So last night, whilst lying in bed reading The Hairpin on my phone and trying to go to sleep, I tweeted (I'm so 21st century) a link to this post, with the comment, "Because one should never miss an opportunity to call a woman a bitch to her face for daring to reject you." This remark proved surprisingly controversial, at least by late-on-Thursday-night standards, with a couple of men demanding that I answer for my cavalier attitude towards the ladies of the world who tell you, "My number is 555-5555, now can I please have the conversation with my girlfriend I came here to have?" Fake numbers are so dishonest, you see. I must admit, as somene who has used this tactic to get a creep to unhand me in a public place a time or two, that I still think the fake number is an excellent method for women to take charge of their lives and reclaim the good time from men who have decided to hijack your time in order to make it clear that you are the lucky girl he's selected for future licking of his balls.
In honor of this occasion, I thought I would kick off the Friday Genius Ten with the greatest all-time pop song about the dangers of giving the creepy person (in this case, a lady) your phone number.
Original song: "Hanging on the Telephone" by Blondie
Discussion question: Have things gotten worse now that people don't have to use payphones to phone-stalk you? Does text messaging make giving your number out to the wrong person all the more regrettable? I have no idea. One thing they don't tell you about turning 30 is that it sends out a signal to the douchebags of the world to take no for an answer much faster! I wish someone had said something to me when I was nudging towards that age. We could even make it the theme of 30th birthday parties: Congrats! You now have an extra dose of douchebag repellant. So it's been a few years since I've tempted to give out a fake number to chase a creepster off.
Or you could just leave your own music list. Or both!
1) "Jean Genie" by David Bowie
2) "Going Underground" by The Jam
3) "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello
4) "Common People" by Pulp
5) "Peaches" by The Stranglers (talk about creeps!)
6) "Panic" by The Smiths
7) "Road to Nowhere" by The Talking Heads
8) Parklife" by Blur
9) "Don't You Want Me" by Human League (ah fuck yeah)
10) "Laura" by The Scissor Sisters
The weather, as I write this, has become briefly nice. The sun is out, and the cats are enjoying a spot of balcony time. But it will probably be pouring rain soon, so I'm going to get my dancing like Morrissey out while I still feel like it.
It occurs to me that band Panic at the Disco probably got their name from this song, though that phrase never exactly comes into play in the lyrics. But there's a number of bands named after Smiths songs and lyrics: Shakespeare's Sister (though that might also be a reference to the original Virginia Woolf), Pretty Girls Make Graves, and at least one or two others that are passing my mind. (According to Wikipedia, there's also Girl in a Coma, plus Morrissey-inspired bands The Ordinary Boys and The Boy Least Likely To.) Ironically, I would probably start a sing-a-long of "Hang the DJ, hang the DJ" if the DJ played Panic at the Disco.
Wednesday night we went to see the double-header of Sleigh Bells and Cansei De Ser Sexy, and I'm sorry to report that Sleigh Bells is the first band in a long time where I've liked the record but hated the live show. Serioulsy, I lasted three songs and had to leave. It's hard to put my finger on it, but my feeling is that they were trying too hard. They're a two-piece---and often it's just the singer with a bunch of electronic music behind her---and so they tried to compensate for the lack of visual interest by drowning the stage in strobe lights to the point where you couldn't actually be sure that they were the musicians, even if you had a good idea what they looked like. They also opened with "Iron Man", which is the sort of thing I think you get to do if you have two good albums in a row. Just sayin'. The lead singer Alexis Krauss had a lot of energy and a great voice---like I said, I love the album---but with the overcompensation at her back, it fell flat.
But this was just me, of course. Most of the audience was going nuts. Of course, as Marc pointed out as we left, they went nuts when the pre-music shuffle had Van Halen's "Panama" in it, so they were up for anything.
My problem is that there's no reason for a two-piece to have to compensate for anything. I've heard their stripped-down early shows were amazing and I believe it. I've seen many variations on the two-piece for at least a decade, everything White Stripes-style drum-and-guitar rock music to stuff that's more like Sleigh Bells, where the sound is filled out with electronic music. It all works just fine; the stage show is about bringing a human element to it along with the dance party. I didn't get anything out of this show that I couldn't have gotten with Christmas lights and playing the record on my stereo, except maybe the splashes on my shoes from the generous amount of beverages that people were dropping on the ground for some reason.
It was all still worth it, because Cansei De Ser Sexy really is just one of the most fun bands you can see live. So I'm kicking off the Friday Genius Ten with a song of theirs. Leave yours in comments, thoughts on shows you've seen that just didn't work for you, or thoughts on anything at all. Open thread.
HopStop (an invaluable service for people who use public transportation to get around in one of their featured cities) added a new feature to their website, and I don't know how I feel about it. If you put your journey in, the site now tells you not only how many minutes walking, how many minutes total, and distance traveled, but now has an estimate of how many calories you burn because of the walking. I have mixed feelings about this, and wanted to ask what the Pandagonians out there are thinking. Such estimates are by their nature very rough, since how many calories you burn depends on things like your weight, your muscle-to-fat ratio, your age, and probably how fast you walk. So I worry it's going to give some people overly optimistic estimates of how much exercise they're getting. But on the flip side, this could encourage people to walk and use public transportation more. It would be more cool if they could put how many calories you would burn driving the distance. (Like 5 on average, maybe?) And with the HopStop feature, the calories burned might encourage more users to consider the "More walking/fewer transfers" option, which is my permanent setting since I'm a big fan of trying to increase incidental exercise, since the research shows that even if you have a regular workout routine, if you sit on your ass the rest of the time, you still have a much higher risk of heart disease. Our bodies just did not evolve to sit down as much as we do.
So, what do you guys think? Good thing? Bad thing? Irrelevant? Would you like to see more sorts of casual inducements to walk more like this? Would you want to see some research on whether or not this works? I know I would.
One thing is for certain. This gives me an excuse to play one of my favorite all time trashy New Wave songs to kick of an 80s-centric Genius Ten. (You bet I played this at the WAM! Prom.) I found a great televised live version where the lead singer of Missing Persons has one of those outfits that really demonstrate why the over-the-top fashion outbreak of the 80s was a good thing for humanity. I want her hair. Leave your list in comments, or your opinion on this or anything at all. Open thread.
Original song: "Walking In L.A." by Missing Persons
1) "Girl U Want" by Devo
2) "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo (one of those great underrated bands)
Terrible news to hear that Poly Styrene, one of the great singers of punk rock, passed away this week of breast cancer at age 53. Her most famous band, the X-Ray Spex, were remarkable for putting out one of the most solidly awesome punk records of the era, Germ Free Adolescents. Most punk rockers weren't consistent song writers right out of the box, but the X-Ray Spex were able to make diverse music that was good across the board. Their most famous song is a screamer called "Oh Bondage Up Yours", but I'm going to post a video to one of their slow songs, which also displays how clever and subversive their lyrics were. The Sex Pistols took on the monarchy, but I think there's something more subversive about the targets the X-Ray Spex took on: the expectations on young women to be pretty and perfect being a big one. And in "Germ Free Adolescents", they made fun of the hygiene industry.
Original song: "Germ Free Adolescents" by the X-Ray Spex
Here's the Genius ten off this song. Share yours in comments!
1) "Babylon's Burning" by The Ruts
2) "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" by The Adverts
3) "New Rose" by The Damned
4) "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" by The Rezillos
5) "Don't Dictate" by Penetration
6) "What Do I Get" by The Buzzcocks
7) "King Rocker" by Generation X
8) "Blank Generation" by Richard Hell
9) "Another Girl, Another Planet" by The Only Ones
10) "Baby Baby" by The Vibrators
Since Penetration came up, I have to play them.
And since it's British punk rock day and the day of the royal wedding, why the fuck not?
Wish me luck. I'm going to the DMV in an attempt to get a driver's license. I have tried this before, but it turns out the paperwork requirements to get oen in New York state are the sort of thing that a red state trying to pass voting laws or birther laws couldn't even dream of. I will be armed with my lease, my Social Security card, my passport, and my old driver's license. Let us hope that this is enough to at least keep the lady at the counter from laughing in my face as she did last time I thought I had enough paperwork to get a driver's license.
By the way, I think these ridiculous requirements are due to a fear of illegal immigrants, though I can't be sure. What I will say is anyone mounting a defense of this practice on behalf of trying to reduce the number of drivers on the road should be bounced from the ranks of policy wonks until they learn something about behavioral psychology. Attempts to discourage a certain behavior only work if they target that behavior and make it frustrating in the here and now. So if someone is going for their car and they're thinking, "Ugh, traffic and no parking," they're likelier to take the subway. This works in the same way that you keep dogs off the couch while you're gone by putting loud things that clatter when they fall all over the couch. What not having a license mainly does is encourage people to drive without licenses. That is stupid.
I don't drive, but I'd like to retain the option to do things like rent cars. Thus, I am going to pack up my life and go wait in line. There may be atheists in foxholes, but it's possible that this uncertainty and fear will drive me to pray in desperation. For the Genius Ten, I'm going to kick it off with The Buzzcocks' amusing rant-y anti-car song.
Original song: "Fast Cars" by The Buzzcocks
1) "White Riot" by The Clash
2) "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed
3) "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" by The Ramones
4) "New Rose" by The Damned
5) "California Uber Alles" by The Dead Kennedys
6) "Blank Generation" by Richard Hell
7) "Search & Destroy" by The Stooges
8) "Chinese Rocks" by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
Super stoked to get the new Vivian Girls record in the mail this week, so I’m building the Genius Ten off their new single. The video has a lot of snow, but the album is the perfect way to kick off the spring. Leave yours in comments, or comments about whatever you like. Open thread.
Original song: “I Heard You Say” by the Vivian Girls
1) “Black Rice” by Women
2) “So Bored” by Wavves
3) “Always Wanting More” by Jay Reatard
4) “From Stardust to Sentience” by High Places
5) “Shattered Shine” by the Crystal Stilts
6) “Wishing Well” by Love Is All
7) “Drop Out” by Times New Viking
8) “Welfare Bread” by King Khan & His Shrines
9) “Hellhole Ratrace” by Girls
10) “Son of a Gun” by The Vaselines
And that this much fuzzier one is the real one that the “fake” one was made from. But as Media Matters noted, they forgot while creating the “real” picture to take out Obama’s knee.
Or replace Grandpa’s hand, for that matter. Adam Serwer wonders what this bad photoshop job was supposed to prove anyway. I think this is indicative a new period in the evolution, where the racist underpinnings of it are becoming more overt. This is the phase where Birthers are going to start denying that Obama’s mother and maternal grandparents are actually related to him. Previously, most attention has been paid to conspiracy theories around his father, and now they’re moving on to conspiracy theories regarding his mother. They’re nipping at the edges of just saying this he faked his maternal line, with this picture, for instance, or Trump claiming there are no childhood pictures of Obama. This is just a move in that direction.
In honor of this terrible attempt at faking evidence for a loony theory, today’s Genius Ten will be kicked off with one of my favorite Brooklyn bands. Leave yours in comments, or comments about whatever you like. Open thread.
Original song: “You’ll Disappear” by the Phenomenal Handclap Band
1) “Sun Hands” by the Local Natives
2) “The Mountain” by the Heartless Bastards
3) “In Your Heart” by A Place To Bury Strangers
4) “Cable TV” by Fol Chen
5) “Into The Groovey” by Ciccone Youth
6) “Listening Man” by The Bees
7) “The Hunchback” by Kurt Vile & The Violators
8) “Eraser” by No Age
9) “Be Brave” by The Strange Boys
10) “Run To Your Grave” by The Mae Shi
Happy Friday! It’s dreary and rainy in New York City—-I guess that’s what they mean by “April showers” (learning so much moving to New York!)—-and I figured this would be a perfect song to kick off the Friday Genius Ten for the day. Good time for nostalgia, I guess. Leave yours in comments, or comments about anything you want. Open thread!
Original song: “Crash Into Me” by the Dave Matthews Band
1) “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan
2) “Pride (In The Name of Love)” by U2
3) “Last Kiss” by Pearl Jam
4) “Bouncing Around the Room” by Phish
5) “Shine” by Collective Soul
6) “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone” by Paula Cole
7) “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks
8) “Plush” by the Stone Temple Pilots
9) “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette
10) “Limit To Your Love” by James Blake (A new one! Thanks, Genius Ten!)
There were a number of bands I had interest in that I didn’t see at South by Southwest, just because I ran out of time. But one band I did make the time for, and sadly they weren’t able to come. So I’m building my Genius Ten around them, because their music is really addictive. Leave yours—-or comments about whatever you like—-in comments. Open thread!
Original song: “Those Dancing Days” by Those Dancing Days
1) “Friday Night At The Drive-In” by Jens Lekman
2) “Watch The Tapes” by LCD Soundsystem
3) “The Wrath of Marcie” by Go! Team
4) “Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me” by The Pipettes
5) “Rat Is Dead” by CSS
6) “Small Town Girl” by Good Shoes
7) “+81” by Deerhoof
8) “Weekend Without Makeup” by The Long Blondes
9) “Tonight I Have To Leave It” by The Shout Out Louds
10) “Lost” by The Mary Onettes
Videos below the fold, all from some of my favorite acts at SXSW.
For some reason, the Genius function on my iTunes is suddenly not working, or not working much. Songs and bands it used to work on don’t work any more. I don’t know what to do about this. I was going to do a Genius Ten for the Dum Dum Girls, but instead I’ll just put up some videos by them and a couple of other people (LADIES) with new stuff out that you might like.
Dum Dum Girls is older, but still awesome:
Men, who also have a show this week in New York, next Wednesday.
The Vivian Girls don’t have a new album out, but both the bassist has a new band called La Sera.
Ann Friedman has an interesting post about the “smart, attractive women not getting laid” problem, and it centers around the character of Liz Lemon on “30 Rock”. She quotes a couple of dudes who are fed up with the character being lonely, on the grounds that they would totally fuck her and thus she shouldn’t realistically have problems meeting anyone. A sample:
I just can’t take any more of the “Liz Lemon is absurdly, comically unattractive and unlucky in love” plot lines. It’s simply too incongruous with Tina Fey’s beauty, Liz’s smarts, and her position as a successful, prominent head writer and producer of a major network television show…...
Mmm, I think the point isn’t that Liz is actually unattractive, but that she—like a lot of attractive women—thinks she is.
I will forgive these men from looking at the show through a male-only lens, since 95% of movies and TV are told from this point of view, and so shifting so that you see things from a woman’s perspective is like trying to watch a movie backwards for some people, I’m sure. But their analysis fails, because they think of dating as men buying and women selling, and they figure Lemon’s a quality product and so would have been purchased by now. One of them stabs closer to the truth by also castigating Lemon for having high standards, but both of them still buy into the idea that singleness is a curse upon a woman and that relieving it is just matter of having the right marketing.
If I may shift to seeing the character of Liz Lemon as an individual person with her own idiosyncratic needs, instead of a generic Single Woman Cursed With Singleness, I would like to offer another interpretation: Liz Lemon sabotages relationships because Lemon doesn’t want relationships. Yes, on the show she’s always bellyaching about being single, but that’s characterized as part of her neurotic obsession with doing things the right way, filling out a checklist in life. She also bellyaches about now having a better job and not being able to dress better, even though it’s clear that she doesn’t have these things because she doesn’t actually want them. Lemon likes being a comedy writer and a tomboy, and the only downside for her is that people judge her for it. Same thing with being single. She’s characterized as someone who abhors having people in her personal space and is largely indifferent to sex, two personality traits that would be severely compromised by having a boyfriend. When she does date someone, it’s only because she’s convinced herself he’s not going to put any demands on her, and then when he does, she picks a fight with him and leaves. It’s a great portrayal of a loner, and I think it confuses people because we’re all socialized to believe women can’t be loners. And part of the reason is that Hollywood is so dudely, and thus women are always viewed in movies and TV through their relationships with men, and thus can’t be loners. It’s not surprising that one of the very few shows on TV that is so tightly controlled by an actual woman is the first to have such a character.
Anyway, Ann makes gentle fun of these guys for thinking that if a woman is attractive and successful, she will always be neck-deep in dick. The reality is no one thinks they get laid enough. People I’ve known who are always going out with this guy or lady and I wonder how they make time for anything else are still looking at empty beds and wondering WTF. Sex is like food. Even if you generally have enough, if you want it now and it’s not on hand, self-pity sets in rapidly. Ann notes in her post that Neko Case can’t get laid, thought the article is about how female musicians on tour don’t get groupies like male musicians do, and I’ll point out that how much men get hit on varies wildly, and this is a narrow set of circumstances that doesn’t tell us much beyond, “Men who push for one-night stands in bars tend to be more confident if they are hitting on someone they don’t sit around fantasizing is their girlfriend.”
I just don’t think there’s a positive or negative correlation between success and getting laid. Or even conventional attractiveness and getting laid. Nor is there one model for “getting laid”. My theory is people put off different vibes. I know people who always have people clamoring to date them for real, but never get hit on for one-night stands, and vice versa. And it’s hard to point to a single quality they have that makes the difference, beyond just that’s how people perceive them.
Or, and this is where the Genius Ten comes. Perhaps there’s an entirely alternate theory to why Neko Case can’t get laid. And that’s because famous musicians with the initials N.C. can’t get laid. Think I’m crazy? Consider Exhibit #1, the song that will be kicking off the Friday Genius Ten. Leave your lists or thoughts on this conundrum—-or anything at all, open thread—-in comments.
Original song: “No Pussy Blues” by Grinderman (i.e., Nick Cave)
1) “Down on the Street” by The Stooges
2) “Eraser” by No Age
3) “Katrina” by The Black Lips
4) “Free Money” by Patti Smith
5) “Blank Generation” by Richard Hell
6) “Run To Your Grave” by The Mae Shi
7) “Human Fly” by The Cramps
8) “Touch Me I’m Sick” by Mudhoney
9) “Vicious” by Lou Reed
10) “Holes” by Mercury Rev
I’ve gotten emails from people asking why I haven’t blogged about the situation in Wisconsin. To which, I wish to reply that there’s two models of blogging. There’s the model where you comment on anything of importance, even if you have nothing of value to add, to register that you’re paying attention. Then there’s the model where you only write about things that you personally feel you have an interesting angle on. I’m in the latter camp. I am skeptical of the claims that simply noticing things publicly does anything more than bolster the ego of the blogger. The situation in Wisconsin is amazing, but I have nothing to say beyond that, since others are more tuned into union politics than I am. My feeling right now is that my talents are best served at keeping an eye on the ever-wackier tone of wingnuts and the threats to reproductive rights, two stories that could get washed out during a news cycle loaded with exciting events like the Egyptian uprising and the Wisconsin protests.
But hey, what’s Friday Genius Ten for if not simple gestures of support through song dedications? And of course, the only way to do that is to build the Genius Ten off the most famous band out of Wisconsin, the Violent Femmes. Many of my favorite songs by them are dark, but this one I think is, profanity aside, a great pick-me-up song, which is what you need when you’re fighting the good fight. Leave yours in comments, comments about whatever you think is relevant, or whatever you like. Open thread.
For good coverage of the events in Wisconsin, check out Talking Points Memo.
Original song: “Dance, Motherfucker, Dance!” by the Violent Femmes
1) “Your Racist Friend” by They Might Be Giants
2) “Soul Suckin Jerk” by Beck
3) “Gone!” by The Cure
4) “I’m Amazed” by The Pixies
5) “Piss Up A Rope” by Ween
6) “Stop!” by Jane’s Addiction
7) “Candy” by Morphine
8) “I Don’t Want To Grow Up” by Tom Waits
9) “Trainspotting” by Primal Scream
10) “Romance” by REM
Geek music day! Videos and cat pics below the fold.
I was extremely happy to see that the first full-length album by MEN has come out. I got their EP for a couple of bucks at a show that probably was a couple of years ago now, and have been eager for more. The lead of the band is JD Samson, who got her start in Le Tigre, and is just all-around awesome subversive feminist dance pop. The download is $8 on Amazon. Today’s Genius Ten is based on their song “Credit Card Babies”, which is not a song for the humorless, I promise. Warning: the chorus is an earworm with NSFW lyrics that you will find yourself unable to stop singing. This was demonstrated after a group of friends went to see them at SXSW, and found ourselves singing it all night. Leave your list in comments, or comments about whatever you like. Open thread.
Original song: “Credit Card Babies” by MEN
1) “Take You On” by Peaches
2) “Solid Gold” by the Golden Filter
3) “Sweet 16” by Thunderheist
4) “Life After Sundown” by Glass Candy
5) “Vulture” by Patrick Wolf
6) “Drugs In My Body” by Thieves Like Us
7) “Night Drive” by Chromatics
8) “They Gave You A Heart, They Gave You A Name” by Ladytron
9) “Amour du Sol” by Yelle
10) “Rocket” by Goldfrapp
Videos after the fold. I also had cat pictures, but they were on my iPhone, which was unceremoniously and accidentally dropped by me on the floor, cracked in a million places, and now somewhere in the mail after getting repaired. So, apologies.
Jessica Valenti has formally ended her time at Feministing. It’s one of those moments when I get all sentimental, because it’s kind of crazy to think of the journey we’ve all been on. I don’t know how many of you know the whole history here, but when Feministing was started, I was still blogging at a small Blogger blog called Mouse Words, and there was no such thing as “feminist blogging”. In fact, political blogging was still sort of a new thing; the word still connoted “web logging”, and had a diary feel to it. The only two blogs that existed that were explicitly feminist blogs were Feministe, which only had Lauren Bruce at the time, and Feministing. And I suppose Mouse Words, but then as now, feminism was only part of a whole cloth liberal agenda I have with my writing. There was also Rox Populi, which is defunct now, and it was, like Mouse Words, straddling feminism and liberalism in general.
Jessica was the only one of us who had a vision, though. Most of us had blogs because we liked ranting into space; we didn’t actually think about audience-building. I was absolutely floored when I won the Koufax award that year for Best New Blog, since it never occurred to me that I had more than five readers. I was even more floored when Jesse asked me to replace Ezra Klein on Pandagon. Most of us had no ambitions with our blogging. But Jessica was the exception. She saw Feministing as something that could be up there with feminist behemoths like Ms Magazine. I thought she was way too optimistic, but she proved me wrong, and now Feministing is probably more of a feminist powerhouse, especially for young women.
Hard as it may be to believe in current times, I actually wrote for Feministing for a week, to cover Jessica while she was on vacation. The blog now is more of a news blog for feminism, but back then it was a little more free form, and my style fit right into it. On any given day, you’d get maybe 5 comments. There was lots of raunchy humor and shenanigans, because we didn’t think back then that what we said mattered very much. Feministing is obviously a more valuable service nowadays, but I still have nostalgia for the early days, when we were still trying to figure out what we were doing with this blogging thing, and it was just a hobby and so having fun was the main idea behind it all. Lots of time was spent in chat. Nowadays, everyone is super busy and grown-up, and so those early days seem like a second adolescence to me.
And we totally worshiped Kathleen Hanna, so I’m dedicating this Friday Genius Ten to the people we were in 2004 and 2005, the ones who saw ourselves as Riot Grrrls redux and online, the people who saw feminism as a punk rock subversion and were outside of the establishment. Jessica was right and I was wrong; we could totally be ourselves and still create a voice for ourselves in feminism. So, thanks to her for having a vision, and for being a friend.
Original song: “Hot Topic” by Le Tigre
1) “Modern Girl” by Sleater-Kinney
2) “Meeting Paris Hilton” by Cansei De Ser Sexy
3) “Flower” by Deerhoof
4) “Tick” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5) “In Particular” by Blonde Redhead
6) “Hombre” by MIA
7) “Pile of Gold” by The Blow
8) “Cross Bones Style” by Cat Power
9) “I Hear Noises” by Tegan and Sara
10) “Hello? Is This Thing On?” by !!!
The New York Times publishes an article by yet another journalist who dug into the vaccination controversy and realized that vaccines really don’t cause autism. Outraged believers scramble for any excuse to keep on believing their conspiracy theory. I, once again, am sorry that my predictions panned out.
Today’s Friday Genius Ten is dedicated to believers. Leave yours in comments, or comments about whatever you like. Open thread.
Original song: “I’m My Own Doctor” by The Jail Weddings
1) “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield
2) “Sympathy for the Devil” by The Rolling Stones
3) “7 and 7 Is” by Love
4) “O My Soul” by Big Star
5) “Song of a Baker” by The Small Faces
6) “Harry Rag” by The Kinks
7) “Splash (Now I’m Home)” by The 13th Floor Elevators
8) “Lies” by The Knickerbockers
9) “Hey Gyp” by The Animals
10) “Care of Cell 44” by The Zombies
Weird list to generate off The Jail Weddings, but maybe they’re just obscure and Genius doesn’t know what to do with it. Videos below the fold.
Wednesday night we went to see the double-header of Sleigh Bells and Cansei De Ser Sexy, and I'm sorry to report that Sleigh Bells is the first band in a long time where I've liked the record but hated the live show. Serioulsy, I lasted three songs and had to leave. It's hard to put my finger on it, but my feeling is that they were trying too hard. They're a two-piece---and often it's just the singer with a bunch of electronic music behind her---and so they tried to compensate for the lack of visual interest by drowning the stage in strobe lights to the point where you couldn't actually be sure that they were the musicians, even if you had a good idea what they looked like. They also opened with "Iron Man", which is the sort of thing I think you get to do if you have two good albums in a row. Just sayin'. The lead singer Alexis Krauss had a lot of energy and a great voice---like I said, I love the album---but with the overcompensation at her back, it fell flat. 
I’ve gotten emails from people asking why I haven’t blogged about the situation in Wisconsin. To which, I wish to reply that there’s two models of blogging. There’s the model where you comment on anything of importance, even if you have nothing of value to add, to register that you’re paying attention. Then there’s the model where you only write about things that you personally feel you have an interesting angle on. I’m in the latter camp. I am skeptical of the claims that simply noticing things publicly does anything more than bolster the ego of the blogger. The situation in Wisconsin is amazing, but I have nothing to say beyond that, since others are more tuned into union politics than I am. My feeling right now is that my talents are best served at keeping an eye on the ever-wackier tone of wingnuts and the threats to reproductive rights, two stories that could get washed out during a news cycle loaded with exciting events like the Egyptian uprising and the Wisconsin protests.