Qu'Appelle? (Place names you remember)

So, as the plane descended, I saw white blanketing the ground as far as the eye could see. I thought of a friend with ties to the 'Peg and wondered if the snow covered all that way.

I thought about the last time I was in Manitoba. It was 1992 and I was on Trans-Can driving my corolla and making sure not to put in 85 octane fuel. I remember going through Qu'Appelle, which I thought was in Manitoba. Wrong. It's in Saskatchewan, but it got me thinking about place names I remember.

Humptulips, Washington {no thanks, I'm good}

Cool, California {had a place there for a few years}

Rough and Ready, CA {good friends live near there}

Coos Bay, OR {sounds vaguely dirty}

Weed, CA

Paw Paw, MI

Places I have my eye on:

Mianus, CT {the "Beavis" in me wants to go here after seeing 'poo diving' at the sewage treatment plant on Jackass}

Radium Hot Springs, BC {Just love that name}

Voltaire, ND {until I find a town called Sartre}

Kooskooskie, WA

Almost made it:

Boring, OR

Liberal, KS

Any place names stick in your mind?

seventy-seven:: NYC Blackout, Where Were You 30 Years Ago?

I'm fixated on the year 1977, as part of my personal nostalgia. I wish I was cool enough to be into Paul Weller back then or had stories of listening to Bowie's Heroes. No, my friend and I were listening to his older brother's Queen album snickeringly trying to decipher "Get Down Make Love" and thinking Cheech and Chong was the funniest shit.

I think my parents didn't know what to think of me watching the news back then. That summer, news of the Son-of-Sam taunts and whack poetry were watched by 8 year-old me. I was getting a sense that outside of suburbia, times were bad (Carterian malaise?) and cities were places to fear. When the news broke the next day on the radio about the looting and how NYC was in "anarchy," I remember I was in the kitchen (trying to wish my sister into the cornfield) and being amazed that this was occurring. I'm sure my mom explained riots/civil unrest with a leftist, sociocultural bent. I don't recall a 24/7 TV blitz out in California. If there was, we didn't watch it but I wonder if it was on.

I only knew of one person who was in NYC that summer. She was 17, going to summer school, and scared shitless.

Was anyone in NYC during the blackout?
If not, do you recall it affecting you?

photo:: I think this was the only blackout that the Twin Towers were in.

video:: "pâte filo," Malajube [2006]

video:: "pâte filo," Malajube [2006]
Time:: 03:43

Dot to dot & colour spots. More colour, always beguiling in ways & days from a to Zed. I'm not sure how I came across Malajube, but I'm somewhat fixated on music videos with animation these days. More on that in another blog entry. Indie "grindcore" from Montréal, Malajube have wacky lyrics & an infectious funk savvyness that draws me in. It also serves my fixation on Québec & L'Alizé may steer me towards a pâté of a different sort...à la viande où tourtière.

VIDDIE:: Camera Obscura. "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken"

The song is a response to "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?" by fellow Scot, Lloyd Cole. In the video, how many cultural references can you find??? The Ikea-meets-Tokyo vibe is just too good.




He said “I’ll protect you like you are the crown jewels” yet
Said he’s feeling sorrier for me the more I behave badly I can bet

Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
I can’t see further than my own nose at the moment

Jealousy is more than a word now I understand
I know you can stay a girl by holding a boy’s hand

Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
I can’t see further than my own nose at the moment
Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
I can’t see further than my own nose at the moment

I’ve got my life of complication here to sort out
I’ll take myself to an east coast city and walk about

Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
I can’t see further than my own nose at the moment
Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
I can’t see further than my own nose at the moment
Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
I can’t see further than my own nose at the moment

ANAGRAM DU JOUR:: SADDER PET
cheatcode:: metres/second, mendacity. dead giveaway::latter-day Arouet Le Jeune {Voltaire}

liner notes:: "cheer-up Lola" as for me, I'm not, despite my presskit on both the anagram & the video.

Film Clip:: Running Through the Louvre {Godard & Bertolucci}

Anyone else skeeved out by Bertolucci's "gaze"? I turned a blind eye when watching his Stealing Beauty for some reason, but I just couldn't help but feel like I was watching a lecherous old man's horne?y, voyeuristic fantasy when I watched The Dreamers. It's all very beautifully shot & edited, playing with a Michel Gondry-like theme of the blurred edges of reality, which is why I put up with it.

I recently raced down the steps of Kodak Theatre in the spirit of the Louvre scene in Bande à Part& The Dreamers on a springish evening in Hollywood. In the genre of the moment, I wound up at the noirish Formosa Café, trying not to raise the ire of the waitstaff. I just quietly sat drinking my martini w/olives & not being raucous or noisy, but maybe I was thinking "one of us, one of us!!!"

international weather now Wednesday yonge 34ºF/1ºC mostcldy 32ºF/0ºC partcldy mulholland 60ºF/16ºC mostcldy 67ºF/19ºC partcldy

VIDDIE:: EBTG "When All's Well"

VIDEO:: 03:00
EBTG Video for "When All's Well"

----------------------
A poor quality video, but I just needed to get this one out there. You just got to love a jangly song with horns that uses "deign" and "dross." You really need the stereo separation to fully appreciate this song.

Hailing from Hull, Tracey Thorn & Ben Watt's Everything But the Girl got the name from a well-known slogan of Turner's Furniture Shop on Beverley Road in Hull, according to WikiPedia. I always wondered about that. In the 1990s, I recall hearing that Ben Watt was ill with a rare disorder. Looking that up, I found that in 1997, he published a book, Patient, chronicling his battle with & recovery from an autoimmune disorder, Churg-Strauss syndrome.

When it's dark baby,
there's a light I'll shine,
and if you're lost, I'm right behind,
cause we walk the same line

And I don't need reminding
how loud the phone can ring [how lonely refresh can be]
when you're waiting for news

Whoops, wrong lyrics...


We are not true
We are not pure
We are not right

O but still I'll steal to you at night
Too selfish by half
Too ugly by far
But when your songs have been sung, come to me
Rumours are rife
And winter blows cold
Reminds me of such wretched times
And yet all the same
I will never deign
To think ill of you
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells

Amongst all the dross
The lies and the grief
There are so many things you just wouldn't believe
But amongst all the dross
The lies and the grief
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells

VIDDIE:: EBTG "Rollercoaster"

VIDEO ONE:: 03:10
EBTG Video for "Rollercoaster"

----------------------
A quick post, as I'm swamped & busy keeping others up until all hours. In 1984, I bought My Ever Changing Moods by Paul Weller's Style Council. It featured the vocals of Tracey Thorn on a few tracks & the next year I would discover her collaboration with Ben Watt, Everything but the Girl. In '85, I played to death my import copy of the heavily acoustic Love Not Money. I lost track of EBTG until Amplified Heart, a handful of bittersweet songs with often cool synthwork intertwined with the acoustic arrangements. The big hit with umpteen remixes from AH was "Missing," but I love the sadness of "Rollercoaster" & the fact that Tracy Thorn is riding a bike in the apartment in this video. Sometimes we soundtrack our lives & I recently paired this with another track on the album, since my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway.


I still haven't got over it even now.
I want to spend huge amounts of time on my own.
I don't want to cause any serious damage.
I want to make sure that I can manage,
because I'm not really in your head,
I'm not really in your head.

And I see love and disaffection
and the clouds build up and won't pass over.
This is my road to my redemption.
And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway.

I still haven't got over it even now.
I want to spend huge amounds of time in my room.
And I'm not coming out until I feel ready,
not running out for a while my heart's unsteady,
and I'm not really in your head.
I'm not really in your head.

When you sky falls to minus zero,
well some things must dissappear.
Oh this is my road to my redemption.

And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway.
The names may have been changed but the faces are the same
The names may have been changed but as people we're not the same.

And I'm not, no I'm not, no I'm not
really in your head.

And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway.

Chorus

ANAGRAM DU JOUR:: GO CRUEL AND NERVE
cheatcodes:: Hear the screams of center 42, quippy quip Thurston Howell Magnolia

"for the oncoming season (what spring will bring)," tell me what you mean by parka chic, lady december...

international weather now Wednesday bloor 5ºF/-15ºC overcast 12.2ºF/-11ºC flurries mullholland 52ºF/11ºC partcldy 64ºF/17ºC mostsun

VIDDIE:: The Old Grey Whistle Test-BBC:: Aztec Camera

VIDEO ONE:: 03:18
Roddy Frame, frontman of Aztec Camera, performs "Walk Out to Winter" with the band on The Old Grey Whistle Test.

VIDEO TWO:: 03:24
"Walk Out to Winter" (Single Version)
Music Video, Rough Trade (Sire?)

----------------------
The station previewed this over the weekend & it received the nod from the Mac Alizé. The preview party involved salty chips & a bit of the drink. An acquaintance in the UK recognized the set of The Old Grey Whistle Test, which is not documented with this video. The Old Grey Whistle Test was a low budget BBC show that was all about the music. The name is from the "old greys," which were from the first pressings of the vinyl records. The "whistle test" is whether or not the tune was catchy enough for the audience to whistle after hearing it. The show ran from 1971 to 1987. There is a "New Grey Whistle Test," an Internet enterprise & the concept is close to my heart. A Google search will get you there.

A very young Roddy Frame of the Glasweigian band, Aztec Camera, plays a unique arrangement on the single version of "Walk Out to Winter" {April 1983 Rough Trade # RT 132}, using synthesizers in their predominantly acoustic sound. This was the second single from the album,High Land, Hard Rain, the first of which was the MTV-friendly "Oblivious." Fear not, that video will be featured in the future. High Land, Hard Rain is #12 on the "Top 100 Scottish albums" on the Scotsman website. The album was nosed out for the #11 spot by Lloyd Cole's Rattlesnakes, one of our faves, although not yet vetted by the Mac Alizé. A pop record in the best sense, Frame's melancholy lyrics, guitar skills equal or greater to those of Johnny Marr, and the often sunny arrangements with Dave Mulholland {bass} and Campbell Owens {drums} make it shine.

We met in the summer and walked 'til the fall
And breathless we talked, it was tongues.
Despite what they'll say, it wasn't youth, we hit the truth

Faces of Strummer that fell from your wall
And was left were they hung
So sweet and bitter, they're what we found
So drink them down and

Chorus
Walk out to winter, swear I'll be there.
Chill will wake you, high and dry
You'll wonder why.
Walk out to winter, swear I'll be there.
Chance is buried just below the blinding snow.

You burn in the breadline and ribbons and all
So walk to winter
You won't be late, you always wait
This generation, the walk to wall
But I'm not angry, get your gear
Get out of here and...

Chorus

ANAGRAM DU JOUR:: RAILWAY HATH JIVED
cheatcodes:: Plath novel, "roger __", Donny Smith from Magnolia

international bright young thing

VIDDIE:: Jolie Holland, "Crush in the Ghetto"

VIDEO::"Crush in the Ghetto"
Live, The Roundhouse, London UK, September 16th , 2006. Time:: 03:14

Jolie does a great show in San Francisco, where she is based these days. She's really talkative & tells great stories. In 2004, a bunch of musicians joined her in a summery SF at the Swedish-American Hall above Café du Nord, including a horn player and a guy playing the saw. She told this one story that a precocious 10-year old once described her Escondida music as "turn-of -the-century circus music from Paris." Her show later that year at the Hiro ballroom in Chelsea was stripped-down & short, in comparison. Same Jolie, just tired and cold."

I'm floating with the birds
I'm talking to the weeds
Look what you've done to me

I'm still dressed up from the night before
Silken hose and an old Parisian coat
And I feel like a queen at the bus stop on the street
Look what you've done to me

It's a beautiful morning in the ghetto
Finer than the day before
The ants are crawling over my pants as if to say
They know where the honey is

There's really old roses blooming in the ghetto
Birds of paradise are taller than me
The weeds grow high, the birds flicker by
Children are walking to school

In the midst of all of this profusion
The bus pulls up to take me back home
The bus driver looks like an African prince
The babies have tears in their eyes

And I feel like a queen
On this sunny city bus
Look what you've done to me.

local weather now Sunday Agoura 71ºF/21ºC partsun 60ºF/15ºC cloudy Topanga 67ºF/19ºC partcldy 60ºF/15ºC amshowrs

#01:: 1977

::that was a watershed year for me. it started with carter being inaugurated in january + me realizing that not everyone in orange county was happy about that. it was an el niño year in la, with a particularly fierce storm on 9 february. My dad was into jogging—or is it /yog-ging/ with a soft j? he would run at the beach on sundays + somehow I was able to keep up with him. I now know he was deliberately going slowly. my sisters were seniors in high school + soooo looking forward to flying the coop. their teenage apathy meant less conflict b/t us + their sibling rivalry meant more conflict b/t them. I remember taking trips that summer, as if my parents wanted us all to have one last set of shared experiences as kids. one was a trip to san diego + baja. a tropical storm came through + it rained the whole time—it was the day elvis died. there were other outings + I remember sitting in the back of the station wagon oblivious to any squabbling up front. I wanted to be so independent that year. “um, I’ll get my own breakfast.” I remember lots of granola that year. wheat germ in the cupboard. the horror of some product called ice milk. on many a sunday, my dad would make “dutch babies” {puffy pancake} from a recipe in sunset magazine in a big iron skillet. I recall it being lemony with powdered sugar.

::my nightowl tendencies coupled with laxed supervision meant watching saturday night live + monty python on pbs. I recently saw tom snyder’s tomorrow show on DVD from that era--the show with an ultra-arrogant paul weller + the runaways’ cherie curie. I recall the tomorrow show, but it was over my head. my sisters actually were nice enough to take me to see star wars. I was sort of burnt out on hearing the theme + the cantina song on the radio. I wasn’t that into music then. I knew I hated what my sisters liked. pop + jazz. my dad was actually hipper than they were. I have no idea what happened to his records over the years. I knew it wasn’t cool to like linda ronstadt’s “blue bayou” or steven bishop’s “on + on.” I remember exclaiming,“punk rock!,” after hearing the term from a friend’s older brother. Someone in authority said, “punk sucks!” I then knew for sure it was cool. I discovered late night movies that year. kabc played beatles movies around the holidays. I wouldn’t see a hard day’s night again until 2006, when I was in montréal + it was dubbed in french. I thought it was funnier than shît when my sister said the theme song from “chips” sounded like gay disco music. I remember my parents talking about annie hall, although I don’t recall them seeing many movies in those days. I wanted to make a close encounter of the third kind mountain. I was in the class play but I didn’t take it seriously. passed up the last offer by my parents to take up a musical instrument.

::it was an odd time to become aware of the world as kid. the son of sam + the hillside strangler would wreak havoc that year. I remember seeing coverage of the nyc blackout + that really freaked me out.

:: I was really into oceanography + tidepools. I learned how to read the tide tables + what neap + spring tides are. I wanted to get into astronomy, but I think I liked the idea of it more than anything.

::my teacher told my mom I had a well-developed sense of humor. I had no idea what she meant + thought it an odd thing to tell my mom. "I'm watching you, lady." fourth grade seemed like the last year you can be somewhat popular without being mean.

#02:: s....... l...................o......................................w

I do enjoy a good lit. or popcult reference, although mine are always belles lyrics these days. neko made it for a while, as did hem's "the sidewalk bends where your house ends" from "stupid mouth shut."

slowculture:: in the dayjob, we discussed mike judge's idiocracy + how it was treated by foxstudios {practically no theatrical release but it's now on DVD--a ton of scenes are on /eu-tewb/}. blah blah blah. I think it was one rewrite short of being another cult classic like officespace, but it's still pretty good satire, nevertheless. I screened a bit of it; the first act + the portrayals of foxnews {pretty tame considering the possibilities}, costco, hr block {"adult" tax return} + starbucks {offering "hot" + "full body" lattes}. luke wilson's facial expressions are priceless, particularly when the tech in the hospital mixes up the diagnostic probes that go in mouth, ear, + rear. the jackass-esque content on the futuristic {2505} violence channel made me think of the old victorian smut trick of "exposing" for the sake of "enlightening." anyway. it made me think about the "dumbing down of culture" but also how {on the other hand} I have a huge distaste for cultural elitism, particularly in acadème. {maybe it has something to do with the fact that the cultural elitists I've dated on this thing think I'm a {blith.blath}ering idiot.} I'm troubled how I have many colleagues who have a genuine, unveiled animosity towards the youth {stupid students} and the masses {stupid proletariat}.

slowmood:: there's a lot of talk of depression on the blogs. I'm prone to dysthymic lulls + hypomania, + I've learned exercise is my best bet in both cases. I'm in a lull right now + the past few weeks I haven't even wanted to go out on a prototypical date with all of the buildup + expectations. I don't feel antisocial; I'm obviously not holed-up writing my manifesto on an underwood typewriter by candlelight. I don't feel unhappy. it's almost as if I just don't have the energy for the dramaturgy of dating. this is the "down' season, a winter of sorts.

slowfood:: in 2003, I was invited to a reading in bolinas by someone who would later be a girlfriend + a dear friend to this day. bolinas is one of my favorite places. I missed the annual fourth of july tug of war over the lagoon b/t bolinas + stinson beach--I always root for hippy-dippy bolinas. it was late july + behind the author {lisa hamilton} the clouds were racing across the sky with the hills of point reyes in the background. at the reception, there were all kinds of locally grown {west marin county} organic foodstuffs + line-caught salmon from the marin waters. this wasn't a "slow food" {an italian response to fast food culture} event, but it could have been. I have fantasies of replicating this menu on the east coast, perhaps in a brooklyn solstice circumstance::


bolinas museum, 27 july 2003

whole roasted salmon with tomato herb sauce
{jeremy dierks + mt. barnabe farms}

crostini with basil + tomato relish
{fresh run + mt. barnabe farms}

crudité of blue lake beans, yellow wax beans, kohlrabi, + grilled summer squash
{star route + paradise valley farms}

kohlrabi-beet salad on socca crêpes
{paradise valley farms}

nettle + roasted potato frittata
{star route + fresh run farms}

cowgirl creamery cheeses

strawberry tarts
{sartori strawberries}

homegrown plums
{courtesy of karen benke + owen prell}

#03::"nothing but the dripping sink. empty bottle.euphoria.youth fenced in, stabbed and shaved...

...taut words propped up to die."

I've always been partial to the westside of losangeles, but I think it stems from the fact that it's more familiar to me. plenty of stories from my mom who grew up in ocean park in the 1930s + lots of memories of wandering there in the early-mid 80s. I think I still have old brass santamonicabus tokens from '83 or so. on the eastside, away from the hip enclaves of silverlake + losfeliz {although, I think the next big thing is highland park}, there's a zone where armenia meets thailand. a friend of mine frequents a bar/restaurant there--a tiny place with a eyebrow-raising B rating from the health department {although I do know that those ratings are based on all sorts of variables}. there's a tiny lot + you park as if you're lining up in a ferry. a guy in a nautica cap manages the chaos. ::it's usually dark + there's always a mix of thais from the neighborhood + hipsters. the waitstaff knows my friend + we always manage to get a good table + attentive service. my friend orders in thai, although the waitstaff occassionally gives him puzzled looks. he's not always sure if it's his thai or theirs, since some of them hail from the rural provinces, but he accepts their corrections cheerfully. we mix it up a bit, but we tend towards som tam + a rich panang red curry. I'm told by my friend I can just say, "sing," rather than "singha." after 10pm, the singing starts, so conversations tend to stop. a steady stable of talent belt out thai songs that a few audience members sing along with, along with perfect phonetic renditions of songs by the eagles, billy joel, celine dion, and...billy ray cyrus' "achy-breaky heart." that, somehow, made my evening.

#04:: t-mobile sms, laughing club

alta california sur {los angeles}

+1718xxxxxxx
01/03/2007

"laughing club tnte 8pm sharp. Mccarren park field btw baseball diamonds."

{01:45:51 PM}

addendum
+1718xxxxxxx
01/23/2007
"laughing club corner of n.11th n berry. 7pm sharp"
{02:32:39 PM}

addendum 2
+1718xxxxxxx
01/30/2007
"laughing club tonite 745 corner of Nth 11th and Berry. xo"
{02:10:32 PM}