I’ve always believed that the true test of a musician is a live set or two. On the flip side, I’ve also always been intrigued by one-hit wonders. I recently caught William Shatner hosting a VH1 showcase of a Top 100 of them. It was sooo fun!
What is it about these songs that made them so hugely popular? And what is it about the ‘artists’ to whom they belong that couldn’t get it right ever again? But more important, how many on that list did you once find yourself grooving to? Fess up! Or knock yourself out on mine. =)
I watched the Borat movie for the first time today. (Prompt, I know.) There were those expected couple of low points but it was seriously laugh-till-you-cry funny overall!
Borat [part of a plea to convince Pam Anderson to marry him]: “Paamela! I get you your own plough.“
Borat [telling a teenager from Atlanta about Kazakh music]: “Bing-Bang-Bing-Bang-Bing-dl-dl-ding-ding *click* *click* *click-click* Bing-Bang-Bing-Bang-Bing-dl-dl-ding-ding *click* *click*”
Borat [each and every time he says it]: “Anoos!”
Evangelical church dude in Dallas: “I was never no tadpole. I is what I is!“
Borat [pants slung rather low after hanging with some "genuine chocolate face, no make up"]: “Me and my homie Azamat just parked our slab outside. We’re looking for somewhere to post our Black asses for the night.Bang bang, skeet skeet, nigga nigga [...and a little later, on being thrown out of the hotel lobby...] We can’t stay here. These people are playa-haters!”
And then the humor coach going “Naaat!”? Each time he said it got a bigger laugh almost! And every context in which Borat says the word “Jew”? And Pamela’s “red water panties”. Oh and the “Do not shrink me, Gypsy, I serious!” LOL
I so can’t wait for the Bruno movie or whatever Cohen’s next avatar will be.
I drove back in to Texas recently after having worked a year in Los Angeles.
I went to grad school here and I adore Austin. The live music scene is unbeatable, the people are engaging, the food is delicious, the city is green in more ways than one, and I could go on and on. If I had to pick its most appealing characteristic though, it would have to be its Mexican Martinis. A close second would be the fact that people here take seriously the business of being a spot of blue in a sea of red. Consequently, there is a real effort to acknowledge and celebrate diversity. Much of it is that the city is focused around its rather large university, and despite the TX suffix the city bears, Austinites have some of the most liberal mindsets I have encountered in the US. Cheers so far!
Now a word on my CA license plates. I took my car in to be washed the other day. The owner of the car wash referred to my cocker spaniel as a “valley dog” more than once. A little later in the conversation he said (referring to the wildfires, I assumed): “Bet you are glad you aren’t in California now, huh?” Okay a little weird but whatever! That’s till I hung out with friends who kind of got me up to speed.
They said people from California are coming in and buying property in Austin with “cold hard cash”. Compare the price of a small house in a nice area in Austin (let’s say 400 grand) to the same in Los Angeles (not sure on this one but they seemed to be closer to double that?) and you can see why there might be a migratory trend. Austin really is a lovely city and I commend anyone for wanting to move here. The issue is that the prices Austinites are ready to pay for houses are often easily beaten out by the Californians, and there is some begrudging related to it.
I also heard some more whining about how “La La” some bars in downtown Austin now are. There’s a place called QUA which apparently has sharks swimming around in a spectacular sunken tank in the club. PETA was distinctly unhappy with it, and Austin isn’t thrilled with the 300 dollar price tag on reservation of a booth in the bar. If you knew the Austin vibe, you would see how it might irk the average person. People here tend to be pretty snotty about their unpretentiouness, right.
The California deal did not resonate with me either. But to pin the shark attack - so to speak - squarely on it seemed a bit extreme, yes? I see the anti-California sentiment in Austin as similar to the reaction to outsourcing. Have you noticed how businesses make a point to say ‘Made in America’ whenever they possibly can off-late? The fact that people who aren’t “insiders” are taking away jobs/homes is unbearable to most. Just a hint of economic competition between groups is enough to get the discrimination index soaring. And yet, in this age of unstoppable intermingling of cultures - globalization if you like - there is not much choice left. We need to accept it graciously, embrace it even. That applies to how people from Austin think of those from California as well. Time to cut loose the xenophobia.
An apt little song from Austin’s very own Steve Earle!
samson came to my bed
told me that my hair was red
told me i was beautiful
came in to my bed
i cut his hair myself one night
a bad dull scissors and the yellow light
he told me that i’d done all right
and kissed me till the morning light
the morning light
the morning light
samson went back to bed
not much hair left on his head
he ate a slice of wonderbread
and went right back to bed
we couldn’t break the columns down
no we couldn’t destroy a single one
and the history books forgot about us
and the bible didn’t mention us
not even once
I came by the song after first hearing the more catchy Fidelity on the radio. Regina’s music has an honest and quirky quality that is hard to shake off. Add to that the fact that she is supremely versatile without compromising the narrative ability that makes her unique. Born in 1980 to a Jewish family in Russia that immigrated to America in the early 90s, she was at first a classical musician.
She later became inspired by singer songwriters like Ani Difranco and Tori Amos and has been writing original eclectic music for a while now. From what I have heard, she improvises immensely using unusual musical techniques - both vocally and instrumentally. I don’t adore the typically high pitch of her voice, but her music has soul. Her artistic vision shines through in her videos as well and I wish upon her beautiful music much popularity.
The richness that a touch of folk provides to ‘popular’ music is undeniable. This is Us (the original recording is way better than this live version though) by Mark Knopfler and Emmy Lou Harris is a testament to it; Knopfler underplays to Harris, no doubt, but it makes the song sweet. Think of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ huge career and the same thing goes.
Austin’s FM 107.1 KGSR gives airtime to people like Regina, a countrified Knopfler, and the inimitable Petty. There’s other new stuff from Dylan, Clapton, Springsteen, David Byrne, Bob Schneider, Jon Dee Graham (a little-known master of ‘roots rock’), Bettye Lavette (an old-time blues singer with an amazing voice), Kelly Willis, The Subdudes, Sinead O’Connor, Ben Harper - a slew of great musicians on the playlist.
And once in a while, just for the fun of it, they’ll throw in this great little number from Warren Zevon! Listen to KGSR live here.
Folks in evolutionary studies have this idea of memes. If I understand it right, a meme is the fundamental unit of cultural evolution - like the gene is to biological evolution. Richard Dawkins coined the term in 1976, and it seems to have become quite the thang, in academia and out. According to Dawkins, some memes - like genes - will propagate less successfully and become extinct, while others will survive, spread, and mutate.
I see memes as ideas that evolve in to trends - the iPod revolution, for example. It’s like a cultural contagion for better or worse - an idea that leaps from mind to mind. Santosh Desai, a brilliant commentator on popular culture, explains: “A meme is something that is imitative, almost in a reflexive way rather than a cognitive way. Like a tune which gets into your head and refuses to leave. It is possible to infect other people with it. It bypasses the intellect.” Think catchy. Viral marketing and religion are other examples of memes cited by Desai.
Sort of a side note: Dawkins contends that memes can at times be even more powerful than genes and gives the example of celibacy. There’s more on the spread of ideational infections - whether bad or good - in this TED talk by the remarkable Dan Dennett.
Derren Brown is devoutly skeptical of the paranormal. Like him, most ‘psychics’ seem to use a combination of observation, suggestion, psychology, misdirection, and showmanship in order to ’see’ things. But unlike most who have his skills, he is an entertainer. Here is a video on how he uses subtle cues to generate powerful suggestion - to the point that it’s almost persuasion. Amazing!
Yet, this fall, America’s #1 psychic will be crowned on reality TV. 16 ’seers’ will compete in several rounds of competition on a Lifetime show called ‘America’s Psychic Challenge’. In one challenge, psychics match pet-owners to their pooches. In another, the psychics recreate a scene of a violent crime years later. So on. Previews feature all the blurry sepia shots and eerie music one might expect, and it is being advertised on all major networks.
I can’t help but wonder how progressive or responsible of the media it is to give ‘psychics’ any legitimacy whatsoever. Did someone mention a “bottom line”? Of course.
