Category: Musicology

  • What to include in your blog

    At Watermark, Sharon Brogan notices that some bloggers are pointedly eschewing politics i nthe runup to the election, and she asks her readers for guidance on whether they prefer a blog that focuses on some core areas of knowledge or one that ranges over a wide variety of topics, including political punditry. It’s a great…

  • Uke punks unite

    It seems that I’m not the only one out there who sees the ukulele as the perfect punk rock instrument. This article, Punk Uke: The four-string Underdog rudely rocks by Christopher Arnott from last year describes an eerily similar path to my own: [Y]ou can wake this restless monster up gently with a quaint strum,…

  • G clef piano part arranged for ukulele and voice

    Might also post this without my voice, because though the strums and plucks can be labored, there’s a reasonably successful set of parts, lead, counterpoint, bass, and chords all overdubbed by machines of loving grace.

  • Oh say, can you struggle?

    Not sure who I’m channeling on this stumbled-upon patriotic standard, but I’m sure who I’m not.

  • No East or West (classic-rock uke take)

    Add to my vocal take and Cecil’s sepulchral midi piano take (the “15-foot Christian” one) this reasonably crisp run-through of the melody on ukulele, processed to sound like electric guitar. Note the hymn originally had a right-boring Anglican melody called St. Peter and this version is set to an African-American spiritual, hence its lovely pentatonic…

  • Netflix me baby

    Gradually, b and I are entering the 21st century. We just got a DVD player (but not a TiVo or other PVR yet, and we still don’t have cable or satellite – how to choose by the way?). So of course I just signed us up for a free NetFlix trial. Our queue should now…

  • Swift blog veterans for spam

    At meta-roj blog, roj has done a good job of tracking down the Swift Vet’s blog-spam tactics: meta-roj blog: BLOGSPAMMER ID: Swift Boat Veterans For Truth In other news, been kind of quiet around here lately…. My energy has been going into The Power of Many and most of my other contributors (besides the indefatigable…

  • Chris Bowers at MyDD on the 'top-down' right-wing blogosphere

    Interesting comparison of the “less-sticky” right wing of the political blogosphere: MyDD :: Top-Down Right-Wing Blogosphere Growing Powerful

  • More D.C. blog readers

    One thing I heard a lot in Boston during the DNC was people telling me sotto voce that they or their staff or someone on their team or “everyone here” reads blogs. I was told by one Senate committee staffer that they have a person in their office monitoring relevant blogs at all times, and…

  • Effervescing Elephant (take 7)

    By Jove, I do believe I’m getting a real feel for this song, Effervescing Elephant, by Syd Barret, played and sung by me, xian. Needs keybs… Cecil? Help me dethickenize the mix! (Update: Compare with the much more straight-ahead if rushed and frightened sounding take six of this same tune. Need general category.)

  • Kos on the convention blogging hype

    Daily Kos || Blogger mania: One reporter asked Jerome of MyDD what he would be covering at the convention. Jerome replied, “I’ll be writing about you writing about me.” It’s getting to be that absurd. (Posted from BlogOn, day 2)

  • Atrios is blogging the DNC

    Atrios says he’ll be there too. Maybe I’ll learn his secret identity Posted while at BlogON…

  • Things you'll never hear on the band bus

    1. Ladies, I’ll need to see some proof of age, please. … 7. Gee, I wish Buddy Rich was on the bus with us. … 25. Don’t you just love talking jazz with the fans? They are so knowledgeable.

  • It's official

    I’ve

  • Fujiwara Kaito, I like the sound of that

    According to your real Japanese name generator, my Japanese name is 藤原 Fujiwara (wisteria fields) 海斗 Kaito (big dipper of the ocean)

  • Comments temporarily disabled

    Because of the unremitting waves of comment spam and the fact that this MT install isn’t particularly well camouflaged, I’ve temporarily disabled the comment script while I catch up on cleaning out all the bogus comments. I’ll then take the steps Phil Ringnalda and others have recommended to make my comment script a little less…

  • noticing gujari girl

    Thanks to Gwen, I’ve found gujari girl: I never thought the first person in Walnut Creek to whom I’d defend Oakland would be an Indian guy from New York! I’m now two L(G)L behind on photos. If I post mine we’ll have triangulation on a few of the scenes from the other day.

  • Double-filtered uke

    Adding my secret special Jerry-shimmeree effect and that basic little uke feel track gets positively cosmic, man!

  • Fire on the Mountain, take 2, basic uke feel track

    There’s a lot you can do with a simple rhythm and some time. Here’s just a basic feel track on the ukulele. Tomorrow I’ll post a processed version of it, but the plain track is out there for anyone who wants to mess with it or loop it back in any way, etc.: Fire on…

  • The kid can carry a tune

    I’m still way a beginner, with incredibly amateurish chops, and yet look at how I am able to amuse myself already: Layers of Meta: Fire on the Mountain, take 2, basic uke feel track

  • You call it ahi