11.29.2002

 
Put it on

9 AM haircut, and in the nearly empty salon, someone decided that the true way to celebrate the day after Thanksgiving was to put a little bit of the first Spice Girls album on. I do not believe that the Spice Girls have officially left the "has-been" space and entered the "retro nostalgia" phase of their celebrity cycle. "If You Wanna Be My Lover" came on, followed by "When Two Become One," featuring the Spice Girls' famous declaration of support for contraception: "Be a little bit wiser, baby; Put it on, put it on."

My favorite Spice Girl? Besides the little known Anorexia Nervosa Spice? Probably Mel C. That's the sporty one.

posted by Anon. 2:32 PM

11.28.2002

 
What the world needs now

One of the stranger uses of a classic song in a commercial in a while has to be the new Calvin Klein Eternity ad, which starts off by featuring Christy Turlington singing Bacharach/David's "What the World Needs Now is Love," made famous by Jackie DeShannon when Dionne Warwick, if I'm remembering the story correctly, turned it down. Turlington can't sing, of course, but within seconds, it then segues into the song being sung by... Aimee Mann.

posted by Anon. 7:32 AM

 
More wonder
Finally, after several tries, I found a good tapas restaurant in LA, and of course, it's the one across the street from my apartment which I just hadn't tried in the last year. While eating at Cobras and Matadors last night with Matt, we listened to... yes, more Stevie Wonder. This time the Original Musiquarium anthology (I think). Is Stevie part of the Thanksgiving spirit? Starting to seem that way.

Speaking of Thanksgiving: those of you with Kazaa or Limewire or other music sharing programs who want to get into the spirit of the holiday. Find "I Thank You" by Sam and Dave. Find "Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself Again" by Sly and the Family Stone. And dig deep and find "Thanksgiving" by Loudon Wainwright, probably one of the best (and saddest) songs Wainwright ever did.


posted by Anon. 7:28 AM

11.26.2002

 
Isn't she beautiful

Waiting in line at one of the lot food purveyors, and Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" was playing. I can think of few songs that are more guaranteed to make a man feel good. And a lot of the ones that I can think of are Stevie Wonder songs. Even if this song was written about one of the little Wonders, Stevie's children, I've heard of it being used before as a wedding song.

Lock reports that he was at a wedding recently where the lyrics to the song were distributed to all the attendants, and everyone sang along. What song? "In Spite of Ourselves," by John Prine and Iris DeMent. Yes, as far as I know, there was a reception full of people all singing, "Convict movies make him horny." Still, an inspired choice, with a great chorus for two people embarking on the beginning of a great adventure.

posted by Anon. 1:51 PM

 
Breaking news

Say it isn't so: after four blissful months, the marriage of Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley is over.

posted by Anon. 12:36 PM

 
Morning music

I was able to drag my sorry ass out of bed this morning at 6:30, and run three miles. I've been trying to get myself back in a regimen, after several months of falling out of one. The mandatory accessory for this, besides my New Balances, is my Discman, but I fear this one -- received as a gift three Christmases ago from my friend Joe -- is on its last legs.

That said, I listened to Palmermix 2000 Year in Review, which has actually been a good running mix. Particularly Wilco and Billy Bragg's "Airline to Heaven," The Jayhawks' "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," U2's "Stuck in a Moment," and John Hiatt's "Miles Before I Go." Did the complete 3 mile loop around my neighborhood -- a route that takes me from Fairfax to Las Palmas and back -- and aside from the beginning of blisters -- these New Balances aren't quite yet broken in, I guess -- felt pretty good.

Then in the car, on the way to work, I listened to P.J. Harvey's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Particularly, the ethereal, soaring "We Float," and, a song I believe I've written about before in these pages, "You Said Something" -- a song that's certainly on my short list of favorite songs from the last 5 years. And a song that with its talk of "rooftop in Brooklyn, one in the morning, watching the lights flash, over Manhattan" reminds me of my own days on those rooftops. Taking the city in, from the outside.



posted by Anon. 9:32 AM

11.25.2002

 
Can't buy what I want because it's free

Pearl Jam is back.

posted by Anon. 11:45 AM

 
Just like Pagliacci did

If you watched Sopranos last night, then in the first few seconds of the episode, during Tony's strange first dream sequence, you caught two seconds of the beginning organ of "Tears of a Clown." Always a welcome sound.

posted by Anon. 8:42 AM