Strange Pulse

Gabby had a recent post on her blog about old songs reminding her of old boyfriends. I think the song she mentioned was Chicago.

For me, it’s Big Black. Because my high school boyfriend had a cassette tape with Big Black on one side, and Jane’s Addiction on the other. J’sA doesn’t really remind me of him, though, because after we broke up my husband and I saw Jane’s several times together. We even took our oldest to see them when he was about 1 year old. (We used earplugs on him.)

This is the finest teenage anthem. What teenager doesn’t feel this way? I read somewhere the song is about using kerosene to race cars.

This song represents all the abrasive stuff I was into–Butthole Surfers, Jane’s Addiction, etc. I’m still bummed I never saw Big Black live. Steve Albini’s current band, Shellac, recently played a whole slew of shows in one weekend here in LA, but we couldn’t make it to any of them.

Steve Albini’s most well known now for his work producing records. He wrote an interesting essay about how bands get screwed over by major record labels. Check it out here (warning–some swearing):

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

I’ve put off making this post because there’s just too much I could say about Soundgarden, not to mention grunge in general. But it’s been taking me too long to get to it, so instead I’ll point you to a big post I made on Kulturblog about “growing up grunge.”

Grunge was a huge part of my later teenage years, but all I used for this mix is Soundgarden. I first heard about them from a friend, who’d recorded a song (”Incessant Mace”) off of the UW’s radio station, which was from a demo, before they had any records out. But I didn’t actually hear them until I saw them open for Love and Rockets, and they totally blew me away. So heavy. They defined heavy for me.

Here are some pictures I took in 1987 when they played Bumbershoot:

Actually, my ears work fine. It’s not my hearing. It’s processing what I hear.

It’s called a central auditory processing disorder (CAPD).

The hardest thing for me to process is people speaking. It’s not a constant thing–seems to be a lot worse when I’m tired or preoccupied. But someone can say something to me, and I won’t understand what they say. It’s not that it sounds garbled. I just can’t process it. It’s really frustrating when I’m concentrating super hard on what they’re saying but just can’t get it. I’ll actually repeat the words in my mind as they’re saying them, sometimes, and it’ll still take awhile to click.

It’s really bad if I can’t see the person, only hear them. Which is why I hate listening to the radio. DJ’s drive me crazy. And baseball games on the radio? Torture. My husband LOVES to listen to games on the radio. I’ve learned to not even bother trying to follow the game, just let it flow past me. He’ll get all excited over some play someone made and I have to ask him to tell me what happened. (Even then I’m not always sure what took place.)

I’ve gotten really good at faking it. Especially on the phone. I don’t hate talking on the phone. But if the person I’m talking to starts going on for a bit, I can’t process it. I’m really good at faking it though. “Yeah, totally.” “I know!” “Mmm-hmm.”

I once called an auditory center to find out about what sorts of treatments are available. (I didn’t pursue it because it cost $5,000.) The woman on the phone went off forever about what they do and what they offer. Then she asked, “What makes you think you have an auditory processing disorder?” I said, “Well, I only took in about half of what you just said.”

And I didn’t make this playlist at work today, either:

Dark End of the Street - James Carr
Bright Side of the Road - Van Morrison
Fear the Sea - the Gathering
Walk into the Sea - Low
I Will Follow - U2
I Will Not Follow - Waterboys
Still on Fire - Aztec Camera
Has My Fire Really Gone Out? - Paul Weller
I Can Not Have Seen The Light - Magnolia Electric Co.
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight - Richard and Linda Thompson
Under the Hedge - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
Up On The Hill - Mark Burgess & The Sons Of God
Winter of a Broken Heart - Alison Krauss
Summer’s Kiss - Afghan Whigs
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart - Wilco
Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart - Whiskeytown
Questions - MikeScott
The Short Answer - Billy Bragg
One Morning - Gillian Welch
In the Evening - Led Zeppelin
I Would Hurt A Fly - Built to Spill
I Didn’t Mean To Hurt You - Paul Weller
The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret - Queens of the StoneAge
I Confess - English Beat

I’m not going to post the first two songs to the radio.blog. And Van Morrison’s song was not inspired by James Carr’s song.

I really hate listening to them both together.

My older sister was mentally ill. Paranoid schizophrenic, to be exact. She had hallucinations, saw and heard things that weren’t really there. She’d often hear God and Satan arguing over her. God would tell her to stop smoking and lose weight.

She was in and out of halfway houses and mental institutions her whole life. One would take her in, and she’d do ok with staying on her meds under supervision. Then they’d let her go, and left to her own she’d go off her meds and end up in trouble. She tried to kill herself once after going off her meds and having a hallucination of God in the sky. She told me he was so beautiful she just wanted to be with him.

She had two kids that were raised by her in-laws. Her husband was in jail for years–I think for robbing a jewelry store. Her mother-in-law took in the kids when it first became apparent how bad off my sister really was. Her m-i-l called her and asked her how the kids were doing, she could hear one of them crying in the background, but Jenny didn’t even know they were there.

She was always saying crazy stuff. Often funny crazy stuff. We all have stories of crazy things Jenny told us. One of my favorites is one my dad told me. She called my parents up at 10pm one night, all excited because she’d just taught herself how to tap dance. She put the phone on the floor so he could listen to her tap.

She was wearing socks.

Two of my favorite local bands. Fu Manchu and Fatso Jetson. Friday night. At a tiny bar–much smaller venue than either band should be playing. Life is good.

Fatso:

We’re friends with the drummer, Tony, and haven’t seen him for a long time so it was great to meet up. Some of the best musicians around are in this band, and I don’t say that just because I’m friends with one of them.

Fu:

Fu Manchu are always a good time. Always.

My in-laws will be here in about an hour. Visiting from Washington. My poor husband has to give a talk today in church, and in front of his parents, too.

You can tell which photos are from my old camera because they’re mostly in sepia tone. I liked it better than black and white. My newer camera doesn’t do sepia though.

This is a band called Biblical Proof of UFO’s. It’s hard to get good shots of drummers, unless you’re up on the stage with them, because they’re always hidden behind their drum kits. But this guy has a pretty low kit and this venue had a short stage. He also sings lead on a lot of their songs.

This next is a band called Three Inches of Blood. Actually, this guitarist is no longer with the band. They’re old school metal. Really, really fun live. The band was going to use this photo on their cd artwork, but then the guitarist left the band.

The other reason it’s hard to get shots of drummers is that they’re always in motion. This is a band called Big Business. This guy used to be in a band called the Murder City Devils. He’s a great drummer. So is the guy above.

This is Mudhoney at the Showbox in Seattle, opening for the Melvins. I don’t usually like blurred live shots but I think this one is pretty cool.

This next is one of my favorites I’ve ever taken, the bassist for the Melvins. They were wearing goofy tunic-like clothes–well the singer, Buzzo, had a black tunic on with a big red cross on it. The bassist was wearing this crazy flamboyant colored one.

That’s all for now.

Because he misses me. How sweet is that. He’s just been working long hours–some of those hours at home, on the computer. But we’re both quality time people–have to spend quality time with those we love–so it’s hard on us.

Here’s a picture of us before we got married.

So young.

They should reinterpret the song. Make it their own.

This post was inspired by NFlander’s commentt over at Kulturblog. I’ve always said the same. I’ve also managed to collect a lot of covers–both good and bad. I’m going to post some of the ones I consider good. And if you like, I can post the originals, too–if I have them.

I think the best cover of all time, besides the obvious (Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower”), is This Mortal Coil’s cover of Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren.” They didn’t actually change the song all that much, but their version of it is just so awesome.

One of my favorite things in covers is when an indie band does a pop song you would never listen to, until you hear their version of it. Like Bell x1’s cover of Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You.” And the Frames’ version of his “Cry Me a River.” I’ll post a live version recorded from a radio show of the Frames. Listen to it closely and you can just imagine them laughing their whole way through. I love it.

Talking about reinterpreting a song, Calexico’s version of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is fantastic. I already posted it to the radio.blog, it’s still there.

There’s a French/Brazilian bossa nova band called Nouvelle Vague that has an album of all 80’s new wave covers. Check out their version of Modern English’s “I Melt With You.”
Cat Power does an interesting cover of “Satisfaction” by the Stones–she never sings the chorus.

Eva Cassidy does a beautiful cover of Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” I could listen to it endlessly.

Same with Ryan Adams’ version of Oasis’s “Wonderwall,” up there on my fave covers of all time.

I’ve posted all of the above except for Bell x1 (I figure one JT cover is enough at a time).

I made a mix cd/playlist of mostly 70’s soft rock. Some of these songs are my childhood songs–some I had as record singles, some were in my neighbor’s jukebox. I still have the record singles we had as kids. I’ve been listening to this non-stop for the last couple days in the car.

I’m gonna post two songs from it to the radio.blog–”Grease” by Franki Valli and “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day. I want to know if anyone recognizes the Alan O’Day song–it’s one we had on a single as kids, and I’m not sure how popular the song was. I always loved it.

It’s funny how you can hear songs as a kid and not pick up on the meaning of them at all, or even really know what the lyrics are saying, although you sing along to every word. “Undercover Angel” is basically about a guy having a wet dream, if you think about it. And one song on the mix, “Baby Come Back” by Player, has a line I never understood until now–”Any kind of fool could see.” I don’t know what I thought he was saying, probably just some random gibberish.

It kinds reminds me of when my kids were smaller and I’d listen to “Crash Into Me” by Dave Matthews on repeat. My oldest asked me what that phrase meant. I said, “Uh, it’s sorta like he’s saying, ‘give me a hug.’”

Here’s the tracklist:

The Soft Softie Soft Mix

Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tenille
On Top of the World - The Carpenters
Right Down The Line - Gerry Rafferty
I’m Not In Love - 10cc
Never Be The Same - Chistopher Cross
Sweet Surrender - Bread
Only Time will Tell - Asia
Grease - Frankie Valli
Undercover Angel - Alan O’Day
Daydream Believer - Anne Murray
Sister Golden Hair - America
Annie’s Song - John Denver
The Logical Song - Supertramp
(Love is) Thicker Than Water - Andy Gibb
New Kid in Town - Eagles
Hello It’s Me - Todd Rundgren
I Keep Forgettin - Michael McDonald
If You Like Pina Coladas - Jimmy Buffet
Sara Smile - Hall & Oates
Baby Come Back - Player

If you want to hear any of the other songs, just let me know, and I’ll post em.