I've been accepted to participate in the 2009 EMP Pop Conference. I'm giddy at the notion that one of my oddball ideas is going to be presented under the guise of academia again. I get to talk about Urszula Dudziak, and folks will show up to listen? Psyche!

Abstract below:

Papaya: Strange Fruit
By Kurt B. Reighley

Start with a Polish jazz singer, blessed with a five octave range and a style that owes as much to Meredith Monk as Ella Fitzgerald, whose credits including the theme to Rosemary’s Baby and a ‘70s funk groove sampled by the Beastie Boys. Add in some Filipino drag queens and a tropical fruit, and what do you get?

17,000 different videos on YouTube, all of the same dance craze.

“Papaya,” an obscure 1975 single by Urszula Dudziak, and previously best known to a handful of cross-dressers who lip-synced it in nightclubs, sparked the biggest international dance craze of 2007. Game show host Edu Manzano parlayed what started as an audience participation stunt into a recording contract, and kicked off a trend that got a whole population dancing: Prison inmates, army regiments, even entire supermarkets. By 2008, the hosts of “Good Morning, America” were dancing the Papaya, while Anderson Cooper turned it into a running gag on CNN’s “AC360.”

How did a dance so banal it makes the Macarena look like a burlesque bump-and-grind ignite a nation? How do its sexless moves and popularity with large ensembles reflect—or reject—the social and political climate of the Philippines? How would its legion of fans react to know of its origins in the gay underground? And after 17,000 videos, is Urszula Dudziak any less obscure than she was 18 months ago?

Let’s trace—and maybe even learn—the steps of “The Papaya Dance.”

...but FESTIVE! stays up all year long.

The tree is out on the curb, waiting for tomorrow's yard waste pickup. But in my heart, and on the web, Christmas never ends.

As I plan complementary baby blankets for a friend who is expecting twins, this childhood favorite is stuck in my head:



How cute that the lyricist's idea of the distant future was "1981"!

Alas, this song is not on the GRAMMY Award-winning 1972 The Electric Company cast album. Perhaps the forthcoming new Electric Company will inspire the Children's Television Workshop to issue a deluxe box set of all the vintage songs. Please?

I'm already in a committed relationship with another holiday, 365 days a year. But you'll have to visit the updated Festive! to view John Waters' 2009 Christmas card... along with a few of my other picks.

Did it really happen? Don't ask me. I can't stay away from publishing tools this week.

On Sunday, Morrissey tricked me into cleaning my office.

Last night, I went to see this Swedish band.

The line between life and art grows more indistinct every day.

I just completed filling out my ballot for the 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards. It was vexing, to say the least. I don't know how other big awards are decided, but members of NARAS (the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) have to vote with one hand tied behind their backs.

See, everyone is allowed to vote for the Big Four: Record of the Year (which is a "single"), Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

But there are 31 specialized fields, covering everything from gospel and polka to hip-hop and jazz, besides those four. And we're only allowed to vote in a maximum of 8 of them. Any more, and your ballot automatically goes in the circular file.

For someone like myself, who listens to and writes about a little bit of everything, this ultimately means I have to opt out of voting in fields like R&B, Hip-Hop, Country and Rock - fields which encompass 5 to 8 prizes apiece - so I can weigh in on things I really care about. The chances of Toumani Diabaté, Moby, or an archival disc of Polk Miller 78s ever winning a GRAMMY Award in the first place are so slim, I want to throw my weight behind those contenders rather than Beyoncé and Kanye.

Here are the fields I chose to vote in this year: Dance (2 awards given), Traditional Pop (1), Alternative Rock (1), Folk (5... but they lump "Americana," Native American, and Hawaiian all under that umbrella-ella-ella), World Music (2), Film/TV (3), Notes (1), and Historical Album (1). If you'd like to wager on what I voted for, you can view the full list of nominees here.

Factor in my choices for the Big Four, and you actually get a reasonably accurate snapshot of a) what I listen to, and b) how I earn my paychecks. But dang, it irks me I'm forced to pass over the big categories in order to promote the "niche" genres and disciplines I love.

I am DJing on KEXP from 10 AM to 2 PM Pacific Time today (Christmas Day) as well as tomorrow, December 26. Apropos of the latter, if you have cool song suggestions for Boxing Day and Kwanzaa, please leave 'em in the comments section ASAP!

The Ecstatic Peace crew asked for my Top Ten live shows of 2008. Normally I'd decline to participate, but a) I admire Ecstatic Peace a great deal and b) while I went to markedly fewer shows in 2008, the ones I made it out to blew my mind more often than not.

1) Ponytail, Thurs. Oct. 2 at Nectar Lounge
2) Baby Dee, Mon. Feb. 11 at the Triple Door
2) Cause Co-Motion/Crystal Stilts, Sun. Nov. 9 at Chop Suey
3) Love Is All/Vivian Girls, Nov. 23 at Nectar Lounge
4) Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, Sun. Aug. 17 at Central Park Summerstage, NYC
5) Thao with Get Down Stay Down, Sat. March 8 at Chop Suey
6) The Ponderosa Stomp, Tues. & Weds. 4/29 & 4/30, New Orleans
7) Was (Not Was), Sun. May 18 at the Tractor Tavern
8) Long Blondes, Weds. May 28 at Neumo's
9) Hauschka, Weds. Nov. 27 at the Triple Door
10) Six Organs of Admittance, Sun. Nov. 16, Wall of Sound in-store performance