Great features from the good old David Letterman show!

These are brilliant and should have more exposure than they have...

An old new band interest of mine...made all the more interesting by their use of ukuleles

This is a band called "Beirut." Their music reminds me of Europe in the years after the war, when Henri' and I drank wine in the cafes of Paris as we hunted down Nazis hiding in public as bakers, accordianists, and sommeliers. We need to get more of us with ukuleles to gather together to create our own counter-factual music, because we don't do anything else anyways. C'est La Guerre!

Teaching about the Indus Valley and ukuleles

This week, my world civilization class will be studying the Harappan culture, located along the Indus River Valley in modern day Pakistan. I am thinking about just having them watch Ravi Shankar videos, despite the fact that Shankar is from Bangladesh. Do you think that would bother the students? Decisions.

For those that didn't know, I purchased a ukulele over the summer, which is a so-so teaching aid, I am finding. But it is hard to deny how cool ukuleles can be:

Enjoy!

Where has the time gone...was it all but a fever dream?

Many things have transpired since last we at the Variegated Brainstem puked forth our wisdom, wit, and frippery. Tom Waits came to Knoxville, playing the hits we all love so well. The Olympics occurred in China, with the US of A winning a number of different coloured medals. Obama and McCain became the front runners in the presidential race. Hardee's thick burger is more popular than ever.

Hopefully, as the days of future past come back again, the Veeb will be able to provide more insight into all that we are witnesses to in this glorious age. Until then, keep watching the stars!

I'm Bringing Sexy Back, old school style, just in time for summer!

"You Down With OPB (Ocean Pacific Brand)?" "Yeah, you know me!" There I was, pacing the aisles of Wal-Mart, looking for something to fill the void in my life, when I chanced upon the discovery of the re-release of a clothing line near and dear to the hearts of those of us who came of age in the early eighties. Yes, I'm talking about the venerable OP clothing line, sold exclusively now at the Mart.

Gone are the days when we would have given our front teeth just for the opportunity to own an OP shirt. True, perhaps we placed too much value on material things when we were in middle school. And, probably, our sexuality as well, as I remember worrying profusely that a friend of mine and I wore similar blue OP shirts to middle school one day, only to be called "fags" by a bunch of cooler people who now probably work at Wal-mart. So, confident now in both myself, my sexual orientation, and the world in which I live, I hurl down the gauntlet of fashion and proclaim this summer not only the Summer of Mike but the Summer of Eighties Inspired Beach Wear! Who's with me?

Nice 'n' Moogy! Part One

I took piano lessons. I was never really into them, mainly because we played Sound of Music songs for our recitals. However, there has been something in me lately that can't get enough of synthesizer sounds in music. I would love to have a Moog or Prophet-5 in my apartment, to make rumbling analog synth-pop type music. As a result, I offer some of my favorite keyboard songs here, for you, the viewers of the Veeb!

This first is from Genesis, off of their self-titled album, with a scary song called "Mama."

While that is indeed ominous, here is a really bizaare and scary video from a Swedish keyboard band called The Knife, with their hit "We Share Our Mother's Health." I am not sure what I have witnessed here, but fear that it has sent me over the edge into psychic distress...

Now, all I gotta do is find the old Casio keyboard from the eighties we used to have and, viola, instant hitmaking! Enjoy!

A semi-forgotten band of the early eighties...the Long Ryders!

This band was in line with the REM / Byrds sound that seemed to dominate the early eighties while I was in high school. The kinda music that made you want to wear a white dress shirt with a black vest you got at Goodwill. Kinda wish they'd bring that kinda music back...anyone with me? I have a vest...

Revisitng an old favorite of mine...maybe it will become one of your's, too!

Anyone that has not experienced the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis should. Here is their magnum opus from that era, "Supper's Ready," in three parts IT is worth the time investment...
Part one:

Part two:

Part three:

Enjoy - supper's waiting for you!

Jury Duty update

Despite my earlier rejection, I was picked today to be on another jury for a case involving murder and kidnapping. It has been interesting, as I have already heard testimony for the prosecution's case, as well as the defense rebuttals to this information. I'm not at liberty to talk about the particulars, but the actual experience with the jury has been enlightening. I am taking copious notes (thanks to history training), but as we all know, the presentation of reality and its construction through divergent sources can be a challenging enterprise. Both sides seem to believe it will be over by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest. By the way, they feed us at Calhoun's on the river - that seemed very surreal to me...

Some comments on rock music, rock musicians, and their adulation

I am unsure of whether or not I like the idea of having a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I just read that Madonna was inducted into the RARHOF, begging the question, "Madonna? Rock and Roll?" I realize that rock music, broadly defined, includes a panoply of artists, everything from Run DMC to Hank Williams. But Madonna? Really? I mean, is "Like a Virgin" rock and roll? I just don't see it.

Indeed, I just don't understand the notion of a rock and roll hall of fame. I thought that rock music was supposed to be about rebellion, danger, and confrontation, things that seem antithetical to an institution that celebrates these artists 25 or more years after they have long ceased being rebellious, dangerous, or confrontational. The people that were true rockers are dead or in a mental institution. Not that I am encouraging hedonism a la Jim Morrison, but didn't these people get into this business for the immediacy of the music at the time they started doing what they did? Doesn't having a Hall of Fame go against this notion?

To be sure, as a historian, I am all about exploring and celebrating the past. But rock and roll's past doesn't seem suited to having a bunch of stuffed shirts decide that Iggy Pop, for example, should be given a black tie ceremony at 200 dollars a plate, with Cuban cigars and brandy, to celebrate how rebellious he was - isn't the music enough of a legacy? Which brings me back to Madonna - what is so great about her? The fact that she was consistently a media whore who so-so sang her songs? That she confronted American sexual mores by walking around naked and kissing women? That she won an Oscar? How is that rock and roll? I don't get it; I don't get it one bit...

Remember this?

This is still, apparently, the craziest thing to happen in the TA office since we all left...

Variegated Brainstem - Year Two, Day One, Hour Ten!

What a day it is today! The birds are singing, the squirrels are considering the current economic situation. Mothers pause to look lovingly into the faces of their babies, and former enemies throw down their machetes and axes to finally embrace in peace. We here at the Veeb are buoyed by the spirit of this day, and anxious about the dual goals of this Friday: celebrating our blog's anniversary and taking our Spam Vindaloo to the Arts and Sciences' Spam Cookoff. Although our initial excitement about our recipe was shared by all, last night's blind taste test revealed that among the things that the good Lord never intended was for Spam to be marinaded - Spam's density as a meat prevents its ready access to marinading forces. As a result, we are not so sure about our dish's success. Even served in one of television art teacher Dan Mihuta's clay bowl creations will probably not help...

But, in addition to the cookin', there is the rockin'!

Today is the first day of the rest of the fiscal blogging year that is the Variegated Brainstem!

Today is the day that one year ago the future of the world was set into motion!

Today is the day that one year ago a iron gauntlet was hurled into the face of humanity!

Today is the day that one year ago people began to realize again that MUSIC IS REVOLUTION!

Today is the day that one year ago a humble graduate student with nothing better to do took considerable time from his studies to bore the world with his acid casualty observations!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is our extreme pleasure to welcome you to:

VARIEGATED BRAINSTEM, YEAR TWO: THE RECKONING
Enjoy!

A remembrance of things past

For some reason, I was thinking about traveling recently, especially those travels back in my youth. My sister, who shares my whacked sense of humor for things a bit askew, used to listen with me to tapes on our Realistic tape recorder on many family trips throughout this great land of ours. We would be in the back of the station wagon with the seat down, un-seatbelted of course, drawing on old computer print-out paper from my dad's office and reading comic books and playing Simon and Merlin and card games, all the while listening to Bible stories narrated by Burl Ives and various other tapes my parents had to make us tolerable during the trip. I don't know if she remembers, but we used to giggle and giggle in evil glee at some of the songs on a compilation tape of oldies that my parents had. There was "Que Sera Sera" sung by Doris Day. Mitch Miller did "The Yellow Rose of Texas." But, the one that really got us cackling was "Hey, There (You with the stars in your eyes)," sung by Rosemary Clooney, George's aunt. The way it was recorded, she would sing the chorus (Hey there, you with the stars in your eyes...) in one channel and then speak a reply in the other channel (Are you talking to me?). This was too funny for the both of us, and we would laugh and laugh and laugh and hyperventilate and laugh and laugh and eat some Trix cereal and laugh and laugh and rewind the tape and listen to this again and again and laugh and laugh and laugh until we were at the beach or West Virginia or wherever we were going. This video I have posted is probably from a Karaoke machine, so it has no pictures. However, I think that you will agree, as my sister and I believed and still believe, that this remains either very funny or very disturbing. Maybe even both! My sister has since gone on to be an amazing mother of four (I am her oldest) and I hope that she will one day pass this song on to her other kids as some sort of legacy that will either slightly scar their psyches or make them continue to enjoy drawing pictures of purple dogs and orange trees.

Enjoy!

Yacht Rock - the reason for the internet!

While I can engage in music snobbery with the best of them, dropping Yo La Tengo and Joy Division references while I hold my nose at the regular pablum that constitutes modern radio, I have always had a soft spot (secret shame?) for the lighter end of the rock spectrum. Apparently, I am not alone, as I chanced upon a group of videos by a bunch of guys from California detailing the untold stories of the creation of what they term "yacht rock" - the Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers type of music that dominated the airwaves of the late seventies and early eighties. These videos are brilliant and provide a wonderful take on this hidden history that so clearly needed to be told. This is the first episode, entitled "What a Fool Believes;" hopefully you will tear up and laugh out loud at the same time, like I did. We should have done this kinda stuff with the GSHA...


Enjoy!

Victory!

ABD, repeat after me, sing "Nah Nah Nah Nah!"

False Start, part deux

"Yes...victory is soon to be in our grasp! Mike has yet to take his group 2 exam and, if our plans go forward as I have anticipated, the longer we can postpone his exam, the more easily we can take over the world, the solar system, the GALAXY! HAaa-haaa-haaa-haaa-haaa!"

In case you are wondering, inclement weather prevented me from taking my exam, AGAIN! I need a hug...

An update - still on the launch pad!

So, there I was at 9:20, in the small conference room, ready to start my Group 2 exam at 9:30. At 9:26, I was informed that one of the professors could not make it and that we would have to reschedule. I so wanted to get this over with, but I suppose that's the life of a shuttle mission specialist, having to hurry up and wait. Oops, I mean that's the life of a historian...

Group 2 Exam today

I go before the tribunal today!

Are you ready to shake your booty? European dance vids from the 1970s are what you need!

This is one of the greatest videos ever put on the internet. Can you feel it? The hypnotic beats of the band make you fall down in disco-inspired seizures.

In case the first video didn't get your toes a-tappin' and your legs a-twitching, here is a video of the great German Krautrock band Can, performing their hit "Paperhouse." If ever you wished that you could find a German band that had a Japanese singer who sang in English, all the while convulsing on stage with his jazz-rock posse high on mushrooms and schnapps, then this one is for you! Enjoy!

A Festivus Miracle!

My original office goose cup has been returned to me, safe and intact. The reunion was muted and brief, but it was understood by the both of us that our separation had a far more profound effect on ourselves than we could have possibly imagined. After returning to my office cubicle, I couldn't help but fill the cup with my tears...tears of joy, to be sure, but tears nonetheless. Now, I am off to drink some coffee in the cup and catch him up with all the office gossip. Oh, the times we will once again share together!