Government blues

Was going to go downtown to take pictures this morning, stopped to see if there was anything interesting going on...turns out there is:

The mission of the New York State Rhythm & Blues Festival, Inc. is to preserve, protect and promote blues music and culture. This is achieved through education in school programs, community events, and workshops, culminating with the production of an outdoor festival uniting our diverse citizenry in a celebration of American blues-based music. The Syracuse, New York based festival entertains while educating on the role of the blues in the development of popular music in the United States and around the world.

Can't just "play some kickass music and have a good time downtown"--have to "educate" "diverse citizenry" blah blah buzzword gimme a grant!

(I'm also cranky I missed the craft beer festival last night, 'cause I didn't know about it--but that's probably just as well because I don't have my designated driver out here this weekend.)

"When the Left asks for a classless society, now I know what they mean."*

Jay Nordlinger chronicles some abuses of non-political public occasions. The last one on the third page is especially horrendous.

I'd like to thank the MSO for not doing this Friday night. There were no words spoken at all from the stage--they just came out and played the music. And the pre-performance educational talk (which I really appreciate, since I know so little about classical music) was all about the pieces being performed. The composers, the soloist, how the conductor chose to follow the tempo markings in the original manuscript instead of slowing it down like most 21st-century conductors do.

I also love that I wasn't the only woman wearing heavy warm winter boots with dress pants. ;) How many cities in the world will let women wear weather-appropriate footwear to high-culture events with nary a eye-rolling?

* It's a pun. We all know damn well they want a two-class society: Their in-crowd of wealthy "educated" true-believers, and everyone else to do the work.

Happy Half-Price Candy Day Eve!

Oingo Boingo: "Dead Man's Party"
Mashed up with some Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride.

How can anyone write this without laughing their ass off!?!

"the nonpartisan group Hip-Hop Caucus" Yeah, right.

Apparently in Georgia convicted felons can vote before they finish serving their sentence, if they vote before they start serving their sentence.

Semi-related, Bono needs to get over himself.

It's all about the Washingtons

Music for pressing the same button over and over and over and over for *12* hours two day in a row

I could have married my cousin or had four kids by five guys by the time I was 23, but no...I went to engineering school. Stupid!!!

On with the music:

Metallica - Hero of the Day

Excellent song. Incredibly stupid video.



Weezer - Beverly Hills

You can make a lot of money playing just three chords.



A Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song

No video here, just the music. Beautiful New Wave song.



Political blogging suspended temporarily, until I stop wanting to slit my wrists just so I never have to see a computer screen ever again. Although I'm definitely tuning into Hillary's big speech next Tuesday with a bucket of chicken wings and a six-pack of Spotted Cow. *grin* Muahahahahahaha.

Music for pressing the same button over and over and over and over for eight hours

Johnny Cash - "Folsom Prison Blues"


Dire Straits - "Walk of Life"


Ozzy Osbourne - "See You on the Other Side"

More music for pressing the same button over and over and over and over for eight hours

Don Henley - "Boys of Summer"



The Ataris - "Boys of Summer"



The Bangles - "Hazy Shade of Winter"




I hate summer.

Music for pressing the same button over and over and over and over for eight hours

PM Dawn - "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss"



Smashing Pumpkins - "Perfect"*




Traveling Wilburys - "Handle With Care"



*Billy Corgan: "Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins."
Homer Simpson: [shakes hands] "Homer Simpson, smiling politely."

The Planets

Went to the Milwaukee Symphany Orchestra again tonight, for Holst's The Planets. I think John Williams borrowed bits from the movements for "Mars", "Venus", and "Uranus", and the first cello made sure to point out in his remarks that Star Trek stole from "Jupiter" for. In none of the commentary about the music did they mention that Holst grew to hate the suite over time...

The projection of NASA footage of the planets was a little distracting and the sequences they used had been put together in 1996, so they were...not exactly out-of-date, since Jupiter hasn't changed much, but a little stale. Plus, the music was written during WWI, and was less about astronomy than astrology.

Fun, though, and the music was very enjoyable. The female chorus in "Neptune" was suitably otherworldly. There are three more performances this weekend.

Here's a YouTube mashup of Mars Rover footage with Holst's Mars:


(Unintentional comedy at the cocktail reception before the show; my German teacher is in the chorus and when I met her there she introduced me to people as "my German student" which prompted them all to ask which part of Germany I was from. Uh, ich wohne auf Milwaukee.)

Music for pressing the same button over and over and over and over for eight hours

Foo Fighters, "Best of You." Embedding disabled by request (*scoff*). And neither Prince nor the NFL will make available to me a copy of His Petite Purpleness covering the song in the orange rain of Super Bowl XLI. Fools! I would have given you money!!

New Order, "Regret":



The Highwaymen, "Highwayman":



On the "related" sidebar of the Highwayman video are additional clips of the foursome covering assorted signature songs. I know what I'm doing tonight.

Speaking of incadescent light bulbs

I went to the MSO last night and the Marcus Center is decorated with about a million of 'em. The CFL bulbs just won't look right, not to mention the public health hazard of uncovered mercury bulbs out in the open along the corridors. Damn shame about the ban, because it's a very nice-looking facility. Until 2012.

I'd like to think I support arts/music, but this was my first symphony (there may have been a field trip in middle school, but that doesn't count). Meine Deutschlererin (German teacher) is in the MSO Chorus and hooked me up with a reduced-rate ticket. I'll try almost anything once. Last night was Verdi's Requiem, kind of an operatic funeral mass.

It was a really enjoyable evening. There's no dress code, but the website suggested business casual; I probably should have worn women's shoes (when there's snow on the sidewalks fashion stops at the knees...) but otherwise I don't think I stood out in black pants and a sweater. The staff were very friendly and helpful.

An hour before the performance, one of the choral directors gave a little talk about the history of the piece, and pointed out some things to listen for, which was very helpful.

And the performance was beautiful. The mezzo-soprano's voice was amazing (both the female soloists were large women in beautiful, beautiful dresses). I think I'd heard the trumpet antiphon before--possibly at an Easter service at Valpo--so I got a little sidetracked trying to figure that out. Even though it was in Italian, I was able to follow along in the program, which pleased me.

The music was gorgeous, just gorgeous. It's cliche to say I was moved to tears, but it was a funeral mass, and coincidentally I'd been a little bummed all day by the anniversary of my grandmother's death. But the director said in his pre-performance talk, "if this doesn't make you shiver, have your heart checked."

So. Very enjoyable evening, and I will do it again sometime. Besides the amazingness of the music, I was very impressed by how the organization made it very easy for this white-trash hayseed to access the performance, both physically and intellectually. I don't know enough to evaluate the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra musically, but their willingness to reach out and gently educate people who aren't stereotypical "symphony patrons" is first-rate.

(Note to self: learn to write artistic criticism more interesting that using the word "beautiful" over and over.)

Cranky Monday

I love snow, but this "high of 0" garbage can stop now. There's ice on the inside of my windows. Plus, I slept on my neck funny and spent the last three hours of the night having a dream about standing in lines at the airport trying to change a ticket for a 2 a.m. flight, then standing in lines at the DMV trying to get a Mississippi driver's license because the airport wouldn't take the one I have, then standing in line back at the airport, over and over and over...insane.

• Someone's still overrated (and it ain't Favre).
• ..."ignoring everything that plausibly could be seen as a beacon of the music industry's future." They say that like it's a bad thing. The industry sucks, and the new "artists" being promoted by said industry are just...ugh. The only young "artist" mentioned in that whole article who doesn't make my ears bleed is Alicia Keys. They don't make music, they sell sex. (The only part of the Grammys I watched, after getting a text message about it, was Herbie Hancock and the kid with the head-in-a-blender hair fronting an orchestra playing some Gershwin. It was nice. Next up was "Best Crap Album" so I turned it back off.)
• "In one of the evening's most awkward moments, comedian George Lopez introduced Brad Paisley with a clumsy joke about protecting Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton from assassination." George--they didn't cancel your show because you're brown, they canceled it because you're NOT FUNNY. I wonder if HRC will sic the IRS on him...
  
• Future of the Western World to be decided by crooks and children. (I know, that ain't news).
• Obamarama ruined my "no politics Sunday" with his !*%(&~#(% TV ad. "End the War!" How about "WIN the war"?? "Save the planet!" From what? The planet was here several billion years before the DNC was founded and the planet will be here several billion years after the DNC forces us all back into a pre-industrial age. "Create jobs!" What kind of jobs? How? And how do you square "we need more jobs" with "we don't have enough Americans to do the work, so we need more uneducated masses from South America!" Maybe they can carry the litters of their political betters when cars are outlawed to save the planet, who knows. Who cares? No one loves Obama for his ideas.
  
• Colts in the Hall of Fame Bowl. 176 days until football starts again. If anybody needs me, I'll be hibernating.
  

More stuff I don't understand.

Randy Rhoads was a genius, didn't use drugs, was going to go back to school (to get a degree in classical guitar), and died in the stupidest dumbass stunt ever.

Ozzy Osbourne...middling talent, drunk/high/stoned almost continuously for forty years (fifty years?), annoying, vulgar, and still with us.

If I could ask God two questions, that would be the second.

Music for pressing the same button over and over for eight hours

The Polecats:


His Royal Weirdness (with special guest):



The Bobs. Sadly, not available on YouTube.

Vote for me and I'll set you free

Hey hey!

Love & Rockets:


The Temptations have better outfits, but they're harder to dance to:



I've been hearing the L&R version in heavy rotation on Sirius (Bauhaus has a new album coming out) and it sticks in my head, but the anti-Reagan bit confuses me. "Vote for me and I'll set you free"--that's Hillary, promising to give you everything you didn't know you needed so you never have to be responsible for your own well-being ever again. Wikipedia says it was originally written so as not to offend conservative fans of The Temptations. Hrm.

Still scarily relevant. And the band plays on.