I guess every writer finds himself saying, "How did I not write this" at some point or another. But a New York Times piece about "12 forgotten songs by women-led New Wave bands" -- featuring Josie Cotton, Holly and the Italians and the Waitresses? Seriously, how did I NOT write this?!!!! Best part: I've recently been on a Rachel Sweet kick -- someone I haven't given my full attention despite loving "Voo Doo" and her theme for John Waters's "Hairspray" -- so this confirmed I'm totally on the right track. Read HERE.
Former Spin magazine editor in chief Doug Brod writes:
On her second album, released when she was just 17, this Midwestern squeaker and howler convincingly covers the Damned’s 1976 classic about the glory of the burgeoning British punk movement. Strangely, her version replaces the signature slashing opening riff, as she employs her Ronnie Spector-ish pipes to make the song all her own. Perhaps even stranger, after leaving the music business Sweet went on to write and produce TV sitcoms, including “2 Broke Girls” and “The Goldbergs.”
P.S.
Click HERE to find out what Rachael has in common with Jenna Elfman, Katey Sagal and Madonna.
We just finished all four seasons of "WKRP in Cincinnati," a show I'd barely watched back in the day, even in reruns. It had all the hallmarks of an MTM production -- endearingly quirky characters, laughs that come from knowing the people, not from obvious "jokes" and smart dialogue. But as much as I enjoyed the series, seeing all of the various records and promotional items displayed in the deejay booth -- including the Pretenders, Blondie, the Go-Go's, Motels, Quarter Flash, Joan Armatrading, the Tubes and so on -- might have been my favorite part of all ... with Johnny Fever flipping through a stack that included the Waitresses' "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" perhaps the best of all!
Thrilled "I Want Candy" (Bow Wow Wow), "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" (The Waitresses) and "All Over the Place" (Bangles) got some overdue recognition. And always great to see "Parallel Lines" (Blondie), "Pretenders" (eponymous) and "Beauty and the Beat" (Go-Go's) cited, even if they picked the wrong Depeche Mode album, think too highly of The Cars and ignored Romeo Void. Read HERE.
I reckoned they don't consider R.E.M. to be new wave, although they're as "new wave" as a third of the artists on this list, but then realized they were on the site's previous list called the 50 Best Post-Punk Albums HERE.
DJ Taffy ended my unbelievably fun book party last night with this classic song, whose title was so perfect I couldn't help but steal it for my memoir. Party photos TK -- but right now I must say thanks to everyone who came out to make it the night of my life!
It took waaay longer than it should have, but the borderline-genius '80s band the Waitresses have finally gotten their complete catalog issued digitally, with the delightful two-disc collection "Just Desserts: The Complete Waitresses," out now via Omnivore Recordings. Featuring the band's classic debut LP, "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?," the stop-gap EP, "I Could Rule the World if I Could Only Get the Parts," and the follow-up album "Bruiseology," it's a must-have for fans of the era. What it lacks in bonus tracks (no Holly Beth Vincent demos?) it more than makes up for in a 2013 essay with extensive input from band leader Chris Butler. (Did you know the band didn't even really exist when it got signed on the strength of "I Know What Boys Like"?) "Make the Weather" was the debut single from the inferior sophomore release, but boy does it still sound great. It made me wistful in 1983, so you can only imagine how it makes me feel now. RIP, Patty Donahue. Order HERE.
More like Waiters and Waitresses, but who's keeping a tab?
Although Blondie and the Pretenders had already secured their places in my heart by then, no band better symbolized the changing of the musical guard for me from pop-rock (ONJ, Hall and Oates) to New Wave than the Waitresses. (The Go-Go's and Missing Persons were right in the same window.) The year was 1982 and my brother was home for the weekend from the University of Arizona when he pulled out this album that looked like a tablecloth in an Italian restaurant with a black-and-white graduation photo on the center. Scribbled in the upper-left corner were the words, "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" The second he put it on my stereo and she started singing (OK, half-talking, half-snipping) "Needed new posters, so I bought 'em. I know the cost of stamps now ...," I was hooked. The she was Patty Donahue, who along with guitarist/songwriter Chris Butler (and an assortment of musicians) had recorded this insanely original album that sounded like Gloria Steinem had stepped in for Kate and Cindy in the B-52's. "I Know What Boys Like" would later become one of their best-known songs, but in many ways it really was one of the weakest on the album, because while it had the sass of the others, it lacked the cerebral touch that made Butler's lyrics so much more than throwaway '80s novelty fare. Killer Pussy records were a hoot too, but you weren't going to hear Lucy LaMode croon:
Shocked? Dismayed? Or maybe just a little upset Well, no this isn't pretty And yes, my hair was longer then It's what happens when your choices Are narrowed to fashion or violence Adjustments, you make adjustments
or
Get tough, don't be so patient Get smart, head up, shoulders straight Since when is it a disaster? If the "S" on your cape is a little frayed? What's a girl to do? Born to shop? No! Pretty victories What's a girl to do? Scream &. screw? No! Pretty victories
The way I remember it, a demo tape Butler had recorded with some friends was well-received by a label in New York in '80 or '81, so Chris lied and said his band was back in Ohio, then suddenly had to get Patty to the city and then get an actual band together to start playing live.
Patty Donahue, vocals and sarcasm
Within months, the Peppermint Lounge became the Waitresses 2.0's domain and "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" was released in 1982, quickly becoming a "college hit." ("No Guilt," "Wise Up," "Quit," and "Pussy Strut" are all New Wave classics.) A stopgap EP was issued later that year. "I Could Rule the World if I Could Only Get the Parts" contained five new songs, including the band's cute theme to the short-lived but much-loved television series "Square Pegs" (on which they guest starred and had their album cover prominently featured in the booth at Johnny Slash's school radio station) and what would become Butler's ultimate cash cow, the perennial holiday favorite, "Christmas Wrapping."
"No Guilt": Perhaps the most insulting post-breakup song ever, with its utter blasé attitude!
"Quit": Failure has never been more indecisive.
"Wise Up:" Only stupid people fail to see that it's a bad thing maybe in the '80s (but I doubt it)
By the time 1982 came to a finish, the band was seemingly on top of the world having been on a whirlwind ride of success and new-found fame. In '83 "Bruiseology," the much-anticipated (by me, at least) sophomore album, came out but before promotion got started in earnest, the band was pretty much done. First Patty quit. Then Holly Beth Vincent was slated to step in. Then Patty returned. Then the whole thing was over. (The album, by the way, plays like a uncompleted coulda-been gem: "A Girl's Gotta Do" and "Everything's Wrong if My Hair's Wrong" pick up nicely where the original left off, but "Make the Weather" reveals a sweet, Brian Wilson side of Butler that hadn't been seen before. The other standout tracks, "Luxury" and "Open City," show Patty's character has matured (or wised up). But then "Spin" had to be sung by bassist Tracy Wormworth when Patty went M.I.A., during exhaustive recording sessions in England (Tracy had also recorded the title track, which some people actually prefer, but then Patty did her own take and that was used.) "Pleasure" is an unnecessary instrumental (were vocals dropped when Patty vanished?) and "They're All Out of Liquor, Let's Find Another Party" is a great title, but the song is as humorless as it is tuneless, which is everything the Waitresses were not.
In 1990, Chris Butler explained in the liner notes to the band's best-of package that "it's very easy to become a victim of too much fun. but it's so embarrassing! how could a bunch of stubborn people who refused to be cliches stumble smack into a typical show biz crash and burn. maybe it's because 'that which ye be the most afraid of is guaranteed to happen' ... so you can work through it and come out the other side and not be afraid anymore. all i know is that i was trying to write three-minute Preston Sturges movies, but as it turned out, we were all really living 'All About Eve.'"
While the record industry continues to amaze me from time to time with its reissues ("Despite Straight Lines," anyone?) to date, shamefully none of the Waitresses' original releases have been released on CD. ("Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" did, however, make it to iTunes last year and a best-of disc is available HERE.) Years ago Chris Butler, who shared a rehearsal space with a guy I work with, told me that a box set of the band's catalogue was imminent. But five years on and having already produced my own Waitresses CDs, I'm not holding my breath. What still haunts me, though, is that I never got to see them perform live. In 1982 they even came through Phoenix and my brother Bill was fortunate enough to catch them. But alas the show was at a bar and I was far too young, and then they broke up before I ever got another chance. (Even sadder, in 1996, Patty died tragically of lung cancer at 40, ending forever any hope of a reunion.)
So imagine my shock and delight when Cherry Red -- the very people who reissued the Marilyn album on CD last year -- recently released a live Waitresses concert DVD, "The Waitresses: Live at Hurrah,"which I have just added to my NetFlix queue!!! (I swore I'd never join but I wouldn't dare buy a DVD after you-know-what.) I miss ya, Patty, and I can hardly wait for it to get here. The show is just 54 minutes, but I'll call it even just to have it last that long ...
A flawless recreation of the perfect '80s New Wave album, above
The EP and album No. 2 never looked so good together, above
I got "The Akron Sound" book for Christmas -- finally tells what really happened with the Waitresses. I think when Patty died Chris Butler didn't want to trash her but enough time has gone by ...
Holly Beth Vincent was hired as a replacement... did a few gigs and then just didn't show up to one. That was the end of that. They imploded recording "Bruiseology" -- too much partying. Patty got pissed when Chris Butler started recording vocals with Tracey Wormworth. The band split but the record company offered Patty $$ to come back and do a video at least. Then she tried to continue the band without Chris -- and the other members were offered salaries. She recorded demos with new songwriters for a third album and the record company passed.
Chris Butler says: "She went Hollywood on me -- bad advice from bad people."
They did reconcile before she died. 😇
If ANYONE has access to those Patty demos, I will do anything to get my ears on them!
UPDATE: Christmas 2021. Lyndsey Parker of Yahoo Music did a great interview with Chris Butler about the enduring appeal of "Christmas Wrapping" that has some great Patty info that I wanted to include here:
Butler had a fraught relationship with Donahue, who later died of lung cancer at age 40, right around Christmastime 25 years ago, on Dec. 9, 1996. While Patty sang about a meet-cute holiday romance in “Christmas Wrapping,” her own love life was decidedly less Lifetime-holiday-movie-esque.
“I have some good [memories], some not,” Butler says of Donahue, who retired from performing in the mid-‘80s to work behind the scenes in A&R. “She's substantially responsible for having our band break apart. But on the other hand, this was a smart, very funny woman, a trooper who took a lot of chances, in that she had never really done anything like this. She was a very good actress who could take a role and run with it. She has a lot of instincts that made her appealing. I think she could have done more potentially an actress. There were some opportunities that she turned down. I’ve got to be careful what I'm saying here, but I know a lot of women who are talented and perhaps don't have enough of a sense of how talented they are, due to self-esteem issues. And I think Patty was not aware of how much chops she had. She had a lot of chops. I just wish that her choice of boyfriends had been more supportive and encouraging of her, because I believe she really was a natural. It's too bad. I think she fell in with, um, bad companions, shall we say? And that had a negative effect on both her self-image and what she could have done with this attention she was getting from people. I don't think she was comfortable with [the attention], or knew how to parlay it into a more of a creative career.
“We were all trying to be in encouraging,” Butler continues wistfully. “But I think that when it came to dealing with men, her own family history — presuppose that — made it so she wouldn't take our word for it when we were our saying, ‘You can really do this. You're really good at this. You should stick with it.’ I think her father left way too early, and a single mother raised her. She also was a party girl, and sometimes her personality would change when she would party just a little too much. She became kind of a different person, and that was hard to handle. She became very combative and I think, like most abused people, they're very, very oversensitive. But then there's the odd inversion of them being attracted to [abusive tendencies] in their mates. … She was in a music environment, and manipulative people could come out of the audience and try to get into her head and whatever. We tried to protect her. There were warnings from us saying, ‘You should watch out for X, because he's not what you think he is. He's a sleazeball.’ But sometimes she resented and rebelled against the protection, and I think she fell into some bad companions. And so these outside forces, these bad influences in her life, is ultimately what led or contributed to the breakup.”
Butler, who “had a lot of big ideas” for the band, confesses that the Waitresses’ split in 1984 “kind of broke my heart, to be honest. I have a lot of blame that I need to take on myself, because I wasn't aware of the stresses. My preoccupation was trying to be established as a writer and to keep this group of very cranky, very talented musicians together and write things that would not bore them. I had a real hard time when the whole thing blew up. I had four or five years of just trying to reinvent myself and stay somehow active as a writer. It was not a happy time for me. It was a real blow to have the thing blow up. It took a long time for me to hit some kind of normal after that.” The Waitresses never reunited, not even for a one-off occasion, but Butler notes that shortly before Donahue’s death, “There was a bit of a rapport reestablished on the phone, because I knew she was sick and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to at least let her know that I cared about her and I wished her well. We had a few phone calls and even thought about, ‘Hey, let's do a reunion for the American Cancer Society,’ but she didn't make it.”
However, Butler believes Donahue’s complex personality was a key reason why “Christmas Wrapping” became such a perennial holiday favorite. “I think that's why Patty rings true, because there is a little melancholy in the song,” he says. As for reasons why the song continues to connect with listeners 40 holiday seasons later, he theorizes, “The thing I've grasped on is that people want to know that there's a force for good going on in the background, and that maybe everything will all work out. Maybe with the stress of the holidays, all this kind of Hallmark-card cheerfulness just doesn't ring true in a more cynical age — and it was certainly a more cynical age then. The song kind of captures that, but also takes the cynical and turns it on its head.”
The endearing, quirky result, driven by Donahue’s deadpan, attitudinal delivery, is sort of the ‘80s equivalent of a Sex and the City carol, with would-be actress Donahue cast as a new wave Carrie Bradshaw. “I do have to bring up the 'silent character’ in the song: the city of New York,” says Butler, who also drew some inspiration from Kurtis Blow’s 1979 single “Christmas Rappin’” and the burgeoning New York hip-hop scene surrounding the ska/jazz/R&B-influenced Waitresses at the time. “I tried to write a female character that was an urban person, and her stresses and strains are very urban. The idea of missed connections is very New York. Sometimes you have no choice but to spend Christmas alone. You're single and you have limited funds — hence the small turkey for one, soup for one. So, our character is an urban person, a kind of everygirl, experiencing this. So, I thought of telling that story with the O. Henry twist at the end. … And if you believe that ending, well then, I've got a bridge to sell you!”
It was the first week of 1984 and Newsweek had a Technicolor Boy George and Annie Lennox splashed across the cover proclaiming the second coming of the British Invasion, yet all my sexually confused 16-year-old eyes could see was endless possibilities. He looked like a chick. She looked like a dude, sort of. I specifically remembering staring at the cover while listening to the Eurythmics' haunting song "Jennifer" and feeling completely sick to my stomach thinking, maybe I wasn't the only one who felt this way.
This was the year before I went all Trapper Keepers
Like many gay people growing up during the '80s, the new wave explosion was a welcome escape from the boy-girl society around us, a convenient way to hide our sexuality behind the fashions and styles of the time. (I'm not sure what I'd have done, say, in the '70s or '90s.) And with each passing year someone new came along to push the boundaries. From Visage, Culture Club and Eurythmics to Haysi Fantayzee and Dead or Alive. But of all the artists of that gender-bender era, none garnered my affections the way Marilyn did.
I'll never forget seeing the 12" single of his debut song, "Calling Your Name," in the bin at Zia Records on Mill Avenue in Tempe, Ariz., with his glamorous blond dreadlocks tossed to the side, perfect makeup and his exposed chest. After tearing up the U.K. charts with that one he never had another real hit even in his homeland, so the singles and subsequent album, "Despite Straight Lines," were never even released here in the states. But that didn't stop me from snatching up every new thing he released (my friend Laura Thomas even had the picture disc of "Cry and Be Free" with the rare b-side "Running" on it, which I promptly taped!) and every No. 1 magazine and Smash Hits that he appeared in. (That's him in the bottom lefthand corner of my English folder from Dobson High. Can you name the others?) Was I sexually attracted to Marilyn? No. But I was definitely drawn to him in some strong way. Looking back I think it was his ability to have enough self-confidence to be who he was with no apologies that made me admire him, despite his increasingly obvious lack of musical abilities. (His outsider within the group of outsiders status was certainly something I related to, too.) When Boy George brought the era to life in the show "Taboo"a few years ago it was Marilyn's biting oneliners that stole the show, of course. And every so often I'll dust off my homemade Marilyn CD of everything he ever released (none of which ever made the leap to the digital age officially) and play it with fond memories of the pretty boy who wasn't afraid to be himself.
"Bah, humbug!" No, that's too strong 'Cause it is my favorite holiday But all this year's been a busy blur Don't think I have the energy
Patty Donahue's deadpan holiday greeting (from one my favorite Christmas songs) pretty much sums up this holiday season for me. (Not sure what's scarier: that Patty died 11 years ago this month at the age of 40 or that this Waitresses classic is now 26 years old. Sheesh.) Bought my first present this afternoon (between a haircut and going to the gym). Ran into Andy Towle on Seventh Avenue with shopping bags and asked him, "Are you Christmas shopping?" He laughed and said "No. I just bought myself some new underwear." (Briefs, no doubt.)
Michael and I are going to see the much-acclaimed "Juno" tonight. I can't help but feel that character has been so played out by Sara Gilbert on "Roseanne" and Alicia Witt on "Cybill," but everyone swears it's brilliant so we're going. Tomorrow it's my "Monday" so back to work then off to the annual Ronnie Spector Christmas Party (last year's show was the highlight of my season), followed by my office's holiday party at a bar in Midtown. (When are we supposed to find time to shop?) Hope everyone has a great weekend and gets a lot accomplished, although I'm going to do my best to remember what's really important this time of the year.
For now here are the lyrics (in case you wanna sing along):
"Christmas Wrapping" by Chris Butler
"Bah, humbug!" No, that's too strong
'Cause it is my favorite holiday
But all this year's been a busy blur
Don't think I have the energy
To add to my already mad rush
Just 'cause it's 'tis the season.
The perfect gift for me would be
Completions and connections left from
Last year, ski shop,
Encounter, most interesting.
Had his number but never the time
Most of '81 passed along those lines.
So deck those halls, trim those trees
Raise up cups of Christmas cheer,
I just need to catch my breath,
Christmas by myself this year.
Calendar picture, frozen landscape,
Chilled this room for twenty-four days,
Evergreens, sparkling snow
Get this winter over with!
Flashback to springtime, saw him again,
Would've been good to go for lunch,
Couldn't agree when we were both free,
We tried, we said we'd keep in touch.
Didn't, of course, 'til summertime,
Out to the beach to his boat could I join him?
No, this time it was me,
Sunburn in the third degree.
Now the calendar's just one page
And, of course, I am excited
Tonight's the night, but I've set my mind
Not to do too much about it.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Hardly dashing through the snow
Cause I bundled up too tight
Last minute have-to-do's
A few cards a few calls
'Cause it's r-s-v-p
No thanks, no party lights
It's Christmas Eve, gonna relax
Turned down all of my invites.
Last fall I had a night to myself,
Same guy called, halloween party,
Waited all night for him to show,
This time his car wouldn't go,
Forget it, it's cold, it's getting late,
Trudge on home to celebrate
In a quiet way, unwind
Doing Christmas right this time.
A&P has provided me
With the world's smallest turkey
Already in the oven, nice and hot
Oh damn! Guess what I forgot?
So on with the boots, back out in the snow
To the only all-night grocery,
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
In the line is that guy I've been chasing all year!
"I'm spending this one alone," he said.
"Need a break; this year's been crazy."
I said, "Me too, but why are you?
You mean you forgot cranberries too?"
Then suddenly we laughed and laughed
Caught on to what was happening
That Christmas magic's brought this tale
To a very happy ending! "
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
Couldn't miss this one this year!
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
Couldn't miss this one this year!
My blog is featured in Susan Olsen's tell-all about the ill-fated "Brady Bunch Variety Hour"!
Little Kenny
Growing up in Madison Heights, Mich.
Back to the Old House
The Web leads to an unexpected return to a house I grew up in.
Oceans 11
Carlsbad, Calif. (2008)
1983
Go Behind the Music of my high-school band, A La Plage
A Death in the Family
Little Larry left us too soon.
Once I Had a Love
With Debbie Harry
'Jungle' Fever
With Robert Buckley
Roger & Me
With Roger Federer
Step Brother McMullen
With Ed Burns
Headline News
With Thomas Roberts
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