'Japan Minister Rapped on Women' — Notes on Lethem

This BBC headline conjured visions of a soberly dressed statesman 'busting out' rhymes and delighting the pop-mad J-teen masses. Plus I could combine it with yesterday's post to do a Rapp/rapping "connections"!

Alas, the story turns out to be not so exciting: Japan's health minister called women "birth-giving machines," and was rebuked by the PM.

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Dizzyhead Pete directs us to Jonathan Lethem's website, where the novelist has kicked off his "Promiscuous Materials Project"—offering filmmakers and dramatists the opportunity to adapt one of his stories for the grand sum of $1. (Check out JL's interesting patchwork piece in the recent Harper's for some clues into the thinking behind this move.)

Even more exciting to me—Lethem's upcoming novel is entitled You Don't Love Me Yet, after the Vulgar Boatmen song. It might be overkill to call it my favorite song from 1991-92, but it's definitely one that's stayed with me—partly, no doubt, because the chiming riff is very simple to play on guitar! If I were mp3-savvy I'd put a link here to a YouSendIt account. Maybe someone at Beautiful Regalia or Driftwood Singers will someday...

For now, here's a glance at the album cover:


UPDATE: Visit the Driftwood Singers for a limited-time-only listen!