STARLIGHT

Listen to STARLIGHT by The Supermen Lovers.

As I mentioned yesterday, Jason couldn't be with us today, but I've brought you the next best thing (?), which is me playing a song I know Jason likes.

But I like this one too!

In fact I like it a lot. Jason, as he mentioned and as some readers know, came to our wedding this summer with a stack of tunes to play at our reception. (And by sheer force of personality he played the entire stack... )

Anyway, beforehand he sent me his selections, and Starlight is the one I immediately gravitated to. It's happy house music, and that's all I know about it. I like it and Jason does too. Have a good weekend, and if all goes well we'll be back here Monday with a new look!

Photo: Islesford Sunset.

The MS Society 75.5 Mile Bike and Hike Tour

I'm a little poorly right now because my body can't understand why I woke up at 6 A.M. to ride all the way around Manhattan and through the Lincoln Tunnel and up the Palisades and across the George Washington Bridge and back home again. I tried to tell it that it was for a good cause but that's small consolation when it comes right down to it. Many well deserved congratulations to Amy, John, and Ned who completed the "60 mile" (actually 75.5 mile) tour!

Ready to ride?

Many of you have donated to the MS Society in support of our MS Bike Ride that is scheduled to go off this Sunday. And for that we thank you! We've even convinced John and Ned to come along with us. (We're still trying to raise $75 for Ned so he can come along.)

In case you've been wondering why I haven't reported on our training regimen (we're thinking of doing the 60 mile ride, after all), well, here it is: we are going to the Olive Garden on Saturday to load up on carbs. Wish us luck!

Friday Maine blogging

Just for old time's sake! The Times this morning has an article on Maine microbreweries, and Doug from the Atlantic Brewing Company is featured. Those were the days, huh?

We spent that night in Bar Harbor, the home of our last two microbreweries. The first, early Sunday afternoon, was the Atlantic Brewing Company, home of the ubiquitous Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale, among others. The blueberry brew is a little sweet, and it ships to 21 states.

At the brewery, in the Town Hill neighborhood near Acadia National Park, the company’s owner, Doug Maffucci, was tidying up the grounds, which include a modern warehouse, a barbecue restaurant and a landscaped beer garden.

Mr. Maffucci, 51, a trim Colby College graduate, was at his most animated when he described the little details of the grounds, which was once an apple and dairy farm. “What I love is watching it be full of people, they’re sitting here enjoying it,” he said, “and they’re not even realizing why it’s comfortable. They’ve been driving, or they were in traffic, or they got their lobster dinner about two hours late, and they just sit down and go, ‘Aaaaah.’ ”

Aaaaah.

"Let us be frank about it: most of our people have never had it so good"

I was going through the archives of the blog last night looking for something and noticed that I used to post a little bit more than just a song every Monday-Wednesday-Friday. I got away from it once I started wedding blogging, but I don't have an excuse now.

Sometimes I wrote a little bit about sports. During the first couple of months of this year, when Arsenal were playing really well, there were quite a few posts. Then Arsenal lost the Carling Cup final, Henry and Van Persie got hurt, the season petered out, so that stopped. But now, well, now we've never had it so good! Apart from winning a trophy, have we ever had such a good week? We crushed three teams, including Spurs, quite convincingly, and went top of the league for the first time since 2004. Cesc Fabregas has come of age much like Ronaldo did last year. We announced that we are now the "richest" club in England and have loads of money in the bank. Not to mention the oft-predicted and much-anticipated Chelsea implosion may have finally begun! Beauty!

Things change quickly, so the saying goes, and that's true, but who cares about tomorrow, let's enjoy it while it lasts, etc etc.

The other football team is ticking over nicely too, coping pretty well with a tricky Tulsa team and solidifying its place as the best of the "other" undefeated teams after USC and LSU. As a bonus, OSU's coach has made himself an international Youtube laughingstock by losing his cool over some stupid newspaper article. (Personally, I think "laughingstock" is a little generous. Yes, he looks completely ludicrous stalking the podium like he's Howard Beale. But it's no surprise, and a little creepy, that the target of his mad as hell grandstanding happens to be a childless woman. That'll show her, eh Mike?)

Anyway, another thing we were doing on the blog is noting births among our crew. As many of you know, Nick, a very-pregnant Kim, and Sabina were at the wedding last month, and now it's Nick, Kim, Sabina... and Ramona! Here's Ramona and her sister. Too cute!

I'm heading home for a little bit next week so I picked out the next series of tunes last night. I like them, but they aren't too hip. So enjoy this week's hipness while it lasts, don't worry about tomorrow, etc. etc.

LORD HELP ME

LORD HELP ME by Donny Hathaway.

As I've picked back up music blogging here on the sly, I feel like I'm only writing for an audience of one (or maybe three: Hi Mom & Dad!), so I'm not as concerned about picking any particular theme this week. This week's theme is "songs I've been listening to lately." Unless it becomes something different on Friday.

Lord Help Me was something that was bouncing around in my head a lot the week or two before the wedding, which was at least amusing because I certainly felt comfortable with everything going on. But privately amusing, because I wasn't going to risk bringing it up. Both because I didn't want to be put on the couch just then, and also because who wants to spurn help wherever it comes from? Plus, it's got a great communal vibe to it with those backing vocals that I was hoping would be there for the wedding itself--it helped me get in the mood.

Anyway the main reason for listening to it is a) it's a great song, and b) I'm pretty sure Soul Sides had only recently posted it--in any event it only just got put on my radar. I hope you enjoy it too, now that it's on your radar.

LISTEN.

Photo: Scaffolding.

LOVE YOU INSIDE OUT

LOVE YOU INSIDE OUT by The Bee Gees.

Everybody needs the Bee Gees. I'm sure we'll get our Bee Gees at some point, and I wouldn't mind if this was the one we got.

Give this one a listen if you haven't heard it yet, and have a good weekend!

LISTEN.

Photo: Charlton Street hotel, July.

RED HOT MAMA

RED HOT MAMA by Funkadelic.

First the trivia: Red Hot Mama is a re-recording of a track Parliament did for their "Osmium" record (i.e., the debut record). Then Parliament morphed into Funkadelic, and eventually got to it to open their "Standing on the Verge of Getting It On" record. This version has the syncopation figured out, and has some insane Eddie Hazel guitar soloing. And it's another proven dancefloor filler.

Now I am going to listen to this tune 14 times in a row. Right now. See you later!

LISTEN.

Photo: Charlton Street hotel, April.

TRUSTING HEART

TRUSTING HEART by The Trammps.

The Trammps are known mainly for Disco Inferno, a song I've never really loved. (Or maybe I loved it once, before I'd heard 784,000 times).) I have hard time pinning down exactly why, but the vocals are a little too "soulful" for a campy disco record. Plus the instrumentation is so refined. For disco I'm more of a fan of the Chic approach, with drugged up vocals but insane playing.

Ironically enough, though, I think the Trammps approach works brilliantly for a song that's a little less overtly disco than Inferno. Trusting Heart is more mid-70s Philly Soul, and I think it's brilliant. I'm a sucker for minor chord riffs, and the way the strings (and backing vocals) dip in and out of minors gets me every time. Plus I love the James Brown stylings on the lead. One of my favorite 70s dance tracks.

LISTEN.

Photo: Charlton Street hotel, March.

TOUCH ME, HOLD ME, KISS ME

TOUCH ME, HOLD ME, KISS ME by The Inspirations.

We've actually used this song before on a mix CD we gave out about three years ago. It's a really sweet song, has a great hook, and listening to it again, I feel like it should be used as a first dance kind of song. It's fast, it's not too long, it has the right feeling behind it.

This song is a great testament to the Northern Soul scene. Without those folks digging as hard as they did, a song like this (and a million others besides) that barely got released (much less sold anything) would never be around for us to enjoy today.

Have a great weekend!

LISTEN.

Photo: Late afternoon in Union Station.

The Rivals at Cake Shop

Last night The Rivals had a nice crowd turn out for their last-ever show in their present incarnation. The gig got off to an odd start. The soundcheck ran way over (mics weren't on, everything kept feeding back, the usual), so by the time they were wrapping up, much of the crowd had already gathered.

I stopped by their rehearsal yesterday and they spent a lot of the time going through Gene Clark's Elevator Operator, which they were going to play for the first time and were a little nervous. So at the tail end of the sound check, they ran through a fast, shortened version of the song (just to make sure they were ready to use it later in their "real" set). But it went over so well, the crowd gave them a big cheer! Which put the group in the odd position of (a) telling the crowd the "real" gig was starting in 20 minutes, and (b) foreclosing them from playing Elevator Operator again that night. Frankly, the loose version they played without the soloing was as good if not better than any I heard them play in rehearsal, so no worries.

Once the set started it was all good. The sound of the room was pretty warm, so most of the songs were a pleasant melange of trebly guitars and high harmonies. Nothing precise, but the effect was good.
They played one other new song, Santa Fe, but I'm not sure how many people in the audience realized that it was being played 2 and 1/2 times it's "proper" tempo. No harm done, and the gig finished off strong. Fare well, you Rivals. We'll see most of you again in a couple of weeks!

NOTHING BUT A HEARTACHE

NOTHING BUT A HEARTACHE by The Flirtations.

Nothing But a Heartache is a stone-cold favorite dancefloor filler of mine and Stu's. I don't remember if I had heard it before he played it for me, but I've heard it many, many times at his sets at Key Bar and everywhere else. (It's also available on my favorite box set, "One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found").

Those first monster piano chords, that faux-Motown bass part, and those horns, wow! It may be a Northern Soul classic, but as the guy on this youtube introduction to the song says, the production on this record is top, top class.

The best song EVAH.

LISTEN.

Photo: Late afternoon in Baltimore.

GET OUT OF MY WAY

GET OUT OF MY WAY by Joe Torres.

This is off a great compilation I got from Stu several years ago. I love about 8 songs off of it, but Get Out Of My Way is probably my favorite. Just checking around the internet, I saw this wonderfully succinct review of the collection:

Broasted or Fried--Latin Breakbeats, Basslines & Boogaloo
Funky New York Latin Soul. This CD is the one of the best compilations I've ever heard. Each one of these tracks is classic dance floor Boogaloo. It will make you move with Latin percussion mixed in with classic funk and jazz elements like Hammond organ, horns, and guitar. Lyrics are generally in English with the touches of Spanish. Bands range from biggies in Latin jazz (Puente, Mann) to ultra obscure rarities. ALL TRACKS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, play constantly at maximum volume

About Get Out Of My Way, the reviewer says, "4) *Great groover, English and Spanish vocals, jazzy horn interludes." Which is all true. Totally worthy of being played at the wedding reception.

LISTEN.

Photo: Ice on the Hudson.

ASI ASI

ASI ASI by Pete Rodriguez.

I'm about to start a likely-futile battle to get those in charge of playing music at our wedding reception to play some boogaloo. The arguments against going that direction are pretty obvious (no one knows it, they won't dance, etc.) But this stuff is so great! This Pete Rodriguez (not El Conde) is probably best known for a different track off his second LP, Oh, That's Nice, but Asi Asi is the same formula and just about as catchy. Ay, que bueno!

LISTEN.

Photo: Winter out on the pier.

BRING DA RUCKUS

BRING DA RUCKUS by Wu-Tang Clan.

This was just a bizarre one to show up on a wedding reception playlist. Undoubtedly a hip hop classic (the first track from the Wu's first album), but undeniably filthy and undanceable. What was I thinking in flagging it to be played at the reception?? I must have been subconsciously trying to get disowned.

No matter, any hip hop fans that somehow don't know this track should enjoy listening to it today. As always, make the weekend fun!

LISTEN.

Photo: Lobster gear in Southwest Harbor.

ABBA ZABBA

ABBA ZABBA by Captain Beefheart.

Here's another great track that nevertheless should be nowhere near a dancefloor, especially not at a wedding reception, where it's inadvisable to really challenge the dancers.

Still, I can see what flashed in my mind when I flagged it. It's got an immediately recognizable, loose, fast beat, catchy, fun. So far so good. What I completely missed was the 20-30 seconds of bass noodling after only a minute. So any momentum you would conceivably have built up in the first minute (already unlikely) would be completely lost right away. So no Beefheart at the wedding...

LISTEN.

Photo: Lobster gear on Islesford (2).

JUMP IN THE FIRE

JUMP IN THE FIRE by Metallica.

One of the 30 things I've remembered to put on my to-do list for our wedding next month is get music together for the reception. I've made it a personal vow not to get too tied up into the reception music, but I can't really help myself.

So I made a playlist of about 300 "acceptable" tunes, and boy is it a doozy. It's chock full of classic "one man dancing" songs. That is, the songs would be a huge hit if I was marrying myself, and 100 of me were attending.

Sadly, Jump In The Fire is one of those songs, I think. If you step back and squint at it just right, I think the song would be great dance material. It's fast, it's got a great hook, it's surprisingly glammy, you can even sing along with the chorus. In an alternate, better universe, everyone would beg for this tune instead of, say, Billy Idol.

But let's not kid ourselves. This gets played, and 30 people stop dancing to get another drink, and 69 people check their watch wondering when the next ferry is coming. But I'd be out there hopping around!

By the way, Metallica were in the news this weekend. Great item, on the way to the new Wembley for a gig, James Hetfield got detained at Luton airport for his "Taliban-like beard." Awesome.

LISTEN.

Photo: Lobster gear on Islesford (1).

NUMBER ONE

NUMBER ONE by Playgroup.

This number is from 2001, and it sounds a little like Chic fronted by Lenny Kravitz. Good times.

I've been telling everyone who would listen for the last year that I didn't care very much about what was played at our wedding reception. The idea is that let someone else worry about that, the all the good songs you hear there you'll associate with the wedding itself, instead of a song you know inside out. Plus it seems like a little much to try to micromanage the music (along with everything else).

So of course I find myself here wasting the last two hours building a 300 song playlist to evaluate for the reception, instead of cleaning the apartment like Amy told me to. Can't help it.

Anyway, enjoy this little electroclash tune, and have a happy July 4th!

LISTEN.

Photo: View from the dog run (2) (taken with the new phone camera).

Just great

First things first: Amy's done with the kids for this year! (Just about.) They say teaching gets easier by the fourth year, and from my perspective, it seems like it has, but I'm still amazed at how much work she puts into it every day. Legend.

Speaking of legends, the other day on NY1 they had a little segment on a photo exhibit on Muhammad Ali over in the West Village. So Martin and I decided to pop over and have a look! Here's one of the photos we saw:



So that was nice. Having finished as much reading as I'm going to do about Maine (probably), I am back on non-wedding stuff. Yesterday I finished "Falling Man," by Don DeLillo. I shouldn't say I was disappointed, because I wasn't. More disengaged. I found the book easy to read and even easier to finish. It simply passed by me. Writing a "September 11" novel must be a very difficult thing to do. Since I have (everybody has) such a strong feeling of what it was like to live through 9/11, I found myself not particularly interested in how the characters in the novel reacted. Their experience was singular, not much to tell me about mine or anything. Some of my reaction, though, must be controlled by DeLillo, because the style of the novel is so clipped, elliptical. It encourages the reader to pass over it lightly. Anyway, enough about that.

Our friend John is now a blogger! He just started this week, looks like. Go say HI THERE.

More songs Friday.

The Rivals at Lakeside Lounge

*Design by David Flood