A n a r c h i c _ U n i v e r s e ®

When You Like Music, You Sign Up for State.ie

State.ie is an on-line magazine whose line-up is great, music bloggers from Ireland. I cannot praise State.ie enough for all the work their team does.

I had been too relaxed to post here, blame it on the garden, a couple of songbirds I have been watching and can't guess their name. There nest was destroyed by the guys doing some work here. These birds are pretty obstinate.They have been making four nests simultaneously. The male, I guess, has an orange chest and head. They are small songbirds.

Need I say the music in State.ie is of the non-classical kind?

Here is State.ie for you. Click on the link to be taken there:

	http://www.state.ie
	State is a quality monthly music magazine with emphasis on in-depth coverage of music and popular culture, as well as strong visual impact. State will feature informative, penetrative articles on Irish and international music, complemented by arresting and largely original imagery and a fresh and bold overall design.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps -Marya Bravo

Marya Bravo is the child of that Brazilian fan who sang with the Beatles, Lizzie Bravo. This show is about the Beatles' music, and Marya's dramatic performance is outstanding.
Click to check it out, please.

From East Texas: Michelle Shocked!

Michelle Shocked is a very independent musician, whose sense of right led her to her own label and property of her art. She is a bit shy, we met her in 1992, when she came to play Arkansas Traveler at MacCabe's.
It is my pride and privilege to present Michelle Shocked back to folk song, after a phase singing spirituals. The links show her website and the part of the website in which you can find her lyrics. The song is "Wanted Man." It was released yesterday on YouTube.

Saint John's in the Brazilian Northeast

Saint John's festivities used to be a lame combo of corn on the cob, bonfires, hilbilly costumes, not anymore, it seems. In the northeast of Brazil, in the land of Luiz Gonzaga, the revered icon of northeastern music, the real thing, driving the masses to madness is a combo of electronic music and forró plus very sassy lyrics. So I got one of the for you. Its very suggestive name is "Sit (on it) It's  Mint ." Northeasteners do have a way with words.
here is the link to a video. There is an official dance, of sorts, in which girls gyrate and seem to be sitting down and up, dressed in short skirts and bras. Check it out. Click! And join the mad crowd singing, "Senta que é de menta." I must thank a Brazilan blogger, Mr. Manson, for the tip and O Globo for the news and lyrics.

On a kewl-er note, another blog has a great link to a band that reminds me a lot of Os Mutantes. They are from São Paulo and this is their website, where you can download their music or buy the album.
http://www.expressomonofonico.mus.br/ Click and check it out. If I didn't have to listen to Steve (Jobs) I'd be listening to them all day long.

Do you enjoy the photo? Check out Gabizou2009 in my anarchic_universe Flickr group. He is so much better than me!

In the Still of the Night: Andrea Marcovicci

Every August we'd up and go see a beautiful dramatic songstress, Andrea Marcovicci, right here, at the Gardenia, a club which has had better days. At winter time she had a long commitment at the Algonquin Hotel, where everything except the prices is historic.
One year we saw Andrea's mother, who could have had a career in show business, but gave it up to take care of her daughter.
I can hear Momma Marcovicci 's deep voice singing "In the Still of the Night." I remember Andrea telling us details she researched on the life of café society in the beautiful Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel, in between operatic deliveries of the Great American Songbook. Andrea Marcovicci has a presence, unlike some who may have a voice or no voice. Click for a performance of Andrea's, Someone to Love, and a set of the Algonquin Hotel, the two links in this posts. To come back you  may use the history of your browser. How did you like the story sent by the Knitting Club who never sleep,Yahoo's SAMOHI Pals?

Good Mornin' , Good Mornin'

Never Hum a Tune in a Taxicar in Rio

In my carefree early to mid-eighties, at the height of the so-called "dark" fashion in Rio de Janeiro, when I listened to Joy Division, New Order,
Killing Joke, The Alarm and in especial The Smiths, the big time American to make it in my Sony Walkman® was Bruce Springsteen.  I fell in love with his double LP and a friend gave me a cassette of the album. Oh, there was the early Jonathan Ritchman and there was Laurie Anderson, and the
Talking Heads . My friend in NYC gave me tapes of these.

I like to sing or hum songs albeit my voice gets out of tune at the third note, says Gabriel. Nicolas, my husband, can recognize what I sing, though.

(background info)I was a heavy smoker; I got away with smoking in class while I was teaching. My outfits was overalls, a T-shirt, my SonyWalkman®, my backpack, an acquired tem of practical fashion I picked up in NYC, and my Adidas shoes, royal blue with orange stripes. At night I used to hang out at a gay bar which served a delish tomato soup and drink Bloody Mary, Cochrane's. No wonder nobody ever made a pass at me ;P))

Rio de Janeiro is subject to unexpected tropical rain. This night was no different. A heavy rain fell, everybody was gone in a flash. I walked to the corner of an already deserted Botafogo neighborhood to hail a cab. To my surprise, a cab stops. The guy looked ug-leeee, scar-eee, but what the heck. A cab is a cab is a cab.

I hopped in a VW Beetle without a front seat, the cabbie asked me my destination, I gave it to him. There I am humming a song in Portuguese whose lyrics go,

"Stay with me tonight, you won't regret it, the wind outside is whipping cold, here warmth you will have."  (Where did I get this song from?)

He goes in the opposite direction. Well, I thought, a little dazed by the vodka, maybe he wants to try another route. When we are in the street of the cemetery São João Batista, he stops the car. A conversation ensues. He demands,

"Suck my c***."
"????? No, I won't"
"Suck my c***."

This went on, the pouring rain outside getting no thinner. The dialog was as repetitive as those routines in "Waiting for Godot."  Suddenly, he inquires, in a total off-topic,

"Can I take a piss?"
"As long as it's not in the car..."

My remark was nonchalant. I just sat there in the warmth of the car. He returns, says as he grabs one of my thighs wrapped under a semi-sheer white pantyhose,

"I always liked chunky white girls like you."

(Gee, thanks for the chunky. Good for me to be wearing a long sweatshirt that was supposedly a dress.) 
He adds,

"I got a Saturday Night Special in the glove compartment."

He opens it and shows me the cheap metal gun.

"Where are you going now?"

I request,

"Laranjeiras."

The SOB charges me full fare, and I let him keep the change.

Morning after it was English classes starting at seven. A double glass of cold coffee and cold milk, another cab, another day in the Cidade Maravilhosa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Psychedelic rock -- Chrysalis 1967, Os Mutantes Later

I guess I begin to get what Anglophones call psychedelic rock.  I received in the mail a CD by Chrysalis -1967, a band my friends and I knew very well in 1970, thru a copy someone had gotten in London, don't ask me how. Amazon.com has its re-release.

Surprise, surprise. The recording has been re-released. It's awesome to kinda know what the band looked like 37 years ago. Just as Os Mutantes without Rita Lee or  Arnaldo Baptista record a new song, see below.

So, I guess there's a mini-revival of the "so-called" psychedelic music. Next, the surviving Dead will be throwing satellite-powered concerts with "get-your-own shrooms on-line." Those alive will see this or "Quem viver verá."

Another point on rock and roll I would like to leave here is priceless advice I received once from the Poet Laureate, (click for samples of his poetry) Paulo Henriques Britto:

"Never take sides when bands are undergoing internal fighting. Remember what John Lennon sang about Paul McCartney, 'The only thing you done was Yesterday.' "

I was heartbroken when Arnaldo Baptista, Sérgio Dias' older brother, left the tour in 2007. Even more so when I received the news he won't go back to music. He has a book to release and a film is being made about him. I hope all is well with the three brothers: César, who created the Regulus guitar, Arnaldo, and Sérgio. And all of Os Mutantes, Rita Lee and Dinho, Liminha, and those new to the band since London's Barbican Concert in 2006 who planted their seed of psychedelic rock for the next generation to follow.

A Rare Combo: NASA and The Beatles

This is old news, but of the good kind. The NASA antennæ network Deep Space started transmitting "Across the Universe" to space on the 40th anniversary of the song, in its original format, sung by the Beatles and two fans, Gaileen and Lizzie Bravo, a British fan and a Brazilian, respectively, on February 4.

The destination of the song is the Northern Star, in the Polaris constellation.  Its travel will take 431 years. You can find the original recording of "Across the Universe" here,in this YouTube link. Just click. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plw9VlU8ek4

In Support of the WGA

David Letterman may be criticized for his blatant support for the DGA while Jay Leno crossed the picked line, noting unusual, considering the source.

Dave also brought on the show an awesome band I want to share with you, the Dropkick Murphy's in a song for all workers.