Skip to main content

Al compas del mundo - programa #114 - potpourri of fun, fun, fun

 


Fun, Fun, Fun. And I do mean fun. Sometimes this summary of a weekly radio show veers off to a serious side, but not today. Not with this batch of winners. Not when we’re leading off with Los Xochimilcas. Like a mix of The Three Stooges and Spike Jones, they clamor for a round of “pulque for two!” with an eloquent danzón accompaniment. Then there’s Pigbag showing off some serious jazz chops…but is it jazz? Then again, who cares? Why fret over labels when we’re here to have fun?!

So The Magnetic Fields’ tune isn’t exactly light-hearted glee and all, but fun comes in many packages. I had fun when I first heard I Die You Die. They sounded like the Velvet Underground had they hailed from West Virginia instead of New York. That’s not fun? Relatively speaking, there’s always room for Ennio Morricone. That lonesome whistle thrills me, along with the chorus of grunting injuns. A Spaghetti Western at its stereotypical best. Allen Toussaint, by the way, is one hell of a song writer, in case you were unaware. From a Whisper to a Scream is a subtle masterpiece, placing him in the rank of Lee Hazlewood. Segues can be fun too. For instance, Peruvian Julia Illanes wails about how damned liquor has destroyed her world. And who should follow that but mixed-up Betty James. Maybe not redeeming themes but fun nonetheless in a screwed-up way (fill in the emoji of your choice here). And has there been a better verbal smackdown than Buddy Guy telling his woman “Baby, you ain’t no Frigidaire. You can’t keep nothin’, tell everything you hear.” I can’t quite grasp the imagery, but it’s a heroic attempt at rhyming. The Floaters didn’t need to rhyme.  Float On allowed their sexy selves to take turns telling just what kind of woman each of them would choose. Along with astrologic mumbo-jumbo (and fun), I believe the best line describes Charles’ ideal of a woman who “carries herself like Miss Universe”. Float on, Charles, float on! - JH

Run list for potpourri of fun, fun, fun

First broadcast 2-8-24

01 Los Xochimilcas - Pulque para Dos (Mexico)

02 Pigbag - Papa's got a Brand New Pigbag (England)

03 The Magnetic Fields - I Die You Die (USA)

04 Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby (USA)

05 Ennio Morricone - For a Few Dollars More, Main Theme (Italy)

06 Ramiro Musotto - Bayaka (Brazil)

07 Allen Toussaint - From a Whisper to a Scream (USA)

08 War - Low Rider (en Español) (USA)

09 Ambi Bilga - Tu Beja Beja (India)

10 Ashley MacIsaac - Rusty D-Con-Struck-Tion (Tatter Jack Walsh-O'Reilly's-Sailor's Wife) (Scotland)

11 Julia Illanes - Licor Maldito (Peru)

12 Betty James - I'm a Little Mixed Up (USA)

13 Buddy Guy - Keep It to Myself (USA)

14 Ken Boothe - Artibella (Jamaica)

15 Khaled - Ragda (Algeria)

16 The Floaters - Float on (USA)

17 The Soul Machine - Twitchie Feet (USA)



Ode to Betty James -On a sunny Derby Day/Milwaukee/the East Side/up by the pagoda-looking gas/station around 1971 / got lost /got lost just / a few blocks from home. /And kids came out / climbing over rubble /singing "hippies in town" / singing "hippies in town" / me and dave and jim did / a sort of cold tremble / when a car engine would start /it was like a slow explosion / as we found our way / got back to the pad / and there is an old hippie / fellow traveller playing / I'm a Little Mixed Up -JV

~&~




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al compás del mundo - programa #99 - Los Folkloristas

This week’s Al compás del mundo earns a pair of dedications. Primarily, to Las Folkloristas, a group of Mexican musicians who first came together in 1966 and who continue to the present day, delighting their public and educating them as to the breadth of folk music genres and instrumentation found in every corner of Latin America. The second dedication is to me and my sweetheart wife Claudia – we met at a concert of Los Folkloristas at the Sala Agora in Mexico City, in 1976. And yes, we too are still together. Get out your handkerchiefs and dry your eyes because there’s a story to be told as evidence that there’s a soulmate out there for everyone. You just have to make the effort to look, even if it takes you to a foreign land. And so it goes like this: I spent all of 1976 living in Mexico City, ostensibly to learn Spanish, but en realidad to loaf around, drink beer, practice my saxophone, and maybe, just maybe, look to meet a señorita. I lived in a pension (boardinghouse) owned by Jul...
1 comment
Read more

Al compas del mundo, programa #92 - Japan

The Japanese historically have been a most creative people, excelling in aesthetic conventions like architecture, painting, culinary arts, theatre, music, and more. A craftsman’s care and an artist’s flair have come to define everyday household objects such as articles of clothing and kitchen ware, designed with a sensibility that imbues them with import and elevated status. After WWII in the United States however, an item inscribed “made in Japan” usually indicated a tchotchke of mediocre quality. A perfect example is the large number of Northwest Coast Native American-style bone totem poles made for the tourist shops in the Northwest. There is a distinctive difference in these “artifacts” from the real, home-made variety that illustrates someone from another culture tackling aesthetics they don’t fully comprehend. And that leads us to some of this week’s musical choices. Imitating Western pop, rock and jazz, Japanese artists have recorded many forgettable efforts – not unlike those o...
Post a Comment
Read more