Sunday, March 30, 2008

Bill Clinton-Bubba, the first Hubba

You like the title, huh? I think it's pretty good. Unfortunately, I can't take credit for it. That goes to my close friend, Ira, who'll feature more prominently a little later on. In other news...
Take to the streets. Fine, don't take to the streets. Keep to your homes, where it's safest. All those who want a little excitement, danger, and possibly doughnuts should, however, leave their safe abodes and join the revolution. I am referring, of course, to the Barack Obama movement which is sweeping through our youths' brains and turning them all into mush. This movement, along with Lake Michigan and hybrid vehicles, is one of the greatest advances of the 21st century. An Obama presidency would be pretty boring to tell you the truth, or at least selective parts of it. The second anyone made fun of the guy, they'd be called a racist. Now if Hillary wins, Bill will be first lady, and that would be great. Just imagine the possibilities.
Why the sudden sarcasm you ask? Well, it's 5:00, I'm a bit tired, and life is moving in a stranger manner than my taste generally accounts for. See, I spent Shabbos in S. Paul, only the third time I've done so since, oh, Noach. It was nice, because there were a bunch of people here. It was like a Shabbos over the holidays, except that there was neither Matza nor Sukkah, so it wasn't too hard on anyone.
Many years ago, and I'm talking (ok, writing) really a long time ago, I had a very good friend. Tonight I just had a four hour IM conversation with him. Did we accomplish anything? I'd like to think so. Otherwise I'll be sleeping tomorrow for no good reason. That's all I'm really trying to accomplish here, you know, to help people a little.
And that's the last of it. Oh, and about Yossi Green's "The 8th Note". At first I couldn't stand it, but now I love the MBD song "Anovim Anovim", the Shloime Gertner number "Beshivtocha", Avraham Fried's "Hesech Hadaas", IM Helfgot's "Kanei", and Ohad's "Hatav Hashmini". Oh, and how could I forget Chaim Israel's Ve'oz Yihyu"? The others are slowly growing on me, especially "Layehudim" and "Yossel". It's funny, because whenever I curse a CD I end up loving it and looking like a moron. But that's not so terrible, right? My apologies especially to Chaim Rubin (living his life) for doubting his judgment. Please don't shoot.
The same thing happened with Shloime Gertner's CD "Nissim", both of Ohad's CD's, and Lipa's Likro Et Hahallel and L'ilu Ulilu. Man, I just butchered that. Sorry. Point is, it's better to have good music and look dumb than to have bad music and look smart, right?

4 comments:

le7 said...

This happens to me too. Whenever I wasn't so instantly thrilled with a new release by Rasputina I usually ended up loving it.

Just like a guy said...

Who?

le7 said...

Rasputina is a cello-driven band. It started in Brooklyn, New York in 1992, when Melora Creager put out an advertisement requesting members to form an all-cello band. Cellist Julia Kent responded and the two formed what was dubbed the Traveling Ladies' Cello Society.

The group is renowned for their unconventional and quirky music style and fascination with historical allegories and fashion, especially those pertaining to the Victorian era.

Creager writes all of the lyrics for Rasputina, performs most of the vocals, and creates some of the art for the band's albums, singles, and website.

Melora Creager, an accomplished solo cellist known for touring with Nirvana (playing on live renditions of songs like "All Apologies" and "Dumb"), formed her own cello-focusing band from members who attended the same nanny school in Manhattan (which wasn't known until post-formation). Creager named the band after a song she wrote, "Rasputina".

Forming in 1991 (the official website claims "1891"), the popular local band, without a label, was largely untouched until an A&R department representative named Jimmy Boyle saw them at a festival concert and signed them to Columbia Records. In 1996, Thanks for the Ether was released, and afterwards Rasputina toured with such bands as Bob Mould, Porno for Pyros and, notably, Marilyn Manson. In 1997 the band released Transylvanian Regurgitations, a follow up EP remixed by Manson and Twiggy Ramirez.

On their second full-length album, How We Quit the Forest, Rasputina signed on Chris Vrenna (from Nine Inch Nails) as their drummer and producer, influencing them to go ahead with the distortion they had been experimenting with. He provided electronic drums, and other electronically produced sound effects in the rhythm department.

As Rasputina toured and recorded, Creager and Kent took on other members for short periods of time. A cellist named Lisa Haney played third chair for a couple of years before they signed to Columbia Records. Carpella Parvo was credited as the third cellist on Thanks for the Ether, but Melora has since admitted that Carpella never existed, and her name was a play-on-words joke representing the carpal tunnel syndrome that Kent and Creager developed after playing all the second chair parts. Agnieszka Rybska performed on How We Quit the Forest and is listed in the "special thanks" section for Thanks for the Ether. In 1998, Rybska contracted gonorrhea[1] and temporarily left the band. Drummer Perry James toured with the band in 1998-1999. Julia Kent left during the four year hiatus between their 1998 album How We Quit the Forest and their 2002 debut Cabin Fever on Moby's record label Instinct Records. In 2004 they released a rather quick follow up album, Frustration Plantation. One of the driving forces behind that album, Zoƫ Keating, left the band in 2006,[2] Creager's current assemblage consists of her and Jonathon TeBeest. Ex-Graces cellist Stephanie McVey occupied second chair from September of 2006 to January of 2007. Sarah Bowman rejoined Rasputina on their spring 2007 tour of the U.S.

As of late 2008, however, both Bowman and TeBeest have left the band for other pastures. In their place are cellist Daniel DeJesus (2nd chair), who has gained a small reputation in the underground music scene with his band DeJesus and newcomer Catie D'Amica, whom Melora met "as we worked side-by-side in an earring factory" on drums.

All of the members seem to share an interest in the Victorian era, and express it most obviously through their clothing, appearing in costume at concerts and in photographs.

~wikipedia.org

Just like a guy said...

Now I know.