Nul points*

Even united by a made-up language Belgium can't win. Last night was the first semi-final of The Eurovision Song Contest and Belgium failed to qualify for Saturday's final. So sad, so cruel.
Don't despair, through the power of the internets I bring you Ishtar with O julisi na jalini, the official entry of my adopted country. It sounds like a mash-up of Steeleye Span (Gaudete, anyone?) and The Smurfs. No really.
Click if you dare and remember Belgium is the home of the surreal.



Special bonus video: Father Abraham and The Smurfs


I always thought he said "Fruit Smurf begins" now I realise it's "Flute Smurf". Oh the power of youtube!

*translation here

Stuck on TuneGlue

I don't know how I've managed to live without the extremely cool TuneGlue all my life.
It's an interactive "relationship explorer" and with just a few clicks you can see how bands and artists relate to one another musically. Take for example the artist featured in my last post Grandmaster Flash. Enter his name in the search box, click expand and similar artists will appear, click on one of those to see more relationships or on releases to check out their discography.
I'm totally addicted to it, firstly because it is so beautifully designed, second you can point, click and purchase music (from amazon.co.uk, though) and thirdly it totally appeals to the geek in me. I can play six degrees of musical separation to my heart's content. Deeply sad but at the same time deeply satisfying.

via Very Short List

P.S. There's another set of relationships in the music player at the bottom of the page....

Hip Hop Message

Guess who will be signing copies of his memoir in Huntington next month?



Grandmaster Flash himself will be at the Book Revue at 7 PM on June 12.
Remind me is "memoir" code for fact or fiction these days?

Red Frame/White Light

Red frame, white light


The inspiration?


The music

Silver White Light*

*Today's light-themed playlist at the bottom of the webpage. Bragging rights for the reader who knows the artist who wrote/recorded this song, which is not on the playlist. Extra points if you know what he's doing now!


My prize arrived yesterday, the Jonathan Adler Carlyle Beaded Lamp I won last month over at ::Surrroundings:: and it's super, fabulous, lovely. Although the finish is Polished Nickel the colour is a subtle silver with a white shade. It's also extremely heavy. I had no idea it would weigh so much. I thought it would be nickel painted ceramic but it's too heavy to be that. This is a good thing as there is little chance a kitty will knock it off the end table.


It's a great design, a classic shape yet modern enough to fit into my den and I love the mix of metals we have going on in there now, the poished nickel with brass spotlights and a chrome and glass chandelier. It seems a lot but it all works together. I need a small accessory or two to sit next to it but it goes well with the new Hayward Red pillows I got from Crate and Barrel a couple of weeks ago. This room is starting to come together and I'm delighted I entered that competition.

The current preoccupation

You can guess from yesterday's post and today's playlist (scroll to page end, press to play) that the economy, our economy that is, which is deeply affected by the real estate market, is my current #1 concern.
When we took on this house we knew it required a lot of work to correct the problems caused by years of deferred maintenance. We did everything necessary to make the house watertight, pest and rot free and we addressed certain things like removing carpets and landscaping that we thought would make the house more appealing and easier to live in. For the first two and a half years we were sure that every dollar we put into the house we would get back at least once. Now the market has turned and even though we didn't buy the house to flip (we bought because I was deeply in love with it) we have to consider carefully the level of investment we are prepared to make in the future.
I was therefore intrigued by an HGTV mail 30 Tips for Increasing Your Home's Value and I started to compare what we'd done with their checklist.
We started really well, a perfect score on things we could do for less than $100, and we are up to speed at the $100-$200 fixes, too. Things start to get a little wonky at the next level. I refuse to believe a "functional, decorative ceiling fan is a beautiful thing" even though my realtor told us to install ceiling fans in all the rooms as "buyers expect them". I've never met a ceiling fan I like and we have a HVAC system with a fan option so I hope I'm covered. Even more disturbing, though, is Tip #3: "Replace heavy closed draperies with vertical blinds or shutters to let light in — a sunny room feels larger and more open". Does this mean people keep their drapes closed all the time? What are they, troglodytes?
We ripped out all those vertical blinds the first week we were here. The same fan-loving realtor suggested it as an immediate way to increase the value of the house when we viewed the place and we took that advice. The rooms went from dark to light in the hour it took to pull the vertical vinyl from 10 windows. Did we do the right thing, or have we seriously compromised our real estate value?


Is this before shot really better than the image below?


Or should I give up reading the HGTV emails?

Want music?

Today's playlist is at the bottom of the page. Scroll down and click to enjoy.

Tuesday morning

So you give up?
The answers to last week's quiz are
The Pogues:
1) Rainy Night in Soho
2) Streams of Whiskey
3) Body of an American

Billy Bragg:
4) The Milkman of Human Kindness
5) A Lover Sings
6) Greetings To The New Brunette (Shirley)


Billy Bragg wanted a SHOUT OUT so here you go: An ace set, lots of old songs, some new tracks from his soon to be released album and a cowboy shirt from his trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas. What more could his public ask for? Although I'm thinking he may come to regret the shirt (another impulse purchase fueled by the half-off sale that is America for Europeans right now).


Then there was the main event, the reason we were all at the gig, to commemorate St Patrick's eve the proper way. Not with green beer, parades and maudlin songs about pipes and mountain sides but with the great London Irishman Shane MacGowan and The Pogues and have a rollicking good time. As did this guy doing the drunken Irish flaying-about dance with a pint of beer in each hand without spilling a drop. It's a gift to be celebrated.

We went out last night

And did we have fun? Just us and 3000 of our closest friends. We discovered some new (to us) talent William Elliot Whitmore. If your wondering why you've never heard of him try saying "William Eliot Whitford" after six pints of lager. The best adjective to describe his music is "raw". At least that's what the wee Irish lad who came up to me three times during one song to ask his name called it. By the time he got back to his mates, he'd forgotton the name. By the third go, I couldn't pronounce it either. But he's from Ohio, he's bluesy, folksy, and raw on a banjo. Do yourself a favour. Go listen to Digging my Grave on myspace.


We weren't the only ones who had chills running down our spines and believe me, with the main act coming up we were a tough crowd to impress. Luckily we happened to meet the guy on the blue couch so we weren't afraid to let our emotions out.

To give you another chance to tell me who was headlining (upstate got the second act already) I'll review the rest of the evening when my ears stop ringing you've had a chance to garner the clues in this post.

Going Out Tomorrow Night

Anyone want to guess who'll be gigging?
There are clues but no prizes, just the satisfaction of knowing you have a superior knowledge of music from the last twenty years or so. Oh, and bragging rights of course. Extra points if you can also identify the songs:

1) Still there's a light I hold before me
You're the measure of my dreams

2) There was nothing ever gained
By a wet thing called a tear

3) And as the sunset came to meet
The evening on the hill
I told you I'd always love you

and

4) If you're lonely, I will call -
If you're poorly, I will send poetry

5) Is there a flag that flies above your heart
And is my name writ there upon it?

6) Here we are in our summer years
Living on icecream and chocolate kisses

Remember: Googling the lyrics is cheating, and as there are no prizes, pretty pointless. Have fun.

Doo-wop: a Sopranos connection

Photo courtesy of Jake Gorst

Yesterday the Cool House provided the location for photograph shoot of the doo-wop band Randy and the Rainbows who had a big hit with Denise in 1963. That's the video I posted yesterday. The were rehearsing while photographer Jake Gorst took photos of them in different places around the house. How awesome is that?
Because I'm probably the only person in America that has never watched The Sopranos, I didn't realise that Denise had been on the soundtrack of the final episode. See how much popular culture I've missed out on. Now I must rent the DVDs and watch all seven series so I can see how that bit fits into the whole saga.
But at least I can say I've heard them live. If you get a chance to catch one of their shows, take it - they still sound sweet in 2008.

Doo-wop

What's going on at the The Cool House today? Here's a clue