Sometimes I forget just how good a song is. For example, today I decided to go through my records and figure out what I will play on Thursday night. The task is nowhere near complete, but, in the process, I came across these excellent songs that I used to play a lot and wanted to share with you in list form. If you don't have any of these, please seek them.
Make Up-- Pow! to the People
The Jam-- Precious
Hot Hot Heat-- Talk to Me, Dance with Me
Echo and the Bunnymen-- Back of Love
Air-- Kelly Watch the Stars
Placebo-- Special K
Blur-- Music is My Radar
Chemical Brothers-- Out of Control
The Charlatans-- Love is the Key
Ian Brown-- Love Like a Fountain
CandyFlip-- Strawberry Fields Forever
Bikini Kill-- Carnival
Soft Cell-- Down in the Subway
Pizzicato Five-- Playboy & Playgirl
Phoenix-- If I Ever Feel Better
Pulp-- Trees
Tahiti 80-- Heartbeat
Magnetic Fields-- Long Forgotten Fairytales
Lifestyle-- My Favorite Song

I'm sure more will turn up soon.

The band promo item that nobody really needs, but everyone really should have is the Pine*am paperdoll set. I guess these have been floating around town for a while, but I just picked up one last night at Underground. The standard paperdolls have matching involving retro-floral tops, black pants and Mary Jane-like shoes, but lacking in the oversized sunglasses that the girls wear in their promo photos on the other side of the glossy sheet of paper. Pine*am fans can even download extra outfits from the band's label, Eenie Meenie. I think I might put mine together and frame them for my bedroom wall.
Earlier Friday evening, I called Melissa to see if she wanted to go out to Underground with me, but she declined on account of having other obligations. So, I went solo but with the knowledge that I would meet up with Tim (who told me before that he would be in attendance) and Dave (who is always in attendance). I went inside to get a soda, which is when I picked up the aforementioned paperdolls, and heard "Do You Remember the First Time?" from Pulp for the first time in ages. An hour later, the person behind the decks approached me and said, "I tried to wave to you, but you were looking at your cell phone."
"Yutaro!"
Now, see, this is all strange because Melissa and Yutaro are good friends. In fact, I know the latter through the former. I guess the gig was very last minute, which was probably why Melissa had no knowledge of this and will probably kick herself when she reads this post. I didn't recognize the black-clad figure in the DJ booth from the corner of the bar. Had I recognized Yutaro, I would have stayed inside and danced to show support for his second DJ gig (also, he has good taste in music). Instead, I stood outside chatting with Tim and Dave and missed all but one song!

The Black Comets opened last night's show with a surf instrumental, and a damn good one at that. For those first three or four minutes, the band reminded me of The Bomboras, who I think I saw more times than I can count between 1995 and 1997, but without the spookiness, fire and go go dancers. I looked at my brother, who is quite the fan of surf music, and he seemed impress. By the second song, though, the band crushed our expectations of the show by jumping into some very spastic punk. I thought it reminiscent of the Misfits. My brother thought it was more like Bad Religion and proceeded to list a string of songs written "before they sucked." I was never into Bad Religion, though, so I can't really qualify that description.
"It's evident from the first song that the band knows how to play their instruments," my brother said later that evening. "They just choose not to."
That's the thing I don't get about bands. If you are a beginning or generally crappy musician, sloppiness is expected, but why is sloppiness an art form for those who can play? Why was the drummer, who proved himself more than adequate during that first song, all over the place for the bulk of the set?
I don't know The Black Comets, nor had I heard of the band before the show, but it's obvious that this band has some real potential. I just wished that they would do more with the style at which they excel, work the surf guitars into some strong rock songs and incorporate the singer into the numbers, get him to sing in the snotty-but-catchy fashion on the song they described as "the hit" all the time, instead of just punking it up for a half-hour. Punk is boring. Really, it is. In this case, my mind started to wander over to a pair of boots on the feet of some random girl. These were the most incredible boots I have seen in some time-- low-heel Victorian style with a patent heel and tip and what seemed to be a black and white needlepoint print covering the foot and leg. I would have asked her where she got the boots, but after seeing such an unusual pair of shoes at a club, it would be odd to show up at the same club in the same shoes a few weeks later. Then, for reasons that I do not know, I thought about this comic strip called Monica and Anthea that was in the back of Seventeen when I was in high school. The strip was based around a tall, completely ordinary blonde named Monica and her short, goth friend Anthea. Way back in high school, my friend Kim and I would refer to ourselves as Monica and Anthea because, well, she was normal and I was goth. Also, she was six-feet, which kind of made me look short even though I'm not. I wondered what happened to those comics and why is it that whenever I try to find them on Google, my searches return with nothing.

There's a new issue of Outburn on the stands either right now or very soon. My copy hasn't arrived yet, so I can't tell you about any of the articles outside of my contributions.
I did a pretty large feature on Coheed and Cambria for this issue. I'm not much of a prog rock person (that's Carlos' category) and, honestly, I didn't realize how much I liked the band until I read the graphic novel for Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Vol I. I was just impressed with the amount of effort that it takes to build a storyline not just for this album, but for the band's entire catalogue. Then I listened to the album and completely fell for the way that the peaks and valleys of the album (as a whole, there are no emo-like high/low songs on here) mimic the story as it reads in the graphic novel. It took two days of back and forth phone calls to locate the band and do a phoner bridging LA to Albany, but it was worth it. I had the chance to talk to Claudio Sanchez for some time, the results of which you can read in the article. He was definitely one of the most polite, friendly and well-spoken musicians I've ever interviewed. When I hung up the phone, I thought, y'know, he would probably be a cool person to hit the bars with my friends and I. I don't think that about very many people.
Also in this issue is an interview I did with Action Action. This was another phoner, again bridging Southern California to somewhere in New York State. (Actually, I think this time it was
Queens, but I can't remember.) I spoke with Mark while he drove to the recording session for the album that is due out very soon. We got disconnected a few times. The cell phone to landline connection sucked as usual, so it took a while to transcribe, but the new album seems promising (although there was actually nothing I could hear at the time of the article). The prior album Don't Cut Your Hair to this Year's Fabric was fairly raw and far less cluttered than many current synth-wielding rock albums. I suggest giving it a listen.
Finally, there are a few record reviews provided by yours truly including Ladytron, She Wants Revenge, American Eyes, Early Man and We Are Scientists.

Next Thursday, I will be DJing at The Spy Club @ Boardners. The Spy Club is Piper and Shalyce's new club and it's really fun. Plus, I'm really excited to have the chance to spin with my old DJ buddies Frankie, Dia and Chris B.

As most of you know, I used to DJ at Bang! from 2000-2003 and this set will be a return to that club sound, which I haven't played in a *long* time. Lots of Britpop, Indie and British 80s. In other words, it's all Liz before she turned into an electro-disco nut. I'm already planning to bust out some Pulp and XTC classics that I haven't played in ages. However, I wanted to open the forum for some special requests, if anyone has any. That said, if you can think of something that I used to play a lot, let me know and I will do my best to bring it. (I'm already searching for my copy of "Bliss" by Muse for Tim.)

Thanks and I hope to see all of you next Thursday for The Spy Club @ Boardners. If you have any questions email me (lizziegolightly@gmail.com) or post them in the comments section. Oh, and don't forget to tell your friends. I want to see some serious dancefloor madness next week, y'know like Morrissey-induced crotch-grabbing and stuff.

Mary and I haven't seen each other since she ventured to LA a few years ago. (Oh, and did we have a great time! Not only did we go to Giant Robot and Amoeba, but Mary almost got in trouble for trying to light up inside the Ruby for Beat It *AND* she witnessed Angelyne saunter right into Transmission at the Parlour with a very young man.) Regardless, we still write to each other frequently and continue to pimp each other's writing. Mary is one of the best writers you will ever have the pleasure of reading (perhaps, you have read her posts on this blog). I can't wait until the day I see her on the best seller list and maybe she will let me open up for her on a book tour. Now, I present to you, an interview with Mary, which remains exclusive to the PDP.

1. Maine v. New York. Who wins?

You mean in terms of daily life on a long-term basis? If so, Maine wins, or more generally, smaller towns closer to nature win. I want to live someplace quieter and cheaper, with more trees and fields and streams – but I'll always be happy to come back to New York for visits. Always. Let's run around and stay out late. For a week. Then go home.

2. You have a distinct interest in Polish culture. What about said culture would you like to show others?

Here's a story. I was taking a train from Germany to Warsaw, where I was supposed to take a connecting train to Krakow. The train broke down in Germany, in this field by a dairy farm, and the cranky German conductors made everyone get off the train and stand by the tracks while the cows sniffed at our luggage. I couldn't find anyone who spoke English or even French. Finally this girl who'd been sitting in my car asked me something in Polish, and I said thank you because that was the only Polish I remembered, and it turned out that she spoke a smattering of English.

So she found a Polish businessman who spoke some German, and he translated the German train announcements into Polish and she translated them into English for me, and after hours of delay and different trains we made it to Warsaw, where I had missed my train to Krakow. The next – and last – train would be at midnight. And this girl, she waited with me in the station for two hours to make sure I got the right train, and she gave me the number at her house in Warsaw so if anything happened before I got to Krakow I could call and she'd have her father come get me in his car, and if necessary I could stay with them until the morning when there would be more trains. Then she bought me coffee, and when the Krakow train came she told the conductors to put me in a better seat because I'd had such a difficult journey, and then the Polish conductors looked concerned and brought me to a private car, where they served me sandwiches and juice, and I didn't have to pay for them. And that's the thing you should understand about Polish people.

3. Why are you a writer people should read?

I keep it clean. No bad words. Refuge from the filth, right here.

4. What is the top lesson learned in grad school?

You don't have to go to grad school to be a good writer. Hey kids, I just saved you $100,000! Yeah, you're welcome.

5. Are zines better than blogs?

Yes. Unequivocally yes. Zines smelled like cheap xerox and the internet smells like... a computer. Which is sad. The internet never leaves mysterious smudges on your fingers. The internet never comes with stickers on it, or a handwritten note taped inside. You can't fold the internet up and put it in a pocket and lose it and then find it again four months later.

6. What record best reflects Mary as a person?

A busted homemade cassette of Mountain Goats songs. And then, at the very end of the second side, Eddie Rabbitt singing "I Love a Rainy Night."

Thanks to Daniel, I just read a wonderful interview from Heroine Magazine featuring Kim Gordon and Suzanne Vega about being a rock 'n roll mum. Here's the link: http://www.heroinemag.com/features/feature2/.

Does anyone know what happened to the music in the Los Angeles Times Calendar section? Outside of Thursday's Calendar Weekend supplement, there seems to be nothing. And how many articles can one paper run on why people don't go to the movies anymore? It's obvious, nobody wants to pay $10 to sit through twenty minutes (seriously, I timed it at the last Star Wars installment) of commercials for some movie that must have been written by monkeys and stars a bunch of folks who are better at posing for Vogue covers and ending up in tabloids than at acting. Oh, and let's not forget how no feature is complete without the pre-film lecture from thespian Ben Affleck on how downloading films hurts people. Y'know, like him and a bunch of others who make over a million per film and still don't have to pay for their clothes. Note to Hollywood: Make a good movie and people might pay to see it.
Right now, I would rather read another piece comparing Bright Eyes to Bob Dylan than have to go through film industry editorials and celebrity lifestyle pieces that litter Calendar. Please, someone, hear my prayer and bring back the music.

I guess the most important lesson learned this year is that one should never take one's eyes off of a drink at a club. See the previous post for an explanation of this lesson.
I should write one of those lists recapping the best of 2005, but it's really hard to keep track of all of the music that comes out in one year and harder still to remember what were the arse-kicking releases of February, 2005. I don't want to neglect anything. Really, I don't.
Another thing I learned this year is that reggaeton is, perhaps, my least favorite style of music. Every time I pull into a Valley parking lot and hear the synthetic Oktoberfest sound of Daddy Yankee, I must fight the urge to start throwing things at cars while screaming, "There is no reason for your bass to be up that high while you are driving. You suck! You're music sucks and this incessant need to play crap music at high volumes is one of the many reasons why I hate living here! Well, that and fake eyebrows."
As far as 2006 is concerned, I hope for the demise of reggaeton, the plague of Gwen Stefani look-a-looks across Southern California and Lindsay Lohan's music career. I doubt that any of this will happen. I really hope that people have enough sense not to revive grunge as a reaction to teen pop because Nirvana was a completely overrated band and the only thing remotely interesting about Soundgarden was Chris Cornell's set of lips.
I would like to see more folks outside of the Ultragrrrl blog and Indie 103.1 take an interest in Nightmare of You because this band's self-titled debut should be a part of record collections across the country. The music is sweet and the lyrics are as dirty as anything Jarvis Cocker might right. "I Want to be Buried in Your Backyard," the radio track, is my personal favorite, but, by no means is it the only good song on this album. NOY will make you happy.
I hope more people pay attention to LA bands this year, excluding the Like and other bores whose names aren't registering with me right now. The Tender Box should be huge by this time next year and Winston and the Telescreen should release their album and be the buzz band on everyone's lips.
As for the out-of-town artists, more DJs should come to Los Angeles. Yeah, we know, LA isn't known for dancing. In fact, it pretty much sucks for dancing, but we need to change that. I also hope that maybe Dahlia can bring her electro-cabaret act to Los Angeles and that Man in Gray can head out west and bring Mary with them.