PopCornucopia

Your days are numbered

2012-02-11T16:40:00.000-08:00

No argument here
This song, and Philly soul in general always gives me the chills. The extended jam on this, throwing in the kitchen sink of orchestration, is aggressively good.
Seasons of love, Kdrama style
As much as I love the Asian Americans reppin' hard on Glee (and the many absercise reps Harry Shum Jr. must do), as far as musical based television, I've momentarily defected from diaspora and come over to the dark side of the mother continent. If you want to see Asian faces singing and dancing, but with solid writing and REAL character development, look no further than What's Up. This is one of my favorite shows of the moment and its available with English subs. The finale was last week, and now I want the director's cut on DVD. This show suffered from its inability to get picked up by a major network which would've allowed the pre-filmed drama to get its proper 60-70 minutes per ep run time. The characters, all of which I cared about and who were so charmingly played should've had the stores more fully fleshed out.

It's got heart and darkness. Meditations on crime, fame, terminal illness, touches of may-december romance, forgiveness, communing with the dead, ghosts haunting the school's penumbral corridors, and an alternately gaunt and blisteringly bright cinematographic look, make the tone hopeful but with sinister forces lurking around every corner. And it never tips off the melo deep end either. All of that is woven together by a band of misfits at a university musical theater department.

And the songs are eclectically curated quite well, everything from the melancholic Chet Baker rendition of My Funny Valentine and Edith Piaf's La Vie En Rose playing on a depressed character's headphones to a Korean retooling of Grease's "Those Magic Changes" performed with panache by one of the show's standouts Jo Jang Suk (it's not radio, it's lady-o)!, a dubstep laced score, along with Kpop covers and original music. Of course the devil is the details, and What's Up delivers. Not only with the music, but with great vignettes at the end of all the episodes chock full of juicy character footnotes.Time I could spend watching this show=Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes:

Down for the count
Need any more help counting? Just say 1, 2 step. Or count 12345 with Prefab Sprout. However, B proves she's still queen in this department:
Oh, the sweet little reference to CooleyHighHarmony. Grab me a calculator and let's go to the old school.But the funkiest school time number number(no, that's not a typo) of all? The award goes to Sesame Street. Who knew the Pointer Sisters were behind this? And it was composed and produced in San Francisco! *beaming with hometown pride*

Damn, it's so good Cindy Mayweather used it.

Let's toast it up

2011-12-28T05:37:00.000-08:00

This is the bootyshaker to ring in the new year

We don't even clap the same when we livin that champagne life.
Sexier than a regular clap.

Then we bring the big Kahuna, Salt n Pepa:

After which we'll get a little Henny and Ginger Ale with Mayer:

I got my cup and I'm fillin it up. I can't get enough.

And then Along Comes Mary

Now my empty cup is a sweet as the punch.

And the next day we'll go through the Wonka Wash and have some fizzy lifting drinks

BritPopCornucopia #18: Jarvis Cocker takes over Kdrama

2011-12-20T17:58:00.000-08:00

Holy crap, the worlds collide. So here I am watching an episode of Unstoppable High Kick to get my fix of Jung Il Woo in his younger years, when all of a sudden, I see him sporting a shirt that ostensibly has Jarvis Cocker's image on it (3:34) and in character, clearly evoking this Jarvis song.

So he's a pretty boy who cooks a mean bowl of ramen

AND likes Pulp? Call me further smitten.

Y'all know I love me some Jarvis. And if you slather him on top of Jung Il Woo, who's managed to be in some of the best shows evar (and hello, Return of Iljimae), then I guess I can have my cake and eat it too.

Now, all I need for Christmas is a Kimchi Kiss under the mistletoe.HAWT.

It's raining ramen

2011-11-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

Got the rainy day blues? Nothing cures it like ramen, I think. And I'm not just talking desperate college student. Ramen is for everyone! Anytime!

Last night I ate at Izikaya Sozai, a mere 20 minute walk from my house. While they only serve one kind of ramen, tonkotsu, and its very basic, whoa is that broth delicious. For those of you not in San Francisco, I'm a fan of Maru Ichi in Mountain View, and Ippudo and Momofuku in NYC, if you're in those parts. Short of going to Japan, these are my fave North American options.

All those places aren't really a secret, and their popularity often necessitates an hour long wait. I am no expert in underground ramen. But a steamy bowl with savory broth and springy noodles will make anyone happy when its cold outside and the droplets patter at your window pane. And frigidly delayed gratification sometimes makes it even better.

For those of you who can't get enough, Momofuku's David Chang and esteemed company like Anthony Bourdain and the folks at McSweeney's served up their first issue of food magazine Lucky Peach, and it was ALL about ramen.

To further drive the craze, Korean drama Flower Boy Ramyun Shop is hitting the airwaves weekly. If the ramen alone isn't hot and spicy enough, try adding a side dish of sparkling dapper dandy and you'll be slurping it up and begging for more.

Sure, the show looks like a bit of fluff, but it's surprisingly sexy and fun with heaps of heart, and a feisty heroine you root for from the get-go. And the soundtrack is pretty aces as far as KDramas go. Brownie points to the music supervisor. Jung Il-Woo is hilarious as a shrieky playboy, and Lee Ki-Woo is smoldering as the earthy narcoleptic ramen chef. Yes, I just typed earthy narcoleptic ramen chef. What girl wouldn't want to be Lee Chung-Ah?

Even with the elevation of ramen to an occasionally rarefied experience, its instant incarnation and the versatility it offers still makes it a food of the people. That is likely a huge part of its charm and why its undergoing a renaissance. While you may splurge for the extra special regional broth and handmade noodles, though still managing to spend under $20, sometimes all you want--and can afford--is that cheap-ass packet. But you can still eat like a queen. How? Here are my top tips for making your Top Ramen truly the tops!

1) Add an egg. You can hard boil it first, poach it in the boiling soup water, fry it and eat it on the side, whatever. Adds delish without much extra cost.

2) Ditch the seasoning packet and add your own broth. While some brands have seasoning that's perfectly fine, nothing makes your ramen sing like a different soup. For mere added pennies, you can add some grocery store veggie or chicken broth. While it may be a larger initial investment for a cheapskate, buying a package of miso paste pays off in the long run. Not only does it heat up--never boil miso--and dissolve in water quickly, but you can control your sodium content, make your broth to taste, and add loads of other things if you're not feeling the noodles. Try diced tofu, seaweed, scallions, and shitake mushrooms. Either way, for the lazy and the poor, these are nice alternatives to the standard issue seasoning. Especially for those of you harboring a MSG phobia.

3) Garnish says luxury at a fraction of the price. Chop up some scallions, crack a little pepper, add a handful of canned corn, or a slice or two of fishcake or tofu and your bowl will thank you for it. Pickled side dishes are nice touch too. Have some kimchi, picked radish, or cole slaw to accompany your noodles with a contrasting flavor. Sesame seeds or furikake are also lovely.

4) Throw in some veg. You're already eating something that's often been fried, with loads of chemicals, and tons of sodium. So why not have some healthful benefits? My favorite is to chop some broccoli rabe and blanch it in the water with the noodles and egg as they're cooking. Some other nice options are spinach, kale, and plain jane broccoli. Sliced carrots, julienned peppers, mushrooms of all sorts (shitake, enoki, and porcini are some of my faves)and frozen peas are also great.

And when you're done we can all singalong and devour happily, shielded from the rain.

Irama-rama

2011-10-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

Too awesome for words:

This Dangdut is totally rockin' it for me right now, thanks to a listening station at the SF Asian Art Museum Store a few months back.

Do any of my Indonesian-interested friends know what the lyrics mean? All I can say is I love the sound and the look. Rhoma Irama must be a sight to behold live.

Taking back the tongue: Afrikaaps remixed for Nederland

2011-09-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

To all my Netherlands-based friends. You need to check this out starting TODAY.

My dear friend Dylan, the filmmaker attached to this project, writes on Africa is a Country:

Afrikaaps, the South African theater production which explores the mostly unknown creole history of the Afrikaans language, is currently on tour in Holland...Afrikaaps is essentially an effort to liberate the language from its status as the “language of the opressor”, taking it back for all who speak it (who happen to be mostly Black, or Coloured.)

Billed as a HipHopera, it should be a truly exciting show. I've seen one of the performers, Jitsvinger, in Cape Town a few years back, and he was explosive.

If Dylan's past work, aesthetic sensibility, and sociopolitical stance are any indication, I have a strong feeling this show will be highly engaging, entertaining, and well worth going to. His documentary connected with the show is screening at the Africa in the Picture Film Festival on the 8th October at Het Ketelehuis, Amsterdam.

I am pouring out tears of sadness that I am not in NL for the show.

Still not convinced? Check the vids:

Etch it stone cold in your diary:

AFRIKAAPS TOUR DATES 2011:
22 & 23 September (try-outs) Lieve Vrouw, Amersfoort
29 & 30 September, Theater aan het Spui, Den Haag, (30 sept première)
4 October, Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam (Rabozaal)
5 October, De Gouvernestraat, Rotterdam
6 October, Stadsschouwburg Utrecht
7 October, Toneelschuur, Haarlem
13 October, Bijlmerparktheater, Amsterdam
15 October LUX, Nijmegen

Whoa, check the flow on Lego

2011-09-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

Back in the US, which means time to get properly poppin' on the blogosphere again (is that one or 2 G's or 3G--or a G6, I don't know).

Anyway, I just had to share this track with everyone. For those of you who like a touch of the UK grime, and/or have a fondness for the Minaj or MIA, this is something that will blow your mind:

This woman, Lady Leshurr, spits it fresh to impress on her upcoming single Lego, independently released in October. I heard this track on BBC1Xtra radio and immediately had to listen to it many times over. It's arresting for its minimal yet percussively addictive backing track, allowing the purity of the rhymes, the wordplay, and the flow to really shine. Letting her MC skills speak for themselves practically unadorned is a rather daring choice for a single, I think. She's definitely one to watch, people.

NorCal to North Sea #6: Fat Bread in Amsterdam

2011-07-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

I've made it known before, I do love me some Fettes Brot. Perhaps the only German hip hop I listen to, since linguistically crippled, I can't get the all-important lyrics without translation. But FB manages to cut through the incomprehension with their catchiness. And when I do look up translations they always manage to enhance my enjoyment.

Truly a sucker for the hip hop romantics, and Fettes Brot being a fine example, I can't believe I slept on one of their best tracks until now.

Having spent considerable time in the Netherlands, this song, Amsterdam, hits my soft spot especially. Heavy beat, the sizzle of guitar, uptempo endpiece, and that old school scratching pull it all together. Add those signature FB horn flourishes and you've got magic. Plus, the video is quite nicely done.

Lyrical translation here.

For those not Germanically inclined, Fettes Brot means fat bread, and indeed both the Netherlands and Germany have their fair share of delicious bread. Cash money meanings aside for a sec, let's just consider the fact that the most delicious bread I've ever had in my life has been enjoyed in this corner of the world.

Here's how they roll in my all-time fave Het Bammetje in Rotterdam.

This place was right outside my room in Rotterdam, where I partook of many breadly varieties on the regular. Warm, fresh, and absolute perfection every freaking time. Just click on the "impressie" tab. I dare you not to dream of how good it is after viewing it.

Vette brood, Fettes Brot, Skrilla, any way you slice it, you can't deny the dough always rises to the top.

City Hunter: It's Lee Min Hotter than July

2011-06-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

I thought I could contain my L-O-V-E. But the dam has broken. I had to share so you can all catch the wave as its cresting.

Bursting forth, City Hunter is quickly skyrocketing towards being one of my all-time favorite shows. I'm on tenterhooks hoping the ride to the finale will take us into the stratosphere. I will seriously be crestfallen should this be Rocket Love like Daedalus and Icarus instead.

But we're flying high right now and I intend to keep it that way. This fan-freaking-tastic Korean Drama is on the air now, and I am constantly refreshing YouTube after it broadcasts, hoping some kind soul has posted it with English subs. Safe to say, I am full on addicted. No signs of relenting.

It has everything: compelling love interest, taut action, the tension between vengeance and moral rectitude, patriotism and honor, political intrigue, and complicated family relationships, especially twisted roots of paternalism. Not to mention, there's the right dash of comedy (of both the romantic and buddy varieties) thrown in for good measure.

Sure, as with any show, there are a few suspensions of disbelief required, and the interweaving coincidences can feel far-fetched at times, but trust me, this show does its thang so well, you'll pardon those instances. Its gripping storyline, pathos, visual palette, and solid directing make for the perfect all-in-one entertainment package. The venerable Dramabeans recaps tells it better than I ever could. Hit that up to get the premise, and some fab color commentary along the journey as you hop on this show's bandwagon, and never look back.

But I just have to put my two cents in on this one. First, the characters, oh the characters, and the actors playing them make me giggle with glee, clench my fists, and vibrate with emotional resonance. Not a bad apple in the bunch, but these are my fave performances thusfar. Really, more an excuse to rattle off some fun nicknames. Roll call please!

Mr. City Hunter himself, Lee Yoon Sung played by Lee Min Ho a.k.a. Moonlighting Korean Adam Lambert, a.k.a. day job: bein' smexy and employing superb histrionic abilities.
Good bye Goo Jun Pyo, hello tortured hero with complexity, compelling backstory, and total badassery. He's taking mega-smoldering thespian to the highest level possible in the KDrama realm. Okay, I'll admit it, I initially only tuned in for his unbelievable hotness, undeniable charisma, and clear acting chops. (Oh really, that's all?) But this is definitely LMH's finest project to date. And he's so good in this. Dark knight, stealth secret agent, cold womaizer/flirtatious playboy, hurt lovelorn puppy, passionate paramour, brow-furrowing caregiver, friendly joshing jokester, verbal sparing partner, childish brat; he pulls off every single facet without missing a beat. Chameleon skill in spades. Can we all just agree this is a tour de force?

I mean, before City Hunter, I would say this might've been one of his finer works:

Kim Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Means I love you, Kim Nana played by Park Min Young: Obvs our heroine. Judo champ, presidential bodyguard, Yoon Sung's destined ladylove. Sweetness and strength in one pretty and petite package. Irresistibly warm, but with tenacity. Self aware and owning her mistakes but still being able to muster moxie. Min Young, dearie, you're def taking this a notch up from the beloved Sungkunkwan Scandal. Though there's probably some carryover love from that time you turned yourself into a little kimbap sushi roll (3:43):

Prosecutie, Kim Young-Ju played by Lee Jun-hyuk: Shrewd and determined by-the-booker, he's got a good cop facade with a hidden guilt complex. He's the City Hunter's sometime nemesis, sometime ally.

Big Daddy Cane, Lee Jin-Pyo, played by Kim Sang Jung: Basically there ain't no half steppin' with Yoon Sung's adoptive father, hellbent on revenge. And he wants to get the job done. Kill or be killed is this dude's philosophy.

Ajuhssi Mommy a.k.a. Bae Man Duk a.ka. Shik Joong, played by Kim Sang Ho. Yoon Sung's surrogate mother figure in the shape of a hobbity home shopping man, displaying surprising gumption, tenderness, and just an occasional touch of mystique.

Now with a cast like that, plus some other steady showings from their colleagues, you cannot be led astray.

It was about as good a show could get. A riveting start, then further drawing me in, and amping it up at every step. And then in this week's episode 10, semi-SPOILER ALERT, they went and incorporated a major plot point that is so relevant to my own research it hurts. Ha, I guess that's only a spoiler if you know about my academic alias ;)

As if I couldn't love it anymore. Now, I might even get a chance re-watch(though I'd do that anyway) and analyze it in a scholarly capacity. It's like the writers wanted to give me a nice late Happy Birthday present. Too. Good. To. Be. True.

Thus, the dam broke. The enthusiasm overflows without shame.

For those of you who balk at my newfound obsession with KDrama, balk no more. And just watch this show. NOW, NOW NOW.

FYI: Press the cc for subtitles.

NorCal to North Sea #5: Strange Fruit Salad in the Summertime

2011-06-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Summer is nigh upon us, here in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it, delectable seasonal fruit and festivals.

For Dutch friends, Rotterdam-based Strange Fruit, always puts on some great shows all year long. In particular, North Sea Jazz Festival is coming up, with a killer lineup as always. And the strange fruiters are just one of the participants in the adjunct festivities.

But for those of us in other non-Nederlands more Bay Area-like realms, an unusual cornucopia of a different sort is uniquely available to us. While many of indulge in the common variety of stone fruit, melons, and berries on offer, there are some off-the-beaten-path treats that I've discovered over the years. Pack these goodies in your picnic basket, and head to the FREE Stern Grove Festival in SF, where everyone from The English Beat to Chali 2na are doin' their thang.

Cara Cara Oranges
These are my favorite oranges, hands down. While blood oranges are more notorious for their color, I find their taste to not be the best balance between tart and sweet. Cara Caras achieve this balance and do so without fail. I've never had one that didn't tickle the sweet while still maintaining that lovely citrus tang. Not to mention, they're usually super easy to peel and boast a gorgeous blush pink inner flesh. Technically they are fading out by the time summer rolls around, but if you can catch some, grab 'em! And for you lucky South Africans they start emerging in August!

Via Apples and Onions

Hybrid Vigor
Mango Nectarines and Pluots are just two fine examples of hybrids or cross breeding that you'll find in California. The legacy of Luther Burbank lives on. For those of you not in the know, he was a famous horticulturalist whose plant breeds revolutionized agriculture. You can even visit the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens in Sonoma, CA, right over the Golden Gate Bridge, north of San Francisco. Anyone fancy a mini road trip? Screw the yuppies and their wine tasting weekend getaways, there's a wider world of fruity goodness and botany out there.

The mix-a-lot produces some seasonal magic that will surely delight you if you try it.

Here's a fascinating article on Plum-Apricot hybrids and their differences.

Rainier Cherries
Holy crap. Best cherries I've ever tasted. I was in Seattle last month, and boy was I sad these gems were not yet in season. But if you are in the Pacific Northwest anytime soon, get yourself a bag, or two, or ten. Not only do they have a rich golden-red exterior, they are firm yet sweet and juicy without being runny. And while I have much love for the classic Bing Cherry, not only because it's a California original, stamping the history of Asian Americans' agricultural labor in the Central Valley, it doesn't manage to achieve quite as clean and crisp a flavor profile as its above-heralded offspring. And the Rainier's ombré skin is too visually gorgeous to ignore.

Rainier Cherries from 3rd and 4th Generation Farmers from Tim Mar on Vimeo.

For more RC food porn, check out this blog.

Jenerik Plums

So, this was the only decent photo (top right) I could find of these. Is that because I spelled it incorrectly?

These are my latest find at my go-to for years, Sunset neighborhood, locals only pride, 22nd Avenue Market. It's a great mix of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean and Asian selections (yeah there's halvah right alongside lemongrass, dolmas sharing space with rambutan), accompanying a great variety or California Produce(OMG purple kale and broccoli rabe) that is a gourmand's wet dream at take-home prices.

Featured in bags out front, I couldn't resist trying these little babies. They start with a initial burst of sweetness, but that almost immediately transitions into the intense tartness territory. Apparently, they are quite popular amongst Lebanese consumers, enjoyed with a dash of salt. Maybe I didn't get the sodium ratio right, but I like them fine pure and on their own.

Texture-wise and taste-wise, they're a bit like a cross between a very slightly sour barely ripe plum and a green grape. But if you ever liked Warheads, Super Lemon, or Sour Punch, then think of these as their healthier, fruitier, rounder cousin.

So friends, enjoy the bounty of summer. Your taste buds and tummy will thank you!!!!!

Take us out Corina!

Nor-Cal to North Sea #4: Snoop Dogg vs. Silver Fox

2011-05-15T01:36:00.000-07:00

Radio Netherlands Worldwide has the best coverage. Here are a couple of the latest:

For all his usual entertaining braggadocio, it seems Snoop Dogg has succeeded in boring me to death. I just watched the leaked clip of him filming his latest video in in front of the I Amsterdam sign. Unlike the listenable grooves and keytarlicious visuals of some other latter day Snoop tracks, ZZZZZZZZ. The hook "I drink I smoke" was more cliche than I could handle. It seemed to drone on and on, while the gyrating video hos merely seemed like a droopy cabaret made worse by grainy footage. I think this behind the scenes peek definitely took the swag out the pimp. I was more compelled by the question, which Dutch official even permitted this in Museumplein????

I have to say it, this story was far more entertaining. I'm telling you being gray-haired and speaking Dutch is just as awesomely enthralling as sporting cornrows and spittin' rhymes.

Exhibit A: Merlijn de Tovenaar

P.S. I know some will get nitpicky with me and point out that 213 is miles away from Nor-Cal, but that's the series name and I'm sticking with it.

P.P.S. #3 in the series is on a different blog.

Refresher Course

2011-05-05T14:24:00.001-07:00

Catching those rays and making the most of it in the summertime is key. Here are some of my favorite ways to stay cool in the heat, pairing summer jams with icy imbibements.

This takes me back to a fine meal on Brenu Beach in Ghana, sippin ice cold Fanta cocktail in a glass bottle:

A glass of lemonade, don't be afraid:

It's all about Pimm's and lemonade in the summer! Yum. Or Arnold Palmers.

Well, I have to do it dairy free, but the milkshakes at Maggie Mudd are a great treat, as is f(x), sticky sweet Korean girl group sonic crack(their first full length album was fresh out last month--drink it, drink it, power up!):

P.S. I totally dig Amber, the one who fantastically tiptoes along the line between butch-femme. It seems the Taiwanese-American tomboy Kpop idol, barely out of her teens has inspired lezzie shipping to no end!

My deck tanning is always accompanied by bottle of Dry Cucumber Soda. Seriously, this is the most perfect soda I've ever had. It's just a touch of cane sugar sweetness, with a light cucumber fragrance and flavor, and the perfect level of sodium-free carbonation. Just like this Roy Ayers slow groove, it's laid back, not too overly done, and an expert blend of all the right notes, to create a sparkling yet mellow effect.

Cucumber slices in any drink is delish! For the evening edition, if you're in SF the cucumber gimlet at Bourbon and Branch's library bar is divine.

Drink it down til the sun comes up.

Really, what's better than Hawaiian Shave Ice and Jake Shimabukuro's strums?

Another tip for any drinks, add frozen fruit instead of ice cubes (mango chunks work well).
For dessert, I made my own strawberry sleigh ride, mixing hulled, quartered strawberries, a chiffonade of mint and a tablespoon of granulated sugar, then stuck it in the freezer:

A chiffonade of mint peps up any beverage too, especially sparkling water. If you're in Belgium or the Netherlands, Spa Citron met munt is full of win if you're lazy, mintless, or too cheap to buy a 2 euro mint plant.

Inspired by a confection at Gartine in Amsterdam, a scoop of sorbet in your fizzy drink is an effervescent delight. Try the lime sorbet in a vanilla soda. Taste the difference between a lemon and a lime:

For SF folks, have it with a coconut at Trouble Coffee.

And Lipton Ice Tea (with bubbles) is amazing if you can get your hands on it.
It even makes Hugh Jackman Dance (You can see him singing live in SF exclusively this month):

And last but not least, watermelon-lychee drinks with tapioca pearls, are also particularly fab.

Bottoms up, friends!!!!!

Delicious sampler platters

2011-05-03T01:13:00.000-07:00

Holy hell, friends. I think my musical ADD is on overdrive. At any rate, I thought I would just share some of the current original/cover/sample linkages that I can't stop toggling between. Does any one have any that they'd like to share? Who Sampled just isn't quite as satisfying as realizing it on your own. So here are my latest revelations.

Philly Seoul
Anyone who's communicated with me recently is well aware, I've been addicted to Korean dramas and their excellent English language attendant commentary here. It's bled a bit into Kpop too now, since the synergy of Hallyu is so mighty. While I usually find most of the music to be too saccharine, soulless, or overproduced, the association with the shows I've been watching along with some incredibly catchy melodies and irresistibly corny antics have made some of it worth a listen. I am a total newbie to the genre, so my judgments are pretty snap. Nonetheless a listen on SeoulFM yielded a discovery of Supreme Team.

This is a pretty excellent hip hop duo. While I can't comment on the lyrical content aside from the rather pedestrian use of English, this is one of the few acts in the realm of Kpop that has a great sense of groove that stands out amidst the predilections of many their contemporaries. Their love of the old school blended with the best infectiousness of the Kpop disease make for some sick tracks.

One of my favorites is "I Just Need You":

They're romantic yet keep the manly swagger. If you didn't notice, they sample the Stylistics "You Make Me Feel Brand New" on that one. An all time fave oldie of mine. But what did ST sample here? I still can't figure it out though it sounds so familiar. Some help please?

And they've kept up the old school love with a release last month, a sweet little offering at the temple of Q.

Time does indeed reveal
I'm not really going to explain this. You guys know I love Janelle Monae. She does a Miami Bass makeover to De Barge's "Time Will Reveal":

This stone is genuine
You might've thought the original version of "This Diamond Ring" was done by Jerry Lewis and the Playboys.

I certainly thought so for the 20+ years I've been enamored with this song and its great backing track. But who knew the Jimmy Radcliffe demo version could be so different? It opened my eyes to a whole new respect for the tune.

Gary Lewis still gets some childish love from me, with the most wholesome take on a playboy ever. But man, all of his covers make a more seasoned ear bleed.

Crystal Clear
And finally the new release Madame Monochrome from Amanda Diva just caught my attention yesterday. I especially dig her leadoff, "Trendsettas". But another standout "I Can See" shows Diva tipping her hat to Johnny Nash, obvs.

RIP Colette

2011-04-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter weekend!

2011-04-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

OMG so cute! Just press play. You won't be disappointed.

Seriously, what more do you want?

Oh, right. You want them to also do it Smurf-style, Super Mario-esque, Santariffically, AND Snow White and Sevenish.

This is the the gift that keeps on giving, because they also teach you how to do the dance.

Did I mention, Kanye worked with these guys four years later?

Nerd soul: the use of oxymoron in the face of racial anxiety

2011-04-02T23:14:00.001-07:00

Authenticity Anxiety
A little earlier this year, the New York Times opened up a can of worms when it asked the question "Can a Nerd Have Soul?"

A question arises from this: what constitutes a nerd? As OW points out in his critique of the article and ColorLines piggybacks on this, nerd is lazily and not rigorously applied in the article as a strategy for pussyfooting around the author--and audiences--anxieties around race. How has nerdiness been coded as white, educated, and acquisitive as signifiers of privilege at the same time that they might also represent fringe or alternative?

Of course this causes us to extend the question beyond the usage of nerd in this case, but also what do we deem a worthy signifier of soul? And are soul and authenticity proxies for one another in the representational political landscape?

The recent exchange of opinions on Nerd Soul's viability is a perfect opportunity for us to such discuss questions. There has been tons of scholarly work on the subject, which I won't cite here, but suffice to say, the concern with authenticity is one that only has so much mileage. Especially in parsing the meanings in pop-culture, mass consumption, manufacture, fabricated identities, impersonation, selling certain elements of self while guarding one's private self with a vengeance, authenticity can often seem nearly irrelevant.

However, when addressing the problem of artifice in something like soul, things are more complicated. Why? Precisely because soul often rests on the idea of a wellspring of authenticity. While the genre is most certainly open to plenty of contestation that I could not even begin to address properly in a blog entry, you could shortly say that in abstract terms, Soul is partly about genuine emotion through a particular aesthetic. On the other hand when you fuse soul, R & B and pop, that premium on authenticity is called into question. And in fact, drawing the boundaries of genre is thereby a kind of circumscription of a certain brand of authenticity. Overriding considerations of commercial and critical success include the ability for an audience to buy into a certain identity, the marketability and believability(or suspension thereof) of that.

When looking at the recent debate on nerd soul, perhaps it is the very oxymoronic aspects of a representation, its idiosyncratic elements, that fuel fascination and consumption.

In the same vein there has been a similar haranguing of the oxymoronic juxtapositional quandary on The Awl about the rise of what's being called Hipster R & B. Of course this article doesn't address soul directly, but where soul stops and R & B begins is so fuzzy, I think a discussion of both is apt. As deeply intertwined genres there is the same evident anxiety about racialization of genre and how to code white participation in these musical forms--and smarter commentators note the converse lack of discussion around participation of POC in genres that are coded as white.

But rather than be mired in deep anxiety, a lovely little HiLo Brow post, reveling in Janelle Monae goodness among others, offers a different method for addressing these anxieties. Though the anxiety addressed is more of a temporal concern rather than a racial one in this piece, I think the sentiment is transferable:

Rebooting means employing imagination and spirit to appropriate and tweak preexisting cultural forms and productions and styles for yourself, without middlebrow nostalgia or nobrow irony. It means a dangerous wayfaring betwixt past and present, a simultaneous expression of the modes of the sublime highbrow, who knows too much about the past, and is paralyzed, and the pedestrian lobrow, who knows too little about the past, and is doomed to repeat it.

Rebooting means tippin’ on the tightrope.

Of course amidst this anxiety one cannot forget the power to cross or blur boundaries--whether via impersonation (see Eric Lott's Love and Theft for a key work on racial impersonation and blackface minstrelsy), appropriation, remixing, authentic adaptation, or whatever else you want to call it--is more often in the hands of white folks. Identity politics 101, really. Of course, that power exercised, doesn't crowd out other artistic expression in a zero sum way. But what hits the mainstream is certainly contentious space. That is why this discussion is still happening. It's not without consequences. That is why the lengthy quotation above talks about the creative process of rebooting as "dangerous". It isn't just an individual's musical offering, especially when it challenges the axes or genre and identity that criss cross cultural production.

Nerds, Geeks, and Pain
Soul (along with the R &B in Awl piece mentioned above) is, as commentators rightly point out, partially rooted in some historic sociopolitical maneuverings around race and cultural production. As such, soul has an association with suffering and segregation. If white nerds are not equated with suffering, than this aspect of their ability to "pull off" soul music is more like amusing irony. Very hipster indeed. Where nerd ends and hipster begins, I am not too sure either. In many cases the hipster acrobatics of irony is merely an evolution of nerd agency in the arena of cool.

A nerd is both center and periphery in its most classic representations; possessing uncanny liminal quirkiness but able to reclaim power through this just as much as it has been made marginal.

Geek chic and its rise (nerd boyfriend is an excellent example of this streak in the zeitgeist along with its attendant retro perspective) is also part of what may be at hand if "the geeks shall inherit the earth" in music too. While a debate of geek versus nerd is perhaps elided here, to use them interchangeably in this case already demonstrates the way that they have somewhat become conflated, though a distinction and discussion of it would take up too much space.

Still, the double pain/power of nerd is rarely the province of POC's. There are exceptions, but nerd racialization is field of contestation, inasmuch as its about enriching representational politics. Indeed, a recent article in the Onion calling for more black nerds, while meant to be satire, rings oddly true. While not mutually exclusive, the term Nerd Soul (and Hipster R &B too--see here for a brill critique of its corollary the Blipster) depends on the coding of these things as oxymoronic.

Anyway, point being that representational richness should happen across the spectrum and that nerdiness coding as white means that while nerds of color are viewed as novelties even beyond their tokenization as people of color period (and this happens in mainstream media in some really sloppy ways too) meant to be laughed at as either the reinforcement of the model (minority) nerd or the cognitive dissonance of a black/latino nerd.

And its scary to think that in this Village Voice article, eerily similarly titled to the Blipster article linked above, implies a rise of the black nerd, previously absent, without historical antecedent. The laziness of applying nerd to blackness as code for intelligence or aspiration to white norms, or even class ascension further demonstrates the blurriness of nerd and geek as pejorative or compliment, outsider or mainstream.

The label bandied about in the article, "Afrodemic" is particularly an attempt (though mostly failed as this article was my first and only encounter with the word that hardly went mainstream) in making the black intellectual seem like some new fangled product of post-civil rights that can be separated from the rest of the academy as a up and coming cadre. Does this hearken back to or ignore the Harlem renaissance or negritude for example? Or the nonalign movement? Or any other cultural or social capital accumulated by an enclave of POC's? When did Black Nerds throughout history ever really become nerds? Aren't most of the examples the article gives just smart accomplished people who happened to be black? Particularities of nerdiness aside from intelligence are almost entirely absent. For a further exploration of nerds of color TV tropes offers some great lists of this stuff with variants like Bollywood Nerd, Nerdy and Asian, and Blerd aka Black nerd.

At any rate, soul, and its attendant allusions, and nerd, with its own mixed bag of associations, means that soul and nerd, or R & B and hipster, in the same breath draws upon these things in an interesting way. Such juxtapositions and the discussions that stem from them interrogates what each means in exciting ways, just as much as they stir people's anxieties about genre and race. As usual, the tensions on the boundaries, the turmoil of contradiction is both potentially destructive and transformative. Dissonance can lead to sweeter harmony?

AnthroPOPlogy #1: Lexicon'n'n'on'n'on on'n'on

2011-02-02T01:40:00.000-08:00

From the Harvard Hip Hop Archive to the critical look at its fictionalized version in On Beauty, whether one likes it or not, hip hop is quickly rising as a topic worth intense scrutiny in the academy. A recently proposed Hip Hop Word Count, which I learned about here, is aiming to further institutionalize the genre. Without doubt, it is an appeal for the importance of metrics in culture--a literal meter of the music, if you'll pardon the pun.

The Hip-Hop Word Count (HHWC) is a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. The database is the heart of an online analysis tool that generates textual and quantified reports on searched phrases, syntax, memes and socio-political ideas.

The project fundraising site further explains its possible usage:

How can analyzing lyrics teach us about our culture?

The Hip-Hop Word Count locks in a time and geographic location for every metaphor, simile, cultural reference, phrase, meme and socio-political idea used in the corpus of Hip-Hop.

The Hip-Hop Word Count then converts this data into explorable visualisations which help us to comprehend this vast set of cultural data.

This data can be used to chart the migration of ideas and builds a geography of language and is the engine for a teaching curriculum.

Fractals of the Teenage Dream

2011-01-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

I read this article in Slate by Ann Powers entitled "Learning To Love Katy Perry; Learning To Cope With Critical ADHD" And I had a little epiphany. Pop music and its attendant commentary, indeed the best of it, is aural ethnography composed by a fractal anthropologist.

Let me explain for those who are scratching their heads saying, WTF WTF WTF?

Ethnography-Story-Narrative
As a proponent of anthropology, and as reflected in my preoccupations in this blog, I feel that both pop music itself and critics who write the pieces that resonate are like excellent capsule ethnographies of song(s), album(s), and/or artist(s). Creators of pop music are likewise crafting mini ethnographies in their songs. And the line between ethnography and storytelling are not so clear. Especially as the academy flings about the use of narratives left and right, it blurs that line. I am guilty of this too. And who could deny that songs are also storytelling. There is the basic human desire to tell stories.

The way that those ethnographies have been constructed, and discussed in the field of socio-cultural anthropology has changed significantly and been contested by many scholars.

Fragmentation
In the article, Powers talks about fragmentation. She gives the example of Janelle Monae:

It's not just that life seems to be moving faster than ever before—it's shakin' all over, constantly rearranging itself within all of the cognitive windows we keep open at once. Music is changing along with every other cultural form in response to this psychic revolution. Janelle Monae's The Archandroid was my favorite album of the year partly because it powerfully communicates this experience of internal fragmentation, not only through the science-fiction story line that influences the lyrics, but in its agitated relationship to genre—on the album, Monae and her collaborators in the Wondaland Arts Society itchily move from show tunes to psychedelia to funk without pausing to signal their changes—and in its very sound.

Powers connects this fragmentation to the hard-soft contrast that is prominent in pop music. It reflects the zeitgeist of our contemporary society's struggle with a fragmented psyche. As she says:

We can all cite examples of why this is nothing new, yet I think it's back now in force because hard-soft is what the cruel world of chronic unemployment and weird weather and distant war demands that we be. We still need to feel pleasure and hope, to be open in the way music makes us. But we need to maintain a sharp edge, to be ready to hit "delete" and "refresh" and move on.

What Powers says here is an exciting. It isn't simply some grand modernist narratives crashing against one another and irreparably imploding into a million pieces, causing our contemporary alienation. This is not just also about simultaneously seeking comforting solace. The enduring resonance and re-usage in pop music is cause for telling, interpreting, and re-interpreting the narratives, which allow us to find infinite possibility, sometimes discarded, sometimes renewed, but never fixed, always in constant iteration.

Fractal
A single word that gets to the key concept that Powers addresses in today's pop music is the fractal. Its foremost proponent in application to anthropology is Marilyn Strathern. In Stathern's book Reproducing the future: Anthropology, and the kinship and the new reproductive technologies she writes:

Persons may be understood fractally: their dimensionality cannot be expressed in whole numbers. The fractal person is an entity with relationship integrally implied...
There is no axiomatic evaluation of intimacy or closeness here. On the contrary, people work to create divisions between themselves. For in activation of relations people make explicit what differentiates them...detachment is never final, and the process is constantly recreated in people's dealings with one another. (1992, 125)

And prefacing this, Stathern, outlines in great detail how shifting ideas of ethnography have lead to the creative possibility of fractal recombinations, a strategy for survival:

The mood of lost authenticity--the idea that the world is full of changed, part-cultures--is not new. What is new ([Clifford] says) is the setting that the late twentieth century provides: 'a truly global space of cultural connections and dissolutions has become imaginable: local authencities meet and merge in transient...settings(1988: 4). The task is how to respond to an unprecedented overlay of traditions. Ethnography must be an ethnography of conjectures, moving between cultures, a cosmopolitan practices which participates in the hybridisation he sees everywhere...

Texts that once celebrated the integration of cultural artefacts have been displaced by deliberate attention to the uniqueness of fragments. Creativity can only lie in their recombination. Clifford sees this as salvation not just for texts but for the concept of culture itself, for cultures have always been hybrids, 'the roots of tradition [forever] cut and retied (1988: 15)...

Elements cut from diverse times and places can be recombined, though they cannot fit together as a whole...Clifford's problem, then is not that of simple multiplicity or of the multiculturalism of contact. Rather, it a postplural vision of a composite world forever the result of borrowings and interchanges.

Without wholes, the only thing to do is recombine the parts.

One the one hand, like rootless persons cultures are always in fragments; on the other hand in their collecting it is part anthropologists who have cut up cultures into bits and reassembles their narratives. Cultures are always hybrids, yet cultural future lies in further creative recombining...
(1992, 107-110).

But this is not an easy endeavor. A DJ or producer is probably the most obvious pop music equivalent we could draw to an ethnographer in creative recombination. But by extension pop artists and their critics take part in this recombination. The best hard-soft pop songs may seem simple and self-apparent, but their craft often requires great feats of inspiration and/or interpretation (or marketing). Ethnography and the narratives we interpret from our data are actually quite difficult artistic endeavors and analytic choices. Powers points to the pain of these challenges in her deft redemption of Katy Perry, of all popstars:

"You think I'm pretty without any makeup on," Perry whispers incredulously in the first line of "Teenage Dream," her voice leaning slightly stunned against a latticework-privacy-fence of kick drum. The plucked way Perry sings the lyric—as if what she's saying is just impossible—says so much about how far we all feel we've strayed from our genuine selves. That line is the most important one to make the Top 10 this year, I think: its tragic nostalgia, playing out the new version of the hard-soft dynamic that made 1990s alt-rock so shocking—yeah, that Nirvana sound—except now what this jarring contrast expresses is a woman finding her power, a woman not knowing if that power is going to cost her everything and certainly not whether it will be worth it, instead of a boy-man like Kurt Cobain getting in touch with his feminine side.

Let me particularly focus on one thing Powers writes: "...we've strayed from our genuine selves." She is concerned with the crisis of authenticity. And if there is anything anthropology is also grappling with, it's crisis of authenticity and culture. There is no such thing as an authentic whole anymore.

Popstar=Producer=Selecter=Ethnographer?
It set off a mini whirlwind of anthropological/theoretical questions for me: Has pop music (and by extension pop culture) always been fractal? Or is the fractal becoming of greater importance in the the narratives we tell about pop? And how does looking at something as fractal different from fragmentary? Because fragmentation implies a disintegration, a split into infinite particles, but a fractal is much more like an infinite proliferation depending on the scale. Which also allows for constant scalar shifts. Thus, does pop music and discussion thereof as a fractal offer a vitality and an act of survival inasmuch as it is ethnography?

Important note: I still sorta don't like Katy Perry's vocal delivery; her breathy leaps and irritating upper register are not especially my taste. Case in point, her brand of vocal acrobatics butchered this Fountains of Wayne song.

Still, the candy colored gender struggle Powers notes does make me grudgingly appreciate her. Of course, in the Slate article Powers also praises Janelle Monae, whom I totally adore. So I'll leave you with a further connection, one I hope to write on more in the future. This explanation of fractals applied to anthropology speaks of the Haraway's work on the cyborg as a foundation for such applications. In concert, consider Janelle Monae's Archandroid which celebrates and complicates the cyborg dilemma. Cue analogy question: is Donna Haraway to anthropology what Janelle Monae is to pop? Is the whole album, and specifically Tightrope concerned with challenging binaries the same way Haraway's cyborg is?

Nor-Cal to North Sea #2: D-Double D-Dutch!

2011-01-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

Last year, enjoying the fact that Dutch TV also broadcasts BBC 1 and 2, I stumbled across Jump Nation on the children's programming roster. It fondly reminded me of my first exposure to double dutch on Sesame Street:

The athleticism, the simplicity, the intricacy! Avid jump roper of my youth wished I could join a double dutch team. Plus, mixed gender participation!

Though I did not see it in action while I was in the Netherlands, according to some, it was brought from there to New Amsterdam by the Dutch. How did it diffuse to inner city communities?

Later I realized how double dutch has been integral to hip hop culture, and beyond. Most notably with Frankie Smith's Double Dutch Bus:

You may also recognize it from Missy Elliott's Gossip Folks sample.

Recently, I've also been addicted to DJ Fresh's Gold Dust which showcases the wonderful world of double dutch:

Runnin and you runnin and you runnin and you runnin away boy, you keep...

January's Jams

2011-01-11T02:05:00.000-08:00

Here's the scoop on two UK ladies whose albums I am waiting for in 2011.

1)You can preview the new album from Anna Calvi here. I discovered it today and couldn't stop listening to it. It's as though PJ Harvey decided to go lush and orchestral. Speaking of, Polly Jean is also releasing something this year so maybe I should up the count to 3 ladies...

For those looking for a show before Calvi starts playing bigger venues, le tour de force dates. Damn, she's planning on being in Rotterdam in the Spring, as well as other NL dates in the near future. Dutch friends, and my NYC friends too, check her out when she comes to town on my behalf. Some of the press is saying her live shows are tres magnifique.

2)My party anthem of choice this month, Louder, by Katy B. hit the airwaves earlier this year, my first exposure its rotation on Dutch MTV's little sister TMF. And I cannot get the damn song out of my head. The bonkers beats, Miss B's dubstep princess vocals, the smooth and the amped up alternating in dancefloor perfection all swirl into a single, that added with other tracks, hint at an album ready to blow up:

I also like that this video is about girls just hanging at the record shop 'n stuff. Girls can be crate diggers too! And that she isn't parading in skankwear, but rather prefers embellished hoodies and sporting her indie label's logo tee. Yet you still buy her vocal delivery as slinky, icily sexy, and totally femme.

With brilliant lyrical spareness, it's a treatise on everlasting carousing doubling as metaphor for unquenchable ambition, or even insatiable desire for sensory overload of all types, not just auditory. Works in the club, for a workout, or for psyching one's self up for a harrowing challenge to surmount.

Katy has cited Teedra Moses as one of her influences (alongside more bombastic R & B divas) and then it all made sense. She has a very similar voice and phrasing, as if the Young Lioness had been born an auburn-haired South Londoner. Both have an almost feather-light touch in the midst of intricately produced beat-laden tracks. The melodies tend toward infectious but not necessarily hummable, and thankfully melisma free. And neither lady is afraid of a hard edge.

I quiver with anticipation.

Together, baby

2010-11-30T22:37:00.000-08:00

Omigod.

Hot off the presses, a latter day edition of one of the most chuckle-worthy virtuosic comedy partnership eva (part one):

It's a great retrospective of their extraordinary friendship. Warm, touching, dirty, hilarious, nostalgic, celebratory lump of tv fun. If you don't know their work, this is a great way to get to know them and inspiration to check out their incredible body of work. They're so prolific, I'm still discovering new works of their collaborative and individual genius. And I first fell in love with the duo as a mid-nineties adolescent girl seeing them in The Adventures of Jeeves and Wooster.

Top moment for me is fantastic nugget word of a that effortlessly rolls off Hugh Laurie's tongue: badinage. Badass.

Reunited and it feels so good.

Anthropomorphin' Power Rangers

2010-11-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

So lately, I have fallen head over heels for Veronica Mars. One might tersely characterize it as a mid-oughties televisual masterpiece or a razor sharp postmodern re-imagining of Nancy Drew. But it is so much more than that. It definitely deserves its own post. Sadly, my lack of follow-through means I may never get around to it.

While that could be the dreary eventuality, and an introduction to the series would be served far better by, say, a clip of the eponymous character, far more relevant to my thoughts at this moment is a tidbit from the series' resident smart-talkin' bad boy Logan Echolls (played by Jason Dohring):

That's right. Anthropomorphic. That is where my thoughts reside.

I'm flippin you people, with a total 180. Because while I would like a to do a lengthy post that praises the show above- referenced, I'd rather muse more here on the idea of endowing objects/machines with human qualities.

In medical practice, building relationships with technology, anthropomorphizing machines to improve the efficacy of health care, is gaining a foothold (see 1:24):

I was struck today by this vid via a post on e-patients.net. What I find exciting in the post were all the practical applications to some ideas that I have only been dealing with on a mostly theoretical plane. However, what I found lacking, was the linkage from these highly practical and tenable suggestions for revolutionizing health care, to the deep social relevance beyond simply improving efficiency and well-being on a large scale (though that's hardly simple, I know). In my own recent academic inquiry I have become increasingly fascinated with the relationships between humans and non-humans, whether they be other species, or objects. Not only I am concerned with how this affects the ways that we talk about the human body and the porousness thereof with regard to transplantation and transfusion medicine (where my research has hovered), but also to the ways we think more broadly about what constitutes "the social," and what still matters in human interaction.

A thinker that I have found particularly inspirational in this regard is Donna Haraway. Her extremely influential work as the founder of cyborg theory, grapples with these issues extensively. While I cannot do justice to her oeuvre in a mere blog post, this lovely video of her expresses some of the sentiment behind her ideas:

Donna Haraway on Human Exceptionalism from Eben Kirksey on Vimeo.

Could I go one longer about this? Sure, but I'm lazy. One way to tie this all up, is to say that with greater appreciation for the non-human in our life, and to engage with the non-human more creatively, we can begin to better the human condition. Paradox perhaps, or just pure wisdom?

Final thought: The Megazord was an excellent example of the cyborg:

Go! Go! Power Rangers!

Nor-Cal to North Sea #1: The dairy free answer to nutella's dominance in the Euro-spread contest

2010-11-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Due to the infrequent nature of postings on this blog, my dear paltry readership, you might have guessed that as a single-handedly crafted blog, I had been through a busy period that prevented any sincere efforts to post.

I was engaged elsewhere in a far more costly writerly enterprise, my opus on allogeneic socialities. Yes, pretension abounds, but all in the name of insight into creation and sharing of knowledge. Abstract, much? You know me, we can talk more about my research, mmmkay?

But now after a goodwill Euro/NYC tour, I have arrived back in the beloved city by the bay. Polishing off a shiny new degree and ravaged from many below-the-knee traveling injuries acquired in the past few months, I am taking a much deserved break from responsibility. This certainly means overconsumption of films and tv, desperately trying to catch up after a year living Dutchily without access to US-only television replay. And plenty of time to tend to my long-neglected blogs.

To officially kick off my blogging re-entry foray, I have decided to reflect on my year in a series of posts about what I really got into this year. Renewed loves and fresh discoveries that I want to share with you from near and far, from Nor-Cal to North Sea.

First up I was inspired by a recently published food article in Salon, praising the humble speculoos, hailing it as the best airline snack (though that's a pretty slim pickings area on the deliciousness scale). It reminded me that this is indeed a delightful snack I will miss from living in the Netherlands, where speculaas is widely available (spelling varies by Belgian/NL divide). Not only that, the speculoos spread from Belgium, inspired by the above referenced cookie was one of my most favorite of favorite food products discovered in the past year. If you are ever in that part of the world, do not hesitate to pick it up. I may have posted this at some point already, but this dog pretty much sums it up:

For a more officially sanctioned perspective peep these commercials:

For non-Dutch speakers, the backing track music loosely translates as "Mamaaaaaa, the most beloved in the whole world"

And another:

The slogan is "daar zit de liefde in" or in English, "there's love inside."
You know what I really love that's inside this commercial? The boy runs through what appears to be a topiary maze. Dammit, he's living my lifelong dream of having a house with a topiary maze, not to mention ultimate scrumdiddlyumptiousness at his breakfast table every morning. I envy you, ginger Dutch jongen swaddled in your robe!

The skinny on Skins USA

2010-10-23T12:50:00.001-07:00

If ya don't know Skins, ya need to get with the program. One of the best teenage shows. Ever. You might have caught it on BBC America. Well now, the beloved UK show has been adapted for US audiences on MTV.

Here's the preview they just posted for the show:

You can tell from watching this preview that they've lifted nearly the entire plotline from the first episode of the original. If you know anything about skins you can see it clear as crystal.

If you don't here's a link to part one of the first episode of the source. You WILL get addicted.

Questions:

What are they going to do about the nudity? And the swearing? If they copy the Russia ep, where would they go instead?

First glance, the Tony is not even half as captivating as Nicholas Hoult. Mitch Hewer's dancing is irreplaceable. And if Maxxie's corresponding character is lesbian, the big gay night out joke just doesn't have the same resonance or application. Nor does the Maxxie/Anwar friendship. What do they do instead? Will there be a strong girl anchor like Jal (one of my faves)?

I am usually one to love UK versions of stuff, and suspicious of US adaptations. Take Coupling for example. Brill UK version. Only Gina Bellman can do loopy Jane the way she's supposed to be done.

And the mastery of Davenport and his rants is unparalleled. Not to mention, the Coupling MVP Jeff. Richard Coyle was so evidently crucial when season 4 was Jeffless and far worse off for it.

Same goes for The Office. Now I've seen some US The Office and while it's developed into its own thing, I could not get into initially because of the very fact that they had so shamelessly lifted the plots from the original. Right down to the gag with the stapler in the jello. I have to say there is also a difference in the length of TV season. A full season in the UK can be anywhere from 6-10 episodes or something like that, I think. Whereas in the US a season is generally upwards of 20 episodes. While this can allow for deeper development or more involved storylines, I feel it is often a grave weakness of US shows. They can drag out things, there's a lot more filler, and sometimes they just don't know when to stop a goddamn show while the going is good. Best bet is to just take the ideas and the premise but create all new characters, like Skins UK itself does every two seasons. P.S. looking forward--but also a bit terrified--for Skins generation 3.

These adaptations always feel sort of like vegetarian meat. Or sugar substitute. Made to look and taste like the real thing, which is fine if you can't have the original, but these days, if you can get your hands on the real deal--thank god for DVD's, YouTube and Netflix why settle for something ersatz? Head to head, it's just never going to be as satisfying. For some more commentary on US-UK adaptations go here and here(What? They're adapting Shameless too? Another great show, most likely unnecessarily adapted).

You know what I can't find on US region DVD? Green Wing. Now that is a great UK show. More on that for another post.

At any rate, I've been meaning to write more on the original skins series for a while now. It is a really great portrayal of teenage life. Sex, drugs, recklessness? How is this a good representation, you ask? Well its probably closer to what a lot of teenagers are up to (or want to be up to)than most of us want to think. And even though I was the goodiest of two shoes as a teenager, I know there's another kind of teenage being. Sure I was always up until 2 in the morning, but it was usually poring over a textbook rather than pouring a shot down my gullet. What I love about Skins is that it takes a lot of teenage predilections to the edge. It's what sometimes many of us fantasize our teenage years being about. Representationally speaking, it also has an eclectic cast, without entirely tokenizing thanks to the excellent writing and charisma of the actors. Part of what makes it compelling is its deliberate obvious contradictions of stereotypes. Antithesis within individual characters. In a later season, for example *spoiler alert* autistic JJ parties hard with the rest of 'em and eventually gets himself some ass too. And even though Jal (my fave girl) strives to work hard in music and has got it together, she is also eventually involved with at-first-glance-useless-layabout Chris, by whom she becomes impregnated.

But the best thing about Skins is its character development. The formula of focusing on a different character each week but continuing to interweave other characters into the plot advancement, building the character's relationships with each other, and the group chemistry are what make this show special.

I do have one thing that bothers and beguiles me about the show. Everybody is extremely conventionally attractive. There isn't a kid in the bunch that doesn't look picture perfect. Even the ones who are supposed to be awkward (e.g. Pandora, Sid, JJ) I guess that's why it translates well to MTV. That's my criticism of the original show too. The show is strangely about skin, and fixation on bodies, and with all the body image issues teenagers go through this is really only covered in Cassie's twisted eating disorder storyline. And perhaps it's too literal, but would it be too much to have a character with bad skin? A regular proactiv user with acne? Or psoriasis like Neil Schwieber(see 8:01)? In the end though, that's not the point of skins. The elements of surreality in the show are part of what remind us that this is exactly what makes the show so wonderful. It's the bittersweetly glamorous messy teenage life with the cool kooky yet sexy friends we all wish we could have in an alternate universe. And indeed what saves Skins from being sheer escapist flash is it's wonderful emotional core that anchors all the chaotic glittery swirl.

But if you want to something that deals directly with body image and teenage life in a more down-to-earthy, heartfelt way I have to advocate that you check out Huge. Nikki Blonsky's Will is fantastic, and its a show that has an honest feel and some real engagement on these issues that isn't completely whack. Plus, there are some cute references to French new wave cinema. Entire first season is available on Hulu:

An Ass Pen? Whiteness fodder for comedians of color.

2010-10-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

Exhibit A (a.k.a. another excuse to pimp out Kondabolu):

Exhibit B (reference at 3:54):

Token from Brandon Johnson

The Namesake

2010-05-04T05:51:00.000-07:00

Sharp contrast to my Desai fangirly musing of yesterday, check this trip back to the old school from the fresh group Soul Jazz Orchestra, which I caught at Rotown (2 minute walk from the ol' homestead)just a wee while back.

It's the groove that gets you. So so solid.

Also, did you know my Chinese name is Beautiful Lotus Flower? I think I'll adopt this one as my theme song instead of the Zombie's melancholy Rose for Emily

Fair: Not a carnival, not a dispensation of justice, not a rating. Just a pretty good collection of songs gleaming with the promise of the future

2010-05-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

I could see a killjoy reviewer saying something like, "'All Is Fair' is just that. Fair. Not bad, not great, it's all just fair." That was the thought running through my head as soon as Anoop Desai announced the title of his indie EP.

People, I was afraid. Mortified. I heard the first single, and indeed its got a modicum of swagger and tongue in cheek finessed pretty darn well, so I breathed a sigh of relief. A solid first outing, but I was teetering on the edge of dishing the fair verdict myself.

Although an unabashed fangirl to the max, for someone of my analytical temperament, I cannot love without problematizing in all honesty. The EP drops tomorrow May 4th, and I found some acoustic versions of the album tracks in full.

My favorite cut is "Lost and Found". Its a great slice of sensuous babymaking soundtrack. Especially in this raw acoustic form. In the previews mix I've heard a snippet of the produced version and they're all a bit too slick for my liking, often borderline cheesy, and slightly detract from Anoop's phrasing, musicality, and the catchy melodies. Still, I understand well enough, that very production is his argument that he is can be relevant in the current pop music market.

But I can't help but be a bit angry at the addicted to your drug trope that is so worn and tired and so obviously cribbed from the Ne-Yo playbook. So minus that, this is like a scintillating Neruda poem set to music.

But here's what I love about this performance too: Anoop breaks his smoldering delivery to comment, presumably on someone in the audience, "That's right you can do that." and then jumps right back into the sexy. It's why Desai is one of my faves, his range from humorous candor, to verbal acuity, to utterly focused loverman, all the while rocking the geek specs with unheard of hawtness. He never takes the stud thing too seriously and that moment shows it. Woe were he to be so committed to trying to be the ladies man that he could not see his unapologetic nerdiness is so integral to his charm. So while it is unlikely that All is Fair will be a tour de force it is a good first foray in a serviceable direction. He's well on his way to breaking through the pop charts, I just hope he keeps pushing the envelope and works the quirks without going gimmicky. I'll be watching and rooting him on.

Bonus pick n' mix:

Carnival by The Cardigans:

D.A.N.C.E. by Justice:

Fairly Oddparents:

Hotel to Motel to poppin' like a toaster

2010-04-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

Supreme apologies for the lengthy absence from posting. Still fairly out of commission owing to computer problems and suddenly being insanely busy again, but I figured it was high time for a post.

I've just returned from a trip that started in Northern Italy, took me to Istanbul, Turkey (and I was staying in the Hilton HOTEL) and ended in an amazing weekend back in Rotterdam.

In due course I hope to make the photos from the trip available for your perusal, but right about now just had to rave about the festival weekend I had in Rotterdam. There was a great slate for Motel Mozaique.

The music lineup

Here are the artists that were definite highlights for me:

Mulatu Astake and Heliocentrics. Such a gentleman onstage. Hypnotic and groovy pentatonic goodness, my concert buddy Martijn particularly enjoyed Mulatu's "yeah I'm in the groove" facial expressions.

Kaki King (sadly she was sick, which affected her voice but it resulted in this hilarious on stage banter about sounding like present day Marianne Faithful and an old grandma, wherein she proceeded to rant like a senile elderly woman). Damn, woman's got axe skills (thanks for telling me about her Simone!). Also check her cover of LoveStoned por ejemplo.

Daedelus. I saw him in college in the basement Smith Campus Center or Walker (can't remember which) 5 or 6 years ago and it was pretty low key. Was more preoccupied chatting with a friend that night. But the particular set last weekend was frenetic, nonstop, beat-tastic, and brimming with energy. And the crowd was so into it. There wasn't a body left still. Then, the next day I saw him while I was on the walking tour(see below) stolling down the street by himself, licking on an ice cream cone ostensibly chillaxed out.

Into the wee hours there was also plenty of booty shaking and simultaneous observation of the rhythmically challenged courtesy of an impressive program of DJ's spinning.

But in addition to all this great music there was also a load of art exhibits, some people could sleep overnight in museum and gallery spaces throughout the city, and on the Sunday, bleery-eyed from all the previous night's partying, I did a blind tour of the city getting to know my temporary home of Rotterdam by other sensory means without the aid of sight, touching buildings, trees, railings, sculptures, etc. inhaling scents in the air, and becoming hyperaware of the terrain beneath my feet. Was also privy to a beautiful little hidden public garden nestled in the city center where we had homemade chocalate cake and discussed Rotterdamse gentrification in Dutch. Well, I mostly listened because I've reached the stage of language learning where you understand a lot more than you can respond to fluently.

Motel Mozaique: Def worth a repeat.

Addendum: Pop Tart

In other news, Mr. Anoop Desai dropped his first single. Much has been made about the lyrical cheese, which was largely intentional aping of the male bravado. I could expound at length as to the Bhangra influence and what that might mean in addition to other aspects of Noopy D's first official post-idol pressing, but I unfortunately havent the energy at the moment. My critical essay regarding the evolution of his career has been shoved deep on the backburner as other preoccupations must take over. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be doing my job as a fan were I not to share some of his shizz and admit that I highly enjoy what auditory gifts Anoop proffers. Loving this acoustic rendition:

The sexiest R & B geek in the game.

Smooth and Kondabolu strike again

2010-02-17T04:15:00.000-08:00

A couple anti-racist/colonialist goodies for you from two dudes who know what's up:

Keep preachin' the gospel, brothers. Recycle!

A queen of adventure, priestess of camp, princess of love

2010-02-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

R.I.P. John Dankworth.

Because a guy who composed a song this toe-tappingly groovy is totally mournable:

I discovered the coolness of this tune when watching the eponymous film, Modesty Blaise. And as the opening credits rolled with this song, I kept scratching my head going, "Where have I heard this before?" Then it occurred to me, "Rock the House"!

Siiiiiiick.

Damon Albarn and Dan the Automator strike again. BTW, Gorillaz is dropping (or has dropped?) a new album, Plastic Beach. Think I gotta pick that one up...

Make sure you see the vintage classique of Modesty Blaise on film 'cuz Monica Vitti is oh-so-uh-may-zing. Plus, it's got totally whizzy technicolor splashiness and that fabulous '60 style ratcheted up a billion notches. Miss Monica's outfits are outrageously delicious. Yeah, it's weird and it makes no sense, but who cares? Thanks to Dankworth the whole score is slammin' too.

I heart this version of the title song as well:

The Price is Right Whale

2010-02-07T14:39:00.000-08:00

The synchronicity of one's newsfeed never ceases to boggle and astound.

So y'all know that one of my favorite books is Moby Dick, right? Well whales rock and so of course I read this story in my newsfeed today about a new book that's coming out about whales that was inspired by John Waters. It's going on the shortlist of recently released books I want to read, which also includes Zadie Smith's new book of essays.

And then, I read this story on the collision of a whaling ship that was in the Mail & Guardian. By virtue of the names of the ships in question, some of the passages in this article sound downright surreal and laughable if read out of context (and, as a matter of fact, pretty giggle-inducing in context too).

Example #1: "The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has accused the harpoon ship Yushin Maru No.3 of intentionally slamming into its vessel the Bob Barker on Saturday."

Example #2: "Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research said the collision occurred as the Yushin Maru No.3 tried to avoid the Bob Barker which it said had moved dangerously close to throw projectiles containing foul-smelling butyric acid at it."

Example #3: " 'And I think now that we have them, unless they sink us, we're going to be able to shut down their whaling operations for the rest of their season,' he said from on board the Steve Irwin, which is heading to join the Bob Barker."

There's a ship named after the crocodile hunter? More importantly, there's a ship named after Bob Barker, former host of The Price is Right?

I grew up watching The Price is Right at my grandparents' house during school vacations. That theme song sure is groovy and extremely sample worthy:

Anyway, the newsfeed gift kept on giving, with mention on The Smoking Section of a new track called "Ms. Right" which pays homage to the Barker helmed show. TSS does drop some really crunk tracks for download, but damn do I get annoyed at their contradictory acknowledgement of objectification of women at the same time that they constantly feature softcore on the daily.

Then it occurred to me that in Moby Dick, an infitintely rich text is about an obsession with a whales, has several medidations on the RIGHT Whale (a cetological classification). Here's a small sample of Melville's genius from Chapter 75 "The Right Whale's Head--Contrasted View":

"...the Right Whale's head bears a rather inelegant resemblance to a gigantic galliot-toed shoe. Two hundred years ago an old Dutch voyager likened its shape to that of a shoemaker's last. And in this same last or shoe, that old woman of the nursery tale, with the swarming brood, might very comfortablty be lodged, she and all her progeny"

And I adore this little footnote in the chapter:

"This reminds us that the Right Whale really has a sort of whisker, or rather a moustache, consisting of a few scattered white hairs on the upper part of the outer end of the lower jaw. Sometimes these tufts impart a rather brigandish expression to his otherwise solemn countenance."

Lastly, " Can you catch the expression of the Sperm Whale's there? It is the same he died with, only some of the longer wrinkles in the forehead seem now faded away. I think his broad brow to be full of a prairie-like placidity, born of a speculative indifference as to death. But mark the other head's expression. See that amazing lower lip, pressed by accident against the vessel's side, so as firmly to embrace the jaw. Does not this whole head seem to speak of an enormous practical resolution in facing death? This Right Whale I take to have been a Stoic; the Sperm Whale, a Platonian, who might have taken up Spinoza in his latter years"

FINIS

This week's earphone worthy for the hopeless romantic

2010-02-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Soul Sides, one of my fave music blogs, here's a track that is my part of my current sonic addiction:

Al Green's "I Wish You Were Here":

Next, are few versions of a couple of jazz standards that I am enamored with right about now:

"I Remember You" as done by the late great Nat King Cole:

And a lovely harp laden take on it by Bjork that was actually my first intro to the tune:

Anita O'Day doing Tenderly, with Oscar Peterson tickling the ivories (sample only).

Finally, going to throw you for a loop with a splash of PJ Harvey's sexily carnal headbanger "This is Love":

Really, cop that whole album Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. It's an early oughties masterpiece. Sometimes you gotta push that lush orchestration aside and thrash it out, ya know?

Miss Ponytail and the Darling of the Arctic Circle

2010-01-24T02:46:00.000-08:00

I had a conversation the other day trying to explain the word "Mush!" as a rallying cry for sled dogs. And then I was watching this video which provides a use of "mush" in context for those interested parties. It also involves a little Sinatra-Suzuki exchange on identity and singing that is handled with a light touch, but certainly has a subtext about authenticity and entertainment.

Man, Pat Suzuki is so cool. Her beaming smile and powerful voice are irresistible. As a child of Flower Drum Song I'd like a poster of this magazine cover please:

Oh yeah and Suzuki's original version of this song kicks ass (I posted the film version here, and although I was raised with that rendition, I am starting to become even more smitten with Pat's edgier delivery) :

Watch I Enjoy Being A Girl Pat Suzuki in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Although, WTF, why do the graphics for that vid end with a Maneki Neko? Just cuz she's JA? Ugh.

Naughty Nederlands:NSFW

2010-01-19T05:38:00.000-08:00

In Hoofdstuk 14 van mijn Nederlands class multimedia CD, de intro muziek voor de luister oefenen was(translation--Dutch friends corrections, please: In Chapter 14 of my Dutch class CD the intro music for the listening exercises was ):

Prince-Sexy MF - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Did they think no one would notice where the music clip came from? When I first heard it I just sat at my computer guffawing to no end, flabbergasted.

You know what other tunes they ripped the instrumentals from to introduce conversations about people's occupations?

This. And this.

Heh. Oh learnin' the Dutch language, laff-a-minute.

Move your ass to the Pendergrass

2010-01-16T06:17:00.000-08:00

Teddy Pendergrass just died on 13 January. When I found out from the internets, I sat in my room screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" for like five minutes straight.

Hands down one of my favorite soul singers ever, he has provided me with countless hours of aural pleasure. What I would have done to see Teddy live in his prime...Check out a lil' bit o' this concert from 1979 to see what an amazing performer he was (Yes, I rented and watched the entire DVD of this concert and lurved every second of it. I encourage you to do the same. C'mon he had the balls to wear a sequined shroud!!!!):

YOU GOT THE POWER RIGHT HERE.

But it isn't just Teddy's rich baritone, or the way he can both smoothy caress and rough up the song in all the right places. Nor is it the sweet Philly soul orchestrations, or the ladies' man showmanship alone that makes Teddy Pendergrass so utterly, so superlatively, one of the greatest ever.

It was the cumulative effect of all those things certainly, but I would argue there's more to it. In fact, I believe Teddy Pendergrass, draped underneath a velvety cloak of sensuality, bore more deeply progressive ideas about the equality of love, and the wrenching nature of emotional pain. And the immaculate deftness with which he balanced desire and respect is unmatched. For that reason, not only does Teddy's music make you unleash your inner sex goddess, it does so in a way that allows you to feel zero shame about it. Here is one the his finest examples of his celebration of reciprocity:

His indomitable spirit really shines through in his vocal delivery and in his body, even as his body changed through paralysis. And indeed, I've written before about how Pendergrass is a great example of reimagining and expanding conceptions of the body and sexuality through musical expression. Fate would have it, in the accident that caused his paralysis, his passenger was a transsexual nightclub performer. Indeed, Teddy was a figure whose awareness about the performativity of the body was really keen and the company he kept even shows that.

And he just seemed like such a total sweetheart. Here's a great interview with him from NPR.

Many of his songs are about how people can inspire one another. No doubt he inspired many musicians. Name checked by Outkast, and sampled by a host of other hip hop artists (this joint is one of my old-school favorites, utilizing one of the best Teddy songs ever), legions adore Teddy P.

Whether you're an old fan or just learning about him through this post, turn off the lights, and turn on a little Teddy.

ETA: Here's a great obit from PopMatters on TP.

I stand corrected

2010-01-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

So, Jonah Weiner, a journo for Slate decided to make commentary on Jay-Z's latest video.

Let me say, with regard to mining some of the possible references in that vid, I beat him to the punch. But shamefully, I did so in an erroneous manner. Apparently "On to the Next One" is directed by Sam Brown, NOT Anthony Mandler. I guess it's a pretty big oversight, but for some reason my google search didn't yield the proper directorial credit. Oops.

Well, thank god my blog is not supposed to be serious responsible journalism and its no so material to any argument that I was making aside from giving Mandler props.

Thanks for the clarification Mr. Weiner. I also liked your article about why Wes Anderson is soooooo f**ked up. I will probably still see Fantastic Mr. Fox anyway...

I need to stop reading Vivian's yelp reviews!!!!!

2010-01-05T04:16:00.000-08:00

They make me soooooooo homesick :(

But I can't help it. And her writing, lotsa LOL! Esp. the MUNI stories.

And it would appear she now has Yelp elite status. Congrats Viv! About effing time.

I mentioned her reviews before, but as I was re-reading them today, swells of love for SF crested in my heart. Check out her 100th review, a beguilingly crafted essay that captures so much of why the City by the Bay is so freaking special.

Ate it on my bike last night, my hindquarters in slush. My gloves are shredded and I need new ones. I am so done with snow and ice. Thank you Vivian (and home made pork mushroom jook--used this recipe for the base) for helping me cope with the stupid winter blahs.

Gettin' a handle on Mandler

2010-01-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

I have covered Antonioni and the music video before. But once again, he's connected with Amerie, and I'll throw a few others into the mix this time, just to make it interesting.

I have to say, I've been loving some tracks off her latest, In Love and War. E.g., Dangerous, More Than Love and The Flowers. She's still bringing the go-go beat hard! Yesssss.

And while its actually one of the lesser tracks on the album, the single Heard 'Em All has got a music vid whose director studied with Antonioni at USC film school, Anthony Mandler.

Mandler also directed this Jay-Z music vid, which is a more obvious homage to Antonioni's Zabriskie Point:

And in his latest vid for Jay-Z, the film school student in Mandler comes out in a little nod to the opening credits of the classic Japanese film Kwaidan, with of shots swirling liquid like Rorschachs:

Macabre indeed, with the skulls (oh hello Damien Hirst) being another ostensible link to the ghost story subject matter of Kwaidan. And there's a bit of the beat in there that sounds like some of the film score work from Toru Takemitsu (he did the soundtrack for Kwaidan). Probably not part of the inspiration, but the tinniness of it, the nearly unbearble percussive wall, the eerieness of its repetition seems parallel (maybe its all in my crazy head!). Whatevs. Takemitsu is pretty great. Deserves his own post, but anyway, check out this doccie on him that I just watched. The alternate spareness and cacophony of his music is where its magic lies.

Mandler's production company is also a tribute to the Jean-Pierre Melville/Jean Cocteau collab Les Enfants Terribles. Melville isn't my fave, but anyone who loves the author of Moby Dick and Alain Delon always wins brownie points.

And while I can't say I like everything he's done, the fact that Mandler provides a link between some of the crunk R & B/hip hop I love (like this Omarion jam) and some of the cinematic work that I love, means he's worth consideration.

Warwick Chiaroscuro

2009-12-19T10:53:00.000-08:00

Lately, for a fix of female-driven retro pop soul, my pick is Dionne Warwick. Her best tracks (of the ones I am familiar with) often have a great contrast of lush, shadowy musical arrangements--often peppered with percussive piano--against her pure and light vocals.

Here is a really fine example of that:

DIONNE WARWICK "Anyone who had a heart" 1963
Geüpload door Ultra_White_Forever. - Bekijk de laatste uitgelichte muziek video clips.

I have long loved that tune and the Bacharach-David penned body of work she put out, but the song that is really making me hit the repeat button is this lesser known HDH gem:

It was sampled (sadly to inferior effect) by Usher:

I've always thought Usher was sort of a second rate singer who got by on abs and dancing. Though this choice of sample might reveal some savvy (or producer's savvy) on his part. Of course, Simone has some other thoughts on Usher Raymond IV that are pretty dead-on which you must read if you don't already enjoy her(and Gaby's) blog.

Finally, as a member of the Pre-psychic-friends-network Warwick Appreciation Society, I'd like to proffer the original Walk on By, one of her earlier and most well-known hits.

But you should also check out Stanley Turrentine's truly excellent jazz reworking. I searched a bit for a free link to listen, but failed. Nonetheless, it's worth the effort to take the track for a spin if you can get your hands on it.

Sure, there's the latter day hits like Deja Vu (which is a sorta guilty pleasure of mine) and her collabs with Stevie Wonder, etc. But the older stuff is the real ish.

Dutch Wax/Is That Jazz?

2009-12-12T06:17:00.001-08:00

So much love for Yinka Shonibare. One of my favorite artists ever. I just finished reading this great interview with him. Please check out his work. His explanations are so much better than anything I could write about it.

Like here's what he says about artifice and art:

To be an artist, you have to be a good liar. There’s no question about that. If you’re not, you can’t be a good artist. Basically, you have to know how to fabricate, how to weave tales, how to tell lies, because you’re taking your audience to a nonexistent space and telling them that it does exist. But you have to be utopian in your approach. You have to create visions that don’t actually exist yet in the world—or that may actually someday exist as a result of life following art. It’s natural for people to want to be sectarian or divisive. Different cultures want to group together, they want to stick to their own culture, but what I do is create a kind of mongrel. In reality most people’s cultures have evolved out of this mongrelization, but people don’t acknowledge that. British culture in reality is very mixed. There’s a way in which people want to keep this notion of purity, and that ultimately leads to the gas chambers. What I am doing may be humorous so as to show the stupidity of things. But at the same time I understand that the logical conclusion of sectarianism is Auschwitz, or the “logical” in its starkest manifestation. So even though these works are humorous, there’s a very dark underlying motivation.

Here's one of my favorite pieces of his, Vacation:

Source

As the article linked above mentions, the variant uses of Dutch Wax print fabric in his work draw on many different meanings as he re-contextualizes them, often in Victorian/Colonialist reimaginings. Not only is his art aesthetically stunning, and the craftsmanship is impeccable, the depth of the work--at once visually arresting, sociopolitically provacative, wryly playful, with his unmistakable artistic signature--is truly special. Plus, I find his work to be immediately accessible and interesting, which so many estoeric and boring artworks ( or the manner in which instutions present them) lack.

Note: The title of this post plays with Gil Scott-Heron's film entitled Black Wax/Is that Jazz? The latter part (an afterthought of the main film) of which you can watch here. It also deals with compartmentalization of genre, artistic nomenclature, and the problematics of purity. Might Shonibare and Scott-Heron have anything to say to one another? I wonder...

Winter Blue

2009-12-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a little bit of melancholy for the coldest season:

And a little pick-me-up, my favorite holiday song ever:

Finally, one reason I wished I was back in SF for the holidays (other than my family, of course). Dammit Anoop, why are you there when I am elsewhere?????? Backed by the Glide Memorial choir, too? Way to make me homesick Mr. Desai.

Consolation prize: Christmas in Paris with the dearest of friends! No complaints, really.

Merry Holidays everyone! And mucho mucho love.

Fiveng: Tearin' up the internets

2009-11-19T16:08:00.000-08:00

My beloved brother from another mother, Nicholas Ng (a.k.a Fiveng) is getting some nods from local San Francisco music internet publications. His music is really wonderful. Quirky, thoughtful, often danceable, and always a rewarding, rich listen.

Here's the link to the most recent shout out today.

I mentioned his music in a previous post, but this stuff is so great, just had to re-present it.

Go to the MySpace pagina, right here.

And for you crate diggers, his side project collaboration with Vensla still has a couple of tracks for your aural pleasure on the internets.

Way to go Nicky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next stop, SXSW?

San Francisco, je t'aime

2009-11-19T16:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Kelly for sharing this.

You say pannekoeken, I say okonomiyaki

2009-11-14T13:57:00.000-08:00

One of the most delicioso thangs here in the Netherlands has to be pannekoeken. Bigger than your face. Decadent as sin. Brimming with any amount of almonds, apples, raisins, cinnamon, ginger, or any other array of toppings/fillings. You can get savory ones too. But its the sweet ones, dusted generously with powdered sugar, I tell ya. The sweet ones FTW. Oh yeah. Zoet pannekoeken FTMFW.

There's also the petite version of the Dutch pancake, these little pillows of wonder, aptly named poffetjes.

Although if you want to get serious about savory pancakes, then there's okonomiyaki.

If you've never had this before you need to try it! A pancake stuffed with meat, cabbage, seafood, noodles, and potentially other goodies, it often comes with bonito flakes undulating on top, and a healthy slathering of bulldog sauce (think a much sweeter and tastier version of A1) and a good dollop of mayo.

Here I was, thinking I might be in a hinterland sorely lacking in some of the delights that I have so missed from my beloved city by the bay, okonomiyaki eateries being one of them. And yet...there's one in Amsterdam! It looks very promising indeed. Japanese Pancake World. What? A whole world, you say? Bring it!

Who wants to go? Give me a shout out. I've been dying for some good Japanese food. And this just might be the ticket...

And finally, it made me remember reading this great story, The Big Pancake, as a kid. It's like The Gingerbread Man: the remix.

There wasn't a good portmanteau for Cookie and Shaft.

2009-11-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

Chaft just didn't seem right. Nor did Sookie monster.

Ooooh yeah. Prob one of my favorites, though far too many to mention.

Me know, me eat microphone!

Happy 40th Sesame Street.

Hurts so bad: it feels good

2009-11-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

This is totally my jam right now:

Did you know that Little Anthony and the Imperials were just inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame just this year?

This song packs so much into just over two minutes. It reminds me of the fabulous economy of pop songs in those days. Amazing how it builds up into the crescendo towards the chorus and really soars. These guys were (and still are) great performers. Can you believe they're still going? And they look like they barely aged!

Of course, their music is permeates later generations. It's been covered countless times. Teedra Moses (who I will perhaps post further on) is one of the unsung R & B singer/songwriters out there, and her homage to Little Anthony and co. is damn crunk:

People, I command you to ride the Moses soul train!

Here's the original flavor for reference:

Can't get L.A. & the I's outta my head! Day and night. Wrong or right.

Update: Please check out a fab cover(kinda eerie-feelin') version of Going Out of My Head that was just posted on Soul Sides, a great music blog I like to follow. It's the second track, and the preceding one is worth a listen anyway.

MIA in the MIDDLE

2009-11-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the longer than normal absence from the bloggosphere. After a trip to Stockholm and playing catchup on schoolwork thereafter it is now time to resuscitate this baby.

With that, I offer you a little chain of musical connections for which MIA is the connective tissue. Say what you will about her, the neon eyesore clothing, the hipster fandom fawning, the lazy appropriation of revolutionary tropes, there is still something substantive to her music in the beat, the feeling, and the occasional flash of melodic brilliance.

I'd like to demostrate that by starting with a pretty little song I've been grooving to lately:

Sound familiar? Well, more recently this came out:

Speaking of another track by MIA, check this one:

And if you thought that was even remotely cool, Vijay Iyer's latest release Historicity riffs off that in a ridiculously staggering way. He takes the song where you never thought it would go. Like, WHOA:

See man, it's all connected.

Anyone care to see Mr. Iyer with me? He's playing in Holland in late December.

Revelation

2009-10-09T04:39:00.000-07:00

For those that don't know their own worth. This track is devastatingly arresting.

Like, whoa.

He's on tour in the states now. Go check him out.

Amen.

2009-09-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Sign the petition here.

The tour is over, but don't say goodbye...

2009-09-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

because the greatness of season 8 idols remains.

Allison Iraheta is on fi-yah!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for this fierce young woman's album to drop. Step aside disneylettes, this is the real teenage phenom ish.

Anoop just keeps bringin' it. Le Sigh.

Things like this make me think that he could be an awesome mix of Wayne Brady, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Stewart on his own TV show. The self-effacing dry humor? HAWT.

And the final frontier in genre blending awesomeness: Noop-velle Vague. It's orgasmic. Two things I flove coming together. Behold.

The new crown prince of R&B geek chic and Belmondo/Karina? My mind is blown.

Futurtastic FlashFoward!

2009-09-25T04:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you who missed it, the premiere of FlashForward.

Pretty riveting, no? I wish there was some quirkier stuff in it, it seems to take itself a bit too seriously at points, and I don't find Joseph Fiennes to be that compelling of a lead. But John Cho will always and forever kick ass. Loving Alex Kingston being in this too(albeit briefly)! I still remember her awesome work as Moll Flanders. And the Jack Davenport teaser? Good thing he's keeping his English accent. His American accent was a little strange in Swingtown. Also, I want Gabby Union. Where is Miss Independent? Can't wait to keep going on the wild ride with this show. Ah, plot driven television.

Hooray for Sondre! In other news: hipster male v-neck t-shirts blow.

2009-09-11T04:04:00.000-07:00

Sondre Lerche is never groundbreaking, shocking, or intense. But that's not his point, really. Light ditties, with an occasional dark undercurrent are what he does best.

So with that in mind, go forth and enjoy his music--a nice dose of pure, nuanced, blissfully melodic acoustic pop. He's got a new album out:

Welcome to SondreLerche.com from Sondre Lerche on Vimeo.

Ugh, I am not a fan of that stupid v-neck shirt though, and the just rolled out of bed musician look is a bit cliche, especially when paired with those neon sneakers (see below). With the neckscarf too? Stop already. And while I am admittedly in much more of a soul/R&B/hip hop phase right now, there ain't nothin' like a pretty tune from Sondre:

Plus, he is disarmingly cute live. Here are the tour dates.

SJW and SWV

2009-09-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have been grooving to a nice little cover of SWV's "Weak" by Gretchen Parlato. To listen go here. It's apparently arranged by Robert Glasper, who I am really digging right now too.

I heard Parlato perform the cover live this summer at one of the shows at the SJW Festival (i.e. Stanford Jazz Workshop, my former employer). Pianist Taylor Eigsti introduced the song, asking the mostly middle aged + kids-too-young-to-remember-the-golden-age-of-early-90's-girl-groups audience if they had heard of the SWV song, and there was no recognition whatsoever :( I was raising my hand in the back with devil horns to no effect.

But at any rate, they rocked this cover, and it has been seared in my brain. My connection to the song goes back some 17 years ago, one of the very first cassette singles I ever bought. I also have sweet memories of driving from Cape Town to Hout Bay with Jon David on the Fourth of July, singing along to SWV on the radio. JD told me about his dad's secretary who was a rabid SWV fan.

We're takin' you back to the old school:

Citrus flavored fate, I can't wait!

2009-09-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

John Cho wears sarcasm soooo well:

And kudos for Courtney B. Vance who picks up on it right away. And his laugh (hee hee) is priceless.

I am really excited about this show! The cast is kickass, and good n' diverse. Not only do they have Vance, and Monsieur Cho--who promoted the series in GQ in a swanky 6 page photo spread, channeling a splash of Tony Leung, schooling dudes on wearing a double breasted suit well (hotness alert)--but they have two other majorly cool thespians lined up who I am also thrilled about:

1) Gabrielle Union (who apparently plays Cho's love interest--YES for blasian couple representation. Is it too much to ask for a more complex and passionate relationship than Romeo Must Die? Sorry, that's the last time I can remember this type of racial/gender romantic configuration). She always plays strong, smart, sassy, sexy, classy women. Who could forget her star turn in Bring It On? Here she is on Chelsey Lately doing some pretty straight-up yet hilarious race talk, speaking out about how women are silenced, and implicitly reveals herself as a news/popculture junkie:

After all, she IS Miss Independent (I totally heart this song, even if none of the women in this video present themselves in a form that actually illustrates the concept of being "fly effortlessly". Gab's hair is mighty fierce nontheless):

and

2) Jack Davenport. So hilarious as Steve in Coupling. He is great when he tries to defend the stupid myths of masculinity and femininity. You may also know him as Commodore Norrington in the Pirates of the Carribean:

Oh yeah, Joe "Shakespeare in Love/the lesser of the two" Fiennes and Dominic "Lost Hobbit" Monaghan are also in it. So that's three white dudes (all from across the pond, playing presumably Americanos) for your three people of color. But who's keeping score anyway?

FlashForward (not to be confused with this televisual gem of my adolescence) premieres in September 24th. I hope I can watch it online. Sometimes that stuff isn't available outside of the U.S. And I will cry citrus flavored tears if I can't.

It should have been a dogg.

2009-08-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

Source: http://twitter.com/Anoopdoggdesai

And that made this get stuck in my head:

Guess I'm getting no sleep tonight.

Dutch grass

2009-08-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

As always, the bifurcation of my blogosphere is split thus:

Here at PopCornucopia, you'll get my musings on pop culture, often with critical slant, as well as any arts and entertainment rocking my world. Over at The Avera Palimpsest, you can always find the personal life updates,the travelogues, the newsworthy, and the serious social justice reflection.

If you head over there now, you'll find links to my pictorial accounts of my short trip to Germany and a walk around in my temporary Leiden neighborhood (until the lease on my apartment starts and I move into the city center).

But don't take this is a guarantee that I'll be back in full blogging force. Indeed, this is the lull just before classes start, so we'll see how my time management shakes down. But I hope to be able to serve you more kernels of Pop! Perhaps even some Dutch pop fun...

For now, a little XTC to celebrate my arrival in the verdant Netherlands:

Please excuse me while I move to the Netherlands

2009-08-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

Yep, I will do my utmost to post some good stuff in here once again, but life's just gotten in the way.

The blogging dropoff is largely due to the manic activity of the last three weeks of my job, with a jazz festival, camp and residency program going at full force, and being marooned on the island that is Stanford. Thankfully, the storm from that weather front has subsided.

Alas, further complications have lead me to moving to a faraway place that requires international wire transfers, deciphering the indecipherable, and the general stress of relocation at a breakneck pace. So until that is fully in swing, don't expect anything regular.

Thanks for your patience and understanding of the intermittent nature of posting in the coming weeks.

Whole lotta Hari lovin'

2009-07-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

Once again, Mana proves she has excellent taste. She raved about stand up comic Hari Kondabolu whom she saw live and was ROFL. Now I haven't the privilege of checking it out live, but the vids were enough to sell me on his up and coming greatness.

Now those of you who pooh-pooh at the general lameness and lack of critical awareness in comedians, Hari will combat your dismissive attitude if you just watch. He is immediately self deprecating, politically engaged, fearless, and adorably nerdy all in one fell swoop. Anti-racist, anti-colonialist, AND guffaw inducing? Say, what? Yes, people, it is possible and Kondabolu succeeds with aplomb.

For more, check out his website: http://www.harithecomic.com/

His blog is quite good too: http://www.harithecomic.blogspot.com/

But my favorite piece of work is a recent short film, Manoj, which he wrote and starred in. It's a "profile" of a racial caricature Indian hack comic Manoj (portrayed by a bearded Mr. Kondabolu), his dumb white fans, and an exaggerated version of Hari himself, deeply angry at the horrifying setback that Manoj represents for his own comedic aspirations. There's a bit of the Merchant/Gervais funnily-painful-to-watch mockumentary style in there, but it's also a really insightful piece that is a penetrating commentary on performers and their audiences. It questions who comedy serves, who is laughing at whose expense, and how people internalize stereotype and instrumentalize them in ways that further entrench racism, etc. (all those other bad bad -isms that social justice warriors, myself included, get incensed about).

Behold the mini masterpiece that is Manoj:

MANOJ from Zia Mohajerjasbi on Vimeo.

Present Tense Biennial: Just go see it

2009-07-07T23:48:00.000-07:00

Hopefully will do more justice to this great exhibit in a later post with details, commentary, and my own insider story, but just wanted to say that you really need to see this exhibit at my old workplace. I was worried about procrastination of spreading the word due to my own life business so I wanted to say it now.

Present Tense Biennial: artists reflect on contemporary Chinese culture

It's the best group exhibit I've seen at the Chinese Culture Center. Ever. Major props to Abby and Co. And it's FREE.

Again, GO SEE IT.

David Ruffin=Raphael Saadiq=Anoop Desai=Left Eye

2009-07-07T00:24:00.000-07:00

Optically speaking of course.

Here's the original recipe:

The revivalist:

Raphael Saadiq - Love That Girl from Artists Den on Vimeo.

The futurist:

The feminist:

Aint 2 Proud 2 Beg

Nerd specs:The great pop music equalizer.

The blasian chronicles of hip hop forge onward

2009-06-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

I have a running inside joke with my friend Mana where we ask each other, "Why is Jadakiss as hard as it gets?" at random times. Essentially, it's a commentary on the sore lack of badassery in the world, and our sadness that Jada is its self-purported pinnacle. Whatevs, it works on so many other wonderful inside jokey levels.

Despite our lamentations, Jadakiss is unstoppable:

Damn, he's harder than we thought, Mana. And he's takin' us AZN's and our rice rockets with him.

BritPopCoruncopia #17: Top 3 reasons I wish I was at Glasto this year

2009-06-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

Alas, there any many cosmic arguments as to why I should've been at Glastonbury this year. Here are the top three in order of importance:

NUMERO UNO, of course: Blur closed the whole. damn. show. And it was epic.

*Sigh*

Dear blur, please just come to the Netherlands when I'm there, okay? Don't go to the U.S. if I haven't seen you there! It will seriously break my heart. And my tears will fall like those Ghanaian tomatoes, Damon:

Love, Em

Numero dos:

Ah, Noisettes, my new favorite band of the moment. Their frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa (that's her during their performance at Glasto above) is an ultra-ferocious blend of Kathleen Hanna, Bjork, and Lily Allen in her incomparable vocal delivery. I am rocking out to their last album What's the time, Mr. Wolf? and I can't wait for the release of their latest Wild Young Hearts in August. Their dancefloor hit single "Don't Upset the Rhythm" is already shaking the bootysphere in their native England.

Memo to Noisettes: Let's also get the timing right, please. Whether it's Amsterdam or S.F. be there when I'm there. Alright.

Numero tres: The Tong, his bandmates and their ever-lovable antics:

Ain't all that jazz?

2009-06-22T02:17:00.000-07:00

So, some of you know I work for a certain jazz organization. We recently had a kickoff party for the jazz festival that starts next weekend. You should check it out!

From my stint with this org, I have given some thought to the meaning of jazz for young people. The jazz camps for which I am mostly devoting my time at work are carrying on an appreciation for the arts (and specifically jazz) that is magical to watch when the kids are abuzz with activity during the week. And the artists sharing their craft is always nice to see too.

When you are spending whole days bleeding your eyes out in front of a computer to help make such a program happen, or talking on the phone with parents who wax poetic about their child's love for the great American art form, one can lose sight/be hyperaware of the fact that in the general populace's eyes jazz ain't all that for most of the kiddies these days. This article reminded me that there is a supposed pending crisis for jazz, and it was also interesting in light of how the Obamas are continually pimped in the media as the messiahs of cool.

There are plenty of examples which cite the presence of jazz in hip hop--and yours truly has pointed this out at least once. This bodes well for the reassertion of its relevance. I certainly believe jazz offers a huge amount of value and great potential in staying relevant and accessible. But I think the article could have raised some deeper questions about jazz and its status as one of the truly great "American" art forms whose audiences are larger often outside of America (like, why is that when I said I was traveling to Slovenia that jazz musicians were the only people I talked to who had been there? The audience is strong enough there that it's worth the trip, and perhaps there aren't enough gigs close to home? OMG there's a jazz camp in Slovenia too? Looks like some serious competition!). What is the significance of a White House endorsement and showcasing of jazz in entwining the genre anew as a symbol of American-ness? I'm probably just not reading the stuff about this or talking to people about it enough, I have to admit, so I'm probably missing out on the answer to this question, but oh well.

Further, it does not talk about the institutionalization of jazz training, which certainly affects its image as a popular art form. For practitioners, the artists themselves, the meaning of jazz and their sustainability as artists (in a recession no less) are some larger questions also at stake. Representations of the glory days when jazz musicians were considered pioneers, iconoclasts, the rebels of society, those responsible for the gestation, birth, and development of cool, are a far cry from the increasing scourge of smooth jazz perjoratives, labelling as easy-listening for the boomer set or the sole purview of intellectual snobs and would-be sophisticates (thoughts generated by attending a session of this conference workshop in Slovenia!). These competing representations that I note as a casual observer show that temporally, we are at a musical crossroads with jazz.

Alright, enough of that pondering. I have to go back to work in the morning.

Like I needed another reason to heart him

2009-06-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

And you wonder why he's smokin':

Your roots are showing

2009-06-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Machilu, this post is for you :)

The Preamble
When I was 8, I went with my family to the Chinatown YMCA boys camp. My dad was the music director that summer and we joined him up at Camp Kern. During the craft time with other staff family kids, I made a pet rock named Dottie. I don't recall what inspired this, but my imagination went to this absurd place, where I somehow devised a character in Dottie who like to be nestled in two particular staff members' hair, Kevin and Hubert. Often I would bring Dottie with me around the camp grounds and if I encountered either of Dottie's favorite follicular playgrounds, I requested that they oblige her. And these kind men both allowed me to put this grubby painted rock in their head's forestry for a few minutes. In fact, sometime after the camp was over, Kevin mailed me the remnants of his latest trip to the barber in a ziplock bag for Dottie's pleasure. It still confounds logic that a grown man (whose next piece of mail to our family was his wedding invitation with a bird motif) would indulge a weirdo child's imaginative liberties such as a pet rock whose favorite thing to do was revel in a tufts of hair. But Kevin Wong, you hold a special place in my heart for this wonderfully odd indulgence.

Like all childhood things, we tend to grow out of it. But ever since then, I have occasionally exhibited signs of an interest in hair and the many meanings around it. My 8th grade science project with Cindy Umanzor, a research survey and evaluation of hair restoration techniques (primarily for male pattern baldness), is one such example. Now, I emerge as a more adult, more sophisticated me, trying to be less cockamamie and more analytical. Indeed, hair is very a important part of style and identity. As it is a symbol of defiance, a statement of personality, a source of woe and shame, a commodity, a thing of beauty and pleasure, and an endless source of tactile titillation.

Strand #1: If you can't take the heat get out the kitchen

A recent episode of Tyra tackled black women's (and girls') hair in surprisingly decent way. Part one here:

There were moments where I was almost going to shed a tear seeing how conventional Eurocentric beauty standards are ingrained in girls so deeply and at such a young age. Check out PostBourgie for some commentary on the episode.

In Spike Lee's movie Malcolm X, the opening and throughout show how hair is a metaphor for the progression of eponymous character's politicization. You can watch the opening scene after the credits (Or the whole film) and see how hair is woven into the narrative:

Lee also takes on the hair issue for women in School Daze, in a very notable filmic dance battle:

In such case you can see how the processing of hair is a highly commodified practice that reflects privilege and wealth, but it also reflects a certain hierarchy of intra- and inter-raciaized beauty.

There's a scene from Clueless about weaves (it starts at about 3:30) and another about shaving your head.It starts with Dee's scream at about 3:25. Speaking of hair. WTF did Brittany Murphy do to her hair? Seriously, when she went blonde she went beyond recognition. Anyway, it is no surprise watching this and considering the other stuff above, how hair becomes a major bone of contention for the main black characters in the movie.

Of course, Oprah.com gives us a detailed account of how to straighten your hair. But is this any surprise when Oprah is a constant combatant when it comes to her own body image and beauty?

Moreover, who could forget the Barbershop/Beautyshop movies? A site revolving around hair becoming the centerpiece of multiple story arcs signals how much energy is expended on coiffure and cosmetics. That energy also creates a camaraderie, contention, and community. Actually in the first Barbershop (I have to admit it's the only one I've seen) some of the characters commit a crime against South Asian convenience store owners. I had to mention it because you know I am always interested in Afro-Asian interrelationships.

Strand #2: Chow Mane and Curry Combs
In a not too graceful segue, this brings me to the concept of Asian hair, which has taken on vastly different meanings from black hair. Yet somehow, since they are both "ethnic" hair they get lumped together by the UK Cosmo-esque website Handbag.com, in this style inspiration feature.

At the same time that "ethnic" hair is taken as worth lumping together, it seems that L'Oreal can't seem to help themselves, dermally saying "light on for the darkness" by blanching Freida Pinto just as they did Beyonce.

According to Marie Claire, Asian hair needs its own special how-to guide. But in looking through the slideshow I fail to see how the tips are so particular to some ambiguous notion of Asian hair. Any styling experts want to come correct and school me?

In his book The Accidental Asian, Eric Liu laments the plight of Asian male hair as wiry. Of course, I'd like to explore issues of gender a bit more, but I realized whenever the blogging becomes expansive it tends to get messy and the post never gets published. In the interest of expediency let's forge ahead. Maybe you gentle readers, can contribute more to the discussion on this point.

From Asian hair for Hallloween to Chinese queues, there's much to be said about the idea of Asian hair.

Interestingly, South Asian hair is coveted. Especially Indian hair.

Whoa, check out this website called IndianRapunzels. It is devoted to Indian hair.

Note the way that the Go Fug Yourself Ladies became obsessed with Freida Pinto's hair in 3/4 posts on her. Here and here. Granted, the go fug yourself gals covet many a woman's hair and skin. However, their covetousness is all the more compelling in the context of Indian hair as it is trafficked and sold for other women's consumption.

Strand #3: A Hair's breadth between real and fake
Beauty, as it is seen in nature and artifice, functions in much the same way that race does as a fine balance between essentialist ideas and the performative qualities of race (e.g. racial impersonation, passing). Our hair says both everything and nothing about who we are.

Nothing shows that better than a few more pop culture examples (i.e. I've amassed so many that I'm too exhausted to do more analysis):

Here's an amazing anthem by the Lady of Rage--a jam that I grew up with watching CMC (California Music Channel) hosted by Chuy Gomez, who's STILL doing it on KTSF 26:

Thanks R. Kelly for also contributing with this autotuned gem:

R. Kelly - New Music - More Music Videos

For some more serious reading, check out Kobena Mercer's essay "Black Hair/Style Politics" in Black British Culture and Society.

Thanks Anoop Desai , for this one. Could you get any cooler? It's like we had a Vulcan mind meld and you knew I was going to blog about this stuff. Score one for the twitterverse (though I'm still not sold).

While I don't know if he's Sikh, Anoop brings up some thoughts about South Asian male hair. I remember very clearly a dated PBS show called Many Voices that I used to really like watching. It deals with diversity issues from a Canadian perspective. Each of the episodes was really well made for that time, if my memory serves me right--though it's been about 15 years since I've watched it. There was one episode that dealt with Sikh hair and the social ostracization that one adolescent boy faced at a local pool. This gives you a pretty good idea of the content (skip down to page 37), but I have not been able to find the video. At around age of 10 this was probably my first exposure to anything related to Sikhs. But not a bad start, I think.

Representations of hair play a role in how Asian-ness and blackness are reiterated, how we style ourselves, and view the way our hair is connected/or not connected to certain essentialized notions about the properties of the keratin growth that springs forth from our noggins. More systematically, it's a classificatory device. And a cartography of beauty and colonization of aesthetics.

Wow, this is super-Linnaean hair taxonomy. I mean, it is a new age of phrenology. *shudder*
Guess what, it's from L'Oreal, the fine people who brought us the whitening of Frieda and Beyonce. They also bring us this fine world tour of hair and culture.

Again, Shalini Vahedra, a presumably South Asian American woman. "India--these are my peeps." She goes on a beauty tour with The View ladies.

Vahedra also has a line called Global Goddess Beauty products purveying cosmetic tourism. And here, set to Indian sounding music, Shalmi talks about her experience of visiting family in Kenya and coveting the women's skin.

Or let's take a look at the covetousness of the Pussycat Dolls, who are ready to "dominate India":

Might I also mention the pencil test in South Africa?

And let's not even get started on other bodily hair trimming and removal.

Okay, maybe just this one example, which is alternately horrifying and hilarious:

Finally, here's Kimora Lee Simmons' emotional moment when her eldest daughter's hair gets blown out for the first time. Because really, hair can mean that much to people, even a a consumerist mogul like KLS:

P.S. I have not cut my hair for a whole year. What does that say about me? It says that I am too low on funds to pay for a good haircut so I've just decided to let it keep growing. And growing. And growing. Yet, it doesn't look half bad. If it did, I'd have gone back to the salon a long time ago, I think.

What are your thoughts on hair?

What my brother thinks of trannies

2009-06-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

Facebook status updates are good for something. A good laugh. Here's a recent one from my auto-obsessed brother:

Daniel: "fogs lights goin in. tranny gettin swapped. sparco wheels gettin restored. two tickets to pay. i officially dub this the summer of the car."

My response:

Emily:
"Uh, the tranny is getting a sex change? MTF or FTM?"

Daniel:
"dammit... no!! transmission... i mean its goin from usdm to jdm, if that counts, but its for my car lol!"

It appears he changed his status after that.

I kinda told you so...Into it/Over it at the same time.

2009-06-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

Remember when I said that Adam Lambert was going to be the next logical progression in an increasing commercialization of gay men?

Looks like the Daily Beast concurs and has some analysis about his post-Idol "re-branding".

For what is a typical gay man makin' paper, if not image conscious?

No surprise that he's using the tried and true mantra of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll to launch his career into the stratosphere via Rolling Stone.

Glambert's doing some lifestyle branding too:

Heh.

2009-05-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

I should probably find more context for this but it's pretty funny on its own. Found it here.

Black Friend Finder - watch more funny videos

What ho!

2009-05-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have loved Jeeves and Wooster, and by extension, Fry and Laurie for over half my life.

At a later date, I promise I will extol F & L's virtues to a far greater and highly deserved extent. But for now, let's just bask in the goodness of this major highlight of their collective oeuvre.

The Granada television series is being re-released in its entirety on DVD TODAY. For an affectionate review of it in PopMatters, and a nice synopsis go here.

You can watch the first three episodes on YT here. If you want to watch the rest, give me a ring. I've got an earlier edition of the entire series.

To prime you, a jaunty little musical number sample:

Aside from he sheer brilliance of F & L, the edge for the series is that the visual treatment is a pleasure of its own. It hasn't a stylistic misstep that wasn't intentional. The whole thing is menswear heaven. Like, if I were I guy I would covet all the clothes. What little female duds they have going on I absolutely love. If I could live in any time period for the design alone, art deco and the era so nattily depicted in Jeeves and Wooster is my number one pick. We could parse the finer issues of cultural appropriation rife in that school of design, but I occasionally prefer my aesthetic love to suspend its critical knee-jerk. Though it does rear its ugly head again during the blackface episode. It's more than a bit rummy if you ask me.

Don't neglect to read the actual books however. While there are tons of riotous stories told in the TV series, P.G. Wodehouse created so many fanciful frivolous fops and endless schemes and capers not only with the gentleman and his valet, but with host of other colorful personalities. They are not to be missed. Vouching for the virtue of PG Dubs's raconteur chops, Hugh Laurie, Bertie Wooster made flesh, writes how Wodehouse saved his life. Those books certainly added much needed levity to my oft-unfunny high school literary experience too.

Defiling everything from my credo against chain restaurants to my heritage

2009-05-25T18:48:00.001-07:00

Despite my general SF snob refusal to eat at chain restaurants when independent and superior establishments are readily available, there is one chain restaurant in South City(that's South San Francisco to you Yay Area neophytes) where I am not ashamed to go.

Yeah, Max's of the Philippines. Their motto is "The House That Fried Chicken Built." To get you in the mood, check out this commercial:

After watching a bunch of these commercials, I kinda have a crush on their spokesperson, Piolo Pascual. Too bad he turns out to be totally cheesy and weirdly into his bible group. But judging from those commercials, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

Anyway, back to the food reportage. I went with my childhood buddy Curtis. We are both ABC (American Born Chinese), and while I am only a half breed, supposedly boasting some cred with my other 50% being Filipino, I couldn't even claim to know as much about our eats as Curtis who does have some family/friends that have initiated him into the Flip food club.

Sadly they were out of the lumpiang and the kare kare (oxtail stew in peanut sauce) which were our first choices, but the replacements were hardly a disappointment. Okay, the fried wontons that we got instead were not so great--a bit skimpy on the meat. However, the entree that replaced the kare kare, pinakbet, was a delicious melange of flavors.

It had squash, green beans, bitter melon, okra, pork and bay shrimp in a light sauce. I especially love the treat of all those lovely sharply distinct vegetal tastes contrasting with the saltiness of the meat.

In a major faux pas, I later realized when reciting the meal to my dad that I was pronouncing the dish incorrectly the whole time when I ordered it. I kept saying PINK-a-bet, when it should be Pi-nak-bet. This is what happens when your father teaches you absolutely nothing about the country he was born in and the cultural heritage of our family. Until its too late and you've already embarrassed yourself. Maybe he just likes watching my self-humiliation. I can credit him with teaching me much about music but Asian American stuff...mmmm not so much.

The other dish we ordered was a superstar. I've mentioned lechon in this blog before. Well, lechon kawali is fried pork belly, all crispy skin, fatty ripples, and sinewy meat creating a carnivorous trifecta too good for words. Yet this was not what we ordered.

Nope, we got the Bicol express. Essentially it's lechon kawali, but its bathed in a milky coconut sauce with a hint of chili. I think Curtis and I were gunning for a little more spice as we had requested, but still, this was some mouthwatering ish. Yeah, lechon taken to the next power.

The perfect accompaniment to all this was the garlic rice, laced with shavings of fried garlic.

The menu is so deep and varying that we had a grand slam meal without even ordering their famous fried chicken. Thankfully, there's always a next time.

Not to mention, Rene, a simultaneously feisty and endearing waiter who attentively refilled my coffee when I had a longanisa and egg breakfast with my dad there some many years ago, still works there.

If this is what it means to eat at a chain in a suburb, then I'm all for breaking my own rules.

BritPopCornucopia #16: Pleeeeeese let it be true, please let it be true, please let it be true...

2009-05-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

Will I finally see Blur live in all their totality? If the word out is true, let us hope the answer is a resounding YES-YES-YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure, I've had Graham Coxon put his arm around my shoulder and do feral things(Ask me for the story if you've not heard it). I've certainly witnessed both the Gorillaz and the Think Tank era greatness that is Damon Albarn and co. But never have I ever seen them on the same stage together all at once. It's about damn time.

Let's party people and make it happen!

Keep SF music alive!

2009-05-22T14:53:00.001-07:00

OH HELL NO:

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/video.

BritPopCornucopia #15: Cocker the Rawker

2009-05-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

Britpop stalwart, liege of the louche literati, creator of the musical nexus of postmodern boredom and bedroom, Jarvis Cocker has just come out with a new album, Further Complications.

In honor of his second solo album, the Guardian UK has allowed him to take over their music section for the week, including a sampling of his latest offering. Drive-by opinion: classic Cocker with a more guitar rawk edge.

But let's go back a bit into the Jarvis archives for your viewing pleasure. Here's his little appearance on the Ali G. show:

For the uninitiated, there are a few bits of info you need to know for the above segment, if you didn't already. Cocker was the frontman of Pulp at the time they released This is Hardcore. At the Brit awards show he stormed the stage during Michael Jackson's Earth Song. Oh, also SBC's name check on his nan who drinks Zima? Priceless 90's goodness. My dad occasionally brought a six pack 'o that home. But he prob wouldn't want me divulging that incriminating piece of intel...

I close with a verifiable piece of evidence that Jarvis Cocker is coolness personified: My friend Anna-Helga said she saw Jarvis on a plane once. And he flies coach. He really is one of the common people!

Global Hip Hop: My burning queries answered(?)

2009-05-13T00:47:00.001-07:00

Oh man, this series on Racialicious (a fan-freaking-tabulous blog on race and pop culture) looks like it's gonna be great. Be sure to read the extensive comments that follow too.

While I don't know anything about the launching point of the first post regarding the Korean context, I have to say, much of the commentary and discussion is a more well-thought out version of the debates of "Who 'owns' culture?/Homage or appropriation?" that often ensue in my head.

Read on people, read on!

The thrill of the Hunt

2009-05-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

Van Hunt is so awesome. Why are all the great voices getting dropped from their labels!?

This dude was so great live.

He is at the cutting edge of blending rock, soul, and pop. Surprisingly, Randy Jackson was in his corner. In fact, on Jackson's iTunes celeb playlist he included one of Hunt's tracks.

Anyway, as an FU for getting dropped, Hunt is releasing an album of previously unreleased material--for free and web-only. I think one of my favorite elements of this album is the multiple variations game on his own song "Anything (to get your attention)", with clever and even funkier/rockier re-hashes of a track off his first album. It just shows that this guy is a great songwriter who is capable of taking his music in so many exciting directions. That surplus of creativity is unbelievable. The whole new thing dropped May 8th. Here's some of that ish to make you get down with your bad self.

Here's the NPR spot on him that got me into his stuff a few years back.

All the Idol bloggers are playing Elvis Costello

2009-05-07T00:40:00.000-07:00

Allison Iraheta. The most badass powerhouse La-teen-a-queen to ever grace the Idol stage. And she left the show after delivering this number with her rockin' cohort in crime:

The unbridled sense of fun, the stage chemistry, the matching haircuts...It was the triumph of the fruitfly-girl and her gay boyfriend! I almost couldn't handle the fierceness. It was like the emos and punketos not only made peace in Districto Federal, but they decided to have a musical love child. Then, they decided to bust it loose and throw the child one huge muthafucken birthday paaaartay. All in just 90 secs, folks.

The week before she did this:

So why is she gone? Oh my gaaaahd. Dude. Maaaaan. It's so crazy.

She is so zany and unrehearsed in her interviews. I love what she represents for girlhood. Mouthy, gravelly-voiced-disarming stage presence, unabashedly 100% herself, lovable but never needing to stoop to cutesiness to endear her to you, strong and emotional all at once, teen star-to-be without all the dubious backstage coaching. Also, not stick thin, radiant with healthy glow, and proud of what her mama gave her. She stood up for herself in a crowd of boys, and doesn't need a boyfriend. Girl said it herself, "I'm too young..." I hope she retains all these qualities as her career progresses.

Here's her exit interview. For those of you who don't watch the show, I apologize in advance for simultaneously subjecting you to the horrors of Jillian Barbiedoll Reynolds:

Here's part two

Oh the injustice, when this performance somehow kept this dude around instead. I keep trying to like him, but he unflinchingly managed to butcher Aerosmith even more than they butcher themselves. In the wise words of Ms. Iraheta, "At least I'm not cutting myself!" Sometimes the American electorate is smart (like when the GOP is at a dismal 22% approval rating),but others times, not so much. There goes the last POC on the show.

Blasian goodness brought to you by Chimurenga

2009-05-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

Check out Chimurenga's latest issue #14: Everyone Has Their Indian

Here are the two webvert videos.

They also got a great review in the Mail and Guardian.

I'm still waiting for my copy, but trust people, Chimurenga NEVER lets you down. Believe me, Ntone, Rucera, Liepollo, and that whole Chim crew put their big ol' brains, heart, and soul into every issue. And I know firsthand, having spent time working with them.

It is unlike any other magazine you've ever read. It pushes the boundaries, ideologically, aesthetically, literarily, textually, artistically, intellectually...Getting your hands on a copy is like coming into ownership of a small masterpiece, a bound and printed object that you can re-visit and re-read from so many different angles, awakening your mind at every turn.

At the very least, take a look at the website, which is chock full of amazing stuff. There's the Chimurenga library which is loaded with tons of radical (in both the TMNT and political senses) archival swag, the Pan African Space Station (PASS), replete with podcasts and other auditory treasures, and plenty of other things Chim.

What are you waiting for?

More than a Catwoman

2009-05-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

Eartha Kitt was legendary. Here she is with NKC:

What gets me, with both of these folks, is that they can just talk, and it's more musical than most of the stuff that's topping the charts now. Call me a curmudgeon before my time, dagnabbit, but these kids today...

Here's a full hour of Eartha with Marian McPartland. Damn, I want to be this effortlessly cool when I'm a senior citizen.

"...and the crotch-holders, I think are the ones who are making the money."

Watch your ass Michael Bauer

2009-04-30T01:24:00.000-07:00

My pal Vivian is the best food reviewer. For the real gastronomic lowdown on San Francisco , she's your gal.

Here's her original food blog. Now she Yelps.

A fellow SF native, I adore the fact that her reviews are always suffused with homegrown flavor and hardcore local pride.

She pretty much hits it right on the money every time, in a pithy, humorous way. I've been there for many of the food adventures she recounts, so I can corroborate. Her commentary is not only an entertaining read, but she often has some uncanny insight.

And her piccies...She's like Mario Testino for food porn.

We don't want to make P.Star bubblegum

2009-04-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

This documentary, P. Star Rising, looks like a great watch:

Here's the synopsis from the website:

At age 9, Priscilla, an adorable yet precocious little girl, tells her single-father, Jesse,: “I am going to become a rapper and fulfill your dreams of succeeding in the music business.” Moved by Priscilla’s passion and impressed with her natural talent and undeniable charisma, he begins to teach her all he knows about rapping. In the four years that follow there is no question that rapping has brought Priscilla closer to her estranged father, and that her success has made him proud. Before our eyes, this father-daughter duo go from a one-bedroom shelter in Harlem to a 4 bedroom apartment, from food stamps to shopping sprees, from rapping on street corners to sold out night clubs, and from sneaking under train turnstiles without the $2 fare to spare to being driven around in tinted SUV’s. It is further undeniable that Jesse has been reborn, from looking at old photos and bitterly reflecting on how he never was given the respect he deserved in the music business as a rapper himself to finding his own voice and self-respect as his daughter’s overzealous manager. But in the efforts to make her dad proud, Priscilla struggles to remain a child and finds herself trapped in a world of people twice her size and four times her age and doesn't know who to trust. Jesse himself is caught between wanting to protect his daughter’ innocence and exploiting her raw talent to fulfill his deferred dream. All they know is that the ride has just begun.

She busted out this pretty crunk number TWO years ago.

I keep scratching my head, because she is one badass performer. The bravado of this girl is incredible. She's like the anti-Miley.

Whoa, she's also on the new Electric Company (which is done by the same people who did Ghostwriter--one of my PBS faves). WTF, she has a workout video too?

Snap judgment, my favorite joint on the MySpace is "What a Difference It Makes"

She's kinda half-sassy ghetto fabulous, half-worryingly classic child star. Her stage dad totally freaks me out. But I won't decide how I feel until I actually see the film.

Anyone up for it when it comes to a theater near us?

FMI

BritPopCornucopia #14: Elvis Does Paddy, Damon does Elvis

2009-04-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Some rarefied "my favorites do my favorites" cover treats for you:

One of my favorite Prefab Sprout songs, and indeed one of my favorite songs ever, "Cruel", covered by one of my favorite artists, Elvis Costello.

And one of Elvis's songs, "Oliver's Army", as covered by Blur.

#63 Prettyman

2009-04-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

In memory of Bea Arthur:

Listen to this song right here.

One of my all time fave tunes!

Oh, the gays and Golden Girls. Match made in heaven:

Best quotation: "You put it in Bea Arthur's mouth and it comes out gay." Note: Marc Cherry is also the creator of Desperate Housewives.

P.S. I know all the words to this.

Thanks for the memories,Bea.

Jesus, this f***ing neighborhood/BritPopCornucopia #13: Everybody wang Chung tonight! (Well, at least Alex Turner will)

2009-04-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Williamsburg is the place to be, people. Just ask the folks at Gossip Girl (or not). Go here for an enlightening visual anthropological look at this Brooklyn 'hood. I've been shopping at Beacon's Closet, which I do like there. The gallery showing Simone's art (FMI see earlier post) is also a winner. The rest of it, not so much. But what do I know, poor San Franciscan simpleton that I am.

Nonetheless, its up-and-coming status just keeps on rising. Especially thanks to all the "stars" that have flocked to its cobbled streets.

E.g. English it-girl/TV presenter Alexa Chung just moved there, as she writes in her column.

Fashion "icon" and femme Carson Daly?

Unknown in the U.S. for now perhaps, but when she starts hosting this rumored TRL-esque show for MTV soon, her name will be on many an American hepcat's lips. Mark my words. Could it be her questionable fashion pedigree, her Arctic Monkeys frontman lover, semi-famous pals (like Daisy " I-once-banged-Mark-Ronson" Lowe), or her plucky persona that caused the transatlantic courting? Indeed, that is the winning formula for insubstantial starlets. Although with her dryly irreverent interview style will she prove to be a coup or obnoxious pain? Sub question: Is she the Nylon to Cat Deeley's InStyle?

Disgrasian seems to like her. And props for being human during London Fashion Week. So she may be a refreshing add to the celebscape here. Or another piece of rubbish. Aaaack. I can't decide. Help please, ambivalence overload.

At the very least her bf Alex "Hobbity-hipster-haircut" Turner and his Arctic Monkeys made one quasi-cool song that name checks my fair hometown:

P.S. Next time I promise to cut out the ubiquitous "scare quotes" and multiple-word-hyphen-strung-middle-names-as-pejoratives business.

BritPopCornucopia #12: Banana Bread

2009-04-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett lift the curtain on Gorillaz in a doccie directed by Ceri Levy (who also produced the Blur behind the scenes drunkfest Starshaped)that takes an insider look at the virtual band, revealing funny moments dicking around as well as insights into the creative process. Levy spent 6 years following them.

Le trailer:

"No disrespect to Pink Floyd, but we've got tunes." Ha.

As the official PR says:

"Babelgum announced last week that "Bananaz",the documentary that removes the secretive, mucky walls of Gorillaz - the cartoon band created by artist Jamie Hewlett & musician Damon Albarn - will have its online and mobile global premiere on Babelgum.com on April 20th 2009.

Bananaz will be available to stream alongside a Gorillaz channel featuring the Demon Days live concerts, videos, two new games, a Go Bananaz fans competition and exclusive preview clips from the documentary

Babelgum announced last week that "Bananaz",the documentary that removes the secretive, mucky walls of Gorillaz - the cartoon band created by artist Jamie Hewlett & musician Damon Albarn - will have its online and mobile global premiere on Babelgum.com on April 20th 2009.

Bananaz is set for DVD release on June 1st 2009 - the DVD extras will include the Bananaz Home Movie Club, which has up to an hour of outtakes from the film including; Clint Eastwood, Live in Japan, The Sneeze, Hello America, Bill Murray featuring The Bees, and Food Chain amongst others.

Bananaz is set for DVD release on June 1st 2009 - the DVD extras will include the Bananaz Home Movie Club, which has up to an hour of outtakes from the film including; Clint Eastwood, Live in Japan, The Sneeze, Hello America, Bill Murray featuring The Bees, and Food Chain amongst others."

My favorites clips from the site so far are the ones with Dennis Hopper. Especially when they talk about the word "castrophony."

Boogie nights: Idol does disco--some song picks

2009-04-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

Next week's Idol theme is Disco week.

I can't help but think first about my fave, Anoop. He might be able work the stage right if he doesn't go apeshit with the prancing and snarling. But as much as I was irked that Kara's rather well-aimed "frat boy" tear-down was kinda on the money, he might take it into consideration,and find the right swagger balance he so desperately needs. I think the the lukewarm-to-negative responses from the judging panel since the finals, and the tepid showing from the voting public indicated by the B3 appearances, makes me think it could be tough for him to muster the confidence. Although his "c'mon Ryan!" on results show night gives me hope that he'll lose it (in a good way). I think he needs an element of rawness and abandon to make a connection and have an electrifying performance.

Oh yeah, and he needs to bust out a really nice dandified suit. The layering thing is not doing him any favors. I love that he is unafraid of color and has (mostly) avoided the vomitrocious screen print graphic trap. But every week I wince when I see his shirt un-tucked and he can't seem to perform in anything but jeans. There are no tailored pieces. No proper trousers. He's been using Kanye as a style inspiration. Time to ditch Kanye and think more Andre 3000. There's a palpable difference between their takes on hip hop prep. A strong sartorial statement may be the best antidote to the disco chesse.

I know the perfect Beau Brummell for him: Ozwald Boateng. Impeccable tailoring mixed with a playful color sensibility, and Black Britannia cool:

C'mon Miles Siggins, Idol stylist(I saw you in the background)! Hook Anoop up with Ozwald like you did with Ryan!

As for song, he could go safe with McFadden and Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' us now." Although it's a song I also see Danny choosing for inspiration purposes. However, I think Anoop could really bring the heat with Earth Wind and Fire's "Fantasy."

While no one can compete with Philip Bailey and co., I think Anoop's got the vocals to handle the song and it will stretch him. I really want to see him do uptempo falsetto ( I know he can). This would be a real risky challenge but, if he did it right, molded it to fit him, perhaps threw a new twist in there by riffing on the slow parts that were originally just music, this could be the breakout for him. Plus he's got the great glory notes at the end if they arrange it cleverly. Moreover, the song is so inherently groovetacular and the non-come-hither lyrics mean that he can't do that "hey ladies" shizz that he doesn't always pull off with aplomb yet.

I sincerely think he could do even better than Clay, for sure.

Okay, this is a strange Me'Shell NdegeOcello cover of it, too schizo for my taste really,but it does show how far you can take the tune.

I think Kris Allen could also pull off EWF's "September" or Patrice Rushen's "Forget me nots" with a a sweet little uptempo acoustic.

Also how great would it be to see Allison rock Evelyn "Champagne" King's "Shame"? It's got a touch of gritty that suits her perfectly. It would also be great esp since Miss King was also a teenage phenom when she did this song. Or my personal fave Cheryl Lynn and her hit "Got to be real" ? Or will Lil attempt it? Could either of them really handle it? I wonder.

Wait...Adam could do it! He can do anything and he will cause combustion into flames of fierceness.

Ching-a-ling: Put out to Pastorious

2009-04-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

I was just listening to Jaco Pastorious' "Portrait of Tracy". Here's a live performance of it:

In an arcane twist of musical convergence, I realized that "Pullin' Me Back", a Chingy (feat. Tyrese) jam I had on heavy rotation (yeah, I am sorry but I just dig the hook) samples it! Here's the studio version of "Portrait" so you can hear the sample more immediately.

Like, whoa, I didn't even seek that one out. It just fell in my lap. I love it when that happens :)

Of course, I looked it up just to be sure. And it seems Chingy and producer Jermaine Dupri were also referencing SWV:

Dude, I do love me some SWV too. That one was for you, Jon David.

Glambert is sooo fierce

2009-04-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

Yet another reason this season of American Idol is riveting for me: Adam Lambert.

I love that he's genderqueered it up, but doesn't directly reference his sexuality, as much as he doesn't try to deflect or hide it. It's perhaps integral to his appeal.

Here's a NYT article on his sexuality and gender ambiguity that's pretty decent.

One thing missing from this article is the way that genderqueer and other elements of Lambert's presentation and performance is far from a departure of a particular stereotype. In some ways he's the kind of "gay"or "guyliner"-metrosexual that America--at least young America--seems to be at ease with. Witness the success of Scissor Sisters and The Darkness a few years back. Earlier precursors like David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, are proof that glam (which Lambert openly cites as a major influence) is totally well-tread upon ground in the mainstream, and the fact that--as the article points out--many "out" so-called straight men sport makeup and stage theatrics.

Adam Lambert is just the next logical step. Nor was he the first flamboyant male contestant whose wasn't unequivocally straight. Last season's Danny Noriega, and his "ish" was certainly a prior Idol foray into the queer eye of the storm. However, he hardly matched Lambert's vocal confidence and theatrical vision that have led him to perform so well on the show and create so much buzz. Nor is Adam a bitchy queen like Noriega.

In this case, theatricality, flamboyance, and certain cultural touchstones (e.g. male love for various divas, fashion and makeup styles) as proxy for gayness is a easily fashioned into a gimmick. Indeed this is an indication of the triumph of marketing sexual ambiguity and glam/goth/emo aesthetics for this generation. If anything, Lambert's growing success on American Idol is a testament to the way that certain notions of queerness, high theatrics, and vocal acrobatics combine into a viable commercial force, now more than ever. It's hardly edgy. Watch the end of his semi-final performance on Idol and Randy Jackson's comment at the end about his currency is dead-on:

This is hardly the case for other representations of sexuality and gender, which are still not-yet capitalized on in such a massive scale by the the corporate musical entertainment classes yet. Sure, there's righteous babe Ani, K.D. Lang, Melissa Etheridge, etc. But the only kind of lesbianism that's reached the kind of critical mass of American Idol scale is the kind that straight men also love to fantasize about. Not to mention queer folks of color, who have even less exposure.

Furthermore, while a lot people (and most of his women fans--who find him sexy knowing there's severely diminished chance of sexual compatibility, by most accounts) think that his sexuality is immaterial to his talent, others are likely dying to get some sort of confirmation or clearly marked coming out. Those that want to suss him out, not out of homophobia, but more likely out of heterosexism, indicate how much straightness and gayness are assumed and essentialised and that others' need to know in the face of ambiguity is about classification and the need to fit people into boxes, just as people of color are often asked their nationality or ethnic background as a primary "getting to know you" question far more than anyone who's white.

But it doesn't mean its not a step in a somewhat better direction, which again is why Lambert's ascendancy is so fascinating.

Whether it's his OTT dramatic performances (e.g. this week's highly-buzzed cover of Tears for Fears' Mad World) that seem to mesmerize, his off the charts Freddie Mercurial high notes, or his professed love of Gossip Girl or Twilight coupled with Elvisy pinup looks that have captured the cougars and the tweens alike, the boy is on fi-yah!

And no surprise here, Bill O'Reilly is homophobic and behind the times, thinking his "outing" of Lambert was a revelation:

As far as Idol is a barometer of the zeitgeist, Lambert's success (and all that it entails) and his showmanship keeps me tuning in.

Simone

2009-04-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

One of my top homegirls, Simone, is showing some of her pieces at Like the Spice Gallery, a Brooklyn-based art space in the center/black hole (depending who's side you're on) of the hipster universe, Williamsburg. It's happening Sunday, April 12th. I am so proud of her I could burst. Her work is fantastic. Employing complex imagery of girlhood, otherworldly landscapes, and houses adrift in boats, it's got subtlety and quiet beauty, yet is guided by a firmly anchored ethos and aesthetic. How wonderful it is to have her work on show at such a neat lookin' gallery!

Here she is talking about her art for the gallery's blog:

You can also visit her website to see more of her totally staggering, finely crafted, coolly feminist art.

BritPopCornucopia #11: You can't go wrong with TONG

2009-04-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Did you know Matt Tong, drummer of Bloc Party, has a father who is a pro chef? Well, they did a little 4-parter vid for Guardian UK Online called "Cooking With (the) Tongs". It was part of the Bloc Party Take Over guest editor series for the website. He is so dry. And the interaction with his dad, who plays the straight man is priceless.

Matty oozes quotables in the first part that's linked, but beyond that I won't spoil it for you. And they make Chinese pork terrine in part 3, which is delicious. My grandma makes it all the time!

Here's a clip of Matt and Kele (the lead singer/rhythm guitarist) in an interview. It's fantastic how clearly apathetic they are about interviews. Way to go, flippin' the bird to the media game, brothers.

Ooh, those shorts...

Check out how checked out Kele is in this interview in Brazil in which they have the gall to ask him how his name is pronounced:

And here's Matt and his bandmate Gordon doing Morrissey:

I watched a few other interviews and I gotta say Matt's wisecracking is the bomb. It totally wins me over, and in addition, his crisp drumming is always tops.

Cool TONG factoid #386: He also went to Bournemouth School For Boys just like Alex James.

What's more, the Bloc Partisans are outspoken feminist allies. Here's what MT had to say on the patriarchy of the rock n' roll orthodoxy:

"I always thought being a musician or wanting to do anything great was recourse to escaping the things about the world that might be hard to digest. I see bigotry all the time in the music industry. It’s still a very macho environment; it’s always been boys in the road swilling Jack Daniel's and womanizing. Rock 'n’ roll and feminine influence have been mutually exclusive. I heartily disagree with that. I constantly meet females who operate in this world who still struggle with archaic and counterproductive attitudes."

It's settled. He's my fave member. All hail the mighty TONG!

Doggy Defenders

2009-04-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

I thought I was so tough because I had two of these puppies:

Spike and Rascal always had my back, poised to gnash their teeth and cuddle at the same time. C'mon kids. I know you want one too now.

The second coming of K. Cla on American Idol? Perhaps...

2009-04-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

Allison Iraheta, you are great. And I totally agree with the American Idol punditry at EW, you gotta stay in the game girl. As the ballsiest girl left standing in a sausagefest, I love that you are bringing the pain and some implicit feminist pleasure. For the year you were born (1992) week here are my picks.

Do a grunge song, either Smells Like Teen Spirit or Under the Bridge, as many have suggested. But maybe do a spare downtempo acoustic version. You can still be raw but show the soft side everyone needs to see.

Or do this as power ballad--so reinvented with your gravelly voice. Cuz I don't think I can make it through Idol without you.

Just make sure you steer clear of this terrifying rendition. *Shudder* He looks like that dude from The Mummy!

The other route is to go full on ROCK, and follow premier Idol champ Kelly Clarkson's lead and do En Vogue's "Free Your Mind":

Dude, this vintage performance is even more blazin':

Rock on ladies. Rock on.

BritPopCornucopia #10: Raunchy lederhosen with Coxon

2009-04-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

Graham Coxon has quite a wardrobe:

OMG, he's so art school sometimes.

I also love that in Alex James' autobiography he says that Graham got really depressed when Audrey Hepburn died. Aw.

Sweetest Anoop

2009-04-01T23:51:00.001-07:00

Dear Anoop,

Please DO NOT do this song for next week's "year you were born" (1986) theme:

I have a sick feeling in my tum-tum that you will pick it. That spells D-A-N-G-E-R -Z-O-N-E (another '86 song, a highway to where you should avoid). You dressed for it last week (erm), so if you're gonna go Maverick on me, you can always do this. But it's one of those things that could either be sheer triumph or absolute suicide.

I know Stevie's your hero, but don't do "Overjoyed." It's overdone. You're smarter than that. Right?

However, I would LOVE to see you do this song:

Soooo easy to make contemporary because of the beats, plus the gender crossover always helps you win easy originality points. Smoldering yet earnest. You can be sexy without all the chest puffing and strutting.

Even Les Nubians gives you something to work with that's more recent:

Languorous enough to show off the smooth vocals, but nice n' mid-tempo to keep the energy up.

Do it baby, slam dunk.

Love,

Em

P.S. Found this after the initial post: LOOK! What did I tell you? You got this.

Gervais's butt

2009-03-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

I love me some Ricky Gervais. I haven't seen the stand-up that he's pimping in this HuffPo article, but I thought the interview was a short, sweet example of why I am usually a fan of Gervais's brand of comedy. Here's an excerpt:

"Targets aren't disability, famine, race. They're actually people's prejudice. And me. I'm the biggest butt of the joke because I'm in the wrong. So, it always comes down to me being totally out of touch, or saying the wrong thing -- with their blessing....But they know that it's coming from a good place, and I think that's the important thing with comedy. Comedy is about empathy."

In relation to my recent Teddy Pendergrass post, we have on the comments section of the article another instance of ability coming to the fore of engaging with prejudice and performance. Score one point for contact theory and how it improves comedy.

Prefabulous

2009-03-23T01:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I promised more on Prefab Sprout, and given the glut of free time I have at the moment, I am going to deliver a little.

Given their incredibly devoted cult following I won't exhaust myself by doing a band dossier. Instead, I direct you to this website for the most thorough rundown of this S-U-P-E-R-B (and severely underrated) group. It may not initially be your cup of tea. If it's a bit too sweet for you, or the sound seems dated, please read on and I hope you'll want to consider taking another sip. Or even imbibe it all.

I'll cull a few choice things about Prefab Sprout that I'd like to highlight:

Their most fruitful collaborator, super-producer Thomas "She Blinded Me With Science (hey, don't call me that)" Dolby mentions in his blog a recent encounter with Stevie Wonder, who was a Sprout supporter. On From Langley Park to Memphis, Stevie plays his patented harmonica on Nightingales, one of my fave Sprout tunes.

And Sondre Lerche, whom you know I am gaga for, is a huge fan of theirs. He covered Nightingales on his jazzy venture Duper Sessions.

Let me also say, frontman Paddy McAloon is one of the greatest living songwriters. Just a few top notch picks:

Okay I find their videos pretty awful, but the simple wisdom in this song is incomparable.

Off of their first album Swoon (a.k.a. Songs Written Out Of Necessity), "Cruel" is perhaps one of the greatest lyrical masterworks about jealousy and love. In fact, this vid has a play by play of the lyrics to drive the point home.

If you hear the lyrics for this tune, and then Sondre Lerche's "Two Way Monologue" (I love the dueling Sondres, don't you?), you'll see there's a Sprout reference, natch.

Paddy-Joe's lyrical derring-do has indubitably paved the way for other verbose and obtuse troubadours who have made considerable inroads, Sondre being the cuddliest of the bunch. But there's definitely a touch of his word-o-rama that similarly afflicts narrative-loving, eloquent tunesmiths like Colin Meloy. Essentially, the whole literate hipster music brigade should hold Paddy as an antecedent. They owe him big time for making verbosity work for the songwriting craft in a masterful way. Any discerning listener can surely see that he occasionally pushes the envelope and that it doesn't always work organically and can seem rather forced. But to go to the edge fearlessly, unafraid to takes risks, that's true artistry. The way that his vocabulary is all cylinders go, dizzying with the poetic imagery, alongside melodic restraint--pure gold when it's done right.

One the things I really want to talk about in relation to Prefab Sprout, however, is the lost art of the album. If we were to further discuss music, I am sure that this would be a recurring theme. Looking at Prefab Sprout's body of work, you can see how McAloon didn't just write songs, he wrote entire albums. Jordan: The Comeback is one of the best examples as it is loosely a concept album, a tapestry of interwoven melodies and ideas that blend from song to song. McAloon's clear fascination with Americana and various figures of American masculinity (coming from an Englishman) recurs in his work (e.g. Cowboy Dreams, an expressed love for Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb, and an album entitled Steve McQueen). But Jordan is the most forceful and complex meditation on this.

In the instant download, YouTube, iTunes music-sphere it's hard enough to make money and sustain oneself as an artist. Driven by a singles-oriented market, the true album is increasingly becoming a unicorn; an enchanted, mystical creature that only exists in legend, too impossible to actually survive. Take in a Prefab Sprout album in its entirety and you'll see what's sorely missing from today's pop fodder.

Although, there is the argument that music is more accessible than ever. Certainly the accumulative hoarding culture of music geekery has always been a bit uncomfortable to me. With so much more free access to whet my cash-poor musical appetite, I am certainly happy from this end of the development. But already having been able to at least gain some ground with buying used CD's and vinyl I always felt like I got more value for money with an album when I was paying for the music. While I can never claim to always appreciate the cohesiveness of an album's work because of distraction or short attention span, when I have taken it all in with repeated listens something richer and greater than the individual tracks often emerges. So I guess it's a double edged sword. What's your two cents, mate?

To end, here's a link to a little treat: a list of hypothetical albums Paddy McAloon has mentioned but never actually released. Use your imagination...

P.S. Thank you to PSA for the sole responsibility of converting me into a Sprouthead.

BritPopCornucopia #9: St. Johnny-be-good

2009-03-21T00:48:00.000-07:00

Kate St. John is amazing. No one has ever looked sexier wielding an accordion:

I know, it looks like she's barely playing it. But Kate St. John is the real deal. Plus, her backup vocals remind me a lot of Prefab Sprout's Wendy Smith. I'll probably do something on them later.

Ever since I heard the dulcet tones of her oboe on Blur's song "Starshaped" I have loved her. I have loved her before I knew it was her too:

I didn't figure it out til YT put this as related, but when St. John was in The Dream Academy, they did a cover of the Smiths "Please Please Please let me get what I want" and this instrumental version was used in "Ferris Bueller", as you just saw. I remember thinking that tune was so pretty. I love me some oboe (and cor anglais). What an underrated and underused instrument!

Here's another favorite song of mine that also features oboe. Aside from this tune (Jordan Knight?! Really? Yeah, the beats are hawt, there's time signature changes, and Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis production. Almost enough to forgive the sexist lyrics...) and this aural beauty (Wiki says they were an influence on Knight, go figure), I can't think of many others that have employed it so well in pop, except maybe David McCallum's instrumental work with David Axelrod (Again, more musical genius to be addressed later). Anyone else have any good double reed pop examples to shell out?

Watch this interview with The Dream Academy. Nick Laird-Clowes is a bit of a self-indulgent pedant, but the love of music is quite nicely articulated by all of them. In fact, I realize dream pop is a bit of a pansyish thing to like, but their explanation of the new romantics as a reaction to punk makes a lot of sense. The same way Cool Britannia was a reaction to American grunge.

For more on Kate, the Queen of all double reed popstars, go to her website to see all the people she's worked with, including several other Britpop artists.

BritPopCornucopia # 8: The Skinny on Liam

2009-03-19T22:46:00.006-07:00

Liam Gallagher wants to make clothes. WTF. He doesn't even make good music anymore. What sort of hubris makes him think he can do fashion?

Oh yeah, this kind:

The line, called "Pretty Green", is no doubt named after The Jam song (what doesn't Liam do that's not derivative?).

Wait! Mark Ronson already ripped it off before Mr. Gallagher.

So Liam, did you say you don't like skinny? May I remind you that The Jam, those who kindly let you shoplift the name of their song, were the kings of skinny?

I hang my head in shame. I cannot believe Oasis was my first rock concert. My teenage self is mourning! Nor is Weller exempt. His taste in clothes may be cool, but he also has a recently-acquired taste for young arm candy that I don't think I can get behind. Really, your backup singer? Could you be any more cliche?

I guess the law of growing up is that the older you get the more you start to realize that many of the rock stars you so heralded as a kid are actually entitled d-bags who aren't as cool as you thought. Love borne out of nostalgia is not as good as bathing in its present light. *tear*

Cut out the cute (occasionally)

2009-03-19T21:16:00.004-07:00

This is why sometimes I get upset (inside) when people say I'm cute.

At times, I am happy to be self-described cute, or affectionately considered cute. I am short, I wear colorful clothes, I have a sunny and spunky personality. My intelligence might make me seem precocious given my appearance. I get it. But sometimes: IT.JUST. GETS. ON. MY. NERVES. So please employ sparingly in my presence, or in anyone's for that matter. Really, over-usage of the word cute can wreak infantilization of its recipient. As that is related to sexuality and power, this can be limiting and disempowering.

Sometimes I do enjoy being a girl. It is part of my gender identity. Please forgive me, I did grow up watching this many times:

Nowadays, however, I can view this with a much more discerning eye. Yeah, Nancy Kwan among others worked her way into my subconscious, but look, I am also a grown-up and unapologetic feminist. A woman of experience. A woman happy to be both independent and welcoming to the buoyancy of others. A fully realized woman, just as much as I am cute. Let's not be reductionist to one another, yo.

Funnily enough, my brother hates the word. His reason: "Like, what the hell does that mean anyway? Cuz, like, anything can be called cute." I guess he also thinks it gets bandied about too liberally. Thanks for the insight Daniel.

I'm Ver-Klimt

2009-03-19T14:24:00.007-07:00

Wowza! Check out my marvelously fierce friend Emily Kenney's modeling debut.

She and I met during our stints as Rotary scholars in Cape Town and we shared many experiences together. The woman is, as you can see beautiful inside and out. She's big on justice and transformation issues in post-conflict societies, whooping arse and taking names doing some great work at the Open Society Institute. I heart you Em K, WAY TO GO!

If you look at the website, you'll notice the designer she modeled for used to work for several others, including Anna Sui, who's worked with Lily Cole, the supermodel I think Emily evokes so closely here. I think she's reminiscent of Gustav Klimt's porcelain-skinned muses, don't you? It totally looks like a cool visual mash-up of his paintings and 2046 in monochrome.

Sexability

2009-03-19T12:37:00.004-07:00

Teddy Pendergrass is unbelievably awesome:

Phwooooooar! I just love how he goes from raunchy to sweetly gracious in a heartbeat.

Some of you may know TP was later paralyzed from the waist down. Well, that didn't stop him from reminding people that he was still a sensual, passionate man.

I think this is a perfect example of how we can re-imagine the body and the ways in which people who have different ability embody sexuality in a myriad of ways. These varying modes of expression are equally valid. I must also point out I have also thought about queerness and ability. Unsurprisingly, I think the queer communities are much more supportive of engaging with issues of ability. Look at all the lesbians who know sign language! I kid, I kid. But really, it's high time people expand their notions of sexuality!