Raúl Di Blasio - Santa Fe

Santa Fe from the album Barroco. I've been trying to determine if he or Ottmar Liebert wrote this track and it seems Ottmar Liebert did and published it on the Nouveau Flamenco album of 1990. This is the more sweeping, Barry White-like version.

Diamonds are forever...

Dammit. I posted this to the wrong blog but am too lazy to remove it from there. So here I go again. Another night when I'd highly appreciate some glamour around instead of the daily chores..

February blues

With another Valentine's Day upon us, which is supposed to be a happy occassion, and depressed as I felt today, I found it appropriate to check out the 30 greatest, gayest videos of all time as listed by Out magazine. Of that list, I'm not familiar with all, but the following have always, and still do, tickle my fancy:

29. Dead or Alive, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” (1985)
"Classic in all its ugliness". Ugly? Those were Pete's best years. I just wish his lip surgery didn't go as wrong as it did. Although his new personas are just as engaging - if not more - as the one he bagan with.

22. Bronski Beat, “Smalltown Boy” (1984)
"A heartbreaker". Jimmy Sommerville had the most amazing voice, loved to hear him sing.

21. Deee-Lite, “Groove Is in the Heart” (1990)
"A loopy, tranced-out masterpiece." This was sublime and no song ever came close, musically or visually. And won't, either.

20. The B-52’s, “Love Shack” (1989) "Yes, that afroed beauty going into orgasmic convulsions is a pre-“Supermodel” RuPaul". One screaming (David Byrne-influenced?) heck of a party that was.

19. Erasure, “Take a Chance on Me” (1992)
"Andy Bell and Vince Clarke make the shabbiest drag queens ever." They're so cute !!! And the song - what can I say - immortal.

16. Right Said Fred, “I’m Too Sexy” (1992)
This makes me giggly and happy quite instantly. The meshed muscle, the bald heads, the seductive smiles are just as good as the lyrics. A blast.

14. Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” (1983)
Annie Lennox looked so stunning in this video I almost couldn't watch but never had enough. I absolutely adored her looks, act, voice.

9. Village People, “Y.M.C.A.” (1978)
"Pure vintage NYC" in a nutshell. Why oh why do I keep browsing forgotten NY and other such blogs. Bringing back memories and dreams, old and new, of people whose hearts I touched, places whose soul held me still, lives lived with passion.

6. Marc Almond, “Ruby Red” (1986)
"Flaming". Well, this one I didn't know. But definitely, "They just don’t make queens like Marc anymore." While not many of his own songs are remembered, Marc had a striking persona, lots of visual appeal and quite a powerful voice. Loved him in duos with Gene Pitney and Jimmy Sommerville.

5. Madonna, “Vogue” (1990)
Now this was one darned hit when it first came out. Love the mustached black? Latino? dancer - in fact all the male dancers are quite gorgeous, the white ones least so - and their flowing shirts towards the end. Beautifully styled.

2. Wham! “Club Tropicana” (1983)
"It’s not just that it’s the campiest song ever or that George looked so hot back then, but that the video really, really tries to make these lads look butch." A-men.

I peeked into the readers' comments and hey, true! They forgot about Geri Halliwell's chico latino! Understandably, Geri looks so much better than any of the guys in this video. I like her soft voice - a perfect holiday song. For hot guys, see Madonna's Don't tell me.

Back to life, back to reality.. Three more working days to go before my long deserved vacation.

Ride on the J train

I didn't expect ever riding the J train again but here I go, thanks to bombonia's video encountered on the gowanus lounge blog. Musically it's a bit of Moby meeting Susanne Vega, and visually, well, I'm not so much into grays but I'm certainly very much into the el.

I Live in Brooklyn from bombonia on Vimeo

By the way, my cats got into the habit of gathering on my computer chair regardless of whether I'm sitting on it or not. The three kittens sleep curled behind my back while I type or click. There's very little space left for me on the edge of that chair if I don't want to squash them..

May Day cold

How come I had so much time to post in the last two days? I caught a cold again. I had three consecutive days off Monday to Wednesday, and, like I usually do, I immediately went to the farm. Unfortunately, on Monday the weather began to change, which was facilitated by a strong northern wind. I worked outside for about six hours and left the farm already with a sore throat, to wake up on Tuesday with a fever. Sheesh. Since it was even colder on Tuesday and Wednesday, I had no choice but to stay at home.

Scenic Boys kept me company for a while and now the 1984 song This is the day by The The is constantly playing in my head. Never heard it back in the day when it was released. Nice vocals there, although I don't particularly care for the video.



The good news is that yesterday we had an actual rain fall, for the first time in weeks. It rained for a couple of hours and this morning the garden looks considerably refreshed. Several irises have even grown an inch or two, and their flowers seem much closer to opening. I hope there will be no frost mid next week, i.e. the last frost date for my climate zone (5 to 6b), because I don't think they'd survive it. I like irises just about as much as I like tulips, so I am keeping my fingers crossed I'll be able to take pictures.

Thx man

One of the now deleted youtube comments on this remix was something like: "What? Ten minutes of this?" Well. I can't help liking it. Also, it's my blog and I can post what I want.

Ladies and gentlemen, the owner of one of the most beautiful smiles in the music industry.

Mon amie la rose

Another oldie. I sometimes watch this video when I feel tense and nostalgic, wishing things were something else than they are. It helps me relax. Natacha Atlas largely contributes by looking sexy in her heavy makeup and revealing dress which suggestively contrast with her restraint.

Something's gotten hold of my heart

Sung with passion. I love this duo. They were a UK #1 single for four weeks in January 1989.

Mad TV - Bon Qui Qui at King Burger

Remembering last summer.

Connected

Land of a thousand words

I hate to say it but I simply can't adjust and view it differently. She's fat.

Found both covers of the song elsewhere. Here they are while they last.

Just no luck with music videos

I can't believe how WMG is sweeping through youtube and other sites. I've just found some other videos gone! With Valentine's Day approaching, I meant to post Abba's Take a chance on me covered either by Abba or Erasure. Both are gone! Erasure's due to a copyright claim, and I damned watched it just two days ago! I hate this, it was a fun clip. "We could go dancing, we could go walking, as long as we're together.." illustrated by two pairs of feet dragging the horribly bulky black shoes. Hilarious. A guaranteed mood lifter. What a shame.

I checked the past video posts on my blog and found gone: U2's cover of Night and day (posted on Christmas), Fleetwood Mac's Tell me lies. Sing by Travis, Bittersweet symphony by the Verve and Waterfalls by TLC are still available.

Another random hit at a youtube video - Seal's Crazy - blocked. "No longer available due to a copyright claim". RIP.



I found this remix using shots from George Michael's Killer. I only like some imagery from his videos, while some other I find pretentious or disturbing. Like teenagers collapsing in bathrooms next to urinals. I thought we had gone through that phase by the 80s.. but apparently not. (Just today, at work, I saw a guy wearing a black leather jacket with the words "No future" splashed in bright red across his entire back. While his hair was a combination of a mullet and the young Barry Gibb, and he also had not shaved for a good couple of days. Long story. LOL.) Overall, the style of this video is somewhat tired by now but the poetry of trains moving through urban wasteland still gets me. As well as the looks of a gentleman at 0:09/0:26, 6:54, and Seal's voice.

Vay Anam Vay

Tarkan, a German born Turk, and Dj_niki, "the voice of Istanbul". The song expresses his amazement how madly he fell in love with a girl.

No sir, no dancing today!

I wanted to watch the old Scissor Sisters video and could no longer find it on youtube. Doesn't that suck? So much stuff has been taken off. There were several oldies by Amanda Lear, including a great ten minute long remix of Follow me by a guy from the Netherlands, the German TV Kultnacht performance of The Queen of Chinatown featuring the white split pants, and Fever with two dancing sailors (both shorter than Amanda), and they are all gone, along with their owners' accounts. Those people really had some cool videos there. Today I even got the message "This video is not available in your country". What the heck? Are they annoying people on purpose? Wouldn't it be nice to include a short explanation with that? It nearly gave me a heart attack, and I was not alone, from what I've read upon googling. Really. Download those videos as soon as you see them because the best ones won't last.

In an attempt to find my favorite clips I discovered this remix of The Queen of Chinatown ("embedding disabled by request", sigh.. Apparently, there is a way to bypass this but I keep getting an error message regarding my tags so I give up.) Some of the white pants are visible and check out those legs (I've had a weakness for Miss Lear since I was a teen.) I want those clips back!

Otherwise, I don't know if it's the time of the day or my browser but youtube loads the pages so slowly that they are practically impossible to view. And now I hate myself for spending way too much time first trying and then blogging about it..

Dave in a Berber coat

Here's one of my favorite moments on the Hairy Bikers show: Dave Myers sporting a Berber coat in Quarzazate.

I've been feeling quite tense all day today (heck, I have to cut some more wood tomorrow) but he's just made me laugh out loud. The way he shook his backside while covered head to ankles with the coat was hilarious. I can't put my finger on what makes me giggle so much, but it's probably that, unlike Berbers, he's got a very round figure, and also that the very generous hood kept covering his eyes.

He basically looked like an oversized garden gnome but insisted on wearing the coat throughout much of the episode.

I love their humor.

Here's some of the coat act on youtube (note 6:18-6:20). It looks even better on a large TV screen.

Night and day

Scenic Boys have just published their own video guide to Seattle, in which they also revealed some personal details people were asking about. That's something new after all the national park videos - which I really liked, by the way - and now I am even more curious about the stories that will follow. I usually also enjoy their background music quite a bit.

For the love you bring won't mean a thing...

Some over the top cream spurting to holiday bells ringing for your ennui and mine (2001).