Let's Share: The Berkley Blog

Let's Share: Duets!

Ryan is getting annoyed right now because I'm supposed to be working on cleaning up the animals we will be releasing tomorrow but somehow I've completely distracted myself by looking for great duets to bulk up our iTunes folder of the same name.

I started out wanting "he said/she said' songs.  I'm very partial to the kind of duet where it's like a dialog between the two singers.  Classic examples of this include:

"Tramp" - Otis Redding & Carla Thomas

Anything really by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

Anyone singing "Baby It's Cold Outside". [Also see my love for the Zooey Deschanel version of this here.]

More modern examples are:

"Fairytale of New York" - Shane MacGowan & Kirsty MacColl

"Hangover Days" - Jason Collett & Emily Haines [except it's Feist on the link]

"In Spite Of Ourselves" - John Prine & Iris Dement

"I've Got A Man" - Positive K

Then you have REALLY close version of this but it's a little bit more about trading verses than talking back and forth:

"Jackson" - Johnny & June Carter Cash

"You're All I Need To Get By" - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

"Portland, Oregon" - Loretta Lynn & Jack White

Then I started widening with my circle with girl/boy duets that aren't necessarily doing the "talking back and forth thing" or exclusively trading verses:

"This Mess We're In" - PJ Harvey & Thom Yorke

"Ramblin' Man" - Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan

And then I included same sex duets:

"Crazy Love" - Van Morrison & Ray Charles

"I'll Fly Away" - Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch

"Little Drummer Boy" - Bing Crosby & David Bowie 

And then bands plus another singer:

"Under Pressure" - Queen & David Bowie (again!)

"Middleclass Haunt" - Subtle & Dan Boeckner 

"A History Of Lovers " - Calexico & Sam Beam

"Wake Up" - Arcade Fire & Bowie (again!!)

And then you have the 89% of hip-hop songs that are duets.  I couldn't even start to get into those.  

Then Ryan and I got in a debate over whether a "Duet" counts if it's two singers in the same band or if it's only "real" when you have two performers together who don't usually play together. So Simon & Garfunkel, Hall & Oates, Mates of State,  Mitch & Mickey all don't count according to Ryan. Phew! It's getting complicated up in here.  

And now I'm completely off track.

I need to turn it back around to the "conversational duet". I'm going with songs I would actually enjoy listening to: (ie. I'm avoiding your cheesy Bonnie Tyler/Meatloaf type compilations). Anyone have any suggestions for some "he said/she said" songs?

Those Who Share: Something's Hiding In Here

I know pretty much every design blog in the universe is already all over the spectacular duo of Shauna and Stephen of Something's Hiding In Here but we just have to call even more attention to their amazingness. 

I am rapt with their current project, Your Message Here, where you can submit a message for the storefront marquee/display they created in Philadelphia.  They pick and post a new saying daily.  Some of the messages make me laugh, some make my heart melt, some make my heart hurt, and the extra good ones seem to do a little of all three.

 

I am using the above image as our computer wallpaper and I think I might have to get permission to print it out and frame it.  I've been going a bit insane trying to find curtains for our new house and then I get more insane and feel like a jerk for stressing out about something so trivial.  It's a vicious cycle and the billboard is a good reminder about the non-importance of window coverings.

The project reminds me a bit of the enlightened freeway billboard in LA Story.  I guess billboards are just really great at dispensing wisdom.  I'm guessing by some of the messages on this particular board that the communication relayed through the board was not only insightful but also occasionally life-changing (September 13th, I'm looking at you).

Stephen and Shauna built the entire marquee from scratch, including the letters, which is documented on their blog.  I know I just committed to not caring about home design, but you should ignore that for a second and go check out the Design Sponge feature on their loft. Did you see the porch swing?  There is a porch swing in their living room!  Incredible!  I don't think I'd ever be able to stop drinking lemonade and swinging if I had such a thing.

I might add that Something's Hiding In Here also make very fine mustaches-on-a-stick which are perfect for yourself or your friends and family that fall asleep at your house after dinner.

It looks like they'll be doing a shop update on Friday so I'm sure great treasures are to be had.  I'm eyeing the Rolodex they built by hand...I better make up my mind fast because it seems like they are almost out. Ryan got to meet Shauna at Renegade in Brooklyn and the report is that she's just as nice as you'd imagine a gal with a porch swing in her living room to be.  Oh, how I love nice people who do crazy creative things (especially when they share).

One last note: Strangely, the most recent post on their blog is about the man behind The Misanthrope Specialty Company.  Just yesterday we found out that these are now available on Etsy so we snapped on the opportunity right away.  When we receive our portraits we'll be sure to show them off.  I wonder if we will be bloody or sweaty or both?!

Those Who Share - The Velveteria

It's time for another installment of "Those Who Share".  This time we highlight Carl and Caren - proprietors of the Velveteria, authors of the newly released book: Black Velvet Masterpieces, and an all-around cool couple. 

We just got the book and it looks really sharp. It even has a velvety rich cover.  Ooh la la! They've put together a history of the velvet painting, a how-to section, and a great gallery of their collection featuring everything from religious icons to nekkid ladies. If you are in Portland you must go visit their museum, The Velveteria, to see some of the work for yourself. 

We've always been especially fond of the "Banditos" velvet painting genre. Good job Carl and Caren!

We actually own two velvet paintings.  One was a garage sale find from Ryan's mom - this intense wolf:

And the other is a Juanita original of a Pabst can:

The funny thing about this one is that one might assume that it's an homage in our house to Pabst when really I am quite a beer snob and I probably have one Pabst a year at most.  Generally I don't really drink any beer from a can.  I used to drink Guiness but then I learned about their non-vegan friendly isinglass processing so I cut myself off.  So, we consider this painting an homage to how awesome Juanita is!

Those who share - Handsome Furs

Something I'd like to do on this sharing blog is to highlight other artists/musicians/humans who create via sharing. There is just something so nice and inspiring about couples working together. The other night we went out to see the Handsome Furs (yes, that's two concerts in a week which is a record for us these days!). Not only are they an engaged duo band but they were literally sharing the drum machine at one point. So adorable.

Sorry those are a little blurry but considering we were in the balcony and I was zoomed in all the way I'd say they aren't too bad, actually.

[Also, please note that I was typing this a song by the married couple Mates of State came on my iTunes and it was immediately followed by the theme song from Batman, the TV show. That is really weird. I swear that kind of weird coincidence always happens to me. Or maybe I read into things too much.]