FriPod: Princes and Princesses

1. "The appearance of the thirteen enchanted princesses", "Dialogue between Kashchei and Prince Ivan", "The Firebird appears, pursued by Prince Ivan", etc. from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky, performed by a) the Philharmonia Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen, b) Stravinsky conducting a French orchestra.

2. "Dance of The Polovtsian Maidens" from Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin, performed by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic.

3. "Polovetsian Dances" from Prince Igor, performed by a) von Karajan and Berlin, b) Empire Brass.

4. "Ni sna ni otdycha izmucennoj duše" from Prince Igor, performed by Bryn Terfel on Opera Arias.

5. "Gentil Prince" (anonymous) and Piva on "Gentile Prince" arranged by Tom Zajac, performed by Piffaro on Music from the Odhecaton.

6. "Air Du Prince Sou-Chong: 'Je T'Ai Donne'" from Le Pays Du Sourire by Franz Lehar, performed by Maurice Andre.

7. "The Story Of The Kalender Prince" and "The Young Prince & The Young Princess" from Scheherazade by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, performed by Yuri Temirkanov and the New York Philharmonic.

8. "Singing Princess" by Harry Gregson-Williams & John Powell on the Shrek soundtrack.

9. "Someday My Prince Will Come" by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey, performed by a) Chick Corea Akoustic Band, b) John Coltrane, c) Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble.

10. " Le Prince et la Princesse" from The Love For Three Oranges Suite by Sergei Prokofiev, performed by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

11. Suite in D: 4. Rondeau (The Prince of Denmark's March) by Jeremiah Clarke, performed by Hakan Hardenberger.

Bon Jovi, Britney and Blogging

First, a thank you to John Scalzi for hosting the symposium on the semiotics of hair bands. If only it had been held a day earlier, I could've used it in my class when we discussed the different types of heavy metal. I particularly like the reaction against short hair of punk music theory.

Second, today we wrapped up the 90's and 00's in class, including a look at Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time". All of my students had grown up with this song, since it came out when they were in 4th or 5th grade. They had heard it hundreds or thousands of times. Yet none of them knew that it was about boyfriend-on-girlfriend abuse. Once I pointed it out, they could all hear the references in the lyrics. "How was I supposed to know that something wasn't right... Give me a sign/Hit me baby one more time." They still couldn't hear the edge in her voice created by the electronic manipulation and parallel chords in the backing vocals, showing her conflicted tension at wanting to please her abusive boyfriend. How about you?

Third, a question on blogging etiquette: I received an offer to list my blog on this other person's blogroll in exchange for listing his blog on my blogroll. While that was normal behavior a few years ago at the start of blogging, I have the slight suspicion that it isn't as kosher today. Blogrolls can be regarded as indicating different things. It could be a complete list of blogs the blogger reads regularly. It could be a list of the most important blogs on that topic. It could be a comprehensive list of all blogs on that topic. Or it could be a circular community of compensatory linking blogs. For social blogs, I can see the appropriateness of the last type, but for more professional, topic-oriented, or academic blogs, I think one of the first three types is better. I've been striving for a comprehensive list, though I admit I have slacked on adding new blogs recently or checking the list for dead links. What do you see as appropriate blogrolling behavior?

Bagels, Beats, and Beatles

Last Friday we ended up not going to the Doors tribute band, because the venue was 21+. So the last minute replacement was Little Voice, a local indie trio playing at Strange Brew Cafe in Greenwood (an Indianapolis suburb). This was their last gig until after the lead singer has her baby. Though there were a few issues with tuning, they were very entertaining and had some thought-provoking lyrics.

On Monday Phil Ford came to give a guest lecture on teen exploitation films, particularly Beat Girl, and how it demonstrates the gulf between adults and the new youth culture of the late 1950's. This was great, exposing my students to academic theories of culture that I don't know well.

Today Phil's colleague, Glenn Gass, gave a guest lecture on the Beatles' High Art period ('65-'67). Glenn, a Greencastle native, is incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the Beatles. He went from Rubber Soul to Sgt. Pepper's in 1.5 hours for an enthralled audience.

And to ice the cake, I finished planning the whole semester for one of my upcoming classes. I feel very good about the pedagogy, and think I can apply to one of my other classes.

We're taking over!

I just discovered that we have been outed to the wide world: Classical Music Blogs. Commence editing!

FriPod: Babies

I realized the other day that "baby" returned a good number of songs on my iTunes.  Hence this FriPod.

1.  "The Arrival of Baby Harry" by John Williams, on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack.  Starts with a creepy/magical celesta sound, followed by swirling strings.  Now the english horn introduces more strings with bell towers, some wordless chorus, all anticipatory of the arrival.  Ah, now Harry's theme comes in, that's the arrival we've been waiting for.  The second part is happier, but very brief.  Harry has a hard life ahead.

2.  "Baby, Don't Tell on Me" by Lester Young, Count Basie, and Jimmy Rushing; performed by the Count Basie Orchestra on The Essential Count Basie, Volume 1.  Nice muted trumpet solo for this blues.  Jimmy sings, apparently on his criminal activities that his lover shouldn't squeal about.

3.  "Babyface" by U2 on Zooropa.  Interesting fusion of Bono's lower register with someone (Bono?) singing falsetto an octave higher.  

4.  "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby", traditional tune arranged by Gillian Welch and T Bone Burnett, sung by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.  Beautiful three-part harmony with a haunting bowed saw (or theremin?) and a guitar that seems off on its own world.

5.  "I Found a New Baby" by J. Palmer and S. Williams, performed by the Benny Goodman Sextet on Charlie Christian: Genius of Electric Guitar.  One of the first integrated jazz combos, this showcases Charlie's great blues feel.  The piano and Benny trade comical little licks, very flighty.

6.  "I'm Crazy 'bout my Baby" by Fats Waller, performed by Fats Waller with Ted Lewis & his orchestra, on Jazz: The Singers 1930s.  Fortunately, Fats' baby is crazy about him as well, since Cupid is their teacher.

7.  "I'm Nobody's Baby" by Ager, Davis, and Santly; performed by Mildred Bailey & her orchestra, on Little Jazz.  A great trumpet solo by Roy Eldridge, such a fat yet mellow sound.  And his bends seem like trombone glissandi, they are so clear.

8.  "There Goes My Baby" by Nelson, Patterson, and Treadwell, performed by The Drifters on The Best of the Drifters.  Heavily produced, with strings and strong reverb on the drums and voices to give a very spacial feel.  In the fourth verse producers Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber put a cello line that they claim resembles Rimsky-Korsakov.  

9.  "Hush Little Baby" traditional melody, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin on Hush.  Very upbeat, not a lullaby.  

10.  "When My Baby Smiles at Me" by Bill Munro and Harry von Tilzer, performed by Benny Goodman on Live at Carnegie Hall.  A great little number (50 seconds), it sounds like a cross between Dixieland and klezmer.  

Tribute bands

Tomorrow I'm taking my class to a Doors tribute band, called Strange Daze. How do you feel about tribute bands? Are they a vital part of rock culture, or sad museum exhibits?

Look Ma, I'm on TV!

Well, I'm not physically on TV, and it's blog-TV rather than real TV, but Jason Heath has recorded about 5 minutes of ruminations on my top 50 lists (see links over on the left). Other than misspelling my name (hey, my own wife misspelled it after we had been dating for a year) and announcing the wrong URL (it's okay, since he provides working links), it was a nice little thrill to hear my name mentioned several times. So go watch, and get the popularity of that video post up beyond a paltry 5%.