It's that time of the week - the day we look at the hawtness that is the HOT BASTAGE OF THE WEEK.
This week's specimen of hawtness has played James Dean, starred in one of the best and insanely cancelled shows of recent memory (Freaks & Geeks) and is also in Milk. It's James Franco in all of his gloriousness.
It's Thursday so it's time to look at a few of my favorite things this week:
First, is one of the only reality shows I watch. No, we're not back to So You Think You Can Dance, instead it's that fierceness known as Ru Paul and her Drag Race show - where she tries to find the newest and baddest drag queen. I love this show and they do great challenges and they're not too bitchy, but bitchy enough to be entertaining and in last week's final moments, Miss Ongina won and freaked out, bawling and crying like a woman down to her last Mac compact only to reveal why she was so crazed. It made me blubber. If you don't have Logo - don't fear, you can watch it all online at the website! Watch the latest episode!
For Christmas, I bought my sister the same webcam that the Leivas bought me LOGITECH QUICKCAM PRO 9000. Not only did it provide me with the first Swivek video 'Flirt' but it actually helps me hang with my homies back home. For Christmas, my sister and I set our cameras up and the Leivas and I were able to have Christmas with my sister, brother in law, nephew and my mommy all via webcam. We got to open presents, drink wine and laugh and laugh. Last night, my sister and I hooked them up again so I could witness the hilarious genius that is my nephew Evan. Plus this camera has all kinds of options and a crystal clear picture. It's one of the best purchases I've ever recieved as a gift.
Speaking of nephews, my best high school pal Melsie has a son who is going to be a video genius. My godson and 'nephew' by default Zion and his pals are always coming up with clever little mini movies. In fact I'm going to have him do a Swivek video very very soon. Anyway, his film troupe FINAL KINGDOM13 have their own You Tube webpage. check them out here. And here's one for your immediate pleasure:
I've had a number of requests on some of our past Bubbatunes that seemed to have expired or been downloaded too many times to still have a current link, so this week on BubbaTUNESday here are some of our popular titles - RELOADED. Get them while you can.
I never meant to take two weeks off from blogging but what can I say? Life came swooping in and made me its bitch for the last few weeks. First and most exciting was the fact my little brother came into town ... completely unannounced and with just a little phone message saying, "Hey it's your brother I'm at LAX" and for the next few days I played host to my little brother, who had never been to California, or even on a big jet airplane before... so that was actually pretty exciting.
Then the following week, I, the person who never ever gets ill, got a cold. I'm still recovering from the sucker, and of course now the Leivas has it as well.. but I am here to say I'm back and will be here all week - thank you, thank you.
I will also be getting back to all those emails I've recieved from all of you my adoring fan (s)?? and there will be some new uploads tomorrow.. until then enjoy this random pic of my brother on Hollywood Boulevard with his new girlfriend...
This week has me reminiscing all about the late great eras gone by, and this brings us to this week's list of my favorite things.
I got a belated Christmas box from my second family this week and inside was one of my favorite things - my Mama Jean made me banana bread. I love her cooking and I love her banana bread.... and so does Leivas who has been having a piece of bread with his breakfast every morning.
Knee socks - these things were what every one wore in the 70's and early 80's and I can't help but loving the look of them with shorts. I am quite surprised I got through gym class without passing out if this look is so sexy to me... perhaps I'm just a tad touched but I can tell you I'm stopping at American Apparel and buying myself some.
and then there's little hilarious little website called http://www.cracked.com/ which runs down list after list of such great things as the commercials they don't want you to see, the 13 real life soldiers who make Rambo look like a pussy and the worst album covers of all time. It's great and addicting and once I go there, I'm looking through old list after list after list.
So those are my favorite things this week - what are some of yours?
When I was a wee one we would go to High Roller in Wausau to get our skate on. The teen/kid night was Wednesdays and we would go and eat pizza, roller boogie to the latest 80's hits, roll the big fuzzie dice and live like we were the coolest roller mama and daddies around. For years, I've been wanting to go skating again, well kiddies, one of my all time big dreams came true last night. That's right I went roller skating. It was like 1982 all over again. A pal of mine had a birthday to do in Glendale at the roller rama over in that neck of the woods.
It was so frickin' exciting - even the Leivas was there strapping up his laces and hitting the floor. Plus not only did they play cool new tunes, they reached into that bag of goodies known as the 80's and played some gems I so hoped they would play.
Now there was one big disappointment in the night - all night I kept secretly hoping they would play Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll" as that is one song I so remember roller skating to when I was a kid. Well as the night winded down, the Leivas was getting tired so I took off my skates and put them back and two songs later was the last song of the night - guess what is what - that's right those frickers played "I Love Rock & Roll" and my skates were already being deodorized for the next night's roller daddies. Ugh!
But regardless, it still had a great 80's vibe - including a bunch of boiz wearing what was going to be my outfit, maybe next time and oh yes there will be a next time. Did I also mention that Wednesday is GAY NIGHT at this roller rink? I know, huh.
Incidentally, I did not fall once and have no blisters to speak of (or to not speak of... so that means next time I'm out there in the middle doing flips and roller boogieing. Oh yeah.
BubbaTUNESday - bub134 Kim Wilde - Catch As Catch Can
Today we have our third and final collection by Kim Wilde. During her tenure at RAK Records in the early 80's Kim created some pretty brilliant new wave rock and her first two albums; Kim Wilde and Select were hugely successful overseas but for some reason her single "Child Come Away" that followed Select didn't do very well and she opted to not even include it on her next album. That next album is actually what we're to be looking and listening to today..
bub134 KIM WILDE - CATCH AS CATCH CAN (December 16, 2008) Original Release: 1983
At the time of its release, I think Catch As Catch Can made some people think Kim Wilde was being some kind of syth crazed girl, but it really isn't all that far off from her first two albums though it is most certainly touching on those 80's romantic synth band sound that was emerging - which makes you think this would be a hit record right? Well you're wrong. The album didn't do well at all and wasn't even released world wide. In fact other than a rare Japan issue, there has only been one release of the album on CD - in 1995 as part of a 3 CD set with the first two albums.
Personally, this was a very exciting album for me to find because it is so rare. In fact I hadn't heard a lot of these songs until I finally got a hold of this gem.
The album opens up with the fast paced yet moody "House Of Salome" with a full on sax background and the tale of a very intense woman, it's 80's all over it, before breaking into a jaunty little number "Back Street Joe" that has some of the coolest little synth beats going through it. Plus it's one of those 'all those years ago' type of lyric that I like. Then we move onto the moody balladry of "Stay Awhile" which could have fit on the other albums if it weren't for those drum machines that give it that oh so 1983 feel. It proves once again that Kim can really carry a pouty little stance in her ballads. I love her.
The album's highlight and only real hit was the single "Love Blonde" released a few months before the album. It is one of THE best Kim Wilde singles ever released. Kind of a rip at all those who felt she was just an airhead blonde. Instead she is a vixen who can make you feel like putty in her hands. Though it's sung in the third person you get the impression she knows exactly who the love blonde is. I love it, and with what can only be described as a swagger type of backbeat, it was a deserved hit.
Then it's onto more moodiness, with the best of the ballads found in "Dream Sequence" - with lyrics that seem to imply the heroine is some kind of celebrity but really just lost in her dreams. It's a great song and has that complete blasse reading, mixed with a bunch of strange ethereal noises, a big church organ and you hear all of that early 80's glory mystery in it.
The second single wasn't as successful and in fact to this day Kim doesn't have much to say about it other than it not being a very good song. I have to disagree with her, though. "Dancing In The Dark" was co-written by Nicky Chinn and produced by Nile Rodgers. It's a little dancy ditty than has some good moments. Though I guess hearing it along with all these moody moments that make up Catch As Catch Can, it does kind of stand out - but that's not a bad thing I don't think.
"Shoot To Disable" throws a little more fire into the mix with a bit of a rock and roll flavor to it. In fact the song was the original title track to the album until it was switched - the Catch title comes from a Lou Reed song not on this album. Then we break into "Can You Hear It" which is a bit more poppy in presentation and has some great lines, "Yes somehow you'll find what you've been missing/ there was more to life/ than visions we had dreamed about/ can you hear it? / can you hear me calling you?/can you hear it calling you? It's your freedom" It's pretty includes a Spanish styled guitar (years before Madge brought it into the fold) and happened to have been the B-side to the "Love Blonde" single.
"Sparks" livens up the set a bit with a jaunty little bass line and some cool synth keyboard action with a bit of an anthem about not giving up. It's a catchy little ditty that reminds me of earlier Kim gems.
The original album ends with another ballad typed song, "Sing It Out For Love" which actually takes a whole different direction than all the songs that preceeded it. Wroking in some guitar it comes off completely different sound almost reminisent of Olivia Newton-John circa 1976. And to me that's a damn good thing. The bridge is great and has some of Kim's best singing. Very simple yet very poignant.
Here at Bubbatunes, we weren't satisfied with just the 10 rare gems found here, so we added three bonus tracks. The first is a fun little rocking jaunt full of "oh oh oh's" - it's "Back Street Driver" which was the b-side to the "Dancing In The Dark" single. Oh and it happens to have an organ solo and that shizz gets me everytime!
Then we have the 12" versions of the two singles - "Love Blonde" and "Dancing In The Dark". Of course "Love Blonde" being the superior song in its original form is also the true winner of the two in the 12" version. In fact, it's one of my favorite of the remixes in Kim's output.
All in all, Catch As Catch Can is a different take on the romance/new wave sound of her first two albums but it's not so completely different that the album needed to be ignored.
KIM WILDE - CATCH AS CATCH CAN (bub134) Track List: 01. House Of Salome 02. Back Street Joe 03. Stay Awhile 04. Love Blonde 05. Dream Sequence 06. Dancing In The Dark 07. Shoot To Disable 08. Can You Hear It 09. Sparks 10. Sing It Out For Love Bonus Tracks: 11. Back Street Driver 12. Love Blonde (12" Remix) 13. Dancing In The Dark (12" Remix)
Last night I started reading Adrienne Barbeau's autobiography There Are Worse Things I Could Do. It's only taken about 6 months to finally pull it off my shelf but so far it's a pretty fascinating read. She starred on Broadway in Fiddler On The Roof with Bette Midler and her big first love was a gay choreographer.. and she may have been one of the very first go go girls ever. Pluse she's kind of a sassy hoot. After this it's on to her work of fiction - a story of a 500 year old vampire who runs a horror film studio in Hollywood... should be good. Until then, here's a pic of me and Miss B at the West Hollywood Book Fair.
Location: West Hollywood, California, United States
SHORT VERSION: Bradley Jacobson is a singer/songwriter, sometime actor, sometime writer, audio engineer and producer, and all around happy dude. He was the singer/songwriter of the electronic trashy punky pop band Swivek, but is now a "solo" artist releasing music under his own name.
It's that time of the week - the day we look at the hawtness that is the HOT BASTAGE OF THE WEEK.
First, is one of the only reality shows I watch. No, we're not back to So You Think You Can Dance, instead it's that fierceness known as Ru Paul and her Drag Race show - where she tries to find the newest and baddest drag queen. I love this show and they do great challenges and they're not too bitchy, but bitchy enough to be entertaining and in last week's final moments, Miss Ongina won and freaked out, bawling and crying like a woman down to her last Mac compact only to reveal why she was so crazed. It made me blubber. If you don't have Logo - don't fear, you can watch it all online at the website! Watch the latest episode!
For Christmas, I bought my sister the same webcam that the Leivas bought me LOGITECH QUICKCAM PRO 9000. Not only did it provide me with the first Swivek video 'Flirt' but it actually helps me hang with my homies back home. For Christmas, my sister and I set our cameras up and the Leivas and I were able to have Christmas with my sister, brother in law, nephew and my mommy all via webcam. We got to open presents, drink wine and laugh and laugh. Last night, my sister and I hooked them up again so I could witness the hilarious genius that is my nephew Evan. Plus this camera has all kinds of options and a crystal clear picture. It's one of the best purchases I've ever recieved as a gift.
I got a belated Christmas box from my second family this week and inside was one of my favorite things - my Mama Jean made me banana bread. I love her cooking and I love her banana bread.... and so does Leivas who has been having a piece of bread with his breakfast every morning.
Knee socks - these things were what every one wore in the 70's and early 80's and I can't help but loving the look of them with shorts. I am quite surprised I got through gym class without passing out if this look is so sexy to me... perhaps I'm just a tad touched but I can tell you I'm stopping at American Apparel and buying myself some.
It was so frickin' exciting - even the Leivas was there strapping up his laces and hitting the floor. Plus not only did they play cool new tunes, they reached into that bag of goodies known as the 80's and played some gems I so hoped they would play.
bub134 KIM WILDE - CATCH AS CATCH CAN
Last night I started reading Adrienne Barbeau's autobiography There Are Worse Things I Could Do. It's only taken about 6 months to finally pull it off my shelf but so far it's a pretty fascinating read. She starred on Broadway in Fiddler On The Roof with Bette Midler and her big first love was a gay choreographer.. and she may have been one of the very first go go girls ever. Pluse she's kind of a sassy hoot. After this it's on to her work of fiction - a story of a 500 year old vampire who runs a horror film studio in Hollywood... should be good. Until then, here's a pic of me and Miss B at the West Hollywood Book Fair.
