Get righteous

1. Lots of Head-Smack Rediscoveries (a few bordering on Shamefully Belated) in this installment of History of Jop, Lisa Stansfield, Black Box (is it the original or the Le Freak mix?), Bel Biv Devoe, Tom's Diner. Not many SBD's to speak of, I suppose Iggy Pop "Candy" counts (familiar, don't really like it), and "Monie in the Middle" (which I like but didn't tick) but it goes to BDP "Love's Gonna Getcha" which is the only SBD I ticked. (Can't find "Hippychick," wondering if I've ever heard it...what the hell is "Put the Message in the Box"? Gah, no.) I was hearing most of these songs on the radio or during my first exposure to MTV at an after-school babysitter's house (which would get shut off forever around the time of RHCP "Give It Away" dominance when she decided there was too much obscenity for impressionable young eyes n' ears).

Now's the point where I can start writing a bit more about my experiences with music, a project I've wanted to undertake (informally) for a while now, because while I was training myself to listen to music the way I was supposed to (starting in high school), I also somehow convinced myself that there was NO MUSIC before that point. But no, in 1990 (age 6) I've heard a lot of these, I have very early memories of "Free Fallin'" and B52's "Roam" (almost ticked) and "Love Shack" and MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice and some of the Head-Smack Rediscoveries and GN'R and everything my sister listened to (she reminds me that I forgot to mention Debbie Gibson and Milli Vanilli and Tiffany -- Tiffany and Kylie "Locomotion" both from a kid's compilation that also included "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" among others).

At this point I'm in first grade, learning curse words I don't understand and listening to the older kids' (couldn't be over 10) tape of Metallica's "One," waiting for the machine-gun drum/guitar part when they would sorta-headbang, nobody really comfortable enough to do much more than vigorous head-nodding. (I "discovered" Metallica around age 9, but at 6 I didn't really understand it and couldn't imagine how anyone could sit through the whole song...in fact I think they fast-forwarded to the good part...chuggada-chuggada-CHUG chuggada-chuggada-CHUG CHUG. This may have been '91.)

This was the year Jordan Kitt's piano store at the mall was holding an event where local children performed pieces on Horowitz's Steinway, recorded for a local NPR station. I was chosen randomly after trying a few pianos at the store, mall staple while the girls were shopping. (By the time I was about 13 some snooty clerk at the Jordan Kitt's mall store would complain that I was "playing too fast" and usher me out...unaccompanied by parent/guardian, y'see, no $$$.) Other more peripheral musical influences include Nintendo soundtracks, worn down New Kids video tapes, golden oldies radio...lots of Beach Boys, early Beatles, probably some stuff from the Hard to Find 45s CDs. I might have heard Mose Allison by now, and I think I went to an Marcus Roberts concert with my dad this year, fell asleep halfway through.

2. Saw Xgau speak last night, weird combination of exciting (he read his EMP paper and his unpublished Idlewild CG review among other things) and dispiriting. I (kind of stupidly) asked the burning question WHAT ABOUT PAZZ N' JOP! Which got a frustrated "ah, don't ask me about the Voice..." before a pretty heartfelt explanation of how much hard work went into it and what a shame it is that it (probably) won't be around any longer. I've always associated the poll with him more than the paper, which I hope came through -- not "tell me about what your old employer is up to these days." I wonder if a half-dozen or so unpaid obsessives could organize an online Pazz and Jop? But even if it was feasible, the question is whether or not people would contribute to it.

3. Aly and AJ, "Not This Year." I can't stop thinking about this, even though I think my assumptions are unfair...I wonder whether or not their particular brand of angst is aligned with or opposed to some of the values that seem to emerge in interviews. It could be a combination of both -- they're mad and confused about the world not working on their terms, and they're also mad and confused about "their terms." That's something that comes through a little in "Chemicals React"...what we have is wrong, but it feels so right. In "Not This Year" they decry the schmaltzifying of a holiday they probably take very seriously (I mean, they seem to take everything seriously)...but there's something else happening, there's "the rain," it just keeps coming down and there seems to be nothing they can do about it. I see them on a fence between righteousness and an abyss (futility, failure, not knowing?), occasionally using the former to help alleviate the reality of the latter. Which is to say that they haven't yet provided many easy answers to the conflicts they write and sing about, but they have plenty of easy answers to choose from. AmberWatches are an easy answer to the easy (and false) problem "I Am One of Them" identifies, but Aly and AJ don't provide the answer, don't personally endorse AmberWatches, in the song -- only in real life. I think I'm nervous about what happens if they decide they do have the answers, what happens if they get righteous.

4. Thanks to Tom at Freaky Trigger for linking the P-Hilt column. Still not sure how well the piece does what I wanted it to do (because I'm still not sure what I wanted it to do, awaiting Ross' discussion of the album), but the encouragement is...encouraging.