Happy Thanksgiving!
I searched my collection for songs with the word “turkey” in the title but had no luck. Imagine that… more than 8,000 songs and nobody thought to call one ‘Turkey Time’ or ‘The Battle of Turkey.’ I own 15 songs with the word “Christmas” in the title, so I won’t have any trouble a month from now.
So I moved on from turkey to “thank” and hit on this song from Dido’s debut album.
“Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.” So said Dorothy Parker, who clearly didn’t anticipate Tina Fey or today’s artist, Lisa Loeb.
Loeb has had a very limited amount of success but I’d guess what little she’s had can be largely attributed to her eye wear. Not to diminish her talents as a singer and songwriter, but it’s hard to deny the power of image in popular music. It’s kind of like Rhianna’s haircut, which seemed to get more press than her songs.
Aside from her glasses, Loeb is known for one thing, and that’s this song… ‘Stay.’
10,000 Maniacs is one of those bands that really defines the sound of my teen years. R.E.M. is another, and I’ve always connected the two because of the distinctive voices of lead singers Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe.
In My Tribe is a stellar album that throws me right back into a very specific time and place… in this case, 1988 in Fairfax County, Virginia, when my sister was introduced to this band by a co-worker and played it that whole summer.
I’m an Alec Baldwin fan from way back. Forget all you Johnny-come-latelys who are jazzed by his performances on 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live. I’m talking She’s Having a Baby and Working Girl. I’m talking The Hunt for Red October.
And then, 1990’s Miami Blues launched him into the pantheon. His performance in that wonderful film remains one of my favorite by anybody ever.
In trying to piece together Charlie Kaufman’s wild, visionary new film Synecdoche, New York, I’ve decided to gather some random thoughts about the film here in the hopes that others will drop by and help flesh them out into actual answers.
Major spoilers follow… do not read on if you ever plan to see this film.
