So . . .

Girls  "Lust For Life"  Album

  A long while ago, maybe 20 years, my old man (father, not male partner) was faced with one of many challenges to his early boomer worldview (class of '60).  As a member of a Unitarian Universalist church in the suburbs of Cleveland, he was faced with a number of his peers, now in their forties, suddenly divorcing their wives and taking up with new partners who just happened to be men.  My dad, being still a bit awesome . . .

  It has been a steady decline in awesomeness for my old man From teenage early-adopter of Chess and Checker Blues and Rock, to mid-life embracer of the white-liberal faith of Unitarian-Universalism to second-divorce visitor of "singles camps" to septuagenarian global-warming denier, he has been on a strangely wrong trajectory . . .

  As I was saying, while still awesome, my old man reflected upon this seemingly more than occasional occurrence of his baby-boomer friends leaving their long-term relationships for a mid-life, same-sex partnership, and he told me, "I guess I get it.  Frankly, at this point, I don't really care who is lying in the bed next to me as long as they leave me the fuck alone."

  Also, on November 6, for the first-through-fourth time ever, same-sex marriage was upheld at the ballot box in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington.  And the supreme court justice in Iowa that conservatives were trying to oust because he had upheld marriage equality through the state constitution won reelection.

  And there is this video for this song, which I like not because it is porn (which I guess it is if singing into a penis like it is a microphone is porn), but because everyone in it is young and dumb and full and it doesn't much matter who it is they are rolling around with.  "Maybe if I really tried with all of my heart, then I could make a brand new start in love with you . . ."

  That is the bottom line and why I have never (and really never) given a shit about a person's sexual identity.  It is really hard to find someone you want to be with for more than even a drink, let alone an evening or god forbid a lifetime.  To have someone else telling you that the person you choose is somehow wrong . . . who needs to deal with that.  If there has ever been an even quasi-legitimate reason for nosing into someone else's bedroom beyond a parent's selfish fear they may not get grandkids, I don't see it. Even that is based solely in vengeance, and therefore pretty base.

  It doesn't matter your damage, which comes in all shapes and sizes.  And it doesn't matter your cure, which are equally as varied.  Everyone is looking for the person(s) that make(s) them complete and helps them get through the next few hours, next days, next months, years, decades.  As my old man slides into an ultra-conservative convalescence, I guess we can take heart that the nation as a whole is moving more toward awesome and no one much cares who is lying in bed next to you, even if they don't just leave you the fuck alone.

Kangaroo to Katalon

"Kangaroo"  Big Star  Third/Sister Lovers
"Kansas City"  Albert King  Born Under A Bad Sign
"The Kansas City Song"  Buck Owens  The Very Best Of Buck Owens, Vol. 1
"Kashmir's Corn"  Victoria Williams  Musings of a Creek Dipper
"Katey vs. Nobby"  Galactic  Ya-Ka-May
"Kathelin Gray"  Ornette Coleman & Pat Metheny  Song X
"Kathy's Song"  Simon & Garfunkel  Sounds of Silence
"Kathy's Waltz"  Dave Brubeck Quartet  Time Out
"Katie's Been Gone"  The Band  The Basement Tapes
"Katolon"  Salif Keita  Moffou

So I have been paralyzed about writing for a while.  Some things have been keeping me busy, but mostly I just get on the site and stare at the screen and feel overwhelmed.  I am going to try to keep the posts [a bit] shorter and [much] more frequent from here on out - it may well mean some posts just kind of suck.  But maybe something is better than nothing at all.  Hopefully some will be Sometimes it can just be the rantings of a madman - that is the essence of the internet, after all.

The Song from this set is without doubt "Katey vs. Nobby" - New Orleans rhythms, P-Funk synthesizer, two Sissy Rap MCs . . . everything about it just beats you up, and it has a verse about Popeye's Chicken . . . wish there was a decent video.  Instead, all you get is ass everywhere.

Half Marathon Playlist

"Early In The Mornin'"  Johnny Lee Moore & Prisoners  Southern Journey Vol.5: Bad Man Ballads
"Go Outside"  Cults  Cults
"Iko Iko"  The Dixie Cups  Chapel of Love
"All Eyez On Me"  2Pac  All Eyez On Me
"Grown Up"  Danny Brown
"Bhangra Fever"  MIDIval PunditZ  Six Degrees 100
"Boe Money"  Galactic  Ya-Ka-May
"Theme from Black Belt Jones"  Dennis Coffey  Can You Dig It? Music & Politics of Black Action Films
"Higher Ground"  Stevie Wonder  Innervisions
"Get Some"  Lykke Li  Wounded Rhymes
"Racehorse"  Wild Flag  Wild Flag
"Whole Hog" (live)  Sebadoh  Lounge Ax Defense & Relocation CD
"Precious Lord Lead Me On"  Sister Gertrude Morgan/King Britt  King Britt Presents Sister Gertrude Morgan
"Midnight City"  M83  Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
"You Put A Smell On Me"  Matthew Dear  Black City
"Help I'm Alive"  Metric  Fantasies
"Thunder Road"  Bruce Springsteen  Born To Run
"Growing Old Is Getting Old"  Silversun Pickups  Swoon
"Post Acid"  Wavves  King of the Beach
"Georgia"  Yuck  Yuck
"Ladyflash"  The Go! Team  Thunder, Lightning, Strike
"Gentlemen"  The Afghan Whigs  Gentlemen
"Freak Scene"  Dinosaur Jr.  Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the 80s Underground
"Heads Will Roll"  Yeah Yeah Yeahs  It's Blitz!
"Within Your Reach"  The Replacements  Hootenanny
"Big Poppa"  The Notorious B.I.G.  Greatest Hits
"Dead Pontoon"  Toro Y Moi  June 2009
"I See You Baby [Fatboy Slim Remix]"  Groove Armada  Vertigo
"Hott Bizness"  Lyrics Born  Later That Day . . .
"Check The Rhime"  A Tribe Called Quest  The Low End Theory
"Angola Bound"  Aaron Neville  The Very Best of Aaron Neville
"Don't Miss That Train"  Sister Wynona Carr  Dragnet For Jesus
"Hard-Core Troubadour"  Steve Earle  I Feel Alright
"Heroes"  David Bowie  Changesbowie
"Simmer Down"  Bob Marley  Songs of Freedom
"Let The Good Times Roll"  Harry Nilsson  Nilsson Schmilsson
"Whipping Post"  The Allman Brothers Band  At Filmore East


Still not posting enough here - it has been difficult to prioritize this little project the way I would like. Anyway - I just ran a half-marathon with my son (and about 20,000 other people, but really - it was with my son).  Since I figured he would leave me behind, I made a race-day playlist so I would have something to listen to while I ran, and rather than my usual alphabet crawl, I just put that up here.  He did stay with me for the first hour of the race, but then he set off and ultimately finished about 10 minutes ahead of me.  We were both hoping to break two hours - he came close, and I was at about 2:11.

Before I got the boy to run with me, I always described running as my best opportunity to listen to hours of music without interruption (I have been a runner of questionable consistency for about 6 years, when in a fit of turning 40, I ran a marathon).   I leave it to the iTunes shuffle to pick the shorter runs, but if I set out for over an hour, I find iTunes likes to say things like "shorter of breath and one day closer to death" a little too often, so I try to lay out the tracks ahead of time.  It helps me mark pace as well if I know what song should be playing when.

The goal in making a playlist is to put some interesting stuff on here that was basically up-tempo enough that I wouldn't fall into a stupor. While I try to pick songs that are thematic and make me happy to hear, I try not to pick anything to cliched or ridiculously "inspirational."    The obvious exceptions are "Thunder Road" and "Heroes" - which I have put on my long run lists for years.  "Thunder Road" marks my halfway point, and "Heroes" marks where I want to be crossing the finish line.  Yes, totally over-the-top and idiotic to want to run under that clock with "we could be heroes just for one day . . ."  I balance that out with a few cheerful prison songs and a few songs about growing old or dying.  "Simmer Down" and "Let The Good Times Roll" serve double duty as either cool-down diddies or cushion between my target time, and when I would start to feel like I might suck as a runner and a human being - 18 minutes of "Whipping Post" is there for that.

Race as metaphor . . .
This was the second half marathon my son and I have run together.  He has always been more physically capable than me - when he was thirteen he ran a 5K at a sub-8 pace, just by waking up and saying "okay lets go ahead and do this."  The only thing I can give him is guidance.  When we ran the first half, he stayed with me the whole time, and if he needed to slow down or rest, we stopped together.  This time, he stayed with me out of courtesy and affection.  This time though, it was clear to both of us that I was holding him back and at about the halfway point he just took off and left me to my playlist.  He ran off, disappearing into a crowd of  people.   But, after it was all done, he found me and we left together.  I guess that is just how things are going to be now.

J'Ai Passe Devant Ta Porte to Jailhouse Rock

"J'Ai Passe Devant Ta Porte"  Michael Doucet & Cajun Brew  A New Orleans Visit: Before Katrina
"Jacqueline"  Franz Ferdinand  Franz Ferdinand
"Jacques Lamure"  Of Montreal  The Gay Parade
"Jag Vet en Dejlig Rosa"  Robyn  Body Talk: Pt. 1
"Jaguar"  John Gregory  The Sound Gallery, Vol. 1
"Jah Live"  Bob Marley  Songs of Freedom
"Jail Guitar Doors"  The Clash  The Clash
"Jailhouse Rock"  Dean Carter  Instant Garage [Mojo]
"Jailhouse Rock"  Elvis Presley  The Complete '68 Comeback Special [x2]
"Jailhouse Rock"  Elvis Presley  Elvis 75


MCA died.  Junior Seau did too.  I am pretty upset about them both.  Mostly for selfish, self-absorbed reasons though.  Junior Seau killed himself at age 43, after a long, successful career in the NFL, and he is not the first to do so (or even the first recently).  Given the increased awareness of head injury and the long-term impact of the game on the people who play it, I am wrestling with whether a sport I have been an avid fan of my entire life is actively killing people.  I am also concerned that if that is not the point, there has been very little concern for whether it is the case.  Professional football is a spectator sport - it doesn't exist without people watching it.  The point of it  is so that people will spend their money in order to witness it. Stadiums seating nearly 100,000 people and billion-dollar television contracts attest to this.  So the violence, the speed of the game, the crushing blows, are at some level because I want it (not me alone, but y'know . . . this is  my navel-gazing so just accept some melodrama).  I can say that I did not know, and that is both fine and true.  The issue is now I do know.  So do I stop watching, do I insist it be fixed, or do I merely live with my own hypocrisy.  (as I sit here today, my money is on the latter).  I honestly live in fear that I will see a young man killed one Sunday afternoon, and I know that is the last time I will watch football on any level.  I also feel like that will be too late.

Adam Yauch died of cancer at 47.  This makes me feel old.  (I am not alone - a lot of my peers commented on the death that a part of their youth or adolescence died with him).  I have now reached the point where my peers are dying of natural causes.  No longer restricted to violence or drugs, now we face the everyday presence of death by just no longer living.  This is the territory of Baby Boomers and Classic Rockers.  I am not ready for an extended future of maintenance prescriptions and annual check-ups.  My least favorite phrase, which I started hearing at the doctor's office a couple of years ago, has to be, "It is a natural part of the aging process."  So now I not only hear it in my creaking bones, or from the doctor when he mentions the disappearing cartilage in some joint or another - now I am reminded of it as the rock stars of my youth shuffle off this mortal coil like Frank Zappa (just shy of age 53, but somehow suddenly almost 20 years gone . . . that went by fast too).

I'd Be A Yellow Feathered Loon to I'll Be Your Mirror

"I'd Be A Yellow Feathered Loon"  Of Montreal  The Gay Parade
"I'll Be Forever Loving You"  The El Dorados  Vee-Jay: The Definitive Collection
"I'll Be Good To You"  The Brothers Johnson  Ultimate Disco 30th Anniversary Collection
"I'll Be Home For Christmas"  Diane Schuur  Christmas for Lovers
"I'll Be Home For Christmas (Garry Hughes Remix)"  Joe Williams  Christmas Chill
"I'll Be Loving You"  King Khan & BBQ Show  Invisible Girl
"I'll Be Loving You (Forever)"  New Kids On The Block  Like Omigod! The 80's Pop Culture Box
"I'll Be There"  The Jackson 5  Hitsville USA, Vol. 1: The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971
"I'll Be There For You" (the theme from "Friends")  The Rembrandts  Whatever: The 90's Pop and Culture Box
"I'll Be Your Mirror"  The Velvet Underground & Nico  The Velvet Underground & Nico

Charles and I have an ongoing debate about the music collection - we get new music, and I immediately rip it to the computer and into the iTunes library (the iTunes decision is a rough one which I will pick up later, but sticking to the point).  At this point almost all of our listening opportunities are hard-drive based.  Neither of our cars have mp3 players or even ports to connect them, so that is the exception and even that will probably change in the next few years as the cars wear down and need replaced.  So, we inevitably have a . . . I don't know what exactly.  It isn't an argument - neither of us care about it that much.  While I used the word debate it isn't even that thorough.  Let's call it a periodic recognition of a basic philosophical difference.  Charles firmly believes that just because we have obtained something, there is no obligation to keep it forever.  If you don't like it, why are you letting it take up space indefinitely.  I, on the other hand, argue that there is no point in deleting songs - they take up very little space and there is always the possibility you might one day want them.

This is not a new, digital, aspect of our personalities.   While Charles forces herself to regularly clear away some things she is not using, I tend to keep everything.  Books, records, clothes . . . I have a box of old board and role-playing games in the garage that I literally have not opened in over 20 years, but I don't get rid of it.  Since I find it difficult to part with things that take up actual space, getting rid of 1's and 0's is next to impossible.  Part of this is a completist tendency - if I am interested in something, I want to have everything related to it.  I am that Who fan who bought Scoop and tried to justify Chinese Eyes.  I owned every Talking Heads album including Naked, and tracked down albums by The Bunch and The Golden Palominos just because Richard Thompson played on them.  This has tempered somewhat as I have gotten older - I didn't run out to buy Magic just because I like Born to Run.  (although 4 Paul Simon albums appeared in one afternoon, but I can justify that I swear).

The other piece is that it all marks time - when you listen to music, wear certain clothes, read a book, that is what you are doing at that moment.  When you hear that song, pick up that book, or wear those clothes, you are returned to that moment in some small way.  I have trouble giving that up.  And music is certainly the most likely opportunity to revisit that moment.  Even though I think I will, I almost never re-read that book, and I admit that even I would be appalled to put on some of the clothes (although some might argue not appalled enough or often enough), songs last.  I revisit albums and songs much more often - my sons know all the words to Bettie Serveert's first album even though they have never heard it anywhere other than in my car . . . for the past 15 years.  It is not an act of pure nostalgia, either.  Every time you listen to a song, you are not only hearing it again, but you are hearing it for the first time.  As you grow older and your life changes, your interaction with that song changes.  Sometimes this change makes the song irrelevant - sometimes listening to the Who I cringe at how overwrought the lyrics are and at how much I used to care about them.  Other songs remain relevant because they reach back to that place in your past - the Replacements' "Left of The Dial" has become a dead metaphor at this point, but it puts me back in my twenties when that phrase meant a certain thing about who you were and what you did.  Still others change and remain relevant in a wholly current way - "Little Wing" is a timeless work of beauty that leaves me awestruck every time I hear it. It was made at a particular time, but it is not of a time.  (this may be a different point).  Because I can always go back to so much music, I am loathe to get rid of any of it.  Just because I have not listened to it in a very long time, does not mean I will never listen to it again.

Of course, my arguments are invalid when I come across "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" and the theme to "Friends."  Once again, Rhino's need to preserve the missteps of our cultural past goes far beyond anything I could conceive and the whole company sometimes seems like it should be on an episode of "Hoarders."  The good and the bad of this are ever-present on their website - for every complete Smiths reissue (re-mastered by Johnny Marr, so I assume he just mixed Moz so far behind the guitars he can barely be heard, which would be fine with me), there is a live set from Twisted Sister or Iron Butterfly.  I never wanted to hear New Kids On The Block in the first place, I can't think of a time when I would want to play this song again (I liked Donnie in Band of Brothers though).  The Rembrandts (who apparently were an actual band, not just a creation for this song) made a throwaway piece of jangle-pop that became the aural signature for a cultural phenomenon.  That doesn't make it less of a throwaway song or a moment in time I am going to want to go back to.  These are songs I can all but guarantee I am never going to listen to again, and that I will probably skip through if they come up on the shuffle.

I still didn't delete them, though.

A couple other quick thoughts:

• Sound like the Brothers' Johnson cribbed their chorus from Bill Withers' "Lovely Day."
• It is a toss-up for favorite song in this set between King Khan and Nico.
• Check out the back half of the Jackson's video, in which Diana Ross and Michael literally wrestle each other for center stage.

Half as Much to Halleluhwah

"Half As Much"  Patsy Cline  The Legendary Patsy Cline
"Half Asleep (alternate version)"  School of Seven Bells  Dream Pop [Mojo]
"Half Forgotten Daydreams"  John Cameron  The Sound Gallery, Vol. 1
"Half Jack"  The Dresden Dolls  Dresden Dolls
"Half Light I"  Arcade Fire  The Suburbs
"Half Light II (No Celebration)"  Arcade Fire  The Suburbs
"Half of You"  Cat Power  You Are Free
"Halfway Home"  TV On The Radio  Dear Science
"Halfway to Heaven"  Candi Staton  The Best of Candi Staton
"Halleluhwah"  Can  The Roots of the Sex Pistols [Mojo]

I am trying to get back to a more regular posting routine.  I worry too much about what I am going to say (especially in light of what the final product ultimately turns out to be).  It is also seems that doing this is a learned skill, not just the writing, which improves with practice, but the mechanical acts involved in this - budgeting the time to listen to the songs, scanning youtube/vimeo/megacafe for video links, reading about the various artists - it all takes time that requires accommodation.  Moving around my established pattern of not doing much at all has proven more difficult than one would expect.  Just as I think I am getting back into a routine of blogging here, I discover it has been 10 days since my last post . . . ugh.

There was a period, just after I got Dear Science when, every time it would come on, regardless of what song it was, my older son would ask, "who is this?"  That question is always the first clue that he is enjoying the song.  It is always kind of satisfying when I can get his attention enough, and overcome his inherent (and completely accurate) belief that he is cooler than me, that he wants to know more about something I am listening to.  (of course in this case that satisfaction is completely stolen, since Charles got me Dear Science as a Christmas present - that, For Emma, and Hercules & Love Affair - it was a good holiday).

That was my experience for most of these 10 songs.  I found myself saying "Who is this? Oh, I need to listen to more of this . . ."  Which probably means Mojo is doing its job - the tracks from School of Seven Bells and Can are intriguing and I will be pursuing more music from both groups.  Although I do not expect Charles to be tolerating 18-minute Krautrock workouts all that often.

I am fascinated that Can just pulled Damo Suzuki literally off the street one day, and he was their lead singer in concert that evening.  This does not happen in my current profession - no one is coming by my office saying, "you know, I really like your style . . . we have this case going on at the court of appeals next week, why don't you come brief for us?  Swing by the office, we'll research together."

Gabriel Intro to Garageland

"Gabriel Intro"  Tim Barry  28th & Stonewall
"The Game Gets Old"  Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings  I Learned The Hard Way
"Game Is My Middle Name"  Betty Davis  Betty Davis
"Games Without Frontiers"  Peter Gabriel  Peter Gabriel (melting face)
"Ganges Delta Blues"  Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt  A Meeting By The River
"Gangsta Sh*t"  Outkast  Stankonia
"Gangster Of Love"  Jimmy Norman  What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves
"Gangsters"  Neville Staple  The Dawning of a New Era [Mojo disc]
"Gannet"  Tommy Smith  Beasts of Scotland
"Garageland"  The Clash  The Clash

Whitney died this past weekend. This has absolutely no impact on me except as another aspect of my continual aging.  As with the Super Bowl, now the performers of my youth are dying and it is not heartrendingly tragic, but pathetically predictable.  Do not get me wrong.  At 48, she was too young to die.  She was ubiquitous in my youth, and it is sad that she was destroyed by drugs and it is sad that she is dead.  But it is sad Joe Strummer died at 50. It is sad that Jerry died (53), and it is sad that Zappa died (52), and it is sad that George Harrison (58) and John Entwistle (57) died too.  At this point, Whitney (and I) was much  closer to those guys than to Kurt or Jimi.  Like those other artists, Whitney had ceased to be a contributing artist (at least in the genre they had become famous or with the intensity of their youth), and was largely a dominant personality from her audience's past.

Charles and I were having this discussion the other day.  By any reasonable measure, it is horrible that Kurt died as young as he did.  But by dying young, his legend is forever intact.   If Whitney had died 20 years ago, there would be no "Being Bobby Brown."  If Michael had died after Bad, there would be no plastic surgery, no implications, no trial, and he would be remembered without adulteration for an immortal album bracketed by two great ones.  (which, frankly is how I think of Bob Stinson - Hootenany, Let It Be, Tim - as great a three album run as any - and yes, the Replacements are great because of Bob . . . but I digress.)  Charles disagrees.  Her exact words: "Kurt should be here getting fat and old with the rest of us."

Of course, maybe the legend is all that survives anyway.  If Michael & Whitney are remembered at all, it will be because of the music, not because of what happened to them in their forties. People already want to forget and forgive.  Whitney's songs have spiked to number one on iTunes since her death, and that can't all just be nostalgic 40 year olds.  The same thing happened to Michael.

Some thoughts from the set:

• After Joe became a millionaire off his songs of class warfare, did he still sit in his garage with his bullshit detector?
• The video for "Gangsters" is just joyous.  Everyone in that bar knows every single word.  Neville Staple can (and does) just stop singing and let the audience keep it going for him.
• While there was an official video for "Games Without Frontiers" the link above is so much greater - it addresses the question "What the hell are Segways good for?" with the ridiculous answer, "They let aging prog-rockers roll around on stage, complete with dramatic synchronized lurching!"
• That melting face album was seminal.  The hollow percussion in the songs was distinctive and I was exactly the right age for the politics of "Biko" & "Games Without Frontiers." I still think (with no substantial basis whatsoever) that without this album, Paul Simon never makes Graceland (you can decide for yourself whether to call that credit or blame).
• It may be that you are sometimes just swayed by what you encounter first.  Charles is much more partial to the waxed car album.  We have the same discussion over X (me - More Fun, her - Big Black Sun).

F***ing In Rhythm & Sorrow to Fairchild

"F***ing In Rhythm & Sorrow"  The Sugarcubes  Life's Too Good
"Facing East"  Thievery Corporation  The Richest Man In Babylon
"Faculty of Fears"  Lightspeed Champion  Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
"Fade Away and Radiate"  Blondie  Parallel Lines
"Fade Together"  Franz Ferdinand  You Could Have It So Much Better
"Faded Love"  Patsy Cline  The Legendary Patsy Cline
"Fader Rules"  Superchunk  Lounge Ax Defense & Relocation Compact Disc
"Failures"  Joy Division  Substance
"Fainting Spells"  Crystal Castles  Crystal Castles (II)
"Fairchild"  Porter Wagoner  Rubber Room: The Haunting Poetic Songs of Porter Wagoner 1966-1977


So the Super Bowl happened this past weekend.  Last year, Christina fucked up the national anthem and I spent some time discussing the performers for that song at super bowls through the ages.  My comments about the halftime show extended to "I don't know if they have ever gotten it right."  This still holds, but at least this year was largely innocuous, which might be the best you can hope for.  (Well, what I was really hoping for was for Madonna to come out in a Denver Broncos jersey and sing "Like A Virgin" before going into a Tim Tebow kneel, because that would have been awesome and offensive in a way that the FCC could not fine her for.  Instead, we got M.I.A. being offensive in a way she will get fined for, and I have to admit it probably was the best part of the bland new song she was helping Madge get through.  On the up-side this was not the nightmare shit-show that the Black-Eyed Peas gave us (It was Up With Electronic People and Will.I.Am stole Gary Oldman's hair from the Fifth Element).

I admit to being stressed that the artists of my teens are now playing the super bowl - we have moved past Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones and now it is Madonna and Prince.  The Sugarcubes had a reunion tour, and Disney briefly tried selling a Joy Division t-shirt - that is how hold I am now.

There is a lot of hate for Thievery Corporation among internet wonks - "inoffensive" and "bland" are tossed about.  I think that is what I like about them.  Sometimes I want to be able to put something on that is just there and doesn't stomp on my ability to talk/drink/dance with my friends.  It is sort of the opposite of Boxcutter - music I like that I can never seem to find a time to play.  I can usually find a place for this music, but largely because I don't have to concentrate on it.  I actually do mean all of that in a good way.

E.T. (Extraterrestrial) to East St. Louis Toodle-Oo

"E.T. (Extraterrestrial)"  Outkast  ATLiens
"Early In The Morning"  The Bottle Rockets  Bottle Rockets
"Early In The Morning"  Harry Nilsson  Nilsson Schmilsson
"Early To Bed"  Morphine  Like Swimming
"The Earthmen"  Paddy Kingsland  The Sound Gallery Vol. 1
"Earthquake"  Deerhunter  Halcyon Digest
"Ease Jimi"  Nightmares On Wax  Carboot Soul
"Easin' In (From Hell Up To Harlem)"  Edwin Starr  Can You Dig It?  Music and Politics of Black Action Films: 1968-1975
"East of Eden"  Lone Justice  Lone Justice
"East St. Louis Toodle-Oo"  Duke Ellington  Rhapsodies In Black: Music and Words From The Harlem Renaissance

I love that Maria McKee was a raging maniac who sabotaged any hope the huge main-stream career her voice offered her by having a tendency, as a younger woman, to bark like a seal onstage.

It has been a while since I posted last, and in that time Etta James, Johnny Otis, and Don Cornelius have all died.  What I know about Johnny Otis is just what I have learned in the past few weeks - he discovered Etta James (in fact was the person who chose that stage name for her).  He co-wrote and produced, "Roll With Me, Henry" which is one of my favorite Etta James songs.  He wrote "Hound Dog" for Big Mama Thornton, and seems like the kind of person who should get more credit than he did.  Also - "Willie & The Hand Jive" (The ladies in the front are Marie Adams & The Three Tons of Joy, and there is a little Lionel Hampton at the end.)

So I have mentioned my dad's record collection, and in particular his number of early Chess/Checker recordings.  A few years back, when Cadillac Records came out, he saw the movie, bought the soundtrack, and roundly criticized everyone's performance in the movie as not being as good as the original (my dad's full response to this movie was more nuanced than mere criticism - it validated his musical taste, and launched him into a fit of self-aggrandizement where he believed he was one of the few white people in the world to appreciate Little Walter).  Except for Beyonce, who did a great job as Etta James in his opinion.  The reason for this is that my father had no historical reference for Etta James.  While he could tell himself that he understood Howlin' Wolf & Muddy Waters (and especially Chuck Berry - I am probably going to start praising Mos Def's performance just to see how agitated he will get), as a woman, Etta James has no place in my dad's musical world. He could not claim credit for her, so there was no reason to criticize Beyonce's portrayal.  In fact, since the movie introduced her to my dad, I expect his understanding of Etta James is roughly "she looks and sounds just like Beyonce (whoever she is)."

My first knowledge of Don Cornelius was as one of the two men who would tell us that Saturday cartoons were over (Dick Clark was the other).  I liked Soul Train better than Bandstand because it had an animated train at the beginning - I could believe cartoons were continuing for just that much longer.  This kind of sucks now - the music on that show has become an integral part of my music library, and it would be nice to be able to say that my 6-year old self was that aware of it all, but I can't claim there was even a passing knowledge of the show beyond its opening and the deep-voiced host whose appearance meant it was time to find something else to do.  A quick romp through you-tube demonstrates what Don Cornelius gave the world.  Soul Train provided an alternate platform for artists that most folks were ignoring (not just kids looking for the Mystery Machine).  Given the chance I would go back and make my child-self watch these shows for the James Brown appearances alone (See here when JB tells Don he is quitting music to tour HBCUs and figure out how to make them better).  Peace, Love, and Soul.

D. Ray White to Daddy's Home

"D. Ray White"  Hank Williams III  Straight To Hell
"Da Doo Ron Ron"  The Crystals  Back To Mono (1958-1969)
"Da Feelin"  Nightmares On Wax  Thought So . . .
"Da Funk/Daftendirekt"  Daft Punk  Alive 2007
"Da Mystery of Chessboxin'"  Wu-Tang Clan  Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
"Dadaist Rhetoric in Boston"  The Mekons  New York: On The Road 1986-1987
"Daddy's Cup"  Drive-By Truckers  The Dirty South
"Daddy's Gone"  Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse  Dark Night of the Soul
"Daddy's Home"  The Jackson 5  The Ultimate Collection
"Daddy's Home"  Toots & The Maytals  Funky Kingston/In The Dark

Happy New Year!  So I fell well short of my goal of getting through the alphabet somewhere between 4-6 times.  Instead of 4 posts a week, I have been lucky to do one after the broken arm sapped most of my will to do anything at all  On the other hand, I didn't abandon this completely (which is better than some other things - I haven't been running or exercising and am rapidly turning into so much pudding - I guess we can see what cliched resolutions I will be making this year).  We will see how it plays out in 2012; right now I am feeling good about it, but that might just be some resolution fever as well.

In retrospect, I think this has been an exercise with more good than bad.  I haven't really got as good a grip on the music library as I would hope, nor have I become a particularly great or disciplined writer.  But last night I was making a playlist for our new year's party and came across "Fuck Hodges," from way back in January and was able to throw it into the mix, so I at least found one song.

Maybe I read too much into it that Hank III would choose to sing about a deceased patriarch of a musical clan who occasionally run afoul of the law.

The Jackson's version of "Daddy's Home" is not sung by Michael but by Jermaine.  The Toots version bears little resemblance to the others - he plays pretty fast & loose with the lyrics.

I feel like I should be writing more, but mostly I want to get this post up since it is now past MLK Day without a post in 2012.  Maybe the E's will include a SOPA rant!