I may have the itunes on shuffle but I keep coming back to the same five or so songs of late. All, save for one, are hot on the blogs right now, but I figure my five or so readers that I have here aren't really stalking all the blogs so these may be new to you.

I'll start with the one that hasn't been all over the blogs, although while it was recorded several weeks ago, it's sort of old news. See, it's from my latest guilty pleasure, Rock Star: Supernova. Only Supernova isn't a band that features Gilby Clarke, Tommy Lee and the poorly spoken Jason Newsted, it's a band I saw a zillion times in the 90s that sings great songs like "Chewbaca" and "Books!" But anyway, those three asinine aforementioned bad-rock men continue to call themselves Supernova and I continue to watch the trainwreck. Mostly because of now-kicked out contestant Zayra Alvarez. Who is now gone. Which is a drag. The recording below is of one of my favorite songs and she rocked it. And they panned her. Stupid asinine men. The visual was as good as the vocals but I'm not gonna bother with You Tube because the show is so friggin bad I shouldn't even be giving it a mention. And yet, I keep watching. I love the way she sings the chorus, love it. I adore her awkwardly beautiful voice and her take on this song is just electrifying to me. But yeah, they booted her a week later.

Zayra Alvarez, "All the Young Dudes"

TV on the Radio is such a blog-adored band and this has been everywhere. But I love the energy of this song, the way it builds and builds and it makes me get up and head bang and jump around and a new song has not made me do that in awhile. If I'm in public and listening to this song it's ever so hard not to sing along. I end up rocking back and forth with a vengeance, quiet on the outside, raging loud on the inside.

TV on the Radio, "Wolf Like Me"

Oh, got to run. The other three songs. Tomorrow (or thereabouts.)

More about: Zayra Alvarez, TV on the Radio

Quick One: I'm married now.

But years ago, when I wasn't, I felt exactly this way.

And I'm quite certain that another boy felt exactly this way about me.

And yet, no one said it. And certainly, no one said it in a song.

The lyrics and sentiment of this song are so spot-on and really simple and yet also excrutiatingly astute and painful and insightful and clever. There is more in this song than in most of the young adult novels I read.

Donovan Woods, "I Ain't Saying She's Better"

...And the voice ain't half-bad either.

Oh yeah, and he's Canadian.

Donovan Woods info; Donovan Woods MySpace page.

Secret Heart

I admit it. My husband had to point out that "Secret Heart" was a Ron Sexsmith song. The husband has a soft spot for Ron Sexsmith's romantic man songs.

I had Tivo'd Feist on Carson Daly (and fast forwarded till she appeared, man he bugs) and it was a repeat from an April 06 performance but we hadn't seen it before. She did "Secret Heart," but differently than the record, very differently. And very differently from Ron Sexsmith. And then, on further inspection, I realized, pretty differently from her KCRW appearance from earlier this year. The husband actually uttered the words "mad props" about Leslie Feist's efforts to mix it up each time and despite the ridiculously ill chosen words (he's not 15, really) I know what he meant. It isn't fun for the audience when a song is played often and the same. I suspect it would be even less fun for the performer. It just makes me like her all the more. Now, is is just me or is she like Joni Mitchell crossed with Patti Smith but thoroughly modern? That's how I see her. Her voice has that quality that is thick and dirgy at times but still remains feminine and I love it. Wanna hear what I mean? Here are all the versions, including Sexsmith's (which is just loverly and sweet and almost heartbreakingly slow.)

Ron Sexsmith, "Secret Heart"
Feist, "Secret Heart" (from Let It Die)
Feist, "Secret Heart" (live on KCRW, 06)
Feist, "Secret Heart" (live on Carson Daly, April, 06)

Wanna watch? Here is the video from her performance.


My favorite version? The Carson Daly one.

**
I love 80s movies, especially the John Hughes flicks. PureBoredom has posted a bunch of the songs from various 80s teen comedies. Weird Science anyone? Anywho, one of the anonymous commentators said he left out "Some Kind of Wonderful," which is possibly my most favorite of the lot. So I may have to get on that and post that next week. Then he goes and posts songs from Cameron Crowe movies! Yippee. Head on over to PureBoredom to see it all.

The Cupcakes,
A Short Story by Clea

Howdy. Anybody there? I've finally finished moving stuff over from my original superclea.com site to this blog-based one. Yay! And I have folded my "Yer Little Sister" site into this one. Okay so no one is probably reading this BUT JUST IN CASE, I have written a short story called "The Cupcakes" and you, yes you, can read it by going over to that lovely side bar to the right and scrolling down to the place where it says "The Cupcakes." Read it chapter by chapter and then tell me what you think. So far the only comment I've gotten was from my agent who said it was too meta for her. Yeah. And that's why it's here on my blog and not out in the world making the pub rounds. Still, I think it's entertaining. Deeply flawed but entertaining.

Anyway start over on the sidebar or start here:

The Cupcakes, Chapter One

That's a picture of Sahara Hotnights that I made into my faux cover for the book so since I'm ripping them off graphically I may as well do the same aurally. Here is a song from the girls:

Sahara Hotnights, "Alright, Alright"

Remember, my latest book is out, "I Wanna Make My Own Clothes."
And you can still get my very first book, "Hey, Day" through Merch Lackey.