Archers of Loaf. Great 3-chord rock. According to Wiki, they disbanded, reformed, broke up and now reorganized before disappearing completely.
In 2009, The Axis of Awesome discovered the secret 4-chord progression required to make a hit record.
Zappa’s “Variations on the Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression” is a classic. Unfortunately the video is not an actual performance, but a compilation of images pasted over the music. So what. I still like it. We’ll let Carlos Santana have the last word.
Cyriak outdoes himself creepy-wise, with “Indigestion.” [Found here.]
Frank Zappa‘s final live performance (with backup by Pražský výběr) 1991, Prague, Czechoslovakia, shortly after the collapse of the USSR. Long intro, but worth the listen.
Traffic, 1971. We played their albums in college so often that if you held the vinyl to a light you could see through the grooves.
A great cultural icon passed on this week. She possessed one of the greatest voices in the business, singing and performing gospel, blues, R&B, jazz, soul and pop. Multiple generations grew up listening to her recordings, myself included.
What a natural. Only 22 years old in 1964, and she was already amazing. Respect indeed.
R.I.P. Aretha Franklin (1942-2018).
Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here tomorrow.
So why have I been suspended from Twitter for doing nothing?
“We need to look at behaviors, when people are trying to shut down the voices of others, People are trying to harass others. And that’s independent of a viewpoint.” – Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO LOL. Yeah, right, Jack. https://t.co/ytHaX02Pld
Yesterday a number of Twitter users reported that their accounts were beginning to lose followers at a rapid pace. The banning seemed to apply to a multitude of accounts with little explanation as to why they were being suspended. Users took to the hashtag #TwitterPurge to voice their concerns over the issue.
TRUE. A dentist travelling to the Arab Emirate of Dubai from London was sent to prison (along with her young daughter) because she admitted to having a single glass of wine on the plane en-route. After international outrage, they’ve since been released. The UAE are supposedly our allies…
Sharia Law in Dubai. Not sure how accurate this is. The laws seem to change per offense (kinda like the vague and indecipherable Twittter and FaceBook Terms Of Service rules).
[Top .gif: A sphere has a constant diameter, and so does a Meißner Tetrahedron, discovered in 1911. Here’s the book used in the graphic example above.]
“The center of an aspirin tablet is the exact same size as the center of a beach ball.” – Master Archer Byron Ferguson.
[Found here. Not sure what the target distance is, but it’s still impressive.]
The Mavericks (Raúl Malo / vocals, guitar; Paul Deakin / drums; Jerry Dale McFadden / keyboards, vocals; Eddie Perez / guitar) crank out some big band boogie woogie in Austin, 2004. It’s a cover of Merle Haggard‘s classic 1966 country hit “The Bottle Let Me Down.”
Here’s Tom Waits‘ response when asked by NPR, “What is the most interesting recording you own?”
“It’s a mysteriously beautiful recording from, I am told, Robbie Robertson’s label. It’s of crickets. That’s right, crickets. The first time I heard it … I swore I was listening to the Vienna Boys Choir, or the Mormon Tabernacle choir. It has a four-part harmony. It is a swaying choral panorama. Then a voice comes in on the tape and says, “What you are listening to is the sound of crickets. The only thing that has been manipulated is that they slowed down the tape.” No effects have been added of any kind, except that they changed the speed of the tape. The sound is so haunting. I played it for Charlie Musselwhite, and he looked at me as if I pulled a Leprechaun out of my pocket.” [via]
That’s the first known recording of John Philip Sousa‘s “The Stars And Stripes Forever March.” It was recorded by Kendle’s First Regiment Band on 29 December 1901 and published by Victor Records [source]. Sousa wrote in his autobiography that he composed the march on Christmas Day, 1896, while crossing the Atlantic, after he learned of the death of his band’s manager.
In 1987, an Act of Congress declared the song to be the Official National March of the United States of America.
Every person who supported cessation and fought for Independence from England was a British subject. Every person who fought against them were also subjects of The Crown. The American Revolution was fought by the British against the British.
The abuse of power by the King had become intolerable, and 13 individual colonies eventually banded together as one to fight the tyranny. The odds were not in their favor, and those colonists in the fray knew that they would be hung (or tortured to death) if they failed.
The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia in the summer of 1775, shortly after the war with the British had begun. It was preceded by the First Continental Congress in the fall of 1774.
The Congress appointed George Washington as commander of the Continental Army, and authorized the raising of the army through conscription.
On July 4, 1776, the Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, which for the first time asserted the colonies’ intention to be fully independent of the mother country.
The Congress established itself as the central governing authority under the Articles of Confederation, which remained in force until 1788.
While sitting in pre-holiday traffic, I listened to The Mark Levin Show, and he played the audio of those two videos with commentary. I re-learned some history.
Have a Great Independence Day
and Remember What It Means.
Tacky Raccoons 