Rainer Maria, "Ears Ring"

Video embedding for Rainer Maria’s “Ears Ring” has been “disabled by request.” It is the first time I have seen that on YouTube, but there is an easy solution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm4Y-ltM154.

Deep in the process of writing another Bookworm post, I have hopelessly spaced off and found this video. It is an abstract gem I first saw late one night on PATV, Iowa City’s public television channel, sometime in ’04 or ’05. I suppose I was sipping a 40 of Mickey’s, awaiting 2 a.m. and the entertainment wonder that was BET’s Uncut. (Now that deserves a post unto itself.) “Ears Ring” was featured on a show made by KRUI, a collection of indie music videos and performances by local bands. I only saw it twice (it was the same episode) and thought it included some cool tunes, “Ears Ring” among them. However, some may say it was a showcase for the staff’s pretentiousness. A friend of mine hosted an ill-fated hip-hop show on KRUI and said many of the managers and other DJs were pompous, blowhard bourgeois who all tried to “out-indie” each other. Being more indie than the next guy seems to be the goal in certain music circles, so I can see the argument. And college radio seems rife with pretentious fucks.

But I think that is just an ugly, plastic veneer (the kind you see in homes built in the ‘50s and ‘60s) over the quality of the music. Though the title and artist faded from my memory, the video for “Ears Ring” made a lasting impression, especially the cinematography. Coupled with the music, the mood it sets is joyless, somber, and, yes, blue. The vocals and imagery are eight months pregnant with emotion. For a long time, all I could remember was the scene in the diner and the general riff, but nothing that could help me track down the mp3.

One afternoon while volunteering at KUCI I heard the long lost rhythmic refrain of “Ears Ring” over the on-air monitor. I snuck into the broadcast studio and asked the DJ what the song was. Later, when I wanted to look up the video on YouTube, I could not remember what she said. I visited her show webpage for the most recent playlist, but it had not been updated. For days I checked that page to no avail, and wondered what the hell the DJ’s problem was. After maybe a week or two, she posted the playlist from that day.

Rainer Maria, you and your obscure lyrics are mine forever (thought not embedded)!