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.

Return to Eden - Ultravox Live at the Roundhouse (London)

Last year I had mentioned on this blog that it was going to be the year for Ultravox. I think it was. But not in the U.S. Still holding out some hope of a tour in the States though I don't know if the U.S. gives much of a hoot for this reunion. I for one was very happy to hear of it. Having listened to them non-stop since the mid 80s. I've never taken a break from them. They are one of the greats.

There's been a lot of 30 year celebrations going on lately and  I had wished I could have been a part of this one. Let's face it, some of us aren't getting any younger and this is our last chance to say "thank you and good night" to those groups that are still standing and still want to pleasure us with their sound.

So Midge, Billie, Warren & Chris are superb in what they do in this reunion. Their sound is very tight and they seem so together with the whole thing. There's a lot of keyboard action going on and they are all played live - by hand. Isn't that refreshing to see? It's a great set-list of  just about all the singles and a couple of album cuts.

Ultravox had only one other live album during the 80s. That of "Monument." It's pretty good, but this is much better. I was glad that they did the same closing at The Roundhouse as they did in Monument. The ending to The Voice where they all take to the drums. The DVD also contains a small documentary mostly taped by Midge about the buildup to the tour. Emotions are high as they meet up for the first time in over 20 some years.

It really takes me back when I hear All Stood Still or Sleepwalk and all I can think about is WLIR radio station playing them almost daily.

All I can say is if you're a fan of the band, do get this. I believe this is a limited release.

My top 15 Ultravox songs:

1. Vienna
2. Mr. X
3. The Voice
4. Rage in Eden
5. I Remember (Death in the Afternoon)
6. We Came to Dance
7. Hymn
8. White China
9. One Small Day
10. Visions in Blue
11. Lament
12. Serenade
13. Reap The Wild Wind
14. Love's Great Adventure
15. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes

Betty on SNL

I know I'm late talking about this but...

I was chuckling to myself today on the way home from work. I couldn't get over Betty's appearance on SNL. This was my favorite skit. I actually thought she was going on the Saturday before. Then I missed the actual airing. So I went to prime time on demand and they had it up.

It was great to see Molly, Anna, Amy, Maya and Tina all together again. It was a real funny show and SNL hasn't been funny for me for a long, long time.

So onto my favorite skit. "The Wonderful Wizard of Ass!" (I don't know that what it's called, but it's the funniest line ever.)



Wizard..... of AAAASSS!

Don't stare that bitch in the face

I got to see Clash of the Titans in 1981 when it came out. My brother took me which is very rare, but I guess even he knew I had to see this movie being that I was so much into fantasy and the like. I still love the movie and it was being shown last week. I sat and watched it and never thought that it was out-dated or anything. Same as if I was watching one the old Japanese monster movies. It's just something that was so cool to watch back in the day and you just have to take the trip back mentally and forget about today's technology to really enjoy these movies when they are shown again.

So last night I went to see the remake of this movie. I don't think this version of the  movie was made with 3D in mind because there really wasn't anything 3D specific in the movie. Sure, in the begining it seemed all great and everything but by the time you get into the middle of the movie, it just didn't seem 3D anymore. I get that today not a whole lot of people are going to the movies because like the music industry, the movie industry is losing a lot of money to downloads. So if you want people to come, convert to 3D, charge extra and make some dough.

This remake was like watching one of those made-for-TV movies that you see on the Sci-Fi channel. Oh excuse me, Sy-Fy. I did like it though I don't think they should have strayed from the earlier version. There was a funny remark to the old one in the movie and I won't give it away. But I always thought the one thing that made the old version a little cheesy was that freakin owl.

The best part, to me, was the Medusa scene. Same as the earlier version. The Kraken wasn't all that impressive. I couldn't even tell what the hell the thing looked like in this re-make.

Anyway, it's not a total loss but it just isn't enough for me to want to see it again. Even for free on cable. Though I will still watch the old version whenever I get the chance!

And really, you're not missing anything if you don't see this in 3D. Save your money.

Life in the so-called space age

Hotels Combined is already getting ready to reserve hotel reservations to - where?

Link

PSB Pandemonium Live

Some info on the live CD/DVD due out on 2/15.

The cocert was shot at the O2 Arena, London on December 21, 2009. Would  have loved to have been there for that one. I have said this before that this was by far the most fun and memorable concerts that I had ever attended for many years of concert going. If you didn't see it in person, get the DVD you will love it.

Here's a track-list:

o 1. More Than A Dream/Heart
o 2. Did You See Me Coming
o 3. Pandemonium/Can You Forgive Her
o 4. Love Etc
o 5. Go West
o 6. Two Divided By Zero
o 7. Why Don't We Live Together
o 8. New York City Boy
o 9. Always On My Mind
o 10. Closer To Heaven/Left To My Own Devices
o 11. Do I Have To
o 12. King's Cross
o 13. Suburbia
o 14. Se A Vida E/Discoteca/Domino Dancing/Viva La Vida
o 15. It's A Sin
o 16. Being Boring
o 17. West End Girls

The DVD contains the entire concert plus:

23. My Girl [DVD]
24. It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas [DVD]
25. Love Etc [video/DVD]
26. Did You See Me Coming [video/DVD]
27. All Over The World [video/DVD]
28. 2009 BRIT Awards Performance [DVD] - Pet Shop Boys & Lady Gaga/Brandon Flowers.

Pretty Baby

Brian Aris talks about photographing the beautiful Debbie Harry during Blondie's early years.

London is lucky to get glimpse of these fantastic photos of Deb. at Proud Gallery.

The above photo is not one of them.

Link.

Roads.

Storm in the morning light I feel No more can I say Frozen to myself

Fantastic performance! and one of my favorite Portishead songs from the Dummy release. That entire album was on very heavy rotation during it's release (93? 94?). I can't tell you what it meant for me to have such an album to listen to during that time in my life.

***

I have been having quite a few sleepless nights in past few  months. It's taken it's toll and I don't know the cause of it. Surely my depression is the same as always or perhaps it has begun to worsen. Something to that effect. I had these problems before but that was a long time ago when I was living in Phoenix. Whatever. Who cares.

***

So during one of those nights instead of just laying there for sleep to come, I decided to just get up and do something. So I turned on my computer and I can't remember what led me to it, but I downloaded one of those Linux distribution discs and installed Linux Mint to my computer. Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu but for whatever reason I decided not to go with Ubuntu and instead chose Mint cause it just sounded fresh.

Turned out to be a good deal. I installed the system in my seperate hard drive that had been sitting there since I got it with nothing in it. I didn't want to partition my system drive so it was a very easy instal. But you don't even have to do that (install on a HD). You can just work from the CD and play around with it to see if you like it or not. 

Some Linux facts if you don't know anything about it.

It is a freely distributable operating system which will work on any PC or Mac (though Mac does run on a Unix/Linux operating system called "Darwin"). There are many "flavours" meaning you have a choice of many, many different systems. Some are put together with something specific in mind. Ubuntu is the most popluar with Mint being No. 3 most popular.

All software for Linux operating systems are free. There is *just about* every software that your computer might need including the Firefox browser, e-mail application and a number of essential tools. The only thing is that they are not commercial software so they are mostly clones of popular programs but work just as well like GIMP  which is like Photoshop and Open Office which is like MS Office. I'm still having fun tinkering away with it and discovering new things. Give it a try if you're bored one day.

The thing about Mint is that when you install it, a lot of the software comes pre-installed so you don't have to go looking for them downloading  and installing them.

Linux Mint

Hmm.. Portishead and Linux in the same post. Surely, I need some rest.

One More Colour

Jane Siberry. Anyone remember this chick? I know I have this single...somewhere.

One of those random "remember this song?" moments. YouTube is good for that.

Knittin' Mittens

It was supposed to be a little smaller for a woman, but it's large enough to fit my hand. Wonder if my brother will wear such bald mittens. Very warm though. Perfect for snowball fights.

So hold me mom... In your long arms.

"A certain American religious sect has been looking at conditions of the world during the Flood.

According to their calculations, during the Flood the winds, tides and currents were in an overall southeasterly direction.

This would mean that in order for Noah’s Ark to have ended up on Mount Ararat, it would have to have started out several thousand miles to the west.

This would then locate pre-Flood civilization in the area of Upstate New York, and the Garden of Eden roughly in New York City.

Now, in order to get from one place to another, something must move.

No one in New York remembers moving, and there are no traces of Biblical history in the Upstate New York area.

So we are led to the only available conclusion in this time warp, and that is that the Ark has simply not left yet."

Beginning of "Say Hello" by Laurie Anderson. As heard on the "United States Live" album.

In the beginning of "Home Of The Brave" (1984) where Laurie explains the meaning of the numbers "0" and "1" the language of machines. You will have wait about 4 minutes of performance before getting there but in my opinion well worth it. I loved "Home Of The Brave."  Must find out if this is available on DVD.



From the "Homeland" tour (2007. Here Laurie performs "Only an Expert"
There's a little glitch at about 3:30 and a couple of more places.



(selected lyrics)
Now let’s say you’re invited to be on Oprah
And you don’t have a problem
But you want to go on the show, so you need a problem
So you invent a problem
But if you’re not an expert in problems
You’re probably not going to invent a very plausible problem
And so you’re probably going to get nailed
You’re going to get exposed
You’re going to have to bow down and apologize
And beg for the public’s forgiveness.
Cause only an expert can see there’s a problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem

And even though a county can invade another country.
And flatten it. And ruin it. And create havoc and civil war in that other country
If the experts say that it’s not a problem
And everyone agrees that they’re experts good at seeing problems
Then invading that country is simply not a problem.
And if a country tortures people
And holds citizens without cause or trial and sets up military tribunals
This is also not a problem.
Unless there’s an expert who says it’s the beginning of a problem.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem

The last part of "O Superman" with an insert not on the original.



'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice.
And when justive is gone, there's always force.
And when force is gone, there's always Mom. Hi Mom!

So hold me, Mom, in your long arms.
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms.
In your automatic arms. Your electronic arms.
In your arms.
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms.
Your petrochemical arms. Your military arms.
In your electronic arms.

All Cried Out

Here’s a transformed Alison Moyet singing “All Cried Out” on the Graham Norton Show. This song was from her debut album “Alf.” Such a long time ago. What a great song! We love her for this, “Invisible” and “Love Resurrection” which are also from “Alf.”


Some of us were lucky to see Alison and Vince perform on their Yazoo reunion tour which probably is not likely to happen again. It was a memorable evening.

Well, it's only bricks and mortar!

So said Moz in one of his most amazing solo efforts ever, that being "Last Night, Maudlin Street."

I was recently visiting a friend where we began discussing books. We remenisced about the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop where I discovered some notable gay authors such as Gore Vidal and  John Rechy. I mentioned that there was a possiblity of its doors closing once but that it had been saved. Then my friend said to me that earlier this year it had in fact shut down its doors for good. It made me very unhappy to hear this.

I suppose things like this are going to happen. And everytime it does, I feel a piece my youth and defining moments being taken away from me. The small record shops, and even the big ones such as Tower Records and Virgin Megastore don't seem to have a fighting chance now with the rotten economy together with on-line shops like Amazon and others. It's rather depressing now that the alternative is that you go out your door to go and buy the books or music you want. It's more common to shop by computer these days. We're all doing it so we have all contributed to this change.

But the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop was very important to me.

I must have been around 17 or 18. Walking around Greenwich Village on my own  on a fine weekend where I saw the shop and decided to walk in. I'd never been in a bookstore where its entire contents were for and about gays and lesbians. I picked up several books and I remember what they were: Gore Vidal's "The City and The Pillar," John Rechy's "City of Night," and Laura Z. Hobson's "Consenting Adult."

I returned to the shop many times sometimes to just browse and sometimes to buy. Once on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I bought Phranc's "Folksinger" album. She's your average Jewish Lesbian Folk Singer who opened for The Smiths once and even for Morrissey. I remember playing this record when I got home and smiled about it and was very satisfied with how my day had gone. This is a personal statement, but I'm not having those days anymore. And thinking back at these memories are sometimes what I have left. When these places dissappear, I'm scared that the memory won't be enough. I'd like to keep pointing to these places when passing by with friends, and declare a moment of discovery, peace and self-realizations in a certain point in my life.

There's a point and time in your life that becoming old is furthest from your mind. You think at that point that you're never going to get older, lose hiar, go grey and fa....

Ok I'll stop now.

Visit the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop's website. There are many pictures.

HULMERIST - Re-Visited

So last night I was feeling extremely Morrissey. Meaning I was sad, lost, alone and could not "find my place in this world." I could feel pretty high about life one day, such as being at a great concert and the next day I could be reminded how I still have far to go to be considered a "person."

And I said "V...Lots of things make you want to pop open a vein... But let's see if we can find something to replace that. Who knows what tomorrow brings.." You know the bullshit.

I was thinking about the early days of Morrissey solo bits and so I took a look into my box-o-video tapes and wondered "hmm.. which will it be? Live in Dallas? The Malady Lingers On? Introducing Morrissey? Ah, Hulmerist, that's the first one, let's re-live that moment."

I remember watching this a lot during its release in 1990. Moz was still so young, MTV was still showing music videos and 120 Minutes was airing. So music wise, it was still an exciting time.

In between the videos to the singles, you can a glimpse of adoring Moz fans going to the show. It's like Moz saying "I want the world to see how much I am adored and loved." From what I remember, when Moz first went solo and was to perform his first show, you got to go in for free and only if you were wearing a Smiths T-shirt. You see this in the video when people are lining up to go through security. There is one live performance in Hulmerist, that of "Sister I'm a Poet." Fans are constantly swimming through the audience to get to the stage and give their hero a hug, all the while Moz is showered in flowers from the audience. It was like The Smiths without Marr as Andy and Mike were also present in the videos.

I can't say whether watching this again since I don't know when the last time I watched it - made me feel any better. I know I smiled a few times and at times I felt like letting the flood gates open.

I've read lately that Marr is not opposed to a Smiths reunion. But much of that reunion rests on Morrissey which I feel will probably not want to do it. But think of the excitement this will cause among Moz fans if this were ever to happen. I think it would be big news in the music industry that The Smiths would reform if only for some live shows. Moz already performs the Smiths stuff during his live shows, but that's just a few select songs sandwiched between his solo stuff. Imagine a two hour Smiths concert! If it was one show one night in England, I might go out there just to be a part of it.

Pet Shop Boys @ Hammerstein Ballroom 9/2/09

I'm actually down there somewhere near the front. Off to the right of the stage.

Well, this will go down in history as one of the most fun shows I've been to. I saw PSB once before on their last tour. It was nice, but I don't remember having as much fun as this one. Probably because the last time, they were in a bigger place with seating. This was general admission (if you had a floor ticket.)

At first glance their stage set didn't seem too impressive. It wasn't anything like the picture above. See what happened was that wall was a lot smaller at the beginning of the show. It collapsed to reveal behind it an even bigger wall, which later it also collapsed. It was just wild, I thought. What do I know? I needed some cheering up and this was the ticket.

The boys really had a lot of fun up there and they had these 4 dancers who ran around the stage. At one point throwing those boxes at each other. Assembling boxes, tearing them down, building them up. I don't know. It was a love affair with all things square. They even covered their heads in boxes. Something maybe Leigh Bowery might have cooked up.

The songs? There's music too!! The opening number was "Heart" and Neil sounded great. Though his voice seemed heavily processed, at times sounding as though he was lip-syncing. But I'm sure he wasn't. A lot of the set contained medley types such as "Pandemonium" going into "Can You Forgive Her." At one point I heard the beginning to "Paninaro" and I thought wow, this is a personal favorite! - but ended up with "Go West" which I think was the best part of the show!!

A great moment for me was when they performed "2 / 0" which was the first song from their first album "Please." I always loved that song. It really took me back.

"Why Can't We Live Together" was pretty good too and I think this is the song where the dancers came out wearing New York City building costumes (Empire State, Chrysler, Citigroup).

I thought it was a well rounded selection of songs. I loved hearing them perform "Being Boring" and last but not least a cover version of that Coldplay song. You know the one. Neil just HAD to do it in a crown and purple cape. But it was cool. The backdrop video looked pretty cool too in all black and white, Neil walking the streets wearing the king costume holding an umbrella. The song did also incorporate "Domino Dancing" so it wasn't a complete cover from beginning to end. I think as long as they were doing that, the Village People Cover "Go West," the Willie Nelson Cover "Always On My Mind," (and it was great!) - They should have also done "Where The Streets Had No Name."

"It's a Sin" was performed and right at the end we were showered with tinsel. Nice touch.

Their new material blended pretty well with the older ones. I have no complaints with this show. I had a lot of fun. The visuals were great. The performance was excellent. Total win.

"West End Girls" Ended the show.

Picture above was stolen from Brooklyn Vegan. Please click on the link more excellent pictures of the show.

Wonderland!

Yes, it's another Burton film with Johnny Depp. Looks good!

Trailer here.

Marc

I'm reading the latest blog post from Marc Almond's MySpace page. Aside from him having OCD and doing the same things over and over again in the same places, and aside from his and my dismay at fabulous cities being destroyed by tearing down old buildings, he adds that he has almost finished with his new album. It's a "band" album with real instruments much like "Stars We Are." He is revisiting his teenage years and will have 70s references all around.

"Orpheus in Exile" is out next month.

Marc also ends with:

SOMEONE TELLS ME ANDROGYNY IS IN NEXT YEAR. WHAT AGAIN? I CAN'T REMEMBER WHEN IT WASN'T. I LIVED THROUGH AT LEAST HALF A DOZEN ANDROGYNY REVIVALS SINCE THE ONE THAT I WAS ORIGINALLY A PART OF. AT LEAST IT MEANS THE ERA OF ENDLESS GIRL ACTS THAT STARTED WITH AMY WINEHOUSE AND MUTATED INTO LITTLE BOOTS LA ROUX ETC WILL COME TO AN END AS RECORD COMPANIES HAVE SIGNED EVERY SINGLE DAMN ONE OF THEM IN EXISTANCE AD NAUSEUM. BRING ON THE PRETTY BOYS AGAIN.

Up From The Debths (Godzilla)

You'll enjoy this if you, like me, grew up watching Japanese monster movies.

O Superman

Ok, I'm on a Laurie Anderson kick right now. I LOVE this mix!!

Depeche Mode's Tour of the Universe- August 4, 2009

Last night I went to the Garden to attend yet another Depeche Mode concert.

I went by myself and I think at this point, any other way would probably make me feel out of sorts. Unless I'm with you off course! With you, I think the experience would be 100 times better! Thank you.

So I really wasn't expecting much and I was pretty proud of myself to stay away from any reviews or pictures of the show. I wanted the element of surprise to be there for me. I may be the only who gives a crap about that so I don't feel too bad about posting on the show for others to read if they haven't seen it yet.

I was proved wrong for not expecting much - for this concert just blew me away. I tell you the set list was just excellent! And the visuals they used blew me away too. By now, we have been treated to these kinds of stage visuals at just about every concert we go to and really there's nothing more you can do. But for the songs they chose and the visuals used to put it together really made it very unique.

Dave was in excellent form. He did his usual stage-running all over the place. The dancing and twirling was all there and done in the same place where you'd expect him to. The one thing I have to say is that Dave does not like to sing the choruses to all the previous hits. I wish he'd stop that. He's been doing this for the past few tours and it's getting on my nerves. He should sing the chorus at least twice and let the crowd do it at the end like when they used to do with "Everything Counts" in the old days. Dave, please sing the choruses. It makes the song incomplete when you don't do it.

Martin looked great and wants to let you know that he owns a lot of guitars. With each song, Martin switched guitars. He's like Cher.

Andy still has no rhythm and I still don't think he does anything at the boards. But I love him all the same.

There was a big love affair with the drummer. He was the loudest and both Dave & Martin worshipped him from time to time. He was pretty good though.

Another keyboard player was present but I don't know much about him. There's really not much to tell about this guy.

OK, so I had scored a really good ticket. My seat was not too far off from the stage on the floor. I was in the middle of section 6. The stage extended out into the audience and for one song "Waiting for the Night" Both martin and Dave sang together at the front of the stage where it extended and I had a really good view of the boys from where I was at. It was very sweet and moving.

So here's the set list in no particular order. I'm going to list the albums in order of release and the songs performed.

Speak & Spell

none

A Broken Frame

none

Construction Time Again

none

Some Great Reward

Master & Servant - I would have never expected this but was totally surprised and was a great treat to hear it live again!

Black Celebration

A Question of Time
A Question of Lust
Fly on the Windscreen - Again I was pretty shocked when this came up.
Stripped

Music for the Masses

Strange Love - who knew this song was about foot fetish?? (visuals)
Never Let me Down Again - Ah, you can bet this will always be played, because, you know - you gotta do the wave!

Violator

Enjoy the Silence - Big crowd pleaser.
Personal Jesus
Policy of Truth
Waiting for the Night - A touching moment.

Songs of Faith & Devotion

Walking in My Shoes - Very emotional moment for me.
In Your Room
I Feel You

Ultra

It's No Good

Exciter

none - OK with me!

Playing the Angel

Precious

Sounds of the Universe

In Chains
Hole to Feed
Wrong
Miles Away
Jezebel

There were two encores - I have a feeling there might have been a third, but people began leaving after the second encore when the lights were still down. I was waiting for them to perform "Peace" because that was the one really good song on their new album. I was a little surprised that they left it out of the set unless they were preparing to play it during the third encore.

I wish they would have put in a couple of songs from their earlier albums. It would have been nice to see them do "Puppets" or "Photographic." How about "Boys Say Go!"

But I was very pleased with the set and there was not a dull moment - With the exception of the very new material, it was like vintage Depeche Mode. I was surprised that they really didn't play that many songs from the new album. That's OK with me too.

Sorry I don't have pictures. After all this time, I have not invested in a decent camera I could use to take pictures during these events. Maybe for the Pet Shop Boys coming up in September.

Pictures from Monday night's performance.