The Crayonettes with Kathryn Wil

The Crayonettes
Playing Out: Songs For Children & Robots
[One Little Indian; September 6]

Longtime fans of Kathryn Williams will know that she has plenty of weird and wonderful song ideas of her own (who can forget the early demo ‘Fandango Lasagne’?), but this debut album from side project The Crayonettes – a duo formed with fellow mother Anna Spencer, formerly of punk band Delicate Vomit – takes its inspiration from the imaginative playworlds of their two sons, Louis (4) and Lenny (3). Tired of the unbearably earnest singalongs found on your average children’s CD, Kathryn and Anna aimed to incorporate everything from punk and disco to hip hop and country into their version of a kids’ record.

“We would meet in the evenings when the kids were in bed…and play!” says Kathryn of the making of Playing Out. “It was so much fun creating with a friend. We would be crying with laughter and have to wait for the giggles to go before doing a take. When we’d written a song we would play it to the kids and get a reaction.”

The writing sessions weren’t the only fertile thing – both women became pregnant again during the project’s development; Kathryn’s second son Ted was born in April, and Anna is due in August. And to add further continuity, the album artwork is by Anna’s eldest son, eleven year old Sam.

Undeterred by their additional motherly duties, Kathryn and Anna plan to take The Crayonettes out on the road later this year. In the meantime, you can catch Kathryn playing the following dates in support of her recent album, The Quickening:

23.07.10 Trowbridge Festival, Trowbridge
24.07.10 Port Eliot Festival, Port Eliot
21.08.10 Beautiful Days, Devon
23.09.10 The Sage, Gateshead
25.09.10 Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Tracklist:
01 Robots In The Rain
02 Disco Teeth
03 Rainy Day
04 Hopscotch
05 Emergency
06 Sweet On The Floor
07 Let’s Dance On The Moon
08 Spooky Way Home
09 How Hot Is A Toad
10 Pirates On The Bus
11 Illegal

Source: Wears the Trousers:
http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/2010/06/incoming-the-crayonettes/

Original article by Alan Pedder:
http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/author/alan-pedder/

Related links:
www.kathrynwilliams.net

Posted via email from uselessdesires

Marlene Dietrich, Falling In Love Again.

Failing in love again
Never wanted to
What am I to do?
Can't help it

Love's always been my game
Play it as I may
I was born that way
Can't help it

Men flock around me
Like moths around a flame
And if their wings burn
I know I'm not to blame

Failing in love again
Never wanted to
What am I to do?
Can't help it

Love's always been my game
Play it as I may
I was born that way
Can't help it

Men flock around me
Like moths around a flame
And if their wings burn
I know I'm not to blame

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Reinventing the Bic Biro Pen

Pwhen lászló bíró saw a ball rolling through a puddle on the street and leaving a trail of water behind it, he conceived an idea that would go on to change everyday life forever. based on what he had seen, the hungarian journalist along with his brother georg, began to work on the first commercially successful ballpoint pen. ---
a brief history

bíró had become frustrated by the time spent filling-up fountain pens and waiting for the ink to dry. he had seaen that the ink used to print newspapers dried much quicker and so decided to create a pen using the same type of ink. In 1938 the bíró brothers patented a design which featured a tiny ball in its tip, which turned freely in a socket. as the ball moved along the paper it rotated, picking up ink from the cartridge and leaving it on the paper. whilst ballpoint pens had existed in the past - none had proved very popular due to constant problems with clogging,
leakage and ink distribution - the bíró's, was the first pen that significantly overcame these problems.

after relocating to argentina in 1940 the bírós licensed their design to a number of makers in the US and britain but it was almost ten years later when the design was mastered and introduced to the rest of the world. marcel bich a french pen manufacturer who had bought the ballpoint pen patent from lászló bíró - ironed out the remaining design problems (mainly ink distribution) and began huge, low cost mass prodctions of the 'bic crystal'. it's not surprising to hear that in 2005 bic sold its one hundred billionth pen, when you consider just how many of their pens you might have owned, borrowed or even stolen.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

- dining in 2015, was 'din-ink' by andrea cingoli, paolo emilio bellisario, cristian cellini and francesca fontana from italy. the design sees pen-lids integrated with cutlery allowing the user to transform their writing tools into a knife, fork and spoon. finally there is a good excuse for when you're caught gnawing on the end of your pen!

another designboom competition entry which used the 'bic pen' was giffin termeers 'dasiy vase'. developed for
the macef award 2004 - H2O_on the table, the american design duo blow-mold the pens by hand. as the plastic becomes flexible its stretches allowing the vase to sit naturally. since its initial competition success the'daisy vase' has been shown at designboom marts, and can also be purchased online from the designboom shop.

bic pens have found their way into the work of several other designers and would-be inventors. from maneuverable lighting and chandeliers to candy and weaponry - more 'bic pen' projects are featured (below) here:

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Via www.designboom.com with thanks

Posted via email from uselessdesires

Ane Brun - The Treehouse Song

The Treehouse Song

When I woke
I took the backdoor to my mind
and then I spoke
I counted all of the good things you are
and that list of charms was
longer than my chain of broken hearts
and when the day was done
I figured I had already lost
from the start – from the start
I was gonna love you till the end of all daytime
and I was gonna keep all our secret signs and our lullabies
I was made to believe that our love would grow old
we were gonna live in a treehouse and make babies
and we were gonna bury our ex-lovers and their ghosts
baby we were made of gold
so many times
we drank fine wine in one swallow
and in those late nights
we painted our walls bright yellow

© Ane Brun

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Leaving on a Jet Plane

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh baby, I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I'll think of you
Every song I sing, I'll sing for you
When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Close your eyes I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh baby, I hate to go

Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh baby, I hate to go

Chantal Kreviazuk - Leaving On A Jet Plane music video:

~ Ryan

Sent with my iPhone 4

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Who Am I? Revisited

Do not be fooled by me.
Do not be fooled by the face I wear,
For I wear a mask, I wear a thousand masks.
Masks I am afraid to take off.
But none of them are me.
But do not be fooled.

I give you the impression that I am secure,
That all is sunny and unruffled with me,
Within as well as without,
That confidence is my name, and coolness is my game,
And that I need no one. Don't believe me,
Please.

My surface may be smooth,
But my surface is my mask,
My varying, ever-concealing mask.
Beneath lies no smugness,
No complacence.
Beneath dwells the real me,
In confusion, in love, in fear. In hope, in truth, in beauty. In raw, naked emotion. In loneliness.

I idly chatter with you in the suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that is really nothing,
Of what's crying within me.
So, when I am going through my routine,
Please do not be fooled by what I'm saying.
Please listen carefully, Try to hear not what I am saying,
But understand what I am not saying,
And listen to what I would like to be able to say,
What for survival I need to say,
But through fear,
I cannot say.

Only you can call me into aliveness,
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging.
Each time you try to understand because you really care,
My heart begins to grow wings.
Very small wings, very feeble wings, but wings.
With your sympathy and sensitivity,
And your gentle, quiet understanding,
You can breathe life into me,
This I want you to know and understand.

I want you to know how important you are to me,
How you can be a creator of the person that is me if you choose to.
Please choose to.
Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.

My long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach me, the blinder I may strike back.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for,
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls,
In this lies my hope.
My only hope.

Who am I, you may wonder.
I am someone you know very well,
I am a hurting member of your family,
I am the hurting person sitting beside you in this room,
I am every person you meet on the street.

Please don't believe my mask,
Please come behind it to glimpse the real me.
Please speak to me, share a little of yourself with me,
At least recognise me.
You might just catch a glimpse of who I am.
Please.
Because you care.

© Ryan Price 1999-2010

Revisited July 13th 2010 for Ben.

Posted via email from uselessdesires

For Ben

You've got to give a little, take a little,
And let your poor heart break a little.
That's the story of, that's the glory of love.

You've got to laugh a little, cry a little,
Until the clouds roll by a little.
That's the story of, that's the glory of love.

As long as there's the two of us,
We've got the world and all it's charms.
And when the world is through with us,
We've got each other's arms.

You've got to win a little, lose a little,
Yes, and always have the blues a little.
That's the story of, that's the glory of love.
That's the story of, that's the glory of love.

(Bette Midler - from the film 'Beaches')

for Benjamin Lane

Posted via email from uselessdesires

Travelin' Thru by Dolly Parton

Check out this video on YouTube! It's Travelin' Thru by Dolly Parton, featured in the film 'TransAmerica' - lyrics below...

Well I can't tell you where I'm going, I'm not sure of where I've been
But I know I must keep travelin' till my road comes to an end
I'm out here on my journey, trying to make the most of it
I'm a puzzle, I must figure out where all my pieces fit

Like a poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find what feels like home
Where that is no one can tell me, am I doomed to ever roam
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' on

Questions I have many, answers but a few
But we're here to learn, the spirit burns, to know the greater truth
We've all been crucified and they nailed Jesus to the tree
And when I'm born again, you're gonna see a change in me

God made me for a reason and nothing is in vain
Redemption comes in many shapes with many kinds of pain
Oh sweet Jesus if you're listening, keep me ever close to you
As I'm stumblin', tumblin', wonderin', as I'm travelin' thru

I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru

Oh sometimes the road is rugged, and it's hard to travel on
But holdin' to each other, we don't have to walk alone
When everything is broken, we can mend it if we try
We can make a world of difference, if we want to we can fly

Goodbye little children, goodnight you handsome men
Farewell to all you ladies and to all who knew me when
And I hope I'll see you down the road, you meant more than I knew
As I was travelin', travelin', travelin', travelin', travelin' thru

I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin'
Drifting like a floating boat and roaming like the wind
Oh give me some direction lord, let me lean on you
As I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', thru

I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru

Like the poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find my own way home
Oh sweet Jesus if you're out there, keep me ever close to you
As I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', as I'm travelin' thru

(Dolly Parton)

Here's a trailer from the film:

Thanks to Benjamin Lane

Posted via email from uselessdesires