Scott Heim's Noise: May 2007 Archives

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May 29, 2007

Ukulele Tuesday

One of my greatest and longest-lasting pals is Liz Woodbury-High, with whom I went to college at KU in the late 80s, with whom I used to exchange bunches of early short stories (she's an excellent fiction writer), and with whom I used to watch many, many Twin Peaks episodes (scroll down a little for a recent Twin Peaks entry about an episode I first saw at Liz's house, way back when). Liz later married her excellent husband Mark, moved to phenomenal Portland, Maine, and founded the equally excellent and phenomenal Casco Bay Books and the Milo in Maine clothing shop. (Photo below: one of their cool shirts, taken from their website.)

Liz and Mark also have two great kids, Zoë and Isaac. In the past couple of years, 9th-grader Zoë has taken up the ukulele, and she's darn good. Recently a cool webzine article featured actual song clips of her music... and:

if you click on the image above, you can see the video for Zoë's cover of my 4th all-time favorite Smiths song, "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," expertly directed by David Meiklejohn.

Give it up for Zoë Woodbury-High!

Posted by scottheim at 11:25 PM | Comments (9)

May 28, 2007

R.I.P. Charles Nelson Reilly

Posted by scottheim at 09:28 PM | Comments (1)

May 20, 2007

Amazing Twin Peaks Scenes, vol. 1: Creamed Corn

Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle), covering her recently-murdered best friend Laura Palmer's "Meals on Wheels" route, arrives at a bizarre house occupied by a bedridden old lady (Mrs. Tremont) and her strange, snappily dressed adolescent grandson (who just happens to look exactly like a miniature David Lynch--and that's because he's his son in real life).

Once Donna is allowed inside, and she sits in the shadowy room, the granny starts coughing noisily. The grandson philosophizes that "Sometimes things can happen just like this" and snaps his fingers.

Mrs. Tremont opens the covered Meals on Wheels plate and, flustered, says: "Do you see creamed corn on that plate?" When Donna looks, yep, there's creamed corn.

Then the old lady says "I requested no creamed corn. Do you see creamed corn on that plate?" When Donna looks again, there's no creamed corn.

Donna shoots a glance across the room; now the corn is puddled, yellow and wet, in the cupped hands of the spooky grandson. (Die-hard fans will recognize the Garmonbozia from Lynch's later Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.)

Mrs. Tremont: "My grandson is studying magic."

(Indeed he is. Wanna know some more thoughts about the meaning of this scene?)

Posted by scottheim at 06:06 PM | Comments (7)

May 18, 2007

(Video Intermission) pt. 4: Bands That Never Got the Recognition They Deserved

(1) Bowery Electric:

(2) Moose:

(3) Section 25:

(4) The Chameleons:

(5) Dif Juz:

(6) The House of Love:

(7) Pale Saints:

(8) Codeine:

(9) Severed Heads:

(10) Kitchens of Distinction:

(11) Geneva:

(12) Swervedriver:

(13) And Also the Trees:

(14) Propaganda:

(15) Revolver:

(16) Clock DVA:

(17) Cranes:

Oh, and P.S.: There are definitely others I wanted to put on this list -- Cindytalk! Scala! Breathless! -- but I couldn't find videos for 'em on YouTube.

Posted by scottheim at 01:51 AM | Comments (1)

May 13, 2007

(Video Intermission) pt. 3: Basslines

I'm a sucker for intricate, spidery, difficult basslines in songs. Some of my favorite bassists:
Mick Karn... Bernard Edwards... Peter Hook.... Anyway, apparently, bunches of YouTube folks are suckers for basslines, too. Here are some gems I've recently found:

(1) Rush, YYZ:

(2) Duran Duran, Rio:

(3) Muse, Hysteria:

(4) Chic, I Want Your Love:

(4) Fleetwood Mac, Go Your Own Way:

(5) Talk Talk, It's My Life:

(6) Primus, Jerry Was a Race Car Driver:

(7) Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love:

(8) Explosions In the Sky, A Song For Our Fathers:

(9) Level 42, The Chinese Way:

(10) Nirvana, Lounge Act:

And, as an added bonus:
here's one to no particular song that I've gotta include 'cuz the kid is so hot.

Posted by scottheim at 01:18 PM | Comments (3)

May 09, 2007

(Video Intermission) pt. 2: Karaoke

My "publishing platform" still isn't letting me upload picture files from my computer. It is, however, letting me link to YouTube videos like I did recently (see below)... so I'll do that again.

Tonight's topic: videos for 10 songs I'd sing if I did karaoke. Granted, I don't usually participate in that unless I'm really, really, really trashed.

LEVEL ONE: Karaoke songs I'd sing after 3-4 gin & tonics. I like these songs, and they fit my voice range.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

LEVEL TWO: I like these songs, too, but they're tougher to sing and/or out of my voice range and/or ridiculously overdramatic; singing these would no doubt mean I'd make a huge fool of myself. These could only be done after 6-7 gin & tonics.

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

Posted by scottheim at 07:25 PM | Comments (5)

May 08, 2007

Hiatus

There seems to be something wrong with my Movable Type--it's not letting me upload picture files. I've composed a few weblog entries in the past couple of weeks, but it's going to be a few days before I'm able to post 'em. Also, it seems that the comments have been disabled for some reason.

Still trying to figure out the glitch. Sorry!

Posted by scottheim at 12:53 AM | Comments (3)