Copyright Vanderbilt University
The initial shortlist of artists playing at this year’s Rites of Spring festival at Vanderbilt has been released. The Flaming Lips will likely be headlining friday night, with another yet-to-be-announced headliner that will likely play saturday night. The friday/saturday thing is purely an educated guess on my part. Also announced: Okkervil River, N.E.R.D., Santigold (formerly Santogold), Q-tip, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, and Grand Ole Party. Personally, aside from Flaming Lips, I’m looking forward most to Santigold and Okkervil River. Source: the Vanderbilt Hustler.
MGMT is apparently suing French President Nicolas Sarkozy because his campaign did not compensate them properly for usage of their song “Kids” as the Sarkozy campaign soundtrack.
Remember those literal music videos of “Head Over Heels” and “Take On Me?” Well they’re at it again, this time with Billy Idol’s “White Wedding.” I must say, it’s really hard to top “Take On Me.” I don’t think it’ll ever be done. It’s one of those things where the humor just is never the same after the first time.
The Explorer’s Club did a session on Daytrotter. These live takes are pretty good, but I must say that these songs need the polished production that’s present on their full-length album. It’s evident that some of the vocal harmony arrangements are VERY difficult and they guys hit some odd notes on these live recordings. But the fact that they’re even able to pull off any of those harmonies is utterly amazing, and these guys deserve major kudos for even being in the ballpark. I highly reccomend seeing this band live because they are a lot of fun, and you will thoroughly enjoy it.
In the science world, some good news for NASA comes from Obama’s first budget propsal which was released yesterday. Overall, NASA will (hopefully) see a $2 billion increase in funding in 2010. I’m quite pleased to see this, even in these tough times. Cutting-edge science and research is one area that should be way down on the list of things to get cut when facing tough economic times. Don’t get too excited though; this is not the final version. It was also evident that Obama plans to go ahead with the retirement of the Space Shuttle next year, and continue with Bush’s vision of returning to the Moon by 2020. (The only thing on which I actually agreed with Bush.) Source: Universe Today.
V-day/Exploding eggs
February 13, 2009
This is the cover art for the new Yeah Yeah Yeah’s album, It’s Blitz! which is coming out sometime in April. I think this is pure genius. This has to be one of the best album covers I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t normally get REALLY excited about cover art, but this is AWESOME. (And not just because it’s a photograph and I’m a photographer.) I’ve never been good at explaining in words why I really like or dislike anything…. but YES. Click the image to see a larger version on the Stereogum post about it.
Your daily dose of WTF?!?… Two German gay men who worked in a metal factory decided it would be fun for one of them to poke an unloaded air rifle up the other one’s ass and pull the trigger. The result? His intestines exploded. Via Vice Magazine.
I’m officially ashamed of my state after hearing that FOUR state representatives from TN have agreed to be plaintiffs in a future lawsuit by a California man who is challenging Obama’s citizenship. Come on, people. We understand, you’re pissed off that you lost the election AND lost majorities in the Congress and Senate, but for fuck’s sake this is PATHETIC.
Scientists have mapped 60% of the Neanderthal genome, which will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the common ancestor of them and us moden humans, and why Neanderthals died out about 28,000 years ago. Via Clusterflock.
Speaking of DNA, scientists have also mapped DNA of the common cold (aka the human rhinovirus). This could finally lead to medications that treat the actual cause of the cold rather than just the symptoms. But it’ll still be a while, because there are 99 known strains of the virus, and if a person is infected with 2 strains at once, parts of the virus’ genetic code can get swapped out, resulting a new strain. So there are potentially HUNDREDS of different versions of this thing floating around out there.
I rarely post on weekends, so here’s an early treat for you from XKCD- a Sierpinski Valentine.
New Camera Obscura/Hipster Runoff
February 10, 2009
My love for Camera Obscura is endless. You can imagine my delight when I found an email from their listserv in my inbox yesterday containing info about their brand-spanking new website and FREEEEE mp3 of the title track from the new album, My Maudlin Career. Oh thank you Tracyanne & Co. for finally giving me something new to latch onto. If this song is a good indication of what the rest of the album will sound like, then it will be everything I hoped for. This track is full of fluttering piano runs drenched in cavernous reverb that flirt with Tracyanne’s beautiful Scottish croon in the most perfect way. GET IT. LOVE IT.
Camera Obscura-My Maudlin Career
I don’t know how I missed out on Fruit Tree Music, the blog of my old college friend Jon Arnold for this long…. He does a lot of great audio production work with one of my all-time favorite electronic musicians, Matt Pusti, as well as the Protomen and many other great locals. The cool thing about it is that he posts clips from almost everything he works on. Check it out.
I’ve recently discovered the blog Hipster Runoff. Their coverage of the Grammys is priceless. Just go. Apathy and snark. Snark and apathy.
Looks like Abe decided to get a punk rock hairdo not long before his assassination. The image links to the Library of Congress’ flickr stream. Yes, the Library of Congress has a flickr. How cool is that? Via Kottke.org.
Speaking of politics, unless you’ve been living under a rock, or aren’t from TN, then you know that the TN House of Representatives has been through some turmoil lately. Well, the Republicans finally decided to kick out Kent Williams, the guy who upset their plans for Jason Mumpower to become Speaker of the House, and an extreme conservative takeover. So we now have 49 democrats, 49 republicans, and Kent Williams. It could be worse? Via Nashville Is Talking.
Now for some national political humor…. Clips taken out of context from Obama’s self-narrated audiobook version of Dreams From My Father. Via Yewknee.
Just in case you didn’t know how incredibly unhealthy soft drinks are, read this article from Mercola.com. I don’t agree with everything this guy posts… in fact some of it is a little too “conspiracy theory” for me. And he’s somewhat of an antivaxxer (people who claim that vaccines cause autism- read more about them here), which is appalling, but some of the stuff on his website is good.
Good news on the Large Hadron Collider. They expect it to be operational again in September and hopefully will start collisions in October. I really hope some ground-breaking discoveries happen as a result of this enormous and fascinating piece of technology.
Shepard Fairey copyright infringement/Beatles last performance
February 5, 2009
Everyone is quite familiar with Shepard Fairey’s iconic adaptation of a photograph of Barack Obama. The photograph was taken by well-known photographer Mannie Garcia for the AP. Apparently the AP is claiming a copyright infringement, but technically the image belongs to Garcia because he was not on the AP staff, he was just a hired temporary fill-in when he took the photo. John Harrington has a great interview with Garcia on his blog Photo Business & News Forum, in which you can learn more of the gritty details of this situation. I agree that in fact the issue is not whether it is infringement, it’s whether the term “fair usage” can be applied. I also agree that the copyright owner is entitled to some sort of settlement. Fairey has made A LOT of money off of this image. I find it very honorable that Mr. Garcia is concerned more about recognition than monetary compensation.
Recently I’ve been getting into a new band from New York called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I highly encourage fans of The Smiths, Jesus & Mary Chain, or the Raveonettes to check them out. These days it seems like the music world is completely overrun with stupid indie rock bands with beards and animals in their names, who make the same fucking album over and over again. But every now and then a new band will stick out to my ears and I’ll actually latch on and add them to my “bands I officially LIKE” list.
I officially am excited to see Coraline. They Might Be Giants did a song for the movie, which is used in one of the tv trailers, and it was directed by Henry Selick, who also directed Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s also awesome that it was done with REAL stop-motion animation, not CG. Henry Selick+Stop-motion+They Might Be Giants= Awesome. Even cooler is that the filmmakers made 50 customized homemade boxes containing unique items from the movie, and sent them to their favorite bloggers.
Ever see that crappy 90’s scifi movie Anaconda? Ok, maybe not, but it had a big ass snake. Turns out that snakes that big actually did exist a long time ago. They were as long as a school bus, and their body was “so wide that if it were moving down the hall and decided to come into my office to eat me, it would literally have to squeeze through the door.” Whoa.
A company has come up with a way to channel sunlight from a collector on your roof into a light fixture in your house or office using fiber optics. Why didn’t someone think of this a long time ago? Like, when fiber optics were first commercially viable?
And I’ll leave you with the first of three video segments of the Beatles’ last live performance- on the rooftop of the Apple Records building in London on Jan. 30th, 1969. As I said this is segment #1, and here’s segment #2 and segment #3.
English-Only=FAIL…. Cellos in the cold=FAIL
January 23, 2009
I’m really proud of Nashville for voting NO on the ridiculous English-only amendment. Way to go Nashville!
Cellist Yo Yo Ma and the group of musicians who play Obama’s inauguration pulled a Milli Vanilli on us. They pretended to play the original composition by John Williams, but what you heard was a taped recording. We have to forgive them, though, because it was physically impossible for their instruments to stay in tune due the cold. Apparently they really wanted to play it live, and waited until the very last minute to make the decision.
David Berman is officially putting Silver Jews to rest. He wants to devote his time to other endeavors. If he continues to record he “might accidentally write the answer song to Shiny Happy People.” Ha. Hahaha. Via Stereogum.
We’re All Gonna Die is an amazing 100 meter-wide photograph created by Simon Hoegsberg in Germany. Do yourself a big favor and go scroll through the whole thing. Thank me later. Via Yewknee yesterday and Kottke.org today.
And now for some photo-nerd-gasm: A Nikon D3 rig cut perfectly in half. (Click image to see more.)
Awesome tshirts, and the resoultion of reality
January 22, 2009
Want to really bend your brain? Read this article on the Daily Galaxy about the resolution of reality. Are we real or are we just holograms caused by the quantum interactions at the edges of the universe? This will be fun to read, even if you aren’t that much of a science nerd, because this particular writer (Luke McKinney) has a humorous and witty way of explaining things.
REUTERS/Jason Reed
I link to this website way too often, but this one really deserves it- the Boston Globe’s Big Picture website has some fantastic imagery from Obama’s inauguration.
I tried to like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! back when every blog on the internet was drooling over them, but I just couldn’t do it. I don’t really know why everyone liked them so much… in my opinion they were just another one of those incredibly over-hyped Pitchfork bands, just like TV on the Radio, Deerhunter, and Vampire Weekend. Well, according to Stereogum, there was a rumor they were breaking up, but they’re not afterall. Just taking a hiatus while the members work on their respective side projects. I don’t really give a shit what happens to them.
The coolest shirt ever. Well maybe not EVER, but it’s right up there with my LED belt buckle. If you’ve never seen my LED belt buckle, come to the Deli party I’m DJing this sat. at 3609 Pilcher Ave. It will be in full action.
O. The President…. and Star Wars yoga
January 21, 2009
Get the destop background here.
Even the Wikipedia page has been updated. I’m still in awe of the idea of liking my president. I just have this refreshing feeling… like I’ve been working underground in a hot coal mine, getting utterly filthy for the last 8 years, and now I’ve just taken a nice cool shower and come out totally clean, rested, and refreshed. Ok, maybe that was a cheesy analogy but I don’t care. Part of that feeling is pride… which is something I haven’t felt about my country in a looooong time. A year ago, if I were to go to a foreign country I would’ve been embarassed about my country, ashamed of what we’ve done for the last 8 years. But now I think if I were to go abroad, I would definitely not feel ashamed, and I would probably even brag about how our nation came to its senses and got its head out of its ass. Keep your optimism in check, however. He’s only one man. He’s now a very powerful man, but he’s still only one man. It remains to be seen just how much good he can do. We can’t expect him to perform miracles every day. He’s probably got the hardest job in the history of this nation. Good luck, Mr. President.
Here’s the image of the inauguration captured by the GeoEye-1 satellite: (click image to make it bigger) Via Universe Today.
TN’s own Those Darlins got blogged about AGAIN by Brooklynvegan. They must be doing something right…. or they’re just too darned cute…
Bush’s last stunt
January 20, 2009
In an unprecedented move, President Bush signed his last executive order- repealing the English language. Via Andy Borowitz, via Kottke.org.
Now, go watch the Inauguration. CNN.com has a live stream, along with Hulu, and all the major networks. I hope everyone else isn’t having as hard of a time as I am getting used to the idea of actually liking the president.
Vote NO on #1 and #2
January 13, 2009
This only pertains to people living in Nashville, but for heaven’s sake get out and vote NO on #1 and #2. This is the hotly debated “English Only” law that would require all Nashville goverment forms, business, etc… to be carried out in English only. I don’t have the time nor energy to go into why this is a terrible idea, so go to NashvilleForAllofUs.org and read why you should definitely vote against this law. Early voting is underway NOW and goes until this saturday the 17th. You must go to the downtown election commission office to do so. Go here to see the early voting schedule. The official election is Jan. 22nd.
Related to yesterday’s post about Microsoft Songsmith (and you’ve probably already seen/heard this, but if you haven’t, do yourself a favor)- listen to the songsmith version of “Runnin’ with the Devil” by Van Halen. They took the bare vocal track of David Lee Roth singing and ran it through songsmith. Simply amazing if you ask me. No really. Via Nashville Cream.
Pete Souza was named the official White House photographer for soon-to-be President Obama. His coverage of Obama’s senate years is apparently what landed him the job. I cannot imagine how it must feel to be tasked with documenting the most historic presidential administration in the last 100 years, if not EVER.
Thank God the Heritage Foundation reached their fundraising goal to restore the historic Franklin Theater. The downtown area of Franklin is the only thing left there that hasn’t been completely overrun by ugly, mindless, white-upper-class uniformity and gentrification. Via Nashvillest.
This week the Mercy Lounge is celebrating their 6th anniversary by have 6 nights of free live music, with 6 or more bands each night. My band Tigers Con Queso is playing tonight, along with The Privates, The Effects, The Clutters, Rae Herring, and Vermicious K’nids. Did I mention it’s FREE?
Zooey Gibbard? Yep.
December 30, 2008
Photos: Jensen Sutta
I’m not one for celebrity gossip, but WTF?!?!?!?!?!? How did I miss out that Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel were dating? Two of my top 25 or so musicians… and I hadn’t a clue. Well, according to Stereogum and several other sources, they’re engaged! Honestly, I can’t think of a better match. It’s a total indie rock cuteness-warm-fuzzy-gasm. They just need to write some songs together already! Ok ok… I know I’ve mentioned ZD in like, all of the last few posts… but she just keeps popping up on my radar… not that she’s ever really below it anyway. Yes, I have a girlfriend, but even SHE has a crush on ZD.
Not sure what to do in Nashville this New Year’s Eve? Here’s a list of some good things going on.
How I Became the Bomb, The Privates, And The Relatives @ the Basement, 21+
JEFF the Brotherhood, Meemaw, Turbo Fruits @ the End, 18+
Selloutpresents.com and Club Sportag present “Return to Whatever” @ the Warehouse, 901 6th Ave South, 21+
The Protomen, Makeup & Vanity Set, Beta Macks @ Springwater, 21+
Autovaughn, Cage the Elephant, Hollywood Kills, Gone City, and Leslie @ 12th and Porter, 21+
Charles Walker & the Dynamites @ Exit/In, 21+
There are some other things going on, but those are the biggest ones in my book. I haven’t seen JEFF or Meemaw since Next Big Nashville, so I’m guessing I’m due for another dose of Infinity Cat.
Science tidbits for the day:
Livescience’s top 5 incredible science discoveries of 2008.
The Obama administration will hopefully help to bring America back to the forefront of science and technology. Under the Bush administration’s morality-based politics, we’ve slowly lost our grip on being the world leader in these fields, and reality in general. Livescience talks about the optimistic new outlook for science and the democratization of knowledge.
steve cross loves music and science 