Due to Stephanie's inspired inclusion of the video for "She's Gone" in the comments section yesterday, I decided that I had to get this included into a proper post. It's an amazing video, and if there's ever been a better reaction to meeting The Devil, I'd like to see it:
"She's Gone"
On an unrelated note, has "shame" ever been personified better than in this picture of Eliot Spitzer during his press conference on monday? It's an absolutely perfect mix of contrition, embarrassment, and awkwardness. As Stephen Colbert pointed out on his show last night, it looks like he wants to eat his face:
Just in case you, the reading public, are going through the same unquenchable Hall and Oates phase right now, I thought I'd pass along the YouTube clip of their classic video for "Maneater":
What is it about this band that makes them so irresistible? This is exactly the same mix of surprise and a surprising lack of embarrassment that I felt when I started getting heavily into Fleetwood Mac a couple years ago. Is it just that I was too much of a snob in the past to give some of the most popular acts of the past a chance? Possibly. For that matter, what is it about a band like Hall and Oates that makes them seem so fundamentally uncool, which other bands from that time period, such as Duran Duran, have always been acceptable in a "a good song is a good song" sort of way? Heavy questions, yes, but here are some possibilities:
Hair. I mean, c'mon, look at these guys. Aren't they basically everything you didn't want to look like if you grew up in the 90's ? They're so tethered to the 80's it would have taken a lot of confidence, more than I apparently had, to like them growing up .
Their lack of "Englishness." One of the reasons that bands like Duran Duran and Inxs can always get some credit in the States is because of the simple fact that they're not from this country. As such, we can like what we want about them and dismiss away anything weird as some sort of English quirk that we don't get. But Hall and Oates? C'mon, those dudes are from Philly!
Oates's mustache. Oddly compelling, but ultimately too much to handle:
Too popular with the wrong people. Aha- finally we get at the biggest problem. Much like Fleetwood Mac, there are just too many people with terrible taste that like these guys. As a young snobby kid still sorting out what was good and what wasn't, it was just about impossible for me to listen to a band like this on it's own terms and look past the fact that you could like the same band as your parents. This is something that, thankfully, I've been able to get over. Because I'm sorry, if you can listen to "Rich Girl" and not think it's just about the best thing you've ever heard, you might still have some work to do.
Where the hell did my hour go? It's nice having more sunlight later in the day, but at what cost? Two to three AM is when I'm most productive.
When I found out DST was invented so you, some crackpot Brit, could golf in the evening hours, I got upset. Then when I found out you passed it off as a way to save energy, I threw up a little in my mouth. But when I heard you spent much of your life promoting something that robs innocent people of an hour's sleep once a year, I decided to write a letter. Mr. William Willett, I want my hour back, thank you.
There is no evidence to support that it saves energy. Sure, it helps some businesses like convenience stores and, of course, your beloved GOLF, but it hurts farmers because workers end up leaving earlier in the day. Hard working American farmers, you heartless aristocrat.
I can't help but wonder what you've done with all the hours you've stolen. If you have the ability to steal time, Mr. Willett, I'm sure you have other tricks up your sleeve. I bet you're in some alternate world, golfing all day and laughing at American farmers. And at this point there's no doubt your days last something like 57 hours.
You supposedly died in 1915, but every bone in my body believes you and your hours are alive and well. I want my hours back. I'm 26 years old, so I figure you owe me just over a day. Do you hear me? An entire day, you swindler! I'm a reasonable man, so I'll make sure I devote each hour to the plans I originally had for them.
Not that you care, but this would be my itinerary:
Hour 1: sleep, cry for a diaper changing Hour 2: sleep Hour 3: lie in bed, keep an eye out for the monster lurking in my closet Hours 4-9: sleep Hour 10: start to question the validity of daylight savings time Hour 11: play two games of Tecmo Super Bowl as the Kansas City Chiefs at Chris Briggs' house Hour 12: sleep Hour 13: vividly dream I am a tiger being hunted by poachers wanting to give my paws as a gift to the Habsburg Empire Hour 14: eat Oreos while watching Psycho for the first time Hours 15-16: sleep Hours 17-19: (can't remember, probably sleep) Hour 20: stay at party a little longer, still not talk to cute girl Hour 21: stay at party a little longer, still not talk to cute girl Hours 22-24: sleep Hour 25: thank the time police for not springing us forward earlier than usual Hour 26: breathe easy knowing it didn't go from 1:59 am to 3:00
Sounds like a full day, doesn't it? Maybe it doesn't to William "Time-hoarder" Willett, but it does to this hard-working American. Wait a second - don't we set our clocks back in the fall? Forget all that stuff I said about DST. Thanks for the evening sunlight, Mr. Willett.
Well, after an hour of messing around, the only thing I could figure out how to do in terms of changing up the blog's look was to add a little background color to the site. I hope everyone likes this incredibly subtle, yet also incredibly moving, change to the blog.
Any other suggestions? Anything that really should be up on this site that isn't? Any bored graphic designers out there?
Was anyone unhappy with this result or surprised with the way the show panned out this season? Overall, there seemed to be way less extra-topical stuff tacked on to the show this time around: no more crazy contestants brought back, weeks after they were kicked off, to increase the drama, no more accusations of cheating from other contestants, and no last-minute challenges to do right before the final Bryant Park show. It was a good, entertaining season, if maybe not as dramatic as, say, Season Two.
Although I'm still a little too depressed about last night's election results, along with the terrifying thought of six more weeks of condescending interviews and press releases from Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson, I can at least say some good things about the Jonathan Richman show I saw last night!
Richman, for those who might not know, is a beloved (mostly acoustic) singer-songwriter and former member of the seminal and short-lived proto-punk band The Modern Lovers back in the early 70's. The Modern Lovers are most famous for their lover of the Velvet Underground, their hatred of hippies, and for writing the time-tested classic "Roadrunner," (mp3) one of the great driving songs of all time.
The Modern Lovers looked like this: But these days, as you can see, Richman's aesthetic is a little more laid-back:
Anyway, back to the show. Vic Chesnutt, the opener, put on a very entertaining and interesting performance. The wheelchair-bound Chesnutt had a wry, dark sensibility that contrasted perfectly with J Richman's unfailingly upbeat style. Although he was constantly stopping his performance to get his guitar back in tune, he won over the audience with his laid-back style and a very funny song about the Iraq War. Richman himself was in typically good form. I was thrilled to see that mixed in with the typical favorites ("I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar," "Pablo Picasso," "Girlfriend") were some classic old tunes that I was excited to hear, including the wonderful, perpetually overlooked "Egyptian Reggae." (mp3) Here's a video of that song which, while not taken from the show, pretty closely mirrors the kind of performance he puts on:
In addition, near the end of the show, Richman played his typically brilliant live version of "Let Her Go Into the Darkness," which everyone always go nuts over because he sings a verse of the song in English, then in French, then in Spanish, and this time in Hebrew. There was a lot of stuff from the new, as yet unreleased record that he threw in as well, which was a little hit and miss (the "Cellphone Song" wasn't exactly a slice of heaven), but nonetheless seemed to go over pretty well with the crowd.
This is now the 4th time I've seen Richman, and, though it was unquestionably entertaining, it did remind me of the perils of seeing any artist you love in New York. First of all, it was in Williamsburg, which meant I had to deal with a bunch of rich, skinny hipsters that all looked like they were about 17 years old (you know, not to generalize or anything). I'm only in my mid-twenties, but does that already make me too old for this neighborhood? It certainly felt that way at times. Secondly, the show was sold out, which meant that I was getting bumped all show and couldn't really see anything anyway. Finally, and here I'll admit to being just a little petty, the person right behind my friend Steve and I had this barking half-laugh of surprise that she would do any time that Richman said anything sweet or funny. She did this every 45 seconds or so (Richman says a lot of sweet, funny things) and it led me to seriously contemplate seppuku by the end of the night.
Overall, though, a typically great Jonathan Richman show. He's the kind of artist that creates so much happiness and positive energy among the concert goers that you've really got to go out to see him at least once to really experience it (a hippy-ish thing to say, I admit, but nevertheless true).
If anyone wants it, here is the set list I cobbled together from the show (March 4th, 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg):
Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow Springtime in New York Pablo Picasso Leonard Cohen Cover Cellphone Song (new song) I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar Egyptian Reggae When We Refuse to Listen (new song) Unknown Spanish Song My Love for Her Ain't Sad Vermeer (new song) Girlfriend Let Her Go Into the Darkness Old World Unknown song in French Curly and Wild (new song) Vincent Van Gogh
Encore: Cell Phone Song (reprise) Unknown Song about his Mother
If you want to get an idea of my particular brand of cheapness, check out Josh Lewin's very funny article on Slate about why he purchased an HD DVD player over a Blue Ray last year. Basically, he suffers from the same problem I do: Wanting to acquire the hipness associated with being an "early adopter" without actually paying the money or doing the research that being an early adopter requires.
It also raises the important question over whether it's better to be completely cheap and then only get the best stuff when you do spend your money, or just sort of cheap and always settling for second best merchandise. It's probably better to be neither if you can get away with it (which I personally can't, due to some sort of brain malfunction that makes me a complete miser), but if you have to be one, I think the former is probably the way to go.
Also, on an unrelated note, check out Todd's post on Well Respected Blog regarding some excellent cartoon websites. The Garfield Minus Garfield site in particular is so inspired I almost passed out the first time I went there.
Well, after an hour of messing around, the only thing I could figure out how to do in terms of changing up the blog's look was to add a little background color to the site. I hope everyone likes this incredibly subtle, yet also incredibly moving, change to the blog.
Here is the video for his collection in case you want to check it out and pretend (as I do) that you have any idea what is and is not considered fashionable. (By the way, everyone seemed to make a big deal about the way Christian repeatedly described everything as "fierce" like it was a new edition to the lexicon, but wasn't this very word already the subject of a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode a few years ago?)
Although I'm still a little too depressed about last night's election results, along with the terrifying thought of six more weeks of condescending interviews and press releases from Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson, I can at least say some good things about the Jonathan Richman show I saw last night!
But these days, as you can see, Richman's aesthetic is a little more laid-back:
