Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

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Pullet surprise.

Monday, April 12th, 2010

The 2010 Pulitzer Prizes were announced today. Jimbo has a good list, with links.

I’m not as obsessed with the Pulitzers as I was in a past life, but I do want to single out two from this year that I think are particularly noteworthy.

The Pulitzer board, in their infinite wisdom, decided to give a special citation to Hank Williams

for his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.

Now, I like Hank, and I can’t argue too much with this decision. But to steal a line from Lawrence, “Fat lot of good that does him now.”

The other prize I think is noteworthy is Gene Weingarten’s prize in the Feature Writing category. I have a complicated relationship with Weingarten and his writing. He’s sort of the WP answer to Dave Barry, the go-to guy for funny skewed humor (Barry and Weingarten are close friends). I used to read him pretty regularly, until he made a statement in one of his online chats that I found completely stupid and unforgivable. After that, I tried to quit him cold turkey.

The problem is, Weingarten isn’t just a funny humor guy. Sometimes, he writes stuff that tears your heart out. In 2008, he won the Pulitzer for a story in which he had the great classical violinist Josh Bell play in a subway station, and wrote about the reactions of commuters. That’s not even one of his best works. In 2005, he talked the WP into sending him and a photographer to the small Alaskan village of Savoonga, which is about as far away from everything as you can get. Weingarten figured he’d get a funny cover story out of the deal. What he got was a cover story; a sad and heartbreaking cover story about a remote community that turns out beautiful works of art, and that’s being devastated by alcohol.

The story he won for this year is just as good, and even more devastating; a piece about the grief and agony of parents who accidentally leave their kids in cars. It raises fundamental questions about what justice means in cases like this, and how these incidents might be prevented. Weingarten’s story represents journalism at its best.

Also, Sheri Fink’s story about one hospital during Katrina (which I noted back in September) shared a Pulitzer for investigative reporting with the Philadelphia Daily News. Interestingly, Fink’s story was moved out of the feature writing category into investigative reporting by the board.

Edited to add: The Reason “Hit and Run” discussion of Mark Fiore’s Pulitzer for editorial cartooning is amusing to follow.

Um, seriously, this guy got a Pulitzer and Homestar Runner didn’t?

Edited to add 2: Weingarten’s post-win chat session on the WP website. Radley Balko approves.

Posted in Clippings, Media, Music | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: March 23, 2010.

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Wolfgang Wagner, former director of the Bayreuth Music Festival, and grandson of Richard Wagner. The NYT obit gives a good overview of the bizarre world of Bayreuth:

In 2008, Bayreuth announced the appointment of Eva and Katharina — half-sisters more than three decades apart in age — as the festival’s co-directors. In keeping with longstanding family tradition, they had not spoken to each other in many years.

Also among the dead: Robert M. White, former X-15 pilot:

On July 17, 1962, he flew the rocket-powered X-15 plane to an altitude of 314,750 feet, or 59.6 miles, almost 10 miles above Earth’s atmosphere.

(Edited to add 2: Better obit from the LAT.)

Edited to add: Sort of an obit, anyway: The Hump, aka “that place that served whale sushi“, closed on Saturday. Their website makes this sound like something they did voluntarily; I am not convinced of this. The Hump was a tenant at Santa Monica Airport, which is owned by the city. The city was apparently looking into pulling The Hump’s lease. Plus there’s the whole thing about the fine for violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the possible prison time. Plus there’s the whole question of whether people want to eat at a place that buys meat from a Mercedes parked behind the restaurant, instead of a legitimate restaurant supply house. (Hattip: LA Observed.)

Posted in Clippings, Food, Music, Obits, Planes | Comments Closed

Random notes, special legal edition: March 19, 2010.

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Thomas Hagan has been paroled.

“Who?” Mr. Hagan, aka Talmadge X. Hayer, was the only man to confess to the killing of Malcolm X.

Two other men, Muhammad Abdul Aziz (then known as Norman 3X Butler) and Kahlil Islam (then Thomas 15X Johnson), were also charged with the murder. They maintained their innocence. Mr. Hagan did not, testifying at his trial in 1966 that he was responsible for the murder and that his co-defendants were innocent.

All three men were sentenced to 20 years to life.

I’m kind of boggled by the detail that Mr. Hagan has been on work release for 20 years.

In other news, a Federal court has ruled that the estate of Anna Nicole Smith is not entitled to any of the estate of her late husband, J. Howard Marshall II. I’m not clear if the Smith estate has any options at this point; since this appears to have been a panel of the 9th Circuit, can the estate appeal to the full 9th Circuit?

In other other news, accused child killer Casey Anthony has been declared indigent and will get public funds to pay for a defense lawyer.

In other other other news, accused child killer Casey Anthony got $200,000 from ABC News for old photos and home movies. (By way of Jimbo.) $200,000? Seriously, ABC?

Edited to add: Two more stories that came up over dinner tonight.

Lady Gaga’s ex-boyfriend/ex-producer is suing her for $30 million.

Texas A&M student was allegedly driving while texting. Texas A&M student allegedly crossed the center line and hit another car head-on, killing that car’s driver. Texas A&M student ordered to pay $22 million.

Not that I’m in favor of texting while driving, and not that I’m opposed to punishment, but when does punishment cross the line into excess? And, as Lawrence points out, if you’ve got a $22 million judgment against you, Costa Rica or Nicaragua are very nice this time of year.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Media, Music | Comments Closed

Random notes: March 1, 2010.

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Obit watch: John Reed, of the D’Oly Carte Opera Company.

…for a generation of fans, Mr. Reed was the memorable embodiment of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “little man” roles, among them John Wellington Wells, the title character of “The Sorcerer”; Major-General Stanley, the very model of et cetera from “The Pirates of Penzance”; Ko-Ko, the nebbish turned lord high executioner in “The Mikado,” a part he also played in the 1967 film version.

The LAT magazine profiles the man who brought Tiki to America: Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt. Mr. Gantt is perhaps better known by the name he acquired later in life: Donn E.R. Beachcomber.

Edited to add: I intended to blog this on Friday, but didn’t have anything to put with it, and it slipped my mind when I was preparing these notes: David Parker’s eulogy for his father, Robert B. Parker.

My father, at that moment in a cut-off sweatshirt covered with muffin crumbs, bacon grease, Flintstones Jelly and beer stains replied without dropping a beat–“Yeah, I’d like to see something by Twyla Tharp, I understand she’s quite innovative”.

(Hattip: Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.)

ETA2: Also forgot to blog the most recent entry in Derek Lowe’s “Things I Won’t Work With” series: dioxygen diflouride (also known as FOOF).

The paper goes on to react FOOF with everything else you wouldn’t react it with: ammonia (“vigorous”, this at 100K), water ice (explosion, natch), chlorine (“violent explosion”, so he added it more slowly the second time), red phosphorus (not good), bromine fluoride, chlorine trifluoride (say what?), perchloryl fluoride (!), tetrafluorohydrazine (how on Earth. . .), and on, and on. If the paper weren’t laid out in complete grammatical sentences and published in JACS, you’d swear it was the work of a violent lunatic.

Also recommended: the “How Not To Do It” archives. Especially the story of the liquid nitrogen tank at Texas A&M.

Both the pressure relief and rupture disks had failed for some reason in the past, so they’d been removed and sealed off with metal plugs. You may commence shivering now.

Posted in Clippings, Explosives, Geek, Mixology, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

It’s a long way to the top if you wanna polka.

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m a libertarian  (well, 99 44/100ths percent libertarian). For that reason, I fully support the arrest and prosecution of people who make polka videos; I believe the production of said videos violates the non-aggression axiom, much like the production of bagpipe recordings.

(Hattip: Balko.)

Posted in Clippings, Law, Music, Sarcasm | Comments Closed

Random notes: February 15, 2010.

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Longer NYT obit for Dick Francis, as promised.

Also among the dead: Doug Fieger, lead singer for The Knack and co-author of “My Sharona“.

By way of Lawrence, we note this LAT article about a new collection of work by St. Clair McKelway, longtime New Yorker writer.

For 37 years, McKelway was one of the New Yorker’s most prolific and inventive nonfiction writers. In his time, he was regarded as a master of the long-form profile, a superior chronicler of rapscallions and low-rent hustlers. Indeed, when he was on his game, McKelway might have been the best nonfiction writer the magazine had — this at a time when Liebling, Mitchell and E.J. Kahn Jr. were also producing signature work.

Yes, I will be purchasing this.

What are the costs of green energy?

A plan to boost Austin’s reliance on renewable energy would make it one of the nation’s greenest cities. That stature, however, comes at a cost: Bills would increase an estimated 20 percent over the next decade.

Edited to add: Today’s update from the Department of WTF: A French judge has issued an arrest warrant for Floyd Landis. Apparently, the judge wants to question him about an alleged computer hacking incident.

Today’s update from the Department of WTF, part 2: Dave Eggers can’t understand why Gourmet was shut down.

“It’s impossible” that Gourmet magazine wasn’t profitable, Eggers said, referring to the popular magazine Conde Nast shut down last year.  “It’s impossible that you have a million subscribers paying 50 bucks a year and it can’t work.”

$50 a year? No, Dave. $15 a year is more like it. I think I paid $12 for a year when I subscribed.

Nets watch: At the All-Star break, the Nets are 4-48, for an 0.077 percentage. For the 82 game season, that works out to a projected 6.314 wins.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Law, Loser, Media, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

The Live Music Capital of the World.

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Why, look! The NYT has swept in to take notice of the Cactus Cafe controversy!

Reference to “Live Music Capital”?

AUSTIN, Tex. — The closing of storied music sites, often accompanied by protest, fund-raising and other exercises in futility, has become a recurring spectacle in this growing city, where the official stationery carries the legend “Live Music Capital of the World.”

Check.

Reference to the Californication of Austin?

People tend to blame the latest influx of Californians, reliably traced to the latest technology boom associated with the University of Texas. The dropout who started Dell Computer in his dorm room did not personally tear down the Liberty Lunch club, but the general implication abides.

Check. (And the people who tore down Liberty Lunch were the Austin City Council.)

Reference to the Armadillo World Headquarters?

Any respectable accounting of lost and lamented music sites opens with the Armadillo World Headquarters, the onetime armory that hosted concerts by The Clash, Willie Nelson and the Vans — Halen and Morrison — in the 1970s. Since the Armadillo closed in 1980, the Austin metropolitan area has grown to a projected population this year of 1.7 million, from about 846,000, gaining plenty of new clubs while losing such beloved haunts as the Black Cat Lounge, the Electric Lounge, The Back Room, Steamboat and (temporarily) the Hole in the Wall.

Check. And bingo!

Posted in Clippings, Media, Music | Comments Closed

Random notes: February 4th, 2010.

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

The Columbus Blue Jackets (that’s the NHL, for all you non-hockey fans out there) fired coach Ken Hitchcock.

The NYT got around to running an obit for Lt. Colonel Archer. Their obit is interesting:

Mr. Archer ultimately maintained that he shot down five German planes — two on separate days in July 1944 in addition to the three in October 1944 — but said he had not been properly credited with one of those downings in July. Shooting down five planes would have brought him official designation as an ace, making him the only one among the Tuskegee Airmen.

In a 2008 review of wartime military records, Daniel L. Haulman of the Air Force Historical Research Agency found that Mr. Archer, while officially credited with four downings, was among the three leading Tuskegee pilots in shooting down enemy planes. His total was matched by Capt. Joseph D. Elsberry and Capt. Edward L. Toppins.

As you may recall, this directly contradicts the WP obit, which states he was credited with five victories by the Air Force.

Edited to add: The WP published a correction to their obit on February 2nd, which agrees with the NYT obit. However, the WP correction is not noted in the original article; I thought this was against WP policy.

From the “Thank you, Captain Obvious” department: Scotland has a drinking problem. The NYT sees Buckfast Tonic Wine as a symbol.

The drink is 15 percent alcohol by volume, a bit stronger than most wines. Also, each 750 milliliter bottle contains as much caffeine as eight cans of Coke.

From the “Art, damn it! Art!” department: I think I appreciate a good bit of art as much as the next guy, but this Giacometti bronze just seems to me to be really ugly. Maybe the photos are bad.

The “Hello Kitty” chainsaw. I want.  (And Hello Kitty Hell gets added to the blogroll. Thanks to my great and good friend Commvault Bryan.)

James Arthur Ray, the Arizona sweat lodge guy, has been charged with three counts of manslaughter.

Did you know that Men at Work’s “Down Under” sampled a children’s tune called “Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree”? Have you even heard “Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree”?

Edited to add: I’m sure this will be blogged elsewhere, but it is too good to pass up. Sun CEO resigns. By Twitter. In haiku. (Hattip: Lawrence.)

Edited to add 2: Also from the “Thank you, Captain Obvious” department is this actual headline from the LAT home page:  “Stew is better without jimsonweed hallucinogen“. (Link goes to actual article which has a different headline.)

Posted in Art, Firings, Law, Mixology, Music, Obits, Planes, Stupid | 3 Comments »

No class.

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

The University of Texas, in a cost-saving move, has announced plans to close the Cactus Cafe, and end the “informal class” program.

I’m pretty indifferent to the Cactus Cafe shutdown, not being much of a fan of live music (and thinking there’s no shortage of live music venues in Austin), but the end of the informal class program saddens me. I’ve taken probably a half-dozen of the informal classes over the years, in things like wine tasting, kendo, and photography. That program was one of the things that I thought made Austin, and the city’s relationship with UT, special. I also would have thought the program was self-supporting; apparently not.

The cuts will save about $122,000 a year, Smith said. The programs had an operating cost of about $1.3 million, he said. UT officials said the Cactus Cafe and informal classes generally draw people who are not full-time students; about 10,000 people attended informal classes last year.

In recent years, both programs have required additional money from the university’s budget, even though they were intended to be self-sufficient, said Juan Gonzalez, vice president of student affairs. “They haven’t been for a number of years,” he said.

Posted in Clippings, Music | 1 Comment »

Musical notes.

Monday, January 25th, 2010

The Hindu Love Gods album is now available from iTunes. I believe exactly two of my readers will find this significant.

Also, thanks to a tip from Caleb (yes, the Caleb of tactical coffee fame) on Tam’s site, I’m enjoying Kompressor’s World Domination. Especially “Kompressor Does Not Dance” and “Red Robot Theme Song”.

Posted in Apple, Music | Comments Closed

Elvis est mort.

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Not that I want to become the LAT clipping service, but:

You know that iconic photo of Elvis and Nixon shaking hands?

Yeah, that one.

Anyway, the LAT has an interesting article on how this photo came about.

Copies of that photo — the president in his charcoal suit, the king of rock ‘n’ roll in his purple velvet cape — are requested more than just about any of the archives’ treasures, including the Constitution.

You can request copies of the Constitution from the National Archives? Can I request copies and have them sent to other people?

There’s also a section devoted to this photo on the NARA website.

Posted in Clippings, Music, Nixon | Comments Closed

Open thread: Christmas music that drives you nuts.

Friday, December 18th, 2009

The umpteenth repitition of “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” last night started me thinking, and I figured I’d do an open thread: what holiday music do you particularly loathe?

My thoughts, other than the aforementioned tripe (Hannah Montana did a cover? We are doomed, doomed I tell you!):

  • “Wonderful Christmastime”. Never been a real big fan of Paul McCartney solo. Sorry.
  • I don’t really care that much for “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, but if you look into the history of the song, the original lyrics are actually much more suited for the present.
  • I actually kind of like “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer”, in an ironic “This is so bad, it’s almost good” campy hipster way. I’d punctuate that statement by slamming back a cold Pabst Blue Ribbon, but I don’t have one on hand right now.
  • Edited to add: I say this as someone who likes Springsteen; that version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” is tiresome.
  • One that I actually like: on my home machine, I have a wonderful cover of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” sung to the tune of “Folsom Prison Blues”, but Google doesn’t turn up a link. Any help here?

So, dear readers, what songs would you like to see kicked around the Christmas tree until they stop twitching?

Posted in Music | 1 Comment »

How can we dance when our Earth is turning?

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

We don’t have to worry about that now. CBS has cancelled “As the World Turns”.

(I like the song, but I’ve always thought that particular lyric was rather stupid. If the Earth wasn’t turning, dancing would be the least of our concerns.)

Posted in Clippings, Media, Music, TV | Comments Closed

Random notes: November 25, 2009.

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Novice urban hunters are forming classes and clubs to learn skills that a few generations ago were often passed down from parent to child.

Shocked, shocked I am to learn that The Biggest Loser may indulge in questionable practices. I am equally shocked to learn that a charity collecting money for the homeless may be a scam.

I am delighted to find out that the CIA Family Advisory Board has published a second cookbook, More Spies, Black Ties, and Mango Pies. I own a copy of the original 1997 cookbook, so I’ll be looking for this one. (Oddly, Amazon doesn’t seem to have the sequel.)

I did not know Julie “Julie and Julia” Powell had a new book out. After reading Addie Broyles’ discussion of it in the Statesman, I wish I still didn’t know she had a new book out.

Edited to add: On the “Art, damn it, art!” front: “Train” in vain.

(Since I got the song stuck in your head, here’s a live Clash video. And here’s a live Annie Lennox version. And here’s a not bad Manic Street Preachers cover.)

Posted in Art, Books, Clippings, Food, Guns, Media, Music, TV | Comments Closed

High weirdness by radio.

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Austin has a decent radio station, KGSR, with a strong concentration on local and Texas music. That station has been at 107.1 FM roughly since Jesus was a second lieutenant.

At least, until today. According to the Statesman, KGSR is moving to 93.3 FM effective this coming Friday, replacing the hip-hop station that was on that frequency. The old 107.1 frequency is going to become yet another Spanish-language, “Regional Mexican” station.

The new station, whose name and line-up will be announced at 5pm on Monday, November 30th, will include personalities already familiar to Austin’s Spanish-speaking community, as well as dynamic, new talents. Advertisers will be able to reach the active Hispanic market of Central Texas beginning Wednesday, December 2nd via 107.1 FM.

As Lawrence put it, “Why not just go ahead and print the press release verbatim, you farking ho?”

The Statesman‘s questionable journalism aside, there are some interesting things going on here.

  1. Is it really worth changing your long-time frequency and risking the loss of existing listeners in order to gain an estimated “100,000 more” prospective listeners? I will be interested in seeing how the ratings change after the switch.
  2. The parent company of KGSR, Emmis Communication, has an interesting history with the Hispanic community over the past few months.  Back in July, two hosts of a talk show on one of the AM stations were suspended for two weeks, and the show cancelled, after one of them repeatedly used the term “wetback” on the air. Oddly enough, Emmis announced on Tuesday that they were bringing back the show and both hosts after everyone goes through diversity training. As the linked article notes, another pair of hosts on one of the FM stations were also suspended for one week after using the term “wet vacs” “in suggestive and insulting ways“.

I’m not a radio expert, but all of this seems odd.

Posted in Media, Music | 1 Comment »

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