Here’s Your Chance

I know Monkeystador has been trying to attract Pussy Riot’s attention for awhile. Well, they’re playing in Tulsa!

You know it’s true because you read it in Pitchfork!

Pussy Riot will receive the Woody Guthrie Prize in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 6, and perform at the city’s Cain’s Ballroom that evening. The prize is given annually to an artist who “best exemplifies Guthrie’s spirit and work by speaking for the less fortunate through music, film, literature, dance or other art forms and serving as a positive force for social change.” The ceremony is part of the Woody Guthrie Center’s 10th anniversary celebration, which takes place from May 5 to 7.

Tulsa is a fun town. Surprisingly hip. We can go to the Dylan Archives while we’re there.

Viva Charo

Though Segovia’s classical influence is often proffered to explain her skill, Charo has a highly original style that weds intimate, lyrical classical melodies with the rhythmic flourishes of the flamenco tradition and spikes it all with a pop sensibility.
“She is a great guitar player,” said Kim Perlak, the chair of the guitar department at the Berklee College of Music. Citing her command of techniques like classical tremolo and flamenco scales, she added, “You have to practice that all the time to get to be that fluent, especially if you want it to be intuitive the way she does it.”

I only knew her as the “cuchi-cuchi” woman from Love Boat. Check out this fascinating article on María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza, her childhood in Francoist Spain and Segovia’s academy, to New York, Las Vegas, American 70’s and 80’s television, and beyond.

They’re from WHERE?

While off down internet wormholes prompted by this blog, I ran across the horrible clickbait article “Best Band from Every State,” which is designed mostly to start fights. It caught my attention because the Boys of Beach, above, and as pictured in the article, might qualify for the California designation… but not without Brian Wilson, SMH.

Anyway, I learned a little band geography and will be curious to see everyone’s reaction. As the sometimes Pacific Northwest rep, I’ll say that they’re right about Idaho, glaringly wrong about Oregon, and a little off with Washington.

Do Ya Think I’m Sexy

Not really. But unintentionally funny? Yes!

“By now, you and I are very used to watching some of our most elderly and most British celebrities go insane. So allow me to introduce a new and oddly refreshing entrant into the English Boomer cinematic universe: Sir Rod Stewart. As far as I can tell, Rod isn’t against transgender people, or vaccines, or whatever Morrissey happens to be against at any given moment. He just wants to be horny… truly it’s an arse state of affairs when Rod Stewart — a 76-year-old man who has had eight children with five different women and marries a new supermodel once per decade — feels as if his resting libido is being held down. Luckily for us, the old geezer has decided to rebel against all of this millennial prudishness with a new album and a new video. AND WHAT A VIDEO.”

– Drew Magary, in a magnificent article.