Music That Makes My Heart Swell In Obsession

A month ago I burned a mass amount of Billy Bragg CDs for one of my oldest and dearest friends and I haven't yet gotten around to actually mailing them to her in San Francisco. Now, I have to because I am including in the package my handy travel pouch deal that you store your money and passport within while traveling. She is about to venture off to Europe for a month, without me, so I am lending this travel accessory to her. An accessory which I didn't exactly use properly while I was in Ireland because I was never once worried for a moment that I would get mugged so it pretty much acted as a wallet with a strap. It lived in my shoulder bag.

Anyhow. The point to this. While I was bagging the CDs up I decided that I should finally put together the mix CD I have been thinking about making for people I love (maybe it's for the arrogance of it all). The only thing the songs have in common is that I am currently obsessed with them. Some of them, I am often obsessed with, and some are fairly new to my obsession and probably temporary. So I shall share it with anyone reading (just saw that I actually have a follower now [Triana, I adore you] so maybe I'm just sharing it with her which would make this a lot more intimate. Let's act as if there is a roaring fire and figs between us).

So, it's in alphabetical order by song title. I can't be showing special treatment but those songs know who they are anyhow.

1. Ain't That A Shame - Fats Domino

This is definitely a song that gets my shoulders dancing in the best way possible. The lyrics are sweetly simple and all the better for it. Something about the way he croons, "Oh well goodbye/Although I'll cry," gets me every time. Fantastic song for singing along. I would karaoke it if I had the nerve.
Video Performance



2. Better Than You - New York Dolls
Probably not a song that many people think of when they think of New York Dolls but for some reason I've been in love with this song ever since I first heard them play it live. It latched on to me. And I adore the lyrics, "My baby/Got mystical frenzy/Tempered by an irony/Verging on blasphemy." I wouldn't mind having a mystical frenzy.
Look at those hips sway.

3. Cacurica Dances - Taraf de Haïdouks
Honestly, this choice was decided for me because of the very short song length. I wanted to have Taraf on the mix because when you need some amazing soulful music, this Romanian band of all ages never disappoints. If you have see the film The Man Who Cried, you have seen and heard Taraf. The band played the family of Johnny Depp's character (Depp is a friend and fan).

4. Carmensita - Devendra Banhart

I think I jumped onto the Devendra train fairly late. I honestly had no idea who he was, not really, until I went to a show of his with my friend. I made my decision to go based on his short-shorts in the video for I Feel Just Like A Child and it was one of the best random choices that I have ever made. He's fantastic fun and even sexier when singing in Spanish. Yeah, he's not completely unique but he nicely captures the feel of Haight-Ashbury in the 60s and you will enjoy his simple and Beatles-ish lyrics.
Music Video with Natalie Portman.

5. The Curse - Josh Ritter

If you don't know Ritter and consider yourself a fan of folk music, just go buy a CD of his. He's amazingly self-assured in his music for someone so young. He comes across much more seasoned but he's all smiles, like the biggest dork you could ever imagine. Seeing him live is pure joy. You could have your cat run over right before the show but his smiling face will allow you to transcend whatever pains you may have. This song is off his newest record which came out in May. It's a song about a mummy who falls in love with a woman. It has the ability to make my eyes well up and my chest grow tight because it brings forth so many emotions that you would never thought related. It's incredibly sweet and a bit heartbreaking.
Live Performance and sweet Puppet Video by Liam Hurley.

6. Down At The Cafe - C.R. Avery
Avery speaks to the Beat poet within me. Listening to him, seeing him live, makes me feel like maybe, just maybe, the intelligent beauty of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Gregory Corso, Charles Bukowski, Patti Smith, James Dead, Tom Waits, etc, thrives in the form of this man from Canada. He's a poet, a songwriter, beat boxer, harmonica player, pianist, and singer, somehow pulling it all with incredible style. I read in an interview with him somehow that he wanted to write poems that wouldn't make Bukowski want to beat him with a beer bottle and I think he's succeeding. I'd pick a line or two from this song but I can't bear to fragment it.
Sadly there's not much of him on YouTube but here's the song.

7. Further On (Up The Road) - Johnny Cash
From his last released record, after death, filled mostly with songs written by other people, Cash promises to meet us further on up the road. He better.
Song

8. Goin' To Acapulco - Jim James & Calexico
I have three songs from the I'm Not There soundtrack on my mix but I'm okay with that. There are some amazingly well-done Bob Dylan covers in that film. I hate to say it, often I prefer this version of the song to Bob's.
Here's the scene in which the song is performed in I'm Not There.

9. Hateful - The Clash
I've been on a Clash kick for a month now. Ever since that Buzzcocks show, I've been sticking my nose within my Buzzcocks and Clash collection. The ears want what they want, I suppose. Hateful has become my favorite Clash freeway driving song. This one and Janie Jones.
Song

10. I've Got A Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old - Cat Stevens

The chorus is to die for: "But I've got no time for silly chitter chatter/I'm on my way/Cause while my blood's still warm and my mind doesn't matter/I'm hoping to stay/'Cause I've got a thing about seeing my grandson grow old." Plus, it's fucking Cat Stevens. Where could you ever go wrong?
Song

11. Lowlands Low - Bryan Ferry & Antony
Traditional pirate shanty. Hypnotizing. This is the Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music.
Song

12. Martha's Dream - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
This is an instrumental from the film The Proposition. The whole score is gorgeous and is truly what a film score should be, an integral piece of the film it is representing. I love that Martha's song is so utterly haunting and almost threatening. There's a feeling on oncoming doom that cannot be avoided. It's certainly not a soft piece of music and works to give her character more agency within a male-dominated film. I could easily write a book on this film. I'm seriously contemplated writing my thesis on it.
Song

13. Me And Jane Doe - Charlotte Gainsbourg
I originally wasn't sure about this CD but upon discovering Beck's heavy involvement, I was completely and utterly sold. They work very well together. I'm not too fond of the softer songs on this record but this one works for me.
Performance

14. Monsieur Dupont - Sandie Shaw
A sweet song that will cause you to bring out the black eyeliner to try that cat-look for yourself. Try not to smile during this song, I doubledog dare you.
1969 TV Performance

15. Moonshiner - Bob Forrest
The second Bob Dylan cover and what I really love about these is that they aren't merely reproductions, they're fully-formed re-presentations - if that makes sense. It's like what Seu Jorge did with David Bowie; he took incredibly recognizable songs and transformed them into something sparkly new. Love it.
Song

16. Revelate - The Frames

What can I say about The Frames that won't cause me to spin out of control on a wild tangent? I love them. To the extent that I am planning a mini road trip up to Portland in August just to seem Swell Season. Don't judge me too harshly, I was planning to doing the drive anyhow, so what better reason? Okay, go ahead and judge. It's just such a pain in the ass to get tickets for them now. I'm now in danger of a 'those were the days' tirade about life before Once. Moving on.
Live Performance

17. Run Out Of Reasons - Billy Bragg
Beautifully honest song from someone whom I could never properly live without. Really nothing more to it. (By the way, he is an amazing hugger and when he calls you "love," you believe him)


18. Virginia Plain - Roxy Music
"You're so sheer you're so chic/Teenage rebel of the week." Your CD collection is severly lacking if it doesn't house Roxy Music. Trust me.
Live Performance

19. The Weary Kind - Ryan Bingham
For someone who is only 29, he has the voice of a 59 year-old who has spent his whole life chain-smoking and drinking alcholol with labels in Serbian, and that is not an insult. I, like the rest of America, fell in love with this song when the trailers for Crazy Heart came out. It's definitely one of those times where the fuss is completely warranted.
Live Performance

20. When The Ship Comes In - Marcus Carl Franklin

The last of the Bob Dylan covers and it is sung by a kid who was...I want to guess maybe fourteen when it was recorded. He played the Woody Guthrie character and was certainly one of my favorites of the film. I love the broken-down, bare-boned approach to the song. By the by, I am fairly certain that I heard The Pogues' version of this song before I even knew that it belonged to Bob Dylan.
Scene in which the song is performed in I'm Not There.

21. Where Do You Go To My Lovely - Peter Sarstedt
Want to feel like you're being romanced in a black and white film? This song may be for you.
1969 Live TV Performance

British Hilarity

I've been obsessed with Big Train lately (I love getting on little kicks like this). So for the past hour or so I have been revisting some of my all-time favorite British comedy sketches, Big Train and otherwise. Saturday Night Live needs to take note and start producing funny sketches again. It's been a loooong time since I could honestly say that show makes me laugh. I think the last episode that I made a point to watch was when Hugh Laurie hosted it and all I remember is the hotel sketch where he's giving (or getting - I forget) instructions on how to prepare the Queen's room.

So, here's a Big Train sketch with the amazingly hilarious Mark Heap playing a man that will read a snide remark about his not being married in something as unconnected as a Coke can:


Big Train: I've heard that child labor is huge in the radio scene. Here's Simon Pegg in a sort-of public-service announcement that is so asinine it is amazing:


Catherine Tate is definitely a one-woman show. She popped up in Big Train sketches many times but her own show produced so many great moments. I had completely forgotten about the Ginger Refuge sketch and am so thrilled that I have found it again:


And honestly, how could it get better than Monty Python? I had such an amazing crush on John Cleese as a kid. That tall handsome drink of water with amazingly flexible and crazy legs. He may have ruined me for normal men.
Did you know that no one expects the Spanish Inquisition?


I don't think I need to post the dead parrot sketch or the silly walk sketch, because those two are what people generally think of when they think Monty Python (the movies as well, of course). So I'm posting a sketch about how to defend yourself against fruit. Seems ridiculous but that's what they did so very well; they took a ridiculous premise and infused it with so much witty intelligence that you managed to feel a little dumb while enjoying it, as if you knew that there was something more you just weren't grasping yet.


Oops, Doctor Who is on. I'm digging the new Doctor. Didn't expect to latch on to him but Matt Smith has won me over. He may want to lose the bowtie at some point but he better not do away with the suspenders. They are so sexy.

Why don't you just hop on the Big Train?

It really does not matter how many times I watch this sketch, I giggle every single time. I just adore the jockey sketches; add Prince into the equation and you get pure brilliance!

Psycho Killer

All I can think about right now is Talking Heads "Psycho Killer." It will not get out of my head. What is it with this song and permanence? Once it lodges its way into my brain, that's it for the rest of the day (hell, the rest of the week). I am pretty certain that it is haunting me.

Fa fa fa fa fa fa...
Talking Heads '77

I need to get dressed and greet the world.

Books on your chest

This clothing site is my new current favorite place for tshirts; Out of Print Clothing. I just ordered myself a couple and I seriously want them all. I am practicing some restraint though, shockingly enough. I have way too many tshirts. Half my closet is filled with them. It's really quite sad.

On music news, I am obsessed with this song and I really just cannot get enough:

I was never a huge strokes fan before but I adore some of the songs on Julian Casablancas' solo album, Phrazes For The Young.

Feeling Good with Nina Simone

I am confident that tonight will be a fantastic night. I'm getting my laundry done, my hair looks good despite the fact I napped on it so I'm pretty sure doing my hair later will be a snap, watching A Life Less Ordinary, and I just had an ice cream cone. I'm excited to go watch the season premiere of True Blood with my friend and hitting the bar afterwards. Plus, my friend will be celebrating her birthday at the bar and maybe that means she'll sing for us.

So for an amazing day, an amazing song sung by a brilliant woman. God, her voice slays me.


This day may be amazing because I'm choosing to pretend that I really don't need to study for my Cultural Studies midterm on Tuesday.

Spin Me, Pin Me

So, this has absolutely nothing at all to do with books, music, or movies. However, I have been lusting after Goody Simple Styles Spin Pin's. As someone who likes to uses as few bobby pins as possible while still looking put together and secure, I really want these corkscrew-style pins. It's my girly side springing forth, I suppose. I'm waiting for someone to buy them for me but I have yet to actually see them in a store. They're a bit pricey but if one pin actually does the work of twenty bobby pins (which is what the commerical promises) than it's totally worth it...assuming I manage to not lose them (which won't be a problem if I treat them like I do my Ray-Ban sunglasses; I know I won't).

There's a bluebird in my heart...

A month or so ago I was working on a text and image assignment for my video production/editing course and I chose to work with Bukowski's poem "Bluebird." Bukowski is one of my all-time favorite authors. I find that, like Hunter S. Thompson, people get distracted far too easy with the sensationalism of the author and forget that author's like Hunter and Buk produced some incredibly gorgeous text. When I first began reading Bukowski I was drawn to his novels and the brutality within. I don't know if I was drawn to them because I found something within the art or if I was pulled in due to growing up in a society where women are taught at birth that brutality is desirable (excuse the cultural studies mindset creeping out). Anyhow, now, while I still find "Ham on Rye" to be my favorite novels of Bukowski, I find much more in his poetry; especially those which he wrote later in his life. "Bluebird," in my opinion, is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful poems ever written. Even more so when the author is taken into account. For Bukowski, a man who was physically and verbally abusive to pretty much everyone near him, to write about the overwhelming need he feels to project a vision of masculinity that is deemed acceptable, fully aware that this "bird" inside of him is suffocating...it's beautiful. I definitely recommend looking the poem up online and if you like it, check out The Last Night of the Earth. It is the poetry book that "Bluebird" appears in and it has many amazing poems that reveal an aging man who worried about leaving his wife and cats to deal with his body after he died.   

Anyway. My point of this is to share a video that I found while I was hunting for a clear and effective reading of the poem for the video I was making (which turned out amazingly well). I don't know who made the video but I loved it and thought it was really well done.

Honest Intentions With Buzzcocks

I have every intention to add to this blog on a regular basis but my contributions will completely depend on the ability of music, films, and books to thrill me (which, I admit, will happen often if I delve into the dependable) or completely and utterly disturb me in a 'my soul now hurts' kind of way. There are drawbacks to either situation: A.) I can end up immersing myself in what I've always loved and no one (myself mainly because I do not expect flocks of internet voices to latch onto my ramblings) wants to continually read about how much I adore Morrissey's trilling or Nick Cave's hips or B.) I end up writing painfully long blogs starting with, "Why did I pay to see this?" (Sex and the City 2, for example).

If a few people do manage to enjoy whatever I produce through this, I hope to make this an exchange of sorts. I'll push my interests off on faceless dozens and I truly hope the pushing is returned.

I would like to have the perfect start but to be honest, I cannot possibly choose the perfect topic because there are far too many considerations to be made. So, I'm beginning by talking about the amazing time I had at the Buzzcocks (see photo and Amazon.com link) show at the House of Blues last night in San Diego.

I adore live music. I'm that girl in the front with her hand spread on her chest because she loves feeling the music thrumming beneath her skin. However, I'm not much of a thrasher. I love experiencing the thrashers, don't get me wrong, but I don't like feeling unstable on my feet and I find that's pretty much a requirement of proper thrashing. Thrashing or no, I want to be front row. Saying that, it's amazing when a kind gent somehow reads my mind and decides to act as my own personal body guard. Such a man appeared at my back last night. It was because of him that I chose not to relocate to join my friends center stage. I was perfectly content to be parked in front of the bass player with my protector keeping a good three foot cushion behind me (I suppose the man just liked the look of my face or my uncoordinated wiggling dancing style). I didn't catch his name and sadly I lost track of him towards the end of the show so I was not able to grip him in a hug, sweat be damned. The show had all the regular attributes of any rock show:

that fierce bitch who flings her fist out behind her to nick anyone who dares get near her (begging to be jumped in an alley), pretending like you're not completely smitten with the devastatingly attractive boy with the horrifyingly sexy pinup girlfriend who makes you feel like a slug, beer somehow getting spilled all the way down your back and thighs, thrilling eye contact with band members, popping your shoulder out of place while reaching for a hand to hold (mission accomplished), begging for something/anything from the stage once the show is over and maybe getting something (setlist acquired), ears ringing because you forgot to bring your ear plugs (wondering if it is ever really an accident because a large part of you, the winning part, wants to experience every single thing), those miserable looking couples who read the book on looking alternative (right before burning it in denial of ever having known of it's existence) who make you wonder why they can't just smile and quit pretending like they aren't having a great time, being felt up by men and women without ever knowing which acts are intentional, and sometimes your friend ends up missing the show because she's passed out in your car from one muscle relaxer.

And none of that has anything to do with the band playing. So, on to the actual band. If you don't know who Buzzcocks are, shame on you. They belong with the likes of the Sex Pistols (they actually formed in 1976 because of a Sex Pistols show) and the Clash. If you like punk than pick up one of their records and try to get "Promises" out of your head, I dare you.

Speaking of "Promises," check it out! Don't judge the old video! I like the old ones.