hugh manatee has posted a different version of Laurie Anderson’s Only an Expert which is much better than the one I wrote about yesterday. I partially withdraw my snarky comment.
Baby’s On Fire
OK, I mentioned Laurie Anderson. That got the brain cells working and Brian Eno spat out the other end. That means I get to mention that Eno’s Baby’s On Fire (shown in that link with unrelated Eno graphics) is one of the greatest rock songs in the history of the universe.
The versions by Venus in Furs and Velvet Goldmine and Creepers and Granada (electro-pop!) and Bomb Everything are also more than acceptable.
I just thought you should know this.
Alternatively, you could watch the Tractor Square Dancing from the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
Laurie Anderson repeats herself again and again
Thanks to typing is not activism… I’m now OK with the fact that ’Pong and I missed Laurie Anderson when she was in Sydney last month.
They posted this video of her singing Only an Expert / Maybe if I Fall and I reckon it’s crap. The minimalist backing tune is just the same sort of thing she’s been doing forever, and she mumbles through the words without that accurate staccato that used to mark her work. Is age causing her mouth to be less accurate? Or does she just not care any more?
What I do find interesting is that she walks out onto the stage as an Artist (with a capital “A”). Because she’s an Artist, she gets polite applause and respect for something which is really just a smarty-pants poem — but delivered in such a pretentious way that she’d be howled off stage at a real poetry open mic night.
So, I’m happy that I missed her.
I reckon you can learn everything you need to know about Laurie Anderson by listening to her seminal work O Superman and her one hit song, Language is a Virus.
The latter has one of the best opening lyrics of any song: “Paradise is exactly like where you are right now, only much, much better.”
Tree fern goes bersesk
A few days of solid rain, and our tree fern is looking remarkably healthy. Even when photographed with the pimple-cam.
And they still get a vote, part 2
About 5pm this afternoon I overheard the following conversation on a train approaching Central station. I’m guessing these two guys were in their mid-20s, and weren’t merchant bankers.
Lad #1: Interest rates have gone up 25% today. So your rent’s going to go up.
Lad #2: What the fuck?
Lad #1: Yeah, I heard it on the radio. The guy who owns your place has to pay 25% more, so you’ll have to pay 25% more rent.
Lad #2: Fuck that! That’s what? Fuck! That’s $75 [presumably a fortnight]. No fuckin’ way! No cunt’s charging me any fuckin’ more for that fuckin’ crack den I live in.
And you thought you had it tough…
New Matilda is free!
New Matilda is now free! “From today all content will be available free of charge,” says editor José Borghino. “NewMatilda.com readers will no longer need to subscribe.” It’s free, apparently. Or, in other words, it costs nothing.