Chatting with my daughter, I blurted out,
"There has never been a better time to be alive."
She responded,
"Every moment is a new beginning."
put those into google!
Happy New Year! Peace on Earth!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
more Caroline...
Sweet Caroline is the only tune I can think of where an audience has sang along to a horn part. Amazing. Arranger should get a lifetime grammy for that alone. In the past fifty years of pop music history, there's been alot of songs, alot of hits...and somehow Sweet Caroline comes out on top...mystifying...
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Sweet Caroline
Sweet Caroline. Written and performed by Neil Diamond. A song written in a Memphis hotel room the night before a recording session in 1968 that went to number 4 on the charts. Will some one please explain to me why this tune is the most popular sing along today?
I confess I have googled and been unable to find out enough about the origins of it's resurgence to asuage my obsession. Wikipedia says it's popular in Ireland and the UK at weddings. The Red Sox play it between innings. College marching bands. Movie soundtracks.
Here's my basic working theory of the moment. An innocuos, easy listening, mid-tempo, late 60's, throw away ditty that is a little catchy goes viral after a few frat boys and/or Irish football fans latch onto it in a druken stupor. A testament to how something can innocently spread. On one hand a sound theory but on the other completely ridiculous. Why this song? I could get specific about why it is a poorly written song and fill page after page. Is it because a bad song lends itself to this role? I feel compelled to delve into the sociological and mystical aspects of popular music, mob-mentality and group consciousness, ritual, modern culture trends, etc. when trying to unravel and resolve this puzzling phenomena...how silly...just a tune, no big deal...nope,not there yet...please help me...more later...
I confess I have googled and been unable to find out enough about the origins of it's resurgence to asuage my obsession. Wikipedia says it's popular in Ireland and the UK at weddings. The Red Sox play it between innings. College marching bands. Movie soundtracks.
Here's my basic working theory of the moment. An innocuos, easy listening, mid-tempo, late 60's, throw away ditty that is a little catchy goes viral after a few frat boys and/or Irish football fans latch onto it in a druken stupor. A testament to how something can innocently spread. On one hand a sound theory but on the other completely ridiculous. Why this song? I could get specific about why it is a poorly written song and fill page after page. Is it because a bad song lends itself to this role? I feel compelled to delve into the sociological and mystical aspects of popular music, mob-mentality and group consciousness, ritual, modern culture trends, etc. when trying to unravel and resolve this puzzling phenomena...how silly...just a tune, no big deal...nope,not there yet...please help me...more later...
Thursday, July 20, 2006
mission statement
a joyous, playful act
an assertion of being and faith
pretentiously lacking ambition
morally ambiguous
smugly positive
forcefully absurd
acutely unaware of self or style
masked
fleeting
folly
this
an assertion of being and faith
pretentiously lacking ambition
morally ambiguous
smugly positive
forcefully absurd
acutely unaware of self or style
masked
fleeting
folly
this
Monday, March 13, 2006
Trend-spotting - "The Truth"
Trend-spotting - "The Truth"
I was watching comedian Dave Chapelle on "Inside the Actor's Studio", a Bravo Network TV interview show, and he closed the show by saying, "There's the Truth... everything else will fall away". I can dig it. But then I thought about how trendy "The Truth" is. Keepin' it Real. Ya gotta keep it real, right? "Reality" shows will not go away. Investigative reporting. Muckraking websites. Politics. Religion. Talking heads throwing around their sincerity with the big sell attitude of Madison Avenue. Documentary films were never more popular. Inquiring minds want to know. Who's really behind that conspiracy? Everyone shocked that that memoir was faked. Was that athlete taking drugs? The Truth is out there. Fox Mulder never found it, but dammit, it's important. Mr. Starr wants some transparency and he wants it now. Who's zoomin' who? No, really! The truth needs to come out. It's gonna make us all feel alot better. Penn and Teller have a show called "BullS**t". There was a best seller called "On BullS**t". I liked the book, thought it had some interesting things to say, and I'm as much into "The Truth" and what's real as the next guy. I'm just making an observation. The Truth is trendy. And this trendiness is making it invisible.
When one actually looks for the truth, one finds that it is murky, ill-defined, elusive, confusing, and complicated. "The Truth? You can't handle the Truth!" By attempting to bring it into focus, you lose it, very much the way physicists cannot fix the position of subatomic particles. Bummer? Not really. It is something to be celebrated. What's being currently lost in our culture is that the Truth can actually be found in the most fantastic places. Yes, that memoir should have had a bigger disclaimer. Bad boy! But the Truth was in there even more than if he had stuck more to the facts. Fiction brings the Truth to light quite well. Watch "The Sopranos". You'll get the whole wise guys thing in a nutshell, the truth splitting it open. When children play, the Truth is the last thing on their minds, yet what they pretend is more real than Court TV could ever dream to be. That tingle on your neck when a singer transfers a little magic to you just for a moment? There's the Truth. Read a good poem. Hell, write a good poem. Now you are getting closer. Don't fret that you can't fix its position or clearly define it. The Truth is out there. It's all around you. It's suffocating you, actually. Look for a crack and take a breath. And enjoy the pleasures of a trend somewhere else.
Oh yeah, Mr. Chapelle? Shortly before or after he spoke of the Truth, in almost the same sentence, he said, " I'm just a comedian, just looking for what's funny, just throwing it out there." That's more like it!
I was watching comedian Dave Chapelle on "Inside the Actor's Studio", a Bravo Network TV interview show, and he closed the show by saying, "There's the Truth... everything else will fall away". I can dig it. But then I thought about how trendy "The Truth" is. Keepin' it Real. Ya gotta keep it real, right? "Reality" shows will not go away. Investigative reporting. Muckraking websites. Politics. Religion. Talking heads throwing around their sincerity with the big sell attitude of Madison Avenue. Documentary films were never more popular. Inquiring minds want to know. Who's really behind that conspiracy? Everyone shocked that that memoir was faked. Was that athlete taking drugs? The Truth is out there. Fox Mulder never found it, but dammit, it's important. Mr. Starr wants some transparency and he wants it now. Who's zoomin' who? No, really! The truth needs to come out. It's gonna make us all feel alot better. Penn and Teller have a show called "BullS**t". There was a best seller called "On BullS**t". I liked the book, thought it had some interesting things to say, and I'm as much into "The Truth" and what's real as the next guy. I'm just making an observation. The Truth is trendy. And this trendiness is making it invisible.
When one actually looks for the truth, one finds that it is murky, ill-defined, elusive, confusing, and complicated. "The Truth? You can't handle the Truth!" By attempting to bring it into focus, you lose it, very much the way physicists cannot fix the position of subatomic particles. Bummer? Not really. It is something to be celebrated. What's being currently lost in our culture is that the Truth can actually be found in the most fantastic places. Yes, that memoir should have had a bigger disclaimer. Bad boy! But the Truth was in there even more than if he had stuck more to the facts. Fiction brings the Truth to light quite well. Watch "The Sopranos". You'll get the whole wise guys thing in a nutshell, the truth splitting it open. When children play, the Truth is the last thing on their minds, yet what they pretend is more real than Court TV could ever dream to be. That tingle on your neck when a singer transfers a little magic to you just for a moment? There's the Truth. Read a good poem. Hell, write a good poem. Now you are getting closer. Don't fret that you can't fix its position or clearly define it. The Truth is out there. It's all around you. It's suffocating you, actually. Look for a crack and take a breath. And enjoy the pleasures of a trend somewhere else.
Oh yeah, Mr. Chapelle? Shortly before or after he spoke of the Truth, in almost the same sentence, he said, " I'm just a comedian, just looking for what's funny, just throwing it out there." That's more like it!
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
"Traced" a web movie clip
I took a few passages from a book entitled "Lipstick Traces" by Greil
Marcus, flew them into Keynote(a Power Point style presentation app.
for the Mac), and rendered a Quicktime movie and .avi file. Enjoy!
www.streamload.com/pstacey/Traced.mov
www.streamload.com/pstacey/Traced.avi
www.streamload.com/pstacey/Traced.mov
www.streamload.com/pstacey/Traced.avi
Monday, January 30, 2006
Paddy's Brew
I grabbed an mp3 of Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew". Then I sliced it, diced it, stretched it, looped it, slathered some effects on it, eq'ed it, and rendered it; then I posted it here...
www.streamload.com/pstacey/electronic/PaddysBrew.mp3
hope you like it...
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