LA Times: ‘Soul Train’ creator Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide.
For teen guys, way back when, he was the voice we all wanted to have when our voices changed. Rest in peace.
Open Culture: Here Comes The Sun - The Lost Guitar Solo by George Harrison.
Well now, that blows my mind.
WaPo: Etta James, Grammy-winning blues singer with pop appeal, dies.
“No matter how pop or schmaltzy a song, I can’t help but put a gospel and blues hurting on it.” And it hurt so good. Rest in peace, good lady.
Bartholomäus Traubeck: Years.
A record player that translates year-rings into piano notes and chords. Dischordantly and dramatically hypnotizing.
Vanessa Paradis & -M-, “Un monstre à Paris”, L’album.
Cool site, soundtrack. Don’t view if you hate Flash.
Yahoo News: Man’s iPhone marimba ringtone halts entire New York Philharmonic.
Just turn the damned thing off.
NY Times: Trinity Church, a Sanctuary for Music, Cuts Back.
“All this adds up to deprivation and uncertainty for parishioners and followers of Trinity’s music program. And for all the current caricatures of classical music as an elitist pursuit, no one would mistake the crowd at the free Bach at One concerts for 1 percenters. Many are tourists, stopped in their tracks by what they hear.” A shame. Trinity sits at an important crux point, between Wall Street, the Stock Exchange, the waterfront, the site of the former WTC. It remains a connection to the past, to the future. If you work in the area, you often eat lunch in the cemetery with Alexander Hamilton, John Jacob Astor, Luther Martin, Robert Fulton and others. Nice green space in the concrete jungle.
NY Times: Glen Campbell’s Goodbye Tour at Town Hall.
“Last June, Glen Campbell announced that he had Alzheimer’s disease, and on Saturday night he came to Town Hall as part of what was billed as the “Goodbye Tour.” Everyone in the room understood.” The Rhinestone Cowboy rides off into a grim sunset. Best of luck, Glen.
NPR: Double-Blind Violin Test: Can You Pick The Strad?
“There was no evidence that people had any idea what they were playing.”
Gramophone: Hildegard of Bingen to be canonised and admitted as a Doctor of the Church.
“Her music gained popularity as the result of various recordings, including Gothic Voices’ ‘A Feather on the Breath of God’, recorded by Hyperion in April 1985 and which won numerous awards, including Gramophone’s Choral Award.” Indeed, I think ‘85 was when many of us heard of her for the first time. Please don’t part her out into ‘relics’ ...
Wired: Spotify vs. Rdio - Who Has The Exclusives?
Vimeo: La Mer de Pianos.
Video of the oldest piano store in Paris. Just goes to show ... you’ve got to near-destroy things to put ‘em back together again properly. Not for the faint-of-heart.
Pitchfork: Trent Reznor and Karen O Cover Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”.
Well now, that beats the hell out of the lame Jack White/Alicia Keys Quantum of Solace intro. I hope Daniel Craig whacks the Bond producers over the head with this.
Metafilter: Twenty-Five Semi-Obscure Traditional Christmas Songs.
Nice. Everyone here knows of my mild Jeff Beck obsession, so I’ll add Greensleeves, Amazing Grace and Corpus Christi Carol.
Youtube: Sade, Somebody Already Broke My Heart.
It’s so simple, but the waterdrop hitting on the beat is just *so* effective. Perfect. I still can’t figure out which instrument triggers it. There’s a lead-in time, so I suspect the drummer.
I was thinking about Sade today. Her plethora of hits in the ‘80’s/90’s carried more than just excellent musicianship - her early videos sold a lifestyle of sorts. One wanted to *be* part of her social circle, her world, so very much. They were hipsters before our current hipster wave. Her comeback hasn’t had any of that kind of portrayal. Just another pop star singing, with the usual dancing and conceptual theme/imagery behind.
Shame.
Crazy thought: She should convince Scott Schuman (’The Sartorialist‘) to try his hand at video.
Youtube: Sugar Plum Fairy by P.Tchaikovsky - Glass Harp LIVE (HD).
So lovely. Via MeFi.
Crosscut: KING-FM - Making the cut as a non-profit?
Some are touting this classical station’s nonprofit status as a success. Read deeper: “This robust membership income — along with a $250,000 gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a $100,000 gift from Harriett Bullitt, a $50,000 grant from the Tateuchi Foundation, and $1 million worth of gifts from nearly 100 ‘leadership donors’ — also helped KING-FM exceed its goal of creating a $2 million ‘transition fund.’” Every nonprofit needs a sugar daddy or three. How durable those sugar daddies are, is the question.
BBC News: Antique Stradivarius violin ‘replicated’ by radiologist
“With the inflation of prices of rare old violins - and obviously Stradivari at the top of that list - it’s far out of the reach of anyone but investors and investment trusts. So if there was a way of putting a superb violin in the hands of a young violinist at a fraction of the cost it would be a huge step forward.” I’ll wait to actually *hear* the results before judging success. We’ve heard the “Stradivarius technique solved” news before - too many times.
SacBee: Just getting started - German concert turns 10.
“Visitors hoping to experience the next chord change of the organ at the former St. Burchard church in the German town of Halberstadt will have to wait until July 2012.” I love the concept of a 600 year long performance.
NY Times: Sorry, Strivers - Talent Matters.
“Sometimes the story that science tells us isn’t the story we want to hear.” Sometimes the story science tells is so narrowly focused as to be meaningless for some pursuits. Memorization is not creativity — or ‘soul.’ Improvisation in jazz, for instance. There’s a noticeable difference between those soloists who string together memorized riffs, to those who freely randomize within the individual notes of chord progressions (I hope I explained that clearly - words are failing me). The latter are significantly less-common to come across, sadly.
ReadWriteWeb: NPR’s New Pandora-Style “Infinite” Radio Player Now Available.
“This experience provides more of an opportunity for what the NPR team calls ‘distracted listening’ - that is, consuming content while doing other things and not necessarily having to make any decisions about it ...” I can’t really concentrate with talk in the background ... YMMV.
LAist: ‘Ultimate Party Crasher’ Sneaks Into Private Concert, Robert Plant Approves.
Pays to be a nosey neighbor.
Discover Mag: Acoustical Archaeologists Solve the Mystery of the Doge’s Stereo System.
It’s about the draperies, clothes and people.
Standpoint: Maestro’s Baton Passed to Youth.
“The musicians went on Facebook and shared details of their plight. Major soloists boycotted Rio and the maestro was demoted. Social media had triumphed over rampant ego.” Social media destroys cults of personality.
Then allows everyman to build one for themselves.
BBC News: Music fans worship at church gigs.
Cowboy Junkies were doingthis in the ‘80’s, BBC.
