Cool Covers and Obscure Originals

Everybody loves a good cover. Here are a couple cool ones I've found lately. The list is by no means exhaustive and are just a couple that I threw together in a hurry - I'll also be adding to the playlist as I find more, so if you're interested you can check back periodically.

I've also included a couple originals that were made famous (or infamous) by other artists. All by myself is tucked at the bottom of the playlist and was originally recorded by Eric Carmen. I learned recently he pulled pieces of the 2nd movement of Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto into the song (it's blatant once you're listening for it), thinking that it was public domain...unfortunately for him, Rachmaninoff is still under copyright, and he had to settle with the Rachmaninoff estate. Oops...

Another obscure original is I Want Candy originally done by the Strangeloves. This version was also in the movie Factory Girl, and a final is Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli's La Mer. Bobby Darin made this a hit under the English title Beyond the Sea, but I think this version is so much dreamier.

Oh, also, the Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head cover is NOT by Johnny Hartmann - it's by Ben Folds.

Enjoy!

What to do to pass the time when no one responds to your job search e-mails...

1. British Huggies Commercial. Man, I love their humor. They get me, and I get them...am I British, and I just didn't know it?

2. iTV Catch Up. Coronation Street. 3 major differences about British Soaps: 1. They play at night. 2. They usually play about 3 times a week and 3. They usually showcase working class citizens...the people tend to look "real". I am currently obsessed with this one, which takes place in Manchester. Another big one is Eastenders, which takes place, coincidentally, in the East end. Oh, and the scenes plan SO fast you can barely understand them, and, unless you are thoroughly acclimated to the overly dramatic style it is quite funny. Quite.

Camping in Kensington

So, for the past month, Adrian and I have been living in a neighborhood which has been described by most of our friends here as “posh a li cious,” in a Victorian flat with a porter…sounds great, huh? Unfortunately, our furniture has yet to arrive, so we have been surrounded by all this poshness with only an air mattress, four plates and cups and some other bare cooking accoutrements (having only 1 pot has definitely trained me to do the dishes on a regular basis!) However, even though our nightly TV entertainment has thus far been confined to watching re-runs of Desperate Housewives from my computer, propped up on two storage boxes left by the prior tenants, I am still completely in love with our neighborhood…here are just a couple of things that are so great about camping in Kensington.

1. The Whole Foods Store. It is distinctly American, and you can spot the American ex-pats by their crocs, and by the fact that they never bring their own cloth shopping bags. I love to shop there because it has all the accoutrements of the Columbus Circle location, but none of the crowds or pushy New Yorkers…oh, and they have a whole room devoted to the smelliest cheese you’ve ever laid your nose on.

2. My terrace. Sure, it’s only about 10 feet off the ground and about the size of a postage stamp, but I still feel like a queen. I have a rose bush too! And it’s not dead yet!

3. The Cornish pasty shop in the Tube Station. Here, when someone says they just bought a delicious pasty, they are not referring to the stickers strippers wear to cover their naughty bits. They are pies! And so yummy. They bring the pot pie to a new, savory level, and are only about 2.50.

4. Running in Hyde Park. Every day (or rather, every day I get my sorry self out of the house in time) I go running in Hyde Park…and a typical run in the park will take me past Kensington Palace, the basin (a beautiful little pond with swans), the Prince Albert Memorial, and the Serpentine. And this is on a short run!

5. Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace is just 4 short blocks from my flat. This was the palace Princess Di called “home” while she was alive (her memorial fountain is in Hyde Park, close by), and was also Queen Victoria’s childhood palace. It was built by William III and Mary II (know William and Mary? That was them) in the 1600’s,and there is a big statue commemorating big W right inside the front gates. They have a café which serves high tea, something I am looking forward to.

The London Paper

There are quite a few free papers in London (equivalent to the Metro), which are actually quite readable. They are also very big on quoting readers’ opinions, and usually ask a question regarding a current topic and feature a page with the readers’ responses. They are fond of quoting the darkest, and most extreme. Some of my faves:

1. [Regarding some explicit anti-binge ads the British Government has run, directed toward youth] “Young people think they are invincible, so I doubt a few adverts courtesy of the Governments anti-binge drinking campaign are going to dissuade them from boozing themselves into oblivion. We need to try to educate young people to respect alcohol and not to abuse it.

The next two are from yesterday’s London Paper. Knife crime among teenagers has become a huge problem here and is getting all kinds of press. This question was regarding whether the National Service requirement should be brought in to deal with the problem. Eerily, there was a picture of Pierce Brosnan splitting right through middle of the comments, probably due to a brief, one-sentence comment on his performance in Mamma Mia…page layout, people!

2. “Regarding your question ‘Should national service be brought back to tackle knife crime?’: that’s a barking mad idea! The armed forces are already under-funded for the job they do. We can’t also expect them to become social workers.

3. “Sod national service. Bring back hanging. Why should these vile people have any human rights when they take away other people’s?” [ouch! Would this ever be quoted in a US paper?]

Regarding a recent statement by London Mayor Boris Johnson indicating that more punishment in schools would help the problem with youth violence.

4. “It’s about time someone saw sense; bring back the cane.”

Not all of the articles are dour and extreme, however. Some are quite funny. Take for example the “mobile moans” column of the London Lite Paper, another free “rag”. This is a section where readers can text in thoughts or funny things that have happened to them…and to me, as an American, reading that accent between the lines just makes it that much funnier.

5. “On train home told boss my boyfriend was in to Kama Sutra and wanted to move bedroom around. Got off train---meant Feng Shui."

6. Does Transport for London ever carry out unnecessary engineering works?

7. “I will stop applying my slap [I think she means lotion….] on the train when men stop sitting with their legs wide open. No one’s tackle is that big, boys!”