music&politics

RIP Skip Caray

2008-08-04T08:55:00.002-05:00

I saddened to learn of the death of Skip Caray, a man whose voice I've heard literally my whole life. Growing up in Georgia with a sports-nut dad meant near constant exposure to Atlanta Braves broadcasts, on TV and the radio. Mr. Caray was just another member of the household, holding forth in the next room, giving shout-outs to whomever was visiting the ballpark that day - scout troops, church groups, couples having anniversaries. I can remember hearing him call games on the AM band while I was huddled in the back seat of the family car, coming home from somewhere late at night, his commentary occasionally interrupted by bursts of static - lightning somewhere far away in the night.

MLB video here.

This pepper is angry

2008-07-31T11:19:00.002-05:00

He looks just like my nephew.

VW 1-Litre concept going into production

2008-07-05T10:34:00.002-05:00

One good consequence of $4.00+ gas is the development of vehicles like this. This sweet little commuter missile gets 235 mpg! I drive the highways of Atlanta every day (in a Toyota Yaris, averaging 37 mpg), and mostly what I see is people in giant cars by themsleves. Little two-seaters like this just make more a more sense. I thought they made sense at $1.50 a gallon, but then I'm a dirty hippie.

Jesus for President

2008-06-30T16:54:00.001-05:00

From the article:

The bus runs on vegetable oil and, yes, it's a political statement.

"It'll be a long time before we fight a war over used veggie oil," says Claiborne with a sly smile.

Amen, brother.

John Cage's 4'33" arranged for orchestra

2008-06-29T19:30:00.000-05:00

I think you're crazy

2008-06-21T10:27:00.002-05:00

The amazing and powerful Violent Femmes (I still find myself singing "Old Mother Reagan" all the time) have put up some kind of nutty MySpace profile to promote a blue vinyl record; therein you will find a blisteringly transcendent version of Gnarls Barkley's instant classic "Crazy." Pre-order to get in on that ground floor, glitches!

busy = yay!

2008-06-20T08:16:00.002-05:00

Too busy to keep up with this thing. Way too. Working on coming around and complaining about the cartels that keep us down. Just not right now.

OH YEAH - and they think they've found ice on Mars.

Come Out

2008-06-14T21:53:00.001-05:00

Sunrise on Mars

2008-06-04T07:34:00.003-05:00

Middle America

2008-06-02T07:31:00.002-05:00

Somebody has to tell me what up with Chocolate Genius

2008-05-30T22:18:00.003-05:00

It's been too long, my man. I was rocking Black Yankee Rock in my car today, all loud with the windows down, trying to invoke the spirits. And your website hasn't been updated in two years!

Belief-O-Matic

2008-05-30T11:32:00.003-05:00

According to this online quiz, my beliefs most closely match those of Liberal Quakers, with several forms of Buddhism bringing up the rear, I guess because mostly people should be cool with each other and that having stuff (of which I have a lot, and am always trying to figure out how to get rid of) is kinda bad for you.

McClellan "intrigued" by Obama

2008-05-30T10:28:00.002-05:00

Hey look - a political post!

What with all the recent sex scandals and donut dust-ups, there's been plenty to go on about, but I just haven't been able to muster the energy to write about stuff, especially seeing as how the world is going to end and there's nothing we can do it about.

Anyway - I saw this item about Scotty Mac and his man-crush on Obama, and I've been sort of tracking reaction to his new book, wherein he belatedly critiques the old company he used to work for (you know, that little Haliburton-BushCo joint venture up in DC), and I'm thinking, you know what? Too little, too late, Fat Head. You want to atone, to make nice? Here's an idea:

Take the money you make off this book, buy a Greyhound pass, and go across the USA visiting every family who's lost someone in this godforsaken Iraq fiasco, and look them all straight in the face and tell them you're sorry. Apologize to them for helping sell this steaming pile to the American people, to the press, to us. You were the Wilford Brimley of Gulf War 2.0; you played a doctor on TeeVee. Smoking gun mushroom cloud yellow cake bullshit. You stood up in front of the press every day and did your little song and dance, and demeaned Richard Clarke for doing what you have now done, and helped sell out Valerie Plame, and ran interference for Karl Rove (you were Bandit to his Snowman).

Yeah, that was you. Own that.

Sickest dancer ever of all time

2008-05-23T14:35:00.002-05:00

My secret summer crush is Fox's So You Think You Can Dance - this dude blew the roof off last night's audition show. I honestly don't know how far he can go in the show, but it doesn't matter. He's the all-time champ right NOW.

All your gas are belong to Geo

2008-05-20T17:26:00.002-05:00

Apparently, people are starting to figure out that driving around by themselves in giant vehicles is counterproductive. The solution? Say hello, again, to the Geo Metro - the diminutive three-banger that gets 40 mpg and can park sideways in your mailbox.

Me? I just picked up a Toyota Yaris - a Euro-cute four-cylinder with all the bells and whistles one can fit into a gas-powered baby carriage. It gets about 40 mpg, the stereo is tuned such that Autechre sounds wicked good, and it can park sideway in my mailbox.

Belated RIP to Mr. Rauschenberg

2008-05-18T16:35:00.002-05:00

NIN remix files are up

2008-05-05T20:42:00.003-05:00

Aching to get your post-industrial metal remix on? Follow the link above and grab the new NIN record The Slip in handy multitrack formats for GarageBand, Ableton Live, and good ol' raw audio files (I'm getting those now via torrent for the track "1,000,000" so's I can get all Pro Tools on it). And the record's pretty good, by the way. Oh, yeah - that's Belew over there working on some Nin-age.

the show

2008-05-05T06:48:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you just have to take a moment, sit back, and watch the show.

Down with P[eggy]

2008-05-03T12:10:00.001-05:00

Peggy Noonan has some interesting commentary on the ongoing fascination with Jeremiah Wright, and what it all means for Senator Obama.

So you wanna be a rock-n-roll star?

2008-05-02T06:35:00.001-05:00

This is what you're up against!

Ben Allison - Little Things Run the World

2008-04-27T00:03:00.002-05:00

Up late taking a break from a marathon Reason programming session, digging on the latest Ben Allison joint, Little Things Run the World. I heard a piece on him on NPR a while back, and had to order the record as soon as I got home. He's a bass player-cum-band leader, and his compositional and arrangement skills are mad, to say the least. The first track, "Respiration," features some deliciously skanky guitar by Steve Cardenas that brings to mind Nels Cline or Marc Ribot. The band as a whole works together to create propulsive grooves with complex tonal colors and plenty of room in the middle for stuff to rattle around in. This is not sloppy jam-band rock "jazz," but serious composition executed by sho-nuff players.

Check him out.

Controlling Ableton Live from an iPhone

2008-04-24T16:20:00.001-05:00

Not quite my dream of a cellphone beatbox, but still pretty sweet.

Shameless self-promotion

2008-04-18T09:01:00.003-05:00

I've been playing around over at RedBubble of late; it's a great way for artists and designers to move from bits to atoms with virtually no risk or upfront costs. You can upload designs for t-shirts, wall art, greeting cards, and so on, or you can just hang out and look at art by talented people.

I'm testing the waters with a couple of t-shirt designs. Go by one and validate me.

Wear one of these shirts and take a little tay0 wherever you roam.

Yahoo's new media player thing is teh r0x0r5z

2008-04-11T22:06:00.003-05:00

Forget where I stumbled across this thing, but it's pretty slick. Pretty much, you post some links, and then point to their script, and you're done. I'm playing with it here. Click on the Play button beside any of the song titles at the bottom to launch it.

Dude...

2008-04-10T11:29:00.000-05:00

[Via Gorilla vs. Bear]