Oh, you can’t chop your momma up in Massachusetts…

and then blame all the damage on the mice (on the mice)
No, you can’t chop your momma up in Massachusetts
That kind of thing just isn’t very nice.

–Kingston Trio, I think. Charming old song about Lizzie Borden.  Mom never quite appreciated it, probably due to that line about “Massachusetts is a far cry from New York”, which was not far from where she grew up. And, to be sure, Taxachusetts is a far cry from New York, but hey, not in that direction. I’ve somehow survived driving in Boston, and avoided losing tires in the lagoons they call potholes. I wouldn’t live in New York, but I’d bite ears off to get out of Massachusetts. Which may have been Lizzie’s motivation, who knows?

“and when all was said and done, she’d removed her mother’s bustle when she wasn’t wearing one.”

Saturday in the park, think it was the fourth of July

…and if you’re searching on that, you’re looking for the band Chicago. Second version, after they went all mellow. The original incarnation was somewhat startlingly different.

Pleasant day, it really was, subsidized by funds I shouldn’t have borrowed, but there’s been a glitch in my bank transfers. That glitch was me, it’s my fault. Regardless… there will be money in the future and, there was money today for the little luxuries that make life worth playing. I’m not extravagant. Food, beer, cigarettes, World of Warcraft: for me, that’s a terrific Saturday.

S’pose I need to add air conditioning to that list. January, still, and it’s gotten to be 84F in here. That’s a bit much, even for me. I’m not really comfortable over 83F. It starts making me sluggish and stupid.

Lunar Festival has started, in WoW. It’s a sort of analog of the Chinese New Year. Fireworks and visiting elders, and things. I get a kick out of the festivals. Could be, even, a few people will learn a few things despite themselves.

King Crimson: memories that don’t tarnish

There are a great many bands that I admired, many years ago, which did not stand up to the test of time. The Moody Blues tends to make me writhe, these days. Weird old King Crimson, though…

Stoned golden summer music, it is true. And oddly visual. You can see and feel the songs or, at least, I can. One of the most accessible is surely Court of the Crimson King, an elaborate baroque bit of work with both fun and dark whimsy.

Give it a taste, sometime, if you’re not familiar. Don’t settle for the cut version, you’ll miss a lot.

And now for something completely different

A compelling, and compulsive, unusual rendition of the old Peanuts theme…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=N4UMqXMWdQM

You may gather a certain wrongness about the tune without knowing quite why. There’s kind of a key flaw, there… it really requires two players to do properly on guitar.

Earworms: Crazy Frog

If you’re terminally American and haven’t been paying much attention, you might have missed this one. That’s ok, I’m happy to pass it along. Try the goofy kids’ video on youtube. I can’t get it out of my head, today. Share the insanity.

Vocal harmony – lost parts of “singing”

Time was that singing involved forming a harmony with the people you were singing with. Oh, one person might sing above or below, and the whole might go in different directions at various points, but a key part of the thing was vocal music: people singing together.

That does not seem to be much of a factor in modern music. When people sing, they don’t sing together, really. I miss that, a bit. I think Queen, with the rocking version of the barbershop quartet, was about the last band to hit it big with vocal harmonies.