Back in Boy Scouts, my friend Patrick would amuse everyone by singing popular songs with different lyrics. He could improve almost any song by replacing the word “you” with “fruit.” Three examples:
“Take my hand
Take my whole life too
For I can’t help
Falling in love with fruit.”
“I’m the one who wants to be with fruit.
Deep inside I hope fruit feels it too.
Waited on a line of greens and blues
Just to be the next to be with fruit.”
“I’ve searched the whole world over
to find a heart so true.
Such complete intoxication.
I’m high on fruit!”
Dear blog readers, nothing makes me happier than sharing with you something cool I know you’re going to love – especially something you can enjoy free.
These songs were totally cheeseball on Lite FM radio in the 80s. But for reasons unclear, they now sound pretty great. Time has been good to this music. Or I’m turning into my parents.
John Parr - “St. Elmos Fire (Man in Motion)”
Howard Jones - “No One is to Blame”
When in Rome - “The Promise”
Corey Hart - “Never Surrender”
Mike and the Mechanics - “All I Need is a Miracle”
At the beginning of this clip, the Tornados seem like a bunch of squares, what with their brown suits and robot helmets. But wait til the end when they light a huge fire and fight with the cops!
Suddenly, I’m obsessed with finding a Scopitone machine.
What was the Scopitone? It was one of those splendid electro-mechanical clunkers that people relied on for entertainment in the pre-digital world. Scopitone was one of several brands of European-made jukeboxes that played 16mm films on a built-in screen, kind of like an early version of MTV. They appeared in bars in the 1960s and had apparently vanshied by the end of the decade.
I’m sure the machine was a marvel itself, but oh the videos! Think Leslie Gore, Bobby Vee, French pop music and burlesque striptease. The Scopitone films are saturated with jiggling girls, barely rehearsed dance numbers, and vivid tertiary colors. The surviving recordings, at least the ones you can find on YouTube, will haunt you with their warm, analog sound.
Susan Sontag listed Scopitone films as part of the “canon of Camp,” right between Tiffany lamps and The Brown Derby restaurant. Here we have camp in the form of a weird, forgotten collision of culture and technology. I’d love to see a Scopitone machine if one still exists somewhere.
Last summer in California Brian introduced me to the rock-and-roll music of the Cold War Kids. Friday evening the kids are playing a $3 show at the Prospect Park Bandshell. This concert is mandatory. Either you’re going to be there or you need a valid excuse.
The free single on iTunes this week (until Monday) is “Can’t Find the Words” by Karina. You’re going to want to have this song, because it’s perfect for summer. And it’s free, so why not?
In New York magazine, writer Adam Sternbergh examines Brooklyn through the prism of the Brownstoner real estate blog.*
If you read these stories, you’ll think they’re about two different cities.
The borough I know is the one in the first story, a place where all sorts of people manage to live in close quarters and get along, everybody listening to their own style of music. It’s not a nervous hive of interlopers bickering about real estate.
*Get your hands on a print magazine to fully appreciate the Seussian illustrations by Zohan Lazar that accompany the article.
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