Cat... Power!

"That's more than a name, that's an attitude," said Madonna's character in the 1992 baseball chick-flick, A League of Their Own. It rings just as true today as it did back then, as Cat Power's The Greatest has indeed been dubbed the greatest, at least by the prestigious Shortlist Music Prize.

So what's the Shortlist? Since 2001, it's been probably the only annual music award that's been worth a damn. Nominated by fellow musicians, journalists and people who keep it real, the only requirements for an album to be listed are that 1. it was released within the previous calendar year, and 2. it hasn't been certified gold by the assholes at the RI-fuckin'-AA at its time of nomination. Previous winners include Damien Rice's O and Sufjan Stevens' Come On! Feel the Illinoise!

So congratulations to Ms. Power on this great achievement. Now it's time for a little rant.

Cat Power entries in big music blogs were fairly ubiquitous last year, which is understandable. Between the album and highly-regarded live shows, she deserves all the press coverage she's getting. The thing that bothered me, though, was that everybody kept calling her "Chan." Granted, Cat Power is really just one hep lady, but the un-ironic first name basis always annoyed me. I mean, it's not like, "Hey, Chan, quit fucking up." That's okay. It's more like Fergie said, "They always claim they know me/Comin' to me call me Stacy." Then she spells her name.

Anyway, here are a couple of Cat Power tracks:

Cat Power - The Greatest

Cat Power - Wonderwall (live)