A Living Bell

HOLA! Long time, no see. I've been very busy lately. I started interning at McSweeney's. It's going great. You can keep your eyes peeled for a few things in the May issue of the Believer by yours truly. You'd think getting back into a reading and writing mode would really up the output on here -in both quality and content. And, hopefully, it will. Heretofore, I've just been too busy. Until it does, help yourself to some jamz by Melanie Safka. She was a weirdo babe with a guru.





Look! She even makes that same stupid face that I do when I am happy.


Plus, my grandparents are in town. Now, I get to go slide around on those library ladders at Britex.

Contemplate the Road That Brought You Underground

I just can't get enough weirdo lady folk singers lately. Today, it has been all about Norma Tanega.

What a great performance! She's all smiles and urban self-reflection.
Norma Tanega was born right over in Vallejo. She went to Scripps for her undergrad and MFA in painting before moving to New York in '64. She is the only Filipina I can think of that was performing in the New York folk scene. Plus, she dated Dusty Springfield for years.

She was a one hit wonder in 1966 with "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog."

(You can buy this 45 for $5 on ebay right now. HINT. HINT.)









When asked about the song, Tanega explains: "I had always wanted a dog, but because of my living situation I could only have a cat; I named my cat dog and wrote a song about my dilemma." If there is one thing I understand, it is that problem. There is probably no one thing in my life that feels like a problem which I could so easily remedy. I really like that the thing I complain about the most became a top single by a lady who made out with the peroxide Queen of the Mods. 


Commiserate with this crucial babe: