Music Category
Music news and reviews, music videos and tittle tattle, with a lingering look at the past from Anorak. A source for rock, pop, album and live music, new releases, artist interviews and features.
In 1979 Philip Glass taught Sesame Street viewers the Geometry of Circles
Our undated picture shows U.S. composer Philip Glass. (AP-Photo/HO)
CONTINUING our occasional look at Sesame Street, arguably the greatest ever children’s TV show, we look back at Philip Glass’s appearance on it.
Geometry of Circles is a series of unnumbered animation pieces created for Sesame Street in 1979. Cathryn Aison commissioned Philip Glass to write music for animation based on her storyboard which had been submitted to and approved by Edith Zornow of CTW.
The shorts consist of the movement of six circles (each with a different color of the rainbow) that are formed by and split up into various geometric patterns. Glass’s music underscores the animation in a style that closely resembles the “Dance” numbers and the North Starvignettes written during the same time period as hisEinstein on the Beach opera.
The film has featured in public screenings and museum exhibits. In October 2012, the third movement from the film was included in the “Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000” exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Posted: 7th, June 2013 | In: Flashback, Music, TV & Radio | Comment
Justin Bieber’s philosophical and spiritual views on space travel and God are top secret
Singer Justin Bieber watches players during the first half of Game 7 in their NBA basketball Eastern Conference finals playoff series between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers, Monday, June 3, 2013 in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
RICH, dickish and young, Justin Bieber has come up with a new way to spunk some of his cash: he’s heading off to space.
Bieber will take on space via a Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 7th, June 2013 | In: Celebrities, Music | Comment
Example reads his new wife a 10-minute poem in Bora Bora
HEARTY congratulations to singer Example (nee Elliot Gleave) on his wedding to Australian model Erin McNaugh. The couple married in Bora Bora.
Said Example:
“I’ve written a poem that was 17 minutes long, like the whole speech, and I’ve whittled it down to about ten.”
Again. They married in Bora Bora…
Posted: 7th, June 2013 | In: Celebrities, Music | Comment
In this 1973 photo Sid Vicious is seen heading to a David Bowie gig
IN 1973, Sid Vicious – then known as John Simon Ritchie was pictured on his way to watch David Bowie perform in London. He’d have 16 or 17 years old. Four years later he joined the Sex Pistols. What impact did Glam Rock have on the punks?
[Not a valid template]Spotter: Mannequinfemme
Unlocking The Truth: the greatest 11-year-old metal band in New York City
RESTORING our faith in music’s future are Unlocking The Truth, a sixth-grade metal band. It’s not all about Simon’s Cowell’s CD collection (now almost one-shelf long!). Take it away, Malcolm Brickhouse, Jarad Dawkins and Alec Atkins.
The boys (all 11-years-old) spoke to Vice:
Where do you guys get the ideas for your songs?
Jarad: Well, people judge Malcolm about… he wears nail polish and I dealt with it once and I see what Malcolm felt because everybody judged him, but I ignored it and I think he does too. Alec do you get judged?
Alec: No… I go to a weird school so, like, anything happens.
What do you guys think about rap?
Malcolm: I don’t like it at all.
Alec: Rap is meaningless.
Any rituals before you go on stage?
Jarad: I usually do paradiddles. It’s a drum strategy to get my arms in shape.
Malcolm: I sweep pick. And when I perform, I get nervous and start talking to myself. I say random things to myself to make me forget about why I’m nervous. I don’t know how that works. Or I sing to myself.
Alec: Before I perform I play “Seven Nation Army” to get my arm into shape because it’s on a whole bunch of different frets where you have to skip so, it helps with my arm.
So do you guys totally rule at Guitar Hero and Rock Band and stuff like that?
Malcolm: I do.
What’s your high score?
Malcolm. A hundred. A hundred percent.
What song were you playing when you killed it?
Jarad: “Bat Country,” by Avenged Sevenfold.
Do you think it helps you play the guitar?
Malcolm: Yeah I think so. It stretches my fingers out.
Who owns Commander Chris Hadfield’s version of Space Oddity? Copyright issues are trickier than space travel
SPACE Commander Chris Hadfield sang David Bowie’s Space Oddity as his finale to his International Space Station show. And when he did, he potentially opened a can of worms (and lawyers). You can send a man to live in space. No sweat. But it’s much harder to work out who owns the words he says when he’s up there.
The song “Space Oddity” is under copyright protection in most countries, and the rights to it belong to Mr Bowie. But compulsory-licensing rights in many nations mean that any composition that has been released to the public (free or commercially) as an audio recording may be recorded again and sold by others for a statutorily defined fee, although it must be substantively the same music and lyrics as the original. But with the ISS circling the globe, which jurisdiction was Commander Hadfield in when he recorded the song and video? Moreover, compulsory-licensing rights for covers of existing songs do not include permission for broadcast or video distribution. Commander Hadfield’s song was loaded onto YouTube, which delivers video on demand to users in many countries around the world. The first time the video was streamed in each country constituted publication in that country, and with it the potential for copyright infringement under local laws. Commander Hadfield could have made matters even more complicated by broadcasting live as he sang to an assembled audience of fellow astronauts for an onboard public performance while floating from segment to segment of the ISS.
Ridiculous…
Posted: 25th, May 2013 | In: Music, Technology | Comments (2)
National Anthem Disasters: Alexis Normand forgets the words to the US anthem
HERE’S one for the file marked National Anthem Disasters. At the 2013 Memorial Cup game between the Portland Winterhawks and the Halifax Mooseheads, singer Alexis Normand was booked to sing the US national anthems. She forgot the words. French-Canadian Normand could made some up in the mode of Ella Fitzgerald’s memorable make-it-up-as-you-go-along version of Mack The Knife (see below). Alas, she didn’t.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Smiths’ Girlfriend in a Coma sung to the tune of Tiptoe through the Tulips
ON Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, Tony Hawks sings The Smiths’ Girlfriend in a Coma to the tune of Tiptoe through the Tulips:
Note: Tiptoe Through The Tulips lends itself to laughs. Scroll to the bottom to hear Tiny Tim flower walking with care.
Posted: 18th, May 2013 | In: Music, TV & Radio | Comment
The weekend starts with misheard 90s lyrics!
THERE’S nothing quite like mishearing lyrics is there? Well, good news! Here’s a video, to kickstart your weekend, which looks at the hits of the 90s, which mishears all your favourite lyrics and shares them with you!
2 Become 1 by the Spice Girls takes a sinister, Operation Yewtree turn, while Britney Spears single ...Baby One More Time makes her look even more mental than usual.
Radiohead’s Creep becomes less of an anthem of disenfranchisement, and something more ‘base’.
And Hanson? Well, you’ll just have to see what they’re on about.
Have fun!
Posted: 18th, May 2013 | In: Music | Comment (1)
The Beatles play Sack My Bitch Up at Shea Stadium, 1965
THE Beatles play Sack My Bitch Up at Shea Stadium, 1965. (It’s what they wold have wanted):
Brazil greets Paul McCartney with a plague of grasshoppers in his face
BEING a Beatle isn’t easy. When you’re trying to do a show, you’re met by most gussets and a wall of screams. However, in Brazil, they like to do things a bit more Biblical.
And so, to Sir Paul McCartney who played a show in South America and found himself hit by a plague of grasshoppers.
During his 3 hour gig in Goiania, Macca was bombarded by the insects. Tom Jones gets a hail of knickers, and poor old Paul gets a mouth filled with horrible bugs. But, then, he is Beatle (geddit?!).
Read the rest of this entry »
Fan banned from The Vaccines gig for being unable to name lead singer is lead singer of a band named The Uninvited
TO the Vaccines gig at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, north Wales. Andy Bellis from Wrexham has been refused entry. The bouncers wanted to know the the name of The Vaccines’ front man and two of their albums. Failure to answer correctly would mean no entry. Says Mr Bellis:
“We queued up for a good half hour and give our tickets at the door. It seemed pretty normal. So, we’re pulled aside to get searched and the security guy asks if I know the lead singer and could I name their two albums and some songs. I couldn’t think off the top of my head so they kicked us out, took the tickets off us and said we couldn’t watch the band because we didn’t know enough information about them. I’ve made a complaint to the venue asking for a refund as there was no other reason I wasn’t allowed in.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Brassy Denise Reis is a trumpet (video)
THEY said Denise Reis could be anything… So she became a trumpet. Cue the holiday camp music:
Going back to Rochdale – can the town’s image be improved with a song?
ROCHDALE is the town that gave us sex gangs, Cyril Smith and Bill Oddie. Can it recover? Can a song help?
Jimmy Kimmel dupes Coachella festival goers to say they have heard of non-existent bands
HOW goes it with the cool kids at Coachella? Jimmy Kimmel’s pops along to tell the gang about some great band that don’t exist. Are the festival goers fans? Yep. They are:
Posted: 23rd, April 2013 | In: Music, TV & Radio | Comment
RIP Richie Havens
RICHIE Havens had died. Best rememberd as the act that opened the 1969 Woodstock festival in 1969, Havens died of a heart attack in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was 72.
In this Dec. 1975 file photo, musicians Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform the finale of the The Rolling Thunder Revue, a tour headed by Dylan.
Richie Havens reprises his 1969 song “Freedom” at a concert at the Bethel Woods Center, Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 in Bethel, N.Y.
Woodstock ’69 veterans Melanie Safka, from, left, Judy Collins and Richie Havens get together at the Bendix Diner in New York, July 26, 1994. The trio introduced a Declaration of Civility and Kindness in honor of the Bethel ’94 concert for the 25th Anniversary of Woodstock.
Liberty Medal recipient filmmaker Steven Spielberg, left, is seen with singer Richie Havens during the medal ceremony in Philadelphia, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009
Posted: 23rd, April 2013 | In: Music | Comment (1)
I was a Led Zeppelin Roadie from 1971-74 – and this is what I remember
IN I was Led Zeppelin Roadie 1971-74, one man rakes over the coals of his memory. You can almost smell the burning. After Spinal Tap’s roadie has finished recalling this and that, you can wonder about memories of Zeppelin here.
Members of the pop group Led Zeppelin and singer Sandy Denny, pose in London in September 1970 after receiving their awards in the Melody Maker Pop Poll. Led Zeppelin, John Bonham, left; Robert Plant, second from left; and Jimmy Page, right were voted top group in both British and International sections, and Robert Plant topped the British male singer section. Sandy Denny was voted Britain’s top female singer. Date: 01/09/1970
Cliff Richard’s music kills plants – Black Sabbath makes them thrive
THE relationship between music and plants has been long muttered about, despite the fact plants don’t have ears. Prince Charlies plays songs to his shrubbery and even Stevie Wonder dedicated an entire LP to our flowering friends.
However, a new experiment has shown that Sir Cliff Richard’s music may actually kill our green cousins.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 22nd, April 2013 | In: Music, Reviews | Comments (5)
When Lester Bangs Creemed for Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music
IN 1976, Lester Bangs (Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung) wrote for Creem magazine an article on Metal Machine Music, the Lou Reed album. Like many other writes, he had hangovers:
When you wake up in the morning with the worst hangover of your life, Metal Machine Music is the best medicine. Because when you first arise you’re probably so fucked (i.e., still drunk) that is doesn’t even really hurt yet (not like it’s going to), so you should put this album on immediately, not only to clear all the crap out of your head, but to prepare you for what’s in store the rest of the day.
Speaking of clearing out crap, I once had this friend who would say, “I take acid at least every two months & JUST BLOW ALL THE BAD SHIT OUTA MY BRAIN!” So I say the same thing about MMM. Except I take it about once a day, like vitamins.
In his excellent liner notes, Lou asserts that he and the other speedfreaks did not start World Wars I, II, “or the Bay of Pigs, for that matter.” And he’s right. If everybody took amphetamines, all the time, everybody would understand each other. Either that or never listen or bother with the other son of a bitch, because they’d all be too busy spending three days drawing psychedelic lines around a piece of steno paper until it’s totally black, writing eighty-page letters about meaningless occurrences to their mothers, or creating MMM. There would be no more wars, and peace and harmony would reign. Just imagine Gerald Ford on speed- he might manifest some glimmer of personality. Or Ronald Reagan- a blood vessel in his snapping-turtle lips would immediately burst, perhaps ridding us of that cocksucker. As is well known by now, JFK enjoyed regular injections of Meth and vitamins from happy croakers. ‘Nuff said. Hey may not have actually accomplished anything (except the Bay of Pigs- wait a minute, Lou hasn’t been doing his homework), but he had style and a winning smile.
You want it, don’t you? In 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide’s Billy Altman called MMM “a two-disc set consisting of nothing more than ear-wrecking electronic sludge, guaranteed to clear any room of humans in record time.”
Now you really want it.
Rolling Stone magazine also compared it to “a night in a bus terminal”.
Paul Morley tells you what to expect:
Containing nothing but Lou’s all-time favourite thing – electric guitar and distorted feedback – MMM was 64 minutes of violent, spitting droning split into four vinyl sides of more or less the same cheerless, inert and shrieking length.
Bangs:
I predict by that time the general public will have grown ears and gotten hip enough to appreciate Metal Machine Music, so this follow-up, which I’m gonna call Triumph of the Will, will be the best-selling LP of all time and those ratfucks in Chicago can suck my asshole along with that little blob Elton John who could use some speed almost as bad as Leslie West but can’t have any of mine, because as I think it was Pat Ast said in that fabulous review of Coney Island Baby in the Soho Weekly News ‘I have seen rock’s future and its name is Lou Reed'”), a double album, you ask? Simple- the two discs are, according to Lou, symbolic of two tits (“There’s never more than two,” he explained), to signify that this is, albeit mechanized, a very sexy album designed to cut in heavily on the hot Barry White market.
Whoah! get back. You all want one:
Here’s Lou, happening:
“Great music is ‘as good as sex'”: Err, no, no it isn’t
THE Telegraph gives us this headline:
Great music is ‘as good as sex’
And illustrates it with a picture of a bird in her pajamas grinning at us under her headphones. Subtle, eh?
Read the rest of this entry »
The BBC bans Judy Garland: Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead (and so is Maggie Thatcher)
THE idiotic BBC has decided not to play the Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead, the tune from the Wizard of Oz reinvigorated by the anti-Margaret Thatcher. It will not feature on the Official Chart Show. All 51-seconds of it have been censored.
Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper tells the BBC:
“The decision I have made is I am not going to play it in full but that I will play a clip of it in a news environment. When I say a news environment, that is a newsreader telling you about the fact that this record has reached a certain place in the chart and here is a clip of that track.
“It is a compromise and it is a difficult compromise to come to. You have very difficult and emotional arguments on both sides of the fence.
“Let’s not forget you also have a family that is grieving for a loved one who is yet to be buried.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 12th, April 2013 | In: Music, Politicians | Comments (3)
Paul Simonon: The Clash bassist we all wanted to be and star of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll photo of all time
Read the rest of this entry »
