music
terrasig | August 6, 2006My dear techie peeps, for those of you Windows folks, what CD ripping software do you use to put stuff on your iPod and why?
I've got a ton of CDs I have yet to rip and wanted advice before I get started.
One is always tempted to use the .wma default application, but I've tended to like .mp3 apps better like CDex or MM Jukebox.
What say you?
oracknows | August 6, 2006
Yet another music pioneer from the 1960's has passed away. This time, it's Arthur Lee, who died of leukemia at age 61.
Arthur Lee was the leader of Love, one of the most prominent L.A. bands during the height of the psychedelic era in the 1960's and one of my favorite bands of all time. Although Love was little known to the public outside of southern California, only released three albums, and rarely toured, its influence on rock was huge. Lee was also an unusual character and liked to say that he was the "first black hippie" (Love was one of the very first multiracial rock bands), and in…
terrasig | August 3, 2006Thanks to all for coming over and sharing your MTV memories earlier this week. Our SciBling editor and cat-herder, Katherine, came across with a very vivid list of great memories and Orac was able to bitch about being ever so slightly older than me. Then, Karmen surprised me by intimating that cable TV actually existed in Colorado in 1981, at least at her Grandma's house.
I said I was going to tell you some of my general recollections of MTV, but I have very specific memories of this very week 25 years ago thanks to my personal archivist, number one fan, and all-around keeper of my life…
terrasig | August 1, 2006While I'm procrastinating on a really important herbal medicine post and this other thing they call a 'day job,' I just learned via my bud at the New York Daily News, Michael Huff, that today is the 25th anniversary of the launch of MTV, the pioneering US music program on cable television.
There are few things other than their own work or general research discipline that I find scientists and docs discuss more passionately than music. Hence, I'd ask y'all to share with me your favorite MTV memories.
Pretty much everyone knows that the first video to air on 1 Aug 1981 was "Video Killed the…
oracknows | July 29, 2006You know, although I'm not exactly a huge fan of it, I have sometimes in the past liked to listen to a little dose (but just a little) dose of death metal. Sometimes I'm just in the mood for some over-the-top growled lyrics of death, doom, violence, and destruction shrieked over a churning demonic-sounding metal roar. Sometimes, though, it's a bit too harsh, even for me. Apparently I'm not alone. See what happens when a Cannibal Corpse song is "reimagined" as a lounge song:
I have to admit that Cannibal Corpse was a bit too much, even for me, even back in the day.
oracknows | July 16, 2006Four words: David Hasselhoff music video.
Oh, the pain, the pain.
Of course, even Hassel the Hoff may not be able to "top" this YouTube video from hell:
oracknows | July 15, 2006Last weekend, I posted a YouTube video of William Shatner singing Elton John's Rocket Man in his--shall we say?--unique fashion. A fellow ScienceBlogger commented and asked if there was a video of Shatner singing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I'm not sure that this quite qualifies as what he had in mind, but it's the best (if you could call it that) I could come up with...
LIke, wow, man.
terrasig | July 11, 2006Sorry, gang, but this is just more journal than blog - and yet another emphatic and blathering reason of why I love this town.
Had a lovely hike yesterday with PharmGirl and PharmPreSchooler to the Grottos just outside of Aspen proper, an amazing series of igneous rocks and ice caves at the base of Independence Pass. PharmMom now forbids posting pictures of her beautiful granddaughter on these here internets, so here's an inanimate shot that still doesn't do justice to the view:
Then, had a lovely lunch with a dear friend in Explorer Bookstore and Bistro, an idyllic setting in an old…
oracknows | July 8, 2006No further explanation needed about this clip from 1978. Bow down and worship at the feet of the Shat! He even forms his own trinity!
goodmath | July 7, 2006It's friday again, so it's time for a random ten. So out comes my iPod, and the results are:
1. **Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, "Latitude"**: mediocre tune off of the latest Flecktones album. This album was a 3-CD set. Unfortunately, it really should have been a single CD; they just didn't bother to separate the good stuff from the not-so-good stuff. Very disappointing - they're an amazing group of guys (well, except for Jeff...), and this just isn't up to the quality they should be able to produce.
2. **Marillion, "Man of a Thousand Faces"**: a really fantastic Marillion tune. It ends with…
terrasig | June 29, 2006You really didn't want to work today, especially in the States where we're heading into the 4th of July holiday weekend. So, thanks to Julie Meloni at No Fancy Name, I'm blowing off stuff today to re-live memories of grad school through 1980s music videos. I still remember the mad rush to finish experiments to get home by 11 pm on Sunday nights to catch MTV's 120 Minutes.
Here are a few of my favorites:
1. For old rocker farts like me and Rob Helpy-Chalk who struggle to find kiddie music that we can listen to a hundred times and have been rescued by Dan Zanes, here's The Del Fuegos, Dan's…
goodmath | June 16, 2006 The Stills, "In the Beginning". I accidentally downloaded this from Salon this morning. I know absolutely nothing about the band.
Planet X, "Digital Vertigo". PlanetX is quite a strange group. All instrumental, something like a cross between bebop and heavy metal. Great group, highly recommended.
Darol Anger and the Republic of Strings, "Ouditarus Rez". Darol is one of my favorite musicians. He's a violinist who at different times has played everything from classical to jazz to bluegrass to rock; he's performed with everyone from Emmylou Harris to Bela Fleck to Joshua Bell. The Republic of…
mikethemadbiologist | June 12, 2006The best description of Joan Jett ever penned (and from the very uncool NY Times no less):
In the 1980's, when she ruled Top 40 radio, Joan Jett was the perfect embodiment of rock's primal qualities. She was young, cocky, sexy, rebellious and knew how to rock a pair of leather pants.
(Rahav Segev for The New York Times)
Somehow she just doesn't seem pathetic like so many of the other aging rockers do. I had free tickets to go see Bow Wow Wow a couple of years ago, and the lead singer, who used to be in that 'sensual' rock star class, was...erm. Well, let's just say I expected her minivan…
oracknows | June 10, 2006I'm probably going to catch some crap for this one, but it's kind of amusing. So what the heck? From Australia:
Officials think the "Mandy" singer's music will keep teens from hanging out and revving their engines in parking lots.
Officials in Rockdale, Australia will pump the music of Barry Manilow through speakers in their town to keep hooligan kids from loitering and revving their car engines in neighborhood parking lots. They hope that the "daggy" (slang for unhip) music will send kids fleeing. "Based on reports...daggy music is one way to make the hoons leave an area because they can't…
goodmath | June 9, 2006What kind of music does a math geek listen to?
Capercaille: Who will raise their voice?. Traditional celtic folk music. Very beautiful song.
Seamus Egan: Weep Not for the Memories. Mostly traditional Irish music, by a bizzarely talented multi-instrumentalist. Seamus Egan is one of the best Irish flutists in the world; but he also manages to play great tenor banjo, tenor guitar, six-string guitar, electric guitar, bohran, and keyboards.
Gentle Giant: Experience. Gentle Giant is 70s progressive stuff, with heavy influence from early madrigal singing. Wierd, but incredibly cool.
Tony…
oracknows | May 23, 2006Here's the reason why: An atrocity is unleashed today.
The Chairman is rolling over in his grave. Hell, he's probably doing backflips. I'm guessing that they're lowering the flags to half mast in Hoboken as we speak.
oracknows | April 29, 2006When the test fits my interests, I cannot resist a fellow ScienceBlogger (although I did manage to resist this particular meme that's been spreading through our little community). Like a lemming, compelled by Grrlscientist, I answer:
Your Theme Song is Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd
"There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves."
You haven't been feeling a lot lately, and you think that's a good thing.
The comfortable part is nice... but you should really work on numb.
What's Your Theme Song?
A little bit scary, actually,…
oracknows | April 28, 2006Here's something I haven't done in quite a while: The Friday Random Top Ten. So, let's fire up iTunes, set it to "shuffle play" and see what comes up, shall we?
Here we go:
The Kinks, Going Solo (from: Word of Mouth).
David Bowie, White Light/White Heat (from: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: July 3, 1973, Hammersmith Odeon).
Alice Cooper, Elected (from: Billion Dollar Babies).
Dire Straits, Industrial Disease (from: Love Over Gold)
Frank Sinatra, London By Night (from: The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943-1952).
Morrissey, I'll Never Be Anyone's Hero Now (from: Ringleader of the…
oracknows | April 24, 2006This time, as part of their campaign of intimidation, they're suing a family that doesn't even own a computer:
A Rockmart family is being sued for illegal music file sharing, despite the fact that they don't even own a computer.
A federal lawsuit filed this week in Rome by the Recording Industry Association of America alleges that Carma Walls, of 117 Morgan St., Rockmart, has infringed on copyrights for recorded music by sharing files over the Internet. The lawsuit seeks an injunction and requests unspecified monetary damages.
The lawsuit states, "Plaintiffs are informed and believe that…
oracknows | April 21, 2006Well, well, well. The blogging this week has been mostly serious and dense, with discussions of Hitler's mother's breast cancer and two rather long posts about medicine and evolution. I don't know why, but I got a little carried away. In any case, it's Friday, and it's time for lighter fare. And, given my huge CD collection and love of music, what better topic than music?
Q Magazine has released a list of the 50 Worst Albums Ever. Naturally, I had to see if any albums I own are on the list, which is as follows (found via D-Listed):
1. Duran Duran - Thank You
2. Spice Girls - All Their Solo…