ladymisskirroyale

ladymisskirroyale

What Is It About Roadrunner?

 Posted by
Mar 012013
 

Jonathan-Richman--The-Mo-Roadrunner-336224

Last week, I was in England visiting friends and family, and during my journeys several songs came to mind relating to the places I was traveling. You may be able to imagine what was going through my head at Baker Street Station, Waterloo Station, Victoria Station, and along The Strand.

On my flight back to the US, I picked up a copy of The Guardian, and came across an article that also referenced music and place, “Beltway Belter.”

“In 2007 Laura Barton wrote an ode to a Jonathan Richman song. Inspired, Massachusetts now wants it as a state anthem. What is it about Roadrunner?”

In the article, Ms. Barton mentions about her previous newspaper piece, for which she traveled along good ol’ Rt. 128 to visit the locations mentioned in the song. Apparently, the article has since spurred a bill that “seeks to anoint Roadrunner the official rock song of Massachusetts,” and if passed, will join the other official Massachusetts songs (a folk song, a glee club song, a polka, and The Official Song).

So tonight I did a little web research and found the original article, a pleasant foray into music obsession that I believe many of us can relate to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/jul/20/popandrock5

But wait, there’s more. If you thought Jonathan Richman had the nomination for Official Rock Song of Massachusetts wrapped up, you can Dream On: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/27/roadrunner-massachusetts-dream-on-aerosmith

What do you think? I’m reaching out to you, bostonhistorian, misterioso, diskojoe, and others, to help us understand, weigh the evidence, and sort out with this controversy of Official Rock Song of Massachusetts.

And while you all are mulling over all this, does your state have an official song? Apparently, Oklahoma locked on to the Flaming Lips‘ “Do You Realize” in 2009; that’s a lovely song, but is it worthy enough to be official? Does it match Ohio’s “Hang On Sloopy”? Or Washington’s “Louie, Louie”?

RTH, help us determine, ONCE AND FOR ALL, what should Massachusett’s Official Rock Song be, AND what is the best official state song?

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Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful

 Posted by
Jan 272013
 

Earlier this week, Mr. Moderator admitted to a musical version of beer goggles: listening with his groin. On the thread, I reminded him of a conversation we had been having about an artist, and he responded,

The woman who’s videos you were sending me looked like jailbait. And I don’t like spiders and snakes! The music that woman was doing had some merit, as I worked to get myself back into my 22-year-old Kate Bush appreciating self, but there was a troubling line for me to get past.

Gentlemen and Ladies, I now admit to you my girl crush: Grimes.

I first heard about Grimes from Simon Reynolds. Mr. Royale and I had gone to hear him discuss his 2011 book, Retromania. Audience discussion led to questions about the future direction of popular music, and one of the artists he mentioned was Grimes and her “post-internet” music of a multitude of references.

I wasn’t swayed by the first few singles (to quote another wag, “Cranes with a laptop”). But then came the new album, Visions and this video:

Move over, Bjork, there’s another beautiful weirdo out there! Lady Gaga, here comes another stylista! She is a Mark Ryden painting brought to flesh.

Mr. Royale and I purchased Visions, and it’s been on constant play. While Mr. Moderator referenced Kate Bush, I don’t find Grimes’ vocals quite as histrionic as that other musical temptress. I’m reminded more of the vocal experimentation of Jane Siberry, Liz Frasier, Laurie Anderson, Minnie Ripperton, and Hello Kitty (if she had a mouth). She doesn’t just always sing in that “little girl lost” vocal style, and I’m mesmerized by the different ways she alters and layers her vocals.

And then there is the music. I hear Depeche Mode, OMD, Aphex Twin, Heaven 17, Dead Can Dance, Kraftwerk, and other industrial and Warp artists. The music is mostly synthesizer/electronic, but with some guitars, sirens, bells, and Medieval instrumentation thrown in for good measure. I like a great deal of dance music and electronica, so Grimes’ beats and sounds make me feel very happy. (“Visions” has become my go-to album for when I’m having a bad day.)

Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) is also interesting to listen in interview. Here she is in a 2012 interview with ABC:

She has a dance background. She is also a creator of visual art. And other interviews indicate she is trying to address some deeper issues.

Here’s another track off of Visions. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

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We Are Family

 Posted by
Jan 212013
 

Today is my younger sister’s birthday (Happy Birthday Younger Misskirroyale!). She is off skiing and crashing parties at Sundance this weekend, and who knows what sort of music she may be listening to.

But I can tell you a lot about what sort of music she was listening to when she was younger. As you may recall, I’ve been slowly carting my old vinyl from our parents’ home to mine. And there I was faced with the harsh reality of her teenage purchasing interests and power. Granted, my taste was not fabulous, but I can take pride that my adolescent record collection did not include EVERY BARRY MANILOW RECORD. It has been pretty easy to sort out her albums from mine. Loverboy? That goes to my sister. Carpenters? Either my brother or sister. Led Zep: that’s mine. Rumors? Ha! I had traded that with her for Billy Squier.

As we’ve become older, we still enjoy music and buy quite a bit of it. I can count on my sis purchasing any re-release of an ’80s Top 40 collection. She enjoys Mr. Paltrow and band, finding his music relaxing. She has now started buying Opera.

My sister is a mere 18 months younger than me. We both took piano lessons, ballet lessons, and were dragged to our father’s choral concerts. We listened to the same crappy Top 40 radio in the ’70s. We love The Eagles. (Hotel California – hmmm, that’s hers.)

Do you have similar head-scratching moments when you wonder, based on musical interests, how you can be related to a sibling? Granted, I love my sister very much, but I will not listen to a Barry Manilow record!

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A New Record(player)

 Posted by
Dec 282012
 

I succumbed to the lure of a photo. A friend posted a photo of the bright pink Crosley Portable Turntable (with built-in speakers) that was offered through his store, and I decided it was time to get off my duff, take the bull by the horns and all those other anti-procrastion messages, and get me and Mr. Royale a record player. I didn’t order a pink one but instead, a respectable mellow blue one.

So yesterday morning, Mr. Royale opened the parcel and his eyes lit up. We both started to do the Hustle, the Madison, the Electric Slide, and the Pony around the room realizing the joys that were in store.

Today we gave our new little turntable a spin. We started with my K-Tel Super Bad album. Not only was it wondrous to listen to the crackles and pops of Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft” but the nostalgia of the whole playing records process was overwhelming. Honestly, I haven’t touched a record player in at least 15 years, so it was a surprise to me to remember that weight of the tone arm, the process of aligning the tracks, the dialing up and down of the volume knob. It’s a hardcore drug.

Sure the sound is not the greatest: it’s tinny and I could use much more volume. The records that I have here at home, which I toted from one end of the US to another, could use cleaning. But I’m already dreaming. I’m thinking of all my vinyl, still in storage at my parents’ home just down the road from here. It’s time to give a new listen to Live At Budokan, Fly Like An Eagle, Nursery Crimes, True Colors, Yes Songs, I Remember Tommy, and the assorted cut-outs that I picked up when I worked at a Scottsdale record store in the early ’80s.

I’m already thinking of some better speakers, some good record cleaner, and which records I want to listen to next.

The thought of this brings me immense joy.

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Chooglin’?

 Posted by
Dec 032012
 

Keep on chooglin’!

Periodically, Mr. Moderator likes to use a vocabulary term that I don’t fully understand: “chooglin’.” In my best, earnest Honors English Student way, I’ve been doing research and trying to understand this term. I’ve been listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s song, “Keep On Chooglin’.” I’ve been looking on the web. I’ve been cross referencing musicology sources. I have been trying to overlook the definition included in the Urban Dictionary.

So…I’m understanding it like this: a rhythm like a train, a steady shuffling beat, a sexual swagger. But listening to the songs included in the WFMU list of other choogglin’ music, I’m left with even more questions. Is the emphasis on the 1 and 3 beats, or the 2 and 4? Does the tempo matter? Is this music that makes you want to shake your hips (Charlie Rich style)? There are certain songs that have a sort of train-tempo that I’m a complete sucker for (“Yin and Yang the Flower Pot Man” by Love and Rockets, “Snail Head” by Throwing Muses), but are THEY chooglin?

Help me, dear members of the Hall, to understand this term.

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Bjork, AKA WTF

 Posted by
Nov 202012
 

Here’s the latest Bjork video:

Hey, I was really into Bjork’s first few albums and continue to think that the later Vespertine is beautiful. But her work after 2001 has become weirder and weirder. I blame it on Matthew Barney, her paramour since about that time. I’m often willing to give odd visual artists a high-five or just a pass, but Matthew Barney’s work is just plain pretentious. (The dude is best known for his art film series, The Cremaster Cycle. Naming many, many hours of film after a muscle that controls testicular contractions just about says it all.)

Please, someone help me find something good to say about Bjork’s increasingly non-Human Behavior.

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