Category: Uncategorized

Football Makes for Lousy Music

I heard Kate Jacobs’s “Rey Ordonez” yesterday. It’s one in a long line of baseball odes, and there are lots of songs about hockey–but why doesn’t anyone write about football?

Maybe it’s because football isn’t fun. Baseball and hockey have crazy fun-loving characters and lovable losers (I’m looking at you, Maple Leafs). Football has psychotics that (literally) commit horrible violent crimes; winning’s not the main thing, it’s the only thing.

So, this Super Bowl Sunday (don’t sue me NFL), check in with Brian Wilson (who’s making a case to be the next Bill Lee, apparently), find out why Gerry Cheevers’s mask was so creepy, and listen to some music:

And if I’m wrong about football, let me know.

Songs that Make Me Uncomfortable, Huffington Post Style

On the Huffington Post this morning, Alida Nugent gives her list of songs that have left her thoroughly creeped out:

I have now changed my definition of love. After hearing these songs, Love, to me, is clowns at the circus, that weird guy who owned an emu farm and antique shops.

In some cases, the lyrics make you shudder, but in others, it’s about the context: Chris Brown’s horrible misogynistic rage issues ruin “Forever”; the video does in Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello.”

I’ve got my own list. What about you? Any songs that make you want to take a shower–or call the police?

Update?

Jennifer Higdon, who won a Pulitzer this year for her Violin Concerto, wants orchestras to program more new music–because it sells:

The only orchestra concerts I’ve attended lately that have been sold out have had new works on them (and yes, I go to concerts without new music).

I’ve also been to concerts where half the audience walks out with the composer in the audience right before the world premiere of his big new piece.

Sometimes Explaining Yourself Just Makes Things Worse

In a recent blog post, Eva Yaa Asantewaa knocks The New York Times‘s A. O. Scott for his solipsistic approach to movie criticism. She quotes him:

I have to say that the goal of criticism has never been to control or reflect the public taste–neither is possible–but rather the simpler (but also infinitely difficult) work of analyzing and evaluating works of art as honestly and independently as possible.

There’s a frightening decadence running through a lot of mainstream cultural criticism these days, including music and dance. (If you click through, you’ll see it comes mostly from one particular outlet.)

If You’re Going to Be Awesome, Be Awesome All the Time

You can’t even begin to imagine my surprise when I found out that this was the website of the guy who wrote The Most Amazing Press Release Ever:

Today’s Seth Godin’s blog post (one of them, anyway; it gets to be a little much sometimes) warned of raising expectations only to dash them on the rocks of mediocrity. Going from that irreverent press release from PitchPoint to its website homepage is a case study in this particular way to fail.

It’s confusing too. What am I going to get if I hire this publicist, I wonder. Am I getting the sarcastic, brazen PitchPoint–the 483 Words of Pure Awesomeness–or am I getting the run-of-the-mill “one stop shop for all your marketing and creative needs.” It’s hard to tell.

Vanessa and Friends Played at Trinity Church Today

Here’s the video from Vanessa’s concert with Aron Zelkowicz and Sally Koo at the Trinity Church on Wall Street:
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/flash/video.swf?id=669
The show was great, the church was beautiful, and the staff was really welcoming and helpful. If you have some time, you should go to one of their Concerts at One.

And come by the Third Street Music School Settlement in Manhattan on January 28; Vanessa and Aron are playing a concert at 7:30 PM. Since they don’t get paid for this, bring a hat and pass it for them.

For those of you who don’t know, “Vanessa” is Vanessa Fadial. She’s my wife. And an amazing pianist as well. Just ask our neighbors. All six floors of them.