I'm needing some peace and quiet here lately, and I'm finding myself turning to an interesting fellow named Volker Bertelmann, for you can't really have a quiet house or you'd surely go mad. I stumbled across Hauschka, as he is more generally known, awhile back on someone's blog, (before I knew better than to not keep track of where I was getting things so as to be prepared to thank them here.) I always loved piano pieces. Classical music was never a love, however. But piano music was somehow different and I could lose myself in anything that came out of a piano for hours or days. photo credit: bhollins

Hauschka does odd things to his piano. He plays a prepared piano, something created conceptually by the great John Cage. It's adulterated by all sorts of objects, thrown in, tied into, and otherwise mucking up the striking of hammers and tweaking of strings inside the instrument, thereby creating an altered sound. I love the idea of that when I'm feeling rather mucked up inside. But more importantly I love the sound that Hauschka makes and the elements of other instruments he blends into these pieces. It's good music for a quiet day, a day to just give my fucking head a rest.

Happy Wednesday, get over the hump with me, gently... save the exertions for this evening ;)

Haushka Room To Expand 2007

La Dilettante
Chicago Morning

Hauskha's webpage more downloads there
buy Room To Expand


photo credit: corrado.nuccini

At the new album by Joan Osborne, Little Wild One, out today, it's beautiful and wonderful and takes her back to herself as I first met her; a soulful, bluesy, sing-it-down-from-the-bottom-of-your-gut kinda woman. Damn that's sexy!

Little Wild One

buy it here

more complete review coming soon!

and you know what you do to me, my London lover. Sometimes it takes a song to transverse that ocean and make more real what I see when I look at you, what I feel when your eyes are on me. Come Christmastime I want your hands on me, your lips on me.... everywhere. Let's make it happen, my darling xx

You moved like honey in my dream last night
Yeah, some old fires were burning
You came near to me and you endeared to me
But you couldn't quite discern me

Does that scare you? Ill let you run away
But your heart will not oblige you
You'll remember me like a melody
Yeah, I'll haunt the world inside you

And my big secret - gonna win you over
Slow like honey, heavy with mood

I'll let you see me, I'll covet your regard
I'll invade your demeanor
And you'll yield to me like a scent in the breeze
And you'll wonder what it is about me

It's my big secret - keeping you coming
Slow like honey, heavy with mood

Though dreams can be deceiving
Like faces are to hearts
They serve for sweet relieving
When fantasy and reality lie too far apart

So I stretch myself across, like a bridge
And I pull you to the edge
And stand there waiting
Trying to attain
The end to satisfy the story
Shall I release you?
Must I release you?
As I rise to meet my glory

But my big secret
Gonna hover over your life
Gonna keep you reaching
When I'm gone like yesterday
When I'm high like heaven
When I'm strong like music
cuz I'm slow like honey, and
Heavy with mood

Slow Like Honey Fiona Apple Tidal
buy it!

[Edit: Just confirmed, Samatha and The Midnight Shivers will be at the Double Door here in Chicago on Oct. 17 with Will Hodge, the everybody fields, and McCarthy Trenching]

If you've never been to O.K., well... that's the best introduction I can think of for it. And Samantha Crain might become the best singer to come out of it since Woody Guthrie. I say become because this tiny person with this great big voice that echoed all the way up to my seat in the balcony tonight is only 21. Now to you who've seen the YouTube vid above that's not so shocking, but if you've only heard the songs, well, you'd be as shocked as I was.

Disclaimer: I'm a lover of folk music, but bad folk music is worse than even bad punk music and I've no qualms about walking out on a bad gig. No worries here, however with Samantha Crain. Tonight she gave a great solo performance, no... I take that back, tonight she gave a fan-fucking-tastic performance! She sauntered out on stage in her red cowgirl boots and blew us away with "Devils In Boston" featuring her wailing vocals and a damn fine harmonica.

I soon snuck an envelope outta my pocket and a pen and wrote down all the songs she sang, for being in the balcony I knew I'd never make it to the stage in time to swipe the setlist if she even had one. Sure enough, I never even saw it. I did get to speak to her after the show and hastily grabbed my crumpled and scrawled upon little paper, "oh and here's my attempt to keep track of what you sang!" I squealed a bit too loudly into her angelic face. "But of course, that's a bit crazy, isn't it?!" and I trailed off the end of that sentence with a laugh, to which she replied, "well a bit, but you can email me and I'll try and remember it for you." Sweet kid, this Samantha Crain, and I say that with no sarcasm in the least.

So, I'm embarrassed to email the girl from O.K. and here is what I can make out of what she sang for a captive and attentive audience tonight, who all applauded and some of us cheered and whistled, and one older woman in the balcony even sang along on the one's she knew and got an autographed poster, for she already had the EP, thanks "Campfires and Battlefields" and Matthew over on Song, by Toad:

• Devils In Boston - a foot stamping, rowdy opener, she shone righteously doing this for us.
  
• something with the chorus of "What will I do?"
• Get The Fever Out - go find this song and listen to it, it's beautiful.
  
• Calm Down - unknown to me, a slow and almost melodramatic tune, really lovely and yes, I can't help myself but say it, ...haunting.
  
• The River - with an introduction instructing us that indeed it is a comedic song, at least in O.K. where a preacher drowning children while baptizing them in the river really does hit the funny bone, from The Confiscation EP
  
• Traipsing Through The Aisles - from The Confiscation EP
  
• Where Will You Go? - this was a real and rare treat, a debut of a new song, never before played before an audience and she confessed to being quite nervous about it. I asked her after the show what the name was, this was the working title she gave me, but agreed that it was in flux still. The song was brilliant, full of passion, and I know that's kind of a cliche with her work, but honest to goddess, this song was so real, so full of force, you could see in her body how close to the surface it was for her, how new and raw it was. I think it gave us both chills, her to perform it (she kind of shook it off afterward, like when you get out of a cold pool of water and your flesh is all tingly) and us to receive it, we felt the electricity in the air this evening then.
• I Wish The Dam Would Break - introduced as a real "Oklahoma kind of sad song" and it truly was.
  
• the last song she played was the second song she ever wrote. I didn't get the title, I wish I had, for it reminded me of some of the early Indigo Girls songs, before they became known and when they just wrote folk music like their heroines did. The chorus went, "It ain't over yet... What you say, we hold each other up?" And it was gorgeous and simple and young and honest.

Go and buy Samantha's EP, it's only got five songs, it's all she could afford to do at the time, but there's more to come and it's going to be brilliant. She's heading back into the recording studio as we speak, with her band.

But more importantly go see her and The Midnight Shivers, she's wonderful to hear in person, her voice has incredible range, a tone and shape that is unique and interesting and just jarring enough to be so interesting that you want to keep listening to it for another hour or so to try to see what she'll do with it next, and she's gracious and unassuming on stage, a rare treat in so many ways! Lyrically, her songs travel to all those places of heartache, sadness, melancholy, bittersweet and remembrances long past due. You want to go there with her. You need to go there with her. Go see her. You have received your orders. xoxoxo

The River, The Confiscation EP, Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers 2007

Change Your Mind, Demos, Samantha Crain 2007

I Don't Wanna Know, Strange Fire, Indigo Girls 1987

buy The Confiscation EP
her MySpace
(Yes, two very different kinds of folk music for you today, but something about them goes together in my mind, ... the early rawness of an emerging woman artist perhaps)

I Like You, Morrissey, Live at Earls Court

buy Live At Earls Court

Wow in all this time, we see a good amount of people shuffle through here, it seems as though people enjoy the little blog we have going here... but the funny thing in all this time I have seen just a few comments from fellow bloggers. I am not one to bite the hand that feeds me, well I guess no ones really feeding me, so lets have some fun with this...

Reasons for not letting us know how were doing and leaving a comment...

A bit stuck on oneself and you really would do yourself if you could.
I Wanna Fuck myself - G.G. Allin - Doctrine of Mayhem .....buy it

You have a hard time with the English language.
Speak English or Die - S.O.D. - Live at Budokan .....buy it

Your all emo and your not sure if your gonna be around to see any comment on your comment.
Cutting - Ayria - Flicker .....buy it

You're a record industry type and are just scouting.
Kill the Music Industry - Cold - Year of the Spider .....buy it

So here is the deal, we (well mainly Tart) puts in a crud load of time and likes to hear from folks, let us know if you like what we're doing... THANKS!

So with Tart going all political-cide on me, I think I will clear up a few things as well... as much as she doesn't say she has a political agenda I would beg to differ. As for my alliance, I am neither a Republican or Democrat and actually consider my self a Libertarian (Yes I know throw away that vote) As much as I would agree with McCain choosing Palin because she has breastages, well she does, and lord knows that a good pair of breastages distracts a lot of people which can be good. Lets see, Nuclear war... pop those puppies out and distract the opposing side from the attack. Starving kids in Ethiopia (people if your still hungry move to where the food is for lords sake) well pop the tittens out and say, I WILL FEED YOU!!!! In essence breastages can be good.

So lets see am I for Sarah... well she does look good, and well fantasizing about doing the V.P. of one of the worlds most powerful nations... well that's just HAWT!

Anyway, I am NOT a supporter of Mr.Obama, as he has holes in some "stories" so I will begin with my tribute to him, followed by some good old fashioned tribute to Caribou Barbies with nice boobages everywhere!

Liar - Yngwie Malmsteen - Trilogy ..... buy it
Weak and Powerless - A Perfect Circle - Weak and Powerless CD single ..... buy it
The Most Wonderful Girl - Lords of Acid - Greatest Tits ..... buy it
Spotin' a Woody - Dangerous Toys - Dangerous Toys ..... buy it
Evil E what about sex? - Ice-T - O.G. Original Gangster ..... buy it

I'm trying very hard to not get too partisan on this here music blog; the Puppet Show and I never have any trouble at all finding common ground and sometimes agreeing to disagree when we are at odds. We're both generally uber-rational and only get more so when things get feisty, but I have to beg your indulgence here for a second while do some partisan romping. Regular programming will return in just a bit, I promise.

Actually I was fuming and fussing in my head for most of the day over "Caribou Barbie's" speech last night. I do give her kudos for making a hell of an impression on people! She gave a great performance. And I feel she will win many over. And in the interest of full disclosure I'm not much of a Democrat, honestly (Not to say I'm a Republican either, don't believe that for a second!) I do support Obama this time around out of desperation to stop what I see as some kind of death spiral in my country's political arena.

Now, before you go about crucifying me, yes, I agree, it is SO WRONG to criticize Sarah Palin for being a woman. And any comment about her family or her maternal duties are off limits, I agree. But I think it is fair to admit that she was chosen, in part because of her gender. So let's agree on that and enjoy the music.

Honestly, I was gonna leave Sarah alone today on the blog. But I had this song in my head all day and knew I'd find it on YouTube. Well, I found this instead, and it's oh so much better:


and just because I can't be subtle!

Ain't Nothin' But A Woman Robert Cray Strong Persuader ..... buy it

Crazy Woman Magic Slim and The Teardrops Black Tornado ..... buy it

Pipeline Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble Real Deal: Greatest Hits Vol. 2 ..... buy it

but do go over to Matthew's blog and hear a fantastic bit of folk music by James Yorkston. Yes, Song, by Toad has done it again and given us the kind of review that makes you want to not only hear the music but also just soak up as much of it as you possibly can. That, my friends, is good blogging, and one of the main reasons I began doing this.

And James Yorkston has given us thought-provoking, rich, melodic music with which to while away a gloomy fall day. It hit me perfectly between the eyes this afternoon and you just had to know about it! (Plus, I've always been a sucker for a red-headed Scot, now don't you get pervy on me, you know I mean musically!)

thanks Matthew, xoxoxo

Hear two tracks from James Yorkston's The Year of the Leopard on NPR, here
James Yorkston on MySpace
buy his NEW album, When the Haar Rolls In

Song, by Toad
photo credit: jethro*

I had to put up something to divert you all from that horrid picture of Bush down below (oh goddess, how I wish he was down below, and no, I don't mean below my desk right now, you pervs!). So, while traipsing through my files I've noticed a few of you have searched for my Dolly Parton cover of Stairway to Heaven (which I took down prematurely) and I just felt it needed re-airing. I'll add another track from that album so you know what Dolly should sound like too.

Plus I know how much Puppet Show loves it. :)

Stairway to Heaven mp3 Dolly Parton Halos and Horns

I'm gone mp3 Dolly Parton Halos and Horns

ok, the antidote is here:

Yes Puppet is alive, and doing very well, just sometimes life gets in the way of doing things that you want to do and you do what you HAVE to do. Plus I'm having a hard time with "topping" Tarts posts, since she is through in what she does...

Well after noticing her prep work on her future concerts (freakin concert going goody two shoes with extra cash pfffft) it got me to thinking, what was my first concert. Well this says a lot... Dio - Sacred Heart tour, in fact I think I still have the T-shirt somewhere. Well this was my first concert, though some of this information may have been a given to some of you, it was news to me... I got my own education in "concert edict".

First off general admission can suck ass, needless to say lets not bring up "The Who" in that comment. But being we were at the now torn down Toledo Sports arena I was safe from a mob converging on us as we entered into the arena.

Secondly you can sneak about anything into a concert if you try hard enough. We all know there will be some "herb" and some hard liquor making there way into a concert, but the crew that assembled the 5 ft bong before the show... whoa.

Thirdly, don't confuse the devil horns for the international symbol for "I love you" especially at a Dio concert... the man who originally brought you the devil horned salute (though Gene Simmons will tell you otherwise.)

Lastly go to a concert YOU want to go to. As I enjoyed Dio and his previous album ruled, Sacred Heart SUCKED ASS, that's just my humble opinion. I went cause my best friend was a Dio fan, and though it was a great show, I didn't know 3/4 of the songs they played so it was all new to me.

Anyway have some Dio just because, Starting off with a very nice line up of Ronnie James Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stu Hamm, Greg Bissonette, Paul Taylor a definite who's who of 80's rock GODS! doing a tribute to Aerosmith "Dream on", followed up with "Don't Talk to Strangers".

Dream On Ronnie James Dio/Yngwie Malmsteen/Stu Hamm/Greg Bissonette/Paul Taylor - Tribute To Aerosmith: Not The Same Old Song And Dance

Don't Talk to Strangers - Dio Holy Driver

Buy Dio Stuff, cause YOU ROCK

*as a side note, a little while ago I posted up a song "Mr. Crowley" saying it was done by Ronnie James Dio, well thanks to my super sleuthing co-hort it has been deduced that the track was actually Yngwie Malmsteen and Tim "The Ripper" Owens off Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy ...
Mr. Crowley is here for your interests (redo the tag after you get it, just because.)

(somehow you make me find all the covers tart, whats up with that)

As a side note... enjoy as I was looking for devil horn pictures I found this, and sorry, I HAD to laugh.

Here's some Gothic, Sci-Fi, Industrial synth-rock for your Tuesday and welcome back to school kiddies! Where's the Puppet Show been, you might have been wondering? He's busy behind the scenes, don't fret, my musical education has not floundered. I'm currently digesting Xymox, The Verve Pipe, Interpol and Ministry. Tomorrow I'm on to Ben Folds and The Wedding Present in preparation for upcoming shows! The Pup keeps me well informed on what he thinks I should be filling my ears with. But don't think I'm a blank slate either here. We do argue every now and then, and between you and me, I think he's coming around to my idea of actually labeling his mp3's in a coherent manner :)

There's a great post, (and pardon me for alerting you to it so late,) over on Troubled Souls Unite about how two people can hear a song so differently. I immediately thought of the Pup and I. Coming as we do from a history with different musical genres (he with metal and me with folk-rock) but overlapping as we do so much in taste and in just some sort of sense of what's good about music (not in a kind of snobbish, intrinsic, "there is a good kind of music" way, I think), he and I can often hear something and have totally different reactions to it. That's part of what keeps our conversations going, or what keeps me thinking about what he's said about a track long afterwards. I hear Depeche Mode in God Lives Underwater, he hears something completely different (I'll goad him to post on it by not telling you what I think he hears here! hahaha). Of course it helps that we both listen to almost all kinds of music regardless of our "first love."

Anyhoo, I'll leave you with two tracks from Xymox, a group I've not heard until today and at first blush I'm enjoying it immensely and I'll go out on a limb and say.... I'm hearing the Cure in here, and a little bit of, dare I say, INXS, without sounding offensive?

your student,
xoxoxo

Xymox (now going by the name of Clan of Xymox): website buy it there

It's Your Life mp3 Xymox Headclouds

Headclouds mp3 Xymox Headclouds

go with The Smiths. I'm up late too many nights wondering where my life is going, spending days doing useless things, and consoling myself that my mp3 hording, ... er hoarding, (edit: had to keep that typo in, it was toooo funny to hide! I mean, can you imagine a horde of mp3's coming your way? ha ha ha) is oh so much better than a drinking habit! So, at this point, being completely uninspired and uninterested in anything, I'm cocooning back into my warm and fuzzy hole with Morrissey and a rather odd song, lyrically. The closing track on The Queen Is Dead, features Marr's gorgeous guitar, layered over what can most generously be described as ridiculous lyrics.

From the ice-age to the dole-age
There is but one concern
I have just discovered :

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

As anthony said to cleopatra
As he opened a crate of ale :

Oh, I say :
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Send me the pillow ...
The one that you dream on ...
Send me the pillow ...
The one that you dream on ...
And Ill send you mine

By far, the most interesting interpretation of this song is from a website, which describes:

THE DIANA-MORRISSEY PHENOMENON

August 31, 1978:
19 year-old Steven Morrissey first meets guitarist Johnny Marr,
the one who will launch Morrissey's career several years later
by aggressively enlisting him to co-found a band: The Smiths.

August 31, 1997:
19 years to-the-day since Morrissey met guitarist Johnny Marr,
Princess Diana is killed under circumstances foreshadowed
in Morrissey's work, beginning with an album by The Smiths.

This same site takes a kind of Nostradamus take on Morrissey's career, mining his work for prophesy of Diana's death, finding similarities in album artwork, song lyrics; almost everything is fair game when it comes to predicting the tragic end of the beloved Princess. I found it creepy but also hugely entertaining, go see for yourself!

Now, what I take away from this conspiracy collection is that perhaps this song isn't about fat girls at all, as most other commentators have mused. I like his point that "big" can mean "famous" and having great social importance. And that folks, is indeed a new and refreshing point of view on these goofy lyrics, regardless of it's muddled source!

So, even though I've been burning the candle at both ends to stoke my self-inflicted misery, I'm finding insight in the oddest crevices of the nets! HA! Take that Rolling Stone!

Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others mp3 The Smiths: The Queen Is Dead

The dreamy verse at the end, sung so oddly is beautiful and sweet, a fitting end to this perfect album. If you must buy only one Smiths album (and for the love of all that is right in the world, buy two!) then let it be The Queen Is Dead.

cause this song is gooooooood, but the video is absolutely horrid. No, I mean, this is a much better band than that. I'm choosing to think they just made a really bad management decision here. Perhaps that also explains why I can't find any information on upcoming tour dates? Damn, I hate when I find a great band and then discover they've broken up. Fans, tell me it ain't so!

Described as lo-fi garage rock or even something reminiscent of early glam rock (their NYC origins?), Suffrajett is a powerful trio, fronted by Simi Sernaker who has a true rock-and-roll woman's voice. She's a violinist and the band features her on electric violin (!) Yeah it's another act that stems from the riot grrl days but there's obviously some positive sex power in this group and I give it a "hell yeah" vote of approval, for whatever that's worth to you :)

Closer mp3, Suffrajett: SXSW 2008 Showcasing Artists
Suffrajett's website
Suffrajett on MySpace
buy Suffrajett's Black Glitter, 2007

Well as my co-blogger Puppet Show last posted his confessions I guess with some behind the scenes arm twisting (oh kidding!) I'll oblige and do the same. It's true, when we were just becoming friends, I asked the Pup what his secret sins were in terms of music? What did he like to listen to that his friends would tease him for or that people generally wouldn't expect a guy like him to be into? I love knowing other people's secrets! It's interesting to know what the secrets are and also to think about what they're willing to really tell you. So here we go (and in the interest of keeping this "short") MY Top 5 musical skeleton confessions and why.


5. Tell Me Something Good mp3, Rufus: Rufus, 1973. Now once you get to know me, and especially if you realize my weirdo intra generational existence you'll understand this, but at first glance it seems odd. I'm 44, so technically I came of age in the late 70s, early 80s and was a bit young for the real age of funk music. But all my siblings were much older than me, and my brother was a huge influence on me, so Funk hit me hard. In my mind the best, most get-down-and-dance Funk is the early 70s, epitomized here by Rufus' Tell Me Something Good, with the wonderful Chaka Kahn on vocals and written by Stevie Wonder.




















4. Billy Bragg: The Peel Sessions, 1988(?). Ok, cultural whiplash, sorry! I'm obsessed with this man. It's almost shameful but I take comfort in the fact that I agree with most of his politics and his roots are in some fine punk music. So while he may have mellowed in our collective middle age, Bragg is still a great musician and an amazing lyricist. And no, he's never claimed to be a first rate vocalist so that just blows all my claims to what makes a great song, oh well! The Short Answer is so bittersweet, I love the story it tells and I love the way this version presents it so simply. Also kudos to the best opening line in any song ever! "Between Marx and Marzipan in the dictionary there was Mary..."

3.Light The Skies (Retrobyte's Classic Electrobounce Mix) mp3, Armin Van Buuren, A State Of Trance 2007 [CD1]: I was totally shocked at myself when I discovered trance music! Being an old flapper who gave up the club scene ages ago, I somehow missed all this. A friend gave me a mp3 track last year and said, what do you think of this? It was love at first listen. After hearing a lot more trance music (about 5G more!) Light The Skies is still my favorite track. (yeah, the first 20 secs or so are silent/quiet, sorry for that!)


2. Green Grass and High Tides mp3, The Outlaws: The Outlaws, 1975. Biography might help here (oh god, I'm hoping!), I spent the second half of my youth in the South, the deep South of the U.S.A., and well, we were barely removed from being hillbillies before that. So, whatever you want to call this song, be it Southern Rock, Country-Rock, or just Rock (which if you live in the South is what we called it), this is the quintessential song. Dual lead guitars, one on each stereo channel, and beautiful vocal harmonies make this a classic track of Americana. I remember hearing it on the radio a few times a day for years, they probably still play it down there. I can't help but hear this as "normal" music though I think it might sound weird to you indie fans out there.

1. The Sky is Crying mp3, Steveie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble: The Sky Is Crying, 1990. How can I live in Chicago and not be a blues fan? I actually came to this city long ago, from the South and the transition was made so much easier because of the Blues. There's nothing like standing on the corner, waiting for a bus, in the cold and rainy early Sunday morning with Stevie Ray wailing out The Sky is Crying. Nothing like it.

It's all good stuff that I listen to, it's just not the kind of music that you might expect ;) Although as this blog takes shape, I'm beginning to realize that even I don't know what to expect on these pages!

P.S. Welcome Elbows readers :)

buy Rufus
buy Billy Bragg
buy State of Trance 2007
buy The Outlaws
buy Stevie Ray Vaughn

August, 1993:

• For the first time, the public is allowed inside Buckingham Palace.
• Ong Teng Cheong becomes the first President of Singapore elected by the population.
• New York Yankees 4, Cleveland Indians 0, at Cleveland Stadium
• 6 months earlier the World Trade Center was bombed for the first time "when a car bomb was detonated below Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City"
• Ace of Base was gearing up for their debut The Sign
• I Can't Help Falling In Love - UB40 - was the #1 song on Billboard's top 100
• Bjork's Debut er, debuts...still one of my favorite albums and I bought it when it first hit the shelves of my local record shop
• ditto with Violent Femmes, Add It Up (1981-1993)
  
• ditto with Queen Latifa, Black Reign, ( I didn't buy this one, but Meatpocket had this one in her arsenal, at the time I felt she was trying too hard, lol)
  
• a Tart and Meatpocket spend 4 hours in a bookstore discussing whether or not we should spend our futures together, at which point the shopclerk poked his head in and said, "oh just kiss her already and get it over with!"
  

So yeah, that's the origins of a 15-year-and-counting collaboration, folks. To say I wooed her with music is an understatement. I downright tested her with tunes, like in that scene in Diner where Levinson has his character Steve subject Elise, his fiance, to a football quiz before the marriage. I trained my little Meatpocket to recognize my music, to trace the transition from punk to post-punk to grunge. I quizzed her on the difference between The Violent Femmes, The Ramones, and The Smiths. The poor little Madonna fan didn't have a chance, really.

But I had to know if she could tolerate and come to love it/me, ya see. Would she be welcome in my world? I'm not ashamed to name my insecurities, I worried about it! There were real barriers between us, like the barriers between men and women in Levinson's Diner.

And well, music was my litmus test. She came from a world where life looked pretty easy: a happy family, loads of opportunities, well-traveled, well-educated, well-bred. In a word, she has very upper-class tastes and she came by them honestly. Luckily my sweetie had a bit of a working-class fetish.

We drove for hours in the countryside at night, just listening to music -- my music. Cassette after cassette was popped into the car player. I threw all the raw, basic, hard-edged and meaningful stuff I had at the time, asking with false bravado if she was sure she didn't mind the volume being up so high. Within a few days a mixtape appeared on my doorstep, love songs: Bonnie Raitt, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Aretha Franklin, Queen Latifa, Billy Holiday, Simon and Garfunkle, etc. Over the years, I learned to soften the edges on my soul with her love and her music, to let people in quicker, and deeper. She learned to not try so hard with mine, and just shake her booty to whatever beat she liked, deep down. Over the years we've learned to merge. We're still learning, it's a process.

If you want advice on how to make it to 15 years and keep going strong, how to be even better than when you first met, do two things:

1. Don't insist on being alike or having something in common, that's just bullshit.
2. Marry a woman who wants to be called Meatpocket and has the sex drive of a "working girl" with the breeding of a princess ;)

photo credit: jan_et_


Here's basically what I wooed my girl with back in '93, forgive me for the Mellencamp, it was 15 years ago, ok!? But they're all exactly not the kind of music a girl like Meatpocket was listening to at the time, I assure you.

So, welcome to the first ever Tart mixtape :) I'll give em to ya one by one and then zipped just in case you would like a single download :).... and uh yeah, if you do wish to listen to the whole thing, the order matters.

Add It Up, Violent Femmes, Add It Up (1981-1993) buy it
Pink Houses, John Mellencamp, Uh Huh buy it
Lola, The Kinks, Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One buy it
Whole Lotta Love, Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II buy it
Crazy On You, Heart, Dream Boat Annie buy it
Anarchy In The U.K, Sex Pistols, Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols buy it
Wargasm, Bricks Are Heavy buy it
Sex Type Thing, Stone Temple Pilots, Core buy it
Bad Reputation, Joan Jett, Bad Reputation, buy it
It's Different For Girls, Joe Jackson, I'm The Man buy it
I Love You, Steve Miller Band, Anthology buy it
Blue Sky, Allman Brothers, Allman Brothers - A Decade of hits 1969-1979 buy it
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead, buy it
The Milkman of Human Kindness, Billy Bragg, Back To Basics, buy it
anniversary.zip

Well since Ive been tied up on other items, it seems Tart has kept everyone entertained. I decided before I read any of her posts I should probably lay down some stuff so she doesn't yell or throw old discarded fruit at me. So I have been thinking, I need something good to write, hmmm as I am no freelance journalist, and spell check keeps me looking good what can I do as part of the "team". So I got it...

CONFESSIONS DAY - so kids it's time to open your closet and confess your musical skeletons, don't think this an original idea by me, as it was one of Tarts first questions she asked me. So here we go (and in the interest of keeping this "short") my Top 5 musical skeleton confessions and why.

5.) Just about any House/Techno groove song ever made- I grew up rock and roll, metal, and thrash all the way and as I started to grow musically I got a heap of shit from my friends for even thinking of walking down this road. I can't quite explain why I love it, other then a real decent house song can be so sonically layered, and if done properly it can take you places, almost like a soundtrack to life. It can be with or without a singer, though I find myself drawn to some driven song with an obscure singer no ones heard of.
(Link is to - Above and Beyond - Alone Tonight off of Melodic Trance) (2006)

4.) B52's - Planet Clair - Why, well it brings back some old friends. One which I will quickly share cause it goes with the story... A good friend of mine did the frat house in college, and as most frat houses have a sister sorority house. Well of course in this sorority there was a girl named Clair, and she was a rather "robust" woman who rode a scooter around campus (insert big girl scooter joke here) well, the story gets pretty long and out of sorts from here, and it's much better after drinking a few and reminiscing about old times... lets just say... ya I like the song, so there.

3.) Weird Al Yankovic - Confessions part III - The man is a musical hack genius, though I have several reasons to LOVE this song, I will stick to the most obvious. It was the most beautiful spoof of R.Kelly and his confessions series, and the sad thing is there is so much truth in it too. Admit it you peed in your girlfriends sink...

2.) John Cameron Mitchell - Angry Inch - This song was part of the soundtrack for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". The song, like the movie, is hard to admit you like it if your a straight white male, but damn... I love this freaking movie and soundtrack. For those of you unfamiliar with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, well its a musical journey of a man becoming a woman in musical form, a rather awesome spectacle, that actually has one of the BEST soundtracks around, so yes I suggest you go find a copy of the movie before you ridicule me. Plus I want that hair.

1.) Lazy Town - You are a Pirate - Take a 30something Icelandic gym guy, add a girl with pink hair that every pedophile in town wants to bang while she's in costume (oh please, you know it's true) throw in some unusual puppets and a bad guy and you have a basic kids show.
But why stop there, we need more, what can we do... lets add a technoesque beat with catchy lyrics, there now you have "Lazy Town"

But why the Pirate song, it's techno (see #5) and also because it was probably one of the first ring tones I put on my phone that my daughter loved. Then again I got a kick out of (fine I'm a little kid too) the hacker or "online pirate" (insert arrrgh) undertones, it's not the first time I've been called a pirate. Well not that the song was about that, but you can make any typical song into anything you want to anyway.

So lets hear it folks, skeletons avast ye!

Links to buy the cool stuff above -
Lazy Town
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Weird Al
B-52's
Melodic Trance

1. kept me up way past my bedtime
2. caused Meatpocket (Mrs. Tart) some concern for my well-being -- yes sympathies JC
3. increased the size of my fucktunes library by at least 10 G in the past 3 months, aaack
4. brought me back to the world of live shows, yay!

So, while I bent your ear about the gigs I was missing in lieu of some great sex in September I should, in the interest of full disclosure (and to whet your appetite for upcoming posts to cheer your dreary Monday morning!), give you a picture of shows I do have tickets for. :)

September 6, The Wedding Present
September 12, Holy Fuck
September 19, Magic Slim and the Teardrops
October 4, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
October 10, Ben Folds
October 29, Amy Ray

Wheee! So yeah, some reviews to come! Sorry for bragging, but here's two great tracks from El Rey to give you a giggle, quirky choices I know. But that's the best thing about the Weddoes, they're quintessentially quirky and yet as much as we make fun of pop music we love it deep down, eh?

Soup mp3, The Wedding Present, El Rey.... If you can tell me what this song means I'll send you a cool track of your choice! Honest to god, I'm mystified, but I can't get the chorus out of my head.

Swingers mp3, The Wedding Present, El Rey.... Um, yeah for most people, the question, "Is self control too much to expect?" is a really bad sign. Thankfully Meatpocket and I got that all worked out, 15 years on Tuesday and I finally found a place to purchase the requested (ok, demanded) present, lol!

buy El Rey on MySpace

photo credit: Swansea Photographer

Mrs. Tart, aka MeatPocket, and I truly enjoy bad movies. Especially with monsters and cute guys and beautiful women and the like. So we were especially pleased by all the corniness that was The Mummy 3. There was even a yakking yak, (insert groan here), but with the gratuitous Brendan Fraser bare chest scene (yes I googled for it, and the internets failed me, dear reader!) and the debut of a beautiful Chinese actress, Isabella Leong, we were ready to forgive them their sorry jokes. (MeatPocket insists that I note that she is "much more enamored of the classic beauty and intense presence of Michelle Yeoh" and adds that Jet Li is also still a hottie. Whatever).
The music was not particularly memorable I must add. However, the graphics and titles were spectacular. MeatPocket reads a bit of Chinese and she was ecstatic to see how beautifully and er, correctly they were done. She said the historical details like armor, weaponry, architecture, etc. were also largely accurate as well which, to our minds, is quite refreshing in mainstream Hollywood films. But honestly, Isabella Leong, was so, so, gorgeous in those snow scenes! Oh, I'm such a philistine! xoxoxo



A Call To Adventure (Theme from The Mummy 3 mp3, Randy Edleman, from The Mummy 3 OST

The Reign of Terror mp3, Randy Edleman, from The Mummy 3 OST

Buy it if you must, but I'm warning you, it's movie music, meh.... nothing else really to say.