New Wave for the New Week #24

Image via Wikipedia

Quickly - how many bands can you name who feature a classically trained oboist? If you said "Icehouse!" give yourself a hand.

Iva Davies, known for his mega-mullet and for crooning some for the schlockiest Top Forty drivel this side of John Oates (who co-wrote one of Icehouse's biggest American hits, 1987's "Electric Blue"), was pretty much single-handedly Icehouse. Singer, songwriter, producer, keyboardist - and, yes, able to rock an oboe - Davies took his band from Australian obscurity to worldwide MOR radio success in the late '80s. So why am I writing about a band who made their fortune peddling mainstream fluff? Because of one album and, more specifically, one fantastic song which remains one of the catchiest, most wonderful blasts of synth-pop from the New Wave era.

Icehouse began life in the late '70s under the name Flowers. Based out of Sydney, Australia, Flowers originally was a fairly straightforward bar band. Synthesizers were becoming more and more accessible at the time, and Davies took to the plinky electronic sound quickly. Flower's debut album, 1980's Icehouse, was a bright, shiny slab of synth-based, hook-filled delights, and with the major record labels searching the world over for their piece of the New Wave pie, it wasn't long before Chrysalis Records came calling with an international record deal.

One catch: the band had to change their name. Seems there was also a British band at the time calling themselves The Flowers, and Chrysalis did not want any confusion. So, in 1981, Davies and his band were introduced to the world as Icehouse, with the album of the same name remixed and re-released, with all references to the previous band name gone.

Some seeds of Icehouse's eventual wimp-rock sound are evident in a few of the album's tracks, but the strength of the three singles released from Icehouse make this album, a must-have for fans of early synth-pop: the eerily ethereal "Icehouse" (yes, they seemed to really like that word...), the shimmering "Can't Help Myself," and this week's NW4NW entry, the exuberant "We Can Get Together."

Sporting a nifty "real life vs. animation" video years before everyone oohed and ahhed over A-Ha riffing on that visual theme, and loaded with some of the catchiest hooks around, "We Can Get Together" remains one of those songs that leaves most folks scratching their heads wondering why it wasn't a massive hit. But it was roundly ignored by commercial radio, and saw minimal airplay on MTV. Icehouse seemed destined to fade from the map.

Six years later, Davies reinvented his band, grew his hair out to Michael Bolton-esque extremes, and ratcheted up the "sensitive guy" factor, and finally hit the big time with songs like "Crazy" and "Electric Blue." For those of us who knew Icehouse back when, this new Icehouse was a great disappointment. Thankfully, we can pull out that one wonderful album and remember the good version of the band.

So here is this week's New Wave for the New Week entry, Icehouse's "We Can Get Together." Enjoy!

Run Ashley, Run!

Multiple Sclerosis is a terrifying thing. MS is a disease in which a person's immune system begins to attack his or her own central nervous system, resulting in any or all of a wide spectrum of neurological issues ranging from physical debilitation to loss of vision to loss of speech to loss of cognitive function. At its worst, MS leaves its sufferers virtually trapped within their own bodies.

Not a great deal is really known about the causes of MS, and at present there is no known cure. Continued research has helped the medical community become better at treating patients with MS, but current treatments still only manage symptoms. More work needs to be done to pin down the causes and finally find a cure, but this work requires funding.

I care about MS because, once upon a time, I was tested for it myself as my doctor tried to help me find the cause for inexplicable numbnesses, discomfort, and pain I was experiencing, and still do on occasion experience. We've never been able to determine exactly why I have the symptoms I do (although we feel certain stresses, combined with depression and OCD, both of which I have been diagnosed with, are the most likely culprits), but I was fortunate in that my test for Multiple Sclerosis came back negative.

Many others are not so fortunate. According to the National MS Society, almost half a million people in this country live with MS, with nearly 200 new cases being diagnosed weekly. Worldwide, there are estimated to be almost 2.5 million cases. In June, I posted here about Exene Cervenka's announcement that she had been diagnosed with MS. I know the fear I experienced waiting for my test results; I cannot imagine how someone feels upon receiving the news that their test had a positive result.

Recently, a high school classmate posted a link on her Facebook page to the website of an non-profit organization, MSRuntheUS Inc. MSRuntheUS is, in reality, one person. Ashley Kumlien decided she wanted to do something to raise both awareness and, hopefully, donations, for MS. Her mother, Jill, has been battling MS for the past 26 years, and is Ashley's inspiration.

Ashley is a avid runner, with a specific love for long-distance running. She has taken it upon herself to run quite a long distance indeed: 3,200 miles! Starting in San Francisco, CA, Ashley intends to spend about 6 months running an average of 20 to 30 miles a day, 6 days a week, until she has crossed the country and arrived in New York City. She hopes her efforts will help raise funds through both sponsorships and donations - funds that can be used in MS research.



Toward that end, she created MSRuntheUS Inc., set up her website, and set up a Facebook page so that people can follow her progress. She also hopes folks will help her non-profit win Intel's Vote for a Cause campaign on Facebook, where the winning non-profit will receive $50,000 in co-branded advertisement. If you are on Facebook, you can help her garner enough votes to take the prize. It's best to let Ashley herself explain that process, so please become a fan of her page and watch the videos she has there explaining how you can help. (If you are not on Facebook, please go to Ashley's website to learn about other ways you can support her cause.)

When I learned of Ashley's efforts, thoughts of my own brush with MS and the folks I have known personally who struggle with the disease compelled me to want to help spread the word. I hope you will all consider helping out in any way you can, whether through monetary donation, helping Ashley gain the votes she needs to win the Vote for a Cause contest, or by spreading the word to as many people as you can. No help you offer is too little.

New Wave for the New Week #23

One of New Wave's more stylish Canadian exports were Maurice & the Clichés. Formed in Vancouver in 1978 by Maurice DePas, Paul Wilson-Brown and Gary Westlake, Maurice & the Clichés quickly became darlings of the local club scene. They were known for their fairly elaborate multi-media stage shows, and within a year, their self-titled debut album was out and word of the band began to spread beyond Canadian borders.

By 1982 they were signed to Los Angeles-based RMS records, and in early 1983 the album C'est La Vie hit the shelves. From it came the band's best known song, this week's New Wave for the New Week entry, "Soft Core."

Wickedly funny, highly stylized, and irresistibly catchy, "Soft Core" became a huge favorite on college radio and dance club playlists. Maurice & the Clichés' moment in the spotlight was a brief one however. They chose not to create a video for the single, an unwise choice in the midst of MTV's ascension to the height of its promotional powers. As such, the single, and the band, faded quickly from memory.

A third album was recorded but never released, and the world heard no more from Maurice & the Clichés until 2006, when the retrospective Flogging a Dead Horse was released, including tracks from both LPs and a fair amount of the unreleased material. The later stuff is hit-and-miss and the earlier stuff is good but primitive; "Soft Core" was the absolute pinnacle for this band.

Since no video was ever made, there is none to share with you. Still, it's such a great song that it must be shared - making this our first audio-only NW4NW. Enjoy!

My Own "Special Comment"

Image by Travelin' Librarian via Flickr

Let me start here: I don't like Keith Olbermann. Nothing personal against the man; I have never met him. He may be a great guy if you get to know him. But as far as his current role as host of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, I find him to be bombastic, overbearing, self-obsessed and hypocritical.

At the same time, a part of me wants to like Olbermann. In his days across the ESPN desk from Dan Patrick many moons ago, he and Dan were easily the most entertaining, most knowledgeable sports commentators on the air; I never missed their show. He is obviously a bright man, quick-witted and, at times, honestly very funny. He is an outstanding speaker, able to use the language almost as a musical instrument.

Yet his skills are used, sadly, to perpetuate the ongoing partisan divide in this country. He is nothing more than the Left's version of Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly, constantly stirring the pot and fomenting anger and disdain among his audience against the Right. I dislike Olbermann for the same reasons that I dislike Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Beck, et al.: they each contribute mightily to the "us against them" mindset that we find ourselves in nowadays - a mindset that does our country far more harm than good.

But, in Olbermann's case, there's something more. It's the fact that he refuses to admit his role, that he does not see himself that way, but rather as some sort of messianic second coming of Edward R. Murrow, that causes me to want to kick my television in any time I watch his program. His pomposity is simply unmatched, and simply unbearable.

Yet I watch, partly because I keep hoping I'll find redeeming quality in his presentation, partly out of the "train wreck" factor ("What kind of idiocy is he going to spew tonight?"). I watch for as long as I can, until I can take no more and must turn the channel.

So it was that I found myself watching last night. I tuned in at about the halfway mark, and so was able to grit it out to the end of the program, and I'm sorry I did. Last night, Olbermann delivered another of his histrionic "Special Comments," extended editorials he prepares when something particularly goads him. You can read the transcript of last night's Special Comment here.

Again, I want to enjoy Olbermann's work. From a strictly linguistic angle, his Special Comments in particular are damn near poetic in their rhythm, structure, and evocative use of his extensive vocabulary. In content, however, their disingenuous, often factually inaccurate assertions and questionable leaps in logic drive me right up the wall!

If Olbermann is able to use his widely viewed soapbox to wax linguistic against those who get his dander up, then I hope he (and you, my readers) don't mind if I step up on my considerably smaller soapbox and, in the style of the self-appointed Master, vent my Olbermann-induced dander.

As promised, my own "Special Comment":

Mr. Olbermann, if this is, as you suggested in the opening lines of your Special Comment Monday evening, a "terrible time in American history," rest assured that you, sir, are culpable as surely as those folks you chose to call on the carpet.

Yes, you, Mr. Olbermann. You wield your Special Comment as though it were King Arthur's sword, a weapon so powerful and mighty as to only be employed in times of dire need, when the skies are bleakest with despair, and you the only one who can remove it from the stone in order to wield it. Armed, obviously, with your intelligence, skill in speaking, and penchant for the overly dramatic; armed, obviously, with your knowledge of cultural and literary touchstones; and armed, obviously, with Roget's Thesaurus, you drive your verbally acrobatic blade through the heart - what you must believe is the very black heart - of those you demonize. Indeed, you are so driven to rid the land of your enemies that you are nearly brought to tears as you speak of their heinous misdeeds, nearly brought to alarm as you consider where the roads they pave may lead, nearly brought to frenzy by your anger so strong that you spit out their names rather than speak them civilly. It is so convincing an act that those who blindly follow you, sir, are pulled into the visceral maelstrom even if they don't quite understand all the big words.

It is an act, isn't it Mr. Olbermann? Your outrage, your fervor, your nearly bursting into stage tears; it must all be done to drive home the seriousness of your message. You know just as well as Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and Beck that you can't rally your troops through factual reporting and thoughtful critique alone. You've got to let them hear the sizzle before they'll buy the steak, right Mr. Olbermann? You've got to make them FEEL it, you've got to find their hot buttons, you've got to sell it. And, just like Peter Finch as Howard Beale in the movie Network, you've got to convince them to "go to the window, open it, stick [their heads] out and yell 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!'"

You do it in small ways night in and night out, don't you Mr. Olbermann? By demeaning those who represent opposing views; by giving them diminunizing nicknames such as "Comedian" Rush Limbaugh, "Billo the Clown," and "Coultergeist;" by smugly sitting in judgment of those you declare "Best" and "Worst" Persons in the World (and how telling that your Bests are really nothing more than another round of Worsts). In doing so, you imply that you, sir, and by default, your followers, are somehow better, more civilized people. You imply that you, sir, and by default your followers, take the higher, more thoughtful road than these obvious heathens.

But, sadly, the opposite is true. You are no better, sir; no more civilized, no more thoughtful; you do not take a higher road. Instead, you hypocritically wallow in the same muck, employing the same tactics of fear-mongering, alarm-sounding hyperbole to whip your supporters into a frenzy as the tactics you decry the targets of your venom for using. Perhaps you veil it less thinly, but not by much. You shame Limbaugh for comparing President Obama to Adolph Hitler, yet you freely compare Sarah Palin with the participants in a racist lynch mob, somehow making the leap from her unfortunate "Death Panel" Facebook comment to that comparison - a comparison not based in any logical thought progression but based merely in the need to make sure your followers get mad as hell! You mock Bill O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs for not being able to "let go" of their arguments with you on their programs, yet you remind us with excruciating clockwork-like regularity of how many days it has been since President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished." You, sir, are no better than they.

You are correct about one thing, Mr. Olbermann. This is a terrible time in American history. It is a time when I find myself fearing the road we as a nation are traveling. It is a time of some the sharpest, deepest divisions in values, morals, and beliefs that I have ever seen in my 42 years. It is a time when I see the country I love being torn asunder; a time when it seems we can accomplish nothing because the partisan rift has become so deep and wide as to seem incapable of being bridged; a time when the mantra on either side seems to be that of the Hatfields and McCoys: "If'n ye ain't fer us, ye must be agin us!"

And you are also correct, sir, when you call the names of the Palins, the Becks, the Limbaughs, and others as those who should be held accountable, at least in part, for the bile that is ever eroding that partisan rift further. Though it may not seem like it based on what I have said so far, I am no apologist for the Right. I do find their tactics of fear-mongering and panic-inducing hyperbole as distasteful as you claim to.

But, Mr. Olbermann, I suggest that you take a good long look in the mirror, for you too, sir, are partially to blame. You too, sir, use many of those very same tactics while simultaneously decrying them. And, to paraphrase your own words, if someone is hurt at one of these Town Halls, pro-Reform, anti-Reform, or, most likely, as these things tend to play out in real life, sir - if the hurt befalls an innocent bystander - you will have contributed to the harm.

If you truly wish to bring about a change, a healing, in this country, I beseech you, Mr. Olbermann, to reconsider the way in which you are doing it. Sadly, however, I suspect that is not your goal. After all, you have your job to do, and that job is to get ratings. Because, sir, ratings equal dollars for that parent company you work for, don't they? And therein lies another similarity between you and those you demean, another measure of your hypocrisy: at the end of the day you too, sir, are beholden to a corporate boss, just as those you call out for serving their corporate bosses over serving the greater good.

New Wave for the New Week #22

Image via Wikipedia

Willy DeVille passed away on Friday at the age of 58, less than a month after doctors diagnosed him with pancreatic cancer.

Willy's band Mink DeVille became fixtures on the fledgling mid-70's New York Punk Rock scene by scoring a regular gig at CBGB's in 1975. Their sound epitomized that early NYC-punk vibe that was more heavily influenced by The Velvet Underground than, say, The Stooges or The MC5. In fact, Willy's vocals on early singles like "Let Me Dream if I Want To (Amphetamine Blues)" and "Spanish Stroll" sound so strongly like Lou Reed that it's almost scary.

By 1980, Mink DeVille was a band in name only; the third album released under that name, Le Chat Bleu, saw no original band members but Willy himself contribute. Willy had moved towards a more Sam-Cooke-via-Southside-Johnny sound, and was beginning to cast an eye towards mainstream acceptance.

The closest he got was on his first album under his own name, 1987's Miracle. That album included the song he recorded for the movie The Princess Bride, "Storybook Love," for which he received an Oscar nomination. But, despite hobnobbing with Mark Knopfler and other like-minded musicians, true commercial success eluded him.

Willy continued to record and play live through the end of 2008, when his health began failing. He had contracted Hepatitis C, and it was during preparation for treatment of that disease that his pancreatic cancer was discovered.

In his honor, I have chosen 1977's "Spanish Stroll" as this week's New Wave for the New Week. RIP, Willy.

Helping Out on a Local Level

We all rely on our local firefighters, police, EMTs, etc., to be there if and when we are faced with emergency. How often are we there for them when they are in need of assistance that we might be in a position to offer?

Daniel Klotz, Social Media Strategist at PA-based website company YDOP ("Your Dream, Our Project"), co-host of the Lancaster-based Beards Over Babies podcast, and fellow blogger, has launched a campaign to do just that. His simple challenge to his fellow Lancastrians is to find 130 people who are each willing to join him in donating $10 a piece to help buy some new weight-training equipment for the 28 professional firefighters who work out of Fire Station 1 at 425 West King Street here in Lancaster.

In his most recent blog entry, Klotz explains the impetus for this campaign:

"Brent Colflesh of NxtBook Media sometimes works out at a commercial gym during his lunch breaks with some firefighters from Fire Station 1 in Lancaster city, and he told me about a crummy situation:

If you’re a volunteer firefighter, most gyms will give you a free membership. If you’re a professional firefighter, most gyms will not.

That stinks. What’s more, the firefighters of Station 1 work shifts of 10 to 14 hours at a time. They practically live out of the station. When they’re there, they can’t leave except on a call."

I know that I am fortunate to have readers from all over, but I also know that a large segment of my readership is local. It is you local readers whom I ask to seriously consider donating what you can to help out. Your donations will go towards the purchase of training equipment customized for the firehouse, pictured below:




You can read more at Daniel's blog here, or donate securely using either PayPal or credit card through the widget provided below.



Thanks for helping out on this very worthwhile local cause.

New Wave for the New Week #21

Cover of Mood Swing

Boulder, Colorado's contribution to the New Wave scene, The Nails, are another one of those one-hit New Wave wonders. They were the band that gave us the wonderfully salacious, just-this-side-of-vulgar "88 Lines About 44 Women," a song that has become something of a staple of retro New Wave playlists over the past two decades.

Propelled by an insistent bass line and what sounds like a pre-programmed Casio keyboard rhythm track, "88 Lines About 44 Women" is exactly that: a series of descriptive couplets about the women in the singer's life. Some seem forced to keep the rhyming scheme in place, but most are skillfully written, funny, and so descriptive that you may find yourself saying "I KNOW a girl like that!" Indeed, back in my college days, it was something of an amusement to come up with our own "88 Lines" couplets about the women we knew.

There never was a proper promo video for the song, although one of the original band members, singer Marc Campbell, created his own clip for the song just this year. You can see his creation on The Nail's official website here. For the purposes of this post, since there was no clip at the time, you can listen to the song here:



The Nails were not without videos, though. Their wonderful 1984 album Mood Swing spawned two clips, one for "Home of the Brave" and this one, for their spot-on cover of The Hombres' 1967 hit "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)." The Nail's version uses only the parenthetical title, "Let It All Hang Out," but otherwise stays true to the original.

So here is The Nails' video for "Let It All Hang Out," and, as a bonus, a chance for you to hear the original to compare. Enjoy!

New Wave for the New Week #20

The Members via last.fm

Most people in the US who know of The Members know of one song, "Working Girl," which was a heavy-rotation clip in the earliest days of MTV. The scenes of a poolside party with band and guests being shoved fully-clothed into the water were used in numerous station promos, and the ultra-catchy chorus made it a minor hit.

It was also the last release for a band that had been around since 1976, when Nicky Tesco formed The Members with some of his buds in Cambridge, England, during the early days of the Punk Rock scene there. From the start, the band was fraught with internal dissent and external apathy. A churning lineup of musicians and a decent but not particularly individual sound saw the three albums they released during their six year lifespan sell much more poorly then hoped for, despite the fact that the band had delivered a couple of ace singles, including the aforementioned "Working Girl," the reggae-influenced "Offshore Banking Business," and this week's New Wave for the New Week Entry, 1978's "The Sound of the Suburbs".

"The Sound of the Suburbs" flew up the UK singles chart, reaching #12, a success they would never again match in their homeland. It's a wonderful slice of early pre-hardcore, pre-Oi Punk, and sounds not just a little bit like early Clash.

Tesco quit the band in 1983, and that was it for The Members. Recently, the band reformed without Tesco, and have recorded a new single, a rewrite of "Offshore Banking Business" with lyrics dealing with the current state of the world economy, retitled "International Financial Crisis." Leaning more heavily on a dub-reggae sound and without Nicky Tesco's input, it falls a little bit flat to my ears. Apparently, a tour is in the works.

Here, then, is the performance clip for this week's NW4NW entry, "The Sound of the Suburbs" by The Members:



BONUS CLIP: Their best known song in America, 1982's "Working Girl"

Post #100

Holy cow, I've reached the 100-post milestone!

I started doing this blog in December of 2008 (December 13th, to be precise). My initial purpose was to create for myself a reason to write more regularly. Throughout my life, family, friends and co-workers have always pushed me to write more, and even though I write quite a bit and enjoy it immensely, I can be very lazy about it, too.

I would love to be able to sustain myself completely as a writer, but in order to find someone willing to pay me, I need to actually write. The thing about those who hire writers is they like to see a portfolio. Why they won't just take my word for it that I can write pretty well, I don't know. I'm a trustworthy guy.

So, I began the blog, and over the past seven months I have been blessed by what seems (according to Google Analytics, anyway) to be a steadily growing readership. Thank you, each and every one of you. You drive me to want to write more and to want to improve.

If I would change one thing about you, my readership, it is that I would ask you for more feedback. My pride swells when I check the stats and see the number of hits each new post gets. I know you're there, reading; I know many of you come back and read more. Yet, seldom do any of you comment on what I've written. Perhaps that's my fault. Perhaps I don't write material that begs comment.

I do value your feedback though. By telling me what you like and don't like, what you find interesting and what you find dull about my posts, you would help me refine both this blog and my abilities as a writer, and for that I would be eternally grateful. So, on this, the 100th post, I will ask you directly for feedback.

Below is a six-question survey I would like to ask you to respond to, please. I'll also ask for feedback in the comments section: what would you like to see more of? Less of? What am I doing well and where do I need to improve?

Again, thank you for reading. I will do my best to continue to provide content that is enjoyable and, with your help, continually improving. And thank you for taking a moment to respond below. It means a lot to me.

My Ballot Box

How often do you read this blog? Often - every time there is a new post! Occasionally - if I think of it. Rarely - only when a post's title happens to catch my eye. Never - I just stumbled across this blog today!

How do you get updated about this blog's posts? I signed up for the email updates. I subscribed to the RSS feed. I watch for your posts on Facebook or Twitter announcing new content. I have the blog bookmarked and check in regularly. Other (describe in a comment, please).

What type of posts do you most enjoy here? New Wave for the New Week Concert reviews Baseball / Phillies Politics / Pop Culture Local (Lancaster, PA)

Do you like the hodge-podge approach, or would you rather see me split this blog into several subject-specific blogs? I like the hodge-podge! Keep it as it is! I hate the hodge-podge! Split it into subject-specific blogs!

Do you visit any of the blogs I have listed in the "I Read These Blogs Regularly" section? Yes (please leave a comment mentioning which ones) No

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New Wave for the New Week #19

Back in 1997, the folks at Volkswagon put together a commercial that used a very simplistic plinking melody and a monotone nonsense vocal as its jingle. The first time I saw the commercial, I did a double-take: I couldn't believe what I was hearing being used to sell cars to mainstream America! I remember some friends of mine at the time, who did not share my tastes in music, laughing and saying "imagine if that was a real song!"

I invited those friends over one evening, went to the record wall, pulled out an EP by the German band Trio, and watched their jaws drop as I played "Da Da Da (I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha)." It WAS a real song, and in fact was 15 years old by that point!

I didn't think, after that, that I could ever be as shocked by the song in a commercial again. Then, this past week, I saw the new commercial for the Palm Pre smartphone. Again, I did the double-take, this time for an intricate, ethereal, delicate melody that I hadn't heard outside of my own music collection in almost a quarter of a century.

Palm Pre is using Freur's 1983 single "Doot Doot" to sell smartphones!

Freur was a relatively obscure Welsh art-wave band that began life with a name that was an unpronounceable squiggle (years before Prince stole the idea). Of course, no record company is going to stand for that! After all, how can you sell records if the radio DJs can't say the band's name? So in the interest of commercialism, the band came up with the only slightly more pronounceable Freur, and saw their first single, "Doot Doot" receive enough airplay in the UK to reach the lower tier of the singles charts there; and enough airplay on college stations and even MTV in the USA to at least garner some attention.

Freur's original unpronounceable squiggle
It is a beautiful recording, soothing and melodious, soaring and majestic. Nothing else they ever recorded came close to this level of songwriting, and after two albums, they were gone, apparently banished to the forgotten dusty corners of the collective New Wave memory bank, until the folks at Palm Pre decided to revive it.

Kind of ironic, the band whose original name was so utterly uncommercial winds up being the focus of a commercial 26 years later. Still, it's great to think that a whole new generation is getting to hear this song.

So, if any of your friends mention the tune in the Palm Pre commercial and wonder what it would be like if it was a "real song", send them the link to this post, because here is this week's NW4NW entry, Freur's "Doot Doot". And, as a bonus video, an early recording of the song with the original Welsh lyrics. Sing along: