After months of consciously avoiding signing up for a Myspace account, I finally gave in. I wanted to watch Jon Claytor’s video of Julie Doiron’s “Me and My Friend”. And okay, it was worth it. It’s a lovely, watery, nostalgic video for a song that can be described with those same adjectives. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&n=2&videoID=1187280673 Other videoish things I’ve been watching repeatedly:
And the R.E.M. "When the Light is Mine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 Video Collection" DVD came in the mail the other day. There are some gems in there and sometimes the light or the foliage or something reminds me so strongly of the roadtrip Andrew and I took down South last year that I get these pangs of longing to just take off and live it again. You know.
I'm still 90% convinced that the only reason why I want to have babies someday is so that I can raise them on a steady diet of girl group pop, early Beatles, the Beach Boys and Elizabeth Mitchell albums. Elizabeth Mitchell is from the band Ida, who are one of my favourite bands ever. You know in the second season of Arrested Development when George Michael is dating Ann and Jason Bateman is all, "Her? Is she funny or something?". That's how I feel when I talk about my love for Ida. People don't get it. I know they're not a very "important" band, but they've always been a constant in my life, so for that I will always love them. Their second album "I Know About You" is probably one of my top 3 comfort albums. It's reassuring like mashed potatoes. Anyway.
Elizabeth Mitchell has been putting out children's albums for the past few years, and I've been collecting them, listening and appreciating them, skipping past the more kid-oriented songs (don't worry, I don't rock out to "Alphabet Dub" or "Ladybug Picnic" in my room when I'm alone). But, her versions of Elizabeth Cotten's "Goin' Down the Road" or Bob Dylan's "New Morning" or even "This Little Light of Mine" are simply beautiful. So, I was really excited to hear that her newest children's album "You are My Little Bird" is one of the newest Smithsonian Folkways releases. It's so appropriate that you buy her record from the same people that offer original Woody Guthrie and Elizabeth Cotten recordings.
I'm still waiting for my CD to come in the mail, but you can listen to a few songs at her website, including a cover of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" and Neil Young's "Little Wing".
It occurs to Charles that songs are always appropriate. Once, on a date in high school, when he was going to tell his date he loved her, Elvis Presley came on the radio singing "Loving You." It always happens: politicians are always crooks, records are always applicable to the situation. - Ann Beattie, from "Chilly Scenes of Winter"
