My Imagination Gets Better TV Than I Do
Jul. 29th, 2010 01:33 amA month and a half before his death, I had This Vision of Michael Jackson's comeback. Now, I still haven't seen This Is It, but I doubt anything in that vision matches. Today my mind came back to "Did You Like My Song?"--as if it had been playing on a radio in the next room.
Describing the video as I am "seeing" it is rather daunting. There are several scene changes as the song plays out. In one, Michael is in the character of Sam Cooke in a setting witnessed by the writer of the companion book to the PBS series Rock N Roll--a Segregation-era basement bar, with Michael dressed to the nines, playing to fans who hadn't had time to change out of their work clothes. Then it's the far future, and he's walking a display hall in a museum, where costumes from his glory days' videos ("Rock With You", "Beat It", "Billy Jean"...both the Teenage Wolfman and Zombie costumes from "Thriller") hang in hallowed silence. Michael sings in a public restroom to his mirror's reflection...which becomes a hall of mirrors and suddenly there's a whole chorus of Michaels, all wearing a different costume. Then back to the basement bar, the show over, and Michael watching the crowd leave him.
There's no way I can believe this video happened. But part of my being knows this exists/would exist/is real in some sense, which is why I have to write about it now. MJ Lives. We just don't know it yet.
Describing the video as I am "seeing" it is rather daunting. There are several scene changes as the song plays out. In one, Michael is in the character of Sam Cooke in a setting witnessed by the writer of the companion book to the PBS series Rock N Roll--a Segregation-era basement bar, with Michael dressed to the nines, playing to fans who hadn't had time to change out of their work clothes. Then it's the far future, and he's walking a display hall in a museum, where costumes from his glory days' videos ("Rock With You", "Beat It", "Billy Jean"...both the Teenage Wolfman and Zombie costumes from "Thriller") hang in hallowed silence. Michael sings in a public restroom to his mirror's reflection...which becomes a hall of mirrors and suddenly there's a whole chorus of Michaels, all wearing a different costume. Then back to the basement bar, the show over, and Michael watching the crowd leave him.
There's no way I can believe this video happened. But part of my being knows this exists/would exist/is real in some sense, which is why I have to write about it now. MJ Lives. We just don't know it yet.
Rock-N-Roll!
Jul. 14th, 2010 12:01 am1. If you'd like to play along, reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. You then list (and upload or link to the video, if you feel like it) 5 (or 6 or 7) songs that start with that letter.
3. Then, as I'm doing here, you'll post the list to your journal with the instructions. Dig that!
nick_101 gave me the letter R.
1) Blondie, "Rapture"
2) Duran Duran, "The Reflex"
3) Talking Heads, "Road To Nowhere"
4) The Beatles (after Chuck Berry), "Roll Over Beethoven"
5) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, "Refugee"
BONUS TRACKS
Brian Adams, "Run To You"; Herb Alpert, "Rise"; The B-52s, "Roam"; Breakfast Club, "Right On Track", The Clash, "Rock The Casbah"; Melissa Etheridge, "Resist"; Led Zepplin, "Ramble On"; Joni Mitchell, "Raised On Robbery"; Styx, "Renegade".
Happy Bastille Day!
2. You then list (and upload or link to the video, if you feel like it) 5 (or 6 or 7) songs that start with that letter.
3. Then, as I'm doing here, you'll post the list to your journal with the instructions. Dig that!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
1) Blondie, "Rapture"
2) Duran Duran, "The Reflex"
3) Talking Heads, "Road To Nowhere"
4) The Beatles (after Chuck Berry), "Roll Over Beethoven"
5) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, "Refugee"
BONUS TRACKS
Brian Adams, "Run To You"; Herb Alpert, "Rise"; The B-52s, "Roam"; Breakfast Club, "Right On Track", The Clash, "Rock The Casbah"; Melissa Etheridge, "Resist"; Led Zepplin, "Ramble On"; Joni Mitchell, "Raised On Robbery"; Styx, "Renegade".
Happy Bastille Day!
Sound Of Silver Talk To Me
Jun. 21st, 2010 01:36 pmJames Murphy On NPR's Fresh Air Today. No, I had no idea who he is before...tho' I had in fact heard a few of his songs.
He says some things (not in the text on the page now) that I find very applicable to my Uncool Kid project.
He says some things (not in the text on the page now) that I find very applicable to my Uncool Kid project.
Pretty Darned Old School
May. 26th, 2010 01:27 amLINKED because the Godfather Of Soul doesn't stay still long enough for anybody to get EMBED with.
James Brown, "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"
James Brown, "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"
Vended in honor of the freebie sunglasses that came as a premium with a Rock CD I bought at a tourist-trap store in Sevierville this evening. The CD does Rock, just not to the extreme that Los Tres Hombres do.
The kind of thing when you hear a song for the first time in many years and it sounds super-cool. Makes you wonder why it wasn't your favorite when it was a hit.
Today, I was listening to one of the Time-Life R&B/Disco CDs I bought after the Florida trip and a song from my past just happened to catch me perfectly and knock my proverbial socks off. So why WASN'T it on my favorites list back then? Good question. Dunno if I can answer it here and now.
Maybe I'll post the video here via the Vending Machine Of Awesome. But I'll have a guessing game for YOU first. I'll give you some clues and you can guess the Artist. (Either the name of the band, or the name of the lead singer, who is a celeb in her own right.)
* I've posted a video of the band before in the Vending Machine Of Awesome, but not one of the lead's solo songs.
* The lead's NAME is used as a lyric in the title track of one of her solo albums. This song also featured Stevie Wonder in a supporting role. (Two reasons why this won a Grammy?)
* Another of her solo hits became, for a while, the theme song for one of the most popular shows on American TV...after it had been covered by another R&B star.
* Members of the band played backup on one of Michael Jackson's breakout solo hit songs. The lead also made a cover version of one of Michael's songs.
Enough clues? I'll decide on a prize appropriate to the winner. Watch this space!
Today, I was listening to one of the Time-Life R&B/Disco CDs I bought after the Florida trip and a song from my past just happened to catch me perfectly and knock my proverbial socks off. So why WASN'T it on my favorites list back then? Good question. Dunno if I can answer it here and now.
Maybe I'll post the video here via the Vending Machine Of Awesome. But I'll have a guessing game for YOU first. I'll give you some clues and you can guess the Artist. (Either the name of the band, or the name of the lead singer, who is a celeb in her own right.)
* I've posted a video of the band before in the Vending Machine Of Awesome, but not one of the lead's solo songs.
* The lead's NAME is used as a lyric in the title track of one of her solo albums. This song also featured Stevie Wonder in a supporting role. (Two reasons why this won a Grammy?)
* Another of her solo hits became, for a while, the theme song for one of the most popular shows on American TV...after it had been covered by another R&B star.
* Members of the band played backup on one of Michael Jackson's breakout solo hit songs. The lead also made a cover version of one of Michael's songs.
Enough clues? I'll decide on a prize appropriate to the winner. Watch this space!
Vended Due To Current Events
Mar. 31st, 2010 10:54 pmLINKED because Huey doesn't get EMBED with just anybody.
Huey Lewis & The News, "It Hit Me Like A Hammer"
I'm not sure I like the changes YouTube have made to their layouts, FTR.
Huey Lewis & The News, "It Hit Me Like A Hammer"
I'm not sure I like the changes YouTube have made to their layouts, FTR.