Don't Misunderstand! Or Else!

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!)

I Ain't Square; I Just Like To Share

I'm your Sponsor; I Buy-Buy-buy (records).
Charlie and I went to Slought Foundation. Both of us, not to put words in his mouth, were underwhelmed by the exhibit that we went to see. But both were 'whelmed' by the other exhibit, archival footage from '60s of teachers/students in the British education system. Sounds boring; my apologies- to split the difference,
here are some exciting records that I bought while we were in West Philly.


The Stylistics: Pieces

And what did I buy this time?.....

Isaac Hayes Live at the Sahara Tahoe. Cover has cutout folds; they open like the doors of the theater; opening, of course, onto a picture of Isaac Hayes on stage.




Better still, inside, is this spread.


(Sidenote- one really nice thing about being a little sick, is all the soup and tea you get to consume. Not generally a big fan of Minestrone soup, but I am killing a bowl of it right now at the cafe.)

Eric "Slowhand" Clapton: On White/ Something I might could maybe try to sell.

White vinyl; 'Cocaine' and other big songs on there; promo/DJ/radio copy, so maybe 'rare'.

Vicki Sue Robinson 12". Still sealed, which, normally, who fucking cares. But... used copies of this 12" sell for around $10-$40 online, although I'm not entirely sure (is this a reissue, explaining why it is sealed? etc). I don't particularly want to get into the hustle of selling/swapping records, but eventually... it probably will have to happen.
If I do start selling records, I will take the title of this blog for a motto... "I Ain't Square, I Just Like To Share".
Vicki Sue Robinson is well known for "Turn The Beat Around".

Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta. Not that impressive.
More fun is Jay Z's recent line, at a show, that his mother was going to be so proud of him, because Steive Wonder was sticking around some festival, just to hear Jay Z's set.

The Stylistics: Round 2. Great Album Cover.

Perhaps only one song that I really like on it though; that is the song to which you've been listening.

I've already written the second half of this blog- check out this space on Monday for the continuation...

Smack My Bass Up- Larry Graham, his Bass Badassery, and You

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.

So I was talking with this Clown...

Really guys! I was!

There was a guy sitting in his car outside my house, putting on pancake makeup, while I was ripping new songs from new vinyl*. He got all dressed up, in full clown makeup and a tux and a Phillies (2008 World Champions) hat.
Later, he asked me "How do I get back to the real world?".
He wasn't high, or crazy (unlike some clowns...).
What he meant was, "How do I get back to Center City?".

One of the tracks I got today was this, which, due to the combination of its greatness (you gotsta listen to it) and its non-obvious nature, proves that I am a Wax Witch, which is like a water witch, but with records. I am basically a vinyl sleuth.

Meeting In The Ladies Room - Klymaxx

I am pretty sure that they were having clown tryouts at the studios across from my house today, because later, I saw a young kid go in, carrying clothes from the dry cleaners and a suitcase.
(See, I've deduced that he was a clown, because kids don't have dry-cleaning! Elementary, my dear whoever you are.)
I am really hoping that the 'case had some serious, even-better-than-Conrad-style magic tricks in it.


* Today, I got more Billy Paul; in fact, this album


a soundtrack (to the movie Perfect, which we've never seen, but has Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta, when he was till dancing) which has on it: a Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, the Thompson Twins (brothers, not sisters), Wham!, Whitney Houston, and ,,uh,, Lou Reed.

Also, Sonny & Cher (better than you think, balee' dat),
a 12" single by Snap,
a 45 called "Folk Attick Presents:--", which a little lacking in the soul department, because they are British, and this is from when 'folk' meant "Negro Folk Music" (as the sleeve says), meaning the blues. British people didn't grasp the blues until like the 60's- hell, they didn't learn to rap until AFTER the French.
an epic album called !Magician's Hat! by Bo Hansson


and Charlie Rich (AKA "The Silver Fox"), which used to belong to Cuyahoga County Library, of Cleveland Ohio: not kidding! It was Dewey Decimal'ed as M783.7 R37SI, if you don't believe me.

And, as stated, the single for THE ABOVE SONG: Klymaxxx "Meeting in the Ladies Room".
I've been sleuthing around for that track for a bit now. It was on an mp3 mix (?Diplo? perchance), which means that I didn't know who it was.
She says at one point, "Don't slap me: I'm not in the mood".
Huh? I dunno: this song is confusing. For instance, it appears to not be about cocaine, which you might think, but about man-stealing. But ((CONFUSING!)) she then leaves her man alone while she has a conference (in the Ladies Room) with her girls about it? Eh, maybe it is about coke. Ask Conrad about it?, two weeks to the day.