"We thought turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles," says Mr. Baxter, who sports a ponytail and handlebar mustache." ...nuff said.
Does that mean that rappers are the terrorists of pop music?
1) The Daphne Brooks "Jeff Buckley's Grace" reading went so far beyond my expectations I can't even just say, 'it went really well.' The venue was perfect, the house was packed (sorry but thanks to those who stood in the back) and all the books we ordered were sold so that D. Brooks fans could get autographs. Also, duh, Daphne's reading was fabu - she read from her introduction and her analysis of the "Hallelujah" section - putting into practice what the 'rockism' debate tries to encourage - expanding borders of the canon and who writes about it, and how.
tomorrow is Daphne Brooks' reading at Cake Shop, NYC. 7pm. As Alf said, be there or be square.
Just saw a double-dose of the Plastic People of the Universe at Joe's Pub - most excellent. Sax and clarinet player Vratislav Brabenec is one of the most captivating performers, bopping around to the dark, swirly motives of the band with his own jagged and wonderful sense of melody. Sadly, I never got to see them with Milan Hlavsa, but tonight their new bass player, named Ana?!?, kept the groove well and added sultry vocals to many of their best tracks, changing their brooding a tiny bit.
Secret: I used to be a big jpop fan, and when a publicist asked me to go see PINE*am, I popped over to their website and listened to a few tracks and said yes, expecting to be at best, not totally disappointed. Let me tell you something people - after my USE conversion, I think that I've come to a new understanding about jpop, and PINE*am are a great new find in my listening world.
Some news bits:
This little rant about the tyranny of futura bold italic reminds me of the "david bauw-ie" comment made by Avril - somehow we expect the next generation to build from what the last has done, to know it and reference it smartly, but often its just some haphazard application of known quantities - how much reverb can i put on this - is that galaxie 500? how out of tune can i sing? is that the television personalities?
DEEP THOUGHTS:
-What if 00's mainstream punk will be known as the hairmetal of our generation, I mean. Good Charlotte - black hairdye, bad skin, funny, predictable uniforms - how is that not 1/2 of Motley Crue?
****School's out for the summer!****
Actually I have one more paper to do, but then...Then I'll start working on my master's interviews. I'm on the lookout for any American pop (i.e. not art music or umm..classical) musicians who have dabbled or completed a formal education in visual art. If you are one of those people, or know some of those people, or know of some of those people - EMAIL ME: pinkgerl@yahoo.com
IN OTHER NEWS
Greetings from the windy city,
Just spent the most harrowing 12 hours chasing the New Order hype machine, yes, t.v. land, a sad and strange brush with what a post-interview bar patron said, 'must be really cool, like that...that....movie, i can't reme.." No. It's not like that, I explain. I'm a woman, they don't let girls on the Sweetwater bus for work purposes, I mean, writing work. "oh ya, you must get a whole lot of 'how bad do you want this story'" Ha ha ha, ya. No.
Just got an email that Daphne Brooks' Jeff Buckley's Grace 33 1/3 book is out this week. Go buy it - summer is in their air! I'm more of a Tim Buckley gal myself, but I'll give it a spin cause Daphne the first is an amazing mind and can convince me of anything. Insert joke about river walk here.
Am listening to the New Order "Club" disc from their Retro box, wondering on the Steve Hurley Fine Time remix, who was it, really, that mixed a heavily gated male spoken vocal in the middle of a house track - you know, that low baritone internal monologue scary thing that when you're fucked off your head dancing feels like it's coming from inside you? Who did it first?
NEWS DEPT.
