My guest this month is huggable, loveable Laura Windley, and you can find Laura's music playlists here on YouTube and here on Spotify. (FYI Those affections are real but it also refers to a song we discuss in the episode, before you wonder why she gets special treatment)
She's a family law attorney by day and musician/dancer/DJ by night. She has her own band, the Mint Julep Jazz Band, but she also travels and sings with hot jazz and swing bands from all over the US. She writes a blog called Lindy Shopper about swing dance clothing, shoes, and other things dancers may find useful. She's active in the swing community in many other ways, from organizing local dances/events to providing pro bono legal services to jazz musicians.
www.laurawindley.com
Twitter: @laurawindley
Instagram: @mintjulepjazzband
Follow this link for the transcript of the episode.
Click here to support the podcast Patreon.
Click here to find the podcast Instagram.
My guest this month is huggable, loveable Laura Windley, and you can find Laura's music playlists here on YouTube and here on Spotify. (FYI Those affections are real but it also refers to a song we discuss in the episode, before you wonder why she gets special treatment)
She's a family law attorney by day and musician/dancer/DJ by night. She has her own band, the Mint Julep Jazz Band, but she also travels and sings with hot jazz and swing bands from all over the US. She writes a blog called Lindy Shopper about swing dance clothing, shoes, and other things dancers may find useful. She's active in the swing community in many other ways, from organizing local dances/events to providing pro bono legal services to jazz musicians.
www.laurawindley.com
Twitter: @laurawindley
Instagram: @mintjulepjazzband
Follow this link for the transcript of the episode.
Click here to support the podcast Patreon.
Click here to find the podcast Instagram.
Hi, I'm Laura Windley, D list swing celebrity, and you're listening to Desert Island Jams with Sarah Spoon
Sarah Spoon :That's bangin' but you're not a D list love, you're not. You're not, sorry. That's a stone cold lie you just told and I've got recorded evidence.
Laura Windley :(Laughing hard) Oh my god
Sarah Spoon :I'm Sarah spoon, and this is Desert Island Jams, a monthly podcast where I sit down with people from the dance community, be they DJ, musician or just general music nerd and asking them which 10 tracks they would be taking with them if they were stuck on a desert island with a really tiny mp3 player. Desert Island Jams is brought to you by my own elbow grease and the financial support of the people on Patreon - you can find us at www.patreon.com/desertislandjams. My guest this month is Laura Windley, who is based in North Carolina, USA. Laura is known by most of us swing dancers as the singer of the Mint Julep Jazz Band, but she also travels and sings with hot jazz and swing bands from all over the US. She also writes a blog called Lindy shopper about swing dance clothing and shoes and my other things that dancers might find useful. And she's really active in the swing community in many other ways, you know, not just being a musician, but she also dances and she DJs and she organizes local events and like provides pro bono legal services to jazz musicians. Welco me to the show.
Laura Windley :Thanks for having me.
Sarah Spoon :I am super delighted that you could be part of this.
Laura Windley :Well, I'm delighted you invited me to talk about songs that I love, which is something that I love to do.
Sarah Spoon :And you've got a really lovely mix of stuff. There is still a strong jazz presence. But I was really pleasantly surprised by a few of the songs. I was like, Oh, I really like that one too. And we're gonna go through them one by one starting with Blue Lou by Bunny Berigan. Tell me why this is on your list.
Laura Windley :So Blue Lou is my favorite song to dance to, for for swing, and I fell in love with a song through the Balboa community. And when I started doing balboa I would hear this song and I loved it because the the main theme of the chorus is this, you know, tension and then resolution and intention, and then resolution and then a little happy ditty, and it's just really invites creativity in your dancing. And then I realized there were so many different recordings of this. And they were all delightful and great for dancing, and also offered a lot of, I don't know, different things to play around with musically with their differences. And then I was like, What is the song and then I started DJing for Balboa. And I figured out it was Blue Lou. And I just, I don't know, it's just my favorite thing to dance to. And so, but then you have to decide, you know, of the, I don't know, 20 or 30 versions of blue that I may own, all having, you know, fairly different arrangements. Which one is my favorite? And it's always a toss up between the Bunny Berigan version and the Benny Goodman version. Well, as you'll see later, I've already included a Benny Goodman song and we can't have all Benny Goodman on the island we have to have other things
Sarah Spoon :I mean, it's your island, you can do whatever you like,
Laura Windley :but, um, I think, whereas I think I like I particularly like the feel of the arrangement. The Goodman version. Bunny just really like shines and gives me something extra in this version, and it just sends my heart soaring when he plays. So this is Yeah, so I decided to include Bunny's version.
Sarah Spoon :All right, well then let's kick off with that. So next up, we have the Benny Goodman track that you alluded to, and out of his entire wealth catalogue, why this one in particular?
Laura Windley :Well, and then it sort of goes back to again, my like, roots in the Balboa community and DJing for Balboa. And I just have always felt like that this song. I don't know, just so it's a Fletcher Henderson arrangement, and it just sort of exemplifies this elegance. I feel like that Fletcher brought to a lot of his arranging, and then it's just obviously beautifully performed by the Benny Goodman orchestra and I feel like in the within the song you Just sort of go through a range of emotions and in my head I've sort of choreographed you know, multiple routines to this, and how I might present this, um, I mean, just there there's like this really nice call and response. There are certain parts where like, I get, I don't know, goosebumps like the sax solely. It's like this adorable gracious song. And it does take you on a little bit of a journey. Because there are like several distinct sections of it. This sort of fanfare intro, it kind of ends on a chill note, which is not necessarily normal for a swing song. You know that I think most people are like, I want a barn burner. And this one just, I don't know just sort of pleasantly resolves itself. its beauty. This is I feel like both overstated and understated in in several parts. There are a lot of fun breaks in this I find the song really fun to dance to glasses, like punctuated things. But then also multiple textures. I don't know, it's just kind of like this, like, really nice chocolate truffle that I want to eat all the time. And then also, I mean, the title Down South Camp Meeting I and I can't speak to the history or what may have inspired it, but I am from the southern part of the United States. I don't know there's something nice to think about that someone was inspired to write this, like, you know, joyful sort of gracious, elegant song about something that happened in the south.
Sarah Spoon :Hmm. And is it on the list because it's a song you can't live without? Or is it on the list because, you know, that would be a very, like an essential part of your daily soundtrack on your desert island.
Laura Windley :I mean, oh, gosh I don't know if I like had cared, I mean, I definitely don't want to live without it for sure. I mean, that's enough. Yeah, it's one of those songs that I come back to and I listen to over and over and over again. I have several songs that I like Blue Lou that I like, glommed on to and then I would listen to them maybe excessively on repeat for like several weeks in my car. And this is one of them. I mean, there's several other ones that like didn't make the cut. Like last year, it was Camel Hop, I could like camel hop every day, but this this has been a little more enduring and a longer presence in my life.
Sarah Spoon :So was it hard putting this list together were you at like 12 songs for a little while and then you just couldn't decide which one to cull or was it like, Ah, okay, this is the list I've had prepared for a while. I'm glad someone's finally asked me.
Laura Windley :I would say Yeah, probably got stuck at like 12 or 13. There are some, you know, secondary contenders but Down South Camp Meeting was, um, Blue Lou and Down South Camp Meeting were absolutely on the list. Without a doubt two of my favorites and songs
Sarah Spoon :and from swing we now go to ska, which is I'm all about that contrast, mixing it up
Laura Windley :Is it really a contract?
Sarah Spoon :It's, I mean, it doesn't seem such a contrast or such a far stride for me, but that's because I'm also in the I love music, give me all of the music now, please and thank you camp, like you said. And I feel like you have some specialist geeky knowledge about this song in particular because You sent me a note about what Discogs doesn't know about the b-side of this?
Unknown Speaker :Well, I, you know, it's a very specific recording, and it's not necessarily the Skatalites, like most recognizable recording, and I'll give you I'll give you a history because I feel like there's like, there's certainly a story that goes along with this. Um, I was a kid in high school, you know, like, punk with horns, third wave ska. And when I came to college, I went to college at East Carolina University. And they had on Sunday afternoons they had this really great lineup where new new would start with a reggae show. Two to four is a ska show, four to six is the punk show, and six to eight was the metal show.
Sarah Spoon :That's really well programmed that must have flowed really nicely,
Laura Windley :but the ska show it was the weak link. I was like, I could nail this. And so I went in and applied and I got the ska show, and I put I ran the ska show for two years. On Every Sunday afternoon and I had you know, I have like a fairly limited range of knowledge because my ska knowledge was primarily third wave ska, you know, the stuff that was more popular when I was in high school. And then I have access to this much larger collection and I started getting into you know, original ska artists and second wave and what I figured out was Reel Big Fish did a song with the numbers 241 which I also enjoyed. Then I saw that the Skatalites had Two For One like spilled out like two for one like it's like a sale. And they they're they're fairly different songs, but I just thought, wow, this is such a cool, chill riff, like if I was that cool kid coming down the street on my best foot which I do have a 64 Vespa and I was in like the movie that is my life. Like, would this be my like, I'm rolling everybody's like, Who is that? Like, oh my god, she looks amazing. I want to know her on her Vespa and this is like me imagining my, like cool life. That's not as cool as I imagined. Like the Hollywood version of my life.
Sarah Spoon :All right, well, from where I am sat use, you have a pretty cool version of your life, you know, like family law by day, jazz Queen by night. I mean, that's not that's not shabby whatsoever.
Laura Windley :No, it's not. But you know, when you're in college, and you're nobody and, you know, you sort of like come up with these narratives for yourself. So the song is kind of part of my narrative, and I will say that, um, if you see, like, I sometimes use the handle c a a b 241. Like, that's my email,
Sarah Spoon :just give your email out, go on.
Laura Windley :Nononhahaha, But, um, it's the two for one is this song
Sarah Spoon :Mhmm.
Laura Windley :You know, and also like, I guess cool Incidentally, the real big fish song
Sarah Spoon :that means you've had this email for quite some time then that when when was this email formed?
Laura Windley :I don't know like senior year of high school or freshman year of college one of those I mean, why change? It's so convenient. No one has to get my new email account. I mean, like ska is like overall I feel like a primarily a joyful genre and I like I like things that bring joy to my life and then also like from the jazz perspective, tying this in. It's my under-, someone can like I don't, I'm not super up on my ska history, but it was my understanding that in Jamaica, they were listening to New Orleans radio stations and then so this music is influenced by New Orleans r&b and so here we are back to New Orleans and the cradle of jazz and influencing people. And this is one of the things that that came up.
Sarah Spoon :Yeah, well, let's hear it. Two For One Fade outs are great and all but then when you'd have to DJ a song like a social dance, you're like, Where Where do I cut it? Do I just leave it and feel
Laura Windley :Right! I want a big finish, I don't get a big finish like how do you like dance a fade out?
Sarah Spoon :Yeah, do you just like
Laura Windley :Yeah you're just like.... pfffff... hahah!
Sarah Spoon :the next song is one of my all time favorites. So I actually squeaked when I saw this.
Laura Windley :Oh! Hahahah!!
Sarah Spoon :I used to harbour secret ambitions to direct music videos. Spike Jonze who did the video for this is a fantastic director and this is one of the best music videos of all time and I will I will die on this hill.
Laura Windley :I agree with you hahahahaha!
Sarah Spoon :But the Beastie Boys have a huge back catalogue.
Laura Windley :Absolutely
Sarah Spoon :other than the reasons I've just given, I feel like Okay, so the question for you Why, why this one?
Laura Windley :Well, I'll jump off of your you know, the music video had a I mean this was like so impactful and I think this came out in 1994 and I was watching way too much MTV in 1994 I was like 13 or 14 I didn't you know, I don't have a car. I can't go anywhere. I'm like stuck. I'm like too cool to go out and play. So I'm inside, you know, on the phone with my friends watching MTV. And you know, this is like part of that whole experience. But this was incredible because like I like I saw exactly what they were doing. My dad would Watch like a lot of classic cinema. And you know that included you know cops like pulpy Charles Bronson, like 70s like flicks, and I was like, Oh, that's totally what this guy's going for and, but there's like a comedic element because everything's like a little exaggerated. Like, I think the clothes are like pretty spot on, but like, the facial hair is like insane. And, you know, they're like, jumping on the top of car hoods rolling around in the grass. Like, there's like, there's like a comedic element to this because, you know, they're not stunt doubles, or stunt doubles or whatever, you know, it's just them. And so it's like, a little awkward. I don't know, it's just like, very endearing and hilarious in addition to like, there is actually like, with the editing and there's action, and there's a car coming over the hill, like there was a hill. [mimics scream of going over a big hill in slow motion] So, you know, and there was like a hill, maybe in my college town where you could like do that like it's the Sabotage hill! My car's gonna fly! And so anyway, so yes, the music video was a huge part of this, but I think on a personal level, this has become my karaoke song. And I think that a lot of people don't expect that for me, they expect me to get up and do something like cute or poppy and I didn't listen to a lot of pop music, but I listen to this song a lot.
Sarah Spoon :I think you've just blown my mind. That's amazing!
Laura Windley :Hahaha! And then, you know, I hadn't as I mentioned, I'm from the south. And so I have, you know, certain inflections are different but this is I mean, these guys are from New York. So you know, they have so me adopting the New York accent. song I think it's also hilarious.
Sarah Spoon :new idea. We reshoot the sabotage video, but you in full vintage glamour. You're doing the cop stuff. With like,
Laura Windley :right, right.
Sarah Spoon :throwing a donut away and jumping into the car.
Laura Windley :Yeah, right. donut is on the break too, like I fucking love that like it's a donut break. It's like a musical pun anyway
Sarah Spoon :Oh my God, please tell me I can go with you to like to karaoke sometime.
Laura Windley :HAHAHAHA! I love watching people's expressions when when they're like, okay, yeah, whatever, Laura. And then they're like, whaaaaat?
Sarah Spoon :Let's bring it back to jazz. Because why not? Now it's Ella and her Famous Orchestra and that was when she'd taken over Chick Webb's orchestra, an all time classic banger. I think we could describe the song as
Laura Windley :Absolutely. The Ella Fitzgerald, St. Louis Blues, basically with the Chick Webb orchestra at the height of its capabilities. I can't I wasn't sure if I was able to find the date on this
Sarah Spoon :1939 I think it was
Laura Windley :39 Okay. So so yes. So like Chick Webb had just passed and this incredible recording live from the Savoy Ballroom and Ella scats for several choruses after this, you know, this incredibly, like crisp, inspiring, you know, trumpet opening for two choruses, it's just like, Oh, this is this is jazz. And this is, and then the arrangement, just sort of like rocks in this like, beautiful way. And then Ella comes in and just like slays Absolutely. slays you know, these scat choruses and this is one of those recordings that like, when I play it for people who have not listened to Ella scat in the 30s. You know, they're used to Ella's later recordings, and I play this and then I tell them that it's 19, you know, 39 or whatever. They're like, no way. And like she had this in her like, this is this is not just a Bebop or post Bebop Ella, this is this is just who she is. And she's been a badass from the beginning. So
Sarah Spoon :newsflash, in case you didn't know.
Laura Windley :Right? Um, she has she's had this in her way longer than you think. So and then from a personal level when I was challenged with singing this myself and transcribing, it's and it's very difficult and I don't, you know, capture all of her syllables, which is probably fine. I should capture my own syllables at times, and bring bring my own intrinsic stuff to the table. But it is an incredible feat of breathing to get through this. And, and it's exhilarating. You know, when I finish, I'm like, out of breath. I just like did this thing. And it took, you know, several performances, to be comf- get comfortable performing it. And now at this point, it's part of my repertoire, and I couldn't imagine you know, being with Without the song having spent so much time with it, and then performing it at what I would consider very, like pivotal moments in singing for me like at Lindy focus, or singing St. Louis Blues in St. Louis at the Casa Loma ballroom at Nevermore, I mean it's just and watching the floor swell and that's just it like like once I get done that's not even the peak for me. It's like watching everyone just like the floor just like floats and bounces and swells, you know to the the ultimate joy that is the song It's just a wonderful experience. And so this has a lot of happy memories for me Kick that announcer to the curb,
Sarah Spoon :Get out
Laura Windley :the beauty of the live performances that we don't have that obnoxious announcer and ruining the fade out For us
Sarah Spoon :number six, we're here. And it is it's another one of my faves.
Laura Windley :Oh yay!
Sarah Spoon :Miss Brown to you by Billie Holiday.
Laura Windley :This song. The first time I heard it was in the movie Clueless.
Sarah Spoon :[quotes movie] "Do you like Billie Holiday?" , "I love him."
Laura Windley :"I love him!" hahahaha! I mean just the whole context of like how we even arrive at this song. You know, he comes to pick Cher up Christian is the sort of love interest who turns out to be gay. But he is he was the first time I had seen someone who had adopted like vintage culture as a lifestyle. You know, the whole like the clothes like listening to the music like this was a completely foreign concept to me in rural North Carolina. People did not do this. And you know, I get it like she and she and like Cher was attracted to him like this is like super cool. And he pulls up and I looked up because his car is amazing. It's a 1954 Nash Metropolitan, he pulls up in this like the cutest yellow convertible ever, and, you know, jumps in the car and then says, You know what you just said it'd be like Billie Holiday, all of them and then Miss Brown, you know? plays and it's the partner she's singing. Miss Brown to you. And I, I also in hindsight think you know what an adorable spot to play from highlighting the adorableness of everything that is going on in the scene.
Sarah Spoon :You do a version of this with Michael Gamble.
Laura Windley :Yes,
Sarah Spoon :she did it with Teddy Wilson, right?
Laura Windley :Yes, yes. And I want to I did like, I didn't get all the discography information for everything. But I did want to highlight because the Teddy Wilson Mosaic box is just so incredible. And when you read the liner notes, you realize that basically every session was like this, like, Hey, I'm gonna invite all of my like really awesome, badass jazz friends to record with me. So on this particular song, Roy Eldridge trumpet are down this session. Roy Eldridge trumpet, Benny Goodman, clarinet, Ben Webster on tenor John Trueheart. on guitar, John Kirby on bass Coby Cole on drums. And of course, Teddy Wilson on piano like, how stacked is that?? And you wonder why these recordings are so enduring? It's, it's completely it's like almost unfair, like how dare you Billy, this incredible band to back you up on your adorable song.
Sarah Spoon :She is adorable though
Laura Windley :But the other thing that I thought I think is really interesting about this I mean lyrically, this is just such an adorable song just like, and and I would I would be curious to know more about I guess the origins of the song because she's singing about you know Miss Brown and she's a woman so she's saying about a woman just coming to town. You'll never guess who, lovable huggable Emily Brown. I mean, just
Sarah Spoon :yeah, you don't know her!
Laura Windley :Haha, cuz she's baby to me. Yeah.
Sarah Spoon :Nice little 'Tsss' high hat at the end there. Crisp. Yeah, it's like okay, change track now. The next one we've got is it's a jazzy classical?...
Laura Windley :Yeah,
Sarah Spoon :I would love for you to talk about the track but also in relation to being on the desert island, what is it the soundtrack to that you're doing while you're on the desert island?
Laura Windley :Um, let's say I am a little melancholy and wistful, and maybe I need something that's just what I feel like is pure, purely beautiful in my life. And um, Stardust, to me is the most beautiful song ever written. I just think it is. And, you know, there are lots of ways to arrange Stardust. You know, you can do a little more upbeat, like, Benny Goodman has a really nice like around 140 beats per minute. That's lovely to Lindy Hop too. And then of course, there's like plenty of schmaltzy versions of Stardust. It's just so beautiful. Stephane Grappelli's violin, I don't know it just it's sings to me in a really pure way and I know he has a classical background and this track kind of mixes, you know, classical elements with jazz. And I just think that it creates this thing of incredible beauty with the most beautiful song in the world. His treatment of it is just it brings me to tears. Like, I can't listen like I might wait [indistinguishable], like, Listen, maybe not listen to the whole thing. And, and I just, I don't know, I just get so caught up in it. And so sometimes you know, when you want to be sad, you want to let yourself be sad, but I don't necessarily want to wallow in it. And so there's an element of like hope and beauty in this, um... I don't want to live without this music. I mean, it's glorious, like he sings. And then I just want to point out just something just delightful and lovely is the lilting bari [baritone] sax that appears under what, Like, so Stephane Grappelli is just, you know, sweeping, beautiful, lovely heart, you know, wrenching riffs. And then this little bari just like playing a lilty gracious. I want to say farts because you know what I mean? It's just, it's, you know, we can't take ourselves too seriously. I can't. And so I need a little, a little light comedy at the under, you know,
Sarah Spoon :that helps you break through the sadness.
Laura Windley :Exactly.
Sarah Spoon :Okay, and then taking Another direction, some No Doubt, from '95, Open The Gate. Yes. And No Doubt when they like broke through, if you will, with Don't Speak. I think a lot of people didn't realize that they have this phenomenal like, pop punk back catalogue before that song even happened. It wasn't like they just decided to make an album and then suddenly they got famous. I mean, they'd been slogging on this, like that, that work for for a really really long time.
Laura Windley :And I was not like an early adopter. You know, I was very much influenced by whatever the alternative rock radio station in Western Salem that I was listening to, like, whatever they fed me is what I got. And then you know, until I got into high school, and then you were able to kind of go drive yourself to the music store and figure things out and talk to people and talk about music because that's something that didn't really happen until maybe maybe High School things that weren't on the radio. But once you know No Doubt had like several hits with Tragic Kingdom. I was like, Oh, they have more stuff. And so, you know, I went and later bought this is from the Beacon Street collection. And this is, you know, sort of an encapsulation of like high school like when Gwen Stefani was absolutely goals, you know, she's like, running the like pop punk band. She, you know, looks incredible, but she's not I mean, if you go back and look like Gwen is very glam now, but if you go back and look at I'm sure there's like YouTube videos of her from the 90s like she's a little rough around the edges and it was something that you could relate to as as a high school kid, you know, and she had such a cool like wardrobe and anyways, she was and then she would sing she would write her own songs. And you know, this particular song I liked because it was I don't know it was just kind of like a like a cry like open the gate up. Hurry like she was singing with this urgency and you just like want your life to get better and change. And then at the end, she's like, open the gate up, you know, because I'm gonna knock the damn door down and you know, there's a lot of like doors in high school as as a as a as a girl, you know, a teenager and angsty and this was sort of like my flavor of angst, which includes, you know, a horn section and you know, little little elements of ska and organ, and it's just I don't know, it's, it's one of those songs where I would be, I would be in my car, like speeding down the highway to golf practice after school. And-
Sarah Spoon :Hahaha, that's so punk.
Laura Windley :I know, I know. Hahahahah!! And I was just, you know, it's one of those songs where like, if I didn't watch myself, or like set cruise control, I would get speeding Get the song because you were just like you just want to floor it and like open your lungs and like Hurry and like she like screams in the song. It's like
Sarah Spoon :She's got pipes on her!
Laura Windley :She's, It is incredible. She's like the punk rock Mariah Carey here. And it's just a feat and and it's a mood that like resonated with my my high school basically experience. Yeah. [laughs],
Sarah Spoon :If you could speak to your high school you now, and give give her a little bit of advice, be it sartorial or musical or legal or whatever, what would you say?
Laura Windley :Oh gosh, I don't have a lot of regrets. Thankfully from high school and maybe I would say start buying vintage clothing now. Like one of the struggles you know, I have with my mom was about clothing and I didn't we didn't really mesh until I started buying vintage clothing because I want To dress like a punk, and my mom wanted me to dress like I was preppy. And clearly there was like a happy medium in this that was somewhere in the vintage clothing realm. And she's like, she's the one that taught me to thrift, taught me like, you know, to go to consignment shops, and I just wish that I could have like, reconciled that earlier. And I would have had the wardrobe that I wanted!! [laughs] But that's something that like, I felt like I could I could have connected with her on and I had a lot of strife with my mom in high school. So that's probably the only thing that I would I would I would go back and say to high school self and then maybe also like, not getting the A plus was not the end of the world. You're gonna you're gonna turn out okay. This, this this is best heard at the volume level 11
Sarah Spoon :11, noted and penultimate song. I feel like you saved a lot of humor for the last two song choices, but definitely for the last one, and, focusing on Aquabats and Poolparty I'd never heard of them.
Laura Windley :Oh, okay.
Sarah Spoon :So I was like, Oh, this sounds like I could have listened to them, but I didn't. And you I'm not throwing shade on them. But is this the selection also part of the 'then' musical influences?
Laura Windley :Yes. Um, I and this was actually this was a tiebreaker for me. This was kind of on the cusp because I had, you know, my, my other sort of choices and then I was like, No, if we're gonna be on a desert island, and we're gonna have the water, I'm gonna need like a pool song like, or like, like, I don't know, like a pool party song. And then this was like, No, no, we gotta have this. Because let's say, you know, like, up in my, you know, makeshift shelter. And let's go take a dip in the ocean. And I'm from the coast. So I'm like, this is all normal for me. You know? And I need like a little anthem. So this was my this is maybe the only song that is specifically targeted to the island, because I needed an anthem because there's a lot I mean, there's a lot of like a Other ska songs that are meaningful to me or that have, I don't know, that are also fun and sort of give you that like fun poppy ska vibe, but this was, you know, and even now in the like, in the car, you know this, I have to say like Lucian, Lucian was also a ska kid, and we met under ska circumstances. And then we and actually we were in the same room together at a ska show and did not know each other when we were seniors in high school. And so we it was just one of those things where like, we were sort of destined to meet and then when we did me, we would like ride around and sing ska songs together in the car
Sarah Spoon :that's so wholesome!
Laura Windley :[laughs] And so this is one of the songs and it has, you know, it has a call and response and it has group vocals and it has actually you know, like 'girl', quote, air quotes, parts. And it's just it also I feel like encapsulates, you know, it's talking about. It was a pool party for the cool kids in my school. But everything about this song is so nerdy. And so I feel like it. It reminds me of my friends from high school. We were like, Ska Kids, you know, academics, band geeks, theater kids. And you know, maybe like if somebody had a pool party, it would be this sort of level of silliness and shenanigans and the things we would get excited about. A Holy guacamole we've got chips! Like... [laughs] I'm excited. I mean, you don't need a lot to make a pool party great. [laughs] But anyways, this is like a quintessential summer song for me. So for going down to visit my parents at the coast or maybe we're going to pool party. You need a little new little pool party music,
Sarah Spoon :I could watch you mouth along to that alllll day
Laura Windley :[laughs] bro what's up just watching the dating game right on like you're doing nothing at your house. In high school there's nothing going on in rural North Carolina.
Sarah Spoon :And from the ridiculous I guess to the sublime, really but it's not actually Sublime it's Electric Six, the dance floor banger 'Danger High Voltage' with musical insights we'll get to in a second but rewatching the video which I probably haven't watched since it came out in 2002 Could you imagine the the late night meeting about like [mimics inhaling something] Yeah, man, let's, Let's, oh that's some good shit. Let's have some light up gussets. That's going to be hilarious.
Laura Windley :I want a giant codpiece that lights up, Let's do this.
Sarah Spoon :I mean when are you not going to need a giant light up codpiece?
Laura Windley :This is actually Lucians ringtone my husband's ringtone?
Sarah Spoon :[sings riff] 'diddly-do, diddly-do, diddly-do'
Laura Windley :And when it comes on, [joins in singing riff] Yeah. And when it comes on, people are like, 'ooh, who is that?' Like, like as in who is calling you with that song and it's Lucian. And I mean, I will say that, you know, aside from the sort of, you know, tone of the song being about, you know, love and lust and desire. The main reason this got assigned to Lucian is because the opening lines are 'fire at the disco. Fire in the Taco Bell' and Lucian loves tacos. [laughs]
Sarah Spoon :[laughs] I thought it was gonna be like Mystique and like romance. And drama but no it's Taco Bell
Laura Windley :so if we go get Taco Bell like I you know there's still love in the Taco Bell, and fire in the Taco Bell I don't know. it's so comedic and ridiculous and I just I love I don't know but it is a really great dance song like it that's one of the great things about like going to the I've been, I mean like you've been to two electric six shows and I would go with dance friends like I went I went to one with my then roommate and and we did swing outs like to a bunch of stuff and obviously then shake your ass to other stuff. It's just really like solid dance music. Or I also like, uh, 'Dance Commander', [sings] You must have been the dance commander, giving out the order for fun.... like hell yeah give me the order for fun
Sarah Spoon :[laughs] I will take it!
Laura Windley :[laughs] so anyways but the the Danger High Voltage now at this point because I hear it every time my husband calls me on the phone I don't want to let that go and sort of like tongue in cheek ness of it all and the Taco Bell So good I want to put on my stank face and dance
Sarah Spoon :if someone asked you what a stank face was how would you describe it?
Laura Windley :It's like it's so satisfying that it like made your face wrinkle up like MMMMM, MMMM that's good, mmmm!
Sarah Spoon :I love it. I love it. We have completely burned through all 10 tracks, and
Laura Windley :it was so fast! I love all of these songs. [laughs] Well, I will say, just like bring full circle back to this challenge. You know, it was it. It was one of those things where I was like, Well clearly I'll have 10 you know, and then but then it sort of takes you down this memory lane of figuring out Alright, well what, what has been meaningful with my life but what would also be useful on desert island but also like, you know, what would I enjoy listening to the things that are not necessarily things that are meaningful may not be something that I want to like hear forever, maybe I just want to like leave that in the past. And if I and then you know, swing dancing, I didn't want it to be. I didn't want it to be all swing music. It could be all swing music like if you had challenged me to say desert island swing desert island. Here's your vintage capsule wardrobe for your cabana and your vintage soundtrack. I could have done that, but then you know it would discount all of these these other experiences that I've had that I feel like are like really critical points in my life that led me to swing because I would say in the late 1990s when I was in high school, you know, there was this like, kind of wonderful melting pot of things going on with music that was on the radio, and it led me to ska and it led me to swing and and here I am as a swing artist now, and it's sort of remarkable that I don't know I feel like it's remarkable that that happened. And that I also was able to connect with a lot of other people more so ska with my high school friends and then swing with my college friends and to have you know, anything that was going on in my life because I did start swing dancing in high school but like that this has like carried on into adulthood and become you know, an occupation for me is kind of remarkable. And so I think that music is very powerful in that way. You know, people sort of discount pop is like, you know, this is like a passing fad, but it doesn't have to be like this can be a lifestyle choice for people in ways that are, are very healthy. And, you know, I want to keep dancing, you know, once until I'm 90. And so I feel like I'm on a good path. But when you're like 17 or 18, you don't know what even what the hell you're doing. And so it's just interesting, like you said, to look back, like what would I tell my high school self? Anyways, this was all very, this exercise of putting this list together was very self reflective for me. And a really, really fun thing to do.
Sarah Spoon :I am delighted and you're welcome.
Laura Windley :[laughs]
Sarah Spoon :Thank you so much for listening. Like many of us, Laura's got a lot of pans in the fire at the moment in terms of projects. The most recent ones that are worth mentioning, I mean they're all worth mentioning, Gordon Au's Armstrong All Stars tribute album from Lindy Focus, Lindy Shoppers Closet YouTube series and the Rhythm Relief show and other sewing and cocktail projects that I'm sure she would be delighted to talk to you about. You can find her work at LauraWindley.com and if you are all about that social media life, you can find her on Twitter @Laurawindley and on Instagram @MintJulepjazzband. Desert Island Jams is produced by me Sarah Spoon, the graphics were magically up by Sara Azmy you can find her on Instagram at @azmy_design. Jonathan Stout is the musical legend behind the absolutely delightful theme, tune please do go and find him on Bandcamp and buy all of his music. The music license for the year has been very kindly sponsored by Andria Helm who is an excellent vocal coach and you can find more about her and her book lessons with her at voicesculptor.com. If you're all about the clicks, then you'll be pleased to know that you can find desert island jams on Instagram. Guess what the Instagram handle is? Yes, that's correct. It's Desert Island Jams. If you want to see pictures of my face, which you might want to do, my username is @lazyvintagegxl but in 'gal' there is no A there's an ex because I'm a non binary person. Thanks for listening to Desert Island Jams. We'll return next month.