Music
Line Rider Race #2
DoodleChaos brings us a video in which eight Line Riders compete in a race set to the tune of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” It’s survival of the fittest in a steeplechase, as they crash into each other, fall, lose their sleds, and sometimes regain them. A free fall doesn’t always mean elimination. But only one rider can win at the end.
You might get caught up in the drama of the riders and their, uh, “luck” in the race, but if you do, you’ll need to go back and focus on the tracks and how well they synch with the music. These lines were all hand-drawn and took several months to create.
Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Dead at 50
Kat Bouza has the story for Rolling Stone:
Taylor Hawkins, the jovial, ferocious drummer for Foo Fighters for more than two decades, has died at the age of 50, according to a statement from the band.
“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” read the message, which was posted to social media. “His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever.” Foo Fighters are currently on tour in South America and were scheduled to perform at Festival Estéreo Picnic in Bogotá, Colombia, at the time of Hawkins’ death, a rep for the band told Rolling Stone. No cause of death was given.
It’s disappointing and sad. I’m sure drugs will be involved or some undiagnosed condition which the illegal substances he was using messed him up.
All anyone will remember is Dave Grohl was a drummer of a band who lost their singer, then he became the singer of a band who lost their drummer.
All 131 Van Halen Songs Ranked
Chuck Klosterman is a writer I admire. I think his books are fantastic. Here he is doing a massive list post for Vulture and really knocking it out of the park. You may disagree with the ranking, but sometimes that’s the fun and the point of the whole thing.
Raisins or Chocolate Chips
Hearing the “Under Pressure” bassline, not knowing if it’s going to be “Ice Ice Baby” or “Under Pressure” is like biting into a cookie not knowing if it has raisins or chocolate chips in it.
The Incredible, Untold Story of the 1975 KISS Concert in Hartland
Buddy Moorehouse has a story for you. Apparently, in 1975, an up-and-coming rock band from New York City played a concert in Hartland, MI, causing quite the kerfuffle.
Handmade Jukebox of the Future
Designer Chris Patty took on a Christmas challenge and inadvertently created a business.
His family issued a challenge asking all Christmas gifts be homemade. He made a wooden mini-jukebox that plays songs by swiping magnetic cards for his Dad. It feels like something out of original Star Trek.
Unsurprisingly, his jukebox became incredibly popular on social media. So popular that he’s starting a fundraising campaign in order to sell these jukeboxes – now called Jook – online
A Nostalgic Look Back at Digital Music Piracy in the 2000s
Abhimanyu Ghoshal, writing in The Next Web, looks back at digital music piracy in the early 2000s. I had forgotten a couple of the sites listed. My recollection is that if you wanted to find the most obscure bootlegs, live recordings, demos, and more, there was a place you could go, and someone would have them.
50 Wonderful Things of 2018
Linda Holmes, of Pop Culture Happy Hour, adds to her annual end-of-year lists. I always find something I need to see, read, or hear.
The Wexford Carol
I’m afraid I was unfamiliar with the Wexford Carol when I ran across Michael Wade linking to a video of Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss recording it.
What an amazing song and arrangement.
A Long Talk with David Lee Roth
Lane Brown, writing in Vulture, has a great interview with David Lee Roth. What a fascinating individual. There are so many things I never knew.
The Arnel Pineda Story
Mike Fleming Jr at Deadline is reporting Jon M. Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians, has his sights on telling the story of how Arnel Pineda joined the band, Journey. It’s one of the most feel-good stories I know.
Dee Lockett over at Vulture summed it up this way –
Think of it as the Queen biopic if it was about Adam Lambert instead of Freddie Mercury.That’s a tad unfair. Freddie Mercury is no longer with us. With Journey, Steve Perry wanted out of the band and Arnel has admirably filled his shoes since 2007.
Go Your Own Way
I am a fan of the concept of the Song Exploder podcast. Unfortunately, I’m an old and could not care less about 90% of the song breakdowns Hrishikesh Hirway has included. However, the latest episode features former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham talking about the gestation and creation of “You Can Go Your Own Way” from Rumors. This is a song I can get behind.
Gene Simmons and His Mother
Apparently, the KISS press kit circa 1975 mentioned Gene Simmons being hatched from a dinosaur egg. As you might imagine, that wasn’t true. In fact, he was brought to the United States from Israel by his mother Florence. She was a Holocaust survivor and really the most important person in Gene’s life.
Paul Stanley, Gene’s musical and business partner for nearly 50 years, mentioned Florence passed away on his Instagram account.
Gene’s mother Florence Lubowski has passed away. I knew her as long as I’ve known Gene. Beyond her fierce love and pride in her only child she was his inspiration to live up to being worthy of the sacrifices she made in a very difficult and at times horrific life. A holocaust survivor she fought for all she had and her fierce protection and pride in Gene made her someone to be feared, admired and loved. I will miss her laugh and smile. Let us all say a prayer for her, Gene and his family.Gene followed up on his Instagram account.
I lost my Mother. My mentor. My moral compass. And I am heartbroken. 😞 My Mother, Flora Klein passed away at 93 years of age. No illness. No pain. She simply quietly, went to sleep. My Mother will always be in my thoughts and in my heart. Today. And Forever. And I would urge all of you, to run over, put your arms around your mother, kiss her and tell her how much you love her. Do this every day!This clip of Gene and his Mom from Gene Simmons Family Jewels is sweet, but Gene talking with Dan Rather for his AXS show about the two of them entering the United States might make you cry.
Every Single Video Prince Ever Made
Recently, Prince’s estate released his whole video catalog in high resolution. With this incredible collection available, Prince super fan Anil Dash created a website embedding the entire list.
Now, the truth is, most of Prince’s videos just aren’t that great. Especially when considered in comparison to the sheer mind-boggling breadth of Prince’s genius, or the groundbreaking video innovation of his pop contemporaries like Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Madonna, the fact that Prince has fewer truly extraordinary music videos is a stark contrast. But as with all things Prince, when he was doing his best, there was absolutely nobody better.I’m not that big of a Prince fan to fall down this amazing rabbit hole, but your mileage may vary.Here, then, is a look at all of Prince’s music videos, in chronological order. Most of these writeups began as an ongoing Twitter thread that I’ve been updating as the estate released new videos (Questlove said it was worthy of his NYU class!) but here I’ve updated and expanded all the information on each video.
The Simple Joy of “No Phones Allowed”
David Cain at Rapitude wrote a thousand words about his experience at a concert that was set up as a “No Phones” experience.
Our phones drain the life out of a room. They give everyone a push-button way to completely disengage their mind from their surroundings, while their body remains in the room, only minimally aware of itself. Essentially, we all have a risk-free ripcord we can pull at the first pang of boredom or desire for novelty, and of course those pangs occur constantly.
He also peeks into the future and sees this idea:
I imagine that in another decade or two we’ll look at 2010s-era device use something like we do now with cigarette smoking. I was born in 1980, and I remember smoking sections on planes, which is unthinkable today. I wonder if today’s kids will one day vaguely remember the brief, bizarre time when people didn’t think twice about lighting up a screen in the middle of a darkened concert hall.
I think he has a real point. It’s hard to look back and not see how my grandkids will view our interconnected, always-on boredom-eliminating activities.
You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Lindsey Stirling ft. Sabrina Carpenter
Your manic pixie girlfriend, Lindsey Stirling, and the other girl from Girl Meets World, Sabrina Carpenter, put together a rip-roaring rendition of “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”
The horns are especially lovely.
The Main Problem
My main problem with the song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” is that the Devil’s section is invariably better than Johnny’s in any version I’ve heard.
Paul Simon: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Paul Simon performs “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on Saturday Night Live.
Exquisite.
A Life Less Ordinary
Cian Traynor in Huck Magazine has a fantastic profile on Chilly Gonzales. He’s a musician I found only a year or so ago and have been fascinated by ever since. For instance, I had no idea his real name was Jason Beck.
I really love his piano instrumentals. They make great background music when I want to write.
What Seven Dave Grohls Have to Say
Spencer Kornhaber in The Atlantic has a story about Dave Grohl’s new project―Play.
Dave Grohl walks into the studio. Dave Grohl walks in behind him. Then another Dave Grohl, and another. Seven dudes of identical stringy hair and varying tees: This is the committee to evangelize rock and roll, or so goes one implication of Dave Grohl’s mildly baffling new project “Play.”
I don’t quite understand the baffling part. He’s playing all the parts. He’s a one-man studio. That’s the bit with the multiple Grohls. It’s not a stunt. It’s “ah, I get that” funny and nothing else. Kornhaber tacks on more meaning than it’s worth and makes the whole piece read weird.
The Play project is set up to inspire the next generation of musicians. You have to applaud that bit of romanticism.