Shying away

a-Ha was a band from Norway. They released a song called "Take on Me" in 1985 that I'm guessing everyone here reading is aware of. Is it not one of the best pop songs ever? I think it is. Songs like this from the '80s get lost and then you hear them on the radio or catch the video and you do the whole nostalgia thing. But an email from my pal Quinn revived the song for me, just a little bit. See, he shot over a demo version of the song. As I've mentioned before, I dig demos and rare stuff. Who doesn't love a muddy-sounding half-baked version of a great song?

a-Ha - Take on Me (first version)
Being a ChicaoLAND native, I've been aware of the Cap'n Jazz cover of this song for quite some time and figured it was an appropriate time to share that as well. Here's that jam...

Cap'n Jazz - Take on Me
And wouldn't you know it but just about everybody and their dog has covered this song. I'll spare you a list (read: Reel Big Fish). But in my research I came across this clip of a guy in his living room who balanced his speakers on the top of his couch and sits between them surround sound style and well, just watch (at least the beginning to get the idea).



I like that show Family Guy. Here's why:

We welcome you

Ok, enough with the new blogging formats. My brain is about to explode. The thought of completely redesigning this site coupled with implementing new blogging software is unrealistic at this time. So I'm going to squash it for a bit and take it at a later time.

Last night after a good 2 hour session of reading up on Movable Type and all of its options and open-sourceness I sat down to watch a movie you all know and love, The Wizard of Oz. Swedish Television (SVT) played the movie at 10:30 last night (a Thursday). SVT doesn't overdub any foreign programs or films; they use Swedish subtitles at the bottom of the screen. I'm really really thankful for this because although overdubbing can make programs more accessable to all of a country's viewers, it obviously changes the whole feel of it. But then again, small kids who can't read yet simply miss out on these types of films, hence the fact that The Wizard of Oz was on a 10:30PM on a weeknight.

Now I didn't make it through the whole movie nor did I intend on it. I basically wanted to catch a 30 second bit in the opening Munchkin Land scene, which I could've just loaded up on youtube:


This is my favorite bit in the movie; always has been. Unfortunately I couldn't find a good clip that shows the Lollipop Guild staggering up to Dorthy. That short strut they do is magic.

Randy gave it a good shot though:


And finally, here's a little insight into the munchkins. This clip includes the Lollipop Guild's famous strut and a little background info:

And has anyone tried the experiment of playing Dark Side of the Moon along with The Wizard of Oz? Did it work? Worth it? Weird?

Public display of tech ignorance

Calling all web savy people. Please shoot me an email if you can help a guy out with this:

I'm trying to switch my blog over to Wordpress. I'm not even worrying about moving all of my old Blogger posts to display correctly in the new set up at this point (that'll come later). What I am trying to do is simply get Wordpress (or Movable Type) running on a page so I can start testing everything out to see if I dig it.

I am totally new to MYSQL databases. I am a complete amateur. I have read and read and tried and tried but I can't get it to work.

So, if anyone out there might know how to set up a Wordpress blog through Yahoo Geocities (Pro account) please get in contact. I can explain what I've tried and what the results have been in detail via email.

Thanks in advance.

Or, get used to seeing this hacked Blogger template forever. I'd rather not.

Also, I'm not totally sold on Wordpress yet. I've read good things about Movable Type. Any suggestions on that front are appreciated as well.

Later!

UPDATE (a couple days later) - I took a chance and emailed Yahoo Geocities tech support and received a form email back that explained that extra step I needed to get everyhing running. I'll spare you the details. Just know that now I boss mysql around, not the other way around.

So, I'm happily giving Wordpress a private test run. If I dig it I'll implement it here somehow, probably with a whole new design complete with a Ring Ring! What's beeping over at Heartphone sound station / vibe unit.

UPDATE (a few days later now) - Word Press never properly installed. I don't know if it was my fault or not. Movable Type works like a charm. So that's where my heart is at the moment. I feel like I'm learning a new lanugage again by trying to get comfy with a new blog dashboard and all of the quirks. Oj då.....

Thirty three and one third

Mathlete: The Household Frequencies 7" EP (+3 comp selects) is now available on the podcast page. Thanks for reading and listening along.

Sprung

In the record releasing game it's pretty hard to drum up press for a free mp3-only release. There is nothing tangible to send to anybody. There's just some links and some files. If people get creative they can print everything out, burn the songs onto CD and have a pretty nice looking product. But that's a bit much to ask for people that receive hundreds of actual packages across their desks every week.

My guess is that the Respondent EP, even if it had been "properly" released, still would've been hovering on the outskirts of most people's radar. That's just the reality of it; that's not a complaint.

Thankfully, a little blurb popped up last week on the more than regularly updated Pitchfork Forkast page. I usually don't blog or brag about press I get but I wanted to make note of this one just because it feels nice to get a little recognition for this little over the seas recording project that could.

But this recognition isn't all that matters. Thanks to those of you who sent me email, myspace comments, etc... with all of those positive words on "Spring" and so forth. Every word has been taken to heart and each one makes me want to fight though all of the crap to keep on putting out music somehow and especially to continue to seek out projects such as this.

Resplendent/Downey - "Spring" from the Respondent EP - track reivew at Pitchfork's Forkcast.

Galleon

Vasamuseet - Stockholm, Sweden. "Boat Ghost"
I spent an afternoon in the Vasa Musuem last week. The Vasa is a war ship that was built at the request of the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf. It set sail on August 10, 1628 from Stockholm and sank 25 minutes into its maiden voyage with a large population of Stockholm watching from the banks. After the ship had sank only its masts stuck up above the water. Those masts were then sawed off so the people could begin to forget about the catastrophe and embarrasment. Sweden and the world were allowed to forget until 1961 when the boat was salvaged by Swedish marine technician and amateur archaeologist Anders Franzén. The boat was carefully extracted from the water still nearly complete after water-logging for 333 years. After another 30 years of restoration the boat was fully restored and opened for the public to see. About 30 people died in the wreck. I saw about 25 ghosts in the museum that day.