Anonymous Communist

I was 13 years old once, and I’m sure that back then, I would have tried something like this. Just a word of caution to the kid:

Be careful, lest this happen to you:

This video never stops being funny.

Last week, I finally figured out how to make Audio Player work, and since then I’ve been trying to come up with a way to implement it here.

When I walk Basie, I usually have my headphones on. This morning, a particular song shuffled up on my iPod and it gave me an idea: a playlist based on parts of the body. These are all songs in my iTunes library that have some sort of bodily feature in the title: head, eye, arm… you get the idea. Click on the player at the end of each entry to hear the rockin’ tracks. You also can right-click the song title to steal download. Enjoy!

“Dead Head Blues,” Backwards Day – One of my favorite bands from back in Springfield’s late 1980s-early ’90s alt-rock heyday, Backwards Day lament the teenagers who would rather emulate what their parents did as kids than participate in their own culture:

I guess this generation
is starving for sensation
Can’t they come up with their own?
I got the Dead Head Blues

“Hair,” P.J. Harvey – A wispy British musician whose songs rock hard, Polly Jean has a penchant for appearing naked on album and magazine covers. Awesome.

“I Set My Face to the Hillside,” Tortoise – I have a difficult time describing Tortoise when people ask what my favorite bands are. Their music is brilliant but impossible to categorize.

“Eye Know,” De La Soul – It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 20 years since this song came out. I’d still take this over 98 percent of today’s hip-hop.

“Ear Drums Pop,” Dilated Peoples – I took a chance on this album when I saw it at a Delete Sale several years ago and was rewarded for it. Imagine… a modern hip-hop group that doesn’t reference guns, violence or the crack game. Who knew? One of this song’s lyrics particularly meshes with my delicate sensibilities:

I’m buildin’ with the science that De La dropped
That means it might blow up, but it won’t go pop

“Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” the Smiths – OK, I sort of cheated on this one. I didn’t have any songs with “nose” in the title, so I substituted “knows.” Like a bulldog that’s so ugly it’s cute, Morrissey’s voice is so irritating but so perfect for Johnny Marr’s jangly, reverby guitars.

“Syringe Mouth,” Mercury Rev – I’m a sucker for sheets of guitar noise, and this song, like the rest of the “Yerself is Steam” album, has it in spades.

“Protect Ya Neck,” Wu-Tang Clan – When you have the GZA dropping metaphors like “[Nuhs] so stingy they got short arms and deep pockets,” you know you have a hip-hop classic.

Stay tuned for more body parts from artists like Ween, the Pixies and Mos Def.

It’s been awhile since I last posted one of these, but this song will more than make up for that.

“Groove is in the Heart” by Deee-Lite is built around the bassline of “Bring Down the Birds” by Herbie Hancock and features a verse from Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest on the break and an appearance by Bootsy Collins, all ingredients for a classic track. Enjoy!

At long last, baseball season is here again. Opening Day ought to be a national holiday. No work, no school… just baseball all day and all night long (all night). A day on which fans of differing stripes can put their differences aside and exult side by side in the glory of the Church of Baseball.

OK, that last one was a bit much. But you get the point: Baseball rules. Now I can watch ESPN without wanting to gouge out my eyes with a rusty screwdriver. I’ve missed you, Karl Ravech. John Kruk, not so much.

Springfield is a Mason-Dixon Line of sorts for baseball fandom in Illinois. On one side, you have a team that represents all that is wonderful about the world: bike rides on warm spring days, Hostess Ding-Dongs, having a baby-sitter on a Friday night, etc. On the other side, you have the Cubs.

Unfortunately, though, the Cubs are the class of the National League Central Division this season. As Cardinals fans, we must accept this fact. We also must accept that Cardinals pitching is going to be bad. Brutal. Historically awful. A pitching staff that statistically was one of the worst in franchise history last year is going to be even worse this year. Plus, Tony F. La Russa is still the manager.
That said, there still are a few reasons to watch the Cardinals this year:

• Albert Pujols: Duh. Although his elbow is a ticking time bomb. When his right ulnar collateral ligament tears the rest of the way, he’ll be done. Enjoy him this season while you still can.
• Adam Wainwright: His place in the Cardinals pantheon of heroes is forever secured thanks to one magic curveball, which has left Carlos Beltran frozen in the batter’s box since October 2006. He’s the Cards’ top starting pitcher now, and while he doesn’t possess the stuff of a true ace, he’s a competitor. He’ll never back down. He sort of the anti-Marquis.
• Brian Barton: Barton was plucked from the Indians organization during last year’s Rule 5 draft. Although he’s had fewer than 100 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, he’s shown a consistent ability to get on base as well as a proclivity to steal bases at a reasonable rate of success. Once Skip “Mr. March” Schumaker once again shows he’s not an everyday player, Barton should be given a chance at the leadoff spot. Fun Brian Barton fact: Despite hitting .371 in his final season at the University of Miami, Barton fell to the 38th round of the draft. There were concerns that he would continue his post-graduate work in aerospace engineering and become an astronaut. Smart kid.
• Colby Rasmus: This kid is the future. He’s the jewel of a slowly improving farm system and although he played well in spring training, he’ll begin the season at Triple-A Memphis. He’ll be up for good by August, though. He’s the reason why the Cardinals traded the beloved but fading Jim Edmonds. Rasmus can hit, hit for power, take walks, steal bases and play a mean centerfield, a premium defensive position.
• Rico Washington: A veteran of 11 minor league seasons, Uncle Rico will make his major-league debut at age 30. You absolutely have to root for a guy like that. Plus, he’s got an impossibly cool name.

There you have it. It’s going to be pretty bleak for our crimson-clad superheroes this season. I put the over-under at 70.5 wins.

Oh, and fuck the Cubs.

… albeit with a slightly different meaning this time.

“Love’s Gonna Getcha,” Boogie Down Productions

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I bring you one of popular music’s all-time worst songs. If there is one thing that screams “eighth grade,” it is this song, which is a fine example of the wasteland that was late-1980s pop music.

(Probably not-that-) Interesting anecdote: Pretty much all of us had bad haircuts 20 years ago, myself included. Notable A.C. commenter Steve had some elevation to his coif, to the point that another friend of ours (who now is an operative with the Obama campaign) started calling Steve “Rick Astley.”

Following the lead of other local bloggers, I hereby present you with an official Anonymous Communist plug for (and the exhortation to attend that a plug implies) The Lebowski Experience.

Set for Saturday at Strike N Spare, The Lebowski Experience is a celebration of the finest movie of all time, “The Big Lebowski.” Registering at the TLE Web site will get you a T-shirt and a game of bowling (awesome shoes included, although no word on whether Saddam will be handing them out) as well as the opportunity to hang out with other obsessive Lebowski nerds.

If you’re not familiar with the movie, then that’s your own damned fault, idiot. The following should get you up to speed:

If you’re not lame offended by salty language, check out this version. If you’re at work, you might want to turn down your speakers a little bit.

I plan on attending, and there’s an Internet rumor that Springfield’s favorite public-access show will be there as well.

Once again, I bring you the finest Christmas song that’s ever been written.

For the second year in a row, the music world had lost one of its greats at Christmastime. This time, it’s legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.

When I first started getting into jazz many years ago, Oscar Peterson was one of the first artists I listened to. One year in college, my roommates and I went to a record sale fundraiser for WSIU-FM. Dear friend and A.C. commenter Eric and I loaded up on jazz records.

Since Eric had a turntable, we listened to his records first when we got home. Among them was one with Peterson and vibraphonist Milt Jackson, “Very Tall” if I remember correctly. I was so impressed with the record that I would sneak spins of it when Eric was at class. (Sorry, dude). I’ve been a fan of Peterson’s (and Jackson’s) ever since.

Diggity Dan at BFS has a fun new meme going: The BFS Holiday Music Exchange:

I just want everyone to recommend their five favorite new songs from the past year. Now when I say new, I don’t mean to restrict your selections to cuts that were released in 2007. What I’m looking for our songs that first garnered great status, in your estimation, within the last year.

I’ll gladly participate. Talking about music is one of my favorite things. That, and ripping off other people’s blogging ideas. I’ve noticed that none of these songs actually is from 2007. I’m so lame it hurts. I’ll include videos if I can find them.

(Related aside: I would just embed the music using Audio Player, a fantastic plugin for WordPress, but my host *coughYahoocough* apparently prohibits such exercise of common sense. Assbutts.)

In alphabetical order:

“Alfie,” Lily Allen – I could have picked any song off of “Alright, Still,” but this one encapsulates everything I like about the album: catchy vocal melody, charming (but possibly fake) Cockney accent, tight production, etc. Plus Lily Allen is the most adorable woman ever.

“All For U,” Aceyalone – I’d been familiar with Aceyalone only on the strength of his guest appearances with groups like Dilated Peoples. When I saw “Magnificent City” at this year’s delete sale, I had to get it. Combine Acey’s flow with the soul-powered production of RJD2 and you get a funky, danceable (if you are into that kind of thing) hip-hop record sans references to crack, guns and various luxury brand names. The video I found is a live version shot in what amounts to a collection of frame grabs.

“Blue Flowers,” Dr. Octagon – So it took me a decade to finally own this album. Sue me. A true hip-hop classic (think “Paid in Full” or “Low End Theory”), “Dr. Octagonecologyst” also undoubtedly is Kool Keith’s finest work. In it, Keith takes the form of Dr. Octagon, a time-traveling gynecologist from Jupiter, and in “Blue Flowers” he drops lyrics that make no sense literally but fit like a snug glove rhythmically around producer Dan the Automator’s eerie, string-heavy beat. Add in the incredible turntable work by DJ Q-Bert and you have an integral piece of the hip-hop canon. The guy from McSweeney’s liked it, too.

“One Man Wrecking Machine,” Guster – See this post from several weeks ago.

“Sookie Sookie,” Grant Green – Older music fans may be familiar with the Steppenwolf version of this song. On Blue Note’s “Blue Break Beats” compilation, soul-jazz guitarist Grant Green just takes the main riff and turns it into 11 minutes of pure groove. It’s impossible to not start buggin’ out when Green kicks off his first solo. Unfortunately, I can’t find any video. You’ll just have to be content with the snippet.

Motivational Santa

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Without a doubt, “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” was the best show on Saturday mornings during the 1980s.

It basically was the kids-TV version of a Salvador Dali painting, featuring numerous non-human characters like Conky, Chairry, Globy and Pteri. There also were many human inhabitants of Pee Wee’s world: Miss Yvonne, Ricardo, the King of Cartoons, and, of course, Cowboy Curtis, played by a young Laurence Fishburne. S. Epatha Merkerson played Reba the Mail Lady, who arguably was the lone straight character on the show, one who viewed Pee Wee’s surreal world with a detached bemusement.

The show also featured the musical stylings of Danny Elfman, Cyndi Lauper, who sung the theme song, and Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, who would go onto work on “Yo Gabba Gabba,” another brilliant show and one that is deeply influence by “Pee Wee’s Playhouse.”

Anyway, in the spirit of the season, I thought I’d post a video of the first few minutes of “Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special,” which inexplicably features singing U.S. Marines. The Corps most definitely got theirs that day.