I finally figured out how to get YouTube videos to display full screen on my computer, and just in time. World Cafe tonight had The Puppini Sisters as their guests. What great music — Close Harmony, inspired by The Triplets of Bellville — and I had to go to YouTube to find any good online examples of their work:

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Puppini Sisters - BismarcksOtto

Puppini Sisters EPK

Anyway, they explained on the radio, when asked about their audience, that “Well, there’s a massive gay component.” Leaving aside, for the moment, the double entendre there, they went on to tell the story of their first big public appearance at a popular gay night club in London where the local anthem was “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush. They do a cover of it, which is a very strange thing in its own right:

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Wuthering Heights - NarcissusVoid

Puppini Sisters Wuthering Heights

I fell hard for Kate Bush after seeing her on Saturday Night Live in the 70’s:

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Kate Bush - Saturday Night Live (1978 Dec 9) - madsketcher
www.myspace.com/cathybush
Kate Bush - Saturday Night Live (1978 Dec 9)

She never comes to the US, as she won’t fly, so she doesn’t have a big following here. Anyway, I looked on YouTube for this cover, and of course it listed Bush’s original music video as well. You must check it out for its naive over-the-top emotive dance. The first 60 seconds, at least, are an unfortunate indictment of artistic masturbation:

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Kate Bush-Wuthering Height - pozzebon

Wuthering Height

Lastly, this somehow lead to Pink Martini, and their song Hey Eugene, which is fall down funny in its story, and a catchy little number to boot:

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Pink Martini - Hey Eugene - honda3engines
A clip of Pink Martini performing their rare (and possibly their best) song “Hey Eugene”. The special aired on PBS sometime in late August 2006.

You don’t hear stuff like this too often folks.

That concludes our tour this evening,