I love it when people post book cover scans; old Penguin and Puffin Classics are so delightful, and I'm not above buying a copy of a book I already own because the cover is really great. Generally these are old books I'm digging out of a stinky pile at the local thrift store, while my paramour holds his nose and sags noticeably with every passing minute. He doesn't like standing around in musty second-hand shops. Unfortunately for him, I love it. If all I had to do all day was sift through other people's attics and closets looking for weird old junk, I would be a happy lady. As it is, the bread, she must be earned. And the kettle chips.
Anyway, old books. Here are a couple that I'm particularly fond of. And because we are in Canada, a land peppered liberally with native French speakers and frustrated French students, these castoffs are in French, and all from le Livre de Poche.
La Jument Verte - Marcel Ayme, 1933
How could anyone pass up this book, which is about a green horse, and includes an obviously crazy ensemble cast. As with many old books, this one is lovingly inscribed with its owner's name - useful in case you went to a wild book party and needed to collect your things a week later, when the gin had worn off. So we know that Janice owned this in 1971, and she had very nice handwriting. I'll also mention that all rights are reserved in every country, even the U.S.S.R.; were they particularly guilty when it came to copyright infringement? I do not know.
The back. "A well of health and good humour." (Very roughly.) I guarantee Rene Lalou never though his review would look so funky. If book backs could be this well-designed now, people might bother reading them with some interest. There are more words on the backs of some books than in them, and for what? Abandoned self-congratulation, methinks. This, however, is beautiful. Your local bookstore could display this thing backwards.
le Diable au Corps - Raymond Radiguet, 1923
This book is gorgeous and creepy all at the same time. When I read this on the bus (showing off, obviously) it eventually occurred to me that it could make you look like a proud French smut enthusiast, which is maybe not the worst thing. The problem occurs when you notice the obvious youth of that kid on the right. Ick. Thankfully the book isn't criminally perverse, just sexually weird in interesting ways (I'm defining something here, but I'm not quite sure what). This book belonged to Odette. Charmed.
When Jean Cocteau says you're a phenomenon, and compares you to Rimbaud, and says that your genius is basically a giant burden, you jot it down and fax it to your editor, asap. Probably that's not what happened here, but it's a good tip for any aspiring writers out there.
Le seigneur des anneaux - Tolkien, 1954
It can scream pocketbook all it wants, but that sucker is huge. This is a 1979 edition of a 1966 translation. The fun of this book is to hold it up in front of nerd friends and challenge them to identify it. If you want to make it legitimately difficult, cover the author name, but honestly it's amazing how long it seems to take. Maybe the little hobbit (oops, spoiler) in the bottom right corner, with his loopy hairy feet and spats, seems a bit... goofy? And I'm not sure why we've got TOLKIEN in giant BONANZA-style lettering. I enjoy the big gold rings though, very threatening and Christmasy, all at once. The French edition wins out in this regard also: "Tome" is waaay more impressive than "Book" or "Volume."
I take it back, he's not goofy, he's hilarious and I would like to watch him eat scones and fight dragons in a mountain:
I have not ever watched Doctor Who. I realize that there has been considerable renewed interest in the franchise over the last few years thanks to a Mr. David Tennant, who is considered quite handsome. Fair enough. And the new Doctor (premiering next year!) appears to be even more entrenched in the alterna-cheesecake vein, which only proves that the Doctor Who producers know their youthful nerdlady audience extremely well, and are trying to ensure the series' longevity by installing what is essentially a British Wentz in tweed (fig.1, at right) as their new hero. He's very cute, don't get me wrong, I support you, young nerdladies! Chase that tweed fox! But there are other things to be considered, like the fact that I am ancient, and no longer with it; what is out there in the Dr. Whoniverse (actually a real thing on the internet, gurgle) for moi?
Shall I tell you? I shall. It is the Eighth Doctor series on BBC Radio 7. Starring the lovely Paul McGann, whose voice is really his best attribute anyway. The adventures are glorously improbable, and very silly, and always involve disastrously cheesy aliens (I think this is the deal with Who, M.D., but I'm a beginner, so it stands out) and of course there is a harshly shrieking companion lady who always gets into scrapes, boy howdy. She grows on you, though, despite the constant 'oi!'-ing.
McGann was on TV once as Dr. Who, although I have not seen it. He's solely a radio Who now. Because really: Paul McGann does not need to get dragged onto the TV for this gig anymore. Not that he isn't dreamy or anything, because I think it's been clinically proven that (even at 50, long pause) he is. But oh my grandmother, that is not a good look for him, that eighth doctor outfit. And they assault me with it every time I open the BBC page; like cold defiance. I can handle the velvet jacket and the ascot, mostly. But the hair is beyond the pale.
Here, take a look at this fan art (thank you, dedicated fans, you never fail me), and I challenge you not to spontaneously scream, all together now:
AAAH, FLOATING HEAD!
But really it's the wig's fault. It's very alarming, and fully overpowers an otherwise quite nice looking person. And that was in 1996! A man doesn't need to deal with that when he's reached his fifth decade. It's just not right. It shows a lack of respect, strapping that limp rug on his head. Never again, atrocious wig, never again. He looks like Rex Smith after a conditioning accident.
As much as I love it and will miss it probably, I've left CJSF. So there. I've been doing a radio show at Simon Fraser University for ten whole years, and frankly my old bones don't want to make the weekly drive up the hill anymore. Yes, that's me, so broken down that even a short car ride is a hardship. The bumps in the road! My hips! I mean, yes, it's good knitting time, but the risk of spearing onesself in the eyeball is ever-present. Where is my PSA about that? Blah blah blah, sum up: Flushie flushie goes Singing with Barbra.
However.
I did so used to enjoy bleughing, and so I am going to instead use this space to catalogue my many little projects outside of radio, provided any of them get off the ground at all. Also to complain about my angina (which incidentally would be a lovely baby name, I think - let's rehabilitate that word via innocent children) and itchy scalp. Baby, it's gonna be a ride and a half, and you and I will take it together. Or I'll take it alone, what the shit.
I'm a bit fixated on Rick Moranis this week. Every time we dip into the old video collection and he stumbles in, being hilarious and endearing, I think to myself, "Hey self, where has that charming Moranis fellow got to?" Thankfully, my self has a subscription to the internet.
Song 1:Immaculate Machine - thank me later Comments: Chugging rock dealing with hindsight. I know you'll thank him for it later, when your heartache nets you a hit song and you make millions! You will curse him when Bruce Allen waves a pistol at you and demands you take up smoking to give you edge, however.
Discussion: The Joel Plaskett concert at the Vogue a couple of weeks ago, it was extremely good, and the crowd loved him like a deranged parent loves their glue-eating child (i.e. unconditionally, and with goodwill to spare). He's very talented though, so we could have been quite grumpy and he probably still would have won us over.
Song 2:Joel Plaskett - wishful thinkin' Comments: This is yet another j.p. touring song. It sounds like a train! Somebody's been taking notes from their Can-rock elders. The line "I wish you were here but you're naaaaaaaaaaht!" sounds like a taunt, which is what makes it so appealing, I think. Ha ha, Joel is beyond supervision and out of control! He's probably wearing multiple sweatervests, you cannot stop him!
More discussion: Playing solo, like Mr. Plaskett, takes some serious avocados in the pants. You have to make the material speak for itself, sans Marshall stack! That is an impressive feat. Nick Lowe is my favourite example of this. He could play any of his songs just with an acoustic guitar and force you to listen. Probably has endless success picking up chicks in bars using roughly the same skill set; there are some things you can't teach.
Song 3:Nick Lowe - Tanque-Rae Comments: The rhythm of this is reckless and fun. Mr. Lowe specializes in songs about girls, and the fact that this one doubles as a song about alcohol is no accident. Dance dance dance, gulp gulp gulp.
Light chat: Should they make moves out of just any old book? They are probably going to make one out of What is the What. I refuse to watch actor children pretend to eat baby birds. But would I like to hear it as a radio play? Possibly! Somebody needs to resurrect the radio play business with some really gripping stories, and not ones about little orphan Annie and Superman, thanks.
Song 4:Mathias Mental - my little life Comments: I've decided that Mathias Mental and Joel Plaskett should have a keyboard-off, if only because it would amuse me. This whole album is really great, I have made a habit of listening to it at home. This particular song is a bit melancholy, but still so danceable, and combining the two without re-writing an old Joy Division song is truly a wonderful skill.
Further talking: My summer project for 2009 is THIS. 75 pages per week and I should have read David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest by the end of September. I'm on the library waiting list now. I hope it's full of repressed females and brooding tall dark men in tight pants! But I doubt it somehow.
Song 5:Luke Doucet - Pedro Comments: A cross-border love song full of resonant guitar that would make Neil Young blush with simultaneous pride and envy. Pedro is some sort of Mexican-Canadian angel with a serious power over the ladies. Specifically the American ladies.
Talky talk talk: Rick Moranis, and why he continues to fascinate me, perhaps unhealthily. I think it behooves us all to think about how we might achieve success as early as possible so as to retire and devote ourselves to family and maybe put out a hilarious country album.
Song 6:Rick Moranis - music and love Comments: Rick Moranis talks for ages about nothing, basically listing song titles and random stuff, and still it's hilarious. I cracked at "she's acting single, I'm drinkin' doubles." This is from the 1989 album 'You, Me, The Music and Me' which is out of print, but I suggest you click on that link up there, AHEM, cough, wheeze.
Talking: Wherein I refer to that last track as 'a song,' because I am so clever. Anyway, you should waste some time at Vectorpark, apropos of nothing.
Song 7: Kiss Me Deadly - dance 3 Comments: This is very pretty, and has sort of an outdoor festival feel to it. Would sound great in a park, full of crazed people in face paint. Get on that kids.
Song 8:Wax Mannequin - dustboy rides the train Comments: Adventurous yet stripped-down guitar in no fixed time signature (or maybe there is one, but heck if I know, I only got to grade 8 in the royal conservatory). Thankfully the middle bit is in 4/4, which even I, the musical heathen, am familiar with. The charm of this is that it's sort of cocky but also low-key, which almost implies a threat. A threat to rock.
Song 9: Eddie Furman - jobs I'd like to have Comments: Pretty much anything as long as the overtime's not too heavy, huh Eddie? I feel you. Can't really relate to your wish for surprise illegitimate children though. That's a bit weird.
I think Grant of Downliner's Crypt told everyone I would be pre-recorded tonight, but no, he's wrong, I'm here flying by the seat of my pants. If the whole thing falls apart at 7:17pm, you'll know it's real. Reality radio! The punters love it, amirite?
1. Afternoons in Stereo - Everybody dance now: songs from Hamilton 3 - party at dick & mimi's
Comments: This is being played again, because it is a stone groove. I'm stealing terminology from 'Trading Places' and using it incorrectly! Check me out! I'm also chair dancing. Grrr, Hamilton, you sexy, uh, industrially-based town.
Comments: More dance dance dancing! I love his little beard. The whole package is quite charming. Meets or exceeds my criteria for excellence. Music, facial hair, chair dancing, check check check!
Comments: Yes, that really is what it says it is. This is so much better than McCartney. Ooh, sacrilege! Ah hell, I slaughtered that goat a long time ago.
5. Cursed Arrows - cfru: just west of something big - run forever
Comments: Grr, angry guitar. Very crunchy, I like it. I want to destroy small business equipment to this song! In boots! And then maybe dance for a bit. And then kick stuff some more!
6. The Maynards - date & destroy - dance fight '83
Comments: I like the dance instructions, and also the mysterious warning. They're going to get me. It is maybe not as threatening as they want it to be. They seem too cuddly for this kind of thing. Also I just kind of want to hang out with their bassist, whose stoicism is undeniably compelling.
Comments: Boys are just so silly sometimes, don't you think? I love this whimsical techno-pop! And it has a fake ending. This song is basically perfect.
Which consists entirely of silly glasses, but hey, I'm already feeling 30% more excellent and gender-confused. Huh?
Track list:
1. The Bicycles - oh no it's love - leave that woman alone
Comments: So overwhelmingly optimistic, I think I will come back and listen to it again in the summer, in the car, repeatedly.
2. Mathias Mental - is the happiest boy in montreal - she's a character
Comments: Baby you're such a character. The girl in the song is right, everyone in Montreal has a show on TV, the CBC is so freaking indiscriminate.
3. Pine Tarts - faux fauves - etoiles
Comments: Tarts in French, you know I can't resist. Sort of a gentle ballad over a determined guitar and drum combo. Charming as usual.
4. Cam Malcolm - a little bit of history - basement rock
Comments: Ha ha, he's going to move out based on his degree! Hilarious. Despite (because of?) the magic realism it's very enjoyable.
5. Economics - economics - birds are probably dinosaurs
Comments: A one-man dance band, with science! I don't know what I'm saying anymore. Let's make a movie about space ships and use this as the score! It's a deal.
6. The Magic - the magic - deep water
Comments: Another danceable public service announcement! Don't swim in the deep water, sharks will eat you. I love the saxophone, and the bongos, and the uh, wacked out theremin-y guitar. You are being chased through the jungle! Run Indiana, run! It's great, whatever it is.
7. Elephantine - quebec emergent 08-09 - la beaute
Comments: I think there are French swears in this song. But I'll never know for sure because our French teacher would never really tell us. Darn her inhibitions!
8. Crash the Car - they built houses here - atlas & axis
Comments: This is to make you feel really sad that I am leaving again for a week. Suffer! Weep! Ha ha HA HA HA. Phew. Lording it over you is exhausting, listener.
I got a whole giant box of 'em, from the magic radio station library. I'm takin' em home. But man, those things are not vinyl, they're metal and hard plastic and stuff. They are very, very heavy. I have been told to lift with my knees.
Liberace was kind of cute when he started out, actually...? Am I a twisted weirdo? Oh yes.
Comments: Funky with excellent keyboard. I wish I knew the more technical term for that keyboard sound. It's like, one of those little organ things? Anyway, this rocks times french!
Comments: Their CD art is so professionally done that at first I was nervous. This is college radio after all, what would we be if we were not pretentious? We would cease to exist! Even my cold dead heart has to admit that this is pretty rad though. If I were 15 again this would rock my ass to the point of hysteria.
Comments: Driving rock with an electronic sort of a thing going on, and basically I'm trying to express something I have no business expressing. Whatever, I'm inexpert! daymonthyear, you're great, you know it.
Comments: Sort of epic. Sounds like massive arena rock, but with low-key vocals. At first I thought Rush but Quebecois, but now I'm not sure. Emerson Lake and Palmer, maybe? (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ricki Lake and Arnold Palmer, obviously.)
5. The Soles - you burst into fire again - hey old man
Comments: Funky with amusing lyrics. Nobody writes modern pop for old people! Thank you Soles for addressing this major oversight.
6/7. B.A. Johnston - stairway to hamilton - you will miss me when the zombies come/dirtmall
Comments: I find that first one romantic and touching; am I deranged? He wants to hide with me in the dollarama! Swooooon. Uh yeah okay.
Comments: I have decided this bridges the gap between dance music and my beloved sad bastard indie rock. I know it sounds like an insult but I swear on my mother's eiderdown that it is not. I enjoy to dance and cry simultaneously.
9. The Magician - who will cut my grass when I'm gone - indicator stop bath
Comments: Lengthy, epic, passes through many moods. I would like to use this in a film. Make a note!
They're not always obvious. So much fast singing these days. Probably nobody notices but me, armed with my lyric sheets and my filthy mind.
Track list:
1. The Organ - thieves - fire in the ocean
Comments: This is an existing favourite. It's great! But I think I would like to reassure you; you do not need to throw yourself into the ocean to feel a comforting all-over embrace. It's dangerous and cold. And eiderdowns are so affordable these days. Especially if you go synthetic.
2. Paper Moon - one thousand reasons to stay, one reason to leave - the history of punctuation
Comments: Dance dance dance to the history of Canadian pop music! I'm delving into the library today.
3. Corb Lund Band - unforgiving mistress - mora (blackberry)
Comments: Corb goes latino! This is a bit cheeky and also hip-swagglin'.
4. jale - various: never mind the molluscs ep - lung
Comments: Delicious east-coast grunge.
5. Emilie Muscle - laches louuses ii - manger la tete
Comments: Slow fast slow fast awesome.
6. Weasel Faced Judge - hear & now '92 - bacon and egg bicycle
Comments: Craziness. A sausage built for two! Glad to know someone else has embraced weird for the sake of weird.
7. Donner Party Reunion - "it's been about five years, hasn't it?" - days of degradation
Comments: Punktacular, and from the past. It has been about fifteen years I think, actually.
8. Search Parties - an hour like this - wonderful disease
Comments: I love how this song is like eight songs all smashed together. Sort of symphonic, in that sense.
9. Wintermitts - heirloom - mer de l'atlantique
Comments: Sort of sad and dance-y at the same time. And tinkly at the end.
10. Jenny Omnichord - charlotte or otis - I sneeze in threes (with Andy Swan)
Comments: So adorable. I have this at home and it just makes me grin horribly. I miss being five. Except the time I was punished for smacking a kid with a rubber porkchop in kindergarten, that sucked. I had to sit on the orange chair! Ick.
11. B.A. Johnston - stairway to hamilton - tetris junkie
Comments: AMAZING. The combination of heavy metal styles and cheeky french lyrics has blown my mind.
2. Rich Aucoin - personal publication - 10,342 cuts for the us (an exploding)
Comments: Dancy, and perfect for watching with clips of old cartoons. This is not a coincidence.
3. Jenny Omnichord - charlotte or otis - the old prince
Comments: Jenny Omnichord and Shad!!! Oh-mazing.
4. Great Lake Swimmers - various: weewerk is 6 - song for the angels (miracle version)
Comments: So soothing and nice, I accidentally played the first part twice, due to smacking the cd player prematurely, argh. Still, I have no real regrets. The song prevents me from feeling anything except whistful.
5. Change of Heart - steelteeth - orange
Comments: Some soothing 90s Canadian rock, for me and my tortured, uh, arms. I gave blood yesterday, and it did not go well. This is my reward.
6. Fatal if Swallowed - thank you, goodnight! - beer for my dear
Comments: The sentiment behind the song was so heartwarming, how could I not play it? I can totally be won over with beer! I could cry right now.
7. Wintermitts - heirloom - schoolyard
Comments: Simultaneously pretty and rockin'. Not easy to do!
8. Castanets - city of refuge - refuge 1
Comments: To fuel your misery. Hey, this is college radio, it's my job.
9. Kellarissa - flamingo - tiny things
Comments: Remember when Larissa was in Choir Practice and I was very appreciative? Well, say hooray if you like continuity, because I like this too. Nice sort of 60s keyboard sounds, with kind of futuristic undertones. But then, to me, the 60s were all about futuristic undertones, so maybe it's all tied together.
10. Call the City - ep - svetlana says
Comments: I love this song because it is so sassy. I never get tired of sass.
11. Grandfather Fire & the Holy Mourning - various: nothing on but your radio - live sessions from cjsw 90.9 - my allergy to the fans
If only I hadn't given up lessons (I might have been even more warped and frustrated).
Track list:
1. Valery Gore - avalanche to wandering bear - shoes of glass
Comments: Plink plink plink! Lovely.
2. Winter Gloves - about the girl - party people
Comments: Woo hoo hoo! Michael Jackson-style. I am dancing, as usual. Ooh, I love the talking bit, always a winner.
3. Stacy Lloyd Brown - automatic ep - the motherload
Comments: Squidge squodge music! This is how I am most comfortable describing slightly electronic music. Through onomatopoeia! It works for me. This is sort of a soothing ocean of synthesizer punctuated by squidge squodge and bloop bloop. I feel like a chidren's tv presenter right now.
4. DD/MM/YYYY - 777 - super vgf
Comments: More boops and bloops, very catchy and delightful.
5. The Judes - sunflower - plastic surgery
Comments: He only wants to love you, and your fake boobs. Delightfully retro-garage.
6. Young Rival - young rival - poisonous moves
Comments: It's an awesome retro-garage double shot!
7. Elliott Brood - mountain meadows - fingers and tongues
Comments: This sounds very beautiful and old, but modern. Kind of classic western film, but with today's angst.
8. Spiral Beach - bonus! - kind of beast
Comments: A danceable choral rock song with sort of... a space truckin' feel? I think it's possible.
9. Sex with Strangers - the modern seduction - downtown fever
Comments: And the dancing just keeps on, um, happening. I am picturing people bouncing in their cars, you know, if people listened to me in their cars. I don't think the transmission tends to be strong enough, but I have trouble letting go of the vision.
10. The Human Statues - the human statues - the man on the radio
Comments: As a lady on the radio, I'm not thrilled to be excluded, but whatever.
11. Modernboys Moderngirls - I might as well break it- my baby says boy etc.
Comments: So good! Too short!
12: Sean Cullen - i am a human man - addicted to the disco
Comments: Oh dear Sean.
13: Search Parties - an hour like this - an hour like this
1. The Stolen Minks - high kicks - north end strangler
Comments: Frig you're awesome, minks.
2. The Great Outdoors - summer - last day of our vacation
Comments: To help you recover from being brutalized by the minks! But really, this speaks to me of my current situation, strapped into five months of frost and drizzle. It's both sympathetic and comforting.
3. Woodland Telegraph - sings revival hymns - how I get buried
Comments: More gentle misery. It's in the title though, isn't it. Yes, yes it is. But it's sweetly demoralizing.
4. 1977 - 1977 - get the feeling
Comments: Pretty! It's a generic comment, but true. I feel this in my pretty-bone. It's a small bone, but very sensitive. Uh, yes. That sounded not great. But this, this IS great. Yes it is.
5. Dylan Thomas & The Vancouver Vipers - fortune teller miracle fish - seasick ocean queen
Comments: Charming and lovely and man, I'll play it again. Oh my, Josephine. Instant winner lyrics, Mr. Thomas!
6. Josh Reichmann Oracle Band - life is legal ep - plant words
Comments: Funky! Bwow chika deowwwww... he's Canadian too. That combination doesn't necessarily come without significant practice and effort. Kudos, Mr. Reichmann, kudos.
7. Modernboys Moderngirls - I might as well break it - where's your boyfriend
Comments: Sassy and very rock n' roll. It's more authentic with the apostrophe. Well, where is this alleged boyfriend? He sounds awesome.
8. Afternoons in Stereo - Everybody dance now: songs from Hamilton 3 - party at dick and mimi's
Comments: Is there anything to say except, that is one wicked funky party to which I have probably not been invited? This music would have been at home on the turntable at Eddie Murphy's house in Trading Places, until he kicked everybody out. Yeah. YEAH!
9. Pants and Tie - washing machine/you rub me the wrong way ep - washing machine
Comments: Maybe this guy doesn't do laundry. Seriously man, laundry is not as awesome as you make it sound. Not even close.
Comments: And a sharp left at the relationship anguish ballad! Lovely guitar strumming, and singing that reminds me of swans. The Organ are beloved by music critics, however, so I'm sure it's nothing they haven't heard before.
11. Tullio De Piscopo - disco italia - e fatto e sorde! e? (money money)
Comments: Oh you know I can't resist. When they finally hide this album from me in the stacks, I will publicly weep, and possibly mount a protest. In the meantime, dance like there's no tomorrow, kids.
If you use that as your new band name, remember who to credit (and where to send your first ten bucks, or some flowers or something).
Track list:
1. I ate your legs - I ate your legs - certain breeds
Comments: At first I thought it would be all backwards (nee-oooop, nee-ooooooop), but then it resolved itself into a nice, grungy, nihilistic instrumental number. You will dance the tarantella into your own grave, listener!
2. Ertha Kitt - where is my man (single) - where is my man
Comments: Ertha credits a "B. Vilanch" on this song. Seriously? I would not be surprised if it were THE Bruce "Sally Jesse eyewear" Vilanch. Grrrr.
3. The Good News - the good news - oh na na
Comments: Hop hop dance dance weep weep! This song has everything I like, including a chorus of sweet male voices, and a jumpy and defiant chorus. And fake-rap! Oh em gee, you guys.
Comments: This band is about to disco your ass into next week. And: GO! But also incongruous fiddle. And robot voices! I am about to turn into the bike courier from Spaced, right about now.
5. Matthew Ryan Woods - edgewise - the arrival
Comments: Fulfilling my self-imposed country quota. Very slick.
6. Said the Whale - howe sounds - my government heart
Comments: For a Canadian band to talk about being a government agent and how that's somehow cool... well anyway, this song is awesome. I guess the secret agents here have time for saucy love affairs, at any rate.
7. The Sheepdogs - big stand - garbagemen
Comments: Appropriately gritty! I like the repeated guitar phrase, it's a total singalong guitar part.
8. Tusks - tusks - baby noise
Comments: This is a convertible-with-the-top-down type song. About babies! As a lady with variable hormone levels, I predict this song will reach maximum effectiveness in approximately three weeks.
9. Poorfolk - our burning street - dead pan dance
Comments: More sort of misery dance music. Well, I like it, what can I say. It has that quick-quick-slow thing going on too. As a lady of a certain age (still with variable hormone levels, let's not forget), I appreciate a break now and then, even in the midst of the rocking. Not too much of a break, small is okay. Wouldn't want to start going all Enya or anything.
SFU is back in session, and the whole place is overrun with youth. Eeep. Everyone looks quite nervous, and there is no recourse in smoking, thanks to the new rigorous no smoking on campus rules. Plus, they have replaced all of your vendo chips with nutritious fruit leathers! Oh, you're all in so much trouble.
1. The Telepathic Butterflies - breakfast in suburbia - if it's all too much
2. Junior Pantherz - rejoice, remain - high hopes
3. Love and Mathematics - love and mathematics - remember to masticate
4. Aching Heart Foundation - the destination - heaven on earth
5. Artificial Workshop - various: esopus number ten: good news - miracle man
6. Hey Rosetta! - into your lungs - handshake the gangster
7. Shotgun Jimmie - various: do you want to talk all night? a sappy records tribute to snailhouse - 21 years
8. Man Man - various: esopus number ten: good news - a song for liza minelli
9. Duchess Says - anthologie des 3 perchoirs - gilbert
10. The Golden Dogs - big eye little eye - painting ape
This evening's Singing with Barbra radio show is dedicated to the people over here! the people over here! the people over here!
I have been listening to old school rap lately, can you tell? Rip rop rippity roo. I think my skills are improving.
Anyway, I recently borrowed a few of my father-in-law's old timey records (old timey for me being the 70's, obviously). Now I am digitizing them and turning them over to you, the greedy public. In this show we have an inspirational number from National Lampoon, featuring a young and be-babyfaced Christopher Guest. Interspersed with mostly Canadian indie rock and such. This radio show has no attention span, friends.
This week I spent a hell of a long time debating the merits of Bigfoot, and basically asking whether life would be more interesting and/or worthwhile if he were around more, you know, to give us advice and such. I say bring him to dinner and let's find out. Unfortunately the establishment keeps faking us out with rubber suits and pig intestines. It is a crime. All I want to do is sit awhile and eat pie with the sasquatch! See what kind of crazy ideas he might have cooked up in the mountains up there! I promise I will not tell him about cars or spaceships or anything. Yeesh, it's like the government doesn't trust us or something.
Good evening, my sweet. May I rub your back? Would you like some toast and jam? How about a restraining order?
Mmm hmmm.
Tonight we have a whole heck of a bunch of Canadian alt-rock, and one old dude making fun of lounge singers. See if you can tell them apart! I bet it will be hard. Everyone's so damned "ironic" these days.
Hey you! This is a private blog! Nothing to see here. Except, of course, for a fine selection of songs from some lovely Canadian types.
Track list:
1. Tagaq - auk/blood - hunger
Comments: Occasionally I like to break away from the usual and play something a bit artsy and experimental. This would be one of those times. Reveen only wishes he could relax you like this does. Also, Tagaq's voice is much prettier than Reveen's... and her backing musicians are more talented too. There's no comparison here, really.
2. The Ferris Wheel - the ferris wheel - i hear skeletons
Comments: Mr. Bones feels rattlin', ha ha, that's a good one. Doot doot doot - this CD proclaims that it was "recorded at Sean's," which just impresses the hell out of me. I realize everyone's doing it now, but man, so many people are just doing it wrong, you know?
3. Pete Samples - the jumper cables - bobby raindrop
Comments: I personally think it's the new "we are the world" - it's that sing-along chorus, whoa-oah, whoa-oah, it gets me every time! This is frankly quite gorgeous. And apparently his mom created his album art! I love that. My mum has an embroidery setting on her sewing machine too. She doesn't usually include velcro though. Kudos, Momma Samples.
4. Ghost Keeper - and the children of the great northern muskeg - cruisin the chev
Comments: Look out ladies and gentlemen, ghost keeper is out on the town, and I believe every single member is wearing leather pants and swaggling their hips suggestively. It is highly rock n' roll of them.
5. 4d - l'equanimite - les morts-vivants sifflent
Comments: The zombies are whistling?! Awesome. Is it like, some sort of all-zombie version of West Side Story? OH NO WAIT ACTUALLY - would it not be AMAZING if somebody made West Side Story as the tale of star-crossed lovers, one zombie and the other non-zombie? I vote for lady-zombie, and uninfected dude. I see... Kristin Chenoweth, maybe?
6. The Coast - expatriate - killing off our friends
Comments: Metaphorically I've been doing alot of this lately. You know how it is, you move to the suburbs and suddenly it gets so hard to bother to hang out with anybody. Not that I was doing tons of it before. It's just now it's pretty much absolute. This song makes it sound kind of glamorous and fun. Thanks, coast!
7. Hills Like White Elephants - himalaya - gulls
Comments: They're building up to something here, I can tell. Sort of sounds like they're setting up a massive party in an airport hangar, but they're not letting any of the plebes in yet because the 40-ft amps are still being rolled into place.
8. Hilotrons - hoppymatic - lovesuit
Comments: David Byrne is going to call you up and ask when you snuck into his apartment and rifled through his funky loop drawer, hilotrons. And you should answer, "ha, two can play the funky loop game, Byrne; also, let's hang out and be awesome together, okay? Thursday at six good for you?" I am just making suggestions here.
9. Language-Arts - language-arts - either way
Comments: Funky, funky funky. And they're going to be playing right by my house, and the Beanstalk festival in Port Coquitlam! I love it.
10. Young & Sexy - the arc - the fog
Comments: A little weather-appropriate music for you. Next week I'm going to the lake, and on my first day there it will be thirty degrees and sunny, aka bathing suit weather. DAMN.
Hello all, welcome to today's blog about the show, wherein I will list the songs played on Singing with Barbra and give my immediate impressions, whatever they might be.
Just an introduction, in case you're new.
I find you intelligent and charming, with just a hint of jaw-droppingly gorgeous, have I mentioned?
Track list:
1. Team Building - upon st. lawrence - upon st. lawrence
Comments: This is a lovely song, which reminds me greatly of drifting on water. Successful songwriting, that! Quite beautiful, really. It's a bit of a musical journey through a Canadian landmark, if that's your thing.
2. Videotape - my favourite thing - night lights
Comments: This has an awesome culvert-recorded sound, like David Bowie's Heroes, a bit (it always comes back to Bowie for me). Distant vocals, and there is something very nostalgia-inducing about that particular sound. Have you noticed? Anyway, it's also danceable, in a very nice way.
3. Statues - terminal bedroom - husbands and wives
Comments: Dee dee deedeedeedee DEEEEEE! DANCE DANCE DANCE! If only there were a ballroom in my basement full of bedazzled friendly people, I would play them this song. And they would enjoy it heartily.
4. Culture Reject - culture reject - inside the cinema
Comments: Is that... a harmonium? Delicious. Creative percussion also. Always appreciated.
5. Ghost Keeper - and the children of the great northern muskeg - solid gold
Comments: ghost keeper, feeling a little bit country, a little bit rock n' roll. But mostly country. And also some disco, I guess, what with the 'solid gold.' Well, that's what I always think of. Solid gold... jumpsuits! Is that a leap of logic I'm making alone? Oh well. This is excellent, by the way. Swaggerin.
6. Koak - morningtime stumble - y knot
Comments: This is the song I would play if I was returning to my hometown after a fire had gutted all of my favourite childhood haunts, just to set the mood. Those arc-ing, twangy guitars would punctuate my turning over of bits of wood, and discovering scorched street signs and old rags, and other detritus, with a pained look on my face. Call me, T-Bone Burnett, I long to be your understudy.
7. Ruby Coast - ruby coast - brittle bones
Comments: Beeps and bleeps done right. Tugging at the heartstrings and pleasuring the eardrums with synthesizer - it's not easy, is it? I mean, so many have tried and failed. It must be a bit of a daunting task, all told.
8. The Hung Jury - 'the windsor scene' live at cjam fm - except the whiskey
Comments: Slightly belligerent songs about liquor consumption, I adore you! This one is predictably fun and mildly mournful, all at once. Oh, you know it's kind of a country song. Please, obviously.
9. Hills Like White Elephants - himalaya - a sword in the circle
Comments: Jangly and slight. Atmostpheric! Echoing and moody! Adjective adjective adjective! I do love a good adjective.
I love it when people post book cover scans; old Penguin and Puffin Classics are so delightful, and I'm not above buying a copy of a book I already own because the cover is really great. Generally these are old books I'm digging out of a stinky pile at the local thrift store, while my paramour holds his nose and sags noticeably with every passing minute. He doesn't like standing around in musty second-hand shops. Unfortunately for him, I love it. If all I had to do all day was sift through other people's attics and closets looking for weird old junk, I would be a happy lady. As it is, the bread, she must be earned. And the kettle chips.
La Jument Verte - Marcel Ayme, 1933
The back. "A well of health and good humour." (Very roughly.) I guarantee Rene Lalou never though his review would look so funky. If book backs could be this well-designed now, people might bother reading them with some interest. There are more words on the backs of some books than in them, and for what? Abandoned self-congratulation, methinks. This, however, is beautiful. Your local bookstore could display this thing backwards.
le Diable au Corps - Raymond Radiguet, 1923
When Jean Cocteau says you're a phenomenon, and compares you to Rimbaud, and says that your genius is basically a giant burden, you jot it down and fax it to your editor, asap. Probably that's not what happened here, but it's a good tip for any aspiring writers out there.
Le seigneur des anneaux - Tolkien, 1954
