Show #26 February 6, 2010

Je t'aime Cheri, je t'aime...


Cheri- 20/20 20/20Let's Shake- Teenage Head Frantic City
Losing California- Sloan A Sides Win Singles 1992-2005
Black & White- The Windbreakers Meet The Windbreakers
Who's Been Sleeping Here?- Tuff Darts! Tuff Darts!
I Know A Place- Jay Reatard Singles 06-07
Stay With Me- The Krinkles 3 - The Mordorlorff Collection
If You Can't Give Me Love- Suzi Quatro The Wild One Greatest Hits
^Teacher Teacher- Rockpile Seconds Of Pleasure
Brokenhearted- Ray Paul & RPM Go Time
On The Phone- Stryker Stryker 7"
Constant Change- LMNOP Elemen Opee ElpeeTen Feet Tall- XTC Fossil Fuel The XTC Singles 1977-92
T.V. Love- Simpletones I Have A Date
*Liv Tyler- Travoltas Endless Summer
*Doris Day- London Cowboys Animal Pleasure
*Tia Carrere- The Powerchords ...Think I'm Gonna
*Lee Remick- The Go-Betweens Lee Remick
Suzi Is A Heartbreaker- Newtown Neurotics Punk Collection
The Way I Feel About You- The Lyres On Fyre
The Pleasure And The Pain- The Damned Strawberries
Not For Me- Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Crenshaw
Wednesday Week- The Undertones Hypnotised
Before Love Goes- The Keepers By The Same Name
>Somebody Made For Me- Emitt Rhodes Emitt Rhodes
I Shot My Manager- Gruppo Sportivo 10 Mistakes
It Doesn't Bother Me- The Distractions It Doesn't Bother Me 7"
All That Matters- Pointed Sticks Part Of The Noise
Glory- Television Adventure
I Can't Pretend- The Barracudas Drop Out
Shakeaway- The Pop Go!
Electric Toys- Readymades Electric Toys 7"Photographs Of You- The Secrets ...Secrets
Silver Lining- Stiff Little Fingers Go For It

^Power Pop Peak: #51 Billboard Hot 100 11/22/80

*SacroSet: Actressongs

>Power Pop Prototype: 1970

The picture above is from a series called "Saturday Night People" by my all-time favorite photographer Weegee. If you've read any of the previous posts,

Weegee

you'll know that music is one of my life's great passions and this picture really speaks to me. For me, the photograph shows one of those perfect moments where a song and a performer take you out of yourself and you meet in some magical "other" place where it's just you and them- the rest of the world disappears. It's an almost overwhelming experience- hearing the music, seeing the band, feeling the bass and drums in your spine and the dancefloor under your feet- if you were a pinball machine you'd be on "TILT." My last time was in

Craig Finn

2008 at The Fillmore in San Francisco listening to The Hold Steady tear through "Constructive Summer." After Craig Finn sings: "Raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer" he lifts his pint glass high and screams "GET 'EM UP!!" Wow- just writing about it gives me chills. Anyway, I think I know what these women in Weegee's photo are feeling.

I first saw the trombone photo 25 years ago in an ad for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts summer concert series. I cut the small 2x3 inch ad out of the paper and stuck it to the wall in my room in Brookline Village. After a week or so, when it was still catching my eye every time I walked in the room, I decided to see if I could get a copy for myself. Turns out the MFA owns the negative and for $10 they'd send me a print! For some reason I decided to buy two prints and then did something I'd never done before- I took Weegee's photo to be professionally framed. (I'd always had tons of stuff on my room walls, but until then thumbtacks had sufficed).

When I met Jaime a few years later I realized she had the same passion for theater that I had for music. So, I took my second print of the photo to the same frame shop and then gave it to Jaime as a present. This was a nearly perfect gift in my estimation. The funny thing was, she took it as "here's your own copy since we will probably never live together/get married/have children/nurse each other in our dotage, etc." Jeez, talk about a communication breakdown! In any case, despite Jaime's initial misgivings, we are well on the way to doing all those things and I now have the photo up in my office as well.

Weegee, "Their First Murder" 1941

In the years since I "discovered" Weegee, I've been lucky enough to see two exhibitions of his work while Jaime and I were visiting New York. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about him:

Weegee worked in the Lower East Side of New York City as a press photo- grapher during the 30's and 40's, and he developed his signature style by following the city's emergency services and documenting their activity. Much of his work depicted unflinchingly realistic scenes of urban life, crime, injury and death.

Weegee's "Studio"

Weegee doesn't judge his subjects and his photos are ultimately about them, not him. Whether he was photographing a gangster with his face shot off, kids sleeping on a fire escape or women in a club listening to music, Weegee presents a crystal clear view of real people in a specific place at a specific time. Some of his photos make you laugh and even more make you feel like you just got punched in the stomach, but his compassion shines through every one.

My 2nd favorite Weegee Photograph

On this week's All Kindsa Girls there was a special dedication to Jay Reatard, another member of Memphis' proud musical heritage, who died at the age of 29 on January 13, 2010. One more senseless drug and alcohol related death. Even so, rest in peace Jimmy.

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ALL KINDSA GIRLS #26