[choose title from lyrics below]

Okay, I didn't know this, but maybe man-about-town Jeff did: David Byrne is dating Cindy Sherman. That's almost as cool as Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. In honor of these guys, here are four songs. The Cindy Sherman song was difficult--I turn my camera on? Hey-ya? Mexican Radio? Something by the Oxford Camerata?



mp3: Talking Heads, Artists Only "I'm cleaning, cleaning my brain"

mp3: R.E.M., Camera "Will you be remembered? Will she be remembered?"

mp3: Lou Reed, Romeo Had Juliette "Something flickered for a minute, and then it vanished and was gone"

mp3: Laurie Anderson, O Superman "And when force is gone, there's always Mom"

So then I got thinking not just about cool couples, but about couples performing together.

I know Alex has been dying to do a Fleetwood Mac post, so I won’t touch that one. I’m tempted to post an Indigo Girls track just to point out how that one girl trails off every line with Neil Diamond’s vocal phrasing, but I won’t. Besides, I’m not sure if they were ever a couple.

For some reason, the next couple performing together I thought of was Richard and Linda Thompson. Years ago, I saw Richard Thompson play with bass monster Danny Thompson (no relation[!]) and Michael Jerome on drums (my third-favorite Texas African-American alternative-rock drummer [behind Earl Harvin and Michael Hale]). The set had a perfect pace and variety. Each musician did jaw-dropping solos (the sort of show where there are, like, 2 girls in the crowd). I actually forgave RT for wearing a brooch…on his beret. Then he came back two years later, fedora instead of beret, charged $40 for a solo show, talked too much and played “Oops, I Did It Again” as if lame hipster bands hadn’t been covering that song for, like, eighteen months. Fuck you, Richard Thompson, sort of. No, he’s not starring in a Pete Seeger biopic. Nice backing oohs though.

Mp3: I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight “I need to spend some money, and I just can’t wait”

As this is a music blog, though, I’m required by law to say something about Sonic Youth, esp. whilst on the subject of couples making music. One summer, my roommate listened to nothing but Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa’s Thingfish, and some Sonic Youth song that sounded like a vacuum cleaner with a nickel stuck in it. I apologize if that describes several Sonic Youth songs. Here’s one that I have grown to love, mostly because of the bass.

Mp3: Theresa’s Sound World "I know I'd love her to stay"

Then there’s Yo La Tengo. I hadn't heard of them until they opened for The Sundays at Liberty Lunch in 1990 (Luna opened for The Sundays two years later [!]). Now, I've only thought about this for a split-second (this is the internet, after all), but I think YLT can kick Sonic Youth’s ass. TWO TIMES. Especially because YLT’s bassist weighs, like, two-fitty easily and can take out Thurston Moore with a high kick to his shins. In my head, YLT titled their most recent ab-lum with Sonic Youth in mind. I won’t post “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind” because every blog in the world posted that a year ago. But I really want to.

Mp3: Tried So Hard "It seemed that everything was going fine"

Mp3: Deeper Into Movies "I've been getting messages from outer space...By your window in the sky"

Mp3: Little Eyes "Don't you know you're sleeping much too long?"

So which couples did I forget?

K-Rock on Letterman!

Good friend Konrad Meissner will be on David Letterman on Wednesday. He is playing with Teddy Thompson, who by now is probably really sick of being referred to as Richard Thompson's son, or as Rufus Wainwright's sidekick.

Check Out all of the shows Konrad is playing this month. Pretty Amazing.

Birdy Nam Nam, that's good.

You know, I always made a distinction between musicians and DJs, until today.

Check it out.