Last week I stumbled across a rather catchy remix of Nobody’s Diary by Yazoo on my musical travels. The hook of the song was criminally missing, but as soon as the vocal kicked in I was reminded just how dear that song used to be to me. This led to a bit of a revival of Yazoo hits for me and yesterday a friend I met very recently called to inform me that he had an extra ticket to the Yazoo show at the Orpheum Theatre downtown. Coincidence? Who cares?! Cut to me ditching work early on a production day so I could see two people perform that recorded their last album in separate rooms so they didn’t have to see each other.
When you only have two albums under your belt a ninety minute concert pretty much guarantees play of your entire catalog; especially when it runs to two hours. There were several moments when I literally did not know what to do with myself. I couldn’t scream loud enough or dance hard enough to justify the experience of hearing this music performed live after twenty years of unabashed worship on dancefloors the world over. This was the ideal concert experience for me. There were no tourists. Every person there sang along and acted as though they were holding court in their private shrine at home. It was terrific.
Afterward I visited a few fan sites and found samples of the remixes that were whipped up to commemorate this reunion tour. For your listening pleasure I clumsily assembled the clip below that features the original version of Nobody’s Diary mixed into the new Koishii & Hush Remix that finally elevates this song to the anthem status it so richly deserves. Enjoy!
I’m kidding, of course. We are DREADING pride for many reasons not limited to unbearable bad behavior let loose on the streets; the non-stop bump of dull, soulless dance music at all hours; rainbow EVERYTHING; no parking – anywhere; urban legends of finding parking somewhere; admission fees that used to be donations that have gone up nine billionty percent in the past five years; layers of trash baking in the sun (and the litter they leave behind); ten minutes in the drinks ticket line, ten minutes in the drinks line only to find out there’s nothing good to drink and bloody ever!
OK. It’s not really that bad. But if your attitude is in the shitter beforehand you can only be pleasantly surprised – right? Well, that may be stretching it a wee bit.
Johnny and I will be out on Saturday afternoon soaking up rays and grinding our teeth to the beat at the Channel 1 booth. Well, he will anyway. Until then, enjoy the new version of the Deeper Into You video that only took two years to finish.
Today the Solar City Remix of Deeper Into You was made available to the world on iTunes. Recently Boy Wonder wrapped up the re-edit of the video for the original version, but hasn’t yet taken the time to do anything with it. *hint* Members of Hazzard Central will be the first to get a peek and then Hazzard Ahead readers will get a chance a week or so later. Don’t get too excited – this version isn’t all that different from the original we featured here nearly TWO YEARS AGO. Ahem.
At some point we plan to make another video for the remix. Based on our past performance I hesitate to make an estimations or promises on that project. Just know that we have thought about it and might even act on those thoughts at some point. In the meantime, have another look at this video we shot when Chi Chi played this remix at the 2007 White Party in Palm Springs.
Johnny and I were hanging out today and he decided without prompting to check the blog to see how long it had been since an we had an update. Realize that this is normally a function that falls flatly on me because I am the one on the front lines of operations and whatnot. Well, we were both equally shocked to discover that nearly a month had transpired without a peep, which is an all-time record here at Hazzard Ahead. Even though we have numerous entries in progress I thought I would cough up something in the interim to remind our dear readers that we do indeed still exist and give a crap.
The subject of this impromptu entry is a rather stunning musical discovery I made this very afternoon. On my way home from brunch the song Love by Delerium came on my car stereo and I was reminded of what a crap copy it was. Determined to remedy that travesty I ignored other pressing engagements at home in order to procure a quality copy from iTunes. During the course of that procedure I became aware of another track featuring the unearthly vocal stylings of Zoe Johnston coupled with the ever dreamy production of Above and Beyond. So sit back, relax and brace yourself for the heavenly embrace of Good For Me. Upon this discovery I called Johnny and demanded that he download it and listen while I was on the line so I could experience his reaction first hand. To the casual eavesdropper it may have sounded like we were having phone sex. In our way, we were.
A few weeks ago I decided to rent Clatterford from Netflix. Since I love Jennifer Saunders I figured it was time to check out her newest project. After watching the first three episodes I was charmed. A dramatic departure from Ab Fab, Clatterford is dignified and endearing in a very “everyday” sort of way. Humor still abounds, but there is really good drama as well and I was surprised at the maturity and depth of the writing.
Then the second disc arrived this weekend. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I wasn’t all that keen on popping it in the player. I mean, I enjoyed the first three episodes quite a bit; however, the cadence of the show is not exactly Friday night material. Oh how wrong I was! Knowing the characters and the relationships I was adequately equipped to immerse myself in the story and it was amazing.
The character played by Dawn French annoyed me at first because I thought her sole purpose was to be ridiculous and insulting to people with mental disabilities. I could not have been more wrong! Now I worship the courage and resilience of her character and I can hardly wait to catch series two.
When I was through with the last episode I decided to check out the extra features on the DVD. Hello?! BONUS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!! It was so wonderful I just didn’t want it to end. Then as the camera pulled back to roll credits the music started. It wasn’t the theme to the show (although that is wonderful, too) but it was the same singer and I was put into a trance by the haunting, lonely vocal and music drenched in wistful longing. I can’t stop listening to this song.
