'Into You Like a Train'

This is fascinating.

At the clip, the band's opening their concert with this song, just like they opened in 1982 when I saw them at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

PREVIOUSLY: "If You Believe That Anyone Like Me Within a Song..."

They were scheduled to play the House of Blues in Anaheim on New Year's Eve, but their tour's been cancelled temporarily due to an injury (singer Richard Butler is recovering from spinal surgery).

'Breathe'

A woman to make your heart flutter. Just breathe.

Song background at Wikipedia. I'd forgotten how big it was.

Bruno Mars 'Unorthodox Jukebox'

I gave my wife the CD for Christmas.

I liked him on SNL.

And see the Los Angeles Times, "Bruno Mars gladly loses his cool on 'Unorthodox Jukebox'."

'Hanging on the Telephone'

Via Killian and Kurt Loder, "Taking punk platinum: How #Blondie’s “Parallel Lines” was made" (on Twitter).

One number for which she didn't have to put pen to paper was Parallel Lines' dynamic opening track, 'Hanging On The Telephone', which was also the opener on a 1976 EP by guitarist Jack Lee's short-lived LA power pop trio, the Nerves. Blondie had shared a bill with the Nerves on one of their first visits to the West Coast, and they had already worked on the song by the time they introduced it to Mike Chapman.

"That track was magic from the beginning," he says. "Unlike some of the others, it was an easy one to cut because it was more like Blondie's normal, frantic sort of style, and I also vibed it up a lot. Initially, they didn't know quite how much to put into it, but I told them, 'Look, this is more like the stuff on your first two records. Let's give it that sort of punk/new wave attitude.' I knew that the energy level on that track would make or break it. If we didn't have that energy we'd miss the point, because the musical structure of the song is very tense — it sits you on the end of your chair, and we had to have a track that did the same thing.

"They were all very much into giving it that full-on energy, and of course this was Clem's favourite way of playing. If he really liked something, that in itself added extra energy. So, I think we did four takes and I then took the best one to work on and fix things. If there was a guitar mistake or a bass mistake, we'd punch in and out. In those days, I didn't cut the tape a lot like I'd do later on."

While Burke's sharp drumming and Nigel Harrison's pumping bass are punctuated by Frank Infante's electrifying, punk-edged guitar lines, 'Hanging On The Telephone' is nevertheless powered right from the start by Deborah Harry's energetic, in-your-face vocals as she spits out the song's staccato-style opening lines with machine-gun rapidity: "I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall. If you don't answer, I'll just ring it off the wall. I know he's there, but I just had to call..."

"Debbie always got it right away whenever I tried to describe what to do, but a lot of the phrasing was totally down to her," Chapman states. "She has a strange way of delivering certain phrases, and I found myself accepting things from her that I never would have accepted from anyone else. I would have had other people change it, whereas with her I'd think, 'No, no, no, I've got to leave it like that,' or else it just wouldn't be her. For instance, in 'Hanging On The Telephone', the lines 'I heard your mother now she's going out the door. Did she go to work or just go to the store?' — I remember listening to those and thinking, 'This is the dumbest lyric I've ever heard.' However, it was so dumb, it was beautiful, it was brilliant, and when Debbie then sang it in her inimitable way it suddenly sounded even funnier. It just sounded like the weirdest, most bizarre thing I'd ever heard."

It's a long piece, but fascinating.

It's about Mike Chapman as much as it is about Blondie (one band I never did see back in the day).

'Anything Could Happen'

From Ellie Goulding:

Robert Stacy McCain once remarked of Goulding, "Wow. She could grind diamonds into sand with her pelvis."

'Scream & Shout'

At the recommendation of my oldest boy, Will.i.am and Britney Spears:

RELATED: At London's Daily Mail, "Going out with a bang! Britney Spears is sensational in backless bodice dress as she leads stars on X Factor red carpet."

Greg Gutfeld Slams 'Gangnam Style' Anti-American Rapper

You'll get a laugh, despite how serious this is:

PREVIOUSLY: "Obama Daughters Meet Psy the 'Gangnam Style' Troop-Kill Rapper," and "Joe Biden Photographed With Anti-American 'Gangnam Style' Rapper."

Billy Corgan Interview on CBS News This Morning

A very interesting piece. Corgan is articulate and funny.

See: "Billy Corgan on 'The Smashing Pumpkins' New Album."

Obama Daughters Meet Psy the 'Gangnam Style' Troop-Kill Rapper

Utterly amazing, at Twitchy, "Killer photo op: Obama and daughters meet U.S. troop-slay rapper PSY."

Some of the dude's lyrics, via Weasel Zippers:

Kill those f-king Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives.
Kill those f-king Yankees who ordered them to torture.
Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers.
Kill them all slowly and painfully.

Lovely, isn't it?

Previously: "Joe Biden Photographed With Anti-American 'Gangnam Style' Rapper."

Joe Biden Photographed With Anti-American 'Gangnam Style' Rapper

Gaffe-tastic!

At Twitchy, "Joe Biden poses for photo with PSY." And Demi Lovato's Twitpic page.

The K-Pop star who once advocated killing and torturing American soldiers and their family members was photographed tonight alongside the Vice President of the United States.

Makes sense, I guess. The Democrats are the anti-American party.

See also Scared Monkeys, "Before there was “Gangnam Style”, Rap Singer Psy had Anti-American Military style … “Dear American” Song “Kill those f***ing Yankees” … To Perform for President Obama for a Christmas In Washington (Update: Psy with Weak Apology)."

Shoot, "Kill Those F***ing Yankees"? That's practically a 2007 campaign speech from Barack Obama. He was basically rooting for a U.S. defeat in Iraq, for all the same pure political justifications that have marked his "Gutsy Call" presidency.

These people are epic anti-American clowns.

UPDATE: Christian Toto at Big Government has more, "VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN POSES WITH ANTI-AMERICAN RAPPER PSY":

Had President-elect Mitt Romney posed for pictures with someone who once wished violent death upon the family members of U.S. soldiers the story would be swirling through the mainstream media for days. Maybe longer.

Vice President Joe Biden did just that earlier today, but don't expect it to make much noise in traditional media circles.

It's okay, they're Democrats. Gotta maintain the narrative, you know?

'Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind...'

Inspired by William Jacobson, who's been posting Seals and Crofts videos at his sidebar over the last few day

'Because the Night'

At Maggie's Farm, "Patti Smith 'Because the Night' Boston 11/26/2012."

Ke$ha Gets Rockin' With 'Warrior'

At the New York Times, "Dancing Up a Storm but Dying to Rock: Kesha Tilts Closer to a Rock Sound With ‘Warrior’":

At the Third Encore rehearsal studio in North Hollywood there’s a wall decorated with photographs of clients who’ve prepared there for tours, legends like Robert Plant and Slash. In a room behind that wall, waiting while her band and dancers rehearse for a live appearance at the American Music Awards, sat Kesha, 25, a young woman who’d really like to join that swaggering pantheon. A hugely popular, if deeply polarizing, singer who ruled the radio in 2010 with No. 1 smashes like “Tik Tok“ and now returns with “Warrior” (RCA), the follow-up to the smash album “Animal” and its EP supplement, “Cannibal,” Kesha would be filed under dance pop by most people. So it’s surprising to discover just how much reverence she has for the rock 1970s, an era that ended seven years before she was born.

For instance Kesha’s look today was inspired by Marc Bolan of the glam-rock band T. Rex. “I was watching a documentary on Bolan, and he’s wearing all these funny suits, and I was like, ‘I want to wear a funny suit,’ “ she said. She was sporting a black wide-brimmed hat with a pink rose nestled in it, a black jacket with a garish floral pattern and a pimplike extravagance of rings. Strangely, though, there’s no glitter, one of Kesha’s trademarks and an affinity she shares with that long-dead rocker. And like Bolan, Kesha practices her own androgyny. The persona she developed on “Animal” parties hard, trash-talks and treats conquests like sex toys, just as male rock stars have done for decades. But precisely because Kesha challenged double standards by seizing male rock’s license to misbehave, she became a lightning rod for contempt.

“Oh God, I have so many people who hate me, it’s unbelievable,” Kesha said, her laughter tinged with discomfort. “It’s the main reason I don’t go online.” She added, “There’s people who want me to die.” The Web abuse includes hate blogs and a patronizing video skit made by a Princeton humor magazine in which the poet Paul Muldoon analyzes “Tik Tok.”

Attributing her use of rapping and AutoTune to an inability to sing, detractors assumed that Kesha was a manufactured puppet. Actually she jointly writes her songs, supplying the lyrics and most of the vocal melodies. The rap element, influenced by the Beastie Boys, and the gimmicky use of AutoTune effects, inspired by Daft Punk, were deliberate choices. As with other female stars with over-the-top cartoon images, like Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, the persona is her own creation. “Kesha” is an amped-up caricature of Kesha Sebert’s real self and the feral lifestyle she was leading here at the time “Animal” was recorded. And whether you find her trashy antics annoying or refreshing in a pop era of anodyne glamour, there’s no denying that Kesha’s music caught the mood of embattled hedonism in post-crash America. Her live-for-now stance, in songs like the current hit single “Die Young,” made her pop’s YOLO queen two years before that acronym, which stands for “You only live once,” became a rallying cry for let’s-get-wrecked recklessness.

Discussing her potty-mouthed, Jack Daniels-swigging image, she said: “You must realize by this point that I’m in on the joke. I know I sound like a jackass half the time. I do it on purpose.” Actually Kesha seemed not very jackasslike that evening, but reflective and earnest. Flashes of the flirty playfulness of her videos were offset by hints of vulnerability.

Robin James, a professsor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who writes about female personas in 21st century pop culture, argued that messy hedonism is treated differently when the perpetrator is female. “If you look at, say, Judd Apatow movies, the women have to be responsible and stable and pursue careers, while the men get to behave badly,” she said. “But when women are irresponsible, they get punished for it.”

Continue reading.

'Doom and Gloom'

At the Los Angeles Times, "First impression: Rolling Stones' new single, 'Doom and Gloom'."

BONUS: At Telegraph UK, "Evocative images of the Stones published."

'Caught Up In You'

From last Friday's drive time, heading over to an afternoon Academic Senate meeting at the college, at The Sound L.A.:

12:02 - Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin

12:10 - Refugee by Tom Petty

12:13 - One by Three Dog Night

12:16 - The Spirit Of Radio by Rush

12:26 - Cat's In The Cradle by Harry Chapin

12:30 - La Grange by Zz Top

12:33 - Listen To The Music by Doobie Brothers

12:38 - Photograph by Def Leppard

12:42 - Blackbird by Beatles

12:45 - Crazy On You by Heart

12:49 - Caught Up In You by .38 Special

Won't You Open Up the Door?

From yesterday morning's coffee time, at The Sound L.A.:

11:04 - Breathe by Pink Floyd

11:07 - All You Need Is Love by Beatles

11:10 - Feels Like The First Time by Foreigner

11:14 - Don't Bring Me Down by E.l.o.

11:18 - Breakdown by Tom Petty

11:21 - De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da by Police

11:32 - Stealin' by Uriah Heep

11:37 - What's Your Name by Lynyrd Skynyrd

11:40 - Pride (in The Name Of Love) by U2

11:44 - You're All I've Got Tonight by Cars

And see, "Lou Gramm Foreigner legendary vocalist embraces a second chance at life":

Lou Gramm will forever be recognized as the golden voice of Foreigner. Not for the current imitation band led by its only original member Mick Jones, but recognized for fronting Foreigner, one of the most popular and successful rock ‘n’ roll bands in history.

Unfortunately, the music industry decided long ago that it was acceptable to market an existing trademark without its key players involved as long as someone in the band controlled the rights to the name. Believe it or not people still show up to watch a mock group playing all the bands greatest hits, and it’s really no different than watching a bar band playing a bunch of cover tunes. Co-founder and guitarist Mick Jones fell ill in 2011 missing several gigs while on tour. Jones assigned a replacement guitarist while he recuperated leaving the touring band without a single original member. The band of musicians calling themselves Foreigner is actually making more money per concert than the real band. If the key players are no longer in the band … change the name, then the rest of us won’t feel like we are being musically violated.

A perfect example of a band “doing the right thing” is Jefferson Starship.

With that said, Foreigner the band’s debut album in 1977 sold more than four million copies, and since its inception the group remains a mainstay on classic rock radio stations around the world...

Interesting.

I saw Foreigner in concert in about 1979, the first arena concert I ever attended, at the L.A. Forum. It was great.

'the' or 'The'? Editors Won't Let It Be

I think of this every time I post a music video. Is it, for example, "the" Wallflowers or "The" Wallflowers?

More on that att the Wall Street Journal, "Editors Won't Let It Be When It Comes to 'the' or 'The': Wonky Wikipedia Debate: Whether Beatles Article Merits Capital 'T'":

The Beatles once sang, "Have you heard the word is love?" In a Wikipedia war raging around the group, the word is "the."

For some eight years, editors at the online encyclopedia have been debating whether the article "the" should be uppercased when referring to the band. Is it "the" Beatles or "The" Beatles?

The lowercase faction says the Wikipedia manual of style and external style guides are on its side.

The uppercase faction says that trademarks should be capitalized and that the official Beatles website uses an uppercase definite article.

The dispute has become so contentious that some Wikipedia editors have been banned from participating. "Discussions on this page may escalate into heated debate," warns the internal "Talk" page where editors discuss changes to the Beatles entry.

"Please try to keep a cool head when commenting here."

Now, Wikipedia is trying to settle the question with a community poll, where readers will get to decide which case will prevail. The poll is expected to close Monday. Currently, the Beatles entry mainly sidesteps the issue by avoiding the name of the group in mid-sentence. Still, there are a couple of instances where "the" is lowercased.

The two surviving Beatles aren't singing out on the question. Paul McCartney's agent said the former Beatle wouldn't be available for an interview. Ringo Starr's agent said she doubted she could reach her client quickly enough.

Lowercase advocates point to a handwritten 1970 letter from Beatle John Lennon, who was murdered a decade later, that uses a small "t."

If Mr. Lennon were alive today, "he would have a good laugh at all the 'fans' who think that a lowercase 't' is somehow a disgrace to the band," says Gabriel McFadden, an editor who calls himself "the leader of the lowercase faction." He won't reveal his location because he says he has been "cyberstalked" over the dispute.

Different publications have different capitalization rules. The Wall Street Journal uppercases the "the" in its own name but lowercases it for other publications. As for the musical group, it is "the" Beatles.

I wrote "the" Wallflowers yesterday, so I guess I'll just keep it at that.

More from WSJ at the link.

'Reboot the Mission'

Cool clip, from the Wallflowers.