Author: rakemag

How sad and impoverished must life be for the anosmiacs among us, those poor wretches who have lost the ability to smell?

C’est tragique! as Marcel Proust might say, who also said, “When nothing else remains from the past, friends and things long gone, the odors from their living remain as tiny drops of their essence for you to remember.”

The olfactory epithelium is a tiny piece of real estate in the nasal cavity, crowded with millions of neurons, every one of which is equipped with a sort of odorant antennae that recognizes tens of thousands of distinct smells and passes them along to the brain’s olfactory cortex, where studies have long shown that even subtle odors have the power to release emotions and memories that have been stashed away in the most distant reaches of the subconscious.

Wouldn’t it be lovely, we’ve often thought, to have access to a bottled fragrance that could recall to us cherished people and places from our past? Prince, for instance, or Sarah Jessica Parker, or…Roseville?

Celebrity scents, of course, are all the rage these days. And now a Manhattan parfumier is introducing a line of themed perfumes targeted at New York’s neighborhoods and boroughs. Its most recent addition, Coney Island (which costs $178 for 3.4 ounces and incorporates nearly 200 ingredients, including melon, guava, and caramel), opened the door to a dizzying range of local possibilities. While the Rake’s line of TC Scent™ colognes and perfumes is still in the laboratory stages, we thought we’d give you a sneak peek at some of the projects taking shape on our conference room table and driving us into fits of desire, restlessness, and nostalgic reverie.

Blaine!
Suburban androgyny in a bottle, Blaine! is the ultimate in his-and-her scents, a sort of throwback perlogne that incorporates hard and soft, sweet and sour, practicality and romance, in one irresistible concoction that carries subtle hints of Love’s Baby Soft, charcoal briquettes, Captain Morgan, OFF!, Hai Karate, lilacs, and WD-40. Won’t wash off in the hot tub and virtually guaranteed to trigger pheromone frenzies that’ll have the whole neighborhood buzzing. Happy hour at T.G.I. Fridays will never be the same.

Pig’s Eye Potion
Money has a smell and that smell is Pig’s Eye Potion, the ultimate status scent. Combining the essence of fine old mahogany with sparks of cumin and cilantro, Pig’s Eye evokes the stately elegance of Summit Avenue, but with a playful undercurrent of Selby and Western.

Mound for Men
Mound is potent yet understated, with hints of stonewashed denim, pine, and an indescribable zest reminiscent of Heinz 57. A scent for strong and stoic types, Mound does all the talking, and what it says (and says loudly) is, “I’m a man and damn proud of it. Screw you Minnetonka.”

Utterly Uptown
Inspired by the piquant paste of dissolving deodorant, chlorine, baked concrete, the spices of Thailand and India, and the distinct smell produced by the combination of synthetic footwear and ankle perspiration, this fragrance marries notes of Nag Champa and faux suede with the spilt 3M chemicals of Lake Calhoun for a sensory experience that literally melts (into) the skin.

Eden Prairie for Women
The closest to God a woman can get without being dead, this fragrance combines the innocence of daisies with hints of fresh linen and that timelessly captivating “new car” smell. Eden Prairie is not for harlots, but rather for the chaste woman. A heavenly complement to sensible shoes and support panel pantyhose, it’s the scent that states firmly, “I’m married, thank you very much.”

The Minnesota Orchestra’s concert on July 21 will celebrate the talent of one of its own, the trumpeter and jazz composer
Charles Lazarus. Not only will Lazarus play as a soloist, but the program will include a selection of his original compositions, which will be paired with Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s seminal 1861 symphony Night in the Tropics, a Cuban-flavored affair that is said to have anticipated New Orleans jazz by a half-century. Lazarus’s works—“Kilauea’s Fountains,” “Waves,” and “Dance Honu”—go nicely with Gottschalk’s tropical tones; these are brassy, Hawaiian-flavored numbers cut with hula and chant. We wondered what influences might have informed this sound, so we asked Lazarus to name his favorite songs.

1. “The Sinister Minister,” by Béla Fleck & the Flecktones
The title always makes me laugh. It makes me think of some character in a really cheesy horror movie. It features one of my favorite bass players, Victor Wooten. I love the mix of banjo and harmonica in a groovy rock context. Maybe I owe that to growing up with North Carolina bluegrass. For some reason, it makes me crave barbecue.

2. “Summertime” off the album Miles Davis – Porgy and Bess
Nothing beats the soulful expressiveness of Miles Davis—particularly when paired with Gil Evans’s innovative orchestrations. It’s almost impossible not to feel cool while listening to this.

3. “Orchestral Suite No. 3” off the album German Brass Bach 2000
This is the perfect listen-to-at-brunch CD. My favorite moment comes at 1:17 when the most perfect note comes soaring out of the high horn part. It’s the best single second of any CD I own, played by one of the best brass groups of all time.

4. “Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)” off the album Getz/Gilberto
It’s the combo of the evocative lyrics and Astrud Gilberto’s sultry vocals [the famous voice behind “The Girl From Ipanema”] mixed with Tom Jobim’s bossa nova—everything is so laid back and in the pocket.

5. “Neruda Trumpet Concerto” by Maurice André
This is actually from a cassette of an album long out of print. I might spend the rest of my life trying to play one note as beautifully as any on this recording.

6. “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang
When I was in fourth grade, my best friend Jody Bowman and I used to bring a boombox to the school playground. We would strut around with the box on our shoulder and rap while everyone else played kickball. We took it very seriously. Sometimes I’d even wear a leisure suit!

7. “Red Sun” off Anoushka Shankar’s album Rise
This is an ultra-modern, hip version of the Indian art of vocal percussion called konnakol. She has taken an ancient tradition and modernized it with rockin’ club grooves. One night I spent hours rewinding one tiny section, trying to figure out the patterns. Lucky for me, the tune grooves so hard you don’t have to understand it to enjoy it.

8. “Don’t Wait Too Long” off Madeleine Peyroux’s album Careless Love
My girlfriend and I heard this for the first time on a television commercial and for some reason it captured our attention and we ended up dancing in front of the TV. Madeleine Peyroux is like a modern-day Billie Holiday—gorgeous voice.

9. “Janine” off Thievery Corporation’s album DJ Kicks
I love how this album is like one giant seamless tune. It puts the organic, earthy sounds of the tabla in a trip-hop setting. There’s something very moody and primal about it.

10. “Punahele” by Sonny Lim, off the compilation Slack Key Guitar Vol. 2
This CD is ideal stress relief. It won a Grammy a couple of years ago and features traditional and modern Hawaiian slack key guitar. After about a minute of listening, I’m on the beach. This tends to be a particular favorite of mine in February, living in Minnesota.

Charles Lazarus and the Minnesota Orchestra perform Night in the Tropics on July 21. Sommerfest runs July 13 through August 5. 612-371-5656. www.minnesotaorchestra.org

Minneapolis’s music scene in the ’80s is a persistent source of nostalgia, pride, and perhaps even fairy tales. Laurie Lindeen was there; her role as guitarist and vocalist in Zuzu’s Petals, an all-girl Minneapolis rock band, put her front and center for plenty of storied music moments. She even went on to marry the crown prince of that era, Paul Westerberg. These days, Lindeen lives a much quieter life with Westerberg and their son; she recently earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota, a course of study that helped her produce Petal Pusher, a brand-new memoir about her days (and mostly nights) in Zuzu’s Petals and the surrounding music scene. In honor of the book’s release, we asked Lindeen what songs she likes these days. Yes, we hoped for an aural blast from the past. And we got what we wanted. “I’m stuck on my old records,” said Lindeen. “My all-time favorite records are all I ever play.”

1. X, Los Angeles (and most other X records)
I went to the X show last summer at the Fine Line because they were my absolute all-time favorite back in the day. I made an over-forty-thinking-she’s-nineteen ass of myself, drinking, dancing, shouting the words to every song, giving Exene my favorite bracelet (which I miss horribly), winking back at Billy Zoom (who must be seventy), shamelessly flirting with John Doe (who’s aging with grace and rugged good looks) … it wasn’t pretty. After that night I re-ordered all of my X albums on CD and they’ve been in heavy rotation for almost a year (this includes The Knitters’ Poor Little Critter on the Road).

2. Roxy Music, “Editions of You” from For Your Pleasure
When my first “music boyfriend” in Madison, Wisconsin, introduced me to this song, it was already old. I’ve listened to it at least once a week for the past twenty-some years. Like other early Roxy stuff, this song is so foppish and glam and wild and jazzy and hard-rocking all at the same time, and it is filled with words to live by, like “stay cool is still the main rule” and “too much cheesecake too soon.” When I saw Roxy at Northrop a few summers ago, where I also made a foaming-at-the-mouth ass of myself, they closed with “Editions of You.” Even better, Poses-era Rufus Wainwright opened the show and I’ve listened to Poses at least once a month since.

3. Robyn Hitchcock, I Often Dream of Trains
I don’t know if it has to do with the time, place, or age you are when something grabs you hard, but for me this record is my Pet Sounds or Music from Big Pink or Sticky Fingers. Maybe it’s the sound—hollow and stripped down and driven by piano and acoustic guitar and harmonica. Or the first line of the first song: “This could be the day I’ve waited for all my life.” An inviting greeting like that will always keep me coming back for more. It’s a haunted, intimate, lonely record that is not depressed or depressing. Even though Robyn Hitchcock often hides behind cleverness and the absurd, try as he may have, he couldn’t keep his soul out of this record and for that I am forever grateful.

4. The Jayhawks, Blue Earth
Yesterday was a warm, sunny, spring day and as I drove to meet a friend for lunch at the Birchwood, I blasted this record in the car with the windows down. I can’t get over how strong the vocals, lyrics, and licks are on this record—it was such a fun, free time when it came out and the Jayhawks were so freaking great and untouched by the things that can wear a band down. It must be the equivalent of when my dad used to play a Buck Owens record on a Saturday afternoon, singing along with over-the-top jubilance (though I think Buck was born worn down).

5. “Family-friendly” music
My son is already Ramones-centric at the age of nine, but I’m having a hard time letting go of our favorite sing-along records. I’m not ready to give up Dan Zanes (especially Night Time), Burl Ives, Leadbelly, and Tom T. Hall—I still secretly listen to them alone in the car. (American folk songs should never be ignored for very long.)

Joni Mitchell, For the Roses (followed by Court and Spark, Ladies of the Canyon, and Blue, in that order, at least one a week.)

I’ve never been a Hejira girl, but you can’t touch Joni when it comes to originality, innovation, lyrics that should be called poems, snaky chords, brave vocals, and emotional intelligence. Amen.

Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story is available now. As part of The Current Fakebook series, Lindeen reads from the book June 16 at the Fitzgerald Theater. Zuzu’s Petals is playing a reunion show for the occasion; joining them onstage will be music luminaries such as Paul Westerberg, Mark Olson, Steve Wynn, John Eller, Lori Barbero, Ed Ackerson, and Marc Perlman. 651-290-1221; www.mpr.org