Special is as special does. Or at least that's what we usually think. Last night's "Special 5th Wednesday!" set was to have an inspired beginning featuring Erasure's cover of ABBA's "Voulez-Vous" back to back with the original, but when we got started, the mixer wasn't on, someone had been using the crossfader on the CD deck, and our ability to check connections and levels was impeded by Chain Drive staff who were very helpfully covering for us because of our unintentionally late arrival. (Sorry, our dear Friends of Judy; we were each waylaid separately by the PBS documentary on the grand dame Frances Gumm herself.) And due to myself not being the only control freak in the DJ booth at one time, things were said that shouldn't have been and I made myself sit in the corner afterwards...or actually on the booth floor on a Baby Ford record so that my hipster trash American Apparel skirt wouldn't get dirty. My ego was eventually repaired after the first mini-set with the aid of a Coke and a Carta Blanca and snide commentary about that band who played. And played. And played. And played a Bowie cover. And played. And pretended to the be the Pixies. And played. And played a Beatles cover. And played. Ad nauseum, natch, but it's a good illustration for why bands who think "[they're] totally great, man!" go a lifetime without a second booking anywhere.
Last night's temporary discombobulation didn't deter from the boogie wonderland experience of the Chain Drive DJ booth. It's a small, dark space that neither Cindy or I have talked about much, other than to mention the sense of loss that accompanies many of the records that have been left behind by DJs who can never return to claim them. Copywrite dates make it all to easy to place that loss within historical context, and accordingly, it gets to anyone who spends any amount of time there, looking into or working with the abandoned singles and LPs, but it's a treasure trove of dance tracks that range from legendary to obscure. Thus our ambition is fueled to show up one night without our record boxes, to use the records that come with the mixer, just to see what happens. Here's what happened last night:
french kicks - so far we are // brian eno - needle in the camel's eye // magneta lane - broken plates // rumble strips - hate me you do // snowden - anti-anti
celebration - war // x-ray spex - artificial // japan - adolescent sex //t-rex - 20th century boy (i'm sensing an x theme!) // david bowie - rebel rebel // buffy sainte-marie - a soulful shade of blue // jonathan richman - rockin' shoppin' center
laura nyro and la belle - i met him on a sunday // spoon - we could be underground // bette midler - chapel of love // marc almond - something's gotten hold of my heart // timi yuro - what's a matter baby // lou reed - walk on the wild side // boy least likely to - faith // marlene dietrich with burt bacharach - makin' whoopee
And now, a question for the (other) fashionistas: What's a girl to do when she has the nameless butter yellow two-strap gigantor tote from the Marc Jacobs Spring 2005 collection and it needs to be cleaned?! It's well-worn and much loved, but let's face facts. It's fallen victim to more than one Emo's hand stamp and the suede liner is a little dingey after two summers. Give over the product and service recommendations, already. I'm ready to transition to my winter bag and I'd like my spring bag to look like new when I tuck it into its darling white flannel dust cover.
And also, in a fit of something that's not pique, TRGAW friends and Hourly Radio superfans Dave and Krissi ran off to Burning Man for some ungodly reason. Dave said something about air mattresses and sand goggles as he was leaving the office yesterday. We wish them luck, though we expect they'll return resembling beef jerky with tales of tweaking to desert trance. Good night and good luck, kids.
ps, from Cindy -- DISCLAIMER: We are being compensated for this endorsement (in the form of a t-shirt that we'll be giving to The Judge) of tonight's MTV Video Music Awards -- though I'm not sure I'm okay with the fact that the Hanger Bar (OUR HANGER BAR! OURS! ADORABLE HIPSTER BOY DJS! BROKEBACK MOUNTAINS, $5!!!!) is on the front page of that there site we just linked to as a 'hot spot'. Anyway, we don't even have cable, we're not watching the darn thing! Plus, Kelefa Sanneh wants you to know that that whole videos-on-TV thing is SO OVER. There's this YouTube thing now -- just ask OK GO. Who, we might add, will be performing the amazing treadmill routine live on the VMAs tonight. So. EVERYONE WINS! (Though, we are quite sorry that we missed the Private Men's Club pre-VMA afterparty...)
Bonus tracks, from Cindy...
Bromheads Jacket -- Trip To The Golden Arches [site]
The Blow -- Bonjour Jeune Fille [site]
Brothers and Sisters -- Without You [myspace]
Bryan Ferry w/ Antony -- Lowlands Low [album site]
Last night's temporary discombobulation didn't deter from the boogie wonderland experience of the Chain Drive DJ booth. It's a small, dark space that neither Cindy or I have talked about much, other than to mention the sense of loss that accompanies many of the records that have been left behind by DJs who can never return to claim them. Copywrite dates make it all to easy to place that loss within historical context, and accordingly, it gets to anyone who spends any amount of time there, looking into or working with the abandoned singles and LPs, but it's a treasure trove of dance tracks that range from legendary to obscure. Thus our ambition is fueled to show up one night without our record boxes, to use the records that come with the mixer, just to see what happens. Here's what happened last night:
french kicks - so far we are // brian eno - needle in the camel's eye // magneta lane - broken plates // rumble strips - hate me you do // snowden - anti-anti
celebration - war // x-ray spex - artificial // japan - adolescent sex //t-rex - 20th century boy (i'm sensing an x theme!) // david bowie - rebel rebel // buffy sainte-marie - a soulful shade of blue // jonathan richman - rockin' shoppin' center
laura nyro and la belle - i met him on a sunday // spoon - we could be underground // bette midler - chapel of love // marc almond - something's gotten hold of my heart // timi yuro - what's a matter baby // lou reed - walk on the wild side // boy least likely to - faith // marlene dietrich with burt bacharach - makin' whoopee
And now, a question for the (other) fashionistas: What's a girl to do when she has the nameless butter yellow two-strap gigantor tote from the Marc Jacobs Spring 2005 collection and it needs to be cleaned?! It's well-worn and much loved, but let's face facts. It's fallen victim to more than one Emo's hand stamp and the suede liner is a little dingey after two summers. Give over the product and service recommendations, already. I'm ready to transition to my winter bag and I'd like my spring bag to look like new when I tuck it into its darling white flannel dust cover.
And also, in a fit of something that's not pique, TRGAW friends and Hourly Radio superfans Dave and Krissi ran off to Burning Man for some ungodly reason. Dave said something about air mattresses and sand goggles as he was leaving the office yesterday. We wish them luck, though we expect they'll return resembling beef jerky with tales of tweaking to desert trance. Good night and good luck, kids.
ps, from Cindy -- DISCLAIMER: We are being compensated for this endorsement (in the form of a t-shirt that we'll be giving to The Judge) of tonight's MTV Video Music Awards -- though I'm not sure I'm okay with the fact that the Hanger Bar (OUR HANGER BAR! OURS! ADORABLE HIPSTER BOY DJS! BROKEBACK MOUNTAINS, $5!!!!) is on the front page of that there site we just linked to as a 'hot spot'. Anyway, we don't even have cable, we're not watching the darn thing! Plus, Kelefa Sanneh wants you to know that that whole videos-on-TV thing is SO OVER. There's this YouTube thing now -- just ask OK GO. Who, we might add, will be performing the amazing treadmill routine live on the VMAs tonight. So. EVERYONE WINS! (Though, we are quite sorry that we missed the Private Men's Club pre-VMA afterparty...)
Bonus tracks, from Cindy...
Bromheads Jacket -- Trip To The Golden Arches [site]
The Blow -- Bonjour Jeune Fille [site]
Brothers and Sisters -- Without You [myspace]
Bryan Ferry w/ Antony -- Lowlands Low [album site]
posted by Pinkie von Bloom at 5:05:00 PM
3 Comments:
Wouldn't that be neither/nor up there in the 2nd paragraph? You ladies are usually quite good about such things.
Best,
r.
(Sorry, I'm not Ryan. Just a frequent visitor, occasional commenter, and charmed passerby.)
Buffy !! Saint-Marie !! It's weird to know that non-Canadians have even heard of her. I know that she was a big folk singer in the day, but up here she gets a television special every few years, and so that's how we keep her top-of-mind.
And your last set without the Spoon would have been mondo-gaytastic. Or am I just not aware how gay Spoon actually is?
oh mysterious "r." who art thou? you're not ryan, ryan, or ryan, and probably not regan. we know a ricardo, but not a richard, ronald, or even a rachel or rebecca. i haven't known a rory or rocky in years, and i expect cindy knows nary a ramiro, rosemary, robert, or robespierre. and you're probably not a rapunzel or a rumpelstiltskin. and yes, that should have been neither/nor.
pageblank, we're not aware of any spoon gayness, but we've noticed over the past...well, decade...how similar a lot of spoon's oeuvre is to 60s girl pop. it just works well together. and following britt up with marc almond is just funny. some of the mondo-gaytasticness is nefariously plotted, and some just comes together. some of it is just that our collective taste just leans toward bombastic, big production vocalists. cindy likes girl pop, and i grew up on synthpop. it all sort of melts together into a lavender brew resplendent with velvet curtains, fan dancers, and a strapping young buck with a palm frond. we can't help it.
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