Kate McCabe Warehouse

And we’re back!  Edinburgh was fun, thanks.  Will probably do a blog-recap  of it shortly.  Anyway, back to the day-to-day stuff.  It was a bank holiday weekend here in the UK (hooray) and I had a really good one.  Went to gig in Newcastle on Friday.  Though it’s a long way to go for an unpaid spot (about a 3.5 hour drive), the gig itself was absolutely lovely and the three of us who went from Manchester had a warm glow of happiness on the drive home.  Then on Saturday, had a good sleep in and spent the rest of the day eating nice food, reading a book, and playing PS3–that is living the dream.  On Sunday, we went out to grab lunch with a friend and had a couple of beverages.  Then yesterday (Monday), Karey spent almost the whole day in the kitchen churning out treats both sweet and savoury–whilst I tidied up the place a bit and continued on with my idyllic weekend of reading, eating, and gaming.

Now it’s Tuesday–here at work for a four-day work week  (the lovely after effect of a three-day weekend).  Started the day with a bit of a bump though and although it’s a minor nuisance, I’m really in a funk about it and can’t shake the feeling.  You see, we’ve only been in this new flat for a couple of months now and we’re still trying to settle in/get to know the building/say howdy to the neighbors and all that.  We’ve been buying bits of furniture and decor along the way as we can afford them–trying to make the place feel a bit more ‘us’.  That mostly means me throwing comics and candy bar wrappers about the place and Karey not putting her shoes away and lighting far too many candles.  But, we did get one nifty little item to throw into the hallway outside the door to our place.  Check out this adorable doormat.

We put that sweet little number in the hallway and for a good week  it brought  smiles to our faces as we stepped into the flat.  ‘Bonjour!’, we’d say in response to the confident poodle.

Anyway, a week’s worth of happiness is all we got from it…because some nasty pice of work has stolen it!  To make matters worse, the store is out of stock and the line is cancelled.  Can’t even get a replacement.  Plus, it has the bonus negative effect of making me distrustful of our neighbors.  It seems like such a nice building too!  Not sure who is guilty.  To be sure, I’m going to smear boogers on EVERYONE’S door.  It’s my only solace.  We can’t have anything nice…Even though I’m feeling a bit burnt and negative about this brazen theft, I’m going to try to focus on the positive.  Let’s do a great thing blog!

So, without further adieu, here’s today’s great thing:

168.  Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope” video

Let’s watch it!

Why do I like this video so much? You’ve seen it–it should be clear.   But just in case you don’t dig on the same things I do, here’s why:

1.  Super dancing!  I like the fancy smooth footwork of Monae and her asylum inmate friends.  This is also why I liked the video for “Single Ladies” when it first came out, because the choreography seemed so new and brilliant.  It wasn’t five boy-banders just throwing shapes in synch.  It was specific to the act and a pleasure to watch.  I love  the black and white of their saddle shoes flashing in front of my eyes.

2.  It has a sort of story-line element.  Far too few videos bother trying to craft any sort of narrative nowadays.  Though it’s not crystal clear what is happening here, you can at least see that Janelle Monae and her friends are trying to boogie their way out of an anti-dancing sort of insane asylum.  Apparently, the director, Wendy Morgan–who has directed for Bloc Party and Gnarls Barkley as well, references Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon, an experimental film from the 40’s which I can’t say I’m familiar with.  It’s where she got the idea for the mirror-faced dementors.  Highbrow!  Meshes of the Afternoon

3.  Tuxedos.  I like ’em.  I used to be a cater waiter and maybe if we were all better dancers, this is what our breaks at work would have looked like. Alas, at those intervals we were mostly text messaging people, making fun of party guests, or stealing food and not staging super-jive jamborees.

4.  Originality.  I love that a pop star is using a creative edge instead of a tight top to get attention.  Class act!  I like it when people who could likely just coast on their voice and slick production actually wind up bringing something new to the table.

I don’t have the whole album, but I have picked up a few tracks from iTunes and I like what I hear so far.  Janelle Monae was born in 1985.  1985!!!!  There are grown ups around who were born in 1985!!!   She’s from Kansas City.  This helps in establishing her cool credentials.  It’s good to be from a place with a mythos around it–like Kansas City, New Orleans, or Cool World.  She then studied in NYC with an original goal of heading to broadway, which goes to explain her theatricality.

Another reason to anticipate further magical awesomeness from Monae?  Check out this info from io9.com:

Monáe has stated that she has an alter-ego named Cindi Mayweather who according to Monáe is from the year 2719.^[22] In her first EP she gave her alter-ego a back-story stating that she is on the run after breaking the law in her home town of Metropolis after falling in love with a human named Anthony Greendown. Monáe explained about Cindi, saying “The Archandroid, Cindi, is the mediator, between the mind and the hand. She’s the mediator between the haves and the have-nots, the oppressed and the oppressor. She’s like the Archangel in the Bible, and what Neo represents to the Matrix  io9.com

I bet she’s kick-ass in concert.  I will only go out to live concerts and risk standing around and being moshed up against for special artists.  She will qualify to be on that list.  Do you hear that Janelle Monae?  Now, come to Manchester please.