House of Swank

Aging Gracefully

Just got back from seeing the movie Young@Heart.

I thought it would be a fun couple of hours watching senior citizens sing punk rock songs.

It was that and so much more.

I laughed, I cried, I promised my Sweetie that when we retire we can move to Northampton, MA, so that he can join the choir.

It really is a movie you should go see. 

First, you WILL be entertained.  Because it is impossible to not be entertained watching a room of septuagenarians and octogenarians learning to sing the song "Schizoprenia" by Sonic Youth.

You will also be inspired.  Because it is impossible to not be inspired while watching seniors suffering from cancer, congestive heart failure and kidney stones (among other things) pushing themselves so they can make it to practice and perform one more time - because they don't want to let their friends in the choir done.  It is impossible to not be inspired when the music director is ready to scrap "Yes We Can" but the choir insists on keeping it in because it's such a great song, and they bust their asses to learn the song and they rock it.

You will also be touched.  Because if the performance of the choir touches the prisoners at the local jail so deeply you can see the emotion on their faces, it will also touch you.

At points during the movie I found myself looking forward to my senior years, because then I could do something cool like be part of the Young@Heart Chorus.  When I'm 92 I want to be the only resident of my nursing home who has a key to the front door because my choir practices keeps me out until after the staff is asleep.

But the point is you've got to live your life now.  And continue living it now.  Making art and making friends and pushing into things that may seem outside of your comfort zone.  Even if what you do isn't perfect, if you do it from the heart it's beautiful and people will love it.

On a side note - any time I see senior citizens out and about I am amazed as to how young and vibrant and alive my parents and my in-laws are.  They all carry their age well.  My Dad's just lucky that Young@Heart is on the opposite side of the country from him, because if they were local I think I'd force him to join.  And I'd tell the director to perform "Do Ya' Think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart, and my Dad would be the talk of the town and the hit of the show.

Girls Who Like Girls Who Like Boys Who Like....

Sweetie and I are headed to Karaoke from Hell this evening.

More for him than for me - he's the singer of the family.

But, get enough cocktails into me and sometimes I can be coerced into doing a little Karaoke.  So I wanted to be prepared.

I thought I'd go with my old standby tonight - These Boots Are Made For Walking - thanks to google video and lyric websites you can actually practice a song at home before making a fool of yourself in front of strangers.  And, apparently the more cocktails I have the better my voice gets, because I just wasn't feeling it tonight.

I wanted to have a song at the ready, so went through the catalog to see what I could come up with.

What I learned is that a lot of good songs I'd be willing to sing are written by guys being sung to or about girls.  So I'd have to go lesbian to sing the song.  Then there are songs like Lola or Walk on the Wild Side - about guys mistakenly hooking up with cross dressers - and it really gets all sorts of sick and twisted to be a girl singing those songs.  Really limits the options.

I've picked my song.  Punk Rock Girl by The Dead Milkmen.  I'm willing to go lesbian for that one.  And pogo myself crazy, so no one will see what that crazy singer looked like.

Words Cannot Describe

Just click play.

This is also worth watching.

And you MUST watch the first 15 seconds of this.

Thanks to Jennifer for introducing me to the Young@Heart chorus.  They're coming out with a movie.

Bigger Is No Longer Better

With the TV in the basement we needed music in the living room.  Due to a very convoluted process and reasoning Sweetie and I decided to buy a speaker system for the iPod, which would allow us to take Sweetie's boom box to Goodwill.  (Therein lies the convoluted part... he had won the boom box as a prize, so he had to have a prize to replace it).

Anyhow, we ended up with a great set of speakers that, while not the best thing in the world, gives a great sound quality and fills the upstairs well, especially for the money.  But even though it's playing in the background I'm still having a tough time getting my brain wrapped around the idea that something so small can be so good.

Once upon a time you needed a BIG stereo to have the good sign.  My stereo took me several years to build.  The CD changer was a 21st birthday present from my parents.  Over time I added the receiver, speakers, tape deck and turntable.  It can be linked into the TV.  And takes a large amount of room to house it all.  And now I can do all that with a tiny little thing.  Flabbergasting.

But I'm not getting rid of the old one.  It will do well in the basement, and is a fair amount of money to just throw away.  Plus, I'm never giving up my turntable.  Ever.  No matter what.  Until I decide otherwise and then I take it all back, so don't think you can use these words against me.

Now THAT'S A Cover Tune

If you know my musical tastes at all, you know that my fetish is for the cover tune.  The stranger the better, as long as it still maintains some sort of musical integrity to it.

I thought I'd seen how far the boundaries could be pushed, because how can you go farther than a quartet of cellos covering Metallica?

The answer:  A classically trained choir of teenage girls performing German industrial music

Although their covers of The Cure and Radiohead are even better.

Merry Christmas to me, guess where the iTunes gift certificate from my Mom and Dad is going?

Aging

Sweetie and I went to see Aimee Mann's Christmas show tonight.  It was, in a word, spectacular.  To sum it up in one moment:  the story of Chanukah sung to the tune of "Ring of Fire."

Anyhow, it was a variety show of sorts, featuring different musicians and such throughout the night.  Many of The Decemberists appeared with some guy from Eugene and Scott McCaughey.  Who, if he had died his hair brown and lost a few pounds could TOTALLY pass for the lead singer of the Young Fresh Fellows and Minus 5, member of Tuatara, who is sometimes referred to as the fifth member of REM.  And this sort of musical gig would TOTALLY be up his alley.  Because it was TOTALLY him.  Damn, I feel old now.  And like I need to dye my hair, because last time I saw him live was 10 years ago and there was NO gray in his hair at that time.

In happier news, I found myself a girl-crush tonight.  Her name is Nellie McKay, and I think she's a cross between Tori Amos and Amy Sedaris.  She was fun and talented this evening, which prompted me to do a little searching on her tonight.  Turns out I'd seen her on Letterman before, and was madly in love with the performance, so I think one of her CDs is in my future.

Under the Covers

If you know me, and know my taste in music, you know that I am obsessed with the cover tune.  Here are two reasons why:

A new favorite group

and

Ben Folds channels Dr Dre (NSFW)

Double Take

I'll admit I wasn't paying that close of attention, but on first glance of this post my first thought was, "What the hell is the lead singer of Concrete Blonde doing in government?"

Oh, wait, Janet, not Johnette. 

But how cool would it be if Johnette Napolitano DID become part of the government?  I could totally go for a Rollins/Napolitano ticket in 2008.  Jello Biafra would, of course, need a spot in the administration, but I'm not 100% sure where.  I'm thinking Press Secretary.

This could turn into a very fun game, who would you put in the Rollins/Napolitano white house?  (other nominations will be accepted for President and Vice President, but it's going to take some compelling evidence for me to give up on Hank for Prez.  Even though I'm pretty sure he's too smart to take the job)

iMpressive!

iTunes astounds me.

I expected it to be able to "read" the vast majority of our CDs, but some of the ones I thought would cause issue it imports with no problem.

Old CD by a virtually unknown band?  Piece o' cake
Promotional CD made available only to radio stations and other media outlets?  Not a problem.
Promotional CD single that some friend randomly picked up somewhere that she passed along to me because she didn't know who Iggy Pop was that didn't even come with a cover?  Bring it on!

Really, the only issues its had are recordings of Sweetie's college groups, and mix CDs made by friends.

Now if it could just magically import and catalog them all I'd be a happy girl.

Pardon the Interruption

In my teen years the car stereo was all about the sub-woofer.  Especially if you were a boy and/or were into the hair bands.  The bigger and badder your sub-woofer, the better.  That way while you drove down the street everyone within a five block radius of your car would know what you were listening to.

Personally, I could give a crap about the sub-woofer, but I humored the boys in my life for whom it was important.  Because some lessons you learn young.

However, there was one friend's sub-woofer that had a very special place in my heart.  It wasn't often called into duty, but when it was it was a glorious thing.  Because it would mean a war of the sub-woofer was underway.  And while those other boys were playing those hair bands that were part of the sub-woofer code my friend would pop in the Bach or Rachmaninoff and crank it up to eleven. 

The other boys were always torn between the confusion of "what the heck is that noise I've never heard before, it is surely not a hair band" and the wonder of what a seriously cool sub-woofer it was.

I was reminded of this memory while driving back and forth to Portland this last week.  Because when you've got the do-hickey that plays the iPod through your car stereo it appears that sometimes your signals cross wires with someone else's signals, and you get a little surprise through the radio.  I'm curious as to if it's a true cross, and they hear my song, or if they've just got the more bitchen system and can drown mine out.  I like to believe it's crossed signals, as the timing has worked out such that the driver of the other car would have a "What the heck is that noise I've never heard before coming through my car speakers" moment for themselves.