I am trying to make lastfm work for me.
I think I could get into audio scrobbling.
Except this stupid lastfm thing crashes as soon as I open it. I got it to work once, but we had to reinstall my computer, so that got busted up and now I can’t make it work again.
Any tips?
sigh…
There are so many things I could say about this clip.
I could start with the fact this is ‘traditional’ Korean music and costume, matched with ‘traditional’ beat box and breaking (with some seriously old school moves in there – a real grabfest for anyone who’s ever watched a fair amount of break dancing). And then I could go on to talk about how this is a peculiarly Korean way of moving and dancing – these are not African American dancers, nor do they dance or move like black Americans. This is Korean dance… or a Korean appropriation of a black American dance and musical form and costume and…? And then, that this is a Korean appropriation of a classical piece of music, in a hip hop context – how wonderful!
Then I could talk about the beauty of the round performance space – the perfect jam circle, with the viewer invited to take up the empty space and join in – to become part of the jam. The inclusion of the musicians in this circle only emphasises the way dance and music are inextricably bound.
And then, of course, there is the use of editing, focus, pans, cuts, etc etc to exaggerate and emphasise certain aspects of the choreography – to speed up fast parts, to add staccato to jagged movements, to highlight small movements which might otherwise be lost. The use of a constantly moving camera to heighten that sense of movement, which – if you’ve ever stood at the edge of a jam circle, digging what you see, or perhaps considering coming in – is exactly how it feels and looks. As part of the audience, you move with the dancers and the music. This is more than call and response, it is cooperative meaning making at its most pleasurable. And do I need to mention the use of video ‘screens’ in the shot to emphasise the presence of the musicians, in the face of such mesmerising physical display?
And if I had more time, I’d talk about the use of light, the use of colour, and what all this means for an art form that is so heavily inflected by discourses of skin colour and shade…
Sigh.
ask me how I feel about marking
Half an hour per paper, 70 papers. Yes please.
Ask me how many days til MLX6.
73. Am I worried about it? Nope.
Ask me about the papers I have to write.
…no, actually, don’t.
Ask me about my application for funding goodness for the CSAA conference.
Yeah, it’ll be cool. I’m all over it.
The paper for the conference that’s getting me there and getting me the dosh?
Oh, look, something to do with the internet. It’ll be neat.
Ask me about the shitful job I did DJing last week.
Why ask. I’m sure you’ve already heard.
…there’s not so much going on in my life beyond work at the moment. This is about as exciting as it gets:
We are going lo-fi with the whole camera thing. We’re saying no to lots of pixels and yes to emoting. We are all about emoting.
We are going to SLX on the 29th September, mostly because we need a holiday, and this kind of gets us off our arses. That’ll be fun – we’re looking forward to stooging it up at the Manly Jazz Festival, eating, napping, talking shit and possibly drinking (though I will drink only softees). It’ll be just like an American road trip movie. But with more jazz. And fewer mooses (meese? baby meese?). Though I’m not sure about the boob part. There could be boobs. Or possibly moobs. Either way, somebody scores. And I’m not sure about the road part. I think there’ll mostly be trains, the odd bus and definitely a ferry. And a plane or two.
..hm. This post isn’t going terribly well. Looks like teaching is sucking my creativity right out through my… well, I’m not sure how it’s getting out of me, or where it’s going. Just imagine that I was a bit cleverer and that this post was a bit more interesting. Remember the days when I was posting posts that actually covered more than jazz and had the prose thing going on, rather than the list thing.
But meanwhile, the thesis is at the printer and will be submitted tomorrow! Yay!
Gastropodry: bunny and Jay
Right now I have a bunny (on) the oven… oh, look, I’m sorry. That was far too desperate.
To restart: I’ve finally succumbed to the temptation and am cooking my first rabbit. It’s the perfect opportunity: The Squeeze (who loathes meat on the bone, and finds the thought of eating bunnies distressing) is out, it’s Friday night so I can stop worrying about all the things I have to do – until tomorrow, and my new Jay McShann album arrived today. Gotta love that Kansas City action.
I’ll report back later on the bunny.
Duke Ellington’s House of Lords
Ok, so a little while ago I crapped on about Bluesology.
Today I’d like to crap on about House of Lords, which I have on acomplete centennial something or other collection (well worth the (massive) cost – it truly is a ‘complete’ collection… well, for that one label. whatever that may be). It’s live, recorded in 1966 and it’s five minutes and thirtyfive seconds long. It’s also 136bpm and I classify it as ‘groovy swinging’, which means that it has the tsi-tsi-tsii high hat sound and rhythm section, but trucks along – not that sort of formlessly swingingly groove that irritates old scratchy fans. Because it’s Ellington, it really cooks. And it really feels like it’s trucking along – grooving, but rocking. Chunky but still palatable for the smoothy types.
So, anyways, the thing I like about it is a) it’s live, and b) you can hear Duke laughing – no, chortling – away in the solos. The band are really enjoying this stuff, and it’s really rolling along – you feel like it’s going somewhere. Kind of makes me feel like this is the type of stuff Oscar Peterson would do if he had more guts. Guts as in, if his music was a little more visceral.
I’d certainly like to dance de lindy hop to this song. Which sounds as if it’s really just drums/percussion, piano and bass. And groaning adn chortling.
Matter of fact, I wonder if there aren’t two pianos in there – could it actually be Peterson? Or maybe it’s Basie? I’d hazzard the former, though I don’t think they really worked together (actually, what would I know).
Dang! I just NEED to rush home and look at the liner notes!
At this point I really wish I could insert a sound clip so that you could all listen along with me, but of course, there are copyright problems there. Maybe I need to get into that streaming radio action?
Johnny Hodges
Yes, I know it’s another story about music, but, look. I did say I was going to try to think less about telly and more about music, didn’t I?
So, anyway, I’m now pretty keen on scoring myself some Johnny Hodges. Apparently he not only did stuff with people like Ellington, but also had a band(s) of his own. Which I must now discover.
Duke Ellington: The Duke: The Columbia Years 1927-1962 [BOX SET]
Duke Ellington: The Duke: The Columbia Years 1927-1962 [BOX SET] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]
It finally arrived, and I’m now one happy ducky. As you can probably tell, I’ve been bingeing on Ellington a bit lately. I now have quite a few excellent albums, and of course, there are plenty more to get. Ellington is one of those artists who continually surprise you with excellent music. His career was so long, and he did such diverse work, there’s always something for everyone.
This collection is neat because it offers some excellently remastered old faves (I’m especially happy to have a decent quality version of It don’t mean a thing (1932)), but also some more recent stuff – especially some nice 50s stuff which I didn’t have. I’m still not sure I feel entirely comfortable with the heavy duty high hat action in this stuff, but you can’t deny the standard of musicianship in some of these amazing recordings. The quality isn’t always better (I have some heinous Blanton-Webster Ellington stuff), but you get some great music.
Personally, I’d much rather dance old school, to that late 20s, 30s and some 40s stuff (depends on who and what it is, though – I adore Hampton, and he tends to sit in that later moment – 40s and 50s), but I do like to DJ across the board. And when you’re not dancing – you’re DJing – it’s easier to handle the 50s stuff at a dance. Pity the dancers, though…
Well, actually, most dancers don’t really mind – beginners are certainly the least picky in regards to specific eras, and most of the more tolerant experienced dancers would simply rather we played goodmusic than stuck religiously to one era… unless we can DJ well within that era.
As a DJ, I do actually like to play a wider range of stuff, if only to save my brain having to deal with balancing the levels of all-scratch, all the time.
Duke Ellington and his orchestra 1949-1950
Duke Ellington and his orchestra 1949-1950.
A chronological classic, so we’re listening to a comprehensive overview of a particular period, but not truly excellent quality. I picked this sweety up a few weeks ago (again from caiman.com, via amazon – fabulously quick delivery and cheap) so as to secure myself a whole album’s worth of stuff like B-Sharp Boston, a song Doz got me onto.
It’s neat stuff. I wasn’t really all that aware of Ellinton’s more mainstream stuff from the late 40s/early 50s – I have a bit of it, but it’s stuff on compilations or overviews of his career, so I’ve not listened to it in isolation. I also have to say that I’m always distracted by the earlier stuff – I am passionate about very late 20s and early 30s (1928-1931 mostly) Ellington – and find it difficult to move past songs like Flaming Youth and Rockin’ in Rhythm. Which is probably why I find it difficult to DJ a lot of later Ellington – I simply don’t know it as well.
…that’s actually an exaggeration – I do play quite a bit of early 40s Ellington. And love it.
So anyway, back to the early 50s Ellington.
I like this stuff. When it’s not veering off into artyfarty stuff, there’s good dancing action on there. I think I like Joog Joog because it manages to use that big vocal sound Ellington liked for his stage shows with accessible ‘swing vocals’ – so you get the singer from Creole Love Call (sorry, I’ve forgotten her name, and I don’t have it in the laptop yet) teamed up with someone poppier, and you get a rockingly good pop song.
So, as far as DJable music goes, this is a goody – a few I’d happily play for dancers (and have – and had them go down well), plus some arty stuff purely for your own listening pleasure.
Two thumbs.
the wrong sort of bounce
I’m sitting in my office listening to some straight-ahead swinging Ellington on headphones, watching a young African dood kicking a soccer ball around outside the Muslim prayer room. He’s jogging back and forth at about 140 bpm and I really want to be out there with him, running about and having fun, rather than stuck in here waiting for students to come avail themselves of my office hour.
Off behind him there are a couple of fatties smoking and chatting. They should be kicking that soccer ball too.
Watching this guy jogging about on the concrete in time to Joog Joog (currently favourite song – 1949 from the chronological classics Duke Ellington 1949-1950) reminds me of how lindy hop – jazz dances – are all about that relaxed, ground-eating, bouncy jogging motion. It’s about bending your knees, sinking into the floor and pushing up again. It’s about loose limbs, being strong in your core, getting into the ground…
And it doesn’t work to groover swing (Jersey Bounce, Ella, 1961 Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie)) – it encourages the wrong sort of bounce.
let’s leave telly behind for a while
I spend quite a few hours each week talking to young people about media. I begin every class asking them what sorts of media they’ve consumed this week (and that’s how I say it, because I like the thought of these fierce 20 somethings leaping onto BB or Women’s Weekly and devouring it – critically or no).
There’s much enthusiasm (this has been a surprisingly – satisfyingly – effective teaching tool), but all I can ever think to talk about is Smallville.I think it’s because I’m somehow still stuck at that point where the television = media. It’s certainly not the center of my media world.
I do watch a lot of [i]Smallville[/i], but I also watch broadcast telly. And other DVDs.
I listen to the radio online – the ABC almost exclusively, and Radio National specifically. I do listen to some lindy hop talk shows and music shows, but the ABC always scores the greater portion of my time.
I read the news online, through various websites.
I read blogs, academic and otherwise.
I read, voraciously, insatiably – I read over breakfast (half an hour at least), on the bus (an hour each way), in breaks, and at bedtime (at least an hour or two). I am a reading machine. And I only read science fiction or fantasy.
I do work reading – I read articles, books, magazines, journals, websites.
I haven’t seen a film in a while, but I do love the cinema. When I’m not so busy…
And I listen to music every day. I’ve just discovered The Squeeze’s ipod, and that’s neat. Though I mostly listen to the ABC, I have found it a neat tool for previewing my music for DJing. I don’t have time to sit on the couch and mull over my laptop any more – I have to listen to music on the bus. This isn’t an ideal arrangement for DJ preparation, as the sound quality on the ipod is very different to a night club system. And different to the stereo at home. When you’re dealing with old music, quality is all. But it’s also a matter of intimacy – it might sound neat on my ipod, locked away in that little sound bubble on the bus, but it mightn’t really work in a crowded room full of manic dancers.
But I don’t talk about this with my students. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I’m trying to keep this part of my everyday private. Maybe I’m self conscious. Or perhaps I’ve bought that DJ bullshit where ‘only DJs understand’, or rather, where we assume DJs listen to music in a unique way. Poppycock.
But I do know that it’s difficul to explain the pleasures of swinging jazz to 20 something media students. It’s difficult to articulate to non-dancers, to non-jazz dancers, the absolute delight we find in the jumpy, fun, wickedly naughty humour 1920s and 30s pop music. It’s certainly difficult to explain why the saucy innuendo is such a source of delight, and I wonder if that is because young people today (bah humbug) are more conservative, more prudish than the young of the 20s and 30s? It makes me wonder if that’s why I like nannas so much – they’re far naughtier than these youngsters.
This week I’ll test it out. We might talk about music this week, and leave telly behind for a while. I’ll try to tune in and let you know how it goes.