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Petey Plymouth LIVES!
My minivan does NOT have a busted transmission. Just needed a tune up (and - different problem - new shocks in the front), but otherwise, is just FINE. Should have the car back this afternoon
Just shows to go ya, DON'T suggest to your mechanic (or doctor, anyone making a diagnosis) what YOU THINK the problem might be! (At least, don't present your own idea as a fait accompli) This creates confirmation bias.
I told my first, regular (and good, really) mechanic that I thought the transmission was dying. He drove the car, it felt like the transmission was going, so he assumed that I was right. I wasn't. It's worse if you seem to be a reasonable person who knows what they're talking about; I am, I wasn't. There are many other things that can make a car feel like the tranny's going. Petey had one.
I should have Petey back this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Aw bettah.
Meanwhile, back in the iPod . . .
1. "Don Henley Must Die" - Mojo Nixon - Otis
Silly, unfair, nasty, and FUNNY as hell. Mojo's first post-Skid Roper album, and the one song on it that works best from having an expanded band (I preferred him stripped down, on guitar with Skid on washboard, stick, bell, and cymbal). Seems to make everyone laugh, no matter where they stand on the Don Henley issue.
2. "Hookywooky" - Lou Reed - Set The Twilight Reeling
Fun, adorable love song about Lou Reed wanting to get it on with Laurie Anderson, with a happy sing-along conclusion about wanting to throw all of her old boyfriends that drop by "under the WHEELS of a car - on CAN-AL street!" Never was imagined homicide so catchy! Last great song Lou's written. No pretensions here.
3. "Babylonian Gorgon" - The Bags - Dangerhouse Volume Two
From the label, the comp, and the group name, I guess this is out of L.A. in the late 70s, but I don't know anything else other than this is a great song. Punk, with a pop single edge, extremely tightly played, with an extreme attitude in the lyric and vocal that sounds forceful and pissed without sounding petulant and snotty. Yup, just looked them up. 1979. L.A. One more sad band story.
4. "Capitan" - Berenice - Mexican Madness
Slick, cool surf-guitar instrumental (with brief spoken Spanish interpolations). Excellent, but when is this from? I thought all the stuff like this I had was from the 60s; this MIGHT be, but the production sounds too recent -- just checked, yup, recent band in the Los Straitjackets mold. Weird fake-out ending with a blast of Mexican TV and the intro to a Chuck Berry song.
4.5. "Barely" - Buckcherry - 69 Plunderphonics 96
No, wait, that wasn't part of the Berenice song - it was a 5-second track by John Oswald/Plunderphonics - one of the ones where he takes the opening and closing chords of a Chuck Berry song and splices them together. Supposed to, I think, show how ingrained in all of us Chuck's music is - just the opening and closing conjure up the entire song.
Except that while I KNOW this, I can't quite place which song it is. I just went through all 25 Berry songs I have on the iPod, and it's none of them. It's one of the famous ones that I don't actually like so much, so I left it off, and now I'm forgetting it.
When I was loading CDs into the iTunes, I was VERY selective for about the first third of the alphabet (our CDs are alphabetized, yes, okay), so I really picked and chose with many artists at first, especially if my first impulse was to load EVERYTHING they ever did. By the time I got to "R," I was just throwing almost everything in (though I've pruned away at it later). Why didn't I just put all the Chuck Berry on that I had? Well, I'm not going back now. Or at least for a while.
5. "The Creeper" - Young-Holt Unlimited - Mellow Dreamin'
Cool, trumpet-based soul instrumental. Actually sounds more like movie scoring than most of Young-Holt's work. Good music to have in an iPod to make your life seem like an exciting movie when you're just futzing around.
6. "Ding-Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line" - Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot
The "swing" revival paled on me quickly - a little too self-aware, a little too smug - but some of the music is still exciting, like this song, even if it also comes off a little too pleased with itself. Can a song be smug? Oh, of course, yeah.
7. "Can I Get a Witness?" - Dusty Springfield - Dusty Volume 1
Great singer, great song, well done. No problems here.
8. "Act of Faith" - Stan Ridgway - Holiday in Dirt
From Ridgway's "leftovers" collection, a sad, lovely, acoustic ballad. Good, but if Johnny Cash were doing it, it'd tear you apart; it sounds like something he would have done on his last albums.
9. "Shonen Knife Planet" - Shonen Knife - Happy Hour
The Knife goes hip-hop! Well, kinda. Lead in, "intro theme," track to this album, just drum machines, electronics, and the girls. It's Shonen Knife, it's fun., it's non-self-conscious. "Love! Peace! And Shonen Knife!"
10. "You Better Believe in Me" - Eskew Reeder - Northern Soul: The Cream of 60s Soul
Excellent, fast, driving, R&B from a man more frequently known as a Little Richard imitator calling himself Esquerita. I like this better than most of his stuff.
Today, a meeting at The Brick with the SM of the upcoming Thomas Bradshaw plays to check that their laptop is compatible with our video projector. Maybe I'll be driving Petey over. I need to see the Bromley show, too -- I haven't been in the mood recently, but I HAVE to see it before it closes, so maybe tonight, since I'll be at the space.
(iPod is still going - "These Boots Are Made for Walking" translates VERY neatly into "Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher," by Eileen, from Femmes de Paris, vol. 1)
Last night, B&I watched Infra-Man, an old favorite of mine (now titled Super Inframan in English), and Mike Judge's Idiocracy, which is both a pretty good comedy and an excellent horror film.
My minivan does NOT have a busted transmission. Just needed a tune up (and - different problem - new shocks in the front), but otherwise, is just FINE. Should have the car back this afternoon
Just shows to go ya, DON'T suggest to your mechanic (or doctor, anyone making a diagnosis) what YOU THINK the problem might be! (At least, don't present your own idea as a fait accompli) This creates confirmation bias.
I told my first, regular (and good, really) mechanic that I thought the transmission was dying. He drove the car, it felt like the transmission was going, so he assumed that I was right. I wasn't. It's worse if you seem to be a reasonable person who knows what they're talking about; I am, I wasn't. There are many other things that can make a car feel like the tranny's going. Petey had one.
I should have Petey back this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Aw bettah.
Meanwhile, back in the iPod . . .
1. "Don Henley Must Die" - Mojo Nixon - Otis
Silly, unfair, nasty, and FUNNY as hell. Mojo's first post-Skid Roper album, and the one song on it that works best from having an expanded band (I preferred him stripped down, on guitar with Skid on washboard, stick, bell, and cymbal). Seems to make everyone laugh, no matter where they stand on the Don Henley issue.
2. "Hookywooky" - Lou Reed - Set The Twilight Reeling
Fun, adorable love song about Lou Reed wanting to get it on with Laurie Anderson, with a happy sing-along conclusion about wanting to throw all of her old boyfriends that drop by "under the WHEELS of a car - on CAN-AL street!" Never was imagined homicide so catchy! Last great song Lou's written. No pretensions here.
3. "Babylonian Gorgon" - The Bags - Dangerhouse Volume Two
From the label, the comp, and the group name, I guess this is out of L.A. in the late 70s, but I don't know anything else other than this is a great song. Punk, with a pop single edge, extremely tightly played, with an extreme attitude in the lyric and vocal that sounds forceful and pissed without sounding petulant and snotty. Yup, just looked them up. 1979. L.A. One more sad band story.
4. "Capitan" - Berenice - Mexican Madness
Slick, cool surf-guitar instrumental (with brief spoken Spanish interpolations). Excellent, but when is this from? I thought all the stuff like this I had was from the 60s; this MIGHT be, but the production sounds too recent -- just checked, yup, recent band in the Los Straitjackets mold. Weird fake-out ending with a blast of Mexican TV and the intro to a Chuck Berry song.
4.5. "Barely" - Buckcherry - 69 Plunderphonics 96
No, wait, that wasn't part of the Berenice song - it was a 5-second track by John Oswald/Plunderphonics - one of the ones where he takes the opening and closing chords of a Chuck Berry song and splices them together. Supposed to, I think, show how ingrained in all of us Chuck's music is - just the opening and closing conjure up the entire song.
Except that while I KNOW this, I can't quite place which song it is. I just went through all 25 Berry songs I have on the iPod, and it's none of them. It's one of the famous ones that I don't actually like so much, so I left it off, and now I'm forgetting it.
When I was loading CDs into the iTunes, I was VERY selective for about the first third of the alphabet (our CDs are alphabetized, yes, okay), so I really picked and chose with many artists at first, especially if my first impulse was to load EVERYTHING they ever did. By the time I got to "R," I was just throwing almost everything in (though I've pruned away at it later). Why didn't I just put all the Chuck Berry on that I had? Well, I'm not going back now. Or at least for a while.
5. "The Creeper" - Young-Holt Unlimited - Mellow Dreamin'
Cool, trumpet-based soul instrumental. Actually sounds more like movie scoring than most of Young-Holt's work. Good music to have in an iPod to make your life seem like an exciting movie when you're just futzing around.
6. "Ding-Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line" - Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot
The "swing" revival paled on me quickly - a little too self-aware, a little too smug - but some of the music is still exciting, like this song, even if it also comes off a little too pleased with itself. Can a song be smug? Oh, of course, yeah.
7. "Can I Get a Witness?" - Dusty Springfield - Dusty Volume 1
Great singer, great song, well done. No problems here.
8. "Act of Faith" - Stan Ridgway - Holiday in Dirt
From Ridgway's "leftovers" collection, a sad, lovely, acoustic ballad. Good, but if Johnny Cash were doing it, it'd tear you apart; it sounds like something he would have done on his last albums.
9. "Shonen Knife Planet" - Shonen Knife - Happy Hour
The Knife goes hip-hop! Well, kinda. Lead in, "intro theme," track to this album, just drum machines, electronics, and the girls. It's Shonen Knife, it's fun., it's non-self-conscious. "Love! Peace! And Shonen Knife!"
10. "You Better Believe in Me" - Eskew Reeder - Northern Soul: The Cream of 60s Soul
Excellent, fast, driving, R&B from a man more frequently known as a Little Richard imitator calling himself Esquerita. I like this better than most of his stuff.
Today, a meeting at The Brick with the SM of the upcoming Thomas Bradshaw plays to check that their laptop is compatible with our video projector. Maybe I'll be driving Petey over. I need to see the Bromley show, too -- I haven't been in the mood recently, but I HAVE to see it before it closes, so maybe tonight, since I'll be at the space.
(iPod is still going - "These Boots Are Made for Walking" translates VERY neatly into "Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher," by Eileen, from Femmes de Paris, vol. 1)
Last night, B&I watched Infra-Man, an old favorite of mine (now titled Super Inframan in English), and Mike Judge's Idiocracy, which is both a pretty good comedy and an excellent horror film.
