August 19

John Deacon, bassist of Queen, is considered the Ringo of the band, the quiet, unassuming one that willfully stepped back so the other members could stand in the spotlight. (In fact, that's the exact reason he got the job; the prior bassists the band auditioned were trying too hard to keep up on-stage with Freddie Mercury and Brian May.) But even though he cheerfully accepted the role of The Boring One (and the nickname "Deeks"), Queen would not be the history-making band it was without him.

In the first place, he brought the funk:


"Another One Bites the Dust" is undisputedly Queen's biggest hit, topping nearly every chart it touched. John Deacon wrote the song (inspired by a visit with 70's dance band Chic) and developed the arrangement for the band. Although the rest of Queen was initially cool about the song, an endorsement from Michael Jackson encouraged the band to release it as a single, and it became one of the most irresistable songs ever.


When Queen started, it had a hard rock sound that had extracted the blues influence out of their songs(hence, songs like "Ogre Battle" and "Bohemian Rhapsody.") But all four band members began exploring every musical genre they could, from Tin Pan Alley to opera. The follow-up single to their operatic "Rhapsody" was "You're My Best Friend," which became Deacon's first hit single songwriting credit:

He's written songs for every Queen album since "Sheer Heart Attack"; other songwriting credits to hit the charts include "Back Chat", "I Want to Break
Free", and "One Year of Love".

Pretty much, his music career begins and ends with Queen. John had graduated with honors from Chelsea College with an electronic degree when he joined the band in 1971(another reason Queen chose him; he built and repaired equipment for the band!) After Freddie's death in 1991, John would play some benefit shows and record the remaining songs Freddie had contributed before retiring from music altogether. In the between, he had done studio work with other members' solo projects, but his highest profile solo gig was The Immortals, who recorded one song for a children's movie soundtrack:

No, he put down his sticks and went home to his wife and six kids and songwriting royalties (in 2009, his estimated worth was reported at about £50 million.)

I can't end this post without mentioning his greatest contribution to civilization: his bassline for "Under Pressure". John Deacon playing the opening seven notes to "Under Pressure" are enough to qualify him for the blog. The song resulted from a jam session, an impromptu visit from David Bowie to one of Queen's recording sessions. John credits Bowie with the riff, but Bowie - and the surviving members of Queen - credit John with its creation. Whatever percentage his participation, he helped create an anthem for our civilized world:

July 31

One of the trickiest things to achieve in the music business is a musical identity. It's twice the challenge for a DJ, who plys his trade by, essentially, repurposing other people's sounds. Norman Cook managed that trick, although it certainly took a while - and a lot of aliases.
Born in Brighton, UK, he was putting together block parties in his teens when he helped a friend out of a pinch, replacing the bassist for his friend's band on the eve of their national tour. That's how he became the bassist for the Housemartins.

The Housemartins sounded a lot like the Smiths, but less angsty. That was good enough to get them on the charts a few times before they called it a day in 1988.

After the Housemartins, he returned to the turntables. By 1989, Norman Cook had a top 30 hit, "Blame it on the Bassline." The guest rapper on the track, MC Wildski, joined Cook's next band, Beats International; their number 1 track, "Dub Be Good to Me", was a hit mashup before there was a mashup trend. In 1994, Freak Power was Cook's foray into acid jazz. In 1995, he whipped up a house album under the name "Pizzaman".


All these projects led him to a sound that he began releasing under the name Fatboy Slim. In 1997, he had enough Fatboy Slim songs for a proper album, Better Living Through Chemistry. Fatboy Slim is his most successful alias; see how many of these songs you recognize:


In 2009, he released "I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat," under the name of Brighton Port Authority - essentially, a Fat Boy Slim duets album. Each of the album's tracks features different collaborator, such as Dizzee Rascal, DJ Danger Mouse, and Iggy Pop.

This video features the "Hitchcock cameo moment" that Cook normally fits into every Fat Boy Slim video.

For his latest album, he delivered Fat Boy Slim's first concept album: 'Here Lies Love', featuring David Byrne, tells the story of former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos and her personal assistant. Meanwhile, Fatboy Slim the deejay continues to play for arena-level crowds across the globe...

July 7

By default, my first choice for today's entry has to be Berry Sakharof. He taught me how to say "Happy Birthday" in Hebrew.
First, let me introduce you to Mr Sakharof. He's considered a guitar god in the Israeli rock scene, since the days of his first band, Minimal Compact, in the 80's. Now a successful collaborator, producer, and solo artist, he is a major concert draw in Israel.
"Yom Huledet" ('Birthday') was a song on his 1995 album "Cham al hayareach" ('It's hot on the Moon') that got a trance-y remix from Infected Mushroom in 2002. Here's the Chemical Brothers-esque version:

June 22

I've got a category called "Japan" that I don't use very much. It's a designation I cribbed from other blogsites to signify those things that come off as so mind-bogglingly weird, something must have been lost in translation... Basically, it's another way to say "WTF?"
I haven't used it as much because:
1) it's kinda racist
2) a lot of the Japanese stuff I end up finding isn't that weird.
3) the Koreans have been much weirder, but who's gonna say "That's So Korea..."?

I've kept the label, because it's a flaw of mine worth learning from. Case in point: Emmanuelle Seigner, the current Mrs Polanski. Polanski's only directed her in 3 of her 29 films; she's been nominated for France's version of the Oscar, and best known to American audiences for The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

Seigner also sings in the band Ultra Orange and Emmanuelle, which sounds like Nico singing shoegazer music:


But the 'Japan' moment for me was her starring role in the Death in Vegas video "Hands Around My Throat":

Because who knows "WTF" better than the French, right?

Maybe I haven't learned anything...

June 3

Today's a good day to remember the most famous woman in Montreal, Lily St Cyr, the burlesque star that taught Marilyn Monroe how to be sexy. Born Willis Marie Van Schaack, she studied ballet in her youth, which led to work on the chorus lines of the Hollywood stages. She hustled for her time in the spotlight, accumulating a collection of creative stripping routines like "The Wolf Woman", "The Flying G", and "Jungle Goddess".
She became a major sex symbol in the 40's and 50's, at the height of the burlesque scene. She was a frequent feature in the tabloid, for her romantic exploits as much as her scandalous performances (she married six times.) After she retired from the spotlight, she established a lingerie business for strippers and strippers-at-heart; she personally modeled most of her products in the store's catalogs and magazine ads.
(Elvira established her trademark look with the support of a Lily St Cyr undergarment.)
St Cyr passed away just before the 20th century did, but her good vibrations continue to inspire the sexuality of today. How out of place would she be today with an act like this:

May 31

Been a while since I did a twofer, but it's easy when they're in the same band. First, happy birthday to Karl Bartos, formerly of Kraftwerk. You can hear the echoes of their music in everybody from Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails to T-Pain and Blue Man Group. Plus, anybody who uses an electronic keyboard.
Here's a Top of the Pops clip, with a great encapsulation about the band's style and mission:

The trippiest part for me is, "Autobahn" was inspired by the Beach Boys. One of the vocalists said that the Beach Boys made music that sounded like California, and Kraftwerk wanted to make music that sounded like Germany.
Regarding Karl Bartos, he joined Kraftwerk for the Autobahn tour; he's now part of the classic, electro-pop lineup that would become the global face of Kraftwerk. He played and toured with Kraftwerk through the 70's and 80's. In 1991, he left to collaborate with other artists, and released his own album in 2003.

Kraftwerk entered a new phase in the 90's with a new lineup - including birthday boy Fritz Hilpert (he actually joined the band before Karl left, but it's an undeniable transition.) The emphasis since the 90's has been on live performances, although the technology has streamlined to the point that there's minimal exertion required for performing the music, and more concentration on the presentation (exactly why Bartos left.)

That's not to say the people in Kraftwerk have become irrelevant in a Kraftwerk show; in fact, Hilpert fell ill on an Australian stop in 2008, cancelling the night's show and threatening the tour.
Since 2008, only one founding member remains in Kraftwerk. They still do festival shows, and they've been re-mastering and re-releasing the discography, but no word about new music yet. Then again, they've been traditionally reclusive, so there's no telling when Kraftwerk's latest sound will emerge.

May 27

A rare commodity in modern film is the 'scream queen'. The nature of the typical horror film makes it so; there's little time for character development before the majority of the cast become roadkill. To make the most of a thankless role, the actress has to bring in her own charisma and talents, and not just a good set of lungs.
Linnea Quigley's a great example. She brought her certain something into movies like "Silent Night, Deadly Night" and "Night of the Demons". My favorite role of hers was Spider in "Sorority Babes at the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama"; she presaged my adoration of punk girls, biker babes, and Angelina Jolie (ah, so that's why she's fallen off the map for me...)

It's her dancing that highlights some of her most adored roles. She even toplined her own exercise video. Here's a star turn from "Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers"

May 24

Happy Birthday to "Little Nell" Campbell, the girl with the tap shoes, the Betty Boop voice, and a BLT. She's an automatic guest on the blog, due to her ubiquitous turn as "Columbia" in the many iterations of the Rocky Horror (Picture) Show. But there's more to her than that...
"Rocky Horror" led to a recording contract for Little Nell; her biggest single, "Do The Swim", benefited from a notorious performance on the BBC (that BLT, again...) She also spent some time on Broadway in various productions.
But her biggest mark was Nell's, one of three New York nightclubs she ran in the 80's and 90's. Nell's picked up where Studio 54 left off; in fact, Notorious BIG filmed his "Big Poppa" video there. (It also happened to be Patrick Bateman's favorite nightclub.)
Around the age of 45, she became a mother, and got out of the nightclub business. She continued working in show business until a few years ago, and got out of New York altogether. She's retired and raising her daughter in her homeland of Australia.
But we'll always have the music (and the boop-oop-eedoop...)

April 25

I was researching Steve Ferrone for today's blog, and ended up answering one of the most nagging questions I've had the past eighteen months: what is the name of this song?



I'd been hearing "Pick Up the Pieces" on the local oldies station for months, although they'd given up on human deejays, so I never knew what the song was actually called. I'd given up ever finding out, and was resorting to "Theme Song for Public Broadcast Show at 5:30 in the Morning." Radio, bring back the deejays!
Anyway, Ferrone joined the Average White Band after this million seller was recorded, replacing their deceased drummer. He would end up seeing the band through the rest of the 70's, and the rest of their time on the charts.
After AWB, Ferrone did session work and was a hired gun for bands like Duran Duran and Scritti Politti. In 1994, Ferrone formally joined Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which are still going strong with a tour and new album in 2010. Rock on, Ferrone...

April 9

Today's a good day to talk about Superior Concept Monsters, an artist collective started by birthday boy Alex Kahn and others. Superior Concept Monsters creates puppets and other artworks for New York's Village Halloween Parades, as well as throughout communities the world over. They do this by rustling up volunteers from a variety of mediums and experiences, so communities can create their own pageants, inspired by their community's identity. That's a very egg-headed way of saying that they make awe-inspiring home-made parades.
Let me just roll the clip:

April 7

Here's a question: how can ABBA be in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, while Hall and Oates are still out? Eligible since 2000, their sound has a direct line from the original rock and soul sound of the 50's and 60's, they straddled the rock, R&B, and dance genres in the 80's, and are certified the most successful duo in recording history.
And of course, we have to give props to John Oates just as much as Daryl Hall. Just look at Hall's solo career. Meanwhile, Hall & Oates are just as embraced by hip-hop and neo-soul heads as indie hipsters and professional wrestlers.

Besides his half of H20, Oates wrote a hit song for Australian exports Icehouse ("Electric Blue") and released two solo albums since the new millenium. There's also an animated series currently in development about the world-spanning adventures of John Oates and his enchanted mustache:

J-Stache - Official Trailer - watch more funny videos

Not sure when that comes out. But you can find the iPhone game app.
Meanwhile Hall and Oates are back on the road this year, and Oates is still making sure Hall doesn't get too mellow.
I'm going to end this super-sized entry with two Hall & Oates songs: something for the fans, and "Possession Obsession," a top 30 hit with the distinction of putting Oates in the lead vocal spot.


and here's the encore:

March 25

Hope the new layout doesn't bother you; I was getting sick of adjusting the sizes on the clips, and I still don't know how to HTML. I'll learn what I can and tweak here and there as we go...

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Today absolutely belongs to Richard O'Brien, mastermind of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It retains its title as the longest consecutively running theatrical release, a.k.a., longest running movie ever.
I used to haunt the monthly screenings at the Kentucky Theater (which are still going on, but where would I put the kids?) and I remember what the experience was like. The movie itself is about discovering that inner freak, that part of oneself that doesn't fit in and doesn't want to be told to 'behave' and conform. Sexuality is a big part of it, darkness is a big part of it (I think "Rocky Horror" is a more concise explanation of the modern Goth philosophy than any ten vampire flicks), and then, there's that irrestible music... It's the White Castle of movies; no one pretends it's good for you, and yet so many people swear by it.
I'm even a fan of the semi-sequel, so let that fact gauge what you will of my insights. But "Rocky Horror" is a seminal work to me, and well worth celebrating. So, get out of your chairs, and let's do this:

March 15

It's a dance party on the Ides of March, courtesy of Boris Durdevic, composer/DJ of the Croatian band Colonia. Since they got Croatia in the Eurovision radar (4th place, 2000), Colonia has been one of the biggest music acts to come out of their homeland. I picked "C'est La Vie" because I hoped it was a Robbie Neville cover, but it turned out to be a Matrix-tribute music video. That's a fair trade to me...

March 14

Here's a quick tribute to Doris Eaton Travis, centenarian. And she didn't make it past 100 by hiding in her house and eating wheat grass; she also happens to be the last living member of the Ziegfield girls, the original Broadway babes. After her time onstage and in early sound films, she taught dance with Arthur Murray, eventually spearheading the company's Midwest enterprise. When she retired from teaching, she opened a horse ranch in Oklahoma that she still manages to this day. In the 90's, she returned to show business, in retrospectives for the Ziegfield Follies - and an appearance in the Jim Carrey movie Man in the Moon.
Anyway, here's a tribute from a few years back, but the sentiment applies today. Happy Birthday, Doris; keep on dancin...

March 13

Can't resist writing about "Scatman John" Larkin, a jazz pianist who used his stuttering to become a global sensation. But first, he learned the piano to avoid having to speak in public. He played in jazz clubs in LA in the 70's and 80's; as he told it, he filled a closet with unsold copies of his debut album.
In the 90's, he got a new start with a new wife and a new climate: Germany, which offered audiences more receptive to his throwback style of jazz. He was also encouraged to try mixing his scat-style with modern-day dance beats. He was still worried about his stuttering, so on his first single, that's exactly what he sang about.

Scatman John - Scatman
by MyUoZiK

The 1994 song was a Number 1 hit in seven countries, and "Scatman" mania had begun. By the time he passed away at the end of the decade, he had released over a dozen singles off of three albums and become a global phenomenon. He also received an award from American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association, for bringing his stuttering to light, and demonstrating that when dealing with a perceived defect, it can become a strength...
P.S. While he was a one-hit wonder in the US (just brushing the top 40), he was globally huge, so here's another trip to "Scatman's World":

March 12

Happy Birthday to Marlon Jackson, as underappreciated a Jackson as any not named Michael, Janet, or Samuel. He was the sixth born in the family, slightly older than Michael and Janet; wonder if that explains how things turned out. He was also the fourth of the Jackson 5, and while he didn't have the raw talent that his younger siblings did (or even his older siblings,) he had the family work ethic, so he developed his performing skills to keep up with his brothers.
He stuck through their transition to The Jacksons, right through Michael's post-Thriller success. He shocked the family when he left the band after the Victory tour and tried out for a solo career of his own.
But here's the thing: he seemed to find a stronger life outside the limelight than his siblings. For one thing, he's celebrating 35 years of marriage this year, with three kids and two grandkids; he's the only Jackson boy to never divorce. For another, he's found more success offstage than on - as a real estate agent and investor (although there's still some controversy about that resort development in Badagry, Nigeria.) Perhaps that's why his solo career was one album and done; besides the occasional reunion with his brothers, he seems happy with a relatively normal life.
Anyway, here's the Jacksons single, "Body", which was written, produced, and sung lead by Marlon. The video is as cheesy-sexy as 80's videos get, but you can still see Marlon might just be the Charlie Hustle* of the Jacksons.

March 7

Here's a birthday nod for Alan Hale, comet hunter; he identified over 200 comets in his career. A former Navy man, he worked on several projects including the Voyager probe before he earned his PhD in astronomy. The most famous discovery of his, (Comet Hale-Bopp, also independently discovered by Thomas Bopp), he discovered from his driveway. You might never know what's in front of your eyes until you know how to look...
In honor of the Professor, let's get out the glowsticks and bop along to "Hale Bopp", a Goa trance track by Der Dritte Raum:

February 3

Apologies this week; still under the gun in the real world. But let's send out a Happy Birthday to Yasuharu Konishi, founder of Japan's Pizzicato Five, a retro band with a flair for the shagadelic. Alas, Pizzicato Five is no more, and he's using his swinging magic for all sorts of acts around Japan; kind of the Butch Walker of Japan. Meanwhile, here's a taste of the groovy groovy like the 5 used to do, ya dig?

December 26

Some stories are irresistible. Regine Zylberberg was born in France in 1929, and hid in a convent during World War II. In the 50's, she was hired as hostess at the Whiskey-a-go-go in Paris, and suggested the innovation of replacing the jukebox with two turntables and a microphone (so the music would never stop.) Voila- the modern discotheque was born; the success at the Whiskey became 25 exclusive nightclubs on 3 continents.
She introduced the dance craze 'The Twist' to France (and the Duke of Windsor.) She established the foundation of disco and modern dance culture. So, happy birthday to a girl that knows how to throw a party.
Here's her at 50, singing one of her radio hits, a French version of the disco anthem "I Will Survive".

Régine - Je survivrai

Even though she's entering her eighth decade, she's still the 'Queen of the Night": she released a duets album last March, and still manages Jimmy'z in Monaco, if you're looking for a legendary party.

November 27

I want so much to offer more intriguing discoveries, more talents that you wish you had. But it's Thanksgiving night as I write things and I'm trying to shake off the tryptophan. So Happy Birthday to Jaleel White, who broke the color barrier for nerds everywhere, in his portrayal of the seminal character Steve Urkel. Here's "The Urkel Dance." Happy Thanksgiving...