Kings of Leon – Birthday

The following people are all celebrating their birthday’s today! How many can you name (click on the image to see the answer). If you get all 18, you’re a real pro. (Honestly, I probably would have gotten about 10 correct).

December 30, 1986

December 30, 1984

December 30, 1978

December 30, 1976

December 30, 1975

December 30, 1972

December 30, 1961

(Foreground) December 30, 1961

December 30, 1957

December 30, 1947

December 30, 1946

December 30, 1945

December 30, 1942

December 30, 1937

December 30, 1935

December 30, 1934

December 30, 1920

December 30, 1865

The Raconteurs – Crazy

1. Mayor
2. Chief Strategy Officer
3. Special Assistant to the Superintendent
4. Board Member
5. Superintendent

One after another, this is how my Wednesday went.

Good News: Very cool.

Bad News: All the work I had hoped to get done today simply didn’t happen.

Good News: Spending the evening catching up with friends and their kids = priceless.

Bad News: Back at home doing work at 10pm.

Good News: Consoling myself by listening to Jack White performing a killer version of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy.

Bad News: There is no bad news when Jack White is playing guitar.

Fiona Apple & Jon Brion – Everyday

It’s Friday, and I don’t have the time or energy for a heady school district policy post, although if you’d like to help me on one I’m currently working on (and are on Facebook), you can click here to answer my Unscientific Summer Poll regarding the new LAUSD homework policy.

In the meantime, I’ve been listening to “Rave On”, a new Buddy Holly tribute album (which NPR is streaming free here). While not normally a tribute album fan, or even a Buddy Holly fan, it was the fact that my man Jon Brion collaborated on it that got me first listening to what I soon determined to be an extraordinary collection of covers. One of the criticisms that I had previously leveled against Buddy Holly (and in fact, music from the 50’s in general) was that, to my ears, much of the music sounded exactly the same. After all, how much can you do with the chords I, IV, V, and the occasional VIm? Yet, as these artists demonstrate, there is lush variety in the music of rock n’ roll pioneer Buddy Holly.

Says who? Lots of people, but Paul McCartney, Graham Nash, John Doe, Patti Smith, Cee Lo Green, She & Him, and My Morning Jacket says especially well.

Enjoy your Friday!

Oasis – Mucky Fingers

We’re done with state testing. Conceivably, this should mean that things should be slowing down. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. A few anecdotes from the week.

• Monday: Voluntarily subjecting myself to another morning of frustration, humiliation, and four-putts, I enjoyed another round of golf with representatives from the English and P.E. departments. On this beautiful morning we were treated to several fly-overs from a squadron of WWII-era aircraft, likely participating in one of the Memorial Day events occurring around the city. WIN
• Wednesday: I must be crazy. I must be absolutely insane. On Wednesday, I interviewed for a 5-week summer fellowship with our district headquarters. It boiled down to three questions (unfortunately, not these three). First time I’d actually worn a tie in nearly a year. ???
• Thursday: One of my students unwisely decides it’d be a good idea to imbibe a bit before arriving to class, then proceeds to vomit all over the classroom floor. Brilliant. Ironically, earlier in the week I had been wistfully remembering the days of carpeted classroom floors (unlike my tile); now, I consider myself lucky. More than being angry with this student, I was mostly sad because I’d seen her make so much progress in the year that I’d had her. FAIL
• Friday (Part 1): Coachella tickets for next April went on sale today (yes – more than 10 MONTHS in advance). I sit in a waiting room for several hours but score 1 for each weekend. WIN
• Friday (Part 2): Our drama teacher roped me into writing a 60-sec song for a TV commercial (for a doll) he’s doing with his drama students. It ended up being a pretty fun song, and he got a quintet of 7th graders to sing along. Very fun. However, in retrospect, I’m realizing that it sound fiendishly similar to this:

Hopefully, I’ll be able to avoid the George Harrison v. The Chiffons fiasco.

Berlioz – Requiem: “Dies Irae”

This might be the most beautiful piece of music you hear today. If so, this post has been entirely worth it.

…dead air…

…abrupt click…

…fuzz (hmmm….”are my speakers blown”?)…

Actually, my speakers haven’t blown. Rather, this is simply the sound I get when I’m listening to one of the local radio stations playing nothing but actual vinyl this Memorial Day weekend.

A modest “hurrah” is in order.

Finally.

Jerry Reed – Lord, Mr. Ford

So last week, it was the Dillards that I had “discovered” thanks to the ever expanding musical possibilities offered by the internet.

Now it’s Jerry Reed, whose incredibly dirty guitar licks coupled with a healthy dose of cynicism creates an absolutely astounding piece of music, rivaling anything ever recorded by equally poignant Randy Newman.

All of this begs the following question: Do our musical tastes expand, or do they become more nuanced?

Had you told me even 5 years ago that there would be “country” music that I would possibly find appealing, I’d have likely laughed it off, yet that is the reality that I find myself staring in the face today.

Perhaps it’s that I’m finding certain themes present in all types of music: honesty, passion, enthusiasm, and some freakin’ amazing chord changes.

What fun is the rapture without a good playlist? A simple iTunes search for “end” gives a fairly diverse collection of tunes! What other nonobvious (i.e. R.E.M.) tracks am I missing?

• The End – The Beatles
• End of the Line – The Traveling Wilburys
• This Will Never End – Blind Guardian
• How It Ends – Devotchka
• The End of the Innocence – Don Henley
• The End – The Doors
• Dead End Street – The Kinks
• In the End – Green Day
• The End – My Chemical Romance
• The End of the End – Paul McCartney
• True Love Will Find You in the End – Beck

1960’s + progressive bluegrass = pure awesomeness.

While perusing the internet for a very specific Beatles cover song, I happened upon a band that appears to have fallen into the “vastly underappreciated” category. Queued up in my Rdio player, the sound and fury of the Dillards was instantly overpowering.

I’d never been much of a “bluegrass” fan, especially growing up, but discovering a fresh sound in this previously untapped musical genre is nothing short of astounding for me.

Readers, what are some of the musical discoveries you’ve made in genres you’d previously written off?