Friday frequencies...the sounds of BsAs

Here's a cantadora we became familiar with a few years ago. Whenever we feel the need for a quick immersion into the spirit of Buenos Aires she's our go-to gal. Have a listen to "El corazon al sur"

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj33llhF0Tg

By the way, we're blogging while away using our phones and ipad so some of the tools in our usual  bag of tricks are not available. Hence no embedded version of today's video. You're gonna have to follow the link on your own! Enjoy!

friday frequencies...French Lesson

We've spent the last few days posting about our recent visit to La Belle Province so let's finish up cette semaine with a little French lesson. Here's one of our favourites, "je ne veux pas travailler" from that cheeky group, Pink Martini.

Try not to work too hard this weekend!

friday frequencies...a sorta rediscovery

To be quite honest we kinda missed the whole Tori Amos thing a few years back. Sure, we were aware of her in our peripheral cultural vision, but anything that rose up in front of our eyes seemed a little too intense. We suppose this song, "A Sorta Fairy Tale", is really no exception (especially if you watch the official video featuring Tori and Adrien Body) but a recent listen intrigued our aural taste buds and this live version pumps up the rhythm just enough to keep it from stagnating. It's a beautiful song and it's made us take a closer look at this diva of the aughts. Here's a link to the official clip, which is at a minimum worth the listen and if you like weird music videos and early glimpses of future movie stars well worth the viewing, and here's Tori Amos live with A Sorta Fairy Tale:

Wishing you a weekend that's more than "sorta" good!

friday frequencies...Buenos Aires bound

Yes, it's true...we're heading to irresistible Argentina again. Unfortunately we have two and a half months to wait, but just like a good tango, there's nothing wrong with a little delicious anticipation!

Astor Piazzolla was a brilliant composer. Many of his best tangos are hauntingly melancholic and stunningly beautiful pieces of music. Here's a favourite, "Oblivion"

Have a great weekend!

friday frequencies...parabéns!

This one's for Jay, our birthday boy today!

Happy Birthday, Sexy!!

friday frequencies...Térez Montcalm- Amazing!

Here's another great Canadian voice! Térez Montcalm hails from Quebec, she's released seven albums since 1994 (!), and we think she's pretty amazing. Have a listen and see for yourselves. The clip is about 5 years old from a Quebec variety show called Belle et Bum, and the tune begins after a one minute intro. Here she is covering The Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams":

Wishing you Sweet Dreams all weekend!

Térez Montcalm homepage

Myspace page

friday frequencies...this career's gotta Grow!

Have you heard of Elise LeGrow? Well, hopefully she'll be on your radar after this. We don't know much about her except that she's from Toronto, she belongs to another band as well called Whale Tooth, and boy, she fits right in with that current gang of R&B songstresses coming at us from across the pond.

Have a listen to No Good Woman:

Here's hoping you get up to a little "no good" this weekend! Enjoy!

friday frequencies...hot enough for ya?!

So what do you think? Too darn hot to be dancing, we say! Sit back, sip on a cool one, and let these folks do all the work for you!

Have a great weekend. 

Try to make time to run through a sprinkler or two!

friday frequencies...Get the Party Started!

The irreplaceable Dame Shirley does Pink!

Why wait till Saturday night?!! 

The camp starts right here, right now!

Happy & Safe Pride to ALL!!

friday frequencies...a Replay Edition- Esperanza and Gretchen

We had the great good fortune to see these two amazing ladies perform last night at the TD Toronto Jazz Festival. Gretchen Parlato was the "opener", but we would easily have paid top dollar just to see her on her own.

Esperanza Spalding has to be one of the coolest ladies working in the music industry today. She played pretty much anything with strings that you don't have to sit at. And that voice! She brought with her a dozen crack musicians, including an incredibly tight eight piece horn section. Truly remarkable!

But the highlight of the night came as the hands on our watches started to tilt upwards toward midnight; it was encore time and Esperanza invited Gretchen back onstage to join her in performing "that song".

Here is "that song":

We first brought you this back in late March, but we were so excited about last night's performance that we just had to give it the Replay treatment! We hope you enjoy it as much the second time around!

friday frequencies...Thelma!!

OK, where to begin with this one? How 'bout here:

We recently returned from an all too short visit to Chicago, one of our favourite cities in the world. Naturally, we were sad to leave... but hopefully someone was lamenting our abrupt departure as our cab made its way along the Kennedy Expressway to O'Hare with a stirring rendition of "Don't Leave Me This Way". 

Why this particular song?

Our first visit to the Windy City was in spring of 1977, about the same time this song was peaking (if the internet is to be trusted- what the heck, it's probably more accurate than our memory!) Five white university students from Canada found themselves in a small but very funky second floor disco on Division St just off the Rush Street strip, dancing our asses off to Thelma Houston. It was a revelation!

YouTube offers up a multitude of live clips of Ms. Houston belting out her biggest (one and only?) hit, but we couldn't bring ourselves to share any of them. Without fail each one featured Thelma workin' it for an audience of well-dressed, rhythmically-challenged young white folk, bums securely in seats, sitting there just clapping along. Pathetic!

So here is a static image version with decent sound quality so you can dance your own asses off in the privacy of your home or cubicle, followed by a clip from American Bandstand. The AB video has poorer sound quality, but it's a great time capsule peek into the look of the day.

After this weekend comes the kick-off of Pride Week in Toronto. What more fitting way to get into the spirit than an ancient disco mega-hit?? 

Have yourselves a fabulous weekend, and try not to leave any lovers high and dry!

friday frequencies...Never Stop the Action!

While lunching with a friend yesterday he relayed a charming story of stumbling upon a Grace Jones concert while spending an evening wandering Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens. Of course, Grace has been stuck in our head since. 

This song is probably our favourite from a long list of loves, and the video still looks remarkably inventive some 25 years later! Together they are for us the hallmark of what was such an exciting era, fueled by creative new music, the emergence of video art, and a discovery of the magic of the French pubs (commercials). Grace Jones was a huge phenomenon in Europe and worked extensively in the modelling and commercial milieu, and many of her iconic images pop up here in the clip. So, without further ado...

...Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Grace Jones!

Don't be a slave to the routine this weekend,

go out and do something crazy!

friday frequencies...the rainy day edition

Lots and lots of raindrops falling on our heads. The city is totally waterlogged. Our subway got flooded, and no Spidey to save the day...

Wishing you dry toes for the rest of the weekend!

friday frequencies...what happens in Vegas...

This has to be one of our all time favourite videos... hard to believe it's almost 20 years old! We miss the old California sound. There is some brilliant imagery found in both the lyrics of the song and on screen.

We hope this weekend finds you on a winning streak!

friday frequencies...Give It Up for Kaiser Karl!

...groovin' on this little number, Rondo Parisiano, from Something à la Mode

Hope you too have a little Something à la Mode this weekend!

Friday frequencies...Diana Krall, Rio, what's not to love?

One of our favourite Bossa Nova numbers from one of our favourite artists. We're indulging ourselves today, there's a Bobo birthday in play!

Whether your weekend is quiet or crazy, we hope it's a great one!

friday frequencies...

A big obrigado to Marquini Marcelo of Creative Boys Club for posting this cute little clip a while back:

Those dance moves starting at around 1:10 made us think of Dee-Lite

How do you say...dee-weekend??!!

Grooooovy!

friday frequencies...L'il Swedie Wonders

Our friend Lori turned us on to these guys a couple of days ago. They're called Dirty Loops, they're from Sweden, and they do this really sick version of Adele's Rolling In The Deep:

But we especially like this take on Britney Spears' Circus:

The dude sounds remarkably like Stevie in his young days. Hopefully as they mature as a band they will start to spread their wings a bit so that not all of their material sounds so much the same. Present lack of variety notwithstanding, these guys obviously have huge talent and we expect to hear a lot more of them in the future.

*******

Have a great weekend!!

friday frequencies...Georgy Porgy smackdown

OK, we don't expect a lot of you to remember the original version of Georgy Porgy. It was released way back in 1978 by Toto, a band that was created by a couple of very good session musicians from LA who decided they needed to get their share of the limelight.

Almost 20 years later (and about 13 years ago now!!) it was covered by Eric Benét with help from Faith Evans. Eric shortly after went on to become Mr. Halle Barry. (But don't let that influence your decision on this challenge!)

Take a listen to both. Consider the time frame and context of the original almost 35 years ago. Think about Mr. Benét putting his spin on it about 13 years ago. Which one do you think should win this little contest?

We'll give the last word to the founders, so here is Eric Benét's version of Georgie Porgy: (BTW- it contains a hint that Halle maybe should have seen coming!)

And here is Toto, the creators of the song, performing Georgie Porgy:

So, what's your verdict?
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Enjoy your weekend! (Bet you're hummin' this one till Sunday...you're welcome!)

saturday sounds...ma style is da bomb!

Oops! Too busy yesterday to post a friday frequencies. So here's a rare saturday sounds to power you through those pesky weekend chores!

Now get out there and be da bomb this weekend!!