WHILE FIGHTING THE MALAISE, AN UNEXPECTED FIND

Dear Vaulties-

As those of you who are kind enough to still check in on this blog with regularity have no doubt noticed, I have barely posted anything for quite a while. To be frank, my life just has not been all that interesting of late and over the past couple of months there has been little new to discuss. The most major development of late was that I was in a relationship with a terrific lady, but a week before Valentine's Day we both agreed that the hoped-for connection just wasn't happening and it was best to nip things in the bud while we could still remain friends. I very much enjoy spending time and hanging out with her and her friends, so I'm okay with the way it worked out, but I must admit that I was bummed when it ended. And after that, not much else has been going on other than the ongoing search for a steady staff gig (which is proving fruitless), though I do have something brewing with a couple of collaborators. It's still in the embryonic stages and I can't discuss it yet, but I will fill you in when I get the okay.

Anyway, things have been in a seemingly interminable holding pattern, so tonight I was losing myself in music videos on YouTube, searching once again for whatever Devo obscurities I could unearth. (There's a shitload of that kind of thing to be had on YouTube, so if you're a fellow spud-head, I recommend taking a look.) While listening to "Pity You" for the umpteenth time — the guitar on that one makes me wiggle like a piece of elastic — I was reminded of Toni Basil's covers of Devo songs that she included on her 1982 WORD OF MOUTH album, which contained "Mickey," a #1 hit in the U.S., international hit, and an indelible milestone in 1980's pop culture that holds special resonance for those of us who were high-schoolers during the early days of MTV. (Back when they actually played music videos 24/7.) On WORD OF MOUTH, Basil applied her loopy style to Devo's "Pity You" (which hailed from their 1981 album, NEW TRADITIONALISTS and retitled "You Gotta Problem" for basil's purposes), "Space Girls" (a retitled "Space Girl Blues"), and "Be Stiff," all of which I played and watched the videos for. And while looking for more Toni Basil, I unexpectedly encountered the following item, her first single, released way back in 1966 when she was twenty-three. I knew she'd been a professional singer and dancer since childhood, but I had no idea she'd cut a record some sixteen years before "Mickey" conquered the airwaves. Here's the unjustly obscure "Breakaway," a quite good single that I can't believe I'd never heard of before tonight. Considering the state of mental stagnation I've been in, its lyrics really hit home. Enjoy!



Oh, and I promise to be back with more actual meat for this blog, and not just occasional posting of music that catches my interest. Getting back into the Vault may be just the thing I need to shake off this months-long psychological/emotional/motivational limbo, so STAY TUNED and thank you for your continuing interest and support!