A Little Neurology

Listening to NPR, there was a neuro-musicologist or musico-neurologist or musically neurotic ologist or something. Whatever he was, he wrote some book on the brain and music.

One caller said she has lyme disease, which affects the brain. Since developing it three years before, she can't stand music. She used to love music and be really into it. But now, she said it annoys her and she wants it turned off. She still recognizes the songs and music, but has no emotional connection / reaction.

That perfectly discribes me! Not that I think I have lyme disease... but the expert whatever said that there is a certain part of the brain that "appreciates" music. I guess this is different from the part that "recognizes" it or even "hears" it. Anyway, I'm just gonna guess that part of my brain isn't so well developed...

So, today's music is....
Mozart's Symphony 40



I chose this because Mozart is associated with improved neural development.

I Tried... Once

Kevin was shocked to her me listening to 3 Doors Down in my car. He thought I'd consider that too noisy. Truth is, the last time I tried to discover music (about 10 yrs ago), I found a few bands I liked:

• Vertical Horizon
• Goo Goo Dolls
• 3 Doors Down
• Third Eye Blind
• Matchbox 20

I've had these cd's since the 90's. I realize I still like this category / genre, including their more recent music. But they sound so similar, I needed more variety and got bored by them. BTW - what would you call this category? What genre do they all fall in?

Today's song is . . .
Goo Goo Doll's Iris

Music as Poetry

I always say lyrics make the song for me. I was an English major who specialized in poetry. Shock of the day...

The most poetic form of music is rap.

I decided to figure out the difference between rap and hip hop, but instead discovered the beauty of rap. Rap is somewhere between poetry, spoken word, and singing.

Reading the wikipedia article, it talked about rhyme schemes, diction, double entendres, and prosody. Light bulbs going off! Rap is quite an art form, one which I can appreciate. So, I decided to try my first rap song.

Today's song is . . .
Tupac's Keep Ya Head Up

How to Name a Band

I've often wondered where bands got their names. Here are a few interesting ones . . .

Black Eyed Peas - copies the Red Hot Chili Peppers name out of respect and because "Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul" (ie, their music is too...according to will.i.am)

Grateful Dead - chosen at random from a dictionary (possibly while playing a game, definitely while high)

Led Zeppelin - when forming the band, some drummer refused to join, saying it would fail like a "lead zeppelin" = a blimp made of lead (spelt "led" so people don't mis-pronounce lead as "leed", which would mean the #1 zeppelin)

3 Doors Down - a broken sign in an alley said "doors down", the 3 represents the 3 original members.

Nine Inch Nails - it abbreviated nicely

AC/DC - from the back of a sewing machine, old label for electrical wiring (Hey, I remember when things had this label!)

Green Day - "is Bay-area slang for a day with lots of green bud where you just sit around taking bong hits, hanging around" (according to their site)

One thing stands out to me: the total randomness of it all. I'm sure there are a slew of fascinating other examples, these are just ones I've stumbled across while reading for this blog.

Today's song is . . .

Vertical Horizon's Go

Top of the Week: A Rising Star

Announcing . . . Top of the Week. In an attempt to keep up with the current music, I'm going to post one song from Billboard Top 10 each week, on Mondays.

Checked out the wikipedia entry, Lady Gaga is very talented and quite the rising star. Poker Face became her second single to hit the number one spot - very impressive.

Lady Gaga's Poker Face

They're pretty tight on the copyright thing, so I can't embed the video (had one, but it was blocked). So, click the title above to see the official video on YouTube. Also, this is the zipper song - the song she sang on American Idol while wearing a zipper on her eye... and a star for a dress... not sure I get the fashion, but guess she's really into it.

Box of Evil

Ted mentioned Pandora in the comments awhile back. So, I've actually had a Pandora account for more than 3 years; I figured it would help me learn music.

Problem is, just like the radio, I had no idea how to "seed" a station, no starting point. Also, the Music Genome project focuses on the sound of music, choosing songs that sound similar to the seed song. But I don't get the connection between sounds, either I like the words or I don't... the sound doesn't make much difference to me except to accent the lyrics.

I haven't opened my Pandora account in more than 2 years: Wow! It's changed!! It's sleek, professional, and actually has ads now (I remember wondering why it didn't before).

Awesome thing: Pandora now has info on the songs playing. So, it's easy to find out about the artist or song. So, now that I have starting points, I might use Pandora to pick up leads in new directions. Today's song comes from one of my original Pandora channels (based on the Eagles).

Today's song is . . .
Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down (1989)



I think I like him. It helps if I respect the musician: His band has been together for more than 30 years, he takes a strong stand on artists' rights, etc. This song was played at a benefit for 9/11 victims.

A Weak Moment

Is children's literature acceptable as pop culture on this blog?

Probably not, but I guess I get to decide the rules. So, just for today, I'm blogging books.

I was at the library to tutor and decided to pick up a few books for the week. I went with casual fiction, most of which I've been meaning to read for years.

• Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown
• Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club
• Toni Morrison's Jazz
• John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
• Brian Selznick's The Invention of Huge Cabret

So, it was on the children's literature award winning books (mostly Newbery winners). I was intrigued because it was twice as thick as any other book. So I opened it and discovered a most unique approach to literature! The author calls it "A Novel in Words and Pictures". Think literature meets comics (er, pardon me, "graphic novels").

Today's book is . . .
Brian Selznick's The Invention of Huge Cabret (2007)

Just started, but enjoyed it. A radical concept that forces the reader to slow down. The images give more detail, the sketches have fine nuances. He even gives a strong sense of motion by zooming in from one page to the next. Then, there's the pages of words . . . well-written and engaging.

Scented Thoughts

Walking through San Marino late tonight, I passed a lovely scented tree. It made me think of jasmine, but I'd never seen a jasmine tree. I picked a leaf and flower, to research at home: Lakeview Jasmine. It's lovely.

As I returned home, inhaling the scent, a remnant of a song came to my mind. By the time I'd arrived, I remembered nearly all the words. It seemed so suitable for my mood:

There are times when all the world's asleep,
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned,
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who I am.

Today's song is . . .
Supertramp's The Logical Song

Stepping Outside Rock / Pop

I'm using this blog to follow up on random references I hear, especially about music. I want to explore different genres, but when you know nothing, you got nowhere to start.

I heard a song that made me think "Ella Fitzgerald". I have absolutely no recollection about the song, and no idea why I thought it might be her. But I decided to look her up anyway.

Turns out, she started recording about the time my grandmother was born and died in 1996. She recorded for 59 years. That's an impressive career. She sings blues and has an amazing voice. This site plays a nice sampling of song clips (it's selling a "best of" CD).

Today's song is . . .
Ella Fitzgerald's Blue Moon

So, as I was checking YouTube, the songs started to spark a memory. I think my favorite gelateria in Busan plays Ella a lot; they have an awesome atmosphere. I'll have to check it out this summer and see if I'm right.

Let the Beat Rock

I kept hearing this distinctive song on the radio, but couldn't figure out the lyrics. So, I decided to combine this radio thing with this internet thing. Result is: I found out the "boom boom boom" song is actually Black Eyed Peas' new release Boom Boom Pow and the current number one according to Billboard.

Also, this song is from a cd that hasn't been released yet. What's up with that? Is this a common thing? I guess it's a good marketing device.

Back to the song... So apparently sounds count as words, as in "hear the spaceship *zoom*". Also, there are allusions / slang I didn't get, such as 808 (disturbing the peace), and the clean version cuts out a lot of ****, making it hard to understand. Now I read the lyrics, I'm happy enough.

Black Eyed Peas' Boom Boom Pow



So, anyone have any idea why this is top right now?