ladymisskirroyale

Boiling Melting Pot

Nov 192012

Did any of you read the article about the New Disco in yesterday’s New York Times? As a rock nerdist who will admit to loving dance music, I thought I would check the scene out.

Holy Crap! I thought that Psy’s “Gangnam Style” was a record of excess, but The Crystal Ark put that video to shame. And it’s so much cooler.

I admit that I continue to lament the end of LCD Soundsystem, so have had to make do by playing my “12” Eighties Electro Pop” compilations and old Deee-Lite cds. And I’m aware that RTH is not typically a place to hyperventilate about dance music. But check out the new video by The Crystal Ark. I think you’ll find at least a little something to love.

Note the signs and signifiers of music from our cultural past. How about the “Letting Your Freak Flag Fly” multicultural and pansexual ethos? If Van Halen is worthy of a Critical Upgrade, maybe you, too, can enjoy this bands’ Unfulfilled Fashion Ideas? There are even uniforms! Yeah, yeah, yeah, the old “cello or guitar = stand in for a woman” has now been updated. Even tonyola had probably never seen keyboards like this!

If you dare, check out this earlier video. It features zombies, visual commentary on the NY lifestyle, and some very beautiful animal costumes. Equus, eat your heart out!

I Can Name That Tune in…

Posted by ladymisskirroyale

Nov 022012

Mr. Royale is painting again. He usually listens to music in his studio, which is through the garage and around a corner. I can often hear tidbits of songs coming from his man cave; the music is often “Dashiki Jazz” or big atmospheric instrumental music. Tonight, all I could hear was a little electronic noise that kept repeating. That one repeated sound (which was actually two electronic bleeps) made the song pretty easy to identify, even at distance.

You could call this the “Concert Sound System Phenomenon”: You know, when you are waiting for show to begin and even through the ambient noise, you are able to make out a few notes of the song being played over the venue’s PA.

Remember that old standard, “I Can Name That Song in ____ Notes”? Are there other songs that you can identify just by the repetition of one or two notes?

Wedding Bell Blues

Posted by ladymisskirroyale

Oct 222012

Mr. Royale and I just returned from a wedding in Seattle and while the ceremony was beautiful and the reception all sorts of fun, I felt a little let down about the music. The processional and ceremony included the newer standards: Saint Saen‘s “The Swan,” the theme from Braveheart, and Bach‘s “Ave Maria.” The bride did spice things up by adding a little something new: the theme from Downton Abbey played by a harpist and cellist. Tasteful, discrete, and soothing. Things got a little more exciting during the reception when the bride and groom performed their first dance as a tango to a Gotan Project instrumental.

While we thoroughly enjoyed the celebration, we got to dreaming about all sorts of non-traditional musical choices. Of course, we would not have wanted to have spoiled the bride and groom’s dream day, and realize that one person’s interesting wedding music is another person’s God Speed! You Black Emperor, but we did sort of wonder what would have happened if the harpist had started in on something more “Seattle,”

Have you attended any weddings with truly inspired processional/recessional music? Do you have any great musical wedding reception stories to share?

Lunacy and Sorrow* and The Great American Album

Posted by ladymisskirroyale

Oct 012012

I just finished reading The World According To Garp, by John Irving. Again. This book has meant so much to me that I toted it across country to grad school and then, many years later, moved a much more bedraggled paperback copy back to California. I’ve re-read it at least five times. My family has humored me in my love of All Things Related To The World According To Garp (and by extension, John Irving): my sister allowed me to drag her to Exeter Academy to try to find locations, such as the Jenny Fields Infirmary; my family buys me hardback versions of Irving’s new novels (we are purveyors of the paperback and the used book stores); and they have tolerated my discussion of such John Irving deep cuts as Trying To Save Piggy Sneed or the awful The Fourth Hand. When I met Mr. Royale, I was happy to find a paperback copy of Garp among his possessions; if he had not liked the novel, it would have been a deal breaker.

1978’s Garp, initially entitled *Lunacy and Sorrow, is one of those amazing books that everyone should read (don’t try to get out of the 609 page count by watching the 1982 George Roy Hill film starring Robin Williams as Garp. It’s too cute). It is one of my nominations for The Great American Novel. It includes those quintessential American themes: Sex, Violence, Death, Love, Family, Religion (although in this case, through political causes). In fact, I could make a case of Garp also being The Great (Rock ‘n Roll) American Novel: the focus on lust, the contrast of being an outsider with the need to be accepted by a group, a sensitive main character who communicates his feelings about the world through art, the desire and confusion about fame.

Maybe for you, the Great American Novel is Moby Dick. Or The Great Gatsby. Or The Sun Also Rises, The Grapes of Wrath, Look Homeward, Angel, or (another personal contender) Don Delillo‘s Underworld.

But what is The Great American Album? Which album best exemplifies those American themes? When I asked Mr. Royale this question, his first response was Exile On Main Street. But the Rolling Stones? Do you have to be American to have created an American record?

I look forward to your discourse. Typed, double-spaced, with appropriate margins and font size. Consult Strunk and White for further details.

Please Explain…

Posted by ladymisskirroyale

Aug 242012

I am becoming increasingly comfortable with my middle age-self. My ears don’t work as well as they used to (ie, years of loud music has taken a toll on my hearing) and my body aches more before, during, and after exercise. I like to go to bed on the early side. I listen regularly to NPR. I’ve also come to realize that I am part of the target demographic for Hear Music and have been enjoying a recent release (purchased at Starbucks, natch) called Just Tell Me What You Want: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac.

I also like to cook and bake, and as I’ve aged, I’ve been swapping out my crappy baking pans for items that are a little nicer. Which led me, last week, to the flagship Williams-Sonoma store, in Union Square, San Francisco. This place is four floors of culinary and gastronomic heaven. I get weak in the knees as I cross the threshold. And as I was floating around the pots, pans, utensils, stemware, dishtowels, fragranced dish soap, and table clothes, I realized that the store soundtrack for my reverie was…

The Scorpions. Followed by Def Leppard.

WTF???

Could someone please explain this? What was the manager thinking? Do I represent a new shift in the target audience for W-S? Was this an errant stock boy on a hair metal lark?

Rocklibs, Part 2

Posted by ladymisskirroyale

Aug 112012

Here in the Hallowed Halls of Rock, we tend to be bit snobbish about our music. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), at times this highly developed musical and cultural acumen manifests in rock criticism that ranges from critical downgrades to lambasting to general snarkiness. But I am also aware that we at Rock Town Hall are a talented bunch: among us are musicians, lyricists, humorists, writers, fashionistas, and general pundits. In the spirit of healing, love, and showoffingness I believe that the readers of this site are able to improve on some of the lesser developed music that our tender ears have had to experience. It is time to help some of those less fortunate and ultimately help ourselves.

Below are portions from three songs that most of you will recognize. Your job, in Rocklibs style, is to replace (ie, improve) one or more words in each line. The replacements must reflect the same number of syllables and make grammatical sense. Extra points to you if you are able to change the entire tone or style of the song through your choices. For example, you could zombify it, urbanize it, or have the song (somehow) reflect the Rock ‘n Roll dream.

There is a Rock Town Hall prize awarded for the best effort, as judged by our fine splitter of hairs, Mr. Moderator. Ready, set, go!

Song 1:
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitis, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night.
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
This could be Heaven or this could be Hell.”
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way.
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say…

Super Bad

Posted by ladymisskirroyale

Jul 242012

I feel bad about my record collection. As a follow up to the recent post about favorite b-sides, where the only 45 a and b sides that I could think of involved The Beatles, I decided to hunt down my vinyl. This meager stack of albums, extended plays and 45s were all left over from my college djing days at WRIU in Kinston, Rhode Island. Amid The Field Mice, The Coctails, and various British compilations I found one treasure I had forgotten I own:

I’m trying to recall where and when I purchased this 1973 masterpiece. I’m guessing I bought it due to the kitschy album cover and that it was an actual K-Tel record. Faux spray paint spells out “20 Original Hits – 20 Original Stars” and in the background you can make out dripping letters that say “Funky,” “Say Brother,” “What’s Goin’ On,” “Soul Train,” and “What Happenin’?” For a white girl who grew up in Arizona, moved to Northern California, relocated to Rhode Island, and then spent a few more years in Fairfield County, Connecticut, I pretty much fit the definition of honky. But in the early ’90s, when I was at WRIU, I significantly expanded my musical horizons. First of all, when I started on the Friday night 3:00-6:00 am shift, I was followed on Saturday morning by a gal who grew up in Greenwich Village and whose show featured rap music. Second, at WRIU, I could peruse the considerable stacks of old vinyl and listen to anything that looked interesting in one of the listening rooms (and avoid embarrassment if I was checking out something potentially uncool). And lastly, I would go on Salvation Army record buying sprees with my dj friends and between the lot of us, we could usually spot some great things. (Hence the acquisition of my Muppet Show album. Trust me, “Lidia the Tattooed Lady” is worth every penny of the 50 cents I spent for that record.)

Anyways, I digress. The point is, I’m guessing I picked up Super Bad in the early ’90s, when I was starting to further expand my musical horizons. I’d always loved Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” and Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft,” but also recognized some of the other artists or original tracks (I had written in pen next to Timmy Thomas’ “Why Can’t We Live Together” – ‘Sade covered this’). Now, about 20 years later, I can skim the track list and feel a bit more cultured. But reacquainting myself with this collection, it’s brought to mind some other questions:

What the heck was K-Tel International?
Do you have any of this organization’s fine collections of “Original Hits!”? Honestly, can you beat Super Bad?
Why does the 1974 UK release of this album include 24 songs and a totally different track listing?
Who the heck was the art director for K-Tel?

Do you have the answer to any of these questions? Or would you like to wax nostalgically about some petunia in your musical onion patch? I would love to hear from you.

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