Athanasius Kircher first described the cat piano in his landmark 1650 work Musurgia Universalis. In order to raise the spirits of an Italian prince burdened by the cares of his position, a musician created for him a cat piano. The musician selected cats whose natural voices were at different pitches and arranged them in cages side by side, so that when a key on the piano was depressed, a mechanism drove a sharp spike into the appropriate cat’s tail. The result was a melody of meows that became more vigorous as the cats became more desperate. Who could not help but laugh at such music? Thus was the prince raised from his melancholy.
Credit to www.kirchersociety.org.
Oh those good souls
One of my wife's favorite bands is Starsailor (Thanks King AdRoss for the tip). We have enjoyed listening to their music on the road and find it is a good compromise between our divergent tastes. I have taken a renewed interest in Soccer lately, even watched a match on the Soccer Channel – Portsmouth v Manchester United. I am amazed by international soccer and the sheer devotion it garners. I think only college football in the U.S. holds a candle to such fandom. So. Soccer and Starsailor? Here you go. Put them in the blender and you get "Starsailor play football at Anfield." So I guess Mashups are not just for music. Remember MTV the Rock and Jock Celebrity Basketball or Baseball Games? Or how about the Hollywood Knights? I bet that was the beginning of the end of many of their careers. I am all over the place tonight.
This is the Show
I was really surprised to see that two of my favorite bands from my college years are still going strong and turning out live performances. I was equally surprised to see that they offer limited edition CDs of these live performances. I am not talking about a limited edition of 50,000 that you would get on Amazon for a couple of bucks more than a standard CD. I am talking about very custom almost handmade recordings. I hope to see more bands going this route, 1) to get around the crappy recorded bootlegs and offer something tangible to the true fan that pays for more and generally buys more and 2) to stave off their extinction. Some bands have made a 2nd life by being a band that stays on tour. I mean, who really wants the Steve Miller Band to go back into the studio?
Fox News remixed Video
Let's face it. Fox News is a very polarizing topic to most people. I am in the take ’em camp while some people I know are in the leave ’em, burn ’em, ban them camp. But I’m sure we can all agree to meet in the middle for a little ad-busters meets EBN type vid right? Frankly, I think Shep has never sounded better, “Jaime, Major, Molly”. Whatever the artist's intentions were I don't think this is what culture jamming had in mind when it is at its best.
Athanasius Kircher first described the cat piano in his landmark 1650 work Musurgia Universalis. In order to raise the spirits of an Italian prince burdened by the cares of his position, a musician created for him a cat piano. The musician selected cats whose natural voices were at different pitches and arranged them in cages side by side, so that when a key on the piano was depressed, a mechanism drove a sharp spike into the appropriate cat’s tail. The result was a melody of meows that became more vigorous as the cats became more desperate. Who could not help but laugh at such music? Thus was the prince raised from his melancholy.
