3-27-08 The B-52s – Hot Corner
Posted by gavortnik on March 27, 2008
“Mad Furry Radio Gods”… Isn’t that a story from H.P. Lovecraft? Or an album from Fleetwood Mac?
Sorry, Shanoah, but I’m afraid I gotta break the post chain. I’m tired and I don’t want to do much research tonight, and I’ve still got miles to go before I sleep.
So here’s the B-52s, live at a July 21, 2007 performance at the Festival International de Benicàssim, with Hot Corner. Heard this one on Diane’s Kamikaze Fun Machine on WFMU today. This is off their newest album Funplex, which was released only a couple of days ago. I like how Fred Schneider mangles the Spanish language at the start of the song. I also like how the song came through, even though it’s live (and supposedly not lip-synched). Some bands are studio bands; they sound dreadful live. Not the B-52s; harder to get much simpler than their setup.
(Oh, and did you know that Schneider “is well-known for his sprechstimme“? I thought that was something you tried to keep out of the press, what with the current, ahem, “moral climate”. But if you’re proud of that kind of thing, Fred, then don’t let us hold you back! Boooooooorn freeeeeeeee…)
Thanks to eymerichnapoli for putting this video up.
On the literary front, I finished I Am Legend today. I heard that the Will Smith movie has a happy ending. This doesn’t. In fact, most of the stories in this anthology are stone bummers. But then, most horror stories tend to be. I like how he scientific explanations to many horror clichés: vampires fear crosses because of a phobia! vampires are repelled by garlic becasue of an allergy! sunlight kills vampires cos it kills the bacteria that made them vampires! You can see everything from Blade to Terry Pratchett’s Carpe Jugulum springing from I Am Legend.
I also like how Matheson completely turns vampires on their ear, and makes them creatures to be pitied, not to mention creatures with families. Read the story. You’ll see what I mean. Highly recommended.
On to Lost Horizon, from James Hilton.
