Baby(s), I Love Youse

Congratulations to the 3 loves of my life on your Rock and Roll Hall of fame induction. I don't care if you're all around 40 years my senior, I'm still willing to settle down with any/all of you. Specifically Ms. Nedra Talley. I'm watching the webcast of Ronnie's acceptance speech right now, way to shout out Joey Ramone and Franky Lymon. I bet those dudes are totally high fiving in rock and roll heaven. And damn, you can still belt out the tunes and move it too. Estelle's stand in is pretty foxy too.

Here's some tracks that they performed tonight
"Baby, I Love You" by the Ronettes
"Walking in the Rain" by the Ronettes
"Be My Baby" by the Ronettes

And some other favorites of mine
"So Young" by the Ronettes
"(The Best Part of) Breaking Up" by the Ronettes
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by the Ronettes
"Take Me Home Tonight" feat. Ronnie Spector by Eddie Money

Stay tuned for the youtube clips, I haven't found any yet. The show does stream here though. Plus you can check out a cool Ronnie Spector solo single at Art Decade.

christmas

I'm really not the biggest fan of Christmas. The actual holiday I don't mind, but the buildup sucks. I'm not going to go into a rant about commercialism and exploitation, but lets just say sometimes it's a little too much. I mean, I know the birth of Santa Claus (that's what Christmas is about, right?) is important, but do we need to hear Christmas songs in mid-November? This also makes me dislike most Christmas music. Exceptions include this rocking version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful.




Talk about sacrilegious! It sure does rock though.



Also, leave it to Phil Spector to make fine art out of the same old bland Christmas songs.



I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - The Ronettes
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
Frosty the Snowman - The Ronettes

This album is fantastic. Bob B Soxx and The Blue Jeans, and the Crystals are also on it.

But we all know it's not really Christmas until you hear this...



All I want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey

Spectoriffic

Just a little simple math here. "Then He Kissed Me" + "Be My Baby" = "Back to Me" by the Positions. Is this a bad thing? Nah, if you're gonna bite, they picked the right person to bite from. Both parts are taken pretty obviously too, so maybe we can say that it's some kind of homage. At the end of the day, I'm enjoying the Positions. The vocalist sounds like Monique from Save Ferris (they did that ska cover of "Come on Eileen" that was sort of popular around 1999?) and since the band has a lot of horns, I thought it might actually be her at first. Turns out the vocalist is named Nicole Stoop though. Maybe it's just an alias.

"Then He Kissed Me" by the Crystals
+
"Be My Baby" by the Ronettes
=
"Back to Me" by the Positions

The other stuff I've heard by them is pretty cool too. Thank excellent online for "It's Okay, It's Alright".

"It's Okay, It's Alright" by the Positions
"Bliss!" by the Positions

One more thing, a friend of mine sent me the new Deftones, which I wouldn't really have sought out on my own. I was definitely surprised by it. You won't think this first song is the Deftones at all. You'll believe the second one is them. They haven't really been my bag for a long time (even though they were the opening act at my first real concert) but I like this spaced out vibe that their new album has.

"Pink Cellphone" by the Deftones
"Cherry Waves" by the Deftones

The Most Important Song of All Time

"Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers

Not only is the see saw melody of this song incredible, but without this song, the love of my love would've never started making music. When a young Veronica Bennett heard this song, she immediately knew she wanted to be a singer. Finding out that Frankie was just thirteen years old at the time was even more encouraging, it meant that anyone could get out there and make a record, no matter what age. So when Bennett first met Phil Spector, he asked her to sing him a song. She said she didn't really know anything other than Frankie Lymon tunes, so he told her to sing that. She started in with, "Why do birds sing so gay..." and the rest as they say is history. So since Veronica Bennett grew up to be Ronnie Spector, the most important singer ever, it only makes sense to say that "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" is the most important song of all time. There's also been a movie on HBO a lot lately of the same title, and apparently it's about a bunch of women claiming to be Frankie Lymon's widows. I haven't watched it though.

Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound

So I'm pushing back the top 5 list a little bit because I want to talk about this documentary I watched last night called Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound. First off, I have to say that anyone who has a chance to catch it, should do so. I was a little letdown by the lack of Crystals stuff and Bobb B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, but I think it may have been intentional. Darlene Love talked about how Phil Spector owned the names of most of the bands he produced, and would often release Darlene Love songs with different (or the same) groupings of backup singers and bill them as the Crystals or Bobb. B Soxx..., etc etc. They focused a good amount on how Phil Spector is basically fucking nuts and fucking talented, which was good to see. They also had a ridiculous amount of great performances, including a live version of "Be My Baby" that is the tastiest thing I've ever seen/heard.

Okay, so I already loved the Ronettes, but this movie really reminded me again. I mean, they were little badasses. Instead of singing "I love him, I love him..." etc, it was "I love you". It's totally saucier to sing to the boys instead of about the boys. There was also a great clip of Ronnie, Estelle, and Nedra doing a cover of "Shout!".

If Ronnie's voice could be visualized, I think it'd be Nedra's dancing. Schawiiiing. I was searching for these videos online and I came across a really goofy video of the Ronettes lipsynching to the song for a "stay in school" video. Man if you thought they were sexy before, just imagine what they look like waving sandwiches at you. Double hot. The full video isn't on youtube, but you can check it out at the Media Funhouse Blog. Oh and one last Ronettes note, Ronnie Spector is going to be at BB Kings in December and I know I'll be there.

The documentary also reminded me of how much Diana Ross looks like an alien with a great set of pipes.

5 Great Guest Appearances

So like with the last list I posted, this songs are in no order of importance and I'm not even going to say that these are the best guest appearances ever, although they could be up there. These are just 5 great moments in recent musical history where a meeting of the minds occurred.

1. Nas Escobar joins the ranks of the Wu-Gambinos

It's generally agreed that Nas is at his best on Illmatic. Some may disagree, trust me friends, those folks have incorrect opinions. So we have Nas jumping in the ring on a personal favorite, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Honestly it's sort of ridiculous to think it wouldn't be awesome. Raekwon, Tony Starks, and freaking Nas. It's just great. The mostly incoherent speaking whispered over the track is so damn tension building.

"Verbal Intercourse" feat. Nas and Ghostface by Raekwon the Chef

2. some eerie foreshadowing of things to come

Before there was the Postal Service, there was Dntel and there was Death Cab. Now I'm not going to claim to like Death Cab for Cutie, because I don't, but when frontman Ben Gibbard decided to lend his voice to a track on Jimmy Tamborello's Dntel album, the result was aaaawesome. As much as I enjoy the Postal Service, this pre-postal service collaboration between the two men ranks far higher in my own personal favorites.

"(this is) The Dream of Evan and Chan" by Dntel

3. The title really says it all for me.

Brooklyn's finest indeed. Even if there weren't two rap giants on this track, that piano is so goddamn head-bop inducing. It's so refreshing to hear Biggie duet with someone while he's actually living.

"Brooklyn's Finest" feat. Biggie Smalls by Jay Z

4. It's kind of like Tiny Toon Adventures

I've always liked Rilo Kiley. So when I read that Jenny Lewis was covering the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle with Care" on her solo album, I thought that could be cool. I've always enjoyed the Traveling Wilburys, since I'm not a fool. I especially enjoy a good guest appearance, so when I heard that Conor Oberst-and some less important friends-were going to be joining Ms. Lewis on the track, I thought that'd be pretty cool. It's like their own little junior wilburys. And although I will sarcastically agree and sincerely disagree with folks who tout Oberst as the next Bob Dylan, it's fun to hear him foam out the dylan / tom petty vocals.

"Handle with Care" covered by Jenny Lewis with Conor Oberst, that guy in the postal service, and someone else.



5. Veronica Spector is so money and she doesn't even know it.

Apparently Madonna once said that, "Ronnie Spector sounds: sexy, hungry, totally trashy." So if you couldn't guess, I have one more reason to think Madonna sucks. She's lucky there'll always be "Like a Prayer." So sexy and hungry would both be completely accurate to describe Spector's vocals, but totally trashy is waaay outta line. I sort of have a tendency to always talk about how this is the greatest recorded pop song of all time, but just listen to "be my baby". Spector's voice is anything but trashy. Her voice drips longing and desire, but it's too pure to be trashy. Trashy doesn't do it justice. Anyways my point here is that she has one of the most stirring voices in the world of pop music and only a performer of her caliber could make a star out of one Edward Money.

Think about it this way, isn't it exciting that the angel from the Ronettes got to grace the charts one more time? Besides that, you show me a man who doesn't sing along to this song when he's in his car, and I'll show you either a liar or a person who doesn't happen to be in the car when "Take Me Home Tonight" comes on. That's right, the final song in this installment of Cigar-Box guitars is

"Take me Home Tonight" featuring Ronnie Spector by Eddie Money.

eddie freaking money.