Valley Girl Intelligentsia

Not only does Kathleen Hanna have her own BLOG, but Bikini Kill has an online archive. Where have I been?



Check out this interview with Kathleen here: KH Interview

Shoulda Got an A on It

Saw this posted on Jezebel and it blew MY MIND.

Dracula's Lament - Live

I kind of love Jason Segel and his interpretation of Dracula's sadness/committment to puppetry. This is from the Craig Ferguson show, and I'm not sure what the context is for the alligator. I find that part rather off-putting actually. But get past it because what comes next is fun.

Gossip

If you were wondering if you should buy Gossip's new album, Music for Men, I'm here to tell you: YES.

If you haven't heard of them, you should first go out and get 2006's Standing in the Way of Control, an amazing album.

That album was powerful, fun, punk with amazing vocals by Beth Ditto. I saw them perform on their tour for this album. It had been a while since I'd seen a singer just totally floor the audience. Her voice is clear and beautiful, which is perfect for the disco record feel of the new album. She's an awesome performer, and I'm glad they are finally getting some serious recording money. Even though there are only three band members, these songs sound like so much more.


Music for Men is about love in a lot of different ways. Mostly about the ways it drives you crazy. A few love gone wrong songs, a few love is for everybody songs. I've had these songs in my head since I downloaded the album (legally, as in I actually paid for it, which as you know is a big deal for me!)

I've given you some of the tracks so you can hear what I'm talking about. The first three are from Standing in the Way of Control, and the second three are from the new album, Music for Men.

Gossip's video for Heavy Cross is below.

Playlist

One of my favorite things about not listening to the radio anymore (except oldies stations, because I'm now an oldie) is that the songs that are so overplayed that they annoy the hell out of people are new and fun for me. Hence my new workout playlist I took the gym yesterday.

FYI I start out slow on the tread mill, then run for about 20-30 minutes, then do stairmaster, then leg weights. It all takes about an hour. Also, I am a musical schizophrenic.

1. Santogold "I'm a Lady"
2. Lady Gaga "Just Dance" - don't front, this is a good song about being too drunk at the club!
3. Andre Nickatina "Holla 4 Madonna" - bay area gangsta shit. you should have this.
4. Chamillionaire "My Money Gets Jealous" p.s. it gets jealous of his jewelry
5. Gossip "Listen Up!" - anything from this album would be great for a workout!
6. Miss Kitten "Rippen Kittin (Beroshima Mix)"
7. Chromeo "Bonafied Lovin'" - the singer/guitarist from Chromeo is my new crush
8. The Faint "Let the Poison Spill"
9. Blondie "Hangin' on the Telephone"
10. Cheryl Lynn "Got to Be Real" - good for any occasion
11. Goldfrapp "Ride a White Horse"
12. Scissor Sisters "She's My Man" - ode to a homicidal tranny
13. Ciara feat. Missy Elliot "1,2 Step"
14. M.I.A. feat Timberland "Come Around"
15. The Damned "Smash It Up"
16. 45 Grave "Evil"

and to slow things down before I leave:

17. Culture Club "Time"

Rejuvenique

Remember this? I was so frightened by it when I saw the infomercial in the late 90s. It looked like a 1950s beauty gadget. I also vaguely remember an interview with Marilyn Manson in which he is casually holding one as if it were a normal accessory. So it haunted me on both counts.

Manson just announced a new album and tour, and has reunited with Twiggy (the best one). His website has thankfully gotten rid of the crappy fascist/Disney/Burlesque theme and is much more disturbing, glam, medical oddity, which is what he really did best. His music will probably not be much better than it has been the past few years, but I bet the rejuvenique mask did wonders for him. I'm sure he looks 10 years younger.

This is from before Dita, Mansinthe, and Columbine:

I hate "Free Bird"

Have we met? If we have, then you probably know that I hate the song "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Seriously, when M. called me up and asked me on our first date, he asked what I wanted to do and I said I didn't care as long as it doesn't involve Adam Corolla or "Free Bird." Why do I bring this up? Because I was watching VH1's best hard rock songs of all time and it was really high, like #26. Unconscionable. And because while watching the news recap of the shuttle launch from earlier this week, they showed the crew listening to "Free Bird" in space. IN SPACE.

I mean, this is a band that consistently performed in front of the rebel flag. That alone gets you my ire. Secondly, their one good song "Sweet Home Alabama" disses Neil Young for singing an anti-racist, anti-cross burning song ("Southern Man" which annoys me melodically, but not thematically). I get that they don't want outsiders (northerners, yankees, whatever) telling them how to act, but hell, there was mass cross burning going on! And lynching! And fucked up shit! You don't get a pass because you came up with sweet tea and bbq.

But I digress. My thesis on "Free Bird" is as follows:

This song is an ode to free loading musicians who subsist completely on the kindness of ladies in every town. A song for assholes, if you will. The guy in the song tells his girlfriend that he has to leave because he's "free as a bird," and she can't change him (btw, this doesn't really make a lot of sense, if you think about birds. They are really kind of monogamous, as well as -duh-nesters) It's central to the groupie/musician dynamic that chicks remain bummed and awaiting your return. And of course willing to provide free room and board (and sex) to subsidize your drug habit/guitar breaking habit/silver belt buckle habit. Eff those dudes.


And "Free Bird" is just one of these kinds of songs. You've got the Allman Brothers' "Ramblin' Man" and "Ruby Soho" by Rancid. Dudes with guitars, apparently, will totally leave your ass. And they are really really (pretending to be) sorry about it, but it's just the way it is. Can't change 'em.

I would like to say that the answer would be to have songs by women about leaving men behind, but it is not the same. We just don't live in a world where women get respect for having a guy in every town. The words used to describe women who are "free birds" has historically been more like "soiled doves."

Now, for the record, I've never been left by or dated a musician. I don't know why I hate it so much. I think what also makes me hate it is that it is a really whiny cop out. Even the way it is sung is whiny. So much so that the band often performed it as their encore and it would stretch to 14 minutes long! So not only is it shitty lyrically, thematically, and melodically, it becomes a noodly jam session. No thanks! It's everything that's wrong with music.

Thesis complete.

Raining Blood

I went to buy my mom her birthday gift at the mall today with M.

We felt the pull of the Vans store. Since I got such a great deal on my mom's gifts and I was in need of a pick me up, I got these babies:
Oh, I can't wait to wear them. I know it's no time to buy crap I don't need, but hell, they were on sale and I don't have a single pair of Vans. Can you believe that? I live in southern California and I have never even bought one pair! I always have chucks, but Vans were never my thing. It's kind of nice not having laces....

If you would like to learn how to play "raining blood" on guitar, this handy youtube video is for you!

All the Young Dudes

So I have been grading like a fiend. It's that time, when all the papers are turned in and the Final Study Guide gets created. I love this time, but it is super hectic. I finally know my students names, we've gotten to the point where we can all joke together in class. Yesterday I was freaking out because I had lost the printed out copy (the only remaining copy) of a lecture I haven't had the time to re-type. I had lost the digital file somehow, but I've shuffled this lecture semester to semester. And now, it's lost! I was so busy finishing with grading that I didn't even let myself get too pissed about it. I just jotted down what I remembered in bullet form and took a one page sheet of notes to class. Can you believe I had a good time? Me!? Overly prepared, meticulous me went in with one page of bullet points. I had the shit down, too, with just the right timing. Very rewarding.
Today was also my Evaluations day, and I always get nervous when giving Evals because this is their chance to complain about me. But a couple of students came out and asked me what else I was teaching next semester and how they enjoyed my class! Such a mood lifter!


I have been watching/rewatching good flicks lately. What We Do Is Secret, about the Germs was worth buying on DVD, if you are into LA punk and the Masque and all that late 70s early 80s beautiful uglyness. I thought the actors did a good job, and it had Tina Marjorino (from Napoleon Dynamite and Veronica Mars), whom I love, as Pat Smear's gal. Her character has a gem of a scenen in which she refuses to pay a cover charge at the Masque. Watch it.

I rewatched Juno for the third time. I heart that movie. So pretty and messed up and amazing. I have a soft spot for Diablo Cody. She rules. Mott the Hoople was a favorite of mine in high school, and it is always nice to see and hear All the Young Dudes given some kind of emotional place in a person's story. Did you know that hamburger phone sales have tripled since the movie? That's a made up statistic, but I bet if you asked somone in the know, they would totally agree.

Last night, while I was grading, M. and I had Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, the documentary of metal music by Anthroplogist and metal head Sam Dunn, on in the background. What a great documentary. I may use it next year in my section on music. The Metal Genealogy Chart alone is worth the viewing. But really the best part is the interviews with the Norwegian black metal guys who totally support burning churches and are interviewed in dark chambers while sipping wine from fancy goblets! Like, these are serious satanists people! According to Wiki's entry on Norwegian black metal, they popularized corpsepaint. Yeah, go check the link. It's a thing.

Anyway, what I found interesting in the documentary is that bands like Venom really scared people:

Not too scary in retrospect, but apparently they were like "oooh the devil"

My generation is supposed to be shocked by Marilyn Manson, but I never really was:

I always found Twiggy and Marilyn kinda endearing. You know, like, "Aww, you are such a scawy widdle guy! Yes you are!" Maybe it's because of the inherent nerdiness that lies in the heart of the goth. Especially the kind that wears makeup. I mean, if you have a powder puff in your bathroom, you just aren't evil enough, dude. Sorry.

Not sure if I'm scared of Norwegian black metal guys. I probably should be. But M. and I agree that this...


...is actually kind of nightmarish. Kids from Iowa with leatherface masks actually make me kind of wonder if I should give out Ds and Fs at all.

Pretty Things/ Jerky Guy

Pretty Things

Since I kind of flaked on Friday Finds for most of my readers, who live nowhere near me or the cupcakery, I thought I'd make it up to you.
New online shop I found, via BUST magazine's latest holiday shopping story:
Bestow Boutique

Some of these things are actually very affordable!

$5 dollar matchbooks, some of which are very cute. Here's a good example of the style, the sacred heart matchbook.


I love this Purity soap dish. I mean, if you are single or you have a social worker coming to check out your house for some reason, maybe you don't want it to be on display, but I like its centuries old creepyness.


This pill case is amazing. I totally see it as the kind of thing that would have been on the nightstand of Henry Hill's wife, Karen, in Goodfellas.


Not to be outdone, Jonathan Adler has a whole series of canisters and boxes in the same vein:

The other ones say "Uppers" "Downers" and "Quaaludes" but I love "Dolls" best.

Pillows are notoriously expensive, for reasons I don't understand. This one is no exception, but it is pretty:



This is the item that started it all. Wing-shaped dishes. They are about 10 inches long and 4 inches across and only $40 for a set of two.


Sweet anniversary/wedding gift idea:

Or I guess it could be a weird nationalistic gift, what with the word "patrie" or patriot up on top there.

Jerky Guy

Last night I actually went out, which was nice. I have been sick and busy and trying to save a bit of cash, so since Halloween I've been a shut-in practically. But M. and I decided to hit the town. Or, well, go to our local bar for a few, which is our version of hitting the town. One of M.s friends met us there and we had a good time. So good that I agreed to the worst idea ever: shots.

I have realized that with age comes great responsibility. But even more than responsibility, it also comes with an inability to tolerate the ravages of alcohol, unless you are a drunk and manage to acclimate your body to this special form of torture. Shots are a good way to put yourself on the couch for the next day, which is pretty much what I've done. Don't feel too badly, I wasn't deathly hung over, just a slight headache and a desire for starchy, fatty, delicious fried foods. But I had fun.


The one thing that put a damper on the evening was this monstrosity:


I have written and bitched about the blight that is the digital jukebox before. The companies that make these things allow only certain albums, certain songs cost more than others, and it in general kills any local flavor a bar might have in the way of music. But the worst part about these things is that they are little capitalist pigs.

You go to a bar and you want to hear some of your songs, so you put in your money and take some time selecting songs that go together well, that create a mood, and then some douchebag comes in and decides to skip your songs. That's right, for an extra dollar or something ridiculous, you can come up during someone's set and totally skip their songs. It is kind of an unwritten rule that people who do this are lame assholes. It rarely happens as a result. I mean, why pay for that kind of thing? Most of the people who go to my bar aren't exactly rich. At least not rich enough to just throw money around on skipping songs at a dollar a pop. Except for this guy:


This beanie-wearing jerk interrupted my awesome set twice. And not for anything good. Some boring TI song followed by another boring Lil Wayne song that you can hear any time you want on the radio.

My set that got ruined:
INXS- Never Tear Us Apart
Cars - Just What I Needed
Tears for Fears - Mad World
Stevie Nicks - Stand Back
Pixies - Gigantic
The Donnas - Strutter (KISS cover)
Motley Crue - Looks that Kill

How does TI or Lil Wayne even fit in there? So if you see that guy, go ahead and clothesline him for me. And if you decide to take his wallet or somehow extract money from him, he owes me at least $2.

On Courtney Love

"I found my inner bitch and ran with her." - Courtney Love

I just realized that "kinderwhore" is a Wikipedia entry. Don't know how I got to realize that, but Wikipedia takes you on some crazy trips if you start looking up bands. Remember the 90s? When I think of the 90s, I think of babydoll dresses and combat boots. It reminded me of my total love/hate relationship with Courtney Love. Mostly love. I know many people think of her as a junkie, or my generation's Yoko Ono (which is bullshit, I love Yoko Ono, and if you think she broke up the Beatles, you are, to put it mildly, mistaken), or just a crazy person, but I always liked her craziness. Rock stars are always crazy people. I love that she is just as balls out psycho as Nikki Sixx or Robert Plant or whatever. She was on MTV telling Kurt Loder to fuck off and calling out couture fashion for their exploitation of the grunge babydoll look.

She was a giant amazon, had a big mouth, talked about her band like it was better than her husband's band, and wanted every girl to get a guitar and start a band. As a 15 year-old, I was impressed with her ability to leave the independent scene and go to the major label and still not shut her mouth. Still, you can only read so much press about yourself that is disparaging and descriptions of yourself that are not so nice. She got plastic surgery (nose job, boob job, and eventually every kind of job). She bought into the fashion industry. Her drug use started messing with her ability to give an interview. She was in the tabloids strapped to a gurney being taken to Bellevue. And the 24 Hours of Love thing on MTV2? So frightening. But still, I love that she is a work in progress. A project that isn't going perfect. A feminist that likes to call out the record industry and the magazines whenever the hell she feels like it. But at the same time being cringingly embarrassing (remember when she found out she might be Jewish? Ugh...). She's totally exhausting.

As a Bikini Kill fan, I was bummed (and alternately also amused, sort of) to hear about the Kathleen Hanna/Courtney Love fistfight in 1995. She not only punched Kathleen, but somehow also showered her with candy (hee?!) But I found it interesting that even though the whole thing went to court, Kathleen mentioned she still liked listening to Hole, and Courtney talked about how great some of Kathleen's zines were.

I still listen to songs from Pretty on the Inside and Live Through This. I have been known to go dressed as her for Halloween.

Years ago, I tried to friend Courtney on MySpace because she wrote her own blogs. Sadly for me, in my Top 8 was Le Tigre or Riot Grrrl or something that put her (or her people) off, because I was DENIED. I guess I understand. Young'uns say things like "You killed Kurt" and stuff on her comments. You don't need that shit as a 40 year old with a teenager. I saw Kurt & Courtney, the documentary, made by possibly the worst documentarian alive. I believe he paid junkies to interview and they often had little of interest to say. Some couldn't even prove they knew them. Others were pissed off former employees. And if you've seen it, well, you know that El Duce is probably the scariest and weirdest interview ever and I still don't know if he killed Kurt, but I bet he killed someone!

The other day, I read some nutty excerpt from her blog on Perez Hilton, and thought, I should try and add her again, because I want a front row seat for the crazy train, and because she hides some gems in there sometimes. Some quotes to live by, you know?

And she accepted. So we're friends now. Dont' get me wrong, she would probably not enjoy hanging out with me (nor me with her). But I dig the friendship we have going right now. She and I give each other some space, you know? I think this look should come back, by the way:

LA

Took the 5 straight from work and headed for Hollywood to see Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds yesterday. Since I got into town a bit early, I called up my pal Rachel and we had a nice dinner at Miceli's, a very cute restaurant around the corner from her place. It's an Italian spot that has a pianist and (how LA is this) all of the wait staff are also singers. They all take turns singing traditional Italian standards, opera, whatever the pianist happens to play. It was nice to catch up with Rachel, but our dinner lasted a little too long. In the middle of my tiramisu, Brande called to let me know we needed to jet if we wanted to get parking.

The show was great. Cat Power was really good. I like her covers. She performed "Ramblin (Wo)Man" which I asolutely love. Wasn't too into the next band, Spiritualized, but Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were amazing. They ended the show with "Stagger Lee." I underestimate my ability to remain awake for long periods these days. Since I got up early and worked all day, by the time the show was over (at around 11) I was too tired to hang out! How sad. I got home around 12:30 and fell right to sleep. Such an old lady.

The Hollywood Bowl is an amazing venue, and I definitely recommend seeing at least one show there, but I prefer the more intimate, smaller venues. Even the Wiltern, which is pretty large, was a better place to see Nick Cave. I went back when it had seats, and it felt more my style.

My new favorite thing, by the way, is iTunes Genius button. M. convinced me to download the iTunes update so I could see its powers for myself. You select a song from your library and press the genius button, and the program creates a playlist based on your song. And the playlists are amazing. Much better than the playlists I make for sure. Try it!