I have been on a mission to remember what music discovery feels like. Pretty much playing albums front to back a few times before I even decide if i like/dislike em again. Tonight’s selection is a gem that the homie Ethan let me get named The Bird and the Bee (the album and band name are the same, I wish Tanya Morgan would do that for the third release but alas…) and its so far so good but I’m only a half listen in. My Fucking Boyfriend is a jam and a half tho.
*i dont need you to tell me how ‘late’ i am. just let me enjoy music at my own pace…
I’m not sure where the munchkin rumors started, but one might assume her barely 5-foot-tall frame might have had something to do with it. And for years she lived with the perpetual torment of people — like us bored teenagers — driving by her property, shining headlights, squealing tires and honking horns all through the night.
Some did even worse, vandalizing her property or hiding out in the ranch’s small stone buildings and shelter houses. One friend, an Oak Hills High School graduate, said about 20 years ago during a Munchkinland exploratory mission he and his friends came face-to-face with a shotgun-wielding man who told them to get lost. He might have been Percy Ritter, or “Rit,” Annie’s husband who died in 1990.
“As she got older she became more skeptical of the world,” said Mel Blust, president of Blust Motors and executor of Annie’s will (she and Percy never had children).
I was one of the kids that helped make this woman more skeptical of the world. We used to get high and roll to ‘munchkinland’ late at night and blow our horns, screams, toss rocks and wait until we were chased out. The linked article explains the jet black truck and mustang that would swoop down the hill with floodlights to chase you out I guess. But it doesn’t really do too well of explaining what the spooky small buildings were. This was the only photo I could find:
And while they say it was a rumor I *SWEAR* I saw a little person cutting the lawn one day when we went in the day time.
Turns out that they are tearing the place down. Its prolly gone by now. Man do i have some great stories…
RIP Handlebar Ranch aka Tiny Town aka Munchkinland
Okay so yall may or may not have some of these. Chances are you do and thats cool (THATS WHY ITS CALLED THE COOL RERELEASE) just use this time as an opportunity to revisit and relisten to them. Hell maybe load all three up into the ipod or make your own TM playlist with the joints. But if you don’t have them kindly take the time to thank yourself for rocking with the crew and download these three albums, actually that would be pretty cool, i think i may do that myself. And of course if you ain’t got a retail version of Brooklynati imma need you to rectify that right now. Hell if you downloaded illegally feel free to drop that $10 in the collection plate right now…
consider this a small reminder of the consistency and quality that we have given yall for free and furthermore the lengths we have taken to make PURCHASING an album an experience again. And more importantly don’t expect it to slow up anytime soon.
see yall in 2010:
Donwill – Don Cusack In High Fidelity (Spring 2010)
Von Pea – Peas Gotta Have It (Summer 2010)
Ilyas – Hello Hell (Fall 2010
Okay, we all are in agreeance that we like Fat Luther and Sad Mary, I dont know too many people who would argue against this. I kinda quit keepin track of her tracks after Mary but I think its safe to say that this album was Sad Mary’s last hoorah. And while I’m extremely happy that she is happily married you gotta admit she quickly slid into the adult contemporary lane and her music lives next door to smooth jazz and gospel now. *THIS IS NOT A BAD THING* While it is boring we need the balance of music done for adults by adults, especially from an adult who comes from the ‘hip hop soul’ sound. I’ve since tuned her out for the most part but lemme know if she has done anything that has matched the cinematic 4 song set that closes out this album.
Your Child – A woman comes over and drops Leon’s baby at Mary’s doorstep. To be totally honest I’m not a fan of this song at all but being that No Happy Holidays starts with a line about a man who lies about being willing to leave his family for her. So for that reason alone it has to be the ‘intro’
No Happy Holidays – Mary closes the door and reflects on her relationship with Leon. This song is so gut wrenchingly beautiful and when she belts lines like ‘make her your wife’ and ‘your family has never met me and they never will’ it just makes you feel for her that much more. Add to the fact that the hook is fuckin awesome and the George Benson-esque guitar solo at the end murders it. I swear Mary scats ‘dead in the middle of little italy’ in tribute to Big Pun… haha
The Love I Never Had - Mary decides to dead the relationship with Leon and wails about fighting thru her feelings for him. Once again it oozes with emotion, halfway begging him not to go and the other half telling herself its best that she does. Sorta like that angry self realization you get when you figure out your emotions are out of your control. Its all there confusion, hurt and doubt but mainly a palpable angst. Musically you gotta love the tension and release that this song has from chorus to verse and was that a chuckle or a weep at the end? Regardless it ices this proverbial cake well.
Give Me You - The epic swirling ballad. Tell me this aint a sick ass ending. You don’t know if she decided to give it a shot or is just singin about wanting a ‘real love’ but I suspect that its the latter. This shit had to be a country song before she got it, anybody know if it was? It has that universal feel to it. Love the way the bridge breaks and song closes. KILLER.
This album is on some personal classic status for me. All that I can say and I’m in love are on eternal jam status. Even the remake of Let No Man Put Asunder goes HARD. Maybe its cus I secretly miss hip-house. haha… :/
*Not Enoughhas to be noted. It should have been chock full of antics with it being the K-Ci and Mary reunion song since the Lovin You (man that shit is AMAZING) The ’ballad’ even borrows a guitar lick from Tony Toni Tone I care but the rambley long ass drawn out intro is an instant turn off. The back n forth on the bridge is kinda awesome in that and the outro is hilarious, fucking hilarious
**i like rnb, alot. Bite me.
BONUS FOOTAGE: The Love I Never Had Live
just skip to the 3 minute mark and find out why Mary is the SHIT
