I'm terribly sorry for the several month absence. The best excuse I can come up with is that I've been distracted by life, both wonderful and annoying. Let's just say that I'll get through all of it and life is grand.

At a recent Conspiracy of Venus retreat (my all women's pop choir) up at the American River, it was pointed out to me that I know lots of silly and dirty songs. Yes. I. Do. And I'm very proud of it.

So I figured I'd share some of them with you.

1) "Sit On My Face" by Monty Python. This song was first played for me in High School and I nearly peed my pants it was so funny.

For more, see Python's "The Penis Song".  I do love this one.

2) "Jizz in My Pants" by The Lonely Planet. The song has Justin Timberlake painted all over it, making it pop-tastic.
 

For another Lonely Planet classic, watch "Motherlover" featuring Justin Timberlake. This one of the most hilarious video I've ever seen and features Patricia Clarkson and Susan Sarandon.

3) "Till the Cows Come Home" by Lucille Bogan. Kim Kattari brought this vocalist to my attention. She is astoundingly dirty. I love that this music existed one hundre years ago. It makes even the dirtiest Top Forty tunes seem like church hymns.


For more info on Bogan see this article, and for another insanely dirty awesomeness song see "Shave 'em Dry" with lyrics like:

I got nipples on my titties
Big as the end of my thumb
I got somethin’ between my legs
That’ll make a dead man come.
I f***ked all night And the night before, baby
And I feel like I wanna f*** some more
Oh, grind me honey… and shave me dry

 You're welcome. 

the lobby of the Paramount Theater

The Paramount Theater in Oakland is one of my favorite places to be. Not only is it incredibly gorgeous, I've seen two of my most favorite movies there this summer: 'Stand by Me' and 'the Blues Brothers' FOR FIVE BUCKS!

CLICK TO LISTEN TO MY 'BLUES BROTHERS' SPOTIFY PLAYLIST (or click play at the bottom of this post)

Both of these movies have two of my most favorite soundtracks of all time. So there has been lots of singing. There has also been boo'ing, cheering and lots giggling. There is something so wonderful about seeing a movie that is near and dear to your heart with a room full of people that love it too.

Check it out for yourself! All movies on Friday nights, 8pm, $5.

July 13 - Apollo 13
August 3 - Ghostbusters
August 17 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
September 7 - An American Werewolf in London
September 28 - The Breakfast Club

I've blogged about this before, but the Paramount also does tours every first and third Saturdays of the month, also for $5. See my slide show here.

Walking into the Ghost Room on 4th street, I instantly remembered how good Gary Clarke Jr. is. With his husky, yet smooth voice and mad guitar skills, why is this guy not famous? As a rock and blues guitarist, his sound is like a modern Jimi Hendrix. His vocal stylings are somewhere between Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and Ben Ottewell of Gomez.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to hear a whole other side of Clarke at a singer/songwriter in the round show and heard him play a beautiful acoustic with intricate finger-picking. I remember thinking, "where did this come from" and why can't I hear more?

Clarke told me after the show that he will be going on tour soon, and that he hasn't recorded any of the softer, acoustic tunes. I really hope he does, it'll show off how versatile he can be.

When was the last time you heard a groove so good you wanted to boogie all night? Last week I checked out the new Chasing the Moon podcast and have been shakin' it ever since. The California Honeydrops will be dropping their third album Spreadin' Honey at the New Parish in Oakland next Friday. It promises to be quite a party with non-stop dancing, bbq and, my sources tell me, honey dripping from the walls.

"Our mission, says band leader Lech Wierzynski (who sings, plays trumpet and guitar), "is to get the whole crowd participating and singing along, and we want them partying. It's about feeling good - everybody together."

Honeydrops fans are not just a necessary piece of the puzzle in terms of music making, but in the success of the band from a business side. The band has just returned from a tour of Holland (read about it here) where their Dutch friends helped them book shows through word of mouth. Later this month the Honeydrops will tour Spain, the Pacific Northwest and Eastern Europe. The band is not signed, and therefore relies on fundraising to pay for albums. The new album Spreadin' Honey was funded by a benefit at the Cheeseboard Collective in Berkeley.

READ MORE HERE

California Honeydrops @ Chasing The Moon 06.26.10 from Scott McDowell on Vimeo.

I am a huge fan of biopics. It's very exciting to see the lives of real people illuminated in front of you. Knowing too much about the historical reality of their lives can get in the way however. Hollywood, as we all know, likes to "Hollywoodize" biopics: twisting and tweeking the details of lives to make them more interesting to the viewer.

I figure, you have to get over that. But sometimes it's hard.

Take the movie Cadillac Records: a biopic about the legendary rhythm & blues record label Chess Records. The movie stars Adrian Brody as Leonard Chess, Beyonce as Etta James, Cedric the Entertainer as Big Willie Dixon and Mos Def as Chuck Berry. I enjoyed seeing these notorious musicians come to life, but it was really hard for me to get past some of the added Hollywood aspect.

I cannot help but compare this movie to Dream Girls, but the big difference is that Dream Girls was an intact musical before it was ever a movie. And, even though everyone knows that the movie is based on the record label Motown, it's highly fictionalized.

In the film Etta James and Leonard Chess have an adulterous relationship that challenges racial stereotypes and employer/employee boundaries. As far as I know this is a fabrication, and it bothers me. I wonder what Etta herself had to say about it? I DO know that Etta was pissed that Beyonce got to sing "At Last" at Barack Obama's inauguration and not her...

I was also bothered by the character of Leonard Chess and the ABSENCE of his brother, Phil. It was the Chess Brothers that started and ran the label, it wasn't a one-man operation. But alas, Leonard was the more colorful character. He was a crude-mouthed, smart-ass and the role only brought that out in a very minor way.


Rich Cohen's The Record Men is a fabulous recount of the Chess story. Leonard Chess is quoted all over the book and his words are something right out of a Mel Brooks comedy routine.

"How to you celebrate a hit? You go to the bank, schmuck!"

or

"Who knew you could strike it rich with a few schvartzas and a reel-to-reel?

I imagine the producers consciously toned down... scratch that... DELETED the ugly money-grubbing Jewish Stereotype that was Leonard Chess. I guess as a Jewish person I appreciate that, but I still miss the personality.

What I did love about the film was much of what I simply love about the story in general:

• Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf's frenemies relationship
• Etta James' dramatic and traumatic life (her autobiography Rage to Survive stresses the fact that she owes Leonard Chess for keeping her alive and keeping her house)
• Howlin Wolf's devotion to his band (he always made sure they got paid fairly)
• Leonard Chess' devotion to his musicians (he took care of many of them, heightening his "White Daddy" status)
• Muddy Water's womanizing
  
• How the Rolling Stones loved and respected Muddy Waters like a god.
  

Chess Records has a fascinating story, and while I don't agree with some of the "Hollywood" type additions, I do feel that the essence of the label is treated fairly and with great respect in the movie Cadillac Records.

In honor of Girls Rock Camp this week occurring in Oakland this week, I am celebrating women in music, past, present and future.
Part I



Part 2

This piece comes to you from my very first guest blogger, my Dad, Jeff Freedman: