Music Theory and History Online

I do not pretend to understand the information you’ll find at the end of this link – though I hope to have a handle on music theory by the time I die (…that gives me about a week). I will certainly be consulting this website when I have questions, and you might too. Pretty useful.

Music History and Theory Online!

Good Music For Babies Continued

Awhile back I posted a couple of songs under that heading (see title). Well, that was because Kro had asked me to make a CD for his little boy Aidan. Aidan turned 1 today, and I finished the CD just in time. Here’s what made the cut (you can listen to the linky- looking ones) :

• La la la – Bert and Ernie
• Love Train – the O’Jays
• Can Your Monkey Do The Dog? – Rufus Thomas
• You Are My Sunshine – Nat King Cole
• Here Comes My Baby – Cat Stevens
• Won’t You Be My Neighbour? – Mister Rogers
• Doin’ The Pigeon – Bert
• Walk On The Wild Side – Lou Reed
• St. Judy’s Comet – Paul Simon
• I Like To Take My Time – Mister Rogers
• I Could Write A Book – Harry Connick Jr.
• Popup Coolpants Jazz Theme – Justice and Seriphina
• No Small Wonder – Bob Geldof
• If I Were A Rich Man – Fiddler on the Roof
• Everybody Eats When They Come To My House - Cab Calloway
• New Kind Of Neighbourhood – Jonathan Richman
• Hockey Monkey – James Kochalka Superstar
• Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay – Otis Redding
• You Are The Sunshine Of My Life – Stevie Wonder
• It’s Such A Good Feeling – Mister Rogers
• Tonight – Bob Snider

That’s my prescription for a baby’s happy ears: Mister Rogers, Sesame Street, and some rock and roll; a dash of abstraction, some Broadway and Disco, an idea, some trouble, and Stevie Wonder. The Lou Reed is already a family singalong favourite cause Kro’s been serenading him with that since he was tiny.

Pretty fun, eh? Go ahead and burn that list for your own baby if you like. Happy Birthday Aidan.

Adrian Belew

Adrian Belew’s rock family tree is a crazy one. He was rescued from bar-bandscurity by Frank Zappa, went on to rescue King Crimson, played with the Talking Heads and David Bowie, as well as being a session man on a lot of great records – The Wall, Graceland, Mister Heartbreak. He had an innaresting solo career in the middle of all this, as well as a co-running an odd, fun pop band called The Bears.

I loved this kind of interconnectedness in rock music as a young lad, and so had heard Belew’s name for ages before I began to actually listen to him – but when I found him finally, I dug him very heavily. His early solo records are great experimental rock records, and even his flirtations with “the charts” were fun – Mr. Music Head and Young Lions in the late 80s. I stuck with him up until the mid 90s, when he began to play everything on his records as well as produce them: he’s not so great when he’s alone in a room (few are). But in groups, he’s fantastic, and his early solo albums (laden with other right-on players) were very interesting and pretty sweet.

Here, from 1982’s Lone Rhino and 1983’s Twang Bar King:

Twang Bar King

The Lone Rhinoceros

Big Electric Cat

My Favourite Jazz Tune

There’s something great about being introduced to music by someone who really loves it. My brother, who’s introduced me to a lot of music over our lives, starting with my first favourite band (Styx), came to stay at my place back in the early 90s and put this on the tape deck and blew my mind: Duke Ellington, Live at Newport in 1956.

The tune is Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, and what hooked me for all time as a Duke fan was the fact that the crazy crazy 27 chorus solo by Paul Gonzalves had the audience cheering and screaming in abandon for most of the song: the sound of the audience could be counted as another instrument in this orchestra.

The whole album is great – and just looking around a second ago, I found out that there’s a recording of the entire show, which I’ll have to get. Here’s the Wikipedia article. Enjoy.

Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, Duke Ellington and his band

A Good Trick If You Want The Last Word, Etc.

Following the idea that your body can lead your mind sometimes, I’m typing despite feeling disheartened about esnips. What to type about? Hmm. I got the new Weakerthans record, and I don’t love it. I’m not sure I really even like it – to me it sounds like a band trying to sound like the Weakerthans, without the vision or the literary chops. Now, I don’t expect to love everything by a band – that’s a lot of pressure. And this isn’t War With The Mystics disappointing. Just sounds like they should’ve waited. To me. I’m still looking forward to the show at the Phoenix in November.

I have something reasonably interesting in the “posting things” works – I’ve been a little fascinated by the gold record on the Voyager spacecraft, and after digging (and getting help digging) I was able to find a copy. I think I’ll put it up as a proper page, though, so hold your dang horses. Blogs (sob) don’t last forever. But webpages? e-ternal.

Continuing with what is and isn’t eternal: I read Klosterman IV this week – he’s an American rock writer, if you don’t know, my age-ish, steeped in hair metal and interested in the sociological/cultural aspects of music (and other pop culture stuff). I like him, he’s a good read. Somewhere in there he wrote that he was worried he’d have something about KISS carved on his tombstone, since he’s (accurately) pigeonholed as a KISS Army souljah.

That reminded me of this TTC mp3 I got called How To Listen to and Understand Great Music, about the history of European classical (or orchestral, or whatever) music. And the host of that was playing and explaining a piece that had survived through the ages only because someone had carved it into his gravestone. He suggested everyone ought to do that. Which brings me back to my unironical point:

Nothing on the net, or on a computer, is built to last. I mean, in the long run. I mean, outlast us. And I think that’s worrisome. If our civilization were to fall (yeah, the Babylonians thought they’d last forever too), what of our vast knowledge would stick around? Not much. Silicon will be nothing, especially since the Future People will likely not have Windows. Paper doesn’t last except in unusual circumstances. The only stuff we really have from very long ago is stuff written into stone or pottery – so shouldn’t we be carving equations and maps and stuff into the side of some mountains?

Here’s a good trick: get a sheet of plastic – thickish and sturdy. Carve your name in it and write “He/She was a great leader” and the date. Bury it. In just moments – like a million years – someone will dig it up and believe it! Ta da! You’re the leader! Or, if you really wanna burn someone’s ass, write lies about him/her in plastic. Ta da! True facts! History is written by the winners – unless the losers are cleverer.

Hmm. Song. Hmmm.

I Know How It Feels                  Bad, by Half Japanese

It’s Worth Taking Time To Be A Human Being

A few things need to be reposted, after the great internet flood of last week, in which many precious MP3s were destroyed in a wave of copyright protection. Let’s start with some music I feel honour-bound to share online, since it’s criminally overlooked: the tunes ofthe late Fred Rogers, the virtual neighbourhood pioneer and my secret wish for alternate dad. Uncool in our era of Being So Clever, but what are you gonna do? It’s gold.

Mister Rogers wrote jazzy kids tunes with messages no one else bothered to share, like “sometimes you will feel good, and sometimes you will feel bad” or “your gender is a constant” (no longer true of course: I’m sure now he’d say something like, “when mommy or another caregiver brings a baby boy home from the hospital, more often than not that boy will not alter his gender. Even if he does, it probably won’t be for a while and there will be lots of hints beforehand, so keep your eyes peeled and be nice about it if it happens.”). They’re never cool – I don’t even know if they were ever funny. But they’re really sweet, and that’s a thing to dig when you’re in the mood.

Everybody’s Fancy

I Like To Take My Time

I Like To Be Told

Won’t You Be My Neighbour?