oh wowie

My term of music classes is coming to a close, but boy has it been an exciting end! This week in my Music and Literature class I was introduced to Mr. George Crumb. An avant-garde music composer who currently teaches at University of Pennsylvania. He's known for some pretty unusual techniques- like pouring marbles onto a piano. What really intrigued me was his "spoken flute" method, which is speaking into the flute while playing it. I was spending far too much time poking around on youtube being fascinated by his work, when I came across two other awesome musicians. (I'm hoping this first one is something my dad will try and incorporate with his harmonica.) I love seeing different music styles blended together, especially in unique ways like these. As unique as they may seem, after watching them (too many times) it begins to make perfect sense and I wonder why it's taken so long incorporate beat boxing with instruments. Perhaps more importantly- why is it I've been in the dark about it until now?

this guy i cant stop watching (plus he has a RAD stache!...) so here are a few more of my favorites, this time with other musicians.

gradgeeayshun!

hear ye! hear ye!
this man has received his masters in clinical psychology!
two out of three degrees are now complete!
HIZZAH!
the next time he's seen in a cap and gown we will all be addressing him as Doctor.


congratulations troy!

he has put in an unbelievable amount of hard work into his program. pacific is lucky to have him in their ranks!

the humans are dead

Last Thursday I, along with B-Alexander and Mr Daniel, had the privilege of experiencing a performance by the delightfully entertaining Flight of the Conchords. They're a fantastically silly duo who, along with a hilarious series on HBO, are a touring band. we didn't feel right attending the event without paying some sort of homage to such comedic geniuses and the rest of their crew, so of course we went in costume.

Bret (band member), Dave (friend[?] of band), Mel (loyal fan & fan club founder/president)

Daniel's costume was recognized most although no one could seem to remember the character's name. Instead he was "that guy" or "the guy who works at that place". I found this particularly amusing as Arj Barker (Dave), was the opener. (Incidentally, we squealed out in pure joy to discover this, as we had just hours prior said something along the lines of "what if arj is there?!" "no way. that would be too perfect".) We all thought for sure B-Alexander would be walking away with the most identifications. After all- he tracked down (or rather, came across) an identical lion sweater worn by Bret Mckenzie.

My favorite part would have to be seeing the ever charming Jemaine pull out an omnichord (as seen below) for several songs. He definitely has a better model than mine, but my heart couldn't help but swell with omnichord delight just the same. I'm just waiting for the day they pull out an accordion for one of their songs. Maybe a gypsy sort of tune...? Ah... but i digress. All in all it was a magical evening filled with giggles and nerdom I won't soon forget.



Jemaine and Bret performing The Humans are Dead.
if interested it can be seen here:

hoomii and accordions

I'm taking several music classes this term, one of which is a world music class. It has been a great experience to be introduced to so many new and unique types of instruments and styles. one of my favorite things i've been exposed to is what is called Hoomii- a Mongolian style of throat singing. check it out, learn how to do it, then entertain me.




and now for a little history of the accordion... ( jug jacklin assignment #1)

---The accordion's basic form is believed to have been invented in Berlin in 1822 by Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann, although one instrument has been recently discovered that appears to have been built in 1816 or earlier by Friedrich Lohner of Nürnberg in the German State of Bavaria.
The accordion is one of several European inventions of the early 19th century that used free reeds driven by a bellows. An instrument called accordion was first patented in 1829 by Cyrill Demian in Vienna. Demian's instrument bore little resemblance to modern instruments; it only had a left hand buttonboard, with the right hand simply operating the bellows.---

so there you have it. the good ol germans are responsible for the accordion. Poor Friedrich Lohner though, being denied his credit all these years.

more of the free

oprah's done it again!*** she's fighting obesity... i mean the financial crisis... by providing everyone in the country with a grilled chicken meal!






i find this hilarious for so many reasons. partly because it makes me giggle to think about taking full advantage of this and fill my freezer with nothing but free KFC. It may seem extreme, sure, but gosh darn it, oprah says eat KFC, so what choice does that leave any of us?

***UPDATE***
so much for a perfect promotion, oprah!

few things are as exciting as finding abnormalities in my food. it's as if these few supposed "mess ups" put their foot down and exclaimed "i will be different!". This attitude in food is a tough one to have, as only the unnoticed atypical little boogers can avoid being tossed aside with the others who have been found unfit for consumption. a fruit snack package with only red and yellows? AWESOME! a giant potato chip mixed in with the normals? I will gobble it up with excitement! you can only imagine how thrilled i was when I came across this crazy strawberry.




after this delectable fruit was bathed with appreciation and given a proper photo shoot, it was eaten up. even though i may have been a bit biased from my frenzy over it's strange shape, i'm pretty sure it was even more delicious than the average strawberry.


i never in a million years would have thought i'd not only be watching videos of cats online, but publicly admitting to it and encouraging others to do the same. however, my neighbors recently introduced me to Maru. who may be the coolest cat ever. blasted youtube and it's clever ways of sucking you into the depths of time suckage!





while i'm posting youtube videos, i might as well share this one, too. but be warned! this improv group and their crazy antics (more than 70 videos!) are more addicting that potato chips. you can't watch just one.

forget el nino... the economy is the best scapegoat ever.

being poor can be rough. especially in the middle of an economic catastrophe. as a 24 year old I shouldn't have nearly as many unemployed peers as I do. It isn't all bad though. Being a Poor is a journey full of all sorts of adventures. And there's nothing like being poor to make you appreciate the cheaper things in life. as the economy continues to tank and more and more people join the ranks of us Poors, finding good and cheap entertainment is either becoming more accessible, or i'm just getting really good at it. my current favorite cheap-o forms of entertainment:

*dollar bowling ( in fact, you really dont even need to bowl to be entertained at a bowling alley. this is a prime people watching location. people who get dolled up for a night of bowling are HILARIOUS!)
*1/2 price pizza at papa murphys! (this is great! after 8 any unclaimed pizzas that have been called in for are 1/2 price! steal of a deal!)
* friend who have jobs that benefit me. (read: i get free stuff from them)
* feeding dogs peanut butter!
*free bagel friday at noah's!

it's the simple things in life. and really... as long as you're not this guy, life has to be pretty good.

I have a neighbor who works for a dance production company whoin exchange for volunteering at events can hook up some pretty sweet tickets to see the awesome dance companies that come to town. last week i was able to see Chunky Move, a modern dance company (which, speaking of people watching, modern dance performances bring in some fantastically entertaining individuals for such an activity) from Australia. It was a really interesting concept for a show, which also had dialog. They had the stage split in half with a curtain with an audience on both sides. So you're only seeing one part of the show. It toys with the dr jekyll/mr hyde theme as well as what it is to be a performer. It was fantastically done. I was able to go twice, seeing both sides. here's a video montage of sorts from the show. (disclaimer: there may be some pg-13 language)