The Son and his class did a study of Ghana this year (as well as the Inuit, and the Amazon, I think). Anyway. We have a CD called London Is The Place For Me, which is a compilation of Trinidadian calypso in London, and includes the song “Birth of Ghana” by Lord Kitchener. The Spouse burned it onto a disc for our son to take into school and wow his classmates.

Does it make up for the fact that between the two of his parents, we can find a song that relates to almost any topic, and will sing it loudly even though the Son begs us to stop?

Probably not.

But still.

(Scott also included the Wylde Bunch “Last Day of School.” Beats Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out For Summer” anyday).

I just turned in the edits for Road To Passion to my agent (!); for Road To Desire, I’ll be making a playlist, plus a collage, if I can figure out how to do it on my Mac. Meanwhile, and not that you were thinking you’d go hunt these songs down, this is my Road To Passion playlist. It goes in progression from Alasdair’s initial mood–tortured, drug-fueld despair epitomized by the Birthday Party, on down to the hope he feels after meeting Mary, then onto the sex stuff, then the inevitable worries (Use Me), onto the acceptance of love and sacrifice.

Release The Bats The Birthday Party
Do The Du A Certain Ratio
Last Good Day Of The Year Cousteau
Talking To Myself Cousteau
I Don’t Know What It Is Rufus Wainwright
Me And Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story) !!!
Shack Up A Certain Ratio
Use Me Bill Withers
Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get The Dramatics
I Got The Feelin’ James Brown
Erotic City Prince
Home Zero 7

We’ve had a respite here in terms of frantic frothing about North And South, but that is about to change: My girlfriend, the Super-Smart Lawyer, is coming over on Saturday and we will be watching it.

She has more passion for Ewan McGregor than I do, but we agree on Clive, Heywood Wakefield furniture, the color green, coffee, Mission Of Burma, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (although only one of us kissed a Dap-King a gazillion years ago, and it wasn’t me), red wine and the joy of living in Brooklyn.

Woo. And hoo.

In driving from Cape Cod to Brooklyn today (big snowstorm? Haven’t driven in seven years? Ten hours later? Yeah, you bet), I found myself thinking, hey, Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” is really an underrated song. It’s maybe, like, almost GOOD.

And then I had to slap myself.

In update news, I am heading back to the Cape tomorrow. Back to normal Monday, I hope. Picky Vegetarian, I keep thinking of calling, and it’s always the wrong time.

Megan

*Another Sign of the Apocalypse

I have been listening to the Alice Smith CD, For Lovers, Dreamers & Me ever since the Freelancing Spouse wrote a review of it for Marie Claire.

IT IS SO AMAZING, I CANNOT STOP LISTENING TO IT.

And now it is available for less than ten dollars at Amazon!

She’s got great lyrics, an incredible voice, and super-catchy melodies. She reminds me a lot of Fiona Apple, Des*ree and Alicia Keys. Also a lot like Angie Stone, come to think of it.
You can go hear a sample at Amazon: click here.

Gush, gush, gush. This is going to be one of my favorite albums of all time, I already know.

If you listen to it, let me know what you think. Or what your favorite albums of all time are.

Completely coincidental to Amanda’s latest post, but I have suddenly become someone who writes to music. I have a playlist for Road To Passion, which I will post here sometime, I’m still tweaking it.

But meanwhile, almost twenty years since I first heard them, I cannot move on from Soundgarden. Right now I am listening to “Jesus Christ Pose,” and the intensity of the song exactly suits the mood my hero is in right now.

Plus, as usual, there’s a foxy guy involved:

I just love Chris Cornell’s vocals. I haven’t liked his solo work much, and I never did get that last Audioslave album, but his voice sends me. And Kim Thayil’s guitar is so tremendously powerful. Not to mention Matt Cameron’s drumming.

I like to run to Soundgarden, too, which tells you a lot, since anything that can irritate me while running will. But Soundgarden propels me, which is good for the finishing thing.

I don’t usually review stuff, except to say ‘yay! I read it! I loved it!,’ which isn’t really helpful for anyone, including me. But I have seen a fair amount of movies, read some books and heard some good music lately, so I thought since I feel as lethargic as someone can who actually bothers to finish writing ‘lethargic,’ that I would do some quick reviews. Maybe incite some discussion.

Shoot ‘Em Up: Abby asked me what I thought of this starring our boy Clive. I think it was a laudatory attempt to take the action movie to its nth degree, but it wasn’t quite clever enough. It was a load of fun to watch, but hardly resonant after. Not to say I won’t want to own the DVD when it comes out, but it was just a fun movie with a lot of death. Plus it had Clive for me, and Monica Belluci for the Loves Pale Women With Dark Hair Spouse.

Eastern Promises: Amazing. I love Cronenberg, apparently, and Viggo Mortensen gets so inside the skin of his characters it is astonishing (Plus he’s really freaking HOT!). This was a lot more memorable and complex than S’EU, with fewer deaths but way more violence, if that makes sense. Not for the weak of stomach.

Agnes And The Hitman: I didn’t care for the first Crusie/Mayer collaboration that much, but Jennie said this one was really good, so I gave it a try. And it was so much fun! A rollercoaster of action (bam!), romance (pow!) and way more death (kaboom!) than is usual in a romance novel. Totally refreshing, thanks for the rec, Jennie.

Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, Vol. 1): Oddly enough, I don’t like Lois McMaster Bujold’s most famous series, the Miles V-whatever his last name is, but I have totally adored her fantasy such as the Chalion series and now this one. She does subtle romance very well, and her world-building is complex and compelling.

Little Miss Sunshine: I was expecting a cute indie film with quirky characters, ooh, aren’t the disfunctional people funny, but this was way better than I had anticipated. This has depth and characterization and you really feel for all of the people involved, and it wasn’t just the fish-in-barrel fun of examining kids’ beauty contests. So, yay! I loved it!

Alice Smith: Amazing artist, her record is being re-released here soon. Alicia Keys meets Melanie, I’ve been singing her songs in my head ever since I first heard it. I love, love, love this record.

Kate Nash: British singer, a clear, pure voice like Sia’s or Bjork’s and with a biting wit like Dorothy Parker. Her record isn’t out here yet, but was #1 in England. Search for “Dickhead” on YouTube for a preview.

Lady Tigra: Oh, lord, totally stripped-down hip-hop, like ESG, only with a good rapper, and her songs are good allthe waythrough, which is just plain awesome. I am completely hooked on this one, too, I can’t believe how good it is.

Okay, so what’s got you stoked lately?

Abby tagged me with this music meme. I had to cheat, though, since at age eighteen I was a thorough new wave/alternahead, so the top hits didn’t mean much to me at all, except that I disliked most of them. So I snagged some ‘hits’ from my world:

Here’s how it goes:
1. Go to this link at Pop Culture Madness (scroll down - see the list of years on the left?)
2. Pick the year you turned 18
3. Pick five songs from that year
4. Wax nostalgic about each song and why it’s special
5. Pass it on to 5 more friends

“Don’t You Want Me” - The Human League: This means something because I bought the Human League on import, played it mercilessly (especially this song) and so when it came out here and was a hit, I knew I had good ears.

“Abracadabra” - The Steve Miller Band: One of my first concerts was seeing the Steve Miller Band play, along with Boz Scaggs and It’s A Beautiful Day. I fell asleep in the front row while the SMB was on. I was about nine.

“I Love Rock’n'Roll” — Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: I liked the song okay, and liked that straight-ahead rock songs were popular. I saw Joan Jett open for XTC (next item).

“Senses Working Overtime” — XTC: Okay, I love XTC, and I heard “Senses Working Overtime” the first time I ever got high–not something I repeated more than a couple times, I didn’t like it so much. But my geometry teacher got me and my best friend stoned for the first time, we heard this song, I love XTC. My friend went on to deal in some illicit products while I just did it a few more times. I did date a drug dealer, though, ’cause he had a cool car.

“Love Plus One” - Haircut One Hundred: I heard this, and flipped for the ultra-bouncy music. It was unabashedly cheesy, but so, so catchy. When my two girlfriends and I went to see them, we sang along to every song, and at the end, Nick Heyward leaned down and gave us his orange juice. Sigh.

“Tainted Love” - Soft Cell: Again, I bought this on import single, and it was the b-side of “Memorabilia,” but I liked this side better. When it came out and was a hit, again, I thought, “I have popular taste! I might want to do something with it!”

I am passing along to Marley Gibson, Elizabeth, Tracy MacNish, Tara, and Cindy.

It’s not something that comes up often, not now, but if I do say so myself, I am an excellent dancer. I mean really, really good (and how often does anyone say something so unabashedly braggy as that and have it not be true? Okay, shut up. Never mind. Back to my point).

And lately I’ve been stealing the Spouse’s iPod to take to the gym, and listening to some of his disco mixes: “Soul Makossa” by Manu Dubango, “Dancing Machine” by the Jacksons, “Dazz” by the Dazz Band (and you would know these songs if you heard them, too.)

Problem is, it’s not really normal to bust a move at the gym. Especially when no-one else knows you’re listening to “You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate.

BUT I WANT TO DANCE WHEN I HEAR SUCH AMAZINGLY FUNKY MUSIC. I need to get out more. Or stop being embarrassed when I start shaking my ass in public.

Megan

I can’t sleep. Despite the valerian, the wine, the episode of House–no snoozing.

So I shopped, a smidge. Bought a six-bottle case of Method Lavender Dish Soap plus a Temptations CD a geeked-out music friend recommended for the Equally Geeked-Out Husband. It’s called Psychedelic Soul and is supposed to be nutty.

And what do I want? Well. Since getting the iMac, we’ve uploaded over 8,000 songs and are up to the “C”s–German deconstructed expressionist band Can, to be exact. I want an iPod, not just to borrow the husband’s when he’s not using it. I haven’t been shy about it either, unless you think saying “I want an iPod” is shy.

I think I’ll get it. in black, natch.