One of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced…
...is playing live music, that I've created, for an appreciative audience. Sometimes I forget how lucky I have been to have experienced these performances. Here is my band Nebulae Apothecary playing Jordan's epic 'Lavender Bells' for a Sacandaga String Band audience live at the Boght Arts Center in upstate, NY.
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I'm not taking the time to guarantee it plays at the moment. I'm actually in the midst of homework and this track came up on iTunes. I had to share it.
The Naked Now
When FOX allowed Joss Whedon an intellectual property blank check so that he could create Firefly, his vision was profoundly unique and decidedly un-Star Trek. The Alliance, Whedon’s Starfleet equivalent, is portrayed as unwanted big government, both bumbling and oppressive. Gene Roddenberry’s starship crews were harmonious visions of a utopian future while the crew of the Serenity must struggle to get along and to survive. No replicators there. Perhaps that’s why Firefly (and also Star Trek’s own DS9) is part of my beloved television show pantheon. It took something I understood very well, and showed me a different way to look at it, and, rather than railing against my established conventions, I embraced the new layers that allowed me to love more deeply.
Now what does that have to do with The Naked Now, a terrible episode of television that I bid you not to watch?
Encounter at Farpoint: Parts 1 & 2
Image via Wikipedia
There’s no way to pin down the exact date in time where I first saw an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Likewise, there’s no way to quantify the day I moved from seeing an episode for the first time and becoming a Star Trek fan. Twenty years ago, a nice round number and as good a guess as any, I was nine years old. I would have wrapped up fourth grade, a year of intense bullying and not entirely coincidental first signs of academic faltering—the worst year of my young life. TNG was wrapping up its fourth season and had just wrapped up arguably its best season ever. It was officially established as a worthy successor to the original and already stood on its own as one of the best science fiction shows of all time. We were meant for each other.
Like many real stories of true love TNG and I did not immediately find each other. Our start was rather auspicious in fact, like trying onion rings for the first time—it takes time to establish how great is the good and how awful is the bad. Perhaps my ability to overcome my first experience with TNG it is proof of just how drawn to the show I was.
I remember distinctly walking into the family TV room, an adult show on the TV, my father in his chair. My queries were answered patiently, I learned the show’s title, and maybe I gleaned some concept of… concept. Whatever I first learned as my dad explained Star Trek to me was short lived. My first viewing was cut very short. The episode on the screen was a repeat from season one, the infamous Conspiracy, and I had just stepped into the scene most infamous. Moments into my first viewing of Star Trek, a man was ripped apart by phaser fire, exposing an alien bug living in his exploded torso. I left the room, shaken.
That was expensive
Worth at least two looks.
We watched a full year of Conan in good ol' 525. Mikey, Chrispy, JJ, and myself. If school work wasn't done by then, tough luck grades, we had more important things to do.
This is how blogging works
I don't have to post today, Sandy already did it for me.
A++, 10/10, would watch again.
Jorge isn't the most tonal singer but he certainly cranks it out which makes it a lot of fun. This is song is one of the best from Make Believe so I might say that this is indeed a 'Perfect Situation.'
Mar mar mar.
Heading out of town for a wedding this weekend so the blog might take a break.
From the Notebook: Hip Hop 1
From the Notebook: Songs or stories unearthed and shared from the notebooks and hard drives I still have lying around. Not necessarily good but hopefully interesting.
Knowing that three of your best friends are now living together in the same house makes me pretty jealous. Especially since I've done it before and I can verify it's pretty great. Here's one of my favorite stories from that time.
When you went up the stairs (we had stairs, how great was that?) in the apartment at 1051 Park you could go left into my room or you could head right into Jordan's studio. A few times that little corridor would really buzz with musical creativity.
One of these times Jordan called me in to listen to a hip hop groove he had laid down into one of his first ever sessions with Garageband. Even though this was an early recording it was definitely head bop worthy. He said he was working on the chorus and asked if I thought I could put a rap down over it. Definitely, I thought. There was a real sultry, seductive drive to the tune so I decided to go for it and write something a little out of my comfort zone. Later that same night this is what I returned to him:
I approach with words most intimate,
I got a car let's go, get into it.
Hands grasp the breeze through the window slit;
Sunset evening, to the night, it slips.
Engine turns to the tune of a heart beat,
Stars wink away the last of the summer heat,
Moon shines on a rocky shore,
We open up, like never before.
No place I'd rather be
Then riding by this silver sea.
We travel roads that never existed
'Til you came to me and then persisted
Upon my every thought and dream
Boiling over and building up steam:
Night ride to the world of Neverland,
You can be Wendy and I'll be Peter Pan.
He asked if I was ready to give it a shot and I was so we threw it down on the track with just a couple of takes. He had a funny business silence about the whole thing. Alright, great, he said when we had finished... now he played the chorus with a funny look on his face.
Out of the computer came Jordan's completely different take on the song. A somber and echoing falsetto voice pined these words:
Something's gone
It's gone away
It left today
Something's gone
It's gone away
It left today
"Oh," I said.
"Sorry," He said.
We didn't give up on the tune, we worked with the incongruous words and the end result is some of my favorite lyrical work we've ever done. Now I love that the first verse sets up how good the rapper perceived his romance, in the second he immediately let's the listener know that he's not actually experiencing his words but remembering them, and finally the third verse exhibits a new strength and maturity. The song has a real arc. Here's how it goes:
If I'd known-
I would have bought a camera.
Picture everyday,
If I only had the stamina.
A scrapbook in my hands instead of my head,(These lines did not make the final recording.)
When you changed my life but left me for dead.
I see our story in every sunset.
Happy ever after with daughters and sons, yet,
Something's gone, and it's gone away,
So you leave me again at the end of the day.
My mind and my heart, I live it again...
I know I shouldn't but I let it begin.
Over and in, the engine it spins
As I ride with the seat that you're no longer in.
Where to go when you're the destination?
Accelerate, and vent frustration.
Water shields the view from my eyes-
I'd use the wipers but the windshield is dry.
What is this story? Why is it a song?
Maybe it's yours, and you can sing along.
Absolutely necessary? Lesson to learn?
Would we know how to heal without feeling the burn?
Is there one among us who can really deny
They've broken a heart, or given a try?
Or find themself laughing over someone they cried?
If that person is here, then that person can lie.
That is why I'm driving this path:
To find out what is after the aftermath.
It's never perfect- more cloudy than clear.
But that's why there's headlights and a wheel to steer.
We know that we can only keep travelin'
And heed the messages in life's unravelin'.
I'll meet you all at the end of the road,
When the story we're telling is the story we've told.
This week I can do more then just tell you about this track. Why not listen for yourself?
As you can see we never titled this track. Leave your suggestions in the comments!
Deluxe albums are stupid
I've had Hurley for four days. It's a great album. If you're a Weezer apologist like myself by the time you're well past 10 listens you've found many pockets of classic Rivers Cuomo brand amazingness. I know I'm ready to add studio album number eight to the pantheon of great geek-fronted rock and roll albums.
This was going to be where my Hurley 'review' appeared. I was probably going to rail a bit on how stupid album reviews and then proceed to give Hurley 4.5 stars out of 6 lucky clovers. I was going to base my positive review on one of the best songs on a Weezer album I've heard since Butterfly faded out on the last track of Pinkerton. Then I realized I had a problem, the song I Want to Be Something only appears on the deluxe version.
When we try to consider the body of work that is Hurley does this song count? The same thing happened with Raditude. Far and away my favorite song on last years oft badmouthed Weez release is The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World which is only on the now defunct deluxe version. Another great toe tapper, Run Over By a Truck, suffers the same fate. These songs are great and seriously increase the value of album seven.
Great songs are not all you get on a deluxe album. You also get crap. Garbage. The Red Album deluxe version is nearly entirely forgettable. Raditude's four extra friends are all really quite good but Hurley is just a little over two for four. The first, 'All My Best Friends Are Insects' is actually a lot of fun. The problem is that it's not really a Weezer song but rather a Yo Gabba Gabba song played by them. It definitely feels out of context. Then we get a live cover of Coldplay's 'Viva la Vida' which is the last thing I need on my Weezer album. You survive this track and you get ' I Want to Be Something' which has shot so quickly up my favorites chart I considered several times this week just posting the lyrics as an update. The last song is a rerelease of sorts. An update to 'Represent,' a fight song that Rivers wrote for none other than the US Soccer team. This supposedly the rock remix and it rocks... hard. I fully expect this thing to still be riling up US soccer stadiums when the World Cup is once again on US soil.
I hate the idea that as these albums go to press we're scraping the bottom of the barrel to make an extra three dollars per record sale. Give me one or the other. These extra terrible songs seriously diminish that value of these records but leaving some of these phenomenal songs on the cutting room floor does just the opposite.
Hurley sans deluxe version is an album almost without blemish. A good album with all good songs. I can't recommend you buy it. Spend the extra money and grumble the entire time. You should be happy by the time the CD stops spinning. I am!
iTunes study (Surprise song!)
I'm looking for something brief tonight so we're going to experiment a little. I'm going to fire up my iTunes, set the entire library to shuffle, and I will simply do a small write up on the song we get and why it's in my library. Ready? Here we go.
Ha! Really?
Well, okay. Rules are rules.
Sometimes by Monkey Gone Mad, off the album Listen...
If you're a Scotian ya'll just cheered, groaned, laughed, or did some mixture of all three. Monkey Gone Mad, you see, was my band. Well, the band that I was a part of until I decided I was too cool for other people's bands and left for my own. This album was recorded after my departure and the great thing, yet sad thing, is it's really very good.
Sometimes is an interesting selection. Monkey Gone Mad was headed up by Ian Rafalak and MGM was the laboratory for this musical mad scientist. This song, however, was made by one of his henchmen, Brendan McLaughlin. Despite this the track ends up being a classic Monkey Gone Mad case study. When this song was first crunched out of Brendan's blue fender guitar it was simple straight ahead ska. It had a simple upbeat based horn part with a simple horn counter melody that I still find somewhat boring. By the time the song makes it onto this album Ian, that crazy guy, has clearly gotten his hands on it.
It still opens with the horn counter melodies and soon after that we hear Brendan's cheerful voice clearly enjoying the opportunity to act as lead man. The chorus has been touch up a little with sporadic Weezer-like octave harmonies that if you listen close and catch them are a lot of fun. After the second verse and chorus it's time to go full Rafalak. We of course first break it down, smooth and slow, and feature some saucy bass work from Jason Rafalak. This is an appetizer. Somehow we transition from this jazz and R&B inspired interlude to a full on 80's dual guitar solo riff that could have come from your favorite SNES game. Had enough? Good, because it's time for the unison hits. At the end of each line the band pauses and the silence is filled with, what else? Silliness. First, cowbell, then, a little bass gliss, third, an odd trumpet and sax quack, and finally, the song comes back to us. From here the outtro goes into double time and new overlapping vocal parts begin singing as the rock out begins to fade out. Then, just when you think you're done, the vocals are faded and replaced with bluegrass... thus ensuring that every musical genre makes an appearance on this record.
It's a cute and fun track. In my library it's currently unrated (I'll give it four stars now), been played 7 times, and I've never skipped it.
Sometimes is available in the iTunes music store.
If you didn’t hear me the first time
Two for two! My Twitter/FB auto update didn't work for last night's post, that's fixed now.
I bought some new music this week. Keeping track of the nerd circles that I do it was impossible for me to not already know of Jonathan Coulton. I was even in the same convention center as the artist earlier this year but I had to catch the T out of town and couldn't tune in. Thanks to the latest Nerdist podcast (Sidenote: A podcast shared with me by Michelle! A perfect match for my interests, she knows me well.) I was finally tied down to give the chap a listen. I was treated to a witty TMBG/Fruvous vibe and an infectious laugh. I bought a live collection of his music from iTunes that very afternoon.
Michelle is spending the weekend in the real world. I usually celebrate a little (just a little!) when I get the apartment to myself because while she might be up to her elbows in bread flour and breathing fresh ADK air I get to tune all the apartment televisions to the Sox game. Sadly the Sox are on the west coast this weekend so they won't even start playing until after bedtime. Jack and I will have to come up with something else to do with our dude time. He keeps suggesting playing with tin foil crumpled up and tossed in the guest bathtub but I somehow don't find that as fulfilling as he does.
Heath’s Twitter
- Sports are stupid. They make me mad. And that's stupid. 4 hours ago
- Aaaaah, who am I? This is not what I do!! http://t.co/1G1wt9Rp 2 days ago
- Watching NOVA always reminds me of my dad. Half of what I know in this world was learned Tuesday nights at 9. 4 days ago
