sweet you rock and sweet you roll
--- the Buzz to here ---

24
Oct

Bonnie Tyler — “Holding Out for a Hero”
(from Footloose [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (1984)) — Holding Out for a Hero - Footloose (15th Anniversary Collectors' Edition)

Ella Mae Bowen — “Holding Out for a Hero”
(from Footloose [Music from the Motion Picture] (2011)) — Holding Out for a Hero - Footloose (Music from the Motion Picture) [Cut Loose Deluxe Edition]

I haven’t yet seen the new Footloose, and quite frankly, the eight-year-old boy who resides eternally in my heart still tends to question the overall necessity for a “new” Footloose when the old one is still perfectly serviceable (although, to be fair, my understanding is that, quality-wise, this remake is oodles better than 2009’s ill-fated update of Fame, an instant bellyflop that would have benefited enormously from a super-concentrated dose of Billy Hufsey and Nia Peeples, if you axe me). Still, I can comment on the films’ (old and new) soundtracks: I continue to submit that 1984 was the single greatest year in the history of modern popular music, and I insist the original Footloose companion album — with its iconic radio smashes from Kenny Loggins, Deniece Williams, Shalamar, Heart’s Ann Wilson, and my beloved Bonnie Tyler — comprises a non-trivial portion of the reason why. Full disclosure and all: I have adored Bonnie Tyler since I was eating crayons in kindergarten (and Sherry Ann will testify that I am not making that up, either!), and I’ll tell you — again, quite frankly — that I don’t see the point in anybody remaking any of her classics (as though some poor deluded fool could do Bonnie better than Bonnie!). That said, I’m rather stunned by how compulsively enjoyable — even if it is in the guilty-pleasure sort of way — I find this new stripped-down version of “Hero” to be. No longer a pulse-pounding, disco-rock foot-stomper, the song is transformed into a heart-rending ballad by this ballsy Bowen chick, and while that proposition sounds instantly iffy on paper, give her this much: Bowen commits to it completely, and whereas Tyler tears through these verses with blowsy, brilliantly overheated bravado, Ella Mae turns inward, playing up the vulnerable distress of the lyric and selling (with surprising sincerity) this story of a young damsel waiting for her streetwise Hercules to come and sweep her away. Again, I wouldn’t typically advocate this kinda thing (because, seriously, it’s 1984, and, most seriously, it’s Bonnie!), but the utter audacity of this endeavor (and Bowen’s seeming ignorance as to just how shamelessly brazen she is in actual fact being here) is exactly what makes this thing fly.

23
Oct

Keith Urban — “‘Til Summer Comes Around”
(from Defying Gravity) — 'Til Summer Comes Around - Defying Gravity

As brilliantly wistful as Don McLean’s classic “American Pie” is regarding the fragile innocence of youth, so does this one perfectly capture the inherently carefree romance of the hot weather months. (Although, I have to admit: after the summer we just survived here in the Centex, with something like eighty days of triple-digit temperatures, that scorched season can wait as long as it wants to come back around anew.)

21
Oct

Boston — “Amanda” (from Greatest Hits) — Amanda - Power Ballads Gold

My fabulous little sister turns twenty-six years young this very day. Please wish her a healthy, happy birthday, urrybody! (Much love from your big brother, Amanda!)

17
Oct

James Morrison — “Please Don’t Stop the Rain”
(from Songs for You, Truths for Me) — Please Don't Stop the Rain - Songs for You, Truths for Me

Sherry Ann, in a text message to me yesterday afternoon:
“Do you think James Morrison is the male Adele?”
Me, in response: “Damn straight I do, my dear!”

16
Oct

Nina Simone — “Angel of the Morning”
(from The Essential Nina Simone, Vol. 2) — Angel of the Morning - Essential Nina Simone, Vol. 2 (Remastered)

Of course, having been reared on Juice Newton’s smash (and smashing) cover of Merilee Rush’s lovely ’60s pop standard, I’m partial to that one. (The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde has also been known to do a pretty damn fine job with this one.) But even though Simone stubbornly refuses to follow the melody with her own vocal performance, and I would most likely find that irrefutably irritating coming from a lesser talent, I find myself rather charmed by this kooky, oddly captivating take on a classic.

15
Oct

Doc Severinsen — “Georgia On My Mind”
(from The Very Best of Doc Severinsen) — Georgia On My Mind - The Very Best of Doc Severinsen

I already own the first four seasons on DVD (and, for those not yet in the know, the uproarious season five — the final one featuring peerless series regulars Delta Burke and Jean Smart — is due out the first week of December, so Merry Christmas, y’all!), and therefore, I can watch them at will at a time of my choosing. So you wouldn’t reasonably expect the news that reruns of my all-time favorite television series — CBS’ riotously funny classic sitcom Designing Women — have returned to a daily network schedule would send me into ecstatic hysterics, yet that is precisely what has happened now that those unsung geniuses at TV Guide Network have refashioned their entire program lineup and slotted Women — last seen on TV Land four years ago, following a blink-and-miss-it hit-and-run engagement with Nick at Nite — at 11am (eastern time) to lead off a day of comedy which also includes reruns of those late-’90s gems Cybill, Veronica’s Closet, and Dharma and Greg. (Clearly the network is now attempting to appeal to nostalgic women of a certain age and elan — they’ve even gone so far as to term their prime-time block of comedy programming “Ladies Night” — but there exists an underserved demographic — let’s call it, just for the sake of simplicity, Gay Men Aged 25-35 Who Desperately Miss the Smart, Sassy Sitcoms They Loved in Their Pre-Teen-Slash-Post-Adolescent Years — who are reaping enormous side benefits from these savvy programming moves. Because, seriously, The Office and Modern Family are perfectly fine for what they are, but there’s nothing like the welcome sight of Christine Baranski and/or my divine Dixie Carter cutting some dense doofus down to size to convince me that all is right with this old, cold world.) A million thanks to whomever at TV Guide Network had the temerity to make these decisions; I’ve been wondering what I’m gonna do with my free days when SOAPnet closes up shop early next year, and methinks this lineup will do just fine.

11
Oct

Garbage — “You Look So Fine” (from Absolute Garbage) — You Look So Fine - Absolute Garbage (Special Edition)

I wrote in this space some time back that Cutting Crew’s “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” was the sexiest song I have ever heard, but let’s go ahead and rank this sizzling ode to twisted desire right up there as well. If Shirley Manson’s taut, fraught, maddeningly hot vocal here doesn’t get you all busted and bothered inside, I don’t even wish to fathom what would.

10
Oct

Eric Clapton (with Babyface) — “Change the World”
(from Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton) — Change the World - Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton

Dreadful sorry about the severe dearth in Buzz posts of late; last week was a brutal one for me, what with work and whirlwind travel. I have nothing terribly noteworthy to add to the cavalcade of beautifully elegant tributes to the singular genius of Steve Jobs that have popped up just about everywhere online in the days since his tragic passing. But I do want to say this: it’s enough, I think, in this life to touch one person’s existence and, in however small a way, change it for the better. But, as anyone who has ever used any one of his company’s much-vaunted inventions can almost certainly attest, Mr. Jobs was scarcely satisfied with enough: as ABC News’ Bill Weir noted on Nightline in the immediate wake of the news of Jobs’ death, Steve was our Edison, our Disney, our Da Vinci. No cheap hyperbole, that; if anything, it’s an understatement. The term visionary gets thrown around with a too-casual ease these days, but there’s no question it applies here: with a staggering series of marvels of portable technology — each individual piece more impressive and game-changing than its predecessor — there’s hardly an acre of Earth whose inhabitants haven’t been fundamentally affected by Jobs’ unstoppable drive to change the way we connect with, contribute to, communicate with, and dream about the world around us. He was never one to rest on his laurels — clearly, he believed that a great thing can always be made better, and as such, he made perfectionism into an art, not a chore — but what I admired most about Steve was his profound embrace, in essentially equal measure, of style and substance: examine closely the shocking splashes of loud color in the original iMac, or the wispy (lack of) width of the MacBook Air, or the stunningly gorgeous squared design of the latest iPhone, and you understand at once how completely Jobs believed in the immutable power of a great presentation. He seemed to know in his soul that, in a world packed with ever-present strife and hardship, there remains a place, and a necessity, for the clean simplicity of beauty.
Stay hungry, and stay foolish is what Jobs wrote in his final tweet, and I can conceive of no more profoundly apt an epitaph. Steve was foolish enough to believe that technology could improve every facet of our lives, and he was hungry enough to prove it. Foolish enough to believe that one human mind thinking forever forward is enough to transform the world, and hungry enough to go the hell out there and do it, again and again and again.

3
Oct

Patty Griffin — “Mary” (from Flaming Red) — Mary - Flaming Red

For the second time in five or so months, my own personal wing of the Henslee family was forced to bid farewell to one of its own yesterday when my grandmother — our matriarch, who just happened to share a name with this shattering song’s titular heroine — passed away in her sleep. My thoughts are still a bit scattered as I type this, so I’ve nothing terribly profound to say here. This passing is absolutely a sad event, no question about it, but the primary emotion I feel early this morning is gratitude. I’m thankful my cousin’s two sons had the opportunity to know their great-grandmother well into their own adolescences (and that my nephew and my best friend and my partner got the chance to know her at all, however casually). And I’m thankful to have had someone in my life who taught me how to love crossword puzzles, and Yahtzee, and Miss Barbara Mandrell, and Mister John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and Miss Deidre Hall, and the thrill of pulling a perfect batch of chocolate chip cookies you made with your own two hands out of a hot oven, and the best damned taco and the best damned spoonful of beef stew you ever put in your mouth. She wasn’t perfect, but neither were any of us; that didn’t stop her from loving us anyway, ferociously, and it didn’t stop her from being, in her own funny way, an angel. (So, so much love to you, Mary Henslee, and whatever destination awaits you next, may your landing be soft and sweet.)

2
Oct

The Fray — “Mahna Mahna” (from Muppets: The Green Album) — Mahna Mahna - Muppets: The Green Album

And now, for something completely off-the-wall: as indisputably brilliant as Isaac Slade is at what he does, he and his fabulous band, with their full-of-frolic ditties about teenage suicide and railing against God (and to His face, no less!), often take themselves so seriously that it’s quite bracing to see them cutting loose and having some actual light-hearted fun here. (You should really give yourself a gift this fine Sunday and check out the whole of this surprisingly sweet album, which finds a wide assortment of your (and my) favorite stars — Matt Nathanson, Rachael Yamagata, Weezer, My Morning Jacket — putting their own stamp on all the Muppets classics (even “The Rainbow Connection”!) from your (and my) misspent youth.)

30
Sep

Lenny Kravitz — “Stand” (from Black and White America) — Stand - Black and White America (Deluxe Version)

I would hardly call myself Lenny’s biggest fan, but who could ever resist this charmingly catchy (and cannily uplifting) little ditty? (I dare not to be tapping your toe inside of twenty-five seconds!)

28
Sep

Hilary Duff — “So Yesterday” (from The Best of Hilary Duff) — So Yesterday (Radio Mix) - Best of Hilary Duff

Today marks the dazzling Duff’s 24th birthday, which means — barring a major mathematical malfunction on my part — that she was only 15 (!) when she exploded into the pop marketplace with this ferociously marvelous instant classic masterpiece in the late summer of 2003. (Did we know at the time that she was only 15, Sherry Ann? 15!) (With utmost seriousness, the Buzz loves you in the heart, Hilary, and wishes you a most happy day, you eternal genius.)

26
Sep

R.E.M. — “At My Most Beautiful” (from Up) — At My Most Beautiful - Up

Because, quite frankly, I’m still not over it. And, I’d wager, neither are you. (And, I damn well know, neither is Sherry Ann, although she does report that there may well be reason to cheer for a happy ending to this story, as she was told late last week, by a teenager whose identity shall remain unknown, that R.E.M. may well get back together, his logic being that Blink-182 have just reunited. Hope springs eternal, indeed.)