Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

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The way my mind works.

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Part 1:

I was getting dressed yesterday, and looked at my “Professional Russian” shirt in the closet. I decided to save that for this week’s SDC, but I found myself struggling to make some sort of “In Soviet Russia, egg rolls you!” joke.

Which got me to thinking: is Yakov Smirnoff still around? And the Japanese fiddle player? Last I heard, Smirnoff had his own place in Branson, but that was years ago.

Answer: Yes, he’s still doing the Branson thing. And so is Shoji Tabuchi.

Not that I’m planning a trip to Branson any time in the near future, but you’ve got to love these guys for being able to keep the roof over their heads.

Part 2:

I’ve had a song intermittently stuck in my head for many, many years now: probably since middle school, though I don’t remember watching the movie there. Something (actually, a whole bunch of things) prompted me to do a Google search yesterday, and, well…I give you one of the great insurrectionist songs of our time.

This, in turn, prompted me to check the Project Appleseed schedule. And it turns out they’re doing shoots in Smithville (only about an hour’s drive from my home) every month through December. I think I can make this work; worst case, school should be wrapped by December.

Posted in Guns, Music | Comments Closed

The single dumbest song ever written.

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Bruce Cockburn’s “If I Had a Rocket Launcher”, which can best be summarized as “I want peace and justice, and I’m willing to blow people up with a rocket launcher to get it.”

So what brings this to mind?

Liberty County investigators have uncovered a treasure trove of stolen items concealed on a wooded lot off U.S. 59 that also contained a marijuana growing operation, a methamphetamine stash and a rocket launcher.

Here’s a (warning! Slideshow!) “gallery” (warning! Slideshow!) of the seized weapons, which include “numerous firearms, including shotguns, semi-automatic shotguns, rifles, handguns and even a rocket launcher.” Oh, my, shotguns and semi-automatic shotguns!

It looks to me like the cops seized a slightly beat up Browning A-5, and I can’t tell for sure what all else. It looks like there’s at least one older double gun in there as well, and maybe one or two revolvers on that pistol rug. (These are, frankly, really crappy photos. Thanks, Chron.)

The photo of the “rocket launcher'” isn’t half-bad, though. Several of the Chron commenters speculate that the “rocket launcher” in question is actually a spent or demilled LAWS launcher, of the sort you can easily find on the surplus market. I don’t have enough experience to be sure about that; if any of my readers know for sure, please leave me a comment or drop me a line.

(Feel free to comment or drop me a line as well if you dispute my “dumbest song ever” statement, but please be prepared to discuss your own personal choice for “dumbest song ever”.)

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Music, Stupid | 4 Comments »

All apologies.

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

I feel bad about this, especially since some folks like South Texas Pistolero apparently think I’m worth reading. (Thank you, sir.) But there’s just not a lot going on right now that’s worth blogging about. I blame the heat. And the vertical integration of the broiler industry.

I guess I could point to yet another reason to carry your damn guns, people!

Or yet another example of the police being indistinguishable from armed thugs.

Or I could put up a nifty photo of myself in one of Sean Sorrentino’s “Project Gunwalker” shirts, which he’s reopened orders for (and which you can now get with a pocket, even) but I haven’t picked up mine from the PO Box yet.

I could also ask what kind of fascist country we’re living in, when a judge expresses doubts about the credibility of an accused murderer.

I suppose I could also ask if it’s actually legal for mariachi bands to collude over the fees they charge; doesn’t that strike folks as being a violation of anti-trust law?

I’ve got a post I’m working on about the egg roll problem, but I’m still doing research on that.

The good news is, we’re only a week away from DEFCON 19, which I do plan on blogging. In that vein, if anyone has recommendations for places to eat in Las Vegas, please drop me an email or leave them in the comments. A trip to Lotus of Siam is required, of course, but I’m looking for something to eat on the other four nights I’ll be there.

Edited to add: Hey, while I’m thinking of it, I do want to point folks to this discussion at Battleswarm. I haven’t had a lot to say about Breivik, mostly because other smarter bloggers are saying it all. But for some reason I’m awfully darn curious about his weaponry; I think maybe because the gun in that photo is so blinged up I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that it’s identical to the ones carried by Food Court Team Six.

Posted in Admin, California Über Alles, Clothing, DEFCON 19, Food, Guns, IANAL, Law, Music, Shirts, Travel | Comments Closed

With apologies to Solomon Linda and The Evening Birds, The Tokens, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

In the App Store,
the Apple App Store,
the Lion ships tonight.

(I actually don’t care that much. I’m planning to wait on Lion.1 at least, maybe Lion.2. But Lawrence and I were chatting earlier today and that riff came to me; it’s the kind of thing you only get to use maybe once in a lifetime.)

(This is kind of interesting. Especially for $5.99. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but I have downloaded it: this BBC documentary sounds like it could be worthwhile. Download link.)

Posted in Apple, Clippings, Music, Wordplay | 2 Comments »

Choctaw bingo.

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Too weird to pass up. On Friday, the Sunset Valley PD arrested a guy on charges of impersonating a police officer. (Sunset Valley is a small municipality on the outskirts of Austin; most of Sunset Valley consists of strip centers and big box stores. Just FYI.)

…31-year-old Crag Redhawk was arrested and charged with two counts of tampering with a government record after police found him to be carrying ticket books from area police and sheriff’s departments.

I really, really want to know where he got those ticket books.

…on Friday afternoon, Sunset Valley police stopped Redhawk in a Crown Victoria sedan with Home Depot-bought stickers on the side that said “Choctaw Police.” Redhawk claimed to be a member of the Choctaw Tribal Police Department, but that agency told the officers they had no record of Redhawk working for them. In addition, the car belonged to the Williamson County sheriff’s office and had a fake inspection sticker.

I also really, really want to know how he came into possession of a car belonging to the Williamson County sheriff’s office. Notice that the list of charges does not, so far, include “car theft” or “possession of a stolen vehicle”.

(I know what you’re thinking: “That might explain where he got the ticket books, too.” Maybe. But the way I read the article, he didn’t just have Williamson County ticket books, but also ones from the Austin Police Department and other local agencies. I don’t think all of those would be in one WCSO car.)

The fake inspection sticker is a nice touch, too. What, he couldn’t swing by one of those 10 minute inspection places? Then again, maybe the WCSO car wouldn’t pass inspection. Perhaps there was a problem with the emissions testing.

I wonder how they know he bought the “Choctaw Police” stickers at Home Depot. Was there a receipt in the car? Heck, I didn’t even know you could get custom stickers for your car done at Home Depot. That gives me a few ideas…

Redhawk was found to be carrying an antique handgun,

I’m wondering about that “antique handgun” as well.

a badge

I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!

and a handcuff case, the affidavit said.

(Subject line hattip: Do you really need one? He cooks that crystal meth because the shine don’t sell. I’m mildly annoyed that you can’t purchase that song as a stand-alone tune on iTunes, and Amazon charges $1.99 for it instead of the usual 99 cents. Then again, it is over eight minutes long, so you’re getting good value for money. And how many songs do you know that give a shout-out to the SKS and Berdan-primed ammo from some East bloc nation?)

Posted in Clippings, Law, Music | 3 Comments »

Obit watch: June 23, 2011.

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Bruce Dinkins, Director of Bands at Bowie High School.

This is somewhat personal, as I have a nephew in the Bowie high school band. I’ll probably be posting some more on this in the future.

Edited to add 6/24: Expanded AAS obit here.

BowieBand.org has details on the funeral service.

Posted in Clippings, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

Coffin’s got the dead guy on the inside.

Friday, June 10th, 2011

There’s just really not a whole lot going on. You good folks are probably as bored and fed up with Shade and Tovo as I am, and most of you probably don’t care that much about fireworks or plumbing.

The NYT does, however, have a short piece on a recent altercation at a chamber music concert in San Francisco.

The musician John Eichenseer, aka JHNO, was performing a piece for viola and electronics, called “Untitled”, when one of the audience members became disruptive. Eventually, JHNO “threw down his instrument and stormed off the stage”, cracking his viola in the process.

It turns out the audience member who disrupted the performance is also a viola player, Bernard M. Zaslav:

…at intermission, Mr. Zaslav remarked that the piece was “a desecration of the viola,” a quotation that was also captured on a video recording.

Later in the article, Mr. Zaslav is quoted as blaming his reaction on literal physical pain the performance caused him, and it is noted that he apologized to JHNO and the concert organizer.

Bonus: Joan Jeanrenaud, formerly of the Kronos Quartet, was there and is quoted relatively extensively.

(Subject line hattip: the old joke about the cello (4th one down) and one of the greatest book titles ever. Yes, I am aware of the differences between the viola and cello, believe it or not, but I wanted to give a shout-out to Keith Snyder, even if I had to stretch a bit.)

Posted in Books, Clippings, Music | Comments Closed

Obit watch: May 6, 2011.

Friday, May 6th, 2011

This one’s going out to Mike the Musicologist: Arthur Laurents.

Posted in Clippings, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: May 3, 2011.

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

So we’ve reached the last TMQ of the interregnum. What pressing questions were you hoping TMQ would answer? “What does Bin Laden’s death mean for U.S./Pakistan relations?” “Trump: serious contender or joke?” Nope…

(more…)

Posted in Clippings, Music, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 26, 2011

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Poly Styrene (birth name Marianne Joan Elliott-Said), singer for the X-Ray Spex, has died.

The LAT “Pop and Hiss” blog has a surprisingly good appreciation of her work, including videos. (However, the video for “Oh Bondage, Up Yours” cuts off the famous opening. Here’s a better version. I will say, though, that I think Randall Roberts is pretty much right on about the song, and about Poly Styrene’s influence on the punk movement.)

Posted in Clippings, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

Fast and bulbous!

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Okay, that title is misleading. The Library of Congress did not pick “Pena” as one of the 25 recordings added to the National Recording Registry this year.

They did, however, pick “The Blimp”.

Here’s a link to the complete list with audio samples.

A few things that jumped out at me:

  • George Crumb’s “Black Angels (Thirteen Images from the Dark Land)”. I haven’t heard this recording; the only one I’m even vaguely familiar with is the Kronos Quartet recording.
  • Steely Dan! Yes!
  • I see that the LoC decided to include a work from Blind Willie Johnson, but has once again neglected the work of the great Delta blues musician Narcoleptic Rutabaga Nixon.
  • The story behind Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville and his recordings is rather interesting.
  • GOPAC strategy and instructional tapes? Oooooookay…

Posted in Geek, Music | Comments Closed

Your Spider-Man update: March 25, 2011.

Friday, March 25th, 2011

The “Geek Chorus” is going bye-bye.

If you’ve been following the show, I’m sure you’re aware of the “Geek Chorus”, described by the NYT as “a group of comic-book devotees who make up the plot of the musical as it unfolds”. But did you know this?

Ms. Taymor said in an interview this winter that the geeks were based on the four original creators of the musical: Herself (whose geek stand-in is named Miss Arrow), U2’s Bono and the Edge (named Jimmy-6 and Grim Hunter in the show), and the playwright Glen Berger, who wrote the script with Ms. Taymor and who is represented by geek Professor Cobwell. The loss of the geeks, in other words, represents a particularly personal excision of Ms. Taymor from the “Spider-Man” canvas.

Mary Sue, call your office, please.

Posted in Clippings, Music, Theatre | Comments Closed

Obit watch: March 22, 2011.

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Blues musician Pinetop Perkins. (NYT.)

Drew Hill, former Houston Oiler.

Posted in Clippings, Music, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Random notes: March 18, 2011.

Friday, March 18th, 2011

Obit watch: Ferlin Husky.

Shocked, shocked I am:

…a department that is severely dysfunctional on every level: one that regularly uses excessive force on civilians, frequently fails to investigate serious crimes and has a deeply inadequate, in many cases nonexistent, system of accountability.

In other news, I have not been able to find a current execution date for Antoinette Frank.

Keeping with our trend this morning of depressing our readers:

One of the largest private organizations in the world dedicated to caring for former racehorses has been so slow or delinquent in paying for the upkeep of the more than 1,000 horses under its care that scores have wound up starved and neglected, some fatally, according to interviews and inspection reports.

Here is the Charity Navigator page for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. Note the rating.

Gonzaga!

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Horses, Law, Music, Obits, Sports | 1 Comment »

How do you kill a ZunePony?

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

I had not originally planned to comment on this story, figuring that I would leave it up to Mr. ZunePony himself.

However, I was just mucking out the Akismet spam filter, and got to wondering; does this mean an end to the endless Zune/iPod comparison spam? Those of you with WordPress blogs and Akismet know what I’m talking about.

(ZunePony explained here.)

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Music | Comments Closed

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