Barbara and Barry: Pure Bliss

Is it really such a crime to love Babs? And in particular, her duets with Barry Gibb? And to be more to the point, the song "Guilty"?

I feel like I've written about this a million times already, but it turns out, I've only actually written about Babs once, in this post, and it was just to mention how great "Evergreen" is. Because it is. And "Guilty" is amazing. "Out on the street anybody you meet got a heartache of their own . . . " That's true. They do. Thanks, Babs, for pointing that out.

And then thank you, even more, for the entire song and how you make any little duet seem epic and romantic and perfect and you do it without auto-tune or any digital engineering, just your emotion and your crystal clear tones.

"Pulses racin', darlin', how grand we are, little by little we meet in the middle . . . make it a crime to be out in the cold . . . " Barry. My word, Barry, you make such an amazing, profound point. And you know, when you sing with Babs, with your brothers in the background, you slay even the casual listener. You make my life feel like the romantic comedy it was always meant to be. You make me think I could do anything, move a mountain, walk on water, fly away in a hot air balloon with my lover, glasses of sparkling champagne bubbling away, fluted stems held so delicately between our fingers, and stars in our eyes, nuzzling noses like two shy deer.

And then there's the part in the song, the chorus where Babs and Barry sing together, and Babs does that signature move where she, kind of off the cuff, goes all lazy in keeping time with Barry's singing, "And we got nothing to be guilty of, our love will climb any mountain, near or far, we are, and we never let it end, we are devotion . . . ."

And they are. I mean, have you heard the song? That sort of singing and dueting (is that a word?) is PURE devotion. And it makes me feel devoted. It makes me fall in love with everything. This computer (which I already loved, but now I love it more). This table. This coffee shop. The people in the room with me. All of them. I now love them simply because "Guilty" is making me feel it, feel the love.

It's a love potion. It's BETTER than a love potion. It's the key to world peace. Babs and Barry. The perfect union of man and woman in song. The only other magical combination I can think of right now is Babs and Neil. But for now, I'm feeling it with "Guilty."

"You gotta be mine, we take it away, it's gotta be night and day, just a matter of time." Just a matter of time before Babs takes over the world with her voice. I can't believe she hasn't yet. Pure unadulterated, un-auto-tuned, gorgeousness in a voice.

Reunited: After 20 Years, I Rediscover William Shatner

Depressing.

So last night, while in my old town Logan (Utah), I stopped by my old haunt. Graywhale CD. While there, I purchased Fiona Apple’s Tidal for my lover (Stoker) and William Shatner’s album Has Been, for me.

I heard Has Been when it came out. It struck me, but I didn’t buy it. I heard it again on iTunes because I’m obsessed with that place—when they had Spaced Out! The Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner on their home page (I want to get that too, some day). Anyhoo, haven’t been able to get the song “I can’t get behind that” out of my head. So I bought. And I love.

What’s depressing about that, you ask. I’ll tell you what’s depressing about that. It’s depressing because I think it’s damn good, and I want to tell good ole’ William that I think so. I want to be able to call William up and say, “William, I know you received some criticism and some people* made fun of you, but I want to tell you, maybe I am part of the ‘common people’** but I think it’s brilliant.” I’d like to be able to do that.

I’d also like to tell him that I really appreciate that he’s doing something. As you may know, because I told you, the title of his album is Has Been. But I don’t think he’s a has-been and maybe he’s just playing with that, capitalizing on the culture surrounding the idea that William Shatner is warshed up (yes, I said warshed, as in “y’alls need to get in thuh tub and warsh yuhselfs.”***). Since his days with Star Trek, he’s gotten a lot of criticism, you know, things like “Well, I heard William was a big jerk on the set, stealing lines and stuff all the time,” and etc. I don’t know if that’s true. But I’m willing to let bygones be bygones and say to hell with it. He’s doing something.

That’s my point. What I can’t get behind, is the jerks on stupid American Idol who suck and suddenly, one day the world is like “this guy is a superstar.” You know, because what can they do but stand on a stage and try to sing like annoying Mariah Carey? They sing songs someone else wrote, to music someone else composed, to instruments they can’t play. And here’s William Shatner talking (yes, not singing, because apparently he’s not like that) to music composed by Ben Folds. But here’s the tip of the point I’m trying to slowly make (brevity is the soul of wit), William Shatner is talking (because he’s not singing) from the heart. It’s real. And I love it.

So, William Shatner****, if you're reading, out there, somewhere in the cosmos of cyberspace, I want to tell you that Has Been defies expectations. It's poignant, moving, fun and I love it. I LOVE IT.


*Jerks.
** Though I really don’t think so, I think I’m extraordinary
***I have no idea if that’s a dialect anywhere except in my own head
****My first big crush as a 5 or 6 year old [wow, that’s super young to be thinking about being in love] [I know], catching every TJ Hooker episode. But alas, no longer