Just about every American knows the words to the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner, but do you know the story behind it? I spent six months in Baltimore in 1976, so I was well acquainted with it, but this is still an inspirational video.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Friday, June 2, 2017
For Musical Masochists...
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was born on June 2, 1740. In honor of his birthday, I present you with the two most painful pieces of music I have ever heard:
There are many, many recordings of Steve Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood, and I could have tortured you for hours with all of them. They do sound pretty similar, though, leaving you with the question, is the ringing in your ears meant to be part of the music? What makes this video particularly excruciating is eliminating the human element, just seeing the pure geometry of the passing notes.
There are many, many recordings of Steve Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood, and I could have tortured you for hours with all of them. They do sound pretty similar, though, leaving you with the question, is the ringing in your ears meant to be part of the music? What makes this video particularly excruciating is eliminating the human element, just seeing the pure geometry of the passing notes.
John Cage's Fontana Mix is quite a different beast. He did not notate it in a traditional manner, so different performers can have radically different realizations. What makes Max Neuhaus's interpretation so ear curdling is that his primary "instrument" was a speaker and microphone, which he manipulated the feedback between.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Flea Be Gone
The weather is getting warmer, so that means nasty buggies are coming out. Plenty of ways are available to poison them, but you have to be careful they don't poison you or your pets -- even if they are natural.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
O Frabjous Day!
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
How a Carpenter Says I Love You
There are many ways to express your love: words, touches, gifts. A gift you make yourself that is exactly what the person needs is an extra special way, and when it is made by the hands of a master carpenter, it becomes a work of art:
Monday, January 9, 2017
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