Busy, busy, busy

Things are crazy busy. Expect even-lighter-than-usual posting for a bit.

Here, enjoy this song by Jeremy Messermith [sic], as animated by Eric Power:



Here's a link to a live thing Messersmith did for NPR. A friend recommended him recently, and I'm really digging.

Momento mori

Sunday night's Emmy telecast was, on the whole, an above-average awards ceremony. Maybe I just love Jane Lynch (from the Christopher Guest movies and, currently, Glee, which I have mixed feelings about, at best), but I thought she made a dandy host.

But, seriously, can we please, please, please stop abusing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"? I've complained about this before, but who the hell thought that song was appropriate for an "In Memoriam" segment honoring TV folks who'd died in the past year? Did anyone bother listening to the lyrics? Here are the second and fourth verses:

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Does that sound In Memoriam-ish to you? (I was equally puzzled by k.d. lang's rendition at the Canadian Olympic Games, as lovely as it was.) Cohen's meanings can be a bit hard to suss out, but the song would seem to be about a failed love affair, if I'm reading it correctly. Just because it contains the word "hallelujah" doesn't automatically make it appropriate to honor the dead.

Instead, might I suggest Jim Carroll's "People Who Died"? I think it just works better:

Teddy sniffing glue he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-nine
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Refrain:
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Now, that makes an In Memoriam statement. Perhaps Rob Lowe could do an interpretive dance to it.

It moved

The earth, that is. Never felt an earthquake before.

Weird. Felt like a truck hit the building.

Yeah, it was just a tiny wee quake here on L.I., and it got me out of the office for half an hour, so I'm not complaining.

Busy, busy

This is the busiest time of the year for me at work. I'd apologize for lack of posting through mid-Septemberish, but given my readership has dwindled to people doing Google searches on variations of "yogurt poop," I doubt that's going to be much of a problem.

I'll post the occasional link or YouTube video. How's that?

Here's Amy Rigby singing a song she co-wrote with Bill DeMain (of Swan Dive).



And here's a rather odd, lounge-singer-style cover I recently came across, by Laura Ainsworth:



I can't decide if I like this or not.

Random 10

Rilo Kiley, "Silver Lining"
David Garza, "Float Away"
Jorge Ben, "Ponta de Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma)"
Gothic Voices, "Columba aspexit"
Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey, "I Want to Break Your Heart"
Swan Dive, "Caprice"
Harry Nilsson, "Salmon Falls"
Leonard Nimoy, "Spock Thoughts"
Harry Nilsson, "Dayton, Ohio 1903"
The Zombies, "Care of Cell 44"

Yes, "Spock Thoughts." Deal with it.

Waiting for the end of the world

No, the subject line is not another reference to Harold Camping's whoopsie. My friend Sean and I went to see Elvis Costello in NYC at the Beacon Theatre last night, and that song, which turned up near the end of the set list, kind of sums of Mr. C's world view.

He puts on a great show--he's an affable host (the show had sort of a quasi-game show theme, as audience members--including Mike Myers!--came on stage to spin a giant wheel of song titles) and has boundless energy. Actually, he has more energy than I, as I must cop to ducking out during the last song. Hey, it was getting late (Elvis was on stage for around 2 hours, 40 minutes, and didn't take a break!) and I had a long way to drive. And I'm old (though not quite as old as Elvis).

I didn't take the video embedded above, by the way, but it was obviously shot very close to where we were sitting.

Dear Prudence: Won't you come out to play?

I've been listening to this over and over all day.

A musical palate cleanser

Let's rid our brains of the Ark Music Factory's body of work with this rough gem by Nilsson, a rare demo recording of Sondheim's "Marry Me a Little." Lovely.

Wacky musical high jinks ensue

Regular readers of this blog--indeed, all four of you--will be familiar with an ongoing series of posts in which we try to improve odd advertising copy for vanity press books by adding the phrase "Wacky high jinks ensue." (Perhaps it's worth restating at this point that there is nothing wrong with going the for-pay publishing route if you know exactly what you're getting into. But many of the companies with this model are quite scummy, and take advantage of the delusional. I don't care how many ads you take out in the Times, no one is going to buy your book about the previously unknown 13th zodiac sign.) What I've been only dimly aware of until recently is that there are similar companies in the music biz.

About a week ago, a music video by a young teen, Rebbecca Black, went viral. It was promptly heralded as The Worst Video in the History of the World by writers at Salon, Huffington Post, etc., ad nauseum. There was a real pile-on, which is why I'm not linking. It wasn't pretty.

The video in question may indeed be the Worst in the World (honestly, it's arguable--I've seen and heard equally bad), but the kid appears to be around 14 or so, and the comments by bloggers, young and old, seemed like a form of cyberbullying to me. I was reminded of some cases I've read about in Asia where citizens broke some social code and suddenly found themselves hounded by millions of Netizens. I was beginning to think the comments wouldn't stop until Ms. Black committed seppeku in the public square.

It appears that she, and many other teens, have fallen under the sway of one Ark Music Factory, which will put together hungry-for-fame-but-not-terribly-talented teens with some hack pop song writers (including that Latvian sensation Lady-Bird!*) and an Auto-Tune program, film a video (reports say this service goes for $20,000), and unleash it on an unsuspecting Internet.

The results aren't pretty. Here's a celebratory video that Ark posted two weeks ago:



Keep in mind that these are the snippets of performances that Ark editors thought would best showcase their clients in the best light. And then just imagine what didn't make the grade.

It's difficult, but stay tuned for the surprise guest appearance by ... Quincy Jones. Yes, Q, one of the most successful producers of all time. He phones in congratulatory wishes toward the end. I can only assume that there was either a gun pointed at his head or there are some very nasty photos he doesn't want getting out.

Again, I want to stress here that I post this not to mock the kids. The Ark itself, though, is fair game. Guys: It's hard for real talent to be successful, and harder still for it to reap the benefits of success. There's no need to insert another layer of exploitation between them.

On the other hand, songs about broken dreams are pretty successful, and I'm betting there will be no shortage of material in the near future. Or ever.


*Yes, really.


UPDATE: Rebecca Black speaks out. (And it only cost $2,000, apparently. Hell, maybe I'll do one.)

You must be out of your mind

Busy, busy, busy at work through next week. Limited to no posting till after the crush.

Meanwhile, enjoy this song, which I can't get out of my head:

Random 10

Beck, "Paper Tiger"
Fountains of Wayne, "Someone to Love"
Fountains of Wayne, "Radiation Vibe"
Badly Drawn Boy, "Is There Nothing We Could Do?"
School of Seven Bells, "Half Asleep"
Prefab Sprout, "Silhouettes"
Etta James, "At Last"
XTC, "The Smartest Monkeys"
Psychedelic Furs, "The Ghost in You"
Semisonic, "Secret Smile"


Nonrandom bonus track:
David Bowie and Marianne Faithfull, "I've Got You, Babe"

Random 10

Nick Drake, "One of These Things First"
Mosquitos, "Domesticada"
XTC, "Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead"
Carole King, "(You Make Feel Like) A Natural Woman"
Chris Stamey, "Instant Karma"
Kirsty MacColl, "My Affair"
Broken Bells, "The High Road"
Joe Henry, "Trampoline"
Harry Nilsson, "1941"
The Raveonettes, "The Last Dance"

Song of the day

Saw Richard Shindell perform last night--terrific voice, great guitarist, fine songwriter. This video is from a couple of years ago, from an appearance in the Netherlands.

This makes me hate her all over again for the first time

OK, I was really too young to give a crap about Yoko breaking up the Beatles, but this quote from her on the occasion of iTunes getting the band's catalog is jaw-dropping:

“In the joyful spirit of 'Give Peace A Chance,' I think it is so appropriate that we are doing this on John’s 70th birthday year,” said Yoko Ono Lennon. --CNN

Yes, if there's anything John Lennon stood for, it was the right to download "Revolution" to your iPod for $1.29. I'm sure he's very, very pleased.

Friday Random 10

Random 10, March 19, 2010

Friday Random 10

Random 10, March 12, 2010

First track makes this sort of NSFW. Sorry.


NOTE: Counting is not my strong suit.

Random 10

Random 10, March 5

A note from the management

I miss posting Random 10 lists, but I stopped doing it after SeeqPod got sued into nonexistence. (Well, it's rumored Microsoft bought the technology, but it's yet to resurface.)

I recently started using an online music service called Lala--and I'm impressed. You can stream the 6 million-plus songs in its catalog for free once. Further unlimited streams only cost 10 cents. You can also upload all the music you have on your computer and then stream it anywhere you are. Cool, right?

You can also post songs from your collection to your blog, so let's see if this works:

Note From the Management

Any issues playing?

(Oh, and if you want to sign up, contact me via e-mail and I'll send you an invite--that way I earn some free songs. Yes, it's kind of a Ponzi scheme in that way. My e-mail address is on my profile page.)

Here, have a video

Loving the title track, "July Flame," from a new album by Laura Veirs:



Will be back with normal posting sooner or later. Probably later.

"Christmas Is Pain"

Roy Zimmerman, with his Dylan takeoff, "Christmas Is Pain":



If only Bob D. had covered this on his own Christmas album.