Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Music'

Music Break: The Bongos, “The Bulrushes”

March 4th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Culture, Music, New Wave, Video

I still love this song to death after all these years — Richard Barone and the Bongos are definitely one of the most underappreciated bands of their era. Such a great, distinctive sound. Play this song three times and it will be stuck in your head for weeks. Richard Barone on the video above: The […]

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The Partly Dave Show: Please Mister Postman (at the Rhino Fest, Friday Feb. 20)

February 13th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Culture, Fringe, Journal, Music, Neo-Futurists, Performance, The Partly Dave Show, Theater

So, here’s some of that “other news” I mentioned in my previous post: Partly Dave is back! Oh, yes, you read that right, Mabel. The Partly Dave Show has been unpacked from its wooden chest, mothballs brushed away, and is ready to flatter your figure again just like the old days — and it’s happening […]

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New Music from Dan: I Was a Cub Scout, Alphabeat, and The Helio Sequence

June 24th, 2008 · Comments Off on New Music from Dan: I Was a Cub Scout, Alphabeat, and The Helio Sequence · Culture, Music, New Wave, TV, Video

My old college pal Dan (well, actually we got to be friends after college, but that’s a long story), who was the master of the new-music mix tape back in the middle-eighties, turned up on Facebook recently and has been freshening up my iTunes with all sorts of fun new stuff. So here are a […]

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Judybats on Popdose, and First Judybats Album Reissued

May 26th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Blogs, Culture, LGBT, Music

John C. Hughes has a post about The Judybats up on Popdose.com, part of the “Why You Should Like … ” series. He doesn’t have to convince me — the ‘bats were arguably my favorite band of the 90s and it broke my little heart when they busted up the first time. When their debut […]

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Saturday, May 24: The Relaunch of Planet Earth Chicago at Subterranean

May 15th, 2008 · Comments Off on Saturday, May 24: The Relaunch of Planet Earth Chicago at Subterranean · Chicago, Culture, Music, New Wave, News, Nightclubs, Planet Earth Chicago

Here’s another very fun event on the horizon: What are you doing next Saturday night? Feel like going New Wave dancing with some of the most flamboyant and fabulous Earthlings in Chicago, at a groovy new location? Here’s what I’m talking about: Some of you know that over the last eight years I’ve been heavily […]

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Wild Puppet: Kate Pierson Plays “Speed Quiz” on Pancake Mountain

May 8th, 2008 · Comments Off on Wild Puppet: Kate Pierson Plays “Speed Quiz” on Pancake Mountain · Comedy, Culture, Music, New Wave, TV, Video

Via the Planet X mailing list, here’s Ocelopotamus’s moment of video bliss for this week. I’m not familiar with Pancake Mountain, but all you really need to know is it’s Kate from The B-52’s and a goat puppet named Rufus Leaking.   And here’s the 411 on Pancake Mountain from Wikipedia. Sounds like a very […]

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With Six You Get Blogroll

April 22nd, 2008 · 3 Comments · Blogroll, Blogs, Books, Chicago, Culture, Internet, Journal, Meta, Music, Neo-Futurists, New Wave, Politics, Vegetarian & Vegan

So yesterdoodle, as part of my ongoing efforts to get the Ocelopotamus back to full health and vitality, I finally got around to overhauling the blogroll (that’s that tall snaky thing over to the right that looks like a list of nonsensical words and phrases!) with some links that I’ve been accumulonimbusing for a stoat’s […]

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Thank You, Bob (or, That Flag Pin Won’t Get You Into Heaven Any More)

April 20th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Culture, Journalism, Meta, Music, Politics, Religion, Video

Bob Schieffer attempts to explain it slowly and clearly for George Stephanopoulos. It probably won’t do any good, but I love him for trying. And seriously — it’s beyond tragic that this sort of thing even needs to be said, but clearly it does.   Via this diary. I like the parallel Mr. Schieffer draws […]

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B-52’s Funplex Roundup

April 9th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Chicago, Culture, Film, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, TV, Video

So the new B-52’s album Funplex has been out for a couple of weeks now and is getting hot-pink rave reviews everywhere. Of course all during the recent period when I was busy not blogging I was wanting to post all sorts of breathless updates and links about it. But the truth is Astralwerks seems […]

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Blue Angel, Red Hot

April 8th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Blogs, Culture, LGBT, Music, New Wave

The folks over at Popdose have a nice feature up about Cyndi Lauper’s early rockabilly band, Blue Angel, including a few songs from the sole Blue Angel album in Mavis Pickles the Third format. I love almost everything Ms. Lauper has done, but I have to say: the Blue Angel album is just transcendent and […]

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Out of the Lightfoot Closet

April 7th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Music, The Partly Dave Show

I just discovered that talented local singer-songwriter John Greenfield — who, by way of mentioning it, performed in the second-ever edition of The Partly Dave Show back in 2003 — has an eloquent writeup of a recent Gordon Lightfoot show in Waukegan over on Gaper’s Block. I suppose I’ve been a Gordon Lightfoot fan since […]

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Andy White at the Celtic Knot, 3/30/08: Follow-Up

April 6th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Culture, Journal, Lit, Music, Performance, Reviews

Well, the Andy White show I posted about last Sunday was lovely. It was a shockingly intimate setting, a cozy and beautifully decorated back room at the Celtic Knot where Andy played for a group of about 20 of us, and he was just as charming and entertaining as any Andy fan would expect. He […]

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Andy White at the Celtic Knot

March 30th, 2008 · Comments Off on Andy White at the Celtic Knot · Culture, Music, News, Performance

Tonight, Sunday evening March 30th, one of my favorite less-well-known-than-he-ought-to-be performers is playing a no-cover live gig up in Evanston. If you aren’t familiar with him — and most people I know aren’t — the best way I can describe Andy White is to say that if Jonathan Richman had been born an Irishman, he […]

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The ABC’s of Early 80’s Mo-Romance

February 15th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Culture, Fiction, Film, LGBT, Lit, Music, New Wave, TV, Video

And now for something a little on the lighter side — and a nice follow-up to Valentine’s Day. ABC’s “All of My Heart” + Brideshead Revisited = high school drama club heaven, circa 1982. Possibly the best combination since peanut butter and chocolate … the British horror of peanut butter notwithstanding. (Note: This may not […]

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