Still not quite dead

I don't have much to say but figured I should signal that I'm still alive. I spent all of last week in bed but have returned to work this week. I haven't fully recovered but I think I am through the worst of it. What sucks is that it's been a week since I've seen the doctor and they still can't tell me what's wrong with me. I suppose all that really matters is that I'm well enough for my flight to Madison on Christmas Eve.

Still Sick

It appears that maybe I never fully recovered from my sickness a few weeks ago. It's so weird because there isn't much pain involved--no sore throat, headache, congestion, etc. Just the occasional feverish feeling followed by shivering, and some muscle aches. And exhaustion--that is the worst part. I can't seem to do anything.

I felt pretty good this morning so really wasn't sure I wanted to set up a doctor's appointment. I did anyway, and am now breaking into my daily cold sweat routine, so I guess it's still with me. My appointment is tomorrow.

Lip Synching

Is Lip Synching less acceptable now than in years past? Or is it just easier to notice? While it’s very easy to notice when they start playing the wrong track, or a tape skips, it didn’t take a whole lot more effort 30+ years ago.

My roommate and I stumbled upon Rock 'n' Roll Forever: Ed Sullivan's Greatest Hits (1994) last night on a PBS pledge drive. We didn’t catch the whole thing, but saw the “performances” by the Loving Spoonful, Mamas and Papas, CCR, the Young Rascals, and Janis Joplin.

The Lovin’ Spoonful track obviously had to be lip synched because they used the cutting-edge Bewitched/I Dream of Jeannie effect of stopping the recording and moving various band members around as if they were magically transporting on and off stage. Also, there was no effort at all to mimic the actual guitar solo. He was playing something completely different.

The Mamas and the Papas track was very obvious too—Michelle Phillips can be seen eating something (!), popcorn I think, during her backup vocals, and nobody seemed to care whether or not their microphones were near their mouth or not.

CCR, though, did a great job of lip synching. John Fogerty even hit all of his miscellaneous “yeahs” dispersed throughout his lyrics. It would’ve been hard to tell they were doing so if I hadn’t heard the recorded track a million times. Perhaps if I hadn’t heard the song so much, I would’ve been fooled. Anyone seeing it live on TV the first time could’ve easily been fooled as well. Ed’s show also used a trick of adding a lot of reverb to the vocal tracks of all the lip synchers, which might fool anyone with an untrained ear.

The last two songs were in fact performed live, and very well at that. I hope this small sample isn’t an accurate indicator of how often bands lip synch on TV (or anywhere for that matter). It’s nice to be able to see the performers, but you’re not getting anything additional out of the music if it’s the same damn thing.

Santa List

I've never used a "wish list" for anything. It reminds me of a wedding registry or something, and therefore stinks of being too serious about gifts. Get me anything! Get me nothing! I don't care!

On the other hand, buying gifts can suck and be stressful if you have no idea what to get someone. So, I've started a (currently very small) list at alliwantforchristmas.com. I'll try to add it as I think of things, but that's not easy to do for someone that doesn't want anything. I've never used amazon's wishlist or any others, so I don't know how this one compares, but I do like the fact that it's flexible enough to put anything on (not necessarily from the host, that is). Also, you can't tell if someone has reserved a gift or not if you are the owner of the list, so you never know what you can expect to get.

Wing Wave

Ah yes, its time for my weekly commentary on the music I hear while I'm eating wings. Since last week they didn't have any music playing, I'll make up for it by commenting on several songs:

"Drag City" / Jan & Dean - What made surf music successful over and over again? The songs all sound so similar, you'd think people would get sick of it. It's formulaic, but it was a formula that worked. The surf beat (snare on 2, 2.5, and 4), the same drum fills, the two measure guitar riff breaks with the hook lyric, the falsetto backup vocal. Every element is unmistakingly surf--if you heard any one of these things in another style of music you'd be reminded of surf. Every surf song contains ALL of these elements, which is surprising in itself. It's like there's this checklist you have to complete when composing a surf song. This particular song I don't think I've heard very much, but I might as well have heard it a million times.

"Philadelphia Freedom" / Elton John - Okay, I'm going to catch some grief for talking about this guy. But I do remember that this used to be my favorite EJ song. Maybe it still is? Maybe because it doesn't have any piano (and therefore EJ's overused piano riffs) at all?

"I'm Walkin'" / Ricky Nelson - Wow, I haven't heard this version in a long time. Apparently he performed this on Ozzie & Harriet. I can't think of any way to make this version sound any whiter. That guitar solo sounds especially white bread. Soul-less! Say what you will about white artists stealing black music, but if it allowed white people to enjoy black music in some fashion, maybe it helped open their ears to the originals as well.

Two years

That’s how long it takes to become a cold weather wimp. I moved down here at the end of 2002. Certainly what remained of winter 2002-03 was milder than what I was used to, so I had no complaints. Winter 2003-04 I had a “I’m tougher than you” attitude, and used the occasional cold weather to look down on the weak Texas natives. Also, I used the cold days to look back nostalgically at winters up north.

This past day we experienced the first mid-to-low 30s night. For the first time, I found it quite uncomfortable being outside for ANY length of time and was very annoyed that I had to defrost my car before going to work. I’ve acclimatized.

Now I remember I’ve left my houseplants outside for the last month or so. I wonder how they’re doing.