The Tell Tale Miaow

Ok ... a little white kitten has been abandoned by its mum under our house ... its loitering just under our lounge room ... and its pitiful miaow is soundtracking our daily routines of eating meals and tv watching ... we DON'T need another pussy ... but its little cries like the tell tale heart are pulling at our consciences ...

addendum 11 Mar 2009 - Kitty's gone ... hopefully to a good home and not to its death under the house!!

What $2.00 buys you these days Pt 3

Ok .. and finally, just for shits and giggles, I bought these:

(i) Debbie Gibson - Electric Youth

 

 
Really there's nothing much to say here ... give me the side eye all you want honey .. but

 

"if you say jump, I say how high

if you say Run 'd run and fly

Just for the chance

Just for the moment

Should the moment pass us by

And if you ask once I'll tell you twice

I'll ignore the world's advice

if We could be Together

for awhile"

 

 
(ii) Amanda Lear - I am a Photograph

 

 
If you think this is a lost Patsy Stone album in the days before "it" dropped off, well think again.  Apparently she was Dali's muse, and given height, cheekbones and deep baritone, we will always be asking "is she or isn't she"??? You would probably have heard "Follow Me" being dropped in some eclectic's DJ set, and can maybe remember seeing her on some James Last Starparade or other ... this ie Euro-disco at its cheesiest ... but crank it up and crunk it up ... perfect for a party in the living room ... solo that is coz no one else is going to put up with this shit with you ...

 

 
And I had to give you just one more ...

 

Alphabet

This is my alphabet.
Because time goes on
and things are changing in my world
here is a new alphabet
for the children of my generation.
Of course all these words have a meaning for me
but other generations might find a different mood to their world.

My alphabet goes like this:

A stands for anything
and B for bionic and Bach
C stands for claustrophobia
and D for dirty old man
E stands for everyone
F is full frontal and friends
G of course, stands for getting a divorce
H now stands for hijacking
and I for a king size ego

J now stands for jukebox and junkies
K is for those who kiss and tell
and leading lady stars with L
Naturally M is for me
and N is for never again
O is for that famous story, mmm
and P for pain and poverty
Q stands for quality which is better than quantity
R stands for rock and roll fan
S is sexy and sad
T drives them totally mad
and U are everything to me
V stands for little voodoo
and W for where and when
X sounds extremely mysterious
Y is a question I keep asking
and Z dear child, for the zero you will get if you don't learn my alphabet.

 

(iii) ATF - Der Kommissar

 

 
Alles Klar, Der Kommissar!!!

(nuff said)

 

 
and just for fun the Falco original

 

(iv) Kon Kan - Move to Move

 

 

Oh those 80s drum, a bit of sampling, a bit of scratching, those orchestral stabs and white boy vocals .... again another party in your living room - Canada's answer to PSB maybe ... just a few years too late??

 

 
(v) Hooked on Classics

 

 
I saw this on some young thing's T-shirt and that young thing would probably cringe if he knew exactly what this sounded like ... there was a time everything was eventually put to a disco beat ... the classics were not spared ... so this is your dad's record collection as filtered through the Stars on 45, it would have been Jive Bunnied if it was released any later ... and surprise surprise, Louis Clark (is this a real name?) who spearheaded this was the arranger for ELO!! And so soon after we were punished by Xanadu (wait ... scratch that ... I absolutely Love Xanadu!!!) Anyway the copy I scored was very clean ... and you know what ... I LOVE THIS!!!

 

What $2.00 buys you these days Pt 2

Ok ... more vinyl adventures!!

You already know that some of my vinyl purchases were purely based on outward appearances, but I also took the opportunity to explore some of the albums that I have always been curious about.

(i) Jon and Vangelis - Private Conversation

Post Chariots of Fire, I think we were all a little over the Vangelis sound ... and anything remotely euro-trash became a dirty word ... but as they say, hindsight is an illuminative thing ... and I absolutely adore this album ... its electro-lite ... but they do allow the songs time to breathe ... I know where Sebastien Tellier and others of his ilk get their inspiration from ... its well worth checking out.

(ii) Toyah Wilcox - The Changeling 

Hail the lispy one!!! I've always had a fascination with Toyah ever since seeing her on TOTP jumping and carrying on ... and I like that slight theatrical quality of her voice ... its surprisingly strong .. and she used to be on this programme where she played a wrestler ... gold!!! And now she's a christian on Songs of Praise .. crazy world sometimes!!

(iii) Sandy Denny - Rendezvous 

We all know Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention, and also duetting with Robert Plant on Led Zep's seminal IV, AND also from being namechecked by Kate Bush on "Blow Away" but I've never been really familiar with her solo work. Unfortunately this was the last album before she died ... and was probably not her best effort. Its actually not a bad album .. but you have to be patient ... the songs need time to work their work!!

(iv) Stockhausen - festival of hits - Deutsche Grannophon collection

If you are into electronic music ... then you need to do your homework and explore the early exponents of musique concrete ... and the godfather of synthetic sounds has to be Stockhausen ... its not easy going so I really just bought this as a reference tool ... but every now and then you just want to zone out and listen to shit like this ... for awhile back then, as far as electronic music was concerned, if it was german it was gold!!

Things that make you laugh out loud Pt 1

Ok ... Spotted at Dymocks bookshop - Team Edward T-shirts!!!

 

Could you die?

Bod-a-licious

Ok .. so the beauty of the $2.00 price point for second hand vinyl is that you can take all of those risks without burning too big a hole in your pocket. So along with those albums I have always been curious about (more in another post), I also picked up albums based purely on the cover ... and the inner gay in me was creaming his disco flare jeans lemme tell you ...

(i)Jane Olivor - Chasing Rainbows

I've always liked that slightly androgynous look of the 70s ... and I think its actually quite a strong image, quite glamourous in fact ... unfortunately its a "rainbow" album if you know what I mean ... think Sarah Brightman ... tad dissappointing ... but at some point one of the tracks is bound to just clinch .. and it will all make sense. Apparently she was a Clive Davis discovery and cut her teeth in the Cabaret scene in NYC ... figures!



(ii) Shirley Bassey - Love Life and Feelings

I mean how could you not ... arched back and pearls ... c'mon ... it screams "mama I like boys" already!!

Pretty standard fair this, the arrangements are prosaic and I can almost see the studio engineers secretly inching the mike further and further away becoz lets face it this voice has balls and then some ... includes one of Shirley's signature tunes "What I did for Love".

 

 

(iii) Rita Jean Bodine - Sitting on Top of My World

 

 

You have to admit its a startling cover ... and the 70s did see a Deco revival ... there's not much you can find on Rita Mae ... I don't think there's even a Wiki entry for her ... I kinda gather that there was a period in the 70s where if you were remotely interesting and exotic, then you were more than likely to land a record deal, or have a play or an exhibition or just simply a happening .. the really talented ones made in the movies eventually or went the modelling route finding wealthy south american autocrats in the process as husbands ... anyhoo apparently the clothes that "Miss Bodin" (and its always miss something or other) is wearing is from teh "image making" collection by someone called Cheong Yoo ... so the album cover tells me anyways ... As for the music, this is that curious RnB Funk hybrid, like a wannabe Betty Davis or Millie Jackson ... apparently her second album was more electronic and experimental .. as for this one there are some interesting vocal arrangements ... but its melodically bereft and the 'tude dosen't really come though ... apparently she only made 2 LPs ... is this because the sheer creative magnitude burnt her out or maybe, just maybe .. she was crap??? Just saying ... 

 

I Heart Craig

Ok ... I love Craig and I want to have his babies!!! I first read about Craig and his wonderful posters on www.threethousand.com.au. Then today D sent me an email with more samples of Craig's delectable delights!!! One day Craig I will be there with my travel scrabble and $1.00 for some plain vietnamese rolls ... what an afternoon that would be!!!

No one can hear you scream in the creepy room

Ok .. I alluded in my previous post about having a great saturday ... well we started the day at the Allans music sale, which is always good ... and this is the mega sale ... and I scored!!! $10 for the Thom Yorke's Eraser piano book. A bit of drama when M left his wallet behind .. major freak out when we were in the lolly shop in Yazza's!! Especially because he had a fair bit of cash in there. By the way, Allan's staff are fan-fucking-tastic!!! Apart from Kylie Mole who first served us they were all extremely helpful and friendly.

 

Lunch was at the Cornerstore ... this is now one of our favourite spots ... seriously if you haven't been, its worth the trip, assuming you live on "t'other side" of the river. A glass of Pinot grig, chicked pide with roasted cap, tomato, spinach and fetta, and a cup of seriously good coffee ... stress all forgotten.

 

To top it all of the record store (I can't recall the name, start with T) was having its closing down sale ... all vinyl $2.00, 7"s for 50cents ... even M got into the spirit of things ... came away with some beauties ... will take photos and give you blow by blow later on ... I even found a copy of the children's record I grew up with and aboslutely loved!!! Its called Children's Favourites and stars the venerable Jon Pertwee!!! Oh the nostalgia ... picture this .. me and M on our couches singing along and giggling like 2 lobotomised imbeciles!! M even got out his train whistle for "Runaway Train" ... I love M!!!

Hopeless Emptiness

Ok ... the kitchen sink drama par excellence!!

I've just seen "Revolutionary Road"

 

 

I'm seeing D and CC tomorrow night and I'm hoping they've both seen it as I'm dying to chat to someone about it. Needless to say M fell asleep, but I don't think he could cope with it. Its pretty tough going and touched waaayy too many chords I'm afraid. Thank god this was bolstered by a pretty good saturday as saturdays go, and a slap bang meal ... or I don't think I could have coped either.

 

There's an element of melo-drama in this, but somehow you accept it on the basis of its historical context, it being the 50s and all .. similar sort of sitch with Mad Men ... but thats early 60s .. still. However, I sometimes think alot of the repression is imagined. I certainly have no first hand experience of the 50s, but I have had first hand experience of repression ... and you know what ... you cope!! You find ways around it. You get out there and express!! Because if you let it all get on top of you ... you may never ever leave your home!!

 

(ok ... I'm kinda of working my way through this ... so I'm just typing as I think .. bear with me)

 

But this movie is all about perceptions, obligations, emotions, "truth" and deep deep dissapointment!!! It opens with dissapointment bam! in your face. And then the story slowly unravels, handled by such exquisite direction ... there's just so much to praise here - the shot of the sofa with pillow and doona denoting marital strife, the flashback of the hapless couple being shown round the neighbourhood by their realtor, talking about that sort of folk in their working class houses, and then being shown the slightly bigger house in the street and in her opinion better suited to their social status, only to cut back to the present with Kate Winslet looking towards a house even bigger from the end of their driveway ... the performances and the emotion just yank you away from all these finer details .. and I wish I could say that it was a fantastic ride ... but if you can in anyway empathise with these characters ... your heart will be broken at the end of it ... as mine is a little ... at least a little bruised ... because here are my frustrations and dissapointments laid bare in splendid celluloid.

 

 

 

On the flip side, I also saw Slumdog Millionaire.

 

 

You've read the hype and probably know more about this movie despite not having seen it then movies that you have actually watched. It does deserve most of the accolades. Everyone loves a good rags to riches story ... and I think it achieves what it set out to do ... a bollywood movie, but one that does not shirk from displaying the abject poverty that the vast majority of indians live in ... I know people like to say its a feel good movie, but this is the uncomfortable part for me ... because really, these conditions are just not right ... not when there's also so much money floating round ... shouldn't we be jumping up and down and being angry and galvanised!!! Shouldn't my heart be breaking a little ... instead of rolling eyes at another bollywood routine .. I mean did we really need it?? Is this meant to soften the blow?? Are we meant to go away with the notion that really things aren't so bad after all?

 

Is it the movie ... or is it me?

 

 

 

JD Hurry up with that Fashion degree already!!!

Ok ... Random thoughts:

(i) My little vietnamese lady has let me down!!! She reckons it will cost a grand to replace the lining of my once favourite cheapo plastic winter coat - Devo!!!
(ii) I just found out that I have been with a cop ... ask no questions, tell no lies!!!
(iii) TT DVD - my fav asian dvd store was having their usual perpetual sale - so I will be having a wong kar wai weekend shortly including his first hollywood flick "my blueberry nights" - cue latin music, stunning cinematography, and lots of straring into the distance
(iv) CC is back from hols ... I see my dvd collection growing very shortly

What are you eating???

Ok ... so I'm watching SYTYCDA (if you have to ask, then .... ) and the target market is what ... tweens?? Maybe up to 20s?? For the most part anyways, and guess what the tie-in ad is for this programme ... METAMUCIL??!!! What the ... ??? What the fuck are you eating?? If you require fibre supplements at this age ... really at any age for that matter!!! ... If you're feeling taht bound up its time to look at the diet! Get yo'self down to your nearest vietnamese and eat a big plate of steaming green leafy ... its much better for you ... and way tastier!!!

PS - another one bites th dust (D & R are no more!!)
PPS - has anyone been with a deaf person before??