Well, This Sucks

It appears that Tom Petty suffered a cardiac arrest, and may or may not be dead though the most recent reports strongly imply that it's just a matter of time:

For several hours on Monday, rock star Tom Petty was dead to some members of the news media, even if he wasn’t in fact.

Though gravely ill and lingering near death, Petty was still clinging to life when CBS News incorrectly reported that he had died. The report — which the outlet blamed on unidentified sources in the Los Angeles Police Department — was later withdrawn and corrected.

But not before touching off a stampede of he’s-dead/no-he’s-not reporting by other news organizations. The result was a monumental mishmash of confusion, joining the long history of misreporting on the deaths of well-known people.

TMZ, the tabloid website with a history of being first on celebrity deaths, was the first outlet to report that Petty was in the hospital and soon updated its story to say: “TMZ reports that Petty had no brain activity when he got to the hospital and a decision was made to pull him from life support,” while never pronouncing that the “American Girl” singer had died.

Rolling Stone magazine reported around 4:15 p.m. EST that Petty had died and published a lengthy obituary of him. But the magazine upgraded Petty’s condition to “hospitalized” about an hour later without explaining what had happened to its earlier report. A note at the bottom of its story said, “This story is developing.”

I rather liked his music, and he did the best Mad Hatter ever, so I will miss him.

Do You Want to Feel Really, Really Old?

Keith Richards Abides

The Rolling Stones played their first ever gig 55 years ago today, at the Marquee Club.

The Marqee moved three times, and then closed over 20 years ago, but the Stones are still touring.

Keith Richards, of course, is probably going to outlive the heat death of the universe.

The Joys of Marriage

I was coming home from the chiropractor today with Sharon^* driving, and the song Don't Stand So Close To Me by the Police came on, and she turned up the volume.

I asked her why she liked this song, but hated the Pink Floyd song The Wall, which she hates for what she sees as its anti-teacher message. ("We don't need no education ……… Hey! Teacher, leave them kids alone")

I replied that she just turned up the volume on a song about an affair between a teacher and a student.

She said that she was unaware of this, and then she quickly changed the station.

I then sung:

Her friends are so jealous
You know how bad girls get
Sometimes it's not so easy
To be the teacher's pet

And then she elbowed me.

I am amused.

^*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

You Have Got to be F%$#in' Kidding Me

Another Palmer Moment

Have you heard about the latest patent?

It's literally for discussing song lyrics:

Have you ever talked about the lyrics of a much-loved song with a friend? Perhaps the discussion took place online? It might surprise you to discover that you've gotten pretty darn close to infringing a US patent.

This month, EFF's Stupid Patent of the Month feature has singled out Patent No. 9,401,941, owned by CBS Interactive, which has claimed its monopoly to "processing user interactions with song lyrics." The patent's big reveal is a "computer-implemented system" for "processing interactions with song lyrics." Supposedly, this adds to existing technology by allowing a user to select particular parts of songs, view a menu, and then write an interpretation of a selected line.

Of course, even if such an idea were patent-worthy, there were already websites offering that feature before the patent's priority date of 2011. The most notable is perhaps Rap Genius, a website founded in 2009 that is now simply called Genius.

The patent examiner actually pointed out Rap Genius to the applicant, compelling CBS lawyers to narrow their claims. They added a clause saying that their technology would suggest comments to users based on what type of comments have been written in the past. That narrower definition is unlikely to be infringed by many lyrics sites, but even the narrower definition should not have resulted in a patent grant, argues EFF lawyer Daniel Nazer, who wrote the blog post.

………

Faced with the prospect of a never-ending search for an exact list of features proposed by the applicant, the examiner eventually gives up and grants the patent. That may be what happened here.

Even aside from older technology, the patent, which was filed in 2015, should have been rejected under the Supreme Court's Alice precedent, argues Nazer. It's a series of routine Web development decisions, and that's exactly the type of "generic" computer technology the 2014 Alice decision should have rendered unpatentable.

The Alice in question is Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, where the Supreme Court ruled that just because you add "With a computer" to an unpatentable idea does not make the idea a patentable one.

We seriously need to fix our patent review process.

Quote of the Day

Today, we went to the Ruckus Festival, a 7 hour long mmusic festival with about a dozen bands.

One of the bands was there was Parallel Heights, which put on a fine show, but they had some technical issues.

Specifically, one of the band members, in addition to backup vocals, played ukelele, saxophone, and bagpipes.

There were some technical issues, with the clip on mic for the Sax not working, and the bagpipes had a similar problem, and so it was downed out by the other (amplified) music instruments.

On the way home were talking about the concert, and when we discussed Parallel Heights' set, and Charlie said, "That's the only time that I wished I could hear the bagpipes better."

Heh.

Gets a Friday Music Post

Epic!

It doesn't get any cooler than playing Hendrix on a gayageum:

Korean artist Luna Lee takes modern songs and gives them a chill twist by playing them on a modified gayageum, an ancient Korean string instrument. On her fundraising page, Lee explains that she modernized the gayageum herself to play contemporary tunes.

We also recommend Luna's versions of "Back in Black," "Stairway to Heaven" and "Creep."

This is awesome.

Ear Worms

I have had the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood" going through my head for about 3 hours.

I'm about ready to burn the whole country down.

Posted via mobile.

Hero of the Day

The Boss:

Bruce Springsteen announced earlier today via Twitter that he is canceling his performance in North Carolina this weekend because of the organized assault by the state legislature against human rights.

Don't Call Him the 5th Beatle, He Hated That

Legendary Beatles producer George Martin is dead at age 90:

George Martin, who produced much of the Beatles' classic catalog, has died. The cause of death has not yet been released. He was 90.

Ringo Starr reported the news on Twitter. "God bless George Martin," he wrote late Tuesday night. "Peace and love to Judy and his family, love Ringo and Barbara. George will be missed." In another post, accompanied by a photo of Martin with the Beatles, Starr wrote, "Thank you for all your love and kindness."

Over the decades, many people have claimed to be the "fifth Beatle." But the only person who can credibly hold that title was Martin. The producer not only signed the Beatles to their first record contract in 1962 but went on to work extensively with them on the vast majority of music they recorded over the next eight years, from "Love Me Do" to the majestic suite that wrapped up Abbey Road.

………

One of the many remarkable things about Martin is that he managed to produce highly complex, layered pieces of music like Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band, using a mere four-track recorder. "I felt that was the album which turned the Beatles from being just an ordinary rock & roll group into being significant contributors to the history of artistic performance," Martin wrote in his memoir. "It was the watershed which changed the recording art from something which will stand the test of time as a valid art form: sculpture in music, if you like."

In 2011, Martin looked back fondly on his time with the Beatles. "I think they're so damn good they'll be with us for generations, into the middle of the next century," he said. "They're just great musicians and great writers, like Gershwin or Rodgers and Hammerstein. They are there in history, and the Beatles are there in history, too. They'll be there in 100 years, too. But I won't be."

Also, read Paul McCartney's tribute to Martin.

Charlie Played the Lead in Little Shop of Horrors Tonight

He played Seymour Krelborn.

He did a very good job, and his portrayal was remarkably dark, at least as compared to my recollections of the original Broadway show that I saw many decades ago.

He mentioned to me that he was channeling his middle school experiences, and I saw that.

He and Natalie clearly got their singing voices from my mom, because neither my wife or I can carry a tune.

Britain, You're Grounded!

This pro-Brexit video is beyond words.

That's it, out of the gene pool.



H/t Boing Boing.

It Ain't just the Caucuses that are F%$#ed up In Iowa

There is a bill being mooted in the Iowa Senate proposing that Stanford University be published because their marching band is too mean.

There is something seriously wrong here, even without the whole "Bill of Attainder" thing:

………

Stanford's football team defeated the University of Iowa 45-16 in the game. In addition, the Stanford band, which has a history of irreverent performances, poked fun during the halftime show with a dancing cow, a frowning farmer formation and other tongue-in-cheek gestures that upset some Iowans. ESPN, which televised the game, cut away from the band's performance. State Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, told The Des Moines Register at the Iowa Capitol on Wednesday that he introduced Senate File 2081 because he believes Stanford officials have condoned improper behavior by the marching band. "I think it's unfortunate because here in Iowa we try to teach sportsmanship," Chelgren said. "We try to teach courtesy, and when someone behaves in a way that is contrary to that, we need to point it out."

Good thing we can all ignore Iowa again until the 2018 state fair.

Seriously, what the actual f%$#?

My Thoughts Following David Bowie's Death

Live Version

I never bought any of his albums or singles, but my favorite song of his is Putting out a Fire from the 1982 movie Cat People.

I saw it, but was not particularly impressed. I preferred the original 1942 movie, which is widely viewed as a classic.

Most of my experiences with Bowie as an artist were as an actor.

I saw him in the 1976 film, The Man Who Fell to Earth, which was a his cinematic debut, and quite literally the worst cinematic experience in my life.

It was boring, pretentious, confusing, ponderous, and dull.

Looking back, I am left the question, "How the f%$# can you cast David Bowie as an alien, and completely f%$# it up?"

By the same token he was also in one of my favorite films, the Tony Scott's criminally unappreciated The Hunger, a stylish film starring Bowie, Susan Sarandon, and Catherine Deneuve.

It is a stylish vampire film that eschews many of the cliches, and it is unbelievably hot. (Watch it)

Of Labyrinth, one of Jim Henson's few fizzles, the less said the better.

I do see a parallel between his music career and his theatrical career, in that he never seemed to settle on a personae.

Both in music and in film, he was a sort of character actor, where he reveled in changing who he was in public.

Any of the music and cinema buffs out there, feel free to tell me that I am full of it.

Music from My Youth

I was seriously into Mike Batt when I was in high school.

I had 3-4 of his albums, including a concept album called Zero Zero.

It turns out that he also produced an album long (41:37) science fiction video.



I still like the music, but this video (c. 1983) is tremendously early 1980s.

One Less Reason to Go to Cleveland

I no longer have the slightest desire to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

It used to be that the Grammys came up with the most irresponsible assessment of popular music, overlooking important artists during their best years (and sometimes apologizing with belated lifetime achievement awards). Recently, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has surpassed the Grammys dubious track record, and this year brings the group to what may be a new low. The Hall’s new slate involves turning down several worthy nominees for the sake of inducting Steve Miller, Deep Purple, and Chicago. If these are the bands most suitable for honoring, the hall should just fold itself up and go home.

I want to have nothing to do with any organization that has the Steve Miller Band as a member.

Hard Core Badass!

Charlie, my son, and section leaders for the percussion section, was practicing in band for this Thursday's concert.

He was playing the bongos, and there was an incident.

I got the following texts:

I pulled a Pete Townshend.

………

I was playing the bongo part when I looked down and saw pink on one of the heads. I played too hard and the skin came off one of my knuckles.

I replied:

Thank God you didn't pull a Keith Moon.

We would have to pay to rebuild the f%$#ing stage.

No worries, 'Tis but a scratch.

He's still good for the concert.

Please for the Love of God, Make It Stop

For the past week and a half, I have been unable to get a song out of my head:  Paul McCartney's Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.

While it is among my favorite works of his post Beatles, after a week and a half I am willing to drive an ice pick into my skull.

GAH!!!!

https://youtu.be/XsWufNDJl4M

Posted via mobile.

Deep Thought

It can be annoying to have an ear worm, (a song that you cannot get out of your head) even when you like the song.

When the song in question is Peaches' F&$@ the Pain Away, and you have to be sure that you are not absent mindedly singing the lyrics at work, it gets positively aggravating.

Posted via mobile.

Ear Worm

I've got another classic rock song stuck in my head.

This time, it's Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

Posted via mobile.

Deep Thought

When you have an ear worm, a song that you cannot get out of your head, sleep can be difficult.

When the song is Happy Jack by The Who, sleep is f@$&ing impossible.

Posted via mobile.