Un Homme et une Femme: "Samba Saravah"

I just wanted to bring a little samba into your lives.

Second Hand Songs

I was just looking up whether Neil Diamond wrote "Both Sides Now" (he didn't) and found a nice little site I hadn't heard of. It's called Second Hand Songs, and it's a "cover song database." Like for instance, did you know that Claudine Longet did a version of "Both Sides Now"? Also, did you know that "Major Tom" was originally written by Peter Schilling? Now that's a Very Little Known Fact! Anyway, it's kind of fun.

Lou Reed to Keynote South by Southwest

According to Billboard, Lou Reed will be the keynote speaker at South by Southwest, and will "discuss his career March 13 as part of the kick-off of the event, which will also feature a screening of the Julian Schnabel film 'Lou Reed's Berlin.'" This will be a rare chance for you to see Reed alongside Daryl Hall and the not-so-rare chance to see him with Thurston Moore and Steve Reich.

Minor Threat Hot Sauce

I missed this story somehow, but I have to mention it (from Pitchfork):

"Made from a rare, mild breed of habanero [pepper] grown specifically for us, Minor Threat...mysteriously privileges the pepper's fruitiness over its notoriously overwhelming heat," reads the product description from Brooklyn-based sauciers (and picklers) Wheelhouse Pickles.

While "fruitiness" and Minor Threat should probably never be uttered in the same sentence, the sauce was indeed inspired by the DC giants, according to a recent Gothamist post (via The Daily Swarm). Wheelhouse chief pickler Jon Orren picked the name because of his affinity for the band, and also because it made sense (a mild pepper is, after all, less threatening than, say, a medium or hot one).

And MacKaye is into it, having asked only that an original label design parodying the famous "Bottled Violence" image be nixed. "I don't have an occasion to eat a lot of hot sauce," he's quoted in the Gothamist story as saying, "but I also thought the Minor Threat stuff was nice."

Somebody might be due for an upgrade in their Advancement status. (Getting into the food industry is Advanced.)

R.E.M. Do Slade' Merry Xmas Everybody

Please enjoy R.E.M.'s version of Merry Xmas Everybody at Surviving the Golden Age (via Stereogum, where they have the amazing Slade video). This is a good moment to remind you that not liking Christmas is Overt.

David Bowie's Face For Sale

According to Ultimate Guitar Online, that is:

An “original life mask” of David’s Bowie’s face has been put up for sale The mask, which is cast in white from a direct mould of Bowie’s face, was made during the production of the film, ‘The Hunger.’ Bowie starred in the popular 1983 film alongside Catherine Deneuve. The mask was used as a make-up tester for the film and is annotated in pencil to prove its authenticity.

And of course, you can get it at Target.

Sly Stone Live

The Village Voice has a review of a recent Sly and some of the Family Stone show:

...after a 45-minute wait, the packed, largely white and middle-aged crowd was greeted by a mohawked Sly himself, sporting a silver-studded jogging suit. After a warm-up, he launched into "Dance to the Music," wherein the younger, multiracial band generated some heat even if they weren't as tight as the ol' Family. Sly sang and played sporadically, preferring to let the group sing while he played the cheerleader role off to the side. Still, when he was on, for "Sing a Simple Song," he was in good voice and got on the good foot occasionally. And while he let the group take over for "Everyday People," he was flashing peace signs and stomping around the stage and into the crowd for "I Want To Take You Higher." After he excused himself for a pee break, he returned for a sultry version of the non-sing-along "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey," adding a spacey keys solo before dismissing the band and bidding adieu.

Show time: 30 minutes.

I'm pretty sure Sly Stone is Advanced. By the way, it won't surprise you to learn that the Voice writer tells us all about his relationship to Stone before he gets on with the review because we all really want to know how the writer was "opened up to black music."The Village Voice is Overt in the worst way. Word on the street is that the second show, the one after the squares had gone home, was "stronger."

Paging Mr. Herman, Mr. P.W. Herman

Not much going on in Advancement the last couple of days, so let's have this instead (from MTV):

[W]e may be on the cusp of the return of Pee-wee in the form of two feature films starring the wide-eyed perennial man-child. "I feel like the time is really ripe right now," [Paul] Reubens said. "A lot of the kids who grew up with the show are young adults. The college kids are middle-aged adults. I feel like I have enough of a built-in audience to make back an investment."

Reubens said he has two Pee-wee scripts ready to go. One is an extension of the famed TV show, "Pee-wee's Playhouse," only this story would take Pee-wee and his friends outside the house for the first time. "We never really went out into what we call puppet land," Reubens recalled of the show. "And this [film] takes place out of the playhouse. I think there are one or two scenes in the playhouse in the beginning. Basically it's all in a fantasy land," he said. "It's like a 'Wizard of Oz,' H.R. Pufnstuf epic adventure story." Reubens added that the story would bring back all of the original characters from the playhouse — live-action and puppets alike.

...Reubens said he had a backup plan nonetheless for the Pee-wee movies should he not be up for the part. "My second option is to have Johnny Depp play Pee-wee," he said. Pie-in-the-sky casting or a realistic plan, Reubens insisted that he's even spoken to Depp about it, saying that the actor told him, "Let me think about it."

Now that would truly Advanced. He could get tips from James Brolin.

Lou Reed and Godel

My brother sent me a link to a post from Emanuel Derman's blog called "Lou Reed and Godel," which is appropriate for this blog in more ways than one. Here's a bit of it:

Doug Hofstadter's book about Godel's theorem, "I am a Strange Loop", points out that mathematicians before after Hilbert and Russell and Whitehead thought that in axiomatic systems,

(a) if you could prove it, it must be true, and

(b) everything true could be proved.

Godel threw a monkey wrench into (b).

There's a similar set of assumptions people often make about human beings:

(a) If you can persuade someone of the logic of something, they should experience the same feeling as you about it; and

(b) if people experience some feeling, there must be a logical cause.

I think that I can prove the Advanced Theory, so therefore it must be true. If not, would Bob Dylan make Victoria Secret in the middle of his "artistic renaissance"? Anyway, click the link to find out why telemarketers should listen to more Lou Reed.

Led Zeppelin II: ESPN and NFL

According to Digital News, Led Zeppelin has made a deal with ESPN and the NFL. Let's take a look:

The short-term partnership started splashing this week, and continues until mid-month. Sports fans have already seen Zeppelin songs and video footage threaded throughout various programming from both groups, including live, highlight, and preview segments.

According to Mike Engstrom, vice president of Marketing at Rhino Entertainment, part of the Warner Music Group, the "unprecedented deal" taps into the energy of a simply unrivaled group. "Zeppelin is the greatest rock band in the world, and they've always done things their own way," Engstrom said in an interview Wednesday. Now, that energy is being shared with a heavily male demographic that spans numerous age brackets.

ESPN and the NFL are complementary, and that makes the three-way structure a smart stab. Just recently, Zeppelin was promoted within a nail-biting Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens, aired on ESPN. The game was the most-watched program in the history of cable television, according to information shared by the network [So if you were worried that Led Zeppelin isn't getting enough coverage, you can rest easy. -jh]

Can a Super Bowl halftime show be far behind?

Brian Wilson Raps: "Smart Girls"

This is the most Advanced thing I've ever heard. The original Beach Boy tops the original wrapper. Here's the back story, from WFMU:

In 1989 Brian Wilson began recording "Sweet Insanity", an album that was due for release in 1991 but was rejected by Sire. The album was made during one of Wilson's supposedly troubled periods when he was under the influence of psychologist Eugene Landy (who was listed as a co-producer) and included guest performances by both Bob Dylan and Weird Al Yankovic. The album has long been available as a bootleg and four of the songs were subsequently released on later albums.

"Smart Girls" was produced by Matt Dike, the co-founder of Delicious Vinyl who was also part of the production team behind hits by Tone Loc and Young MC. By varying accounts Dike was at one time a member of the Dust Brothers and responsible for a some of the production on The Beastie Boy's "Paul's Boutique" which was recorded in 1989 (roughly the same time as Wilson's album).

You just can't understand how Advanced this is until you hear it. Thanks to Trav for this one!

Bowie Comes Alive

Letting Peter Frampton sing while you do pretend magic tricks is highly Advanced. His look is pretty amazing too.

The King and the Jerk

I saw an interview with Steve Martin this weekend (he's written an autobiography called "Born Standing Up") where he told the story of meeting Elvis in Las Vegas, where he (Martin) had been opening for Ann Margaret. Elvis went up to him and said, "You've got an oblique sense of humor." Then added, "I do to, but no one gets it." As some of you know, I think Elvis was one of the original Advanced Artists, and this only reinforces my belief, as it shows that he was completely aware of what he was doing with his art but we just didn't get it.

The postscript to the story was that he showed Steve Martin the three guns he was carrying.