Music

Music is a necessity. Though I focus mostly on alternative/industrial/EBM/electronic styles, my tastes are eclectic and wide-ranging.

Less nudity, more polka

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Saturday, Prairie and I went wandering around downtown, hoping to get a glimpse of Seattle’s World Naked Bike Ride participants. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out, as they changed their route due to the temporary closure of the Seattle Center’s International Fountain, and we missed seeing them.

It sounds like the ride went off well enough, though, according to the Seattle Times.

Seattle police kept an eye on yesterday’s ride, but there were no arrests or citations, and nobody called police to complain, said police spokesman Sean Whitcomb.

Seattle’s laws on public nudity are somewhat vague and open to interpretation, Whitcomb said. Being able to charge someone with public indecency depends on someone else feeling victimized, and on the actions of the nude person, he said.

There is no clear-cut language in the law to say when being nude becomes offensive, Whitcomb said. “What’s offensive to one person may not be offensive to another.”

Still, the day wasn’t a total loss. On our wandering we went through the Pike Place Market, and as we were in the lower levels, something in the bins of a used music store caught my eye. I stopped, backed up, pulled the record out of the bin…and started to laugh.

“You’re thinking about getting it, aren’t you?” asked Prairie.

“You know it! This is too good to pass up!”

She laughed. “Well, it’s only two dollars….” We headed in to the store. The clerk we dealt with was rather oddly bland — most music store clerks I’ve seen tend to take some amount of interest in what the customers are buying, but this guy had no reaction whatsoever — but one of the other employees saw what I was buying and complimented me on my choice.

Discotheque for Polka LoversAnd that’s how I became the proud owner of Discotheque for Polka Lovers, featuring Johnny Vadnal and his Orchestra.

The only downside is that I don’t currently have a turntable, so at the moment, I’ve got no way to actually listen to this treasure. Still, one way or another, eventually I’ll have one again (I’ve got a bunch of records I’d love to hear again, and there’s a family collection that regularly moves among myself, Kevin, and Dad).

It was just too good — or too bad — to pass up.

Kumquat Mania

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‘Kumquat’ has long been one of my favorite words. It’s rather silly, fun to say, and sounds like it might be something slightly perverse, but it’s nothing more than a little orange fruit.

I just stumbled across this Fark Photoshop competition:

Theme: Replace a word in a song or movie title with the word “kumquat” and photoshop the result

I generally skip most of Fark’s photoshop threads, as they’re generally only of fair-to-middling quality, and the level of humor is often lower than I generally get a kick out of. This one I had to check out though…and I’m glad I did.

As it turned out, there were lots of good gags. As images posted to Fark tend to be transitory, I’ve snagged the best of them here. One to start with, then the rest behind the cut (it’ll be a bit image-heavy, modem users beware)…

Dark Side of the Kumquat

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Pop-Lock

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Pop-n-lockApple’s just posted their latest iPod commercial, this one titled ‘Pop-Lock’, after the style of dance in the video.

Watching it, I’m struck by two things.

  1. Daft Punk still bores me. The only time I could ever get “into” most Daft Punk songs was when I was under the influence of acid, and as I stopped bothering with recreational pharmaceuticals a few years back…well, that ended any real interest in Daft Punk.

  2. Is there any real difference between what’s now called “Pop-Lock” (or “Pop-n-Lock”, as I’ve generally heard it) and what used to be called “The Robot” back in the 80’s heyday of breakdancing? I can’t really see much difference at all, if any.

iTunes “Rock Star (Jason Nevins Edit)” by N.E.R.D. from the album Rock Star (2003, 7:42).

You won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews!

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SpamalotI spent most of the first part of my morning in tears today — because I couldn’t stop laughing. Last night I noticed that the iTunes Music Store had the Broadway cast soundtrack to Spamalot. Of course, that was a no-brainer impulse buy.

So far I’ve only listened to it once straight through, and that was while working, so I didn’t catch quite everything, but it’s hilarious.

The show, of course, is “(lovingly) ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” and much of the best-loved elements from the movie are in the show, along with a few other bits and pieces from the Python canon (including ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life‘, and even the fish slapping dance).

Some of the best parts that I’ve found so far, though, are lampooning Broadway itself, with two obvious standout tracks.

The first is ‘You Won’t Succeed on Broadway‘, which points out that there’s no way for any show to be a hit unless there’s a Jew in the story. It all starts (as I’ve found thanks to a few reviews) after Arthur and his knights are given a task by the mighty Knights of Ni: they must open a hit Broadway show.

Arthur: Have you heard of this…’Broadway?’

Robin: Yes sir, but we don’t stand a chance there.

Arthur: Why not?

Robin: Because! Broadway is a very special place, filled with very special people. People who can sing, and dance — often at the same time! They are a different people, a multitalented people, a people who need people, and who are in many ways the luckiest people in the world. I’m sorry sire. We don’t have a chance.

Arthur: But why?

Robin: Well…let me put it like this…

In any great adventure
if you don’t want to lose,
Victory depends upon
the people that you choose.
So listen Arthur, darling,
closely to this news —
We won’t succeed on Broadway
if we don’t have any Jews!

The second, and so far my favorite piece from the soundtrack, is ‘The Song that Goes Like This,’ a deliciously perfect sendup of the über-schmaltzy headlining track in far too many modern Broadway shows, most notoriously those of Andrew Lloyd Webber (apparently, this song is sung in a boat surrounded by candles as a chandelier descends from the ceiling…sound familiar to anyone?).

Lancelot: Once in every show,
there comes a song like this,
it starts off nice and slow,
and ends up with a kiss.
Oh, well. Here’s the song
that goes like this.
Where is it? Where? Where?

Lady of the Lake: A sentimental song,
it casts a magic spell,
They only hum along,
we’ll overact like hell.
Oh this! Is the song
that goes like this.

Both: Yes it is. / Yes it is! / Yes it is! / Oh yes it is!

Lancelot: Now we can go straight
into the middle eight,
a bridge
that is too far for me.

Lady of the Lake: I’ll sing it in your face,
while we both embrace.

Both: And then!
We change the key!

And it just goes on…it’s wonderful.

Pick it up from the iTMS, or if you’re partial to physical media, from Amazon. It’s well worth adding to your collection.

iTunes “Diva’s Lament (What Ever Happened to My Part?)” by Ramirez, Sara from the album Spamalot (Original Broadway Cast) (2005, 2:32).

Camp Tomato!

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So yesterday was Jason Webley‘s Camp Tomato. Prairie and I weren’t entirely sure just what the day would have in store, but we figured it would be fun, so after waking her up from a nap — she, unfortunately, has been battling off the last stages of the same nasty bug I was fighting last week — we hopped in the car and headed over to Woodland Park.

(This one’s long, folks — around 3200 words, 17 images, and one video — the rest is after the cut….)

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Acapella Nintendo

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It’s not often I find something that appeals equally to two such disparate sides of my childhood — the video game playing geek and the award-winning children’s choir member — but this video of University of Wisconsin acapella group Redefined singing Nintendo theme songs manages to pull it off…and quite well, at that.

Geeky, yes — but very cool!

iTunes “Firefly, The” by Chag, Niraj from the album Untouchable Outcaste Beats Vol. 1 (1997, 5:37).

Nine Inch Nails releases single for GarageBand

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Oh, wow but this is cool. Trent Reznor has released NIN’s new single, ‘The Hand that Feeds’, as a 70Mb GarageBand file.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has made available the band’s new single, “The Hand That Feeds,” as a free download for Apple’s GarageBand application. The song, which weighs in at a hefty 70MB, features multiple tracks that you can easily tweak. “For quite some time I’ve been interested in the idea of allowing you the ability to tinker around with my tracks — to create remixes, experiment, embellish or destroy what’s there,” Reznor says. “After spending some quality time sitting in hotel rooms on a press tour, it dawned on me that the technology now exists and is already in the hands of some of you. I got to work experimenting and came up with something I think you’ll enjoy.”

This is going to be so much fun to play with…

I need to follow up on this…

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Mostly, I’m tossing this up here to remind myself to do something about it, and soon…

djwudi: I need to go back someday — partly to visit, and partly to track down some CDs from a band I discovered while I was there :)
sillium: :)
sillium: what’s the name of that band you mentioned?
djwudi: Poems for Laila
djwudi: based out of Berlin, I think
sillium: i think so to
sillium: ttoo
sillium: too
djwudi: I picked up two of their albums while I was there, but the tapes died years ago
sillium: damn
djwudi: managed to find a bunch of their stuff online a while ago, but I’d rather have the actual CDs
djwudi: and there’s only a couple that I can get through Amazon
sillium: and you can’t buy’em online these days?
djwudi: not all of the ones I want, sillium
djwudi: they’ve got five (?) albums and a few EPs out…I can only track down two, maybe three online so far
sillium: write me a flickr-message with the album names you can’t get and I’ll see what I can do for you if you want
djwudi: oooh – that would so rock, sillium :D
djwudi: i’ll get back to you on that soon – thanks!
sillium: yeah, do that.

Yay!

iTunes “Hold On (Love to a Razorblade)” by Poems for Laila from the album Katamandu (1992, 4:16).

Just a hint, really

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So Assemblage 23 is playing at the Vogue tonight, and I’ve been tossing around whether or not I want to go — balancing the desire to see a decent band with the fact that it’s on a Wednesday night.

So what’s the first track that iTunes chooses at random when I turn it on after getting home from work?

Assemblage 23 ‘Divide’.

Sometimes I think this computer knows me far too well.

Update: No matter how well my ‘puter thinks it knows me, I’m still feeling the effects of my neighbor keeping me up until around 3am on Sunday night/Monday morning. 8:40 in the evening, I’m yawning, and my eyes are drooping. No mid-week concertgoing for this boy…at least, not this week.

iTunes “Divide” by Assemblage 23 from the album Failure (2001, 6:01).

The House of the Rising Sun

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Nobody’s sure yet — and, in truth, we may never be — but there’s at least a good possibility that archaeologists in New Orleans may have found the House of the Rising Sun.

This winter, a nonprofit organization called the Historic New Orleans Collection decided to expand. The organization, which runs a museum and research center, owned seven buildings in the heart of the French Quarter but needed another to serve as a vault. The group bought a one-level, ramshackle parking garage on Conti Street — pronounced KAHNT-eye — and announced plans to tear it down.

The purchase was serendipitous. If just about anyone else had bought the lot, no study would have been conducted. But the organization — dedicated, after all, to Louisiana history — wanted to know the story behind its property. It asked a scholar at the University of Chicago and a New Orleans archeology firm called Earth Search to perform an excavation and document search.

[…]

The archeologists, who plan to launch a more exhaustive study on Tuesday, found that a hotel called the Rising Sun appeared to have operated on the site from the early 1800s until 1822, when it burned to the ground.

In an 1821 advertisement from the newspaper La Gazette, a company called L.S. Hotchkiss explained that it had taken over the hotel but offered reassurance to customers: “No pain or expence [sic] will be spared by the new proprietors to give general satisfaction, and maintain the character of giving the best entertainment.”

The next sentence: “Gentlemen may here rely upon finding attentive Servants.” Similar language, Gray said, was used in old bordello advertisements to make it clear — without explicitly saying so — that extracurricular services were available.

And there’s more in the linked article, of course. Just neat.

Also of note, and a page I want to revisit later: this listing of 250 different recordings of the traditional tune. It’s pretty slow, and would take a while to trawl through, but there’s a wealth of stuff there I’d love to listen to.

(via MeFi)

iTunes “Train” by Pigface from the album A New High In Low (1997, 24:18).