Atomic Bubblegum does Pop Montreal

Mr. Bubblegum and I ventured to Montreal over the past weekend to see a few shows that were pat of the Pop Montreal festival. Friday was our big marathon, as we went to see none other than the legendary Mr. Burt Bacharach at 8:00pm, and then scurry a few streets over to see the equally legendary M. Jean-Jacques Perrey at 11:00.

Burt performed at the very elegant Église Saint Jean-Baptiste on Rue Rachel. The man is 80 years old now, but he still looks amazing, is very energetic and charming, and most importantly all class. He played piano and was backed by a full band and three vocalists (who were sadly no Cilla Black, Dionne Warwick or Dusty Springfield). It was absolutely amazing to hear my 1960s favorites like "Don't Make Me Over" (I almost cried during this one), "Walk On By", "The Look of Love", and "Anyone Who Had a Heart". My favorite Burt Bacharach-related record is an Italian compilation called Mo'Plen Bacharach that came out a few years ago, so I know a lot of these songs better in Italian than I do in English. The whole CD is chock full of goodness, but my absolute favorite is the cover of "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "Quelli Che Hanno Un Cuore" performed gorgeously by Petula Clark. I think it's so much more haunting than the original. I thought I'd post it for the occassion:



Burt played a lot of later tracks too, which I don't much care for being a '60s nut (sorry, but the Arthur theme just doesn't do it for me), but I certainly got to hear everything I'd hoped to.

Perrey was fantastic as well. His set was performed with the person he's been collaborating with recently, Dana Countryman. The tracks they did were more or less variations on the tracks Perrey did with Gershon Kingsley on The In Sound From Way Out. So, short of hearing those songs, it was really what any fan would have hoped for. Plus, he, although slightly more frail, was certainly as charming as Burt had been. I believe they're the same age. Perrey did perform "E.V.A." from the album Moog Indigo, so that was a big fan bonus. Afterwards, we rocked down to one of our favorite brassieres, Dieu du Ciel!, for drinks. I am a huge fan of their Route des Épices beer, and was on a mission to find some in bottles to bring back to home, which happily I was able to do on the last day.

On Saturday, we had a little more time to chill out around town. We had noodles at a fun place called Tampopo, and for dinner ate at a wonderful, relatively inexpensive French bistro called Bistro Justine à vin. After dinner, it was back to gigging, and we went to La Gymnase a few blocks away to see Darren Hayman, former frontman of Hefner (a radical change from the '60s maser of the previous night, but there you go!). Mr. Bubblegum and I are big fans of Hefner's first few albums, and luckily Darren played excellent renditions of "The Weight of the Stars", "I Stole a Bride" and "A Hymn to the Postal Service".

We'd hoped to grab a late-night poutine around the corner at La Banquise, but we were still full from dinner by the time we left the gig (which was quite late), so we just returned to the hotel.


The next morning on our way out of town, we stopped at our favorite breakfast place, St.-Viateur bagels. It's the perfect breakfast when you're just about to set off on a five-and-a-half hour drive and want to make sure you're full enough not to be tempted by fast food on the way home! They serve an AMAZING artichoke and green olive salad that I'm determined to learn the recipe for!

Queen of Rockabilly

I usually don't care much about things like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but how awesome is it that Wanda Jackson got nominated? I'm not even really much of a fan of rockabilly music, but Wanda is absolutely transcendent of all genres. With her raspy, bad-ass voice, she purred and snarled her way through such killer tracks as "Fujiyama Mama" and my personal favorite "Funnel of Love". Wanda also did a lot of country and eventually (I believe) gospel music, but you can check out a few of Wanda's rock tracks here.

Lovin' these shoes

So sleek, so art deco. I've never really been one for snake skin (even when it's faux), but this is so subtle that I can't resist. It's also a bit of a lower heel than I usually wear.

Nevertheless, they're perfect for the dress I'm planning to wear as the "going-away" outfit (although actually, it will be the "wedding after-party" outfit).

Japanese pop to get you going in the morning

I know there are a lot of '60s Japanese pop fans out there, and since part of the reason I started this blog was to give back to the audioblog community that has given me so much, here's '60s Cutie Pop Collection: Psychedelic Town Edit. It features tons of great stuff, like Reiko Mari's "In the Town" and Katsuko Kanai's "Mini Mini Girl". It's part of a series of comps, most of which have been out of print for a long time (including this one). Enjoy!

Monday's Yuka (aka Only On Mondays)

Love this title sequence from Getsuyoubi no Yuka:

This is really sad news.

Don LaFontaine (he of the "In a world ..." film trailer voiceovers, and many more) has died.

As someone who has also loved watching film trailers, I find this particularly depressing. Even though he was so ubiquitous as to court parody, he seemed to take it in stride, as evidenced by the Geico commercial he did.

R.I.P., Don.

Time to make the paella

A month or two ago, I discovered this fantastic recipe online for a Filipino paella. I found some chorizo that was on special at the time, and wanted to try something interesting with it. This recipe is amazingly easy and it was quite the crowd-pleaser at a barbecue we had at the house over the weekend. It help me get over my reservations about using our cast-iron pan!


The ingredients are all quite easy to find (as long as you can get your hands on chorizo). The only trouble I had initially with this recipe was the annatto seeds (achiote). I was able to locate it fairly easily, however the seeds are unbelievably HARD, and the first time I tried grinding them with a mortar and pestle, I nearly ended up ruining both as the seeds dye everything red that they come into contact with! I finally worked out that the best way to grind the seeds is by using a old coffee bean grinder that we had lying around. It also minimizes the chance of having your fingers (or clothes) dyed.