Here’s a new feature where every so often I’ll pick out my favorite used LPs from recent finds. It should go without saying I got all of these for like, an average of five bucks a piece. So here it goes.
 
OMD – Dazzle Ships (link to original issue CD)
 
I always liked OMD enough for their singles, especially “Enola Gay,” but I never really delved into their albums until this one, a mini masterpiece of whirring industrial synthesizers and indelible pop melodies. Some of OMD’s catchiest songs (“Genetic Engineering,” “Telegraph”) are interrupted by bits of shortwave broadcast played over oceanic synthesizers that lend the whole thing an eerie ambiance. It feels like listening to the radio on a submarine. There’s also a young band called Dazzle Ships; they’re really cool too.
 





The Beach Boys – Sunflower (new LP)
 
Sunflower is maybe the last classic the Beach Boys made and is all the more ripe for rediscovering because its songs haven’t been played to death (it wasn’t a hit in the U.S.) and its tastefully layered production sounds great today on harmony-driven songs like “Forever” and “Cool, Cool Water,” fun ’70s rocker “Slip on Through” and, especially, “All I Wanna Do,” which may have helped invent shoegaze.
 

      
Anyone who lives in San Francisco or who follows the Amoeblog already knows that Peaches Christ's Midnight Mass movie series is a thing of legendary status and that, along with everything else that the drag icon and her Backlash Production Company produces, rightfully commands a large & loyal following in San Francisco as well as the other cities and countries the traveling show has visited. But the upcoming July 1st special screening of Purple Rain at San Francisco's historic Castro Theatre may top all other Peaches Christ events to date.

In addition to the 35mm film presentation of Purple Rain (already a proven Midnight Mass favorite) and the guaranteed entertaining Purple Pre-Show, the event will also feature none other than Apollolina herself who starred alongside Prince in the 1984 film. Apollonia, the actress, singer, and former model who was born Patricia Kotero, will be Peaches' live guest for both a Q&A session and a post show meet-and-greet. Yesterday I caught up with Peaches Christ to ask about what fashion tips she might have for attendees of this special event and also what she thinks will be some of the favorite movie scenes with the audience at the Castro on July 1st? "All of the musical numbers tend to be the best scenes at our screening, especially the finale when the big concert finale breaks into 'I Would Die 4 U.' The audience goes nuts!" said Peaches Christ - the alter ego of accomplished drag performer, emcee, filmmaker, and actor Joshua Grannell who began the ever popular Midnight Mass series at the Bridge Theater in SF back in the late nineties.

According to SFist, epic legend Prince will be playing two shows at the Oakland Arena next week, on Mon, Feb 21 and Wed, Feb 23, and tickets go onsale this Friday, Feb 18!

At the recent Grammy Award Nominations, Cee Lo Green, who has collaborated with many artists over the years including most recently Amy Winehouse for her 2011 comeback album, was asked who he would still like to work with. "I got a chance to perform with Prince in Vegas and we became friends, if I can call myself his friend, but we haven't done anything musically or creatively together. I would like to do that, if given the chance," he said, referring to the two teaming up to do "Crazy" together. And again last night, Feb 7th in New York, after performing as the opening act for the purple one at Madison Square Garden (MSG), he again was joined by Prince onstage for a rendition of (Gnarls Barkley's) "Crazy" featuring Prince on guitar, as seen in fan video above c/o YouTuber babysdaddyATL. While there is no official word of the two recording new song(s) together, it seems inevitable that they soon will.