Shut up. And dance with me.

My friend told me about a podcast called "Switched on Pop."
It is a musician and musicologist who talk about pop music.
I have only listened to a few episodes (my friend told me to start from the beginning, I didn't), one of them being their 100th episode.
So many things about it I love-
Bias when discussing non-Eurocentric musics
Adorno
Musicality of phrasing
How pop music is filled with key salad- many forms of music the pay off is getting back to the tonic or home key of the piece, movement, whatever- popular music doesn't necessarily do that. Often it is about wandering around key signatures, the rhythms, lyrics, and stuff like that...
I have found that I have to take breaks in listening to it. I can't "binge" listen. Since I pretty much only listen to podcasts when I am at the gym I guess it wouldn't be a binge, but rather after I listen to a "Switched on Pop," my next podcast is a Marc Maron or something else.
BTW- I could write a whole blog post about my thoughts and complicated relationship I have with Marc Maron and his podcast, but I am not ready.

Though I don't think that I want to do a total music oriented podcast, a few weeks ago the podcast that I am on (yes, it is true) did a segment on Weezer.
Unfortunately, I cannot direct you to the podcast yet because they are not available.
Here is the link to the website. Todd made some nice drawerings of us.

https://www.emergencytoddcast.com/

Anyway, Weezer. What is their deal?
Many people (including the people on the podcast) have an opinion of them for sure.

Joey, one of the participants, told me about the SNL skit about Weezer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab5WvwfLuLM

It is pretty good and completely validated me and the podcast we did.
Speaking of Joey, here is a link to something he did that I find hilarious.

https://conealoneworld.com/

I am cone alone.

Dahnanana. Dahnanana. Clap. Clap.

Luke Perry.

Wow.

I am a forever fan of 90210 (Donna Martin graduates!). Though I have been and will always be team Brandon, I did watch most programs and movies that the original cast of BH 90210 were in.

Yes, I saw 8 Seconds, Calendar Girl, A Friend to Die For, Charmed, all of Jennie Garth's Hallmark/Lifetime movies, Sharknado,  and that show with David Silve- I mean Brian Austin Green.

I even caught some episodes of Gabrielle's talk show in the 1990s. 

I watched (pretty much) the entire series when it was on. Yes, maybe not all of the final two seasons, I wasn't a fan of Noah. To me it was the kind of show one could dim your inner lights and watch without a whole lot of thinking. 

When I was in grad school the SOAP network showed the entire series in order. It was glorious. I watched from the first episode all the way to the final. My husband was lucky enough to take the journey with me.  Then once my daughter was born I did an abridged version of it. 4am feedings were as good a time as any to catch an episode of my friends of West Bev High, or maybe when they were students of  California University, or when they were owners of the Beverly Beat and Now Wear This. 

Brandon, Brenda, Kelly, Donna, Dylan, David, Andrea, and Steve's lives were my constant for a decade and when I revisited the gang almost ten years later they still delivered.

I hadn't been in grad school all that long and I was having some troubles. It was really intense and I found out that I wasn't the only one who cried because of the pressure. Anyway, I came home after class one afternoon and saw that the SOAP network was showing the very first episode of BH 90210. I was so thrilled that I sat on the edge of the couch with my bag still over my shoulder and watched it. The show relaxed me and provided me a comfort that I can't really explain. When my daughter was born I watched many episodes again. 

Since Luke Perry's death I have watched a few episodes,  first season is on a streaming service I subscribe to...I think though that I want to watch the more recent Luke Perry. I think I will check out Riverdale.

RIP Luke. You had the best forehead in the biz.

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult

I don't want to sound complain-y, but working three jobs is kind of tough sometimes.
It is no secret that I am the more capable worker and at times can be a bit of perfectionist- these wonderful personality traits can prove to be a little more at odds with my psyche because I don't have a desk that I can call my own at two of my positions. I tend to be "at the desk" for most of my shifts and even at the more steady eddy position, yes I have a desk, but it will probably be temporary and there is a bunch of stuff that isn't mine there anyway. I think the point I am trying to make is that I feel like I don't have a home (at work).
Now the flip side to this is that I totally like all the places I am working and if any of them were to offer me a full-time gig, I would take it.

I wrote this in 2018.
It is now 2019 and things have changed. I am starting a full time position at none of the three places mentioned above...

I will have an office and a desk!

The past 10 months have been a wild ride. 4-6 days a week working all over the Bay Area.
There was a stint last year where I worked 15 days in a row. I kind of went crazy a few times, but having a weekday off was nice, having to work Sundays was not nice.

This new job feels right for me. I was looking for a work home and I think I found it.
I think I have realized that I want to be a creative academic librarian and not an academic public librarian.

Onward...

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

I read an article the other day that some radio stations were deciding not to play the song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" because of its date rape-y lyrics. This was interesting to me and since I spent much of my academic career studying Christmas music, I decided to do a deep dive into the song, put it in context and find out when it started to become a popular yuletide tune.
Wait. Before I write my findings, I am not trying to sway anyone's opinion or feeling about the song in any direction.
 Frank Loesser wrote the musicals "Guys and Dolls," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," and the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside," which won him an Academy Award in 1949. Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban performed the version that won the award in the movie "Neptune's Daughter."
 Loesser originally wrote the song as a duet (call and response really) for he and his wife to perform at parties. The song charted 5 times with different artists in 1949 and started showing up on recording artists' records in the early 1950s,
The song does not have any Christmas specific lyrics, but like many others (Let It Snow, Jingle Bells, Winter Wonderland), has been incorporated into the season.  Dean Martin's "A Winter Romance" album was released in 1959 with "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (sung with Marilyn Maxwell)  and though not totally a Christmas themed record there were other yuletide tunes like "Rudolph," and "White Christmas." The album was reissued (and renamed) in 1965. "Holiday Cheer" charted in 1965, 66, 67 and 1968.
The tune showed up again on the Christmas albums of the 1990s and early 2000s. Barry Manilow, Vanessa Williams, Dolly Parton, Brian Setzer and Leon Redbone- just to name a few- sang the duet on their yuletide recordings.
The controversy of the song this season is in the lyrics and the suggestive overtone of the wolf voice. Yes, the voices are referred to mouse and wolf in the score. Anyway, I listened to the 1949 recordings and they definitely do not have the vibe that ol' Dino has in his version. The idea of something being in the drink comes from the taboo of couples who were not married staying the night together. And blaming the alcohol for clouding their judgment. I think of the television show "Mad Men" and how there was a lot of baby, it's cold out there kind of mindset that set the narrative of the main characters. So, it is understandable when the current conversation that is trying to be had is no, means, no that the maybe a not so nuanced coercive tone is frowned upon.
Here is one verse of lyrics. Let us take a look.

The neighbors might think (Baby it's bad out there)
Say what's in this drink? (No cabs to be had out there)
I wish I knew how (Your eyes are like starlight now)
To break this spell (I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell) (Why thank you)
I ought to say no, no, no sir (Mind if move in closer?)
At least I'm gonna say that I tried (What's the sense of hurtin' my pride?)
I really can't stay (Baby don't hold out)
Baby it's cold outside

At-a-glance looking at the lyrics in this stanza- the mouse voice is passive (shocking) they wonder what is in the drink. One of the arguments I read about banning this song is that the drink has a roofie in it. Putting it in context of the time, blame the alcohol. There is also a bit of layered sexual ideas going with the mouse voice having maybe a conflict with them saying no because that is the "moral" thing to do. I put a question mark on that statement because the moral winning out with "I really can't stay" is followed by the pressure statement of Baby, don't hold out." 

Hmmmm. That lyric is forward and seems pushy. I wonder if the altering of that final line of the stanza has been changed for any of the more modern recordings?

I am back from spending an amount of time not working and searching the lyrics of many recordings (Barry Manilow, Brian Setzer, Michael Buble, etc) and the only one I found that didn’t have that line was the Willie Nelson/Norah Jones version. Now it could be that the lyrics sites have the same version copied for all of the versions. I would have to listen to all of them and I can’t do that right now. I might tho…
Okay. I did. So far all the versions have the "baby, don't hold out" lyric.
There is, however, this version, which a friend turned me on to.  A duo from Minnesota re-wrote the lyrics so that the wolf voice is not so pushy. Here is a link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amK4U4pCTB8

I think that modern day recordings can change up some of the lyrics. I don't think that it has to be recited word for word.  
Should it be banned? I personally do not have a problem with the tune. 
Do I consider this part of the Christmas music canon?
Well...

And now, at last, we plainly see We'll have a dance of liberty ...

Things I am thankful for...
I remember writing essays with this sort of topic in grade school.

A few days after the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, I was at Target and I saw a really cute latke tee shirt and so I bought it for M. We have decided to join a synagogue and I thought getting her pumped about their Hanukkah party would be good and she would have a festival shirt to wear to it.
I was at the check out and the woman at the register, a person of color, swiped the barcode of the shirt, looked me right in my eyes and asked, "Are you okay?" My eyes became moist and I replied that I was okay. She smiled and continued to scan my items.

I am thankful for her.

The #METOO movement has brought into the spotlight that mutual consent is crucial  and there are nuances to how communication is transmitted that can be misconstrued and then you take in about 40 other variables and well, it can be complicated. I am a victim of sexual assault. Twice. It was by people that cared about me. There is the complicated part. I think that changing the narrative and bringing awareness to ask questions and make no assumptions is a step in the right direction. It is kind of amazing to me that I was in a band over 20 years ago that had songs about physical and sexual assault and women's prerogative to dress how she pleases and not be judged by it and after listening to them the other day- still relevant. My hope is that the rape culture will be watered down (I know it won't go completely away) and my kid and her friends will not be afraid to speak up, because you know, mutual consent.

I am thankful for the #METOO movement.

Last week I got to hang out with a friend who I hadn't seen in a couple of years. I had a great time. Good friends make hanging out so easy. On Thursday, a bunch of us are getting together for Thanksgiving. It will be the first one without my friend who passed away this summer. My crew of friends are complicated wonderful human beings.

I am thankful for my friends.

Do the Collapse

My friend died.
It seems like every few blog posts involve a death of someone who I care about...

This friend was someone who I had grown close to in the past few years. I had known her forever, and we were definitely hanging out friends, but not really know your inside feeling kind of friends.
I heard the song "The Greatest," by Catpower and it made me think of her.
How did this song even come up? Yes, I own this record but I probably haven't put it in the  CD player for well over 6 years.
A few days ago the song played on KALX and I broke down in tears in my kitchen while I was washing dishes. I cried because of loss, but what got me was the phrasing of the song. It reminded me of her. Catpower's tune "The Greatest," has such deliberate phrasing that it reminds me of the way my friend talked. She typically chose her words very carefully before speaking.
Through my tears, I also recalled a conversation we had before she got sick.
We were talking about how things still matter, but that there is not the urgency of everything like it was when we were younger. Also, the measure of failure is different. If you try something and it doesn't work out then don't consider it a failure. Yes, you may fail at something, but it doesn't define you. It is part of the life ride and one can learn from it and move on, or they can wallow.
The first stanza from Catpower's song hits that conversation right on the head for me.

Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or waterfall could stall me
And then came the rush of the flood
Stars at night turned deep to dust

Yes. Yes. The post title for this entry is a GBV (Guided by Voices) reference, but I am not a fan really (she liked them a lot and was in the GBV cult for a while), and I don't really know their material and so, not my soundtrack.
Besides, I have a layered relationship with Catpower and I think it represents the friendship I had with my friend.  Meaning there was a surface friendship that had portions of it where there were deeper layers to it. I think we both respected each other and appreciated our approach to things, which was totally different most of the time.


It is a little funny to me that Catpower is the artist since my friend did not care for female singers. Though I suspect some of that had to do with the fact that her husband loves strummy-strummy acoustic women musicians. And to respect her memory I did not choose a Sleater-Kinney song since she really hated that band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT9qM99l9Yk

Super Awesome: All the people in the dance will agree - that we'r...

Super Awesome: All the people in the dance will agree - that we'r...: When I was in Junior High my mom and stepdad bought a house in Long Beach, California. They put it on the market a couple of weeks ago. The...