steve@sensual.wa.COM (Steve Schonberger) (01/18/90)
I just got back from seeing Christine Lavin at the Backstage in Seattle. She did a great show. I had only heard of her a couple of times before, once on a public radio show somewhere on the east coast, possibly on the radio in Minnesota when I lived there, and this week on a good commercial radio station (believe it or not) here. Since first hearing "I Want to Be a Mysterious Woman" and a few other songs way back when, I've been looking for some sort of recording. What luck that I not only find a place to buy a recording (at the show), but I get to see her live too! Anyway, the show was up to my expectations. Unfortunately the listing in the local music rag didn't mention that she had a warm-up band (which others at the show said was also great -- Electric Bonsai, which is an ex-member of Uncle Bonsai), so I missed the warm-up completely. Additional bad news was that I hadn't brought my checkbook or enough money to buy everything she had up for sale during the break in her show. Fortunately the friend I went with had enough that I could borrow so I could buy her CD "Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind". It's on Rounder Records. Anyway, considering how much trouble I had finding her recordings (I still haven't seen them in any stores), I suppose she must be obscure enough that even most of a group so musically enlightened as Love-Hounds probably haven't heard of her. The quickest way to describe her is "Suzanne Vega with a sense of humor" (according to my friend, who has seen SV live, she has a great sense of humor at her live shows, but her recordings are pretty serious). She plays in a folky style, mostly songs about romance with an ironic sense of humor. She also reminds me of Laurie Anderson, with her unusual way of looking at ordinary things, though she doesn't do any electronic vocal distortions or play anything but acoustic guitar (there is a very small amount of electronics in the CD, which I didn't notice until I read the credits). Like most of the musicians discussed here though, she's hard to put in a category with others, but I tried anyway. One of the most memorable songs she played tonight was a ballad that she started to conceive in an autobiographical mood (as is much if not all of her material). The real life situation that she told of in introducing the song was about a time when she worked in a large building on a lower floor, and a guy she occasionally saw and thought was cute worked in an upper floor. In the song, she exagerrated to tell of a woman who worked in the basement and the dreamed-about man who worked on the thirty-seventh floor (that number fit the meter of the song just right). *** WARNING! SPOILER AHEAD *** She dreamed about him and tried to do things to give herself a better chance to see him, until finally a time came when there was a fire in the building. *** SPOILER HERE *** She ran out, and he jumped to escape the flames, and by miraculous chance landed on her. They both died and were buried together forever. It ended with a very happy beat and tone. The meter and rhyme of the words all flowed beautifully. ***** On another topic, I've listened to Beautiful Pea Green Boat a lot more since I first wrote about them. That album is so great I have been playing it over and over since I got it. It's truly wonderful, in spite of the dumb name for the group. They deserve wider distribution than small labels like C'est La Morte (U.S.) and Slaughterback (U.K.) can give them. Or else enlightened labels that publish such great stuff deserve to be rewarded for it. -- Steve Schonberger Why should I disclaim anything when I own this site? steve@sensual.wa.com (Yet another site named after a Kate Bush song) I should be mapped. If mail bounces, try "nwnexus!sensual!steve" instead.
katefans@world.std.COM (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City) (01/22/90)
Vickie here.
(Steve Schonberger)
In article <25b58430@sensual.wa.com>(Steve Schonberger) writes:
>I just got back from seeing Christine Lavin at the Backstage in
>Seattle. She did a great show.
WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I've been wanting to see Christine live
for years and she's never come anywhere NEAR Kansas City (and if
she has been here I don't want to know because I didn't know about
it and I MISSED IT!)
Here's what Ladyslipper has to say about Christine:
Christine Lavin
Future Fossils
This is Christine's first LP (she had an earlier EP called "Husbands
and Wives", about relationships--the unequal kind) full of social
commentary, 50/50 humor and serious, somewhere between live and
studio, of original songs. This artist is someone the NY Times calls
"a pungent folk-pop humorist...writes wryly comic vignettes of city
life that also have an emotional edge." Includes Cold Pizza for
Breakfast, a spoof of diets, Regretting What I Said which skewers men
who find it difficult to tell the truth, and Don't Ever Call Your
Sweetheart By His Name which turns the tables on men who've called
women "darling" for centuries...this song was banned from Gracie
Mansion. During a discussion with this reviewer, Christine said
"My mantra is pizza."
(PH1104)
Christine Lavin
Beau Woes and Other Problems of Modern Life
From undoubtedly the sharpest wit in the contempary folk scene, a
splendidly entertaining, lively, honest and eclectic album. Includes
her clever Biological Time Bomb; her song for all those athletically
challenged, Ballad of a Ballgame; the more servious Gettin' Used To
Leavin' with veteran folkie Eric Anderson; her spoof on Camping; and
other humorous and cynical vignettes. A gem.
(PH1107)
(V here. This is my favorite CL album. EVERY SINGLE SONG IS GREAT!!
The song Steve talked about is on this one. It's called Doris &
Edwin-the Movie.)
Christine Lavin
Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind
First of all, if you are a Suzanne Vega listener, this album is an
absolute must for your collection...Christine's Mysterious Woman
adds new dimensions to the existential meanings of defrosting the
refrigerator! Title song accurately describes the delicious
experience of eating sushi (sucking down a bucketful of tentacled
slime; or, chewing the suction cups off the bottom of an old
bathtub mat) and other activities tolerated in the name of love.
Both satire and good folk music fill this album and even a duet
with Livingston Taylor.
(PH1121)
------------------------------------------
Here are the lyrics to "Doris & Edwin-the Movie"
The first time that she saw him was in the office canteen
He was buying a cup of coffee (3 sugars & double cream)
Two weeks later she saw him by the elevator banks
His hands were full, she held the door for him
and he said "thanks"
Now she's in love (for her it don't take much)
She's in love but this is not your ordinary office crush
'cause she works in the basement, near the boiler room door
and he works in accounting on the 37th floor
Now I'm not much of a mathematician but even I can see
in a building of 37 floors and 4000 employees
her chances of running into him are really not too good
even though she hung out at the canteen
and rode the elevator every spare minute she could
Cause she's in love and she don't even know his name (it was Edwin)
she's in love. Love can be such a cruel, cruel game
cos she works in the basement near the boiler room door
and he works in accounting on the 37th floor
And by the way, did I happen to mention...
that when this building was consturcted it was done improperly
and one day on the 4th floor there was a short in the electricity
it burned up walls and desks and chairs and all the secretarys
The alarm did not go off until it reach floor 33
(floor 33, floor 33)
and on the upper floors people were running and screaming and
jumping out the windows to get away from the flames (it was gross)
Now the woman in the basement, she raced up the stairs, out the
emergency exit, into the fresh air. She looked up because just
then it began to shower and that's when she saw her true love
coming--one hundred miles an hour oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh no, no no no
(bloodcurdling scream in background)
I'm not much of a mathematician but even I can see
the chances of him landing on her were very slim indeed (but he did!)
So they buried him together the following day and even now,
when I ride the elevator I can hear someone say
"She was in love (for her it didn't take much). she was in love
but this was not your ordinary office CRUSH
cause she worked in the basement near the boiler room door
and he worked on accounting on the 37th floor
yeah she worked in the basement and he the 37th floor
but fate brought them together, parted nevermore
nevermore...........nevermore
See, she has a very strange and wonderful sense of humor
I've got more lyrics that I'll post later. Her albums
really shouldn't be that hard to find. I've seen CDs
at our local Sound Warehouse and other stores.
I really like Shawn Colvin a lot but it hurts that she's
gotten so much attention for her first album, yet Christine
has been ignored for years. I don't mean that Christine
is "better" than Shawn, it's just that she should have the
recognizibility factor that Shawn has. Life's not fair.
----------------------------------
>On another topic, I've listened to Beautiful Pea Green Boat a lot more
>since I first wrote about them. That album is so great I have been
>playing it over and over since I got it. It's truly wonderful, in
>spite of the dumb name for the group. They deserve wider distribution
>than small labels like C'est La Morte (U.S.) and Slaughterback (U.K.)
>can give them. Or else enlightened labels that publish such great
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>stuff deserve to be rewarded for it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
YOU BET!! C'est La Mort deserves to be rewarded for all they're
doing for music in America.
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% Vickie of Vickie'n'Chris of Kansas City katefans@world.std.com %
% %
% "Suspended in Gaffa" KKFI 90.1fm %
% Kansas City's alternative alternative to boyz with guitars %
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%katefans@world.std.COM (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City) (02/05/90)
Vickie here. In article <9001220907.AA17048@world.std.com> you write: > [ good stuff] >... Regretting What I Said which skewers men who find it difficult to tell the >truth ... > [ more good stuff ] huh? I thought it was about "what a woman in love can do" to a lover who runs off on short notice to go skiing. are you interpreting it differently, or thinking of another song, or am I completely confused? Derek --------------------bounced e-mail reply----------------------------- Derek, that was Ladyslipper's mistake, not mine. Regretting What I Said is about a woman who regrets (not too much though) what all she said to her boyfriend after she finds out that he's going to go to Switzerland (right?) to ski without her. It's very sick and funny. You're not confused. Ladyslipper was, though I didn't catch it before printing it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's another of Christine's songs: This isn't a duet, she sings everything Camping Oh I'm in love with a man who loves to camp he camps when it's sunny, he camps when it's damp All he needs is a tent, a sleeping roll a pack of Jahotas [not sure about that word, can't make it out] and a sack of charcoal he camps in the desert, he camps in the snow he says "Baby come with me" I say "no" You see, I like hot showers and I like ice, the cool cotton sheets on my bed feel so nice I'm afraid of little animals and scared of big bites I like the feel of bare feet on a bare Bear rug I can't stand Port-O-Sans or community soap I say "Baby stay with me" he says "no" So I say "Why deprive yourself of the creature comforts it's taken man so long to invent?" And he said something about Walden, throwing back to Woodstock, livin' his life in a tent and then he went "ooooooooooooooooh" Oh I can picture him now by a babbling brook, slappin' at mosquitos, slippin' bait on a hook I can see the bears sniffin' round for something to steal Oh bears, get the hot dogs, don't make my baby your meal This whole scenerio it give me such a fright, to think, he could have stayed with me tonight Well my air-conditioner makes a real cool breeze not unlike the wind, whistlin' through the trees I got stars on my ceiling (glow in the dark!) I'll open up the windows, we can hear the birds in the park I'll put "Wild Kingdom" on my TV This might not be camping but it's pretty close honey, I'm not a primitive as you want me to be This might not be camping but it's close enough for me! ----------------------- Here's another: This song is acappella with only a clock ticking and some backing vocals Biological Time Bomb Listen girls, do you hear something ticking? (i do i do i do i do i do) It's inside me it's inside you-a biological time bomb Oh you can barely hear it when you're twenty but when you're thirty, it's plenty louder Your mother warned you, but no, you had to doubt her "I've got plenty of time, mom" Oh (oh oh) the ticking echos in that empty womb Oh (oh oh) from the next apartment, did you hear that BOOM? Her biological time bomb. Now every time you see a baby carriage you curse the years you have avoided marriage You are angry, you are confused But wait! I have figured out how to diffuse the biological time bomb First you have a dozen of your eggs aspirated frozen in the freezer of you doctor's fridgerator In ten or twenty or thirty years, whenever you wish you thaw them out to romance wigglys in a petri dish then plant the little goober in a girl of seventeen who's into natural living and Prevention magazine No fuss no muss no stretch marks (well not on you) Maternal instincts satisfied, the modern thing to do. Listen girls, you can't ignore that ticking any longer as you grow older, it will grow stronger Biological Time Bomb Biological Time Bomb Biological......(tick tick tick tick tick...) ----------------- Wonderful! Her voice, the way she phrases things and the background sound effects all add interesting things to all the songs. Woj, I don't know anything about that radio show you heard. I've never seen or heard Christine live. Vickie katefans@world.std.com