Heavy Rotation on my iPod: Gangster Soul: Girlz Harmony Vol.1 & Vol. 2

Thursday, January 27, 2011 10:42:34 PM

Sometimes I like to listen to sad songs; my first choice is usually Gangster Soul: Girlz Harmony, Vol. 1,  a collection of soul recordings featuring female vocals, probably from the early 1970's. Last night I received volume two of the series and I am enjoying it as much as the first.

I may be wrong, but it seems that every region of the country had its own thriving soul and rhythm and blues recording label at one time.  These countless soul singles, from artists almost completely forgotten, turn up in these anthologies to remind us of what glory there is in the human voice.

What I (Half) Watched Last Night: Godzilla v Hedorah

I haven't been posting much lately because I just can't seem to stay awake long enough to write anything.

The other day I came across the classic, Godzilla v., Hedorah  at crackle.com, a HULU type streaming site. Here is what Crackle has to say:
     "One of the grooviest and weirdest of all Godzilla flicks thanks to a hippie-rock soundtrack and a terrifying toxic foe."  Psychedelic Gojira?  I love Godzilla movies, always have, ever since I was a kid.
I didn't make it through the whole movie, but what I did see was pretty typical until the nightclub scene.   To set the stage, the seas around Japan are beset by a mysterious monster that seems to feed on industrial waste-who knew? When the creature first slithers onto land to feed and fight with Godzilla, Yoshimitsu Banno, the director, cut in scenes of a psychedelic band playing in a nightclub, complete with a liquid light show:

Vitriolic Venting

To all my fellow netizens who post pictures in public and semi public places and are either too lazy (or stupid?) to orientate them correctly, your Internet privileged should be revoked.

Also to those of you who send Email from your smart phones or similar, mobile devices and haven't changed the signature from "Sent from my really cool gadget," to anything else, you need to go back to land lines and answering machines.

Lastly, to all the self indulgent bloggers that occupy yourselves complaining about the inadequacies of people's behavior, change your diaper before you get a rash.

The Lessons of Avatar

Thursday, January 20, 2011 09:06:11 AM

I don't want to admit it, but I love my new iPod Touch. Despite my ravings about open source this and open source that, the gadgets that gets the most use in our house are the iPods even though they tend to make me feel more like an indentured servant to Apple. When my beloved, 5 ^th generation, 30 gigabyte iPod stopped holding a charge, I decided it was time to either get a new battery or a new iPod. There was not that much of a difference in price between having a new battery installed and getting a used, 2 ^nd generation iPod Touch on eBay. It hasn't been in my possession for 48 hours and already I am having trouble remembering life with out it. We truly do live in an age of wonders.

That said, I was recently treated to watching James Cameron's magnum opus, Avatar at a friend's house with a set up that probably rivals, if not surpasses, most people's idea of a private screening room.

And wow, what a treat for the senses it was. Even to the end of the three hour version we watched, the visuals were amazing. I totally accepted the idea of an eight foot tall, blue Sigourney Weaver. She definitely would have made that other Alien weep in terror, if it had eyes. l I know that my friends wanted to really crank up the volume, but it would have played havoc with my delicate circulatory system, so the aural aspect was less potent than its potential.

If you are reading this, you are probably well aware of what Avatar is and have some idea of how it came into being, so I will summarize the lessons Avatar teaches:

Much of the human race is comprised of infants in adult body suits-by and large other than meeting their own wants and needs, the rest of the known universe can go die.

All conflicts can be successfully settled by the appropriate use of superior firepower or expendable bodies.

Sometimes, some of the Ewoks have to die.

There was a fourth one, but it escapes me now. I will add it when I remember it.

Please feel free to leave your comments below.

Thursday, January 20, 2011 09:52:05 AM

Dear Amy,

Saturday, January 8, 2011 01:10:47 PM

Dear Amy,

I have been enjoying reading your blog. It is good to have a place to verbally blow off steam. That said, I was struck by this entry:

You have the wartime periods: historical, renowned, proud. The 60's, introducing The Beatles and a soar of actually half-decent movies. The 70's - far out man, one-way ticket to hippyville and sticking it to "the man". The 80's, by far the best time of all; brilliant tunes and, most importantly of all, the birth of Die Hard.*

Your summation of the past fifty years in a handful of lines put a smile on my face. However, I feel I need to challenge you abourt your view of the 1980s, especially the music part.

To me, the eighties were not a blissful time of charity and togetherness, with people skipping around in their mullets, whistling “Ebony and Ivory” while holding hands to form a giant circle of love.

To me, the 1980's blew.

I graduated from high school, left home for college (Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, where I am currently living.) Then I struck out on my own and began discovering what it meant to be an adult, which at that time meant figuring out how much of my tiny paycheck was to go for bills and how much was to go for "entertainment."  There was plenty of experimentation (sex and drugs), plenty of folly (see previous), and little actual maturity or growth. One of the most important things I learned was this: Just because it seems like a good idea at the time doesn't mean it will still be a good idea after I sober up.

Jello Biafra, singer for the San Francisco based punk band The Dead Kennedys accused the music industry of seeking to produce “lowest common denominator rock”  and I agree.  The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the eighties is how awful the music was. Most popular music was a mixture of computerized rhythm, synthesized instruments and the absolute nadir of lyrical shallowness. The sound of the music was extremely homogeneous. There was very little unique or original in this type of music because it was targeted towards mainstream appeal.

A quick look at Wikipedia reveals the most popular music acts of the decade were Madonna and Michael Jackson.  And Madonna isn't even an musician, she is a personality. She achieved fame from the notoriety of her appearance and her (for the time) outspoken attitudes about sex, not her singing ability.

The 1980s saw the problematic rise in popularity of “alternative rock.” A popular alternative to anything  is an oxymoron. How can something be alternative and mainstream at the same time?

Another contributor to the suckiness of eighties music was the introduction of the popular, and influential Music Television Network, known as MTV. MTV was an entire network, broadcasting 24 hours via cable, devoted to popular music videos. The music became secondary to a band's appearance and attire once it was discovered how effective MTV would have on influencing young adults clothing  and music choices.  In short, music became more about marketing rather than producing a quality ditty that would last for the ages.

This unfortunately led to a lot of really bad fashion choices for people in my age bracket. Big, teased hair, mullets, skinny neckties, shoulder pads for women and men are some of the decades's worst fashion offenses.  And yet they were staples of typical 20 something attire.

After MTV their makeover

Before MTV

Check out these before and after photos of Detroit band The Romantics. The Romantics had one fairly big hit single before MTV, the lively “That's What I Like About You.” But like many bands after the advent of MTV, they went through a major, cosmetic make over.  

The 1980s did produce some very good books, movies and music.  Unfortunately, for every Once in a Life Time,  there was hours of this dreck  to wade through.

Oh well. One of the great, or not so great, depending on your perspective, things about the Internet is the opportunity agree to disagree in instantly on-line.

Remember that I love you in that special, creepy way that a middle aged stranger you met on the Internet can love you.

Michael

PS
It occurred to me that 99% of the things I have done that I regret doing happened in the 1980s.
I found a link to this while catching up opn my reading this morning: Killing Joke

Please feel free to leave your comments below.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 09:07:58 PM