Jean-Luc Godard calling Irving Berlin

[sovay]

The painters finally cameth. I am waiting to find out if they left a working ceiling light in their wake. In the meantime, I slept a solid six hours and dreamed of meeting my godchild's family in New York City by the retro-futuristic expedient of just stepping off the train at Penn Station. In honor of that other worldline's hangout, I had whitefish for lunch.

I don't remember ever seeing the video for Snapped Ankles' "Rechargeable" (2019), even though I discovered the song the next-to-last time I actually was in New York and it became my soundtrack for hiking all over the city with a centerpiece of the paintings of Hilma af Klint and the punch line that I had done it with two acute respiratory infections.

I kept meaning to share Jules Bledsoe's "Ol' Man River" (1929). It was done for the two-reeler musical prologue to the part-talkie of Show Boat which seems to have been deservedly unsuccessful as both a version of the novel and a belated incorporation of the hit stage musical, but the record of Bledsoe is invaluable, a titan of American music in his own right, the color-line-breaking opera singer and composer who did more than fill in for Paul Robeson when he originated the role of Joe in 1927. Eight languages is nothing to sneeze at and neither is as much happily—interracial, interfaith, queer—life-partnered time as he got with Freddye Huygens. I wish his own decolonized opera of The Emperor Jones had survived in full. In the meantime, I'll take a time machine for any moment from his American or European stage career as electrifying as this cameo recorded live.

I can't believe TCM is running Elvis movies all day and once again not the one I want to see, co-starring Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey, Loving You (1957).

Comments

[selkie]

as much happily—interracial, interfaith, queer—life-partnered time as he got with Freddye Huygens

That is a really nice thing to think about on a raw day. Thank you. Also, I will meet you for whitefish in New York any time, as long as the kid can find pickles because he is too hip for whitefish!

[sovay]

That is a really nice thing to think about on a raw day. Thank you. Also, I will meet you for whitefish in New York any time, as long as the kid can find pickles because he is too hip for whitefish!

You're welcome! And any appetizing store worth the name should provide your progeny with pickles! (Mamaleh's includes them with their sandwiches as a matter of course, because their parents raised them right.)

[gwynnega]

I had never heard "Rechargeable," but if I'd heard it on the radio, I would have assumed it was recorded in 1979 (which is a compliment!).

Now I want whitefish.

[sovay]

I had never heard "Rechargeable," but if I'd heard it on the radio, I would have assumed it was recorded in 1979 (which is a compliment!).

It should definitely be played on WHRB after midnight.

Now I want whitefish.

I hope there is a ready supply near you!

[gwynnega]

I didn't like the look of the whitefish at the grocery store just now, but I did get a container of whitefish spread.

[selkie]

Whitefish spread/salad/smush is what I mean when I say whitefish, because I am a seventy-seven-year-old Jewish man on the inside. :) S may mean fillet of, smoked, but I can't get that here unless I go to the expensive KosherMart.

[gwynnega]

My mom liked smoked whitefish, but she only had it when we ordered a deli meal.

[sovay]

S may mean fillet of, smoked, but I can't get that here unless I go to the expensive KosherMart.

I was eating whitefish salad, because Mamaleh's makes a very fine one. (They used to sell the headless golden kind and may one day again. I associate that with Rein's in Connecticut.)

[thistleingrey]

I associate "Rechargeable" with your posts--think I first heard of it thus. It formed part of my mental soundtrack while I was visiting a friend in a rather rural setting, perhaps in contrast. (I appreciate that it's possible to cross-link NYC and the dusty US Southwest both at once!)

[sovay]

It formed part of my mental soundtrack while I was visiting a friend in a rather rural setting, perhaps in contrast. (I appreciate that it's possible to cross-link NYC and the dusty US Southwest both at once!)

I think that's great!

(I definitely linked it at least once.)

[radiantfracture]

Bledsoe is invaluable, a titan of American music in his own right, the color-line-breaking opera singer and composer

I didn't know of him and it is a great pleasure to know that he existed. Thank you.

[sovay]

I didn't know of him and it is a great pleasure to know that he existed. Thank you.

You're welcome! I had known of him before, but only as a name. I heard his voice for the first time with this recording. It made me want many more.

[asakiyume]

Wow, that "Rechargeable" video is great! The visuals are mesmerizing. And the lyrics are great too, where I caught them ("unplanned obsolescence," for example).

[sovay]

Wow, that "Rechargeable" video is great! The visuals are mesmerizing. And the lyrics are great too, where I caught them ("unplanned obsolescence," for example).

"And the stunning luxury of the converted factories . . ."

I'm so glad you like it! The band's conceit has always been exploratory woodwose. With log synths.

[asakiyume]

I caught that line too!

[lokifan]

Thank you for the links!

[sovay]

Thank you for the links!

You're welcome!