Wednesday, 29 Oct 2008

If you’ve ever wondered what it would sound like if Patty Smith replaced Nico in the Velvet Underground and they became a Beatle’s cover band, I recommend you listen to her version of “Within You Without You“, one the Beatle’s lesser known (and probably least popular) songs.

Also, why didn’t anyone tell me that Cheap Trick was touring in a “Sgt Pepper’s at 40″ celebration/concert tour? I mean even the Beatles didn’t try performing these later songs live, so it’s no suprise that these aren’t _perfect_ reproductions of the album tracks, but they’re pretty close - probably closer than anyone else other than the Beatles or the Fab Faux could pull off. If nothing else, it makes me appreciate just how ambitious and complex some of these arrangements were.

Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End  (click ‘download’ to play, right-click to save)

A Day in the Life (click ‘download’ to play, right-click to save)

For an extra treat, here’s the Fab Faux performing “I am the Walrus” live on David Letterman. (youtube video) These guys are so proficient, they manage to make performing this richly arranged and musically dense song look simple.

Tuesday, 28 Oct 2008

lately a lot of rock bands i hear (and like) on last.fm and pandora have been male-female duos.  i don’t recall so many in the past.  here are a few i like.

the ting tings (found elsewhere)

the kills

the white stripes

the black keys

the raveonettes (elsewhere)

blood red shoes

hmmm….i really thought there more.  I like The Finches a lot too, but they are too mellow to include in a list of rock bands.

Friday, 24 Oct 2008

Finally, a catchy tune about our impending doom at the hand of robots. Why are these guys not more popular?

Wednesday, 15 Oct 2008

I took a quiz at glassbooth.org which asks you to prioritize how important various issues are to you, then asks whether you approve or dissaprove with a series of policies.  While I’ve told people that I don’t really like McCain OR Obama and that I was considering voting for the Green Party candidate, but I said that from a general gut level sympathy I feel towards the Green Party and dissatisfaction with the main two parties, NOT from an informed analysis of their positions.  So I was mildly suprised, though pleased that when it showed me which candidate I aligned most closely with it was [surpise] Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party presidential nominee.

My results were:

Cynthia McKinney (Green Party): 84% similarity, Ralph Nader(Independant): 79% similarity, Barack Obama(Democrat): 70% similarity, John McCain(Republican): 53% similarity, Bob Barr (Libertarian): 43% similarity.

Tags: greenparty politics beliefs election president presidential 2008

Tuesday, 14 Oct 2008

So much sleep. I slept 4-5 hours Friday night, not at all Saturday night, then slept 4 hours Sunday morning, and another 2-3 in the afternoon, then slept a good 5-6 hours Sunday night, then another  6 hours Monday day. Geesh. That’s an average of 8 hours / day, a good 3 more hours/day than i usually get and I am still exhausted. :(

In the unrelated to anything except the “reality is stranger than fiction” category, did you know that in the 1920’s a high profile soviet zoologist was trying to combine Ape and Human DNA to create a hybrid creature? You did? Then did you know that the project was backed by the Soviet government? And that the story was widely known at the time (The british newspaper “The Sun” suggested that the scientist had been ordered to breed super-strongn hairy warriors for “Stalin’s mutant ape army”…[more]

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg19926701.000-the-forgotten-scandal-of-the-soviet-apeman.html