ahh christmas time. nothing like driving across the rain splattered, concete barrier laden death trip that is the PA turnpike to inspire a little thought about music, namely, about the need for heaping novelty tunes onto the pyre of christmas kitsch. this year we have, to the tune of 'walking in a winter wonderland,' 'upstairs at neverland,' an uninspired 11th hour jab at poor michael. don't really understand why r. kelly escapes but he's the subject of bad shock jock parodies. well, i guess weird al established the precedent.
regardless, i'm not much of a standards kind of girl, but burl ives and perry como cornered the market like, 40 years ago and i'm pretty sure our desperate, sick born again 'hate on the unrighteous' culture can't really cough up a sincere christmas song, so we're left with the frayed ends of kitsch culture, parodies that reference all the parts of christmas that people concentrate on, namely - splintered family, consumerism, morbid curiousity - wait, has eminem made a yule entry? and just bore more dribble into the dead ptah of the car speakers, making me try to figure out how the stereo seeks, skipping past the messiah and all that, finding no common ground until:
the waitresses.
the perfect, perfect cynical turned magic urban wanna believe yes i do watch white christmas and want to be rosemary clooney kind of song. (projecting?) i even heard it tonight at RED LOBSTER where i went with my grandfather who loves cheesy biscuits (me too) and saw a totally middlebrow couple bopping along while she wore ANTLERS FOR FUCKSAKE and their baby had a little santa bow. downright there in the true true, non-ozzy 'i am santa claus' embarrassing little brother cover kind of way, but really.
12.23.2003
12.11.2003
guess what? rolling stone is corrupt! duh. anyway, this interview with my fantastical editor Greg Kot drops this and other news. I respect Kot a lot for just what he says here, that good music extracts the essence of music, not the essence of the writer. I hope to follow his and Marcus' line.
12.10.2003
duh, i never posted the call for 'front row center'. here it is. get busy!
Hello writer/creative type and respected friend,
The closing of nyc's SeeHear (zine shop) has prompted me into the idea
that small run print publications, homemade DIY types, are terribly
unfashionable and deemed irrelevant in this modern digital age. Also,
with the new, broad rules given to the FBI by Congress under the
Patriot Act, granting said agency the right to tap personal information
from one's history of shopping at pawn brokers, used car lots, eBay,
use of the library, etc, I am now even more of the belief the only way
to truly keep a secret is to write it down on a piece of scrap paper.
SO...
I'm starting a zine, and I want you to be part of it. Don't worry, it's
not political so you won't be kidnapped from your bed for contributing.
Unless you want to be. Call me to arrange this separately.
The zine I'm starting might be called "Listen" and it's about
this...listening. I'm of the opinion that listening is done both
personally and socially and each person's listening is important and
unique. That said, I would like to do a fanzine type thing about the
experience of listening - to a band, a song, and instrument - and
compile lots of voices on the topic to get a sort of collage of
experiences together. I will pick the first topic and welcome ideas for
upcoming issues which will come out at random intervals and be
distributed by mail and by hand for free. Oh ya, and I'll be running
this thing off on a copier so no delusions of perfect bound glory for
you or me.
So. The assignment (if you're down) is: Write 250 or less words about
your experience with the song "Sympathy for the Devil," originally
recorded by the Rolling Stones. Write anything (about the song, your
experience(s) of listening, the movie, whatever) and then email it to
me by December 12 with the name you'd like to use for your byline. Also
send your address and I'll send you copies for yourself and your
awesome friends and best enemies. Ya?
As is the way, please forward to other types interested in these types
of things and...now that I think about it, Listen is dumb name for a
zine. I'll think of something better or search my lyricbrain for better
monikers.
Hott,
Daphne C
pinkgerl@yahoo.com
Hello writer/creative type and respected friend,
The closing of nyc's SeeHear (zine shop) has prompted me into the idea
that small run print publications, homemade DIY types, are terribly
unfashionable and deemed irrelevant in this modern digital age. Also,
with the new, broad rules given to the FBI by Congress under the
Patriot Act, granting said agency the right to tap personal information
from one's history of shopping at pawn brokers, used car lots, eBay,
use of the library, etc, I am now even more of the belief the only way
to truly keep a secret is to write it down on a piece of scrap paper.
SO...
I'm starting a zine, and I want you to be part of it. Don't worry, it's
not political so you won't be kidnapped from your bed for contributing.
Unless you want to be. Call me to arrange this separately.
The zine I'm starting might be called "Listen" and it's about
this...listening. I'm of the opinion that listening is done both
personally and socially and each person's listening is important and
unique. That said, I would like to do a fanzine type thing about the
experience of listening - to a band, a song, and instrument - and
compile lots of voices on the topic to get a sort of collage of
experiences together. I will pick the first topic and welcome ideas for
upcoming issues which will come out at random intervals and be
distributed by mail and by hand for free. Oh ya, and I'll be running
this thing off on a copier so no delusions of perfect bound glory for
you or me.
So. The assignment (if you're down) is: Write 250 or less words about
your experience with the song "Sympathy for the Devil," originally
recorded by the Rolling Stones. Write anything (about the song, your
experience(s) of listening, the movie, whatever) and then email it to
me by December 12 with the name you'd like to use for your byline. Also
send your address and I'll send you copies for yourself and your
awesome friends and best enemies. Ya?
As is the way, please forward to other types interested in these types
of things and...now that I think about it, Listen is dumb name for a
zine. I'll think of something better or search my lyricbrain for better
monikers.
Hott,
Daphne C
pinkgerl@yahoo.com
not music, but a nice bit of daphne-writing mixed with xmas t&a, fer yr cold blooded pleasure.
music music music. i finally sat down w/ the ever stupid RS top 500 albums and realized i owned all the ones worth listening too and didn't agree with the rank or file. blah blah. entertainment is like 470th just cause all the 'so over it' RS crew got bored w/ exploiting friendster. and hey, i love the beatles and all, but does every album need to be in the top 500? what about 'isn't anything' (i know, that's so annoying) or...Rock Bottom? and syd barrett's solo stuff? and lightning bolt? and...and...there aren't and riot grrrl albums there...or...anything not on a major label. how about les savy fav? or shuggie otis? or...john fahey. oh i could go on and on. but come on, robert johnson at like 28 or whatever? okay i'll stop.
i finally thought of a name for my zine. 'front row center'. you'll never guess where i'm calling from?!? that's right baby, i'm sitting at giants stadium in FRONT ROW CENTER. i can't wait for the Stttooooooooonnnes to come on, man.
in other news. doing all this bs for club systems is making me want to listen to dance music. i wish i need someone who would just make me an awesome mix of house music. are you out there, person with good taste and a burner? i'll trade you other things. i need to KNOW.
music music music. i finally sat down w/ the ever stupid RS top 500 albums and realized i owned all the ones worth listening too and didn't agree with the rank or file. blah blah. entertainment is like 470th just cause all the 'so over it' RS crew got bored w/ exploiting friendster. and hey, i love the beatles and all, but does every album need to be in the top 500? what about 'isn't anything' (i know, that's so annoying) or...Rock Bottom? and syd barrett's solo stuff? and lightning bolt? and...and...there aren't and riot grrrl albums there...or...anything not on a major label. how about les savy fav? or shuggie otis? or...john fahey. oh i could go on and on. but come on, robert johnson at like 28 or whatever? okay i'll stop.
i finally thought of a name for my zine. 'front row center'. you'll never guess where i'm calling from?!? that's right baby, i'm sitting at giants stadium in FRONT ROW CENTER. i can't wait for the Stttooooooooonnnes to come on, man.
in other news. doing all this bs for club systems is making me want to listen to dance music. i wish i need someone who would just make me an awesome mix of house music. are you out there, person with good taste and a burner? i'll trade you other things. i need to KNOW.
12.07.2003
i *love* how snow steals the grimy sound of the world, renders all a meditation, even watching my roommate's car get towed was like being in a low video. it simply calls for machaut. or, george crumb's 'ancient voices of children,' which as i understand the dynamics of the human voice more and more, wows my snow-sogged pants off. they're currently sitting in the tub.
pumping out reviews for the new issue of grooves - damn dude, is ooioo the most awesome band or what? kila kila kila snakes all over the place, drops the jams and just SOUNDs so full and large. i remember a certain EX saying that 'women have never pushed any limits, explored new territory...' he he, i bet his lame ass wish's he was on tour with yoshimi. i mean, the flaming lip's named an ALBUM about her...she fucking rules (except that free kitten debacle, hey...it seemed like a good idea i'm sure).
in other news, i think i'm going to pitch my EMP thing as an exploration of the term 'noise' as used in providence. any history, definitions or insights from fans of such (i'm thinking zine articles i might have missed + i don't know, wire articles or something) please send them my way. (pinkgerl@yahoo.com)
pumping out reviews for the new issue of grooves - damn dude, is ooioo the most awesome band or what? kila kila kila snakes all over the place, drops the jams and just SOUNDs so full and large. i remember a certain EX saying that 'women have never pushed any limits, explored new territory...' he he, i bet his lame ass wish's he was on tour with yoshimi. i mean, the flaming lip's named an ALBUM about her...she fucking rules (except that free kitten debacle, hey...it seemed like a good idea i'm sure).
in other news, i think i'm going to pitch my EMP thing as an exploration of the term 'noise' as used in providence. any history, definitions or insights from fans of such (i'm thinking zine articles i might have missed + i don't know, wire articles or something) please send them my way. (pinkgerl@yahoo.com)
12.05.2003
The truth behind me wanting to do a zine again is in that my roommate but a copy of Cometbus in our bathroom. There's a quotation in this issue, called "Lanky," about how "punks are the glue that holds society together," and while that seems like something that might work better when walking down the streets in Berkeley, I sympathize with the sentiment. As we all get older, who does things for one another for no other reason but the love it besides religious freaks and punks? Secular conciousness, I tell ya.
So it's snowing like a globe in MJ Fox's hand and no one will go see the Rapture with me. Ain't that sad?
So it's snowing like a globe in MJ Fox's hand and no one will go see the Rapture with me. Ain't that sad?
last day of my first TAship in the land of Mozart. well, i know so many more Mozart fun facts than I did before (a list follows) but I feel like I have not much more understanding of the time period, the demarcation of genius or how the legacy was built. Alas, the questions of cultural historians.
Mozart fun facts
1. he was a freemason and tried to create a sub-group (like the illuminati) within the Vienna freemasons
2. he had his first sexual encounter with his cousin
3. he did not die a pauper, unknown or unloved, as mr. foreman suggested in the film
4. Salzburg did not acknowledge his importance to their city for something like 51 years after his death; check it out now to see how ridiculous this seems
5. Salieri did actually go mad and confess to poisoning Mozart but Mozart's doctors confirmed that this was untrue. Salieri only really made Mozart's life hell.
6. Mozart's favorite city was Prague. to je prekvapeni!
7. Mozart's most recent biographer, Solomon, suggests that men who are raised by fathers who worship money, worship shit.
8. Cosi fan tutti is more fun when you think of Don Alfonso as an urban dilettante who didn't have the option of toiletpapering houses
9. the most lovely effect mozart produced both in reeds and voices was the long sonorous lead over increasing dissonance, aka sustains of unravelling, unmatched beauty (in my humble opinion)
10. the glass harmonica, like the banjo, the accordion, the harmonium, and the chimes, deserves a second chance in the indie rock instrumental ghetto. someone get dave friedmann a glass harmonica!
Mozart fun facts
1. he was a freemason and tried to create a sub-group (like the illuminati) within the Vienna freemasons
2. he had his first sexual encounter with his cousin
3. he did not die a pauper, unknown or unloved, as mr. foreman suggested in the film
4. Salzburg did not acknowledge his importance to their city for something like 51 years after his death; check it out now to see how ridiculous this seems
5. Salieri did actually go mad and confess to poisoning Mozart but Mozart's doctors confirmed that this was untrue. Salieri only really made Mozart's life hell.
6. Mozart's favorite city was Prague. to je prekvapeni!
7. Mozart's most recent biographer, Solomon, suggests that men who are raised by fathers who worship money, worship shit.
8. Cosi fan tutti is more fun when you think of Don Alfonso as an urban dilettante who didn't have the option of toiletpapering houses
9. the most lovely effect mozart produced both in reeds and voices was the long sonorous lead over increasing dissonance, aka sustains of unravelling, unmatched beauty (in my humble opinion)
10. the glass harmonica, like the banjo, the accordion, the harmonium, and the chimes, deserves a second chance in the indie rock instrumental ghetto. someone get dave friedmann a glass harmonica!
12.04.2003
following a thread about genuine passion in writing, the wonderful Greg Sandow wrote this about Nick Hornby's Songbook for the New Music Box. It follows my thoughts about getting into reception theory as discussed with the fabulous Dan Cavicchi, author of Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning Among Springstein Fans. A good read for anyone trying to put it together in a formal fashion.
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