creamy

i love good food but i am not a fanatic. it doesn’t have to be a 4-star joint or a rockstar chef for me to have a good time. some of the best grub i’ve had are definitely low-brow, like the $1.98 “recession special” (2 fat dogs and a cup of foamy papaya juice) at gray’s papaya on the corner of manhattan’s 8th and 6th ave, or the $2 burrito carnitas stuffed with pungent whole scallions from a food truck on east 14th street in oakland.

when i travel, one of the things i love the most is to wander into a cheap eat in an unfamiliar city that draws a local crowd and ape whatever they order. this is how i discovered the simple pleasures of green salad with hard-boiled egg, anchovies, semi-ripe tomato, and green olives in a barcelona alley, or a steamy bowl of miso ramen for breakfast at the mammoth shinjuku train station in tokyo, among others.

on one recent trip to london, i had dinner with a fundraiser with a limitless capacity to agree with wealthy people on anything and everything, and a potential donor. the fundraiser is a self-proclaimed foodie (of course) and took us to the connaught, a boutique hotel in the heart of mayfair that houses menu, a small, elegant joint that is part of celebrity chef gordon ramsey’s culinary empire. at the time, i’ve never heard of ramsey, nor did i know his partner angela hartnett, who helms menu, is one of “the top chefs in the uk if not europe,” according to the fundraiser. when i professed my ignorance, she barely glanced at me and said, “well, this meal is wasted on you.”

“you fucking ass-sucking bitch!” i wanted to say. but it’s business, so i smiled weakly and stabbed hard at my monkfish pate.

being an occasional trainspotter, i understand the danger of hype and snobbery. i too have found myself sucked into a media frenzy or two about the next big thing. a recent example is nellie mckay, the new york-based singer/songwriter whose cabaret-style act had drawn comparison with everyone from randy newman to pink to mrs. costello, diana krall. i have no doubt mckay is striving to be everything many pundits say she is – clever, eclectic, funny, original – but there is a big difference between ambition and achievement. i really tried to understand what the fuss is all about, to the point of second-guessing my first impression. after all, taste changes. but ultimately the problem is that mckay just doesn’t have the musical chops to pull it off; she’s all postures and no follow-through.

the same can be said for the much bandied electroclash scene that came and went a few years ago. arguably, other than better makeup and snappier beats, there was little difference between acts like fischerspooner or ladytron and blancmange or human league. it’s not that i don’t like those acts, it’s just been done, in some cases done better. don’t believe the hype.

tamara and i have often discussed having a sense of history when vetting new music. it’s just common sense to know what’s gone before in order to recognize originality. i’m not advocating for people to get all intellectual and shit just to enjoy a tune; it’s entertainment first and foremost, saddle it with anything more would kill the fun. besides, very few people if any would have the range of musical interest and the record collection to even approach a comprehensive historical perspective.

so for me, what it all comes down to is the quality of the information i get. actually, quality is misleading since it’s about getting the musical information that’s relevant to my taste. like many others, i’ve been schooled by djs like frankie crocker, red alert, gilles peterson, and timmy regisford. at times, it’s shops like rock ‘n’ soul and turntable lab where astute buyers reign. frequently, friends such as tamara and ken will steer me in the right direction. but with my sedentary lifestyle these days, more often then not, it’s the music blogs.

of course, each blog has a specific sensibility and i enjoy each of those linked to the right for a different reason. some i visit for the sheer volume of new releases while others i dig for the history lessons, then there are those i check because of the mix and the occasional surprises. taken together, they help keep me in the loop and happy. more important, in these days of constant publicity static, these blogs are like the strainer i use when i make cream-of-anything soup - they filter out shit.

below are songs i’ve been bangin’ for a while, all came from sources other than blogs and are a token of thanks to my blogging comrades. bobby sheen’s “dr. love” (single, capitol records) didn’t get much play when it was originally released in 1966, but is now considered a northern soul classic and was re-issued on compilations by uk’s charley records more than two decades ago. weather report’s “barbary coast” has always been one of my favorite tracks. released in 1976 on the “black market” album (columbia), it marked the official arrival of the special musical chemistry of the leading trio of jaco pastorius, wayne shorter and joe zawinul. ahead of the times, i'm still mesmerized by the complex funky interplay between jaco’s agile basslines and zawinul’s electronic gurgles. london’s new sector movement is a bright spot on the nebulous and transient broken beat scene. while some have critiqued their second album “turn it up” (2004, emi) which includes the sinewy “sho you right” as a betrayal of the programmed polyrhythmic electronic sound that characterized the subgenre, i found its twisted take on the r&b form both original and refreshing. oaktown local hero e-40 can always be counted on to dazzle with his slang-powered rhymes and stylish delivery. matched by an low-hangin' asphalt-level production, “gasoline” is one of the highlights from the 2003 “breakin’ news” album (jive) and always reminds me of those aimless late nights crusin’ east 14th street.

Posted by cellpharmer at March 3, 2005 07:34 AM