June 30, 2011

When I was a kid, I had one of those Hot Wheels tracks with the loop in it. I messed with the physics of the loop without ever knowing that by changing the car, starting height, distance, angle of the loop, payload, thrust, you name it I tested it -- I was studying physics on a small scale.

When I found out there was a loop in Chicago, my first question was, "How big is it?" The response was, "Whaddaya mean, how big is it?" I re-asked the question and was told it was most of downtown Chicago. I pictured this --


I asked, "Can cars run on it." I was told, "No, it's tracks." I gave a funny look and insisted, "Cars can run on tracks."

I got a funnier look and was told, "The loop is for trains. Trains run on an elevated track, and they go around the loop. I pictured this --


And I was impressed.

I was reminded of that time when I saw what Hot Wheels did in Bogotá, Columbia.



It's déjà vu all over again.

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Music Association: Ratt - Round and Round





Google On Break
June 29, 2011

Last night, Google stretched, sighed, and took a drink of water. A page full of text filled the whitespace background of the main Google page, if only for an instant. The speedread soliloquy explained Google's desire to be less of a lecturer and more a part of the conversation.

The first step is listening -- for the next few hours (last night) Google would listen without providing any comments, links, or related news stories. The second step would be the Google social network:  Google+.

But that's not what actually happened.

Google listened for 37 minutes.

Then Google fell to pieces.

Google pieces were left laying around for several hours before a Google janitor swept it up and got things ready for today.

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Music Association: Chicago - I've Been Searching So Long




Chinese Dynasties
June 28, 2011

I've been confusing Chinese dynasties again. In sixth grade, my teacher covered the largest dynasties for two days, by following a McGraw-Hill textbook that mixed correct terms with nearly-correct terms and out-and-out fabrications. The Carringtons were never a Chinese dynasty. Using a crow bar, I've been trying to pry that information out of my head and replace it with something a little more reliable... like Wikipedia.

This Wikipedia map by Pojanji is an over-simplification, so I'm only going to glance at it; I'm not going to really look at it.

The map is a gif. Textbooks could be improved with gifs -- to step through math problems, look at art from all sides, display multiple spellings of words, watch scientific experiments go awry, make physics matter...

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Music Associations: Doobie Brothers - China Grove (1973); David Bowie - China Girl (1983); Enya - China Roses (1995)




Campground Lifeguard
June 27, 2011


"There is no way my tent will flood. I dug a little ditch around the tent with a trowel. It's a little trick I picked up in scouts."

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Music Association: Allan Sherman - Camp Granada  "And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining."



Dial With Feeling
June 24, 2011


The best part of rotary dialing is watching the dial spin back into place.

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Music Association: ELO - Telephone Line "Give me some time, I'm living in twilight."









Researchers Say:
AutoDrive is Complex
June 23, 2011

The verification system is the backseat-driver of the self-driving car -- "you nearly hit that squirrel!"

Verification system professors from the Carnegie Mellon University told the International Symposium on Formal Methods that backseat driving is really complicated.
That's why they stuck with the programming of highway backseat driving since there are far fewer squirrels and intersections and things on highways.

The International Symposium on Formal Methods is being held this week at the University of Limerick, in Limerick, Ireland, I kid you not.

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Music Associations: John Mellencamp - Jack & Diane  "Diane's debutante in the backseat of Jackie's car"
Arcade Fire - In The Backseat  "I like the peace in the backseat. I don't have to drive; I don't have to speak. I can watch the countryside, and I can fall asleep."




Green Lantern - The More, The Merrier
June 21, 2011

Imagine trying to pitch an idea for a movie. The receptionist gives you a form on a clipboard.

So you have an idea for a movie? Good for you! Check all boxes that apply to your movie idea and return the form to the receptionist. Thanks!



Went to see Green Lantern last night. It was good -- as a comic book movie.

Green Lantern is sort of complex. There are thousands of  Green Lanterns in every shape or form from insects to a living Green Lantern planet.

Here comes a threat to the universe that can eat Green Lanterns for breakfast [call Kelloggs: suggest Green Lantern cereal]. Only the Green Lantern from Earth (sector 2814) can defeat it. Why? Because he deals with his fear.

Ain't that great? It's enough to fog up your 3D glasses.

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Music Associations: Kirby Krackle - Ring Capacity; Donovan - Sunshine Superman  "Superman and Green Lantern ain't got nothin' on me"






Half of Saudi Arabia Can't Drive
June 20, 2011

Some women, it's not clear how many, are challenging the ban on Saudi Arabian women driving.

Hopes and Dreams supports the defiant Saudi Arabian women.

We would like to see them driving, and voting... you know... in all those elections Saudi Arabia has.

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Music Association: The Cars - Drive





Happy -Preceding- Birthday, Paul McCartney
June 17, 2011

Tomorrow is Paul McCartney's 69th birthday. It's coming up. And the folks at PETA would like people to celebrate the famous vegetarian's day by going meatless on Monday -- because Meatless Saturday didn't have the same alliteration.

I used to be a vegetarian. I'd say, "I'm not a vegetarian because I like animals. I'm a vegetarian because I don't like plants."

I had to stop being a vegetarian when I found myself aways leaning toward the sunlight.

The rumors are still... um, rumoring that Paul might be playing the Target Field on September 1st. So he's penciled in on the Twin Cities Calendar. [Ed. - Luckily that was only pencil. Paul will not be playing Target Field.]

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Music Association: The Beatles - Birthday







June 16, 2011

As a musical historian (a historian who makes funny sounds as he talks) I am obliged to so fully analyze music as to make it dull and unenjoyable. Today we swivel in our chairs to examine The Beatles.

The leading influences of The Beatles were:

Skiffle
The music of Liverpool in the late 1950s was dominated by the resurgence of Skiffle. Skiffle was a style of early jazz music, where common items -- washboard, jug, saw, cigar box fiddle, were played with or instead of regular musical instruments. The Quarrymen (John Lennon's band) were one of over 30,000 skiffle groups in England. Skiffle made music accessible. Anyone can do it. You can do it. I can do it.

Sonnuva Presley
If skiffle made music accessible, Elvis made music cool. The Beatles were the sons of Elvis.

George Harrison had a musical epiphany hearing Heartbreak Hotel while riding his bike when he was 13. Julia Lennon played Elvis records for her son John, who later said, "Nothing really affected me until Elvis." John grew Elvis Presley sideburns and practiced his sneers, not being able to afford the Elvis Presley Sneer-Like-Me Lip Clip.™ His mother bought him tight stove-pipe black jeans to help the Elvis look, thank you, thankyouverymuch. Paul McCartney had the Elvis pompadour hair at 14 when he met 16 year old John Lennon. Ringo says Elvis was "the first guy closer to my age doing rock and roll."

The tour to promote the Sgt. Peppers album was also inspired by Elvis. The Beatles were impressed by a story that Elvis sent his Cadillac on tour instead of going himself. Paul McCartney told Rolling Stone, "We had this idea that we'd make a record, and the record itself would go on tour for us."

The American Invasion -- Before The British Invasion
Paul's other early influences were Big Bill Broonzy, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, and Ray Charles.

John's other early influences were Lonnie Donegan and Buddy Holly.

It's Coming From Within Your House!
The Jim Mac Band played ragtime music in the 1920s and 1930s. Jim McCartney was on the piano until he had to get off due to the war and raising a family. As Paul's dad he taught Paul to listen to different parts of music, like picking out the bass from the rest.  Paul wasn't interested in music until Elvis. Then he had to have a guitar. Except the guitar didn't work.

Paul's mother Mary (comes to me) had provided a cuddly-nurturing to her sons. Her attitudes in life influenced Paul's love songs, silly or otherwise. Mary died when Paul was 14, in 1956. Let It Be was Paul's song to her.

Julia Lennon was more of a friend to John than she was his mother. (John was raised mostly by his aunt Mimi.) Julia encouraged John and his band more than most adults. And she would do things for a laugh, like wearing eyeglass frames without the glasses and then rubbing her eyes through the frames. Julia died when John was 17, in 1958, hit by a car driven by a drunk off-duty police officer.

Playing It Wrong
Paul McCartney, lefty, had to return the guitar for adjustment to being left handed. Then it worked fine and he and a friend, Ian James, would teach each other guitar.

Ringo Starr's situation was slightly different. Ringo, who is right handed, plays right handed drums left handed. When asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, John joked, "He's not even the best drummer in The Beatles!" Ringo has said he was lucky to be "surrounded by three frustrated drummers" who only knew one way to drum. George Martin commented that Ringo "always helped us to hit the right tempo for a song" but "couldn't do a drum roll to save his life."

John's mother had taught him to play the banjo. That's how he played the guitar with The Quarrymen at the Woolton Parish Church fête (unpaid gig), on July 6, 1957. After the gig, Paul met the band, did his Little Richard imitation (I'm guessing Long Tall Sally), played Gene Vincent's Be Bop A Lula, and Eddie Cochran's Twenty Flight Rock. John Lennon was impressed. Paul McCartney was left handed. John was right handed. Paul would teach guitar to John, and John would go home and figure it out in the mirror.

Influences
I titled this post - Predecessors. If it was titled Influences, it wouldn't have been about Skiffle or Elvis or anyone except the Beatles (and George Martin, their producer). The Beatles were youngsters from Liverpool. They provided the greatest musical influences on each other. The Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership has never been equaled. They all influenced each other.

Previous posts that kind of add to this one:

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Music Associations: Elvis - Heartbreak Hotel; Little Richard - Long Tall Sally; Ann-Margret - I Just Don't Understand
The Beatles covered the Ann-Margret song -- I just don't understand.

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