In August in 1969, Colonel Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. submitted his expenses for a trip he took from Houston, Texas, to Cape Kennedy, Florida, to the moon, to the Pacific Ocean, to Hawaii, and back to Houston. The total expenses? $33.31. I spend this much on one cab ride across the city.
H/T Neatorama
Philadelphia’s Kurt Vile, formerly a member of The War On Drugs, has been making solo albums since 2008. The process of recording his latest, b’lieve i’m goin down, included an extended stay in California: He went to Los Angeles to record with Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa, and to Joshua Tree to soak up its unique vibe.
Vile has described b’lieve i’m goin down as a “loner record,” more real and vulnerable than his other work. The album features more acoustic guitar than usual and introduces a little banjo and piano into the mix. Vile says that one song was even inspired by a desert jam with the Malian group Tinariwen. Hear the full conversation and performance, recorded live in Philadelphia, on this page.
Your book is a reminder of the many collaborations you’ve done. What do you get out of collaborations that you can’t get from writing by yourself?
EC: Actually, they’re mostly noted because of the contrast between two of the most famous songwriters that I’ve worked with [Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach]. So when people refer to the collaborations, they’re usually referring to songwriting collaborations that, as terrific as they were to be in, are—at least in terms of their recorded versions—12 songs apiece. Compared to all the other songs I’ve written, not really a major component in volume. A major component in experience, yes. And I sort of think it overlooks that everything you do, unless you’re going to be a solo folk singer, is a collaboration of a kind. You just don’t put that label on it when you put a band together. And that obviously is a collaboration too.
I didn’t really separate out those songwriting experiences with people that I mentioned from all of the other stuff. They were obviously just very, very unusual experiences, to find yourself across from somebody that you listened to as a child and try to dismiss all of that, really, and just be that person that you were in that moment, and bring everything that you could to it, you know? The collaborations, they’re the kind of experiences that are particularly contrasting to the place I began, being driven by my curiosity about those forms. In the late ’80s, if I was listening more to concert hall music than I was to some sort of rock ’n’ roll club music, then that’s just what I was listening to, and it led me to work with people from that world.
And I had to learn how to communicate. That’s what moved me to learn how to write musical notation. It’s like not being able to spell. Some people can’t spell very well and can still communicate and have beautiful, original ideas. But I had to learn how to do that if I wanted to communicate with those people. It just left me with more possibilities in the way to go after that. I felt like I could write better songs for a rock ’n’ roll combo because I’d had those other adventures. You can turn the electricity off, or you work with people who play violins or different types of instruments or come from a different type of music entirely. And then you pick up the electric guitar again, it’s like it’s brand new.
Via AV Club
Jorge Luengo Ruiz of One Perfect Shot cut together scenes from Breaking Bad and put them side by side with scenes from Pulp Fiction to show the influence of Quentin Tarantino in Vince Gilligan.
Breaking Bad // Pulp Fiction from Jorge Luengo Ruiz on Vimeo.
During Reddit’s recent Ask Me Anything, Bill Murray answered the question we’ve all pondered at one time or another. It’s homourous, thoughtful and just another reason why he’s one of the beloved comedians of our time.
Entrepreneurial skills are the same talent as painting, dancing, sport makings etc. Thus, you can notice them in your kids at early stages and develop through their growing up. Below you will find some leadership activities for kids. They will help you teach your children creativity, self-confidence, positive thinking, and motivation, so that they could form the next generation of geniuses and leaders.
But before getting down to all these things to teach your child, try to realize that each and every kid can be taught anything. Thus, if a child can’t learn the way that you teach, you should teach the way that a child can learn.
Via Pumpic
Linsey Pollak turns a carrot into a clarinet using an eclectic drill a carrot and a saxophone mouthpiece, and plays it all in a matter of 5 minutes. Linsey is an Australian musician, instrument maker, composer, musical director and community music facilitator. He has recorded 31 albums, toured his solo shows extensively in Europe, Nth America and Asia as well as performing at most major festivals around Australia.
Linsey has devised many large Festival pieces such as “BimBamBoo” and “Sound Forest”, as well as collaborating on many music and theatre projects around Australia. He established The Multicultural Arts Centre of WA, and has co-ordinated five Cross-cultural Music Ensembles in three different States. Linsey has also worked as a musical instrument maker for 40 years and has designed a number of new wind instruments as well as specialising in woodwind instruments from Eastern Europe.
I miss Health Ledger. I’m not sure exactly where this video was filmed, but a staffer at an event is obviously so happy to see Heath in front of her. How does he respond? Like any world-famous movie star should.
https://youtu.be/8IPq0v3UMKg
Oakley, the Great Horned Owl, is waiting to be released into the wild. While he waits, he’s getting his groove on with a toy owl singing Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s Monster Mash.
Here’s a shirt clip from the documentary, “I Know That Voice” featuring Bob Bergen, voice actor for “Looney Toons.” Here he explains how, and why, the original voice actor of Porky Pig, Mel Blanc was a genius. Bob has analyzed it and effectively replicated Mel’s oice is brilliant in his own right.
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Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.
Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com
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