Here’s a little round up:
Western Swing is ME.
I am currently in love with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. This is in preparation for the Hot Club of Cowtown tour next month. I saw them in the UK (at the Marlborough Jazz Fest) in 2004, and they were freakin’ GREAT. The next week I saw Casey McGill’s band at a dance camp and they told me that their bass player had absconded for the HCCT. I’m not sure whether that’s a tragedy or an awesomey.
Bad foot is still ME.
My foot is still bung. I have been to see a podiatrist to strapped me up. That helped the first time, but not the second time. I am also doing exercises to strengthen the muscles in my calves/shin to help out my plantar fascia (ie so it’s not overloaded). I am down to get orthotics next week, but they mightn’t work. Basically, these fibroids in my foot are never going to go away and they can’t be cut out. So I’m looking at pain management and impact reduction. I danced two half dances on the last weekend and it HURT. The problem is not so much the impact (which hurts and hurts normally), but the fact that there’s pivoting and my foot actually twists when we do lots of turns and things. That’s where the pain is at. It sucked to find out how much it still hurt, but at least I know where I’m at. Though I think I’d have preferred to continue in blissful (and hopeful) ignorance. If I can’t dance again, I’m really not sure what I’m going to do. If it’s not lindy hop, it could have been something else – I come from a long line of dancing, lumbering folk, and I can’t fight my DNA. Perhaps I’ll learn an instrument. Any suggestions? Maybe the drums? Bass? I did a lot of singing at school, but that was a long time ago.
Allergies are GO.
I am having trouble breathing and my ear is all glued up. Again. Still, I’ve had much less trouble with my health since I moved to Sydney, so I’m certainly not complaining. It is melaluca flowering season, and there goddamn paper barks all over every street in every inner city suburb in Australia, so I need to deal. Won’t be long now, though, and I can come off the antihistamines.
Library is MINE.
I have been back to the Con’s library this week. It is a joyful place. Though it is full of students, now, and that sucks. They’re almost uniformly middle or upper class, supernerds and 70% male. Guess that’s what a career in hardcore arty music requires. The jazz section was all dusty when I first got in there. Now it has at least some use. The refec near the library is SHITHOUSE. The actual room is quite nice – it has a lovely little stage (with nice piano), and would be perfect for a dance gig. The acoustics are magical. But the food is inedible. I was reduced to pre-made sandwiches. Most of the students in this (actually quite nice) mini-refec were eating packed lunches. There you go.
emusic is not all mine. Yet.
I am blowing through my emusic downloads ridiculously quickly. Even when I ration them. There’re simply not enough.
Quickflix is suspended.
Since we moved to Sydney the DVDs have been slower to arrive, have almost always been terribly scratched, and we never get anything in the top 50 of our list. I have suspended our account until we’ve decided what to do. We’re still on one of their unlimited DVD accounts, but I’m not sure it’s worth it, as we only get about 3 a week, which isn’t much better than getting 12 a month max, is it? The video shop here is pretty good, so we might just go old school. Though using a video shop means I have no natural limit on my DVD viewing.
Dr Who and Farscape rule my world.
Screw BSG with its upsetting gender politics and ridiculously FAILED science. I am all about rebooted Dr Who and Farscape. I didn’t dig either the first time I saw them, and never really got past the first couple of episodes. Now I love them. Farscape passes the Bechdel Test. Dr Who does not. Rose + her mum. Talking about the Doctor. Though every now and then Rose gets to discuss a drama with another female character, there’s not much woman-to-woman action. I think it’s partly to do with the newer format – story arcs only last an episode, rather than a week’s worth of episodes. There’s not as much character development. And a bit too much kissing. I like Eccleston, but I’m not struck on Tennant. His bottom jaw sticks out too far. I liked Eccleston’s big nose and ears a whole lot. And was the Doctor always this manic? I’ll have to rewatch some old ones (I liked brown, curly haired, long-scarf, jelly baby Doctor best).
I am a crocheting demon.
I should post some pictures to prove it. But I love complicated afghan patterns, and have been compulsively crocheting as I watch my way through the Commonwealth’s greatest contributions to popular culture. We went to Spotlight in Bondi Junction the other weekend so I could stock up on yarn. That joint was totally trashed on Saturday afternoon. I need another supplier; perhaps I could order online in bulk? The poor Squeeze is buried in gorgeously three dimensional flowers, in various combinations, so perhaps it’s time to stop.
…
No.
I am bike YAY!
Yesterday we rode down the Cook’s River after work for a quick ride. It was overcast, humid and coming up a storm. It was great. The sun set over the river, we saw wildlife, we dodged nonnas out walking and talking and planned a longer down-stream walk for a future date. This river goes to Botany Bay, you know.
I am still dealing with the fact that we live in Sydney.
I’m surprised by the historical weight I’m carrying in Sydney. It’s like all these suburbs and places are full of all the post-Invasion history of this country. Every bit of history I remember has something to do with Sydney. And most of it is narrated by songs from the Peter Coomb’s song book which delighted so many good little Australians in the 1980s.
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-attidy,
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay,
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-attidy,
And we’re bound for Botany Bay.
I’m sure that that song has celtic roots as well. One of the strangest moments of my post-MA European travel was being shut in at a Cornish pub where a heap of drunken … Corns? Cornishpeople? sang one of those sorts of ‘traditional Australian songs’. But with celtic names. My Irish grandfather used to sing The Wild Colonial Boy. So even though I’m caught up in all this Australian music, it’s just as Irish as the American folk music I dig.
I did arrive in Australia in 1982, straight into rural Wagga Wagga, so moving to New South Wales is far more familiar than moving to Melbourne did in 2001. The humidity is lovely. It’s not as heinous as Brisbane’s, but it’s nicer and wetter than Melbourne. And my skin loves it. The Squeeze declared last night, as we rode up the hill towards the lightning and iron-grey sky: “Moving here was the best thing we’ve done!” He’s delighted by the tropical storms. So am I – I’ve missed them. There’s something wonderful about a good, heavy-like-a-hot-shower rainstorm, complete with lighting and crashing thunder. Far, far better than drizzly, wingey bastard Melbourne weather. Even if it didn’t rain, it’d be cloudy and overcast forever. I don’t miss that shit. Though I’m thinking the Victorians are.
Dollhouse sucks arse, Pushing Daisies is delightful.
That’s it in a nutshell, really. I’m not impressed by DH.
1. The FBI/BSG guy is a crap actor. He’s so crap I can hardly watch him on screen. That scene in the last episode where he and the ‘dead wife’ DH client chatted in the kitchen? It was so, so, so bad. I groaned. I gnashed my teeth.
2. The opening credits are incredibly, crappily bullshit.
3. I’m still not entirely sure about the gender stuff. There’s an awful lot of talk about the women ‘dolls’ as sexualised bodies. And though there’re references to their missions which don’t involve sex, we spend a lot of time looking at them having sex or wearing very high heels or tight, booby shirts, or generally packing a whole lot of very conventional, bullshit femininity. It’s a bit too Alias for me, but with less self-determination on their part. I had hoped there’d be a clever twist to undo some of this, but I’m beginning to lose hope. Joss Whedon is hyped, but, really, Buffy was his pinacle. I didn’t mind Serenity (look, I’m losing the italics, ok?), but it wasn’t great. The film wasn’t great cinema. The series wasn’t that good – a little too heavy on the patriarchal family structure for my liking. Yes, I get the whole male captain/father parallel, and that Mal might perhaps have been overcompensating for his wartime mistakes with other people’s lives, but still… Actually, it takes Buffy an awful long time to lose her patriarch. I’ve rewatched a bit of season 5 lately, and she’s STILL got Giles there, Watchering. So perhaps Buffy isn’t so great either… God, if this is the best we can do, this string of compromises.
Anyways, I’m not impressed by DH
4. Did I mention the terrible acting by FBI guy?
Pushing Daisies, though, is wonderful.
It’s charming. It’s clever. It’s lovely to look at. Its visual style has a lot in common with Tim Burton’s brighter, more colourful stuff. It’s a bit surreal and hyper-colour, but not dark like Burton. Well, except for the premise of the series: the pie maker protagonist can bring dead things back to life. For a minute. If he touches them within that minute, they go back to being dead. If he doesn’t, they stay alive and something has to replace them in the deadness. The point of the series: Emerson Cod (finally, a show with a not-white central character!), a private detective, works with the Pie Maker to solve murders. For profit. Pie Maker brings his childhood sweetheart, Chuck, back to life in one of the earliest eps, so they can’t touch. They love each other. The other main character is Olive, who, by the end of season two, is the very best character.
Why do I like this program?
1. The hyper-colour, phantastical mise en scene.
2. Passes Bechdel Test.
3. Olive. With her pet pig Pigby.
4. The male protagonist is a pie maker. There’s a lot of talk about food and baking pies and comfort food. It’s very lush. Here, have a look.
5. The singing scenes. Olive sings a couple of songs. One of which is ‘Eternal Flame’. Yes, a Bangles singing scene. The other is ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’. It’s wonderful.
Also, there’s singing.
6. Chuck’s spinster aunts (who raised her) are cheese fans and also used to be synchronised swimming super stars: Darling Mermaid Darlings. One has an eye patch.
7. Most of all, I love the dialogue. It’s very, very wordy. Lots of fast talking. But it’s all puns and onomatapeia (sp?) and all those other lovely wordnerd things. It looks good, it sounds good, and it’s funny. It makes me giggle.
8. It’s not horrid. There are some pretty gross deaths, but it’s not upsetting. Most of the programs I like these days are horribly dark. But Pushing Daisies is not. It’s lovely. The Pie Maker and Chuck love each other. Olive is tiny and super tough and awesome. She can bake pies or solve crimes. She’s great.
9. I watch it before bed, when I’m tired, and it helps me get to sleep. It’s nice.
The only thing I don’t like about it is that it was cancelled before the end of its second season. Apparently they’re screening the finale in the US in their summer, so at least we’ll get that degree of closure. But still. It’s really great telly. Here’s the first bit to prove it:
Category Archives: digging
i have a thing for early 20th century australiana
We went to see the modernism exhibition at the Powerhouse a little while ago. Well, we actually went to have a look at The Museum, and this exhibition was on. It was, overall, dull. And not terribly well curated, I don’t think. But it had some fully sick stuffs in it. I was, of course, captured by the 20s stuff. But also by the late 19th century bits.
I have the beginnings of a full blown Thing for olden days Australiana. I like the stylised kangaroos. Flipping through a design/architecture magazine at the sports specialist a little while ago, I was struck by the set and prop design for the ill-fate Lurhman ‘Australia’. Gorgeous. There’s something about the super-kitchness of Australian animals (with their utterly bizarre physiology) done up by art deco or modernism (don’t really know the difference between the two, I’m afraid). I like the way the bizarre is made streamlined and beautiful. The way a kangaroo is styled up like a greyhound.
mercy dee walton’s Pity And A Shame and mildred anderson’s No More In Life
Finally, my emusic month rolled over, and there was goodness to be had. Unfortunately 50 songs doesn’t go that far when you have a wish list as long as mine. At the moment that list is divided equally between spankin’ olden days jazz from the 20s and 30s and saucy hi-fi blues from the 50s and 60s. Well, actually, the list is weighted towards the olden days stuff. Because I just can’t get enough of the Chronological Classics – it’s a little bit exciting to have them available.
Mercy Dee Walton’s Pity and a Shame is making me very happy. Hi-fi 60s blues, piano + harmonica + vocals. Kind of sparse instrumentally, but with a big, fat hi-fi sound. Perfect for blues dancing. Also, fixing my need for saucy blues.
Mildred Anderson’s No More In Life
This woman has an amazing voice. I’m also enjoying the superior quality of these recordings: stereo! It’s been a long time since I bought something in stereo. It’s a bit exciting. And caught be my surprise, the first time something different came out of the second speaker. Both are from the Fantasy/Prestige label on emusic. This is some special stuff.
I’m also thinking of both these with blues dancing in mind. Not mine (as I am still MIA with fuckingshit injury), but other people’s.
You know, it’s actually a lot easier finding music for blues dancers. The time period is looser – I’m working between the 20s and the current day, though I’m heavier in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. There was just such a wealth of nice, fat blues action recorded. The swinging stuff I need for lindy hop (mostly late 20s, 30s and 40s, with some time in the 50s) is a lot harder to find, and it’s also a lot trickier to judge the quality. Quality as in recording quality, but also (and more importantly) quality for actual dancing. Perhaps my standards are just lower for blues dancing. Or perhaps Australian blues dancers just have lower expectations of their DJs. At any rate, with all this lovely blues music available (and relatively easy to find – both online and in music shops), why is it that we have to listen to bullshitty ‘blues fusion’, trance, etc at blues dances? I know other people are into it, but it just shits me. If I wanted that action, I’d go listen to some decent DJing by hardcore trance/fusion DJs who really knew their shit. And I wouldn’t be dancing the naff blues partner dancing to that shiz. No way.
… I guess I’m a little cranky about this stuff at the moment – I can’t dance to anything, so it’s horrible watching people waste their lucky dancingness on bullshit music.
Sigh.
I am cranky.
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
This is how I danced at sharon Jones and the Dap Kings last night:
…well, I would have if we weren’t mashed in like sardines. Even though I’m still injured, that’s how I would have danced. If I’d had room.
It was great. The Ray Mann 3 were pretty ordinary, but SJ&DK were freakin’ AWESOME.
CW Stoneking
CW Stoneking reminds me more of Beck (when he was doing all the ol’ timey blues stuff characterised best by his album One Foot In The Grave) than of anyone else.
Nor do I think Stoneking sounds ‘black’ – he sounds like one of those good ole boys from somewhere in the south. It’s something in his timing or his phrasing… something in the way he treats timing. I keep thinking of that line I read somewhere, that music reflects the vocal or linguistic structures of the people who create it. Singing ‘black’ is more than adding in an accent. It’s about intonation and a subtler sense of pitch – more than just going ‘up’ and the end a sentence to make something sound Australian.
Anyways, I scored both his CDs for christmas from The Squeeze and I like them both a lot.
be good tanyas
Emusic is doing more than just bringing me good jazz, blues and soul. It’s also reminding me of my passion for bluegrass and ‘American traditionals’. I bought the Be Good Tanyas’ first album when I first moved to Melbourne. I think I lasered the grooves out of it.
I’m afraid to look at Amanda‘s list. I know I’ll only add a zillion albums to my Want list.
That 250gb of birthday computer space isn’t going to last too long at this rate.
swingstyrke 7 Right On!
Danish Goodness continued. This Swingstyrke 7 album was recorded live in 2007 and it’s great. Still lots of late Basie, but some other action as well, including a version of ‘Doodlin”, a song I’m quite partial to. I’ve put this in the ‘groovy swinging lindy hop’ category in my collection, which means that it’s not for people who only like old scratchy. But if you like a little hi-fi and a little super groove, then it is for you. I like this stuff for the quality, I like the super laid-back swingingness of it, and I like it that it’s super groove, which I think of as high powered groove. It doesn’t make you sit down and listen, it makes you get up and dance. As with the other Swingstyrke 7 CD, the songs can be a bit long. This is ok when the tempos are lower, but I’ll have to watch it when I’m DJing them for dancers.
This CD is good, but the 70s band gave good moustache. European, tight-jeaned flare-legged moustache. And that’s sweet.
leo mathisen 1941-42 To Be or Not to Be
More crapped on about before, which Scotti and I have a shared love for, and which I heard a couple of different versions of over the MLX8 weekend. I love the Hamp version, but this Leo Mathisen version is pretty spankin’ good.
In fact, this whole CD is pretty awesome. He’s kind of like a Danish version of Fats Waller. Which is weird, but to which I couldn’t possibly object. I also liked the version of ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ which was written in the 20s, but which I had assumed was a modern one. It was made super-famous by Nina Simone.
Those of us who grew up with Rage remember this clip with fondness:
(linky).
Leo Mathisen doesn’t look anything like Nina Simone, and neither of them are anthropomorphised cats. I imagine they also had quite different politics. But this Mathisen CD is a neat contrast to the Swingstyrke 7 one. It’s olden days music, it has a chunky base and rhythm, which is just right for dancing phat lindy hop, and it’s got that nicely saucy, self-reflexive humour which I adore in my jass.
swingstyrke 7 1978-82 Count’s Place
Last week I emailed the people at Little Beat Records (meaning, Peder at LBR) and bought a heap of CDs (you can see the catalogue here). Then The Squeeze paid a bunch of money into their paypal account. Then Peder sent me the CDs (6 of them). He very kindly gave me free postage (well, I did buy a bunch of CDs) and sent them without the jewel cases, which meant that the whole lot fit into one package. They arrived today. It’s been raining for ages, but they were ok (phew).
Little Beat is pretty special. They’re a small operation (as in one or two blokes) and they basically get olden days Danish music and make it sound nice. Then they put it on CDs and sell it to nerds like me.
So far I’ve listened to some Harlem Kiddies and some Swingstyrke 7. It’s all really fabulous. The quality is magical. And the musicianship is amazing.
Swingstyrke 7 really rock my boat (I’m in the mood for some of this). Crudely, I’d typify them as a 1950s Basie tribute band recording in the 1970s and 80s. So they were a small band making Basie music. And it’s freakin’ great. I will _definitely_ be playing this next time I DJ. I thought the Paul Tillotson stuff was pretty good (and they’re doing similar things with a smaller band), but these Danish guys are the fushiz.
It has that laid back, hi-fi, in-the-pocket feel of late testament Basie, but also smells like Europe. It’s a little chunkier in the rhythm section (which is nice for dancing) and makes me want to get up on my (still, stupidly sore and injured) foot and dance about like a fool. DJing it will just KILL me.
Anyways, I’m only just onto the second CD, so I’ll be a while yet. I’ll write about the Harlem Kiddies next.
Fats Waller’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find: The Middle Years, Part 2
I love Fats. It’s no secret. This love is becoming an obsession. But A Good Man Is Hard to Find: The Middle Years, Part 2 is another in an excellent series of collections from Bluebird/RCA. I’ve been happy with every Bluebird purchase I’ve made – they seem to have recorded my favourite artists and to have produced some lovely albums.
I also have ‘the Last Years’ and ‘the Middle Years part 1’. There’re three ‘Early Years’ sets in this series.
I don’t recommend them to new Fats fans – it’s pretty samey, and if you don’t like one Fats song, there’s a good chance you won’t like the others. But if you do… well. These are the best collections I’ve seen around (which are also easily accessible/purchased), the quality is pretty decent and the liner notes are interesting.