Tag: entertainment

Compound Aid

Picture it…Compound Aid, a musical extravaganza to help us pay off the cost of rat-proofing our home. RATS, I’m talking, not mice. Because I just NEEDED TO SPEND SEVERAL HUNDRED MORE DOLLARS after my car repairs of last week. This is why I hate Christmas. This crap always happens this time of year, and Tom and I always end up saying, Okay, we won’t buy gifts for each other. One day, I’m getting diamonds or some such shit for Christmas. I don’t actually want diamonds for Christmas, and I’m glad I can roll down my car window now, and I truly believe that Fievel and Mickey and Mighty should be somewhere other than my attic, but still…

Anyway, Compound Aid. This is the talent I envision performing:

The band Ratt. Woohoo, big hair!

Former MOUSEketeers Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, and Keri Russell. (Keri Russell? Who knew?)

American indie rock band Modest Mouse and British band The Field Mice. No, I never heard of either of these bands and I know nothing about their music. But I’ve got a theme going here.

Naturally, the Boomtown Rats. After all, Bob Geldof invented the whole musicians-aid gig.

It’s possible that costs could be underwritten by Rat Town Records.

And of course, headlining would be R.E.M. What? You don’t KNOW that the ‘R’ and the ‘M’ don’t stand for ‘rats’ and ‘mice.’ They could.

Not buying it? Well, if you say “rem” instead of the initials, it sounds like NIMH. Clearly there’s a connection to the Rats of NIMH.

Oh, all right. I just want R.E.M. because I love R.E.M. and Michael Stipe, okay? There are GIANT MUTANT RATS living in my attic! Give me something here…

Nostalgia

I wore this record out when I was a kid. If it’s ever available on CD? I’m SO buying it. For now, sadly, it can only be found as a used and scratchy record, and I have no turntable anyway.

It’s probably for the best. Stuff’s never as good as we remember. But at least I wouldn’t drive myself crazy trying to recall the lyrics to something I think was “funny little bunny from the world (land?) of upside down…”

Even as a kid, I knew the little girl on the cover had to be miserable when her mom forced her to sit still for accordion* music.

*I suppose that could be a bandoneón or a concertina; I’m not really educated on the finer details of squeezeboxes.

Confidential to Marika

You asked how I felt about this possibility. So here are my rambling thoughts:

1. I’m not a fan of biopics in general, especially of legendary entertainers, and also when the entertainers are still alive.

2. When someone is unique in the way Stevie Nicks is, it takes a lot of talent for an actor to make the role her own and yet still evoke the subject of the biopic.

3. Could anyone ever really play Stevie better than Stevie plays Stevie?

4. One thing I like about Stevie is that she has brown eyes. Whoever plays her should either have brown eyes or wear brown contacts, or I’ll be bitter.

5. Going back to No. 2, when actors are celebrities because of their real-life “activities” rather than famous for their acting skills, who they are tends to distract from who they play. It’s like Madonna syndrome. It was never the thought that “OMG, I can’t WAIT to see Madonna act; she’s so good at it,” that sent me to a Madonna movie. I see her movies because it’s Madonna, and when I’m watching her, except for “Desperately Seeking Susan,” I always know I’m watching Madonna, not her character. Which is okay. I like watching Madonna. I even liked watching Madonna play Evita. But Eva Peron is dead, she was never the object of my star worship, and–in one scene, Eva’s brown eyes turn Madonna-blue. SEE?

All that being said, Tina Fey, who is someone I like, once said really glowing things about Lindsay Lohan’s talent. Unfortunately, her talent has generally been eclipsed by her behavior. Also, Tina was promoting a movie at the time; it’d have been stupid for her to say anything else.

So, final analysis? I don’t really want to see a Stevie Nicks biopic anyway, and Lindsay is a hard sell for me. But if it happens and she proves me wrong, I’ll buy you Billy Idol’s third or fourth Christmas CD.

I am a terrible mother

I am mighty amused by the Rex and Dash albums (er, iTunes collections) that Timothy and Marika have done as their dogs’ soundtracks. Tim told me he had plans for some other collections, which I won’t divulge here, but which made him take a tape from me so he could get its song list.

I had just retrieved a set of tapes from their secret hiding place in my car. One is a tape that my friend James made for me. The rest are tapes Tim made for me when he was living in NYC and sent to me (with hundreds okay, dozens, of fortunes from his Asian takeout nights–but let me NOT think of the Three Fortunes cover and get bitter).

I LOVE those tapes. Not only because he was giving me music–a practice that reaches back into my earliest and longest-lasting relationships, when my friends and I used to trade 45s–not that I’m old enough to have had 45s, mind you–but because those tapes gave me insights into Tim’s state of mind during any given time.

The other exciting thing was how he chose to illustrate the tapes’ song lists–the tape “cover” and then, usually, tucked inside, a photo of Tim himself. Photo whore that I am, getting a new picture of Tim–new to me, anyway–was as good as getting the tape. I’d gaze at the photos like a teenage groupie-wannabe and analyze the song list and listen to the tape over and over.

I know that I won’t be making an iTunes soundtrack for Margot and Guinness, but that isn’t what makes me a bad mother. Tim just stuck his head in the door to let me know that he was running an errand and would be leaving the gate open. It struck me that I wasn’t sure both dogs had come inside, so we did a quick check. Margot: on chair in living room. Guinness: not in the house. So Tim went back out and called her, but she didn’t come. Suddenly I remembered and flew to the back door.

“Is she in the car?” I asked.

He looked inside the car and started laughing, because there she was, sitting on go. She jumped in the car when I got out the tapes, so she was only there about ten minutes, but still, if Tim hadn’t been going somewhere, I wonder how long it’d have been before I missed her? Poor Guinness.

Big, big love


Lindsey Buckingham

I love this man’s talent. If you know your Fleetwood Mac history, you’ve read that Buckingham Nicks had a large and devoted following in Alabama in the 1970s just before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were invited to join Fleetwood Mac. I’m proud to say I was part of those who believed that this duo was destined for great success from the first time I heard “Frozen Love,” “Races Are Run,” and “Long Distance Winner.”

In fact, I don’t know how many times I bought this album:

because people kept borrowing it from me and refusing to return it. I still have a copy on vinyl, though it’s in awful shape, but other than bootlegs, it’s never been made available on CD.

I’ve seen Fleetwood Mac several times in concert–never without Stevie, but sometimes without Lindsey. And I have to admit I like it best when the lineup is those two AND Christine McVie, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood. They’re magic, and they help me remember promises made and loyalty that can outlast changes (“…chain keep us together…”).

Stevie shares a birthday (May 26) with Timothy J. Lambert. And Lindsey celebrated his 57th birthday on October 3 with the release of a new album, Under the Skin.

Happy belated birthday, Lindsey Buckingham.

Project Runway

Tonight was the “Project Runway” reunion show. I have to say that I was very pleased when they decided to go with four finalists instead of three. I think each of the final four has a vision and the ability to start a line. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do for Fashion Week.

I do admit that I sighed tonight for what might have been when I saw Alison, Keith, and Malan. It sounds like Malan is doing okay, though. Maybe Alison will get a shot on another season. As for Keith… I guess we’ll never know the real story.

But Vincent is a train wreck.

And Tim Gunn is flawless.