Al Green - Let's Stay Together

I, I'm so in love with you
Whatever you want to do
Is all right with me
'Cause you make me feel so brand new
And I want to spend my life with you

Since, since we've been together
Loving you forever
Is what I need
Let me be the one you come running to
I'll never be untrue

Let's, let's stay together
Lovin' you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad

Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

Why, why some people break up
Then turn around and make up
I just can't see
You'd never do that to me (would you, baby)
Staying around you is all I see
(Here's what I want us to do)

(repeat to fade):
Let's, we oughta stay together
Loving you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad

Been a while since i've last posted a song lyric. This last one is among my secret favourites, so secret i only realized it today, after Winamp random-played Tokyo Ska Paradise's cover right after Al Green's original version. And i also realized the tune had constantly been in my head for the past week or so. Well, that, and Wes Montgomery's version of Satin Doll.
Anyway, at the moment this is only one of the two songs i know by Al Green (the other one is Simply Beautiful, which i discovered via Arto Lindsay's wonderful cover). So somebody remind me to download anything available by the man next time i open WinMX.

(Also, i have to see Pulp Fiction again sometime soon. Haven't seen it in something like a year)

Ubi Maior, Smaller Quits

Which is just an ounce of the wisdom that can be found on my friend Nervo's recently created blog. Which is in italian, not in latin american like this post's title.
Also, Nervo's an extremely skilled keyboard player and vocalist, and you can check one of his bands out at this site.

Do you want fries with that? US congressmen at their best. (Warning-pdf file)

Via Mark Evanier.

McKean, again

Dave McKean is the featured artist at apple.com.
But he *still* doesn't have an official site. blah.

Dalì's Car

Salvador Dali - Rainy Taxi (1938)

Which is the sculpture/installation that inspired one of the three instrumentals from Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica album.
The song's title? Well, Dalì's Car, of course!

Ok, i know i've been going on and on about this album throughout the months. But i can't do anything about it. I love it to the extent that this blog is named after a piece of text from one of its songs. That's my excuse.

A Foreign Sound - Caetano Veloso Update

Some news.
Over at Elektra Nonesuch's website, the tracklist to Caetano's long-awaited english-language cover album can finally be found.
Said tracklist brings some surprises.
First of all, we're treated with a whopping 22 songs. Many songs not mentioned in this post (which, let me boast about it again, was the first english-language news about the album made available online) are there, including the Talking Heads' (Nothing But) Flowers, Dylan's It's Alright Ma, which features Naçao Zumbi's Pupillo on drums, and -Hear, Hear!- a cover of DNA's song Detached. This i HAVE to hear. DNA, as you all should know, was Arto Lindsay, Ikue Mori and Tim Wright's late seventies/early eighties noise-punk trio. And the song itself only ever appeared on an obscure movie soundtrack.

Other surprises, albeit far less radical, are the inclusion of Stevie Wonder's If It's Magic and the song Jamaica Farewell, of which i'm particularly fond of Harry Belafonte's version. To the extent that i urge you all to go download it, now.


A Foreign Sound, Caetano's 35th album, will be released in march in brazil, worldwide in april.

comics blogs

Ever since The Comics Journal's Journalista! went into hiatus earlier this month, i've had few chances of finding interesting comics-related sites or articles. Today i came across This Comixpedia article about the so-called Comics Blogosphere, and didn't even manage to finish reading it due to the sheer amount of great links it contained. And then i started following the links' links, and started finding fascinating articles like this one about Asterix or this one about Art Spiegelman's next project. So it's been hard to start getting work done this morning.

gigs, here and there.

The 13th of march will be a busy day.
First of all, i will very, very probably be in Verona attending my first Eelst gig of 2004.
But more importantly, londoners will be thrilled to know that another reknowned milan-based band, intuassenza, will be playing at the 12 Bar Club, 22-23 Denmark Place London, which is just around the cornr of Denmark Street, where i bought my first harmonica oh-so-many years ago.
...
ok, they're not *that* famous. But i hope they will be, because one of my best friends is in the band. So guys: go there, grab the drummer as soon as their set's over, avoid the ghastly headliner, and get him utterly sloshed. Two beers and a half are usually enough. If you're lucky, he'll even throw up.

Oh, the guitarist's also a cool gay.
Guy. I meant to say "guy". Damn.

Animals! On the Underground!

For all those of you currently residing, or planning to move to London: Animals on the Underground. Really, really, really cool.

Furious favourites

Did you know?
King Sunny Ade loves Brook Benton. Robert Moog loves Zappa's The Grand Wazoo. Blixa Bargeld loves Pete Seeger. And almost everybody loves Trout Mask Replica.
Figures!

Source: Furious.com - interviewee's favorite music.
Also check out their Arto Lindsay Interview and their Captain Beefheart and Harry Smith retrospectives.

Overheard in Venice, yesterday:

"What? You missed the bus for the submarine?"
-Some guy screaming into a cellphone, somewhere between San Marco and Rialto.


Which offers me a great excuse to recommend inpassing.org, one of the best humorous blogs around. My personal minuscule claim to fame is that i was in the pool of voters who got it admitted to the Bloggie finalists...
(yeah, i know, big deal.)

Ok, am leaving for Venice in twenty minutes or so. If you're in town for the Carnival, keep your eyes open for a large anthropomorphic cat. Which is how i usually dress up anyway, so it's no big deal.

This did NOT surprise me.

You're Godel, Escher, Bach!

by Douglas Hofstadter

Despite being interested in things like mathematical theory and the
secret lives of numbers, you're actually quite popular. You carry on great dialogues,
though you keep asking people about their heel. When faced with a flight of stairs,
you always have great difficulty knowing where you'll end up, and have been known to
consult a calculator. Despite these oddities, what you say is relevant to the future.
Though the day Deep Blue beat Kasparov, you sure were surprised!


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

nice clip

If you go to this page and scroll down a bit, you can watch the nice clip of Almamegretta's cover of the Robert Wyatt song, re-born again cretin.

Found this out by following the link at the end of Cristina Donà's beautiful Goccia clip, also featuring Mr. Wyatt. I recommend listening to anything by either of the two.

Not Enough, dammit!

These are the places i've been to in the world:


create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Of course, if you only look at europe, it's more reassuring:


create your personalized map of europe
or write about it on the open travel guide

I think i need a new continent.

Playlist for 12 February, 2004

This is so YOU can decide whether it sucked or not.

Approximate playlist for 12/2/04 (changed some things halfway through the broadcast, depending on some bizarre whim)

Earth, Wind and Fire-Got to get you into my life
The Beatles - I'm down
Led Zeppelin - Rock & roll
Righteous Brothers - Little latin lupe lu
James Brown - Out of sight
Blur - crazy beat
Tokyo Ska Paradise - Theme From Lupin The Third
Baden Powell - improviso em bossa nova
The Mike Flowers Pops - Light My Fire
Frank Zappa - My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama
Skiantos - Eptadone
Radiogladio feat. 99posse & Moana Pozzi - Spendi Spandi Effendi
Ambitious Lovers - Ponta de lanca africano umbabarauma
Richard Cheese - Loser
Moreno Veloso - Arrivederci
Caetano Veloso - Shoot me dead
Lemon Jelly - Nice Water For Ducks
Los Pericos - Monkey Man
Mongo Santamaria - El Pussycat
Los Amigos Invisibles - Mami te extraño
Cibo Matto - Je t'aime, moi non plus
Pizzicato Five - LOUDLAND
Cornelius - Star Fruits Surf Rider
Frank Zappa - Camarillo Brillo
The Beatles - Besame mucho
Cake - Quizas, quizas, quizas
Radici Nel Cemento - Echelon
Bossa Cuca Nova - Falsa bahiana
United Future Organization - Make It Better (Kyoto Jazz Massive Remix)
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - Sesame Street Theme
Cornelius -14- Count 5, 6, 7, 8 (Konishi Yasuharu Remix)
Blur - Money makes me crazy
Speech - Clock's in sync with mine
Jackson5 - I Want You Back (524 mix By Konishi Yasuharu)
Os Mutantes - A minha menina
Giuliano Palma & The Bluebeaters - Gimme a little sign
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - Let's Stay Together
The Skatalites - Guns Of Navarone
tokyo ska paradise orchestra (again) - skaravan(with a drum solo)
Vinicio Capossela - Al Veglione (Live Premio Tenco 1998)

All this lasted over 2 hours, and was interspersed with random chattering by Yours Truly, who would tend to coordinate songs and commentary quite clumsily, and also stupidly left windows sounds on throughout. Thank god nobody managed to record it.

The SMS-bag

Have i not posted in that long?
Anyway,

We love your SMS's!

Lemme explain. At the beginning of this new year(2004, i think), we here at WGD had a small feature answering reader email. Today i got an sms (from the charming and talented Gnapppo, which is all rather remarkable considering he's actually just an unproportionate ant. I won't even mention what material he's allegedly made of) that reminded me of how many threads i'd left hanging over here on the blog.

Um. Would copy the text of said sms, but i seem to have accidentally erased it.
Also, would've just plain answered to it, but my credit's way down somewhere hot and full of little red guys with hooves and horns. So i'll just write a long post instead.

Anyway:
1. My military situation
A.k.a. The Cat Situation

That's been permanently -and temporarily- fixed.
Almost three weeks ago i applied for Civil Service. Doing this automatically removes you from Military Service lists, according to italian law. Unfortunately, it puts you in the Civil Service lists. Now i have to worry about weaseling my way out of this one, but luckily i have more time on my hands, and no longer run the risk of ending up peeling potatoes with a bayonet up my *ahem*
Oops, almost mentioned college staff there. Better be more careful.

2. My Exam

Oh, yeah, i passed. Or rather, we, the think-tank in the back left corner of the classroom, farthest from the teacher's view, passed. And i got an 18/30, the minimum for passing, which is emblematic considering it's one of the exams i've studied most for in my life. And my average is 28/30. Oh well, i'll find a way to pull that up again on the 7th of april, which is when the second half of the exam comes. Oral this time, so i'll be much more in control.

3. The Radio Program
Still temporarily(?) called Sostituire, last week's official debut (after last month's semi-fiasco) wasn't that bad at all. Some close friends even complimented me on it, and i'm really flattered for this. Unfortunately, attempts to record the program didn't quite work. But i'm looking on the bright side: it gives me an excuse to play those songs again in the next shows!
Hope to have another broadcast this week or next, i'm already rounding up a nice new playlist.

4. The carnival costume business

Large Antropomorphic Cat beats Frank Zappa 3 to 1!
Which means i have to find a way to dress up as that before saturday. Shouldn't be too hard at all.
Feel free to carry on voting, however. Shock me. Rock the vote. Change my costuming plans five minutes before the train to venice leaves.
Actually, this poll was all just an excuse for linking to Cat And Girl again...

5. My Health

Q: Hey, how are you?
A: Koff, koff.

Bit of a sore throat these days, doing my best to keep to my room so as not to contaminate other people.
On the other hand, have been drinking much less recently, as part of a promise i made. Don't ask.

Oh, and i officially became older a week or so ago. No big deal, i don't celebrate. Don't really believe in time.


And finally, why did this result not shock me in the slightest?


you are the cute but psycho happy bunny. You
adorable, but a little out there. It's alright,
you might not have it all, but there are worse


which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The Magic Band's New Official Website

...isn't ready yet.

Beefheart fans rejoice later.

speech.

Over at This Page you can find the text of the speech My Father pronounced at last year's closing ceremony. I suggest taking a look at the rest of the site, too. It's a very good example of how useful the duino experience can be. And of what the college isn't doing anymore, in my opinion at least.

downloads etc.

First of all: go read The Book of Noodles. Worth it.

Next: things can be downloaded from killuglyradio again.

And good ol'Sananda has made his latest album completely available on mp3 over at his site. Nice valentine's day treat.

Both will only be available for a week or so. So hurry.


Oh, and a cow walked into a bank the other day. Splash.