tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66536246672709481422024-03-13T06:54:40.494-07:00The SHE'S SO UNUSUAL Projecttrue songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-3391293466907677452012-09-28T04:35:00.001-07:002012-09-28T04:35:52.020-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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THE <i>SHE'S SO UNUSUAL</i> PROJECT is a homemade experiment in re-creating Cyndi Lauper's classic 1983 album. It was recorded by Anthony Barilla and Emily Patterson during the summer of 2012 in Pristina, Kosovo. For more music by Barilla and The Truth And Reconciliation Commission, visit <a href="http://truesongs.blogspot.com/">this website</a>. </div>
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<b>
<a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thetruthandreconciliatio2">Buy THE <i>She's So Unusual</i> PROJECT for only 5$ here.</a></b> It's also available on Amazon and iTunes.</div>
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<br />
And you can read lots more about the making of this recording in the<b> </b>liner note links to the right. </div>
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true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-11881275637918771582012-09-28T04:34:00.000-07:002012-09-28T04:51:51.938-07:00<iframe title="Store Widget" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="575" src="http://www.cdbaby.com/widgets/store/store.aspx?id=BDSWw0L%2b6eniFwVrUgM%2bBn%2fFBfGUYajyPP3PezFSnfs%3d&type=ByArtist&c1=0x80551B&c2=0xFFFFFF&c3=0xEBD19A&c4=0xEBD19A&c5=0x8A873A&c6=0xFDFEE1&c7=0xFDF0B9"></iframe>true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-36490280167844967252012-08-31T06:09:00.003-07:002012-08-31T06:09:40.612-07:0012. finally<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the past when we made a record, we
usually gave it away for free. But this time we needed to legally
obtained the rights to the material, since we didn't write it
ourselves. This cost a little money. And in order to recoup those
costs, we wanted to sell the songs online. And in order to sell
them, we had to register for a service that really knew how to do
that. And registering for that service cost a little money...
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<br />
</div>
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You get the picture. So here's the
deal: we're still keeping the price as low as we can and only
recouping costs - $5 for the entire album. If you like what you hear,
please post a link to us on your Facebook page and encourage your
friends to buy it too. We need to sell 100 copies to break even, and
we hope you enjoy all this art enough to help us do that.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thetruthandreconciliatio2">Buy the album here. </a></div>
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</div>
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Thanks to Chris Bakos and Lindsay
Kayser for listening and commenting. Thanks to my wife for singing.
And thanks to Cyndi for the inspiration.</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-33019679567290860512012-08-30T22:51:00.002-07:002012-08-30T22:51:25.456-07:0011. make her dance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Then I realized that when I lined up the photos from the album cover shoot and flipped through them, it kind of looked like she was dancing...<br />
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true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-78776707095228182512012-08-29T22:08:00.000-07:002012-08-29T22:08:08.448-07:0010. working with a wife<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I write a
song, she says, “Is it about me?” When I say no, she says, “Why
not?”
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</div>
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She's busy. She
likes to work long hours, and she likes to go out afterwards. She
likes to travel on the weekends, or do more work. She works in
Kosovo, and that's why I'm here. She works at her office, and I work
at home. When I record a song, she says, “Can I sing?”
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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I said, “OK.
Here's some music for you to practice.”</div>
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</div>
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I sent her a few
tracks to listen to, but I don't think she really got around to
practicing much. She's busy. But she did well even without
practicing, because she's that way. She recorded all her parts in one
weekend, between going out and working. I thought it might be hard to
work together, but it wasn't so hard. I thought it would be hard
because she knows my tricks. Occasionally she said things like, “Are
you just saying that to be encouraging, when in fact I'm not doing so
well?” And it's true. Being encouraging when things aren't going
well is a good way to be in the studio. It's a good trick to use.
But I didn't need to trick her. Things went well.</div>
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<br />
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“We need a record
cover,” I told her. “We'll pose you like Cyndi Lauper on the
cover, except we'll do it on the beach, or in the woods.” But we
never got around to it. She's busy, working long hours and
traveling. Instead I pulled some lamps into the bedroom and posed her
on the bed in front of the only blank wall I could find in our whole
apartment. It was late at night, and I imagined our silhouettes
spilling out into the parking lot.
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I didn't write
these songs, but whenever I do write a song, she asks me, “Is it
about me?” Sometimes I say, no. But usually the real answer is—to
some degree at least—yes. Yes they usually are. Why not? She's
why I'm here.</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-27657272853893217532012-08-28T23:19:00.000-07:002012-08-28T23:19:39.582-07:009. boys just get to have fun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Don't
misunderstand. It's clearly still a boys' club, empowering lyrics or
not.
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Her studio band is
a band of boys. So is the band that backs her up at MTV's New Year's
Eve party. So was the band she had before going solo.
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Every song on the
album is written by or with a man. “She Bop”, a song about
female masturbation, is credited to Lauper... and four men. “Girls
Just Want To Have Fun” was originally written from a man's
perspective, which makes sense, because it was written by a man.
Lauper contacted him and received his permission to alter the lyrics
in order to make them less misogynistic. In fact, Lauper's contract
with Sony stipulated that she only be allowed to record other
people's songs. Those other people all turned out to be men.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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I feel it bears
repeating: Lauper was compelled to change the lyrics to Female
Empowerment Anthem “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” because <i>the
original lyrics were too sexist.</i></div>
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<br />
</div>
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The three people
with production credits are men. Ok: most of the backup vocalists,
photographers, and designers were women. But hairstylist? Man.
Backup singers aside, the people who made the music are
overwhelmingly male. A large percentage of them hail from
Pennsylvania, a boys' club of musicmakers that seems to have centered
around producer Rick Chertoff's college friendships with members of
The Hooters (two of whom appear on this album.)</div>
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<br />
</div>
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It matters that the
album won Grammys and produced a number of big hits. It matters that
Lauper was named one of MS Magazine's women of the year, and that her
music was forever associated with female empowerment. And it matters
that the record still stands up today, consistently ranking in all
sorts of Best Of lists. Some of that credit goes to the image that
accompanied the album—an image created largely by women, and
principally by Lauper herself. But it also matters that nearly all
the people twisting the knobs, stringing the guitars, micing the
amps, penning the lyrics, developing the arrangements, inking the
deals, pressing the album, and even handing out those awards were
men.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Last night I stood
in a field outside Leposavic. It's a small town in north Kosovo. My
band had picked up a gig at the last minute to play something the
organizers were calling “Summertime Festival.” The festival
consisted of about 40 people and two big coolers of beer positioned
in front of a small and shaky stage on a riverbank at the edge of an
abandoned pasture about a mile outside of town. My band was playing
first, and some friends of ours were playing last. We were all men.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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The second act was
from out of town. They all seemed to be in their early twenties, and
they played a blend of metal and reggae that I can only describe as
utterly abhorrent, blasphemous, and against everything that is good
and righteous in this world. Their singer, who seemed like he might
be an engineering student or a coffeshop waiter, sang earnestly about
Jah and the power of the Rastafarian religion. He did not seem to be
under the influence of marijuana. Nor did he seem to notice any
incongruity between his clothes, his words, or his surroundings. His
band swung back and forth between heavy head-banging riffs and light,
groove-inducing ska strokes, and I only barely managed to maintain my
balance during what amounted to an hour of unwelcome aural whiplash.
But there was something I liked about them. It was the girls.</div>
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His female drummer
and guitarist took the stage like they knew what they were doing, and
they did. They played powerfully and tightly—never mind that I
hated the style of what that power and discipline produced. They were
the engine of the band, and everyone in the audience could feel it. I
wondered where they came from, and how. Because even today, twenty
nine years after <i>She's So Unusual</i>, there still aren't enough
women calling the shots in the music business. I like it when I see
a young woman doing well in a band, like these women were. I want to
see the ones “who walk in the sun.” Or rock beneath the moon. I
want to see what they can do. Sure seemed like they were having fun.</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-90765115861755601352012-08-27T21:49:00.000-07:002012-08-27T21:49:05.289-07:008. sex<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is why fleets
were launched and wars declared. Let's face it. It's not her eyes,
the curve of her waist, the sunlight in her hair. It's what you want
to do with those eyes, waist, and hair. Or what you want them to do
to you.
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<br />
</div>
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This is an album
largely about sex. Money changes everything, including sex. Girls
just want to have fun, and sex is not necessarily but can be included
under the heading of “fun.” When you were mine, we had sex. Time
after time, I remember you, I'm waiting for you, and presumably sex
is somewhere in the mix there. She bop, obviously she does. And so
on. It continues. You get the point.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_85306537"></span>This is why middle
school boys in Pristina graffiti the walls with their caveman
drawings of dicks<span id="goog_85306538"></span></a>. Four or five curved lines and then everyone grins
and laughs and runs on down the street, but it's all that's possible,
this shorthand for “right now I really need sex, need it more than
I can even really describe.” It's an utterly controlling thing. No
wonder it plays at least a supporting role in these ten songs in a
row. Been doing that in popular songs since way further back than
1983.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Sex is cruel. It
might be natural and necessary, but “natural and necessary” is
just another way of saying “cruel”. For sure it doesn't care what
you say about it, or what you sing about it. In church they used to
say that love is never jealous, and maybe that's true, but sex is
jealous, jealous, jealous. Controls your eyes, your mouth, your
hands. Makes you say things you don't even mean. Things you didn't
know you meant. Makes you sing things you never meant to say. Runs
its own course through your life and bends you to its will some way
or another.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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But I think that's
what the songs are saying. There's nothing we can do about this (they
say). I'm trapped by your body, and I want nothing else than to trap
you with mine. Anchor you to me and drag you down, stop you floating
away in the way that everything seems to want to float away around
here. We can do this the hard way, and we probably will, because
there's really no easy way, none at all. Probably this is going to
hurt you and me both. Maybe this means forever, or maybe we don't
even stand a chance of understanding one another, never did, but
whatever the truth about that is there's no denying <i>this. </i>I
think that's what the songs mean when they say “I want you.” I
want to. To hold your hand. I need you. I gotta have...
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Look.
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What you've done.
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To me.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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I think that's what
the songs are saying. They're saying “help.” It's just another
word for “sex.”
</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-47428671402164838912012-08-27T00:15:00.001-07:002012-08-27T00:15:03.074-07:007. past, present, future<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I wanted something
portable to play in a band, so my parents bought me a Juno 106. I
was 15. The knobs were labeled “oscillator” and “envelope,”
and I never got much of a handle on what those things meant. I stuck
to preprogrammed piano and organ sounds. I went to blues jams and
set the keyboard on top of the piano, so I could play either one. It
was Austin, Texas in the 80's, a good time and place for music, but I
didn't know any better than to play blues. Later I switched to the
bass guitar and forgot about keyboards entirely. When it came down
to it, I played a lot of synthesizers, but I was never a synthesizer
player. When it came down to it, I wasn't much interested in
inventing sounds that way. I didn't have that thing in me.
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are
synthesizers all over this album of hers, and the synthesizers only
rarely attempt to imitate acoustic instruments. Mostly the
synthesizers sound like synthesizers. Thick fat beeping buzzing Juno
60s, Prophet 5s, Memorymoogs, and Oberheim sequencers, in action,
signaling, morse code, electronic pulse. The guitar are polished
smooth and slathered in chorus, and the drums are pressed flat,
reasonable simulations of guitars and drums. But the synths sounds
exactly like synths.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Those synths can
sound dated now, but then it was a roomfull of guys with the latest
technology in their hands. They moved oscillators and envelopes
until they got something they were going for, something I never had
that much fun doing. Maybe I missed something there. It must have
felt like the present and the future happening simultaneously,
transmitting beeping morse code messages from right now into
tomorrow. Sounds nice.</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-87364762599370679512012-08-26T11:59:00.000-07:002012-08-26T11:59:31.117-07:006. the unusual outtakes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There's always
outtakes. And here they are, free for the taking: 6 little pieces of
instrumental music that I had a hard time letting go of. Most of
them started out as some kind of cover song but turned into something
else before, finally, they just got away from me completely. Listen
below, or <a href="http://archive.org/download/TheUnusualOuttakes/TheUnusualOuttakes_vbr_mp3.zip">download the whole set for free at this link</a>. <style type="text/css">
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true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-39803134644969757042012-08-25T21:56:00.002-07:002012-08-25T21:56:51.242-07:005. strange<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZPSq4PyYDD4" width="420"></iframe>
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<br />
Of all the good
songs on the record, it's the first one that got to me first. I
didn't know anything about The Brains. Had never heard of them.
Didn't know they came from Atlanta, Georgia, and didn't know that
Lauper picked a track off their 1980 debut album to be the first
track on her solo debut. By the time their song was a hit for
Lauper, The Brains had already broken up. It must be strange to be
known and still unknown.
<br />
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<br /></div>
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Most everyone in
the band kept playing music. I couldn't find out much about the
bassist, but the other three members all joined other groups,
sometimes playing rock, or blues, sometimes going on tour, sometimes
working as session players. The guitar player ended up playing for
the Georgia Satellites, but no one else seems to have scored another
substantial pop hit. It must be strange to have a hit after throwing
in the towel.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I wish I could find
out more about the bass player. He seems to have showed up for every
Brains reunion show. It must be strange to have reunions for a band
that lasted all of three years.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But breaking up the
band didn't seem to change much. Most of them still wrote and
recorded more songs. They explored traditional styles, going deeper
and deeper into music. They moved to other towns where the music bent
their lives in different directions. They never stopped playing. I
was glad to read about this. Some people do. I hear about it from
time to time. People form bands, write songs, go on the road, and
then later give it up. Pack their instruments away and take other
jobs. Sometimes go for years without playing. They say they need to,
for their sanity, for their wives, for money. They say sobriety,
kids, or the revelations of age changed their priorities, or that
money changed everything.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It must be strange
to be sober, to have kids, to have revelations that make you stop
playing music.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I wonder what
that's like.</div>
</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-41084487220780424712012-08-24T22:58:00.000-07:002012-08-24T22:58:12.628-07:004. prince<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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It's not really
possible to overstate Prince's impact on my musical taste. You might
not think so if you stood Prince and I side by side. His influence
has been profound, but it's hard to say exactly how.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's not that I
often pose semi-nude, or wear shirts with ruffles on them. It's not
that I know how to play the guitar. I'm uncomfortable singing about
how I'm going to lick you, or do you, make you holler, or ride you
like an aeroplane or sports car. I'm even more uncomfortable writing
about those things. So I don't. But Prince writes and sings about
those things on a regular basis.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Prince can walk on
stage and catch a guitar being thrown to him from the other side. I
can't do that. Please don't come to any performance of mine expecting
to see me catch airborne guitars. It's not going to happen.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Prince has guitars
with unusual shapes. My guitar is shaped like a guitar.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am short but
Prince is shorter. I am white and Prince is black. Maceo Parker is
willing to play in Prince's band. I suspect that I do not have the
same “pull” in the industry. To date, Prince has had ten of his
albums go platinum and thirty songs chart in the top forty. I
haven't had any of those things, to date. He had his first big hit
when he was twenty. When I was in twenty, I was just in college.
Getting a degree in Sociology. Prince didn't do that. He had other
priorities.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
* * *</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Most other music
that I like doesn't sound much like Prince. And sometimes his
records are what the critics would call “self indulgent” (this is
something we actually have in common.) But other times his songs are
so perfectly composed, arranged, and performed that they transcend
style.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“When You Were
Mine” is an example of a perfect pop song. Its sentiment is not
only wistful, romantic, bitter, ironic, hurt or hopeful, but all of
those things, and the words are well-chosen and well-rhymed. The
moment and the feeling described could easily become too small or too
big, but it never becomes either one of these. The melody is
instantly memorable, and the song contains all the hooks that it
possibly can and should.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Probably this is
why Cyndi Lauper put it on her record too. It's a perfect song, and
everyone likes one of those. When I first heard those perfect songs
of his, they made a big impact. Bigger than the ruffled shirts,
sexual innuendo, and stagecraft. This is just a good song, and when I
learned that, it felt like I had really learned something.</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-47920015810762931782012-08-23T21:22:00.000-07:002012-08-23T21:22:11.949-07:003. performance proposal #723<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/b5K8vBJ1nKI" width="420"></iframe></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I don't usually
tell people my ideas before I do them, but here's my idea. Someone
should invite me to America to produce a live performance of this
video in its entirely. The performance will take place on New Year's
Eve 2013, preferably in a warehouse setting in Houston, exactly
thirty years to the minute after the original.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
All parts will be
performed by Houston musicians and actors. The role of Cyndi may be
played by one or more persons. The band may be played by one or more
persons. The vjs should be performed by two men and two women.
The role of Pee Wee Herman can be played by anyone, and the
appearance of AC/DC is optional. This might result in a cast as small
as seven persons, or much larger. The performance will take place
beside a large video screen, on which will be projected the original
MTV production, and the live performers will synchronize their
performances to the video.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The performers need
not dress, or speak, or take drugs in a manner particular to the
80's. The songs need not be performed in the original style. The
rules of the performance are purely temporal and textual, as opposed
to contextual.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
performance will conclude with an encore of those songs from </span><i>She's
So Unusual</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> album not performed
in the original video. These songs would ideally be performed by any
number of great local musicians. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The audience will
cheer and enjoy themselves in a manner appropriate for any New Year's
Eve celebration, only this time they will be somewhat more
consciously repeating the actions and pleasures of people who partied
and danced thirty years previously, repeating rituals both arbitrary
and necessary. It will be cyclical, it will be affirming, it will be
fun. I will get tired well before midnight and wonder how I got so
old, so quickly. You will be glad you came.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And it will never,
ever happen again.</div>
</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-23596105290266279262012-08-22T22:38:00.003-07:002012-08-22T22:38:45.876-07:002. america<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This being America,
the songwriting and publishing credits of this 1920's era Tin Pan
Alley tune are profoundly Jewish: Sherman and Lewis and Silver and
Shapiro and Bernstein and then some. This being America, at least one
of those songwriters fled the Cossack pogroms of Kiev as a young boy.
This being America, these men and their industry cranked out song
after song after song using the newly invented assembly line
method—this man responsible for the concept, another the melody, a
third for the rhyme—and the sheet music of those songs sold
millions of copies, and people bought the sheet music and business
was booming.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This being America,
it was a short 15 year leap from her her birth (to German and Irish
immigrants in the Bronx) onto the vaudeville stage (as a chorus girl
in a Marx Brothers act.) This being America, next was Broadway, where
she became an overnight sensation after ad-libbing the syllables
“boop-boop-a-doop” during one evening's performance. This being
America, these four syllables eventually led to a contract with
Paramount Films for a whopping $8,000 a week for the five foot tall,
squeaky-voiced “Boop-Boop-A-Doop Girl.” This being America,
anything was possible.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This being America,
she sued the makers of the cartoon character for “unfair
competition and wrongful appropriation.” This being America, the
defense claimed that “boop-boop-a-doop” had in fact been invented
by a black singer named Baby Esther who regularly performed at The
Cotton Club. This being America, there was never really any question
of compensating Baby Esther. This being America, nothing was proven,
and the case was dismissed. This being America, the Depression came
and people mostly forgot about Helen Kane. This being America, the
cartoon survived much longer.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">This
being America, Kane's memory received a second act fifty years after
the fact. This being America, that second act took the shape of a
five foot three inch tall chanteuse of German and Italian descent
born in Queens. This being America, </span><i>He's So Unusual</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
shared space on an album with other songs by writers from Atlanta,
Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Stockholm. This being America, this is
generally how the sausage is made. Or the hits. This being America,
everybody danced all over again, forgetting that they'd danced to
exactly the same tune half a century before. This being America, a
good song might come out of anywhere and anytime, business was still
booming, and anything was possible. A good song might come out of
anywhere and anytime and, this being America, everyone was prepared
to dance when it did.</span></div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653624667270948142.post-80311408287901636792012-08-22T00:00:00.004-07:002012-08-22T00:05:18.267-07:001. this idea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We first had the idea for The <i>She's
So Unusual</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> Project driving back
to Kosovo from a friend's wedding in Novi Sad. I don't remember why
I'd put Cyndi Lauper's original album on my ipod. I don't think I'd
ever given it much thought before. But we listened to it at some
point during that drive, and I was surprised by how many really
famous songs there were on that record, and also how many very good
songs. In fact, I found that I liked the album a lot.</span>
<br />
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">I was
thirteen when </span><i>She's So Unusual</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
came out. I hadn't fully immersed myself into any kind of modern
music yet. When I did, I listened to the music that the other guys in
my neighborhood listened to. At first it was classic rock radio, and
KISS and Metallica, and then later a lot of punk, funk, reggae,
blues, and soul. Cyndi Lauper would not have been on the playlist,
but, like anyone else my age, I was aware of the songs, and they were
a part of my cultural landscape, and I certainly didn't </span><i>dislike</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
any of them. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Listening to it on
this April afternoon drive twenty nine years later, I recognized a
lot of shared influences. It turned out of course that the music
she'd made was inspired by the same music I had been listening to
around that time. Reggae for sure, but also straight up rock 'n' roll
and a lot of blues structures too. Even the “filler” songs on the
album had integrity, and a lot of those were written by other
songwriters of the period, which—along with the lyrics' explicit
statements about women, sex and so on—made the record seem like
some kind of very special and successful distillation of a moment in
time.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It also seemed like
a good piece of art. When the album ended, I told my wife that I
loved it, and that maybe I should do a cover of it. Sure, she said.
And, can I sing on it? Because that's what she always says when I
tell her about a new project I'm thinking of.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I wrote a friend in
Houston. I'm thinking about covering this album, I said. What do you
think?</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes, she said, you
should.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So that's how it
happened.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
* * *</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The <i>She's So
Unusual</i> Project will be available for you to download here and
elsewhere in about two weeks. We'll be taking the <i>unusual</i> (for us)
step of selling it in order to cover the cost of licensing. Come
back tomorrow for more...</div>
</div>
true songshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16553673721184278643noreply@blogger.com