Coppé of Mango and Sweet Rice records played in January at The Next Movement at Next Door in Honolulu. It was wonderful to catch her live again, only the second time I’ve seen her in Honolulu. A former island resident, Coppé passes through on occasion, though clearly(?!) not nearly often enough.
To my ears, much of what Coppé does has a trippy underwater electronic hallucinatory feel to it, but she’s prolific and collaborates often, so no single description (no matter how packed with adjectives) does her music justice. That night at Next Door, for example, it was her glitchy, part-Japanese take on the jazz-pop standard “Fly Me to the Moon” that had me swooning.
In this clip she talks about her performance, new album, influences and being well-received in Europe. The video (and the interviewer!* ugh) are not the greatest but… well, whatever… Coppe’s spark still shines.
As I’m loading this on youtube, I see that Dark has uploaded some videos he did for her songs and I’m reminded that he was supposed to do visuals for her show. For whatever reason, his work didn’t make it on to the screen that night. It’s too bad, they would have added a lot.
Dark’s videos to two of Coppé’s song are included below.
This is my favorite political propaganda, ever. It brought a tear to my eye the first two four times I watched it.
I wanted to post this on QuadMag, but we are having a serious database problem over there that has crippled the site. Booo. But there was an impassioned supporter of Ron Paul in the forums, to whom I would like to say: for all his ideas and genuine system-shaking-up, Ron Paul could never be as cool as Barack Obama. I think this video proves that hehe.
Apparently there is some background on the video at dipdive.com, but their servers seem to be overwhelmed right now. Text of the speech/lyrics follows.
Updated the list of articles to include the October/November issue of HI Luxury magazine, which has a piece by yours truly called “Get Up & Get Down: Happy hour and more at the Hanohano Room.”
This magazine impresses me more and more with each issue. Unfortunately the band was not correctly identified in the caption; Maria Ramos and Deshannon Higa of grOOve.imProV.arTiSts are decidedly not Son Caribe(!). I’ll have to try to make that up to them. The photos again are by Chris McDonough, and those are my unmanicured fingers holding the electric blue cocktail on the main page.
Why are there so many ways to make a simple, hard-boiled egg? Ice baths and timers, are they really necessary? Then when I find the perfect recipe, why do I tell it to my sis wrong, when she’s just trying to eat?
And why did my guestbook, attract so much comment spam? Every day a dozen messages about sex fetishes and drugs, when all I wanted was a place for fam to show me love. (I had to kill it.)
I’m not sure if singing about these minor irritations would really make me feel better, but apparently some folks in Finland feel it does.
Another clever Finnish invention: complaints choirs. Anyone who wants to can join the choir and submit complaints. Then the gripes are set to music and performed for fellow citizens and videotaped to post on the internet. [Source]
Here is the Helsinki Complaints Choir in action.
Apparently the concept is catching on in some other parts of the world, but the complaints of the Finns are just hilarious to me, especially the ones about public saunas and why our ancestors didn’t chose a sunnier part of the world in which to settle.
Thanks to my wonderful sister for listening to all my complaints, and not being mad even tho I made her mess up half a dozen eggs. :~j
Unlike iTunes, the Amazon mp3 downloads are DRM-free, so you can burn, copy and save to your heart’s content. You do need to install a small bit of software, but it’s a painless, 1-minute process. Then the program manages and organizes your downloads and imports them into iTunes or Windows Media Player, automatically. Very slick.
I don’t think the library is that huge yet, but I will shop there again. Besides the ease, I am really pleased to support Manu Chao.
This was the first video off the album, “Rainin’ in Paradize.”
If you recall, Radio Free Hawaii was conceptualized and piloted by Sheriff Norm. Below is some classic audio of Sheriff Norm calmly ranting about the corrupting influences of television and superiority of radio as a broadcast medium. Then he smashes his television set with a sledgehammer, in the studio. Because that is the kind of man Sheriff Norm is.
Considering it is over 10 years old, the battered cassette tape this came from is lucky to be alive! Quality is poor, there is Hawaiian music running underneath and all kinds of strange distortions and static, but that just gives it a way-back feeling. Hope you enjoy?!
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This bit of violence against consumer goods was recorded from a rebroadcast on the late-night talk show of the inimitable Mad Mohammad, a popular and controversial dj. The topic that evening was violence on television and “do you agree with Sheriff Norm’s decision to sledgehammer his tv?”
Because he cares about the kids, Mohammad also offers some helpful safety tips for listeners who might decide to sledgehammer their own television.
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These snippets came from cassette recordings by Shawn Speedy Lopes, former production director at Radio Free Hawaii and current owner of Stylus Music and Clothing Exchange.
