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Sugar, Sugar, Baby, Baby, I Do, I Do

One more time trying to put my appreciation of K3 into perspective. I once posted the Rubettes’ song “Sugar Baby Love,” but it was lost eighteen months ago when a bug-ridden WordPress plug-in allowed my database to be destroyed, forcing me to restore from a backup. Here again is “Sugar Baby Love.”

http://youtu.be/3X7PvU6qYEA

No, I never cared in the least for The Bay City Rollers, but this I love. If I were going to write and produce a pop tune, you can bet it would sound like “Sugar Baby Love.” Next, ABBA ranks right up there with the best of the 70’s sicky-sweet stuff.

Listen to the 15+ seconds that start at :45 into the song. That’s it! For me that’s the song. Perfection! The same bit is repeated at 1:45. (The song is over a little after 2:30, but they drag it out.) If you think my liking ABBA means I would be inclined to see “Mama Mia!” then you don’t get it. It’s the song itself. How it’s put together, and how it sounds, that I appreciate. Something that’s “based upon it” is of no interest to me at all. In the case of ABBA, the “how it sounds” aspect depended completely upon the girls, Anni-Frid and Agnetha.

And now K3, in a piece I can’t praise enough. “Hart Verloren” pushes all sorts of buttons in so many ways, even with the terrible quality of this video. And I’m speaking as a confirmed disco hater from the 70’s who favored The Ramones, Elvis Costello and The Clash.

http://youtu.be/sEackIhp-O4

The people who create this stuff really know what they’re doing. But the thing that I didn’t get when I first encountered K3, but I certainly do now, is that K3 is successful not because of the formula, but because of Karen, Kristel and Kathleen. Accept no substitutes, of which there are now two sets.

Finally, another reason why I push K3 so much is the fact they’re happening NOW. I caught them before they stopped having hits, broke up, or went into semi-retirement. Not everything I write should be about the pop culture I loved when I was 10-15 years old. There’s also the fact I can’t compete with the big sites that talk about the Beatles, Marvel Comics, etc., and here in America I have K3 practically all to myself as a topic.

Astrid’s Influence

There’s a documentary DVD called “Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle” that doesn’t sit right with me, because of assertions made by Stuart’s sister, regarding Stu and John. But one part that rings true is about Astrid. In an interview with Terry Gross on NPR, Astrid gives Stuart all credit, claiming that he was an original, and a visionary. But I think what’s said about Astrid in this video clip gives a more complete and accurate characterization.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/DEC/Astrid.flv 640 360]

Christmas, forty years later…

This is the 40th anniversary of my parents moving us to Massachusetts. Christmas of ’68 is indelibly associated in my mind with $1 Peanuts books and the Beatles record called “The Beatles”.

I don’t listen to the White Album every Christmas, but I’m glad that Fantagraphics made it possible to revive the Charlie Brown tradition by publishing The Complete Peanuts. I posted a picture of last year’s books, and I’ll start a new tradition by showing you this year’s books. One of them has a serious printing defect, but all of the pages are there so I don’t mind.

Complete Peanuts, \'67-\'70

We enjoy getting a few new ornaments every year, and Carol bought this one with Snoopy and Woodstock.

Peanuts Christmas Tree Ornament

‘Engines of Survival’ by Larissa Kelly

Larissa Kelly on Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! fan-favorite Larissa Kelly will return for the Tournament of Champions, airing March 11-24. Meanwhile, here’s a surprise from Larissa. A piece of speculative fiction she has written, called “Engines of Survival,” that you will find at Strange Horizons Fiction:

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2008/20081222/engines-f.shtml

Now that Sarah Palin’s star has faded (although I doubt permanently), Larissa is once again the #1 reason — ahead of Alizée! — why people find this blog, so take note that she has included an e-mail address. There’s no reason to assume this isn’t really Larissa, and you have to promise me that if you write to Larissa you will be civil, respectful and well-behaved! And remember, boys, she’s married. “For all of you youngsters,” as Ed Sullivan used to say, I should explain that “Sorry Boys, She’s Married” is a play on a famous moment in Beatles history.

Sorry Girls, He's Married