Spending all Saturday morning and the afternoon thusfar behind a computer is thoroughly unenjoyable. The only pleasure I can derive from this experience is listening to BBC 6 all day, starting with the end of the countdown show, going into some incredible Northern Soul brought to us by Craig Charles, who was on the show Red Dwarf that Carlos keeps telling me I have to see, but my local video store is a part of a shitty corporate chain that does not stock British television shows. Then, in the midst of Bruce Dickinson's Rock Show (where he played Rye Coaltion and I started having flashbacks involving Coney Island High, which became my least favorite venue ever after a string of bad experiences during the course of one CMJ Music Marathon), I checked the program guide and called Balthazar Monsoon.
I referred to him by his real name, or, more precisely, real nickname.
"Do you listen to BBC 6?"
"No."
"That's a problem. You should."
"Why?"
"They have this live show, it's on at midnight over there, so I guess it's three or four over here." I start doing the math for an eight-hour time difference out loud. "Four. It's on at four. Anyhow, they're playing a Waterboys performance from Glastonbury 1986."
"No way!"
"Way."
Do we really talk like that? I'm not sure. I didn't record the conversation. Point being, though, B. Monsoon really loves The Waterboys. I like the band. A lot. But, I think he has more albums. He put "Whole of the Moon" on a mixed cd for me on the occasion of a birthday several years ago and rekindled a relationship with a band that I thought I had forgotten more than ten years prior. So, if you happen to see this post beforehand, make sure you go to BBC 6 at 4:00 p.m. PST and listen to the show.
While I'm at it, Live at Midnight is airing some pretty cool concerts over the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to the following:
5/07/06*-- The Scorpions @ Wembley, 1991 (this is not mentioned for the sake of irony, some of us really do dig The Scorpions).
5/14/06-- Bjork
5/20/06-- Pulp
5/27/06-- Radiohead
6/03/06-- Mogwai (I know we'll be listening at home, but still, earplugs are recommended)
6/04/06-- Beautiful South
6/10/06-- Deep Purple
6/11/06-- Squeeze

* I listed everything as a day earlier because of the time difference.

Remember when I said that "Don't Fool Yourself" is Pop Noir's best song yet? Well, now you can listen to it on the band's My Space page.

Okay, so apparently Daft Punk STOLE Coachella. I wouldn't know. I was stuck at home trying to finish part of my thesis like a loser. However, my friend Nelson said that it was *the* moment of the weekend. You know that Daft Punk kicks serious ass when all but one of the Coachella videos located so far on You Tube features the band. What's the one video that isn't Daft Punk, you might be asking right now. It's Madonna. I'm still reeling over the fact that I missed out and will not be going to see Madonna on this tour. I saw her in 2001 and, today, that show is just one blur of unparalleled performance energy witnessed from incredible seats.

Some really awesome person posted what appears to be cell phone footage of Daft Punk's set at Coachella on You Tube. This is "One More Time."


The bass sounds crackly, but just seeing that energy in the crowd makes my heart race. There are other Daft Punk moments on You Tube as well.

It must suck to be Madonna. She has legions of adoring fans, control over her career and access to the pretty much anything her heart desires. But then, there is the way that reviews of her performances, even when positive, always come off as snarky and back-handed.
So, when people talk about Coachella becoming more mainstream, its a fate that lands squarely on Madonna's shoulders. Sure, Kanye is mentioned too, but in passing, and the review of Saturday's events note that his appearance at the festival was one of his "most significant" performances. But, for some reason, Kanye doesn't make pop-skeptics cringe the way Madonna does. For some reason, hip-hop is not considered pop, even though its current form definitely does rely on the classic structure of the pop song, its a multi-billion dollar industry that dominates the Billboard Top 40 and its influence penetrates the work of shamelessly pop artists (i.e. Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake).
This isn't just about Kanye and Madonna. I can't find any mention of James Blunt (did he cancel?) and that dude just performed on Oprah Winfrey. How's that for pop? She Wants Revenge has an album on the Billboard charts and, in my own club observations, has the one song that everyone wants to hear ("Tear You Apart"). Depeche Mode, oddly enough still viewed as a cult band, consistently has chart success. Franz Ferdinand's breakthrough hit "Take Me Out" can still be heard pretty much everywhere. Matisyahu? Well, let's put it this way, my father, who tries to ignore anything that isn't Thee Midnighters, Blood Sweat and Tears, CCR or the Nuge, knows who this dude is. Then there are Daft Punk, who have racked up its own fair share of hits over time, and Massive Attack, whose song "Teardrop" is now the theme for House. I haven't even touched on the bands that aren't considered pop in the US, but are certainly pop successes in the UK (Scissor Sisters, anyone?). Certainly, this year's line-up at Coachella featured a considerable amount of artists with pop leanings.
Then you have Madonna, whose worst albums still sell more than the average musician can fathom. This is a woman whose career is essentially rooted in New York's early-1980s disco scene, who has, since the beginning, picked up on everything interesting happening in the club scene and appropriated it for her advantage. Some people complain about that. Personally, I think that it shows great foresight, not just as a musician, but as a businesswoman. Pop, as a description of Madonna, does not even begin to describe what she does. It is definitely appropriate to use it as a partially explanation of her music, as with the bands listed above, but does not encapsulate the whole of her work.

Megan posted some of her Gram Rabbit pics online. You can see the album here. The first set of photos are from The Echo, April 21, 2006. The others are from a Lava Lounge show last year. My favorite is the wrestling rabbits shot.

So, I'm prone to making references to stuff I remember seeing on this show called Request Video ages and ages ago and, the truth is, if you didn't grow up in Southern California and you aren't in your late-20s or early-30s, you probably have no idea what the heck Request Video was.
Simply put, Request Video was the best video program ever. It aired every weekday for several years with numerous hosts, including Rodney Bingenheimer, Jim "The Poorman" Trenton and Gia Desantis. Out of these three, Desantis became best known for the connection to Request Video, either because she had the longest stint or because Bingenheimer and The Poorman were already very well known for their spots on KROQ (Bingenheimer is the host of Rodney on the Roq while The Poorman was the original host of Loveline and also had an evening drive rock slot at the station).
Watching Request Video was a ritual experience. Every day after school, Gia was there onscreen via an Anaheim tv studio in her clothes provided by the pre-Hot Topic punk outfitters Retail Slut (RIP) to introduce the latest videos and viewer requests. Sometimes, she was joined by Belissa Cohen, who was the best gossip columnist the LA Weekly ever had. The show was far better than MTV because it was ours. We watched it knowing that we had access to something that people outside of Southern California did not. We could catch the brand new Skinny Puppy video next to a Bauhaus classic, mixed in with the hottest British bands and local favorites like Human Drama and the Nymphs. Bands consistently visited the studio while in town, performing to a small audience and answering phone-in questions. Over the years I saw the likes of Ride, Skinny Puppy, Morrissey, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cramps (see below) on the station.
When Request Video went off the air (late-1992 or early-1993, although I can't find confirmation of the exact date), a dark cloud settled over greater Los Angeles. Local television, on the whole, was beginning to disappear from our tv sets, with the formerly independent stations gathered up by new networks. KDOC 56 has remained independent to this day, but now the station's focus is on re-runs of The Rockford Files and Ducks games. Meanwhile, KROQ Reunion notes that Desantis, who DJed at the station in the early-1990s, left radio and moved to New Mexico.
Below is a You Tube video I found of The Cramps' appearance on Request Video. So far, it's the only Request Video footage I have been able to locate online. Maybe one day I will actually be able to find my own recordings of some of the live performances and interviews and will be able to add them to the site.

Okay, so does everyone else. Anyhow, this is a really cool video from 1984. I wish I could say, yeah, when I was nine I got to interview The Smiths.

I went on You Tube today looking for a video from that apparant BBC passion play featuring Bez. No such luck.
Instead, I found some nifty Trashcan Sinatras videos. Considering the conversation that B. Monsoon and I were having last night about how we have to visit Scotland someday, I thought this might be appropriate (even though the conversation actually revolved around the Proclaimers and Family Guy and then mophed into something about the Waterboys and us trying to figure out which songs Eddi Reader, sister of TCS' Frank Reader, sang on). The top video is from South by Southwest, 2004. Below is an unnamed radio session, but I believe it's the KCRW sessions (thought I heard Nic Harcourt in the background).