I know I'm a musician and all, but geeky musicians really crack me up. Now I'm not talking about the Steve Urkel-accordian-playing-snort-laughing geeks out there-- these are people who otherwise look totally normal-- that is, until you start talking to them.
Saw this in the NY Times today. Good for Rolling Stone.
I know I'm a musician, but P2P sharing makes so much more sense than they give it credit for. The whole internet radio thing I'm not so sure about, but hey, I'm biased.
This may seem kind of dorky, but I was so excited-- last night I got an email from a fabulous mouthpiece maker (for clarinets adn saxes) named Jody Espina, and he complimented me on my site and thanked me for the link. He also gave me a great career compliment as well-- I felt like a kid in a candy store!
I can't tell you how much I admire this man's work-- wheeeeeeeeeee!
A plug for my profession: Please visit the website SaveLiveBroadway.com and sign the petition to keep live Broadway musicians in the pit. It's a matter of life and death for the musicians who do this every day to entertain all of us. Read the material, listen to the samples. Trust me. You really don't want canned music for the shows you see. Help prevent that from happening and make sure your voice is heard.
A plug for my profession: Please visit the website SaveLiveBroadway.com and sign the petition to keep live Broadway musicians in the pit. It's a matter of life and death for the musicians who do this every day to entertain all of us. Read the material, listen to the samples. Trust me. You really don't want canned music for the shows you see. Help prevent that from happening and make sure your voice is heard.
How absurd is it that 9 out of 10 listings for crappy clarinets on Ebay make some big deal about the fact that, not only are you getting you own gen-u-wine POS instrument, they're generous enough to throw in the case as well, for free!! What a bunch of moroons.
Saw this over on Robyn's page. Too funny.
THE END
humor by SHEL SILVERSTEIN
When you're dropping the curtain on a bad last act, what do you play for the finale?
And God looked down over all the earth and He was sick unto His stomach.
"OK!" He said. "All right! I am fed up. I am disgusted. I have had it. Enough is enough. Gabriel, " He yelled, "blow your damned horn! I am putting an end to all that crap down there."
"Well, it's about time," said Gabriel, taking his horn out of its case. "Do you want a nice modern riff or something military, like taps, or maybe one good long, strong -----."
"I don't care what you blow," said God, "just blow! Make it loud; make it solid and final and of all eternity -- make it ring from heaven to hell and back; make it reach into all men's souls and fill them with the realization that this is it. Make it bang!"
"T.S.Eliot says the world ends with -----."
"I don't give a damn what T.S.Eliot says -- you just blow that horn like I tell you!" said God.
"All right," said Gabriel, "all right, but you don't have to yell at me. After all, I'm a musician, not a plumber. I've waited a long time for this gig and I'm not going to goof it. You just tell me how you're going to end it and I'll come up with something that cooks." And he fit the mouthpiece into his horn. "You going to have it rain for forty days and forty nights again?"
"Well," said God, "I haven't really given it much thought."
"Well, if you're thinking of having it rain, you'd better forget it -- they got new drainage systems down there!"
"Maybe I'll make an earthquake," God said, "That would really -----."
"No good," said Gabriel. "I could give you some great quaky music -- but lots of those houses are quake proof, and I imagine you want to get them all at the same time."
"Of course, of course," said God. "I know that. I wasn't seriously thinking of earthquakes.... A plague is more my style -- maybe a plague that -----."
"They're all vaccinated!"
"Vaccinated? Hmmm... of course... that is a shame, though... In the old days, you could make a plague that would strike down every male child that -----."
"You could try to blast them," Gabriel said.
"That's right," said God, "a few good thunderbolts would really -----."
"But their ABM defenses would probably stop them."
God sat back and thought for a while. Gabriel fingered his valves.
"I suppose everything is fireproof," God finally said.
"Everything but the slums," said Gabriel, "and if you burn those out, they'll only rebuild with modern developments."
God was silent for a long time.
"Listen," He said, smiling weakly, "what the hell. Maybe... maybe we'll just forget about it for now. Maybe I'll give them a little more time -- after all, they are my own children, aren't they?"
"OK by me," said Gabriel. "You want to hear a little somethin' anyway... I mean, as long as I already got the horn out?"
"All right," God finally said softly, leaning back wearily in His chair and closing His eyes.
"Play me some blues!"
Am I the only one who's more than a little offended by Darryl Worley's song Have You Forgotten? I find it extremely contemptible that he's making money off of a song that is insulting the free speech of half of America.
Just because I don't think the Bush Administration's plans for nation-building (or the lack of a requisite plan, that is) are not just, that doesn't mean I'm any less patriotic than all the sycophants that spout his doctrines. Hmmm, let's see here...
I hear people saying we don't need this war
I say there's some things worth fighting for
Yes. Like our diplomatic weight in this world and all of the relationships we worked hard to build throughout the world which are now in jeopardy because of Bush's impatience.
What about our freedom and this piece of ground?
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
We didn't get them by acting like unilateral tyrants, either.
They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Kind of obvious that he wrote this one before the war started, eh?
Before you start preaching
Let me ask you this my friend
Have you forgotten how it felt that day
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away?
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside
Going through a living hell
I woke up screaming just like every one else that night. Thanks.
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
It occurs to me that this is the pot calling the kettle black. Unless Bush finishes what he started and actually does something about Bin Laden, we'll have other incidents for this guy to make money writing songs about. Have I forgotten? Definitely not, but Bush sure has.
They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
Maybe not for me or this guy, but all of the five-year-olds that I teach have enough to deal with without watching that horror over and over every day.
It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say
If it was up to me I'd show it every day
Has this guy forgotten the backlash of anti-Muslim sentiment that the U.S. experienced just after 9/11?
Some say this country's just out looking for a fight
After 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right
At least he got this part right. If Bush can't get Bin Laden for this, I guess he figures Saddam's the next best thing.
I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
Yeah, bucko-- you're so patriotic, then sign up and get over there and dune-hop with the best of them. Help get the job done. A USO tour doesn't qualify as war experience in my mind.
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fighting for
Damn skippy-- it occurs to me I'd be a little nuts if I couldn't come up with a good reason for having to go over there and fight. God bless the soldiers for being willing to go over at the President's command, whatever that may be.
Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Yes, some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
Thanks. Drive by it often. And as far as the Pennsylvania crash victims are concerned, I don't think they meant "Let's Roll" to be a slogan for our government to use to justify or motivate their unilateral actions.
All the loved ones that we lost
And those left to carry on
Don't you tell me not to worry 'bout Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
God bless all of the victims' families, but no amount of bloodshed is going to bring them back. The only way we can keep this from happening again is to start trying to rebuild our diplomatic alliances in the world. If we try to remake the world in our image, it's going to ruin our complexion.
This guy didn't really think through what he was writing, or if he did, he's a little ignorant of some of the realities of this war. I respect his right to speak his mind however he likes, but if he's so concerned that we're going to forget the events of 9/11, I strongly suggest that evey cent he makes off of those victims' families' suffering go right back to the cause and not into his pocket.
All righty guys, I'm having a brain freeze. I'm trying to compile a good CD for doing yoga-- I've got burner's block. I need ideas for 2 types of songs-- a "happy" soothing set (think Joh Mayer's Your Body Is A Wonderland or Norah Jone's Don't Know Why), and a slightly darker, moodier set (think Sarah McLachlan's Angel or Possession). All types and genres, but on the meditative side. Nothing too too upbeat-- I've got my hardcore collection already-- three CDs full. (Hel-lo cardio workout.) SPeak up!! I need help!
I'd like to announce a wonderful new addition to our household-- an antique Steinway upright grand piano!!! It was built in 1908, and has most of the original action and all of the original ivory keys!!!!!!
Continue reading "Give Us A Song, You're The Piano Man..." »
Ahhhhh... yes. The RIAA is not necessarily speaking for musicians with all of this lawsuit BS.
MUSICIANS SAY NO TO PERSECUTION AND PROSECUTION OF MUSIC LOVERS |
| June 30th 2003
In response to the continuing legal attacks by the RIAA and major record labels on internet music sharing, which now include both criminal charges and civil suits against individuals, musicians are joining together to say NO to the action supposedly being taken on our behalf. Just because the major labels haven't figured out a way to make money out of the internet doesn't mean that individuals who have shared music should go to prison, or be forced into bankruptcy. The industry is alienating the very people it hopes to sell music to in future with its heavy handed action. With its collective failure to understand the internet, or the benefit it derives from the peer to peer networks that have sprung up in the vacuum created by that failure, the industry has now turned to desperate methods. Suing your customers one by one is not a business model." |
Found over at Ryan's.
For all those old fogeys out there who have issues with sexy chicks playing classical music, read this! This is Haylie Ecker's (of bond) response to those critics who gave them hell after the Miss Universe pageant for the "dumbing down" and "sexualization" of classical music:
"There was a time when the world of classical music was all about passion! Emotionally high, sexually charged, drug induced; it was the original sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. The classical music image was saucy. Serious music, especially opera, throbbed with sensuality and eroticism. French composers wrote ballets with scantily-clad women twirling about the stage. "It worked more or less like pole dancing," says Robert Fink, a UCLA musicologist. "Guys would send them notes backstage and have meetings with them later." Mention this to a big white-moustached classical purist of today, and you?ll probably catch a twinkle in his eye. He knows the score.
If the classical composers of yesterday had had reality TV shows of their own, they would have given fellow Maestro Ozzy Osbourne a run for his money. "Days of Our Lives" were the days of their lives: Mozart the tortured soul, Tchaikovsky the closet homosexual married to a nymphomaniac, Berlioz the drug addict, and Mahler part of the token love triangle (his wife was sleeping with his best friend). But never mind soaps, Hollywood eat your heart out! Brahms could have provided the script for a male version of "Pretty Woman" - playing in brothels and seedy saloons in Hamburg slums to feed his family, before getting his big break from a well-connected stranger. These characters had the kind of lives that would have sent the tabloids into a frenzy!
So what killed classical music's rock 'n roll image? Why do so many people today find it difficult to accept the popular image portrayed by the likes of bond? Is it snobbery? Partly, but there are also two historical factors to blame. Firstly, the Victorians got hold of classical music and buttoned it right up to the chin. Sensuality and eroticism were out, Puritanism and high tea were in. The listener sat stock still in a chair, eyes closed, letting the melodies course through him. It was less a source of merriment and more a time for serious contemplation.
Secondly, while the Victorian dampeners were still on, the recording era was ushered in and became the final cadence of classical music's rock 'n roll image. Gone were the days of needing an orchestra or quartet in front of you to hear a piece, or the seductive opera divas working the stage like a lap dancing bar - image took a back seat. And as recordings became more readily available the need for live performances declined and so the age of the walrus moustache peering from the plastic CD case was born. Throw him a mackerel!
Today, there is plenty of print devoted to the sexy image of classical music, as if it were both new and wrong. The truth is, it's been nothing but hot babes and rock stars from the very beginning. But now the zing is back where it belongs - in classical music. What's wrong with the people who are performing exciting new music also being attractive, or having an image that is eye-catching and memorable? Surely that's the icing on top of the cake! That's what any audience wants and pays for. Paganini was clued up: the most virtuosic violinist of all time was image driven. He soldered a supernatural image onto his talent and created the sensation of the 1830s: Paganini-mania, comparable to Beatle-mania in the early 1960s. He arrived at his concerts in a black coach drawn by black horses, robed in black, like a bat ut of hell. He swept onto the stage like a demon, shook his long black hair, flashed his teeth, and played an entire music programme from memory. No one played without sheet music back then - it was another of his supernatural powers. His image sold out concert halls. He developed a new style of music and created the modern violin technique. In the same way that Paganini's talent and image combined to win him hordes of adulating fans, today's performers such as Bond are drawing millions of listeners to their new style of classical-pop crossover.
Of course, there will always be people ready to criticize flamboyant performers - Schumann hated Liszt for his exhibitionism, wild dress sense and commercialism - but the fact is that these characters do more than anyone to create audiences for their type of music. I laugh at the thought of a prudish couple settling down for a late evening hot chocolate, with Liszt echoing in the background. Little do they realize, Liszt was the Justin Timberlake of his time; he was a honey! A sex symbol with an entourage of girl groupies that went hysterical at the flourish of a virtuosic run. Nor was Schumann was any less of a rock star. He was part of the biggest love affair in musical history, which gave rise to German Romantic music. In the same way that Justine Frishmann inspired Blur's Damon Albarn and Suede's Brett Anderson to accelerate the Brit-pop movement, Clara Wieck-Schumann drove her husband and Brahms to ever-greater heights of musical composition.
It's wrong to think that today's image of classical music being smothered in female talent and sensuality is anything new. What's the fuss about? Music IS seductive! To play an instrument is an extension of the soul - how much more sensual can you get? When looking at the storyline of a Mozart opera or Bizet's Carmen it's easy to imagine oodles of lip-gloss and hair!
We almost lost it, but thank heavens, the classical world that was for a while starved of its mojo, is getting it back. Along comes a fairy princess, kisses the dinner-jacketed walrus on the CD cover and revives the spirit of Classical Rock 'n Roll. Nigel Kennedy emerges looking like Axl Rose playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto in a head scarf, ripped jeans and stubble. YoYo Ma, another thrill-seeker, has recorded the Bach Cello Solo Suites on the top of a New York skyscraper for television. Classic FM TV is cracking its whip! This new classical MTV spin-off has a chart whose record of the week is John William's Indiana Jones Temple of Doom. Pavarotti is holding a concert next week, singing with the likes of Bono and Stevie Wonder. And bond is creating a new style of music altogether, derived from classical and mixed with pop. For sure, we'll still pout, and toy suggestively with our bows, because it's an image that gets a reaction and is working just fine. Classical music is no longer just a face for radio or the phonograph, the ballyhoo world that classical music used to be is back! Undo that top button, and enjoy it.
-Haylie Ecker
Many thanks to my friend, DrMudslide, who is also a friend of Haylie's, for passing this on to me.
While searching through some old MP3s for a music file for one of my students, I came across a recording of my senior recital from college. Listening to the tracks, I could feel the dry summer heat of Arizona again, and smell the scents of thousands of fruit trees in bloom.
I don't even remember most of that last year of school. I was so depressed and crazy that most things fom back then are long-lost to my mind, probably blocked out somewhere up there, and it's better that way, I'm sure.
What I do know is that I came out of it better as a musician, especially when I heard one track in particular (this one--click for a listen). It's kind of nice to remember every once in a while that all of that BS was worth it.
Many thanks to my sis for the Andrew Peterson Christmas album she sent (finally wrested it away from the crazyneighbor-lady who mistakenly picked up the package).
If you've never heard of Andrew Peterson, check out his latest, Behold The Lamb Of God. I'm not usually partial to Christian music, but this breaks the mold and there's some really great work on this album. My personal faves are Deliver Us and Labor of Love. Beautiful.
And as an added bonus, one of my new favorite artists of all time, Sandra McCracken, is singing backup vocals on this album as well.
BTW, if you live anywhere near Nashville, TN, RUN, DO NOT WALK to your nearest phone or computer and order tickets for Andrew's show on December 12th at the Ryman Auditorium. I would give a limb to be there.
I'm sure any of you who know of Fred Fennell have already heard, but I wanted to pass this along as I thought you would all appreciate it.
Frederick Fennell was arguably one of the greatest names in wind ensemble history. He has conducted bands and orchestras all over the world and has taught at the world's most prestigious music academies. Most importantly, though, in my mind, was that he was a truly fantastic teacher, who inspired countless young musicians to go on to share and teach their craft to the world. He will be greatly missed.
From: Cathy Fennell Martensen
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 10:37 AM
Subject: Fred Fennell
I've managed to reach some of you by phone, others not, and I did not want to leave this as a voice message.
I want you, and the greater music community to know that my father died peacefully in his sleep early this morning, Tuesday, December 7, 2004. Elizabeth and I were by his side. I had promised him that I would do all I could to get him back to Siesta Key so he could watch the sun set over the ocean. With the help of Hospice, he arrived home in time to see the brilliant orange and pinks in the western skies last evening. A bit before Midnight, dad told me he was "frustrated and disappointed." When I asked him, "Why?" he replied, "There's no drummer here yet. I can't die without a drummer!" I told him that I loved him, and that "Heaven's best drummer was on the way." Moments later he said, "I hear him! I hear him! I'm OK now." This was my final conversation with my dad.
I was blessed to be able to dress my father in his finest set of tails after he died, complete with the usual struggle with his tie. Elizabeth asked if he could be "dressed up" and I could think of nothing finer for a lasting memory. Dad asked to be cremated and that I scatter his ashes in the woods at Interlochen, Michigan this summer. This, of course, I will do.
Elizabeth is OK at this point. We are closely watching her, monitoring her blood sugar levels and seeing that she gets the diet and rest she needs after such a life transition.
There will be a small Memorial Service at a church in Siesta Key. No date or time has been set yet. As knowledge of my father's death is communicated, please keep both Elizabeth and me in your prayers.
Fondly
Cathy Fennell Martensen
Musicians behaving badly. :) F'ing brilliant. Love the penis on the blackboard.
Hubby and I got a surprise today and got free tickets to go see Karrin Allyson at Blues Alley tonight-- WHAT A SHOW!!! We'd never heard of her before, but you can now count me as a superfan. If you like Diana Krall's style, Allyson has all her talent and more. I can honestly say I was mesmerized the whole show (which those of you who know me well know to be a statistical impossibility) by her wonderful voice and the masterful playing of the combo backing her, especially her guitarist.
Let's be clear about something here-- this is no flash singing act. Allyson is a musician's musician-- her improv and interpretation skills are second to none. Though the tracks you hear on her albums are stellar, the live performance completely blows them away. She began the set with an Irving Berlin tune and then moved on to the beautiful and sassy O Barquinho (My Little Boat) from her From Paris to Rio album. She then showcased some of the songs from her new album, Footprints, which is a collection of well-known instrumental jazz standards refitted with new lyrics. She then wowed and charmed us with an entrancing version of Under Paris Skies, also from the Paris to Rio album, then left the stage to her combo for a number. She rounded out a great set with a request for O Pato (The Duck), which she skillfully melded with another request for Cat Stevens's Wild World.
Her new CD, Footprints, is really fantastic-- how do I know? I was so excited I bought it on the way out and listened to it all the way home. You can hear some really phenomenal tracks from this album, I Found The Turnaround and Follow the Footprints, on her MySpace site. Go buy her album ASAP-- quick quick little bunny!
If you've never heard Garrison Keillor's Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra, you've been missing out. It's given me a good laugh, and surprisingly, a lot of perspective on some of my colleagues ever since I heard it in high school. For those of you who've never experienced it, this site provides the text.
The above version is available on iTunes, but the alternate version is my favorite recording, made at the celebration fundraiser for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and is available on the Prairie Home Companion website. (The first version above provides commentary on the whole brass section, which the benefit recording doesn't, but the benefit recording has an especially appropriate analysis of the wind section.)
Enjoy!!
After the week I just survived, I've decided that it's time to share some ground rules with my fellow musicians out there. I came damn near to killing some people this past week over some pretty simple breaches of etiquette that everyone should know in the world of a working musician, but unfortunately these are things you have to learn in the real world, which apparently has been in the shitter as an educational enterprise lately.
When you graduate college or make your first foray out as a musician, just like other professions, you usually enter the world professionally naked and alone, and you'll get your ass kicked if you don't mind your P's and Q's. There are things you never learn in college that you need to learn to survive-- here are a few that everyone who aspires to work as a musician needs to know, after the jump.
Continue reading "Thirty Things Every Musician Should Know" »
I need to take a moment here to talk about someone I loved dearly who passed away this week-- Dr. Gerald Loren Welker. He was the Director of the University of Alabama School of Music and the conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Contemporary Ensemble when I was in school there, and inhabits most of my most vivid memories of that time.
If it wasn't for this man, I wouldn't be a musician, pure and simple. He was one of the most flamboyant and inspiring musicians I've ever known, and his charismatic presence and conducting style inspired everyone around him, particularly an impressionable and idealistic thirteen-year-old from suburban Birmingham. His inspiration and guidance is one of the main reasons I persevered in music when I could have easily taken another path, and his demand for musical excellence made me strive to excel far harder than I could have on my own. I grew up with his children in the Alabama music system, children who have gone on to have wonderful musical careers of their own. He introduced me to composers like Messaien and Birtwistle, and taught me to love the ideas they and other new music composers championed, which planted the seed for some of the projects I'm involved in today.
"Write yourself a note," he would say. " 'Dear Me, don't be a goober, Love, Me." in his deep and resonant voice. He had the tall, lanky and fluid swagger of Jack the Pumpkin King, with a face like a devil and wild hair. He always smelled of pipe tobacco, a smell that I can't experience today without being flooded with memories of him. His good humor let you make a mistake without taking it personally while making a point to improve on it. His smile was infectious.
Dear Me, I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me.
Though I hadn't seen him in a few years, he always held a very special place in my heart. He was one of my favorite teachers and his musical touch still resonates through the playing that I do every day. He will be sorely missed, but always fondly remembered.
Speaking of free speech and all, have you guys heard what happened to Mike Daisey this past week? Watch the video (NSFW beacuse of his use of the F-bomb at the beginning). It's one of the most ballsy and good-humored recoveries from this sort of thing I've ever seen.
Mike Daisey was performing his monologue INVINCIBLE SUMMER at American Repertory Theatre on April 19th when the show was disrupted by eighty seven members of a Christian group who walked out of the show en masse to protest the content, and chose to physically attack the work by pouring water on and destroying the original of his show outline.
Just for good measure, to anyone who may be reading: FUCK. Throw some water on that if you dare.
(Thanks to Solonor for the heads-up.)
UPDATE: Apparently the group in question was not, in fact, a "Christian group" as such, even though the water-pourer identified himself that way. Anyway, Daisey' s update is here. This doesn't change how I feel about this, by the way. There's a way to deal with disapproval of a performance, and this was not it. If they were even slightly concerned about possible objectionable content (seriously people, who buys tickets to a Mike Daisey performance without expecting at least some pretty offensive stuff), all they would have had to do was contact the box or business office for a content sheet or consultation. Every theater I've ever worked for provides them to potential audience members on request, containing listings of objectionable language and plot material. Again, I say in his defense, FUCK. So there.
"I think that the labyrinth is an interesting metaphor for our lives as musicians-- you know, we're always being of drawn towards the center of it, because that's where the mystery is. You know, what is it, what is music? It's a journey." --Sting, from Great Performances: Sting: Songs of the LabyrinthIs it any wonder I like this guy a little too much for my own good?
Man, I am such an iLike moron. Every time I get on Facebook to do the Challenge, I feel like a complete old geezer. Why?
Because I can easily identify Enya, The Doors, Metallica, Mariah Carey (I am shamed), Britney Spears (gack), and anyone who's been on the radio for more than five years, but seriously people, I have no freaking idea about some of these other bands that I know are popular but I have no feel for whatsoever. Here's what happens in my typical run of questions:
U2? (Score.)
My Chemical Romance? (Who? Not feeling these guys at all.)
Kanye West? (Absolutely. I'm on that.)
Modest Mouse? (I'm so lost.)
Snow Patrol? (Whaa?)
The White Stripes? (Yeah, I know them, but they annoy the crap out of me.)
Panic! At The Disco? (Ermmm...)
Bob Dylan? (Thanks to my fabulous aunt's tape anthology graduation gift, right-o.)
Ween? Muse? (Who?)
The Offspring? (Who knew, but yes.)
Surprisingly, I've managed to get all the Smashing Pumpkins questions wrong, the Korn questions right (those of you who know me know how completely odd that is), and I'm striking out on The Cardigans major-league. Queen, David Bowie, and Jamiroquai are easy tens. I'm not exactly upset that I can't parse the Butthole Surfers, and by some bit of guessing luck I just got two Bjork questions correct (that is so weird.)
Are you beginning to see a pattern here?
Yeah, I'm an old fart.
I know I'm a "serious" musician. I know I "should" be listening to deeply intellectual things like classic jazz and Mahler, but sometimes a girl has to have a vice or two. Mine happens to be catchy pop. I have been known to purchase albums or songs by certain now-shamed former megastar teen queens just for the pleasure of dancing around my living room or running on the treadmill, and I have to be honest-- I have a new pop-crush.
Buddy, I loves me some Lucy Woodward, and apparently I'm not the only one-- AMC has been running an ad featuring her song "Use What I Got" lately and I saw it today for the first time when I was catching up on episodes of Mad Men. I seriously squealed with delight when I saw it (and you all know how hilarious that is coming from me.) Not to mention the fact that it ends with a classic Jeremy Irons clip. Love. It.
Guilty pleasures. Gotta love 'em.
I was surfing around today and I came across this lovely site about a beautiful architectural installation in Croatia called the Sea Organ. Wanna listen?
Click here:
Or watch, complete with crying baby in the background:
(There's also something similar in San Francisco called the Wave Organ.)
It never ceases to amaze me how creative people will come up with all kinds of ways to make the noises they want to make. Take, for instance, some of the other listings in The OddMusic Gallery:
It's unholy how much I love this guy. I'm just saying.
When you grew up in the 80s and 90s in the Southern Baptist church like I did, chances are that at some point you sang the santized cover of Peaceful Easy Feeling along with your youth pastor.
And then a few years later you totally laughed your ass off at that South Park episode: you know-- the one where Cartman forms a Christian band. Enter humanivy, who offers up a top ten list of some more possibilities guaranteed to make you snarf your iced tea:
The Cartman Prophecies.
Enjoy! (Praise 'baby', praise 'baby'.)
(Thanks to The Muse for the heads-up.)
First Bernie Mac, then Isaac Hayes, and now LeRoi Moore from Dave Matthews Band. Good Lord, this has been a tough summer for famous black men, especially when you throw in Morgan Freeman's accident.
Ever since I first heard Moore play with DMB I've had immense respect for him as a saxophonist-- he pretty simply owned that instrument and was a blast to watch on the stage with them. And gone so fast. Damn.
So much to say.
Details here.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to SassyBlonde in the And The Band Played On category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
An Apple For The Teacher is the previous category.
Anger Management is the next category.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
