Rational Reasons

The Parsons version of this song is heartbreaking, but the Fonda version is not to be overlooked.  It's an interesting combination of GP genius mixed with nerdy vocals and mariachi.  And who can resist adorable gangly young Fonda with his Byronic sideburns?

One of the best things about late 60s fashion is that male hairstyles were distinctly Napoleonic in appearance.  Is that so much to ask?  Christ, give me a reason, dudes.

Every time I hear Marion Harris' version of Tea For Two (more often than you'd think; it's 1934 over on 8tracks), I think of Big Edie Beale singing along to an old recording in her squalid bedroom.  She's obviously transported at one point and really gets into it, reliving her prior glories.



This scene was one of the most memorable for me.  Big Edie shaking her arms at her daughter saying, "Dance to that waltz! How can you resist that?"

I love music of the 20s and 30s, but some songs are just way too adorable and saccharine or goofy for me to handle, and Tea For Two was one of them.  Rarely do I want to hear a song that you can tap dance to.  Still, Grey Gardens changed my mind and I quite like it now.  I think Doris Day is the reason why I couldn't deal with the song, originally.  Although I think she's an under-appreciated actress, she was often styled in a way that created an almost toxic combination of cuteness and squareness.

The real DD seems to be a bit of a badass.  Yes, be.  She still lives.


DD 1950


Marion Harris 1924

Nixa

No offense, Ky-Ky, but I prefer the Nick-Blixa combination here.  Nixa.


Oh god the violin.

I have multiple itunes libraries living on a couple of computers, and when transferring music from one to the other, discovered a cache containing a library circa 2007.  It was full of all sorts of music that hadn't made it over on a transfer made at that time.

Now I am continually hearing songs that I loved in past lives and somehow forgot about when they went away.  I still love them.  Hearing certain songs for the first time in years is sometimes shocking, thrilling and gutting.

I had PJ Harvey's "Dry" on tape (am old) and have scarcely heard it in the last decade.  I listened to it the other night and felt like screaming.  THIS IS SO GOOD.







Is Suede not super famous?  I thought they were.  I find living entirely in my own world to be an accomplishment, but sometimes it leads to confusion.


I forgot about this song, and Disintegration in general, until I watched Marie Antoinette last summer.  I was amazed at how good it is.  What the hell have I been doing?  I think I should do a Cure song trawl post where I ramble excessively about my various feelings about various songs.  FUNSIES

Gentle people music

Fairy-tale Coincidence from InitialsBB on 8tracks Radio.

I guess I uploaded all these songs at the same time into 8tracks and forgot about them.  So now they're a mix, because a theme was observed.  Get out your notebooks and Sylvia Plath bookmarks!  It's time to write some moody journal entries!

But then I intentionally made another mix, or tried to until I was foiled by the ridiculous legal jive of record companies that won't allow me to upload more than 2 Glenn Miller songs into one playlist.  Really, dicks?  Laying the hammer down on all those people who want to pirate obscure swing jams that only dead people remember.  Got it.

So that mix is minus 5 other songs that I wanted because Glenn Miller had such an array of accompanying artists that no song is remotely the same, and they are all required.  FINE.  I'LL SETTLE FOR MEDIOCRITY I GUESS.

Almost completely divine from InitialsBB on 8tracks Radio.

It's still all right.  Muffled trombones and moody jazz music are comforting to me.  Highlights: Peggy Lee, young Sinatra.  I never was a Sinatra fan until I heard his very early recordings. Those are why he's great, not the loungey stuff he recorded in the 50s and 60s.  The later stuff isn't bad, but the early early stuff, when he's still that narrow-faced kid, is kind of amazing when you haven't heard it before.

I'm getting these out of the way so I can make the mix I really want: 12 different covers of the lullaby from Rosemary's Baby.  Oh, trust.  That is real.

Babe magnet.

oh and

Peter Murphy

This photo was on my...folder...in high school. stfu.



Time to go to the Nile?

Pulp got back together.

For a minute, a few months ago.

Not sure if I've mentioned how I love Jarvis, but I do. In fact, I like him more the older and rougher he gets. The voice somehow gets sexier*, the appearance is no longer that of a very tall, very young girl, so I guess he is still peaking. Seems like he can't hit certain high notes anymore. That's ok, JVC. ilu.



His weekly radio show: Jarvis' Sunday Service

* i just need to point out that i hate the word "sexy" - one of my least favorite adjectives and oh hell no is it ever a noun. but i'm beat! i got nothing! there's no other word for it. aiight get out of here, this never happened.

http://8tracks.com/

I use this site every day at work. I've discovered things I wouldn't really expect to like, like Mariee Sioux. Not that there's anything unlikeable about her but anything that seems kind of hipstery cute just pisses me off. My only complaint is that when you choose the "soul" tag, 100 stupid mixes come up, "music to make you smile," "music that reminds me of my trip to france," blah blah blah.

I am looking for Sam Cooke, not the Sundays.

Josh T. Pearson

so glad people like this exist.

dramas / musics

it's one thing to be at a crossroads, but what if there are 6 different potential paths? i am so indecisive that i can't trust myself to make decisions anymore.

regarding a career, i am constantly pulled between doing something that satisfies me intellectually and creatively, and doing something that actually benefits other people. when you pare existence down to the essential elements, it is obvious that not a single thing matters in this world other than helping those weaker than yourself, those who can't help themselves. all else is vanity and distraction. and that's not to downplay vanity and distraction - they're important too, but they don't stack up. so when i focus on the fun only, i begin to feel guilty, irrelevant, like dead weight, part of the problem.

i think i may have to save my self-indulgent playtimes for afterhours.

in other news, i hate watching live music because it is boring. even bands i like have me checking my watch on the 5th song in, wishing they'd wrap it the hell up already, but this was my favorite band from day 2 (i missed day 1) of sundown showdown:

the kabbs. i think they sounded better live than in these recordings. the vocalist has a bit of a morrison-in-70 thing, live. roadhouse blues sort of vibe.

speaking of myspace, the only reason i keep that horseshit around is for the couple of bands i've discovered there that i can't seem to get ahold of anywhere else, or last time i checked.

my absolute favorite is BIG NED. incredible australians. they remind me of the birthday party. big fan.

josh t. pearson. he's got a good schtick going, particularly since he seems to parlay it europe where being from west texas and recovering from jesus is probably ~exotic~. also i think his whole, "deserter confederate soldier, been dead a week" style is just adorable. no really. call me.

benji hughes is enjoyable and i like his voice and thor style.

and of course thomas nola. a very prolific artist who does most things well, or at least interestingly. perhaps an eccentric artiste, i don't know him well, but he is one of my biffles' ex-husbands, more or less.

nineteen hundred and eighty-one is over

An irish flu day spent watching comfort videos on youtube.

About, oh, twelve years ago, I bought a documentary called Girls Bite Back online (I'm like Al Gore) which contained a bunch of random live footage of Siouxsie Sioux, Nina Hagen, the Slits, and I can't remember who else. The video below was on the tape.

Nina Hagen was my favorite at this time. Outrageous German interplanetary disco queen with a command of I don't remember how many octaves - many - yet who seemed to enjoy singing in a growl much of the time. I joined a CC list that translated and serialized her autobiography, contemplated her crazy handwritten liner notes, and listened to her constantly. The reaction of the people around me was always the same: "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"

Nina is not for everyone, I guess.

The first time I watched this, I felt like 1:40 changed my life.