52 Weeks of Music - Week 5 - I Feel Cream by Peaches

[Reader Advisory: This post contains explicit and exquisite lyrics.]

"Big trouble in little Mangina..."
from the song "Billionaire" by Peaches

I first learned about Peaches several years ago. Of course I heard "Boys Wanna Be Her" in the movie Whip It, but I was a fan even before that.

A couple of years ago, I came across a fan video on YouTube of "Slippery Dick" where the song plays over a video montage of Divine, the John Waters drag superstar. (See video below.)



As far as I know, this is just a fan video, but since I've always loved Divine, the song stuck with me. There are tons of videos on YouTube and I've included a couple more at the end of the post.

I don't buy music as much as I used to, mainly because I am drowning in CDs and I don't want to put much more stuff on my computer, for fear it will crash. But for my birthday and Christmas gifts in 2009, I got some iTunes gift cards, and one thing that was for sure on my list was "Slippery Dick."

I listened to some more Peaches tracks from the album, Impeach My Bush, but I wasn't thrilled. "Slippery Dick" was it for me for the time being. Yet later I came back to iTunes for more and wound up buying the more current album I Feel Cream.

I Feel Cream has some great rhythms, and the sound is much more eclectic. If there's one thing that can truly describe my taste in music, it's eclectic, so I bought the album. It resides on my iPod, there for when my mood is down and I need a little subversive electroclash pop to perk me up. It's my favorite album to listen to while I work out.

Like the art of Robert Mapplethorpe, Peaches music and videos are not everyone's cup of tea. But the way Peaches explores themes like gender identity, body image and sexuality is utterly fascinating to me. In an age of vapid pop stars like Katy Perry and Britney Spears, I'm glad we have Peaches.

On a side note, I was shocked however when I heard "Talk to Me" on the Muzak at work. They finally changed the channels up after the holidays this year. I get to hear Peaches, Pink, and even the Scissor Sisters. It doesn't ruin I Feel Cream for me yet. In fact, I would say that it might get more people aware of Peaches shear genius as a lyricist and performer.





Peaches - I Feel Cream on Wikipedia


I Feel Cream album link for iTunes

52 Weeks of Music. Week 2 Party Doll and Other Favorites, Mary Chapin Carpenter

I had a brief flirtation with Country music during its 1990s heyday. This was the era of Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, and a slew of other superstars. I adored Garth's everything and Reba's glamour and charm, but I absolutely loved everything about Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Her lyrics in her 90s "commercial" hits ranged from boisterous to scolding, running the full gamut of human emotions. I loved "Shut Up and Kiss Me" and "I Feel Lucky." Then she walloped me with "He Thinks He'll Keep Her," and "I Take My Chances."

This album, though it is a compilation, is a good snapshot of her brilliant career. Her next album, Time*Sex*Love* may be a subsequent entry, but this was the first album of hers that I bought, so I wanted to devote some time to it first. All of her major early hits are here, and there are songs I never knew I'd love, like "Stones in the Road," which is actually the title track from one of her older albums.

Though I usually disdain live performances of songs because they just seem so gimmicky, these performances are heartfelt and endearing. "I Take My Chances" is more poignant in this live version, as are many of the other tracks.

I admire her so much as a songwriter and performer. Not many country stars can pull off ballads written by John Lennon and Mick Jagger, but she totally does. In my imagination, she grew up listening to The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, and the Stones, then figured out how to interpret that music in her own life, with her own themes. She's truly gifted, and she's very willing to share her musical gifts with you, the listener.

Do yourself a favor and listen to this album again. If you haven't heard it, or if you already have the songs on other CDs, get this album for the new versions of the older songs. It's transformative, entertaining and endearing. You'll feel lucky to be hearing her music all over again.


Video link on CMT for "He Thinks He'll Keep Her."

Mary Chapin Carpenter on Wikipedia

Album Link on iTunes

52 Weeks of Music

It's the first week of 2011 and my friend Katie inspired me to resolve for a blog per week.

The idea sprang to life in my mind late last night while watching Mary Tyler Moore on Hulu. MTM is Katie's favorite television program, and it's not hard to see why. It's wonderful. It's the originator of all modern sitcoms. But I digress. I only wanted to throw in my own plug about how great the show is. Go to Hulu and watch a couple of episodes and you will be hooked as I am.

So my idea was to talk about 52 albums that mean something to me. After being bombarded by all those e-mail surveys, then later facebook surveys, about my favorite things, I figured it would be better to go into some depth on blog posts. I won't be defending my choices, in fact, I welcome readers to comment. I just want to share what music holds a place in my heart and try to explain why. I am kicking it off with a post immediately after this one.

Here's to a great 2011 filled with good music. Happy New Year.

52 Weeks of Music - Week 1 - Wild Planet by the B-52s

The skies are charcoal gray. It's a dreary downtown day. But. At the end of my 30 foot leash. My little friend, Quiche.







Thus began one of my favorite songs by the B-52s, "Quiche Lorraine." It's a classic narrative about a boy and his dog, but with a super queer twist. Fred Schneider is singing about his beloved poodle, Quiche Lorraine. "Sunglasses and a bonnet, and designer jeans with appliques on 'em." My adolescent mind was blown. I was totally enthralled with this fictional bitch, just from the lyrical description.

The song is track 7 on the CD version I have of the album Wild Planet.

I always have great luck with the number 7 tracks of albums, but we'll leave numerology out of this for now. The song is the ultimate high camp showpiece of an album filled with vintage high camp showpieces.

In "Devil in my Car," Fred can't get the Devil out of his car because as Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson sing in the background vocals "[The Devil's] got his cloven hoof on the clu--hutch."

In "Strobelight," Fred and the ladies extol the virtues of sex under a strobelight.

"Dirty Back Road" is all about, well let's just let your imagination flow.

All of these tracks were mind blowing to my exurban repressed homosexual adolescent ears. I loved dancing to them, or I'd just sit in my room and count the days until I would die. The B-52s made my existence much more tolerable, and I eventually realized that I too could make it out. Hell, I could carry a tune better than Fred Scheider. Though realistically I knew I probably would never be in a band, I was encouraged not to always do what was expected of me.

I finally stopped living in my own "Private Idaho," and now I love my life. Thanks in part to the sounds from a distant Wild Planet.

Click here for the iTunes link.  |  View Wikipedia.

Here Lies Love

Eat your heart out, Evita, there's a new crazy dictator's wife to lionize: Imelda Marcos.

Of course, I am talking about the concept-album, song cycle, whatver you call it, "Here Lies Love" by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim.

I heard one of the tracks, "Why Don't You Love Me" by Cyndi Lauper and Tori Amos, but I didn't care for it out of context. As the final track of the album, it brings it all together. Marcos was completely out of touch by the end of it all.

Of course, the whole album is itself out of context in a way. Byrne was recently interviewed on NPR and he said he specifically omitted the part about the shoes, the most notorious punchline to the fallen dictator story. I agree with Byrne though. The shoes anecdote minimize all of the great and terrible things that Imelda Marcos did. The album uses a disco milieu to bring life to the fascinating story of Imelda, who was herself a fan of discos, and all the decadence that went along with them.

There are eerie parallels to Imelda and Eva Peron, however, where Juan Peron survived Evita, making her a more tragic figure, Imelda lives on today. She's running for office in the Phillippenes, if you can believe that. This album kind of plays on the public's obsession with power and fame. It reminds us that there is often a very dark side to beauty.

106

I have 106 friends on Facebook.

This is a strange world in which we live. This friend count is more or less accurate. Some of these people I haven't seen in years, perhaps decades, but I do know all of these people.

I guess where I run into problems is that word "Friend." I think that friends are something that are all too often taken for granted. I have a Facebook friend in San Francisco, a Facebook friend in Mexico, and other Facebook friends all over. I really don't think you can cultivate deep friendships with people across these massive expansive distances, even when connected electronically.

I have very few friends I hang out with on a regular basis, and that's kind of the way I prefer it. But at the same time, I lament the distance between many of the other friends who I only ever see on Facebook. I'd love to be in Istanbul with my friend Shay (totally heart you, girl) but I am willing to settle for browsing through her holiday snaps on her Facebook page.

Instead of the classic telephone call, I suppose Facebook really is the new way to Reach Out and Touch Someone.

NPR Interviews Eric Cartman

Seriously, this is getting out of hand. NPR is in my head.

NPR declares that "Stuff White People Like" is Dead

This makes me a bit sad, but this story about parody sites is really good. Take a listen to the creators of "White Stuff People Like" (mayonnaise, snow, cocaine) "Stuff Nobody Likes." (cancer, walking into spider webs)

I Heart Grammar

I totally love the English language.

I just finished proofing a paper for a friend. You can learn so much by proofreading. I know way too much about the Church Arson Prevention Act.

Suffice it to say, reading and writing are so much more enjoyable than another rerun of a shlocky sitcom like Two and a Half Men. Blech.

Funny link for the day

With Bill Clinton in town, the Race issue, et cetera.

I was combing the Internet looking for amusement when I happened to check out the top blogs on Wordpress.

I am rolling right now because I just found a great blog:

"Stuff White People Like."

Check out my favorite post so far: #88

War on Baseball

I must admit, I'm not much of a baseball enthusiast. I played baseball for an entire summer as a child and I just didn't find the appeal.

That being said, I must say that the current fauxtreversy over "doping" in pro sports, specifically the Mitchell report on baseball has stirred up latent anger in me.

As liberal-progressive as I consider myself to be, I don't understand why we even care about regulating doping in baseball. I would guess that the vast amounts of time and money wasted on all of these investigations and hearings could have been much better utilized by useful social programs like the SCHIP expansion, school lunches, or additional Pell Grants.

Pro sports are an industry, like any other. Corruption, drug use, scandal will always be part of pro sports. The problem is that the drugs got too sophisticated to be detected and now they're supposedly out of control.

The real issue is that the government is trying once again to legislate morality.

The tragic coincidence is that pro sports and the spectator culture often lead to much more immoral behavior like binge drinking, gambling, and other unappealing activities.

Taking the corruption out of pro sports is like trying to catch smoke with a butterfly net. They'll never get any of it.

It's time for Congress to move on.

Heath is History

I first experienced Heath Ledger in "10 Things I Hate About You." He had a gravelly voice that made me think he was smoking in Kindergarten. He wasn't hard on the eyes either.

I liked him in Brokeback Mountain, but it irritated me that people always think it's courageous to play gay. But beyond my control, he became a gay icon, someone around whom the gay community could rally.

Now he's dead. It's sad. But it begs the question: are we too obsessed with Celebrity in this country? We need to care about something other than so-called famous people.

We're hurting the world because we are paying attention to the lives of celebrities, which in the grand scheme of things, don't really matter. If we were more focused on the war, poverty, global warming, maybe Heath wouldn't have overdosed.

I hope that Heath's death will serve as a wakeup call for celebrophiles. Let's get back to business.