Vintage Time - Yawn

This should have probably gone over to our famed taste-testing blog - but since we really don't care about either parties involved here nor do we really give a damn about the whole ''debate'' we are about to instigate - the lukewarm blog is just fine for it, all of a sudden, just like that!

(And it's not the first time we've crossed over to another blog for something like this either: the languishing blog saw its share of odd musical topics, back in the day... But we're digressing!)

So, once again up north, past that insufferable 49th parallel and a little, not a lot, to the east side of things...  There's this guy who loves music so much, see, that he just has to pilfer it a little and a lot and exploit it to the max by mounting an entire show (solely centered upon himself though - somehow he manages that feat while pretending to pay homage to the stars of yesteryear - not bad, eh?) and he calls this... ''Vintage'' - simply vintage!

Here is an excerpt:

Now, didn't a Frenchman already do that, like, a long, long time ago? A Frenchman who is a true master of this artform; one who is much more a master of this craft than this ''Jack of All Trades - Master Of None'' G.C. who routinely improvises himself author, actor, talk-show host, musician, songwriter, even orchestra conductor (in LAVAL - of all Godforsaken places!!! Believe us when we say to you that it is God-Forsaken: WE'VE BEEN THERE! But as for this guy: it's not even funny anymore: the old joke was that ''le talent lui sort par les oreilles'' - he has all the talents, he can do it all and he can't stop trying to prove it to his captive, if not truly captivated audience up there...)

The Frenchman we refer to is, ironically enough, also, shall we say... mulato?  And a ''stranger in a strange land'' kind of guy, trying to fit in perhaps by doing so...?  When in Paris your last name is Voulzy, you know...!  Laurent knows! Laurent Voulzy; ever heard of the name, Gregory?

It worked too: Laurent is popular - since 1977!  Have a look:

Think L.V. overdoes it here..? 
Be grateful we spared you the long version... OK? 

It's not even necessary to pin it straight on Voulzy's work - Charles (no relation to Ray - at all) is simply following a trend here: the retro trend, the vintage wave; heck, it's the ''blast from the past'' shockwave now!  With retro shows based upon ABBA, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley (gotta precise which one; lest you'll thin it's Costello or even... Stojko?!? Or worse still: Gratton!!! Aaaaah!) 

And there are many more coming right up, very, verrrry soon (the Bee Gees, for instance!) - so, it is truly the time to say it now: everything is VINTAGE! 

It is another obsession of G.C. we think: no, we don't merely think it - IT IS AMPLY EVIDENT NOW!  For there is a pattern emerging from all this chaotic criss-cross path that his career has taken over the years: everything he does has to touch upon REMEMBRANCE in some way or another!  It isn't music anymore: it really is MEMORIES that obsess him so!  Aye, he has an indomitable obsession with the past, which has affected his talk-show hosting, choice of roles too, and his ventures into classical music as well - it all pints at this!  He obsesses over such things; over recollections (not rockollections so much - ha!) about anything and everything that is LONG GONE... 

When he wrote a song and his local radio stations kept playing ad nauseam: the chorus line was clearly that too!  It said ''NEVER FOR-GET... THAT I THINK OF YOU-UUUUU...!''

The book he just authored (or had ghostwritten?) is clearly titled (and deals with) something along the exact same lines too: N'OUBLIE JAMAIS ... My, it's French for... NEVER FOR-GET!!! What consistency - what redundance, too - what an obsession!  

(But what am I doing bashing a book here - when I've got the Literati Blog to do just that?  Oh right - it is because I am merely lukewarm about this one: not outright outraged or a tiny bit ticked-off by it!)

And now  this - VINTAGE...  

G.C. needs counseling, we think (or merely suspect) - but his place to let out the anguish is the arts, so more power to him, we suppose?  It is the exact same outlet we and many of our pals have, here and elsewhere: so we know the feeling! 

Carry on, then, Gregory... 

Laurent Voulzy doesn't care... 

Neither do the hundreds of artists whose material you pillage so shamelessly...

And nor do we! 

;-)