Two Singers and Two Eras: Lisa Shaw and Dusty Springfield

This week, I've unintentionally, but gratefully, immersed myself in the music of Lisa Shaw and the late Dusty Springfield.

Lisa Shaw
(photo: miguelmigs.com)

I became interested in Shaw's music via producer Jay Denes and DJ/producer Miguel Migs. The singer, born in Canada to Jamaican parents, has a sultry voice, a reasonably wide range, and can handle a variety of material. I tend to enjoy Shaw's deep house numbers, such as the original version of Can You See Him, in which the lyrics reflect a fine line between an internal reverie and engaging questions that relate a sweet, joyful love story. (A 2002 interview Shaw did with Deep House Network offers some interesting insights into her career and development.)

Dusty Springfield
(photo: Rolling Stone)

Dusty Springfield's songs were familiar to me from my teen years in New York. They occupied part of the popular music played by radio stations I liked. At that time, I really didn't think hard about the British singer at all. What a shame! Her fascinating, early career included her behind-the-scenes push for the first British tour of Motown acts, including The Supremes, The Temptations, and Stevie Wonder. She was deported from apartheid South Africa after performing to an integrated audience. She did a segment with Jimi Hendrix, of all people, that I would love to see. Not bad for a woman whose real last name was O'Brien, came from an Irish Catholic middle class background, and lived her pre-adult years in London's comfortable, class-conscious West End.

Her career and life had some momentary peaks and some dreadful valleys. Springfield fell out of fan favor in the 70s, although British musicians such as Elton John and Elvis Costello knew her work and respected it. Unfortunately, her occasionally difficult behavior marred her personal life. Rumors of "substance abuse" dogged her. She experienced, during that era, the harsh challenges lesbians faced in a business highly intolerant of sapphic activity. Upon reflection, her fall from grace seemed inevitable, yet somehow unfair.

She experienced something akin to musical vindication in her final years; her most famous tune, Son of a Preacher Man, was used in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Springfield's best songs hold together today, and I wonder how she would have navigated around the musical shoals Lisa Shaw's generation faces.

One source to further explore the music of these singers is the Internet radio station thebocx.com. Its interesting musical repertoire occasionally includes songs from Shaw's repertoire, some vault tunes such as Springfield's, and imaginative remixes of Motown classics. If you're on a phone, use this link to access thebocx.com. If you're on a computer or tablet, thebocx.com anchors at my blog: Inner Harbor.

Kaskade and LA's "Electric Daisy Carnival Experience" -- a Postscript

Last Wednesday, a publicity stunt to promote the Los Angeles premiere of a new documentary on the Electric Daisy Carnival Experience went wrong. Essentially, a very large crowd and the LAPD had something of a rumble. What brought the crowd together in the first place was the lure of a free block party in which Kaskade, the internationally known, would be the show. Kaskade tweeted his approximately 95,000 Twitter followers about the allegedly impromptu event. About 3,000 people quickly materialized outside the chosen venue, Grauman's Chinese theater. For an overview of the day's events, the LA Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and the LA Weekly all have stories linked here; the photo in this post originally appeared in the LA Times.) To put it mildly, there's no shortage of articles and posts about this event.

The Electric Daisy Carnival Experience (EDC) has a brief, checkered history in the City of the Angels. Last year, the "Experience" was held at the Olympic-scale LA Coliseum; a 15-year-old died from a drug overdose at the event. City and county officials huffed and puffed about EDC, discomfited by tales of participants' rampant use of Ecstasy and barely harnessed energy. What probably bothered them was that EDC put the DJ nightclub world and its behavior into the daylight, and demonstrated the mass appeal of the music and its sexual associations.

EDC holds shows in other American cities, notably Las Vegas. The Sin City show this year was a tremendous success in certain respects. The event, held at a local raceway, drew nearly a quarter of a million people over a three-day period. No serious violence was reported. Drugs? You betcha. Yet the City of Vice knew how to handle the crowds for this planned event. Hotels near the venue, according to one local account, charged triple the usual room rate and probably looked the other way when the rooms were crammed with EDC fans. Nobody complained, as they were more concerned with the music and the buzz. Las Vegas, still reeling from the economic recession that supposedly ended a year ago, welcomed the influx of money. Some LA media suggested EDC stay in Nevada, and that's probably what will happen next year.

I admit this overview of the EDC events is something of a post-game report. However, I was really struck how the stories brought to light the culture of DJs and their fans, its powerful, swift means of communication, and the energy providing that community's momentum and urgency. The combination makes for quite a cocktail, and a strong, yet fascinating one to consume. The LA Weekly's photos from EDC provide a visual taste.

Naked Music NYC

When I think of the love of my life, I often associate music with her. The songs are sentimental love tunes, a taste we happen to share. Some time ago, I "discovered" (more like "fell over") Naked Music, a deep house/downtempo label whose recordings under the umbrella "Naked Music NYC" are among my favorites.

I'm hardly an expert in either downtempo or house. From what I understand, the creative brains of Naked Music were producers Jay Denes (right photo) and Dave Boonshoft. I enjoy a number of artists with whom he's worked, such as Gaelle, Lisa Shaw, and Aquanote. You can explore Naked Music at your leisure. Sometimes my friend Phil Dorsey plays Naked Music tunes on theBoCX.com, the "radio" station featured on this blog site.

Enjoy your special day, my love.