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produced by the The Science Fiction Book Club, and apparently some sort of promotional thingy. So we should be a bit sceptical.
March 30, 2007
tech up
A revivial of the "Previewing. How do you DJ without it" thread on Swing DJs, coupled with a case of god-I'm-bored and the anniversary of my getting into DJing has prompted me to take an interest in DJing hardware. It probably doesn't help that I've been reading that book by Justina Robson*.
I've been looking into some sort of software/hardware option to expand my DJing from a laptop for a while now. I want to be able to preview songs on headphones while I'm playing music that goes out to the mixer at the same time. With a pc laptop that's as simple as opening two versions of winamp and telling it each where they should send the sound. But with a mac, there are far fewer DJing/music media player options.
I use itunes as my default music library/searcher/player. Problem is, macs won't let you open more than one version of an application at a time - great when you're working with word documents, but not so great if you're looking to DJ. It wouldn't be a problem if itunes would let me send music to two different outs. But it's not a DJing tool, despite its popularity with swing DJs - it has a sweet search, nice layout, reassuring colour scheme, etc etc, but simply can't handle the sheer volume of music and complexities of DJing. Winamp doesn't work on macs. I have tried windows media player (gag), but it won't let me click and drag songs from itunes to the media player (which is pretty important if I'm keeping itunes as my library - which I'd like). Plus it sucks. And Cuephase, one of the few plug ins for itunes isn't terribly sexy or useful. The Squeeze was going to experiment with a bit of applescript, but I don't see that happening any time soon (sorry love, but you know it's true).
There are a whole heap of DJing software packages, but very few specifically for macs, and even fewer in a sensible price range. The problem is to do with the fact that there are so few mac users out here in the wilderness, especially not in comparison with winblows stooges. The PC doods often use PCDJ if they're getting fancy (though the itunes/winamp option is a lasting favourite), but there really isn't much for the mac DJ beyond DJ1800, which isn't a great product. It has little 'blank out' moments when it pauses or simply drops out for a second or two. Recovering from these can lead to crashage. It's also a bit resource-hungry. It costs ($US60 or $AUD77), it's ugly as sin, but you can do nice things like click and drag songs across from itunes, shrink or minimise the various 'cd players' in the set up and tell it where you want it to send the sound - to the mixer, to the headphones, wherever. You can download a test version (which is worth playing with if you're interested) which closes after 20 minutes, but I've had trouble convincing it to recognise my USB headphones. I'll have another bash, but I don't think it's playing.
Anyhow, today I bought it (which means that it gave me the password so it won't close after 20minutes), and I'll have a play before letting you know how it goes.
To make playing through two sources at once possible (ie through headphones and through the mixing desk), you need to use a USB/headphone jack combination, or get jiggy with an external soundcard. I've been looking at a few, including the ever-popular-with-DJs turtle beach thingy and extravagant items like the numark mixers with 2 USB ports (look under products then mixers) which is complete overkill, ridiculously heavy for carrying with me on my bike, but too darn tempting for a DJ nerd. I haven't exactly figured out whether or not I need the external sound card in combination with DJ1800 and itunes to be able to preview on headphones and play through the mixer at the same time, but there are other reasons for using an external sound card. Better sound quality is the most important (I've had one on my christmas list for a while). I'll have a fiddle and see what's what.
What I want:
- to be able to play music through two media players at once, previewing on headphones and playing through a mixer
- decent sound quality
Wish me luck.
It's probably worth noting that I'm the only girl in my town who talks about this stuff. Meggers and I have become DJing buddies, though, and while we have very different tastes in music, we have similar philosophies of DJing (ie get the energy up and kick their arses, fill the floor and Keep It Street) and are equally interested in figuring out how all the equipment works. She uses a pc laptop, though, so we have different technical issues. It's really nice to have someone with similar interests and experiences to play with. We take the desk out and figure out what's connected where, trade tips as we learn new things and give each other feedback on the sound in the room when one of us is DJing. It's nice and encouraging but also a great chance to explore technical stuff which is so male-dominated. We've also been charmed by the willingness of young Cameron to help us learn about this stuff. I guess he likes the fact that we're more than happy to let him come up there and twiddle our knobs (wo-ho!) to demonstrate how to get a better sound from a particular song - I know there are a few DJs (both male and female) who are too defensive to ask for help or give help unstintingly. There is a degree of competitiveness between DJs in our town (because there are so many of us, and because Melbourne swing is all about competition - in ethos as well as practice), so it's nice to have an amigo bandido.
Having said that, the SwingDJs discussion board is full of lovely, helpful people, and there are other DJs in other cities who'll happily help out or share their experiences!
*It's not a fabulous book, but it's kind of addictive. As my dad describes it, it's a combination of science fantasy elves and fairies stuff (literally) and cyber punk (literally - the female protagonist is a cyborg body guard for a rock star - what is it with books that like female cyborg assassin types? Or rather, what is it with the idea of a cyborg woman capable of violence?). And if something so silly can keep my hardcore-Sci-Fict dad interested...
"tech up" was posted by dogpossum on March 30, 2007 1:15 PM in the category djing
March 29, 2007
anyone need a thesis written?
Ok, I'm bored.
This whole no-job, no-study thing has palled.
Writing articles? I've tried, and now I'm bored.
Job? Can't get one. Well, not an academic one (it is kind of a quiet time of year - and that fancy job in the US didn't work out. :( ). I'm not ready to work at JB just yet.... though I could handle Basement Discs. But please - fourteen years of tertiary education to return to my retail roots? I don't think so.
Domestic maintenance? I have to be bored - our house gleams. But that hasn't helped our mouse problem.
Sewing? Done a lot, kind of over it.
Quilting? Yeah, same.
Crocheting? Well, it is pretty much crocheting season again - I can bear to have a lap full of wool once more. But really - this isn't high brain stuff.
Compulsive dance practice? I'm looking for high brain stimulation, thanks.
Compulsive cooking? Getting there.
Compulsive shopping? Stalled by my lack of solvency. But encouraged by the proximity of good grocery shops and my renewed interest in eating-for-interest.
Fillums? Yes, many.
Television and DVDs? Yes, even more.
Gardening? Quietish, but on the horizon.
Ob-con laundry? Oh yes - ask The Squeeze about his drawers. Both types, actually.
Webbing? I'm just about to sort out the site for MLX7. And the MJDA site needs to go to a blogging program. But I've lost interest in FSP. Though I'm tempted to take it up again after some stooge thought that Frankie Manning story was for real. God, never heard of satire?
Reading? Reading (and read) far, far too many books lately. All fun books, and no productive 'work' books. But reading lots and lots of articles (I am pillaging the databases with my new, sneaky back-door access).
DJing? Boring. Bored. Like a drill. Sigh. That's so 1939.
Yoga? Twice a week and thinking about a third session. Flexible? √ Strong? √ Calm? √ sort of. Bored? √
I think I should make my thesis into a book. I have no idea where to start or how to do it, though I have had a look at the MUP help guide. It's not all that helpful, though. But really, what else am I going to do? I have 5 articles (or so - I forget exactly how many) coming out soon, and it's only March. Even I'm sick of me and my articles. And I'm running out of journals to hassle. I need something challenging.
Anyone need a thesis written?
"anyone need a thesis written?" was posted by dogpossum on March 29, 2007 5:35 PM in the category dogpossum and domesticity
TELL ME i'm not the only one
You know that Scorcese film the Departed? When I went to see it at the cinema it struck me as so ridiculous I laughed out loud during the really serious parts. I mean, really - am I the only who thought that film was completely shithouse? I mean jesus, the RAT running along the (window sill? I forget) at the end - surely I wasn't the only one who laughed out loud?
Any film with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson is heading for crapsville. I like Mark Whalberg, but Matt Damon?!
TELL ME I'm not the only one who thought that film was utter crap?!
"TELL ME i'm not the only one" was posted by dogpossum on March 29, 2007 1:23 PM in the category fillums
i guess you get what I mean, right?
Jean put me onto something neat here. It's a talk by Ken Robinson about learning and teaching and you can watch the clip here. I can hear some of you sighing and clicking on, but I recommend dropping in to have a look and a listen - it'll make you giggle. And there's some talk about bodies and dance.
It's interesting, because I've written and thought quite a bit about embodied and disembodied knowledge, and how different cultures privilege one or the other. Robinson talks about academics and how their bodies are really just vehicles for carrying their brains around. It's true - I've always loved dancing (mostly la discotheque!), but before I got hardcore about dancing I always thought of my body as something for transporting my brain. I sufferred from serious migraine headaches - I spent a couple of days in bed each fortnight when I was finishing my MA. Can you imagine that? It seems completely crazy to me now, but then I just dealt with it (well, in a getting-depressed-and-wanting-to-blow-myself-up way).
Now I realise that the problem was that I was spending an awful lot of time sitting on my clack, squirrelling my stress away in my muscles. Now I know that if I don't get up out of my chair and shake my arse every day, my muscles start to tense up and get cranky. And I get a headache. But I also know that getting up out of my chair and jiggling about to music I love for an hour is WONDERFUL! Going to the gym - dull. Jogging - duller. But dancing? That shit is GREAT!
Writing about dance for my work happened kind of by accident - I was coming out of a shitty first run at a PhD, I was hating it, I was miserable, but I loved dancing. And I thought, 'What would be my dream situation? What would be most perfect?' And getting another scholarship to write about dancing and score some funding to go to Herrang was that dream project. And you know what? They gave me the scholarship and they sent me to Herrang, and I wrote a big fat thesis and lots of articles about dancing.
Can you imagine anything more nuts? It just seems too great to be true - getting the chance to do combine dance with the loveliness of thinking and writing and reading and talking all day. I still feel insanely lucky - and I'm sure someone's going to bust me some day and ask for the money and degree back.
The thing I like to think and write about, though (after I've written about saucy 1920s song lyrics), is the way dance works as system of meaning and a medium for the exchange of ideas - the way dance is discourse. That shit rocks. I mean, in cultural studies you're so centered on the idea of language and words - most of the theory floating around in this discipline has at its heart the idea that words are the most important, most wonderful way of communicating ideas. I dig that - I'm all over the idea that words are great. But I've found, working with the various theories trucking about, that this doesn't allow much room for other ways of communicating or representing the world. Sure, there might be vast tracts of writing about other disocourses, but they're still vast tracts of words. I can make a joke with my body that simply doesn't translate into words. You just can't make the joke work. But one sight gag is worth a thousand words.
And then, the thing that really gets me pumping, is thinking and writing about the way dancers have gotten a hold of the internet and other hi-tech action and appropriated it for ther own, decidely embodied purposes. The last paper I submitted to a journal had a comment from a reviewer where they wrote:
The author needs to explain this meaning for the dance studies outsider and not use it for other purposes like a some sort of repetitive mantra or abstract motif to try and unify the article, or 'sound academic' . For example, couldn't 'embodied use-value' (p.6) just be 'inherent usefulness'?
And after I got over huffing and puffing and being angry, I thought about the way I've used the expression 'embodied use-value'. I'd spent a large chunk of my thesis exploring the idea of particular technologies having 'embodied use-value'. For me, this meant asking how a particular bit of tech was valued for its place in embodied practice. In other words, dancers value particular types of technology because they can be used in an embodied context. They're not very interested in books of vast theoretical discussions of dance. But they've gone crazy for youtube. Because you can do things with it, with your body. You can watch a clip, stand up and dance along.
I wanted to distinguish between 'usefulness' and embodied usefulness. Sure, the internet is neat for keeping people in contact, but for dancers it's even more useful as a means by which they can access dance footage, download music and organise a dance class. The Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra Live in Swing City CD is a wonderful thing in itself, but when you pop it in the CD player and stand up, it suddenly becomes an incredibly useful and wonderful thing. And the difference is that it acquires a material, physical, immediate, embodied value and meaning. Here is the medium by which I can access the work of musicians in another country, years ago. Here is the means by which I am inspired to move my body. Here is the thread that joins me to my dance partner and to the dancers around me and to the people people in the room who aren't on the dance floor, but are still listening and watching and moving.
When I read Gunther Schuller's book The Swing Era, I certainly find use for his ideas. I read about Ellington and think about his life and read the musical score on the page. But Schuller's book suddenly has far more meaning and value for me when I play the song he's writing about, and get up to physically test the different percussive rhythms and soaring trumpet solos he's describing. That's embodied use-value. It's not just the academic value of an idea or a line of prose. It's not even the things that I might do with his words with my body in the future. It's the things that I do do, and am doing, right now, when I'm shaking my arse.
I think that's one of the things that I find so appealing about dance - each dance is transient. Sure, you can record it and watch it again later. But the real meaning of the dance lies in that moment when your body is in motion, when you're touching your partner and the communicative process simply outstrips the resources of words. You can't write about it later and hope to catch the true meaning, or to articulate the way it really felt. But you can certainly get up and move, and feel the meaning.
I think that's the other important part of dance - it's not just about watching, but about doing. It's necessarily participatory discourse. That's why I'm interested in vernacular dance rather than performance or concert dance - I'm interested in the way vernacular dance doesn't let you just sit there and suck it in. You have to do it, to make it, to participate with your body. So your body cannot possibly just be a container to carry your brain around in. It actually is the medium and the message and the meaning all at once.
Ok, that's a long way away from the original clip, but I guess you get what I mean, right?
"i guess you get what I mean, right?" was posted by dogpossum on March 29, 2007 12:40 PM in the category clicky and lindy hop and other dances and music
March 26, 2007
so what have i been doing?
Sorry I haven't written anything interesting lately. I've just been busy with other things. I am reading your blogs, though - just not commenting. If I owe you an email - sorry!
What have I been doing?
Going to yoga twice a week or so. The class I did on Saturday really kicked my arse. I've been having more trouble with my right hip (as I get older and less fit I find my minor niggles getting more niggley), so we did a lot of stuff to help the sartorius and whatsit get it together. We did a lot of standing poses, which I quite like, and lots of work on the sixty zillion muscles in our lower torsoes and around our hips. So today I am really sore and achey. My adductors (you can see a map of the adductor gang here) are talking to me. But at least I'm not getting grizzle from my Tensor fasciae whatsit - which is usually especially achey (it might not be called the Tf - I am crap with names). My lower back is achey, there's some grumbling from various abs and my shoulders are aching - shoulders meaning everything across my back from my neck to the bottom of my shoulder blades. I also have achey ankles. These are all good aches, because it means that I've actually been using these buggers.
I <3 yoga, but yoga is not for babies.
Reading about blues music, the record industry and radio in the 1920s. I am working on a paper in a very loose way (I discussed the stuff I was reading here, ages ago), but mostly just reading where my interest takes me. I'm fascinated by the social, political, industrial and economic forces colliding in the blues music of that period. Blues music was incredibly, crazily popular in the 20s. Yet segregation was still seriously in place throughout the US, so black artists couldn't work in the control booth with whites, were un- or underpaid by record labels, or dismissed as 'low'.
'Coon songs' were also very popular - and very disturbing. A Coon song was basically a song performed by a white artist in black face, or otherwise 'pretending' to be black (and many of these were Jewish, which is weird stuff). They were pretty dang offensive. Minstrelsy generally was still very hip. But the blues music being sung and performed (often by women) was politically quite hardcore - the example I discuss in that earlier post (linked to above) is just one of a series of songs dealing explicitly with racist violence, domestic violence, poverty, sexuality and sex and so on. And it didn't pull punches.
In addition, the Great Migration was happening - thousands of African Americans were moving north to escape lynching, Jim Crow laws and unemployment in the south. They ended up in cities like New York, LA and Chicago. So there were thousands of people from all sorts of different regions coming together and sharing music and dance in new, urban communities. Like Harlem. Race riots happened in most cities.
In terms of the music industry generally, radio turned up in the mid 20s, and within a six month period the phonograph industry was completely gutted. Prior to that moment it had been incredibly successful. But radio - with 'free music' - just killed it. So the race record labels (like Black Swan (NB I think the dates are wrong in that article) - labels run by African Americans and recording African American artists) were killed off. And their positive social work was cut off as well.
Then I've also been reading about the shift from blues to jazz in the late 20s, and the effect this might have had on black participation in the music industry. What was the impact of the formalisation and regulation of American radio on the independent black stations pushed off the dial by white business interests? What did it mean that radio stations wouldn't record black artists in many cities? What's significant about white artists pretending to be black (and vice versa) when they sang on the radio? When you keep in mind the fact that black artists and live music was very, very popular, what does it mean that white radio stations were ignoring black artists? And then, even more interesting, what is the import of each major regional centre/city having its own radio stations and radio legislation? And how does the American Federation of Musicians fit into all this - what with their recording bans in the 40s and racially segregated ranks during the 10s, 20s, 30s...? Surely there's some sort of labour/union/race/class thing to be ferretted out there...
So I've been distracted by all that lovely stuff (who knows what was happening in Australia in the 1920s, music industry wise). But eventually I'll get to the (interesting) point where I'm discussing how contemporary swing dancers - largely white, middle class urban youth - get into this type of music.
I've read a lot, but I need to stew it for a while before I can write cleverly about it.
Going to the Astor Cinema. To see the Fountain and Eragorn in a Friday night double. Nice date night action. The Fountain was dull, Eragorn was dumb (and if you've ever read any sf ever, 100% derivative... but not bad for a teenager). The Astor rocks, it's nice to be able to go see a double feature on a Friday night for $13. The seats are uncomfortable, but they have nice cakes for the intermission. And it's a nice art deco cinema (not as posh as the Westgarthe, but still lovely). We catch our tram down to the Domain interchange (about 30 minutes), then a tram down to the Dandenong Rd/Chapel St intersection (about 15 minutes). 45 minutes to get so far south is pretty good stuff, really. And they've extended the tram hours on Friday nights, so we can get home comfortably as well. All up it costs about $20 each for tram tickets, two films and snacks. Not bad at all for a nice date night. We have started eating dinner down there as well before the films, but have yet to find a cheap restaurant that's not serving greaser food. Suggestions welcome.
Watching lots of West Wing and other telly on DVD. WW rocks the world. Yesterday I got Commander in Chief's first four episodes out on DVD. Dumb. It simply can't compete with the fabulousness of WW. It's poorly acted, poorly written, scarily simplistic and politically naive (it's a soap, really), and all this does no favours to the concept of a woman president. Maybe I'd have dug it if I'd never seen WW. But not now.
I've also been working my way through House, which is much better than I thought it would be (admittedly, I'd thought it'd be shit). I'm really interested in the way they deal with 'ethics'. The assumption is that Dr House doesn't pay attention to formal medical ethics - he ignores 'DNR' (do not revive) orders, he bosses patients around and is rude, he does as he likes. With this in mind, how does this sort of bloke handle relationships with women, and more importantly, how does an American soap deal with an ethically dodgy protagonist? Is he going to get 'reformed' (I have my suspicions), is it going to be normalised? In addition to House's own dodginess, his best friend (whose name I can't ever remember - they guy from Dead Poets' Society) seems always on the brink of adultery; one of House's 'assistant' doctors (residents?) worked to undermine House by spying on him for the temporary boss-of-hospitality, all in order to save his own job; House's lady resident is smitten with him and has been signed as 'damaged' in some way. It's all a bit suss. But that's what makes it interesting. Not interesting in a WW way, but interesting in a 'what will this pop TV do with these issues?' way.
While I'm on this tack, I have to say I have some minor niggles with the way WW handles gender. CJ seems to get quite different treatment (narratively, as well as by other characters) than the men. I don't know if this is the program being 'realist', or some 'unnoticed' sexism sneaking in. Either way, it's interesting enough to keep me watching.
DJing a bit, dancing a bit. Nothing to report. It's kind of boring, actually, and I'm much more interested in yoga at the moment. There are plenty of CDs I want, and books I want to buy and read. But not much to talk about, really.
Reading a stack of crime fiction. I've finally made my way through a massive stack of sf from the Mother, and have started hoeing through a stack of crime fiction from the Supes (she reviews crime novels for a newspaper so has lots and lots of good things to borrow). I'm selective with my crime reading - I don't like true crime, and I don't like those voyeuristic and scupulously detailed discusssions of brutal rapes and murders. But I do like figuring out who did it and why. Right now I'm reading a Michael Connolly called the Lincoln Lawyers, and I've just finished one called The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow, which is apparently going to be a film in 2008. I'd really like a nice slab of sf, though, as the crime is kind of coming to an end. I think I'll pop into the book shop in the city (called swords and something or other, or to Rendezvous Romance - because they sell really cheap new novels) and burn a hole in The Squeeze's credit card.
"so what have i been doing?" was posted by dogpossum on March 26, 2007 12:36 PM in the category dogpossum
March 20, 2007
big women
I know, I know, another youtube post.
Hey, I'm doing some reading on blues music and women blues artists, and they reference a bunch of soundies - and the biggest collection of soundies is on youtube.
This one is fascinating. Louis Armstrong's playing Swingin' on Nothin', and the track features Velma Middleton and George Washington on vocals. Middleton is the interesting part. Armstrong was loyal to her for years, and even though she wasn't the best vocalist, he kept her in his band and on his recordings.
But the bit that interests me is the way she dances in the following clip. She's a big woman - tall and carrying a lot of weight. But she's down on the ground in hiiigh heels and a big flowy dress. It's kind of an understatement to say she offers an interesting contrast to the dancing female bodies in this clip!
"big women" was posted by dogpossum on March 20, 2007 12:30 PM in the category lindy hop and other dances and music
March 15, 2007
note to self
Check out rake's progress regularly.
"note to self" was posted by dogpossum on March 15, 2007 5:32 PM in the category greenies
blackbottom
Just so's you can see what happened when white media got ahold of black dance in the 20s:
(from here).
That's pretty much the stuff we learnt in the second class on Saturday. I'm the little round kid in the white dress in the clip, but with less coordination.
"blackbottom" was posted by dogpossum on March 15, 2007 4:24 PM in the category lindy hop and other dances
lady dances the blues
I'd really like to embed this clip but they've disabled that feature on this one.
So go here and check out some badass solo sister action. When I say 'solo jazz', that's what I'm talking about. The splits stuff and the girl in white doing the tremors could be slotted into the 'eccentric dance' category - sort of 'stunt dancing'.
Here's the descriptor from the page:
Dancing outtake from Hollywood Rhythm Vol. 1: The Best of Jazz and Blues - Released 2001
Section: A Bundle of Blues (excerpt taken from approx. 7 min into the section to the end)
Stars: Duke Ellington, Ivie Anderson, Florence Hill, Bessie Dudley, Duke Ellington Orchestra
Plot Outline Duke Ellington and his orchestra play two jazz compositions plus 'Stormy Weather' (sung by Ivy Anderson).
Here are some stills to whet your appetite:
"lady dances the blues" was posted by dogpossum on March 15, 2007 12:38 PM in the category lindy hop and other dances
March 12, 2007
a crazy rambly sf post
Tigtog's writing about the following list of SF here. These are apparently the
“Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years†.
Because I'm feeling exceptionally lazy, here are her follow-up comments (which make the whole thing far more interesting), cut and pasted:
The Bechdel-Wallace test/rule (originally applied to films - the rule’s origins are noted here), asks does the book have:1. At least two female characters, who
2. talk to each other, about
3. something besides a man?If the book/film passes the BW test, it has at least a glimmering of women as fully realised characters beyond being mere love interests competing for male attention. It may not have much more than that, but at least it has that much.
The BW test means that a book doesn’t get a pass for having a single strong, fascinating, female character who is an exceptionalist token, displaying her considerable strengths only in discussions with men (e.g. Eowen from LOTR or Trillian from HHGTTG). It should be easy for SF&F generally to hurdle this low bar, as there’s important quests/missions and esoterica regarding magic/technology for people to talk about with each other in a natural fashion. But how well does the listed SF&F actually do?
The idea is to mark the books you’ve read in bold, which I’ll do. I’ll also note how they score on the BWT (from memory, so please correct me if I’ve forgotten a crucial conversation that would allow the book to hurdle the bar).
I've just cut and pasted tigtog's list with comments re the BWT criteria below. If it's bold, I've read it. If it's got no comments, tigtog didn't read it. Even though I read a LOT of SF, I haven't read all that many on this list (though I suspect I have and have just forgotten them - my ps have a massive, comprehensive collection and I read my way through it when I was young. Oh, how I miss getting out of bed in the middle of the night with a torch to go find something new to read from the shelves). These days I don't read many male authors and re-read a lot of my favourites.
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien Yes No No.
[I'm not a fan of Tolkein, because I DON'T like his gender politics. Lots of virgin/whore, evil/good dichotomy action.]
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov Yes No No
Dune, Frank Herbert Yes Yes Yes
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein Yes, Yes, No
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin Yes Yes Yes
[I think it's important to note that Tehanu, the final book in the Earthsea series, while not listed as 'the most important' of these books, is actually my favourite and deals in detail with the effects of violence on children and women. The whole Earthsea trilogy has lots to say about childhood and creativity and violence and abuse, but these things get neglected. Which is why people like to list the first book, and not the later ones, as the 'most important'.]
Neuromancer, William Gibson
[Tigtog didn't read it. I did. Sure, there are ladies in this book, they talk to each other, and about things other than blokes, but there are some problems with the definition of 'women' in this context. I'm thinking of the 'female' AIs specifically. I'm actually not going to allow Neuromancer as an ok-for-sisters book. I think it's actually way up there on the misogyny list, and cyberpunk generally is very much an adolescent boys wanking over chicks who beat the shit out of them.]
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke Yes, No, No
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick Yes, No, No
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley Yes, Yes, Yes
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury Yes, Yes, Yes
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe Yes, No, No
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. No No No
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov Yes No No
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish Yes, ?, ? (guessing no)
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett Yes, Yes, Yes
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison Yes, Yes, No
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester Yes, Yes, No
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffreyYes, Yes, Yes
[I'm actually a bit sceptical of Ms McCaffrey's work. Sure, the chicks are happily saving worlds with their dragony/spaceship/pilot mates, but they also like to rush into the kitchen to make their men dinner and spend FAR TOO MUCH of their time wishing they had a man. McCaffrey often sports some scary arse gender politics. I give her a thumbs down on the good-for-sisters scale.]
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card Yes, No, No
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson Yes, Yes?, Yes?
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman Yes, ?, ?
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling Yes, Yes, Yes
[This stuff sucks arse. Give me The Worst Witch any day.]
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams No, No, No.
[Hm, Trillian is a lady, and she's in this one, right? Adams isn't good on the gender politics, though.]
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin Yes, Yes, Yes
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick Yes, ?, ?
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon Can’t remember
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute Yes, Yes, ?
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke Yes, No, No
Ringworld, Larry Niven Yes, No, No.
[Woah - Niven has some SCARY ARSE gender shit going on.]
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien Yes, No, No
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson Yes, Yes, Yes
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner Can’t remember
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein Yes, ?, No
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks Gah! but Yes, Yes, Yes
Timescape, Gregory Benford Yes, ?, ?
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer Yes, ?, ?
I'm not actually digging this list (which came from the news blog via tikistitch), and is actually a list of (note the dates):
The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002
produced by the The Science Fiction Book Club, and apparently some sort of promotional thingy. So we should be a bit sceptical.
Authors I'd add (if I was ignoring the dates problem and the number limit):
H.G. Wells. Of course. But fails the lady-test.
Iain M. Banks (yes yes yes to the lady-test... though he does weird stuff with gender (ie many of his characters can and do change gender at will, especially in the Culture books) and robots and things - you'd have to have a think about the way 'gender neutral' is gendered by these blokes).
Madelaine L'Engle (yes yes yes to the lady-test), probably for A Wrinkle in Time
Lois McMaster Bujold (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus she writes good bloke characters). For any of her Miles Vorkosigan books.
C.J.Cherryh (for Cyteen) (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus she writes good bloke characters)
Diana Wynn Jones (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus she writes good bloke characters)
Tanya Huff (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus she writes good bloke characters)... in fact, there aren't enough lady sci-fant authors on this list - and scifant has a MASSIVE lady fandom.
something from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover stuff. Probably Thendara House or perhaps one of the earlier ones... (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus she writes good bloke characters)
Octavier Butler! Holy shit, how can she not be on this list?!
James Tiptree Junior! Because she totally fooled the entire universe - they all thought she was a bloke FOREVER! (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus she writes good bloke characters)
C.S.Lewis (because he was important and influential)
Alan Dean Foster (for the Flinx books) (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus he writes good bloke and young bloke characters)
Sherri S. Tepper (yes yes yes for the lady-test)
Margaret Attwood (for influential, but not as a 'stayer' in the sf world).
Joanna Russ's Female Man would be a better hardcore feminist option, I think.
Kim Stanley Robinson (for the Red/Blue/Green Mars stuff) (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus he writes good bloke characters)
Joan D. Vinge (yes yes yes to the lady-test - plus she writes good bloke characters)
Vonda McIntyre! (yes yes yes to the lady-test)
R.A. McAvoy (yes yes yes to the lady-test) - another good scifant lady author.
ANDRE NORTON!
Susanna Clarke should be there for the Mr Strange/Dr Norrel stuff, but that's post 2002.
Other authors: Jack Vance, Spider Robinson,
...in fact, I'm surprised the Hugos aren't better represented.
I think I want to add more young adult sf, but will have to settle for Wynn Jones and L'Engle (John Marsden, for example, while I don't particularly like him, has been important in the young adult world).
I'd drop Rowling (what the fuck? She's had an impact, but that is some shithouse sf).
I also have some problems with who might have put this list together and what their criteria were. There are quite a few of those cross-over genre bender pink book authors who should be on this list, simply because they contributed to the whole genre bending thing - bringing new readers and writers to sf. There are a zillion women reading those things and they sell like hot cakes. But I bet they don't get counted because there's all that talk about clothes and kissing. Girl germs.
I still hold by the thought that the newer sf really can't cut it when compared with some of the bigger guns of the olden days.
Frankly, if you want influential, you have to add L. Ron Hubbard.
NB the SF ladies are talking about this list here
"a crazy rambly sf post" was posted by dogpossum on March 12, 2007 3:44 PM in the category books
March 11, 2007
this is a great weekend
Right now I'm supposed to be midway through a day of workshops over in Prahran (or wherever they are). But a water main has burst and I am trying to get a plumber to come fix it. Why can't I find a plumber willing to rip me off for a few hundred bucks on a Sunday? I could leave it, but then it wouldn't get fixed. :(
This is the exact same problem we had before - the bung pipe in the veggie patch. The owner had his bullshit 'plumber' (ie some stooge who isn't a qualified plumber) 'fix' it last time and, well... I thought someone was hosing down our house, went outside and discovered where Melbourne's water was going. Up into the air, over some laundry, and all over the back yard.
The emergency plumber will cost a bomb, the landlord will try to make us pay it and I'll get so angry I'll try to kick the shit out of him write angry things on the internet and frighten The Squeeze with some shouting.
So now I'm sitting here TRYING to find a fucking plumber. The Squeeze is off doing stupid moomba shit and doesn't have a mobile, and I'm seriously sleep deprived and dehydrated. The classes yesterday were in a really overcrowded, hot hot HOT room and I haven't been able to drink enough to stop feeling thirsty since. We also had to suffer through two classes with a few bullshit American hot shot teachers and I'm more than a little shitty about being ripped off.
This is a great weekend.
"this is a great weekend" was posted by dogpossum on March 11, 2007 12:17 PM in the category domesticity and lindy hop and other dances | Comments (5)
March 6, 2007
crazy expensive
Now I really want Mosaic's Classic Chu Berry Columbia and Victor Sessions (#236). Onlu $US119.00, which is only $AU153.66 plus postage. Not a problem.
I like it because... hey, haven't I blogged this before?
Well, whatever. I'd still like it. But that's crazy expensive for 7 CDs.
"crazy expensive" was posted by dogpossum on March 6, 2007 7:36 PM in the category music and objects of desire
speculation
The neighbourhood kids are playing on the road, pulling some bmx bandits action. They're all boys and about 10 years old. One of them just asked another: "Hey Costa, have you ever actually been in a real wrestling match?"
He's not the only one who'd like to know.
"speculation" was posted by dogpossum on March 6, 2007 7:05 PM in the category domesticity
March 2, 2007
Hullabaloo 2007
I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but we're going to Hullabaloo soon. Next month, I think it is.
This is the forth annual Hullabaloo - and Hullabaloo is kind of the Perth equivalent to MLX. It's not an all-social exchange (there are only two of those in this country - MLX and Canberrang), mostly because it's very difficult to make an all-social event sustainable, unless you live in a giant local scene (like us here in Melbourne), have quite a few years of successful events under your belt to serve as promotion (like us here in Melbourne), live in a very tourist-attracting city (like us here in Melbourne) or just couldn't give a shit, and want to have a party (like the kids in Canberra).
So we go and just don't do any workshops - we pretend it's an all social event, and sleep in late every day, go to cafes, wander around like the cheery holidaying tourists we are. The very best bit of going to someone else's exchange isn't that you don't have to run anything or work on anything (you always end up doing something at some point to help out - it's an instinct you can't fight when you're used to running events), it's that you're on holiday with a hundred or so other people. And they all want to wander around like tourists, visit cafes and breweries, eat nice meals, talk a whole lot of shit and then dance like crazy fools all night.
Hullabaloo is The Squeeze's favourite exchange. We get hosted by dear friends (who we host when they come to us), with dear friends (who we see regularly when we host an exchange - it's a real exchange and it's wonderful), we don't do anything particularly difficult, The Squeeze is very popular with the Perth ladies (not just because he's cute - also because he's naughty and inclined to pranks, drinking games and stunts) and I like to dance like a fool. Unfortunately I haven't been to an exchange yet where I haven't gotten really ill. I think it's because my body tends to think 'ok, we're on holiday, let's relax'. So I have to spend far too much time sitting about being tired and pathetic. Which sucks arse because I love de late night dancing.
I love Hullabaloo because you can feel every step a Perth lead takes, they bounce and they play good music. They are a bit anal and weird about vintage costume, but The Squeeze sets a good example and just completely ignores any dress standards rubbish. He simply doesn't bother reading that part of the events guide and doesn't bother his pretty little head about it. And he never gets in trouble for it.
So yeah, we're going there next month.
They're also planning a lindy battle thing as well. Trev will no doubt chime in with a comment on that, seeing as how he's organising it (Trev is a Perth person). My buddy Dan (who has a blog, but I can't remember the url) has decided we're goint to enter the battle. And I think it's a good idea. So we've started hassling all our friends to put together a team, including people like Kara. I'm not going to read any rules, because these sorts of things are always much more fun if you don't plan anything too seriously.
There's been a flurry of emails this morning afternoon (I got up LATE - DJed the second set at CBD last night and didn't get home til 1am. Now I'm really tired) with all sorts of exciting ideas for the team. Mostly involving tshirts and how cool we are. Not much talk of actual dancing. Trev, I hope you're not reading this, because I want to talk about it... ok, well, this is the internet, so I won't talk about it til later.
Anyway, I've also put my name in for DJing at Hullabaloo, which will be way fun, but also way pressure - I've DJed interstate before (SLX), but no DJing for a hardcore lindy hopping crowd out of my home town. I DJed at MLX, and I've DJed local big events, but it's different when you travel to a new town. There's new equipment to learn. The fear of forgetting essential cords. Not knowing what a local crowd will like/not like. And so on. I'm excited, but a bit scared. I don't doubt I'll do a decent job, but I will need to work on learning my music a bit better and do some serious practicing. But I have faith.
[all photos are by The Squeeze from Hullabaloo 2005]
"Hullabaloo 2007" was posted by dogpossum on March 2, 2007 4:59 PM in the category djing and lindy hop and other dances and music and travel
last night's set
Last night I did the second set at CBD (as I mentioned), the first time I've done a second set in aaaages (since SEPTEMBER last year, and MLX last year in November), and I was a bit worried about it. I like going first because it's like starting with a blank palette - you start at 0bpm and work the room to your comfort zone. I've been pretty successful getting the room really pumping - working from that 0 point (actually starting at about 130bpm and working the average tempo up to about 160bpm) - which can be tricky with a room that's largely beginner dancers. But you know. Performance anxiety. But last night went well.
We are expecting a large event of our own next weekend, so the locals are getting a bit excited. Last night there were more experienced dancers in the room, and I heard a lot of "oh god, I HAVE to get fitter" and "shit, my charleston sucks" talk.
Basically, I went at it the way I would for a first set - get the tempos up high, regularly, and really pump the energy up. It was a bit tricky because it was pretty bloody hot and humid in that nasty skankpit of a venue, but people proved amenable to a little persuasion.
There's a new mixer thingy, which proved a pain. Once again there were lines that didn't work. Fiddling with the cords, I noticed that someone had plugged the CD players into the wrong lines (despite we lindy hoppers being lectured by some wanker sound guy about only using X plugs, etc - this time it wasn't us), and then that the line I'd chosen was screwed. So I had to do some emergency unplugging/replugging mid-set. As per usual. Every single set, I'm lifting the fucker out of the desk (this new one is way heavier than the old one), pulling out plugs, inserting plugs and hunting down loose connections. The hairs on my arms stand on end.
So I start with a bit of hi-fi groove action to segue from Megger's* set, and that goes ok. The second song? Long, hi-fi, supergroove - good for testing levels and shifting stylistic gears. There were some major technical issues, though (fucked if I know what was wrong - I didn't touch the fucker!), so I had to change cords and plugs and so on. By that point the sound had cut out a couple of times and I was heartily sick of that bloody song. So I just thought 'fuck it', stopped the song mid-way, changed the cords over, and started again with something I actually liked.
It was very liberating to break all the rules like that - you're not supposed to stop a song mid-way through, and you should make gentler transitions. But it was hot, the song had already been screwed by the tech issues and I just HATE that groover shit right now.
It was so nice to hear Buddy Johnson kicking on in. No bullshit organ crap. No fancy wank flourishes - just a kicking rhythm, some punchy brass and a nice clear melody. Bread and cheese action. A potato chip song that lets the dancers know what your action is all about. Once I had their attention I went to a crowd pleasing favourite - C-Jam Blues (that, even though it's overplayed up the wazoo, is still a bitching song - buy that album if you're interested in learning about lindy hop music). And we were off.
A third of the songs I played were over 160bpm, which is a bit of a shift for Melbournians - they like it slow. And the 120s were at the very beginning when I was still thinking about new dancers, or at the very end when people were starting to pass out from dehydration. But otherwise, we had quite a few more upper tempo songs than usual. I just kept dropping them in there, working up and down the tempos. And they kept dancing. It was really nice to work a crowd of more experienced dancers who were determined to dance like fools to decent tempos - I haven't seen the experienced kids from different cliques so unified by dancing and enthusiasm in ages. I did, however, neglect the newer dancers a bit. But shit, just that one time, I wanted to play what I liked, and to really cater to more experienced dancers who often spend most of the night going through the motions rather than pushing themselves a bit.
I was still a bit clunky til about Four or Five Times (I didn't really practice yesterday), but there were a couple of guys standing behind me talking shit and distracting me - I knew I'd hit my groove when they both said "ok, the music's gotten good - I'm going to dance", headed off in different directions to hit the floor. And I laughed at them. Man, my friends are big fat nerdy music snob nerds.
From there, though, things went really well.
I was actually happy with the songs preceding that point - I might have been a bit quick to get the Mora's Modern Swingtet stuff in there, and did follow a combination of 3 or so songs I'd played with that afternoon rather than working the room thoroughly, but I was still finding my groove and beating off a case of weird nerves. When I'm nervy I just throw random songs on - sort of like the way I talk when I'm nervy. Lots of random comments rather than a coherent discussion.
I love Shout 'em Aunt Tillie (Ellington, of course, to follow on from the MMS verson of an Ellington track), but I should have left it til later in the night when the doods were ready for that sort of less familiar music. It was also a bit poor quality, which the crowd often can't take so early in a set. Especially after a set of super hi-fi music. But I freakin' love that song.
From Effervescent Blues, though, we were really cooking. Old Skool rules! Yee-haw!
I love Back Room Romp a great deal, and hope I don't get sick of it soon. The dancers really like it too - it's one of those songs where the floor starts off empty because it's kind of lo-fi and a bit scratchy. But the beat is so insistent, the brass really rolls around and then gets up there with some nice spikey bits... the floor always ends up full and kicking. It's almost painful to have to stand there watching people enjoying the music on the floor while I just have to be satisfied with a bit of bouncing on the spot.
Who Stole the Lock (On the Hen House Door?) was a bit of a punt. I wanted a high energy, old school lindy song. But people did charleston, which surprised me as it's the song Todd and Naomi used in this routine (which I've talked about before). I'd thought the old school fans would think 'Yee-haw! Lindy hop MUTHAFUCKAHS!' but they thought 'Yee-haw! Charleston MUTHAFUCKAHS!' instead. Which was kind of a shame as I had some sweet Charleston Chasers and Vince Giordano lined up for later on. There's only so much superfast music you can play on a hot night. And very few people actually dance 20s solo charleston, so it've been a bit exclusive to pound that theme to hard.
Because the quality of that recording is quite poor, I went for the Mora's Modern Rhythmists version of A Viper's Moan, because I wanted to stay old school, but needed to lift the sound quality a bit to change the mood and get the un-charleston people onto the floor again. It was a success. I'm almost really sick of that song (especially the MMR version), but it's a useful potato chip song.
I'm also a bit over Savoy Blues. But I was going somewhere particular. And, weirdly, that New Orleans sound is really popular with Melbourne kiddies at the moment. It defies comprehension. But it's very pleasing - I love that action, so it's nice to play stuff for the kids that I really dig. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised: it has stompy rhythms everyone can hear, it has a kind of uproarious, controlled-chaos approach to solos and parts. It's not the sort of carefully unified and controlled stuff that Benny Goodman and Glen Miller are into. Nor is it the sort of wilder, yet still managed big band sound of Basie. It feels a bit crazy, but is still quite clear and easy to dance to.
But then I wanted to up the tempos a bit and change the mood. So I went with Stomp it Off by Lunceford, which is quite quick, but has a lovely light, energetic, fun feeling - it feels light hearted and fun. Which is quite a nice contrast to the New Orleans stuff which can be a bit heavy and lower and church-influenced (you can really hear the jesus gospel stuff and martial themes). I'm always delighted when people jump on the floor for uptempo stuff, people who don't usually dance to quick stuff. I always figure it as a win if I've tricked them into dancing faster. But that version of Stomp it off is so fun and nice - it could almost be an Ellington recording, but it has that Lunceford naughtiness chugging along in there as well. And of course, it's some nice Sy Oliver goodness (he wrote it).
Then I followed up with some mellower uptempo stuff. I'm almost over Good Queen Bess as well, but it's a very effective tool for transitioning. At this point I was totally in the groove and thought I'd finally please the girl who wanted old school but really meant male vocal stuff. So I played a big fat bracket of chunky male vocal stuff. I say male vocal, but I'm actually thinking 'silly songs with men talking about food, sex or both, accompanied by guitars'.
These songs always stump me, in terms of the sound quality, but Cammy was really nice and helpful and gave me some tips mid-way through to sort them out. They're tricky because they're not walls of sound like big band stuff - they're really just a couple (or few) blokes singing along with a guitar, bass and possibly percussionist. Cam said they're mostly sitting on about 220 somethings (I can't remember the word), so we dumped the bass way down, upped the mids (or was it the opposite? I forget), and then fiddled with the highs. It was interesting to play with this stuff. And Cam encouraged me to get serious with my equalizer, which scares me. But heck, I'm all cowboy these days, so I might as well. It does bring home the drawbacks of itunes, though.
So I played a bunch of Slim and Slam, Cats and the Fiddle and Mills Brothers and peopel went NUTS. They really really dug it. Apparently the teachers at the Lismore camp in February played a lot of this action. It's weird, because I learnt to dance on these guys, the Hot Shots use them a lot at Herrang for teaching and they really feel very familiar and kind of 'overplayed' in my mind - I love them, but I wouldn't pack a set with them. But I had avoided playing them for a while as they'd not gone down well last year with CBD people, and I do actually adore Slim Gaillard in particular.
I almost added some Fats Waller in there, but I figured I needed to change the vibe a bit, so I went with a potato chip song (after the Potato Chips song), because I wanted to get to a request for the birthday boy - when someone requests For Dancers Only you hop to it. Particularly when they specifically request the higher tempo version I adore.
By this point people were looking really trashed. They were kind of euphoric and having a good time, but they were obviously not drinking enough water (arsehole venue manager won't let people bring their own water and won't turn on the air-con. Arsehole), so I figured I'd finish off this chunk then let it settle a bit. Savoy, one of my favourite songs, went down really well, and I thought I Want The Waiter (with the water) was a funny choice, a bit lower energy and a bit slower. And it also went down well. Jive at Five is such a nice song, and that version is slower again and kind of mellow, so people had a chance to chill.
It's kind of a risk at that point in the evening (I started at 10.00 and it was about 11 by then), so this was a bit of a punt. But they were still nuts for dancing. So I built them up again. And played Minor Goes a'Muggin' in honour of Trev. There was a protracted discussion about the meaning of the word 'muggin' at the DJ desk at this point, with some speculation that it could have something to do with smiling or a big face (kind of a British thing), or perhaps more to do with:
muggins |ˈməginz|(to use the dictionary on my computer).
noun ( pl. same or mugginses ) Brit., informal a foolish and gullible person.
• humorous used to refer to oneself in order to suggest that one has been stupid, esp. in allowing oneself to be exploited : muggins has volunteered to do the catering.
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: perhaps a use of the surname Muggins, with allusion to mug 1 .
People dug the song, though. By this point it was about 11.20 and I was getting tired. The last few songs were closers and I danced the last two (because it was after 11.30 and I wasn't being paid any more and I WANTED TO). I should have ended at St James Infirmary rather than letting it peter out. Don't Come Too Soon is a fairly lackluster attempt to construct a euphemism for the obvious. I like it.
It was a good set, I enjoyed it, and things went well.
Here's the set list:
CBD set 2 1st March 2007
(title, artist, bpm, date, album, time)
Mumbles Oscar Peterson 188 1964 Ultimate Oscar Peterson As Selected By Ray Brown 2:02
Blues In Hoss' Flat City Rhythm Orchestra 130 2004 Vibrant Tones 5:23
Shufflin' And Rollin' Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra 153 1952 Walk 'Em 3:12
C-Jam Blues Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis 143 1999 Live In Swing City: Swingin' With Duke 3:33
Krum Elbow Blues Mora's Modern Swingtet 162 2004 20th Century Closet 2:45
Shout 'Em Aunt Tillie Duke Ellington and His Orchestra 158 1930 Jazz Caravan 2:56
Effervescent Blues Mora's Modern Swingtet 122 2004 20th Century Closet 3:07
B-Sharp Boston Duke Ellington and His Orchestra 126 1949 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 2:54
Four Or Five Times Woody Herman Orchestra 141 The Great Swing Bands (Disc 2) 3:09
Back Room Romp Duke Ellington and his Orchestra 155 2000 Ken Burns Jazz: Duke Ellington 2:49
Flying Home Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra 159 1940 Tempo And Swing 2:58
Who Stole the Lock (On the Hen House Door?) Jack Bland 245 2002 Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 2 2:37
A Viper's Moan Mora's Modern Rhythmists 143 2000 Call Of The Freaks 3:30
Savoy Blues Kid Ory 134 2002 Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 3 3:00
Perdido Street Blues Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra with Sidney Bechet 148 1940 Blues In Thirds 1940-41 3:00
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho Kid Ory And His Creole Jazz Band 160 1946 Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46 3:12
Stomp It Off Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra 190 1934 Swingsation - Jimmie Lunceford 3:08
Good Queen Bess Duke Ellington 160 1940 The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 10) 3:00
Laughing In Rhythm Slim Gaillard 140 2:52
Groove Juice Special Slim Gaillard And His Flat Foot Floogie Boys 170 1942 Big Ben - Disc 2 - All Too Soon 2:43
Stomp, Stomp The Cats and The Fiddle 203 1941 We Cats Will Swing For You Volume 2 1940-41 2:55
My Walking Stick The Mills Brothers 158 1938 The Mills Brothers Featuring Louis Armstrong vol4 (1937-1940) 2:43
Potato Chips Slim Gaillard 143 2004 Jazz For Kids - Sing, Clap, Wiggle, and Shake 3:04
Apollo Jump Lucky Millinder 143 Apollo Jump 3:26
For Dancers Only Jimmie Lunceford and His Harlem Express 178 1944 1944-Uncollected 2:22
Savoy Lucky Millinder 166 1993 Anthology Of Big Band Swing (Disc 2) 3:04
I Want The Waiter (with the water) Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra 151 1939 Lunceford Special 1939-40 2:44
Jive At Five Count Basie and His Orchestra 147 1960 The Count Basie Story (Disc 1) 3:02
Shoutin' Blues Count Basie and His Orchestra 148 1949 Kansas City Powerhouse 2:38
Till Tom Special Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra 158 1940 Tempo And Swing 3:23
The Minor Goes Muggin' Duke Ellington 176 1946 The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 15) 3:02
Cole Slaw Jesse Stone and His Orchestra 145 Original Swingers: Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips vol 2 2:57
Yes, Indeed! Sy Oliver and Jo Stafford with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra 134 1941 Yes, Indeed! 3:30
St. James Infirmary Hot Lips Page and his Orchestra 122 1949 Jump For Joy! 3:12
Black And Tan Fantasy Jimmie Lunceford 104 1997 Rhythm Is Our Business 2:44
New Style Baby Walter Brown with Jay McShann and His Kycee Stompers 120 1949 Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) 2:37
Don't Come Too Soon Julia Lee And Her Boyfriends 123 1949 Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 2) 2:59
*Megs and I have very different taste in music, but we like each other and enjoy DJing together - she's an arse kicker and we make each other laugh a lot. So it's always good when we're paired up for sets.
"last night's set" was posted by dogpossum on March 2, 2007 4:55 PM in the category djing and lindy hop and other dances
March 1, 2007
i think i'm in love
Rock on Language Lab.
c/o baristah!.
"i think i'm in love" was posted by dogpossum on March 1, 2007 11:19 AM in the category clicky