July 2005 Archives
Various things I'd meant to write about at greater length (or just wanted to pass along), culled from my other reading:
- H. Grant Theis, founder of WPRB-FM (originally WPRU, transmitted through the pipes and electrical circuits of the university dorms), passed away recently. Whether or not he'd recognize today's station (physically and culturally), I'm proud to have had some small part in carrying on that legacy.
- Apparently, military leadership starts with safety pins.
- Spelling out the differences between "big E" and "little E" evangelism -- despite the grandstanding, a solid read to get some perspective into an important subculture in contemporary America.
- Orlowski on Dvorak and [the lack of] Creative[ity in the] Commons. A good piece to breeze through during a coffee or lunch break.
- A final chapter in the BORF story (at least for now).
The Bravery -- I'll admit up front that I've heard only a couple songs on XM -- so I'm probably not qualified to write yet. The Brit-press seems to love this stuff, although the NME reviewer does show a healthy skepticism. There's something enjoyable (if trite) about "An Honest Mistake" -- perhaps the Bravery is the flashy appetizer to Interpol's meatloaf in the culinary world of Brooklyn 80s revisionism. What I'm really trying to figure out, however, is what really makes the Bravery any better or more marketable than vintage material like For Against or Repetition or Dance Chapter (aside from the obvious factors of timing and a magic promo budget). Seriously,why can't the independent music scene delight in its history and then move forward with that inspiration? Right now, I feel like the early 80s are being strip-mined into submission.
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Saint Etienne -- Tales from Turnpike House / Up the Wooden Hills (Sanctuary 2005). Yes, I broke down and ordered the import on-line. The main disk is standard issue, smoother and breezier than Finisterre (which had some favorable glitch/buzz/whirr moments in the mix). Other reviews suggest this is a "concept album" -- but I haven't been able to focus enough on lyrics yet while scanning it at work. I'd listen to the bickering of "Relocate" (featuring David Essex -- of "Rock On" fame) all night long, though.
Anyway, the real treat here is the bonus disk (again -- check out Fairfax High sometime if you have doubts), with four demented yet sophisticated children's songs -- plus an odd half-spoken bit and a slow number to lay the kids down for the night. Guitars are higher in the mix than on the main album, with a Sesame Street style count-up in English, French, and Spanish, a palate-cleansing Perrey-Kingsley type number ("Barnyard Brouhaha") and a nod to slinky surf guitar and U2 ("Excitation" and "Elevation" are peas in a pod). The brilliant "Let's Build A Zoo" blends Noah's Ark, Really Rosie, and Simon & Garfunkel with a modified Funky Drummer to create the feelgood playground theme song of the summer. Fourteen years in, and they're still delivering the goods. Wow.
Update, July 12, 5:30pm: Marybeth Peters does it again. Arguing that a change would help new legit services compete with "piracy" (consistent with Grokster) and cut off the claims of double dipping by the licensors, Peters updated her plea for reform of the music licensing system. More updates as I get a chance to read the other testimony from today's session.
One of the thornier issues floating around in the music world is whether there's a way to rationalize the copyright regime associated with pre-recorded music. There are two copyrights to every piece of recorded music (composition and sound recording) and numerous competing interests when it comes to the use of that recorded music in other settings.
The podcasting fad/phenomenon has brought attention to a fundamental flaw in traditional copyright law -- the breakdown of "distribution" and "public performance" as separate rights in the digital universe.
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Marybeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights, has testified to the House Judiciary Committee that she wants to do away with compulsories once the rights are collapsed in the law. She, along with a cast of other familiar faces, will be testifying again today on music licensing reform before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Stay tuned... I won't have a chance to watch the live netcast, but I will be following up shortly. If the cards play out right, we may see some real progress toward digital convergence and rational copyright laws. Now if we could only look at rolling back the duration a little -- it's easy to change the Berne Convention, right?
UPDATE, July 14: According to the Washington Post, BORF has been arrested. Perhaps because I don't own any real property bearing BORF marks, I'm somewhat ambivalent and lean slightly toward seeing BORF as public art than graffiti. It will take some time, however, before all marks of BORF are eliminated, much like Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty. One could even argue that the fleeting nature of the work is part of its appeal (though this isn't entirely consistent with Borf's avowed Situationist influences).
ORIGINAL POST:
Even in a city as straightlaced as DC, there are some small moments of public creativity from time to time. Nothing as extensive as the murals and mosaics on the south side of Philadelphia, but still something to brighten the day...
Heading north on Connecticut Ave, as you cross the Taft Bridge, Marilyn Monroe stares down on the crowd and wonders "why's everybody in such a ----ing rush?"
Further up the street, magic-marker scrawls appear on mundane objects -- mailboxes, guardrails, newspaper boxes, road signs.
Now a week old, but still relevant... quick (low-res) photos from the Planned Parenthood of Metro Washington rally on Friday, July 1st.
Bonus: an inspired set of music from Mike (listen here):
The Soft Boys - "Sandra's Having her Brain Out"
Mesengers - "A Little bit for Sandy"
Waylon Jennings - "Sandy Sends her Best"
Larry Hall - "Sandy"
Ronny & the Daytonas - "Sandy"
Bobby Roberts - "Big Sandy"
Lesley Gore - "Summer and Sandy"
Bruce - "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"
Joe Pass - "A Summer Song"
I'll likely have more to say once the nomination fight begins in earnest...
My wife is planning to participate in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in Los Angeles this September. In order to participate, she needs to raise $1800 in donations. Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, and some visitors to the National Zoo over the Fourth of July weekend who patronized her bake sale, she's currently within $500 of the target.
UPDATE, August 1 -- The t-shirts are all gone. The donation window, however, remains open. Her latest effort is a t-shirt sale, with a design that combines her desire to bring attention to breast cancer research and her passion for yoga. If you're interested in donating directly, you can visit her Avon pledge site.
Here's the message, in her own words:
As you all may know, I am walking in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. I have moved on to Plan C of the fundraising. I started with donations, then I had a bake sale, and now I am selling tank tops.
If you would like to purchase a tank, please send me a check for $20.00 (or more, if you choose to make an additional contribution). Please make the checks payable to me as I need to deduct the cost of the making the tanks. Please include your size and color. Please give me your first, second and third color choice just in case your first selection is sold out. I have three sizes (s, m, and lg). I have fuschia in medium only, lavender in small and large, and robin's egg blue and sherbet green in all three sizes.
[REDACTED; photos of shirts were lost in the platform migration]
Thanks!
Here's my first installment of unsolicited (but hopefully recurring) music commentary:
The Coach and Four -- Unlimited Symmetry (Makeshift, 2004). Five Memphis boys who apparently spent some serious time listening to Rodan and Polvo and other melodically "an-gu-lar" guitar expressions instead of hunkering down with hometown heroes (and CCR afficianados) the Grifters. "In Transit" is the highlight, but the record is pretty consistent all the way through, standing out as a breath of fresh air in 2004-05. Thanks to XMU for putting this into the rotation.
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The Go! Team -- Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Memphis Industries, 2004). Not the Calvin Johnson & Tobi Vail "a single a month" project, but the wacky British collective mining a different lode of 80s nostalgia from all those brooklyn boys. Thankfully, these folks also refuse to wallow in the past. Raucous, joyous, playful collections of samples, guitars, pianos, and minimal vocals (from what I've heard) -- stuff that makes me want to hop up-and-down and wag my head. Now I just have to wait for my import, bonus tracks included, copy to come in via Amazon (gift certificates are a good thing).
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Saint Etienne -- Finisterre (Beggars/Mantra, 2002). Initially, I was dismayed at the cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" -- I'm pretty sure I labeled it "sacrilege" in the fall of 1991. I never would have given them a second chance until I heard "So Tough" a couple times in a row at a friend's fifth-story walk-up in NYC in 1993 or so. The combination of subtle beats, creative samples, and Sarah Cracknell's vocals floating over the top have been a mainstay of my record collection ever since. Their latest record, "Tales from Turnpike House," has just been released in the UK, meaning it will be about six months before it's reasonably affordable here in Washington, DC. Anyway, "Finisterre" is one of those CDs that keeps falling into my work bag, something that engages my mind while also receding into the background at the right moments. It's consistent with the overall, breezy-without-being-affected Etienne vibe ... if there weren't a separate genre with the name already, I'd be happy to describe this record as "intelligent dance music."
I suppose it was only a matter of time (no pun intended) before these kinds of stories started popping up -- first blackouts, now the World Series...
Birth of a New Nation (Boston Globe)
How much longer until the city of broad shoulders (and lovable losers and pale hose) joins the party?
