My Favorite Things (And I Promise Not to Mention Starbucks Cookies)
I thought I would share some of the things that have my affection and constant attention this summer: KROQ Classics Internet Radio is rocking my working hours. I grew up in LA in the 1980s, where and when KROQ was the cool New Wave Mecca. It played X and the Red Hot Chili Peppers when no one else did, as well as weird old-school rap when it was still very young-school. In the past 20 minutes, I've heard W.O.R.K. by Bow Wow Wow, Girls on Film by Duran Duran, I Will Follow by U2, Stand and Deliver by Adam and the Ants and Mental Hopscotch by Missing Persons. But KROQ also throws in lots of obscure stuff that brings me right back to my 13 year old self, like I Love Paul by Nina Hagen or World Destruction by Zone Time. (KROQ is also the home of D.J. Rodney Bingenheimer, an excellent LA character who figured prominently in my youth - as well as Davy Jones' and Susanna Hoffs'. If you haven't seen Mayor of Sunset Strip, the documentary about Rodney, you should.)
Other Music Newsletter is, for my money, better than the Rock Snob Dictionary. It's one thing to know your stuff about Captain Beefheart or The Wrecking Crew, but the weirdoes at Other Music will definitely help you to one-up even the most savvy music geeks. For instance, have you ever heard of Mickey Newbury? I hadn't, but now I'm dying to hear his album. Did you know that there is a compilation of funky 60s-era female singers from Bangkok, called Thai Beat a Go-Go? There are three, actually. Do you know anything about The Watt's 103rd Street Rhythm Band? Last Christmas, I got HG an album called 94 Baker Street, a compilation of songs recorded for Apple Records. You just don't find this stuff anywhere else. Plus, if you are sick of all things commercial, their new releases are often refreshingly unknown. Sometimes they hype things a little too much - I got the silly Blue Van album on their recommendation, but I also got an EP by Tuesday Weld, so that makes us even. I still don't get why the entire staff is in love with Animal Collective's Sung Tongs. I've only heard a few samples but they were definitely a turn off.
Newsletter honorable mention goes to Film Forum Newsletter, which comes to me every Wednesday with its maddening challenge question about one of the films it's currently playing. Remember in Ghost World, when the guy in the wheel chair at the coffee house finds answers to the trivia questions on his laptop and gets a free coffee every day? I am that guy. I'm obsessed with finding answers to these questions and sending them in right away. The prize is a measly pair of free tickets on a weeknight, when as a member I get tickets for $5 anyway. Still, it must be my little researcher brain or my need for approval that has me scrambling for obscure information each week. I've known the answer without researching it exactly once out of the 50 or so times I've sent in a response. I've gotten the answer correct every time, though. But they put the correct responses together and draw the name of the winner at random. I've never won.
Finally, I plan to do a post about summer reading, but the book I'm currently reading, Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern, deserves its own special place on this list. Because I love all things hipster-1960s, I've had a copy of Southern's novel, Candy, since I was a kid. But I've never read any of his other stuff until now. Southern is a wacko/perverse comic writer who helped write the screenplays of Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider, among other great things. He also wrote for Saturday Night Live during the first years, and National Lampoon's (all Harvard grads who go on to write satire for Hollywood or magazines worship Southern, it's a prerequisite). This strange collection of his work includes interviews with him, letters he sent to magazines and friends, stories and scenes he has written. Some of it is truly sick, but much of it is brilliantly funny, and even the sick stuff stays with you for days. And I love his swinging attitude. He's a likeable Peter Sellers, or a smart Austin Powers.
Other Music Newsletter is, for my money, better than the Rock Snob Dictionary. It's one thing to know your stuff about Captain Beefheart or The Wrecking Crew, but the weirdoes at Other Music will definitely help you to one-up even the most savvy music geeks. For instance, have you ever heard of Mickey Newbury? I hadn't, but now I'm dying to hear his album. Did you know that there is a compilation of funky 60s-era female singers from Bangkok, called Thai Beat a Go-Go? There are three, actually. Do you know anything about The Watt's 103rd Street Rhythm Band? Last Christmas, I got HG an album called 94 Baker Street, a compilation of songs recorded for Apple Records. You just don't find this stuff anywhere else. Plus, if you are sick of all things commercial, their new releases are often refreshingly unknown. Sometimes they hype things a little too much - I got the silly Blue Van album on their recommendation, but I also got an EP by Tuesday Weld, so that makes us even. I still don't get why the entire staff is in love with Animal Collective's Sung Tongs. I've only heard a few samples but they were definitely a turn off.
Newsletter honorable mention goes to Film Forum Newsletter, which comes to me every Wednesday with its maddening challenge question about one of the films it's currently playing. Remember in Ghost World, when the guy in the wheel chair at the coffee house finds answers to the trivia questions on his laptop and gets a free coffee every day? I am that guy. I'm obsessed with finding answers to these questions and sending them in right away. The prize is a measly pair of free tickets on a weeknight, when as a member I get tickets for $5 anyway. Still, it must be my little researcher brain or my need for approval that has me scrambling for obscure information each week. I've known the answer without researching it exactly once out of the 50 or so times I've sent in a response. I've gotten the answer correct every time, though. But they put the correct responses together and draw the name of the winner at random. I've never won.
Finally, I plan to do a post about summer reading, but the book I'm currently reading, Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern, deserves its own special place on this list. Because I love all things hipster-1960s, I've had a copy of Southern's novel, Candy, since I was a kid. But I've never read any of his other stuff until now. Southern is a wacko/perverse comic writer who helped write the screenplays of Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider, among other great things. He also wrote for Saturday Night Live during the first years, and National Lampoon's (all Harvard grads who go on to write satire for Hollywood or magazines worship Southern, it's a prerequisite). This strange collection of his work includes interviews with him, letters he sent to magazines and friends, stories and scenes he has written. Some of it is truly sick, but much of it is brilliantly funny, and even the sick stuff stays with you for days. And I love his swinging attitude. He's a likeable Peter Sellers, or a smart Austin Powers.
posted by j.m. at 2:43 PM
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