radiopeter

Tina Fey is my hero.

Last night my phone rang at 3:30am. I was dead asleep. It was my mother. As you can imagine, no good can come from a phone call from your parents at 3:30am.

“Peter, what’s going on,” she questioned.
“Huh? I’m at home, sick as a dog,” I replied.
“The police are here and they want to talk to you.”

I nearly dropped my iPhone. The Police? What the f$%k was going on?

“Do you know a Rachel Budd,” asked the cop.
“Rachel who? No, I don’t know anyone with the last name Budd.”
“Hokay, sorry to have bothered you,” he said.

Bothered me? It’s 3:30am, there are cops in my parents house, they woke me and my parents up, and they want to talk to me. That’s far from bothering me. That turning my freakin’ world upside down. Chaos. Entropy. F–k you for apologizing occifer. F–k you.

Apparently some drunken man got out of a cab in front of my parents house, told the cabbie he’d be right back with the money, and disappeared. How the rest of it went down, I’m not sure. But I suspect the cabbie banged on the door to their house or phoned the cops, who in turn decided to wake and torture my parents. At 3:30am.

I’m sure my mother in her infinite wisdom immediately lept to the conclusion that it was me who was trying to skip out on a cab (genius mom, really smart, thanks for that) and some sort of chaotic disorder ensued. The full details are still beyond me because it’s early Sunday morning and I haven’t talked to my folks again since the middle-of-the-night call.

Yes indeed, Mercury, controller of communication and transportation, is truly in retrograde. The New Moon kicked in at 3:15 this morning, exactly when said incident would have been occurring.

Beeleaf in astrolowgee. I haz it.

…I got a rabbit foot in my pocket
A toad frog in my shoe
A crawfish on my shoulder
He lookin’ dead at you
I got dust from a rattlesnake
I got a black spider bone
If that don’t do it baby
You better leave it all alone…

…They call me the voodoo woman
And I know the reason why
Lord if I raise my hands
You know the sky begins to cry…

This past Saturday I grabbed an iGo to head out for my first flying lesson. It was 6am and still fairly dark out. I hit the Power button in the car (it was a Hoda Civic hybrid) and turned the stereo on. Koko Taylor immediately began to wail from the speakers. There was a compilation CD in the player containing her track, Voodoo Woman. It’s a fiery hot Blues jam, as thick as her signature growl. It’s essential Koko: Slim lyrics, a sliding bass line, and full of her deep guttural rumblings on the power notes. It was recorded in 1975, after she signed with Alligator Records, an awesome Chicago Indie Blues label.

Anyway, the cool morning air, the sunrise, and the Blues made it really feel like Fall.

Happy Autumn folks.

These are some of my favorite pictures from my sisters wedding, shot by the fabulous Olivia Leigh. I was very fortunate that she trusted me to do her makeup for the wedding.

Before we arrived in the church, I don’t think I’d ever been more nervous about doing makeup. I know I’m good, but for weeks I’d been planning out her face. Weddings are a one-chance kinda deal. You have to get it right or else.

And then I discovered the dressing room was GREEN and lit with only FLUORESCENT lights during the rehearsal. Green walls and fluorescent lighting aren’t the best lights to paint in, but I made it through.

The goal was to take her outside of her normal makeup style, keep it clean and pretty, and create something that would last 10+ hours. We had a long day ahead of us and I didn’t want to have to worry about fussing with her face. All too often I see heavily creased eyes, thickly blushed cheeks, very red lips, and white-white eyelids that make most brides look too painted. Plus, too much paint requires frequent retouching.

The results were beautiful. One of the best jobs I’ve ever done.

eyes

the powder and paint

“make a fish face!”

eyebrows are mandatory

contouring

the finished product

whoops, the girls need some attention

This is the ride I took with my friend Ed last night. Want to learn more about how I did this? Check out the post on my flying blog, flying in Chicago

Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx, and Patti LaBelle

From time to time a song will strike a chord (pun intended) in my music-geek lower-brain and I obsessively need to hunt down every ounce of information possible about the track. It’s sort of this primal thing in my mind, usually triggered by a chorus of soulful hollerin’ women and lyrics that actually mean something.

Recently that song was Labelle’s cover of Cat Stevens’ Moon Shadow.

See? Hollerin’ women and lyrics that mean something…

I’d purchased a 4-CD compilation called What It Is! Funky Soul And Rare Grooves (1967-1977) and was listening to the entire playlist, casually doing chores around the house given the rainy weekend. Perfect music for the kind of perfectly sated mood the rain tends to evoke. You haven’t scrubbed floors until you’ve scrubbed floors with funky bass lines floating in the air.

I didn’t know the compilation, and I love the era and genre, so I bought it looking for new tunes. The iPod suddenly began to play a track I hadn’t heard. I was on my knees winning the battle against a curious collection of kitchen schmutz under my dishwasher. When the hell I last ate elbow macaroni is beyond me.

Starting with a little piano and a breathy “Yeah…”, a soul shaking crescendo of Gospel harmony began to fill the air. Then the bass and the snappy hi-hats kicked in. The singers weren’t just getting louder, their emphatic shouts of joy were increasing in complexity and range. Someone was hovering dangerously close to a high E. There didn’t seem to be an end in sight. It sounded like I was in church.

On my knees, sponge in hand, with the scent of Ultra Dawn Fresh Escapes Green Apple in the air, I knew instantly that I was going to l o v e this song.

Whatever lofty plans for attacking the undercarriage of the oven I thought I had would soon be dismissed in favor of Googling for music history. What WAS this track? Who WAS that singing? They sounded familiar, but let’s face it, most three-part Gospel harmony sounds similar.

if I ever lose my hands
lose my plough, or lose my land
oh, if I ever lose my hands
oh, if… oh, iiif… Oh If OH IF!
I won’t have to work no more
no more! no No NO MORE!

The first verse sold me even more than the dramatic opening. That’s when I realized that one of the singers was Patti Labelle. I heard the curl of the r’s in her voice. Which meant, much to my excitement, that since this was a ‘67 to ‘77 compilation, I had to be listening to the industry changing, Glam-Rock, Disco-Funk, space-age, outrageously flamboyant girl-group named LaBelle.

I nearly wet myself.

Well actually, I did wet myself. Remember how I said I was cleaning? As I was taking a moment to listen, I’d sat back and rested my hands on my thighs. Unconsciously I began to death-grip the sponge, still in my hands, as my mind raced to place the song and pay attention to the lyrics. My brain was too busy to register that I was also soaking my thigh with crud-under-the-dishwasher sponge-juice.

Thus, LaBelle made me wet my pants.

After donning a fresh pair of shorts, I went into my office and settled down to learn more about the song. I brought up the Cat Stevens’ version on YouTube and nearly vomited. Great lyrics, bad arrangement. Further searches on “Moon Shadow” and LaBelle turned up an incredible site called Wilson & Alroy’s Record Reviews. The tech they bring to music writing is exactly the kind of geeky thing I get excited about. Their page on LaBelle says more than I could bring to this post, so I’ll let them say it.

I don’t necessarily agree with their reviews 100% (maybe 80% so far, which impresses me), but I do like their background notes on producers and temporal music history. For the first time, on their site, I’m reading reviews that are fairly unbiased and have an affinity for talent and creativity, regardless of genre. You’ll see, as you sift through their site, that these guys are dedicated to their non-revenue generating website and the information it presents. They are music lovers, and it shows.

I’ll leave you with another snippet of the beautiful lyrics of Cat Stevens’ Moon Shadow, interpreted best in my opinion by the powerhouse known as LaBelle. And here’s a little tidbit… LaBelle are back in the studio with Lenny Kravitz, Wycleff Jean, and a host of other contemporary musical luminaries. They’re saying an album is due out soon and a tour is in the works. You better believe I’m going to be there.

If I ever (No!) lose my eyes (No!)
If my colors (No!) all run dry (Woah!)
If I ever (No!) lose my eyes
Oh, if… oh, iiif… Oh If OH IF!
I won’t have to cry no more!
No more! no No NO MORE!

Oh, I’m being followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Oh leapin’ and a hoppin’ on a, Moon Shadow!
Oh jumpin’ and a bumpin’ on a, Moon Shadow!
Yeah Skippin’! Skippin’ and a dippin’ on a, Moon Shadow!
Mmm, moon shadow!

Maybe I was longing to see the baby-faced Kyle McLachlan of my high school days. Or maybe I just needed some David Lynch back in my life for a spell. I don’t really know, but last night I started in on the Twin Peaks television series.

Not surprisingly, except for the late 80’s clothing and hair, the series stands up to the test of time. Grace Zabriske’s riveting screams of anguish as she learns her daughter is dead shot in closeup. The exotic Joan Chen set against the Great Northern backdrop of a sawmill. Kyle MacLachlan’s black-black slicked back hair. And the sallow blue lips of Sheryl Lee, the dead homecoming queen with a very dark streak in her seemingly squeaky clean life.

I can’t believe how much I remember of this show.

The early 90’s were about two things in my world. Being gay and pop culture. Which is nearly the same thing. I was about to graduate 8th grade at Age 13 when the show began (April 8, 1990) and was looking forward to a summer of carefree relaxation with a little work at the restaurant, enjoying what freedom I had as a youth before the big world of high school life came upon me.

Nothing could have been further from the truth that summer.

David Lynch and Mark Frost, executive producers, forever changed the way I would watch television. They influenced an entire cross-section of my world, friends, co-workers, random strangers I’d meet. You name it, Twin Peaks was on the lips of many people. All I could do was seek out Peak-heads and find a way to talk with them.

The show was a very independent obsession for me at home, outside of my family circle. I can’t remember ever watching an episode with any of my family. That summer, Thursday nights were for Twin Peaks. Except the last episode of the season, which was on a Wednesday. God, I even remember that, mostly because it didn’t even conflict with Star Trek: The Next Generation, which I was also a huge fan of at the time.

Last night I watched the pilot and it wrecked me good and proper for a while. I’d been planning to go out for a drink, but I couldn’t. It brought me right back to my life at that time and reaffirmed for me the sheer genius of the series. Lots of introspection after seeing it.

It also gave me a social setting. When I started school that fall, I immediately began to seek out the Peak Heads. Sure, I had lots of friends who didn’t watch, but those that did, I somehow clicked just a little bit better with. Crazy, but true.

Can’t wait to dig into more episodes and storm down memory lane some more. I bet Bob is still just as scary.

through the darkness of future past
the magician longs to see
one chance out between two worlds
fire walk with me

I am usually an Apple fanboy. You know this. But the bloatware that is Genius in iTunes has been permanently disabled from my copy. Here are the top ten reasons I won’t ever use it.

10. Apple, surely you don’t need to convince me to buy more music from you. How much have I bought already? You know you got me. Or are you scared by how much Amazon music I’m buying?
9. I’ve been a DJ for more years than the iPod has been around. I know something about building playlists. More than you. I’m THE DJ beyatch. Understand?
8. I can’t help but smell some serious market data research here. I don’t care if it’s anonymous or not. It will be the Arbitron of the internets. Finally record labels will know how much of their music is in peoples digital libraries. Be afraid, be very afraid.
7. A machine does not have a taste in music. Just like Netflix. No I don’t want to see what bullcrap you recommend for me. Go to the hell.
6. KOMM. Keep Outta My Machine. kthxbai.
5. My id3 tags are mostly customized. Does iTunes know what a white label is? I think not.
4. Making playlists is my favorite past time. If you are ever lucky enough to hear my bedroom one, your toes will curl before I even touch you.
3. What a first world problem. “Waaah! I can’t make a playlist on my own of songs that go together. Oh woe is me!”
2. I know there is a whole lotta strategic positioning there. Totally pay-for-play folks. The recommendation section is probably fueled by label promotions, it’s ridiculous. Do not want.
1. The Alley McBeal soundtrack to my life is mine. Ain’t no way nobody else is gonna Relight My Fire¹ or Touch Me In The Morning² ’cause I Heard It Thru The Grapevine³ that You’re No Good⁴.

¹ written and performed by Dan Hartman, 1980
² written by Michael Masser, performed by Diana Ross, 1973
³ written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, performed first by Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1967 (who hit with it before that awful Marvin Gaye version which I h a t e)
⁴ written by Clint Ballard, Jr., but I like the Linda Ronstadt version from 1974

Hey folks. My sister on the decks, the guy who made my spinning records a reality, DJ Timmy Loop has created a f i e r c e Mariah Carey remix for I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time. To be perfectly honest, the other remixes featured on the site are CRAP.

So please, do me a favor, and vote for Timmy’s Mix and let’s get him out there for realz. You know I rarely axe you to do anything, but I’d appreciate the vote!

Saturday I headed to Lincoln Square for the German American Fest. It’s an annual pilgrimage for me, but this time around I wasn’t on my bike. My sister and her husband were kind enough to drive, so we headed out for beers ‘n brats.

Luckily a bunch of my friends showed up, including my mentor Todd and his wonderful wife Cynthia, and Ed and Jenna, parents of the fantastic Mia. We all hung out drinking larger than life beers and munching on this or that. I had intentions of getting a brat with kraut and potato salad, but it never seemed to happen. Mostly because I was constantly refilling my insanely huge plastic beer stein.

After the fest, Elaine and John decided they were hungry and I managed to convince them to hit San Soo Gab San, my favorite Korean BBQ joint (and the one I was on Check Please for) for some evening snackin’.

In the battle of Korean vs. German food, I’ll let you guess who won…

As much as some of my friends look down upon my habitual need to watch Americas Next Top Model, I can’t help but think this cycle is something different. This cycle has potential to be the cycle to be remembered. This cycle represents, after ten cycles, a new beginning.

This cycle includes a transgendered girl named Isis Tsunami.

The show usually airs on Wednesday, but I was a little too busy to catch the season opener until last night. The two hour journey from 30 girls down to 14 left me breathless and crying. Sure ANTM has had lesbians before. Sure, they’ve had the biggots, the racists, the homophobes, and the spoiled rich kids. But this time it’s different. There is a trans competitor, and she is out of the starting gate with an incredible lead.

Isis was featured in a photo shoot last season and seemed to catch the eye of everyone on the panel. It’s quite understandable too, as Isis is a girl who’s been a part of the ballroom community. And let me tell you, Mr. Jay Alexander, one of the ANTM coaches and judges and walking coach to the world, has a very similar pedigree. Except Jay is Jay and always will be Jay.

The truth is, this is huge.

Having Isis on screen is something even bigger than a trans actress in a movie or film. She’s playing herself. For better or worse, ANTM is a contest about beauty and an industry that tolerates very little outside of a few standardized images. Thus far, Isis firmly fits that mold. And thus far, already the media and internet is a-buzz with interest.

I hope that no matter if Isis wins or loses (secretly I want that bitch at the top!) the world sees the depth of inclusion that’s being demonstrates. Yes, it’s a superficial industry, yes, it’s a beauty and talent show, and yes, it’s about something that isn’t the ideal for most.

However, at the end of the day, the inclusion of Isis in this contest proves that we really can do anything if we put our mind to it, no matter if you are G, L, or T.

Work it girl. Work it for all of us. Prove the haters wrong.

I consider myself to be a light gamer. I have a PS2 which I barely use, a GameCube, and I have a Wii (which runs all my GC games) which I play maybe once a week. I’ve solved The Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Metroid Prime 3:Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy, and Cooking Mama: Cook Off..

I love my Wii and the Wii Sports games are still super fun, alone or with a group.

But my PC (or iMac in my case) gaming days pretty much ended with Doom 3. It was breathtakingly evil, had the ability to scare the pants off of me while playing, and gave me that all-out gore-fest I expected from a Doom series game. Once I finished it, I set it at a higher difficulty setting, but it was a done deal. I was over it, despite how gorgeous it looked.

Until I heard about Spore.

I knew Maxis, the creators of the game, from my old i386 gaming days when I lived with my parents. SimCity, SimLife, and above all my favorite, SimAnt were games you had to think about, and I loved them. Raiding the red ants’ colony successfully in SimAnt for the first time was a real thrill. They were also games that were touted as “educational” so I had no problem getting the parents approval to buy them. I bought them (I was working in the restaurant when I was young) with my cash. I just needed approval from Mom & Dad…

The later incarnations of SimCity didn’t do much for me, nor did TheSims, which everyone seemed to rave about, and would become the most popular software game ever. But what TheSims really did for Maxis was stuff their pockets full enough cash to take the time to create what, from the early reviews, the screenshots, and the general geek buzz, seems to be one of the more ambitiously fantastic looking games they’ve created to date. That game, of course, is Spore.

In Spore, you control the entire evolution of a species from a single-celled organism in a veritable primordial soup to it’s ability to explore galaxies and colonize new worlds. Along the way you move through many phases of life, each with it’s own challenges and gameplay based on how you have chosen to shape the evolution.

I’m a software geek and I’ve worked in a software development group for nearly ten years. My mind reels at the technical challenges the Maxis folks faced while creating such a layered game. For that reason alone, outside of the fascinating gameplay aspect, I knew I had to have this game.

I pre-ordered my copy yesterday. Sunday morning I’ll be at the Gamestop at 11am to pick it up. I plan to spend the entire day with the game. And if my eyes don’t dry out from staring at the monitor all day, I’ll be sure to post about it.

You can check out the games’ website for screenshots and more info.

Madge says it best. You know what you need to do in November. Listen to Madge.

Listen to Madge!

You have been warned.

My former barber (former ’cause I’m shaving my own head these days), is a fantastic gal named Sue at Chicago Buzz. She asked me to get her a copy of Shiny Disco Balls the last time I saw her. She knows I used to DJ and would know the exact song she wanted. But I’m not one to just procure ONE track for anyone.

Before I was a club DJ, I used to make compilation CD’s for my friends. They were the mixtape (I didn’t say Muxtape) of the mid-90’s, and I could burn off many copies at once for everyone. Turnin’ Me Upside Down was one of my favorites, and it had a heck of a lot of good tunes of the times. Puff Puff Pass it On Beyatch was another one that I particularly enjoyed, but mostly for the title.

So I set out to produce a selection of songs for Sue from my insanely diverse library that she would like, and that I’d enjoy listening to. There isn’t any particular order to the tracks, but the dance tracks made it to the end of the disc. It is meant to be listened to from start to finish.

Here, for your imagined listening pleasure, is the list of tracks on the latest compilation I’m calling Eclektika

1) Ponta De Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma) - Jorge Ben
2) Boogie - Brand New Heavies
3) Connected - Stereo MCs
4) Since I Left You - The Avalanches
5) Summertime - Sundays
6) Mais Que Nada - Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66
7) Crash And Burn Girl - Robyn
8) Obsession - Kylie Minogue
9) Let Me Think About It - Ida Core vs. Fedde Le Grand
10) At Night (Mousse T’s Feel Much Better Mix) - Shakedown
11) Shiny Disco Balls - Who da Funk f/Jessica Eve
12) Ping Pong (Original Mix)- Endangered Species *
13) Believe (Ministers Vocal Mix) - Ministers de la Funk f/ Jocelyn Brown
14) See Line Woman (Masters At Work Mix) - Nina Simone **
15) The Pinball Number Count - Kraemer, Bogas, Pointer Sisters ***

* Ping Pong is THEEE shiz-NIT! I still dance every time I hear it. I lose my mind during the last two minutes. The singer scats like a jazz trumpet over layers of her vocal stabs.
** One of MAW’s greatest remixes. Evar.
*** This song used to kill them at the end of the night on the ‘floor. The Wikipedia entry covers the fun history.

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was arrested at the RNC. W T F Rebublicunts?