Monday Jukebox Wonders What Was Norway Like in 1975?

Judging by the entries from that year's MGP (held in February), it must've been a fun place.

First off Hastverk (Hurry), first performed by that Ja(h)n Teigen:



And secondly by his one-time other half Anita Skorgan (her performance compared to Teigen's makes you wonder if they were kind of a Norwegian precursor to Whitney & Bobby)



And then there's Voodoo, first "performed" by (the loud and not-necessarily on key--at least to my ears) Gudny Aspaas* & Il Teigen:

*Listen to Gudny's version of Mata Hari, the eventual winning song, as performed by Anne Karine Strøm, who must've passed on the drugs to her costumer.



Later in the show Il Teigen dropped his band (who were playing backup for the first round performances) and performed the song with uber-innocent Inger-Lise Rypdal, exchanging psychedelic rock for campy progressive symphonic rock.




By the way, wouldn't be fun if NRK brought back this format of small band versus full orchestra versions of each entry? (I know we live in a backing track world, but we also live in a remix silly one.)

Many thanks to Euroencyclopedia on Youtube.

Is it because of the beer?

Not to be flip about terrorism, but apparently there may have been several terrorist dry runs at US airports...including (brace yourselves) Milwaukee.

San Diego, I understand. (Navy)

Houston, I understand. (Oil)

Baltimore, I understand. (Close to Washington)

Milwaukee, quite frankly, ain't got jack except for TV nostalgia...and it's not that close to Chicago the way Baltimore is to Washington.

Monday Jukebox Does One for The Road

What better send off than with Big Mama?

(Somebody give these women the international career they deserve!)

First off Sister:




And because we must always end upbeat: Nevermind



See you later this month!

From The "Modern Politics Are Absurd" Department

("Broken Clock" division.)

Most people believe Cheney needs to go...that's the good news.

Several of the Right-winger reasons why are seemingly straight from Lewis Carroll.

That's the bad (as in "head-smacking, what dimension am I living in?") news.

Ah for the days of "Fuddle Duddle!"

A Half-Hour in New-Age Pseudo-Christian Happiness

A half-hour because that is all I could take.

Upon entering a hall full of Benetton ads come to life sitting in the chairs, 4 people in business casual sang some rousing song that I'm surprised The Polyphonic Spree hasn't done yet.

The Benettons clap along wide-eyed, and few of them claim to get the spirit. My fellow undercover agent said that the sincerity of everyone clapping must be taken with a grain of salt, as this is a popular place of worship for actors (in Chelsea? Chorus Boys! Both young and old.)

A woman then gets onstage and relates some long-winded spiel about membership and commitment (somehow involving her leaving her marriage), which is the sign for all new members to embrass themselves publicly, and for everyone else to turn to everyone nearby and say "welcome."

I did not stand up, nor did my undercover agent. It's better not to get close to people who so eagerly fake sincerity.

The Polyphonic 4 get onstage again and sing some daft ditty that gets more people stirred, or at least wanting to appear that they are stirred. It's The PTL in the middle of Chelsea.

The Polyphonic 4 then lead the congregation in a "Meditation" as the lights go down.

It got all too Saint Germain (the kooky mystical religion that took over my father after he went crazy in the early 1990s) for me, so the two of us promptly left to go get drunk and have a cigarette.

Lucky Saturday Jukebox Pays Twice

Combining the two obsessions of this corner of the internet: here is LaGaylia Frazier's It's In The Stars, which competed in Melodifestivalen 2004 (aka the year when Miss Ph kicked everybody else's ass) :




The song was subsquently "covered" by squeaking-their-way through puberty w-inds.

W-inds - It's in the stars

LaGaylia has a slight edge on the tweens in my opinion, but they have more flash (and no 3 minute limit).

Lucky Saturday Jukebox Says Puberty Is Mean

...especially when you're in a Japanese boyband.

Case point: w-inds

Here they are in 2001:

W-inds - Feel the Fate

(Racial harmony via happy-go-lucky Japanese Tween Pop?)

And here they are this year (with the Japanese image song from Shrek 3)

W-inds - Love is the Greatest Thing [PV]

Better beats, (arguably) better choreography, but wouldn't you hate to try to hit those notes all career-long?

Coming Attractions: Hikaru Goes To Church

This Sunday, Fearless Leader Goes to Church.

Seriously, I am attending church.

Now, granted this is one of those funky new-age churches which is very accepting of gays (it's even got a gay preacher), but nonetheless my happily secular-reared self is attending church!

How weird is that?

Perhaps the hilarity stems more from the fact that all these feel-good places are interested more in your wallet than your spiritual growth. I'm an avowed Taoist if anything, so the notion that people have to be reminded by some high and mighty that it's alright to be one's self is already absurdly funny to me. The fact that they need a pack mentality rife full of consumerism in addition to that is even funnier.

Yet, I am going to go with a shred of an open mind...and 4 Smirnoff Ices in my stomach.

If you build it they will come...

Really, they will...We're certain of that...Well, who are they exactly?*

* I haven't lost my mind, but like a broken clock, the Sun can occasionally be right.