Carousel

Delaware County Fair,
Delaware, Ohio

The Cardigans - Carnival

Frosty Treat

Cambridge, Ohio

Paula Abdul - Cold Hearted

Wyman

Lancaster, Ohio

Tom Jones - You Can Leave Your Hat On

Wisdom & Truth

reflecting pool at the Supreme Court Building
Columbus, Ohio

Des'ree - You Gotta Be

Buckeye Bakery

Mansfield, Ohio

Madonna - American Pie

Double Exposure

But I like it anyway. This is the Bucyrus Mausoleum co-starring the courtyard of the Franklin Park Conservatory .

So: Bucyrus/Columbus, Ohio

Double - The Captain Of Her Heart
Expose - Point Of No Return
Duran Duran - Girls on Film

Miss Carol's

Dayton, Ohio

Madonna - Beautiful Stranger

My partner in crime that day cross-processed hers, and you can see it here.

Down on the Corner

Lancaster, Ohio

Wham! - A Different Corner

Outlet Center

Clintonville, Ohio

Lily Allen - Nan You're A Window Shopper

Fleur

Capital Drycleaners
Springfield, Ohio

Bobby Darin - Artificial Flowers

Friday Night Downtown

Third St.
Downtown Columbus, Ohio

Samantha Fox - I Want To Have Some Fun

Fabric

Columbus Coated Fabrics
Columbus, Ohio

Madonna - Material Girl

Global

Global
40 E. Long St.
Columbus, Ohio

Lisa Stansfeld - All Around The World

Ice

Last week's ice storm
my side yard
Columbus, Ohio

The Pipettes - In the Bleak Midwinter

Welding

Slob & Sons Welding
Marion, Ohio

Irene Cara - Flashdance

Music - The Pipettes, Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me/Pull Shapes/ABC

So I finally get around to posting Pipettes songs, which is a little belated of me. Still, the CD's not due out til either July 17 or the 20th, depending, so I suppose I still have a tiny bit of a jump.


The Pipettes are a throwback to the days of Phil Spector-produced girl groups; they sing delightfully poppy, hand-clappy music, they wear darling polka-dot dresses, and they visually quote "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls" verbatim in their video for "Pull Shapes." They are perfect in every way.

Every song I've heard from them (and as every other blogger out there has beaten me to the punch featuring them, I've heard many) is cotton candy in digital form.

If you're in England, you can go here and get Pull Shapes on CD and a pair of Pipettes sunglasses for £7.99. Also white vinyl 7" singles. And the full CD shown here, We Are The Pipettes for £9.99. And I am bitterly jealous of you.

If you're not in England, you can order here, of course, but as it's an import and damn expensive, perhaps it's more worth your while to order through Recordstore and get the sunglasses.

Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me

Pull Shapes

ABC

Music - Natasha Bedingfield, These Words

This song is magic crack. You will hear it and be hooked instantly. You will play it again and again, and if you should have never heard it before, you will, in the future, identify it strongly with this summer, for it's one of those summery pop songs. You know, the silly ones that the first few notes of will take you back, all the way back.

That said, silly it is. Good God, but the lyrics are horrific. Yes, I have an English degree, and that makes me a little pickier than average, but come on. The premise is that she can't come up with decent lyrics for a song she's writing.

You're not kidding us, Natasha. Dear God in Heaven, I wrote better shitty poetry in high school. But not by much, which should tell you all something.

Read some Byron, Shelly and Keats
Recited it over a Hip-Hop beat
I'm having trouble saying what I mean
With dead poets and drum machines

How very ... very. How too too.

Nonetheless, her voice and the music create such a sunshiny little song, you may find yourself obsessed for a while. She may not be able to write lyrics, but she's capable of all the other pop music requirements in spades.

Don't hate me if it gets stuck in your head. Just do what I do; love it, sing along with it until whatever verse you hate the most comes along, cringe and fall silent, then begin singing again afterward.

Natasha Bedingfield - These Words

Music - Geri Halliwell, Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps

Once again I post with a Doris Day cover. Once again, the cover is much better than the original. I keep this up and no one will believe me when I say how much I adore her. Poor Doris.

But really, the reason I post these is because they're excellent. These songs have to be to be better than Doris's versions.

I'm inclined to think Miss Former Ginger Spice does good work anyway, but her version of Doris Day's "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" (from her 1963 album Latin For Lovers), is part bubbly Doris homage & part ABBA homage, with a little bit of disco thrown in.

Geri's 2000 CD single "Bag It Up" includes "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" and a cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'." The latter is, of course, not quite up to Nancy's, (but then, I consider that one of nature's perfect pop songs) but millions of miles better than that damn Jessica Simpson's. Get your hands on this CD single if you can.

Geri Halliwell - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

Music - Lily Allen, Not Big

Lily Allen - Not Big

"Not Big," by cute little English girl Lily Allen, is a poppy, boppy little ball of fluff that will take you forever to get out of your head, and the lyrics will be stuck in there, resulting in your wandering around singing this absently everywhere you go for days.

Which is really unfortunate, because the song is cruel. And hilariously filthy. You see, the poor narrator of the song got broken up with, and rather coolly begins listing all the ways in which the guy was a big sexual zero, and the hurtful ways in which she intends to get back at him. Publicly.

Sample lyrics:

I can see it in your face as you break it to me gently that you really must think you're great
Let's see how you feel in a couple of weeks when I work my way through your mates

And the chorus:

I never wanted it to end up this way
You've only got yourself to blame
I'm gonna tell the world you're rubbish in bed now
And that you're small in the game

If you do nothing else this week to put a smile on your face, download this and have a good laugh. If you like it, you could go to her MySpace page and download four more songs ("Smile" is also quite good) or you could go here and watch some video or check out tour dates. You can also go here to buy the CD, "Alright Still" -- it'll be released July 20.

Music - Fatboy Slim, Wonderful Night

From the 2004 album "Palookaville." (Buy)

You know how sometimes you need to haul ass when you're trying to get something done, and it helps if you have a brisk, fun soundtrack for it? This song is always on my personal Ass Hauling soundtrack. Especially if I have a lot of typing to do; it always bumps up my WPM.

It has an unusual sound all its own. I'm not sure what genre you'd narrow it down to, if you felt driven to do such a thing. Alt funk? And the lyrics are fun -- light and inconsequential, but smart & a challenge to sing along to.

If you're wondering, it sounds nothing like "Praise You." Which I also like, but not as much as this.

Take it & have yourself a Wonderful Night.