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Baron Dave Romm
Demented Music 2007 II
By Baron Dave Romm
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Marscon is the only sf convention that has a Dementia Music track. Other conventions make space for music, but Marscon reserves the Main Stage during most of the con for the musicians that aren't quite filk and not quite folk. These are people who, for the most part, grew up listening to Dr. Demento and wanting to be Weird Al Yankovic. Dementia is a self-defined category which, very loosely, means, "the kind of music Dr. Demento would play". A very broad category, to be sure.
At this year's Marscon, I picked up several CDs, many of which were published in time for the con; counting the CDs promised through the mail, I've acquired more music at Marscon 2007 than any other con. Last week covered three artists, and there may be more to come.
Carla Ulbrich
Carla Ulbrich only has three CDs and a two-song EP, but songs of hers pop up on various compilations, so I know there's more in her. Nonetheless, I'll only talk about the CDs.
her fabulous debut, from 1999, is a strong first effort, pink and cuddly. Nicely produced, with good arrangements, strong singing and a lyric sheet. Topics range from boyfriends to food to songwriting to tv shows. She has an expressive southern twang that gives her music a coy innocence over hardass lyrics.
Her most famous song is What
If Your Girlfriend Was Gone:
This song and its parody have been on Dr. Demento, leading her to write a third version, What If I Only Have One Good Song? Bouncy country riffs for a potential boyfriend.
Fame, such as it is, hasn't scratched her cynical side. When informed that she wasn't allowed to have a bad day because she was a "hero", she responded with Not Your Jesus:
I'm also fond of Boy Wonder, about a young genius who desires normalcy. Not enough folk singers realize that they have Nothing To Say, and Carla gets a good song out of it too! The way to her heart is through her stomach in Toasted Chicken Sandwich.
her fabulous debut is more country than filk or dementia, and yet remains above the fray, looking at life from an unexpected angle. Her debut is still her strongest CD, and highly recommended.
Professional Smart Aleck is her second CD, a live album (more on that later). No longer pink and cuddly, she's in college now, at Carla U,. She instructs audience in elocution with A Name is a Name (My Name is Carla while discussing The Teachers At Clempson and The Wedgie. She can tell you How To Build A Log Cabin (for Dummies) or why Therapy Works and asks performers Would You Rather Be Paid?:
The CD is definitely a sophomore outing, but with the accumulation of four years of experience, and it pays off. She repeats a few songs from her first CD, with a hidden track of outtakes to poke fun at herself. I can't recommend Professional Smart Aleck to start off your Carla Ulbrich collection, but if you like her debut this is worthwhile picking up.
People write about what they know, and unfortunately Carla spent some time in a hospital. At least she got an album out of it: Sick Humor: The Lighter Side of Illness. Many of the songs are parodies, covers of rock songs, and so she gets close to filk. The music arrangements are good, and she's lost much of her South Carolina twang. You can feel that she's annoyed with the time spent battling illness, but she still looks at life a little cockeyed.
She parodies Personality,
by Lloyd Price with Sittin'
in the Waiting Room:
Over and over
I make an appointment with you
Over and over
You'Äôre not sure what to do
Over and over
You refer me to somebody new
So over and over
I'Äôm sittin'Äô in the waiting room
I'Äôm at the rheumatologist
Nephrologist
Immunologist
Oncologist
Radiologist
Hematologist
They really need some new magazines in here
So over and over
I wish I'Äôd brought something to do
'ÄôCause I'Äôm here over and over
Sittin'Äô in the waiting room
She's On the Commode Again as Patient 2946065 and asks, after losing too much weight, What If Your Butt Was Gone (the parody of What If Your Girlfriend Was Gone mentioned above).
The songs are well done and the observations are personal and incisive. Perhaps a bit more than we wanted to know, but we can all relate to being poked and prodded and pilled. The subject matter is handled with gentle humor, not rage against the machine. Sick Humor is another successful Carla Ulbrich outing, and recommended.
And a quick comment on the EP If I Had The Copyright (The "F" Word Song) (click to load the mostly worksafe video of concert footage of second version). The song itself is fun and wouldn't make a sailor blush. The first cut is the full, unbleeped, version. The second cut is a raw recording of a live concert, but much more fun to listen to. Perhaps someday Carla will collect all her wandering songs into one CD, but until then we'll take what she dollops out. She's fun in concert, and available.
Eric Comes Alive - Windycon 2006
Semi-disclaimer: Eric Coleman doesn't really deserve this rant, as he freely admits he pressed this CD to have something new for Marscon. Tough. It's my soapbox.
Back In The Day, a band's second album (or thereabouts) would be full of lamentation about being on the road or having to pay too much in taxes or how hard it was dealing with fans or somesuch. You write what you know, and touring is hard work. Of course, back then a vinyl recording too a lot of initial capital and the investment was beyond most individual artists. Nowadays, almost anyone can record a concert off the soundboard and press a few CDS to see how sales go. All too often, an artist's sophomore CD is of a live concert and without the years of Spinal Tap-like touring being them, the concert album disappoints.
Eric gives a good concert. But you have to be there. He bounces off people he knows in the audience, and they request songs and make jokes. His second CD (no Eric, I'm not counting your EP) is Eric Comes Alive - Windycon 2006. A faithful recording of the whole thing, including banter. Having been to several of Eric's concerts, I felt at home. I've even played a cut on the air, a bit of banter about LiveJournal of which we are both members. I'm glad I have this CD, but I can't recommend it to anyone who hadn't seen him in concert or isn't a fan of his first CD, Some See The Glass Half Empty.
I understand the economics of touring and needing to have new material at sales tables when you revisit a venue. And something is better than nothing. Still, I prefer the route taken by the great Luke Ski. In between major released, he repackages old material, adds some new stuff and picks the best example of live performances.
So, Eric, I hope you don't mind that this rant lands on you, and will take the plug of your first CD as offering. But you have more stuff, you can come out with a new CD, dammitalltoheck.
Oh Dear FSM... Not Another One
On the other hand, we have DJ Particle with her sophomore effort, Oh Dear FSM... Not Another One. She describes herself as a "RIAAcidal Lesbian Parodist" and goes from there. She has lots of energy and it can be fun listening to her dander on the Dementia Radio Shoutcast. On the other hand, it can be grating to hear her try to sing. Her vocal range, alas, is exceeded by her enthusiasm.
On the other hand, her enthusiasm in infectious, and she's enough of a geek to get good sounds out of her looping and sampling. When it works, it works. Her live screed against Windows Vista is fun, especially for us Mac guys. The two hidden tracks are part of the "RIAAdical" biz on file sharing. The techno sampling is not to my taste, but it might be to yours.
Her filk of a filk, I stole This Song, fits nicely in this theme, and with one bleep is playable on the air. She has a song about Leela of Futurama (with another about a Dr. Who Leela) and samples Bush to urge impeachment before Next Election Day.
Dj Particle's performance at the Smackdown was pretty good. She bopped around to The Home Coming Queen's Got A Gun to mention next year's Musician Guests of Honor, Hot Waffles. She hit all the notes and chewed the scenery. Perhaps a live concert CD would be good for her, if she selected the cuts to show off her talent.
I'm glad I have DJ Particle's two CDs in my collection, since I never know quite when I'll need something more off the track than usual. But I rarely play them and they're not on my iPod. You might like her stuff more than I do. Ya Never know.
Pictures by Baron Dave. Marscon 2007 Gallery now online!.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
--////
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Nat Hentoff: Do You Miss Our Constitution? (villagevoice.com)
No previous American law has been as subversive as the Military Commissions Act of 2006
Tricia Romano: In Defense of Ultragrrrl (villagevoice.com)
Sarah Lewitinn has become New York's premier tastemaker-and that's what makes the haterati squirm
Here are our top ten reasons marijuana should be legalized: (Hightimes; Posted on nevadathunder.com)
10. Prohibition has failed to control the use and domestic production of marijuana.
Momoko Price: Have You Been Tricked by Viral Marketing? Join the Crowd (The Ubyssey. Posted on AlterNet.org)
Fake graffiti, bogus hype and other mutations are fooling lots of us into believing that marketed products are the hot new thing, when they're only the latest thing off the assembly line.
Jim David: If Edwards is the f word, what word is Coulter? (advocate.com)
Ann Coulter tried to explain away her antigay remark about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards as a mere "schoolyard taunt." But as comedian Jim David points out, the calculating blond pressmonger knew exactly what she was doing-and her deliberate verbal gaffe betrays the conservative spirit at its most vile.
Daniel J. Blau:"I don't" (advocate.com)
What's a nice boy like John Waters doing in a show like Court TV's 'Til Death Do Us Part?
Virginia Madsen: An Angelic Life (beliefnet.com)
The actress, best known for her role in "Sideways," talks about playing the Angel of Death--and her own beliefs about angels.
Richard Roeper: Plenty of violence, nudity, but '300' is hardly a political statement (suntimes.com)
Even as some deep thinkers tried to ascribe heavy political and racial and social meanings to "300," audiences embraced it for what it is: a cool-looking graphic novel come to life with great battle scenes and lots of skin.
Richard Roeper: YouTube a good way to see how you look to everyone else (suntimes.com)
When I wanted to find out more about Viacom's copyright infringement lawsuit against Google and YouTube, my first move was to go to Google News and Google "Google."
Ramones: Rock Lyrics
Reder Comment
Re: Eric Bangeman
Marty
Good article by Eric Bangeman: "The Daily Show is as substantive as the "real" new's' as 'Recomended by Bruce" on Sun. March 18th. YouTube has a clip of Jon Stewart on Crossfire with Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala from 2004 in which Jon Stewart asks the media to stop the theatrics.
Worth watching.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
PERHAPS A FOOL
CHEERFULLY ADMITTING - THIS POEM STINKS!
Purple Gene Reviews
'A History of Violence'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Gray and overcast.
Oshawa, Canada Prepares
'Stephen Colbert Day'
Ever since his satirical news program took to the airwaves in late 2005, American comic Stephen Colbert has revelled in taunting Canada.
He welcomed Canadian viewers to "The Colbert Report" - pronounced "ra-PORE" - when it launched on The Comedy Network in November '05 by telling them: "I am Stephen Colbert. I have balls. If you're lucky, they might just rub off on you."
When the Conservatives booted the Liberals out of power in last year's federal election, Colbert was quick to take credit, crowing: "I fixed Canada in 77 days!"
Now Canada, it appears, is ready to thank Colbert for his repair work by holding a "Stephen Colbert Day" celebration, including a Colbert lookalike contest, is being held Tuesday in Oshawa, an industrial city east of Toronto better-known for its GM plant than its tendency to whoop it up.
'Stephen Colbert Day'
Nest Found In Philadelphia
Bald Eagle
Wildlife authorities have found the first bald eagle nest in the city in more than 200 years, the Pennsylvania Game Commission said Friday.
Officials are not disclosing the exact location of the nest to avoid disturbing the site, but agency personnel and volunteers are monitoring it closely, the commission said.
"We don't know if the nest will result in the pair successfully breeding and laying eggs yet, but we are very hopeful," Dan Brauning, commission wildlife diversity supervisor, said in a statement.
Brauning said the confirmation of a nest within the city "demonstrates the resilience of this species and its apparent growing tolerance to human activity."
Bald Eagle
Memorial Sculpture Unveiled
Theo van Gogh
Friends and fans of Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker slain by a man reportedly enraged by a movie he believed defamed Islam, unveiled a memorial sculpture Sunday that depicts Van Gogh screaming near the spot where he was killed.
Mayor Job Cohen and a Dutch comedian praised the controversial Van Gogh and his work as the sculpture by Jeroen Henneman was unveiled to hundreds of people gathered at a park in eastern Amsterdam.
Titled "The Scream," the memorial took the form of a series of profiles of Van Gogh in stainless steel-coated ceramics, showing the filmmaker gradually opening his mouth into a scream.
Theo van Gogh
Baby News
Brunei
Brunei's Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah has become a father with the birth of his first-born, a baby boy, by his half-Swiss wife, the sultanate announced.
The future king's wife, Sarah Salleh, gave birth to the boy on Saturday at 3:50 pm (0750 GMT) and his birth was celebrated with a 19-gun salute, the government said.
The crown prince, who turned 33 last month, married his wife, 20, in 2004 in one of the grandest weddings in Asia in more than a decade. It was his first marriage.
She is the third child of a Bruneian civil servant and Swiss-born psychiatric nurse, Suzanne Aeby of Fribourg, who met while studying in London in the 1970s.
Brunei
Baby News
Chuck & Camilla
Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla are to become grandparents as the Duchess of Cornwall's son, Tom ParkerBowles, and his wife are expecting a baby, according to the Mail on Sunday.
Bowles's wife, fashion journalist Sara Buys, 34, is three months pregnant with their first child. The couple tied the knot in September 2005.
"Mummy is absolutely thrilled at the prospect of becoming a grandmother," added Tom, 32.
Chuck & Camilla
Trial To Be Televised
Phil Spector
For decades, famed music producer Phil Spector was a recluse, hiding in his hilltop suburban castle. It took the gunshot death there of a glamorous actress who starred in a cult movie to force him out into the Hollywood spotlight.
On Monday, the search begins for jurors to decide if the 66-year-old Spector is guilty of murdering Lana Clarkson on Feb. 3, 2003, after taking her home with him from the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip.
Clarkson was found slumped dead in a chair in the foyer, her teeth blown out by a gunshot to her mouth.
The coroner's office called it a homicide - "death by the hand of another" - but also noted that Clarkson had gunshot residue on both of her hands and may have pulled the trigger.
Phil Spector
Seeks Support For Buyout
Clear Channel
Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s meteoric rise from small-time radio station owner to colossal media company has often been tempestuous, with consumer and antitrust advocates hounding the giant. But these days, the loudest cries are coming from stockholders.
Investors were offered $37.60 in cash per share, or $18.7 billion, and the assumption of $8 billion in debt by a private equity group in November.
The buyout offer, led by Bain Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, is the fifth largest in U.S. history and a 10.2 percent premium over the closing stock price the day before the offer was announced.
But some shareholders of the nation's largest radio station operator are signaling it isn't enough, given the strong performance of its billboard and outdoor advertising segment.
Clear Channel
Reptiles Stolen
Wildlife Wonderland
More than 50 reptiles, including a crocodile, were stolen from an Australian animal education center established to continue the work of wildlife crusader Steve Irwin.
The haul from the Wildlife Wonderland near Melbourne, included a 60-centimetre (2 feet) freshwater crocodile, two pythons and three bearded dragons, all requiring an owner's license, the centre's owner said.
Also reported stolen were the centre's entire stock of 47 blue-tongue lizards.
"These animals were used to educate children and to keep Steve Irwin's legacy alive. I feel sick over this," the centre's proprietor Darren Tilley told Reuters.
Wildlife Wonderland
Stolen From Japanese Museum
Gold Bullion
Three masked men on Sunday snatched a block of gold bullion valued at roughly $1.71 million (880,600 pounds) from a Japanese museum that allowed visitors to touch the 100 kg piece.
Shoving aside a woman museum worker, the three then fled with an accomplice who had been serving as lookout at the museum in Takayama, a small city in central Japan.
"There were no sensors or burglar alarms, since the museum allowed its visitors to touch the gold as they wanted," a police spokesman said.
Gold Bullion
Transform Gambling
High-Tech Slots
Engineers at PureDepth Inc. spent years developing tools for helping the military plot 3-D maps of war zones, eventually licensing top-secret technology to the U.S. Air Force and Navy.
But the Silicon Valley startup hit the jackpot in October when it inked a deal with International Game Technology Inc., the world's largest maker of slot machines.
Industry experts say a realistic digital video display is the final hurdle that will completely digitize one-armed bandits. The new displays by PureDepth and others - set to debut later this year - could profoundly change the $85 billion U.S. gambling industry and how it's regulated.
When high-tech slots are in place, programmers will be able to control nearly every aspect of the game - cost, payout, even the images that line up on the payline. Casino operators will be able to make changes in real time through back-end servers that talk to computer chips inside the slot machines.
High-Tech Slots
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