A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

Today's television news mentioned that Michael Jackson's Thriller video marks its twenty-fifth anniversary this year.



In reality there's still more than seven months before it celebrates the actual quarter century mark. Wikipedia states that the classic video was released on December, 2, 1983. That was a different time and certainly a different artist. Michael Jackson was cute, black, and popular in those days. I was young, poor, and in graduate school at the University of Washington.

Labels: music

For the majority of human existence, music was an oral tradition of individuals and tribes. Musical notation in a historical perspective may have started more than 4000 years ago with a cuneiform script in the lands of what is currently Iraq. Still, modern notation is most closely associated with European classical music. So, in the scheme of things, even being able to keep a written record of reproducible music is but the blink of an eye in human history.

Let's jump to the relative recentness of the last 150 years. We have invented ways to capture actual sounds and reproduce them at will. I'm barely a baby-boomer but have personally played LP's, 8-track tapes, cassettes, and now digital files. I know fortunes have been created and lost because of changes in these technologies. Access to it has dramatically allowed the accumulation of fortunes and vast power. The roads to artistic achievement have witnessed various twists and turns as the music industry has undergone continual growth and change.

BitComet is running as I type this. I have to admit it is just too damned easy to share little computer files containing songs. It is easier than going to the library to rip a copy from a CD. It is simpler than signing into an online music store. It is certainly less of a hassle than actually getting to a music store in the mall. We simply will no longer stick to outdated modes for music distribution, nor should we.

The thorny issue involves how to remunerate those who put all the effort into making those tracks. I haven't a clue as to how it should work. Perhaps those who create music will have to earn money by putting on live performances and simply giving away the little digital files. In a way, those gatherings will be a little closer to what music has been for the majority of its existence. For the majority of human existence, music was an oral tradition of individuals and tribes.

Labels: futurecast, music, technology

The first time I went to Sri Lanka, I didn't know a thing about its music. When there, I heard a particular type of song called, Baila. I wondered why it sounded a little bit Spanish to me. Now I'm wiser.

Wikipedia has an entry briefly describing the emergence of Baila. Many people tend to erroneously believe that cultural exchange is a new phenomenon resulting from immigration. Actually, the whole sweep of civilization is pretty much defined by trade and the influence of human exchange. For example last night, I happened upon a TV program describing the discovery of an ancient crypt of a Roman girl who was buried wearing silk. That proved a rather suprisingly strong connection between the Roman Empire and the Far East.

Regardless, I wanted to let you hear this type of music but have had a little trouble picking one. I decided on a rather over developed recording of Ojayee by the Gypsies. You can also read about the group on Wikipedia.

I've included the song as today's topCast.

There are some references and even words from the aboriginal peoples of Sri Lanka as mentioned in yesterday's podcast and shown here in my eJournal and images in 2004.

Labels: music, opinions, world

During the last several weeks there have been a fair number of blog references to the purchase and use my Creative Zen mp3 player. Getting podcasts is a new hobby and listening to them while driving is now the norm.



I used to sometimes walk around with a Sony Walkman in the very early 1980's. Just today, I noticed I'm wearing what appears to be headphones in this old scanned photo. It was taken in Kuwait. I'm in the photo with Jamal. I was later involved in a car accident with him and others. They were killed and only I escaped alive.

Labels: Kuwait, music, podcasts

We all grow older but far fewer of us actually grow up.

I thought of Cyndi Lauper merely as a girl wanting to have fun in the 1980's. I've recently changed my mind. I PVR'ed a concert off HDNet and have watched much of it. I have to give the lady a great deal of credit. She has quite a set of lungs and included an enormous variety of musical styles in an hour and a half. She is really an accomplished entertainer and still quirky enough to be endearing.

Now, she ranks right up there on a very small, personal list. It contains the names of people with whom I'd like to have a half hour conversation. Being on that list is saying a lot ... as I generally feel my own thoughts are tremendously more valuable than nearly everyone else's.

Labels: music

I know that Johnny Mathis is a real gentleman onstage and that Akon is a convicted criminal. Consequently, yesterday's entry set me on a search for some lyrics by those two artists.

It's the holiday season now and let's say it is time to take a little reprieve from the Christmas classics. There could be lots of family members around the house. Maybe grandma is there or your little cousin. Or maybe your son and daughter are listening. Which song would you prefer to have those people sing along to?

Johnny Mathis - Misty

Look at me,
I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree
And I feel like I'm clinging to a cloud
I can't understand,
I get misty just holding your hand.

Walk my way,
And a thousand violins begin to play
Or it might be the sound of your hello
That music I hear,
I get misty the moment you're near

You can say that you're leading me on
But it's just what I want you to do
Don't you notice how
hopelessly I'm lost
That's why I'm following you.

On my own,
Would I wander through this wonderland alone
Never knowing my right foot from my left,
My hat from my glove,
I'm too misty, and too much in love.

Akon (w/ Eminem) - Smack That

Shady, Konvict, Upfront, Akon, Slim Shady
I see the one, because she be that lady! Hey!

(Chorus) I feel you creepin', I can see you from my shadow.
Wanna jump up in my Lamborghini Gallardo.
Maybe go to my place and just kick it, like Taebo.
And possibly bend you over.
Look back and watch me
smack that, all on the floor,
smack that, give me some more,
smack that, 'till you get sore
smack that, oooh.
smack that, all on the floor,
smack that, give me some more,
smack that, 'till you get sore,
smack that, oooh.

Up front style. Ready to attack now.
Pull in the parking lot slowwith the lack down.
Convicts got the whole thing packed down.
Step in the club. The wardrobe intact now.
I feel it. Go on and crack now.
Ooh, I see it. Don't let back now.
Im'a call her. Then I put the mack down.
Money? No problem. Pocket full of that now.

(Chorus)

Ooh! Looks like another club banger.
They better hang on.
When I throw this thang on.
Get a little drink on. They goin' flip.
For this Akon shit. You can bank on it.
Pedicure, manicure, kitty cat claws.
The way she climbs up and down them poles.
Lookin' like one of them Pretty Cat Dolls.
Tryna hold my woody back through my drawers.
Steps off stage, didn't think I saw her.
Creeps up behind me and she's like, you're -
I'm like, yeah I know, let's cut to the chase.
No time to waste. Back to my place.
Plus from the club to the crib's like a mile away.
Or more like a palace, shall I say.
And plus I got a pal. Every gal is game.
In fact he's the one singing
the song that's playing!

(Chorus)

Eminem's rollin', D an' them rollin'.
Boo an' Oh Marvelous an' them rollin'.
Women just hoin'.
Big booty rollin'.
Soon I be all in them an' throwin D.
Hittin' no less than 3.
Block will style like wee, wee.
Girl, I can tell you want me, 'cause lately.

(Chorus)

Labels: music

Getting mature has taken me quite a while. In fact, I never cease to amaze myself in this regard. I know all the words to Johnny's songs: Misty, Chances Are, It's Not for Me to Say, and The Twelfth of Never. On the other hand, I don't know the lyrics of a single piece of supposed music by Akon.



I thoroughly enjoyed a concert by Johnny Mathis that was broadcast on HDNet. It was recorded in Las Vegas and celebrated the 50th year of his recording career.

Labels: music

I've always appreciated popular music but have never been a fanatic. Of course, during one's formative years, music may occupy a more important place in life. If I'm an example, knowledge of what's hot decreases during one's thirties and forties. I will admit nowadays I've been catching a top 20 video program on a local television station. Much of what's being played now is quite interesting. Additionally, because of the visual element, there's something to experience even if one doesn't find the music engaging. It's just that, for the most part, I've not the energy to even bother learning the new artists' names.

In addition, there seems to be too much variety out there. I am a bit thankful that I grew up before the invention of mp3 players. My generation was forced into homogeny. Music was just a backdrop to events. The radio taught us what we should like. My most favourite songs were ones I learned when my friends and I ran a summer arcade. With the old jukebox, people actually paid for the privilege of selecting something to listen to. That meant everyone within earshot was also forced to experience the same artists. Now, listeners select and tote around their own, individualized audio experiences.

I chose this topic today because the other evening I was listening to an album I wanted to mention. The particular one I'm discussing is very logically organized. I would suppose that kids no longer listen to an entire album in order and I suppose we did only because it was too difficult to skip a track on a phonograph.

Regardless, I was impressed with Styx. Earlier I mentioned the term 'formative years' and this group fits the bill exactly. Their Grand Illusion was released in 1977 which is when I graduated from high school. Cornerstone came several years later. The album that sounded so good the other night was Paradise Theater. It made its debut in 1981. I completed college the same year.

Even though a quarter of a century old, the music rocked in .wma format through my computer's HDA Xplosion card and out to my aging Onkyo home theatre system in DTS. You might even say it was The Best of Times.

Labels: Mediaplayer, music

You know, there are many things I absolutely love to hate. I was hoping that I would really hate Paris Hilton's new music video. Unfortunately, I can't say as I do. Damn it. I abhor the idea of manufacturing popularity by spending inheritance but I must admit to rather liking the music.

Labels: music

I frequently capture parts of television broadcasts as mpeg files. It's very easy to burn a bunch of them to a DVD. Of course I generally only work with segments from shows such as Mad TV or sections of the Discovery Channel so I can share with others. For example, I sent a copy from an old analog camcorder tape to a former colleague who still works overseas. He was only in about ten minutes of the original tape. Yet, it'd have been silly to fill less than 10% of a DVD, so I simply included tidbits of Monty Python and television adverts I liked.

Readying an mpeg file for DVD is simple. Trying to prepare video that will stream well over the Internet is more of a struggle. The process reminds me of trying to suck a Dairy Queen Blizzard through a baby straw. This music video was captured from a weekly, half-hour Sinhalese program originating from OMNI2 in Toronto, Canada. Click on the player below to attempt to view a broadband .wmv file.

Labels: Mediaplayer, music, television

It was a long time in coming but I can finally plug my computer into my home theatre system and hear more than two channels.

It's now possible and simple. I bought an Onkyo HTS over three years ago and it's made all the difference in the world when watching DVD movies! I wanted to be similarly impressed by my PC. I first got a Creative 5.1 card and later a Hercules Fortissimo 7.1 in hopes of hearing stuff out of five speakers. Those companies' products offered only false promises and awful drivers. At last, today, I plugged in a new HDA Xplosion 7.1 DTS Connect. It outputs either a continuous Dolby Digital or DTS stream though an optical connector.

Whether my mp3 files will actually sound better than stereo enhanced by the receiver's Pro Logic II remains to be seen (or heard). Still, just the test function of the noisy helicopter circling inside my living room nearly brought tears to my eyes.

I may have spent a lot on my computer in the last few months. Yet as the television ad for a hair colour says, "I'm worth it."

Labels: Hardware, music

I had returned all the DVDs to www.zip last week. I knew that as long as the postman was not ill, there'd be a number of new ones waiting for me when I got back from work yesterday. In fact there were four discs. One, rather than being a movie, was a title called, Queen: We Will Rock You.

The blurb on the website had said it included the definitive version of the rock group's songs. I discovered this meant it was a live Montreal concert from 1982. It makes for a very interesting collection, if not exactly my choice as I generally prefer studio versions. Still, Queen never sounded so good. The Dolby 5.1 would have sufficed but I chose the DTS track as the volume seemed more balanced to the rear speakers. In a concert version, that is generally where the crowd noises come from though. I really cranked the sound up. Being only a bit after dinner time, neighbours couldn't really complain. It felt a vaguely satisfying being a bit obnoxious, just like most kids.

This disc contained noise which was a great deal of the soundtrack to college for me. I really can't remember what sound equipment I would've had in my dorm rooms. Perhaps a boom box? Maybe, and Freddie never learned what an mp3 players was either. I suppose there were probably several Queen 8-track tapes in my Pinto. Anyway, I probably listened to the We Will Rock You track most in the college pub. There were big speakers there. As I listened last night, I could almost smell the stale beer from back in an era, when kids could buy at age 18.

In actuality yesterday evening, I was drinking Rooibos tea while watching. Nobody needs caffeine after seven o'clock in the evening, right? Who would have guessed such things a quarter centry earlier. Who would have known that I could mature so perfectly?

Labels: music, zip.ca

Billie Holiday, jazz legend, died exactly six days before I was born. She was younger than I am now. I cannot remember exactly when I first heard her but I do have directory of mp3's that bear her name. Thankfully, I caught an hour program on the Biography Channel. I learned a great deal more.

What an amazing life story! A main theme expressed in the hour program was not to make her into a victim; as she made her own choices which involved drugs, booze, and destructive relationships. I would NOT have learned much from the official website bio.

Let's sanitize the truth, shall we? When I taught in Saudi Arabia, the young cadets always admitted, "America is too free." They were attempting to tell me that they'd have trouble exercising self-control in America. In the 'Kingdom', a Wahabi regime keeps vices restricted in order to prevent individuals from having to learn and exercise personal restraint.

If those boys only knew how truly similar some aspects of life in modern America are. They don't know about the Disney-ification of media in the United States. In many ways, US society's avoidance of adult themes in the name of moral virtues, is a more insidious form of restriction. The self-imposed censorship is promoted from the same incorrect belief; namely, that average citizens are not able to deal with the truths of the human condition.

We could face occasionally unpleasant facts and grow up a bit. We could handle reality and maybe learn a little something in the process.

Labels: music, opinions, Saudi Arabia

CTV.ca | One World: The Concert For Tsunami Relief

It'd have been fun to be downtown tonight. We never go to concerts! Four hours of commercial-free TV is nice though. Where was Celine? No one can pry her away from her lucrative Las Vegas show, I guess.

Labels: music

Until the recent trip, I hadn't been to Sri Lanka for a long time. I visited a number of times when working in the Gulf. In the thirteen years since my last time there, changes have occurred. Here are a few which I noticed. Now, everybody seems to be running around with cell phones, food packaging has become very convenienct and modern, and there were many more TV channels to choose from. Computers are more prevelant, and of course, there were no Sri Lankan Internet cafes in 1991. I picked up a CDROM of mp3 music files from street vendors near the Petta bus station. Here's one I liked from the disc which had over 100 songs.

Labels: music, Sri Lanka 2004

I was a little remiss in not getting this file up sooner. Back on my birthday, I quoted a line by Bette Davis as Margo Channing in "All About Eve". Over thirty years later, this tune was popular the summer I finished college. It is the epitome of early 80's music and I've never tired of it.


Kim Carnes sings a favourite from
the jukebox of The Harbor Gameroom.

Labels: music, The Harbor Gameroom

I'm still soooo 80's. I thought those working as a DJ, would still need a large van to carry equipment between 'gigs'. Of course, in the back of my mind, I was thinking about bulky boxes full of pressed vinyl. Yet, it no longer takes big, hefty muscles and a spare dolly to hoist around the music.

Last night at a club, the evening's planned music plus the availability of nearly any request one could fathom easily fit on the DJ's little, notebook computer! I don't know the terminology, but some software allowed him to cue up the tracks and do all the other DJ stuff!

Labels: music, software

After reading yesterday's entry, I thought I
should include a song. First, 'spreading
tiny wings and flying away' made me think
of Ann Murray. But we'll not be leaving
snow on this trip, so I settled on, this
Steve Miller Band classic.

Labels: music

As we've been touching on urbanization over the last few days, I thought it might be time for something that fits in musically. How's this?


This is one of the very first songs I can remember
hearing on AM radio as a pre-schooler. Well, maybe
it was the first song that I remember trying to sing
along to. Interestingly, I'd never really thought of
Petula Clark as a part of the British Invasion of the
US music scene in the 1960's.

Labels: music

A blog can be random; but more often than not, there is a thread of logical continuity therein.

I take an idea and run after it as if it were a big stick. This leads us directly to a song. Yesterday's title mentioned a canine so I searched through my music for the more common variation of that term. As well as an album of Three Dog Night music, I passed up perfectly good choices:

50 Cent ----- 21 Questions (feat. Nate Dogg)
Baha Men ----- Who Let The Dogs Out
Dogs Barking ----- Christmas Carols - Jingle Bells
Elvis Presley ----- Hound Dog
Eric Clapton ----- Hound Dog
George Leach ----- Dizzy Dog
Johnny Cash ----- So Doggone Lonesome
Lobo ----- Me and You and A Dog Named Boo
Noel Coward ----- Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Paul Simon ----- Rene & George Magritte w/ Their Dog After the War
The Beatles ----- Hey Bulldog
The Everly Brothers ----- Bird Dog

.
There is a real musical group called Underdog. This
is not them. This was a Saturday-morning
cartoon from the early 1960's. Television
programming for kids must have come of age
during the years I grew up.

Labels: music

Last night we set the clocks ahead before going to bed. Daylight Savings Time is now in effect. Windows XP knew and didn't even bother to ask if it was okay to change.

.
This song by Styx seemed appropriate
for today! Although I lost an hour of sleep
last night, I've got extra time this evening.

Labels: Mediaplayer, music, Windows

My first job after college was in Kuwait and I recall buying this cassette that year. Kraftwerk was composed of some German guys, drum sets, synthesizers, and tape decks. Had the term technopop been coined yet? They'd been creating music throughout the 1970's; however, this album was born at a special point in time. A confluence of technology was starting to enable the dawn of a new information age.

.
Remember, this music was released the
same year that the IBM PC rolled out. Just as in
Windows XP today, you were not able to set
those system clocks prior to 1980!

Labels: Mediaplayer, music, Windows

Here's some interesting information on technopop from the National Public Radio site:

The Secret History of Technology and Pop Music - Sept. 2002

Labels: music

Sundays have become my 'song days', I guess.
After yesterday's picture, I had to go with something
by The Beatles and after seeing the Rolls Royce's paint
job, Strawberry Fields Forever seemed perfect.

Labels: music

I was trying to decide what song would
fit with yesterday's picture of an indoor
jungle. I passed up the obvious one by the
Steve Miller Band and went with this by
Harry Belafonte who has an interesting
biography. Click the graphic above to listen
to the Banana Boat Song.

Labels: music

Some people are born collectors and I count myself among them. By the time I first headed overseas, I had collected decades of National Geographic magazines. It was a pretty solid representation right back through some bound 1914 sets. Obviously and perhaps thankfully, travel and living in different countries prevented me from keeping much of an intact inventory. I left my poor dad with the responsibility of disposing of those magazines. In retrospect though there might be a few genes involved here as he always kept a barnful of junk!

Interestingly, computers have allowed me to pursue collecting in a manner that doesn't take up much space at all. I have all the Wordstar-format personal and business letters created on my first IBM compatible in 1986. (Did I burn those on a CD yet?) Sometimes the data isn't even accessible in a readable format. (I don't think the current version of Excel can read my old VisiCalc spreadsheets but DOS Lotus 1-2-3 used to.)

In many cases, information for its own sake is worth keeping. I could have erased this file of Top-40 Songs: 1975-79 Arranged by 1st Date Charted. This must have been used when I produced a 6-CD set of music for our 25th high school reunion in 2002. I imagine that this must have been part of my research. Yet why should I press delete and send this to byte heaven? Storage media grows cheaper by the year ... and keeping it has provided me something to post on my blog today!

Half-Megabyte Musical Chart Listing

Labels: file archives, music, opinions

Click the player to hear the 2:48-minute song mentioned in one of yesterday's blog entries. It is Santa Baby sung by Eartha Kitt. (This Windows Media Player file requires a 56K modem connection, at minimum.)

Labels: Christmas, Mediaplayer, music

I really didn't know the song, Santa Baby.

Eartha Kitt's rendition ended up on this year's Christmas Compilation CD. (I think cards are rather dumb, so I send out a personalized, yearly music disc.) If you'd like a copy, there's still time before the holidays. Just email a request with your postal address, and I'll pop it into the mail!

Now, I've heard that song playing in stores and mall. I've discovered that it's also been sung by Marilyn Monroe as well as Miss Piggy!

Labels: Christmas, music

I'm finishing up the final exams right now. Marking twenty-one papers is a real chore! I find Aaron Neville's music helps provide a suitable environment for this task ....

Labels: music

What does it mean when the media is using songs from my youth for blatant consumerism? It must be I'm getting old. I know well the music of twenty-five years ago that's creeping into lots of today's TV advertisements.

I think it's cute that Devo's tune is now Swiffer It.

Yet there are limits. I really don't think Queen's, We Are The Champions, should be pushing Viagra!

It rather makes we wonder what product 50 cent will be selling in 2028!

---

Speaking of old: Here's my first 8086/DOS machine. (We used to say IBM clone.) It had two 5 1/4" floppy disks and a CGA monitor. The picture was taken in my BOQ in Taif, Saudi Arabia in 1986 when I taught at the Army Ordnance Corp.

Labels: Hardware, music, Saudi Arabia

Here's a song because I've been experimenting with Windows Media Encoder. I saved the link below in .wma format. Unlike the original, I've tried to encode this song so that it can be played over various connection speeds. If you have enough bandwidth it should play at 128K. Even if you have a modem connection on the other side of the globe, you should be able to hear something.

Bruce Hornsby - The Way It Is [LINK REMOVED]

If you have extra time, could you please give this a try? Maybe the encoding only works from an enabled server. I'd especially like to hear back from someone with a less than optimal connection. You can fill out the web form at the right or write a comment to the email address found there.

Thank you.

Labels: music

I got a message from Michael Ansart the other day about the death of singer/songwriter Warren Zevon. You see during my college days, a group of three ran an arcade in our small town in New Hampshire. The Harbor Gameroom was a hangout for not only summer visitors but also for the local youth in our tourist town of Sunapee. In that arcade there was a jukebox that burned the favorite tunes of those times into our brains. During the summer of 1978 one of those songs was Zevon’s Werewolves of London.

Here’s a recent email exchange:

Michael Ansart: For some reason as soon as I heard the news, I felt the pain from old bruises sustained in a cardboard "pizza disk” fight at the gameroom.

Dennis Hurd: Thanks for the news. Okay, Bret ... what was the number on the jukebox?

Bret Wirta: All this ol' brain remembers is N4. Was that Main Street? Love is Like Oxygen?

Mark Wirta: Why couldn't it have been the Heart sisters instead. Would have given me some measure of satisfaction for having to listen to Barracuda every time that Bungay kid had an extra quarter.

Dennis Hurd: You mean the jukebox used quarters? I remember just opening a little door, reaching inside, and hitting ...

Michael Ansart: Years ago I saw Warren Zevon in a small club, I went in just liking his music, but came away with a bit of admiration for the man. He was three songs into his first set, when this loud group of approx. 8 entered the club and made a big deal with the club staff. Essentially demanding that they set a table up for them near the front of the stage. The club staff, trying to avoid a scene complied. Between songs, the loud and most obnoxious of the 8 repeatedly tried to talk with Zevon. Right in the middle of one song, Zevon simply stopped playing and turned to the audience and said, “Did you ever notice how the f#$*ing a*^holes who are up front at a show, are the ones who care least about the music?” Then he announced to a semi-stunned crowd, “I’m not going to continue until this table is empty” Then to wild applause the club staff escorted the table of 8 to the door. Ever since that night, I always enjoyed listening to Zevon a little more.

Labels: Bret, games, music, New Hampshire, Sunapee, The Harbor Gameroom