At Home with the Stars [LIFE]

Here's a cool set of photos from LIFE: candid (or not-so-candid) photos of some of our favorite greats like Mr & Mrs Newman, Sophia Loren, Olivia De Havilland, and Maureen O'Hara in their homes.

You go to my head

Sung by everyone from Dinah Shore to Rod Steward, including Ella, Louis, Judy Garland, and Ole Blue Eyes, J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie's (of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" fame)"You Go To My Head" is a charming alkie's serenade to a lover-- "I find the very mention of you like a kick in a julep or two."

• "You Go To My Head" by Billie Holiday

I thought I'd take the opportunity to pair Billie Holiday's sultry version of the song with a photo of Holiday by Herman Leonard. Leonard opened his first studio after WWII, and photographed all over the world, including spending time as Marlon Brando's personal photographer while Brando toured the Far East. His studio in New Orleans was damaged during Katrina, and he now works out of Studio City. His collection is on display at the Smithsonian. If you browse his website as well as the Edelman Gallery page, the source of the pictures in this post, you'll probably recognize not just the names (including Pearl Bailey, Sarah Vaughan, Chet Baker) but some of the shots, including a famous one of Ella Fitzgerald on stage being watched by Duke Ellington in the audience. As Quincy Jones said, "When people think of jazz, their mental picture is likely one of Herman's."

Moi je joue

So Sofia Coppola has finally done one thing right (though that doesn't make up for her awkwardly saying "Cuz" every other minute in the Godfather Part III to Andy Garcia.) And that is to have used Brigitte Bardot's sunny, flirty "Moi je joue" in an ad she recently made for Dior.

The ad I can take or leave, but the Bardot track is perfect for one of our on-again spring weekends. Enjoy the sun!

• Brigitte Bardot - "Moi je joue" [skreemr]
  

[Image from docMacro.]

I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris

A few things-- I haven't actually gotten around yet to listening to the new Morrissey album, shame on me. But as for this vid. . . well, the dogs are cute. And Moz has already written this song, but the new words help.

With Morrissey you walk a thin line between not taking him seriously and not writing him off as a big old douchey joke (personality-wise, not in terms of his undeniable talent, though some would disagree.) It's no real secret that Mozzers takes himself seriously (I mean, the man changed his shirt on stage 4 times when I saw him), but it's harder to excuse him for the posturing when he's doing Gene Kelly dance moves (not that that's anything new) and wearing the necklace of a bohemian-rich Upper Westside woman and enough eyeshadow to make him look like Dracu-moz.

But I guess when all is said and done, it is Morrissey. And we do love Morrissey.

I love the announcer, whose supremely confident voice in saying, "First blah blah, Morrissey is throwing his arms around Paris, and why not?" is actually masking how much of a cop-out that question is as a closing clause. Um, and sorry about the TLC-esque commercial at the end. . . this one lets you embed.

no, i totally need this.

And you do too.

ThinkGeek, which has a stupid amount of insanely awesome (or an insane amount of stupidly awesome) stuff, includes in their stock Japanese capsule toys-- those little toys you get from vending machines. We have them over here, too, but ours are small potatoes compared to these:

The entire line-up is the the fertility idol, the headpiece to the Staff of Ra, the Ark, Nurhachi's (spelling?) remains urn, a Shankara stone, the Grail, the WE WON'T MENTION IT, and the wee voodoo Indy doll.

And they all come on little keychains shaped like Indy's whip. And they are unfortunately all sold out.

They do have this little 1.5" guy, though.

Happy Easter!

(Gas station shut down during the 1973 oil crisis and converted into a revival hall.)

Entered "Jesus" into my iTunes, got a bunch of stuff (Green Day, Johnny Cash, Moz, Hank, the usual suspects) and then realized that I didn't have the one song I suddenly realized I wanted to post. So a few minutes later, and here we are-- Paul Newman singing "Plastic Jesus" off the Cool Hand Luke Soundtrack. You can read about the origins of the song, which was inspired by a radio-pastor's corny religious heal-all products, here, and see the clip from the film, here.

• Paul Newman - "Plastic Jesus"

Paul of STWOF just directed me to his excellent Jesus Mix, so you can party down with Jesus (and Billy Joe and Loretta)- and don't miss the Baby Jesus Grace, or as our brothers in the south call him, Jesús. I finally have the track so I can make people listen to it instead of me trying to approximate it :)

New Rancid Single: "Last One to Die"

This track was previewed on the 7th online (what's today?-- erm, looks like I'm a few days late) and on the 6th on KROQ. This is the first single off Rancid's perpetually-delayed 7th album, Let the Dominoes Fall, which is slated-- no longer tentatively it looks like-- for a June release.

I can't lie. I've only listened to a few times while writing this and I am pretty unimpressed. The beat is plodding and the music is uninteresting and a little messy. This could be okay, but in light of how exciting and groundbreaking Rancid has been in the past, I really hope that they chose the one milquetoast song off the album and released it as the first single as a joke. There's nothing even catchy about it; the anthem is uninspiring, just a trailing off progression that doesn't get the listening or the song anywhere.

Maybe it will grow on me, but if this is what the album is going to be like, it's just retracing old ground that a group this mature shouldn't be touching with a ten-foot pole. That's not to say there's anything wrong with the classics, but this isn't taking time-tested musical tropes and putting them to good use. It feels like things are on autopilot, and even though Tim tries to excite the listener with a few "come on!"s near the end, the song isn't rousing, urgent, danceable or affecting, which is an anomaly for a Rancid track. Maybe my expectations are too high-- it's not a bad song, per se, just lackluster-- but I think a group that has done such excellent work deserves high expectations. So I won't give up hope,-- I'm still excited about the new album and the other singles, and we'll see how it goes as we get closer to the drop date.

You can preview it at Rancid's Myspace, where it is also available for download. What do you guys think of it?

Also, as a heads up, Machete, who does Rancid's merch, is having a huge sale of Rancid tees starting at $5.

Who Got Me Dancing?

I could never really get into Lady Sovereign and this has kind of sealed the deal. The video for "I Got You Dancing" has her abandoning the side ponytail for a variety of familiar outfits (though all make her look like that chick from Matilda) to rap (?) in the voice of a computer with a cold while The Warriors is slowly reduced to a musical performed by the patrons of any restaurant in Chelsea. Sure it's catchy, but so is every other song with this beat.

A quoi ca cert l'amour

Set to the voices of Edith Piaf and Theo Sarapo, this video about a boy and girl is animated by Louis Clichy and produced by Cube. The animation is fantastic and clean, and Clichy makes great use of perspective and camera work. The result is a charming, highly cinematic short. You can see more of his art- likewise impressive and whimsical, some of it recalling Quentin Blake-- at his blog.

This just in: Youtube comments actually make you dumber.

But sometimes it makes you laugh. These kids and their zingers. (from this vid.)

OutKast

Sitting around the other night on one of the last days of my first week after spring break, which turned into a pseudo-spring break of its own, watching Youtube videos (the night started out because I just had to show my friend the video for "Roc Boys") I realized that I hadn't listened or really thought out OutKast in awhile. While the duo is still officially together (I believe), little has been heard from them in awhile. Their last collaboration was Idlewild, which came out in 2006. Statements from the two have confirmed that they are working on solo projects, which will be followed by an OutKast album proper, though this is looking like a longterm thing.

I can't really give any new information about the group. I think they are one of the more original artists around today. They prove again and again their savvy and intelligence. It's lucky that they have met a corresponding commercial success (6 Grammys, over 25 million records sold) that allows them to continue experimenting and pushing the boundaries of both music and pop. Their songs are always complex and evident of the two artists' considerable knowledge of music and its tradition. At the same time, I am not much more than a casual fan and an admirer so like I said, I won't be telling you anything new.

But I figured I'd throw up a few of their songs that were made into videos, which are always very impressive- everything from the sense of style to the narrative is spot on. I particularly recommend the West Side Story-influenced "Roses" which includes a very literal high school play interpretation of his vocal portions as well as "You speakerboxx guys! No speakerboxing. I hate speakerboxing!" Also, the track off the Idlewild sountrack has a great vid.

All tracks are through Skreemr.

• Ms Jackson [vid]
  
• Whole World [vid]
  
• B.O.B. [vid] [I'm looking for a version that does not have the '1-2-1-2-3' cut.]
  
• Idlewild Blue (Dontcha Worry About Me) [vid]
  
• Roses [vid]
  

The news just confuses me.

National Geographic is a good one for this, but in general, it's always funny to see headlines that make assumptions about your knowledge of the situation- and then see how it gets misunderstood when you had no idea it was even an issue. Case in point-

• "Rare Zoo Cubs Born, Not Killed."
• "Ancient Deformed Children Not Always Killed by Parents."

For headlines like the former, I usually assume its the publication making a correction to a previous article. Maybe some NG.com inadvertantly turned a joyous story of birth into one a tragedy ("Rare Zoo Cubs Killed!"), and then had to scramble to fixed the disgruntled, unpaid intern's mistake. Maybe Dewey defeated Truman. But it's also that split second between reading it and realizing that you were supposed to take as your basic assumption that zoo cubs are usually killed (right after they are born-- a failure on the part of succinctness in headlines) and ancient deformed children were also usually killed that makes them peculiar and sometimes funny, if morbid. The assumption that this rare zoo cub is brought into the world via murder rather than birth, or maybe the headline forces you to assume that they had once found a mass grave in the Netherlands full of little side show ice man babies, and that you should have known about it. Maybe what's funny is the heights people go to prove to even themselves that they are savvier than they believed.

As it turns out, those rare cubs are clouded leopard cubs, of a species that has a tendency towards violent captive behavior. Explains the article, "For reasons still unknown, breeding clouded leopards in captivity usually turns bloody. Males often kill their mates, and females tend to neglect their cubs or inadvertently kill them. " Likewise, ancient parents have always been assumed, like many mammals, to have killed their little freak babies. The 530,000 year old deformed skull of a ten year old recently discovered may prove otherwise. Again, I had no idea that this was a thing; I never assumed ancient peoples did that. Which just goes to show my ignorance. The only thing I can say to those who already knew that clouded leopard cubs are born, not killed, is that you sure are missing out on some interpretively wackadoo headlines that would have made you giggle. (And that's my defense for being a dummy.)

Also interesting is nature's tendency to cause NG to have theme headline groups. This time it was about homicidal parents. A few weeks ago, with all the crazy squid discovery and life in Antarctica stories as well as the rats are invading India thing, it was positively Lovecraftian.

So I'm Taking A Quick Procrastination Break

I realize I've been really really negligent and haven't done any of the posts I've indicated I would do like 2 months ago, nor the ones I promised B to do... but... here's a quick 'un:

Just another bit of Tennessee Ernie Ford that I just found on youtube-- just listen to the depth of that voice! The song is the lovely traditional "Shenandoah." I'm also wondering what's up with the ship background--- the two people on the left keep looking like they are talking....

best picture ever

Hey all- I've been on spring break right now-- houseguests, tourists, a lot of walking, exhaustion, papers due oops!-- but we'll be back up and running in the next week.

For now, this is my favorite new photo, taken at the Ellis Island museum (definitely worth the visit) where I was at on Monday. There's something about the pure tragedy of the girl's face and the bemused, edging towards the edge of patience of the boy that keeps me from deciding if I should feel pity, especially in light of the history behind it, or indulge in the humor. Either way, they need hugs. And they have tiny shoes.

	The Pogues - Thousands Are Sailing
	Found at skreemr.com

How not to celebrate women's history month.

• "Delia's Gone" [Johnny Cash] [Unearthed]
  
• "99 to Life" [Social Distortion] [Somewhere Between Heaven & Hell]
  
• "Mainlining Murder" [Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards] [Viking]
• "Oasis" [Amanda Palmer] [Who Killed Amanda Palmer?]
  

Since I can't decide if this theme is crass or sobering, I'm gonna go ahead and post on the merit of the music.

• National Domestic Violence Hotline

4 things with one theme. . .

1. Setting the Woods on Fire is midway through a great set of drinking songs, including Jerry Jeff Walker's "What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)," so make sure to check that out.

2. On the other hand, all we got in the house is Colt 45 :(

• Afroman - Colt 45 [skreemr]

3. There are still Pogues tickets available for this weekend's NYC shows, as well as planned day-of sales. For the tour schedule, click!

• Pogues - Streams of Whiskey [skreemr]

4. and 1 more thing: they just opened a bar beneath the apartment. . . it looks like a douchebar. [edit:] It is a douchebar: $6.50/pint.

Tennessee Ernie Ford

I've always had a soft spot for Tennessee Ernie through my exposure to him via I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show though it was only recently that I actually sat down and listened to his stuff, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked his voice. On the shows, he is in full form as the hillbilly cousin Ernie, and his voice is notably different from his singing voice, which is rich and deep. Ernie Ford has stars in radio, television, and records on the Walk of Fame, and was an entertainer of the classic type. He had a major hit with Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons," which includes the great line, "Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go;/I owe my soul to the company store." His version is great; the sparse arrangement and Ernie's vocals perfectly complement the fatalistic swagger of the lyrics and music.

While the ambitiously-named "Proper Introduction" seems to be missing "Sixteen Tons," it looks to be a good collection of songs (though the focus is more on the pop/country western stuff than his gospel songs.) Big hits included are "Shotgun Boogie" and "Smokey Mountain Boogie." There's also "Mule Train" and "Hey Good Lookin'," with Helen O'Connell. "Bright Lights and Blond Haired Women" makes me want to call Ernie the crooner of country-western. Check it out!

• Tennessee Ernie Ford: A Proper Introduction to Tennessee Ernie Ford: Rock City Boogie [2004] [rar]
  
• Buy
• "Sixteen Tons"

Youtubage:

• Ernie & Johnny Cash! on Ernie's show, the Ford Show, which referenced not Ernie's last name but his sponsor.
• And again, with June, too, on Johnny's show. (Johnny is visibly more at ease in front of the camera.)
• Ernie singing "Shenandoah," one of my favorite songs of all time, in a very, very deep voice (even the slightly corny nautical blouse doesn't distract.)
• On the Lucy Show (and the always fantastic Gale Gordon) [5 parts]
• Clip, Ernie on I Love Lucy. Lucy vamps him.
  

Cutest Sea Slug Ever

I've recently been really into underwater creature photography, despite my general dislike for sea creatures (they're CREEPY.) But not this little guy, he has a little hat!

And then there's my second favorite from this series: he's on fire! These photos are from a sweet collection of sea slugs prints from the National Geographic print store, starting at $20 for 10" unframed. Check them out! They're all really quite remarkable (and colorful.) It's interesting to see their camouflage evolutions.

Janelle Monae

I was really excited to find out that Janelle Monae has released something (and got a Grammy nod), so I'm bummed I'm only just getting around to posting about it. Janelle Monae is the vocalist on the only track I listen to still off the Idlewild soundtrack, and I was always struck by the purity of her voice.

Ms Monae's newest offering is an EP with the ambitious name of Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase. It's a concept album about a robot that falls in love and is consequently pursued across her futuristic city. The music is sweeping and orchstral without losing its pop and dance sensibilities. To get a better idea, check out the sweet music video for "Many Moons," which features a robot auction/fashion show and some sweet Michael Jackson-inspired dancing; she moonwalks forward AND backwards.

The Special Edition of the EP is really quite impressive. It starts off with a cinematic intro to the story and goes straight into the energetic "Violet Stars Happy Hunting," in which the chase starts. "Many Moons" is next, the catchy dance track where you feel most Outkast's influence. The track has some "Ghetto Defendant"-esque word association halfway through (and miles better than the Burroughs version) and Monae's voice shows off its flexibility, from operatic to a young Michael Jackson-type energy (you know, those creepy Jackson 5 songs where he's like, 5, singing about how he's got to be there when she wakes up.) Then my favorite, "Sincerely Jane," where Monae's vocals get to really (as if they hadn't) show their range over a nice syncopated chorus, Star Wars-like brasses and strings, and some good mixing. It also has a cool sultry opening. The next two tracks are the weaker of the group, but that's not saying their bad-- all in all it's a very strong offering, but when she does everything right, the results are stunning.

• Janelle Monae - "Sincerely, Jane" [skreemr]
  

Southern Gothic Wine

Hey all, my turn to apologize for the MIA- it's midterms time, which has come in the form of EIGHT BILLION PAPERS to write, and as you can see, it's been some time since the last post. The problem is actually deeper than that, because I was supposed to throw up a VD mix and some other things, but just completely ran out of spare time. So I'm gonna go back to smaller posts, and I will be doing my best to reply to comments, but just be warned things will be a bit spotty on both counts for the next week or so.

For now, as if James Jean's art wasn't good enough-- it now comes encasing alcohol. (Distraction: Is anyone gonna drink that Schaefer in the fridge? Will anyone notice that it's gone?)

Of the three triptychs being used, one of my favorites of his work, Southern Belle is being used as the label for a shiraz. So if you are wine inclined. . . I'm not, but if I get my hands on some discretionary income- ie, rob a bank- I might pick this up for the after party. It is, it seems, a "Deep crimson color with complex aromas of black currant, leather and molasses. Rich, dark berry fruit palate of cassis and fruitcake, finishing with soft oak spice."