James Frey's A million little pieces, Tracy Ulman Broke my Heart in 17 Places, and Kate Bush's Washing Machine.

Yo yo yo, sup all? It's late and I am just sitting here downloading music with my sleeping Keryn beside me and sleeping Rach and Brianne on the loveseat across from me, and so I thought I would say hey. Nothing really to report - just looking for some tunes. Just found "The Unforgettable Fire" by U2, which is my all-time favorite song. Why is it my favorite song? I don't know, but it's been my favorite song since I was 15. So there, a little known fact you didn't know about me.
So right now I am jonesing to hear "Major Tom" by Peter Shilling, and "A Fine, Fine Day" by Toney Carey - I live in the past I tell you.
So the one thing I want to comment on is "A Million Little Pieces." I read the book over the holidays and I couldn't put it down, literally. I stayed up until all hours reading it on Boxing Day and just couldn't stop talking about it. It moved me in so many ways, and it was such a brutal read. I kept thinking "you gotta blog about this". And then, lo and behold, the whole controversy is raging now about how much of it is true. I watched him on Larry King last night, and I've read all six pages on The Smoking Gun, and I mean, it seems like small potatoes, but then again it makes you think, because he sure as hell didn't look like no fucking crackhead in all the pictures they show of him. Ah well, I am sure nobody read it, so I'll just shut up about it. I just can't get it out of my head though, because I read tons of memoirs, and wrote a thesis on AIDS memoirs, and I always wonder what is reconstructed and what isn't, and even though I know that it's always a mix of fiction and truth, it still bothers me - I am stickler for detail, because even when I was reading the book, some things didn't ring true for me, which aren't the disputed things, so now I wonder if that stuff is also not true... anyway, enough of that.
So I forgot to post like I was going to in December about the new Kate Bush CD. So I've been a Kate fan since I was a teenager, and even though she's just a little much, she's still one of my favorite artists, and her last album in 1993, The Red Shoes, is on my top 10 desert island list. So anyway, it was 12 years between albums, and there I was in Future Shop on New Release Day to buy Madonna's new one, and I see this new Kate being unloaded. So, I get the thing home and pop it in. Well, I realized something that evening: There indeed does come a point where certain things you thought were cool suddenly become ridiculous. Now, let me say that this album, after repeated listens, is actually pretty damn good, BUT, on first listen.... the first song was really good and I was busy doing something and not paying attention to the next, and then I realize there is this song playing called "Pi" and I am not really listening to the lyrics but then I hear her warbling all of these numbers and sure enough she is reciting pi. Well, of course I pick up the lyrics after saying "what the fuck is this" to myself and figure out it's about some savant or something who likes numbers and recites pi, and so I thought "well, ok, cool." Then suddenly there is this song on called "Washing Machine" or something, and I swear to God...it's all slow and piano-ey and she's emoting in this emotional, serious voice "WAAASHING....... MA-CHEEEEEEEEN....." and then "washing machine... washing machine.... WASSSHING... MA-CHEEEEEEN" and whereas if I was 17 again, I'd be all "oh, this is so cool and deep and alternative and right on", at 35 I burst out laughing thinking "she's on fucking mars." THEN, she starts saying in a sing-song lullabye "splishy-sploshy....." and I almost convulsed and I thought that it was too bad I didn't smoke pot anymore, because I just pictured Margo and myself sitting around her kitchen table after one of our 4 times a year or so dope smoking dates when we were teenagers, listening to something like that and coughing up a lung from laughter. Oh let me tell you, if you heard that song, you would automatically think what the reaction would be if you were on the old lizard mixture. Anyway, after more listens, I think the song is about a maid or governess or something who must love the man of the house and she can only get close to him by watching her blouse wrap around his trousers in the washer, hence the melodramatic "Washing Machine" cresendo... Anyway, it makes sense in a quirky Kate way, but still.... good grief, on first listen I thought I ain't young anymore and what was once pretentious and serious is damn funny now. LOL, I also must admit Margo and myself both owned a Sigue Sigue Sputnik album and that definitely ain't cool now.....
So anyway, the Madonna review - Confessions on a Dancefloor is actually really good compared to the last few albums of hers, and I love "I Love New York" which has the stupidest lyrics ever, but it's awesome. However, when the reviews all said that she was returning to dance music and her roots, it's only partly true, because it still reminds me of Ray of Light and Music in ways because it's still have more of a techno/electronic feel, which I find a little cold, and I was looking for more of a funky/dancey/80's dancefloor sexy vibe like her debut and tracks like "Burning Up" and "Lucky Star". But, it's still a good album nevertheless. I just find it so hard to get excited about music now, and that's so sad, but I have to quote Courtney Love and her hideous, HIDEOUS cd America's Sweetheart when she sings "When they say that rock is dead, they're probably right....." It's just a pile of crap, no quality, no development, nothing.... video killed the radio star, baby....
So I was just looking for Prince's "d.M.S.R." and found an extended version of "The Beautiful Ones" - man I forgot how I loved that song back in the day.... "baaaaby baaaaaby baaaaaby....." shit, I am just rambling... Hey, why didn't Tracy Ullman ever record another album? Does anyone remember "They Don't Know" from "You Broke my Heart in 17 Places"? Man, she's one funny-ass woman....
Well, I suppose I should get my family and myself to bed.... I am tired but just sitting here trying to think of music and I am too out of it to come up with anything. So, have a great day y'all.
JT