#I love Helen reddy so fucking much

[sassmill]

We as a society don’t talk about this enough

[andallthatmishigas]

Top 5 '70s songs and/or Top 5 '70s movies.

The 70s are a weird time period for me and not one I usually gravitate to HOWEVER this is an awesome excuse for me to think about it, thank you!!

Top 5 70s songs:

1. I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor (I sang this song at my 8th grade talent show and it’s a go-to karaoke song for me and I fucking love it)

2. Mamma Mia by ABBA (my other go-to karaoke song and a song that never fails to make me happy)

3. Songbird by Fleetwood Mac (my favorite non-Stevie song from Fleetwood Mac and one of my favorite songs of all time)

4. Delta Dawn by Helen Reddy (I actually knew the Bette Midler cover first and I literally just this second learned it’s originally a Tanya Tucker song dang but anyway I adore Helen’s voice and I’ve been singing her version in my car a lot over the last few months)

5. I Shall Be Released by Bette Midler (in another case of me loving a cover of a Bob Dylan song, this one really hits me deep and I love the way she sings it)

(I have discovered that all the Cher songs I love most came out in the 60s or 80s or later and I don’t really like anything she did in the 70s oops and same thing for Barbra Streisand. And this is why the 70s are often a blind spot for me in music. All my faves were before or after this decade. My 70s love is pretty much Fleetwood Mac and ABBA and that’s about it lmao this list was a bit of a challenge.)

Top 5 70s movies:

1. Bedknobs and Broomsticks (very important to my childhood)

2. Pete’s Dragon (I promise this whole list won’t just be Disney movies but that’s really what I’m all about here)

3. Live and Let Die (one of my favorite James Bond movies)

4. Diamonds Are Forever (another favorite James Bond movie)

5. The Deep (it’s a treasure hunting underwater movie and it’s awesome and I want to watch it right now)

Honorable mention to A New Hope, which is my favorite Star Wars film and did come out in the 70s.

(Once again, 70s films are hard for me because everything I love is earlier or later!! I looked up so many movies and was like oh dang that was the 80s oops)

[1ddotdhq]

💙 Thurs 1 Oct ‘20 💙

We MADE IT! By that, I OF COURSE mean the AMAZING iTunes chart jump that Walls had today, a full nine months after its release (like almost to the day!). It re-entered US charts sometime in the middle of the night at number 1084, and was picked up by an update account (HLDaily) on twitter - they urged new fans to go buy Walls if they had not already. And oh boy, did they! As of press time,  Walls has hit NUMBER ONE IN 17 COUNTRIES (including the US UK and India which did not hit number one at release time) and re-entered the worldwide iTunes charts at number 147, and I expect it will keep climbing. As Louis said: “Boom!”

To cap it all off, Louis came onto Twitter to express his surprise! Amongst many statements, he said, “Wow...You lot are fucking unreal”, and when told that he was at #1 in the US, he said “How!!!???? You guys are fucking mental”. He expressed similar excitement and disbelief when he was told that he was also topping iTunes charts in Brazil, India, Mexico, and the UK, though he mentioned that “it’s not about individual places. The overall support blows my fucking mind”. He did reply to HLDaily when a fan tagged them - Louis said that the whole thing was “mad”. Louis also announced that he’s been working on LT2 (!!!!!!!) - he’s written four songs in four days and is cooking “banger after banger”.  He said he will “probably” have a new single for us by 2021 - I was literally sobbing when I read this you have NO IDEA!!  Louis also admitted to “obviously” (lol) “stealing funny screenshots from fans” and to having gotten into basketball in the last few years. He says he will have more “social” causes (but not political ones) in his songs in future, and he recommended some music (BIG MOOD). To cap it all off, he said that we “really are” unstoppable and that we “really don’t fuck around, do we?” Ummm, NO! WE DON’T. My favorite tweet, though, was: “You’re all fucking amazing. Put me in such a good mood”.  Congrats, Louis, and I hope we see more golden days like this one very soon in the future! 

There was much speculation about what was driving this growth and whether his new label could be involved, because it seemed far fetched that a fan push could be so profound, but a look at iTunes numbers is useful for context. They don't allow access to their album unit sales, but you can find some info on single songs sales, so, to give some numbers: the song in the 200th spot in iTunes sale is Falling by Harry, and it’s sold 137 units in the last 24 hours. At 115, it’s Helen Reddy with 199 units sold - not a huge jump in units to influence the charts. But, when we get up to the top ten, number 6 is Justin Beiber, with 1444 units in the last 24 hours. In the number one for songs, you have Demi Lovato, who has sold 4803 tunes in the last 24 hours. If the album sales numbers are even mildly proportional (they are presumably smaller), it's clearly plausible as a fan effort that managed to hit just right and snowball. Arista, Louis' US label, posted in happy celebration but sure didn't take any credit, and whoever Louis' new mysterious UK label are they didn't spill the beans by weighing in but I'm sure they're patting themselves on the backs for their signing! A relatively small step in terms of sales numbers but a huge leap for fankind indeed.

And that’s not all - the sun himself peeked out from behind a cloud sometime last night in a pub in Oxfordshire. Louis was wearing a black hoodie (shocker) and a red baseball cap; the fan said he had a mask, but asked if she would prefer to take a picture with a mask on. She said no, and the picture features him, the fan, her friend, and her dog, who Louis called “a good little lad” (awwwww the way I ADORE him). They took a (not socially distanced) picture, and let me tell you THOSE EYES!!!! Ugh, I could also get lost inside of them. It was lovely to see him, at any rate, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a bit more of him in the coming months. 

And while we’re speaking of Golden (have you noticed a theme today, guys?) Golden was activated for radio play yesterday afternoon! This after all of those music video pictures we were getting really does seem to indicate a quick turnaround on the promo for this song, but first things first: we’re keeping an eye on the DYKWYA website to see when IT becomes golden-themed! Harry also finalized his Grammy submissions - they are: “Fine Line” as Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, “Adore You” as Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Music Video (my Fish Video <3 <3), and “Watermelon Sugar” as Best Pop Solo Performance. Honestly, could this day GET ANY BETTER????? 

As it seems to be a business heavy day, we’ve got to mention that Zayn continues to be a presence on Instagram, promoting Better for Asian and Brazilian audiences, as well as a UK Spotify playlist that has added the song. Niall also continues to prove that he’s Very Much On Social Media by popping up in Julia Michael’s livestream and saying he needs to “go listen to the new song” and asking her to “do a dance.” She did, but oh for the days when we could see those two goofs doing dances together!

[randomvarious]

Freddie Fresh feat. Fatboy Slim - “Badder Badder Schwing” Big Beat Song released in 1998. Compilation released in 1999. Big Beat / Breaks

Let's start this post off with a graf from the preamble of a 2018 Freddy Fresh interview, conducted by Matt Lush in Decoded Magazine:

Freddy Fresh is a name that shouldn't require an introduction. From the vast output of his multiple genre-spanning labels; Analog USA, Electric Music Foundation and Howlin' Records, to winning the ARSC Journalism Award for cataloguing every hip-hop release ever made in a single book, crafting timeless acid and electro under over 15 aliases with the likes of Thomas Heckmann, Woody McBride, Tim Taylor and Paul Birkin, and the rest, big beat with Fat Boy Slim, his soundtrack work...it goes on... yet ironically, in my experience anyway, Freddy Fresh seems to be so often underrated, unconsciously ignored, or even completely unknown in the modern electronic world.

Over the course of his career, Freddy Fresh has had his fingers lodged in many different pies. In fact, those pies are sometimes stacked on top of each other so a single finger can penetrate multiple pies at once. Fresh is a DJ's DJ who can patch together eclectic mixes of house, techno, funk, disco, breaks, hip hop, electro, and more; he's produced music across a panoply of dance genres; he's founded a bunch of different record labels; he's opened for blink-182 on tour; his music has appeared in multiple films, TV shows, and commercials; he's authored indispensable books that document hip hop's early history; he's taught DJing at a local college; and he also sells rare records. Put simply, if you're not familiar with Freddy Fresh, you should be.

Freddy Fresh first found his initial passion for music in hip hop culture, entirely thanks to a 1984 trip from his hometown of St. Paul to the Bronx. From then, he would try to ingratiate himself into the Big Apple's hip hop scene, returning once every year with hopes of impressing the right people. He wasn't all that successful, but he did land a track on a 1988 Boogie Down Productions remix album, which honored the memory of BDP's recently slain co-founder, DJ Scott La Rock. Another fun fact that links Freddy to BDP is that if you look at the cover of BDP's landmark debut album, 1987's Criminal Minded, you'll see a plaque towards the bottom lefthand corner. Know who furnished that plaque for them? Freddy Fresh. His dad owned a trophy shop and Freddy gave them the plaque during one of his yearly New York pilgrimages.

But Freddy would soon find himself gravitating towards other genres, too, like house and techno. From that Decoded interview:

I sent demos to Strictly Rhythm [top tier New York-based house label] and various labels and was always rejected. It was years later that labels like Adrenalin and Experimental stood up and took me under their wings. My first techno 12 inch was on Experimental, under my Modulator name. Maximum Pulse / Timmy's Trance in 1992, that got me into the techno scene and also got me my first international DJ gig in Paris 1993 where I played with Jeff Mills, Joey Beltram and Damon Wild... Damon Wild was the man mainly responsible for my early techno career, God Bless Him.

Freddy Fresh then became a big German techno guy. He played sets at Tresor in Berlin (the techno club of techno clubs) and released records on the legendary Frankfurt-based label, Harthouse.

However, a new current started to emerge in the UK in the mid-90s called big beat, which appeared to match with Freddy Fresh's own hip hop sensibilities. It was a strain of dance music that fused together sampled soul, funk, jazz, and rock breaks, which, along with disco, is what hip hop producers largely used to make their own beats. And when those breaks were properly combined with contemporary electronic sounds, like, for example, Roland TB-303 acid squelches, it yielded a newfangled and fun brand of BIG and brash dance tunes. Norman Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, would emerge as the genre's rightful king, with his uniquely liberal use of bouncy and surf-twangy 50s and 60s guitar samples. And although Freddy Fresh was still an absurdly prolific techno producer in 1996, his Harthouse album, Accidentally Classic, along with a couple Harthouse 12-inches that were licensed from his own Butterbeat label, saw him trying his hand at the big beat sound, which would eventually lead to him teaming up with Norman Cook in 1998.

A March 2020 profile in Mixmag has more:

While he may have been known in France for techno releases on his Analog label, it was Freddy Fresh's releases on Butterbeat that caught the ears of Norman Cook in Brighton. He was an avid supporter of Fresh's perky updates on the hip hop sound, and that's what brought him over to the British seaside. "I got invited to play the Big Beat Boutique. That's when I first met [Cook] and then he ends up sampling my voice [for 'Fucking in Heaven'], then we worked on 'Badder Badder Schwing' together. I loved Norman because he was authentic. He did everything himself. I was like, 'this fucking guy's just like me!'. He collects breakbeats, he's an amazing DJ, he knows how to put shit together and he knows how to run 303s - and Roland 303s are really hard to program.

That co-production with Cook, "Badder Badder Schwing," would originally appear on Freddy Fresh's album, The Last True Family Man, before being released as a single the following year. The single would then turn into an unexpected British hit, earning the mostly techno producer some well-deserved commercial appeal by reaching #34 in the UK charts. "Badder Badder Schwing" can also be heard in 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember, although it didn't end up being included on the commercially released official soundtrack.

Dipping into that Decoded interview once again for a tad more backstory to "Badder Badder Schwing":

I did have 90% of that track finished when Norman joined in and took it from a 7 to a 10 with his sheer genius.

By sampling a bunch of 60s songs, including horns and drums from Helen Reddy's "One Way Ticket," vocals and hand claps from The Routers' "Let's Go (Pony)," and more drums from Tommy Roe's "Sweet Pea," Freddy Fresh and Norman Cook were able to cobble together a fantastic piece of late 90s, dancefloor-igniting big beat. However, it would be interesting to know which 90% of the track Freddy Fresh had finished before passing it off to Cook, because the whole thing really sounds like a Fatboy Slim track from start to finish. And that's not to discredit Freddy in any way, because despite what dance music's detractors might think, it's not an easy task to make a good dance tune. But the entirety of "Badder Badder Schwing" appears to have Cook's fingerprints all over it, from his glitching, jammed-up, calling card stutters, to the way the combined horn and drum sampling sounds, to the brief, guitar-sampled detour, to the eerie and overdriven background yowling. The song's main riff is when those Helen Reddy horns play, and you'd have to assume that was part of Freddy's contribution, since according to him, the song was virtually done before he let Cook put on the finishing touches. But still, that part sounds like something Fatboy Slim would make, doesn't it? 🤷‍♂️ 🧐🤔

Then again, Freddy Fresh did say about Cook in that recent Mixmag profile, "the fucking guy's just like me!" so maybe they were on the same exact letter within the same exact word on the same exact page in 1998. In the end, it doesn't really matter all that much. Big beat's passed us by, but throw this on at a party (when we're allowed to party again, of course) and it's guaranteed to still go.

Check out the music video, too, which features a kid magician doing a series of tricks:

[jojorabbit1999]

Dear Lover,

I love you so fucking much. Today I went to the park and walked around. While walking I saw the children playing with their parents and realized how wonderful it would be if we had our own children. I would prefer if we adopt a child because I am TERRIFIED of giving birth. I know you would love to see what we can create, but I am just too scared. Being pregnant though would be wonderful; feeling the baby kick, seeing the baby at every doctor appointment, and watching the baby grow inside of me. I guess my day was nice, how was your day? Currently listening to “You’re My World” (should it be italicized instead? Idk) by Helen Reddy and every time I hear this song I scream at the top of my lungs, “YOU’RE MY WORLD, YOU’RE EVERY PRAYER I PRAY!” I love this song so much, but obviously not as much as I love you. Oh my, I just remembered the fact that Helen Reddy died this year. She had such a beautiful voice and such a beautiful person.

Yours Forever,

Me

[official-mermaid]

Alice Quinn playlist -- (x)

“Did you think that I came here because I just love magic so much?” 

best i can do--misterwives // guiltless--dodie // angie baby--helen reddy // oh no!--marina // lights--ellie goulding // dollhouse--melanie martinez // fuck you loneliness--joel cossette // big bird in a small cage--patrick watson // don’t lose heart--jj heller // gasoline--halsey // glory and gore--lorde // that’s what you get--paramore // madness--ruelle // look what you made me do--taylor swift // i’m so sorry--imagine dragons // i’m gonna show you crazy--bebe rexha // sirens--fleurie // rescue my heart--liz longley // lost it all--jill andrews // dear god--lawless, sydney wayser

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

@setsailtomorrow tagged me in @jlf23tumble ​‘s female artists challenge.  I don’t know what sort of mood I was in tonight, but my list is of 10 songs I have an intense emotional connection with.  Most of them have made me cry tonight, while I was listening to them and writing this list. 

‘Anchorage’ - Michelle Shocked -  In my twenties, I was drunkenly bonding with a woman I didn’t like very much at a party and she asked me why I was a feminist. Suddenly I started talking about this song and how my Mum had moved from London to New Zealand pregnant with two small children and what it meant to be a woman.  My Mum’s life wasn’t actually much like the letter writer’s - and neither option for being a woman presented in this song have had much to do with my life - but I fucking love it.

‘Iowa’ - Dar Williams (I have a lot of emotions about Dar Williams songs - this list could basically be ten Dar Williams songs) - When I first started listening to this song I thought I was straight (in fact I was introduced to Dar Williams by a boy I thought I had crush on) and I felt every word of it.  I still feel every word now, but I understand why.

(I learned a few months ago that she was touring to Israel.  I don’t know what to do with that information. Because regular readers know my feelings about cultural boycotts.  But I don’t think I could pry Dar Williams music out of my heart if I wanted to).

‘Don’t Stop the Music’ - Rihanna (talking of people who broke the cultural boycott - but I have an important exception to all other rules - which is that Rihanna can do whatever the fuck she wants). The auditions to So You Think You Can Dance Australia used this song, and it was the first Rihanna song I really connected with.  I love the joy of it so much. 

I just realised, when looking up the song to write this post - that the first season of SYTYCD came out at the beginning of 2008. I watched the show with my best friend and my memories of it are all joy, but I don’t remember that happening in 2008.  My memories of 2008 are of a slow, desperate, breakdown.   It made me happy, for my younger self (but also in general), to realise that even in times that are so hard - you can have a veing of pure pleasure and joy.

‘Liability’ - Lorde - I have never listened to this song without crying uncontrollably.  I wrote the other day about a Melanie Lynskey podcast where she articulated the specificity of New Zealand femininity - Liability makes me feel seen and revealed in the same way.

'Handle Me' - Robyn - There are songs with connect with who you are and songs that connect with a fantasy version of yourself.  But the fantasy is as real and important part of you as any other messy way of dealing with your emotions.  I’d love to be spiky and cool and have really good boundaries and be good at identifying and walking away from terrible people. 

‘Bread and Roses’ -  We learned this song at school to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage in NZ.  I’ve sung it, and listened to it song a lot since then.  A friend and I once wrote our own version of the second verse: ‘As we go marching marching/We battle too for men/We’ll stand with them as brothers/if they’ll not rape again’ (most union songs have a verse where you’re like ‘I wonder what they’re going to do with that?’ when you hear someone new singing it - and Bread and Roses has more than most). I love singing songs of resistance with other people - I love the way those songs change and mutate and keep going. 

‘You're So Vain’ - Carly Simon - Obviously this is one of the greatest songs of all time. But as well as loving the song itself, I’ve gotten so much joy out of the way it is used spectacularly in one of the best movies of all time - ‘Dick’.  

‘Fast Car’ - Tracy Chapman - Like Dar Williams I could make up a good portion of this list with Tracy Chapman songs.  I was tempted to go with ‘Talking about a Revolution’, which I love and have a story about, because having Fast Car as your favourite Tracy Chapman song seems so basic (with the million covers and Jonas Blue committing heinous crimes).  But ‘Fast Car’ is my favourite - the line ‘your arm felt nice wrapped round my shoulder’ still leaves me breathless.

I am Woman - Helen Reddy - This song wasn’t what I expected.  I learned of its existence as a feminist anthem back in the distant past before youtube where hearing a song wasn’t that easy. When I hadn’t heard it for a while I always forgot how upbeat it was.  I love it for the incongrous polite sound and the deep recognition of ‘Yes I am wise, but it’s a wisdom born of pain’.  

‘Black Tie’ - Grace Petrie - I discovered Grace Petrie by accident on a bill with Josie Long in 2014.  In the years that followed I listened to ‘They Shall Not Pass’ so many times when I needed a song about why we keep going (even though I don’t think I agree with all of it). Before Black Tie came out she was tweeting quite a lot about making the music video and what it meant to her.  And it’s even more glorious and painful than I expected.  I can’t help imagining my year 11 (or fifth form) self - and all the images and songs she didn’t have access to. And so all the joy that this song exists and that people can find it and hear it and see it - is tinged with a pain for what wasn’t. 

I’m going to tag @42mins ​, who is part of most of these memories and parts of me and has much better taste in music.

[mistakesandmixtapespodcast-blog]

Episode 1 & 2 - Show Notes

So here’s how Mistakes & Mixtapes works: Each month you get two mixtapes an our podcast is like the extended liner notes! Links below for both Orono’s and Adrienne’s mixtapes (Spotify playlists), and some extra notes on some of the songs we don’t get to in the first two episodes!

Orono’s Mixtape for December:

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 - Kanye West - Epic drive across Vancouver

We’re so Lost - Princess Chelsea

Springtime - Jeffrey Lewis - Walking around Kitsilano, listened to this song. It was getting dark, I was out to get some groceries… vibey as hell song, you’ll get it when you listen to it

Ghost Town - Kanye West Ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR

Femme Fatale - The Velvet Underground

You’re so Cool - Jonathan Bree - S-A-R-C-A-S-M (but also a poignant truthfulness to the whole song)

I Can’t Stop Your Memory - Of Montreal - Very emo, very relatable, ;-(

Say It Ain’t So - Weezer

Ottoman - Vampire Weekend - When I was going through my Vampire Weekend (tumblr indie child) phase, I watched this music video for Kid Cudi’s remix of this track, where he just raps over the instrumental of this song. It’s a really lowkey video, he’s just rolling a blunt and rapping to the camera. Put in this song cos my whole week reminded me of this song, also Kanye-Cudi

All Mine - Kanye West

Who Loves The Sun - The Velvet Underground - Didn’t mention this in the podcast but alongside Ye I listened to Loaded a whole lot. Great record, great song. I specifically remember daydreaming about listening to this song in the car on a sunny, cozy afternoon, but pretty sure we were just going to the supermarket on a gloomy day lol

Man On The Moon - R.E.M. - I love the movie with the same title as this song, starring Jim Carrey. It’s about Andy Kaufman, who’s an absolute legend. Also watched the Netflix documentary about the movie, “Jim and Andy,” which is really fascinating as well. I watched the two while we were on tour and I loved them so much I ended up rewatching them a few times… made my mom watch them with me as soon as I got back home

Wii Tennis - Splash Daddy - A very catchy, very lols song that YouTube recommended me

No Mistakes - Kanye West

Time - Pink Floyd

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd

Heroin - The Velvet Underground

Cortez the Killer - Neil Young, Crazy Horse - I found out about this song because of one of my favorite bands, Slint--on the deluxe version of Spiderland there’s a cover of Cortez the Killer that they did at some Battle of the Bands type event when they were teenagers, it’s so sick. The lyrics are trippy and spooky as fuck

Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton - Somehow went down an Elvis Presley wormhole. This is the (apparent) original of his hit song Hound Dog

Mo Bamba - Sheck Wes - How the fuck did I not know about this song. One of the biggest songs of 2018 with over 250 million listens on Spotify, didn’t recognize it at all. Thanks YouTube recommendations, I was hooked instantly

Here - Pavement - I’ve been trying to read Infinite Jest for a very long time now (lol), I have 2 copies of it now (one in London, one in Japan) so that I won’t have to carry this hefty ass book around. Anyway I think I tried to read it again on this day, and I was reminded of the movie about DFW, The End of the Tour, starring Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg… when the credits roll they play this sweet cover of Here, so yeah

Happy Just Bumming Around - Voom - The title says it all

Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus - I just had this song stuck in my head for some reason, guess I relates to some of the lyrics for the first time??? lmao

Two Broken Hearts - Rivers Cuomo

She Fucks Me - Ween

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana - Another YouTube one, came across a video titled "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana Re-Mixed in a Major Key.” It’s sick, sounds like Weezer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVehv_LDWaE

Satellite - Guster - One of my favorite YouTubers Drew Monson did a cute cover of this song so shout out to Drewwwwww

Mistletoe Fixing You - GibiASMR

Angie Baby - Helen Reddy - Stumbled upon this song on Tumblr. It was a #1 in December of 1974, sung by Australian Singer Helen Reddy but I remember reading that it was originally written for Cher to sing. The lyrics are super cryptic and fun

Holiday - Weezer - I am on holiday.

Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond - ‘Tis a sports game classic. Was talking to a friend about drunken, glorious singalongs to this sweet tune

Adrienne’s Mixtape for December:

No Mistakes - Kanye West - Couldn’t remember what the song was that we listened to when Kuba drove us home from the Mint party, but knew it was Kanye so...NO MISTAKES.

Mint - Dumb - Dumb played at the Mint Records’ Ridiculously Early Xmas Party

Eyes Without A Face - Billy Idol - Urban Outfitters & the Space Jam Soundtrack, Cindy Crawford workout videotape) // Music Video that made his eyes fucked for three days.

Chinatown - Luna - the scene from the bus with the guy in Chinatown

Steely - Marnie Stern - “I always hear that song at the right time”

Beautiful Blue Sky - Ought - Orono brought sunshine to Vancouver

Seer - Woolworm - Vancouver’s sweethearts

This is America - Childish Gambino - we almost went to the show

Means That Much - H. Hawkline - Cate Le Bon affiliate, she’s my fave.

Say It Ain’t So - Weezer - It was a donut shop miracle

Thinning - Snail Mail - listened to this song a lot in 2018, including this particular day

Cold Blooded Old Times - Smog - Garbage Dreams covered this at Kat Gardiner’s “Little Wonder” book launch, and she told me that this song was originally part of the book but that part got edited out! I love little coincidences like that.

1880 Or So - Television - Just a real catchy guitar riff that I keep getting stuck in my head!

Girl You Want - Devo - Songwriting inspo song

Only You - Yazoo - We had a band practice and it turned into a sweet night of DJ “Cheffica” (Jessica Delisle from fellow podcast Retail Nightmares) cranking out hits and trivia, including this one.

Greyhound - Calpurnia - Garbage Dreams opened for Calpurnia the night before Finn Wolfhard’s 16th birthday. I like this song cause it talks about taking the Greyhound to Seattle, which is a very Vancouver thing to do.

Melty - Milk - MUSIC VIDEO! Milk played the Calpurnia show. *At the time of the podcast, there was no Milk on Spotify but now there is so I did a switcheroo! The song I played a million violins on is here.

Baba O’Riley - The Who - Covering the Who is the best thing I’ve ever done

Wrong Song - Nashville Soundtrack - I watched so much Nashville in a very short span of time. I did not become a better songwriter as I’d hoped.

Tame - Pixies - Supermoon covered this song on tour in August and I love the drum fill at the end, and that drum fill keeps haunting me in songs this month!

Nevermine - Forth Wanderers - Band writes songs like pen pals, made me think of us trying to make this podcast! And how we’ll have to write our theme song!

Permanent - Carla Sagan - Montreal band who are very cool. I was reminded of them because I re-watched this film the Voyagers, which is about Carl Sagan, and the ULTIMATE MIXTAPE // also this.

Destroyer - Lala Lala - listened to this song a lot in 2018 and on this particular day.

Postpartum Party of One - Dim Wit - Family xmas card from Dim Wit’s singer & guitar player Jeff - very sweet that he sent it to me, and also they are a very cool band! They wear wigs and lab coats and one time the drummer played the drums with his feet while he did a handstand and maintained it for like, a while.

Flickering Lights (Will Likely Fail You) - The Luyas - Big windstorm in Vancouver!

Twin Falls - Built to Spill - Christmas, etc.

Some Time Alone, Alone - Melody’s Echo Chamber - (Alone, Alone in a cabin)

Deep Red Bells - Neko Case - Saw Neko play live for the first time this year. She played this song from the album Blacklisted, which was one of my faves probably when I was 19!

Local Sports Drama - The Lentils - (Canucks RIOTS - a lil local sports drama every decade or so in Vancouver. This was mentioned in the bonus sports section of the podcast that did not make the cut.)

Satellite of Love - Lou Reed - My friend’s cabin has a pretty big record collection and every time I go there we have listened to Lou Reed’s “Transformer” in its entirety and it’s great.

Ploughing Out Part 1 - Cate Le Bon - “On the last day of the year, I’m just happy to be here”

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Orange is the New Black (S05E06) Flaming Hot Cheetos Airdate: June 9, 2017 @oitnb Ratings: @netflix original Score: 8.75/10 **********SPOILERS BELOW********** How fitting that the episode we finally get a glimpse of the woman who left us all in emotional turmoil at the end of S4, is actually written by the wife and longtime partner of Samira Wiley (we love you Poussey Washington!), the incredibly talented, Lauren Morelli. In our last review of OITNB5, we focused a lot on perspective... When it comes to the loss and grieving of the very character that inspired the women of Litchfield Prison to take control of their prison, who better to give us a perspective as to the woman who is literally married to her in real life! Just thinking about life without my significant other sends complete and total perplexing, dramatic psychological turmoil surging through my entire being. No way. But if someone had to write what it would be like to move towards a place where moving on, and simultaneously holding on & letting go of even the character my significant other was playing... I guess the best person for the job would be me. There's a bit of added emotion that I've talked about being missing before, turning this episode from great to one helluva good time! 'Flaming Hot Cheetos, Literally' gives us more than just Soso & Taystee coming to terms with the loss of Poussey, though admittedly these two have had the most dramatically effective storyline in S5. We also get to see how the riot is changing the prison... Not just Litchfield, but the world of Litchfield and everyone's own little world that makes up the sum of its parts. It's easy to laugh when Big Boo (Lea DeLaria) comes in dressed to the nines, playing her 'Law & Order' theme music, claiming 'due process', and telling '2007 Britney Spears on Steroids' Helen (Francesca Curran) to 'best step out of her way' so she can talk to Pensatucky (Taryn Manning)... But the outcome is way more revealing of the heart and human side of these inmates. You see, these inmates who now have control have all been moved aside and dropped into a system where they are lost in privatized, overcrowded prisons... For the most part they may gravitate towards self-segregation, but they all have very key things in common. Boo plays her role well, pushing the women to 'be better than they are'... And she's right. You get locked up in a cage for so long and you start feeling like the animals that you are being treated as... But all these people are human beings and long prison sentences have proven not to work. So what does Boo suggest? A little bit of what my fellow TVTime'r and friend precisely called out as 'Restorative Justice'. In the whole process we get a bit more of the incredibly natural dynamic between Doggett and Boo. They are an incredible force together. The entire scene where Boo is counseling and directing Pensatucky as to how she needs to act, what she needs to say and do... Its just magic. Doggett responds so naturally, rattling off a story about how her mom used to coach her in case of getting caught shoplifting. It's these little scenes that continue to grow these original characters that really stick with me. Same with Soso (Kimiko Glenn) and Janae, the very unlikely duo. They are both grieving and instead of carrying that chip on her shoulder, Janae has a rare moment with Soso where she leaves her heart on her sleeve. I tear up just thinking about it. Janae has seen and felt so much prejudice and racial injustice... And the fact that she's so intelligent sometimes works against her. It's like being too smart for your own good. But with the prison now a barbed wired, locked down 'land of the free', Janae can parallel her feelings towards her racial injustices to her feelings about simply losing a friend... And let go, while still holding on to what makes her, her. Janae has always been a favorite of mine and while she's done questionable things, as we all have, it's easy to understand why. Deep down Janae is exploding with love, she has so much to give, but her intellect and her principles hold her back from sharing that love with all of those around her... That and of course the fact that she's in prison and must keep a certain air about her. With Taystee & Soso and now Boo & Doggett really stealing the show, it's nice to see Janae snag that spotlight because Vicky Jeudy deserves it... She gives so many dimensions to Janae that sometimes I think the writers don't even realize that the character has, that you simply can't ignore her. You can't ignore her plight. Janae is simply such a beautiful character, etched in pain, achievements, and a massive leap where she almost was able to grab the stars... Almost. As you know, 'almost doesn't count'. Speaking of not being able to ignore... Nita Reddy (Gita Reddy, isn't that funny?) has been tasked to help quell the riot. Unfortunately she's only meeting a few of the demands, the shallow ones, the 'Takis' and the 'Flaming Hot Cheetos', and one very necessary one (just not in the big picture), tampons! At first it feels like a win for Taystee and her 'Heads of Litchfield State' but after a phone call with a pushy Nita later on, it's clear that the rest of the demands aren't being taken seriously. Taystee is the last person in Litchfield who should be taken with a grain of salt. She has no ties to the outside, and her flashback gives us an in depth look at why she ended up wrapped tight in Vee's clutches. I've never met my biological father, but I often think about how it would go. Wonder if I'll ever even get an email or call... I think maybe there's a huge part of me that just wants to know that he acknowledges me. Taystee' story shows how that could all go horribly wrong when she is young and ready to be embraced by her real mother, who ends up having second thoughts because she has already started another life with another family. This killed me... I'm rewatching the scene now and I'm completely teared up. My biological father has since moved on from whatever the circumstances were surrounding my birth as my mother was a very young teenager, as was he. He has another son and a daughter. I wonder if they know who I am, I doubt it. In my head, this is more close to reality. There's a great shame in Taystee's mother's soul... She can't bring herself to overcome it and it crushes Taystee. Mia Jefferson (Tiffany Mann) plays this character right, there's a lot of us out there who never have met one or more of our birth parents. The first thing Taystee asks is 'Why didn't you want me?' The first thing I would ask is, 'Why have waited so long to reach out?' Taystee's situation is more difficult than mine, she has no one. I had a mother who beat incredible odds at a young age and a step-father who earned the title of 'Dad'. Still, there will always be a void until that man says something to me, and if he's too afraid to say something or complacent enough in his own life to never reach out, then I'll die with that void... But that will be on him, and I hope it weighs heavy. Little does he probably know that I am one of the most understanding and forgiving people in this world... And that's because I have people to fall back on. It breaks my heart that Taystee doesn't. I understand it, but to know this pain and imagine it multiplied wrecks me, truly. Andrew McCarthy seems to be given the most chaotic episodes. There is so much happening here... The Litchfield Trial of Tiffany Doggett, the arrival and subsequent removal of Hot Cheetos & Takis, Taystee's backstory with her biological mother, Janae & Soso running their pain away together, Lorna (Yael Stone) & Nicky (Natasha Lyons) finally giving in to sexual tensions and then facing the repercussions, Aleida Diaz (Elizabeth Rodriguez) being rushed into prime time news to give her exclusive take on Litchfield and being taken advantage of by a shady producer (Megumi Haggerty), Bayley (Alan Aisenberg) considering suicide because no one will listen to him or arrest the upper-middle class white boy who's in a 'bad place', Piper leaving Alex's backyard sit-in to take a stand, Freida leading all the 'elders' to her giant survivalist utopia, as well as Taystee meeting Poussey for the first time in the library that was always very close to her heart... And let's not forget the 'blaze of glory' finale where our fan favorites and 'Woke' Litchfield Leaders burn those mother fucking Flaming Hot Cheetos and Takis to the ground! Cindy starts the party... 'Flamin Cheetos, y'all!' Janae keeps the energy going, 'Yo, T... Tell this woman what we want!' Taystee plays off her hype women, 'We want to be mother fucking taken serious!' Chaos reigns supreme here, but McCarthy is masterful at balancing it all out. Who knew... Right? Oh wait, we all did! That's why McCarthy is given the tough ones!

[sassmill]

Not to be a dyke but I absolutely fucking love Helen reddy so much