Obscure 80s Weekly

It's only fitting...this should do to carry you over into the new year.

Thursday: Thompson Twins - Doctor Doctor

Friday: Kim Wilde - Kids in America

Saturday: Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

Sunday: Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun

Monday: Men at Work - It's a Mistake

Tuesday: Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper

Wednesday: Midge Ure - If I Was

Acoustic Night

Despite being less than musical (boo) I plucked up the courage to head over to some practically-strangers' house tonight (very nice strangers!) for an evening of guitar playing (plus a smattering of mandolin.  I think.).

It was pretty acoustic and folksy (so Dad wouldn't have appreciated), although there was some Once soundtrack.  And Bon Jovi.  And Flight of the Conchords.

Anyway, there was definitely some Bob Dylan...I (gasp!) managed to get us through half of "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts", and the whole thing was started out with this little ditty:



It was quite fun...but now it is late, and I am behind on packing, for tomorrow I am headed HOME!

Suburbs

...Interesting.

The future of music videos, perhaps?

Deck the Halls

It's that time of year again...we kicked off Advent this last Sunday, and I hear rumors that LMH has had their XXX-mas bop already.

So to celebrate the season, here's some Sufjan.  Collect all five discs!

Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie

by Belle & Sebastian

Fall Back

Yes yes yes...don't forget about the end of Daylight Savings this evening - at 2am the clocks go back an hour which means SLEEP.  And then church.

So I typed "fall back" into YouTube, thinking I might get some home video bloopers or a nerdy kid in his bedroom ranting about sleeping in and missing classes.  Instead I got a lot of music videos.  Apparently falling backwards is a popular theme for songwriters.  The vast majority appeared to be rap/hip hop/whatever the kids are calling it these days, and I was concerned about profanity and awkward blogness...this one, however, is in a class all its own.  I don't understand the genre...but there you go.  It works.

West Country

With discretion, my friends...



This may or may not have something to say about British humour (as we Americans perceive it).

Classique

Something different for this Thursday, I think...

Today: Saint-Saëns - Carnival of the Animals...continued here and here (my favorite bits are probably Aquarium and Fossils, but it's all good).

Friday: Ravel - Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte

Saturday: Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto no.2 (this is just the first movement, but it's played by the man himself).

Sunday: Debussy - Rêverie...well, it was either that or Clair de Lune.

Monday: Liszt - Un Sospiro

Tuesday: Philip Glass - The Hours...I know, I know, it's modern and it's from a soundtrack...but I think it is also very beautiful and calming.

Wednesday: Mozart - German Dance no.3 Have to end it on Mozart...but oh, the memories...I believe we have somewhere on home video the footage of my 5-year-old self throwing a massive tantrum to this song.  In a tutu.

Meme Time

Okay, for real...what is this phenomenon???





...(and do I support it?)

Semi-Obscure Whatever

It's Thursday, and I haven't done one of those 80s vid posts in a while...but I'm not feeling particularly pop and wave today, so here's a list of seven songs I've recently (re)discovered.  We'll see if I still like them in a week.

1) Beirut - Nantes
       I like Beirut.  A lot.
2) Spoon - Me and the Bean
       Are these lyrics deep, or are they cheesy?  Or vaguely creepy?  What does this say about me?
3) Tiziano Ferro - Sere Nere
      Okay, definitely cheesy.  But summertime means time for some intense Italian guy singing in Italian intensely.
4) Theophilus London - Humdrum Town
      I came across this when I went to Boston and stayed with Drea - catchy, no?
5) Belle and Sebastian - Storytelling
      I've had this album for ages and ages, but just recently started listening to it...and the more I listen to Belle and Sebastian, the more I like them.
6) The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon
      A summery sort of song?  And a classic one at that?  The Kinks are excellent, no matter the season.
7) Harry and the Potters - Back to School
      No words...

Yeah!

Watch this...all the way through.

Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts

This song from Bob Dylan's 1984 album Blood On The Tracks used to be my least favorite (on the aforementioned album).  But it has definitely grown on me like a fungus...perhaps I've just been in a story-song mood lately, or perhaps listening to the lyrics make me - for the first time ever - want to do something tacky like write a screenplay.

Anyway, here's the words - tell me what you think is going on?  Is there more than meets the ear?  (And sorry it's so long, although that at least is not my fault...)

The festival was over and the boys were all planning for a fall
The cabaret was quiet except for the drilling in the wall
The curfew had been lifted and the gambling wheel shut down
Anyone with any sense had already left town
He was standing in the doorway looking like the Jack of Hearts

He moved across the mirrored room, "Set it up for everyone," he said
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doing before he turned their heads
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin
"Could you kindly tell me, friend, what time the show begins?"
Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts

Backstage the girls were playing five-card stud by the stairs
Lily had two queens, she was hoping for a third to match her pair
Outside the streets were filling up, the window was open wide
A gentle breeze was blowing, you could feel it from inside
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts

Big Jim was no one's fool, he owned the town's only diamond mine
He made his usual entrance looking so dandy and so fine
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts

Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town
She slipped in through the side door looking like a queen without a crown
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear
"Sorry, darling, that I'm late," but he didn't seem to hear
He was staring into space over at the Jack of Hearts

"I know I've seen that face before," Big Jim was thinking to himself
"Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody's shelf"
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the house lights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him
Staring at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts

Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child
She did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash every time she smiled
She'd come from a broken house, had lots of strange affairs
With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere
But she's never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts

The hanging judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined
The drilling in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind
It was known all around that Lily had Jim's ring
And nothing would ever come between Lily and the King
No, nothing ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts

Rosemary started drinking hard and seeing her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention, tired of playing the role of Big Jim's wife
She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide
Was looking to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazing to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts

Lily took her dress off, buried it away
"Has your luck run out?" she laughed at him, "Well, I guess you must have known it would someday
Be careful not to touch the wall, there's a brand-new coat of paint
I'm glad to see you're still alive, you're looking like a saint"
Down the hallway footsteps were coming for the Jack of Hearts

The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair
"There's something funny going on," he said, "I can just feel it in the air"
He went to get the hanging judge, but the hanging judge was drunk
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts

No one knew the circumstance but they say that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standing there, you couldn't say surprised
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes
She was with Big Jim but she was leaning to the Jack of Hearts

Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe, it's said that they got off with quite a haul
In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground
For one more member who had business back in town
But they couldn't go no further without the Jack of Hearts

The next day was hanging day, the sky was overcast and black
Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn't even blink
The hanging judge was sober, he hadn't had a drink
The only person on the scene missing was the Jack of Hearts

The cabaret was empty now, a sign said, "Closed for repair"
Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair
She was thinking about her father, whom she very rarely saw
Thinking about Rosemary and thinking about the law
But most of all she was thinking about the Jack of Hearts

Musicology 101

The Beatles may have gained the secrets to their success here, at the Top Ten in Hamburg, but the Fab Four who got their fab in Germany weren't necessarily John, Paul, George, and Ringo.  In fact, according to some (less-than-unbiased) parties, "Stuart [Sutcliffe] is the fourth Beatle. It was John, Paul, George and Stuart. Then it was John, Paul, George, Stuart and Pete. Pete Best is the fifth Beatle, without question. And all the others can be the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh...whatever they want."  That's from Pauline Sutcliffe, by the way.  So who were these other Beatles then, and why didn't they make it to the Bandstand?

There's Stuart Sutcliffe, of course, who was Lennon's art school friend who played the bass (he was mediocre), gave the Beatles their signature hair (with the help of his German girlfriend), and died in April 1962 from a brain hemorrhage.  His story is dramatically depicted in the 1994 film Backbeat.

Then you have Pete Best, the pre-Ringo drummer who played with the Beatles in Liverpool and Hamburg for two years before being booted out for 'reasons unknown' in 1962.  Was his curly hair wrong for the mop-top look?  Was he just too good-looking?  Or was he crap at the drums?  The world will never know...

And don't forget Brian Epstein, the band's discoverer and first manager, who died in 1967 of an accidental sleeping pill overdose.  Apparently there's a film coming out actually called The Fifth Beatle, and that Beatle is Brian.

The next candidate for the fifth Beatle would also be the second George - referring to producer George Martin.  He also accompanied the band on piano when the occasion arose...and other than that, his story is pretty boring.  No offense.

There's a slew of other possible fifths, from personal assistant and road manager Neil Aspinall to various musical contributors, loyal journalists, and band members from precursor bands, such as the Quarrymen, Johnny and the Moondogs, and the Silver Beatles.  Whichever way you look at it though, there's no girl Beatle.  What's that all about?  Looks like my British Invasion fantasy isn't about to happen.  Oh, also because I'm not British.  Or born in the 1940s.  Drats.

Obscure 80s Weekly

That time of week again...

Thursday, never say Canada hasn't got it: Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach

Quite simply an excellent song for Friday: The Church - Under the Milky Way

Saturday has an uncomfortable alliance between 70s and 80s...but try to get through to at least the 2:00 mark of: M - Pop Musik

For Sunday, something somewhat less obscure: Madness - Our House

For Monday, something somewhat more obscure: The Nits - In the Dutch Mountains

More classiness from the people who brought you Don't You Want Me on Tuesday: The Human League - Louise

And Wednesday, behold the hair: Kajagoogoo - Too Shy

Obscure 80s Weekly

It appears to be Thursday, so I thought I'd do another one of these 80s compilations.  Mom's off to Ireland (the lucky jerk) for a few weeks (and Dad's heading down to Virginia...WOOO HOME ALONE), so I was thinking Irish-themed would be fitting.  It seems, however, that Ireland in the 1980s was not terribly concerned with making new-wave and euro-pop hits - can't imagine why - so we're really pushing the envelope and scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Simultaneously.  How horrible.  

Thursday brings some lovely shoegaze, can't be bad: My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow

Okay how about Costello for Friday...still going strong: Elvis Costello - Everyday I Write the Book

Anddd rapidly clutching at straws with Saturday (although the 80s video still looks promising): Enya - Orinoco Flow

Umm this one sort of drags us back to task for Sunday's: Boomtown Rats - Banana Republic

Switching gears to some punk on Monday: Stiff Little Fingers - Tin Soldiers

Oh and here's Tuesday...a real obscure band you won't have heard before: U2 - I Will Follow

Okay I'm totally out.  This has been an unsuccessful endeavor.  Wednesday (this miiight have been filmed in the 80s, yeah?): The Dubliners (fea. The Pogues) - Irish Rover 

Anyway, enjoy it for what it is.  Back on track next week (perhaps).

Feeling Good

[And yes, I re-discovered this one while watching a TV show.]

Update

Yes. Sorry for the minimal effort of late. My bags are by now neaaarly unpacked though, and today is my mother's 50th birthday (!) - we are watching the Pens game...real celebrations occur tomorrow, and that, my friends, is fanhood. 

Anyway, Interpol (the band, not the crime-fighters) is back?  Is anyone even interested?  I kind of outgrew them, but if you like, they've got a free download from the latest album online.  Huzzah.

Okay, time to cook a pear tart.

B Flat

You guys can have some fun with this whilst I study like mad for these last two finals...

Peace out!

Recommended Band Names

Thursday has come to mean (loosely, at least) music day.  I don't have any music for you to listen to today, but I haaave been fiddling around with my brand new Bananagrams set.  So if you like to make music and not just listen to it, but you haven't got a cool band name...look no further.  Several of these are Brianna's brainchildren (?) from when she came to visit, but I'm sure she won't mind me posting them here so they aren't lost to the mists of braininess.

By the way, according to my reckoning, there two cool band names - at the very least - in the above paragraph.

So we've catalogued (alphabetically...I was going to list them by prospective genre, but then I thought I'm not about to do all of the work):

Able Bertram
The Dimwit Brides
Dour Fandango
Goat Wiper
Hedge Nation
Iwi Jucu Quail
No Jeebies Tonight
Quaverrrrr
Thaw me Thursday
Xiphoid Process

Really though, this is only the tip of the iceberg.  So no more of this "Blankety-Blank and the Blank Band" business, okay?

Obscure 80s Weekly

It has come to my attention that just perhaps the songs (and their respective videos) that I think of as mainstream 80s EuroPop and New Wave classics are not as familiar to certain people as they are to me.  Don't get me wrong - I'm not calling into question everyone's 80s hits knowledge - and it could very well be that you hold the following as near and dear as I do...but it's nearing the end of my final undergraduate year, and I've absolutely no idea how I'm going to (a) finish in time and (b) find something to do for the rest of my life, so some comforting familiarity might just hit the spot!

Without further ado...this Thursday's Obscure 80s Weekly: The Not-So-Obscure Edition.  You know the songs; do you recall the videos?

Today you can relive the moments with: Men Without Hats - Safety Dance

Friday, sample: Morrissey - Suedehead

For Saturday: Billy Idol - White Wedding

Sunday's video is: Modern English - I Melt With You

For Monday, try: Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Tuesday: Devo - Whip It

And Wednesday, of course: A-Ha - Take On Me

There you go...have a good week with this bunch.