you’re friends jumped off a cliff would you?

El maravilloso disco “Espiritango” de Los Visitantes salió a la venta en el año 1994. Cuatro años antes había salido “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” de Sinead O’Connor, la irlandesa peladita. Ambos compraban loops en el mismo mayorista.

Micro #5 Duración: 2′ 48”

Juste parce que cette chanson a bercé mon enfance, qu’elle est belle, planante, rythmée, avec quelques aspects mystiques, d’autres complètement timbrés. Et que ça me donne envie d’écrire des histoires tristes qui se terminent bien… Un peu comme des contes de fées modernes, même s’il y en a déjà pas mal là dehors. C’est Annie Lennox l’interprète, je ne sais pas si elle en est également l’auteure ou quoi. Je ne connais aucune autre de ses chansons, je crois bien. Mais celle-là est juste magique.

Un jour, je me pencherai avec sérieux sur les paroles et leur signification, même si le titre laisse déjà entrevoir ce dont il est question. Et aussi le mot “monsters” répété plusieurs fois… Je veux savoir pourquoi on y entend des rires d’enfants, je veux savoir pourquoi les chœurs semblent tout droit sortis d’un bouquin d’Aasimov, pourquoi une petite voix d’elfe qui essaye d’imiter une enfant nous dit des mots en riant, nous dit qu’il y a des monstres dehors. Je soupçonne cette chanson de cacher vachte plus de trucs que ce qu’elle en laisse paraître au premier abord.

Et après, comme il se doit, Nothing Compares To You de Sinead O’Connor, parce qu’autant rester dans la même tendance capillaire.