The Last Summer Ever

"'To die for the Fatherland is the most beautiful fate'... The poilu, however, had a different view: 'The most beautiful fate is to live a long time and to be happy. Why lie?'"
--La Belle France

So we like Cut Copy a lot, but what can I say? These guys are hard workers. They inspire a work ethic in me. Because of them, I've been spending the past few days of the summer in the cafes studying for the GREs. Then, I look over next to me and a guy is studying for LSATs and I think to myself, sure, he's studious, but can he dance? Cut Copy's treatment of this Ladyhawke song is epic. It barely feels like a remix. See if you can get away with listening to this and not wanting to shuffle your feet.

Ladyhawke - Paris Is Burning (Cut Copy remix) (No longer available)

The ghosts convene when the temperatures rise. July 25th, Holy Ghost! and The Black Ghosts will play the Mighty in San Francisco. If you aren't spooked, I guarantee you'll be funked proper. July 26th, Hercules & Love Affair play at the Mezzanine. Could this possibly the greatest summer ever? Perhaps it will be our last.

The Black Ghosts - Full Moon

Money doesn't talk, it swears

I was waiting for the 71, which stops along the Haight and heads toward the Mission. Looking at the bus map, alone at the bus stop except for one girl, this older, ruffian-type man comes up to me. He has a bandana wrapped around the top of his head like a pirate, long stringy gray hair coming out from underneath it and his left eye is completely bloodshot. He asks where we are going? I tell him to the Mission. “Where are you from?” he asks, thinking me and the other girl are a couple from out of town. I tell him I live down the street.

“Oh,” he says, “so you know North Beach?”

Sure, I know it, I tell him.

"There are some fine Blues and Titty bars," he muses.

Is that what you’re on your way to, I ask him, a titty bar?

"A Blues and Titty bar," he corrects me. "Music," he continues, "is my only friend. I’ve been married four times in my life; had a lot of great experiences and a lot of terrible ones, but music is the only thing that’s stuck through it with me. Music," he says, "is my friend, my lover, my drug, my alcohol, my bitch, everything," he says. "In the words of James Douglass—and you’ll know who he is when I start singing—in the words of the Great James Douglass..." and he started singing:

For the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end

I didn’t know who James Douglass was, but when he started singing I felt nearly as though he were channeling Jim Morrison directly, as though he were some kind of Jim Morrison impersonator or reincarnation. His voice was so bold and stinging in the night. As he finished I could see the bus pulling up. I wanted to speak to him more now, but it was clear he was not getting on this bus. "Sounds like Jim Morrison to me," I said to him.

"James Douglass Morrison," he says, "have a good night." And that was that.

When I heard about this band The Black Ghosts I initially rolled my eyes. I know and like too many bands already that start with "The Black..." I'm not sure that I enjoy their original songs yet, but the remixes are nice.

The Black Ghosts- Its Your Touch (Ashley Beedles Heavy Disco edit)

The Black Ghosts- Any Way You Choose To Give It (The Whip remix)

And Boy 8 Bit's remix, who seems to be popping up here and there these days, perhaps something to look for in the future. He seems to love those Nintendo arpeggios that I guess his name suggests:

The Black Ghosts- Any Way You Choose To Give It (Boy 8 Bit remix)