XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 28 jan 07) ::

the Bombay Connection, vol. 1 :: various
Mejico Maxico :: Mexican Institute of Sound
Superpop Venezuala :: los Amigos Invisibles
Vida de Perros :: los Bunkers
Conector :: Hector Buitrago
Tumba Francesca: Afro-Cuban Music from the Roots :: Tumba Francesca la Caridad de Oriente
When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq :: Rahim AlHaj
Legends of Life :: Mostar Sevdah Reunion and Ljiljana Butler
A Secret Gate :: Mostar Sevdah Reunion
An Clar Geal :: Alasdair White

Wow. As part of a day's worth of cheesy rock 'n roll movies today, TCM showed the (somewhat) legendary Bop Girl Goes Calypso. I first heard of this movie way back in the 80s from the Psychotronic Encyclopedia and I was thrilled to finally get a chance to see it. Looking around online it seems that Bop Girl Goes Calypso was unavailable for many years. I saw several mentions of it as "lost" and "forgotten." I believe it's been described as the worst rock 'n roll movie of all time. I think that's excessive but it is, by any standard, a very bad movie. But there are a few notable things: the music for the movie was done by exotica legend Les Baxter; there are two performances by Lord Flea (who was apparently a mento, not a calypso, performer -- well, that's not a distinction I'd expect 50s Hollywood to be too strong on); a performance by Nino Tempo (rocking much harder than his later hit "Deep Purple"); the movie stars Bobby Troup (who was married to Julie London... and yes, there's a Julie London cameo, as Troup walks past her in one scene and does a double-take). And of course the fact that this is a 1957 movie that predicts the demise of rock &/or roll.

Several music-related items to mention:

Interesting article from NYTimes #1, about Maxine Sullivan. Altho it suffers a bit from what I think of as Sunday Times house style (affected prose, infatuation with real estate, inability to get to the point), it's a good introduction to a wonderful jazz singer. Even though the theoretical point of the article -- the fate Maxine Sullivan's papers and memorabilia -- is essentially forgotten for most of the piece and left unresolved at the end.

Archeophone is a label focused on preserving and re-issuing music from the early days of recording. And they do mean early. Music of WWI, vaudeville, even minstrel shows. Stuff that I wasn't even aware had ever been recorded. Just reading thru their site is fascinating. I'll definitely have to check some of this out further. (found via Neil Gaiman's blog)

My regular day o' radio will be changing. Starting this week I'll be on air every other Thursday, 7am to 9am. Yes, it'll be the return of the best show name I've ever had -- "Wake Up and Smell the Chaos."

Finally (also from today's NYTimes) a moving farewell to the great Lee Hazlewood. I think it's fitting that someone as defiantly off-center as Hazlewood should get his eulogy now, while he's still here to contribute to it.

Your day (hell, your week and possibly your month) will not be complete until you check out this video of Aerocar 2 on skis. So cool!

It's gotten back into a more typical-for-January weather groove 'round this area. In honor o' that, here's an article from NPR about the mighty pot pie. Mmm... pies with meat... (includes mention of, and recipe for, the tourtiere, discussed in this space recently).

Also from 'round this area (and don't say Durham's never done anything for you): caffeinated donuts!!

Following up on his supremely twisted Xmas album of a few years ago, John Waters is coming out with a Valentine's compilation. Like fun! Here's an interview with Waters plugging the CD and discussing other stuff as well. It's interesting that he calls out imdb for being 20 years out of date with the story about him attending criminal trials. Because it was close to 20 years ago when I saw him speak (after a screening of Polyester) and he talked about some of the trials he was attending. One quibble tho. I think Waters is completely wrong that no straight people know what bears are. Hell, Colbert has joked about it, in the context of his ursine phobia, and without providing any much context on the bear scene in gay communities.



(btw, have i mentioned lately how much i love flickr. it took me all of seconds to find this photo of John Waters to illustrate this post)

From the dept. of really amazing looking things I'd never have the patience to do: amazingly detailed 1/12th scale replicas. Intended for dollhouses, it seems. The detail on these is just insane. Check out this one, which shows marmalade making.

(link via Megnut)

While I'm biting other people's styles, let me run thru a couple of movie recaps. From 1957, the Monster that Challenged the World. Pretty much your classic "B" scifi horror movie, 50s style. In this case, it's giant mutant snails. That's right, snails. They don't look much like snails, altho they do have shells they hide in. And the title is a bit of an exaggeration. The giant mutant snails barely work up a credible threat to the Salton Sea. The world remains largely unconcerned. Still it was enjoyably cheesy.

Up next, the Brothers Grimm. Like many Terry Gilliam movies, it's an entertaining mess. The tone shifts from comedy to action to drama a bit too much and a bit clumsily at times. But it looks great, and some fine performances. Peter Stormare chews up the scenery quite nicely. And Heath Ledger's quite good. The script, with its confluence of all fairy tales (many only referenced visually), suffers a bit from coming after Shrek. And the movie as a whole ends up seeming a bit too similar, in some basic ways, to Sleepy Hollow. Which isn't so good as Tim Burton is a much better movie-maker than Gilliam.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 21 jan 07) ::

Superpop Venezuala :: los Amigos Invisibles
Tumba Francesca: Afro-Cuban Music from the Roots :: Tumba Francesca la Caridad de Oriente
Vida de Perros :: los Bunkers
Mejico Maxico :: Mexican Institute of Sound
Bonfires of São João :: Forro in the Dark
Simpatico :: Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project
Taqasim :: Marcel Khalife
A Secret Gate :: Mostar Sevdah Reunion
Legends of Life :: Mostar Sevdah Reunion and Ljiljana Butler
An Clar Geal :: Alasdair White

I was sorry that the Saints lost but (no offense NE fans) at least we're spared a Bears v. Patriots Super Bowl, which was about the most boring-est thing I could imagine.

Anyway, here (below the cut) are the liner notes for the 2nd part of my "stuff I was listening to in '06" compilation

The Bollywood beatdown (which you might have seen mentioned elsewhere) continued this afternoon at XDU. I was on air for Mondo Mundo: the dishoom! edition. Here's the playlist. In addition to all the oldschool goodness (Mohd. Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, R.D. Burman), I got the chance to feature a few cuts from the first CD from the Bombay Connection series. This, according to the promo sheet I saw, is planned to be a six disc series, covering filmi from the 50s up thru the current scene (I think). Bringin' da funk, desi stylee...

I hate to wrap up on a down note, but I got only one phone call while I was at the station. It was right after I started and someone called to tell me that this was an American radio station, not a terrorist radio station and I needed to stop playing what I was playing. I was, I can tell you, as shocked as I've ever been by any phone call I've ever rec'd at the station. My mouth, in fact, was open to unleash a torrent of abuse back. When I remembered a recent email exchange on the station's mailing list reminding us that we were all repping for the station and the U and thus were not welcome to unleash torrents of abuse at our listeners no matter what sort of needle-dicked fucktards they might reveal themselves to be. So I rehinged my jaws and hung up on my geographically benighted listener without saying a word. The phone immediately started ringing again. I do allow for the possibility that the original call came from a fellow DJ with a misguided sense of humor busting my chops and they were now calling back to explain. Or else Mr. Fucktard felt the need to further edumacate me about the terroristic overtones of Indian soundtrack music. Either way I'll never know because I didn't answer the second call. The show cont'd. and it was a good one.

dishoom, baby

Hey, it finally snowed. Well, what passes for snow 'round these parts. In other words, less than an inch and it was all gone by noon. Still it was a nice thing to wake up to. Possibly if I lived someplace where snow wasn't a weather anomaly, I'd feel differently about it. But I don't. And I don't.

Pancake goodness!! (via Serious Eats, linked over in the linkage section). And not just pancake goodness but stop-motion pancake goodness.

Blatantly stealing this idea from Prentiss, I thought I'd put together a mix of stuff I was listening to in 2006. And if you've spent any time at all reading this blog, it will come as no surprise that I was unable to edit myself down to one concise list. So, it's the 4-CD set House of Dioxin faves from '06, then. Requests for copies will be entertained thru the usual diplomatic back-channels. Liner notes below the cut.

So the NYTimes has apparently decided that David Byrne is cool again. They even reference Arcade Fire and the Quannum label in support. Either they're correct (see: stopped clock, twice a day) or else not only is Byrne not cool, but neither are Arcade Fire nor Quannum. Much as I hate to agree with NYTimes on any matters pop-cultural, I'll have to this time. Even tho they did mistakenly identify Luaka Bop as Byrne's label. (Not in this century, sparky)

So there's this really annoying commercial that I've been seeing lately. It's for Visa, or Visa check cards to be exact. The one with a cafe full of mindless drones (workers and shoppers) sent into total meltdown panic because one drone has the audacity to use cash. Whatever they may say the message is, I say the real message is revealed in the look of withering contempt the clerk shoots at the cash-user at the end. Cash is for losers. Sometimes I feel like reality is rapidly turning into Neuromancer. And to further confirm that in the future cash will only be used by losers, the underclass, and the shadow economies, there's this article from today's NYTimes. Bonus points for reinforcing outdated gender stereotypes.

Thru a process far too boring to detail here, I came across a video by Polysics on TV last night. And, hey, it's the 21st century... so, courtesy of the sure-to-fail business model that is YouTube, I can share with y'all the awesomeness that is New Wave Jacket

This commentary from BBC pretty much sums up my feelings on the Beckham signing. Interesting, and virtually un-remarked-on in US media, that the Galaxy did not actually have to coerce or steal Beckham out of Madrid. Instead, looks like he was pretty much on his way out at Real. Also as expected, those who know something about futbol are more aware that Beckham's skills are definitely on the decline. Altho I've read a few US writers who seem understand that, even at his best, Beckham was not the kind of player who'd take over a game single-handed. And, in defense of Galaxy and MLS, the world superstar they signed has more of his chops left than Pele did when he came to the US. And MLS isn't throwing money around NASL style (that is, like a drunken suit at a strip club). At least so far. Much speculation, of course, that the money trucks will soon be rolling to every aging world futbol superstar. Hopefully MLS can keep from spending themselves into oblivion. Much speculation also afoot that much of Beckham's money is coming from side deals and not the team, like for college football coaches.

The quest for knowledge marches on: NYTimes drops some science on the leftovers issue. I have to admit that I was one of those people leaving hot food out to cool down to room temperature before putting it in the refrigerator. Why? I thought about it after reading the article and I couldn't tell you. Probably something I heard somewhere from someone (who was probably only passing along something that someone had told them once). There's nothing worse than things you think you know.
Also, John August brings some clarity and concision to the subject of screenwriting. And speaking of things you only think you know, I love the several commenters getting their backs up over August's slightly heterodox point that screenplays are not character driven. In a way, I agree with their point, that it's a sucky script in which the characters are whipped hither and thither solely to drive the story. But that's just bad writing. I don't think it's a counter to August. I've tried to write screenplays a few times, and I've been in classes and writing groups with others working on screenplays. From what I can tell, a good script calls for the kind of ruthlessness from the writer that August is getting at in his list. Characters can't be driving things. There's so little time that everything's got to be moving the story or else it's gotta be pushed overboard.

Far from understanding the infinite, I don't even understand what that quote (which is titling this entry) is supposed to mean. It was my horrible-scope for today. Like much in the world these days, it sounds initially very portentous -- like it's all big and important -- but on further (or, in fact, any) reflection turns out to be a load of piffle. It's new-age-moron night and the drinks are on me...

Better yet, here's something actually useful, a guide to great hot dogs. List compiled by Jane and Michael Stern, who know their way around a hot dog. Nothing terribly local, altho DC is within a day. That's than I'd drive for a hot dog, even a really great one. But you're not me (last time I checked) so who am I to say...

Lately, what with holiday gifties and things I've bought for myself, it's been all about the retro side of cookery bookery. So this is the first part in a sure-to-be-occasional look at some of these new acquisitions. First up is Hot Dish Heaven, which is all about all things casserole. I was previously unfamiliar with the "hot dish" concept. Apparently that's a Midwestern thing. I've only made one recipe from the book so far, but it was a winner -- a French-Canadian meat pie called a tourtiere. But there are lots of other dishes both tasty-looking and loaded with retro charm (tater tot hot dish, anyone?)

XDU wrrld music top 9 (week ending 7 jan 07) ::

Music from the Heart of the World :: various
Bonfires of São João :: Forro in the Dark
Electric Gypsyland 2 :: various
A Secret Gate :: Mostar Sevdah Reunion
¡Tierra Caliente! Music from the Hotlands of Michoacan :: Conjunto de Arpa Grande "Arpex"
Taqasim :: Marcel Khalife
When the Soul is Settled :: Rahim Alhaj
Serious Times :: various
the Way the Wind Blows :: A Hawk and a Hacksaw

Cool story in today's NYTimes about a California bar completely covered in pennies. It's like a stationery art car. Actually, in one of Harrod Blank's movies, one of the art car drivers profiled is a guy with a car (and clothes and all sorts of other stuff) covered in pennies. But I like the bar-owning couple in today's story better because, unlike the art car driving penny guy, they don't have some quirky back-story or reason for covering an entire bar with pennies. It's just something they did.

Last night's radio programme was, I must admit, not one of my best efforts. I came in with ideas and CDs in mind. However, I was pleasantly surprised by a mighty haul o' discs from Nacional Records (plus a few other tasty tidbits just begging to be played. However however, all of that stuff was a pretty bad fit with most of the stuff on the playlist that looked interesting. With a bit of work I probably could have figured out how to meld it all into a semi-coherent show. But I took the slackass route and just played all the playlist stuff first, and then kicked into the funky Latin fusion stuff.

will do better... next time for sure...

Mystery solved, at least. We'd recorded the Mummer's Parade on Monday and were planning to watch it last night. Only to find three hours of crappy re-runs. I'd assumed it was just some sort of random cable weirdness. Turns out, though, that the parade was cancelled.

Another year of radio begins tonight, 88.7fm if you're local, website if you're not.

Let's get the new year started with some art cars. I'm sure most folks who come across that article will think "hey, art cars!" But for me (and, I imagine, regular readers of this blog) the main reaction was "hey, a magazine for truckers!"

Also, here's a photoset that illustrates what you'd get if you crossed an art car with one of those pranks where you Xmas-wrap an entire cubicle. Well, the flickr comments indicate that this comes down much more on the prank side than the art car side.

Still, how cool is that...

Welcome to dos mil siete, y'all. Went to a small-but-delightful soiree at Casa S&D last night. Sarah, Lisa and I soundly thrashed the competition in a photo-quiz to ID some of the newsmakers/dead people from '06. Prizes were won. Tasty chili was consumed. Various bubbly libations were quaffed. And we all sat around feeling super old cos we hardly recognized anyone on the Dick Clark or MTV New Year's Eve programmes. But, as small consolation, we're not that old (cos if we were, we'd have been watching the Garrison Keillor New Year's Eve programme).