Spotted on Spring St across from the Los Angeles State Park. The McKenna logo has been declared vulgar by some (sorry no photo).
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood-Some Velvet Morning (1967)
Zobi La Mouche- Les Négresses Vertes
There was a time in the early 90s when I didn’t have a job. I scavenged, weaned and gleaned from the excesses of consumer society. I didn’t need much – friends, homemade food, dance parties, books and music were my sustenance.
Les Négresses Vertes made up a big chunk of the soundtrack to this bit of my life. I listened to them constantly. They were the background music for two of my favorite books at the time: Letters of Insurgents and Song from the Forest.
With exuberant songs such as “Zobi la mouche” and “Voilà l’été” Les Négresses forged their lively ‘get up and dance’ style. The group’s unique sound was basically a musical melting-pot, created by fusing a variety of musical influences from their extremely diverse origins. Spanish and Gypsy rhythms were fused with traditional French dances and rai sounds and strung together with lyrics which appeared light and innocent on the surface but were, in fact, full of innuendo and hidden meanings.
Read more here.
L’homme des marais – Les Négresses Vertes
Harvested from my garden yesterday: carrots, tomatoes, chiles, beans, nopales, tunas and a few strawberries.
My great-great grandmother Matilde Vizcarra Tellez, Los Angeles, circa early 1930s.
Such mystery behind her small smile.
Primary 1 feat. Nina Persson – The Blues
It’s been awhile since a new song has really excited me but finally a new bit of music to savor and I’m swooning! The other day my ears perked up when I heard the melancholy strains and driving beats of Primary 1′s The Blues. The vocals are amazing too and whoa, its a duet! Nina Persson formerly of The Cardigans is a guest vocalist. I’ve always had a thing for male/female duets perhaps it started with Human League’s Don’t You Want Me but it’s continued on with songs like The Postal Service’s Nothing Better and Kings of Convenience’s Know How. The Blues is another to add to the list. There are echoes of 80s new wave bands in this song but who? Berlin? The Motels? Whatever, this is my song for the summer, and will probably end up as a reminder of my melancholy 2010 days.
Check here for Primary 1′s blog. They are also offering The Blues as a free download!
Primary 1 from their Facebook page
It all started with this song, Fade to Grey by Visage:
Visage – Fade to Grey
Then Kelly Osbourne got sued for using it without credit for her song, One Word:
Kelly Osbourne – One Word
Alphaville, anyone?
Then this Italian guy took Kelly’s song and made another hit from it, without giving credit to either of the above songs:
Tiziano Fierro – Stop Dimentica
I like them all.
Opening scene and theme song to Meatballs
I never knew kids who went away to summer camp. I saw it in movies and the concept seemed so foreign to me, or actually I felt foreign to it.
Are you ready for the summer?
This is why Mexico beat France in their last World Cup game. All the talented French kids (with berets!) are busy dancing tecktonik in their parent’s basements instead of paying attention to football.
Camper Van Beethoven – The Light From a Cake
I’m alternating between heavy and light
Between meaning and nonsense
And having a drink
I have counted all the lines on the road
Between here and los angeles
That pass straight below
And I’m dreaming of a light, and it comes from your head
’cause you move just like you’re a train
Not like a car, no, no, it would never be the same
And the light from your eyes is like the light from a cake
I was thinking of a cake
To lift off this burden
To lighten this weight
One sweet little cake
Dervishes run the head of a pin
We are sleeping like angels
And living like devils again
And I am waiting for the heaviness in the air to break
And reveal some small, irrelevant truth
’cause we move like we are suspended in ether
And the light from your eyes spills from the moon
