"Call Me" by Blondie

David Pogue's blog had a link to a site that will show you what the #1 song was on any day, as recorded by Billboard magazine. It's a perfect way to find out what your special "birth song" is.

For me ... it's "Call Me" by Blondie. Ouch.

Mary's birth song is "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" by Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams.

My dad's is "The Song from Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart)" by Percy Faith.

My mom's is "You Belong to Me" by Jo Stafford.

My sister's is "Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder.

What's your birth song?

The Dusty 45s at Jazzbones

It's a rare night that I want to stay out past midnight. Have I gotten so old at 27? Ah well. But the Dusty 45s were enough to get me out to Jazzbones last night. I first saw them at the Obama fundraiser at Seattle's Showbox SoDo in December. They really grabbed the audience.

So I was particularly excited to read in the Volcano that they would be in Tacoma (Natasha from the Volcano was in attendance as well). Supposedly they are "rockabilly" a term I'm not particularly familiar with. If it means 50s-era/Buddy Holly/The Ventures-style music with more energy and depth, then that's what they are. They can really get things pumping, especially with their classic finale when Billy Joe Huels stands on the bass and plays a flaming trumpet. It's a show stopper.

We didn't get home until past midnight, but it was definitely the kind of thing worth staying out for. I had a really good Malbec too, as it happens.

Spew at SXSW

Can I just say it's really cool that Spew's got some people down at SXSW? The Slog (the Stranger's blog) has some folks there, too. Of course, they also had two people at the Adult Video Network Awards (like the Oscars, but for porn) and they've blogged some other random national events too.

But kudos to the Volcano. Guys, if you're looking for someone to go to Sundance next year (or perhaps Toronto this fall?) on your behalf ... well, I wouldn't turn down that free ticket.

My 4th Quarter Pipe Dreams

Every so often I throw on the Juno soundtrack and give it a whirl. Kimya Dawson has some interesting lyrics in her songs, but I keep coming back to her odd and eclectic anti-war song.

This might be part of my favorite bit:

shysters live from scheme to scheme and my 4th quarter pipe dreams /
are seeming more and more worth fighting for

Although this part gets points for sheer oddness:

my war paint is sharpie ink and i'll show you how much my shit stinks /
and ask you what you think because your thoughts and words are powerful /
they think we're disposable, well both my thumbs opposable /
spelled down on a double word and triple letter score /

Full lyrics here. It's such a damned odd song, but I think I really like it.

Yes, We Can

This is pretty dang awesome music video. It is really really well done--directed by Jesse Dylan and with the Black Eyed Peas front man will.i.am. Of course, I'm partial because Scarlett Johansson's in it.



Obama. Yes we can.

Sweeney Todd -- The Movie

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street lives up to his name. Johnny Depp is scary and funny as the barber. Helena Bonham Carter is a great pie maker. The throat-slitting is incerdibly gory … it’s a pretty dang good adaptation.

I’d seen the musical in college and was not sure what I thought of it. It’s a classic revenge tale. Like Hamlet, but with the blood of Macbeth. Because it’s so audacious, it’s full of life, even though it’s so much about death.

The music is pretty catchy (although the music is not up to the same standard as the other movie musical I saw this week — Across the Universe — but that shouldn’t be a surprise). The acting is good, the story fun. But man, the blood, the blood … proceed with caution.

Queen Latifah in Tacoma

The show was pretty darn awesome. Queen Latifah is quite a performer. She knows how to get a crowd going. And a sold-out crowd at the Pantages cheered her on.

It was very cool to see such a full crowd there. And such a different crowd that what the Pantages normally sees. Actually it was a who's who of Tacoma to some extant. I saw lots of people--City Councilmembers, loads of City staffers, merchants, restaurateurs, and a whole slew of familiar faces.

The music itself bounced around from soul to jazz to blues to some old skool hip-hop, plus a few show tunes to boot.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go, but I'm glad I did. It was a good night in downtown Tacoma.

Music store open at Starbucks (+ the Luncheon update)

Before the Luncheon today for the GTCF (more on that in a second) I was getting some coffee at the Starbucks at 15th & Commerce and tried out my iPhone to see if it allowed for wireless downloading of songs to my iPhone.

Amazingly, it did. I was looking for a Starbucks button to show up on the home screen, but it actually shows up inside the wireless iTunes store. It's kinda creepy. You look at the screen and it shows you what's playing, what just played, etc. I felt like my phone shouldn't know that. To test it out, I bought the Immigrant Song by Zeppelin, and learned that buying music wirelessly off the iPhone is just as addictive at Starbucks as it is with any other wireless connection. They make it fun. The song jumps into your shopping cart and it's just way too easy.

As to the Luncheon, it was pretty great. Daniel Blue performed OK Tacoma with pictures from the 365 Days project on the screens behind him. Daniel received a well-deserved standing ovation. Someone told me afterward "he had the room," and he was right on. I also enjoyed John Graham, who told interesting stories about the Foreign Service and a harrowing story of being stranded on a lifeboat in the Northern Pacific (all true stories by the way).

I would also like to link to his organization, The Giraffe Project, which encourages people to stick their neck out.

Good day, I'd say.

"Where have all the Oldies gone? Long time passing ... "

I was raised on the Oldies. They played constantly in the car when I was young, but most importantly they played at the Lake. There's a number of songs by the Drifters, the Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield, the Lovin' Spoonful, plus many many more, that are instantly "Lake Songs" for me that take me back to swimming in the sun and dinners on the deck.

Oldies, of course, had a very limited definition. They start in 1956 (which introduced Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly) to the early 70s, when the definition gets very selective. KBSG, for example, probably never played anything of the Beatles from their last album "Let it Be" save for the title track.

So for a good portion of my life I only heard 14 years of music or so and nothing after. Pink Floyd who? Led Zepplin what? As a result, I can sing along to almost every single Oldie.

Of course, in high school my tastes grew a bit, but when everyone else was listening to the Cranberries and Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam I was discovering the Eagles and Classic Rock. But I still came back every summer to Lake Songs on KBSG. Same was true in college. New music during the school year, return to Oldies in the summer.

Then something funny happened. Oldies 97.3 KBSG lost their spot as the top rated radio station that they'd had in the early 90's and started trying to brag about how they played more songs per hour than the other stations. Of course, when most songs are 2 1/2 minutes it's a little easier. (Random fact, it wasn't until 1964 that a Billboard #1 song was longer than 2 1/2 minutes when the Animal's "House of the Rising Sun clocked in at 4 1/2 minutes.)

But the station started cutting off the beginning and ends of songs to cram more in and became much less enjoyable to listen to. By that point, I was pretty firmly entrenched on the Mountain and KEXP but it fairly well sealed the deal and I only went back to Oldies every so often for a fix--usually when I was at the lake.

Then, when that apparently didn't help, they began expanding what they meant by Oldies. Rather dramatically, too. Mid 70s started showing up, and even some early 80s stuff, while they dropped their promotion of "17 songs an hour."

But now ... now, KBSG has thrown out the Oldies label altogether. Since August 1, they have been "The B 97.3" ... because that makes sense. The B? The problem with the new station is I don't know why I would actually listen.

The music overlaps with nearly everything else because they've dropped the 1950s almost totally. I'm not saying that anyone could really make a go at a radio station that gave the 50's much play right now, but it was the 50's the anchored the station with the Oldies feel. I guess if you're trying to lose that brand it makes sense to drop them, but they will be missed. Having a place to grab Buddy Holly every so often was nice, especially as I'm heading out to the lake this weekend for the first time since June.

So long, Oldies. I've grown up but I wish you didn't have to.

More at the Seattle PI

Ladies and Gentlemen, please turn on your cell phones

The Chicago Sinfonietta tried an experiment: orchestrating the audience's cell phones into their world premier of the Concertino for Cellular Phones and Symphony Orchestra. Audience members were encouraged at a light to activate their cell phone ringers. Four amplified cell phones were operated on stage with variations on the theme.

Something new for the Northwest Sinfonietta to tackle next season? I'll bring my cell. It plays the Super Mario Brothers theme.