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By Kyle, April 19, 2008 2:17 pm

The hardest part of blogging is beginning. I can’t even begin to say how many times I’ve written, deleted, and rewritten even the first sentence of this blog post. What I’m finding I’m lacking is a good jumping off point. So why not take something completely random, and force myself to at least begin the writing process with some related comment. (After all, I make my kids do a warm-up, why not me). Here’s what I envision this looking like. Before blogging, I will close iTunes, reopen it, select the “shuffle” button, and hit Play. Let the fun begin. And it’s my commitment to myself to not cheat…which means that whatever plays first will start me off….whatever plays first….whatever. This should be fun. Alright, I think I’m ready to start,…okay, here goes…..closing iTunes…..iTunes is now closed….opening iTunes…shuffle selected….(holding breath)….here goes…..Play:

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Phew…. A sigh of relief. Something fairly benign. This Will Be Our Year by The Zombies has begun to play. The simple 60s British pop of this song is absolutely wonderful and the more I listen, the more I find myself being drawn to the simple piano downbeats of the beginning as well as the piano solo right before the key change. Speaking of which, this evening I’m headed off with a friend to hear one of my favorite L.A. musicians perform. Jon Brion is mostly famous for his soundtracks, but his live shows (currently being held in an intimate 50 seat theatre/restaurant/bar) are truly astounding. The same passion with which he attacks his music I want to find myself teaching with. I’ve thought often about what it would take to get my kids to feel about mathematics the same way that they (or I) feel about music. Is it the element of creativity? Is it the element of discovery? Is it the element of euphoric freedom that often accompanies it? Who knows?

Anyway, that was interesting….let’s see if I can make it continue (perhaps even make this sort of thing a recurring Outlook task).

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By Kyle, March 10, 2008 3:02 pm

The following may be the greatest blog posting I’ve ever seen. Apparently, there is a Flickr group entitled Song Charts which is exactly that. The original post is courtesy of Meredith at never slap the gift donkey. I simply connected the images with their coinciding audio tracks which other users have already put online. And now, geeks, let us enjoy!

Edison Lighthouse – Love Grows

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The Rolling Stones – Paint It Black

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The Police – Every Little Thing She Does is Magic

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By Kyle, December 31, 2007 11:15 am

OK, this list was hard. Very hard. Oh well….here goes:

#5. Jonny Greenwood – There Will Be Blood [Soundtrack]

Usually it’s only after I see a film that I become interested in its soundtrack. However in this case, the soundtrack was one of the first things that interested me in this film (which I still haven’t seen). One of the things I’ve been finding myself more and more intrigued by is the so-called modern (or post-modern) leanings of contemporary classical composers of the last, say, 75 years or so. Mozart and Bach would probably be rolling over in their graves if they were to hear the dissonant and atonal aspects of this composition, but I find it strangely beautiful in its austerity.

#4. Field Music – Tones of Town

I first heard this band while driving and listening to KCRW right here in Los Angeles. It was one of those moments where I made an instant mental note of what time it was so when I got home, I could look up the band’s information. I love the pop melodies, the vocal harmonies that characterize this album. The word “fun” only begins to describe this album.

#3. Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

I’ve never been a fan of instrumental rock (especially when it one could describe it as experimental). Either intrinsically dull or else impossibly hard to follow, listening to guitars, drums, and synths has never really appealed to me. However, listening to the strangely atmospheric and at times even haunting solos made me fall in love with this album. It’s simultaneously an album that you can both sit and listen intently to or just play in the background as you study for upcoming exams (or create lesson plans).

#2. Elliot Smith – New Moon

What does indie/folk singer-songwriter Elliot Smith have to do with several rap stars of the late 90s? Not much except an uncanny ability to release albums posthumously. In this case, the album release comes from a period of time when Smith was writing and recording some magnificent work. Why most of these tracks were never released, I’ll never know, but I’m certainly grateful that someone finally got around to it.

#1. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

I’d been hearing about this album for weeks. I’d heard the hype, which honestly, kind of turned me off. And on first listen, I wasn’t that impressed. Yet, as I listened time and time again, I found myself drawn more and more into the floating chord progressions, the dynamic motif changes, and the simultaneously intricate and immense instrumentation. This is an album that I hope to find myself listening to much past 2007!

And there you have it, the five best albums of 2007! And you can listen to tracks from them right here!!!

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By Kyle, November 14, 2007 4:59 pm

There are a few vows I made in my younger days that I am less-than-ashamed to admit to since have broken. As I recall, I vowed never to own a cell phone (broken December, 2003). I vowed never to become a teacher (broken July 2004). And probably most surprising of all, I vowed never to listen to NPR. As far as I knew growing up, an NPR radio station was a mind-numbing conglomerate of talk radio and analysis that would make even an accountant die of boredom. At least, such was the case of the NPR radio station in Syracuse, NY.

However, since moving to Los Angeles, I have learned that NPR radio stations can actually choose their own programming when not syndicating the news and talk. One such station, KCRW, based in Santa Monica, actually fills their non-NPR time with amazing new and independent music selections that range from folk to rock to alternative to latin to reggae and at times, to even a bit of classical. Suffice it to say, I really don’t have a reason to listen to any other station!

However, all of that was just background information for the real story. On Monday, I was listening to the aforementioned KCRW, specifically to a program called Morning Becomes Eclectic, and the host was giving away 5 pairs of tickets to the first five callers. Being so motivated, I called in, and won a pair of tickets to go and see K.T. Tunstall perform live Tuesday night. Yay! Anyway, to make what is now a really longer story slightly shorter, my buddy Kent (from Whittier) and I trekked up to the show last night which was pretty fun, although we were literally standing (not in line, but in front of the stage) for more than 3 hours. Yes, K.T. was great, but even better was the opening act, Teitur, an self-conscious Danish singer/songwriter who took us aback with his pristine vocals, awkward humor, and surprising chord progressions which seemed to come from out of nowhere!

As I we walked back to my car after the show, I realized how far I’ve come in teaching. To actually go out and do something fun on a school night is something I would have only dreamed about my first year!

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By Kyle, October 15, 2007 5:38 pm

This weekend was fairly relaxing. Fall is in full swing, and after a Friday afternoon that included an extra 1-hour practice test session with my 6th period class, I was ready to enjoy the weekend. Luckily for me, that meant getting up at 7am Saturday morning for the only thing worth getting up that early for…a round of golf. My friend from Mosaic, Eric, and I met up for a short round on a quick par-3 course. What was even more enjoyable than hitting some decent 9-iron shots, hitting some decent putts, and completely duffing some off-the-tee shots, was hearing from Eric about his recent trip with a Mosaic team to Bali to work alongside some cross-cultural workers over there.

Later on in the day, I got to hang out (for the first time, really) with one of my two new roommates, Zack. We went up to Hollywood and enjoyed Wes Anderson’s new film, The Darjeeling Limited. Since the 8:20 show was sold out, we had some time to kill before the 10:30 show and so we walked around a bit, checked out Amoeba Music, and then hopped on a bus, that took us a bit further down Sunset Blvd. Overall, very fun evening.

At this point, it might be helpful to clarify the pictures that you see posted with this blog. Prior to hanging out with Zack Saturday night, I got a call from my friend and colleague Raul, who said, “Are you gonna be home in about an hour? I have something for you.” An hour later, Raul arrives, and no sooner does he walk in the door than he throws me this black t-shirt with the some very familiar orange and blue markings on it. Yes it is the shirt in the picture. Yes, it does reflect the season-ending misery that the Mets endured as they probably completed the greatest single-handed choking in all of sports. Yes, it does have a picture of Mr. Met drowning in sorrows, with an injured-baseball head. Yes, he is wearing a uniform that says “Mess” in an all-too familiar font. And yes, the title of this shirt is “You Gotta Bereave“. And yes, here I am, wearing it! The fun never ends.

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By Kyle, October 9, 2007 11:18 pm

I’m a computer geek. I also have friends who are mac users. (Why they’re my friends, I’m not so sure, but be that as it may). Constantly barraging me with their propaganda as to why their OS is better than Windows, I usually have little reason or motivation to return their banter.

However, tonight provided a great opportunity to remind my “friends” why I’m a dedicated PC user. This evening, I got to attend a concert presented by the L.A. Philharmonic, and before the performance their was a pre-concert discussion by two music composers about the pieces we were about to hear. Part of the evening’s performance included a video segment, which these two composers wished to preview during the pre-concert talk. Unfortunately, they chose to do so on a mac. They received the color wheel of death, and moved right along, while a tech specialist fumbled with disc ejection, OS restarts, and system preferences, all in a vain effort to play a simple DVD. Yes, we all remember when Windows 98 crashed on Bill Gates during a live presentation, but it was finally nice once again to receive a little vindication :)

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By Kyle, October 7, 2007 1:36 pm

So this Saturday was a pretty busy day here in Los Angeles. Having felt much better after a 13 hour-night sleep (yes, I went to bed at 8:30 on Friday night), I got up, headed out to Starbucks for my morning brew. In the afternoon, my friend Rustum and I braved the MTA bus line (line 28 runs 2 blocks from my house) to downtown to the 2nd annual L.A. Weekly Detour Music Festival. For those of you who may not know, L.A. Weekly is a free weekly paper that lets all of us Angelenos know what is going on each week in regards to art shows, music concerts, film, food, etc. Detour is an (at this point) annual live music concert they sponsor in which they shut down the four streets surrounding City Hall, set up four stages, and invite new and upcoming musicians to play 30-40 minute sets. Going in to the event, I had heard of 0 of the 20 bands that were scheduled to perform (that’s 0% for those of you counting at home). Anyway, the whole event was alot of fun, the highlight being a group called the Teddy Bears, who came on stage in suits and giant Teddy Bear heads. Despite the ridiculous attire, the music was great!

Finally, in other much sadder news, there is now no longer any reason to continue to watch baseball given the fact that the National League will be represented by either the D’Backs or the Rockies. I guess football season has officially begun.