John & Belle Have A Blog

Freedom Beef

Mei Mei can't draw, as you can plainly see. But she sings wonderfully. Example: her favorite music is the Powerpuff Girls mini-rock opera, "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey". Which is, all by itself, a powerful argument for the purchase of The Powerpuff Girls: The Complete Series [amazon]. Or, if you are cheap, you can watch it on YouTube (part I, part 2). The full transcript is here, for completists and students of the sub-sub-genre of dystopian musicals. Apparently this particular episode was never shown on American TV. Draw your own conclusion about what they thought was too shocking about it.

As I was saying, Mei Mei has the whole thing memorized. She's rides on my shoulders to school everyday and sings quietly pretty much the whole way. She's about the size/weight of a pair of Bose headphones (it's not that we don't feed her, she's just small). And she doesn't have quite the bass range that Bose headphones deliver. But she puts her heart in it.

While we were sitting, watching "Gnomey" for the 254th time, I stuck a microphone in front of her and recorded the whole thing. Now you must understand: this is a very young girl singing quietly to herself while the show itself is playing (you can't hear it, but she can.) So it has more of an absent-minded naivete, compared to the un-mic'ed belting out I am treated to every morning above and behind my ears. But it still seems well worthy of sampling. And so I present to you ... an mp3 high-notes reel from Mei Mei's solo performance of the entirely of "See me, Feel Me, Gnomey".

01townsvillegoingdownville.mp3 (135.4K)

02getsome.mp3 (350.9K)

03rainpain.mp3 (876.2K)

04givemeyourpowers.mp3 (1278.3K)

05notgivingup.mp3 (231.7K)

06normallittlegirls.mp3 (137.1K)

07villainoustreachery.mp3 (222.0K)

08reuniteabovemefathers.mp3 (257.9K)

09hearmethespiritsnow.mp3 (370.9K)

10sunshine.mp3 (189.3K)

11aahh.mp3 (468.1K)

12freedombeef.mp3 (249.3K)

13yinandyang.mp3 (460.7K)

14weakwithoutthebold.mp3 (110.9K)

15getalong.mp3 (704.8K)

Jobriath

John and I learned about Jobriath from a recent BoingBoing post, and our actual CDs got here today (the music isn't available for download).  OMFG I love it! I love glam rock anyway, but this is some good shit right here. I'm going to bed now so maybe I'll tell you more about it later, but I just had to share the love.

FYI

I am currently listening to, and very much enjoying, the Yes song "And You and I." OK, iTunes shuffle serendipitous segue: it was followed by Run-DMC's "It's Tricky." A great transition.

I Blame Google News

Why am I reading the NY Post Daily News (thanks TMK) at all? Google News sent me there. According to the Post Daily News, Marilyn Manson is still pining for Dita von Teese, his burlesque-dancer ex (or was as of a couple months ago). But that's just an excuse to link to this Onion classic: "Marilyn Manson Now Going Door-to-Door Trying to Shock People."

Last Friday at 4 p.m., Mark Wesley, 46, a resident of Overland Park's exclusive Maple Bluff subdivision, heard the sound of "animal-like shrieking" coming from the vicinity of his front lawn. Upon opening his front door, he was greeted by the sight of a pale and shirtless Manson carving a pentagram into his chest with a razor blade.

"Look at me, suburban dung," Manson told Wesley. "Does this shock you?"

When Wesley replied no, he said Manson became "petulant." Recalled Wesley: "He started stamping his feet and shaking his fists, saying, 'What do you mean no? Aren't your uptight, puritanical sensibilities offended? Don't you want to censor me so you don't have to confront the ugly truth I represent?' So I say, 'Well, not particularly.' Then, after a long pause, he says, 'Well, screw you, jerk!' and walks off sulking."

That evening, Linda Schmidt was preparing to drive her daughter Alyssa to a Girl Scouts meeting when she found Manson standing on her porch draped in sheep entrails.

"I knew who he was, but I was kind of busy and didn't really have time to chat," Schmidt said. "He just kept standing there staring at me, expecting me to react in some way."

Added Schmidt: "I tried to be nice and humor him a little. I said, 'Yesiree, that sure is some shocking satanic imagery, no doubt about it. And that one eye with no color in the pupil, very disturbing. I'd sure like to suppress that.' I mean, what do you say to Marilyn Manson?"

A deflated Manson remained on Schmidt's porch as she and Alyssa drove off...

Manson's lone brush with controversy occurred in Edina, MN, a suburb of Minneapolis. An unidentified neighborhood-watch volunteer phoned police after seeing a nude, feces-smeared Manson being led around on a leash by a dwarf dominatrix. Officers arrived on the scene, but let Manson go with a warning for parading without a city permit.

"I could have given him a citation, but I figured, how much harm is he really causing?" Edina Police Officer Dan Herberger said. "I mean, he's just Marilyn Manson, for the love of Mike."

I was originally reading an article about this double murder/suicide. Very sad.

Go-Go

Will newish DC go-go band Mambo Sauce break into the big time? Magic 8-ball says...no, despite apparently getting play at Wizards home games. But isn't it weird that Washington (and Baltimore) should have their own genre of music that no one else listens to? All of it based on one distinctive beat (and a mysteriously conga-like one at that)? I spent today listening to Chuck Brown, Rare Essence , the Northeast Groovers, and Little Benny's album The Cat in The Hat. Swipple, y'all.

Best of...

This Slate best music of 2008 back-and-forth with Robert Christgau and others is interesting. Here in Singapore the extremely boring radio station Gold 90FM has one and a half good features. The half a good feature is that on Sundays at 2 they play the top ten UK chart hits of 19--. This is only half good because sometimes they pick the mid seventies, but the slight differences from the US charts can be fun. The one unambiguously good thing is that at about 2:45 they have music made in Singapore, some of it fun faux-Motown stuff, and some awsomely jarring country music from singin' Singapore cowboy Matthew Tan, and the Mandarins (here's a post about them). I have been searching for one of those portable record players, or rather, I have outsourced my searching for one to my friend Cheu (she wants one as well). I do have a number of old Singapore LPs I've bought here and there but no way to listen to them. What do Ervinna and the Stylers sound like? I mean, probably bad, but bad in what particular way? Inquiring minds want to know.

It Mek

Does anyone know what the heck the Desmond Dekker song "It Mek" is about? You can listen to it here (and you should do so, because it's an amazing song), and the lyrics are here (accurate but phonetically transcribed) Is the person who's shamming being hurt (the "you") also the "she" who's "crying out fe ice water"? I mean, I assume so. So some chick is pretending to get hurt falling off a wall, and cries out for ice water, but then when he does get to her she's "cold." Insufficiently grateful? But...what...and the goat...? Help me out here, people.

Evil Genius

We tried out Apple iTunes Genius feature for the first time today, and it worked so incredibly well that I'm depressed. I mean, I spent my whole life garnering the musical knowledge that would have let me hear those connections between songs that sometimes came from different genres, and then I get schooled by my Mac? I never would have thought of that Fairport fucking Convention song in a million years and it was perfect. We're like 80% of the way to AI now. Stupid computer.

How 'Bout That Stock Market, My Friends?

Speaking of burning money and song recommendations, have you listened to Steely Dan's "Black Friday" recently? It's a good song.

When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes
I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out
I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls you know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me

When Black Friday comes
I'll fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
When Black Friday comes I'll be on that hill
You know I will

When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it 'til
I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me
The Archbishop's gonna sanctify me
And if he don't come across
I'm gonna let it roll
When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna stake my claim
I'll guess I'll change my name

I think we all know who's to blame here: Barack Hussein I'ma-Destroy-Your-Markets-Bitchez Obama.

Get Your Fixx

When I was little reading Asterix and Obelix comics I didn't understand why the druid was named "Getafix". My religion forbids embedding youtube links* but you could click this link and watch a really ridiculous 80s video for "One Thing Leads to Another". I have to say I kind of like this song.

At John's urging I listened to an "All Songs Considered" podcast from NPR on "The 80s--were they really that bad?" I believe you can download them all for free at iTunes. It was funny and definitely worth a listen, with deft deployment of evil riffage from "BUILT THIS CITY111! on rock and r--BUILT THIS CITY!" But curiously they didn't mention hip hop at all. I mean, I can see saying explicitly, "we're leaving this whole arena of music out due to time constraints" but just not to mention it? Weird.

*Who among us has not sinned, I ask? And they're too wide for my blog's text column, and it looks wonky when I rejigger it.