To combine the Japanese and cover song posts: The greatest pop cover version in the history of recorded popular music ever — and by popular music I only mean music since the ’50s, not “popular music” in the Richard Thompson sense — is (of course) Shonen Knife’s version of the Carpenters’ “Top of the World,” off the If I Were A Carpenter tribute album.

Hear it (5.44 mb, 192 kbps m4a).

Popularity: 1% [?]

Somewhat in response to Liza’s quite sad post, I’m temporarily scuttling the all-Japanese downloads plan to include yet another cover version of Spandau Ballet’s “True.”

I always loved Tony Hadley’s histrionics, actually. In many ways it’s the perfect karaoke song (for 30-somethings like me) because a) I was there, and b) it requires actual performance on the part of the singer, because of the way he holds the mic, and the way he closes his eyes, and the little break in Hadley’s voice after “And I want the truth to be said!” goes up an octave after the bridge — and then the dramatic pause, which means the performer has to, um, pause dramatically as well. Steve Buscemi got it totally right in The Wedding Singer. (The only downside: what to do during Steve Norman’s cheesy sax break.)

Anyway, here’s Filipina R&B singer Arnee Hidalgo, from her 2003 album Cold Summer Nights, which you US-based folks can get at Kabayan Central. This was a version when “acoustic” was all the rage in the Philippines (it still is): practically just vocals and guitar, kind of when “unplugged” was really unplugged. She changes the lyrics a couple of times, but that’s all right; it’s still a sweet cover, with the Cheesy Sax Break now turned into a slightly shorter Cheesy Guitar Break. In an ideal world her version should have been some sort of summer cuddle-anthem and done more for the original than P.M. Dawn’s “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss.”

Hear it (7.74 mb, 192 kbps mp3).

(Speaking of ’80s covers, there’s a fantastic cover of “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?” — coincidentally, another Wedding Singer song — done by The Last Town Chorus, which really makes me want to hear their album.)

Popularity: 1% [?]

(A few months ago I had wanted to do with an all-Japanese month of music downloads — I started with Merzbow, and failed to follow up — and now here’s the continuation.)

Grown-ups don’t have to dislike music for kiddies, and kiddies don’t have to dislike music for grown-ups. There’s Dan Zanes (to whose concert I took Izzy last month), whose albums are infectious slices of Americana; Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell (from Ida) also have an album of mostly nursery rhymes and lullabies. (An old grad school housemate of mine used to date Liz, I think, so that’s only a few degrees of separation there!)

But don’t get me started on those cut-rate albums where random kids are assembled in a studio and made to sing nursery rhymes — or worse, sanitized renditions of pop hits. I once heard this awful version of “Hey Ya!” with all the “Lucy Liu” references removed…

Izzy, in turn, likes the Beatles and the two Elvises (Presley and Costello); her very first concert was Gillian Welch, although she really only got into it when David Rawlings did a cover of “Big Rock Candy Mountain.”

But back to the subject at hand: Izzy really likes the Japanese singing duo Puffy, and the fact that neither one of us understands a word doesn’t stop her from jumping up and down. Okay, me neither.

“LONG BEACH NIGHTMARE,” from the 2003 album NICE., is a prototypical Puffy song (thanks here to Andy Sturmer, “Godfather of Puffy”) and though this one doesn’t utilize the usual “homages” — generally, a “Day Tripper” riff here, the introduction to “Baba O’Riley” there — it’s still full of creamy pop goodness: oooohs, handclaps, girly voices singing in unison. In other words, perfect.

Hear it (4.7 mb, 192 kbps .m4a).

Popularity: 1% [?]

SCHOLARS RELEASE REPORT ON U.S. FILIPINO DEPORTATION

San Jose, CA – The Critical Filipino and Filipina Studies Collective (CFFSC) releases Resisting Homeland Security: Organizing Against Unjust Removals of U.S. Filipinos, a report on the state of U.S. Filipino deportation.

Resisting Homeland Security makes visible what remains invisible to many: the detention and removal of U.S. Filipinos. The existing information on U.S. Filipino deportations following September 11, 2001 collapses U.S. Filipino deportations uniformly and arbitrarily across any and all racial-ethnic groups. Contrary to this popular misunderstanding, the report alternatively offers exacting research and analysis underscoring a more complex picture – that after September 11, there is a “systematic targeting of Filipinos for deportation” that is related to the legacies of U.S.-colonial rule, the current U.S.-led war on global terrorism avidly supported by the Philippine government, and the emergence of homeland security racism.

Included in Resisting Homeland Security is a section on “Community Organizing.” This section provides insights on how grassroots organizations fight against unjust removals and detentions. In particular, the section chronicles the Support Campaign to Prevent the Deportation of the Cuevas Family of Fremont, CA, assesses its efforts and strategies, and offers recommendations to build effective anti-removal campaigns.

Jay Mendoza, Executive Director of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), notes: “Resisting Homeland Security is a significant document that all Filipinos and all peoples concerned with social justice should read and deeply understand. It is a reminder for all cultural diverse and multiracial peoples to work in alliance and coalition with each other, despite ethnicity, nationality, or race-towards the single objective of justice for our communities.”

For the CFFSC, Resisting Homeland Security is “a document of hope-to inspire all to participate in a global movement for justice and equality.” The report may be accessed at the Filipino Living Archive.

Founded 2002, CFFSC is a U.S.-based national network of community-engaged scholars, professors, and educators.

Popularity: 2% [?]

To accompany the exhibition of Filipinos at the St. Louis World’s Fair, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a series of full-page articles, or rather, lists of non-sequitur factoids about the people on display.

The excerpts below are from an article on the Tagalogs — “They are many-sided orientals, these alert Tagalogs.” — dated July 17, 1904.

While many of the statements have a “scientific” directness to them — “They have a literature of their own,” “Their skin is a coppery brown,” “They are devout Roman Catholics, but hate the monastic orders,” “They are natural musicians.” — others take on a somewhat surreal quality:

- “They plunge into the sea amidst a school of sharks and fight the latter with long knives.”

- “They are fond of gaudy dress and wear uniforms discarded by soldiers.”

- “They bathe several times a day and change their clothing at every bath.”

- “There are more pianos in the island of Luzon, in proportion to the population, than anywhere else in the world.”

- “There is hardly a Tagalog family that does not boast a poet.”

- “They do not kiss. They smell one another instead, placing the nose and lips on the cheek and drawing a long breath.”

- “Up to the year 1844 the Tagalogs had no distinctive family names, being known instead by a certain harsh ejaculation.”

Popularity: 1% [?]