But that got me thinking: which books out there strike such a nerve that they prompt visceral reactions?

Elizabeth McCracken’s The Giant’s House is my go-to tearjerker. McCracken constructs every sentence of her fantastical debut novel so immaculately, with such grace and searing insight, that it’s impossible to avoid a flood of emotion. For chuckles I turn to Patricia Marx’s Him Her Him Again the End of Him, the most wonderfully neurotic novel about romantic obsession ever. For sheer gross-out factor, I remember that I had to take numerous breaks from reading The Hot Zone—Richard Preston’s nauseatingly detailed descriptions of the symptoms of the Ebola virus made me dizzy. Gah.

And then there’s Love Is a Mix Tape, one of the first audiobooks I listened to when I started working at eMusic. There I was, sitting at my new desk, intently listening to music critic Rob Sheffield read his affecting memoir of his relationship with fellow critic Renee Crist, whose life was cut short at the age of 31. Sheffield’s narration felt so personal. He could be some guy I knew, just talking about music and love and loss with casual intimacy—the perfect recipe for giggles and tears. So engrossed was I that I totally tuned out everything else around me, which probably made me look insane: one minute I’d be sitting with a dopey grin on my face, and a few minutes later I’d be all misty-eyed. Way to make an impression on new coworkers, that’s for sure.

So now it’s your turn. Which books make you laugh, cry, wanna hurl, etc.?

Depending on your level of rationality, you could say that I and others who think along these lines are anthropomorphizing or you might just consider that creatures such as birds and whales have been singing since the beginning of time. I won't start philosophizing because I am not that good at it. Instead, I encourage you to read Rothenberg's thoroughly engaging books. He is good at philosophy and putting all the pieces together in a unique puzzle.

"Thousand Mile Song (Whale Music in a Sea of Sound)" offers a fascinating and well-documented glance at a musical interaction between humans and whales. Similar to "Why Birds Sing," Rothenberg engages various researchers on his quest to find out if non-humans sing because they enjoy it. And the author-musician also invites the whales into a musical jam--an exchange between his clarinet and their whale clicks and songs.

The book comes with a CD and the music on it, falls somewhere between experimental jazz and otherworldly sounds. The music also sounds oddly Finnish. The author performs with Orcas off the coast of British Columbia, spends time in New Zealand, the former Soviet Union and other locales exploring whale songs. He also takes us back to the 1970s when listening to whale songs was hip and somewhat trippy. This quest leads to an insightful ending that transforms readers' view of the natural world.

I believe that any musician, no matter the genre, can glean a lot from this book and CD. As we search for more cross cultural exchanges with music, why not consider cross species jam sessions? Perhaps this sounds too far out, or just right down your alley. After all, this is a new era where anything is possible if we just open our hearts.

And what better way to preserve non-human life on this planet, then to honor what we share in common. This planet is home to a myriad of creatures, and many seem to enjoy music as much as humans do. And unlike the whales, you do not need to travel a thousand miles to reap rewards from this unusual musical connection.

Patricia Herlevi hosts the music consciousness blog, The Whole Music Experience. She also feels a strong connection to birds, whales and other creatures.

Buy the book:

• In North America: Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound
• In Europe: Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound

Thanks to loyal reader Patricia B for exposing Beyonce’s thievery again!

It appears that Sasha Fake stole not only her motorcycle corset from George Michael’s “Too Funky” video, but she also stole her Terminator glove from the video too!

I remember receiving a press release from some marketing company explaining how Beyonce’s exo-skeletal glove concept came about.

There was no mention of George Michael’s video in that press release!

Thanks to my loyal readers for their tireless efforts in unmasking Beyonce’s shams and exposing her as a fraud.

Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:20
From: freelancear@gmail.com
To: sandra@sandrarose.com
Subject: About This Sasha Fierce Foolishness!!!

Dear Sandra Rose:

I’m an avid reader of your blog and I LOVE it! I wanted to make you aware of Beyonce’s latest theft in reference to her Sony promo shoot for her Sasha Fierce foolishness!

One of your readers commented in the “Beyonce Covers Seventeen Magazine” blog post: *“I’m trying to recall WHO had the motorcycle bustier in the 80’s on a magazine cover … I wanna say Grace Jones .. but TRUST me when I tell you it was NOT Beyonce who donned it first … “*

Do you remember the video by George Michael called “Too Funky?” It show cased supermodels Tyra Banks, Emma, Linda Evangelista and the video came out in 1992. It featured the fashions of the legendary iconic designer Thierry Mugler. Model Emma had the motorcycle corset on. Not only that, if you continue watching the video you will see the exo-skeletal glove that Beyonce
is now rocking as her own. That shot is around the 2:13 mark.

Pathetic….

Just wanted to make you aware. Many blessings!

Sincerely,

Patricia

Allegedly, there is a deeper meaning to these tracks and these lyrics, penned by Bothwell. I can't grasp it. "The Wondersmith and His Sons" musically creates a scenario of a Shakespearean western scene featuring Audrey Hepburn and John Wayne on one horse galloping into Pioneetown, CA. The entire scene is being narrated by some guy with a grand piano in bar in said setting. That's where Andy Bothwell details the whole thing, describing a family of sorts. Here comes the Beck featuring a fast-mouthed Bothwell rambling "Then there was me, I was born a charming man with silver tongue and pearl teeth." The delivery is flawless, the musical companionship is flawless, the keys create a sense of suspense. The guitars are very mood-setting and the drums are so raw in a sense that you can almost imagine a grimy layer of dirt on the snares. Bothwell, I trust you.

The album is just as amazing as the first. "Secrets of the Undersea Bell" is Bothwell's "Loser." Again, you are being another western-esque tale that you can't really follow, but the music creates its own imagery. Most importantly, is just the stellar variety of the composition of each track. "Secrets of the Undersea Bell" is this poppy mellow track that is very crazy, for lack of a better term. "Mr. Blessington's Imperialist Plot" is this very narrative, hip-hop inspired track. You can't say this track is terrible. Compared to what? It's whacky and outrageous, but never terrible. People do not like change.

It's a pity, though. Bothwell is onto something. Pray to God he keeps it going, that's how beautiful this is.

"Pretty Patricia was a nervous wreck, deadened by the darvocet, furnished by a charlatan posing as her pharmacist." 

What the soundtrack to The Harder They Come was for reggae, what the Nuggets anthology was for garage rock, The Roots of Chicha promises to be for chicha.  Like Australian country music, Japanese salsa or British rock, chicha is a quintessentially urban kind of alchemy, in this case a creation of the oil-boom cities of Peru beginning in the late 60s and continuing throughout the 80s where musicians raised on sounds from south of the border picked up electronic instruments and started mixing in surf music and psychedelic rock. Like bachata in the Dominican Republic or blues here in the US, the ruling classes in Peru scorned it. The radio didn’t play it and it was largely confined to the slums. Where it thrived.

The 17 tracks here are hypnotic and incredibly fun. Some of this sounds like scary surf music. Some sounds like salsa played by a psychedelic rock band (think early Santana without the 20-minute jams), with tinny guitars using all kinds of cheap effects. The beat is like ska but slower, and it swings more, but not as much as reggae. The feel is raw, direct and lo-fi; some would call it primitive. A labor of love created by Barbes Records’ Olivier Conan (leader of the sole American chicha band, Chicha Libre, whose intoxicatingly good debut cd just came out this year), this is the anthology that brought chicha out of Peru for the first time. None of the tracks here have ever been released outside the country, which is more surprising than it is tragic because these songs are so delightful. This is party music, after all (chicha is to Peru what malt liquor is here), and you don’t need to speak Spanish to appreciate it.

The Roots of Chicha includes song by five of the most pioneering chicha bands from the late 60s and early 70s. Los Mirlos open and close the cd on a similar note with tersely eerie, one-chord jams with the same mood as Egyptian Reggae by the Ventures, but stranger. They also contribute El Milagro Verde (The Green Miracle), another spooky, tinny reverb-guitar instrumental which is sort of the chicha national anthem, along with Muchachita del Oriente (Little Asian Girl), a party song that has nothing remotely Asian about it. Los Hijos del Sol are represented by another bouncing, incisively reverberating instrumental as well as two characteristically minor-key vocal numbers, the guitar taking off with the central catchy hook on the chorus.

Juaneco y Su Combo have three songs included here. Vacilando con Ayahuasca (High on Ayahuasca, a native psychedelic) isn’t the long psychedelic suite you’d assume but rather a catchy instrumental punctuated by a woman’s orgasmic sighs! Another faster instrumental sounds like a ripoff of Muchachita del Oriente - or maybe Muchachita del Oriente rips this off. Obviously there was a lot of cross-pollination going on. The third track is remarkably different, with a considerable Afro-Cuban influence.

Los Hijos del Sol follow what seems to be an effective and popular formula, verses that come straight out of salsa, with a lot of call-and-response to get the party going, followed by surfy guitar on the choruses. Los Destellos contribute a gorgeously hooky instrumental, A Patricia, that with a little exposure ought to be picked up by surf bands everywhere, as well as a vocal number and the world’s funniest Beethoven cover. Los Diablos Rojos manage to be both the most overtly surfy and most overtly latin of the bands here, equal parts dazzling Dick Dale tremolo guitar and third-generation Cuban son. There’s also a cut by electric banjoist Eusebio y Su Banjo, the defiant Mi Morena Rebelde (My Rebel Girl) which is more of a traditional cumbia than anything else here. Barbes Records continues to mine the rich vein of classic chicha with a brand-new anthology of songs by Juaneco y Su Combo, available for the first time outside Peru.

If the concept of seeing this stuff live intrigues you, Chicha Libre includes some of these songs in their set along with their sometimes even wilder originals. They play Barbes pretty much every Monday at 9:45ish, early arrival always a good idea.

How did you decide on your DJ name?
When I first started DJing I knew nothing about how it was done. When I was first asked the question, “What is your DJ name?” it was the first time it occurred to me I should have one. I started out as a substitute DJ for my friend, Michael who went as “The White Sheik” and played psychedelic rock, stoner rock, funk, soul, and world music at Dunes once a week. When the then club owner Honey Owens heard my set she asked me to play there regularly and I got my own night called “Emotional Rescue.” She [then] gave me the name DJ Furpurse.

As the Rapture say, “People don’t dance no more, they just stand there like this”—how often do you encounter this?
Luckily, I don’t encounter an empty dance floor too much anymore. I think the general public is more inclined to dancing to electronic dance music now that it is appearing more and more in mainstream hip-hop and rock.

It’s very important to be able to read your audience and give them something they can relate to. I try to get as much information as I can about the event I’m going to play beforehand so I can play tracks that people will like. Another trick to getting the dance floor moving is dancing yourself and showing your love for the music you are playing; it’s contagious.

Ideal Crowd?
My ideal crowd is anyone who wants to dance and try to understand where I am coming from with my set. I always keep the people in the room in mind when I select tracks. Playing tracks with your audience in mind is a way of having a collective conversation with a whole room that can become so complex, beautiful, and exciting. It’s constantly evolving with and responding to the different people involved who are dancing or not dancing and how they are dancing. When people let the music affect them a new world is created that we built together through music and imagination. A Latin beat can bring a little Brazil to Portland, a little French vocals can take you to Paris. I am not an exclusive audience DJ, but I do want my audience to have an open mind. I want everyone to have fun and unite for beauty, music, and freedom. Music and dancing have the ability to bring people together who may not otherwise choose to be together due to certain differences. As long as there is music and dancing I think peace has a chance.

How do you feel about requests?
I don’t mind requests if they are given early in my set, are complimentary to what I am playing, or during a slow paced night. If I have the requested track in my collection and it is something I like then I will play it in the right circumstance. However, if I have been on a roll for a half-hour and someone comes to me with a song request that would take me off track, I won’t want to play it. In those situations, I try to go with a compromise. My preference is that the audience will have an open mind and trust my plan, but on occasion I have had some good requests and it’s exciting to let yourself be guided a little.

Do you have a story about a particular request or requester?
Last month at Red Cap for 546 Tuesday, I got a request from a deaf young man who wanted me to play louder so he could dance to the vibrations of the bass. I believe he is completely deaf. That request moved me deeply because I can’t imagine what it would be like to be deaf and regard a room full of dancing people and wish to join in. I applaud this young man for coming to me and asking me for more bass. I turned it up and played more bass heavy tracks and watched him dance. I told him later that he should check out Kulturszene on second Fridays at Branx because they have a great sound system there for feeling the bass.

What do you do job and hobby wise outside of DJing?
Right now I don’t have a day job. I am looking for a new job, though. I worked at Whole Foods before and then at Bent Image Lab as an Art Department PA. Hobby wise, I do a little bit of modeling and in the past I participated in dance and theater performance. I like to take photos to document the music and art events I attend.

Where can we find you?
I mostly DJ at Rotture and Branx. My main gig is at a party called Neon that happens every first Friday at Branx. I sometimes DJ at Tube for Bang a Rang, at Dunes for Come Alive!, for 546 Tuesdays at Red Cap, Super Kidz at Rotture, and many Saturdays at Masu. This month I have two shows in San Francisco which is super exciting for me. I have one show at a fashion exhibition here in Portland this month. If you want to know where and when I am DJing, the best way to find out is to check out my MySpace calendar.

How’d you get your current main gig?
Neon is my current main gig and I got it through DJ Tre Slim, who is the founder of Neon. He started the party alone, but asked me and DJ Pocketrock-it to be his partners after he booked us as guests together. We have great chemistry between us. I’ve been a part of Neon for over a year now and I love it. I now help with the booking of guests for Neon, too.

How long have you been spinning?
I have been spinning for four years now.

What drew you to DJing originally?
I love to dance so I began collecting dance music records and playing them at home to dance to. When my friends would come over to my house to hang out, I would play them dance songs and they would tell me I should DJ. I luckily got the chance and have been keeping busy with it ever since.

What are your thoughts on vinyl vs CDs vs laptops?
When I first started DJing it was all on vinyl format. Then I discovered obscure music I wanted to play that was out of print and on records worth hundreds of dollars. I thought it wise to archive those songs to CD from the records after too many nights of people falling on the turntables, or spilling drinks on my records. Some of those records were ultra rare and borrowed from Discourage records and friends so the last thing I wanted was to see them get hurt. So I would do a mix of CDs and vinyl. Now I use Serato Scratch, which I love and am very pleased to be using. It’s a great way to combine all three formats. If I want to put on a record all I have to do is switch the channel on the mixer and put it on. I can import my CDs as WAV files into Serato, too. I can easily buy music online that may not be in Portland stores. I love that I can set trigger points on the tracks and loop portions from 1/8 of a beat to 32 beats. I love having the ability to use a vinyl/turntable/mixer interface with the program.

I think the biggest debate about which format is better has to do with the quality of sound of the song and whether or not the music industry and artists are getting proper compensation for their work. In cases where it is possible, I buy and play WAV formated songs which are a relatively “pure”, i.e. lossless file types, suitable for retaining “first generation” archived files of high quality. This format sounds great in the club and in my discussions with several serious sound engineers, there is no cause to complain about Serato as a DJing program or WAV formated music.

I have no problem with any format that people want to DJ on. I do believe that the artists should get paid for their work and one should strive to present that music in a great sounding format.

What songs will we find ourselves dancing to with you?
This is a weird list, but I play different music depending on where I’m at.

Heartthrob- “Futures Past”
Burnski- “NoseBonker”
Gianni Pellecchia- “Mnemonic”
Diplo & Buraka Som Sistema- “Inna De Ghetto” (remix)
Turboweekend- “My Name Is Legion” Patience edit

How would you describe yourself in five words or less—complete sentence or not:
Wild, emotional, helpful, social, energetic.

How do you describe the genre you play?
I don’t play strictly within one genre. I play everything from synth punk to house to HiNRG, to electro bangers to minimal techno. There are little threads in music that allow you to make these journeys through the worlds music. I like to keep myself and others on their toes, but there is a time and a place for being pure. I am a whimsical gal and I sometimes don’t know what genre I’m going to play on a given night. I just love music and want to dance. I get these ideas and go with it. My gut is usually right.

Who are your other favorite Portland DJs?
My other favorite Portland DJs are DJ Tre Slim, DJ Koolaid, DJ Pocketrock-it, DJ Dome, DJ Linoleum, Linger & Quiet, M. Quiet, and 31 Avas.

How did the XLR8R profile come about?
I got an e-mail from XLR8R in August saying I had been selected as a DJ they wanted to interview for their annual city issue which is dedicated to Portland this year. I was contacted by Kerry McLaughlin from XLR8R in July to set up a show for DJ Star Eyes at Neon. I think they learned about me at that time and decided later to include me in the issue, which I am very grateful for.

DJ Patricia Furpurse’s next Portland appearance is on Friday October 24th at Branx. The next Neon is on November 7th at Branx.

Links:
Patricia FurpurseSpace
July 2008 DJ Mix Download
Patricia Furpurse flickr
NeonSpace

Photo by Minh Tran