Blank Space Travel
by Your Diva, Robin Pastorio-Newman

Long, long ago, in a time lost in the mists of antiquity, when Aerosmith didn't suck and before impact became a verb, there was Devo, strange men from Ohio who were smarter than anyone, and more fun than all Tom Hanks films put together.
 
You don't remember that time, but Cartoon Network does. Atlanta's Cartoon Network has long featured Groovies - short cartoons set to songs by bands you may or may not know. With the imminent July 3rd release of the Powerpuff Girls Movie, Cartoon Network added shorts by Shonen Knife and Devo, both directed by Primal Screen, both a hoot. Watching Devo's "Go, Monkey, Go," for instance, it might take a moment to notice Devo's new costumes. Mojo Jojo's outfit, scaled for a Spudboy, turns into...a shiny, shiny man dress. Your Love's Baby Soft won't spoil surprises, far from it! Instead, she advises you to watch Sunday night's 11-midnight portion of Adult Swim, omitting any viewing of the snoozarama Mission Hill. For a peek at Devo and Shonen Knife, try Saturday afternoons during the Dragonball Z/Dragonball block.
 
Should one need to settle the stomach - say, after any nauseating episode of Bachelorettes In Alaska - kindly allow Your Chanel No.5 to recommend The Importance of Being Earnest. Even longer ago than mentioned above, before Mick Jagger had any children with even one woman, Oscar Wilde wrote witty plays, plumbing the depths of the inches-deep. One has to actually listen to the dialog, perhaps a shortcoming in short-attention-span America, but the attentive listener is amply rewarded.
 
Here's a big, big, Boeing-size hint: the essence of comedy is the difference between what one knows and what one sees. Even if one knows Wilde's script ... say, verbatim ... one still sees images even Oscar didn't visualize. Surprise! The surprises are not disastrous! Very, very funny, and better for you than Brioschi.
 
Our dear editor introduced Your CK1 to the DJ term "through-the-windshield segue." Picture yourself cruising with your supergroovy significant other. The night is warm and clear. You're singing along with Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife" at the tops of your lungs when the next song making your FM hit parade is Weird Al's "Like a Surgeon."
 
BLAM! Your head explodes. On good days, life is like that.
 
So it was that immediately following The Importance of Being Earnest, Your Intuition stumbled onto Billy Joe Winghead, which is a band, and the Stinky Sono Buoni Show, somehow more than a band. Astounding. One wag tapped my shoulder during BJW and pointed at an Eddie Spaghetti-wannabe: "See the bass player? All of Oklahoma looks just like that."
 
Oh dear. Oklahoma may need a bath.
 
Whatever, Billy Joe Winghead turns classic instrumental laments into interstellar Excedrin headaches Lynyrd Skynyrd might have in the afterlife. Stinky Sono Buoni, either current or former singer and Love Machine for the formidable Mad Daddys, puts on a sweaty, pheromone-soaked, rock and roll show vaguely reminiscent of the Cramps. As mentioned above, Your L'Air du Temps's head exploded. That happens when you travel in 4/4 time.
 

 

©2002 Robin Pastorio-Newman