I Wish They Could All Be California Girls

So many banjos!

"Shakin' the Blues Away" - a 1928 version by The Ingenues.



(via jezebel)

The Charming Man

Morrissey will answer all your questions. (?)



(The original listing for a Handmade Custom Screenprinted Morrissey Ouija Board, via nerdcore)

Calling Out From Beneath The Waves

Jean Shin's "Sound Wave" (2007)

(via notcot, photo: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times)

Take Five

Mulgrew Miller talks about comping. YOU YOUNGSTERS, you don't even know.



(via The Collaborative Piano Blog)

Paint It Black

Notations 21 is an anthology of graphic scores. It's beautiful! Now if only I was gainfully employed...

Examples:

(Steve Roden)


(Makoto Nomura)

You can see more of the scores (and read about the inspiration behind them) here.

It's A Rollercoaster Kind Of Rush

Now this is my kind of rollercoaster:



Zürich Chamber Orchestra

And I'm Tangled Up In You

You know how you can put your headphones on the table, turn away for two seconds, and when you look back they're a tangled mess? You put them in your bag, walk two blocks, and when you pull them out again they're one big knot?

Dorian Raymer and Douglas Smith of UCSD studied the physics of random knotting. Moral of the story? Any kind of tumbling or turning = tangles. And there's nothing you can do about it.

(Still doesn't explain the mystery of the tabletop, though. Music-hating gnomes, probably.)

(via bookforum, photo credit Raymer and Smith)

Sitting Waiting Wishing

Alex Ross has a new book coming out in September! It's called Listen to This. Says Mr. Ross: "The new book is a panoramic tour of the musical world, touching variously on Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Verdi, Brahms, Marian Anderson, Frank Sinatra, Cecil Taylor, Led Zeppelin, Björk, Radiohead, Mitsuko Uchida, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Luther Adams, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Bob Dylan, and the Malcolm X Shabazz High School Marching Band. In the Preface, I say that the aim is to 'approach music not as a self-sufficient sphere but as a way of knowing the world.'"

It's not available for pre-order on Amazon yet, so don't bother trying. Not that I've checked once or twice...a day.

All the information that is currently available can be found: here. (And perhaps a preview of what's to come: here?)

Don't Want No Paper Gangsta' / Uh Oh

The Law of GaGa:



(via 2'23")

Anthems For A Seventeen-Year-Old

Start your day off right with Glenn Gould playing Bach's Partita No. 2. He's so young! Young and crazy. In a good way. Qualify qualify.



(via Open Culture)

I Need A Hero / I'm Holding Out For a Hero

But this is what happens when our heroes go over to the dark side: GuitarHeroBrokeMyKnee.com.

There's A Hero / If You Look Inside Your Heart

This is like the image-makeover portion of the Incredibles: Let's get rid of frock coats (in the event of crowd-surfing, tails could be a major impediment) in favor of platform shoes and long hair!





(via Dark Figures)

I Can Be Your Hero Baby

They have movable arms and legs. Just saying.






(via Shakespeare's Den)

I Remember When / I Remember I Remember When I Lost My Mind

Theremin Orchestra: because one isn't screechy enough.



Bonus: Gnarls Barkley's Crazy - theremin-style.

I Know What You Want

Gnod is a self-adapting recommendation website - slogan: "Even if you don't know what you're looking for - Gnod will find it." Enter three bands (/ musicians / composers / it's probably most useful for bands) that you like, and Gnod will instantly come up with a recommendation.

Let's test it...

Beethoven / Bach / Brahms = Mozart. (A little obvious, Gnod.)
Bartok / Rachmaninoff / Albeniz = Dvorak. (Okay, better.)
Messiaen / Ligeti / Penderecki = Lutoslawsky. (Now we're talkin'!)
Metric / Florence and the Machine / Kings of Convenience = Chairlift. (Accurate indeed.)

Try your luck here.

I'm Not Gonna Write You A Love Song / Cause You Asked For It

Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus is about Adrian Leverkühn, a fictional composer who makes a deal with the devil in exchange for twenty-four years of creative genius.
Words: check. Visual? What does a soulless composer look like? Take one:


Adrian Leverkuhn by Joshua Hughes
2007
oil on canvas
25" x 21"

(image via SaatchiGallery)

Writing This Letter / Hoping You're Okay

To Leonard Bernstein
7 Middagh Street, Brooklyn, NY
Main 4.9079
April 28th 1941

Dear Lenny,
Please forgive the lateness of this - but I have been working all day & night for the last three weeks on the score of the operetta & I haven't had a moment for letters.
I was very, very pleased that you liked the Sinf. da Req. Judging by your remarks you certainly 'got' what I wrote, & it was extremely nice of you to take the trouble to write & say so. I am sure that it's the 'best so far' - and as it's the last, that is as it should be. I might argue with you about one or two of your remarks about my earlier masterpieces - but may be there is something in what you say. The only thing is, maybe those particular vices are less vicious than some others I can think of - such as inhibitions, sterility, self-conscious ideas of originality - but we won't go into that now!
How are you? I saw you were conducting on the Radio on Saturday - how did it go? When do you come to New York? I shall be around until June 1st or thereabouts. Give me a call when you get here. How are your chamber concerts going? As you probably know - the Bowlesesses departed for Mexico.
The Operetta is chaotic. Goberman is not doing it - Hugh Ross has taken it over - & although he has the right mentality for training choruses, (entre nous) he is not so hot on orchestras. However - we shall see.
Thank you again for your note. You ask how the others liked the symphony - all the ones I respect were pleased - including Aaron, Chavez, Colin, Lincoln et all -

Best of luck,
Yours ever,
Benjy B.


(via Letters from a Life: Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten Vol. 3; Edited by Donald Mitchell, Philip Reed, and Mervyn Cooke)

If You're Into It

Secretly, I judge musicians based on what their nails look like. No wait - not so secretly. If your nails are long and metallic-teal, then you are not a real pianist. BAM.

That being said, my disdain shouldn't stop the nail-painting if it really keeps you going. And in that case - I'll even get you a how-to video! (Also, isn't that background music nice and relaxing?)

We Could Start A Basement Band

An organ with no pipes. How is that possible? The answer is: STALACTITES. Obviously.

You can find "The Great Stalacpipe Organ" in a subterranean cave in Lurrey, Virginia. Built in 1954 by a musician/mathematician/electronic scientist, it took three years to finish. But hey - it never needs to be retuned!



(via atlasobscura)