I am at home.

This post is dedicated to Allison Wait, who turned me on to The Waitresses back in the '80s.

Time to forget all aboot work, inventory, spineless Dems, et al.

Yesterday was a treat (after work, that is, natch.)  My Sweetie, Renee, was v sweet indeed, she heated up the Champagne risotto, got me an iced tea (w/ lots of cubes), and let me watch some French films on Sundance, b/c, Tuesday, apparently is French film night, I guess, on the Sundance channel.  Neither of the films were world-beaters by any stretch of the imagination.  (No Jean-Pierre Melville here!) But it was just the ticket after a long terrible day at work.  (btw, we drank Hitching Post Cork Dancer 7.1 Pinot Noir.  Renee loooved it [gosh, she loves Pinot], I thought the same thing I almost always think about CA Pinot:  No thanks, no fruit, too hot [14.3! eek!], too much oak, etc, ... )

Before I get to the French films, though, today I want to talk about The Waitresses.

The Waitresses, with only two albums of a canon, so to speak, packed so much greatness in to those two albums it boggles the mind.  They had their 'hit', of course, a v v modest 'hit', I Know What Boys Like, which is one of the sexiest female empowering songs I've ever heard.  If you do not believe me, check out some of the comments on You Tube 'neath the video.  (I know, I know, but still.) Attention!:  I am now quoting Molly Ivins, quoting Margaret Atwood, who did her own small, unscientific survey, asking women what they most feared about men (rape) and men what they most feared about women:  Women laughing at them.  Ouch.  That song and video still provokes men, I believe.  The idea of a woman, in charge of the sexual politics of a situation for once, childishly taunting the man must infuriate the insensitive, insecure brutes amongst us.  The song, lyrics included (although I have to believe Ms Donahue had at least a modicum of input), like all of the Waitresses songs were written by a man, Chris Butler.  


Yet, so many, if not all of the Waitresses' songs were feminist-leaning.  I suspect Butler had an axe to grind and/or he was in love w/ his lead singer, Ms Donahue.  


Time and again he writes through her perspective and persona and somehow nails it every time.  Take No Guilt, par example.  No Guilt is the greatest break-up song written in history.  It resides in the Break-Up Hall of Fame for me, its' plaque right next to Elvis Costello's album, This Year's Model.  In fact, This Year's Model, the song and the whole album are the male side of the same coin.  


No Guilt is a brilliantly designed song, enacting Ms Donahue's response over the phone to a (prob) moping ex-beau.  What the song is is a litany of every single way Donahue has moved on w/ her life, and all the fab ways she has grown up since the split.  "I'm sorry," she says, "I'm not suicidal."  In the meantime, she has learned how to cope w/ mundane things he always used to handle, is driving now, fixing shit around her apartment, and has got the go-ahead & wherewithal (both from her folks- prob v relieved to see that asshole gone & their baby grown-up) to go to grad school!

But, there is more.  Check out some of these lines from other songs:  "Get tough/Don't be so patient/Get smart/Head up, shoulders straight/Since when is it a disaster?/If the "S" on your cape/Is a little frayed."; "What's a girl to do?/Born to shop?/No!/Pretty victories/What's a girl to do?/Scream and screw?/No!/Pretty victories"; "Don't work your buns off/For a fool for a fool/Who can barely tie his shoes"; "Don't answer-a phone call/That old boyfriend old boyfriend/Who'd love to see you lose/You don't need that!" (Wise Up); "I guess I set impossible goals/And I don't know when to quit" (Jimmy Tomorrow).  The last quote is much like the famous Situationist slogan.


Believe me, I understand that part of the feminist nature of this group comes from the tough, sexy feminist front woman, Patty Donahue, no matter who wrote the songs.  & I understand that most folks' knowledge of the group is through their only 'MTV video', I Know What Boys Like, & Ms Donahue plays so much (albeit, I think spot-on) to the sexpot stereotype that some dudes miss the joke entirely.  A joke in which they are the punch line.  Their contemporaries, Blondie, however, as much fun & as talented as they were,  nearly always seemed to exploit Ms Harry's sexuality instead of empowering it.  


I think Patty Donahue was Chris Butler's unrequited love. & oddly, he was in a real position to show her off as the amazing, empowered sexy female that he knew he couldn't have, on a big stage, for all to see.  That he did it w/ such intelligence, sensitivity, sexiness, & style is more to his credit.  


Here is a fun thing re The Waitresses & another of their most popular songs, Christmas Wrapping, which, if you work in retail, you are v v familiar w/, I'm sure.  One of the best Xmas songs, ever.

I'll talk aboot the French films tomorrow before inventory.



P.S.  Renee loves to listen to the Waitresses in the car when she's depressed or pissed.  They pump a lil' feminist up, y'see?