This one's a duet. From the random selection on my IPhone which I brought to Portland- and will shortly bring to Houston.
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes: Hope That We Can Be Together Soon AKA "Teddy Pendergrass Feat. Sharon Paige: "Hope That...." Teddy and Harold had a little spat, see- Harold founded the group, but by the time they were successful, well see, Teddy was doing all the lead singing. (And How!) Teddy wanted his name added to the existing group-name, which would have produced the titular monstrosity of "Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes Featuring Teddy Pendergrass".
"No dice", says Harold; Teddy says "I quit". But not before recording this song with Sharon Paige (and the rest of the Blue Notes); she too was a Blue Note at the time, so this track really only needs the title "HM & BN: 'HWCBTS'", not "TP FT SP (AKA HM & BN FT TP & FT SP): 'HTWCBTS'".
Clarifying, I'm sure. I think we all learned a lot today.
Quickly now- let's have another brief blast from the most recent mix, which includes the song below.
Turns out this was in Kill Bill: do not recall.
I of course did not pinch my version from some Quentin Tarantino-sanctioned mix. I do the sanctioning around here, thanks. Instead, I found this song by what you might call the "lost-wax casting method". That is the "method" whereby one seeks records, sees records, and gets divinely inspired to snap some particular one up. In this case, inspiration struck because of this fairly intriguing record cover.
Will it be Canticles for Catholics? (Santa = Saint) Cha-Cha, or (Two-to-) Tango? Spanish Goth for Goya fans? (check the "Castlevania" style font) Erotic fiction en Espagnol?
More apt pictures, here:
I think this song may have launched Ruth and I into a long little game: in which songs does the singer name herself/himself? (An example: in "What My Woman Can't Do Can't Be Done" by Jerry Lee Lewis, he says, "If ever there's been a baby/ Jerry Lee has found him one")
No hip-hop obviously -that wouldn't be a challenging game- unless maybe you had to rap the line yourself, and actually do a decent job of it.
And since you are listening to the above song already, you probably can see the related event in that song. In probably the only lyrical derivation from the Animals' track (originally written for Nina Simone- who knew?), a line is (for no clear reason) added: "Oh, Esmeralda". I imagine that is who he does not wish to be misunderstood by? Anyhow, since he says "Esmeralda", and the band's name is "Santa Esmeralda", you know, it got me thinking.
Any other examples of singers naming themselves in lyrics; or saying their own band name in the lyrics? I won't say the ones we've already thought of- that way you can play the game too. In the comments of course.
(you can still download the mix- a summery, disco-filled and disco-infused little scorcher, here- of course, it includes this song. Of Course!)
Elton Britt: The Wandering Cowboy. His band probably is not wandering too far; there is plenty of honky-tonk organ in this. Surely, you can drag your slide-steel, your banjo across the country- but not your Wurlitzer. "My Organ is too BIG!"
This is my record's cover: (I sort of wish this was the cover:)
Jose Melis Plays the Latin Way. His album before this is titled Senior Prom! Don't know much of anything about this/him yet.
Beatles '65, Older B's stuff. I can't hardly be bothered to listen to most Beatles' stuff, for various reasons. This, however, is good. Chuck Berry covers, Birth-of-Rock-n-Roll kind of stuff, which, if you've been downloading my mixes, you know is my passionate attachment lately. ("IF?") I think the first Beatles Anthology has different versions of a lot of these songs.
Lou Rawls Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! and an Al Green Xmas album. The Rawls is solid- even behind a veil of ignorance (...) you would recognize that. The Rev. Green's Xmas, though, is basically a bag of coal. I would wear the hell outta that suit above, btw.
Richie Havens Mixed Bag Quite Good, one of the real discoveries of this music-spelunking trip.
Charlie Rich Silver Fox. Check the sweet Fox Logo! Does a very odd 'medley' on the first side. In which he discusses his bio (including his many musical shifts- from Jazz, to Rock 'n' Roll, to Country), cracks a few 'jokes', etc. In between the spoken bio bits, he plays newly-recorded versions of his most famous songs, usually just the chorus and a verse. Why does he do this? I haven't the foggiest, frankly.
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway A little mellow for my normal listening tastes, but real slow burn soulful heavenly stuff. Perfect for relaxed cooking, doing the dishes, a light summer rain outside, etc. (I know all that does not sound like high praise, but I'm trying to describe the mood that would make you put this record on- it is much more enjoyable than washing the dishes.) Unfortunately, the first two tracks- on both sides- are all warped to hell. So I can only listen to about 60% of this album. Pffffffff.
The Massive Attack album Blue Lines came up twice lately. With Neil for sure, and perhaps with our new friend MarguaX-Y-Z.
I was telling Margauz about music I listened to in high school, and told her and Neil both that a lot of so-called 'trip-hop' hasn't aged so well. Massive Attack, however, is just as great now as then: "Same As It Ever Was".
Blue Lines' cover (see above) reminds me of this:
which is called NFPA 704 (?), and more provocatively, a FIRE DIAMOND .
It sums up the dangers associated with any chemical, on a scale of 0-4 (0 = NBD, 4 = vewwy bad) : blue is health risk, red is flammability, yeller is instabilty/reactivity (think about it, they mean the same thing), and white, much like my blog readership, is 'special'.
Neil knows about Massive Attack because he is Irish. They are one of those bands, like Super Furry Animals, where you know them automatically if you are British, and probably don't know if you are an American, and still only maybe know even if you are an American Indie Nerd. "Just as great" also includes another album, Mezzanine. Maybe some other time I will tell you what I think about Mezzanine, which I like even more than the excellent Blue Lines. But today is not that day. All I will say is this little creepy American Indie Nerd gem: 'it has really good production'.
ew that's grosser than the bug picture, innit?
The song you are listening to is a cover, although for the longest time I took it to be the original. Still never heard the original (by William DeVaughn), although I now know it to be a cover. This knowledge comes to me courtesy of the American Indie Nerd band Yo La Tengo. Download their live cover of "Be Thankful for What You've Got" here Yo La Tengo do a lot of covers, because one of the nerds people in the band used to be a record clerk. So he knows a bit about old obscure business, you see. All versions of the song say "Gangster Whitewalls", which I like.
I recently happened upon a few records by Jose Feliciano. He's blind, and plays a mean guitar. Like, for real mean. He plays a number of covers (that's what crack instrumentalists do: think about old jazz heads), like the one above. He also used to live near S'Noble in Connecticut.
CONNEXIONS, right?!?!
Oh shit! It's 2:30, and I still haven't finished my syllabus. Lordy! You guys write the rest of this, will you? Thanks. I owe a blog entry dedication to anyone who adds anything to the comments section. Well, anything except for spam comments about hookahs (see here and here).
I got a new setup for taking records and putting them onto my computer. I won't bore you with technical details, but it will sound even better now. One of the first albums I ripped using this newfangled high-tech methodology was Larry Graham's band 'Graham Central Station'. The album I got is called "Now Do U Wanta Dance?" and it's first track is called "happ-e-2-c-u-a-ginn", NJK, which should have clued me in: he used to be in Sly and the Family Stone. Remember, they have that song "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)".
Evidently, this guy Larry Graham invented the slap bass, which is a pretty big deal. If you ain't hearda it, you are decidedly UNFONKY. You can hear some fonk here, where he and his band cover Al Green's "Love and Happiness". The bass, which Larry plays*, is big and right up front. You've already heard it, right?, funkily plunking away.
* Larry plays a bunch of instruments, and other than this (and another) cover, he wrote, produced, and arranged all the songs. He is evidently very proud of this (he should be), because on the back of this album, there is a 'TYPOGRAPHICAL NOTE' that clarifies: "There was a misprint on the last album: all songs WERE NOT WRITTEN by Steve Henderson. ALL songs were WRITTEN BY LARRY GRAHAM". I'm approximating the note: I didn't bring the record to the cafe with me (regret).
Here are some more things that happened in Portland.
(This didn't happen- read below for details- it's an engraving by Albrecht Dürer- he's famous-like.)
At Stumptown, I drank coffee from $300 beans. I'm approximating again: they were $15 an ounce (you do the math, SQUARE!)! I don't know why they cost so much. I paid regular coffee price for a mug. It tasted good, but then, so do their $12/lb coffees. For $300+/lb, that coffee had better won some tasting awards. No: It better have won the damn Olympics.
I got these reading materials in Portland. (I now feel like I am filling out '15 books 15 minutes' on Facebook again.)
Par Lagerkvist- the sibyl Never heard of, Nobel Prize winner
Graham Greene- quiet american Kurt Vonnegut Jr- cat's cradle Gregory Dicum- Window Seat Pictures of the landscape, as you see it flying over in a plane. Shows you how to identify things, like former glacier movements, military installations, barrier reefs, etc. The writer and designer of the book had connections at Wired magazine, so the book has all these interesting cool looking diagrams.
BUSTED magazine Wherein random mugshots of people arrested in your county are posted. You can read it at my house, next time you are there. (Lot of meth-related arrests and DUIs: Go Oregon!)
Candy Bombers - Andrei Cherny About the Berlin airlift. Haven't heard? When the Russians blockaded Berlin, almost setting off Russia/USA violence in the middle of the Cold War, America airlifted necessary supplies into Berlin. Including (not limited to) candy/raisins for children, and a power plant. Really, all the tools and materials for a WHOLE POWER PLANT. If you ever get bored in life, remember that shit like this goes down all the time. Don't be lazy; read something; bye-bye boredom. Then you'll know that the kids affectionately called the pilots 'RaisinBombers', and extended this later to all Americans.
Technologies of the Self Papers by Foucault and others who took this course from him.
Wax Poetics Philly Issue! Philly International records, and such! I'll share fun details out of this, as I read it! That's Teddy Pendergrass above, looking luxe.
Akira: two random collections of Akira comics. A small small fraction of the over 1800 pages it eventually came out to.
Albrecht Dürer. Lots of pictures. He is famous for his engravings (but you knew that). A funny medium to be immortal in - good for you, Albrecht: good for you. Click on them for larger versions, if you're into that sort of thing.
Music; musing; must-haves.
The curatorial agenda. Sealing up a void whose vacuity was a source of distress to no one. The seed I am most likely to sow is a certain jargon. Built on tilt. The center of a new universe of counterfeit. Increasingly random and increasingly increasing.
NEW ‘ZINES!
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For those who still pay attention to this blog—despite how rare it is that
I update things now—I wanted to share a few things with you all first
before put...
Hotel Bar Sessions, Ep 31: Whose History?
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The HBS hosts sit down with Dr. Charles McKinney, Jr. to talk about whose
history is (and isn't) being taught.
Following on the heels of a recent and ...
