SUNDAY HUMAN INTEREST

of late, it's come to our attention that "looking good in pants" has become disproportionately "bookish," and in light of that (granted, still very cultural) bias, we're reminded again of our responsibility to reporting on portland culture, our original raison d'etre. our return to our roots this time is admittedly a stretch, but to the extent that portland still lines up once a month for the soul night meat market, it's not without justification that we take it back to the numero group, a chicago based record label that specializes in the re-release of minor soul and blues music, a label with personal connections to columbus, ohio, the origin of our exodus to portland.

according to this article in the other paper, a colubmus indie weekly, it seems to have happened that ryan gosling was in possession of a compilation issued by numero, one track of which, "you and me," he had featured in his recent award nominated film, "blue valentine." i myself was won over by the scratchy doo-wop style of that track and made a specific point of waiting for the music credits when i saw the film (i amateurishly guessed carole king for at least the songwriting), and was disappointed to read that the song was credited to penny and the quarters, and act of which i knew absolutely nothing.

no one else seems to know anything about them either. dante carfagna, the columbus native who introduced his friend, a co-owner of numero, to "you and me" acquired it in a buy of tapes that were originally purchased at an estate sale for clem price, the owner of prix, a bygone columbus record label. of all of the boxes of music that carfagna got in that buy, the only one for which he wasn't able to confirm biographical information was the one that contained music by penny.

as a result of the popularity of "blue valentine," penny and her compatriots are now ringing up royalties (already more than one thousand dollars), but numero's owners haven't any idea to whom to write a check. but then, just yesterday, the columbus dispatch ran a story on a possible lead: "the female voice in a mysterious song from the 1970s that's making waves in a new movie might be that of a former columbus schoolteacher." after the story of "you and me" started riding the press waves, the dispatch interviewed the surviving siblings of that schoolteacher, barbara sue mccarrol, and, "although they can't be certain...[they] say the unidentified vocalist...sounds awfully familiar." the twist? mccarroll died at the end of this past december after a long battle with cancer.

mccarroll's brother and sisters are probably on the up and up and are probably happier that their sister is finally getting some overdue recognition than they are interested in claiming her share of her group's fame for themselves. i can't, however, help but wonder if they aren't trying to pull an "annie." that little orphan was a cash cow, and miss hannigan knew it. numero ain't no daddy warbucks, but i wouldn't knock mccarroll's siblings for scouring their attics for what may prove to be the silver locket in their own family drama. we're not here to cast aspersions. at this point, we're really only wondering who will reprise carol burnett's role in the movie. even if whoever it is doesn't tug your heartstrings as expertly as this story has, we're sure that the screen adaptation will have some killer musical numbers.

and barbara: whether or not it's you in "you and me," rest in peace. no doubt you had some pipes.