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.

Rol, at Sunset Over Slawit posted last week about a book that is going right on my xmas list this year, Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City. One question that Rol takes from the book, is the mystery of why some girls (and women) actually like metal, or more specifically what Rol calls "glam metal" such as KISS, Poison, Thin Lizzy, Bon Jovi, etc... and I stumbled into the middle of a conversation on whether or not a particular Whitesnake video with a hot female model "having sex with a car" (as Rol describes) was sexist or not. Go see it here. I replied that some of us girls wanted to be the girl on the car, some of us wanted to have the girl on the car, and more importantly some of us knew exactly how to get the metalmen, namely by liking the music they liked regardless of the videos. So, sexist or not, we didn't really care. Scheming bitches aren't we?! Oh and thanks Rol, for a really thought provoking post! I'm not criticizing it in any way hun!

But seriously, what's so mysterious about metal? Or about any genre for that matter? Why divide the world so neatly so that The Carpenters are girly and Ozzy's for the boys? I admit, I started out listening to metal to piss off my parents like all you guys did :p Yeah, it worked for me too. Punk worked even better, I just couldn't do the satanic head trip on my poor christian mother that metal afforded me!

Now, this got me thinking, why have all the people in my life, who knew anything at all about music, been men? It's not just that certain genres of music are roped off for women, even musical knowledge is considered "a manly sport." Yeah, I know I lost some of ya there. You can smell a feminist rant coming, right? I'll try and take it easy on ya, I promise I won't go all Camille Paglia here. Just tell me when's the last time you had a real conversation about a band -- not a song, with a woman? When you go to gigs, look around? I was seriously the only woman at the Duke Spirit show the other week not wearing makeup and a low-cut fashionable blouse/dress, and I was one of maybe 5 single women there (probably the only one who wasn't "working" that night, lol!). Yeah, I'm odd that way sometimes, but this was a pretty scuzzy venue. I was there for the music (not that they weren't, of course, of course).

There's an ad in my local coffeehouse for an all women punk rock collective, they do gigs that spotlight local women's music. I usually avoid that crap like the plague. Maybe I just spent too many years in the dyke community, it was a fine place to visit but nobody wants to live in the ghetto, ya know? And yes, I understand that women don't have as much money to spend on entertainment as men, that women don't want to play by the rules of "the system" or "the man" etc... I got it. But I also see how "the industry" funnels us band after band that sounds the same, that has no female voices in the foreground and that sucks too, cause damn I love me some girly punk. Most of all, (and this is what was missing from the whole riot grrl phenomenon, in my memory) I love to see women having FUN with music and FUN with sexuality in music, for a change. Maybe I'll surprise you with a review of that local collective thing one day, who knows? ;)

Blender mp3 Amy Ray from Prom commentary on the industry
Buy it

More Rock More Talk mp3 The Butchies from Population 1975 Amy's queercore backup band for her first two solo projects, and an entity onto themselves, also known as Team Dresch
Buy it

I like Fucking mp3 Bikini Kill from The Singles great song, but honest to god, this doesn't sound like a woman who likes to fuck!
Buy it

Slide mp3 L7 from Bricks are Heavy: not a happy camper either :(
Buy it

O Bondage, Up Yours! X-Ray Spex from: The Rolling Stone Women In Rock Collection [Disc 2] mp3 * now there's a reason this is my all time favorite girly punk song! I'm just so unevolved xoxox
Buy it

*also available on Germ Free Adolescence (2005) expanded version

Um yeah. I was really gonna try and clean up this blog, what with all the sex songs and the Pup's obsession with bitches this week, but alas, I find myself blogging on another Friday. And as you know, Fridays in Tart-land are the let-it-loose-and-be-a-little-wild day of the week! Mrs. Tart (MeatPocket as she's chosen to be called here, oh my!) and I have opted out of seeing a gig tonight, so apologies all you Fiest fans, just not our cuppa right now. And at the moment, in the wee hours of Friday morning, I'm just basking in the afterglow and picking out movie times for this evening.

What better album to turn you on to than Puscifer's V Is For Vagina. God, I am so in love with this sound. Dark, broody, so masculine and yet not exactly angry or violent as it is simply just mmmmmm meaty and er, dare I say, throbbing? Maynard James Keenan, from Tool, and A Perfect Circle, created this gorgeously sexy sound to be "groove-oriented music that makes you feel good" and without a doubt he succeeded on these two tracks. Other tracks on the album seem out of sync here but these two shine, and while the project as a whole seems to lack focus I'm content with scooping the cream off the top.

Now I know, some of you will ask, how can a Tart like this stuff after you've seen some of her latest pop/funk/posts? What can I say? The dark side is hawt. No, I'm not one to espouse guns and violence and that kind of death/dirge, metal music. But when Keenan growls

Out to run the train at the railway station,
Shotgun Betty stoppin' dead at my shoes.
Cock on lockdown, she said learn the damn alphabet.
I come before you, get to payin' your dues.

I just see some kind of poetry in that. Call me crazy if you will... :)

Vagina Mine mp3, Puscifer: V Is For Vagina

For your auditory/sensual delights our second Friday track is just too too obvious, but indulge me, it's been a long week full of computer viruses and whatnot and did I mention that afterglow? ;)

Queen B mp3 Puscifier: V Is For Vagina

This lady got the thickness
Can I get a witness
This lovely lady got the thickness
Can I get a Hell Yeah

Grab them saddlebags and
Toss em over me
Let's ride all night

Hell Yeah, the Tart's feeling that tonight... hopefully you'll be feeling it too later on my darling reader(s) xoxo

buy it direct from the Puscifer website it's pretty cool to just go peek at too

I'm still around just very tied up in stuff (no ropes involved Tart) so to prove it I leave you this post. Thus I give Tart two things she needs 1.) Ben Folds as he is a piano musical genius 2.) Cover songs as she LOOOOOOOooves covers songs.

Here is a complete and very sad list of shows I will not be reviewing for you next month:

• Sept. 24 - Sigur Ros $145.00-$306.00!!! omg
• Sept. 25 - James $24.00
• Sept. 27 - My Bloody Valentine $40.00 SOLD OUT whew!
• Sept. 28 - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - $34.00

I've added the admission prices to cheer myself up, hehehe. That Sigur Ros show is really outrageous, eh!? I guess waiting til the last minute to buy your tickets is a really bad idea. And in the interest of full disclosure I should add that I've secretly entered myself in a drawing for free tickets for that Nick Cave show ;)

It's not money that's keeping me at home those evenings, however. You see, on occassion Mrs. Tart and I (yes, yes, there's two Mrs. Tarts, we each call the other "Mrs." it's no big deal, I assure you) entertain "guests," what more er, normal people would call fuckbuddies, and on that week we are "entertaining" not just any "guests" but out-of-town "guests." In fact, "guests" who are coming to our big city from a far away country (!) just to "entertain" with us, wowza! while on their way to a conference in San Francisco. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

What? You thought I simply liked to eat little fruity cakes with whipped cream on top? Tut, tut! But this isn't a sex blog, per se. I just wanted to get that off my chest and explain to you my horribly painful predicament. Some goddamned good live music will be missed over here! Perhaps you'll share in my misery but take comfort in my er, promise of comforting?

Oh you wanted songs too? Hmmmm.....

Sexual Healing mp3 Neil Finn from Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge 2, 2001 I swiped this off a blog a while ago and I honestly can't remember who's, so apologies for not giving them a cite here. I love, love, love the original of this tune, I mean, Marvin Gaye is THE BEST! And when I saw a cover, I thought to myself, "no way, is this gonna be even listen-able." Well, reader(s), Neil Finn surprised the hell outta me. I hope he does the same to you, it's folksy, bluesy, simple and really um, white, but yeah, it totally works.

If you find somewhere to buy this album, please leave me a source in the comments, I'd love to have it! Here's A Neil Finn fan space on MySpace with more of his music.

You Sexy Thing mp3 Hot Chocolate from Hot Chocolate, 1975 (this version is from the soundtrack to The Full Monty) This was maybe the first song I heard on the radio that was explicitly about sex, and I remember it well! The percussion (bongos?) is simply amazing and when Errol Brown belts out "Kiss Me!" how can ya not wanna? Oh, and the scenes from that British movie were pretty good too ;)

Buy Hot Chocolate

Sexyback mp3Justin Timberlake from FutureSex/LoveSounds, 2006 Ok, ok, I know, this tracks seriously drags the blog down in coolness points, but there's simply a time and place for Timbaland/pop/trash music like JT. And boys, in the bedroom is that time and that place! Just tell me you don't want a gorgeous person of your desire to take off their clothes to this track? Be honest!

Buy FutureSex/LoveSounds

Sexplosion mp3 My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult from Sexplosion, 1991 (incidently a band for which I do have tickets to see in October!) Back to some quality tunes. This track is brilliant! This album is described by wiki as their " leap toward more psychedelic house beats and their later grind house lounge sound" from their roots in a purer industrial sound. Whaterver, you wanna call it, this is music to {...} to in my book. It's funky, the beat is solid, the sound effects are intriguing, the vocals are, dare I say, gutsy? I could listen to TKK all day and certainly all night.

Buy Sexplosion
MySpace for TKK

David-Sexy Thing mp3 by David... here's where I admit my total ignorance of not only source for this song but even genre (I don't even think I have the total attribution correct here)! So dance/trance/house music fans out there help a girl out. I saw it on YouTube. I loved it. I've looked for it but with a name like that, it's kinda hopeless, don't ya think? I think this is the first track on this blog of trance music but that's not to say that the Pup (my new nick for him lol...he's gonna kill me!) and I aren't fans, we are! At least I hope he'll admit to it in public, eek, more trouble I'm getting myself into while he's away, heheheh. Anyhoo, this kind of music is perfect for {...'ing}, for those moments when you just want to lose yourself in the moment and need a beat, ya know?

Now, you tell me...What do you listen to when you're {...'ing}?

Some days are rewarding, others are not. This day in blogland was a very rewarding day for we were rewarded with mention on two very nice and cool blogs of note, blogs that I've been a fan of since before I began this wee diary and mp3 collection.

Over on The Vinyl Villain JC has added us to his blogroll and linked to us in a post, which has sent more than a few music seekers our way. Thanks so very much! If you haven't been over there to read the fellas awesome posts on old music, new music, live gigs, and some great rare BritPop stuff .... There's plenty of The Smiths, James, some REM, Elvis Costello and so much more... well you really should go see for yourselves. But they don't just write reviews, the blog is also full of humor and memories and wit and ... well the verve of what music is, as it exists in their lives and in their past. I'm just loving learning about them through their music (well mostly JC to be honest) and that's what good blogging is all about, n'est pas? Don't miss the corresponding collection of video on The Video Villain too! JC really has a cottage industry going on over there.


Now, is the Tart just kissing up here? Hell yeah she is! I know that in the little incestuous land of blogging you gotta pay your dues. And I also mean every word of it. I know equally well that I walk in some pretty big footsteps here. Those closest to me are Puppet Show's and you all really should know something about us... (cue dramatic music here, damn where is that track from all those old Vincent Price movies?!)

I tease the living crap outta that man, but he really is the be-all and end-all of my music education and almost everything I know I owe to him at this point. Most of the tunes I throw up here he gave me, he pointed me towards, or he explained the history of to me. Sure, I came to the table with Amy Ray and The Duke Spirit, and anything Funk or pre 1980 is probably mine, but for specifics on Metal or Punk even (tho I'm a huge fan), Puppet Show is your man! I started this little music diary to give back something since I found I was swiping a lot of tunes from bloggers. That just didn't sit right with my socialist sensibilities so out came this here blog. I needed to give back. But as soon as Puppet Show got back in town I knew I needed help! I'm so glad he's climbed in the saddle to ride this pony with me.

Music has got me through some long-ass days, I've asked him some really dumb questions and he's never made me feel stupid yet (don't you dare start now! lol) countless times he's sent me some Morrissey or Jesus on Exasty when I really needed it. The blog has given us an outlet (I think, at least) to take all those music conversations and do something useful with them! So thanks so much, you know ... well, I owe ya, 'nuff said.

Speaking of ponies....
I can't listen to this song without thinking of you, LOL

I Wanna Be A Cowboy mp3 Boys Don't Cry, 12" Maxi-Single, (US 1985) 12" Saddle Mix

buy Boys Don't Cry

p.s. no Puppet Show's not gay... I didn't want ya to wonder, with this song being a gay anthem and all..., but I think this was the first song he ever sent me and it still makes me laugh :)

photo credit: wageslaves

Happy Monday (ok, still Sunday night to us Yanks, don't let's brag about it eh?) Even tho the Tart doesn't have to get up and clock in tomorrow I still have sympathy for all you out there who do. And organizing my music a bit tonight I found this dreamy Elvis Costello tune that just took me back to my youth, to the good days of summer, laying in bed listening to the radio and hoping to hear a track from My Aim Is True. Often late at night I was rewarded with "Welcome to the Working Week", (or with "Wave a White Flag" which to my 13 year old ears was very risque with all that beating and drinking, lol!) Sure the popular tracks like "Watching the Detectives" and "Alison" were easy to hear during the day, but to catch the more obscure ones you had to stay up late. But back to Mondays.... work.... ah right.

Later in life I figured out that working too hard was just not in anyone's best interest really. So no matter what the fucking Yuppies I was surrounded by told me, uh yeah, I was a working class slacker through and through. Of course, it wasn't until much later that I got radical about that, and by then I could afford to be ... ah the typical story of us lefties! Enjoy the tunes, don't work too hard this week, savor what's left of your weekend out there, and let music keep ya sane folks!

And, um, no I don't quite know why someone thought Elvis Costello likes pussy and heroin, he never struck me that way! But I loved this pic when I found it.

Of course no post on slacking would be complete without The Replacements, another band that absolutely formed my musical taste as a young person in the 80s, and I had to beat Puppet Show to the punch by plugging Depeche Mode and stealing one of his own tracks to do it with too! :)

photo credit: (waltzing) matilda

Welcome To The Working Week Elvis Costello from My Aim Is True

Bad Worker mp3The Replacements from Hootenanny

Work Hard mp3 Depeche Mode from Singles, Box 2, 08, Everything Counts

buy Elvis Costello

buy The Replacements

buy Depeche Mode

Well It's been one of those days, just a day when everyone totally erks the heck out of you, I would go into a long diatribe (but my last 2 posts were huge, and sometimes you like a quicky) about the idiot that rode my bumper today in his shiny mid-ninteys cool man black (I swear that's a real color) camaro, but I thought naw... I'll just dedicate this song to him.

So to all the ass wipes that tailgate in camaros this song for you!

Bitchin' Camaro Dead Milkmen Big Lizard in my Backyard

Buy Dead Milkmen

Dear Liela,

First off, thank you so much for a great show last night! I honestly don't know how you maintain all that energy especially at the end of a grueling tour and let me say, you went out with a bang last night. I could tell by your performance that you knew how to handle yourself on a stage with four gentlemen but even more admirably in front of an audience of about 300, comprised of at least 100 pervy and rude men. The way you heckled that heckler was truly inspiring, THANK YOU! Indeed, he would NOT know a babe if he saw one.

photo credit: mediaeater
Now, about your voice; I have to tell you how impressed I was that you were even more raspy-wonderfully-Gidgety (and I mean that as a compliment) than in your recordings. You told us you might need help on the high notes, pfffft. That was false modesty, my dear. You had it GOING ON last night! It's so refreshing to find a voice that's not dreary, cutesy, popstar-like sliding all over the long notes in that Mariah Carey fashion. I mean if you're Mariah do it, but please, if you're somebody else, do your own fucking thing! And you, Liela Moss, you do you own thing wonderfully! There's a certain bit of psychedelia in it, a dash of Grace Slick perhaps? I don't know what you think of all the comparisons to Blondie or to Nico, but I think you're just you: open, raw, out there exposed and bare with lyrics that cut to the quick in a way that none of those artists could do in their time. That, to me, is what indie should be, bravo!

I feel a little embarrassed that we gave you such a small stage... surely you and the boys in The Duke Spirit deserve a much grander space. I could hardly see Olly and had to sneak sideways glances at him before the show, in all his dandy grandeur, yummmmmmmmmm! (Not to mention his performance on "This Ship Was Built To Last") Maybe you could point him towards this blog for me? ;) I would have really loved to see Toby stretch out and hit that bass in the way I know he wanted to last night. God, I love his lines in "Send a Little Love Token" and "The Step and The Walk."
photo credit: richt/tlobf
Now Liela, I need you to do some smoothing over for me, ok? I'm terrible with guitarists, oi! I also was pretty far back from the stage, alas and well, I'm quite short. So who ever did that amazing fret work on "Into the Fold" really deserves a toffee pudding or a pint or whatever they want over there in Prague where you are off to next. So Luke or Daniel ( well both of you, ok?), throw it back, men! Well done! The encore, Neptune's Call was brilliant as well! Thank you.

Please come back and give us another show. I swear I'll buy 50 tickets and make them give you a better venue with excellent sound and more room to romp around and kick and prance and throw your arms about as I know you like to do. Because you all were fucking awesome. And I meant that when I hollered it to you from the street as you were getting into your tour bus. And wow, Liela, thanks SOOOO much for dashing over to me in the street and shaking my hand last night. You ROCK! :)

xoxoxoxo,
a tart - and yeah, like I said, I'm blogging about ya'll today! And thanks for the kind word about Obama, I'm glad you're a fan too!

p.s. Did that guy who climbed on stage at the end actually grope you? OMG, I saw you throw him off and all I can say is wow. If that wasn't an act, where the hell was security when we need it, eh? Don't think all of us in Chicago are animals hun!



Send a Little Love Token mp3
Neptune's Call mp3
Buy the album directly from them
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venue: The Empty Bottle

Opening Bands:
The Pale Gallery
MySpace
Brian Boes: Electric Guitar, Pale Jonny: Electric Bass, Brent Larson: Electric Guitar/Vocals, Jeff Massey: Drums/Vocals. They came on strong and not too loud, confident and for a local band, I'd give them kudos for a good sound. It's kinda like Green Day meets Wheezer.... a good, tight band, Pale Jonny is a good, funky bass player, Bred Larson did a fine guitar solo on "Autograph", but damn they need some work on vocals and "Drop the Deadbeat 4/4" honestly didn't show off the lyrics in my opinion, but tell me what you think. To be fair, the venue did them no favors in terms of acoustics. "Autograph!" was incredibly danceable tho!

from The Pale Gallery EP:
Autograph mp3
Drop the Deadbeat 4/4 mp3
They're not signed yet, here's hoping they are soon!

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Skybox
MySpace
Tim Ellis: Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Christian Carpenter Fields: Background Vocals, Keys & Lead Guitar, Mike Holtz: Drums, Percussion & Background Vocals,
Dan Ingenthron: Bass Guitar & Background Vocals. Think Jerry Seinfield doing an impression of an Indie Rocker, add Tina Weymouth, bass player for the Talking Heads, and then make it a dream sequence wherein the band does some Sigur Ros songs but in English and you pretty much have the Skybox. Now granted, I am most definitely not an indie rock fan (how do you people dance to this stuff??) In fact, I generally use the term "indiecrap" much like I use the term "fucktunes" to disparage the younger generations' love for all things "wacky" and "fun" grrrr. So when these guys started singing about their relationship with their right hand, especially their thumb, forgive me if I felt it was dumb. The sing-songiness of it all doesn't help me get over the fact that I babysat these brats when I was in my 20's and listening to the really good music of my time. It's as if they never really outgrew Sesame Street, ffs.

However, I have to say, even with the bad acoustics, (did I mention the horrible venue already?) the horrible audio mix and the absolutely rude locals, it was blaringly apparent that these guys have loads of talent and will be huge if indeed they are not already huge (I know little to nothing of the local indie scene). Vocally, Tim Ellis has a terrific falsetto, and a lot of energy. Christian Carpenter Fields is a perfect accoutrement to him, I'd be surprised to learn that the two were NOT long time friends, they seemed so in sync with one another, musically. Mike Holtz gave a very good performance and Dan Ingenthron simply blew me away. I don't often think of Tina Weymouth, few bassists cover the frets the way she does. He saved the night for me, honestly, with this band. They opened with "Various Kitchen Utensils" and I couldn't stop smiling, even as I gritted my teeth. Slower songs like "Gravity Can't Keep Us Down" were lost on the audience which talked through most of it. This is a band that needs a captive audience. The fast songs work well live but the rest don't fill the stage enough to keep the mood going yet. Yes, you indie freaks out there, you will love this band and all their sappy-love-filled harmonies and fun songs and on CD the melancholy stuff is pretty good I'll admit. Go hear them, go buy their CD. Here, taste the love! :)
from Arco Iris:
Various Kitchen Utensils mp3
Gravity Can't Bring Us Down mp3

Buy Skybox's Arco Iris

After yesterdays post on "Fish", I have been playing some of my old Marillion discs and reminiscing to myself. I decided to pour through all my CD's and check out items I haven't heard in a while.

As I have been absent for a few days it doesn't mean I haven't thought of music, or what I would bring to the plate next. So I thought I would drastically change direction of where I have been going and introduce you to (in my personal opinion) one of the best lyricists I have ever heard in my lifetime.

In about 1985 I was introduced to this band by a rather eclectic friend, though he always had decent taste in music, it was a bit out of my taste range during those years (he listened to a decent amount of Rush, Cult, Genesis - while I was listening to Anthrax, Dokken, and Malmsteen ) but my taste was maturing quickly as this was the time in my life I was devouring new sounds and looking a different sounds.

I was asked to listen to "Assassing" by Marrillion off the Fugazi album. It was different, heavy keyboarded very twisting melodies and a singer with a different sound, but the lyrics were deep and meaningful and the sound was luscious. The albums my friend showed me had cover art was incredible and literally had a piece of every song "drawn" right into the art. But unlike most covers of the time it was thought out and put together in a manner that wasn't overkill, it was almost a normal Salvador Dalí painting. All of the art work from the Fish era of Marillion as well as Fish's solo career was done by artist Mark Wilkinson.


"Fish" or Derek Dick (his given name) was the Scotsman lyricist and singer of Marillion. Derek as I understood it in the day, was extremely shy and would paint his face up and use "Fish" as a stage name, almost ala Peter Gabriel of Genesis in his day. Fish also seem to have gotten his deep perspectives writing ability from Jack Kerouac and a good stiff drink which would later give way to the downfall of the greatest progressive rock bands ever. Fish was with Marillion from 1982 to 1990 when there was a decent deal of friction in the band, the years of touring and inter band fighting had worn them thin. Fish was then replaced by Steve Hogarth, and Marillion quickly carried on. I personally think Hogarth mellowed the sound of Marillion out way to much, it was like very watered down 30 year old scotch.


With much relief I found that Dereck went on to do solo material using his moniker of "Fish". Though I never thought that his solo albums reached the level introspectiveness as when he was in Marillion, it was still great, his lyrics were still strong works of art.

Fish is still active in touring and has a huge cult like following just as Marillion still does even in it's new modern "Hogarth" era. Fish's new album 13th Star shows he still can write some master pieces showing the simplicities of life in a complex way. So have a listen, enjoy, and listen to the best lyricist I have known.

*as a side note, I am in no way trying to lay out bands I put up here as me being the all knowing God of information on them. What I write and put up relate to my life and what I knew at the time. Though I am no huge fan of Wikipedia I will say it is a wealth of information, so if you want more info on the artists feel free to go to the artist them self (which is what I do) or feel free to wiki info.. that is all :)


Script for a Jesters Tear - Marillion - Script for a Jesters Tear

The Web - Marillion - Script for a Jesters Tear
(An absolute favorite of mine)

A Gentleman's Excuse Me - Fish - Vigil In a Wilderness of Mirrors

Zöe 25 - Fish - 13th Star

Buy Fish here

Buy Marillion here