Posts Tagged ‘Vin Scelsa’

Bootleg City: “Vin Scelsa’s Live at Lunch,” 6/28/00 (Pt. 3)

Here are some fun facts about singer-songwriter Jules Shear:

1. He’s from Pittsburgh. So is actor Jeff Goldblum, who stars in a 2006 pseudo-documentary called Pittsburgh that chronicles his homecoming performance in a production of The Music Man five years ago. It also stars Illeana Douglas, a friend of Goldblum’s, who was dating Moby in ‘04 and learning more than she wanted to know about the musician’s appetite for pornography.

2. Illeana Douglas and Moby never dated, hence Pittsburgh’s status as a “pseudo-documentary.” But Moby did research his role by borrowing Jules Shear’s extensive collection of amateur porn.

(Okay, so that “fact” about Shear’s porn collection is a lie. And it’s possible he wouldn’t consider it to be “fun,” either. But why should Jeff Goldblum be the only person who’s allowed to blur the line between fact and fiction? On that note …)

3. For a brief period in the early ’90s, Shear cut his own hair. When he was finished with a trim he’d yell, “Shear genius!” Sadly, no one was around to hear it.

4. Jules & the Polar Bears was originally going to consist of Shear and three actual polar bears, but due to his unwillingness to relocate to the North Pole — and polar bears’ general inability to play instruments — he eventually settled for human musicians David Beebe, Richard Bredice, and Stephen Hague. However, he insisted on treating them like real polar bears, going so far as to contractually limit them to an all-fish diet.

5. Jeff Goldblum starred in the 1988 movie Vibes with Cyndi Lauper, whose hit song “All Through the Night” was written and first recorded by Shear. The soundtrack of 1985’s The Goonies includes two songs performed by Lauper as well as one by the Bangles, “I Got Nothing,” which was cowritten by Shear. The Bangles then recorded Shear’s “If She Knew What She Wants,” another song he recorded first on one of his own LPs, for their album Different Light. Goldblum sings in Pittsburgh for his role as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man, but songs like “Seventy-six Trombones” probably would’ve sounded better coming out of Lauper’s mouth.

6. “Jules Shear” is a stage name. His real name is Julianne Shear.

7. Did you know that legendary author Jules Verne used rival sci-fi scribe H.G. Wells’s time machine to travel forward in time to 1984, where he declared Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” to be “not as good as that one Shear wrote”? And that after watching The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension he declared costar Jeff Goldblum to be “quirky as hell but fun to watch”?

8. Jeff Goldblum, Jeff Goldblum, Jeff Goldblum!!!

9. The Pittsburgh Penguins recently won the Stanley Cup, but don’t talk about the reigning hockey champions around Shear or he’ll go into a loud, profane tirade about how there aren’t any penguins in Pittsburgh. There aren’t any polar bears either, but you’ll only make things worse if you bring that up. Just change the subject to Happy Feet and you’ll see that he loves penguins — it’s lapses in geographical logic he can’t stand.

10. Though it hasn’t been confirmed that either Jules Shear or Jeff Goldblum has read Michael Chabon’s The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, it’s nice to imagine them being members of the same book club. Especially if one’s a big fan of Jules Verne and the other’s a big fan of H.G. Wells and they’re willing to wrestle over who’s better.

(more…)

Bootleg City: “Vin Scelsa’s Live at Lunch,” 6/28/00 (Pt. 2)

In part two of this flashback edition of Vin Scelsa’s Live at Lunch, singer-songwriter Jules Shear talks about the R&B inspiration for “If She Knew What She Wants,” how he feels about artists licensing their songs for commercials, his romantic relationships with singer-songwriters Pal Shazar and Aimee Mann, and his role in the creation of MTV Unplugged in the late ’80s. In between the bursts of candid conversation, Scelsa spins songs by Cyndi Lauper and Johnny Cash, a foot-stomping cover of Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’” courtesy of B.B. King and Eric Clapton, and a cut from Shear’s first band, the Funky Kings.

However, the biggest surprise of the entire June 28, 2000, Live at Lunch broadcast is Shear’s speaking voice. Suffice to say it’s not what you’d expect if you’ve ever heard “Steady,” his sole entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (though Lauper’s cover of Shear’s “All Through the Night” reached #5 in ‘84). My own personal reaction is best summed up by the following verse from “Stereo,” the opening track on Pavement’s 1997 album Brighten the Corners:

What about the voice of Geddy Lee?
How did it get so high?
I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy.
(I know him, and he does.)
Then you’re my fact-checkin’ cuz.

[interview: Jules and the Isleys]
[interview: "Twist and Shout"]
If She Knew What She Wants (Jules Shear)
[interview: songs in commercials]
The More That I’m Around You (Jules Shear)
[interview: love and songwriting]
All Through the Night (Cyndi Lauper)
[interview: Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual]
All Through the Night (Jules Shear)
I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash)
[interview: questions from Vin's listeners]
Nothing Was Exchanged (The Funky Kings)
[interview: MTV Unplugged]
Hold On, I’m Comin’ (B.B. King and Eric Clapton)

Bootleg City: “Vin Scelsa’s Live at Lunch,” 6/28/00 (Pt. 1)

As the mayor of Bootleg City, it’s good to be king — or just mayor, I guess. Or how about “king-mayor”? But certainly not Sonia Sotomayor, who dared to suggest eight years ago that her experiences as a Latina have been different than mine as a white guy. Your Honor, I’ll have you know that I own both the Mambo Kings soundtrack and a Tito Puente greatest-hits compilation. I’m not allowed to play them at the country club, but my golfing buddies did use them as coasters without my permission last week. I’m just glad they didn’t take those CDs out onto the skeet-shooting range. It took forever to glue my vinyl collection back together.

What I’m trying to say is that I like having power and influence in the music world. For example, last fall I was benevolent enough to give all of you demos and outtakes from Big Star’s classic albums #1 Record and Radio City. Once again, you’re welcome, and yes, it is my world you’re not paying property taxes in.

Rhino Records must have visited Bootleg City last fall — rather than all those other blogs and websites that featured the tracks first, though there’s no competition when it comes to my selfless, humble charity — because come September they’re releasing a Big Star box set featuring the Memphis band’s first three albums and the bootleg tracks that were featured here. My pleasure, Rhino, and of course I’ll accept a free copy as a sign of your gratitude. Send it to: The Mayor, 1 Way St., Bootleg City, USA. ‘Preciate it!

I forgot to mention on May 29 that the Genesis Live at Wembley Stadium bootleg was made possible by Jason Hare, whose name isn’t as fun to say as “the Chubb Group,” but it’ll have to do. Thanks, Jason! (By the way, if any of you ever refer to me as “Mayor Casshole,” you’ll be banished from the kingdom. Unless you’re Rupert Murdoch — he has power over my influence, and he knows how to abuse it. I can now say that all the Aussie-bashing on Flight of the Conchords and in the trailer for Funny People is totally justified. There must be something in their backwards-draining water that makes them so aggressive. Or maybe it’s because their entire civilization started with a conjugal visit.)

(more…)