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If you’ve played Skyrim, then you’ll not only appreciate the song and video, but you’ll also realize how much work they had to put in to fill all those rooms with mead bottles at the end of the video.
Via Geeks Are Sexy
Stravinsky and Nijinsky
The most infamous riot in the history of the performing arts began with the violins in Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” But more remarkable than the fistfight was the way the piece revolutionized classical music and ballet.
On the night of May 29, 1913, an elegant Parisian crowd assembled for the first performance of Igor Stravinsky’s eagerly anticipated new ballet, “The Rite of Spring.” The opening seemed promising, but then the violins kicked in with a pulsing chord so dissonant that it made spectators wince. As the orchestra continued, the audience hissed and booed. They rose to their feet and shouted—some defending the music, but most denouncing it. People began whacking each other with canes, umbrellas, and, before long, bare fists. Stravinsky’s musical revolution had arrived.
Prelude to “The Rite”
By one account, the idea for “The Rite of Spring” came to Stravinsky in a dream. He envisioned a pagan rebirth ritual, with people throwing themselves before vengeful gods. Rather than a cheerful celebration of springtime, it was a dark and superstitious rite. To compose music appropriate for such a vision, Stravinsky tossed aside convention and broke new ground in rhythm and harmony. He constructed atonal chords never heard before and developed a meter so complex that he struggled to accurately record it on paper. At times in the piece, parts of the orchestra actually seem to be playing against each other.
Stravinsky first performed “The Rite of Spring” for ballet director Sergei Diaghilev and orchestra conductor Pierre Monteux. Both men were shocked and overwhelmed. Later, Monteux wrote that he didn’t understand one note of it and wanted to flee the room. Nevertheless, plans for the ballet got under way. Diaghilev entrusted the choreography to dance phenom Vaslav Nijinsky, whose steps proved just as inspired as the music.
Concept, costumes, and set designs by Nicholas Roerich.
The first signs of trouble came during rehearsals. The ballerinas complained that Nijinsky’s flat-footed, straight-knee jumps jarred them to their bones, and the musicians struggled to keep up with Stravinsky’s galloping pace. At one point, after practicing a particularly dissonant section, the orchestra couldn’t help but burst into nervous laughter.
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Wikki wikki wikki what. Go Frenchie, it’s your birthday.
Via I Has A Hot Dog
Nine-year-old Jonny Mizzone can play the banjo! On fiddle, you hear his 12-year-old brother Robbie, and 14-year-old Tommy accompanies them on guitar. The song is Ralph Stanley’s “How Mountain Girls Can Love.” You can see more of the brothers at the YouTube channel Sleepy Man Banjo Boys. Link -via reddit
Who knew Sabotage was so perfectly written to become a venn diagram? Really though, sabotage should go into another bubble. After all, it’s sabotage.
Link Via Laughing Squid
Modern technology might sound better, hold more songs and be easier to use than the vintage stuff, but it sure doesn’t have the same visual impact as a classic phonograph. Fortunately with this iPhonograph you get the stunning classic style blended with the beauty of new technology. If you’ve got the skills, Instructables has the steps to make your own.
Link Via Geekosystem
Police were called to the home of producer and TV host Don Cornelius early this morning after gunshots were heard. Cornelius was found unconscious and was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Cornelius was best known for his television show Soul Train, which aired from 1970 to 2006. Cornelius hosted the show from its beginning until 1993.
“Soul Train” was one of the longest-running syndicated shows in television history and played a critical role in spreading the music of black America to the world, offering wide exposure to musicians such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson in the 1970s and 1980s.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened at the sudden passing of my friend, colleague and business partner Don Cornelius,” said Quincy Jones, according to the Associated Press. “Don was a visionary pioneer and a giant in our business. Before MTV there was ‘Soul Train.’ That will be the great legacy of Don Cornelius. His contributions to television, music and our culture as a whole will never be matched. My heart goes out to Don’s family and loved ones.”
Mr. Cornelius, a former disc jockey, created the show in 1970 in Chicago on WCIU-TV and served as its writer, producer and host. Quickly becoming a success, the show was broadcast nationally in 1971, beginning its 35-year run. Besides the performers, the program showcased young dancers who would strut their stuff, laying the groundwork for countless dance programs , including current hits like Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance?” and MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew.” “We had a show that kids gravitated to,” Mr. Cornelius said.
Cornelius’ death is being investigated as a possible suicide. He was 75. Link
(Image credit: MadVision Entertainment)
By Carl LaFong & the Spunk Holler Boys. From the YouTube page:
Not knowing the real lyrics to the song, Carl wrote his own and as a result debased a timeless traditional folk classic.
Warning: listening to this song may raise your cholesterol level. -Thanks, Steve Cloutier!
Those of us who don’t play the latest video games are missing out on the excellent music composed or adapted specifically for them. Paul Tassi at Unreality magazine posted his ten favorite video game soundtracks, with YouTube clips so you can listen.
My friends all laugh at me, because whenever I drive anywhere, the first song playing from my iPod is generally from a video game or movie soundtrack. I’m a product of my environment, and my musical tastes are heavily influenced by movies, trailers, tv shows and games, and as such I have “terrible” taste in music according to everyone else. So be it.
Of course, taste in music varies, so others contributed suggestions in the comments. I thought of “Baba Yetu” from Civilization IV, the main theme from The Legend of Zelda, and of course, Tetris, but then I’m no gamer, so the list is all new to me. Try his ten out and let us know if your favorites are included. Link
Who was it: Stefani Germanotta or Jerrica Benton? These singers are better known as pop star Lady Gaga and ’80s cartoon rock star Jem. In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you’ll be given twelve statements, and you decide which diva it applies to. Believe it or not, I scored 75% without knowing anything about either of them! How did you do? Link
Tired of playing Skyrim on your console and want to instead play mandolin while living out your dreams as the Dragonborn? Then you’d better head over to TT Guitars on Etsy to get your own Skyrim electric mandolin. Of course, if you prefer bass or guitar, you can always try those as well, but somehow mandolin seems more appropriate for Skyrim.
Link Via Geekosystem
The following is an article from the book Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges into Music.
People around the world have been trying to regulate music for centuries, but in the 1980s, Tipper Gore launched the first campaign to rate albums. Here’s the story of how a vice-president’s wife took on graphic lyrics in music and won …sort of.
DARLING TIPPER
In 1984, Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore, bought Prince’s Purple Rain album for her 11-year-old daughter Karenna. They put on the VD and Gore liked it …until she got to “Darling Nikki,” a very sexually explicit song, and one Gore thought was inappropriate for an 11-year-old. Had she known, she never would have bought the album.
Gore did some more “research” on the level of vulgarity in popular music -she watched MTV for a few hours and found more songs that troubled her, including Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher,” and Mötley Crüe’s “Looks That Kill.” “The images frightened my children, they frightened me,” she said. “The graphic sex and the violence were too much for us to handle.”
She started talking to some friends -wives of prominent Washington businessmen and politicians- and decided to use her influence to do something about it. With Susan Baker (wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker) , Pam Howar (wife of powerful realtor Raymond Howar), and Sally Nevius (wife of Washington City Council chairman John Nevius), Gore formed the Parents Music Resource Center, or PMRC, in 1985.
PMRC’s stated goal: to raise parental awareness of “the growing trend in music towards lyrics that are sexually explicit, excessively violent, or glorify the use of drugs and alcohol.” The group even suggested that the increase in some crimes in the previous 30 years directly correlated with the popularity of rock music -rape was up 7% since 1955 and teenage suicide was up 300%.
PMRC TO RIAA: X, V, D/A, O!
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Zooey Deschanel posted this holiday duet she did with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The two starred together in the 2009 movie 500 Days of Summer, and have been friends even longer than that. -Thanks, Bicycle Bill!
It was recently discovered that if you use Google Earth to view the Salford Lads Club in the UK you will find an image of the Mozster hanging out in front of the club, just like in this iconic photo of the Smiths from their The Queen Is Dead LP.
Now that’s what I call a dedicated Morrissey fan! I wonder who will have their image hacked into Google Earth next? My prediction- Elvis at Graceland.
These geektastic electronic musicians play the kind of songs that make you want to click your left mouse button excessively while nerding out online.
They have a style all their own, part electronic, part hip hop, with some nerdcore rapping thrown in. Their songs would make the ultimate soundtrack for nearly every video game ever made, plus you can dance to it!.
Speaking of video games, this time around the trio plays their own version of the song Earthquake by Labrinth using an app game called Grabatron.
It’s catchy, rugged enough to appeal to the hip hop heads that might get an earful, and I would have played their tracks non-stop in my walkman back in the day, as I worked at getting my initials on the high score pages of my fav arcade games. Geeks up, schmucks down!
–via GeeksAreSexy
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Mental_floss magazine dug up songs that made the news in the past quarter-century. They may be from a different era, and most of them aren’t particularly popular or critically acclaimed (although some are), but they all made a difference in the world one way or another. Many different ways, actually. Read the stories of each and every song at the blog. Link
Artist and musician Rhe De Ville had recorded a danceable update to her joyful holiday anthem “Happy New Year” for 2012, with a new video, too! Of course, the original is nice, too. -Thanks, Rhe!
Comments Off We all need a Hall & Oates fix from time to time, and Michael Selvidge feels our pain so he created the Callin’ Oates hotline, a number you can call to get a daily dose of Hall & Oates.
The hotline contains such classics as: Rich Girl, Private Eyes, Maneater and a few more classic songs which will brighten your day and make everything right in the world once again.
And the topper? Hall & Oates aren’t going to shut the line down, and they are thrilled that so many fans keep calling and enjoying their songs!
–via Gothamist
Zach Braff and Donald Faison from the TV show Scrubs recorded a Christmas song and uploaded it to YouTube this morning as a Christmas greeting. -via reddit
Darth Vader directs a flashmob choir at Algonquin College. The Television Broadcasting students organized this with the help of the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir to lighten the mood during finals.
Please note: Lord Vader is not enrolled or on faculty at Algonquin.
-via Buzzfeed
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out,
You put your right foot in,
And you shake it all about
You do the hokey Pokey
And you turn it all around
That’s what it’s all about!You put your left foot in,
You put your left foot out,
Etc. etc. etc.
For some reason, “The Hokey Pokey” always brings people up; it makes people happier. Why is the Hokey Pokey so popular and beloved? Well, you can come up with your own theory, but no other song seems to symbolize a good time for people and bring a smile to their faces to quite the same extent.
In 1942, Irish songwriter and publisher Jimmy Kennedy, best known for “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” created a dance and an instruction song to go with it called “The Hokey Cokey.” Written to entertain Canadian troops stationed in London, this song is similar to, but not the same as “The Hokey Pokey” we all know.
Composer Al Tabor was also entertaining Canadian troops in wartime London, and in 1942, he wrote a participation dance called “The Hokey Pokey.” He claimed the name came from the London ice cream vendors of his youth, called “Hokey Pokey Men.” The accompanying dance was very similar to Kennedy’s.
In 1946, totally unaware of the British “Hokey Pokey” and “Hokey Cokey,” two Scranton, Pennsylvania musicians, Robert Degan and Joe Brier, recorded “The Hokey Pokey Dance” to entertain summer vacationers at Poconos Mountain resorts. The song was a regional favorite at dances and resorts for the rest of the forties, but that still isn’t the song we know today.
As if to confuse matters even more, British bandleader Gerry Hoey also claimed authorship in 1940 of a similar tune “The Hoey Oka.”
The general belief is that Charles Mack, Taft Baker, and Larry Laprise wrote the American version of the song, “The Hokey Pokey,” in 1949 to entertain skiers at the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. The song was a hit at resorts, so Laprise recorded it. It flopped, but Degan and Brier found out about it and sued Laprise for ripping off their “Hokey Pokey Dance.” Despite the fact that his version came out after theirs, Laprise won the rights to anything to do with “The Hokey Pokey.”
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British sailors aboard the amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean lip-sync to Mariah Carey’s Christmas recording while on their way home from what was originally supposed to be a seven-week deployment -but then they were diverted to Libya, and seven weeks turned into seven months. After a 225-day mission (176 at sea), they are stoked to get back to the UK by this Friday, in time for the holidays! Link
Ralph ‘Whistler’ Giese performed “Georgia on My Mind” on the Detroit talk show Kelly & Company in the early ’80s. The audience reaction is priceless. See more of Giese’s video at Dailiy Picks and Flicks. Link -via Metafilter
Rock stars aren’t generally known for their amazing acting skills, but that doesn’t stop television executives from working them into different cameo roles whenever possible. Mental Floss has a great article with some of the greatest (and most terrible) musician cameos ever made. My personal favorite was Michael Stipe in The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Any of you remember these episodes?
Oh Mike, you went from being one of the most intimidating people in the world to being a comedic icon. Here he is further softening his image by softly singing “The Girl From Ipanema.”
Via BuzzFeed
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, The Piano Guys brought us Cello Wars. Steven Sharp Nelson plays several of the various themes from the Star Wars films on two cellos with light sabers. Then Darth Vader and Chewbacca dance. I think you’ll enjoy it. -Thanks, Will Findlay!
Comments Off Stuffed and mounted animals sing “Back in the Day” by The Erratic Man. Besides the video, there’s a choir of singing animals that you can add your pet to! Link -Thanks, James!
From YouTube member bd594, the same geek who brought us “Bohemian Rhapsody” by The Gadget Orchestra a couple of years ago, we now have the classic “House of the Rising Sun” played by various vintage electronic gadgets. The instruments:
a. HP Scanjet 3P, Adaptec SCSI card and a computer powered by Ubuntu v9.10 OS as the Vocals. (hey, the scanner is old)
b. Atari 800XL with an EiCO Oscilloscope as the Organ
c. Texas instrument Ti-99/4A with a Tektronix Oscilloscope as the Guitar
d. Hard-drive powered by a PiC16F84A microcontroller as the bass drum and cymbal
-via Metafilter
Fans of the Mario Bros. video game franchise draw inspiration from the moustachioed plumbers in so many creative ways, but i’m generally most impressed by the musical tributes. This operatic styled song released on YouTube by legolambs has hilarious lyrics that go along with the gameplay so well that you’ll be entertained even though you’re watching someone play Super Mario Bros. for the millionth time.
–via Geekosystem
Most of the songs on this list have been used so many times,on soundtracks for movies and television shows, that we know them by heart. I’ve heard them all a million times (except for Zombie Nation, which is apparently big with hockey fans), yet I was surprised to find that I only knew half the song names on the list. See how well you do, and if you knew them all you get a gold star!
