Andre Michelle has some neat audio toys. I especially like the Karplus-Strong Guitar and the ToneMatrix. Someone really needs to combine that one with The Game of Life.

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Categorized: Sounds | Recently Clicked

See also: Synthesizers | Web Toys

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Categorized: Sounds

See also: Life Imitates Art | Musicals | Public Art

Tape Cassette Inserts

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Categorized: Recently Clicked | Sounds

See also: Cassettes | Design

A neat interactive music video. Via Longboard.

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Categorized: Recently Clicked | Sounds

See also: Flash | Music Videos

So Gillian, our baby sitter / music teacher / child technician, made it to Round 2 of Amateur Night at the Apollo. (See below for her performance in Round 1). In order to make it to Round 3, she must come in 1st or 2nd place in the voting-by-text-message. It costs a buck a throw, and the cash goes to help the Apollo stay afloat. So please vote for her by this Sunday. Here's what to do:

1. Go to Messaging on your wireless device, select new message, select TXT as message type.
2. Type 276556 in the to field. Select OK
3. In the body of the message, type your selection STAR3
4. Press Send.
5. You will receive a free bounceback message confirming your charge.
6. Reply YES
7. Press Send
8. You will receive a final free bounceback message confirming that your vote has counted & have the option to subscribe to the Apollo VIP Alerts program.

You can see all three of the finalists at the Apollo site if you want to make an informed vote. Shannon should have never covered "At Last." You, ma'am, are no Etta James.

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Categorized: Community | Sounds

See also: Apollo Theater | Gillian Harwin

Gillian Harwin, our babysitter / child technician / music teacher, and her winning performance at Amateur Night at the Apollo. She goes on to the next stage this Wednesday! Go Gillian!

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Categorized: Community | Sounds

See also: Apollo Theater | Gillian Harwin

Thru-You. Via Big Ink, our Washington Correspondent.

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Categorized: Computers & Internet | Recently Clicked | Sounds

See also: Distributed Culture | Mashups | YouTube

How many musicians can you match with their real names?

1	Alecia Moore	1	Afrika Bambaataa
2	Alicia Augello Cook	2	Alice Cooper
3	Annie Mae Bullock	3	Alicia Keys
4	Anthony Ray	4	Barry Manilow
5	Arnold George Dorsey I	5	Beck
6	Artis Ivey Jr.	6	Billie Holliday
7	Barry Alan Pincus	7	Billy Idol
8	Bek David Campbell	8	Black Francis
9	Brian Hugh Warner	9	Bo Diddley
10	Carnell Haynes, Jr.	10	Bob Dylan
11	Carole Yvette Marie Stevens	11	Bobby Darin
12	Cecil Ingram Connor, III	12	Bono
13	Chaim Klein Witz	13	Boots Randolph
14	Charles Hardin Holley	14	Boy George
15	Charles Hatcher	15	Buddy Holly
16	Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV	16	Busta Rhymes
17	Charlyn Marie Marshall	17	C.J. Ramone
18	Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere	18	Cat Power
19	Chester Arthur Burnett	19	Cat Stevens
20	Chris Ward	20	Chaka Khan
21	Christa Paffgen	21	Cher
22	Christina Claire Ciminella	22	Chubby Checker
23	Christopher Brian Bridges	23	Connie Francis
24	Christopher Wallace	24	Conway Twitty
25	Concetta Maria Franconero	25	Coolio
26	Cordazer Calvin Broadus Jr.	26	David Bowie
27	Dana Owens	27	Dean Martin
28	Dante Terrell Smith	28	Dee Dee Ramone
29	David Robert Hayward Stenton Jones	29	Dick Dale
30	Declan Patrick McManus	30	Donna Summer
31	Dino Paul Crocetti	31	Dusty Springfield
32	Douglas Colvin	32	Eddie Vedder
33	Edward Louis Severson III	33	Edwin Starr
34	Eileen Regina Edwards	34	Elton John
35	Eithne Ni Braona	35	Elvis Costello
36	Eleanora Fagan Gough	36	Engelbert Humperdinck
37	Ellas Otha Bates	37	Enya
38	Ellen Naomi Cohen	38	Falco
39	Enrique Jose Martin Morales	39	Flava Flav
40	Eric Reed Boucher	40	Flea
41	Ernest Evans	41	Frankie Valli
42	Farrokh Bulsara	42	Freddie Mercury
43	Frank Castelluccio	43	Geddy Lee
44	Franklin Carlton Serafino Feranna	44	Gene Simmons
45	Gary Lee Weinrib	45	George Micheal
46	George Alan O'Dowd	46	Gloria Estefan
47	George Peter John Criscuola	47	Gram Parsons
48	Gloria Maria Fajardo	48	Grandmaster Flash
49	Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner	49	Henry Rollins
50	Harold Lloyd Jenkins	50	Howlin' Wolf
51	Helen Folasade Adu	51	Huey Lewis
52	Henry Garfield	52	Ice Cube
53	Henry Olusegun Olumide Samuel	53	Ice T
54	Henry Roeland Byrd	54	Iggy Pop
55	Herman Poole Blount	55	Jack White
56	Homer Louis Randolph	56	Jello Biafra
57	Hugh Anthony Cregg	57	Joan Jett
58	James Ambrose Johnson, Jr.	58	Joe Strummer
59	James Newell Osterberg, Jr.	59	Joey Ramone
60	James Todd Smith	60	John Denver
61	Jeffery Hyman	61	Johnny Ramone
62	Joan Marie Larkin	62	Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols)
63	Johann Hölzel	63	Joni Mitchell
64	John Anthony Gillis	64	Joss Stone
65	John Cummings	65	Les Paul
66	John Graham Mellor	66	Liberace
67	John Henry Deutschendorf	67	Lil Kim
68	John Joseph Lydon	68	Little Richard
69	John Michael Osbourne	69	LL Cool J
70	John Simon Ritchie	70	Lou Reed
71	Joscelyn Eve Stocker	71	Ludacris
72	Joseph Saddler	72	M.I.A.
73	Kevin Donovan	73	Macy Gray
74	Kimberly Jones	74	Mama Cass Elliot
75	LaDonna Adrian Gaines	75	Manfred Mann
76	Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback	76	Marilyn Manson
77	Lester Polfus	77	Marky Ramone
78	Louis Firbank	78	MC Hammer
79	Manfred Lubowitz	79	Meat Loaf
80	Mark Bell	80	Moby
81	Marvin Lee Aday	81	Mos Def
82	Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien	82	Muddy Waters
83	Mathangi Arulpragasam	83	Nelly
84	McKinley Morganfield	84	Ne-yo
85	Michael Peter Balzary	85	Nico
86	Natalie Renee McIntyre	86	Nikki Sixx
87	Norma Deloris Egstrom	87	Notorious B.I.G.
88	Oshea Jackson	88	Ol' Dirty Bastard
89	Patricia Andrejewski	89	Ozzy Osbourne
90	Paul David Hewson	90	Pat Benatar
91	Reginald Kenneth Dwight	91	Patsy Cline
92	Richard Melville Hall	92	Paul Stanley
93	Richard Monsour	93	Peggy Lee
94	Richard Starkey	94	Peter Criss
95	Richard Wayne Penniman	95	Peter Tosh
96	Richie Reinhart	96	Pink
97	Robert Alan Zimmerman	97	Professor Longhair
98	Robert Van Winkle	98	Queen Latifah
99	Roberta Joan Anderson	99	Richie Ramone
100	Russell Tyrone Jones	100	Rick James
101	Saul Hudson	101	Ricky Martin
102	Shaffer Chimere Smith	102	Ringo Starr
103	Stanley Harvey Eisen	103	Sade
104	Stanley Kirk Burrel	104	Seal
105	Steveland Hardaway Morris	105	Shania Twain
106	Steven Demetre Georgiou	106	Sid Vicious
107	Sylvester Stewart	107	Sir Mix-a-Lot
108	Thomas Morgan Robertson	108	Slash
109	Timothy Z. Mosley	109	Sly Stone
110	Tom Erdelyi	110	Snoop Dogg
111	Tracy Marrow	111	Stevie Wonder
112	Trevor Tahiem Smith	112	Sting
113	Vincent Damon Furnier	113	Sun Ra
114	Virginia Patterson Hensley	114	Thomas Dolby
115	Walden Waldo Robert Cassotto	115	Timbaland
116	William James Adams Jr.	116	Tina Turner
117	William Jonathan Drayton Jr.	117	Tommy Ramone
118	William Michael Albert Broad	118	Vanilla Ice
119	Winston Hubert Macintosh	119	Will.i.am
120	Wladziu Lee Valentino	120	Wynonna Judd
121	Yorgos Panayiotou	121	Yngwie Malmsteen

Data from here. Answers to be posted later.

M E-L posted this | this entry's link | 2 comments

Categorized: Sounds

See also: Names | Pseudonyms

The best viral ad for a science company / We Are the World parody you'll see today. Also: School-House Rock-esque vid about Darwin (and Wallace!). Or, if you prefer, cute kids singing same. It's like watching kids singing secular humanist hymns!

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Categorized: Science & Technology | Sounds

See also: Darwin | DNA | Evolution | Music Videos | Parody | Viral Advertising

Via boingboing.

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Categorized: Odds & Ends | Sounds

See also: MC Hammer | Rap

Tron vs. Depeche Mode:

80s sci-fi and 80s synth-pop -- how can you resist?

And just to show how far music has come, here's another edit with some French electro house. I don't even know what that means.

M E-L posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind

Categorized: Screen | Sounds

See also: 1980s | Mashups | Tron

Cruising the back links of Waxy I ran across the following sites of interest to some of our members. Perhaps they will interest you as well.

For Chris: Making songs out of financial charts; Billboard Top 100 in handy chart format (also Pitchfork ).

For Andrea: I made tea and blueful. Some new ways to tell stories.

If none of the above appeal to you, perhaps I could interest you in the World's Hardest Tetris Game?

M E-L posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind

Categorized: Business & Economy | Community | Computers & Internet | Print | Sounds

See also: Billboard | Data Visualization | Storytelling | Tufte Alert | Video Games

this is a pretty great collection of Blue Note LP Covers.

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Categorized: Recently Clicked | Sounds

See also: 1950s | 1960s | Album Covers | Cover Art | Design | Jazz

In handy flow chart form! Via Kerim.

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Categorized: Recently Clicked | Sounds

See also: Flow Charts | Heavy Metal | Maps | Names

In which Gavin Edwards reviews the MTV year-end top-100 countdown from 1988. Commercials and all. And speaking of 80's videos, you have seen Literal Take On Me, haven't you? I warn you, you might have "Pipe Wrench Fight" stuck in your head afterward.

M E-L posted this | this entry's link | 1 comment

Categorized: Screen | Sounds

See also: 1980s | MTV | Music Videos | Reviews

Mapping and visualizing music collections. I so want this! Too bad it's just thesisware at this point. Check out the demo video -- I especially like the feature that shuffles songs with smooth musical transitions.

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Categorized: Computers & Internet | Sounds

See also: Data Visualization | Maps | MP3

Mike generously invited me to post links here to my recent appearances on WNYC's Soundcheck with John Schaefer. I was interviewed on the show this past Friday, 5 December, for a recurring segment they call "Who's on Top, and Who Should Be" -- a rundown of current Billboard chart activity along with other music picks. (As you can imagine, this sort of geekery is right up my alley.)

The Friday segment (heard via streaming audio here, or download it via iTunes) was my third appearance on the show and my longest yet (about 23 minutes), and we covered a lot of ground: from record sales on Black Friday, including the underperformance by Kanye West and Guns n' Roses, to how iTunes is upending the old methods for releasing pop singles and promoting albums.

One of the nice things about WNYC is they keep old shows up on their website seemingly forever. Since Ishbadiddle was inactive when I appeared on Soundcheck over the summer, here are links to my appearances back in August and September.

Those were fun: In August, the first time I went on the show, I was on vacation in Croatia, and they reached me by e-mail; I did the show live by phone from a soba in an Istrian hill town. (Surreal!) They invited me on to talk about an Idolator column I posted just before leaving on the trip, about the 50th anniversary of Billboard's Hot 100. A month later, they invited me back to talk about another column I'd done about the music industry's attempts to kill singles and force consumers to buy albums.

For a laugh: note that in the August and December appearances, the hosts keep pronouncing my name moh-LAHN-fee (with the "a" sounding like "Evian"), rather than the correct, more pedestrian muh-LAN-fee (with the "a" like "can"). I love how these public-radio folks keep wanting to make my name sound more highfalutin than it is!

Chris posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind

Categorized: Business & Economy | Community | Sounds

See also: Billboard | WNYC

Odetta, Voice of Civil Rights Movement, Dies at 77

When I started working at Union Settlement Association in East Harlem it was the organization's centennial year. We had all kinds of events and celebrations, including an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York that featured photographs by Helen Levitt and Bruce Davidson, who took pictures of East Harlem during the 1940s and 1960s respectively. We also got a grant for David Lee to take photos of present-day East Harlem.

At the final centennial event, we had several performers, including Johnny Colon and Odetta. Before the concert, Odetta and David were chatting, and when they had finished, she turned to us and said, "Do you know who that is? That's Bill Lee's son." Nearly everyone else in the world would have said "Spike Lee's brother." She went on to tell us that Bill Lee had played bass for her, but had to quit touring so he could go home and take care of his boys.

"They turned out OK," I joked. Yes, she said, they did.

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Categorized: Sounds

See also: East Harlem | New York City | Obituaries | Odetta

Check out Brooklyn's youngest band, T-Rox!

Sugar Sugar

That's Gillian Harwin, our Child Technician and Music Professor, on the guitar.

The Brooklyn Paper writes:

... kids these days are little whippersnappers, let me tell you. I received a press release the other day (a press release!) about a record-release party for a band calling itself T-Rox. The album, "Burnt Marshmallow," is the product of 7-year-olds Ben Everett-Lane and Max Kessler. The duo sent me their CD, which I promptly converted to 8-track so I could listen to it -- and I was blown away! The song "TV Rots your Brain" is an instant classic. The record-release party is on Nov. 1 and I was told there would be veggie booty.

You can hear more songs on their MySpace page and see more videos from the release party for "Burnt Marshmallow".

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Categorized: Community | Sounds

See also: Ben | Gillian Harwin | T-Rox

Vs.

Journey "Separate ways" from patsevc on Vimeo.

Play them both at once for extra cheese. Via Waxy.

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Categorized: Sounds

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