Macklemore & Ryan Lewis released their video for “Downtown”
yesterday. It’s a big, jubilant, crazy, joyous valentine to my hometown of Spokane (which is also Lewis’s hometown; Macklemore is a Seattle boy), and I love
it to pieces. Spokane ,
you never looked so good. Spokane can be kind of a cold, prickly, lonely place—at
heart, it’s still a turn-of-the-century Old West railroad town, with all the
rough-and-tumble attitude that comes with that—but it’s got its own stark
beauty. It fills me with delight to see Macklemore and his friends (who include
Grandmaster Caz, Kool Moe Dee, Melle Mel, Eric Nally, and Ken Griffey, Jr.)
singing and dancing in the shadow of the Parkade. (From Wikipedia’s shockingly comprehensive and laudatory entry on the Parkade: “The Parkade is a ten-level parking structure in Spokane , Washington Spokane
As I discussed in Wednesday’s post, I just discovered the
classic television series The Man From
U.N.C.L.E., which is charming and hilarious; I’m looking forward to hours
of enjoyment as I work my way through the seasons. On a melancholy side note:
After the deaths of our parents, my sister and I ended up with the bulk of
their possessions, which included their significant combined collection of
record albums. As it turns out, our super-brainy, super-logical, super-practical,
super-amazing mother owned four, count ‘em, four
albums by U.N.C.L.E. heartthrob David
McCallum. Not to slight McCallum’s musical prowess—the man did attend the Royal
Academy of Music, after all—but it seems very, very likely that mom’s reasons
for owning these four albums…
…are probably similar to the reasons someone would have for
owning any (or all!) of these albums:
Hint: It’s probably
not about the music. Anyway, I dearly wish I could ask her about it in
person, but I’m charmed by the possibility that our MENSA-candidate mother
might, just might, have been something of a David McCallum fangirl.
So I picked up tickets for the Fresh 102.7 Fall Fest,
featuring Duran Duran, Adam Lambert, and Rachel Platten. Awesome. I’ve been suggesting since at least 2013* that Lambert should team up
with Duran Duran, so this is all very relevant to my interests. As both Duran
Duran and Lambert have vast and passionate and vocal fandoms, I can only
imagine glamorous Duranie vs Glambert turf wars** will erupt all over Madison Square Garden
*To quote myself: “Adam, here’s my unsolicited suggestion for one of your future
projects: Text Nile Rodgers and ask him to
hook you up with his old pals in Duran Duran. Collaborate with the band on a
catchy dance tune, then film a gonzo, glorious, nonsensical, awesome music
video to accompany it (drag Russell Mulcahy away from his Teen Wolf duties long
enough to direct it), in which you all wear head-to-toe designer leather duds
while battling mutants in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a la “Wild Boys” or
“Union of the Snake.” You’d fit in perfectly with that pack of glamorous,
hilarious bitches. Nick Rhodes, the patron saint of beautiful male pop stars in
flawless makeup, would look upon you as one of his own and buy you fancy shoes
or a Picasso. There is no possible downside to this scenario.”
**Actually, almost without fail, all the Duranies and
Glamberts I’ve encountered as a result of this site have seemed like smart, well-behaved adults. Except
for maybe that one Glambert who called me a bitch for
pointing out on this site that the “For Your Entertainment” video features too many shots of pretty women in tight dresses writhing orgasmically. I wasn’t all that thrilled
with her. The rest, though, have been pretty cool.
Speaking of Duran Duran, yesterday they released their fifth
song off their upcoming Paper Gods
album. “Last Night In The City” is my favorite of the batch thus far by a
significant margin. Apparently it’s already a highly polarizing song, with
hard-core fans complaining that it sounds too electronic and not enough like a
classic Duran song. The electronic aspect doesn’t bug me—that’s kind of a
selling point, actually—but honestly, the song also has a very strong vintage
early eighties sound:
In fact, you know what song it sort of reminds me of, what
with the driving synth beat and the anthemic, bombastic vocals? The gonzo 1984
Pia Zadora/Jermaine Jackson duet “When the Rain Begins To Fall.” I consider
this a compliment, though I’m pretty sure the Durans would view this as a
cutting insult (Simon Le Bon: “You take that back, Richter!”). If you’ve never seen this video, stop
everything right now and hit play:
It’s impossible to top Pia and Jermaine, and foolish to even try, so that’s
everything for now. Here’s to the end of August, good riddance, and best wishes
to all for an amazing September.
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(Mom says that she mostly bought them because they came with posters.)