Recently in culture Category

This was originally posted on January 3, 2003. It's long since been offline but like all the On a path archives it still lives on my hard drive. Ellen and I were talking about this list this morning so I thought I'd resurrect it.

"Music to Slash Your Wrist To" is being put together by my aunt Ellen and myself via email today. We only have the first two tracks thus far so I'll come back and add others as we get them.

Music to Slash Your Wrist To
1. Chicago by Ryan Adams, Ellen
2. Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones, Michelle
3. Romeo and Juliet by the Indigo Girls (live Mountain Stage version), Ellen
4. Two Star by Everything But The Girl, Michelle
5. Black by Pearl Jam, Ellen
6. Brick by Ben Folds Five, M
7. Brag by the Cutting Crew, E
8. New Favorite by Alison Krauss and Union Station, M
9. February by Dar Williams, E
10. Grace by Jeff Buckley, M
11. Wasted Time by The Eagles *With the orchestral "Wasted Time Reprise" that preceeds it, E
12. Half a World Away by REM, M
13. Sane by Nate Borofsky, E
14. Do What You Have To Do by Sarah McLachlan, M
15. Walk Away by the Indigo Girls, E
16. Colorblind Counting Crows, M
17. November Rain by Guns and Roses (full 8 minute version), E
18. In the Gloaming by The Story, M
19. I Will Never Be the Same by Melissa Etheridge
20. Silver Dagger by Dolly Parton, M

I've added a lot of music to my collection in the past four years so I can definitely think of some additions and changes.

I don't watch much reality television and I've never paid any attention at all to The Amazing Race. But a few weeks ago, between the late afternoon football game and the night game I watched 60 Minutes and didn't turn the channel when The Amazing Race came on. I was pleased as punch to see that one of the couples competing on the show were a coal miner and his wife from rural Kentucky. They were amazing contestants. They played kindly and fairly and approached all the new experiences with eyes and hearts and arms wide open. They were one of the four final couples but they lost this past Sunday. I was sad for them but their parting words were so moving that I'm glad I got to hear them. David spoke about how proud he was of his wife for going on this adventure with him and Mary talked about how the trip made her realize even more that Kentucky was where they belonged, it was their home. But she also said that she was so glad to see other parts of the world and that it made her realize how much she wanted her children to see and experience the world and life as well. It was really beautiful.

Cut to today. It's a very overcast rainy day and I got a late start. So I make it to the gym and back just in time to see the beginning of The View. Rosie's talking about how much she loved Mary & David, how great they were on the show and how excited she was that they were going to be on The View. When the couple came out Rosie talked about how kind and generous they were with the other contestants and the people they met along the way. She also showed a clip of Mary talking about how she'd never known any Asian people before and that she was so happy that she got to know the Cho Brothers (a pair of Asian contestants, actual brothers I think but I'm not sure). Then another clip talking about how she'd never spent any time around gay people but she like them (one pair of contestants was two gay models). Rosie went on and on about how great they were. She then proceeded to give them a ton of gifts including a car, a house, a cruise, and family vacations every year for 3 years. I confess, I got a little weepy. These are the kind of people that a show like The Amazing Race is custom built for. People who never would travel the world any other way. People who don't have the time and resources to just take off and experience things like that. It was so happy-making to see them be such great representatives of Kentucky and to see them so handsomely rewarded even though they didn't win the show. Can we have more stories like this on tv please?*

I came to the band Roman Candle probably four years ago when they visited Louisville and were featured on my beloved WFPK. Their indie album Says Pop was the soundtrack for my life for probably a good year after I first bought it and to this day it still resides firmly in my 10 most frequently played albums list. The record channels and builds on strong influences ranging from Dylan and 60s soul to Van Morrison and U2 to alt-country, garage rock and modern electronica. Ignoring some very minor issues (thanks to being the very first album recorded and released on a very small indie label) Says Pop is in my mind a nearly perfect album. I said as much when I first wrote about the band a couple years ago in a previous incarnation of On a path and encouraged you to seek out Says Pop.

In 2003 or so the band signed to Hollywood Records and I started waiting, patiently, for a full studio release and a tour I could support. I waited and waited and waited. It never happened. In early 2005 the band was tired of waiting as well (since their record had been sitting on Hollywood's shelf) and left the label. They remixed and significantly reworked Says Pop and signed with V2 (home of Moby, the White Stripes, The Raconteurs and Indianapolis favorite Margot & the Nuclear So & So's among many other impressive people) in September 2005.

The reworked Says Pop became The Wee Hours Revue and V2 released it in June 2006. Needless to say I want you to go buy it. Good music supports me so I want to support good music. Roman Candle makes very good music.

Don't trust my opinion? Check out these other rave reviews and then quickly hit your local record store, iTunes or Amazon to get your copy.

Pop Matters gives The Wee Hours Revue an 8 out of 10 and says "It deserves to be heard, and begs to be more than a download" and "you need to hear Roman Candle. Go get The Wee Hours Review: because you can, and because it’s damn good. "

The Nashville Scene says The Wee Hours Revue is "a (belated) triumph"

And the Boston Globe heaps praise.

"Wee Hours" is all over the place stylistically, but in the good, engaging way that Grandaddy or Eels albums can dart from the backyard to the bedroom to the freeway.

This is crystalline, spring-loaded guitar-pop replete with modern, beat-savvy electro touches, vintage harmonicas, and a subtle dose of blue-eyed soul, thanks to the warm flush of Rhodes organ and slide guitar.

Tags: Roman Candle, music

Jason and I were chatting a few weeks back about his 52 in 52 project (take 2) and how bad I am at keeping up with what I've read. I mentioned that I might keep better track if I tried to keep a list online instead of just in my notebook. Other people seeing a blank list might be enough to shame me into keeping a good list. So I'm keeping a running list of books I've finished and a few brief thoughts on each title. The first book I read this year was Jarhead .

My deep enjoyment of Vincent D'Onofrio's crazy making detective on Law and Order: Criminal Intent means that I'm beholden to the Bravo and USA Networks. Daily reruns and weekend marathons own me so I spend more than a little time with each channel. Over the last several weeks my Bravo time has been less and less pleasurable because every other commercial seems to be for "Queer Eye: The Wedding Season." Apparently the "fab five" queer ones need to help straight couples figure out how to get married fabulously. Or something.

I should be neither surprised or newly offended by this since most of the previous seasons of Queer Eye revolved around proposals or wedding anniversaries, but still I am. How very little do you have to think of yourself and your queer brothers and sisters to dedicate months to helping straight people get hitched in a year where many states not only rejected gay marriage but also tried to take away any semblance of legal contracts and standings that may have given gay couples some of the legal benefits of marriage (see Kentucky and Virginia). I'm thinking you have to hate yourself and the rest of us a lot.

Maybe not. Maybe the Queer Eye boys just don't care. Maybe they aren't interested in getting married so they could give a shit that gay and lesbian couples have to jump through hoops to try and legally protect themselves and even then there are no guarantees. Maybe they don't care that states and communities think so little of gay cops that even after 23 years of service a lesbian officer on her deathbed can't get pension benefits for her partner. Yeah, maybe that's it, Queer Eyes just don't care about Queer Lives.

I'm used to being hated or thought less of by "compassionate conservatives" but when other gay people are rubbing shit in that's when I start getting militant. So to the Fab Five, go fuck yourselves. Fabulously of course.

The best thing I can say about my pop culture intake this weekend is that I was highly entertained by two shows last night both ending with Damien Rice songs (Alias and The L Word with Delicate and Cannonball respectively). Isabella Rossellini is beautiful and was highly entertaining on Alias but she's not Lena Olin. ABC just needs to come on with the money and get Spy Mommy back. It's like everything in the whole word this season is connected to Spy Mommy but god forbid we have any more of her than IM conversations and kisses sent through her sister to Jack. I'm all for Spy Parent loving but there's something a little icky when you throw Spy Aunt into it. OK well maybe there's not anything icky about it because I kind of liked it when she shocked Jack with a big ass kiss. However I stand firm to the belief that Jack and Irina kissing is much hotter than Jack and Irina's sister kissing.

Now, on to The L Word. Wow, what can I say about this show other than I really, really wanted to like it. A show about lesbians that includes lesbian sex and actual lesbian relationships! Woo hoo; or so I thought. Now I'm not so much with the woo hoo. Now I'm more like damn I should have known better than to be excited. Of course I think I'm supposed to automatically be thrilled that there are actually some lesbians on tv and really what's not to love? Was it the predatory lesbian who could give a shit that the girl she's decided to go after is (at least for the moment) straight and living with and is in a very committed relationship with her boyfriend? Was it the lesbian couple so desperate to get pregnant that sexual orientation and all common sense goes out the window and they decide to bring a man into their bed? Oh and not tell the man that the only reason he is there is because they want him to be a sperm donor? Was it the cram it down your throat message that sexuality is fluid and that's why it's so easy for supposedly straight girl to cheat on her boyfriend with the lesbian who decided to go after her? OK I have to stop writing about this because I'm going to blow a gasket.

Let me say this, if you feel that your sexuality is fluid and you are not completely gay or straight or that bisexuality is the descriptor that fits you to a tee then good for you. Revel in your sexuality, whatever it may be. But my sexuality isn't fluid and I'm more than a little offended when people try to suggest that it is. I'm more than a little offended when I am looking so forward to seeing a committed lesbian couple represented on a tv show and then that show passes off a lesbian couple bringing a man into their bed as a perfectly logical course of action. The L Word was a big fucking disappointment.

Of course because I'm a pansy and am still desperate to see lesbians on tv I'll be watching next week.

Now, onto more entertaining things like football. Go Patriots! Pansy Boy completely cracked in New England and I loved every minute of it. I enjoyed watching the Patriots dominate the Colts very much. I was very bored watching the Eagles just completely falter against Carolina. I'm glad Carolina won but that was a boring game that got switched off for Alias and Sex and the City. My Super Bowl pick is that the Patriots will win it but Carolina will keep it close. I won't be disappointed with whichever team wins. It's been a good season. Now I just have to remember what it is I like to do on Sundays when there is no football on......