Been listening to this song all day. Thanks to Kipp for introducing me to Sharon Van Etten via a sweet Spotify mix. Back in the day, Kipp and I would listen to records all night in his boy-dripping college apartment near San Diego State. We’d drink beer and listen to Unwound, Versus, Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Tortoise. He would smoke weed and talk about his love for our mutual friend Paige. But really, what we all loved the most was the songs. Guess we still do.
Wow, I haven’t posted on this blog since October, probably for a few reasons. First, I was hired on to work at the North Bay Bohemian nearly full-time so that’s cut down on my time available to blog. Second, Facebook and Twitter have altered the way that I participate and engage with the world and have begun to feel more immediate than the blog, where half the time you don’t know if anyone is even reading your posts.
But I feel like coming back here, and so I will, and if no one is reading. . . so what. I have the book, “Nobody Belongs Here More Than You” by Miranda July propped up on my bookcase right now. I read the title each time I walk into my room and it makes me happy. It’s a good thing to believe.
I wrote an essay about my experiences listening to and going to seeing Cat Power over the years. This was the last issue of the Bohemian edited by Gretchen Giles. I’m honored to be part of the end of such an illustrious reign. And congratulations to new editor Gabe Meline. He’s got some big boots to fill, but I have no doubt he will do the job justice!
*I have a new blog post up over at Petals and Bones that asks the question, “What would you be willing to do with the rest of your life?”
* I’d also like to mention my sadness at the untimely passing of Ari Up, who died this past Wednesday after battling cancer. The leader singer of landmark all-girl punk band The Slits, Ari Up was an icon for weird girls everywhere. Slits songs are off-kilter and windey and sometimes don’t seem to make any sense rhythmically, and they influenced countless bands after they broke out the English punk scene in the 1970′s My friend Jay made me a copy of their first and most essential release “Cut” which played over and over in my car cassette desk for a long while. They’re most popular and known song is the proto-riot grrl classic “Typical Girls.” I love this video and I love the lyrics. “Typical Girls….try to be typical girls very well.” And she started playing in the Slits when she was only fourteen! So rad.
Later in her career, she delved deeper in to the skewed reggae rhythms that characterized many Slits songs. She moved to Jamaica and Belize for a while, and she became a denizen of the dancehall reggae scene under the psyeudonym of Madusa. In the mid 2000′s, she reunited with a former member of the Slits and they released two new records.
Here’s a video from the album “Trapped Animal.” (Yes, that is Chloe Sevigny in the sweet-ass Slits jacket).
“You could say that Ari created the template not only for punk womanhood, but for punk itself. She was the very essence of a free spirit,” said the punk rock journalist Vivien Goldman, who has followed the group from its beginnings and remained a friend in later years. “She is underrated as a musician. Her songs were catchy and memorable. Although they were far from pop, they shared the elements of what makes a classic.”
Songlist: Captain Beyond–Dancing Madly Backwards Frankie Rose and the Outs-Little Brown Haired Girls Avi Buffalo-What’s In It For The Fresh and Onlys-Waterfalls Three Mile Pilot–What’s In the Air Deerhunter–Desire Lines Corin Tucker Band–Doubt No Age–Fever Dreaming Margaret Atwood–Year of the Flood Marnie Stern–For Ash
Listening to the last Hit It or Quit It Podcast reminded me that September marked the 25th anniversary of Kate Bush’s strange/sometimes annoying (monster voices and glitches galore on “Waking the Witch”)/oft times wistfully beautiful album “Hounds of Love.” The guy they interviewed talked about how the anniversary of the album had passed with remarkedly little fanfare (no reissues, rare vinyl [...]
Meet the tube-nosed fruit bat. I’m going to take him for walks and we will frolic in remote rainforests where we will nibble on bits of berry between sips of sparkly sugar water.
I haven’t been blogging over here much, but I have been blogging over at Petals and Bones! Here are some links to my most recent posts: The Beauty of Being Idle How Playing Plants Versus Zombies Helped Me Tame My Inner Critic
