Home Cookin' by Candye Kane

I went thrifting with a friend at a student organized yard sale. It was an odd scene - about ten people selling various things and only the two of us there. Needless to say, as the poor hungry students followed our every move ("These pants - two sizes too big on you and stinking of woman's perfume - would look great on you" or "Have you ever had guava jam? I know it's a bit crunchy, but it's worth the 10 bucks, I swear"), and we felt that we couldn't leave without buying something.

At this point I thanked my lucky stars for SF0 and explained the task to my friend. I found a great CD cover with a jazz guitarist flying around on pocket-watches, but my friend's find most certainly trumped my own. The signature on the front reads "Avi - Eat it all nite long! Candye Kane" The owner of the CD, hovering so very close over our shoulders, explained excitedly that the singer was also a porn star. This made the licentious looks on the children's faces that much more haunting, and I began to fear for their precious and fleeting innocence. The book at the bottom left corner of the picture is entitled "Cakes Men Like" but the man is mysteriously missing.

The music is pretty standard blues with some rockabilly and country thrown in. Her bio says she has a history in LA's early country punk scene, and after dabbling in pornography became a "sex activist".

My favorite song is the "Babylon Boogie", which has a questionable premise - "Everybody wonders how the boogie began, some say its roots were African, other says its "Jungle Joe" and his kin, but I'm here to tell you a brand new way, there's been a jump boogie woogie since the bible days" - and then goes on to explain the "bacchanal" and ancient (read: white) origins of getting drunk and naked. The opening has an "folk-ethnic" feel to it and then breaks into some sinful blues.

The rest of the album has some choice moments, many that connect true love to the plus-size woman and even one song in Spanish about abortion. Apparently she is a fixture on the GBLT circuit. I applaud her efforts - here in Jerusalem there was a bit of a spat when the religious community did not exactly want to support the Gay Pride parade. Much trash was burned (the standard form of protest among the religious for some reason) and the ultra orthodox even staged a mock "Parade of Animals" involving chickens and donkeys. We most certainly could have used her help and her slogan - "eat it all night long" - could have countered the whole trash-burning thing.