Tell this to George Zipp

This is fun.
Put in your birthdate and it tells you a bunch of stats about your age relative to famous people and what was going on when you were born.
Birthday stats generator

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"The weird kind are always the ones left."

This was said referring to the remaining bagels in a bag someone brought into work for general coworker consumption. It struck me how profound that comment was; the last bagels in the bag, the last kids picked for teams during gym class, truly original artists after the more fashionable ones die away.

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Airplane is on channel 50 right now as I blog. Captain Steubing's daughter is about to have her i.v. knocked out by the guitar playing stewardess.


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Happy Berfday to good pal and drummer Steve "Puh-Leeze" Bekkala today. He has successfully logged another year of lame-free living and unabashed positivity. My Crew of Bro + Joyous missed him terribly at the Widespread Panic show Friday night, but at least he was playing his ass off drumming with both his bands, Porchsleeper and The Flouride Program.

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On that note go see Widespread when they come back again. And don't fall for that deadhead, hippydippy jam band bullshit label you might hear someone lump them into. They're a good ol rock band. See, there was a time kinda long ago when most bands not only played great songs, but the band members could take solos and really lay it down, or take the song(s) somewhere extraordinary. (And not thru psychedelic noise trip "ooWOWooo mahn.." playing, but good ol' soulful,from the heart playin'.) Where Phish and other "jam" bands definitely did take some left turns bordering on prog-rock, exploratory improv isms, Widespread is more related to the Allman Brothers, BB King, Stevie Ray, and Southern rock tradition of blues infected rock and roll. IMO. And on top of that, it's a great wonderful positive energy scene.

You know its a different scene when the State Theater security DOESN'T start forcing themselves thru the general admission crowd as it packs every nook and cranny to let more people groove, smoke, and just move where they want. That place was rockin'. And no one pulled any bullshit. A crowd there for the right reasons emits a different energy. Even the Detroit Skinhead ushers could tell the difference.

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From the "Good Art Survives" file.
This all reminds me of another thought I had this past week:

Seeing a poster for the Dark Star Orchestra at Wazoo Records, and then thinking of the Beatles tribute bands, "Super Diamond' the Neil Diamond tribute band, Phix-the Phish tribute band, and other groups who live to keep the repertoires of defunct bands alive. The European orchestra's playing Frank Zappa's music... and many other groups like this. The ones really taking the music out to the people, not just home-town, tri-county area "let's be a such&such tribute band for fun" and it lasts 2.4 years. I mean the groups making good livings keeping this music alive, playing the repertoire's of these prolific artists as their main purpose or agenda. Then it occured to me;

Were the orchestra's playing those classical composer's music, long after the music was "hip". regarded with the same kind of passive regard as we do these tribute bands now? Will the music in 400 years regarded as "classical" be the music *now* that's kept alive by the tribute bands who put in the effort to actually keep playing it live? Or in other words, were the orchestra's back when thought of as lame-ass "tribute-bands" when they were still jammin Mozart and Tchaikovsky stuff 50 years after he died

Rolling Stone and NME can tell us all they want who's worth our worship, but when those writers and us fans are long gone, the tribute bands keeping these repertoire's alive are gonna win out. That whole "history is written by the winners" thing. And also the "talk all you want, but what have you Done?" thing too. We can read all we want about Wilco and Radiohead being the shit in the new millenium, but in 90 years will people still get it? Will they be able to experience the repertoire's performed by humans? (and not 3-D holograms of concert vidoes of the original band [see next blog item].) Talking about being in the same room as other people experiencing the execution, exertion, and passion involved in performing and expressing those notes? Will the Yo Yo Ma of 2214 be giving cello recitals of U2's Joshua Tree album? How many millenia before Mustang Sally is NOT played in a smokey bar on open mic night at T.C.'s Speakeasy?

Humans, over many many decades, taking the time to learn the notes and put in the time to perform the stuff live will win out. Whether it's Haydn's 4th concerto or a full-on KISS production. That's what I'm thinking and wondering. And also if I spelled Haydn right.

So in summary, I guess what I'm meaning is:
"What good art (musically) from this time will survive the most?"; The stuff heralded and written as being what was great in this era? Or what organized musicians, symphonies, or bands are actually still playing because it kept being played by these tribute bands all along?

In music and nature it seems to me that strong composition always last the longest, since it was built right and solid. Even if no one (a) got it at first (b) thought it was cool at first, or (c) did like it at first, but then rallied to the next shiny colorful thing.

Write a letter about how you thought about this stuff in 2005 to your great great great grandchildren with instructions for your great great grandchildren to give it to the ggg gkid's when they're 20. Or forget about this stuf and just write a letter to the ggg gkid's. Wouldn't that have tripped you out if it happened to you?

"You're great great great gandfather wrote a letter to be handed down all the way to you, to be given to you when you were 20. This letter is 140 years old. This is the only way he could meet you."

Geezus Dave, next time just say "hey people, make a time capsule with your CD's in it and a note" and end the blog there.

[too tired to check typos, going to bed]

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WOW.
3-D High Definition Film making coming.
"A company called In-Three located in Agoura Hills, California has perfected image-processing software it calls the Dimensionalization Process. It's apparently capable of transforming 2-D images into 3-D images. So impressive is this technology that at ShoWest last week, a panel of prominent filmmakers appeared to announce embracing the process. The panel was hosted by Business Development Manager for TI DLP Cinema Doug Darrow and composed of filmmakers George Lucas, James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis, Robert Rodriguez, and Randall Kleiser."

Lucas is going to re-release the SW films in this format and wants Spielburg to film Indian Jones IV in this 3-D format.

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Healthy Levels of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and Point
A Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want
Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "IN."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone Has
Gotten over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch To Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your checks, Write "For Sexual Favors."

7. Finish All Your Sentences With "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8. dontuseanypunctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Ask People What Sex They Are. Laugh Hysterically After They
Answer.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play Tropical
Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their
Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, "Rock
Hard."

17. When The Money Comes Out of The ATM, Scream "I Won! I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking Lot,
Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner "Due To The Economy, We Are Going
To Have To Let One Of You Go."