music
oracknows | January 28, 2007Remember Donnie Davies, the "youth pastor" that I wrote about a couple of days ago, who posted a list of gay bands, plus a homophobic video proclaiming that "God hates a fag" that led to a prolonged debate over whether he was for real or some sort of elaborate Borat-like prank?
Two sources tell me that he's apparently been outed as actor Joey Oglesby:
Thanks to the sleuthing of Dallas JMG reader Bob Stoller, "Pastor Donnie Davies" has been exposed as Dallas-area actor Joey Oglesby (First name corrected from post headline). Here he is. Joey Oglesby recently appeared in a production of Debbie…
oracknows | January 27, 2007I don't know if I'll make this a habit or not, but it's a Saturday, and once again I feel like posting a YouTube or two and dedicating it to one of the "targets" of the week. (Besides, after the last post, I could use something light-hearted, or at least funny.) This one, of course, has to be dedicated to Donnie Davies, the evangelical pastor whose homophobic song The Bible Says, all of which may or may not be a hoax:
And here's another take on this for Donnie to enjoy:
A two-fer: "Gay music" and rampant disrespect for a great American!
Finally, for a take on this great song that should…
aardvarchaeology | January 27, 2007
Dear Reader, I've just passed a lovely hour skiing on the golf course, and I am very happy.
It's -6 centigrade, loads of snow and Mr Sun is shining from a blue sky, accompanied by his pale-countenanced Sister Moon. People and dogs were out in force and we all smiled at each other as we met in the tracks.
With my trusty handheld, I snapped the above pic, and it also played me wonderful music: Norway's finest rock band, the Brimstone Solar Radiation Band; those lovely eclectic Philadelphians, Maggi, Pierce & E.J.; some jazzy hippie stylings from Chrysalis with the divine Nancy Nairn on the…
oracknows | January 25, 2007Oh, no! The gay bands are here! Hide your children, and keep them away from this corruption! So sayeth Donnie Davies, an evangelical preacher who runs a website called Love God's Way:
One of the most dangerous ways homosexuality invades family life is through popular music. Parents should keep careful watch over their children's listening habits, especially in this Internet Age of MP3 piracy.
Oooh. Scary!
But let's look at the list of bands that Davies thinks we should all watch out for and protect our children from. The first thing I noticed is that Elton John is listed twice. Given what a…
purepedantry | January 23, 2007I saw this press release and for one brief happy instant I thought it might be about the band Scorpions and their hit Winds of Change. Sadly, it was just about wind direction changing over the last 30,000 years. Boo. Alright fine. I will still post it:
Dartmouth researchers have learned that the prevailing winds in the mid latitudes of North America, which now blow from the west, once blew from the east. They reached this conclusion by analyzing 14,000- to 30,000-year-old wood samples from areas in the mid-latitudes of North America (40-50°N), which represents the region north of Denver…
oracknows | January 20, 2007Things have gotten a little heated around here, with an ID adherent named Dr. Cook taking umbrage at my expression of embarrassment for my profession over his having shown up over at Uncommon Descent and flaunting his excellent (albeit irrelevant to the discussion of evolution) credentials as he proudly told the assembled William Dembski sycophants there of his post-Darwinist "conversion story."
This song is dedicated to Dr. Cook, for reasons that I think should be obvious:
Actually, this is one of my absolute favorite David Bowie songs. It was great with Queen, but this version is really…
oracknows | January 7, 2007I like this T-shirt design!
Perhaps our Seed overlords would spring for sufficient funds to clothe all of us ScienceBloggers in this fine garb.
(Via Boing Boing.)
oracknows | January 7, 2007The name of this band is damned near perfect:
No, not the Shut-Ups (although that's a pretty cool band name, too). Anyone who reads this blog would know that I'm referring to Down With The Woo.
I wonder if their music is any good. If so, they could become the blog band of Respectful Insolenceâ¢. (or at least of Your Friday Dose of Woo, although most people seem to actually like Friday Woo). Fortunately, in that interest, I was informed of their MySpace page, which says:
Up from the ashes of cult heroes, Heros Severum. Powered by Macintosh. DWTW is a live production experiment. Every show is…
goodmath | January 5, 2007 As an experiment, I decided to try making a iMix of the items in my FRT that are available via iTunes. Please let me know if you like this; it's a bit of extra work for me which I don't mind doing, as long as people use it... but if no one wants it, then I'd rather not spend the time setting it up.
Dirty Three, "I offered it up to the stars & the Night Sky". As usual from my
random lists, it's a post-rock ensemble. Dirty Three are classical leaning; not quite so much as
the Clogs, but still very much on the classical side. They tend to be slow and mellow, with
a gradually building…
oracknows | December 31, 2006One of the great things about blogging is that I can do things that I always wanted to do but would never get hired in a million years to do, for example, to be a rock critic. Prior to blogging, the only time I ever got to indulge my critic wannabe side was in high school, where I wrote a couple of (in retrospect) badly done reviews of a couple of prominent albums from the 1979-1980 period. I don't know if I'm any better at it now, but I am a lot older and have developed much more varied tastes in music. Consequently, even from the very beginning of this blog, every year I've done a "Top Ten…
goodmath | December 29, 2006Friday Not-So-Random Five
I decided in honor of the new year, I'd do something a bit different this week. Instead of
doing a random shuffle on my IPod, I separated out my favorites of the modern classical pieces that I discovered this year. Some of these are brand new recordings just released this year; others are older recordings that I just happened to discover this year.
1. **Igor Stravinsky, "Suite #1", from "Shadow Dances" performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.** Beautiful piece for a small orchestra. Very typically Stravinsky; some strange tonalities, but they're mostly very…
oracknows | December 17, 2006Nothing like a lot of Queen-esque bombast coupled with lots of flames, courtesy of My Chemical Romance on a Sunday afternoon:
Apparently the drummer actually burned his leg during the shoot. Now that's dedication. I have to admit, though, I think I still like the first video from this album a bit better.
oracknows | December 15, 2006This rather puts one's life and place in the universe in perspective, doesn't it?
oracknows | December 10, 2006When I saw this test on ahistoricality, I just had to take it. I was disappointed. It was way too easy for me:
Rock Star
You scored 100%!
You damn rock star. You know all the basics, and if you got any wrong, I bet it was that stupid Traveling Wilburys question.
Your friends are probably intimidated by your knowledge of classic rock and envy your impressive collection. When a classic rock song comes on the radio, you can probably identify it before the vocals kick in most of the time. You probably get good scores on the "maiden name of Clapton's mom" tests, too.
My test…
purepedantry | December 9, 2006You know the scene from Old School where they wedding band is playing. The band from the movie is called The Dan Band, and I saw them last night.
They were awesome, and in honor of that I have a horde of YouTube videos. (Warning: A lot of these videos are rather vulgar.)
For those of you who don't remember, here is the scene from Old School:
Here is the complete video of that song:
So they actually have a Christmas album out -- called "Ho", and they performed a couple of their songs at the concert. They were really good, and I recommend picking it up.
Anyway, here is one of the songs…
oracknows | December 9, 2006Whether they know it or not, Pharyngula and Mixing Memory may have provided our undead Führer with a catchy new theme song. Yes, I know. You might think the Hitler Zombie would be more partial to martial music with a Triumph des Willens sort of feel to it. The problem is, I don't think there is any such music that encompasses what our zombie is about as well as this does. The song is by Jonathan Coulton, and here he is doing a live folk version, complete with zombie audience participation:
Pretty catchy, eh?
Next, the audience will be heading out to label their political opponents Hitler.…
oracknows | December 2, 2006Courtesy of Maxim, here's a list of The Worst Band Names Ever. (Found via Stereogum.)
I'll certainly go along with them in naming Limp Bizkit and Toad the Wet Sprocket as truly horrible band names. But, hey, what's wrong with Men Without Hats (besides the music)?
A few suggestions I'd add to the list:
Better Than Ezra
Dogs Die in Hot Cars
Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Panic! At The Disco (I particularly detest wandering exclamation points.)
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead (Love the band, hate the name.)
Godspeed You Black Emperor! (As much as I love this band, it was a toss-up between…
oracknows | November 26, 2006On this, the last day of the long holiday weekend that I've spent mostly holed up in my home office studying for my surgery boards recertification examination, I feel a bit too burned out to post anything much serious today, unless I happen to become aware of something that's just too good not to post. Don't worry, there'll be a heaping helping of the usual Respectful Insolence⢠tomorrow to start your post-holiday week off right. In the meantime, though, here's some music. Anyone who knows me knows that I couldn't stand Journey back in the days when the band was popular, and I still can't…
oracknows | November 24, 2006I haven't done this in a while, but it's a long holiday weekend during which time I'm ensconced within my Sanctum Sanctorum studying for my once a decade recertification examination in Surgery. I need tunes! So iTunes, lay them on me:
The Yardbirds, Happenings Ten Years Ago (from the album Ultimate!). Not their best work, but a solid blues psychedelic piece. Personally, my all-time favorite Yardbirds tunes are Heart Full of Soul and Still I'm Sad.
The Pogues, Fiesta (from the album If I Should Fall From Grace With God). I love the Pogues. True, Shane McGowan had a serious drinking problem…
goodmath | November 24, 20061. **Kate Bush, "Pi"**. I've been waiting for this to show up in my shuffle for the FRT! Kate Bush, singing the digits of π!
2. **Suzanne Vega, "Knight Moves"**. This is an old favorite of mine. The lyrics have some
personal significance, but it's a lovely song.
3. **Explosions in the Sky, "Have You Passed Through This Night?"**. Post rock, very much in the
vein of "Godspeed You Black Emperor". Not as good as Godspeed, but still pretty good.
4. **New Grange, "Weetabix"**. Very nice bluegrass tune performed by a supergroup of sorts. For the
anniversary of the founding of Compass Records…