RoR: Forum

James,

I rise up only long enough to say that there has been more shaken booty under the influence of Mario Lanza than under all the Spanish flies in history.

I just got the mental image of you in bed with the MOTHER OF ALL COLDS, sort of like Beethoven on his death bed.

But instead of hearing the thunder, like he did, and lifting up his mighty fist to defiantly shake it at God before expiring, you struggle up out of your weak dilapidated state to shake your booty with "I'll Walk with God" before collapsing back down.

Cool...

//;-)

Michael

Post 81

Monday, May 9, 2005 - 11:59pm

Michael K:"And it is awfully hard to catch rabbits that way."

I LOVE rabbits! I don't want to catch them -- we're not all black-hearted killers.

Barbara

Post 82

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 12:26am

Er... Barbara...

I think "rabbit" is supposed to be metaphorical too, not just hound dog... (In my case, it was once a Playboy bunny.)

But even the "black-hearted killing" is metaphorical here, despite not being part of the song.

You know...

ahem...

Ya gotta kinda shake your booty to understand, I guess...

Michael

Post 83

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 4:41am

Hey, Snoopy would never catch a rabbit...he'd rather dance with them, to Frieda's dismay. (Um, surely Barbara at least knows what I'm talking about...).

Post 84

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 9:29am

There was an old farmer in the hill country, maybe Tennessee, who was reknown for his rabbit stew. "Sam," said one of his guests after one of his famous feasts, "how do you get your rabbits? I never see you leave the house."

"It's simple," said Sam, "I just sit here on the porch at night with my rifle with this light on to see their eyes. Then when they say 'Meow!' I let 'em have it!"

--Brant

PS: Barbara--do you think I have demonstrated any literary talent?

(Edited by Brant Gaede on 5/10, 9:31am)

Post 85

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 9:43am

With an attitude like that - no wonder they shit in your shoes.

Post 86

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 6:18pm

"I know [Phil] had reservations about SOLO before attending, & I hope they were assuaged." [Linz, #37]

For me, Solo Newport Beach had both strong pluses and minuses. Not knowing anyone, there were socially-skilled and gracious people who welcomed you in and were nice to be around - and there was a subgroup that was quite inconsiderate, heedless, or had sharp elbows. Age/maturity group is relevant on the sociability aspect. Very pleasant house and lots of fun-loving, high spirits and laughter. Larger conferences than thirty work better for me because you have a lot of options re simpatico groups of people. More chances to feel visble, find a friend, etc.

Post 87

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 4:07pm

Joe M: "Um, surely Barbara at least knows what I'm talking about...).

Of course. I'm not wholly without culture. And Snoopy's dance is one of the wonders of the world. The day I can achieve that kind of joy, I shall expect to be elevated to instant sainthood.

Michael K: You, sir, are without couth.

Brant: "Barbara--do you think I have demonstrated any literary talent?:

Fugedaboudit.

Barbara

Post 88

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 4:51pm

Barbara,

LOLOLOLOL...

I wish a mere apology would be in order, but I'm afraid it gets worse.

My conducting master sort of had that same opinion as you when he saw the first pop record I ever produced (and what it became was not premeditated) - after 7 days and nights of really nasty fighting and bickering, the group changed its name from Alpha Star to Ego - and the lead song became Supergay (they took the comic book character, the one who flies and has a cape and gets sick with Kryptonite, and made him gay).

They say in Brazil that you can't teach taste, you can only refine it.

Now for the worst part.

I have heard it said in my family that I am somehow related to Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Such is the mystery of life. Some of us are born pedigrees and others are hound dogs...

Michael

Edit - For what it's worth, Barbara, if I did offend you, I do apologize. My banter gets out of hand sometimes. I would never seriously disrespect you intentionally - ever.

(Edited by Michael Stuart Kelly on 5/11, 9:46pm)

Post 89

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 7:32pm

W.r.t. headbanging - a girl I knew in High School went to see Smashing Pumpkins when they came to New Zealand ... and returned to school the next day with what appeared to be a wicked case of whiplash from headbanging during the concert.

The only time I've seen a case as bad was a friend who (in the same year) t-boned a car while riding his motorcycle to school.

Post 90

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 9:15pm

Duncan, that's funny. I thought only guys were into headbanging. And I did my share of it in high school, it was not so much dancing as it was a male display of toughness, like rams butting heads! And I remember many sore necks. Ugh. Good thing I grew out of that. She must not have been a delicate flower!

Post 91

Thursday, May 12, 2005 - 7:45pm

Lance,

I agree with you on Tool's darkness, but I still admire their musicality. Have you, perchance, heard of a very underrated group, Gentle Giant?

Anyways, this may or may not be too late, but I am surprised no one has mentioned King Crimson and its founder, Robert Fripp.

King Crimson is a progressive rock band that began in the late sixties, and still exists today. They are less pop, and less well-known than Pink Floyd and Rush, for example, but show an unbounded creativity that I see no where else.

And this is why KC is my favorite band. That the music knows absolutely no bounds, that the musicians seize each aspect of their talent and skill in raptured love of musical creation is an amazing inspiration for me. I am as inspired at one of their nearly-orchestral instrumental songs, as I am at a fun lyrical piece.

So, technically, they might not be for everyone. They are sometimes dissonant, with odd rhythms; they can be humorous, and are usually not explicitly heroic. But I find that their connections between emotion, desire, skill, discipline, and reality need no other heroic words; who is the hero but who expresses himself as these people do?

KC is not psychedelia, nor is it pop-rock, dinosaur prog, or Rush-like Rand-inspired trubutes. But as I see it, these musicians have held their own happinesses as prime more distinctly than Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Jethro Tull, or basically any other modern musician I know of.

just throwing out a very sincere recommendation,
Michael

PS To my credibility, I find Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Beethoven and Bach just as influential inspirations; I do not consider myself an HC. I have yet to pick up any complete opera work, though.

Post 92

Thursday, May 12, 2005 - 11:29pm

I agree with you on Tool's darkness, but I still admire their musicality. Have you, perchance, heard of a very underrated group, Gentle Giant?

Anyways, this may or may not be too late, but I am surprised no one has mentioned King Crimson and its founder, Robert Fripp.

Hiya Michael, I don't remember hearing any Gentle Giant before now. I've just checked them out on itunes.com and they are out there on the edge of deep space. I can definitely hear the Yes influence. It's funny, my reaction to Gentle Giant is like James' reaction to Yes. I hear the virtuosity but it just doesn't get to me musically. I don't have a lot of experience with King Crimson but a friend of mine somewhere along the line played one of their CDs frequently and it was quite good. I think it was the one with the their most popular FM radio song. I forget the name.

Fred Seddon who hangs out here is a big Frank Zappa fan. Zappa is another one of those guys that I just can't get into for some reason. The Dangerous Kitchen and Shiek Yerboudi are funny but I don't really get what the point is.

Tool is very good at what they do. I like them. It just depresses me to listen to them so I don't listen very often. Pink Floyd has a lot of humor and sarcasm in their songs that makes the nihilism more palatable.

I have always been one to seek perfection in things (music and women for example) and have learned that this is a mistake. We ought to seek excellence. Excellence is attainable and perfection is an empty, faith-driven concept. It's easy for us to pick out things about an artwork that we don't like and that's all well and good. But if we obsess over the mold and fissures we miss the essence of the cathedral.

(Edited by Lance Moore on 5/13, 12:20am)

Post 93

Friday, May 13, 2005 - 5:41am

Lance, I feel the same about Gentle Giant, as well as Caravan, Soft Machine (excepting the first album), Gong, Etc.
I came late to the whole "Canterbury" school of progressive rock, which is a VERY quirky English style that is usually somewhat on the whimsical/British humour style (I think Monty Python for some reason.) It's not bad, but it doesn't grab me.

Zappa...well, which Zappa? Haha...the doo wop Zappa, the Jazz from Hell Zappa, the Crappa Zappa (his forays into Varese earn him a special rung in the inferno)...Personally, I LOVE "Peaches en Regalia" and some of the more "stricly commercial" stuff he did ("we can Jam at Joe's Garage, his mother would scream "turn it down!").

If I had time, I'd take you to task regarding Pink Floyd's nihilism, but since I am preparing to move to Seattle, writing this much I have to count as a guilty pleasure. :) So, for now, you'll have to settle for an "I disagree."

Mike, I think I've mentioned Crimson elsewhere, they are amazing. Just not really relevant to the thread, though (not that Zappa, et. al are, either.) Personally, I don't find them "uplifting," but I do find them adventurous, smart, and pioneers in expanding the boundaries of rock. I put them on when I want to explore. Musically, I've learned much from Fripp and co, moreso in their later Discipline-era version, where I learned that minimalism can actually be enjoyable, and the virtues of the Chapman stick!

(Edited by Joe Maurone
on 5/13, 5:52am)

(Edited by Joe Maurone
on 5/13, 5:56am)

Post 94

Friday, May 13, 2005 - 12:09pm

If I had time, I'd take you to task regarding Pink Floyd's nihilism, but since I am preparing to move to Seattle, writing this much I have to count as a guilty pleasure. :) So, for now, you'll have to settle for an "I disagree."

I'm a huge Floyd fan. I may not have survived without em'. Roger Waters' Amused to Death from 1990 is one of my favorite CDs.

Roger Waters definitely considers himself to be something of a Romantic. In the interviews with him on The Wall DVD he doesn't even understand why people think Pink Floyd is dark. Rand describes Dostoevsky as a Romantic because he presents man as he might be and ought not to be. I think Roger Waters takes that same approach most of the time. Though there is a lot of Sartre's existentialism in there too. The idea that none of this really matters because in 200 we'll all be dead. Wish Your Were Here, The Wall, The Final Cut and Amused To Death all end with the world crumbling down (either nuclear bombs or man losing his mind). Dark Side of the Moon has the "nothing matters" climax with Brain Damage/Eclipse.

Post 95

Friday, May 13, 2005 - 12:44pm

I will concede the existentialism...and a strong pessimistic streak, but countered with a desire to see things improve...Waters is a bit of a humanist, and is striving for real communication. I think his pessimistic endings are in the vein of WE THE LIVING. And though the end of The WALL seems dark, the crumbling of the wall does signify a breakthrough, at least. He certainly isn't celebrating the gloom and doom, for sure. And there is the ending of PRO'S and CON's OF HITCHIKING where he wakes from the nightmare next to his wife, and the ending of RADIO KAOS, with the hopeful anthem "The Tide is Turning (after Live Aid.)

Post 96

Friday, May 13, 2005 - 1:43pm

I love Pink Floyd, and in fact I am going to see a concert by a group called "The Machine" that plays their music. I loved Roger Waters and especially Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, though I haven't listened to it in years. Right now, my favorite music is Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst). Check out a song like "The Center of the Earth." It just does not matter to me that he has a lot of negatives in his music I don't agree with - I just love it anyway. I don't know why this is the case, maybe just the way I learned to like music at a darker time in my life?

Post 97

Friday, May 13, 2005 - 3:53pm

I like Tool as well (Linz shall now cast me out!) :-)

I found their album Lateralus to be less dark than their previous ones. It quickly became my favorite of theirs. I still crack up every time I hear "Hooker with a Penis" from Aenima though.

Ethan

Post 98

Friday, May 13, 2005 - 8:30pm

In regards to Tool:
Ethan, from your picture, you might be the oldest person I know who listens to Tool; there is nothing wrong with that, just different, and very cool. Unfortunately, I find that a lot of toolers are angry teenaged mystics (caterwaulers), but others still appreciate the intelligent, lovely side of Tool. I am indeed moving away from Tool a bit, because of the darkness, but they are grand for "rocking out" every now and then.

Zappa: is quite amazing. I enjoy him occasionally, just because some of his musics are a bit too silly.

and Kurt,
I've heard a bit of Bright Eyes, and I remember that the young man seems not unlike a modern Nick Drake. I remember very deep, emotional lyrics, with a shade of irony darkly present. He definitely grants more exploration now that I know an O'ist's sanction (up to now, I've only known his status among my trendy, hipster friends). Thank you.

and Joe,
I crave the Discipline era. I don't understand this minimalism thing; these albums aren't really minimalism for me, but a maximalism, if you will, of just fun and invention and rock. (Lance, I think their closest radio hit was "Sleepless" from Three of a Perfect Pair.)

And more thoughts on why I like KC: They have not tried to be explicitly or implicitly pop, or optimistic, or dark, or inspirational, or deconstructive, or whatever. They are past needing to communicate a specific message or image to their audience. It's just that the music they've made has been quite natural, just whatever they've enjoyed most, with invention, pioneering, and And if you really are past needs like that, and are able to pursue a sovereign happiness, then that is quite the biggest message you can make. (And this is may being too abstract and in-depth, but I just find this in KC and few other groups, and perhaps in the best of all music, rock and classical.)

Michael

Edit: If anyone knows Radiohead, there is a band that has fallen from a straightforward, great rock band, to a pessimistic, deconstructive, almost nihilistic group (and received many comparisons to Pink Floyd). The albums Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, and to some extent, OK Computer signal their 1984-ish decline into depressing doom. Many of the melodies are tolerable, but the group has not made a happy song or album in an untenable amount of time. I understand that the musicians may be, like Waters, striving for communication, but I see better ways to do it than to isolate and depress their listeners. (Tool on the other hand has made nearly the opposite change.)

(Edited by Mike Yarbrough on 5/13, 9:28pm)

Post 99

Friday, May 13, 2005 - 11:04pm