{ I'm a road warrior. }

[delga]

So much for getting stuff done yesterday. Read, went to my lecture, went to the library, read the essay inside out, made a thousand notes, came back to the house...and nada.

Went to the SU to see Babel. Ugh. I can see what it was trying to do but it didn't quite get there. Cinematically it's beautiful, but otherwise there's something jarring about it. Maybe it's supposed to be.

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JEBUS. Regina Spektor was in the UK in February. DAMMIT. I missed her. AGAIN. Fuck.

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Reading later, work later. Right now I have some important emails to write. I actually have a ton of reading to do for the On Reading class, so maybe I'll go do that. Am listening to Regina Spektor on last night's radio. This is because fallapartagain is fabulous and brought the show to my attention. Regina has the most fantastic vocals. The show is up for a week before being deleted so if anyone else is interested.... Hit the "skip 15" minutes button once and you'll get to the advert that comes straight before her set; the next track is at around 45 minutes, then 1.07. (It's the Wednesday show, by the way.)

I haven't listened to Spektor in a while; I got eaten by Patty Griffin. I have to say, she's performing Fidelity but it's a lot more like Begin to Hope than Mary Ann & The Gravediggers. I don't care, though, if it gets her more recognition. And Begin to Hope is like that as an album, anyway; the sound isn't so raw as her usual stuff. I've decided that ultimately, I do still enjoy Begin to Hope - I'd probably just enjoy it more if it was more like Soviet Kitsch.

(I really wish this DJ would SHUT THE FUCK UP.)

Musically, though, I would compare Regina to Patty, and not because they sound anything alike, or even because they arrange their music even a little bit alike, but because they have such a pervasive understanding of their own music that their albums are cohesive and coherent. Mary Ann and the Gravedigger is a damn compilation album and even that - the music just rings straight through. She samples HERSELF, she plays with her own compositions. Her music echoes everyone. Patty Griffin's albums are novels unto themselves. Both Regina and Patty are storytellers. I love this music.

(There's a cool song at the 39 minute mark after some disasterous cheese-related punning.)

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OK. Reading. Must do.

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EDIT: SAMSON. Oh, how I LOVE THIS SONG. Again, the Begin to Hope version is a little quicker and loses some of that original emotion (which is what I have against the album - Edit could be so much more powerful in her earlier style) but this song will never ever die for me. It's so completely beautiful, and I've talked about this to death before, but what kind of person does it take to re-write Samson and Delilah? I mean, come on! I don't even read it like that; I read it as a pre-cursor to the story of Delilah's intervention. I loved you first.

EDIT II: OH WOW. 1 hour 10, her version of Fidelity? Oh yeah.

Comments

[fallapartagain.livejournal.com]

Mark Radcliffe really grates on my cheese nerves (I couldn't resist!). The live remixes are amazing. And I'm completely with you on preferring the older albums and versions of songs to Begin to Hope - have you heard the Blockhead remix of Fidelity? It's a little colder, it's raw and almost bitter and distant compared to the album version.

[lorelei9507.livejournal.com]

I always think of the song as being about Samson's fiance. She was also a Philistine. Samson made a bet with some of her kinsman that they wouldn't be able to solve this riddle and they threatned to kill her and her father if she didn't find out the answer and tell them. She did, Samson found out, burned down a bunch of fields and then legged it. He came back later but her father had married her off to some one else since he didn't think Samson was interested. I think this whole thing took place at what was supposed to be their wedding.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know the full myth of Samson; and I agree. (The end of that sory is so tragic, with the fiancee being burned. Aie.) That said, it's also an abstract of the story, because of marital convntions &c. they wouldn't haveshared a house until after the marriage. Which is why Regina is so clever, because she's modernising andexpanding the myth. She does the same in Oedipus (and to an extent, in Lacrimosa, too.)

[wliberation.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is a sort of twinnage moment again because just yesterday, I walked into a record store, and lo and behold! They had all of Regina's albums right there next to the counter, calling to me ("come here, we could be sweet together, oh yeah, let's get it on baby"). I actually jumped because yo, I've not seen her albums here anywhere so this was remarkable. So, after flailing and mentally squeeing for a bit, I had to buy both Mary Ann and Soviet Kitsch (I left Begin to Hope for later because I had no money). Heh, when I walked to the counter and handed the CDs over to the clerk, he actually went, "Whoa." Then he said something like, "Cool. Someone notices our 'special shelf'." Why am I telling you this? I don't know. I just thought it was a nice coincidence, and I might have possibly, perhaps, a bit too much caffeine in my blood right now, and I really should be getting to class anyway so I'll just. Stop.