Too Tough to Die-Twilight Singers Ear Mail! Sheena Is a Punk Rocker-Yo La Tengo Betterman/I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend-Pearl Jam (from 2005) Blitzkrieg Bop-Joe Strummer I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend-Petty Booka Pet Cemetary-Yo La Tengo
Cute, catchy, sexy. These are three words I'd use to describe the music of West Virginia's Normandie Wilson , a painter/songrwiter/multi-instr umentalist with a particular penchant for piano and smart pop lyrics. They're also three words I'd use to describe Petty Booka, but the difference is that where the Booka sisters rely heavily on charm, Wilson shows versatility. Her web site says little-and I only found it by poking around. All I know about her is that she submitted a home-burned CD, a handwritten note, and a picture of a stick dude on a surfboard. The album is terrific-a collection [...]
The first post of the month features covers of every track on a famous album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments! London Calling entered into the world in December 1979, but didn't make its stateside debut for another month. That makes 2010 the album's 30th Anniversary on this side of the pond. It's aged well. While many classic albums sound very much of their time -
I'm a bit under the weather, and so is the sky, dropping branches and rain on the newly-cleared lawn and wreaking havoc on our 'net connection. I've got some great new music to share, and it's burning me up not to be able to bring it out this evening...but under the circumstances, I'm thinking something a little less strenuous might be more apropos. Hope no one minds a repost, from the aftermath of a similar storm two summers ago, with a promise of something more substantive to follow later in the week... [...]
Yes, it's Veterans Day, a "bank holiday", as the brits like to say; like so many other bloggers, I should be posting songs on the topic. But a recent bout of the dreaded H1N1 flu has left me late for end-of-term grading, perhaps one of the biggest sins a teacher can commit. As such, instead of taking advantage of the fine fall day outside, I find myself hunkered down over the dining room table, slowly making my way through a huge pile of previously-unseen papers and midterm exams. The post below was originally [...]
A wonderful cascade of covers from a friend has turned my thoughts to covers of punk music this week. As Katie noted in her send-along, much of which appear below, "the thread that runs from folk to punk seems such a vibrant and easily spotted one to pull at", and that sounds just about right; I'd even go so far as to suggest that, like folk in the generation before it, Punk both served and sprung from the hearts of a discontented youth counterculture, and - as I noted about Rap rather tongue-in-cheek last year - [...]
Written last night in a rainstorm's aftermath. Posted this morning in bright dappled sunlight. They say April showers bring May flowers, but I'm not so sure. This evening's thunderstorm was a big one, and in our end-of-the-wire rural existence, even when the power stays on, thunder knocks our 'net connectivity for a loop. Meanwhile, now that the trees have finally filled in, our newly-terraformed backyard doesn't seem to be getting more than a few hours of sun [...]
In my other life, I'm a middle school teacher; I spend most of my days surrounded by twelve year olds, trying to balance entertainment with mentorship, and curriculum with life lessons. Before that, I taught in a boarding high school, tutored gifted and talented kids in a tiny rural elementary school, ran a before-school program, and did public demonstrations at a science museum. And before that, I was a dropout. And before that, I was a goofball, who needed a little good advice now and then, but couldn't really sit still long enough [...]
Berkeley Place
Cover Me
Cover Lay Down
Diplo x Usher: ‘Climax’
A-Trak - "Round of Applause" / "Where My Money At" (MP3 Download)
Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
SHOCKING NEWS: Ben Gibbard turns to pills in wake of Zooey Deschanel divorce
Diplo - "Climax" (MP3 Stream)
