These fingers speak for themselves—they have a brain. They always hit the right notes, too. It just happens. That’s the way it is. Sometimes I still throw my boot up on the keyboard and play with my heel. It’s very important to hit the right notes. I did it first when I was young. I figured it would be good for business. Playing rock ’n’ roll the way I do takes a lot out of a person. But it don’t bother me. I’m used to it. Sometimes I sit up on top of the piano and play with both my feet, looking at the keys the other way. I hit the right notes then, too.
— Jerry Lee Lewis in The Wall Street Journal
Jerry Lee Lewis on His Piano Playing
Morrissey reviews the latest singles back in 1984
Back in October 1984, Morrissey did a feature with British music magazine Smash Hits where he reviewed some popular singles at the time. You can check out the whole thing below to see his reviews of Siouxsie, Duran Duran, XTC, Ultravox and more. It’s a shame artists today wouldn’t do this, for fear of insulting or offending a fellow musician. Even the littlest arguments on Twitter between, say, Jack White and The Black Keys, end in apologies.
28 Businesses Who Created Signs For The Win
Check out these 28 businesses who knew how to make people laugh, and likely got the business…
Via: Pinterest, BuzzFeed, Funny Signs, Twenty Two Words</em>
Jimmy Iovine on the marriage of music and tech: ‘The meek are not inheriting the Earth’
Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine talked about how he sees the technology and music industries working together. While accepting an SFTB Award, Iovine gave a cool and interesting speech.
“These are times that call upon us to be visionary and to be daring. These days, the meek are not inheriting the Earth. That’s why Dr. Dre and I both believe we need to intelligently merge the worlds of technology and the liberal arts.
“The great artists of music have always innovated and boldly changed the game, but the industry itself has not. Too often, the music business allowed third-party companies to innovate for us – and that simply does not work any more. We must face the fact that our delivery and distribution systems are too sterile and not compelling enough for a new generation of young people who love music in their own way.
“And if we don’t fix the distribution of music, we run the risk of music being sent out into the world in such an uninspired way that music loses its value – and not just its financial value, but even worse, its emotional value too – and therefore its position as arguably the most dominant art form going forward. Ladies and gentleman, the time has come for the music business itself to innovate.”
Ringo Starr’s Isolated Vocals For The Beatles “Octopus’s Garden”
“Octopus’s Garden” from The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road was the second song Ringo has ever written. George Harrison says “It’s lovely. The song gets very deep into your consciousness…because it’s so peaceful. I suppose Ringo is writing cosmic songs these days without even realising it.”
Paul McCartney’s Wings “Band On The Run” Isolated Bass and Drums
Wings’ “Band On The Run” album was recorded at the EMI studios in Lagos, Nigeria after Paul McCartney decided he wanted to try recording in a more exotic place and get away from some of the media blitz happening in the UK and also securing himself complete artistic freedom. There was a bump in the road, though, when lead guitarist Henry McCollough and drummer Denny Seiwell left the band. Paul and band members Linda McCartney and Denny Laine decided to carry on just the same, with Paul taking on drum and lead guitar as well as bass.
http://youtu.be/3x_r06YfkB8
Johnny Cash’s Isolated Vocal for “Ring Of Fire”
Written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, “Ring of Fire” appears on Cash’s 1963 album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. The song was originally recorded by June’s sister, Anita Carter, on her Mercury Records album Folk Songs Old and New (1963) as “(Love’s) Ring of Fire”. “Ring of Fire” ranked No. 4 on CMT’s 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music in 2003 and #87 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song was recorded on March 25, 1963, and became the biggest hit of Johnny Cash’s career, staying at number one on the charts for seven weeks. It was certified Gold on January 21, 2010 by the R.I.A.A. and has also sold over 1.2 million digital downloads.
Although “Ring of Fire” sounds somewhat ominous, the term refers to falling in love – which is what June Carter was experiencing with Johnny Cash at the time. Some sources claim that Carter had seen the phrase “Love is like a burning ring of fire,” underlined in one of her uncle A. P. Carter’s Elizabethan books of poetry. She worked with Kilgore on writing a song inspired by this phrase as she had seen her uncle do in the past. She had written: “There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns”.
These isolated vocals of Karen Carpenter Will Sooth You
Fun Fact: After the Carpenters became successful in the early 1970s, she and her brother bought two apartment buildings in Downey as a financial investment. Formerly named the “Geneva”, the two complexes were renamed “Only Just Begun” and “Close to You” in honor of the duo’s first smash hits. The apartment buildings are located at 8353 and 8356 (respectively) 5th Street, Downey, California. In 1976 Carpenter bought two Century City apartments, gutted them, and turned them into one condominium. Located at 2222 Avenue of the Stars, the doorbell chimed the first six notes of “We’ve Only Just Begun”.
Below, “Ticket to Ride” vocals and drums:
“Yesterday Once More” vocals and bass:
“Goodbye To Love” vocals, bass and drums:
“Rainy Days And Mondays” vocals, bass and drums:
“For All We Know” vocals, bass and drums:
Tom Robbins Gets Animated Answering “Where Do His Ideas Come From?”
“If I knew how it was going to end, I probably wouldn’t write it.”
– Tom Robbins in 1994, as told to Tod Mesirow
Tom Robbins, author of classics like Still Life of Woodpecker, Jitterbug Perfume, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, takes us inside the mind of a writer who’d prefer writing with a raven quill dipped in lizard blood. For many, including tons of college students, Robbins transported readers to another world where it seemed possible that enormously oversized thumbs could bring you happiness, and romance could take place inside a pack of cigarettes. Where do these fantastic stories begin?
We present outtakes from a previously unheard interview Robbins did with Tod Mesirow back in 1994 for a film about authors that was never made. In this episode of Blank on Blank, Robbins dreams about a nurse serving him tequila sunrises when he’s 85, why he took a two-by-four to typewriter and works in pen and paper, how his first attempts at writing began when he was five and a story about a pilot stuck on a deserted island, and how he pours over every word in his books 30 or 40 times.
How They Listen: First 10 Cities with Uber + Spotify
Earlier this week, Spotify and Uber, two leaders of their respective categories, joined forces to allow riders to hop into Uber cars with their Spotify music of choice already playing.
Riders with Spotify premium can simply connect the two apps to add a playlist to their Spotify-enabled Uber. The program kicks off this Friday, November 21, with more cities and cars to come, as announced on Monday.
Uber is personalized access to cars. Spotify is personalized access to music. It all happens seamlessly. This should work well.
So, what music are people going to play a lot in each of these cities, relative to the other Spotify/Uber launch cities?
If history is any indication, we have the answers below, in the form of 10 playlists — one for each launch city where Uber riders can seamlessly access the sweet sounds of their own Spotify playlists. These playlists make for some great, adventurous listening — especially if you’re into the geography of music:
The Distinctive Sound of Spotify/Uber Launch Cities
Here’s the music Uber drivers can expect to hear a lot of in these locations, proportional to the drivers elsewhere:
London
Los Angeles
Mexico City
Nashville
New York City
San Francisco
Singapore
Stockholm
Sydney
Toronto