Deaths of the Poster People

When I was little (not sure how young, but certainly no older than Grace is now) I loved the Jackson 5. I mean LOVED!!! I suppose they and the Osmonds (who I also loved) were the Jo-Bros of their day; we all (and by we, I of course mean the pre-teen set) loved them, and, to some extent, we all had our favorites.

Michael was my fave. I had many posters of him, but my favorite (a large head shot, his chin on his hand, smiling into the camera, I'm sure many of you had the same poster) I hung on the ceiling over my bed, so I could pretend to kiss him goodnight. (yeah, there are some mildly sexual connotations there, but give me a break, I was 8 and innocent!).

My brother was a teenage boy in the seventies, so of COURSE he had The Poster of Farrah Fawcett, or Farrah Fawcett-Majors as she was called then.

Now, I'm sure that there were many things that those two shared beyond the posters hanging in my childhood house -- the trappings and trials of fame, for starters.

And, as of yesterday, a death date, which is just weird. I'm not sure why we're all so taken with that notion, other than it's just odd for two famous people to die on the same day, for unrelated reasons (sure, there are car wrecks, and plane crashes, etc, but those are different).

I have to admit, I'm mourning MJ a bit.

Yeah, I know, the man was, well, freakish. And quite frankly, whether there was actual molestation or not, he had relationships with young boys that were not appropriate.

But he was also a fantastic musician, and a consumate performer, and quite frankly, I'm reasonably convinced that his issues were not his fault. Kids need to be kids; they do not need to be turned into little adults (or little teenagers, for that matter), or pushed to grow up too fast.

All the Jacksons, but Michael in particular, had their musical career decided for them; not that they weren't talented, or didn't enjoy it. But let's be honest -- a 9 year old who's the lead-man for a band, getting lavished with attention from, oh, everybody, just is not healthy. I think that much of Jackson's oddities were (duh) an attempt to recapture a childhood he never had.

Which is just sad.

But, I have to admit, the allegations have always bugged me; I've had a hard time reconciling my enjoyment of his music with the other side. I LOVED Thriller, and have wanted to buy it on CD for awhile, but also couldn't quite bring myself to, in anyway, support this person with the utterly freakish lifestyle. Yeah, sure, it might not be his fault. But, DANG! And, yeah, the little-boy thing is just wrong.

So, I couldn't do it; no, my money would not make or break him, but I just couldn't do it.

Not while he was alive.

So, this morning I ordered myself Thriller (and Off the Wall, which I also loved!)

My latest favorite understatement

I went to see The Connells last Friday (reliving my college days at The Cradle). I hadn't seen them in years, but it got my curiousity up, so I spent some of my sick time earlier this week googling them.

And found, in an article in Wikipedia, this classic understament comparing The Connells to REM:

"...Connell’s lyrics were clearer and more direct than the often-unintelligible, stream-of-consciousness lyrics of Michael Stipe."

Oh, come on. Often-unintelligible, stream-of-consciousness? You mean you people haven't memorized End of the World? You don't understand the deeper meaning behind, "Swan Swan Hummingbird, hurrah, we are all free now, what noisy cats are we, girl, and dog, he bore his cross"? You have no idea what Michael is saying in Radio Free Europe?

LOL! OK, raise your hands -- how many people consistenly sing "Blah, blah, blah" to at least ONE part of their favorite REM song? (Meg raises hand).

Incidentally, seeing The Connells made me realize that I really have a thing for bands with a strong, but moderately (sometimes highly) pretentious lyricist -- REM, The Connells, Coldplay, Oasis, Cranberries (they wrote a song about Yeats, for Heaven's sake!), Kate Bush (a song about Wuthering Heights!). Not sure what that say about me, but there it is.

My Girl is playing the Cradle!

Grace is signed up for a Rock Camp this summer.

Rock as in Rock-n-Roll, not geology, which is what her grandfather thought!

She goes to camp for a week (days only -- Mom is not ready for sleepaway yet, even if Grace is), then they play two shows -- one the Friday that camp ends, at a place in Pittsboro.

And one at Cat's Cradle, in Carrboro.

Cat's Cradle.

Cat's-stinkin'-Cradle! How cool is that?!?!?!

For those of you who don't know, Cat's Cradle is an indie music institution, at least in the south-east. It's been around in various Chapel Hill-Carrboro locations since forever, nearly (or at least 30+ years). It's provided a place for up-and-coming musicians to play, some of whom have even become famous!

It's also where I spent a LOT of time in college. Lots. Lots and Lots.

The Cradle is a bar, yes, but it was never part of the bar scene per se. It was one of the first bars to let underage kids in, so that they could see the bands (and oh, boy, you did NOT want to risk drinking with a fake there -- you'd get banned for life, and they meant it, and then where would you go to watch bands?). It went smoke-free several years ago, out of concern for both the employees and the bands who pass through.

The Cradle has a mystique. It has an aura. It has a presence.

And Grace is going to play there!

HOW COOL IS THAT???

Peter, you're a whale.

And Grace, you're evil.

No, I'm not angry at my children! And, no, I haven't become a nasty vindictive mother who hurls insults at her kids in a vain attampt to boost her own ego and deny her own insecurities.

Nope, it's just church choir musical time.

This year's musical was "Oh, Jonah"; it's (duh) the story of Jonah and the Whale. Peter was the whale; he mainly had to do a boogie-swimmy-ish sort of dance, and did sing a bit (solo, he sang a lot in the choir). Peter memorizes well, and enjoys choir, but he is not, generally speaking, a child that covets the spotlight, so it was interesting to see him! He did quite well, though, and got some laughs.

Grace had a speaking line at the beginning of the musical, but really came into her own when the choir became evil Ninevites -- let's just say my girl tapped into her inner bad-guy. She looked EVIL. E-V-I-L Evil. Good stuff.

It was a fun morning -- we went for brunch at the Waffle Shoppe after!

I don't know why

But for some reason I have Bananarama's Cruel Summer going through my head.

I can't love Fred anymore!

I used to love Fred. I really did.

But Fred has left me.

XM Radio, in all its wisdom (or, I suppose, possibly as a result of the merger with Sirius), has renamed Fred; it's now 1st Wave.

So, I still love it, but it was more fun to say I loved Fred!

More ways to embarass one's children

So, I was driving the kids to choir last night. It was a really nice night, temperature-wise, so I had the windows open. And, of course, was listening to the radio.

When Cameo's "Word Up" came on.

And, no, I don't know every word. But I think I still know as many as I did in the mid-80's!

So, there I am, radio blaring, windows open, singing at the top of my lungs:

"If it's music we can use it, give me the chance, we don't have no time for psychological romance. No romance, no romance, no romance for me, mama, come on baby tell me what's the word, word up!"

Grace just thought I was crazy.

Peter was appalled. I got a raised eyebrow from him, and then when we got to the "W-O-R-D UP!" bit, I think he buried his face in his hands!

It's SUCH fun to mess with them!

What are you people thinking???

I went to the Counting Crow/Maroon 5 concert last night. It was tons of fun, and I had a really good time, but I'm noticing a disturbing trend.

THERE ARE TONS OF LITTLE KIDS AT CONCERTS THESE DAYS!!!!

Now, granted, I took Peter to see REM back in June.

But Peter is 10. And REM, while certainly an 'adult' band, is actually pretty tame, language-wise.

Maroon 5 is not. They are, shall we say, a bit pre-occupied with the physical mechanisms of procreation (how's that for maintaining a PG rating!). Not that a 7 year old would understand all the questionable lyrics, but, as a parent, there are certain lyrics that I do NOT want my 7 year old singing at the bus stop!

But, yeah, I saw a TON of kids under 10 there! A ton of kids basically Grace's age!

I just don't get it....

I love Fred!!!

I have gotten TOTALLY hooked on a station on XM Radio named Fred.

I love Fred.

Truly.

Now, keep in mind I went to Carolina in the 80s. If you had even the vaguest inclination towards alternative music, going to Carolina in the 80s (and I guess now, for that matter) was the place to be. Between WXYC and the local music scene (Cat's Cradle et al) there were tons of opportunities to take a mild preference for alternative music and turn it into a fetish.

And, it's always ticked me off that the Triange can't support a commercial independent radio station. Nashville has one that I listen to online a bunch, and that's OK, because Nashville is Music City USA, after all. But dang it, I even ran across on in Wilmington recently! What is wrong with the world when WILMINGTON has better radio than the Triangle?

So when I ran across Fred in a friend's car, I thought it was cool. Then I borrowed said car this weekend, and got to listen to Fred for many hours, and got addicted. Fred is billed as "Alternative Classics". Well, yeah, but it's so much more!

For example, yeah, they play Guadalcanal Diary, but they played Cattle Prod! They play Elvis Costello, but they played Oliver's Army, not Alison! So, it's not just the classics, it's also the obscure songs by the classic artists!

I'm a happy camper...

The more things change...

The more they stay the same! Or, something like that.

Last night I went to the REM concert here in Raleigh. This is the 5th time I've seen REM; sadly, I never got to see them in a venue smaller than Cameron (on the campus of that school 12 miles north of Chapel Hill); I was in the mountains when they were playing Page Auditorium or smaller, and I always seemed to go to The Cradle either the night before or after they would make a surprise visit.

But, I've seen them a ton. And, while the shows are always different, there's very definitely a pattern; I think mainly what the pattern is is that I am part of some huge REM demographic group that all (more or less) go through the same life-stages at the same time!

So, in the 80's when I saw them, the crowds were pretty much all college kids. We were cool, we wore black, there was a haze of cigarette (or other) smoke in the auditoriums, and the concert was merely the first of the night's activities, followed by parties, or bar trips, or something.

Then there were the 90s, when we took Adrianne to see them (her first "real" concert). She was pretty much the only kid there, there were still tons of college kids, some illicit substance use, and an awful lot of people who knew "The One I Love" and not much else.

Five-ish years ago, after a many-year hiatus from concerts in general, we took Adrianne to an REM show again. This time it was for her 21st birthday; the show was actuall the night before, but by the time we got back to Chapel Hill it was after midnight, so we bought her her first legal drink. We were worried that we'd feel out of place at a concert, until we got there and saw all the mini-vans in the parking lot!!! At that show there were still lots of college folks, but TONS of people in their 30s who had very obviously left the kids with a sitter (as we had) and gone out to pretend they were still in college!

And then came last night.

Peter wanted to go to the show 5 years ago, but I had some issues with taking a 5 year old to a concert. He's 10 now, though, and I figured what better way to introduce him to the world of concert going than REM? Beats the heck out of the Jonas Brothers!!!! But, again, I wondered if I was going out on a limb...We went with my friend David and his kids, so I knew there would be at least one other 10 year old there, but I wondered if I was pushing it just a bit.

Um, nope. Once again, every other REM fan in the triangle apparently thinks exactly as I do!

I swannee, I think there were more teeny-boppers (whoops, I mean Tweens) there last night than there would've been at a Jonas Brothers show! It was great, though -- they were all there with there folks, and it was obvious that in most cases the music was something that they shared with their parents.

The band seemed to love it, too -- at one point they asked how many people in the crowd were seeing their first REM show (yeah, I was the ONLY one in my group who didn't raise their hand), and then followed it up with asking how many of them were born after 1981 (when Chronic Town was recorded). A large number of the crowd fell into that category, and while you could tell that the band LOVED the number of long-time fans who were there, they were equally excited about the number of "young'uns" that were fans, too.

And, yeah, it was a great show -- they were joined onstage for the encore by Don Dixon and Mitch Easter; Dixon produced their first couple of albums and they were recorded at Easter's studio. Dixon and Easter are both large influences in the alternative world, too, so it was WAY cool to see them onstage!

But, yeah, my days of a concert just being the first part of the evening are over...I got to bed at 1am, which is not that bad in the grand scheme of things, but MAN am I dragging today!

With Apologies to Sir Paul

Some people want to fill the world
with creepy love songs
I look around me and I see it isn't so (oh, no)
I wanna fill the world
with creepy love songs.
What's wrong with that.....

Death Cab for Cutie has without a doubt one of the creepiest stalker-songs out ever, I Will Possess Your Heart. Freaky-deaky. Scary creepy.

But, it's a cool song, which got me thinking about other creepy songs that we LOVE to sing!

Every Breath you Take (the Police) is the obvious one (and, no, I don't know why people play that at their weddings. Lyrics matter, people, figure 'em out), but there are others. I always got kinda creeped out by Obsession (by Animotion). A Man Needs A Maid (Neil Young) is just mysogynistic, but in it's defense it's not touted as a love song. The One I Love (REM) is not creepy, but it's another one that really is NOT a love song, if you listen to it.

So why do we do this? Does a good melody and a kickin' beat REALLY trump the words? Does music evoke such an emotional response that we just ignore the creep factor? What's up with us?

Dunno. Maybe there's a shrink out there who can clear this up....

What have I missed? What songs do YOU sing, and then cringe at?

Finally!

REM released a new album several weeks back; after asking several people (OK, two) if they were going to buy it for me for my birthday so that if they weren't I could go get it IMMEDIATELY....well, yeah, I followed typical Meg procedures and promptly didn't get around to buying it for another month.

But, I did finally order it from Amazon last week (along with Funplex, the new B-52s album, so it was quite the Athens-esque order), and they came in yesterday!

I really like this album. Granted, I'm pretty much an REM ho, so to speak; there's just not much over the years that they've done that I've NOT liked (and, yes, I still think Michael Stipe is hot in an anorexic, way-too-fragil, nutcase kinda way, even if he IS gay). But, yes, even given my prediliction to liking anything they do, I still really like this album.

Dick claims that REM is boring because everything they do sounds alike. Beyond disagreeing, I find it very improbable that the same three guys can play music together for 30 years and NOT re-use, re-cycle, reprise, whatever the basic themes they've built upon. And that's one of the things that I really like about Accelerate; I can hear shadows of Murmur, Fables of the Reconstruction, Document, et al in the harmonies and cadences.

Given that, though, this is it's own album. REM is getting God-awful old just like the rest of us; there's still passion, yes, but it's tempered. For example, on Automatic for the People there was a song, Ignoreland, which was basically a diatribe against the American politial system in the late 70's / early 80s. It was loud, it was angry, it was raucous, it was darn near impossible to comprehend if one wasn't Michael Stipe.

Well, Michael's still raging against politicians. But this time it's in the song Until The Day is Done:

The battle's been lost, the war is not won
an addled republic, a bitter refund.
the business first flat earthers
licking their wounds
the verdict is dire, the country's in ruins.

Providence blinked, facing the son,
and where are we left to carry on
until the day is done...

Uh, yeah. That's pretty straightforward, and rather than a 20-something self-rightous loud, raging song, it's in a very melancholy, adult (for lack of a better word) song. I think we must all be growing up.

And, yes, if there's any doubt of that, the FIRST place I hear this album was not from a download, not on the alternative station I listen to....

But on Fresh Air on NPR. Damn.

So, yeah, we're all getting older, but dang! I still love REM!

Separated at Birth ?

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Death Cab for Cutie sounds an awful lot like Depeche Mode?

Well, now, that's just odd

I'm going to the NC Ballet's performance of Waltzes of Vienna tonight, and was talking about it with my kids at breakfast this morning.

Because I'm nuts, and my brain is filled with random bits of data, and because my synapses make random and interesting connections between said data, the mention of that ballet led me to....

... singing Waltzing Matilda. Which, though a bit cheezy, is not a bad song.

But it's not a Waltz. Shouldn't it be?

This is going to bother me now everytime I sing or hear that song.

Fun with You Tube

Through the magic of You Tube, I'm teaching my children about the giddy, wondrous early days of Music Videos. Yep, the 80s, back when MTV actually showed....videos! Not just stupid reality shows!

And, of course, given what I listened to and watched in college, I'm concentrating on the more alternative videos.

So far this morning we've watched Don't Let's Start and Istanbul Not Constantinople by They Might Be Giants, Shiny Happy People and Furry Happy Monsters by REM, Rock Lobster and Love Shack by the B-52s.

It occurrs to me that I need to see if I can find any Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper....

ELVIS IS EVERYWHERE!

I Stand Corrected

Or, in the place where I am. You pick.

So, about four and a half or five years ago, REM set out on a tour. This was a very cool tour; fans could email them song requests, and they'd look over them and based on popularity and the band's mood, would create the play list for each show. I saw them in Raleigh, and it was a great show. It also convinced me that REM was done touring; I thought they would very likely produce more albums, but I really didn't think they'd tour again.

I based this on several reasons, beyond the fact that the band (like all of us) were getting older (and don't even talk to me about the Stones -- Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are NOT normal).

First, there was the whole feel of the shows; by letting fans request the music, the shows wound up representing pretty much every album. They didn't necessarily have a 'greatest hits' feel, because many of the songs played weren't the singles, but they did have a retrospective feel.

Secondly, the final two shows were in Raleigh and Atlanta. Now, REM certainly got huge in Athens WAY before they got big anywhere else, but Chapel Hill ran Athens a close second (man, it was great to go to school in a big college-music town), and for many years they considered the Triangle, and Chapel Hill specifically, their second home. So, to finish off in the Triangle and then Georgia seemed to hint at a valedictory tour.

Finally, Bill Berry joined them, at least in Raleigh, and I believe in Atlanta, and played backup percussion. Now how cool is that?!?!?! But again, it gave a very definite "goodbye" feel to the shows.

Well, turns out my REM prognostication skills are about as good as my Harry Potter prognostication skills: REM tours again.

I'm really, REALLY surprised. I really thought they were done.

Of course, since Raleigh is on the list of cities, I'm also really, REALLY happy!!!!