A real-life version of Remy from Pixar’s animated film Ratatouille happily munches away on cooked spaghetti.
“What Is Punk?” Is The Book Every Music-Loving Parent Should Have For Their Kids
Punk rock is a style of music, but it also is a way of thinking about and interacting with society. As a style of music, the influence of its energetic arrangements, distorted guitars, and anti-conformist lyrics is evident in the work of many of the most important bands from the last 25 years. As an attitude, it continues to shape (rightly or wrongly) media, design, politics, and fashion. With honesty, integrity, simplicity, and humor, What Every Child Needs to Know About Punk Rock explains this cultural phenomenon to young children, helping them to understand the modern world and, more importantly, the adults in their lives. Written by two dads — a child expert and a researcher — What Every Child Needs to Know About Punk Rock is the book for any adult who wants to help young children understand the roots of this ongoing movement.
I wish I found this book when Hannah was a kid. Actually, at 13, she might be the perfect age for this, since she’s learning now the music of the 50s and 60s and learning to think about it to today’s pop stars. Actually, I know a lot of adults who would love this book, too. Once they know all about punk and how the musicians and fans made it their thing, they’ll make it their own today.
This Meerkat Falls Asleep In A Basket Of Stuffed Animals, And It’s Adorable
Sleeping animals are the cutest things you’ll see, firmly in their place in peace. Even better is when you see a meerkat falling asleep with stuffed animals.
Andrew Weatherall: ‘We’re at the apex of the punk-rock dream. Anyone can make music. What a double-edged sword’
Whatever his career has been, it has left Andrew Weatherall quite the raconteur. He has a way with words – he describes a DJ set by Scottish duo Slam as “absolutely full-knacker proper panel-beaters-from-Prague-’ere-we-go techno” – an endless store of anecdotes, and an intriguing set of cultural reference points: “I’m an autodidact, because I got chucked out of school.” Over the course of an hour and a half we go from Joseph Conrad’s novel The Secret Agent to the “magnificence” of Wizzard’s 1974 album Introducing Eddy and the Falcons, via Francis Bacon and William Burroughs’ line about how if you’re in a hurry to show somebody your art, you should throw it in the trash because it’s bound to be rubbish. “Be patient. Very pertinent to today,” he says. “Digital culture sells you this theory that if you don’t get involved immediately, you’re going to be left behind. When you see an advert for broadband, it’s always got a caveman in it, because if you haven’t got the latest broadband, you’re a caveman. But if you’re making music or any art, just wait, wait six months, see if you still like it. If you release something immediately, you’re not going to be happy with it and it’s just going to be part of the digital noise.” He chuckles. “Here we are at the apex of the punk-rock dream, the democratisation of art, anyone can do it, and what a double-edged sword that’s turned out to be, has it not?”
Via The Guardian
Wheels on The Bus Performed By A Metal Drummer
The Wheels on the Bus is a United Kingdom folk song dating back to the 1920s or 1930s written by Lydia Ulsaker, and based on the traditional British song “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”. It’s the 5th song on my wife’s side business, Name Your Tune personalized CD for kids, so I’ve heard a traditional version of this song a lot. I’ve never, ever, heard a version like metal drummer Joey Muha taking a stab at it, confronting the track in a barrage of sound.
Those Laser Light Shows At The Planetarium Set To Music Were GREAT
I’ve always said that if I ever won the lottery, my first call after the family and close friends would be to Toronto’s McLaughlin Planetarium. It had, for its time, a state-of-the-art electro-mechanical Zeiss planetarium projector that was used to project regular themed shows about the stars, planets, and cosmology for visitors. In the 1980s the planetarium’s sound-system and domed ceiling were used to display dazzling music-themed laser-light shows set to Genesis, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and others, and it just blew my mind. So, if I ever win the big prize, I’m going to do another run of these shows, count on it.
If you never got to attend one of these events, check the video below for some razzle-dazzle.
https://youtu.be/7oWAbJ7ZEQw
Claude Morrison Of The Nylons: “We didn’t find a cappella, a cappella found us”
After more than 35 years circling the globe, the curtain is coming down on the touring chapter of The Nylons’ illustrious and legendary career. Beginning in spring 2016, the iconic Canadian a cappella legends will embark on a year-long series of farewell shows to say goodbye to the dedicated fans who have supported and embraced them over the years.
“We are looking forward to the upcoming farewell shows – and we are going to make the most of them,” says Claude Morrison, who founded the seven-time gold-and platinum-record-selling group in Toronto in 1978. “This will be a celebration and we will go out with a bang.”
In addition to Morrison (tenor), current Nylons members are Garth Mosbaugh (tenor/baritone), Gavin Hope (baritone/tenor/bass) and Tyrone Gabriel (bass/baritone). The Nylons will perform farewell shows throughout Canada and the USA through the end of 2016, followed by a tour of Holland in early 2017.
Eric Alper: You’ve done hundreds and thousands of interviews in the past. Before I start, I want to know what not to ask. What’s the question you’re asked the most?
Claude Morrison: How did you get your name…
Eric: Okay. So Claude, how did you get your name?
Claude: *laughs* Just played right into your hands, there. You want to know? I’ll give you the story, long story short. Back when, it wasn’t too long after the 50s and 60s, during which time vocal groups name themselves after fabrics. For some reason, don’t ask me why. The Chiffons, for instance and so – this is very tongue and cheek – The Nylons. Which was another fabric and four guys, nonetheless. It was a little confusing but people never forgot the name.
Eric: Are the beginnings of The Nylons what Hollywood would put in a movie if it was the 70s? Four guys standing underneath the lamp post, late at night, just singing?
Claude: Not really, more like on the rooftop. That sort of image is kind of correct with our experience. But no, we were theatre people; we were actors, singers, dancers. You know, triple threat. We were, as we used to put it, between jobs or resting. Meaning we were unemployed so we had time to kill. So we just got together for the heck of it and sang together. There was no piano around, so a cappella. We didn’t find a cappella, a cappella found us. Nobody knew where it was going, including us. It really was like going for a wild ride. Everyday was a new adventure and was like gee, what’s going to happen now.
Eric: What do you mean by that?
Claude: Well we didn’t really set out to do this. We just wanted to have a vocal group. Whether or not there were instruments in there, was not really expressly a key. It was all about the vocals but then, as I said, there happened not to be a piano around. So the medium found us. A capella found us. It just kind of happened and it happened quickly. Before long we got our start in Toronto. It just all caught on, there was a buzz.
Eric: I can only remember Manhattan Transfer having success as a vocal group at the time you were starting. Were there others?
Claude: The Transfers were the closest they got but they would do maybe one acapella song per album and they were great at it. Now there’s so much more out there. I’ve had so many people come up to me and say over the years, “You guys are responsible for my getting into this”. Which, after 35-years I guess it’s impossible not to have some kind of impact on somebody.
Eric: Can you describe what the 2016 Nylons are like in relations to the 1978 Nylons? Because the songs still are the same or at least your interpretation of them. Can you update songs to the time we’re in now or is it based on the members that are in the group and their strengths?
Claude: Taste change when you go from some members to another and absolutely nothing against the originally membership of the group. I would say in terms of music knowledge and theory, the current membership is better trained, has more musical training. At first when we began, I was the only one that had musical training. All the other guys, much to their credit, were just going on instinct, but what instinct they had!
Eric: When I first saw the band, you were already selling out O’Keefe Centre and Ontario Place in Toronto. Was there a moment where you realize that this is going to be bigger than you actually imagined?
Claude: Yes, and I’ll tell you that we played a very long stretch down on Queen Street and University. On the weekend, we would do 2 shows a night. Between shows, people were lining up. It was just a club, it wasn’t Carnegie Hall or anything, and it just floored me that people were standing outside, in the cold weather, lining up to hear us. I always thought it this is something that would be right up my alley but I know it would be up so many other people’s alleys, as well.
Eric: It’s coming up to the start of the final tour for the group. You’ve had to think about this decision for a time. Does it make it real now that it’s starting soon?
Claude: Not so much, as this isn’t us riding off into the sunset for forever. We’re still going to be around but under certain circumstances, more of our own choosing. We’ve been going for 37 years.
Eric: Why stop touring?
Claude: I find, myself speaking, that the mileage is catching up with my body because I’m not getting any younger. So I just think less is more. The less we do, the more I enjoy it.
Eric: How do you decide the songs for this specific tour? Are there songs that you might not have performed in a while mixed with the classics?
Claude: Yes, there’s all that. Then there’s stuff that hasn’t been recorded, rarely have been performed. So there will be all that. There will be some new-old stuff, old-new stuff and new-new stuff. So we’re still kind of all going through that now at this early stage. We’re still picking and choosing what will be the line-up because that means we could sing them all and it would be a 4-hour show.
Eric: I don’t think you’ll hear people complain from anybody out in the audience.
Claude: No, you’ll probably hear the singers complain more than the audience. *laughs*
Eric: Looking back, were there any genres of music that you just couldn’t figure out enough to make it work for a cover, or a specific song that you wanted to do, but didn’t sound great to you? .
Claude: Well one time we tried, took a stab at putting together Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s such a complex piece of music and as a record it’s phenomenal. The engineering of it. At a certain point we sort of thought, wait a minute…Why are we knocking ourselves out when they got it right the first time. So unless you bring something totally new and different to it, the world is fine with Freddie Mercury and Queen.
Eric: You released albums from ‘82- ‘89 on Attic in Canada and Windham Hill in the U.S. and then after that you signed on with Scotti Brothers Records in the U.S. Did you feel any pressure being on those labels in America to be more commercial or perhaps cover certain songs?
Claude: I suppose. The record company always will want to have input into the material. We consider it, fairly, but we never felt put upon to do something. We’re not going to be pressured into doing something that doesn’t feel right. That doesn’t feel organic. But at that same time period, when we left Attic and went on with Scotti Brothers, it was a very tumultuous time. Paul Cooper had just left the group- Paul and Marc Connors were the two founders. I may be a founding member but the group is really found by Paul and Marc. A year after Paul left the group, then Paul passed away. We basically had to replace half the group in one swoop and that really took a leap of faith. You have to dive in, hold your breath and keep your fingers crossed.
Eric: You lost your friends. Forget about bandmates, these were your friends.
Claude: Yeah and it’s been suggested to us, well to me, that I should write a book.
Eric: You should write a book.
Claude: *laughs* I wouldn’t be able to do it because the people that were around at that time, are no longer with us and I would need help. There’s nobody I could go to right now to help me jog my memory.
Eric: Look, if Keith Richards could write a book and not remember half the stuff where he was actually at, you could do it.
Claude: But Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger are still around and they were around in the old days. Paul, Marc, Dennis, Ralph, they’re all gone.
Eric: I’m going to sell you on this idea. It’s not just a book on the music and The Nylons, but what Toronto and Canada went through in the 70’s through the eyes of The Nylons.
Claude: It was a lot going on. It was kind of in the golden age, wasn’t it? Because there was so much going on and stuff that endures, and has endured.
Eric: So, now that you’re not going to tour, what are you going to do on your spare time?
Claude: Write a book.
David Gilmour On His Early Musical Influences
When writing or on the stage, regardless of the song, are you still that same kid in Cambridge listening to Bill Haley and Chuck Berry?
David Gilmour: [Laughs.] I think the same sources are there that have always been there at the heart of everything I do. I don’t spend much time now listening to new music in that obsessive way that I did then, and there are precious few moments nowadays that leap on me and knock me over like those early records did. Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” was the first single that I bought and Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” was a major thing as well, and still every time I listen to it, I think “How did they put something as perfect as that together?” But there are a thousand other influences that have sort of gone together — folk music, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Big Bill Broonzy, John Fahey, Joni Mitchell — there are thousands of players and singers who have directly influenced the music that I make and who have sort of created the bedrock of what you might call my style. It’s so deeply embedded in me that I have no idea where it comes from now or where it’s gonna go. But the influences that I had as a child are still very deeply embedded in me.
Via NPR
Grace Jones Got It Exactly Right On Growing Up Around Racism
Grace Jones spent the majority of her childhood under the thumb of her strict step-grandfather in Jamaica while her parents were away getting settled in the States. When she finally moved to the U.S. to join them in Syracuse, N.Y., she says she didn’t feel black living in America.
“My family lived in the suburbs and they were the first black family [in the neighborhood], and apparently when they moved there, two or three of the neighbors moved out. So I hear these things, and all I can ever go is, ‘Oh, god. That is so weird. I don’t understand it.’ I didn’t want to. It just seemed like a waste of time to try to figure out why other people do other things. Why should I let that bother me, you know what I mean?”
Via NPR
