britticisms:

“Thunderbird” by White Hinterland

With a beautiful physical presence and a near-tangible bass that you feel immediately and then throughout the song.

I’m really bowled over by everything that I hear from the new White Hinterland album. Casey Dienel really strikes me as an artist, and someone that’s just going to grow and grow with what she does. I interviewed her for The Boston Globe (and I didn’t write the headline) when her last album was released, right before I moved to New York. (She has a delightful food blog.)

It was nice talking with her for a variety of reasons, but here’s a tiny small one: she had moved to Brooklyn, ended up moving back to Boston, and I think she’s in Portland now. When I heard her talk about cities, I realized that I have similar reactions. She didn’t idealize New York as the center of everything and I don’t either. Like she did, I could very much see myself moving to Portland at some point. I would like the speed.

I feel like this, like, a lot. Thanks Pee Wee!

FACT:

sadydoyle:

For some reason, I don’t want Neil Gaiman to be the dude who, post-apparently-reasonable-and-well-handled divorce from his (age-appropriate, I am thinking?) wife, got engaged to a much younger pop singer who makes my skin fucking crawl for any number of reasons, up to and including the fact that her albums are like the apotheosis of that attention-craving let’s-make-my-eyebrows-look-fucked-up former-theater-dork quasi-Goth thing I loathe with such infinite passion, and her personality, if possible, is EVEN MORE GRATING. I don’t want to see pictures of Neil Gaiman on a red carpet next to a twenty-something in a “daringly” transparent dress and be like, oh, yeah, that’s your thing now. I don’t want to read mean quotes in the New Yorker about how his fan base is composed of faux-bisexual twee Goth drama majors and be unable to refute them because, DUH, LOOK AT WHO HE IS DATING. Is that so wrong?

Probably, yes.

This edition of Is Your D-List Celebrity Relationship Good Enough has been brought to you by the fact that I am, despite all efforts, still somewhat of a terrible person.

That’s very funny, I have to say, BUT! important point: Amanda Palmer is thirtysomething.

(Not so into her music - it strikes me as something I would’ve loved when I was in high school and a drama dork, and not for nothing was she working with my high school hero Ben Folds - but I do find her drive/ambition to be admirable. I can definitely see the grating thing, sure, but I have to admit her blogging has endeared her to me. Although I worry about how much time she has to spend online to sustain a career/financial flow? Because I don’t think that’s sustainable for many good artists. Also: she lived in the most magical place in Boston ever. A gorgeous brownstone all tricked out by artists.)

Some common sense, from Bill Moyers →

sometimesagreatnotion:

“Only about 100,000 votes separated the winner from the loser, and the outcome was to increase the minority party in the senate by just one vote — from 40 to 41. Nonetheless, this week’s election in Massachusetts has been declared a repudiation of Barack Obama and a resurrection for Republicans. But I checked just before this broadcast, and Democrats still controlled the White House, still had a 78 vote majority in the house, and 59 of the 100 members of the Senate. But from all the spin this week, you could imagine there had been a coup in our nations Capitol — a tea party to beat all tea parties. No doubt about it, the pundits said — people have spoken — 100,000 of them, at least — and America is red again.”

- Bill Moyers, 1/22/10

A difference of 100,000 people is not mobilizing the potential college students who could vote for you in Massachusetts. (Bad candidate!) Or making people hate you for a variety of reasons, the most superficial including something that the papers harped on, calling a Red Sox “hero” (good for you, Schilling, you can pitch a ball. I wouldn’t want to be stuck with you in an elevator.) a “Yankees fan,” which sounds to me like a joke gone bad, and exactly the thing that newspapers/tv would harp on.

This is still pretty heartbreaking to me.

I would like it, however, if Democrats were on top of the spin. For example: this does seem to be mobilizing Obama, somewhat.

The other question: so you lost your supermajority. Fine. DEAL with a filibuster and beat that too. God.

The Marvelettes “Please Mr. Postman”

It’s been a long day. You need this. Other things that are amazing on YouTube: vintage Howlin’ Wolf, vintage (baby) Aretha Franklin singing “Mockingbird.” I’m doing a project that sort of involves girlgroups, and it’s fun to pretend that this is “research.”

PS. Natasha, girl, you need some Marvelettes in your life for sure.

Cowden Syndrome, you scare me.

When it comes to disease, there’s something to be said for dealing with something when you were a baby, thinking it’s gone for twenty years, and then learning that it’s a thing twenty years later. It’s very, very traumatic and I can’t wait until I have health care and can have a therapist. It’s made to mess with you in a way that’s more of a mindmess than, say, a childhood diagnosis of diabetes - something that’s traumatic and then you have to deal with it. Better that, maybe, then twenty years of assuming you’re fine.

I suppose I will start a blog about The Pursuit of Healthiness: mentally and physically.

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT STORYTELLING

I recommend renting Cadillac Records - the flick that came out in 2008 about Chess Records. It starts with Muddy Waters and ends with Etta James and in between, there’s a whole history of the blues in America.

It’s not a perfect movie by any means. Partially because the amount of characters in the film - Muddy, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James, Chuck Berry (a DELIGHTFUL Mos Def), Leonard Chess and his brother Phil - could all have their own movies and they’d all be pretty amazing. A Chess Records HBO miniseries may have been a better bet. When I had to go to a press conference* for this film for work, which was one of the most fun ones by far, and partially because I could listen to Jeffrey Wright talk all day, he put it accurately: “these guys are superheroes.” And they are.

But there’s something kind of magical about this film (and, note: frankly I think you can turn it off the minute Beyonce comes on screen - not because she’s bad, per se, but Etta just sucks the momentum from the flick - my theory is that B got the funding, her role got expanded, and the film lost a little magic), and that’s in total evidence here, as Howlin’ Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright) face off.

This is a GREAT SCENE in film. You want Howlin vs. Muddy the whole film. You want the Howlin’ Wolf story after you see this (he’s only in for ten minutes, tops). All of the songs in this film were performed by the actors (so that’s Walker doing his best Wolf - pretty good, right?), and I think Darnell Martin (the director, who, by the way, is a woman) does a great job of having every performance in the film mean something, where there’s something at stake.* You get the idea of Howlin’ and Muddy’s one-upmanship and rivalry here. You could build a story around it. I would’ve given Walker an Oscar for this performance; I really think it’s a great one. I was unfamiliar with Walker previous to this film and shocked to realize that he was British.

You know how I know the film worked? I couldn’t really get it out of my head. I went out and bought the Howlin’ Wolf biography and his albums.

Funny enough, when I had to go to a Precious screening for work, at the after-thing, Jeffrey Wright was there. (Andre Leon Talley was there too, in a jacket that had bedazzled/glittered on it I AM THE AMERICAN DREAM on the back.) We had a quick conversation at the bar where I was like, “dude, Cadillac Records, I got the Howlin’ Wolf biography in my purse right now! Thanks for the film.” It was nice to be able to share that. And - honestly, I was a little drunk - so I’m not sure whether he was referring to Precious (I think he was) or Cadillac when he compared the film to “going 36 rounds with Jack Johnson.” That phrasing, though: so on target.

*At the press conference, Columbus Short, who played Little Walter and a dancer-turned-actor whose previous stuff included Stomp the Yard and Studio 60, seemed to be frothing at the bit to say hey, I’m an actor. Put me in good stuff. He’s right, too - he’s great in this movie and clearly talented. It’s such a bummer that the films aren’t out there, as far as I can tell. (I feel the same way about Anthony Mackie and hopefully The Hurt Locker helps as it appears to be helping.)

* Glee, which has so many musical numbers, has little-to-no punch with them because when do they mean something? I thought Kristin Chenoweth doing “Maybe This Time” in her guest spot killed because in that context - boozy ex-star trying to make a comeback - it worked so well.

Why is this incredibly applicable to a variety of female political candidates? Is it sexist or not? Is it on target? (Interestingly enough, YouTubers tried to compare Palin and Tracy Flick, too - which feels like a stretch to me…)

This James Carroll piece on Misogynist Massachusetts from The Daily Beast is on target, too.

“Every hour, I’m inundated with articles, videos, and middling indie-rock albums, all of which I excitedly wade through for a few minutes or so before moving on to the next distraction. As a result, my brain’s learned to treat every new piece of information as ephemeral; it latches onto words and images for a few seconds, then drops them, knowing that they can be looked up again later. I feel as though I’m seeing everything, but learning nothing.”

—

- My old pal Brian Raftery on why he’s going offline for 90 days.

I sort of understand the motivation behind this, but only moderately more than I understand people who give up coffee — which is to say, not very much at all.

(via reimer)

Ha! This is a great idea, but I think that “with practice,” to quote a dinner partner last night—who was actually talking about learning to read a newspaper online—it’s possible to be focused on creative projects and still keep up appearances on Twitter and wherever else. But are the accompanying feelings similar to those of recent coffee giver-uppers? Probably. But soon, your body forgets the addiction and doesn’t miss it.

(via veraville)

I understand this perfectly. Considering it for the month of February.

Compare and Contrast

One of my favorite album covers:

And then this one just kind of says “our music is for people who really, really like Lord of the Rings,” right? The music’s already fey enough…