Venus on the Spike Heel, Rest in Peace
Rest in peace, Bettie Page.
The queen of the pin-ups is dead. She was 85. Last week, the Fifties-era model suffered a heart attack and never recovered.
Whether she was wearing a skimpy bikini or — better yet — nothing at all, Bettie Page could seduce a camera lens like no one before her or since. More than 50 years after she fled the glare of the limelight, her image continues to hold a powerful fascination in the world of popular culture.
There’s a reason for such immortality. Unlike her far better-known contemporary from the Fifties, Marilyn Monroe, the sex appeal of Bettie Page is untarnished by unsettling shades of darkness and ambivalence. Take a gander at some of Bettie’s more celebrated photos of that era, particularly those shot by Bunny Yeager, and you’ll find not a trace of melancholy or intimidation. With her razor-sharp black bangs and 1,000-watt smile, Bettie Page imbued sex with a hot-blooded, irresistible playfulness. She was naughty and nice — simultaneously.
She was “Venus on the spike heel,” according to sci-fi writer and Bettie Page enthusiast Harlan Ellison, who described her thusly: “She is lust in an ice cream cone (two scoops), enthusiasm in the whisper of nylon, post-pubescent rambunctiousness in the back seat of a Studebaker Commander.”
Dang. That kind of prose isn’t inspired by just anybody.
On the cusp of the sexual revolution, Bettie Page’s pin-ups pointed to sex as (who woulda thunk it?) fun. Really fun. Even her black-and-white bondage photos from the Fifties, the kind that was sold behind the counter of Times Square smut shops and raised the ire of a publicity-seeking U.S. senator from Tennessee, were essentially just high camp.
Bettie’s natural affability radiated through the camera lens; even the most sweaty-palmed miscreant knew that the brunette beauty, using a hairbrush to smack the rump of another gal, saw it as a kooky but harmless game.
Bettie Page’s free-spirited image in the cheesecake magazines of the time did not reflect the reality of her life, of course. In the Nineties, biographers peeled away some of the mysteries of her past.
It wasn’t pretty. Victimized in her early years and suffering acute schizophrenia after she disappeared from the public view, Bettie Page turned out to be just as troubled as Marilyn.
She just didn’t show it.
Bettie Page was a recluse in her later years. She declined most media interview requests, determined that her legions of admirers would know her only as the bubbly young beauty from yesteryear.
”I don’t want to be photographed in my old age,” she said. “I feel the same way with old movie stars. … We want to remember them when they were young. It makes me sad.”
And if there’s one thing Bettie Page did not abide, it was sadness.
That’s how she wanted to be remembered, and that’s how I’ll remember her.
– Chase
Either/Or, Episode 11: Election Day
In Either/Or, we take two people in similar pursuits, and you choose between them. It can be based on any criteria: professional ability, personality, intellectual prowess, physical pulchritude, or who you’d want backing you up in a knife fight. It really doesn’t matter: just choose Either/Or.
Either Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)…
Or Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Truthiness Will Tell
Mark Twain once quipped (he was nothing if not a skilled quipper) that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes. This year’s presidential election sure seems to be proving that adage.
A recent Washington Post survey found that 51 percent of respondents believe Barack Obama would raise taxes — despite the fact his tax plan exempts Americans who earn less than $250,000 annually (which I bet — call me crazy — includes most of us).
Then there’s the bizarre but brilliantly insidious fact that McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, continues insisting on the campaign trail that she scrapped the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere.” Her claim has already been widely discredited – Palin supported the pork barrel project and only changed tune after it had become a national laughingstock (Alaska kept the $220 million-plus it had received from the feds for it) — but that hasn’t impacted her stump speech.
Similarly, both McCain and Palin continue to crow that the governor sold the state’s “luxury” airplane on eBay and made a profit. Well, it’s sorta true — in the sense that the plane didn’t sell on eBay and ultimately was sold at a loss.
It all leads me back to the incontrovertible fact that Stephen Colbert, of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report” is a bona fide genius and perhaps the most insightful social commentator of his generation.
His introduction of the word “truthiness” in 2005 seemed like clever writing at the time, but it was prescient in a way that makes Nostradamus look like a poor man’s Jimmy the Greek.
– Chase
Goodbye to You
Well, it’s been fun.
Next week will mark the return of your regularly scheduled blogger, the inimitable George Lang. In the meantime, though, thank you, Jorge, for the chance to blog again — and for the chance to gain halcyon memories that will last a lifetime.
See you in the funny papers, gang — and I don’t mean Zig-Zags.
Over and out,
Chase McInerney
Random 10 for July 23, 2007
1. Isobel Campbell, “Willow’s Song.”
2. The Brunettes, “Her Hairagami Set.” The Brunettes’ third album, “Structure & Cosmetics,” will be out shortly for all you members of the twee-house set. Love this New Zealand duo — “Her Hairagami Set” is nice, but the balance of the disc is filled with slightly better gorgeousness. This will be the “Future of Rock ‘n’ Roll” for this week.
3. Dead Kennedys, “I Fought the Law.”
4. Lavender Diamond, “Dance Until It’s Tomorrow.”
5. Ween, “Freedom of ‘76.” A white soul classic from “Chocolate and Cheese,” featuring Gener’s flawless falsetto. The video looks like an expensive Steven Bochco production — yes, those were the days when Elektra still had governing principles and actually promoted their bands.
6. Lindsey Buckingham, “It Was You.”
7. Rogue Wave, “10:1.”
8. Peter Bjorn and John, “Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard.”
9. Mark Ronson featuring Lily Allen, “Oh My God.” Lily gets her Jessica Rabbit on during this Kaiser Chiefs cover.
10. The Rosebuds, “Get Up Get Out.”
“I’m Not There”: Cate Blanchett as Zimmerman
Check this leaked clip of not only Cate Blanchett as mid-’60s-period Bob Dylan, but David Cross as Alan Ginsberg.
Sly Stone in Amsterdam on Sunday
Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for herbal disaster, right? Well, ladies and gentlemen, IT’S ALIVE!
Random 10 for July 13, 2007
1. Pink Floyd, “Arnold Layne.” Last night, at the home of a Staticblog reader, we were discussing the relative merits of a Pink Floyd reunion, and our host, Kev, said that it isn’t truly necessary: Roger Waters had all the bases covered when he saw him in Vegas recently. Even had a David Gilmour soundalike. Of course, a true reunion is impossible now, no matter how relations between the Waters/Gilmour camps sour or improve. This video shows the late Syd Barrett in all his pre-meltdown glory.
2. Patrick Watson, “Luscious Life.”
3. Wilco, “Impossible Germany.”
4. Kings of Leon, “On Call.” The Followill boys slicked it up on “Because of the Times,” dispensed with some of their “Strokes on Capricorn Records/Allman Brothers at CBGB” vibe and aimed for the arenas. I don’t mind it when it’s done right, and they did it.
5. A Band of Bees, “Listening Man.”
6. Thee Hydrogen Terrors, “Sissy Bar.”
7. LCD Soundsystem, “Watch the Tapes.”
8. Barenaked Ladies, “Fight the Power.”
9. Dizzee Rascal, “Fix Up, Look Sharp.” This samples a semi-obscure piece of strutting monster truck blather from 1980 called “The Big Beat” by Billy Squier. Oddly enough, “The Big Beat” supplied many of the early Queens rappers with their backing tracks when they were still plugging into streetlights. But for anyone to use it in this day and age took guts, and ends up being both catchy and stupid/funny.
10. The Flaming Lips, “It Overtakes Me/The Stars Are So Big, I Am So Small… Do I Stand a Chance?”
“Boyfriend v. Girlfriend”
Wah.
On July 2, Tommy Dunbar, the former guitarist for the ’70s Bay Area power-pop band The Rubinoos, filed a lawsuit against Avril Lavigne in federal district court. Dunbar’s lawsuit alleges that Lavigne’s recent hit, “Girlfriend,” bears legally actionable similarity to the Rubinoos’ 1978 song, “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” Whether it meets standards for plagiarism is completely up for grabs, since the courts have affirmed cases that were far less airtight than “‘Boyfriend v. ‘Girlfriend.’”
Just to do a side-by-side comparison, I created a “‘Boyfriend v. ‘Girlfriend’” playlist in iTunes, copied the songs several times and played these two annoying and annoyingly similar tracks until I craved the sweet relief of a hard-drive failure. I am not a copyright lawyer, but I would play one on TV if given the opportunity. Plus, I’ve been obsessed with pop plagiarism since the case of “Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music,” which determined that George Harrison had subconsciously lifted the melody to “My Sweet Lord” from The Chiffons’ “He’s So Fine.”
I also personally enjoyed it when Huey Lewis raked Ray Parker Jr. over the coals for his appropriation of “I Want a New Drug” for the “Ghostbusters” theme. Given how irredeemably lame both songs are, it is hard to see how anybody really wins in that case. It is one thing to steal something brilliant, but co-opting “I Want a New Drug” for “Ghostbusters” is a little like trading in a Ford Pinto to buy an AMC Pacer.
So, I listened, then I listened some more before slamming the headphones on my desk and reaching the following conclusion: On its face, the only prominent similarity in “‘Boyfriend v. ‘Girlfriend’” comes during the choruses for the two songs. Rubinoos singer Jon Rubin sings “Hey (hey) you (you), I wanna be your boyfriend,” while Lavigne sings “Hey (hey) you (you) I don’t like your girlfriend.” They also feature the same handclapping rhythm, but I doubt that any judge would seriously have stadium pep-rally clapping entered into evidence.
Beyond that single repeated line, the melodies bear little similarity. One is a stomping mall-punk anthem, while the other is a power-pop relic that would have sounded great on the “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” sound track. But that one similarity might just be enough.Consider the case of “Three Boys Music v. Michael Bolton,” which is analyzed extensively by Columbia Law School’s Music Plagiarism Project. This was the court battle in which The Isley Brothers brought suit against fake soul provider Michael Bolton for appropriating the Isleys’ “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” for his 1991 hit, “Love Is a Wonderful Thing.”
Columbia Law School features a side-by-side comparison between the two songs. There is a slight similarity in how both titles are sung, but as much as I don’t want to side with Bolton on anything, the tracks’ only commonality comes during the title refrain. Despite this, the Isleys won, and the case was upheld on appeal.It’s entirely possible that Lavigne has never heard The Rubinoos song. Until a few years ago, she professed to have not heard of David Bowie and seemed incapable of pronouncing his name correctly.
On the other hand, her co-writer on “Girlfriend,” Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, spent a decade as the guitarist for the “Saturday Night Live” band. That guy knows rock music, but again, we’re talking about a 30-year-old song released on an independent label by a band that is mildly semifamous for sounding a lot like The Raspberries. But as her Canadian label head told Billboard, artists carry coverage for these kind of things. “Avril has insurance that covers off cq these sort of suits that are so prevalent in this business,” Terry McBride, chief executive officer of Nett-werk Music Group, told the magazine.
In that case, I suppose Lavigne can splurge. Aging power-pop guys should iron their skinny ties for future court dates.
Random 10 for July 6, 2007
1. Marissa Nadler, “Cortez the Killer.”
2. The Postmarks, “Weather the Weather.”
3. The Radio Dept., “The Worst Taste in Music.” A tasteful Scandinavian throwback to dreamy, mid-period New Order circa “Low-Life.” Fans of Stars should download “Pet Grief” immediately or yesterday.
4. Grizzly Bear, “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”
5. Paul Weller, “Wildwood.”
6. A3, “Woke Up This Morning.” I’m one of the few people domestically who actually owns A3’s “Exile on Coldharbour Lane,” and believe it or not, the theme to “The Sopranos” is not a complete lock on being the best song from this band. “Ain’t Goin’ to Goa” (links to someone’s vacation pictures with A3 accompaniment) was a great song about avoiding the neo-hippie tourist destination in India, and was played a lot in the days of the original Spy.
7. Sparks, “Perfume.”
8. The Go! Team, “Junior Kickstart.”
9. Evangelicals, “My Headache.”
10. Santa Maria, “Every Time.” More Swedes, featuring Maria Eriksson of the Concretes, whose vocals are a dead ringer for Sasha Bell of The Essex Green/Ladybug Transistor. Not the same former member of the Concretes featured on Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks” (that was Victoria Bergsman).
