New Wave for the New Week #9

Image via Wikipedia

Andrew Chinich and Pal Shazar formed Slow Children in the early '80s LA New Wave scene. Together they released two albums, a self-titled debut in 1981 and a follow-up, Mad About Town, a year later. Songs were apparently written and recorded for a third LP that never happened.

Their one great claim to fame was the wonderful single "President Am I", from the debut album, and its accompanying video. Those of you who, like me, religiously watched the early days of MTV will recognize the scene of Pal Shazar submerged in a giant glass of vodka - it was used in several of MTV's station promos during the first year or two the channel was on the air, and the clip itself saw light-to-medium rotation early on as well.

Pal's pouty delivery of highly literate lyrics and her ecclectic phrasing which focused more on the rhythm and sound of the words than on correct grammar or inflection bounced over bubbly keyboard and guitar that had not yet devolved into what would come to be known as synthopop or technopop, creating Slow Children's highly identifiable and enjoyable sound. It's a sound that may seem a bit dated today, but still never fails to put a smile on my face when their songs turn up on my iPod shuffle.

Pal Shazar has gone on to release five solo albums, in addition to being a painter, t-shirt designer, novelist, and blogger, and shows no signs of stopping - thankfully!

I give you this week's New Wave for the New Week, Slow Children's "President Am I":

Howard and Ibanez Playing the Grand (Slam) Old Game

April 28, 1921: Ralph Miller and Lee Meadows.
August 18, 1997: Billy McMillon and Mike Lieberthal.
Sept. 9, 2003: Tomas Perez and Jason Michaels.
April 27, 2009: Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez.

In more than a century of Philadelphia Phillies baseball, today's 13-11 victory over the Washington Nationals marked only the fourth time that the club has hit two grand slam home runs in the same game. The wild game saw the Phillies continue their nail-biting habit of playing behind for most of the game until making the late-inning comeback.

Image by Dinur via Flickr

At first, it looked like it was going to be the Ryan Zimmerman Show, as the Nats third baseman connected for two long, looong home runs in the third and fifth innings, helping put Washington in front 6-2. Ryan Howard batted in the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded, and connected for a blast to straightaway center field that tied the game.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Phillies pitching has been haunted all season by the long ball, and that ghost raised its head again when Nick Johnson and Adam Dunn both blasted two-run homers off of Scott Eyre in the eighth inning, giving Washington an 11-7 lead. The Phils weren't dead yet, though. After plating two runs and loading the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning, Raul Ibanez continued to prove himself to be an outstanding addition to the team by parking the ball in the right field seats to cinch up the 13-11 win.

Neat to see this bit of Phillies history unfold tonight.

New Wave for the New Week #8

Image via Wikipedia

I have always thought it a great crime that, for most people, the only thing they see in their minds' eyes when they think of Wall of Voodoo is Stan Ridgway's face emerging from a pot full of baked beans as he warbles on about being on a "Mexican Radio." This band was so much more than just a one-hit wonder!

When you talk about Wall of Voodoo, you really should talk about two bands: Wall of Voodoo with Stan Ridgway and Wall of Voodoo without Stan Ridgway. WoV's history can be traced back to Acme Soundtracks, a mid-to-late '70s company dedicated to creating film scores, founded by Ridgway. The company did not do well, but the location of its offices - across the street from The Masque, a revered punk club in Hollywood - helped Stan drift into the New Wave scene. With a few changes in lineup from the musicians he employed at Acme, Wall of Voodoo was born.

Those film-score roots are audible in this first version of WoV: spaghetti-western guitars, moody effects, and Stan's knack for storytelling. However, herky-jerky rhythms and Stan's sing-speak vocal affectations saw to it that they were lumped into the "New Wave" category. Their songs were intelligent, witty, and oddly catchy; their sound was unique and earned them praise as "the thinking man's Devo." This version of the Wall released a fantastic self-titled debut EP in 1980, followed by two excellent albums, 1981's Dark Continent and the following year's Call of the West, from which their lone "hit" came.

Ridgway left the band in 1983 to pursue a fairly successful solo career, and it seemed that would be it for Wall of Voodoo. It wasn't.

In 1985, a revived version of the band released Seven Days in Sammystown with new lead singer Andy Prieboy. The album is incredibly good, largely because Prieboy was wise enough not to try to mimic Ridgway's style. The sharp angles in the band's music were now sanded off, although that spaghetti-western feel remained. The Devo comparisons no longer held sway; if anything, the sound now veered closer to the recently successful Athens, GA sound of bands like R.E.M., Pylon, and Love Tractor.

Sadly, this version could not keep up the quality of work of the original band. In 1987 they released Happy Planet, which had a cover of a Beach Boys' tune and not much else to offer. Two years later, a live album appeared and disappeared just as quickly, and the Wall crumbled.

For those who only ever knew "Mexican Radio," I recommend getting any of the three Ridgway-era records, as well as Sammystown. All are fascinating, challenging albums well worth your time. As a sampling, I present this week's New Wave for the New Week, a clip from each version of the band. From the Dark Continent album, "Call Box 1-2-3" features Stan Ridgway's yelping song-talk. Andy Prieboy leads the band through a dissection of assassins Mark David Chapman and John Hinckley Jr., the excellent "Far Side of Crazy." Compare and decide:

The Subtle Art of Misdirection

OK, OK, I know...been a full week with no posts. Mea culpa, mea culpa! The good news is, I've actually been busy with income-producing work!

Fear not, though, posting will resume shortly. In the meantime, perhaps I can distract you with something so you'll forget I haven't posted....

LIKE MAYBE A DRAMATIC HAMSTER!

New Wave for the New Week #7

Classix Nouveaux
(via last.fm)

One of the more popular sub-categories of early '80s New Wave was the "New Romantic" scene. Embracing both music and fashion, the New Romantics were direct descendants of the mid-'70s Glam rockers; indeed, Bryan Ferry, Marc Bolan, David Bowie and the like were the icons the New Romantics often aspired to replicate. Think of bands like ABC, early Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant and Culture Club as examples of the New Romantic scene who most successfully reached mainstream ears. But there were many, many more New Romantic bands flying beneath the radar.

One of the earliest was Classix Nouveaux. Formed from the Poly Styrene-less ashes of legendary punk wailers X-Ray Spex, Classix Nouveaux recorded three albums between 1981 and 1983; as is often the case, their debut (self-titled in the US, called Night People in the UK) is far and away the best of the three.

In fact, it was their first single, "Guilty," and the corresponding video that first brought them to the attention of the music world. The breezily danceable keyboard pop and nearly gothic vocal style were quite agreeable, but oh the visuals!

It's hard to take your eyes off of singer Sal Solo: tall, thin, pale and bald, Solo underscored his naturally odd appearance by presenting himself as a glammed-up version of Nosferatu. It's a not easily forgotten sight. The overall look of the video would be aped by many a New Romantic to come, from the colorful hazy soft-focus effects to the "Seinfeld's puffy shirt" costumes worn by the oh-so-serious looking extras doing their best Mummenschanz dances. All in all, it's giddy fun, and the song really is fantastic.

And here it is for your viewing pleasure. Your New Wave for the New Week, Classix Nouveaux's "Guilty":

The Tea Party Guests Who Aren't Being Served

Rolfe Winkler hit a bullseye with the article he wrote at Option ARMageddon about the recent Tea Parties, "CNN Misses the Tea Party Point."

Wasn't just CNN who missed the point, it was virtually all of the Left Wing. CNN just happened to have the most egregious example of "if it doesn't fit our view, we ain't gonna report it" party-line journalism - the type of unbalanced reporting I'd expect from either Fox or MSNBC, depending on the party line. (The video is included in the article, and it is a sad commentary on the state of journalism and news reporting today.)

But the point here isn't the obviously biased reporting - that's merely a symptom of a larger issue; an issue that many are not yet recognizing in their zeal to mock the Tea Parties. Winkler notes,

"The lefties and the righties are still so blinded by their hatred of each other, they don’t see the emerging super-majority in the middle. They don’t see (yet) that they are actually in violent agreement, incensed as they are with nonstop government spending, in particular the bank bailouts.

Anger over the bank bailouts unites virtually the entire country. And how very ironic that this inchoate union of right and left is forming in opposition to Mr. Post Partisan himself, Barack Obama."

This observation is supported by the first reader comment, which in part reads, "...there is a building of all the people in the middle that are sick of the business as usual regardless of Rep or Dems." Indeed there is - I know because I am certainly a part of that ever-growing political demographic.

The party that best addresses the concerns of this middle-ground group will have the strongest position gong forward - assuming either party gets their heads out of their behinds and begins to address these concerns instead of spending all their time and energy in this ongoing political pissing contest.

On the Passing of Harry Kalas

In my notebook are the beginnings of a post I was going to put together for this blog talking about how the game of baseball and, more importantly, the experience of being a baseball fan has changed since my childhood. Today, the baseball of my childhood truly ceased to be. Harry Kalas passed away this afternoon.

Baseball first became a big part of my world view towards the end of the 1977 season. At the age of 10 I was swept up by the excitement of the Phillies' run for the NL East pennant. I discovered that I loved this game and I loved the Phils. I voraciously read every book my elementary school library had about baseball; when that library was exhausted, I began reading through the baseball shelves at the Lancaster Public Library. In the spring of the next year, 1978, I started buying baseball cards the moment they became available, and studied those scraps of cardboard more diligently than my own schoolwork, learning all the active players on every team. And, either by commandeering the family TV or with the aid of a scratchy hand-me-down AM radio, I watched or listened to every Phillies game. Every single game.

Harry Kalas had been in the Phillies booth for six years by the time the 10-year-old me discovered baseball. Harry's play-by-play and Richie "Whitey" Ashburn's color commentary brought the games to life. They were knowledgeable and professional, but they were also unabashed fans. They loved the game and they loved the Phils, and were never afraid or ashamed to let their emotions show when the team won a big one or defied the odds in a come-from-behind victory. They had a great friendship, and that came through as they shared stories and laughs during slow innings. And, they loved the fans.

For twenty years, until Ashburn's passing in 1997, I listened to them calling games. To this day, Harry and Whitey are, to me, what baseball should sound like. When "His Whiteness" left us in September of 1997, I remember wondering whether Harry would keep going - and for how long.

Keep going he did, never losing a stride. Harry Kalas was among the last of his breed of baseball announcers: a voice that was instantly recognizable and also the envy of anyone who ever has had anything to do with broadcasting at any level. (Joe Buck, who calls games these days for FOX, was once quoted as saying, "If I had that voice, I'd just walk around the house and talk to myself!"), and a style that was often imitated but never quite copied.

His midwestern nasal twang and just-this-side-of-staccato delivery was perfect for some of the classic Phillies names: "MI-chael Jack Schmidt," "Mick-ey Mor-an-DI-ni," "Ma-ri-AH-no DUN-can" and others became almost melodic, and his home run calls were the stuff of legend. You'd hear the crack of the bat and suddenly Kalas' voice would raise in both pitch and volume. "Swing and a long drive, watch this baby!...could it be?...yes! It's OUTTA HEEEEERE!" You felt as if you were riding along on the ball's flight out of the park. Even something as mundane as a Phillies pitcher striking out an opposing batter was given the special Kalas treatment: "Struh-keem-out!"

In recent years, talk of Kalas' retirement would bubble up now and again. He no longer called full games, and he'd occasionally miss a game. But with each new season, Harry would be back, and all would be right with the world.

This afternoon, I was skimming through article titles in my Google Reader when I was caught off guard by an entry from the Phillies Nation blog: "BREAKING NEWS: Harry Kalas Rushed To D.C. Hospital." That was shortly after 1:30. Within half an hour, he would be gone. It was too sudden almost to process. I posted the news - what little detail there was - here and on Twitter, but to say I was shaken would put it mildly.

I never met Harry Kalas, although I did sing along with him at Veteran's Stadium in August of 2002 as he led the sold-out crowd on Harry Kalas Day in a chorus of "High Hopes." But Harry had been a part of my life - had been, to me, the voice of baseball - for the past 32 years. My father said it best in an email to me this afternoon, "...it's as if we have lost a friend." I know that so many Phillies fans feel that way today. That's how much Harry connected with us.

You can read the black and white facts about Kalas' life and career many places. I didn't want to just recite them here, I wanted to try to find the words to express how Harry's passing has affected me. Perhaps those words are really this simple: baseball will never be the same.

Harry and Whitey are back together again in Heaven. I hope I live my life well enough that I may get to hear them calling games again when my time comes.

RIP Harry Kalas

Longtime Phillies announcer Harry Kalas passed away moments ago at a hospital in Washington, DC.

Source: Phillies Nation

I am shaken. I will have words later. For now, my condolences to the Kalas family.

BREAKING NEWS: Harry Kalas Hospitalized

Word just reaching the wires that legendary Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas was rushed to a Washington, DC hospital aftre being found unconscious approximately one hour ago. No further details at the moment - more to come.

Sources:

http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2009/04/breaking-news-harry-kalas-rushed-to-dc-hospital

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090413/SPORTS01/90413030

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/sports/20090413_Kalas_passes_out__taken_to_hospital.html


Updates from Philles Nation:

UPDATE (1:41 p.m.): Statement from David Montgomery: “I think it’s serious. Our thoughts and prayers are with Harry.”

UPDATE (1:29 p.m.): Allegedly Kalas was found passed out in the press box at Nationals Park. Kalas recently recovered from heart surgery, missing spring training but joining the team for the season opener.

New Wave for the New Week #6

Following up on last week's entry, here's another from the "where'd they go?" file. Horizontal Brian released one top-notch album, Vertical, in 1983 on the Gold Mountain label. From it came this fantastic single, "Practicing First Aid."

A witty, hooked-filled confection with some sly wink-wink lyrics, "Practicing First Aid" bounces along, giddily stringing out it's lyrical euphemism ("playing doctor" didn't scan as well, I guess). And just in case you don't follow the metaphor, the video's imagery underscores it plainly enough.

The rest of the album stays pretty much in the same ballpark as the single, which is in this case a good thing. But Vertical remains Horizontal Brian's lone artifact. Indeed, finding information about the band is no easy task - the long-out-of-print LP was not ever reissued on CD to my knowledge, the Gold Mountain label morphed into Gold Castle by the end of the '80s before disappearing altogether, and the only band bio I've found online is this brief entry at Trouser Press.

So, not much else to tell you - just sit back and enjoy a true cult classic - this week's New Wave for the New Week, Horizontal Brian's "Practicing First Aid":

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.