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June 11, 2008
Dear friends of 20 Minute Loop:
20 MINUTE LOOP’S CD RELEASE SHOW IN CELEBRATION OF OUR NEW
ALBUM “FAMOUS PEOPLE MARRY FAMOUS PEOPLE”!
20 Minute Loop
@
Bottom of the Hill (1233 17th St. @ Missouri, SF)
July 11, Friday, $10, 21+,
w/ Caves &
Man/Miracle
Show at
10pm
20 Minute Loop plays third.
Purchase
advance tickets
FAMOUS PEOPLE MARRY FAMOUS
PEOPLE
Yes, they do.
In order to highlight this fact, we have titled our album “Famous
People Marry Famous People,” because in most cases, famous
people marry famous people. Why famous people marry famous people
is at first a mystery until one considers the fact that FAMOUS PEOPLE
MOSTLY HANG OUT WITH FAMOUS PEOPLE. But we didn’t want to
call our album “Famous People Mostly Hang out with Famous
People,” because that’s a bit long, a bit awkward, and
it does not suggest connubial bliss (or connubial hell). Some might
argue that “Famous People Marry Famous People,” too,
is a bit long and awkward (Kelly Atkins did so using her notorious
and formidable “concise is nice” defense during our
publicly held debate at Galileo High School in San Francisco last
February; Nils Erickson, another band member in opposition, wielded
the geographically pertinent fact that O.J. Simpson, alumnus of
Galileo, did not, in fact, marry a famous person, but Greg Giles
came back with a stunning rebuttal when he indicated that although
Simpson did marry a relatively non-famous person, he, in addition,
very likely killed her, thus perhaps demonstrating that some kind
of karmic havoc was unleashed by this doomed, asymmetrical marriage),
but those who believe so do not understand that “Famous People
Marry Famous People,” in all its banality, speaks to the bland,
repetitive narratives of entertainment media and paparazzi when
it comes to tumultuous Hollywood romances—cheating, divorce,
marriage, divorce, marriage, importing of orphaned baby from far-flung
“exotic” country troubled by political violence that
is often misunderstood by recipients of orphaned baby, divorce,
custody battle, remarriage, divorce, strange semi-incestuous relationship
with adult orphaned child, etc. The cycle is very reliable, predictable,
and it excites the world, in particular titillating ultra-conservative
religious sects into an outrage that can only be understood as sexual
sublimation. The portmanteau marriages—e.g., “Brangelina”—package
a famous relationship into a brand that can be sold throughout the
world and represent our American culture, if not honorably or with
sophistication, then at least with a little insipid panache. Of
course, now, famous people marrying famous people has been supplanted
in part by UNKNOWN PEOPLE SINGING OFF-KEY AND BEING AWARDED VITAMIN
WATER ADVERTISING ENDORSEMENTS or UNKNOWN PEOPLE EATING LARVAE AND
BAD-MOUTHING OTHER CONTESTANTS ONLY TO SINK INTO OBLIVION UNTIL
THEY ARE ARRESTED FOR SPOUSAL ABUSE MONTHS LATER or UNKNOWN CHEFS
USING XANTHAM GUM IN THEIR MAHI MAHI PLANTAIN BISQUE IN ORDER TO
IMPRESS SALMAN RUSHDIE’S EX-WIFE, so perhaps “Famous
People Marry Famous People” has a bit of nostalgia invested
in it, a kind of bygone sepia-toned longing for a time when we didn’t
care about total strangers humiliating themselves on cable channels.
We cared about rich people humiliating themselves; now we care about
people who are not so rich humiliating themselves. (There is even
a market share of “Impoverished People Humiliating Themselves”
for those who enjoy “Bum Fights” and the cinema-verité
domestic violence featured in cop shows.)
But really “Famous
People Marry Famous People” is not so high-concept. It’s
not so nothing.
Here were other album
title possibilities:
EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION
Mike Romano objected
to this one because it would possibly trivialize a terrible practice.
Plus, another band beat us to it.
KILL WHITEY!
Always a favorite with
Greg Giles. He has attempted to title every album since 20ML’s
inception “Kill Whitey!”, but his bandmates continually
reject it as unnecessarily inflammatory and downright stupid. You’ll
just have to wait for Greg’s solo album if you enjoy this
one.
LATIN NAMES AND STRAIGHT
PINS
Although this rolls off
the tongue beautifully, Kelly Atkins will typically suggest titles
that are either already titles of songs or excerpted lyrics. Greg
also told Kelly that if she is looking for meaning in an album title,
surely “Latin Names and Straight Pins” is not terribly
meaningful. In this case, Greg was playing the tu quoque card—he
is a strong advocate for meaningless titles and lyrics, while Kelly
and Nils Erickson desire some kind of meaning or narrative arc behind
their titles and lyrics. Greg believes that “meaning”
is overrated and usually trite. But he’s been subjected to
the brainwashing techniques of post-structuralist, theory-driven
English programs, and he doesn’t read enough comic books,
even though he’d much rather read Will Eisner and Alan Moore
than Jacques Derrida and Fredric Jameson.
RHYTHM 0
Truly lame. Greg thought
it was really cool for about eighteen seconds, eighteen seconds
longer than anyone else. A reference to the performance artist Marina
Abramovic.
CRACK WHORE!
Another Greg Giles classic
perennially dismissed. Notice his fondness for exclamatory titles.
Enough already.
See you at the show.
Love,
20ML
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