MOG - Lady Miss Ian's Posts

Funky Sexy Friday

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:15:22 GMT

Inspired by UffinGreg's "Sexy Coffee Pot"

Because we are all sexy on Friday. Because Friday is a sexy day. But, don't assume Friday is the Dumb Blonde of the days of the week. She is pretty and smart.

I love this lil' ditty from Sophia George. It was in the soundtrack of the film "Smoke."

Flaunt your sexy Friday self.

MOG Economic Summit: Musical Advice for Tight Times

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:51:53 GMT

No matter where you live on the planet, you are probably experiencing the slowly (ok, maybe quickly) sinking economy. Whether in the U.S. of A, the U of K, the E of U, Down Under or East of the Sun and West of the Moon – the economy sucks. If you are my age (Gen-X elder) or older, you can recall the Regan / Thatcher era of the early 1980s, and how woefully sucky those times were when it came to jobs and money. I, myself, graduated high school into the worst job market in decades. I know that we in the U.S of A are dancing in that same swamp, again. I don’t want to go into details on how we got here (is it November yet?), but would rather look to our Musical Leaders to offer us sound advice on how to stretch that money and make ends meet. Musicians usually have or do live on a shoestring budgets, so we know they understand creative financing and creative budgeting.

With that said, I hereby convene this MOG Musical Economic Summit. To open the proceedings, may I present for your consideration, from the depths of 1983, the B-52s practical solution to a lack of cash.

Let’s have all ideas on the (turn)table. We can dance, sing, hum, whistle and stomp our way through these tough times, people. All we have to do is turn up the speakers.
_________________
Legal Tender

We're in the basement, learning to print
All of it's hot!
10-20-30 million ready to be spent
We're stackin' 'em against the wall
Those gangster presidents

Livin' simple and trying to get by
But honey, prices have shot through the sky
So I fixed up the basement with
What I was a-workin' with
Stocked it full of jelly jars
And heavy equipment
We're in the basement...
10-20-30 million dollars
Ready to be spent

Walk into the bank, try to pass that trash
Teller sees and says "Uh-huh-that's fresh as grass."
See the street pass under your feet
In time to buy the latest model get-away Jeep

Whoa! How the H*ll Did I End Up in San Francisco?

Lady Miss Ian — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:53:57 GMT

Woke up the other morning to find myself on Sutter street, half a BART stub in my pocket. Wha' happened?

Seriously, I've been in Mog hiatus for the last month or so because I've been helping to get my step-daughter ready to go to college out in San Franny. It's felt like the olympics - uphill and backwards, with a big dollop of beuracurcy (or however the hell you spell it. I'm tired). Well, we finally got to the finish line today, or at least the biggest one: moving her into her dorm. Physically and emotionally exhaustive, but it's taken care of. Now, despite a minor amount of paperwork and a few needed items to shop for, we can now probably enjoy a bit more of this wonderful city.

If any of you San Franny moggers would like to meet up, drop me a mog mail and I can give you my mobile cellular telephone number. I'll be here until late Saturday night (taking the Red Red Red Eye back early early early Sunday morning). I'd love to hook up with y'all, down some drinks and chat music n' moggin'.

San Francisco, open those Golden Gates!

Summer - I Found It!

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:51:19 GMT

Ok, ok. I’ve had the MOG phone off the hook for a few weeks. I needed some peace and quiet while I’ve been working on a project. And hells yeah, I spend far less time on the computer when I’m not tempted by the MOG-O-Sphere, but as so far as quality of life is concerned, that’s a different matter.

So, what else have I been doing on my summer MOG vacation? Test driving (literally) music. Throwing discs in the mobile vehicular CD player and seeing how they feel as I log miles and burn expensive petrol. Some songs are just meant for summer driving, and I think I found one of my top tunes for Summer Motor-vating 2008.

With their jangley, garage rock slathered in smart-ass grrrrrrlll harmonies, the Vivian Girls have wedged their way into my car’s CD slot, and are standing their ground. "Where Do You Run To" works while cruising the byways, day or night. Under the humid stars or burning up on the way to the beach. A hip-swingin’ time is had by all.

I came across the grrls via word o’ mouth recommendation. They’ve been making themselves known after a SXSW appearance and lot hard work, in NYC and beyond. For more, check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

Their name comes from the work of outsider artist Henry Darger. The Vivian Girls were the heroines of his weird, sprawling work "In the Realms of the Unreal", and have been referenced in songs and song titles since 1979 (by Snakefinger) up to the current day. For more on his wonderful bizzareness, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger#Darger_in_popular_culture

But, no matter where they came from or how they got to here, the Vivian Girls are fueling my summer soundtrack, like premium unleaded, baby. Zoooooooooooom!

Music to Remove Parts By...

Lady Miss Ian — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:05:53 GMT

This song is for a body part I'm saying goodbye to on Wednesday.

I’ve been doing a lot of pondering about this over the last few days. What does it means to have a part of you taken from your body. And how do you say goodbye and thank you to this part? I want to thank it for being there and going through what it has. I know that sounds weird, but it feels important to me to honor it, thank it, and let it go. This small body part surrendered itself for the greater good of the whole. Its energy can now fade, change and rejoin the universal creative energy. I know, I know, this all sounds freaky, groovy, new-agey, but bear with me. Don’t write me off because I’m treading in some philosophical or spiritual territory. I am getting to the music. I wanted to find an appropriate musical send off for it and something to comfort me. I imagine this song as something that could be sung from either point of view - the part's or the person's. Sometimes things can't stay and separation is necessary, even if it's painful.

I'll be out for a while recovering. As soon as I can sit up and type, I'll be back.

Surrender

Together, as if in silent prayer

And whenever I looked out

You were there.

Love flowed from our hearts.

How could we ever

Stand to be apart.

Don’t throw your faith in others away,

because we have ended this way.

Don’t ever think I don’t care about you.

What you’ve always known is true.

It always seems sad.

Things have to change.

Like our feelings.

Let’s not look for blame.

After all is said and done,

I am the sorry one.

Why must we hurt the people we love.

It’s like my destiny falls on me from above.

I love you, but I can’t hang on anymore.

I love you, but I can’t stay anymore.

Sounds Made of Ectoplasm

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:05:26 GMT

Voices and music on very old recordings sound like they are made by ghosts composed of dust and ectoplasm, being listened to at the end of a very long tunnel. And they are. They have traveled through time and space to reach your ear right at this present moment. It makes me think of someone in the past getting into a primitive, steam-powered time machine. Of course they look and sound odd to us, and their technology strangely laughable, but the amazing thing is that they made the trip at all.

The anticipation of listening to very old recordings is akin to having a séance where you are trying to summon up the spirit of, oh say, your great-great-great-great aunt Margaret. You hope, perhaps, she might divulge where she hid her cigar box filled with pearls. But, instead she decides to tell you about playing jump-rope with her cousins. You’re not disappointed to have contacted her, but secretly hoped the news would be more exciting.

This artifact from the 1939 World’s fair is an audio snapshot of the music and announcements played at the "circus" performed there, highlighting the Equestrians of the World. All music and commentary should be taken in context of the time period. Though it contains nothing earth-shattering nor revelatory, it still has fascinating, transportive quality to it. As future-oriented as that fair was, this seems kind of quaint in it's old-fashioned, nostalgic "days of yore" circus feel. Many thanks to the New York Public Library and their free audio downloads from Itunes for sharing this with us. Bless those obsessive archivists.

It's 'stache time

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:21:44 GMT

It's time again for another edition of "Let's Look at Men with Moustaches." It's not that I haven't been listening to music. That's the thing - I've been too busy listening to music to get around to writing something to post about music. So, while I'm listening, thinking and writing, I'd like to enjoy looking at moustaches. Here's a few to start off with. Post your facial fur favorites to share.

Nick Cave's sporting an individualist drooper of late

Here's Interpol's Carlos D at Coachella with some very well groomed facial hair.

Let's hear it for Lemmy from Motorhead for his enduring 'stache presence.

Ahh, I feel better already

From MOG Strike to MOG Meditation

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:14:51 GMT

In these remaining days of quiet reflection and rest, my spirit and soul move to a different level of vibration and I meditate on the meaning of action and inaction; words and music; space and time and cosmic connections.

Aummmmmmmmmmmooogggggahhhhh

I remain quiet on the commenting, reading and posting, but felt an overwhelming need to deliver a message from the cosmos. Peace, brothers and sisters. I miss you all, but am using the quiet time to look deep within.

Italian Neo-Realististic-Exploitationist MOG Strike Artist Gesture

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:15:35 GMT

So the brethren and sistren have spoken, and we who love the MOG should all gather round. As a gesture, we join hands - and fold them in our laps.

Perhaps a week's rest would do MOG a world of good. It could recuperate, heal up and hopefully soon no longer be "MOG Insaziabili".

Der Sccchpring hast Sprung!

Lady Miss Ian — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:16:46 GMT

Ist du hertz sckippen? Yah! Ist Scccccchpring, dahlings, it is. The Mid-North Coast of the U.S. has finally melted away the last of stubborn dirty lumps of snow and its citizens have begun to expose themselves. Well, their arms and legs, that is. Coats are no longer a mandatory fashion accessory. The trees thoughts of leaves have now become reality and the bravest of brave little plants give a Lamaze push up through the still chilly dirt. All these happenings cause young and old to look longingly out windows and turn away from work.. “Whatchu doing? Wanna go out and play?” The call goes out and even the most hardworking of Midwesterners puts down her tools and floats out to frolic.

“Veronika, der Lenz is da” (Vernoica, the spring is here) is such a joyful tune. It conjures images of old Ub Iwerks or Betty Boop black & white cartoons. You know, something like cows in clothes and shoes dancing about, throwing flowers. There is a goofy, buoyant, urgent jubilance to the song. It makes me want to dance around on the tiptoes waving my hands.

The Comedian Harmonists were a phenomenal German tight harmony group active during the late 20s / early 30s. Drilled with precision by their leader, Harry Frommerman, they somewhat fulfill the stereotype some people have about Germans – efficient, precise, anal. But, like a well-trained sports team, the Harmonists perform like a beautiful musical machine. And they’re even funny, to boot. Their popularity peaked between 1930 through 1993, taking their intricate harmonies across Europe. Unfortunately, by January of 1933, as the Nazis ascended to power, there was “silent” boycott of the group by concert booking agencies and broadcasters because 3 of the members were Jewish.

By November of 1933 only members of what was called the Reichsmusikkamer (Federal Culture Chamber) were being allowed to pursue their occupations as musicians. The boys applied to become members. Let’s just say you can guess the results. By early 1934 the regime was making it impossible for them to perform or get their songs played on the radio. Internal disputes within the group also took their toll. Though not able to give concerts in Germany, they could appear in foreign countries. After a concert in Denmark that year, they were invited to the New York by NBC. They did a US tour and 30 radio appearances before returning to Europe.

Things of course took a turn for the worse in their home country, although they were still able to fulfill foreign concert contracts and recorded in secret. By 1935 most had left Germany, never to see each other again. For a wealth of information on the Comedian Harmonists go to:“http://www.comedian-harmonists.com/?lang=en”

Here Endeth the Lesson – LMI’s SXSW Listening Project hits the Wall…at least for the moment

Lady Miss Ian — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:02:00 GMT

Well Moggers, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you. I’m humble enough to know when I’ve been beaten – or at least beaten down. After listening through my assigned 86 songs yesterday, a fateful discovery made me say to myself: Ok, you can put your burden down.

While cruising some chatty-chat-chat forums, I came across a link to a posting in the Morning News by the funny and talented Paul Ford. Lo and behold, Mr. Ford did what I am attempting to do. He listened to ALL the songs available on the SXSW 2008 website. Not only did he listen to them, but because he is a Twitter poster, he included 6 word reviews of each band/song. And, because he has “people”, he has ratings and links to all the songs, all laid out in a neat table format. I wrote Paul an email praising his endurance and with links to my recent posts. He was sweet enough to write back and say “I feel your pain, sister.” For a hilarious and concise overview of (almost) everything SXSW, see Paul’s post at:

The Morning News – 6 Word Reviews of SXSW

I was surprised, looking through my notes, that I wrote the identical comment about Alabama 3.

For my perhaps last post on this listening project (or who knows? Maybe after a break, giving blood and doing taxes, I’ll feel refreshed), here are the stand-outs:

United Steel Workers of Montreal – Small Town Banks For a festival held in Texas, country-fried music is a small percentage of what I’ve heard. These friends from North of the border have great simplistic, old timey Americana/bluegrass sound. Love the vocalists’ voice

White Hinterland – Dreaming of the Plum Trees I have actually heard this track prior to this listening and I have to confess, I am totally smitten by it. Clever jazzy composition and not a whiff of singer-songwriter taint.

Noah and the Whale – 2 Bodies, 1 Heart This is sentimental, slow and on the very edge of schmaltz, but it’s this guy’s voice. It’s so odd and unique. The song is very elemental, but it’s what I’d want to hear when I was missing someone faraway.

Of course, MORE than honorable mention goes to Octopus Project (whom many have posted about here on MOG), Brooklyn, Bodies of Water and the interesting experimentalists called Collection of Colonies of Bees. (Read about CCB over on beloved Mogger, Jenny’s, SXSW Day 2 post )

Clunker of the Pack goes to: Caroline Keating – Ghosts A girl and her cheap keyboard feels earnestly about everything and wants you to know about it.

Best Name of the Batch: Kid Congo and Pink Money Birds

Oh, I’ll probably keep going on this project. Seems hard to stop it now, but being that I am not physically down at SXSW, I’m going to take the weekend off. Cuz I can.

Here’s the list. My batch of 86 with ratings. Band/Artist - Song - # of Stars The Octopus Project - Truck - 5 The United Steel Workers of Montreal - Small Town Banks - 5 White Hinterland - Dreaming of the Plum Trees - 5 Brooklyn - CLANDESTINE - 4 Knife World - SunBeam - 4 Noah and the Whale - 2 Bodies 1 Heart - 4 Phosphorescent - A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise - 4 The Pigeon Detectives - I'm Not Sorry - 4 Akala - electro livin (album version) - 3 Astra Heights - The March - 3 Asylum Street Spankers - Leaf Blower - 3 Bodies of Water - I Guess We'll Forget the Sound, I Guess, I Guess - 3 Chikita Violenta - Laydown - 3 Collections of Colonies of Bees - Flocks III - 3 Magnolia Summer - The Slip That Leads Into The Fall (Live on KDHX) - 3 Martha Wainwright - Bloody Mother Fuckin Asshole - 3 Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man - Where Dead Voices Gather - 3 Pink Nasty - Away Message - 3 A - Laget - Ett Liv - 2 Bam Bam - Hi - Q - 2 The Black & White Years - Power to Change - 2 Black Mountain - Druganaut - 2 Caleb Engstrom - The Happiest - 2 Citay - First Fantasy - 2 Evangelicals - Bellawood - 2 Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds - The History of French Cuisine - 2 Killa Kela - All Killa No Filla - 2 Ouija Radio - RED EYE FLY - 2 P.L.A - Trunk Fulla Bang - 2 Portugal The Man - Sugar Cinnamon - 2 Something Fierce - Teenage Ruins - 2 Throw Me The Statue - About To Walk - 2 The Voom Blooms - Nine Ships - 2 Anavan - TimeKiller - 1 Bildmeister - Tenx - 1 Black Tide - Shockwave - 1 The Brother Kite - Get On, Me - 1 Buttercup - In Love - 1 The Deadbeat Poets - Ernest T. - 1 Freshkills - I Quit Smoking - 1 Jenny Hoyston's Paradise Island - Spell D - O - G - 1 Le Loup - we are gods! we are wolves! - 1 Monahans - I Run To You - 1 Ryno & Slim Gutta - Can You Handle It - 1 Secret Shine - Lost Memory - 1 Soiled Mattress & The Springs - Jackpot - 1 Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue - St. James Infirmary - 1 127 - Khosrow - e - khuban(The king of the good) - Amplified Heat - How Do You Like The Sound Of That - Ari Shine - Cooler Than Me - Blaggards - Drunken Sailor - The Boss Martians - Power of Doubt - Caroline Keating - Ghosts - Christian Kiefer - Afterglow - COLISEUM - Fall Of The Pigs - Cougar Den - Sirens Off Mute - Dandi Wind - Decontaminate - Droids Attack - Dope Smuggler - Drojo - Bring It Back - Dynasty Handbag - Break Up Day - Emmy the Great - Easter Parade - The Explorers Club - Do You Love Me? - Genghis Tron - Board Up The House - Gil Mantera's Party Dream - Elmo's Wish - J. Tillman - With Wolves - The Jolly Garogers - BUFFALO WING - Jon Mueller - Homeostatic - Lars Vaular - Eg e fra Bergen - Magic Wands - Black Magic - Magnet School - Crush - The Mission District - Youth Games - Neptune - Grey Shallows - Olga - Your Love Don't Work Like Mine - Peelander - Z - Me Gusta Lucha Libre - Peggy Sue & The Pirates - Television - Phonograph - Normal Illinois - Reykjavik! - Flybus! - S - S - S - Spectres - Black Malm - Screamin' Cyn Cyn & The Pons - Set The Table - Son Of Dave - Devil Take My Soul - SouthBound - Another World - Squincy Jones - Grindom - Stalkers - Lets Get It Together - Ungdomskulen - Modern Drummer - Yakuza - egocide - Your Favorite Enemies - Open Your Eyes -

SXSW Listening Project – Day 3 – Send Q-tips and Eye-Drops

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:31:03 GMT

Well, I’m on day 4 of my self-imposed “Listening to SXSW” project. If you missed my other posts, you can catch up with them here: Starting out Day 1 Day 2

I decided to be a bit kinder to myself and only listen to 75 songs this session. Since I completed listening to all the bands that played on Wednesday, March 12, I’ve moved onto those playing on Thursday, March 13. I’m already seeing an uptick in the quality of the music. Wednesday must be the warm up lap, where many a sacrificial newbie band, surging with the excitement to play ANY WHERE and ANY TIME at the festival, comes charging out of the blocks. Thursdays bands are full of grace. No, wait! That’s Thursday’s child, isn’t it? Thursday’s bands are of a little better quality, maybe a little more experience, etc. I was doling out stars right and left. There were many stand outs across many genre’s, but I’ve chosen some of the more rockin’ tunes feature. Here they are:

Wussy – Rigor Mortis It’s only rock n’ roll but I like it. I think if I was seeing these guys live, I’d be jumping around with a beer in my hand. Oh yeah.

Thieves Like Us – Drugs in My Body I can’t really tell you why I like this. It’s simplistic and repetitive, but it’s got the feel of a buzzy urban night when you’re in your 20s. And hey! They’re French.

Hong Kong Blood Opera – Killing Joke If you like metal and electro, these guys are really interesting. I don’t even have a genre category for this. Go ahead. Make one up. For all you hard rock Moggers out there.

For those of you like DJ / Remix kind of stuff, check out these two:

Nosaj Thing – 1685 Free the Robots – Jazzhole

Clunker of the Day: Army of Freshmen – Juliet This was even worse than I thought it was going to be. Can I assign negative stars? This would be a minus -4 stars.

Honorable Mention / Band Name of the Day Li’l Cap’n Travis

On to the next batch. Maybe I’ll finish Thursday’s bands by Saturday.

(Here’s the listening list for today. No number, means no stars assigned) Band/Artist - Song - # of Stars James McMurtry - Cheney's Toy - 4 The Dollyrots - Because I'm Awesome - 4 The Whigs - Right Hand On My Heart - 4 The Whip - 'Trash' - 4 Wussy - Rigor Mortis - 4 Free The Robots - Jazzhole - 3 Hong Kong Blood Opera - Killing Joke - 3 Horse + Donkey - dot dot - 3 Luke Temple - Saturday People - 3 Mike Farris - I'm Gonna Get There - 3 Nosaj Thing - 1685 - 3 Scott H. Biram - Been Down Too Long - 3 The People's Revolutionary Choir - Do You Feel Like I Do? - 3 The XYZ Affair - LittleFool - 3 Thieves Like Us - Drugs In My Body - 3 Alex Cuba - Tu Boca Lo Quita - 2 Big Red Rooster - How U Like That - 2 Chris Vestre Group - Brunette Ambition - 2 Darker My Love - Summer Is Here - 2 Fastball - The Modern World - 2 Grupo Fantasma - Mentiras - 2 Li'l Cap'n Travis - Cherry Chapstick - 2 MothFight - Hopscotch - 2 My Education - Sluts and Maniacs - 2 Sonya Kitchell - Let Me Go - 2 The Blood Lines - Modern Science - 2 The Cliks - Eyes In The Back Of My Head - 2 The Iguanas - Mexican Candy - 2 The Mother Truckers - No Mercy - 2 The Sadies - Anna Leigh - 2 Woodpigeon - A Sad Country Ballad For A Tired Superhero - 2 Activator - shackle - 1 Black Before Red - Underneath Gold - 1 Jesse Harris - Feel - 1 Little Jackie - The World Should Revolve Around Me - 1 Marcia Ball - Louella - 1 Megasoid - Megasoid "My Love" Remix - 1 MixHell - The Kids Are Alright - 1 Mona De Bo - Zarins - 1 Old Man River - Sunshine - 1 Pierre Aderne - Mina do condominio - 1 Raya Yarbrough - Lord Knows I Would - 1 Susan Cowsill - I Know You Know - 1 The Right Ons - Do Your Thing, Babe - 1 The Weakerthans - Sun In An Empty Room - 1 Tim Fite - Big Mistake - 1 Ze Dos Frangos - Nono - 1 Army Of Freshmen - Juliet - Born in the Flood - Anthem - Brendan James - Green - Curumin - Esperanca - DJ Jester the Filipino Fist - LiveKingRemix - DJ Rekha - Basement Bhangra Anthem - Dokkebi Q - Hardcore Cherry BonBon - Eli 'Paperboy' Reed - The Satisfier - Geronimo - Just Like Water - Guns 'N' Bombs/Aaron Lacrate - Yr Mangled Heart - Hot Little Rocket - Like Killers - Iglu & Hartly - In This City - Jacob Golden - Out Come The Wolves - Katchie Cartwright/Richard Oppenheim Nonet - Peacocks Walked - Mala Suerte - Non Serviam - Money Mark - Pick Up The Pieces - Patricia Vonne - Missing Women - Patty Hurst Shifter - Life Is Mostly Waiting - Pigeon John - Weight of the World - Pyeng Threadgill - It's Late - San Saba County - 5th Time Around - The Heavy Pets - 07 Sleep 2 21 08 - The Hourly Radio - Crime Does Pay - The Old Ceremony - Stubborn Man - The Steps - Belle - Ultimate Power Duo - Do Electric Sheep Dream of Ultimate Power Duo Underground Orchestra - Dahab - Zac Brown Band - Toes -

Day 2 – Lady Ms. Ian’s SXSW Listening Endurance Marathon

Lady Miss Ian — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:36:23 GMT

Well, it’s the first day of the actual SXSW 2008 music festival, but in my virtual attendance, I’ve just finished listening to all the bands/artists that would be performing there today (Wednesday, March 12th). Well, ok, not all, but all who had songs posted on the SXSW website. Between 8am and 5pm I listened to 109 songs. Yesterday was 111. Monday 57. What's that make - 277? So, while all those folks in Austin are still queuing up to try to get to see a chosen band, I’m resting my buttocks and chillaxing at home. Sure, I’m a little smug, but don’t think I haven’t suffered, cuz I have. Truly I have. Today’s batch of tunes did not yield as many keepers as yesterday's or the day before. I’ve been using my iTunes rating system and assigning songs Stars as I listen, and only a small percentage of tunes got 4 or 5 stars today, or even 3 stars. Here are today’s stand-outs:

Child Bite – Ape Along This just rocks out and has some wonderful weirdness about it. Has the feel of old DIY punkness to it. And it’s short.

SOLI Chamber Ensemble - Slang for clarinet, violin, piano Great experimental instrumental piece. I thought this would make a wonderful soundtrack for a suspense movie. (These folks are playing in the showcase hosted by Steve Reich. Yeah, that Steve Reich – legendary American composer).

The Chocolate Horse – The Caribbean This is very chill, jazzy, kind of 60s lounge-ish. I like the weary vocal style.

Honorary Mention for Most Interesting Band Name: The Cotton Jones Basket Ride

Clunker of the Day: Money Waters – Submissive When I first heard this I thought “You've got to be kidding me? C'mon, is this really Blowfish in disguise??” Listen at your own risk.

Hey, if anyone is down at SXSW any sees any of the bands I mention in this project in person, I’d love to hear about it. Right now, I’m going to give my ears 8 hours of rest. Back on the Aural bicycle tomorrow.

Here are (almost)all the Bands/Artists I've listened to as of today, March 12: Band/Artist - Song Title - # of LMI Stars 1001 Nights Orchestra - Neda Voda Nali Vala (Neda has gone to get water) - 2 17 Hippies - Wann war das? - 2 43 Songs About 43 Presidencies - Andrew Jackson (w/ Califone) - 3 A.A. Bondy - American Hearts - Abigail Warchild - Trash Can Fire - 5 Afrobots - Afro Narcotics - Air Waves - Ernie and The Sand - 2 Akron/Family - Phenomena - 3 Alabama3 (acoustic) - Woke Up This Morning - 1 Alex Khoury - Life in Brookfield - 1 Alina Simone - Half My Kingdon - AM - Old Song - AM Syndicate - To the Peasants of the Emperor - 3 American Bang - Move To The Music - Antietam - Time Creeps - 3 At All Cost - Circle of Demons - 1 Awesome Cool Dudes - French Canadian Valentime - Bad Veins - Gold and Warm - 4 Balmorhea - limmat - 3 Band of Thieves - Woman - 2 Be Your Own Pet - Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle - 3 Bear in Heaven - Bag of Bags - 2 Beasts and Superbeasts - If I was a house - 1 Ben's Brother - Let Me Out - 1 Birds of Wales - Cinderella (Has Nothing on You) - 4 Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears - Gunpowder - 1 Blue Mountain - Blue Canoe - 1 Blunt Force Trauma - Uncommon Heroes - 1 Bo Pepper - Blinkandyou'llmissit! - 3 Bob Lind - Wearing You - Bowerbirds - In Our Talons - 3 Buckshot - GO ALL OUT - 2 Call Me Lightning - Billion Eyes - 1 Camp X - Ray - Quicksand - Canada - Beige Stationwagon - 2 Cancer Bats - French Immersion - Capsula - Voices Underground - Car Stereo (Wars) - Hey Hey Stick Stickley - 5 Career Criminal - City Life - Carlis Star - Hereby No One - Cassettes Won't Listen - Paper Float - 2 Cassius Khan - bhooli bisri - 1 Ceci Bastida - Canta El Rio - Centro - matic - Triggers and Trash Heaps - 1 Charanga Cakewalk - Dirty Cumbia - 3 Child Bite - Ape Along - 5 Choklate - Waitin Feat. Chali2na of Jurassic 5 - Chris Bathgate - Serpentine - 2 Cliff Brown Jr - Floating in the Wind - 1 Copter - Evil - 2 Corn Mo and the .357 Lover - Hava Nagila Monster - Corto Maltese - Providence - Crunc Tesla - Welcome to the Circus - Cut Copy - Lights & Music - 2 D Powers 'The Ghetto Rockstar' - Digital Dope Game - Dan Mangan - Journal Of A Narcoleptic - 2 Daniel Francis Doyle - You're Nowhere - 1 Dark Meat - Freedom Ritual - David Garza - Dead French Dudes - David Karsten Daniels - That Knot Unties? - Day For Night - Badlands - Delorean - As Time Breaks Off - 4 Delorentos - Stop - Delta Spirit - Trashcan - 3 Deluka - Sleep Is Impossibe - Descartes a Kant - My Sweetest Headache Waltz - 3 Devon Williams - A Truce - 3 Die! Die! Die! - Sideways Here We Come - 3 Dirty Sweet - Delilah - DJ Sun - Dubai - Dr. Delay - Reigny Daze - Dub Trio - Jack Bauer - Eddie Whalen - Christine Southworth's ZAP! - El Jesus De Magico - LGNO - Electric Touch - Lines - 1 Eliot Lipp - The Area - Elis Paprika - No Me Vas a Callar - Eric Hisaw - Every Sunday - Eric Hutchinson - Rock & Roll - Erin McCarley - Pitter - Pat - 1 Everthus the Deadbeats - Some Terry's - Faceless Werewolves - Pardon Me Are Those Your Claws On My Back? Fatal Flying Guilloteens - Reveal The Rats - 3 Faux Fox - Nothing Gold - Femurs - round and round - 1 Fionn O Lochlainn - Zone - 3 Fobia - No Eres Yo - 1 Foot Patrol - Footography - Ford Turrell - The Stillest Hour - Freddie Stevenson - Easy Now - FREE SOL - Rise to the Top - 1 Frightened Rabbit - Modern Leper - 4 Frontier Ruckus - Adirondack Amish Holler - Gentleman Auction House - The Book Of Matches - Geoff Reacher - Bent By You - 2 Ghosthustler - Only Me To Trust - God Fires Man - Dark - Gowns - marked - 2 Gram Rabbit - American Hookers - Grand Ole Party - Look Out Young Son - 3 Great Lakes Myth Society - Heydays - Greta Gaines - Dirty Blonde - Guinea Worms - Box of Records - 2 Hallelujah The Hills - Hallelujah The Hills - Hank IV - Dirty Poncho - 1 Harley Poe - Corrupting My Better Half - HEAVy - SAM/SAM's Return - Hecuba - Headphones - 2 Hey Negrita - Room Service - Hezeleo - bought a cadillac - 1 Holly Conlan - OK - Honey Claws - Shout Out - 3 Inner Visions - Everlasting Love - Intuitive Music Orchestra - Inside & Outside - Jah Sun - Right to Live - Jeff Hughes & Chaparral - Locked In The Big House - Jen Lane - So Down - 2 Jenny Reynolds - Next To You - 2 Jesca Hoop - Money - John P. Strohm - Driving on 95 - Johnathan Rice - We're All Stuck Out In The Desert - 2 Johnny Foreigner - Champagne Girls I have known - 2 Josh Martinez - Underground Pop - 2 Joshua James - The New Love SOng - 4 Kaki King - Pull Me Out Alive - Kalashnikov - george bush bin laden one love one family Kanko - patada - 1 Karina Nistal - Viviendo - 1 Kate Bradley / The Goodbye Horses - Gold Body 2 - 1 Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden - Faster than Cars Drive - 3 Kevin Devine - The Burning City Smoking - Kidz In The Hall - DRIVIN DOWN THE BLOCK - 3 Kim Fontaine - Coincidentally - Kim Taylor - Roses - 3 Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Mean Son of a Gun - 2 Kreamy 'Lectric Santa - Workaholics Paradise (lost and found) - 2 Kush & Jah Bloodfiyah Angels - Thick Smoke - Laura Barrett - Robot Ponies - 1 Le Baron - Inmovil (Wrong ID) - 1 Lick Lick - Rolling Pin - Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy Of The Lost - Longwave - No Direction - 2 Lorrie Matheson - Don't Let This Living Kill You - Los Dynamite - Ready Ready - 3 Madeline - I Do What I'm Told - 1 Matt Caldwell - Lonely Road - Matt King - Shanty Town - Moke - Here comes the summer - mom - Skipping Stones - 2 Monareta - MATANZA FUNK - 1 Money Waters - Submissive - Mostly Bears - Melancholysim - Mr. Lewis & The Funeral 5 - My Girl, Suicide - 2 Naked Raygun - Treason - 3 Nana Grizol - Voices Echo Down The Halls - Necropolis - Van v Art - Night Of Pleasure - Caesar's Palace - Ninjasonik - Tight Pants - November - Puppy Dog - Oh Juliet - Hunting The Canyon - Ola Podrida - Cindy - Oliver Future - Signing Off - Papercranes - Treasure - Parkas - Filthy Rich Kids - Parts & Labor - Fractured Skies - 4 Pataphysics - Jesus Grow a Handle Bar Mustache For Me Pattern is Movement - Right Away - 4 Paul Kelly - God Told Me To - 1 Peel - Qxford - 2 Phantom Limb - Good Fortune - 3 Phil and the Osophers - International Introvert - 2 Pinstripe - Closest Thing to Heaven - Pleasant Grove - heart contortionists - 1 Pretty and Nice - Grab Your Nets - Pterodactyl - Esses - 1 Ra Ra Riot - Dying Is Fine - 2 RadioRadio - Marathon - Red Leaves - Frankie Machine - Ringo Deathstarr - Some Kind of Sad (demo) - 3 Rodney Fisher - Hold Me Close - Rupa and The April Fishes - Une americaine a Paris - 1 Saint Bernadette - Love Is A Stranger V2 - 1 - Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves - Sleepyhead - Satin Dolls - Vuelve - Scary Mansion - Sorry We Took All Yr Money - Sean Price - Sean Price "P Body" ft Rock of Heltah Skeltah Shellshag - Shut Up - Shootin' Pains - Half Pint - Shooting Spires - Right - 2 Silje Nes - Ames Room - 3 Slaraffenland - Polaroids - 4 Sleepy Vahn - Looks Like Your Dead - 1 Slykat - Wild as What - SOLI Chamber Ensemble - Slang for clarinet, violin, piano - 5 Songs for Moms - 1906 - 1 Sounds Under Radio - Portrait Of A Summer Thief - Spottiswoode & His Enemies - That's What I Like - 1 Stanton Meadowdale - Came Feel The Same - Suffrajett - Closer - Summerbirds in the Cellar - Wicked World - 1 Sussie 4 - Remote Control - 2 Swampmeat - Sister Mary - 1 Sylvie - Rise And Fall - TAB the band - Secretary's Day - Tammany Hall Machine - Tammany_Hall_Machine - - Teenage Bottlerocket - Radio - The Bad Rackets - Porno Magazines - The Band of Heathens - Jackson Station - 3 The Barker Band - No Matter How Bad It Gets - 1 The Big Bang - Give The Man The Money Honey - The Big Sleep - Pinkies - 1 The Black Angels - Young Men Dead - The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose To Give It - 3 The Cansecos - Raised By Wolves - The Carrots - Secret Since '99 - 2 The Chocolate Horse - The Caribbean - 4 The Clutters - 9999 (Ways to Hate Us) - 2 The Cotton Jones Basket Ride - Chewing Gum - 3 The Details - The Height of Land - The Dexateens - caption - 2 The Dodos - Fools - 2 The Duke Spirit - Lassoo - The Feds - Saturday Girl - The Happy Hollows - Monster Room - 1 The Hard Lessons - see and be scene - 1 The Ironweed Project - Down To My Grave - 2 The Jonbenet - Black Lion - The Law - Still Got Friday To Go - The Lifters - SHE'S A DEVIL - The Low Lows - Sparrows - 3 The Oaks - 2. Masood - 2 The Optimysticals - Pitch Control - The Parlor Mob - Hard Times - The Photo Atlas - Handshake Heart Attack - The Playing Favorites - Indigenous - The Reaction - Right Now - 1 The Red Romance - Don't Cry - The Rodeo - Winterlands - The Russian Futurists - Let's Get Ready To Crumble - 4 The Service Industry - Job Of Quality - The Sleepover Disaster - Cathedral - 3 The Story Of - After Just a While - 1 The Thirst - ALL MINE - The Unholy Two - Kutter - 1 The Von Bondies - Pale Bride - The War Against Sleep - Blippity Bloop - 2 The Weather Underground - Neal Casssady - The Young Republic - Paper Ships - 5 The Yuppie Pricks - Collars Up - 3 TheDeathSet - Negative Thinking - 2 These Are Powers - Cracks in the Lifeline - These New Puritans - Elvis - Thunderlip - Pooler - Tiger! Tiger! - So You Won't Deceive Me - 2 Til We're Blue or Destroy - All Shook Up - 3 Tim William & The Arcade Stars - Shes So 80s - Tiny Animals - Useless - Tommy Jay/Mike Rep - Last Hurrah - Trash Fashion - WCWBF ACE MASTER 2 edit 2 - 2 Trespassers William - Safe, Sound - 3 Triplewide - Glamhead - Two Dollar Bash - Man in Black - Von Iva - LALA - Voxhaul Broadcast - Track 1 - 3 Wax Fang - World War II (Pt.2) - 4 We Were The States - Start Something - When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth - It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity - 2 White Ghost Shivers - Everyone's Got'em - 2 Wild Light - Red House - 2 Willowz - Jubilee - Wolfkin - These are all Illusions - 3 Woodhands - I Wasn't Made For Fighting - 2 Young Lords - Turn It Up - 3 Zambri - God - Zookeeper - Snow in Berlin - Zykos - Keep It Light - 2

111 Songs Later - LMI's SXSW Listening Project

Lady Miss Ian — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:18:53 GMT

Oh dear goddess of the blessed earbuds! I know when your feet hurt you say "My dogs are barking", but what do you say when your ears are tired? "My aural canals are meowing??"

Today I got through 111 (count 'em!) songs from bands/artists showcasing down at the South By Southwest festival. Wooo doggy. There was some wheat, but there was a lotta lotta chaff. Luckily, I'm working a job o'work where I can listen to the pod all day, take notes and still get my work done. I'll list all the songs at the end of the post, but here are the ones that stood out from the pack:

Abigail Warchild - Trash Can Fire These guys are one of the most interesting sounding bands I've heard in a while. Kind of bluesy, loping rock. Weirdness in lyric and melody.

The Young Republic - Paper Ships The singer has a Dylan style, but he melody and instrumentation reminds of a cleaner Arcade Fire meets a 60s soundtrack.

Joshua James - The New Love Song Just some nice kind of alt-country. Two Moggers have already posted about him. Check out icourt's and Kiddo's previous posts.

Slaraffenland - Poloroids Nice atmospheric stuff.

Now, for the clunker of the bunch: HEAVy - Sam / Sam's Return This is like Captain & Tennile for the 21st century. If C&T lived in the ghetto, that is. Paging Howard Johnsons...

On to another large chunk tomorrow.

Listening to SXSW 2008 – Lady Ms Ian’s Virtual Trip to Austin

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:16:10 GMT

This is becoming kind of a regular thing for me – NOT going to SXSW, that is. I’ve kind of gotten used to watching (and listening) to it from the other end of the telescope. Not that I wouldn’t love to slingshot myself down Texas way and spend my days and nights bouncing from show to show; dunking myself in beer and bar-b-que; talking myself hoarse with other music geeks while we gradually increase our bunions as we decrease our hearing. Heck yeah! That would be the life. But until a giant wad of money mysteriously shows up on my doorstep, along with airfare, hotel reservations, festival pass and a 12 pack of gel insoles, I will have to get my music fix [cue Bette Midler] From a Distance…..

Thanks to the good folks who put together the SXSW website, we all have a chance to at least listen to a large chunk of the bands who will be performing at the showcases down there in Austin. I’m taking it upon myself to listen to ALL the bands/artists who have songs on the site (and that’s not everyone who’s performing). One of my self-imposed rules is that I can’t read any of the bios about the bands/artists before listening. I want to judge them on their music alone. Not any hype or gimmickry. Just the sound. And with so much to listen to, I’m only going to be able to listen to each song maybe twice. So, if something is going to stand out, it’s going to have to catch my ear pretty quickly. I know this seems kind of unfair but, just like the folks who are actually attending the festival, I’ve got a limited time window.

I know, I know. The purpose of attending SXSW in the flesh is being able to experience and judge these folks on how their music sounds live and their effectiveness as live performers. I guess my virtual attendance is somewhat the mirror twin to this. I’m experiencing and judging them on their recorded music. But isn’t that what we all end up with in the end? We may see a band once or twice a year, but we live with their recordings the rest of the time.

So far I’ve gotten through about 56 bands/artists. That’s only a third who’s playing on the first day of the festival! Yikes. I’ll be posting throughout the next couple of weeks on what I find – the good, the bad and ugly.

Catching my ear (so far): Wolfkin

Clunking my ear (so far): Ninjasonik

What do these two both have in common? Pants.

Cheers and yee-haw!

UBER New Wave Wednesday - Me and My Rhythmbox

Lady Miss Ian — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:14:39 GMT

Greetings Moggers! And a special shout out to Mr. Popeye, keeper of the New Wave Wednesday torch.

I've been held hostage at another dreaded "day job. Truth to tell, it's not been so bad. I've got "the interweb" and all, but I've been too busy or lazy to do any posting, even after I get home. Apparently I've also been to busy or lazy to notice it was my MOG-A-Versary on the 3rd, too! My, how the time slips by.

For some reason, my mind was a-wandering the other day and landed on memories of the weirdest of weird movies I think I've ever seen. In 1982, Liquid Sky drew me to it like a bug to a windshield. It had everything my teen-self loved: freaky new wave punk people, fashion and music. Plus aliens, sex and drugs. I swore, if I ever opened a club, it would be like the one where. Adrian (Paula E. Shepard) wailed her minimalist, new wave performance art piece/song "Me and My Rhythmbox." Here it is, intermingled with a scene of Margaret and Jimmy (Anna Carlie played both roles, which was another wonderfully weird thing) arguing and getting ready for the big New Wave Fashion Show. Just like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, but for Gen-xers.

Executive Transvestite Riffs on School Bands

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:11:41 GMT

Time for Friday Funnies. I had some folks comment on my recent avatar pix. It's British comedian / actor Eddie Izzard. He's does brilliant stand up shows, careening from one stretch of the imagination subject to another. He's also a transvestite. Actually an "Executive Transvestite." He's been focused more on his acting career (you might have seen him in the cable TV show "The Riches"), so, of late, he's been cultivating a more butch look. He also played the manager of the Bowie-esque character in the film "Velvet Goldmine", and Mr. Kite in the recent film "Across the Universe."

This is a great piece of his exploring the complexities, weirdness and awfulness of kids taking music lessons and being in school band. Enjoy.

Burn Rubber for Love

Lady Miss Ian — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:50:34 GMT

Are you in love? Then get on your bike and ride. At least that's what The Bicycles recommend. It's not only good for you, it's good for the planet.

This twisty little floor stomper is making me think of riding my bike around the city late at on a warm summer night after a concert. And I need that happy vision as it is still winter here on the middle coast of the U.S. Grey, snowy, bleh. But in my mind while listening to this song, the song melts and my hair is flying behind me as I coast downhill. Wheeeee!

Here's the hot rubber on the Bicycles: The Bicycles are a Canadian five-piece indie pop band based in Toronto. Their debut album, The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly was released May 30th, 2006. Before the album was even released they had already ventured out on tour with UK popsters The Boy Least Likely To and just recently finished another US tour with Henri Faberge and the Adorables.

Check out their website

Come up and see me sometime, Santa

Lady Miss Ian — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:21:30 GMT

For those of you entirely over Eartha Kitt's purry "Santa, Baby", here's the original silver screen sex kitten with her wish list for the man in red.

Much like Eartha, her thinking is very logical and fiscally sound.

Happy Holidays! Hot Cha Cha!

Late Nite Exotica - Bongos for Adults Only!

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:18:41 GMT

Good Evening all you Nite Owl Swingers. I hope I didn't catch you while you were..er..slipping into something more comfortable. Or perhaps I did want to. Rawr. Well, while you sip your nightcap and lean back on your plush velvet lounge with your favorite pet, perhaps you need a little mood music. If you enjoy Bongos and Grunting and Whistling, Chaino is your man.

As I dipped into my satin-lined bag of exotica treats tonight, I pulled out a 27-cut jammed wonder called: Chaino - Africana & Beyond. As the Shag-like cover proclaims "Spellbinding primitive rhythms by Chaino (pronounced CHA-EE-NO), percussion genius of Africa. I'm sure that point is debatable, but nonetheless, most of his pieces would be the perfect companion soundtrack for the Jungle Room at some romantic getaway theme hotel. So, allow if you will, Monsieur Chaino to fuel your tropical fantasies.

Oh, cabana boy! Fetch me another Mai Tai.

Lady Miss Ian's (and The Tick's) Worst Nightmare

Lady Miss Ian — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 03:19:02 GMT

Oh, my friends, I have longed for sanity (or blessed insanity) of MOG, for I have been sucked into the vortex of the dreaded DAY JOB! I am bereft of immediately accessible internet and email access, AND THEY HAVE AN OLDIES MUSIC SERVICE PLAYING ALL DAY LONG! Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhh! If I have to hear Elton John, Wings or the Bee Gees one more time...!

Pray for me. I have two weeks to go. Even my mantra of "I'm getting a paycheck out of this; I'm getting a paycheck out of this" is not working.

Robert's Worst Nightmare!

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I want to get back to fighting crime!

You Call This Headline News????

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:06:12 GMT

I can't tell you how much this headline story from Music Week (the UK's version of Billboard) made me laugh.

Madonna is overvalued, Bank Of America warns The Bank of America has warned Warner not to try and match the reported $120m (£60m) deal between Live Nation and Madonna, saying that the figure is too high a price to pay for the artist.

Hell, I could have told Warner's that!

Julie Brown satirizing Madonna is priceless, though. From her TV special: Medusa - Dare to be Truthful

Shut off your brain and dance, dammit

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:49:36 GMT

I was perusing through Urb Magazine's "Next 1000" section on their website and got totally tangled up with this Chicago electro-dance duo He Say, She Say and their buzzy, grubby tune Crash Dummie. It's just meant for you to drop out of your intellect and drop into your body. As the Urb reviewer put it: "They make music for dance floors, not headphones."

I can't link to the player on Urb, so here's a link to the page: Urb Next 1000: He Say, She Say

Here's a link to their MySpace page: He Say, She Say myspace

Looks like you Chicagoans can catch them at the Funky Buddha on Thursday, Oct. 4th.

Boogie up!

Funk is you. Funk is we. Funk is us. Funk is free

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:35:15 GMT

Happy Funky Friday, MOG Funkateers. I'm in a bit of chill funk mood this morning and dug out the Digable Planets. Not raucously funky, more relaxo funky. I used to play the heck out this CD when it came out 93.

Get free, y'all.

That's Lady Mrs. Ian to you, now!

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:19:28 GMT

Well, all the planning and stressing is over. Me and my Mister officially jumped the broom on Friday afternoon. We’re both very private and shy people, so we wanted to have a very very small and private ceremony. Just us, the kids, his best man, my best woman (and her wife) and the judge down at the courthouse. Everything went swell and we all went out for sushi afterwards. I know with elopement you always risk hurting some people’s feelings, and we’re wrestling with the aftermath of that. Luckily most folks are surprised AND happy (not surprised and pissed off). And, the avalanche of guilt I was expecting from my mother, when I called her a half hour after the ceremony, magically did not appear. She was actually excited and happy for me. There’s a first for everything.

Here’s to L’amour and getting on your spouse’s health insurance. Here’s a lil diddy that’s a favorite of my sweetie…er, husband’s (gotta get used to that). It’s from the Marx Brother’s movie “Horse Feathers” as done by a local (Minneapolis / St. Paul) hot club group called Café Accordion Orchestra.

And, no, I’m not changing my moniker to Lady Mrs. Ian. It would have to be Lady Ms. Ian. I'm WAY too much of feminist for that B.S. Plus, I like Lady Miss - makes me sound like a drag queen. ;-)

The Davinci Cold - achoo!

Lady Miss Ian — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:57:38 GMT

I've been very out of the MOG loop of lately. Between planning an event that's happening this Friday, as well as switching gears in my worklife / carreerlife, I also seem to have come down with a cold. Figures. Everyone else in my household had it and I could only fight it off so long. Well, yesterday was the down and out day for me, and I decided as long as I was spending the day in bed (or on couch) I'd read something easy. I dug the Davinci Code out of a box of books in the basement. It was perfect stuffy-nose, cold-medicine altered-state reading. I'd actually never read the book - only seen the movie. Thanks, Dan Brown, for getting me through the worst day of my cold!

Enjoy this "dance remix" of the first scene of the movie.

If ONLY I had the amazing Davini Code MUG to drink my herbal tea out of! That would have cured me, STAT!

Are You Havin' a Laugh?

Lady Miss Ian — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:28:40 GMT

Ok, here I am dragging in late for Popeye's Laff-Olympics, but I was offline all day yesterday. Did you know there's a whole non-virtual world out there? Weird.

Here's a short but funny old commercial for Maxell tapes from the UK. Pete's Weird Al "Bob" post inspired me to dig this out.

A Smooooove Nite Cap - Some Pillow Talk

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:51:22 GMT

With the New Wave wars raging, I've been keeping my head down and snuggling into my fox(y)hole. And while I was hiding down here, I bumped into my stash of secret Good Disco. I've been thinking about my own internal good vs. bad disco debate - yeah, I know many of you think all disco is bad, but there was some good funky soul and instrumental dance music. Recently, my mister man and I were blessed by receiving some original 70s board mixes from a famous gay club in San Fran. If I can get some of the tunes separated out of the mixes, I'll put them up. Those boys were throwin' a par-tay!

Until then, it's a mellow Thursday night and I just wanted to chill out. Enjoy this performance by Sylvia (formerly of Mickey & Sylvia) of her hit "Pillow Talk." Check out Don Cornelius' tie - it's ALMOST bigger than his hair!

I want that hat AND those earrings. Damn!

Funky Friday: Doin' It In The Park; Doin' It After Dark

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:28:04 GMT

This is just one of those long, uncomplicated grooves that you can lay back and do whatever you want to or need to do. It gets bonus points for starting out with that squealy little synth modualtion (which reminds me a bit too much of the Theme from the Rockford Files).

The Blackbyrds were an academically pedigreed group, as several of the members were extracted from the Howard University Music Dept. Donald Byrd put the original group together in 1974 with percussionist * Pericles "Perk" Jacobs, Jr., drummer Keith Killgo, keyboardist Kevin Toney, reeds player Allan Barnes, bassist Joe Hall, guitarist Barney Perry. Other key players included guitarist Orville Saunders and saxophonist/flautist Steve Johnson. (*from All Music Guide)

Get out there and do it in the park - or in the cubicle or the coffee shop or...

Is this what you think of when you think Classic Rock?

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:04:25 GMT

The lovely Ms. Chucky's post from a few days ago, that spawned a vigorous debate on what classic rock is and isn't, had the subject parked at the front of my head. I had come down on the side that Classic Rock was a radio format and not a genre, but I think the universe wanted to give me a laugh today. During my virtual wanderings I came across someone who, I believe, takes classic rock quite seriously as a genre, for he seems to recreate it's sounds so sincerely.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Matt Garbo - Singer, Songwriter, Musician, native of New Jersey. I invite you to visit his website and see him in his full glory. Here's a brief sampling of some of classic rawk you can find on his website: I'm Alive and Free MP3

I think Uncle Rico would be a big supporter of his - if he lived in Jersey.

F.A.R.T. Alert! - Funkin' in the Library - Latin Style

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:15:46 GMT

This is a F.A.R.T. (Funk Action Response Team) emergency post! I have yet to hear any funk on this Funky Friday. Pull yo asses out of the 90s (world series) and get on the dance floor. Here's a tasty tidbit from a collection of Library Music called: Diggin' in the Crate: Special Sampling Vol. 1. It's perfect to use as the soundtrack for plotting your next big diamond heist or tracking down unscrupulous drug dealers who live in a warehouse. Or perhaps you need something for your end credits montage?

Put on your platforms and flares; grab your "piece" and jump in your muscle car.

Bat for Lashes - free iTunes Download

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:16:15 GMT

Thanks to the motivation of Contraband (see the motivating post here ), I went in search of legal downloads of the enigmatic strange angel known as Bat for Lashes. Lo and behold, iTunes is offering her track "Horse and I" as a free download this week (maybe more - I can't tell when they put it up there). Not only that, you can get this in the new "iTunes Plus" format - which means DRM-free and in higher quality. Such a deal. Of course it's still a rassa-frassin' ACC file, but how you make it into an MP3 file can be your lil' secret.

Here's to free legal music.

Punk Wars - My One and Only Entry

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:58:32 GMT

Lo Fi Freak glory. Ladies and Gents, the Contortions:

MOG-A-Lanche!

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:53:37 GMT

I've got over 200 unread MOG notifications in my MOG email folder now. Holy Frijoles - How am I ever going to get around to commenting on all those great posts? I thought everyone was on summer MOG vacation?

Ok, I guess I'm going to have to hole up with a jug of wine and bag of chips tonight and get to typing.

So, how do YOU keep up with the MOG-A-Lanche?

Forget That You're a Lady and Give 'em What They deserve!

Lady Miss Ian — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:11:08 GMT

I'm kind of in an old school mood this Hip Hop Thursday, so I dredged out one of my Salt 'N Pepa cuts to express my frustration with this hot and rainy day. Listening through it was making me think of the great celebration of women in hip hop held here in Minneapolis last month, called "B-Girl Be." It was an awesome, very positive gathering of women and girls showing their skillz MC-ing, Graf Writing, Breakdancing and DJ-ing. Tha Ladies are working hard to carve out and keep hold of their chunk of the hip hop landscape. So, here's to some early HH mothers speaking their minds freely.

Check it out here: B-Girl Be

Project Jenny, Project Jan: Two Men Posing as Two Women, All of Whom Get Me Very Excited

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:51:06 GMT

I'm just flipping out over these guys from Brooklyn. Great simplistic electronic dance pop, but their choices of beats and samples are so tasty. Their lyrics so very non-intellectual. It's hard for me to describe. It's like eating a mystery cupcake blindfolded. Devouring it, you love the taste, and when you find out it's made out of Yak butter and Oreos, after the initial shock, you love it more.

I don't have any tracks to post, but you can listen to entire releases of Project Jenny, Project Jan here

CMJ reports that the boys of Jenny,Jan will be touring the US this summer. Some dates with Fujiya And Miyagi.

Tour Dates For Project Jenny, Project Jan: 06/29 - Brooklyn, NY - Lemurplex 07/02 - New York, NY - Cutting Room 07/07 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas* 07/09 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East* 07/10 - Montreal, QC - Lambi* 07/11 - Toronto, ON - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern* 07/12 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop* 07/18 - New York, NY - Pianos

with Fujiya And Miyagi

www.projectjennyprojectjan.com

I think I MAY have found my summer album for year.

Do I Make You Feel Horn-y, Baby? Mystery Funk for Funky Friday

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:07:19 GMT

It's Friday, which means it time once again for a slice from my Essential Funk Vol. 1 mystery disc. While Cody B is on the trail of last week's post (Ooo Wee), here's another tasty groove to chew on.

It's an instrumental with some nice funky bass and great hopscotch horns. I've not a clue as to who it could be, but if it rings a bell (or toots a horn) with you, let me know, cuz right now I'm calling it "Funky Horn Instrumental." I KNOW there's a better name for it.

I'd also like to give a shout out to fellow MOGGER Iren, who I got to meet up with at the Radio Birdman show in Minneapolis last night. Check out his post and pix on the show here. Great show. I even survived a minor amount of moshing. Me - at my age. ;-)

Happy Friday!

Let's Look at Men with Moustaches

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:49:40 GMT

Enough of this blah, blah, blah. Chatter, chatter, chatter. Noise, Noise, Noise. I'm tired and all I want to do is look at Men with Moustaches.

Of course Freddy. Eugene from Gogol Bordello and Ron Mael from Sparks.

I may be in the mood for beards or chest hair next. We'll see.

Not Your Teena Marie's "Ooh Wee"

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:37:51 GMT

Here's a disco-y, drivin' lil' funk number from my mystery Essential Funk Vol. 1 collection. If you can identify this track, you get extra bonus points from me and the Universe. From the vague and generic lyrics and chorus of "Ooh Wee", I've turned up nothing on this. "Ooh Wee" made me think of the Teena Marie song of the same name. But that ain't Teena. It's some high-pitched, falsetto boy singing going on there. It's kind of got a Jackson 5 or (and I'm not kidding here) Osmonds feel to it. Go ahead - call me crazy. Funky Osmonds? Is that an Oxymoron, like Military Intelligence?

Help a sistah out - OOH WEE!

VS.

Come to the Darkside of the Garage with The Bugs

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:54:45 GMT

I wanted to inject a little mystery into Punk Rock Tuesdays. Here's a lil' ditty from a band called The Bugs. Nobody knows much about them - and the label isn't fessing up much either. Re-issued by Ace Records in 2006, this 1987 album could be helmed by a bunch of somebodys or a bunch of studio drones. I for one don't care. Either way it rocks in that timeless, cheap-ass garage way.

This is probably the song Scooter Libby was singing as he was waiting for Georgey get around to pardon him.

Ladybirds - twitter, chirp, sweet bleep indie pop from Omaha

Lady Miss Ian — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:36:41 GMT

I just recently stumbled upon these guys via Urb Magazine's Next 1000 and really enjoyed their featured single.

This is from Punk News.org: " Ladybirds has posted the first song from their upcoming debut full length. The record is titled Regional Community Theater and is due out August 21, 2007.

The band features Teeter Sperber and Tyler Pursel, the keyboard player for Gym Class Heroes. The album itself is also packed with guest stars including Max Bemis of Say Anything, Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids, Justin Johnson of The Danger O's and Neil Sabatino of Fairmont. The band itself is described as "a Cyndi Lauper superfan meets (a cupcake pop version of) The Postal Service on diet pills."

I like Teeter's kind of girly, naive vocals. It's a nice mix of shy geek rock and a little casiotone plinky plinky plink.

Books, Books, the Musical Fruit. The More You Read, the More You ...

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:35:03 GMT

Starting about the end of May, beginning of June, all types of media - print, TV, internet, your friend's mouth - start the yearly ritual of making suggestions for Summer Reading. I understand this on one level, and then again I don't. Living in a northerly climate, once it gets to be real summer, most of us get real busy. It's the time we can finally be OUTSIDE, doing THINGS. Gardening, painting, riding, walking, running. All those things you wanted to do or get done in colder months, but couldn't - because it was too damn cold. Why in heck would I waste this time by sitting around reading? Then again, sometimes it's so damn hot, all you can do is sit on the porch / stoop / grass / your ass and move your eyes across words on a page. That's me - either I'm doing or I'm not doing. Not doing times are shorter than the doing times, so for me Summer Reading is usually a couple of books that I work on when it's inhumanly hot.

A couple years ago I decided to go on a classic punk binge over the summer and read "England's Dreaming" and "Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs". Not sure what my two books will be, but I better start them soon before it's September. Maybe I'll take a lil' trip down a rockabilly or country lane. Maybe I'll take the wayback machine even further, to the turn of the century or before.

So, what's in your stack of reading materials? Anything good?

See you at the (local independent) bookstore or library. I'll be in the section on Music.

Funkin' in the Italian Library

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:47:36 GMT

Happy Funky Friday, y'all. Or should I say Buon Giorno Venerdì Funky! I'm one of those people who is always looking for compilations of "Library" music when I'm digging at record shops. If you're not familiar with it, Library music is music that was composed and recorded for use at film and TV studios for directors / producers / editors to plug in and use as background music. There's some very masterfully written and performed stuff; there's some really schmaltzy cheese.

This track is from a collection called "Suono Libero - 70's Funk From the Italian Music Library." I was pretty excited to find this, but unfortunately, this track is about the funkiest of the bunch.

Goda! Vedali presto.

80s New Wavers Promote Efficient Forms of Transportation

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:01:57 GMT

This Sunday, I'll be off to motorcycle and scooter rally for all the two-wheeler fanatics in my town. I've got a Stella scooter that I'll be riding there for the first time. I've been noticing in my fair city that more and more folks are purchasing and riding scooters. I saw a vintage Honda scooter today and it made me think of the ads Honda used to run for them in the 80s. They apparently thought new wave / punk and evolved disco fans were their target market, as they had Devo, Adam Ant and Grace Jones shill for the scooters. The commercials were actually pretty damn cool. Grace and Adams were pretty racey. (ha ha! racey. I'm so funny).

I'm wondering, what bands/artists would scooter mfgs hire today to push their wares? I think the Pipettes would do a great commercial.

Mystery Funk, are you ready for your Mystery Funk...

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:32:42 GMT

Funky Fridays is here, and I am still chiseling away on that Essential Funk Vol. 1 compilation that had no liner notes and no info on the CD. I'm down to the tough ones - the instrumentals. Argh, no lyrics to look up.

Well, this is a sweet lil' horny piece that just makes ya step with a bounce. Anybody recognize it? Lemme know!

Any, BTW, in the Mystery Date game, I would have TOTALLY gone out with the grease monkey / dud. He looked way cooler than those other nerdy guys.

London is the Place for Me Vol 2 - Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz From Young Black London

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:04:29 GMT

London is the Place for Me (2) Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz from Young Black London

There are pockets of music history that tend to go overlooked. Those that go on during times and in places that are not at the epicenter of the ruling culture – but going on right under its nose. These pockets tend to be times of very active (unintentional and intentional) experimentation and mixing of styles, cultures and ideas. Post WWII London was host to an incredible coming together of musical expression from Africans and West Indians, who were about to run head first into American and European jazz. Calypsonian “Lords” and Nigerian rhythm kings; South African jazz and West African traditional musicians all took the boat to London. Meeting up in immigrant neighborhoods and clubs, they began playing their music, but now responding to their new surroundings. Honest Jon’s Records, out of England, has put together several volumes documenting this time and place. Volume 2 in the series covers the styles of Calypso, Kwela, Highlife and Jazz emanating from this heady mixture of cultures. Featuring calypso stars such as Lord Kitchener and Lord Beginner, it also highlights Ambrose Campbell’s West African Rhythm Brothers. It’s an incredible musical snapshot of artists and songs that were to become the part of the foundation world beat and modern jazz. I highly encourage you to seek out this and the other volumes of this fantastic collection.

Here’s a taste of London is the Place for Me. Young Tiger (aka George Browne), presents a calypsonian take on the validity of Be-Bop jazz music. Though he’s making fun of Be-Bop, he also does some nice scatting and is accompanied by the fine tenor sax playing of Sam Walker, a Jamaican who would go on to be a stalwart in the British jazz scene.

Tracklisting Calypso Be – Young Tiger Yolanda – Ambrose Cambell Calypso Blues – Mona Baptiste Adura – West African Rhythm Brothers My Wife’s Nightie – Lord Kitchner Ominira – West African Rhythm Brothers Eroya – West African Rhythm Brothers General Election – Lord Beginner Kalenda March – The Lion Omonike – Tunji Oyelana Baionga – Shake Keane & His Highlifers Gerrard Street – King Timothy E.T. Mensah’s Rolling Ball – West African Swing Stars Ashiko Rhythm – Ambrose Cambell Omo Africa – West African Swing Stars Nyusamkhaya – Gwigwi Mrwebi West Indian Drums – Russ Henderson Nobody Wants to Grow Old – Lord Beginner Gbonimawo – Rans Boi’s Ghana Highlife Band Sing the Blues - – West African Rhythm Brothers

London is the Place for Me 2 - Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz from Young Black London

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:36:17 GMT

London is the Place for Me (2) Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz from Young Black London

London is the Place for Me 2 - Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz from Young Black London

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:36:10 GMT

London is the Place for Me (2) Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz from Young Black London

Me Like Mog! Why MOG Not Like Me?

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 03:40:48 GMT

Me try to post. Me try to read. Me get Brain and Schloopy. Me get nothing. Me miss MOG and reading MOG friends. Maybe MOG feel bad. Maybe MOG have self-esteem issues. Awww. Maybe if me and other MOGGERs post happy, positive love songs to MOG, MOG will feel better.

Ok, enough Captain Caveman speak. I was moved by Jenny's post about the current MOG issues. It has been bad lately, but I know the folks behind the scenes are working to get things going. Just thought I'd send some positive encouragement to the collective MOG consciousness.

I know I'm a little early for Mash-Up Monday, but here's a fun collision of Kiss Me, Honey Honey and Fat Boy Slim.

Funky Schloopy Friday - Snap Yo' Skull

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 17:28:37 GMT

I've been working my way through that "Essential Funk Vol. 1" mystery promo disc I told you about last week. The one with no liner notes and no track info on the CD. I was able to nail down several of the cuts. This one was a special challenge to me because every time I listened to it I thought "Damn! I know this song. I've heard this." And come to find, yes indeed I have - but not via this song. The drum breaks from It's a New Day by Skull Snap have been sampled by rap artists like Gang Starr, Camp Lo, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Lords of the Underground, Diamond D and countless others. They are funky and crisp. But let's just enjoy them in their pure form today.

Only one album did Skull Snaps put out, but the men behind it have a long history. Click here for a great review and background on this album the musicians.

Happy Funky Friday, y'all.

NXNE - North By NorthEast Festival - Anyone Going

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 03:47:14 GMT

Hey All You Canadian-type Moggers (and those who love them), Any of you going to the NXNE music festival extravaganza? I think I've spent too much time debating the options (money, airfare, hotel, etc) and I know I'm way too late to go, but I'd love to hear some insider reports on what's happening. The Shows; the Panels; the Vibe. Also would love to hear from those who've gone in years past - fans, industry wonks, writers alike - what did you think was the best thing about NXNE?

Check the NXNE website for band line-ups and bios (they have a very cool flash interface that allows you to listen to music samples and save a schedule of bands you are interested in).Or the preview in Toronto's Now Magazine to get a quick overview.

Canada Rocks! :-)

Funky Friday Mystery Solved! Harlem River Drive, baby!

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:31:37 GMT

Happy Funky Friday, y'all. I'm putting out a plea to all you Funk detectives and crate diggers out there. Back in a previous life, I used to get a vertible buttload of promos across my desk every week. Some of them with TOO much info; others with not enough. Most of the stuff was, shall we say, not so good. But sometimes I was blessed with some little gems. One of those was a compilation disc of "Essential Funk Vol.1 - Various Rare Grooves". I got some great stuff off it - like Wicky Wacky from the Fatback Band. But the disc was just in a paper sleeve and unfortunately I lost the liner note insert telling me what the tracks were. D'oh! I thought I'd upload the disc to my computer and, like magic, the track info would appear. I was sorely mistaken. Nothin', nada, nix. Dang!

So, I thought maybe my MOGGY pals would help me out with a game of Funky Hide and Seek. I've still got about 1/2 the disc to play "Name That Tune" with. I figure if I post one mystery cut a week, that will cover my funky Friday entries for a couple months. :-)

So, here is is. Let me know if you know the artist and song. Thanks!

MYSTERY SOLVED -- Thanks to wonder-twin-powers-activated Troy (who is awesome by the way, if you didn't know.)

It is indeed a Eddie Palmieri, would you say, side project? Called Harlem River Drive. They only put out one album in 1971. Here's the poop from AMG: Harlem River Drive

Manu Chao - New Single - Free Download!

Lady Miss Ian — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:49:29 GMT

For all you Manu Chao fans out there, in front of his upcoming September 2007 new full length release, a free download of his new single "Rainin In Paradize" is available at: ""http://www.manuchao.net/"http://www.manuchao.net/

Plus Tour Dates: June 2nd- Los Angeles, CA (Venue TBA shortly)

June 5th – Tijuana, MX –

June 8th – Denver, CO – Red Rock Amphitheatre

"June 10th – Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom": http://thepalladiumballroom.com/calendar.php

June 11th – Austin, TX – Stubbs

June 13th – New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s Uptown

June 15th – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music Festival

June 17th – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom

June 19th – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews Hall

June 21st – Toronto, ON, Canada – Kool Haus

June 23rd - Washington, DC (Columbia, MD)

June 24th – Boston, MA – Avalon Ballroom

June 26th & 27th – Brooklyn, NY – Celebrate Brooklyn - Prospect Park Bandshell

June 29th – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory

July 1st - Montreal, Canada: Jazz Festival

July 6th - Quebec, Canada: Fest. D'Ete International

July 7th - Ottawa, Canada: Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest

Let It Brush Your Rock 'n' Roll Hair: The Curls - A MOG Rock 'n' Roll Hair Gallery

Lady Miss Ian — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:42:31 GMT

Nuff o' this music stuff, let's get down to what Rock and/or Roll is all about - HAIR! I would like to inaugurate the first chapter in the official MOG Rock n' Roll Hair Gallery. There are so many categories to document and archive - verticalness; fros; color; length; feathers; lack of; etc. - please feel free to start your own chapter anytime the follicle feeling strikes.

I'm starting out with what I know and love best: Curls. Lady Miss has a penchant for skinny UK guys with massive piles of curls. Here are my top 3 ripcurlers. Post your faves in the comments. Ladies and gentlemen, start your hairdryers!

Roger Daltry - who always has impeccable hair.

Robert Plant

...and, my namesake: Ian Hunter (hey Ian, you really shouldn't smoke in bed)

A New Favorite Label: Finders Keepers

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 21 May 2007 21:09:22 GMT

I know I'm not the first one on the boat for these guys, but I must say I am finding Finders Keepers right fascinating. Headed by a group of British DJs, producers and collectors, their mission is to "[introduce] fans of psychedelic / jazz / folk / funk / avant-garde and whacked-out movie musak to a lost world of undiscovered vinyl artifacts from the annals of alternative pop history." They are plundering world pop archives for what, we in the states and, apparently, the UK, call obscure. And what the people from the countries these were plucked from call "popular" or maybe even "oldies". I'm not so fond of the typical Western / first world countries attitude of suddenly validating this kind of stuff by "rescuing" it or discovering it. You know, like Columbus "discovered" America. (Native Americans waving, trying to get our attention: Hellooo. We were here first. Hellloooo).

That ranting aside, I am appreciative of labels like Finders Keepers exposing us benighted Westerners to what folks in Turkey or Budapest or Afghanistan were groovin' to. Or even the lost off-color gems of UK folk or German prog. As a fancier of the obscure, I welcome this stuff into my collection. This is the kind of stuff that hipsters wet themselves over. I, for one, would don my Gen X Depends for them.

I picked up their release: Selda - Selda. Part of their Anatolian Invasion series. Selda indeed rocks out with the wah-wah and the fuzz pedals. A turkish radical folk singer who delved into the psychedelic, she was an important figure in the social-political scene of her home country in the mid 70s. The production of this album has that nice faraway or underwater, low-buck, lo-fi quality. When I put it on it reminds me the kind of music you hear in local middle eastern grocery or restaurant. A favorite worn out cassette of the proprietors.

They've got a slew of interesting titles. Check them out at: Finders Keepers

And also their sister labels, B-Music and Delay 68

Support them weird lil' labels. They're what we live for.

Oh, I had a ramblin' mind, but now I'm back

Lady Miss Ian — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:23:29 GMT

Ever have one of those lost weekends? Not the Ray Milland drinking binge kind. No, the kind where the weather is weird, the energy is low and by Sunday night you wonder, "What the hell did I get done this weekend?" Nothing is the answer. Absolutely nothing. And because you've slept so much or too late both Saturday and Sunday, you can't get to sleep at a reasonable hour Sunday night. You wake up Monday (after a meager amount of sleep) and feel like you're jet lagged. Like you just flew 8 hours in either direction. But you drag yourself to the toothbrush, make yourself do your choice of exercises (yoga, pilates, walking, tai chi, breathing - whatever) and lo and behold, the sun comes out. It's a better day. It's a day, you now feel, that you WILL be awake and get things done. And with that, you need a simple, sweet and kind of stupid song to get you up and running and staying positive

From the opening strings and swingy handclaps, Jens Lekman's "I Saw Her at the Anti War Demostration" floats and walks and picks me up. Puts a smile on my face and all the semi-rhyming lyrics get my synapses snapping. I was instantly sold on this song when I heard "I just want to feed Emily with lukewarm English beer and vegan pancakes" and "and her thighs were about the same size as mine." Jens' breezy innocence transports you to a sunny afternoon milling around a park with hundreds of other hippie peaceniks, and groovers who are actually just checking each other out, looking to fall in love.

Ahh, hello Monday.

[Alright, I fixed the MP3. Frickin' Itunes and their friken fracken DRM]

Lady Miss Ian's Motorcycle Diaries

Lady Miss Ian — Fri, 11 May 2007 15:27:39 GMT

As Spring comes to the center of the North American continent, the thoughts of the formerly snowbound residents turn to "gettin' their motor running" and to "head out on the highway." Those of you who live in warmer climes and get to ride your motorcycles and scooters all year long may never know that tingly feeling of anticipation, that burning need to get out and ride whenever the weather is nice enough. Well, maybe you do - since "two-wheelin'" is an addiction that knows no boundaries.

It was a lovely evening last night, so Lady Miss Ian and her gentleman friend, Mr. Gosh, decided to go for a ride on his 1980 Yamaha. It's a nice old bike. We cruised around the parkways, visited some friends, then started to drive home. We needed to get going before dark because Mr. Gosh was wearing his prescription googles (yeah, that's right, prescription googles!) and they were kind of dark for riding at night. He didn't have his glasses with. We bid our friends adieu and zoom off. About 3 miles away from our house the ol' Yamaha decided to stop running. We get off, try to kick start, push, kick. Nothing. So we begin the long evening of pushing the motorcycle back home. Not through the greatest of neighborhoods either. But, this weird, sweaty exercise restored my faith in humanity as many people offered us help pushing or offered us gas. Unfortunately, it was the battery. Approximately every 2 or 3 blocks we'd try and start it again. It would run for a few blocks, then die.

We arrived home around 10pm, tired, thirsty, sweaty and smelly. Strangely enough, we were in a good mood and just chalked this up to one of those adventures that drops into your life to shake things up.

I wanted to post Martha & the Muffins - Motorbikin', but I don't have that digitized. So, the Revillos will do.