Woo hoo! Go, post office!

Dear Kelly Willis:

She's good, huh? I recall putting a Kelly song on the inauguaral Msbelle Mix. "I Got A Feeling For You."

So I'm listening to v1. of my Buffista Mix the other day, which I kept because I made a better version to send out, and I realize that what I labeled v1. may actually be v2., in which case I have sent out (sob!) an imperfect mix. So Jon, if you're still in possession, can you take a listen to track 5 and tell me if it cuts off before the end of the song? If so, I will have to send you a new and better version, or possibly just mail it directly to the next person in line, unless you are really dying for a good copy of that song.

The Monty Python? It cuts out with someone saying, "And it came to..."

Huh. That's weird. So you got v2 after all, only it seems that v1 is actually the better cut. When I listened to them on the computer, they both cut off earlier. I don't know why.

VH-1 Country. I've been watching this for a couple months now and come to a conclusion. I get the folks that bitch that it ain't "real country" - it's not. The only bit of Hank in there is their hick accents. But you know what it is? It's power pop with Telecasters instead of Rickenbackers. With better lyrics. Yep. I'm watching folks like Brad Paisley ("Little Moments"), Chris Cagle ("Chicks Dig It"), Terri Clark ("I Wanna Do It All"), Dierks Bentley ("My Last Name"), Keith Urban ("Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me"), Martina McBride ("This One's For the Girls") and...it's just good pop music with guitar bands. Interesting. I've been thinking of New Country as sort of along the lines of sixties Motown. But this is guitar band pop with Tele's.

This is so odd to hear. Hec listening to country?? WTF?? It seems so...wrong, somehow. But there are definitely times when listening to countrypop makes me want to write papers for a class or something. Stuff like when I hear "Thunder Rolls", "Independence Day" and "Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia" anywhere close together, and start thinking about abuse, female power, justice...

Plus, there's even country songs about abortion!!! (Well, ok, at least one)

Also, Toby Keith is not just a jingoistic jerk. He's a smarter songwriter than his "let's kick some Arab ass" politics -- he's not your average redneck. He's right in the Merle Haggard mode. (cf., "Okie From Muskogee")

Eh. I put him on my "hate artist love song" slot for the mix, because not only does he have the "Kick Your Boot Up Their Ass" song, he also has the "Justice Was Back When the KKK Lynched People From Oak Trees" song.

Also: Anne, i'll be sending msbelle's mix on to you at some point this week, I swear....this whole "work" thing? Sucks.

Gandalfe, I got the CDs today!

Fantastic! I hope you enjoy mine . . . . And, yes, print the notes out, since I suck big fat weenies and still don't have a working printer.

Random:

The other day I flipped past MTV, and they actually had music videos on (!!!!). I was so surprised, I left it there for awhile. They played this video of a song where the chorus was "I believe in a thing called love", rather...shrieked. And the video was really weird. And looked like something out of the 80s. WTF was that all about? Can anyone explain this song/band/concept to me? It was oddly intriguing.

Kelly Willis is *great*!

Hec, Neil Gaiman has said that Tori Amos has become one of the main inspirations for Delirium, although he created the character before he knew her. She has referenced both Gaiman and the Sandman characters in her songs: [link] -- looks like you'd be especially interested in the B-side "Sister Named Desire."

But there are definitely times when listening to countrypop makes me want to write papers for a class or something. Stuff like when I hear "Thunder Rolls", "Independence Day" and "Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia" anywhere close together, and start thinking about abuse, female power, justice...

And at one point, I think I knew all the lyrics to all of those...