On this particular date there’s only one person who could possibly live up to the Dazzler of the Day: Snoop Dogg. I’ve been a fan long before his friendship with Martha Stewart thrilled the world, tickled by his mellow way of making his journey through life. There is something very Zen about how he navigates the tricky world of celebrity. And even though I’m not into the gin these days, ‘Gin & Juice’ is still a jam – but my main joint will always be ‘Drop it Like It’s Hot’.
Putting on a show-stopper of a Super Bowl Halftime Show is no mean feat in this socially-distant time of COVID, but that’s precisely what The Weeknd did earlier this year, taking a cavalcade of hits to the middle of the field and entertaining the entire world. He’s more than earned this Dazzler of the Day, and was requested on FaceBook, as well as recommended for a road trip soundtrack by Skip. All good references. See more of The Weeknd’s majesty at this site.
Every now and then a Dazzler of the Day is crowned and I feel like it’s not enough, like it’s almost redundant to try to capture their magnificence in something as silly as a blog post, and then I remember that no matter how big you get, and no matter how many accolades you have already received, there is always grace in giving and receiving any sort of praise. And so we honor the already-award-festooned Cher as today’s Dazzler, and her accomplishments are too numerous and weighty to list out here, so I’ll let you recap your own favorite moments of this timeless diva, here are but a scant few of mine:
Favorite Song: ‘All Or Nothing’
Favorite Movie: ‘Mermaids‘
Favorite Album: ‘Believe’
Brilliantly resurrecting a track from her ‘Chromatica’ album, Lady Gaga is about to premiere a fashion film entitled ‘The Queendom’ which also goes heavy on the featured sponsorship/collaboration of Dom Pérignon. Sipping the bub is a signature move for the Lady, as is spectacular fashion, such as the dreamy cavalcade of gowns that appears here. There is no more inspiring crux for me than the one where fashion meets music.
It’s been a while since I’ve been so visually inspired, so while Madonna rides her horses and obsesses over her Instagram selfies, thank goodness we have Lady Gaga releasing new material and reminding us how potent the proper frock and backing track can be.
PS – You can love them both. It’s ok.
This Dazzler of the Day is dedicated to the owner of dp: An American Brasserie, whose adoration of Taylor Swift got me re-thinking my lackadaisical lack of enthusiasm for her early years. A performance with Madonna and two of the best albums of the decade, released just months apart, turned me into a die-hard fan. She’s now officially the Dazzler of the Day, an honor Taylor-made for someone with such multi-layered talents. For evidence of her musical dazzle, do yourself a favor and check out ‘folklore‘ and ‘evermore‘ – they’re the greatest hours of musical atmosphere we’ve had in a long time – and perfect for these trying days. Swift conjures a sonic land of enchantment while exploring ever-mounting emotional complexities that love and loss and the inevitable creep of time render into poetic form. It puts her previous musical efforts into clearer focus, making a revisiting of past work something you should put on your to-do list. (And then grab a bite at dp: An American Brasserie where you might find a cocktail named ‘Tis the Damn Season‘, ‘The Archer‘, ‘Bad Blood’ or ‘Lover‘ if you’re lucky.)
The majesty and magnificence of Tina Turner is in full display in the HBO documentary on her life, though by rights any single moment in her glorious career could have justified this Dazzler of the Day honor. Her reach and influence over the pop culture landscape looms large and widely varied, most recently as the backdrop for one of the most poignant scenes of ‘Schitt’s Creek’. Her energy, talent, and endurance – not to mention an uncanny knack for reinvention before it was de-rigeur for pop stars – combine in combustible fashion to make for one of the most legendary icons in music history.
For the ‘Montero’ video alone, Lil Nas X deserves an instant crowning as Dazzler of the Day. Add it to his Hunk of the Day honor, and get ready to assemble a shelf for all the awards to come.
A majestic career that spans and conquers several decades is not something that happens often, particularly in the entertainment world, and those who manage to do so earn their place in the celebrity firmament. When that is sustained by talent as well as a knack for endearing yourself to the world, you instantly become a Dazzler of the Day – and today that honor belongs to Dionne Warwick. Her string of musical hits – culminating with the classic ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ – cemented her place in pop culture, and now she is conquering new lands with her hilarious Twitter feed, earning her a new generation of fans and enthralled adorers. Count me among them.
Desaturated
shades of blues in my shower
Black and white haiku.
Buffeted by the
trying to sparkle
Rise fall rise fall rise
like drops of blue from above
my head; a wet mess.
Washing the gray in,
inhabiting the years I
earned pretty madness.
Nothing fades or fails ~
not water, air, light or stone…
Elemental strife,
Washing the winter away
How much have we lost?
How much have we been able
to keep and to hold?
River through my hair
ocean lapping at my feet
salt soap sea-foam dream…
How could I not feature someone who proclaims to be “The Biggest Pop Star No One Knows“? That kind of cheeky hubris calls to me from long ago, so my heart is warmed a bit by Tom Bertram, who actually has the musical talent to back up such a bold statement, and is more than worth a few listens. He is our Dazzler of the Day, thanks to gems like ‘Mr. Lucky’. Check out more of his stuff here.
Mexican-American singer Omar Apollo released his album ‘Apolonio’ last year, from which the featured song and video below originate. Apollo earns his first Dazzler of the Day honor thanks to his musical prowess – as much as for his blue hair. We love a guy in blue. Visit his website for more fascinating vibes.
The advent of Lent (only true Catholics will rejoice at what I did there) makes this a bit of a Madonna moment, so entwined has some of her music been with the Catholic religion. Her most spiritual albums have been released in the month of March – see ‘Like A Prayer‘ and ‘Ray of Light‘ – and she recently re-issued some ‘Like A Prayer’ remixes that are positively divine. I’m treating you to the ‘Churchapella’ version here for a lovely almost-acoustic take on her epic song – a song that has stood the tests of time and controversy to stand alone as a piece of perfect art. Just like a muse to me…
{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}
Vines of chartreuse splendor wind down from the shade-giving canopy, while spires of new banana leaves rise from a bulky terra-cotta-hued pot. Together they form a veil of green, behind which the sparkling surface of the pool beckons, sometimes playfully, sometimes teasingly, and sometimes annoyingly when it’s dancing with rain. A hummingbird will come to visit, darting its tongue into the deep throats of the fuchsia and salvia, while robins will make a more bothersome and bold presence. To this, friends and family will add their joyous noise and bustle, enlivening the home and the yard and the summer itself.
It was the summer of 2019 – the last summer before the world stopped, before we were all stranded at home, suspended in place, our lives on pause.
Recent cravings for Madonna had her timeline returning to the blog, and the next cut is already up: ‘Crave’ from 2019’s ‘Madame X’ opus. That summer was the last one when the world felt semi-sane and whatever normal was before the pandemic. We couldn’t know that then, and so this breezy memory is sweeter and hazier than usual. Would we have made more indelible memories if we’d known what was to come? I don’t know, it may have been better that we didn’t have a clue. Ignorance is often bliss. Like the mythical sole passenger who survives a car crash because they were asleep and their body just stayed limp instead of tensing up and causing more damage – maybe it was best that no one knew what was in store for us. And so the summer of 2019 passed in all its innocent bliss, with this song rocking gently inside and outside the house, as we opened things up for the season of the sun.
It was back in the days when being alone and staying home was a choice, a deliberate and intentional decision to spend the weekend by ourselves, an indulgent bit of privacy that today is commonplace and necessity, taking away much of the joy and treat of the thing. And of course, now we miss that company, especially in the summer.
Swae Lee was part of the 2019 summer soundtrack thanks to this one and the glorious ‘Sunflower’ – both subtle and insinuating tracks that lulled the summer days into nights, the way summer eases into just about everything. Nothing was rushed or hurried, nothing was worrying – the world eased into the sunny season and everyone put the work away. By the pool, we read and ate, idly dipping in when the height of heat overwhelmed. Friends stopped by when they could, family joined us for patio dinners, and no one had an idea of what was to come…
SONG #162 – ‘Crave’– Summer 2019
This song came out right around the time when the tide of Taylor Swift was turning for me – I love everything about it. Prickly, defiant, and slightly-psycho – all the things that I once embodied, and reserve the right to embody again – on beautiful display in revenge fantasy form. Behind the glittering curtain we go, into the Blank Space we’ve all occupied or created for someone, the expanse of insanity involved in investing so wholly in someone else, going all-in and giving it all up.
Loves makes people do crazy things. That which we sometimes confuse as love sometimes makes people do worse. Lust, obsession, and those insensible crushes of our youth – they bring out the worst impulses, turning us into people we wouldn’t recognize in times of peace and reason. This song reminds me of those lovely emotional roller-coasters, and I look back at them almost fondly, in the distance and rare instance of some semblance of personal growth. It’s good to keep such memories filed away so as to ward off any future dips in sanity. We’re all just a few bad decisions away from falling back into the abyss, or slipping into the madness of rage touched on in this piece of pop perfection.
The video’s a masterpiece, the kind of thing Madonna once did best – stylized and nuanced, pretty yet packed with considerable punch – and I’ve always been a sucker for those times when beautiful clothes and gorgeous settings provide the backdrop and wardrobe for some serious fucking-over of those who dared to do one wrong. These days I don’t think about such revenge tactics – there are better ways to deal with being wronged. But it’s still fun to fantasize…
Released in the US on this day in 1998, Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ album is considered by most fans and music historians her best album to date. I’m in complete agreement of that, and have the added bonus of being at just the right moment to soak in its mysteries and majesty at the ripe old age of 22. When you are that age music somehow means more than it does at 45, and I’m not sad nor unhappy about that. It was perfect for its time, and it came out at the precise moment I was ready to hear it.
‘Ray of Light‘ has mostly been about searching and seeking – universal themes that don’t diminish or deteriorate with time. If anything, such matters become more prescient and resonant the older I get, which is part of the artistic merit of the album. It’s always worth a listen – and all the way through – especially when the seasonal year is about to be reborn…
