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Doesn’t really seem correct to type “Happy Veterans Day”, but my best regards to the veterans among us. And a fervent wish that we could stop making veterans with such great carelessness, too also.
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Happy birthday to Southern Beale, too, even though I’m mad jealous that the gods left the birthday kitten I asked for on her doorstep!
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So, what’s on the agenda for the evening and/or the weekend?
Bus stop, wet day
An early edition of Song of the Week from Can’t Explain…..
Margo Guryan, “Under My Umbrella” (1968)
Awww, it’s getting rainy around here. Maybe snowy where you are. Time for staying indoors more often, hot chocolate and marshmallows, games of Scrabble and old black and white movies, that kind of thing. This Margo Guryan song fits the mood pretty well. Guryan was a terrific songwriter from Far Rockaway. Her life and musical orientations changed in all kinds of interesting ways once she heard the Beach Boys song “God Only Knows.” I happened to discover her and this song courtesy of the great music blog blowupdoll, always worth a visit if you happen to find this sort of thing up your alley, as I do.
Sunday songs:
Julie London, “Sunday Mornin'” (written by Margo Guryan)
Spanky & Our Gang, “Sunday Will Never Be the Same” (this act also covered Margo Guryan’s “Sunday Mornin'”)
Velvet Underground, “Sunday Morning” (not the Margo Guryan song)
More at Can’t Explain
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Doug again here: wait this isn’t the under my umbrella the title refers to. I didn’t think those guys were called Margo Guryan, but you never know.
Monday Morning Open Thread
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Happy Monday, everybody. From NYMag‘s Daily Intel:
Occupy Wall Street protesters are putting their money where their beliefs are: Demonstrators passed a motion over the weekend to spend $19,200 to buy and erect 20 large tents, despite tents being prohibited by park Zuccotti Park rules, am New York reports. But protesters will be taking to the tents to brave the cold months nonetheless.
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The order for large 20-by-20 and 16-by-16 tents have an eye towards safety, too: “We don’t want anything bad or unsavory happening behind closed doors,” protester spokesman Jeff Smith said….
Another Open Thread
Pants Off Dance Off
Alright, screw this. I slept in until 8 this morning, then had a nap from 5-6, worked out on the $400 towel rack (the exercise bike) for an hour, and then had a coffee at 9. I lost my buzz cooking for everyone, and am now hopelessly awake. Sooooo. Let’s play some music. Here’s what I want you to do. I’m going to create two categories for you- SONGS I LOVE and GAY ANTHEMS. Put a link to either a song you love or a gay anthem in the comments. This will help me make playlists and will be entertaining. I’ll start. Here are two songs I absolutely love:
Here are two songs I would consider gay anthems (and as such, fucking awesome late night music):
Have fun. I’m excited to see what you have to add.
Song of the week
Ferron, “I Never Was to Africa” (1984)
From one of the great break-up albums, Shadows on a Dime. I’m not normally one for touchy-feely folkie fare, particularly of such an arguably Kumbayah new-age bent (fair warning, all), but I think Ferron is something of a special case. Her imagery is tender and sharply observed; the line here about the synchronicity of saying “I love you” to future partners is just great, and she tosses it off so casually too. I saw her a few times way back and remember her as a terrific performer, funny and with a knack for storytelling and even for stunts like getting the crowd to sing along. It may sound cloying, but trust me, it was anything but. Maybe you had to be there. If you were, by some chance, these songs are likely to bring it all roaring back.
About last week: “Snowin’ in Brooklyn”
More stuff at Can’t Explain.
You’re a naughty one, saucy Jack
Simple lines intertwining…life imitates art:
It’s already been called the worst album of all time, this unholy union of Lou Reed and Metallica, the multi-headed hydra of unpleasantness known colloquially, though not fondly, as Loutallica.
They’ve united to present an 85-minute misery delivery system called “Lulu,” loosely based on a series of German expressionist plays that chronicled the adventures of a prostitute-turned-slave murdered by Jack the Ripper.
Two words.