Behold.... A New Year Begins

I wanted to post this before before January 2nd came cause I promised myself I'd start posting again starting in the beginning of 2014. So here it is. And so here I am doing it.

I have some thoughts to put out there in writing but for right now I'll keep this brief. It has been quite a while and I do kinda miss updating the blog.

Facebook has in a sense taken over as to what I might be posting to a blog, but I figure sometimes I want to be a little more descriptive and add some more content.

I'm hoping to stick to it. I guess it's a resolution of sorts (among many others).

So Happy New Year to anyone who happens to come by. I know that I'm probably right now just talking into some kind of empty void. But there it is. Cheers!

Journey

Lately I've been feeling pretty Nostalgic and during my lunch hour today I went looking for some satisfaction. I looked up for a book store that specialized in the new age-y, spiritual stuff and found one not far from my building (you're never too far from whatever it is you're looking for in Manhattan.)

So off I went and found this quaint little cozy bookstore called The Quest in midtown. The smell of the incense gripped me as I knew it would and calmed me immediately. It took me back to the days when these things meant so much to me. There was nothing as peaceful and enjoyable as going to one of these bookstores and browsing the books and all the trinkets, alongside the incense, crystals, candles and scented oils. I've become a skeptic since and have abandoned these things. But I'm trying to re-visit those same feelings I used to get when things weren't as bad as they are today. I don't know that I believed in all of it because it was not so hard for me to let it go. But I do remember the times before and how enjoyable these outings were.

Back where I lived in Arizona, there was an area I used to hang out at called Mill Avenue. I have no idea what it has turned into today but back when I was attending graphic design school, I used to love hanging around there. There were some record shops, a comic book store and one placed called Changing Hands bookstore where I would browse the used books, buy a pack of Tarot cards and maybe a nice blank journal, probably with something Egyptian on the cover as I did a lot of journal writing in those days.

So back at The Quest -  I see it now, the Tarot card area. I see the Universal Waite deck, one that I already have but the one I have came in a different box. So let's buy another one for old times sake and  pick up a few packs of incense and an incense holder. It will be like old times. Will it?

Upon my collection there is one that stands out. It's called the Morgan Greer deck. It's very special because it was given to me by a friend. Someone whom I sadly have no connections with anymore. And it is said that it's very special when someone gives you deck of cards. And It has always remained in my collection in its original box and I've done many readings with them in the past. They were given to me in the late 80s. Almost 25 years ago. I can hold those cards and can transform myself to those days and it will make me smile. It will also make my cry. Because I know that someone is missing now. And  because it's over and now it's only a memory. If only I could get on some time machine and go back and tap on my shoulder and whisper in my ear and say "You are young and there's so much you can do. Don't think too much about where you can't be and instead  make good with where you are at RIGHT NOW."  I'm sure that he never thinks about it now and I don't blame him. I will also never understand the whole situation. I can look at things and smile and remember some really good times. I remember the songs, the mix tapes,  I remember the restaurants and I remember the warm bright days. I remember a lot of fun times. But I also remember anger and other negative emotions. But I've only focused on the good parts today and I'm wishing for some of it back. It can never be like that again. Wishful thinking. It's the kind of thinking that can only be brought on by some kind of despair. I love him even though he doesn't believe it. And quite frankly, I don't know what brought on the things we did to keep us separated. We spent a lot of times together for a while and I'd like to think that it was because I was someone special and was fun to be around. It all ended sadly though and I was right to have left. The cards helped me make the decision.

In the background I can hear Depeche Mode's "Ultra" being played from beginning to end.

I took The Fool's journey that day in late August 1997. That journey has ended and it's time to close my eyes and step off the cliff one more time into the unknown.

Blondie - Mother (Guitar Center appearance)

Blondie's long awaited album "Panic of Girls" will finally be available on September 13.

Telepathe - Throw Away This

I went to clubs during the Freestyle days. I spent hours dancing to the likes of Noel's Silent Morning, Debbie Harry's In Love With Love, Depeche Mode's StrangeLove and asorted extended mixes by Madonna, Pet Shop Bosy, Information Society and Dead or Alive. It was night after night of orchestra hits overdose. This new track from Telepathe , the Brooklyn duo comes very close to that era. A fine mix of Electroclash / Freestyle. Sans orchestra hit.

Natalie / 10,000 Maniacs and REM for the summer

So it's summer and I'm listening to Natalie Merchant's debut Tigerlily which was such a good album. This track is a great tune to relax to on a lazy summer day. My favorite.



San Andreas Fault

A couple of REMs for your summer mix:



Take a break and listen to Driver 8. Skip to 50 to get to the song already.



Gardening at Night



10,000 Maniacs performing a really good cover of REM's Don't Go Back to Rockville.



Another cover from the same CD - 10,000 Maniacs performing an equally great cover of Morrissey's Everyday Is Like Sunday.

blog? what blog?

A little while longer and I'd totally forget I ever had a blog.

So I'll just ramble on since it doesn't look like I'm going to bed anytime soon.

Last summer I had deal with the fact that I have type 2 diabetes like some many people in this country. It was a brutal summer and I remember walking into my apt with shopping bag full of soft drinks and I would begin to gulp away like there's no tomorrow. One day I thought it was quite unusual that I wanted to drink WAY too much. And what's more I was turning to drinking a lot of water and going to the bathroom, like, constantly. Then my vision began to blur. I headed for the doctor then and learned what was going to be kicking my ass now in this life. But you get scared when they first tell ya. Who wouldn't be scared of something that could fuck up your organs and cause you to lose eyesight and limbs? I started doing what they told me. I ate right and stopped the sugar and lost a few pounds. My tests came out better after that.

During the holidays I was faced with some new stress-like situations at work. And then in February I was given the news that the partner I worked for would be moving to a new firm and would I like to go with? I said yes. So since March 1st I've been working in a new place right next to Bloomingdale's and a few blocks away from Central Park. Nice area and it's closer to home. My walk to the train station takes longer than the actual ride to work. The people are very nice at the new place. But I miss the girls I used to work with.

I haven't seen the doctors since. Did not have the time to put that together and I've not had the meds for a while and I've been going a bit stray with the diet. But not to worry (or for some people, don't be TOO happy), I'm getting a hold of the situation and will get back on track. Right after I deal with the crap that's going on inside my mouth. I've had to have a root canal done last week and the dentist says he can't put on a crown until I remove a wisdom tooth that's right behind the tooth that needs the crown. It's been so much fun!!


FLA Angriff

The last CD I bought was Frontline Assembly's Improvised Electronic Device, which was a fucking breath of fresh air finally! I needed that aggressive familiar EBM Industrial music to keep me afloat of things. But lately, I've also been listening to Kraftwerk's The Man Machine a lot - Something about that album makes me envision the imaginary world of space, machines and cities before life as we know it in the current space age.


Kraftwerk The Robots

Hows soon is now, Shayla?

“The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.”

 

Pearl S. Buck

How soon is now?

Nostalgia is a terrible disease.

Shayla

Christmas 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS



I hope everyone is enjoying the festivities. I for one am thankful for many things. I've had the wake-up call during the summer when health issues came pressing down. I've learned a few things and I think I can get a hold on things a little better in 2011. The tree for me symbolizes many things on a personal level.

I wish you all good health and happiness.

French & Saunders - Ding-Dong Merrily on High with Alison

A little Christmas from the funniest duo ever.

Sign in to iTunes - get charged for buying nothing.

12-08-2010 *DEBIT AUTHORIZATION Dec08 11:10p 


AT 23:10 APL*ITUNES 866-712-7753 CA $ 1.00
 
All I did was sign into iTunes yesterday and they charged me $1.00. WTF?

New DM Remix album

For release next year will be a new Depeche Mode remix album. Again, I'm not a big fan of remix albums but this one might be of interest  because of the remixers involved. Some of the names being thrown around are Duran Duran ( from what I understand they will be remixing Personal Jesus), Aland Wilder, Vince Clarke, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs!, Brandon Flowers and Arcade Fire. I'm a little interested because the remixers are some ex-members of Depeche Mode and some pretty well known bands and not a bunch of DJs with funky names. I don't know that there ever was a Depeche Mode remix by a DJ that I liked. What I would really love is a nice Depeche Mode remix album done by band members and the songs chosen are from their early career. Which is why I chose a very young Depeche Mode picture and one that includes Alan Wilder. Alan seems to be invovled lately as far as joining Depeche Mode on stage recently to play the keys for the song Somebody. If this remix album is of newer work, then I may pass it up. I would be curious to hear of updated versions of the old material from Speak & Spell, A Broken Frame, Construction Time Again and Some Great Reward.

Blondie - "Mother In The Night"

Blondie performs "Mother In The Night" on A&E's "Private Sessions" which I didn't know about and missed it. Is it me or is Debbie sounding just fabulous and looking great? I love it. Blondie's new ablum "Panic of Girls" does not have a release date yet, but I wish they'd hurry it up. I think it's going to be major.

 "I don't want to make synth music for the rest of my fucking life. It was a time when I was into that, but whatever, it's done with, it's gone. The whole genre is so over. It was my thing and I'm bored with it."

Source

Really darling, I mean, how old are you? You think the 80s was just a passing phase rather than a whole decade of the most interesting music, not just in Synth but in a lot of different genres.  I bought your last album and quite enjoyed it and thought there was hope yet.

Best response I've read by James D. Stark:

"Guitar music is so over. Rock music has been going on since the '50s. Everyone's sick of that sound right? "

 "If I see anything more '80s-themed, I'm going to bust."
 
You gor right on and bust, honey. You and your music career can go bust altogether. Get off my iPod.

You're a fabulous monster

It's sad to think this is Marc's last studio album of original songs. I'll try to be articulate here, but as you know I am failing with such things among many other things. I do like this album, many songs speak to me. A lot of them touch on getting older, having to let go of a past and making some sort of exit. And some are about being different and celebrating being the fabulous monster (something like a bearded lady in an elegant Dior dress.) Certain songs remind of certain albums. I've loved pretty much all of Marc's solo efforts starting with Marc & The Mambas while he was still with Soft Cell.  In just about every album, Marc will hit something deep within me, a song to hit that kind of pain you're feeling where everyone else is silent about. There's so much of me in his b-side track "Beautiful Losers" that I could not stop listening to it. Listen, if you feel alive, happy and lucky there's plenty out there for you. Take your pick. But yours truly does not have much of a choice. I need music that can speak to me and connect with my emotions and Marc along with very few artists have made that happen for me. I love this album (well, most of it) because he ditched all the synth stuff and actually hired some musicians. It felt like the old Marc. Listening to "Bread and Circus" reminded me of "Mother Fist." "Nijinsky Heart" made me think of "The Stars We Are." the single "Variete" is like something out of "Fantastic Star." But that album has never been one of my favorites. For the most part it is a pretty good album. Marc sings about being different as usual in "The Exhibitionist" and how ordinary is bad and strange is good:

Let's hear it for the Dog-Faced boy
Three cheers for the Alligator Girl
We can marvel at your surface
While you hid what's underneath
Strange is good

And I can't help the feeling I get when I listen to "Swan Song." I too feel like I've done what I can and now it's time to make that exit:

My times passed on
I no longer belong
So I'm saying goodbye
And I'll be gone
With my swan song

Marc has touched on all the things he feels sad about including what once was and now isn't "Soho So Long" It's a feeling I get whenever I walk down in any of the old stomping grounds here in NYC.

I will shut up now about Marc.

Some personal stuff:

It's was a pretty bad summer for me since July when I began to feel really sick and the doctor told me I had type 2 diabetes. This is a big blow to me as now I have to make these drastic lifestyle changes. In a world where there's hardly a pleasure, some foods fill the void. Now I have to watch every bit and count, count, count. I am minus a stone because of it, but that's hardly enough. I need to do more, more, more. I'm very unhappy about it. Downright depressed. And I've asked my doctor - It isn't because I'm fat or anything like that. I have diabetes because it runs in the family and two of my brothers have it. So I really shouldn't be surprised but at the same time, it's no picnic to be told you have a disease. Yes, if I lose a ton of weight, I can have better control over it, but that's it. It's just better control. It does NOT go away. I just feel like I've had it. How many slaps in the face before I lose it completely?

Suicides and bullying - I actually wrote this whole thing about the topic but I scratched it. I just don't think you need to hear it from me.

Anne Rice declares:

I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of ...Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen. 7/28/10

Anne's website.

Time Travel 1982

I could be alone in this but maybe nobody is talking about it but I find myself unimpressed and unsatisfied with anything new in the music world. Lots of things have changed and really I think the age bracket that I have entered into does not allow me to accept changes so easily. The changes are drastic.  But that's me. And as I walked alone on a cool summer's evening on fashion week here in New York City - trying hard to move away from the crazy crowd - It was a madhouse of loud offensive beats and young hipsters who are brought up on mp3s and texting, sexting and what-have-you (any gadget with a lower case "i" before it) - when I noticed a record shop. I quickly walked in not really expecting all that much. I wasn't going to find that Chameleons CD that I've been looking for, I knew that for sure. But you walk into these places now and the cashier is that type of pretender  where the music he plays will be some kind of punk band that is only familiar to himself and he's going to look at you like you had just came into existence in life and what you're wearing and decide to make those kinds of judgements - Like I don't belong in his domain because I'm probably only going to buy something mainstream. Well I didn't want to disappoint. Looking through the DVDs I saw the Blondie concert that immediately brought a bunch of memories. Off course I picked it up to buy right away - Mr. punk cashier giving himself a nod - I knew it! Well I could tell him a few things. I could tell him how I used to walk these streets long before he was born at a time when these streets were far more exciting and full of interesting people and shops.

I thought this concert was lost forever. I know that it was released video tape for a while but never bought it at the time. I was heavily listening to other things and figured I needn't go to the past. Little did I know that it would save my sanity in the years to come. Funny how when we're young we never think we're going to hit 40.

Well, here's the memory: Picture it, 1982, I was only 15 years old. At that time, the only cable TV we had was HBO. You had a little box on top of your TV and you used a little key to turn it on. Each month HBO would send their subscribers a guide and some notes on previews of what's to come in the coming month. When I saw that they would show a Blondie concert, I would feel what anyone would under the circumstances - the excitement to me was unbearable. I could not wait. At this time, Blondie had just released The Hunter album and nobody was talking about it. In fact, it was getting pretty bad reviews. But I was already in love with it as I think you'd have to have been a Blondie freak to love this album. Ms. Harry had just done her Koo-Koo album and after a Blondie Best-Of, they released this to the world. Most everyone said WTF! Which included the album cover most noticeably Ms. Harry's lion-mane hairdo. I loved it. 

I loved The Hunter and I loved the movie Class of 1982 which nobody on earth knows anything about and I had gone to the movie theater to see that movie twice. But that's just something personal. I can't think about this album without thinking about that movie.

When the time came for HBO to show the concert for the first time, I sat anxiously waiting for it to begin. The hardest part was having to watch this with members of my family who do not share my passion. This is not the best Blondie concert. Most of the songs are pulled out from The Hunter and you only get a sprinkling of their older songs. The band does not sound very tight. It just didn't look like Debbie is much into it. One Way Or Another is an example. Her "getcha getcha's" barely making it through. Around the living room, people notice and begin their attacks. I want to watch this in peace. I'm overlooking any of these mishaps both on screen and in the living room and am just happy that I get to see my favorite band perform in whatever form they may be. I believe at this time Chris Stein was ill. He had this mystery illness that nobody can figure out. 

The concert is only 11 tracks. One of which is a cover of The Stone's "Start Me Up." They could have removed that and placed another Blondie song. But something tells me that they may have pulled the best possible songs from that concert and the rest were not as better performed. But at the time, I was happy with it. I could not get enough of it. When I knew they would show it again, I played sick from school and stayed home to watch it. Now that's a fan. Right?

I went a step further and put a tape recorder to the TV speaker and recorded it. I listened to that tape a lot. So that's the memory attached to this DVD. What I am mournful about is the passion and dedication that I felt for something back then. Something missing in my life right now.



Playlist

Rapture

Island of Lost Souls

Danceway

The Tide Is High

Heart Of Glass

Hanging On The Telephone

Dreaming

One Way Or Another

War Child

Start Me Up

Call Me

It would be sometime in the early 90s that I got to see Debbie Harry perform on stage with Chris Stein. It was during Debbie's Def Dumb and Blonde tour and I have to say it was an amazing show. The concert took place in Arizona at a venue called After The Gold Rush. I remember a lot of Blondie songs were played and the band and Debbie out-performed that 1982 concert. 

ETA: Actually I have to say that the first sentence in this post is not entirely true! I have listened to some new music as of late which is OK. I will write about that on a later post.

My Dad's a Smiths Fan

Emily Capell

OMD - History of Modern

OMD has returned with the single "If You Want It" which is pretty decent. The video for it looks a little like a Pet Shop Boys video (as someone on YouTube mentioned).

The ablum titled "History of Modern" will be released in the U.S. on September 28 in 5.. count 5 formats! When a CD release these days just won't do.

The sound is very familiar and is clearly recognizable as an OMD song. One might question when in the 80s this song was released.

I'm not a huge fan of OMD. I don't have all their albums but do love most of their singles as well as this new one.

For more info: OMD website

Blondie - Panic of Girls

So this is the artwork for the new Blondie album. Looks pretty cool.

The album is supposed to have about 16 tracks. That's a lot of Blondie. One of them will be a cover of Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. Want to know what that would sound like? Here's a video of them recording it in the Studio.



The album will also feature the song What I heard. Here's a preview from IOW Festival this year.



I like the song a lot and am looking forward for the new album. They are still touring and seems like they've been doing it since their last album The Curse of Blondie.

Lady is People too

Lady Gaga talking about the possibility of covering Depeche Mode's 1984 hit "People are People"

"I could really give it the melody it never had"

and

"I didn't know the band existed until I saw a mash-up of 'Paparazzi' with 'Just Can't Get Enough'."

Granted she's young - but it kinda bugs me that she's never heard of them until now and that she doesn't think People are People had any melody to it. It was 1984. Sampling was new and the song was supposed to have an "industrial" feel to it.

People are People stands on its own and I don't know what you can do to it today. Whatever you do, it won't be the same song. Gaga will put her spin on it and I predict an epic fail.

She does also say "I advise everyone to check out Depeche Mode, they are so underrated."

We're so glad you feel that way.