The Skunkeye Consumer Guide

Japancakes Hot off the Grill

Surprised to find the new Creatures album, Hái!, released in the US yesterday. Rather took me by surprise because I wasn’t aware they had been cooking one. Actually I have not been paying much attention to Siouxsie & Company for a couple of years now. Ignored the Seven-Year-Itch reunion tour and release, tossing it off as kind of crass and sad and unwilling to gather with a bunch of aging suburban Goths at that club that Tracks became. Nearly all of my Siouxsie is on vinyl and cassette tape. Which goes to show just how long I’ve been disinterested. Was once madly in love with her though. Bought the last Creatures release, Anima Animus, for a buck and didn’t really listen to it.

Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe it was the striking art direction with the cover image by Japanese artist Kimiko Yoshida. Mostly I was intrigued by the project, collaboration with Kodo drummer Leonard Eto in an impromptu and brisk session in a Tokyo recording studio. I’ve always thought Budgie was a brilliant, inventive drummer and I’ve heard Taiko rhythms in his work before. Recording in Tokyo, I feel, continues the journey that began with The Creatures’ laying down the tracks for their first album Feast in Hawaii on vacation in 1983 and Boomerang on holiday in Spain in 1989. On these efforts Budgie and Siouxsie were really able to soak up the local rhythms and create organically charged work distinct from the Banshees. Basically Budgie’s syncopated drums, marimbas, bongos, and indigenous rhythms backing Siouxsie’s more impromptu, looser vocals. No guitars, just a few horns, keyboard, gamelons, and xylophones here and there. The big-band-like “Right Now” was a brilliant, inspired single, and though none of the other Creatures output matches its impact, the work recorded in these exotic locales by the this unorthodox husband and wife team was always intriguing.

Anima Animus was recorded in France, USA and the UK and is hollow and harsh and heavily electronic.

The marriage of actual booming Taiko drums and pop works quite well and if it has been done before I’ve never heard it. The songwriting is a little weak and the lyrics are a both over wrought and throwaway but this return to form is really Siouxsie’s best work in years. One of my pet peeves - songs called “Tourniquet.” Actually The Creatures “Tourniquet.” On this album is lovely, moody number with jazz flourishes that would not be out of place on a Bad Seeds or Congo Norvell album. The main thing is the power of these Taiko drums. Makes me want to upgrade my stereo system and speakers.

Never wanting to miss the boat of course, I suppose Japan is once again hot. Maybe the eighties are back. Maybe it has always been hot. Idealized in Kill Bill, fetishized in Demonlover, and romanticized in Lost in Translation, the land of the rising sun has been getting a lot of media, or pop culture attention. I dunno, I was just born there and spent my childhood wandering the streets and pachinko parlors and frankly I don’t find Tokyo exotic or even that fascinating. Crowded and kind of kinky, yes, and extremely goofy. Actually I think there just seems to be something a little bit off about white boys who really dig Japan. They tend to be control-freaks who get off on the discipline of martial arts or dominating “submissive” Asian girlfriends. Or maladjusted, lonely, hoping to find acceptance in an exotic culture where dorky white boys might be a little more popular. Or teaching in Japan because they can’t find a job in the US. Just generalizing here and I know I’m horrible.

It is funny that on Blondie’s new release they cover the Okinawan chant “Asadoya Yunta,” is also explored on Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Beauty (which I bought last weekend for,er, a buck). And I’ve been playing the Kill Bill OST quite a bit as well as hearing it in the stores. And I might just well see it tonight. So I guess I’ve been listening to a lot of Japancentric music inadvertently. Gotta watch myself.

Blonde Item

The man is in deep kimchi... he has been causing trouble in Indonesia and the folks on Mahongany Row are livid. Could not track him down. Think he is in Amsterdown now getting some R & R.

The kind people at Melody Records stocked the new Blondie album this week. It just came out in Europe where the band has always been more understood, appreciated, and popular despite their uneven output. I think I bought an Australain printing and, would have waited actually until US release. Melody Records charged only $16.99 and ordering the import at Tower or Amazon would have cost much more.

Debbie Harry was one of my first crushes and I was fanatical about Blondie from a young age until high school. I remember seeing the "Rapture" video in a store in Tokyo. It was one of the first videos out and I was mesmerized. Debbie was a mess and a little scary but utterly beautiful. I was absolutely smitten. Very downtown, and fresh, featuring Fab Five Freddy and art luminaries like Jean-Michel Basquiat. Kind of a defining moment for me.

I was so obssessed my uncle tracked down an original printing of that brilliant tome Making Tracks: The Rise of Blondie.

Of course I have all the albums but I hadn't really listened much to them in recent years. A couple of years ago when I was living in Asia the single "Maria" came out and I felt it was a really nice return to form. Especially after the series of flawed and overproduced "comeback" albums from "Deborah" Harry. Which of course I bought anyways. The subsequent album No Exit was generally satisfying and the song dedicated to the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce (of the Gun Club) "Under the Gun" actually moved me greatly. He was one of their biggest fans, and Chris Stein sign and produced a couple of their best albums. His passing was particularily tragic since the solo work he was doing as Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee was really, really excellent and I know he was trying to get his life back together.

Come to think of it, Blondie turned me on to the Gun Club. And the old Interview magazine, the old Details, Melody Maker, and NME, as I searched for photos and articles about Debbie Harry and Blondie. Which turned me onto other stuff. I was so keyed into their sensibilities, their sound, fashion, and their ties to the art world, Warhol, Basquiat, Haring. "Sunday Girl" immediately clicked with me because it sounded like the Francoise hardy and Jane Birkin songs I would hear on the car radio in the back seat as my family travelled around Europe. And of course that was where they were coming from. Nino Rota, Chic, Moroder, girl-groups, ska, CBGBs, art film - Blondie were all over the place and rife with references.

So I haven't really spent much time with The Curse of Blondie. Upon first impression it seems over-produced but really that does not surprise me. The lyrics I managed to catch simpled a bit insipid, cliched and I really think the band should have accepted Rapture as what it was (and it was visionary) and left it at that. Don't care for canned metal guitars or overwrought love ballads. I do know that the dance single "Good Boys" will become a gay bar which is really not the direction that I would like to see the band going. Nevr cared much for the dance stuff. Always liked my Blondie served up straight and cool.

You would think that with the current (or is it over yet?) New York Seventies vogue and all the Strokes, Glass Candy, The Sounds, Yeah Yeah Yeah, Electroclash babies shamlessly ripping off Blondie's riffs and image - you would think that the band (well into their fifties) would rein in the bandwagon and show how it is really done. But I guess that would be too obvious, and Blondie has always been all over the place musically (and faced criticism for it).

So I'll try to ease into it and give the album some time and space.

La Disparition

Well, I sealed the deal. I now will have more space but far less money. I really need to curb my compulsive music and garment consumption.

Listened to the two Keren Ann albums I got from France last night to celebrate. Very dreamy and introspective, there are obvious connections to the late sixties early seventies post yeh-yeh Francoise Hardy and Aspen Murderess Claudine Longet (I was living in Paris when it happened and my grandfather bought a bunch of her records on vinyl- somebody stole them a few years ago), and the music truly benefits from Benjamin Biolay's songwriting contributions and rich production. Apparently Keren Ann's Israeli father is descended from a family of Russian Jews and her mother is the daughter of a Javanese woman and a Dutch officer and she grew up listening to everything from French 'variété' and American folk to traditional Yiddish music. I've heard she has recorded an album in English that is awaiting release but I don't seeing Americans really digging her uniquely gallic stuff.

Biographie De L. Philipsen
La Disparition

Ridge died on the BnB. I hope he is really dead. He got burned in an incinerator after saving Brooke who was being lowered into it with a pully by Sheila who also escaped.
She will open her legs to consoling Nick next week.

· Soderbergh and Clooney can't find the actual K Street with both hands and an intern. [NY Post]

Will H&M save downtown DC? City Paper thinks not. [Washington City Paper]

· Missed Jane Birkin in NYC. [NYT]

· Crap article on Paul Bowle's Tangiers. [WP Magazine]

· Where is the new Rufus Wainwright? Did NOT come out yesterday.

· Cory: Kris victim of "emotional terrorism." Poked gun. [PhilStar]

· Cherry Picked: Goldfrapp on influences [Guardian UK]

Isabel, I Barely Knew Ya...

I’ve been back from my holiday at the beach four days and already it seems but a distant memory. I’m at the office today even though there is Federal leave due to Hurricane Isabel – its very empty here but the services managed to stay on the air.

Yesterday was a drag, the metro closed at 11 am so there was no point in coming.

Up early as usual I went out for coffee only to discover I would not be able to lounge al fresco since the shops had moved the outdoor furniture in. I ran into Biddy and I helped her buy hair products – its amazing what people prioritize in times of emergency. I went to the Soviet Safeway on 17th to get some Nutella – talk about priorities – but the lines were out of control. I went to the Latino market next door and discovered they have egg-shaped Caribou-like cheese like in the Philippines so I can fry that up with pan de sal. I moved my garden indoors and it really did transform the living room with all the flowers and fronds. The rains started and the power went off in the afternoon and I just lay all hot, bothered and unfit all night listening to the wind roar and the power came back on around 5 am.

I’m glad I’m here today even though the Man is being a pain in the ass. Had an impossible long meeting with the Lao Service about a war the Man started and finished the Highlights and have been working on some other bullshit that no one but the Man seems to car about. Doubt I’m getting credit for this risking my life to come here today. The only food available is McDonalds so I think I’ll fast.

A few notes from The Man during the "Gathering Storm," his words, not mine... oh fearless leader.

A few notes as Isabel closes in on us: The company that runs our vending machines restocked them yesterday and will send someone out again afternoon today to restock. The cleaning contractor has restocked supplies in all restrooms. Cots and blankets are being distributed around the area. If we lose power, More later as details emerge. Here's hoping 24 hours from now we'll be able to say it wasn't nearly as serious as it could have been. In the meantime, stay warm, dry ... and brave!

and

I want to say thanks to everyone in the East Asia & Pacific Division who
did so much to keep our operations running smoothly during typhoon
Isabel (we call them 'typhoons' in East Asia!).

A number of you came early, stayed overnight, or contributed in a myriad
of other ways to the steady, unbroken accomplishment of our mission.
All of the ways you contributed involved personal sacrifice and a
demonstration of your dedication. For this you deserve the heartiest of
congratulations on a job well done.

oh sweet...
The Outer Banks were great (and I hope the house is OK after the hurricane). The weather was iffy and the water was choppy but it was relaxing and healthy. Mom’s friend Nancy came for a visit and she is a lot of fun. She is allergic to carbohydrates. I walked to the pier every day, sometimes twice and made smoothies with my new machine. A great discovery is that if you run out of milk or yogurt and have a lot of bananas, a couple of ice-cream sandwiches in the mix really turns out to be a treat. I spent like a million dollars at the dollar store. Also finally read Running with Scissors and Paris to the Moon. The latter was especially delightful as it brought back memories of my childhood in France.

I'm always so rejuvenated and creative at the beach especially during off-season when I have long stretches to myself. Composed several albums worth of material in my head - now forgotten.

Also at the beach, watched Alphaville DVD, caught Louis Malle's Atlantic City by chance (Susan Saradon as croupier wannabe/fishmonger, Burt Lancaster aging gigolo/playa wannabe - really a gem). Made poor choice for family viewing night: House of Yes. Rather stagey incest comedy. Not appreciated.

Wednesday night I bribed MJ with dinner and went to see Goldfrapp at the 9:30 Club. I must say that was a very tight show production wise. First of all she looks amazing, like an East German prostitute in latex stilletto knee-high boots with a Patty Hearst cap. It was a very generous set although she did not perform “Brown Paper Bags.” She had this mini-theramin thing and played it like a big long sahrp penis. The band had two electric violin things which had orchestral effects and were truly sublime. Really a solid show.

The funny thing was MJ and and I were looking down at the audience and she told me she didn't understand the funny hats people were wearing. I pointed out that she is seeing the Trucker Hat. Yes, the fuglies have finally hit DC, soon to appear in neighborhoods near you.

Trucker hats go so far past uncool they get second life as doubly-ironic fashion statements... in Los Angeles. Snicker. : From NY Post today

September 19, 2003 -- IF anyone ever any doubt about whether New York
was more fashion-forward than Los Angeles, the Von Dutch clothing craze
now gripping the late sleepers of La-La land should end any debate.
Besides inspiring the odious "trucker hat" trend, the L.A.-based line of
hot-rod inspired duds has become de rigueur for clueless clotheshorses
Britney Spears, Fred Durst, Ricky Martin, Justin Timberlake, Tara Reid -
and every other bubble-headed boldfacer without a whit of fashion sense.
Halle Berry's husband, the gooey R&B crooner Eric Benet, is pictured in
the new Us Weekly and In Touch wearing a Von Dutch trucker hat and
t-shirt, accessorized with a "rough and tumble" wallet chain. Apparently
the Von Dutch victims actually believe they look good. Thankfully, New
Yorkers haven't taken the bait. Spotting Von Dutch duds at a stylish
soiree in this town is still rarer than finding a tray of lasagna
backstage at a fashion show.

Since the only place to buy music at the beach is Walmart and their selection is too "edgy" for me, I went crazy upon my return. Still going through my new music so do not have any definitive opinions:

1) British Sea Power- The Decline of British Sea Power
next to the Libertines, this is the big breakout for me this year. Awesome music, concept, etc. Will be playing this for a while.

2) Pretty Girls Make Graves Modern Romance– don’t like it yet- don’t like the chick'svoice and the lyrics are really junior high school. Maybe I'll like them later.

3) Lost in Translation OST – very mellow and dreamy. Have to be in the mood. New work form Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine). I hear he has a gut and is balding now. Well I guess so am I.

Its on the Emperor Norton label. I pretty much dig everything they put out.

4) Received Linda Perhacs Parralelograms in mail from Other Music. This is a great find - really beautiful, strange.

Round Up

1) I dig the new Raveonettes album, Chain Gang of Love. Here is an interview.

2) Great review of Junior Senior's D-d-Don't Stop the Beat in Popmatters today.

3) Attended a noon live performance by Mohmoud Abdoul-Salam, the Niger Republic's hottest Hausa contemporary artist. Abdoul-Salam is a well-known musician throughout Hausa-speaking West Africa, particularly in Nigeria. He is fluent in English, French, and five other languages, is a university graduate, and has traveled all over Africa and beyond, performing to international audiences. His contemporary songs, which have sold thousands of CDs, cover everyday issues: politics, religion, ethnic unity, nationalism, and AIDS. He has a very nice smile.

4) Britney drinks Diet Coke on the Mall, Pepsi Vanilla brings in National Guard... oh no, i's her hired doppelganger. Last night's extravaganza. Wish I could have been there. Actually had to walk around it but the only act we heard was Bad Charlotte. It didn't seem that crowded. I got a free T-Shirt Supporting NFL and our Troops (I gave it to Essie this morning). I hear the Mall is wrecked.

Orange Alert

While the building was shaking as Britney and Steve Tyler warmed up for our troops overseas in the rain at the Pepsi Vanilla National Mall, hordes of overweight Americans emerged from L'Enfant Plaza, helicopters and tanks gathered and I contemplated how to get home, things have been crazy at the Conde Nast building, coverage courtesy of gawker. This is great stuff...

Conde Nast Rumors
Either rumor or fact has gotten ugly, or at least, unfortunately not at all funny. Multiple reports from the Conde Nast building at 4 Times Square indicate that the "suspicious animal part" under investigation is in fact human. Worse, more than one person has reported it to be an umbilical cord. Eesh. We'll turn this one over to NY1 now.

On the other hand, some say: "I don't know where you got your information about the incident at CondeNast today but it is 99% fabricated [...] The item has not yet been identified [...] It also has not been determined if the item was left as a joke." Wait. Employees of Conde Nast fabricate things? Whoa. You're bumming my whole headtrip.

4 Times Square Nightmare Update!
Word has it that the Conde Nast Building nightmare first reported here -- in which every floor is reputed to be filled with bloody masses of animal or possibly even human parts -- is still ongoing. The scene is said to be reminiscent of The Poseidon Adventure, but with Lucky editor Alexandra Golonkin instead of Shelly Winters. Or perhaps The Towering Inferno, but with Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter playing the role of O.J. Simpson. The elevators are like those creepy blood-filled elevators in The Shining, we hear! A fresh report from the nightmarish horror show: "Ran into a cop on the elevator at 4 Time Sq. The place is crawling (with cops). The cop said she wasn't sure what the "animal parts" were. She didn't get to see it. Too many other cops. And people with walkie talkies. No sighting of Anna Wintour--coincidence?" We hardly think so.

Nightmare at 4 Times Square!
Preliminary reports from the scene of our hot breaking story, the Conde Nast animal parts in the janitorial area scandal, are horrifying beyond belief! One on-scene reporter took time from the riotous cafeteria hair-pulling contest to report that the "receptionist says it appears that it was a human birth."

More hardened souls are downplaying the extent to which MASSIVE AMOUNTS of ANIMAL or HUMAN PARTS are spread throughout the Conde Nast building: "Dears, Relax. No worries, it was just one of my own stray hairs which ran amok from the constraints of the gratis Paul Mitchell stiffening product we've all been enjoying. Sorry, it WILL NOT happen again. (Either that or it's a chicken bone c/o Popeye's takeout from casual Friday prior. Thanks Popeye's!)"

Parts is Parts
PETA should either be alerted or blamed. This email just went out office-wide at the magazine publisher Conde Nast:

"This morning an object that might possibly be an animal part was found in the 18th Floor janitorial area of the freight corridor.

At this time our security personnel is cooperating with an investigation that involves representatives from both the EMS and the NYPD.

As part of their routine investigation, it may be necessary to inspect other janitorial areas and/or employee bathrooms within 4 Times Square.

We appreciate your cooperation."

Send any and all relevant info -- including what animal parts Vogue editor Anna Wintour is wearing, dead or alive -- to us at [email protected].

Moon Cake

Aerosmith was just rehearsing. They sounded pretty good. It stopped raining. The Chinese Branch had a party and I ate moon cakes. Aretha Franklin has become obscenely fat and judging from the photo in Express, Take it For a Read, wicked cameltoe.

a bit agitated today

Im a bit agitated today a long holiday weekend in DC is not a holiday for me. Actually wished that I had work yesterday. Very dull weekend.

My conscience is hurting today because, after a series of psychotic phone calls from an Indian stalker/friend (were talking every thirty seconds last night) that she refused to take and the every present dirty frying pan and spatula on the stove, I slipped Indonesian a note under her door. I was really pissed off (was trying to cook a nice meal) and should have cooled down. Oh well

Also, the departing room mate showed up out of the blue on Sunday wanting to move stuff out. She was lucky I was there since she has apparently lost the key. She disturbed a rare Netflix moment (Day for Night) and was really disorganized. She was pulling that charm thing which is not working on me any more and I finally got frustrated and told her I had to leave and she should go find her key. She still has stuff there. Also the toilet exploded and leaked.

Also my mobile hasn't had service for the past two days -something wrong either with the phone or the SIM card (I hope it is the latter). I have to bring it in to T-Mobile.

Due to a mail screw-up, I didn't know I had a wedding to go to on Saturday, September 13. I was really honored to have been invited (I had just assumed it would be a small family affair) and am delighted that they took up my suggestion for venue. Also, I really enjoy weddings and would really like to go. However, I was supposed to be at the beach house with my family through Sunday and I'm not giving that up especially since I have not been out of town since the end of March and really need some time away. Im trying to co-ordinate with my family to re-shuffle.

Work is obviously really dull and slow today and Essie is out.

Saw Thirteen on Saturday really gritty stuff- should find a large audience. Evan Rachel Wood is really one to watch. Like a junior miss version of the post-Tom Nicole. There was a fat old man reeking of alcohol sitting near me and I swear he was getting off on the film so I had to move to the other side of the theater.

Finally saw some QESD in the afternnon when it started to rain. There's a an obscene amount of product placement going on. I was a bit threatened by their constant use of West Elm since when I first discovered it two years ago it was my little secret. Now it will be everywhere. Ive seen Thom Filicias design work often in magazines and feel he is the only real "expert" on the show except for maybe the grooming guy (always work the product in from the back of the head) but that's pretty common. I mean there are a lot interior designers on TV right now with all those Trading Spaces type shows but how legit are they certainly not "thousands of plastic flowers glued to bathroom walls" Hildi Santo Tomas? And I don't know where they found that Carson Kressley creature (apparently he spent many years at Polo Ralph Lauren - hard to imagine his flaming pleather pants and over-the-top affectedness in that culture but what do I know) but he is here to stay like Melissa Rivers and Blackwell's list. The victims seem to sincerely appreciate their transformations and at least the Fab Five respect their protegee's sensibilities and needs. Jai is supposed to provide "culture" whatever that means but don't try his tip about opening CD plastic wrap by swiping it against the side of a table top. It gouges the wood and doesn't even work! Maybe he used a glass table top. I hate those. The sharp corners can poke out toddlers or dogs eyes. Also you fall on them when you are drunk and really get hurt. Hate em.

Here is Skunkeye's tip: To remove a new CD from the plastic wrap, buy one of those $1 openers at the check-out counter at your local record store. They really work and will make you look cool, like a real connoisseur, when you have guests coming over for martinis.

Speaking of product placement also saw the MTV VMAs, or at least the pre-show and Madonna's performance. Pretty desperate stuff that kiss although I must say that "Hollywood" song has been in my head ever since falling asleep in the Gap. On a serious note, I think if had to chose between Christina and Britney I'd have to go with Xtina. There's a dark current going on with Dirty girl like she actually has some depth to her - and she has better voice but she needs to stop channeling Cher.

Don't see The Other Side of the Bed. It is a light-hearted romantic farce from Spain about two beautiful couples who cheat on each other in a Three's Company kind of scenario. The actors are eye candy, especially Paz Vega (Sex & Lucia), and they break out into lip synched song a la Eight Women (without the camp context) but it is all very flimsy stuff.

I didn't purchase anything this weekend. Oh wait, I did buy a belt, mod girl face T-shirt, and black zippered cardigan at H & M, but that was for under $30 and I don't know where I even put them in my room. Downtown H & M is clearly going after the "urban" market. Also bought Client - like H & M, disposable, not memorable, with a slight trashy aftertaste you want to get rid of

Purchases

Bought Verve Remixed 2 last night, also Rhythm Country & Blues.. Guess this was a cross-over mood kind of night.

Also bought a pair of Deisel pin-stripe jeans. It was my birthday after all.

Stopped by Cafe Citron but tired and was suffering from rare and unusal acid indigestion. So I celebrated my birthday alone. Ate the rest of my turkey meat loaf. Arranged outing to Cafe Saint-Ex Thursday. They will be spinning garage, psych-mod. Nice.

Mars was out this mrning but I did not see it. We also had a big storm and apaprently my container garden was all over the alley. Flowers do not look too good but plants are fine and so are the ceramics.