July 19

Here's a discovery: Dame Evelyn Glennie, professional solo percussionist.


Before her, a percussionist (drummer, xylophonist, etc.) would be part of an ensemble, band or orchestra. Growing up loving the drums, she noticed there were no solo percussionists in the way there are solo pianists or guitarists. So she created the job.
Her musical skills allowed her to advance to the Royal Academy of Music. From there, she focused on a solo career: searching for solo pieces to perform, commissioning performance pieces, until she became the world-traveling, Grammy-winning artist that she is today.



To explain just how much of a unicorn she is, perhaps I should add that she has been profoundly deaf since the age of 12. (No, she didn't read Oscar's lips.) She's learned to use the rest of her body to listen to her environment, so she hears her music, among other things, in a very different way.
In 2010, she received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Cambridge University, and she continues her worldwide crusade to move the percussionist's place from the back of the orchestra.
Here's a collaboration with Bjork, called "My Spine":

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 8

Bonnie Tyler wasn't born with the voice that would make her famous.
This is her in 1976, singing her first UK top 10 single, "Lost in France":


The next year, doctors discovered nodules on her throat so severe that her ability to speak was in jeopardy. Surgical removal was successful, but she resumed using her voice before rehabilitation was complete; she developed a rasp to her voice that changed her voice forever.
Here she is, performing the same song in 1977:


Instead of becoming the girl that sounds like Tom Waits, she became the girl that sounds like Rod Stewart. Her first single with the new voice, "It's a Heartache," became her first worldwide hit.
She didn't like the country-pop direction her sound was taking, so she found Jim Steinman, the man who helped Meatloaf develop his rock opera sound. That turned out to be the perfect fit:

That is so 80's Action Hero...

You may have noticed, if not outright laughed, at the music video style. Hey, it was the 80's. They made videos with whatever was lying around, you were lucky if the concept had anything to do with the chorus.
Here's a video for her biggest hit, "Total Eclipse of the Heart," if the lyrics actually were about the video:


Anyway, when the 90's rolled in, she stayed in Europe and settled into a soft rock mode, and continues with a successful music career to this day... in Europe.
I'm holding out for her re-collaboration with Jim Steinman. They started recording new songs in 2009; here's hoping they get enough time to finish an album's worth...

May 26

I've wrote about the Iron Chef program before; today is the birthday of my favorite Iron Chef, Masaharu Morimoto. More than anyone, he embodies the spirit of ingenuity and adventure that Iron Chef purports to be. He first became adept at Keiseki cuisine and sushi preparation, with his own restaurant by age 30. He sold his restaurant to travel to the US, cooking in exclusive restaurants like New York's Nobu, while developing his fusion style.
And it was that style that was a game changer for Iron Chef. The show was sold to audiences as an Olympic-style cooking competition, where French cuisine would take on Chinese style, or Italian would clash with Japanese; the styles were in competition, with the chefs as conduits. But Morimoto's style was so exciting and unpredictable that his competitions inevitably became chef versus chef, particularly when conservative Japanese chefs would challenge Morimoto for the honor of Japanese cuisine.
He's a cast member with the Iron Chef America series, as well as owner of several Morimoto restaurants around the world. Dinner at Morimoto is something on my personal bucket list, somewhere between driving a motorcycle and riding into space.
Here's a demo that the once and future Iron Chef Japanese did at Google:

May 13

Today was a scary day to research, but I found Koji Suzuki, the Japanese author who gave us the novel that began the Ring (Ringu) phenomenon. I first saw Ringu online, in the days of Kazaa; after watching the story about a movie that kills you, I kept my computer online for seven days, just to make sure somebody - anybody - would upload it and assume the curse for himself.
The story's become more supernatural as it's been re-interpreted from movie to movie; the South Korean adaptation, titled "Ring Virus", might be closer than any version yet to the original text. I might have to revisit the film; there may be a lot more to the story I'm missing, if this trailer is any indication:

April 28

This one's not so much undercelebrated as under-respected. Joseph Bruce, a.k.a Violent J, has been masterminding the world of the Insane Clown Posse for decades. (Fer crying out loud, they'll be eligible for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.) Like a true wrestling fan, he relishes the role of the bad guy, even as he uses the role to uplift the values of the good guys. He may notH have always accepted the heckles with grace, (I lived in St Louis; tell you how ICP goes down there some other time...) but by now, he's learned the value of laughing all the way to the bank.
Case in point: "Miracles", the single off the ICP's latest album. They re-released the single earlier this month with a music video, to hype the "Nuclear Edition" of their 2009 album. Two weeks later, the video got lampooned on Saturday Night Live. Bruce's response? He's honored (one step from a Weird Al parody, in his book) and asked to be on the show.
Anyway, the video's become something of a meme, and I can't miss a chance to jump on a trending train, so... Here's the notorious video for "Miracles":


And here's what SNL did with it:

April 13

If James Cameron made music videos instead of feature films, I think they would look like "Gaia" by Valensia. This 1993 track, which hit #2 in the artist's native Netherlands, has this hair-metal soldier of love zooming through a computer-generated landscape as naturally as any Na'avi. Why is this guy still a secret? Is it the soaring guitars and keyboard solos? Is it the Michael Jackson army duds? Is it the pre-AutoTuned harmonies with the children's choir from the Sigur Ros video?

This entire video seems to have predicted the state of rock music for the following 20 years (while still embracing such staples as the guitar solo on the beachside cliffs, but that's the beginning of another video...)

April 5

Fascinating character, this Dean Kamen. First off, he's the son of comic book artist Jack Kamen, whose cover art helped the EC Horror Comics line (Tales of the Crypt) anchor itself in the imagination of a generation. This has nothing to do with what makes Dean Kamen a great deal, but it's a cool trivia bit for a comic book geek like me.
Dean's energies are focused on inventing; he's amassed over 400 patents, for such inventions as the wearable infusion pump, the stair-climbing wheelchair, and the Segway. He's also started organizations to encourage science and math education in today's schools, to foster the next generation of inventors.
If anybody has a chance of winning a Nobel prize in two categories, I'd put my money on Kamen. Without his brilliance, we wouldn't have moments like this:

April 2

Maybe I'm just hungry, but I want to wish Happy Birthday to Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai. I haven't watched any of the American iterations, but I remember how much fun the original Iron Chef episodes were to watch. In fact, I think it was Chef Sakai's Asparagus Battle episode that made me a fan. Watching two experts confronted with a mystery ingredient and an hour to make as many impressive dishes as possible used to be what I called 'leftovers night'; on TV, it was almost an Olympic event.
I'm going to skip ahead to the final section of the Asparagus battle, which shows off my favorite aspects of the show: cuisine porn shots, funny dubs of pompous commentary, and game show competition with a feel-good movie soundtrack.

March 4

So how about a birthday for David Matthews? Not Dave Matthews, the tremolous, eponymous jam bandleader of the 90's and beyond (his birthday's January 9th); David Matthews, the jazz keyboardist who made his name in the 70's with his eponymous band and/or the Manhatten Jazz Quintet, as well as jamming with folks like James Brown and Nina Simone. Nowadays, you need a friend in Japan to track down any of his music, old or new. But maybe, if you're lucky, you know a turntablist who has his 1977 Dune album, inspired by the novel and other science fiction classics like Star Wars and Silent Running. Here's the song that he felt he had to call "Sandworms":

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?

January 18

Again, briefer than usual, but still in the game. Today's "Beat" Takeshi Kitano Day, the Robert DeNiro of Japan. And not just because he plays a lot of gangsters. If I get a chance, I'll observe the day with a screening of "Battle Royale". Any other suggestions?

January 1

As we begin a new year, I resolve to make more left turns. My most common candidates for this blog tend to be musicians, ones that have a neat music video I remember. But there's already plenty of music birthday sites out there (and at least one of them is awesome.) So, I'm not giving up video clips, and I'm not giving up musicians, but I'm going to try to feature other kinds of people.
Like Eichiro Oda, manga artist and creator of One Piece. He's kind of a manga prodigy; although he officially entered the Japanese comic book industry at 17, his first published character debuted years earlier. Actually, he started winning awards for his work at 17. At 19, he got hired as an assistant on the book Rurouni Kenshin, a comic that would eventually debut Luffy, the eventual hero of One Piece. At 22, One Piece debuted; it has since become the highest selling manga in history.
One Piece has since become a popular anime on both sides of the Pacific (although English-language fans are still waiting for a respectable dub), along with all the other typical spin-offs that a media darling inspires. New episodes are supposed to be on Hulu.com, but I don't know when they'll start charging, so let me share with you a classic AMV by Ninja of the Night, featuring clips from One-Piece atop "The Ballad of Captain Hampton" by the Aquabats:

The comic isn't that much different...

december 10

Couldn't resist writing about 60's pop star Kyu Sakamoto, one of the all-time great crooners in Japan, but a one-hit wonder in the USA. In fact, he sang the only #1 US hit with all-Japanese lyrics. The song "Ue o muite arukō", which literally translates to "I look up when I walk", was retitled "Sukiyaki" in the US, to give American audiences a Japanese word they might recognize, or at least pronounce. Whether it was the beautiful melody or the hunger-inducing title, "Sukiyaki" was a #1 hit for 3 weeks in 1963. Sakamoto did a world tour, hit the charts one more time with the song "China Skies", and settled down to be a star in his native Japan.

In 1985, Kyu Sakamoto was aboard Japan Airlines Flight 123, when it crashed into a mountainside less than one hour into the flight; over 500 people died in the crash, including Sakamoto. Violinist Diana Yukawa, whose father also died on that flight, performed "Sukiyaki" on the mountainside crash site, in tribute to the crash victims.

"Sukiyaki" has been performed by lots of artists, in several languages, but it's kind of an unofficial Japanese anthem; Japan even issued a postage stamp for the song. So here's Kyu Sakamoto's rendition of "I look up when I walk":

November 20

The rock continues with today's featured artist, Yoshiki Hayashi, drummer and co-founder of 90's "visual kei" metal band X Japan. "Visual Kei" seems to be another phrase for "Cosplay", while their flavor of metal is the power variety (like Dragonforce.) So basically, Japan X (as opposed to the seminal punk band X) is Japan's answer to Kiss.

Yoshiki's the one in the middle.
As you can see, the Japanese take their hair metal seriously. Mind you, this is 1993, two years after Nirvana came along, when they were at the 'height' of their popularity. (Man, do I crack me up...)
Here's the band's video for "Rusty Nail", which is not a clip job of some other anime. The band just looks like an real life anime superteam...

The band went their separate ways in '97, recording solo albums and forming supergroups. In 2009, the reunited but less hairy Japan X went on their world tour, further complementing their Kiss doppleganger status. Still, I'll take them over the Psycho Circus any day of the week.
Here's a song they recorded for the Japanese release of Saw IV:

september 25

Since it's been suggested that I occasionally write about artists the average person may have heard of, I'm sending out a "Happy Birthday" to Clifford Harris, Jr, also known as T.I. Today, the Rubber Band Man's either celebrating his 29th birthday, or six months until his release from federal prison. I'd write more, but do I really know Clifford Harris? Does anyone?



Mary Doyle Kennedy will always be Natalie from the Commitments, one of my favorite fictional bands of all time. It's cool to know that in real life, she's one of the actors that made good: besides her own self-released albums (I wonder what her version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" sounds like,) she just completed her run as Catherine of Aragon on "The Tudors" (for those of you with cable television.) She recently recorded some songs with John Prine; no word on when those'll be released. And I wonder if she ever jams with the other Commitments?



Okay, we've had hip-hop and soul; it's time for some rock n' roll!

Kiyoshi Ijichi plays drums for Asian Kung-Fu Generation, a Japanese rock band that would sound great opening for Weezer. In fact, Ajikan (that's the quick way to say their name) aren't just playing better alt-rock than I'm hearing in America; they're keeping it alive with their own festival. This year's Nano-MugenFes was a two-day showcase of Japanese rockers alongside acts like Ben Folds and Nada Surf; if you're as interested as me, the live DVD comes out next month...


This song, "Loop & Loop," was on their 2004 album, 'Sol-fa.' It was one of my first discoveries when I started blog-trolling a few years ago, one of the reasons I started this blog. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the lyrics, or even what the song's about. The song transcends for me, but I'm open to explanations; comment me if you've got the song's about...


Finally, happy birthday to Santigold. She made it on a few 'best of 2008' lists, but I finally learned about her this week. I guess today's critics really miss 1982, because she sounds a lot like The Motels.

Yeah, I'm digging this. For real evidence of her sonic powers, check out the effects of her set at the 2009 Sasquatch Festival.

Seen this clip before? That's her track, "Unstoppable," that the short shorts pied piper's dancing to. Can't really tell if it inspired the Black Eyed Peas and Oprah, but I feel like dancing, too...

september 19

Takanori Nishikawa, a.k.a. Takanori Makes Revolution, comes off like an anime character popped into the real world. In fact, anime’s very, very good to him. His tracks for Rurori Kenshin and Gundam SEED made him big in Japan, and the first Japanese act Sony’s pushing in North America. Here’s his original song for the Japanese soundtrack to Spiderman 2, “Web of Night.”

T.M. Revolution was married to the Yumi half of Puffy AmiYumi, but that didn’t last.

Lita Ford already has a place in rock history as lead guitarist of the Runaways, the 70’s all-girl, all-rock band. She became Queen of Metal in 1988 with her self-titled (but 4th) release, and her #1 hit, Kiss Me Deadly. After that, she married the lead singer of Nitro, cashed in her chips, and raised her family on a Caribbean island. Seriously.



Lol Crème is a creative guy. In the 70’s, he was in the band 10cc; if you still hear a 10cc song today, you’re probably shopping for groceries. Crème was not part of that half of 10cc. Crème (and I apologize for the accent that my word processor keeps adding) and Kevin Godley, who had been his bandmate for several bands now, had more art-y leanings and started their own project, Godley and Crème. Then the 80’s showed up, and they found their real niche: music videos. Their music videos became the bedrock of the MTV revolution:











That’s all I got time for… see you tomorrow!

September 18

Pardon the cartoony mood today; it'll make sense in a moment or two...

Lance Armstrong is celebrating another birthday today, which apparently doesn’t surprise anybody. If I was talking about any other cancer survivor, I’d be impressed. What impresses me is that he got third place in the Tour de France this year, and he still plans on competing in 2010. His naturally conceived son was born this year, too, which impresses me even more. Is there anything he can’t do?

Apparently, there is…

Ami Onuki is the pink-haired half of Puffy Amiyumi, a Japanese pop-rock duo that crossed over to the US via cartoons.

In Japan, they’re known simply as “Puffy;” they added the “Amiyumi” for international audiences, to avoid legal trouble with P-Diddy. The rest of the world knows them for singing the “Teen Titans” theme, and their own 2004 cartoon.
This summer, they released their latest album in Japan, along with a song for the new Naruto movie.

June Foray has been voicing cartoon characters since World War II. She worked in radio, then children’s records. In the 40’s, she voiced Lucifer the Cat for Cinderella – and modeled as a mermaid for Peter Pan. But she became the go-to female voice in the cartoon world for decades. She even does voice-over work for the occasional live-action feature (you can hear her in Pirates of the Carribean.)
But here’s a collection of Foray performances you may have seen, and you’ve probably heard:



Dee Dee Ramone (born Douglas Colvin) was a bass player and songwriter for the Ramones. He’s the one who read that Paul McCartney would sign into hotels as “Phil Ramon”, and added the “e” to the end. He wrote most of the band’s songs, and had the most personal problems; the story goes, he traded the rights to three of his songs for bail money.


Finally, today’s column is dedicated to my daughter Sam.


Tommorow: the Rolling Stones are killed...

September 9

First, happy birthday to Doug Ingle, vocalist for Iron Butterfly and chief composer of the seminal classic “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”. This seventeen minute psychedelic epic is in the DNA of every heavy metal song, so that deserves a raising of the horns. Story goes, Ingle was partying hard when he told the song’s original title, “In the Garden of Eden,” through slurred lips. The mis-spoken name stuck, but the original name hasn’t been forgotten:


In the “Big in Japan” department, Ai Otsuka is the Miley Cyrus of Japan. Here's a video for her single "Smiley"; you should probably turn down the brightness on your monitor before you watch this:


Hugh Grant: women love him, men would love to get away with half of what he does. His disdain for acting suggest that he knows how inane his films are, but he finds a way for himself – and us – to enjoy the ride.
One of my guilty pleasures is the film “Music and Lyrics”, a movie that was supposed to be his last acting job. He must have enjoyed the experience; his next film with the same director comes out later this year.
In “Music and Lyrics,” Grant plays a washed-up ex-“boy band”-er, and we get to see that band in action during the opening credits…


And now, a commercial message:



Finally, before everybody thinks I’ve gone soft, light some candles for John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren and Stimpy, and inspiration for every TV-MA animator working today. Matt Groening may have made it okay to make jokes for more than kids, but “Ren and Stimpy” was like the drunk uncle at Thanksgiving that totally ignored the fact that he was telling blowjob jokes to the fold-out table.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Can’t think of a happier ending for today’s column than that…

September 5

I dug Sondre Lerche back with “Two-way Monologue”; that post-millenial folkie sound that used to fill “The O.C.” soundtracks. Since then, he’s had his jazz album, his indie rock album, his soundtrack album… so where he goes from here is anyone's guess. One hint might come from Steve Carrell. Besides writing the score for "Dan in Real Life", Sondre wrote a song specifically for "Dinner With Schmucks".
I haven’t found any music videos for any songs off of “Heartbeat Radio”, so here’s the funny video for “Two-Way Monologue,” starring Sondre Lerche, Sondre Lerche, and… Sondre Lerche.


For a few years, MTV was the home of subversive comedy, and nothing hit the spot like the funniest sock puppet duo ever. They were the last MTV show that tried heckling music videos, before the channel abandoned music videos altogether. So, of course, I snagged as many of the episodes as I could; to this day, you still can’t find the show on DVD.
These days, Sifl & Olly mastermind Liam Lynch has his podcast, Lynchland, when he’s isn’t directing music videos and movies with long-winded titles (Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic.)
One of the Sifl & Olly songs, “United States of Whatever,” made the radio charts in 2003, one of the shortest songs ever to do so. But I don’t want you to think he’s a one-joke wonder, so here’s another earworm of his: “The Panda Song”


I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of Freddie Mercury. At least, you’ve heard of that band he was in. And it’s not like he’s done anything new lately (besides being voted the best British mustache of the 20th century... or that his long-lost duets with Michael Jackson ‘mysteriously” showing up on the Internet…) So why am I talking about him? To introduce you to one of his most beautiful songs.
Mercury had a soft spot for opera. Barcelona, released in 1988, showcased Mercury singing alongside celebrated opera soprano Montserrat Caballe. It became a top 10 album, while the title track became the theme for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
“Exercies in Free Love” was a song Mercury co-wrote for the album (Caballe added Spanish lyrics, and the song became “Ensueno”.) The original track is on his farewell music collection, and it’s one of the most haunting pieces I’ve heard.


I’m going to finish with John Stewart, who is not the television satirist most trusted than most TV reporters. This John Stewart played with the Kingston Trio in the 60’s. He also wrote the song “Daydream Believer,” which many presume was either originally by the Monkees or Smash Mouth.
And I’m not bashing the Monkees; they were my gateway to the Beatles. But I’ll admit what the “Pre-Fab Four” were: four talented actors, under the supervision of one of the decade’s most successful producers, with lyrics by songwriters at the top of their game.
While the cynics cheer for endeavors like this to fall on their face, how hard can it be to believe that sometimes, it works?
I’m getting too cerebral about this. I’ll let Shonen Knife state my case: a great song is a great song.


If it's your birthday, happy birthday! If it's not, I'll get there eventually.