The Entroporium

“During a visit to Graceland, the Memphis home of Elvis Presley, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sang a few famous lines of his musical hero’s songs.”

Ecuador is one of several countries that completely bedeviled me as I’ve assembled the World Cup World Tour over the last few weeks. I’ll just come right out and admit: On Ecuador, I got nothin’. Call Me Mickey has the right idea on this one, though: cop out! Christina Aguilera’s father is from Ecuador. Maybe, [...]

Los Brincos – Baila La Pulga.mp3 Los Salvajes – Las Ovejitas.mp3 These first two tracks are from Beat Espana, a compilation that a friend who used to live in Spain gave me. I’ve searched for information on this album, but come up absolutely nil. There are only three bands on the record– Los Brincos, Los [...]

Another country with music I know way too much about. Plus I work for Brits — – and I’ve got the challenge of trying to avoid rawther obvious use & abuse of Mojo’s recent “50 Best British Songs” list. Hmm, better step carefully here. OK, how ’bout: Fairport Convention – Come All Ye.mp3 XTC – [...]

All props to the plucky Socceroos! Italy is leading a charmed life. Here is something I’ve been wanting to know for a long time. I lived in Los Angeles during the great mid-80s PR push for Australian pop; Australia was the Seattle/Montreal/Omaha of the moment. (Midnight Oil! Men At Work! InXS! Aaaaargh!) One of these [...]

Two very different types of dance music compose my last entry covering a Group Round knockout: Saban Bajramovic – Hanuma.mp3 Saban is known as the “World of Gypsy Music.” Why? Because Indira Gandhi dubbed him so! Yugoslavia’s leading artist in the 1960s, he has apparently gone missing after the former republic’s turbulent ’90s. “Legend also [...]

Though they are allegedly embarassed by it, the biggest music in Poland these days is Disco Polo, a weird hybrid of vulgarized folk songs (Wikipedia’s definition, not mine) and the very worst in Eurodisco. An MP3 doesn’t quite get it across; you’ve got to see it for the full effect. Thus, I’m forced into posting [...]

Paraguay is surprisingly absent from the Internet. Hardly any pictures. No music. Wikipedia’s entry on "Music of Paraguay" mentions more reggaeton artists from Puerto Rico than anything native. The first few pages of a Google Images search on its capitol, Asuncion, returns a large proportion of pictures of a local Mormon temple. I am indebted [...]

Random thoughts on a day of defeat: Isn’t it appropriate that I have the US entry following the Saudi entry? We’ll follow those guys anywhere. (rimshot) I’ll be here all the week, don’t forget to tip the waitresses. Rant coming: If people get so upset about American flag-burning, why is it OK to wear Old [...]