Dying Is Fine.

It's the day after Christmas, and I'm listening to Ra Ra Riot's "Dying Is Fine" - this particular theme being a big one for me today. I think the video below is fantastic, in the literal sense of the word - it has a great Lewis Carroll feel to it, with the extraordinarily tall violin player next to the band members' leaves on the tree (what is it about British pop culture and anthropomorphization? The Young Ones, anyone?), and the drawing style reminds me of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I wouldn't be surprised to see LeVaur Burton show up at the end and beginning singing the lyric, "Butterfly in the sky . . ."



Ra Ra Riot first came to my attention after I attended a pre-inaugural fundraiser for 826 Boston's Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute in 2007. I'd wanted to volunteer for 826 NYC ever since I'd wandered past its Superhero Supply Co. near my old Brooklyn apartment years before, oddly enough while having a conversation about choosing superhero costumes for a rugby tournament, but my schedule had never meshed with theirs. Of course, when 826 Boston opened, I was excited to jump on board, but again scheduling conflicts have precluded me from being a part of the organization. This particular fundraiser, however, was one of the few events I could swing, and as it was hosted by Eugene Mirman, recently of Flight of The Conchords, I felt that I couldn't say no.

The video featured in this post is for the track from The Rhumb Line, the band's newest release, and it's what I'm picturing in my head as my iPod plays, but the particular version I've chosen to listen to is from the Dying Is Fine single, as I appreciate the fullness of the intro., even though I think 6:12 is, uh, a bit excessive, shall we say. There are actually three versions of this song on my iPod, I realize, speaking of excessive, including the 6:09 version from Daytrotter Session and the 5:50 one from Ra Ra Riot - EP, which has a pretty sweet drum count in - oddly, no Rhumb Line version for me aurally.


Link of the day: MS Paint Adventures http://www.mspaintadventures.com!
Thanks to Kevin for The Young Ones dvds!

http://www.826valencia.org/