zegas and drank free cups of Stolichnaya mixed with cranberry juice [I haven't drank vodka since college, practically] and occasionally bopped our heads to white music. I'll get to that in a minute. The party was thick with music fans and writers and wannabes and dark like a disco cave. No wonder rockers get laid often. They can't see each other. Anyhow, we made small talk with this person and that and then a three girl band called LE TIGRE took the stage. The lead singer was gorgeous and her routine was old school yet adorable. Apparently, she's the girlfriend of BEASTIE BOYS very own AdRock. The other two balanced the lead and one went so far as to don a [fake?] mustache, '70s amber shades, and a sweat band around her forehead. She looked like an extra from BOOGIE NIGHTS and sang chorus from behind a toy bullhorn while playing keyboards. Actually, the band was fun in that they seemed to switch gears and swap roles between songs. Slapdash videos were projected behind them and they sounded like a cross between THE B-52's and an Atari video game. zegas and I were inspired to rethink our fantasy band project; the one we dub ACTIVATE [copyright Man-Size]. Shit, if they could this so could we. A midnight visit to Wo Hops got us fed and my brother a genuine t-shirt from the notorious Chinese food institution that has fed us both since birth. The gift ships to Iowa, manana.Anyhow, all this white people's music got me buying white people's music this past couple of weeks. I wrote about my conundrum awhile back when Jenn was setting me straight about our people's tunes. Growing up in an urban black culture, I was happy to bounce to the drum rather than guitar. My two favorite tunes are PRINCE'S "When Doves Cry" [next to "Adore"] and AFRIKA BAMBATTA & THE SOUL SONIC FORCE'S "Planet Rock." This past year, Jenn was miraculously able to turn me on to the likes of T-REX, FLAMING LIPS, DAVID BOWIE [Ziggy Stardust], MODEST MOUSE, and rekindled my love affair for THE BEE GEE'S ["Saturday Night Fever" being the best movie soundtrack in the universe, bar none].
I dug some white people's music before I entered this new phase. Music like THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, JOHNNY CASH, IGGY POP, DURAN DURAN, AC/DC, BEATLES, BLACK SABBATH, CARPENTERS, ABBA, QUEEN, LED ZEPPELIN, TOM WAITS, PEACHES, BECK, and BJORK [not to mention lounge and jazz], but my body cringes at the sounds of glam rock and those very fey guitar squeals. I think it was "The Edge" that took the edge off my likes for U2. Regardless, I've been doing my best to be a good white man and listen to more of my people's music. And so, this past week I bought some albums [cds]: THE ROLLING STONES' "Some Girls," PIXIES' "Doolittle," more FLAMING LIPS and MODEST MOUSE, and THE STRANGLERS 'best of' album. I even listened to a little bit of YES.
Yes, I know.
Upside of it is, I think I'm developing an ear for some of this stuff. Will I ever like THE CURE? Probably never. Will I ever like a CURE song? Already do.