Wednesday, October 30, 2013

What's the theme? Friday Nite Lite? Or is it Happy Tunes?

Or songs that improve your mood?  When do we want to do this?  Can we make it a Friday?  Our Thursdays are booked, or even a Wednesday?  Pat and I will host. How about Wednesday November 13th or Friday the 15th? I ask a lot of questions.

RIP Lou


Carol and I saw him at the Paramount or maybe the Moore. He was good. It was the Magic & Loss tour, I think. Smaller than I would have thought. I was surprised how many of his songs I knew. I was surprised by his walk. Kind of up in his toes, a little stiff. I always pictured him strutting.
I had New Sensations on cassette. A friend of mine insisted Down At The Arcade was a sign that Lou Reed was a horrible song writer. The more he said that, the more I could not get the song out of my head. I haven't heard it in maybe 20 years but I could sing you the chorus, no problem.
My room mate had VU. Foggy Notion played all the time. I was surprised when Greg chose it as a defining song. I honestly didn't know anyone else had listened to it more than once or twice.
I had the banana album on cassette, too. I liked the mix of sweet and pretty with drone and noisy. Don't know that I ever realized how dark the lyrics were. every once in a while I will sing for no particular reason, "I could sleep for a thousand years."
When MCA died, even though I knew he had cancer, I was reminded that people my age die. I hate that reminder.
With Lou I guess I never really thought of him as having an age. I knew he was old, though I didn't know he was sick. I guess it just never occurred to me that he would die. He was around for as long as I could remember.
So many bands I like would not be the way they are were it not for the Velvet Underground.
He was good in Far Away, So Close, too.
Because he sang, "But she never lost her head/ Even when she was giving head," Bon Jovi felt he could sing, "I walk these streets. a loaded 6-string on my back/ I play for keeps 'cause I might not make it back." That was a not good thing. I realize head and back each have two meanings, but you shouldn't rhyme them with themselves.
I'll miss him. 


Monday, October 28, 2013

Kids today...

So in my Cognitive Psychology class today, we replicated an experiment where we sang a line of a song and then checked to see how close our pitch was (the results of the original study are that a surprising number of people, even non-musicians, have close to "perfect" pitch).  To prep, I asked them to write down their favorite songs and hand them in last Friday.  I made this playlist on Spotify, so that I could easily play the songs in class.  This is, literally, what the kids are listening to!



Tuesday, October 22, 2013

In honor of our birthday girl Gina Turner

Yacht Rock Quiz time - Match the song with the Artist and no cheating. Song 1 Chevy Van 2 Key Largo 3 Lonely Boy 4 Magic 5 On and On 6 Peg 7 Sailing 8 Show and Tell 9 Steal Away 10 What a Fool Believes 11 What You Won't Do For Love 12 Baby Come Back 13 Africa Artist a) Al Wilson b) Andrew Gold c) Bertie Higgins d) Bobby Caldwell e) Christopher Cross f) Doobie Brothers g) Pilot h) Player i) Robbie Dupree j) Sammy Johns k) Steely Dan l) Stephen Bishop m) Toto

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Smells Like H.O.F.

Could be a GREAT class for the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame this year!

When will MC go on a field trip to the ACTUAL Hall?!

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=834581#scpshrjmd

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Shuffle time!

Yeah, yeah.  Haven't posted for quite awhile so I will start a iPod/Pandora/Spotify/whateverthehell shuffle thread.

The Books -- All You Need is a Wall
CHVRCHES -- The Mother We Share
Viva Voce -- They Never Really Wake Up
Dr. Dog -- We All Belong
Old 97's -- Just Like California
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah -- Over And Over Again (Lost and Found)

Oh, and by the way I forgot to say my question/answer song choice:

Q:  Frank Zappa -- Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?
A:  Kings of Leon -- Sex On Fire

I'll show myself out.