Pulsallama//Oui-Oui (A Canadian in Paris)

Let's talk about the French for a minute. Aren't they adorable? Oo, la, la! They've got the look and the sound to pull off just about anything. I dated a French guy with a penchant for day-glo serape and leggings combos and I still found him sexy. Have you heard Carla Bruni's album? It sucks. And yet, she's sexy too!

Pulsallama was an amazing all-girl percussion explosion that detonated in the East Village from 1980 - 1982, sadly without ever releasing a debut LP. Members included Ann Magnuson of Bongwater(!), Wendy Wild of the Mad Violets, and Jean Caffeine of All-Nite Truckstop along with Stacey Elkin, Charlotte Slivka, Katy K, Min Thometz, Judy Streng, Andé Whyland, Dany Johnson, Lori Montana, Kim Davis, April Palmieri, "and a cast of thousands" according to their Facebook page. You can read more about the genesis and destruction of Pulsallama on Jean's website. Check out this Flickr Stream by Robert Carrithers for some amazing shots of members of the band.

But enough of my prattling about how much I love these ladies. Check out this sweet song about their run in with an equally strange but sexy Frenchman!



Oui-Oui (A Canadian in Paris).mp3

Vive la France
I love the toast and the fries

The Fabulettes//Try the Worrying Way

Anyone with even a mild interest in pop music should probably consider investing in the excellent One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found compilation released by Rhino. These beautiful four discs of rare and not-as-rare girl group tracks are actually packaged in a hat box. I shit you not.

From the Amazon’s description:

Girl groups have enchanted humankind since the era of the ancient Greeks, when legend has it the Sirens attempted to lure wayfarers Odysseus and Jason to their fates; Persephone's chanteuses would eventually even lose a battle of the bands to the Muses. A couple millennia later, female singers would become a dominant force in the pop and rock of the ‘60s, the era anthologized on this four-disc, 120-track collection from Rhino.

This song is about worrying. In this case, the worry is focused around a bad boyfriend. But, let me confess that I’ve been worrying about a lot of stuff lately. Maybe it’s winter madness (thanks, 30 Rock) or maybe it’s just mid-twenties anxiety, but I can’t stop worrying. I’m not going to list all the things I worry about. It would be too long and too sad, but suffice to say, you are not alone if you feel this way too. We are all worrying.

Speaking of sad, general anxiety doesn’t even come close to being as sad as this song’s pre-feminist context. Girl loves boy. Boy cheats on girl. Well, that sucks, but at least girl is losing weight (without taking Metrecal!) fretting over it. Lame.

Too bad about the offensiveness of the situation, because a. ladies, I know you’ve been there (whether you are freaking out over a boy or a girl) and b. this song is so rad. I can’t find anything at all about these Fabulettes (instead I keep getting some kind of 90s girl group parody—-gross). Regardless, they are quite fabulous!



Try the Worrying Way.mp3

I don’t count calories.
I don’t exercise.
I just wonder what woman my man’s been with
When he tells me he’s been out with the guys.