Model of the Week: Eva Herzigova
Eva Herzigova is kind of a forerunner to the hordes and hordes of pretty Eastern Europeans we have modeling these days. It’s a subtle distinctions but there’s a difference between American and Eastern European blue eyed blondes (oh and German ones too). The Americans are wholesome. The Germans are Valkyries. And the former Soviet Bloc-ers are tough as nails. Czech born Eva came to fame in the early 90s as the official Wonderbra spokesmodel. She’s been unflaggingly popular ever since. She has an image of movie star glamour, but in her own distinctly angular strong way.
Brass In Pocket
Chrissie Hynde has said that she hates this song. So much so that she wants to escape when it comes on the radio. Since it is, after all, the ultimate empowerment rock song, she’s outta luck.
Brand New Set of Rules
Brand New Set of Rules, Mick Jagger, Goddess in the Doorway, 2001
Goddess In The Doorway, I think is Mick Jagger’s best solo album (I think that right now, but I may change my mind). Ok, none of his solo albums are exactly earth-shattering, but they’re not as bad as Keith Richards says they are either. I like Goddess because it has a very contemorary sound, circa 2001. It’s nice to hear Mick sing something new that doesn’t sound like every Rolling Stones song ever written. Although She’s The Boss was very contemporary by 1985 standards and right now it sounds as dated as Jane Fonda’s leg warmers. At some point in the mid-seventies scholars stopped paying attention to who Mick’s songs were about and why. Truth is, poor Jerry Hall never inspired the quality of songs that Marianne Faithfull did. (Never mind, songs about Jerry Hall are Bryan Ferry’s forte, anyway.) For those of us still scrutinizing the lyric sheets, the songs on Goddess were written during and after the final collapse of Mick and Jerry’s longtime relationship. Underneath the trendy production, these are some of Mick’s most personal songs. It’s yet more proof that Mick has matured as a singer and songwriter. Brand New Set of rules seems to be about his children. This theory is supported by the fact that he recruited his daughters Elizabeth and Georgia May (then aged 17 and 9) to provide backing vocals.
“Brand New Set Of Rules”
I will be kind won’t be so cruel
I will be sweet I will be true
The pains of love you’ll quickly learn
Are soon to heat and quick to burnI got a brand new set of rules
Because I am your brand new fool
I got a brand new set of rules
I got to learnYou’ll be so proud so proud of me
You’ll see the change so plain to see
Because of you a brand new start
Because of you a change of heartI got a brand new set of rules
It’s just like I was back in school
I got a brand new set of rules
I got to learnI’m going to change just mark my words
You can’t believe all that you heard
All of those lies all of those rumours
That your friends told youAnd if I’m left upon the shelf
Cause you belong to someone else
I’ve got my brand new set of rules
Because I am nobody’s foolI’ve got a brand new set of rules
I’ve got to learn
I’ve got to learn
I’ve got to learn
Brand New Colony
Brand New Colony, The Postal Service, Give Up, 2003
The Postal Service is one of many side projects for Death Cab For Cutie’s frontman Ben Gibbard. The one Postal Service album has the melodic catchiness of Death Cab frosted with soothing electronic coolness. Gibbard and Death Cab, if you don’t know, got a dose of mainstream fame a few years ago when they got a plug on some tv series called The OC. They’ve become since then some of the top purveyors of Emo music. The term Emo means basically nothing, at this point. It’s short for emotional. Emo emerged as a genre as an alternative (but not Alternative) to soulless, mindless stadium pop. Emo is basically defined as any music with truthfull, heartfelt lyrical content. As opposed to chart topping music that is composed by focus groups, it’s supposed to be intensely personal and confessional. But that can include a wide variety of musical styles. So emo now ranges from Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst who sings lyrical paeans to lost love and damaged souls in a quavery voice, to straight up commercial rock bands like Fall Out Boy, and anything in between as long as it wears hoodies and guyliner. (Oberst does not wear guyliner, but he does have the tell-tale emo forelock.) It seems that Emo is as well defined as Alternative was in the 90s, which is, not at all. Take it or leave it, but nobody does it better than Ben Gibbard.
Brand New Car
Ok, first the lyrics…See if maybe there might be some metaphorical wordplay going on…
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)
I got a brand new car
And I like to drive real hard
I got a brand new car
And I’m feeling good so far
Take her on the highway for a little spin
I want to see the kind of shape she’s in
And I got a brand new star
Jack her up baby, go on, open the hood
I want to check if her oil smells good
Mmmm…smells like caviar
Give her some stick
Push her too far
Right to the brink
Hear the motor running
Yeah, she’s right in sinc
Tell me if she’s thirsty
Would she like a drink
And I’m stopping at this bar
Slinky like a panther
You can hear her purr
Touch her on the seat
Go on, feel the fur
And I got a brand new star
Feel the juice
Foot to the floor
Take some abuse
I got a brand new car
And I drive her in the dark
And I got a brand new car
I think I’ll stop and park
Now, let’s play spot the not-so-double endendres. Mmmmm smells like caviar! I admit the whole sex-and-cars thing that some people have mystifies me. Cars are not sexy. Not even sports cars. Not that I don’t have certain dream cars I secretly covet. I do, I do. I just don’t see automobiles as metaphors for sex. Sorry. Whatever. This still ranks as one of the Rolling Stones’ most sexiest songs. It’s from Voodoo Lounge (1994), a great great wonderful album, in my eyes. I’d like to point out to any h8ers out there who accuse the boys of slacking off and not ‘evolving’ sufficiently in their later years – Mick Jagger becomes a better and better singer with each consecutive record. In the early years he belted every song out in the same patently ridiculous faux-American patois. On the later albums, he never enunciates the same way twice. On every song there’s a vocal that’s fresh and unique. I think Mick has matured into a singer of immense subtlety and skill. Most listeners don’t pay close enough attention to the vocals. I pay very very close attention, and I’m telling you – man’s got mad skillz, yo.
Brain Drain
Today is a big day. It’s my one-year anniversary here in the blogoshpere. I’ve almost made it to 50,000 hits – and I know they can’t all be members of my family. I was hoping to hit the big five-oh-oh-oh-oh by the end of the day, but it’s ok. I think 50,000 is a goodly number for a blog in its infancy, especially a willfully obscure one such as this. So, a proud moment. Let’s drink to many happy returns. Since this is a moment for celebrating, we need some very festive music. Unfortunateley, this isn’t really the place to find festive music. Therefore, we’ll go with the opposite of festive. Marianne Faithfull, our official go-to lady of gloom, with a lovely and enchanting paean to bad men, bad drugs and, um, bloodstains.
Brain Damage
I think everyone who’s ever listened to the radio is familiar with the content of Dark Side of the Moon. The album stayed on the charts for some ridiculously record-breaking amount of time – fifteen years, was it? It’s an album everybody owns and knows by heart. I don’t ever bother listening to it, because it’s so familiar I find myself tuning it out in my head. So it takes a slightly different perspective to make it fresh again. This is a fragment of the documentary Pink Floyd Live in Pompeii. Filmed in 1972, it’s not really a concert, as there’s no audience. It’s Floyd among the ruins of Pompeii playing their astounding psychedelic early material. It’s a very dreamlike movie. The imagery is gorgeous, and it perfectly complements what is surely some of the most mind boggling musicianship the world has ever seen. There are also interview segments and a glimpse into the studio, where the band is busy recording their next album, which they do not yet know will take them into the outer stratospere of superstardom. It’s a revealing look into the dynamic of the young Floyds. Putting the unfinished Dark Side songs beside the older material puts them in a non-oldies radio context and it really brings them into focus again. It’s nice to be reminded what those songs grew from. And it’s nice to realize again how brilliant they are.
Boyz
World music can sometimes seem as genteel as any concerto. Mainstream world music, for all it’s undeniable charms as makeout music, is like a Travel Channel portrait of a culture. The music presented by labels like Putumayo, shows indigenous musical styles as being pristine and untouched by modern life. African chants and Brazilian beats exist to influence and inspire pop, but not to be sullied by anything modern. It’s all give and no take, supposedly. But it’s becoming a global culture, and aside from a few holdouts in the Amazon jungle, very few people live in a vacuum. It’s still unusual to find music that is authentically ‘world’ yet also recognizably of today. There is, if you want to find it, a musical diaspora that is alive with a mix of cultures. M.I.A. is the stage name of Sri Lankan born, England raised Maya Arulpragasam. She has become a surprise superstar with her magpie-like musical style. Her music is rooted equally in today’s electronic and hip hop styles, the traditional sounds of the immigrant community she grew up in, and in musical styles from all over the world. I think M.I.A. represents the future of popular music. As our culture becomes more global, more stars will emerge who draw from diverse backgrounds and create highly individual interpretations of many influences.
Model of the Week: Trish Goff
A haircut can make or break a model’s career. When Eva Herzigova cropped her hair a few years ago she lost a lot of bookings over it. An established star model is better off not messing with the look that works. But if a relative newcomer comes out with a great cut, she can become an overnight sensation. In the 90s, Trish Goff went from a cute but average long haired girl to adorable pixie with one short bob. The hair grew out a long time ago, but the effect was made. By establishing a recognizable look for herself, Trish boosted her career tremendously. Fashion loves it’s pixies, and from Twiggy to Agyness, models have learned that the perfect haircut can turn a girl into an icon overnight. Trish remains sucessful because with or without long hair, she’s just one of the cutest girls you can imagine.
(l-r: Kirsty Hume, Stella Tennant, Trish Goff – three models who’ve made their names by cutting their hair)
Boys of Bedlam
Boys of Bedlam, Steeleye Span, Please To See the King, 1971
Bedlam refers to a real notorious madhouse. Now known as Bethlem Royal Hospital, the London hospital is the world’s oldest mental institution. It was founded in 1247 to warehouse the insane, the retarded and otherwises inconvenient citizens. The filth, cruelty and general mayhem of the place is what originated the term ‘Bedlam’. Today, the institution is widely recognized as one of the world’s best, but the original notoriety lingers on, in songs like this for instance.
for to see mad tom of bed – lam
ten thousand miles i’d travel
mad maudlin goes on dirty toes
for to save her shoes from gravel.still i sing bonnie boys bonnie madboys,
bedlam boys are bonnie.
for they all go bare and they live by the air
and they want no drink nor money.i went down to satan’s kitchen
for to get me food one morning,
and there i got souls piping hot
all on the spit a turning.still i sing bonnie boys bonnie madboys,
bedlam boys are bonnie.
for they all go bare and they live by the air
and they want no drink nor money.me staff has murdered giants
and me bag a long knife carries.
for to cut mince pies from children’s thighs
with which to feed the fairies.still i sing bonnie boys bonnie madboys,
bedlam boys are bonnie.
for they all go bare and they live by the air
and they want no drink nor money.this spirit’s white as lightning
would on me travels guide me.
the moon would shake and the stars would quake
when ever they espied me.still i sing bonnie boys bonnie madboys,
bedlam boys are bonnie.
for they all go bare and they live by the air
and they want no drink nor money.-instrumental-
and when that i have murdered
the man in the moon to a powder.
his stall i’ll break and his doct i’ll shake
and they’ll howl no demon louder.still i sing bonnie boys bonnie madboys,
bedlam boys are bonnie.
for they all go bare and they live by the air
and they want no drink nor money.for to see mad tom of bedlam
ten thousand years i’d travel.
mad maudlin goes on dirty toes
for to save her shoes from gravel.still i sing bonnie boys bonnie madboys,
bedlam boys are bonnie.
for they all go bare and they live by the air
and they want no drink nor money.
