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Glottal Opera

Posted by Miss Cellania in Music on November 6, 2009 at 10:15 am

Thread tiny cameras through the singers’ noses and focus on the larynx. Then have them sing sweetly and see what it looks like deep inside. The singers are Juleiaah Boehm, Emma Deans, Alexi Kaye, and Sally Stevens. -via b3ta

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13 Examples of Literature in Song

Posted by Johnny Cat in Book & Lit, Music, Neatorama Only on November 4, 2009 at 2:20 am

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It’s no real surprise that Wikipedia has a thorough list of these, but it’s interesting to parse through the many, and find a neat collection of songs and albums that were based on, or influenced by books. Led Zeppelin has a scatological lyric library referencing JRR Tolkien, but let’s see what else is out there.

13. Alan Parson’s Project – The album is called Tales of Mystery and Imagination, and includes interpretations of Edgar Allen Poe’s best, like “The Raven”, “Dr. Tar and Professor Feather”, and “The Cask of Amontillado.” Here’s the awesome “Dream Within A Dream” video. Also by Parsons: “I, Robot” (Isaac Asimov).

12. Rivendell (Rush) – A quiet, thematic representation of the Elf version of a Bed & Breakfast. (Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, of course.)

11. 2112 (Rush) - Side one* is loosely based on Anthem by Ayn Rand.

10. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica) - Based on the classic by Ernest Hemingway.

9. The Thing That Should Not Be and The Call of Cthulu (Metallica) - These guys really let good classic fiction influence their songwriting. We get not one, but two songs in honor of H.P. Lovecraft’s best character. Also by Metallica: “One”, based on the book Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.

8. The Small Print (Muse) - “clearly alluding to Goethe’s Faust, being sung from the point of view of the Devil to someone selling their soul to him in exchange for, presumably, musical prowess and fame…” source

7. Anthrax Loves Stephen King - As do a lot of bands like Pennywise (It). But Anthrax named one of their best albums Among the Living after King’s character Randall Flagg in The Stand. They also penned a song called “Skeleton in the Closet” based on King’s “Apt Pupil”.

6. Tom Sawyer (Rush) - Wow, Rush. Even “Red Barchetta” is based on a vague book called A Nice Morning Drive by Richard S. Foster. At least Tom Sawyer is pretty well known both as a song and a book. Who can resist the urge to sing along when Geddy Lee croons, “The River!”

5. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Cream) - Psychedelically sums up all you need to know about all the ins and outs of Homer’s The Odyssey. And I quote, “Tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers…” (This was actually a lyric inspired by lyricist Martin Sharp’s travels in Ibiza.) But the Sirens are there, so that’s cool.

4. The Ghost of Tom Joad (Bruce Springsteen) - Based on The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Henry Fonda and Bruce Springsteen would have had some cool conversations, I bet.

3. White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane) -Based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Here’s a nice rendition of that song.

YouTube Link

2. Animals (Pink Floyd) - It never actually occurred to me before, but an argument can be made that the Animals album, with it’s corrupt pigs (be they on the wing, or three different ones), dogs and sheep, political overtones… Yeah, it’s definitely based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

1. Iron Maiden (Pretty much every song of theirs, ever) - At least a heavy handful. These Brit bad boys of metal must have had some scratched up library cards. Their adaptations include:

Seventh Son, by Orson Scott Card (on the 7th Son of a 7th Son album, including all songs)
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
Flight of Icarus (Mythology)
The Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Alan Sillitoe)
Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert A. Heinlen)
To Tame a Land (Dune, Frank Herbert)
The Trooper (The Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Tennyson)
Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (Edgar Allen Poe)

On second thought, an honorable mention should be made for Led Zeppelin’s “The Battle of Evermore”, as it pretty much describes the Battle of Pellennor Fields in The Return of the King.

(Iron Maiden illustration by Ado Cedric & Tio Julio.)
*For help with determining what this means, ask a grownup.

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Sputnik 2 Anniversary

Posted by Miss Cellania in Animal, Music, Video Clips on November 3, 2009 at 6:13 pm

Fifty-two years ago today (November 3, 1957), Sputnik 2 launched from the Soviet Union with a dog named Laika {wiki} on board. It was a tremendous political coup for the USSR to launch a living being into orbit. Unfortunately it wasn’t so tremendous for Laika, as they made no plans for her to ever return to earth. Several stories were told of how long Laika survived in space, but the full story was finally revealed in 2002. Laika only lived a few hours before the stress and heat did her in. Her remains orbited the earth for five months until the capsule burned up on re-entry in April of 1958. In honor of the anniversary, here’s Space Doggity by Jonathon Coulton. -via Metafilter

Update: The video footage is from the song Moan by Trentemøller. -Thanks, waldemar!

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Two Musicians One Guitar

Posted by Alex in Music, Video Clips on October 31, 2009 at 1:21 am

Watch Cecilia Siqueira and Fernando Lima of Duo Siquera Lima perform Tico Tico no Fuba (zequinha de Abreu) with a single guitar at the 2009 Brazilian Music Institute in Gainesville, Florida. Sorry for the title, I couldn’t stop myself

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Arbroath

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Darth Vader Conducting an Orchestra Performing the Imperial March

Posted by John Farrier in Movies & SciFi, Music, Video Clips on October 30, 2009 at 3:03 pm

Darth Vader did not approve of how the conductor of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra was leading a performance of The Imperial March, so he stepped in to do the job himself.

In the links, you’ll find a longer video of this event from CNN.

via Topless Robot | CNN Video | Orchestra Website

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A Giant Version of Guitar Hero Played with Soccer Balls

Posted by John Farrier in Music, Toy & Video Games, Video Clips on October 30, 2009 at 1:15 pm

This video is a promotional gimmick for the British rock band Kasabian. It begins with craftsmen creating enormous functional buttons on the wall of a London warehouse. These and additional visual effects make a giant version of the video game Guitar Hero. Participants play by kicking soccer balls at the buttons in the right order to the tune of one of Kasabian’s songs.

via The Ampersand

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Playable Electric Guitar Shirt

Posted by John Farrier in Fashion, Gadget, Music, Video Clips on October 28, 2009 at 5:47 pm

The Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt isn’t just a t-shirt. You can actually play music on it. Use a magnetic pick over the string markings and press down on the frets with your other hand. There’s also a volume nob and an amplifier that fits on your belt.

Link via GearFuse

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Pulp Fiction Audio Remix

Posted by Johnny Cat in Movies & SciFi, Music, Video Clips on October 28, 2009 at 10:52 am

Here’s a nicely done audio remix using sound elements from the movie, Pulp Fiction. It incorporates beats using sounds like soap being slapped into the hands of Jules and Vincent, the smoke alarm, the Wolf hanging up the phone, and lots more. No credits…anyone know who made this? Enjoy.

YouTube Link

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Stop! Hammerhead Time!

Posted by Alex in Animal, Cartoon & Comic, Funny, Music on October 27, 2009 at 12:35 am

Stop! Hammerhead Time – $11.95 | Funny T-Shirts

What do you get when you combine a certain 80s fad and sharks? Here’s a T-shirt designed by the always awesome Nathan Mazur of Scared of Bees and brought to you by MC Hammerhead, the hippest of all sharks. From the Neatorama Shop: Link

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Bizarre Spike Jonze Short

Posted by Johnny Cat in Movies & SciFi, Music on October 24, 2009 at 3:51 pm

Last February, director Spike Jonez (Where the Wild Things Are) agreed to shoot a video for Kanye West’s song, “See You in My Nightmares,” which was then expanded into a creative, short film – shot at a nightclub over two days.

The end result is an uneasy glimpse of Mr. West at his worst, premonitions of his MTV Video Awards appearance abound, and the ending says a lot about the musician’s own battered image of himself. It’s a fine piece, and will soon be available on iTunes.

Unfortunately for Spike Jonez, it was leaked last week with the help of…Kanye West.

“We Were Once a Fairytale” was leaked to the Internet and posted on Mr. West’s official Web site, kanyeuniversecity.com. Within a couple of days it was taken down without explanation. Mr. Jonze said the film was accidentally leaked from the postproduction studio of a friend, and that Mr. West did not realize that it was not meant to be circulated yet. “I think he was like: ‘Oh, it’s out. I’ll link to it,’ ” Mr. Jonze said. (A representative for Mr. West declined to elaborate.)

NYT has the whole story here and here.

“We Were Once a Fairytale” (embedded video)

(Photo: Spike Jonez, Inc. & Getting Out Our Dreams Pictures)

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Man Stacks 61 Objects On His Cat While Serenading Him

Posted by John Farrier in Animal, Music, Video Clips on October 23, 2009 at 10:59 am

Sam Hart wrote a love song for his cat entitled “Kitty Song.” Then he sang it to his cat while stacking 61 objects on top of him. Most of them are just playing cards, but others are quite large. You can find the lyrics to the song at the YouTube link.

via Have You Seen This?

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Prisencolinensinainciusol

Posted by Miss Cellania in Music, Video Clips on October 23, 2009 at 10:17 am

The song is called Prisencolinensinainciusol, written by Italian artist Adriano Celentano in 1972. Recorded by Celentano and Raffaella Carrà in an American accent, it sounds like it should be English, but the lyrics are pure gibberish. Link -via Metafilter

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I Love xkcd

Posted by John Farrier in Cartoon & Comic, Music, Video Clips on October 22, 2009 at 6:02 pm

Animator Noam Raby expressed his love for the webcomic xkcd and the many interests of its artist, Randall Munroe, in this one minute music video. Raby and Munroe have previously collaborated on another animated video entitled “Letting Go.”

Art by Randall Munroe and singing by Olga Nunes.

via io9 | xkcd.com | Raby’s Website | Olga Nunes’ Website | Interview with Randall Munroe

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Themes From Scary Movies

Posted by Johnny Cat in Movies & SciFi, Music, Video Clips on October 20, 2009 at 10:23 pm

Quick, think of a piece of music from a scary movie.

If you could think of seven different themes, chances are a few of them are on Cinematical’s list.

One of the seven is one of my favorite movies of the genre, Poltergeist, music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Jerry Goldsmith previously contributed a classic horror theme with his score for Richard Donner’s Omen, but this one, not unlike Komeda’s work on Rosemary’s Baby, runs counter to expectations that horror movie music needs to be naturally dark or heavy to be menacing. That said, the children’s chorus that sweetly and innocently provides a theme for the film’s young protagonist – ironically, sort of the conduit for both its “monster” and heroine – is at once wholesome and terrifying, creating a similar sense of unease and eventually terror as the kids embody the film’s themes of childhood swallowed by a mysterious and terrifying world.

YouTube Link

Klingon-Language Rapper

Posted by John Farrier in Movies & SciFi, Music on October 16, 2009 at 8:42 am

Klenginem is a German rapper who performs in the Klingon language, mostly modified Eminem songs. Here is his performance of “SuvwI’pu’ qan tu’lu’be”, which is known in English as “Without Me.”

Official Website via Popped Culture

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Vivaldi - Performed on an Accordion

Posted by Minnesotastan in Music, Video Clips on October 13, 2009 at 11:10 pm

Don’t laugh. This young man gives a remarkable rendition of the third (”Presto”) movement of the “Summer” concerto from The Four Seasons.

If you enjoy this, be sure to also view the accordion versions of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee and Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

YouTube link.

Update 10/14/09 by Alex – the guy is Alexandr Hrustevich, and you can see many more excellent clips on his YouTube profile page.

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10 Most Awesomely Terrible One-Hit Wonders of the 90's

Posted by Alex in Music on October 12, 2009 at 2:49 am

I’m sad to say that I actually enjoyed these: a list of 10 awesomely terrible one-hit wonders of the 90’s over at Karaoke Lounge blog.

How can anyone not groove to OMC’s How Bizarre, Chumbawamba’s Tubthumping and Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy? Certainly brings back memories … ah, good times!

Link [embedded YouTube clips] – via Rue The Day

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Batman, The Musical

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic, Music on October 12, 2009 at 2:45 am

How can you make the Dark Knight just that much more awesome? Simply
add a little Neil Patrick Harris – that’s right, in the new TV cartoon, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, NPH plays the Music Meister, who can control people by singing.

The result is a whimsical Batman musical, titled Mayhem of the Music Meister (series producer James Tucker described that the "plot itself is just a framework, an excuse to have everybody sing!" Every Batman episode should be like this! Link [embedded YouTube clips]

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The History of the Chipmunks

Posted by Miss Cellania in Cartoon & Comic, Music on October 11, 2009 at 11:27 am

In some cases, no one will get behind a wacky idea until there’s nothing left to lose. Such is the case with Ross Bagdasarian Sr. who recorded a novelty song called “The Witch Doctor”. As his record company was close to bankruptcy, three executives went along with recording a chorus of three sped-up voices he called The Chipmunks.

Production commenced and in just a few months leading up to Christmas of 1958, the record shot to the top of the charts, becoming one of the best selling singles of all time. Bagdasarian won two Grammy Awards, Liberty Records was saved from bankruptcy, and the Chipmunks became a household name with children all over the world.

And that’s just the beginning of the story of Simon, Theodore, and Alvin. Link -via Boing Boing

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Nintendo Jazz Odyssey

Posted by Queuebot in Music, Video Clips on October 10, 2009 at 3:17 am

[YouTube - Link]

Love video games and jazz? Well, Scott Bradlee and Ben Golder-Novick teamed up to bring you this: classic video game music in piano and saxophone!

Love 8-bit Nintendo games but not necessarily 8-bit musical
instruments? Wish you could hear the soundtracks of those games
rendered by live musicians as you play?

Eight Bits of Jam will come into your living room and provide real-time acoustic soundtracks to old school games such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda,
Mike Tyson’s Punch-out, and many more. All you have to do is put the television on ‘mute’ and Eight Bits of Jam will take care of the rest.

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by vaughnadam81.

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Que Sera Sera

Posted by Miss Cellania in Advertising, Baby & Kids, Music on October 9, 2009 at 11:50 am

This ad for the Thai Insurance Company features children from the Srisangwan School for the disabled, a project of the Princess Mother’s Volunteer Foundation. Link -via b3ta

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Rick Rolls

Posted by John Farrier in Blog & Internet, Food & Drinks, Music, Pictures on October 8, 2009 at 6:07 pm

Image: planetwrite

Literally. Flickr user planetwrite of Ocala, FL used his laser engraver to draw Rick Astley’s image on dinner rolls. | Link via Urlesque

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Turning a Staircase into a Piano

Posted by John Farrier in Music, Video Clips on October 7, 2009 at 4:22 pm

This Volkswagen commercial is about one effort to get people to take the stairs instead of the escalator (presumably for the exercise). The company turned a staircase at a Stockholm subway station into a piano and videotaped how travelers responded.

via Urlesque | Commercial Credits

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Talking Piano

Posted by John Farrier in Music, Science & Tech, Video Clips on October 7, 2009 at 8:26 am

Austrian composer Peter Ablinger digitized a recording of a child speaking and then programmed a mechanical piano to replicate the sounds. The video above is in German, but Hack a Day has provided a translation:

I break down this phonography, meaning a recording of something the voice, in this case -, in individual pixels, one can say. And if I have the possibility of a rendering in a fairly high resolution (and that I only get with a mechanical piano), then I in fact restore some kind of continuity. Therefore, with a little practice, or help or subtitling, we actually can hear a human voice in a piano sound.

The content of the speech is taken from the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court at World Venice Forum 2009.

via Gizmodo | Composer’s Webpage

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Glass Harmonica

Posted by Miss Cellania in Gadget, Music on October 5, 2009 at 11:31 am

Listen to French artist Thomas Bloch demonstrating a glass harmonica, or armonica, at the Paris Music Museum. From Wikipedia:

Benjamin Franklin invented a radically new arrangement of the glasses in 1761 after seeing water-filled wine glasses played by Edmund Delaval at Cambridge in England in 1758.[6] Franklin, who called his invention the “armonica” after the Italian word for harmony, worked with London glassblower Charles James to build one, and it had its world premiere in early 1762, played by Marianne Davies.

In Franklin’s treadle operated version 37 bowls were mounted horizontally on an iron spindle. The whole spindle turned by means of a foot pedal. The sound was produced by touching the rims of the bowls with moistened fingers.

Link

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Ohio is a Piano

Posted by Miss Cellania in Music, Travel & Places on September 29, 2009 at 9:41 am

Andy Woodruff noticed that Ohio has 88 counties, the same number as keys on a piano. So he went to work on a map application that assigns a note to each county. You can play a song on the map (a couple of songs are plotted out for you) or reassign the notes based on census data such as population, number of rental houses, or median age. You can even hear what a route from one place to another sounds like! Link to map. Link to the story behind it. -via the Presurfer

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Band-cest: Keeping it in the Family

Posted by Queuebot in Music on September 29, 2009 at 9:03 am

Growing up singing together has its advantages! This post looks at thirteen different sibling acts that made it big, with videos of each.

Often our brothers and sisters are the first people we sing and play music with, so if it works well, it’s only natural to continue to sing and play with them. The tonal similarity of siblings’ voices allows for the building of beautiful harmonies, which can explain the success of the music made by siblings.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Peachi.

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8+ Scientifically-Minded Musicians

Posted by Jill Harness in Music, Neatorama Only, Science & Tech on September 28, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Modern musicians are frequently believed to be stupid airheads who couldn’t hold down any “real” job. But in reality, there are a lot of intelligent rock stars. Some musicians are even geniuses – and not just when it comes to music composition. These musicians are not only intelligent, they have also used their knowledge to get college degrees or in their secondary professions.

Brian May: Queen

Brian May of Queen isn’t your average rock and roll supernova. He was named the 39th Greatest Guitarist of All Time by Rolling Stone, but he’s also great at something else – astrophysics. May graduated from the Imperial College of London with an honors degree in physics and Mathematics. He then went on to obtain a doctorate in both departments, when Queen exploded into rock and roll stardom. While he gave up his schooling for the band, he did not stop working with physics and published a few academic papers while in the group.

More recently, he printed a book entitled Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe in 2006. In October of 2007, he completed his Ph.D. in astrophysics. His thesis was titled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud. The month after, he was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

Source

Greg Graffin: Bad Religion

The Toad Greg Graffin was an anthropology and geology double-major from UCLA. He went on to obtain a master’s degree in geology from the school and then earned a Ph.D. in zoology from Cornell University. Throughout this entire time, he was singing and touring with Bad Religion, a band he helped form when he was only 15.

Although he’s still playing with Bad Religion, Graffin also teaches Life Sciences at UCLA. He has also written two books, one a series of correspondences between himself and historian Preston Jones titled Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant? A Professor and Punk Rocker Discuss Science, Religion, Naturalism & Christianity, the other is being released in 2010 and is titled Anarchy Evolution. According to a recent Twitter post, he is also be involved with an upcoming television series, called “Punk Professor.”

Source Image Via The Toad [Flickr]

Milo Aukerman: Descendents

Anyone familiar with the punk band The Descendents knows of the nerdy caricature that has come to serve as the band’s logo. That drawing is based on the band’s lead singer, Milo Aukerman. Fans may also recognize the name of the group’s first album, ‘Milo Goes to College.’ The album was named because Milo was actually going to college at UCSD at the time.

His affection for learning caused the band to go on a number of temporary hiatuses while he returned to school. Eventually, Aukerman earned a Ph.D in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Even after graduation, the band continued the cycle of reuniting and separating as Milo kept returning to the band and then his career in biochemistry. The group is currently dormant, but with their history, most fans still hold out hope that Milo will come back soon.

Sources #1, #2

Tom Scholz: Boston

Tom Scholz is the founder and guitarist for a little band called Boston. But before he ever even started the group, he received a master’s degree at MIT in the field of mechanical engineering. He was working as a senior product design engineer for Polaroid when he decided to try his hand at rock.

After Boston took off, Tom created his own music technology company, Scholz Research & Development in 1980. In 1995, he sold the company to Dunlop Manufacturing, who continued to produce the company’s most famous product, the Rockman guitar amp. The amp was designed by Sholz himself and still is manufactured with his signature on each unit.

Source

Dexter Holland & James Lilja: The Offspring

rockmusicreview The lead singer and co-founder of the Offspring, Dexter Holland graduated as valedictorian of his high school before he moved on to college. He then moved on to USC where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in biology and Master’s degree in molecular biology. When the Offspring took off, he actually left his doctoral program in Molecular Biology at USC in order to focus on the band. Unrelated, but also interesting, Holland is also a licensed pilot and hot sauce entrepreneur. His hot sauce, Gringo Bandito, has even been picked up by Albertsons.

Dexter isn’t the only smart guy who’s played in the band though. James Lilja played drums with the band for a few years before returning to his medical calling – in gynecology. If you thought it was strange to have a punk rock professor in LA, just imagine visiting a rock star gynecologist in San Jose.

Sources #1, #2, Image of Dexter Via Jack Shepler, Rock Music Review [Flickr]

Philip Taylor Kramer: Iron Butterfly

After leaving Iron Butterfly, bassist Philip Taylor Kramer obtained a degree in aerospace engineering. He then began working on the MX missile guidance system for a US Department of Defense contractor. After that, he began working on facial recognition systems, advanced communications and fractal compression systems for CDs. In 1990, he opened a business, Total Multimedia, with Micheal Jackson’s brother, Randy, where they specialized on data compression techniques for CDs. Kramer also worked on a project started by his father that would discredit Einstein’s theories. Part of his research involved a transmission project that could result in communications that went faster than the speed of light.

His disappearance in 1995 sent conspiracy theorists aflutter and remained a complete mystery for four years. It started when he drove to the LA airport to pick up an investor who never showed up. Kramer then made a number of phone calls from his cell phone, including one to the police where he said, “I’m going to kill myself. And I want everyone to know O.J. Simpson is innocent. They did it.” He was never heard from after this and the mystery ended up appearing on Oprah, America’s Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries and a Skeptic magazine article depicted the number of conspiracy theories surrounding his disappearance.

His body was finally uncovered in 1999, when photographers looking to shoot old car wrecks at the bottom of Decker Canyon in Malibu discovered his minivan with his remains inside. The death was officially ruled a suicide based on his phone calls made that day, but conspiracy theories still rage on.

Source

Jeff “Skunk” Baxter: Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers

nasa The guitarist for such classic bands as Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers is also a self-taught expert on weaponry systems. After a lengthy studying period at home, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter decided to demonstrate his knowledge on the subject by writing a five-page paper that proposed the ship-based anti-aircraft Aegis missile be converted into a missile defense system. After he gave the paper to California congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Baxter’s career as a defense consultant began.

In 1995, he was elected chairman of the Civilian Advisory Board for Ballistic Missile Defense, a position he still holds. Through work with that project, he was awarded consulting contracts with the Missile Defense Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, Science Applications International Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. He has also joined the NASA Exploration Systems Advisory Committee.

Baxter believes his unique way of looking at terrorism is what has allowed him to do so well in the industry, “We thought turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles. My big thing is to look at existing technologies and try to see other ways they can be used, which happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at.” Next time you’re wondering if the country is doing everything it can to keep you safe, remember that someone nicknamed “Skunk” is on top of it. It may not help comfort you, but at least you might giggle about it.

Source Image Via NASA (yes, that NASA)

A few other educated musicians of note:

-Lionel Richie has a degree in economics from Tuskegee.

-Art Garfunkel has a Masters from Columbia in both history and math.

-Tracy Chapman has degrees in anthropology and African studies from Tufts University, where she was also awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts.

-Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave has a degree in social studies from Harvard. After leaving the music world, he settled down and began teaching history.

Source #1, #2

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Two Cthulhu-Themed Songs

Posted by John Farrier in Movies & SciFi, Music on September 28, 2009 at 11:39 am

“Hey There Cthulhu” is a love song by the The Eben Brooks Brand, from their 2007 album Karaoke Bash Vol. 3. It is about a man expressing his tender love for the Dark One and his yearning for annihilation.

“I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth” is a take on the classic Christmas song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and is presented by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. It’s from their album A Very Scary Solstice. On that same album you can find “Oh Cthulhu“, which is a take on the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah”, sung by the Dagon Tabernacle Choir.

Via The Corner

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