On May 29th, Our House , "the Madness musical", will open at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre for a month-long run, which proceeds a tour. The show was written by Tim Firth and features "over 20" Madness songs-hey, the guesstimate is a great sign! It means people are too busy engaged in tasks more directly tied to making the production a creative (and financial) success to spend time on a song tally. For Steve Brookstein , the first winner of The X Factor , Our House includes the [...]
The The are taking part in the Save Shoreditch campaign against a fast-approaching major property development in East London that would dramatically change the flavor of the area after putting many people out of their homes. The group warns that "The decision is due in days." It sounds as though the public hasn't been given much of a voice in the development plans, which usually means both the developers and some government folks have screwed up. As part of the effort to spread the word about what's happening, and what could happen, the group [...]
Well, here's something you probably don't see everyday. Today PingMag posted an excellent interview with Ujino Muneteru. He takes appliances, tools, furniture, and seemingly pretty much anything that isn't nailed down, and reconfigures them into a melange of creative instruments. He makes music with these Frankenstein-esque instruments under the name The Rotators . Muneteru says, "I'm not so much trying to replicate real instruments as much as the ideas come to me." He prefers to work with older items. "I think I am drawn to them because I can see how they work and [...]
As you can tell from its name(s), World Pillow Fight Day 2008 -also known as World Pillow Fight Day, International Pillow Fight Day, Global Pillow Fight Day, Pillow Fight Day, and Pillow Fight Day 2008- is a worldwide pillow-fighting event. Only, this year's Pillow Fight Day, which organizers have announced is March 22nd, won't span the entire globe. It will miss San Francisco and any city where its likely to be very cold, such as Toronto and Montreal. San Francisco is taking a pass as well, because they had a Valentine's Day pillow fight (romantic!) and... they will still [...]
As you can tell from its name(s), World Pillow Fight Day 2008 -also known as World Pillow Fight Day, International Pillow Fight Day, Global Pillow Fight Day, Pillow Fight Day, and Pillow Fight Day 2008- is a worldwide pillow-fighting event. Only, this year's Pillow Fight Day, which organizers have announced is March 22nd, won't span the entire globe. It will miss San Francisco and any city where its likely to be very cold, such as Toronto and Montreal. San Francisco is taking a pass as well, because they had a Valentine's Day pillow fight (romantic!) and... they will still [...]
Brighton band Turncoat [Adrian Imms (lead vocals, guitar, and keyboard), Chaz Newman (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Luke Ellis (bass), and Alex Hobden (drums)] this week released "Wasted On You", the new single from the Regal Singles Club. It's a very catchy Britpop gem, rather like the 90s-era of Britpop, think Mighty Lemon Drops, Hurricane #1, and Inspiral Carpets. "Wasted On You" was released on a 7" limited edition vinyl. Sales of the vinyl are limited to 500 copies, but there are no limits on sales of the digital download. You can hear "Wasted On You", and [...]
Brighton band Turncoat [Adrian Imms (lead vocals, guitar, and keyboard), Chaz Newman (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Luke Ellis (bass), and Alex Hobden (drums)] this week released "Wasted On You", the new single from the Regal Singles Club. It's a very catchy Britpop gem, rather like the 90s-era of Britpop, think Mighty Lemon Drops, Hurricane #1, and Inspiral Carpets. "Wasted On You" was released on a 7" limited edition vinyl. Sales of the vinyl are limited to 500 copies, but there are no limits on sales of the digital download. You can hear "Wasted On You", and [...]
Saved by Zeroes and Ones is a playlist consisting of songs that include at least one of those numbers in both their title and lyrics. This rules out instrumentals, as well as songs that use "zero" and "one" as title fodder (because numbers are groovy) but foresake them as inspiration for lyrics (because they think they aren't that groovy?) There are still a whole lot of number songs. Certain numbers seem to inspire more songs than others; zero ("My Hero Zero", "Two Divided By Zero") and one ("The One I Love", "One Love") boast a particularly impressive [...]
Saved by Zeroes and Ones is a playlist consisting of songs that include at least one of those numbers in both their title and lyrics. This rules out instrumentals, as well as songs that use "zero" and "one" as title fodder (because numbers are groovy) but foresake them as inspiration for lyrics (because they think they aren't that groovy?) There are still a whole lot of number songs. Certain numbers seem to inspire more songs than others; zero ("My Hero Zero", "Two Divided By Zero") and one ("The One I Love", "One Love") boast a particularly impressive [...]
There's been a lot of talk about what a miserable cold and flu season this is, but where's the talk about what a miserable bronchitis season it is? I'm one of the many people who got the flu despite getting a flu shot , and now I have a raging case of acute bronchitis following what seemed to be a mild cold. I demand action... of some sort. Specifically, as this unjust illness impacts the hat, I'm not well enough to polish off this post as nicely as I'd like, which bugs me (hmm, [...]
There's been a lot of talk about what a miserable cold and flu season this is, but where's the talk about what a miserable bronchitis season it is? I'm one of the many people who got the flu despite getting a flu shot , and now I have a raging case of acute bronchitis following what seemed to be a mild cold. I demand action... of some sort. Specifically, as this unjust illness impacts the hat, I'm not well enough to polish off this post as nicely as I'd like, which bugs me (hmm, [...]
Hello Young Lovers! I'm on West Coast time (Westsiiide!) so this counts as just under the wire to wish y'all a Happy Valentine's Day, albeit not very promptly. Hope you had a wonderful, love-laden one. Henry Mancini & his Orchestra - Love theme from Romeo and Juliet (good for the anti-Valentine's crowd too, rly)
Hello Young Lovers! I'm on West Coast time (Westsiiide!) so this counts as just under the wire to wish y'all a Happy Valentine's Day, albeit not very promptly. Hope you had a wonderful, love-laden one. Henry Mancini & his Orchestra - Love theme from Romeo and Juliet (good for the anti-Valentine's crowd too, rly)
For those of you keeping track informally at home or for a study of some kind, please be informed that this should be considered today's second consecutive legitimate blog post regarding the forthcoming album, Volume 1 by She & Him, who I hear all the kids are talking about these days. Thanks ever so much. (This will make as much sense as it ever will if you read the next post. Plus, there's an MP3 in that one.)
According to a new study with the unfortunate title "Does Chatter Matter", blog posts written in advance of an album's release can significantly increase its sales. The study, out of NYU Stern (unofficial motto: "we luv to blather about business"), focused on a sample of 108 albums released in January and February of 2007. The NYU Stern team found that when there were more than 40 "legitimate blog posts" before an album was released, "sales were three times the average", five times for major label albums , and six times for both independent and major label [...]
For those of you keeping track informally at home or for a study of some kind, please be informed that this should be considered today's second consecutive legitimate blog post regarding the forthcoming album, Volume 1 by She & Him, who I hear all the kids are talking about these days. Thanks ever so much. (This will make as much sense as it ever will if you read the next post. Plus, there's an MP3 in that one.)
According to a new study with the unfortunate title "Does Chatter Matter", blog posts written in advance of an album's release can significantly increase its sales. The study, out of NYU Stern (unofficial motto: "we luv to blather about business"), focused on a sample of 108 albums released in January and February of 2007. The NYU Stern team found that when there were more than 40 "legitimate blog posts" before an album was released, "sales were three times the average", five times for major label albums , and six times for both independent and major label [...]
Aimee Mann 's funny, slightly massochistic Christmas Trilogy videos have just been added to YouTube. The trilogy documents Mann's quest to persuade celebrities to join her Second Annual Christmas Show's Los Angeles concert. Paul F. Tompkins offers suggestions and support throughout Mann's odd journey. John Krasinski, Emily Procter, Patton Oswalt, Weird Al Yankovic, Bob Odenkirk, Fred Armisen, Ben Stiller, and Will Farrell co-star as (some version of) themselves. Michael Blieden directed. Part one : [...]
Aimee Mann 's funny, slightly massochistic Christmas Trilogy videos have just been added to YouTube. The trilogy documents Mann's quest to persuade celebrities to join her Second Annual Christmas Show's Los Angeles concert. Paul F. Tompkins offers suggestions and support throughout Mann's odd journey. John Krasinski, Emily Procter, Patton Oswalt, Weird Al Yankovic, Bob Odenkirk, Fred Armisen, Ben Stiller, and Will Farrell co-star as (some version of) themselves. Michael Blieden directed. Part one : [...]
I cut a LaVern Baker song from the Valentine's playlist at the last minute because it wasn't quite right, but I think she's aces. I just found a great YouTube video of her performing a different song, "Playing the Game of Love", on an old TV show for a bunch of dancin' teens. Both the song and the setting are sweet and cute as can be:
Kofi's hat
Avicii – Two Million
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
H&M Lookbook Mujer y Hombre Otoño 2012.
Amanda Mair
