“Beliefs, once acquired, have a kind of inertia in that there is a preference to alter them as little as possible. There is a tendency to reject evidence or ideas that are inconsistent with current beliefs, particularly if they undermine central beliefs; this is known as the principle of conservatism.”
[from “Six Impossible Things before Breakfast: […]
Work out the details yourself.
An American bagpipe rock band, Prydein, has a website with a large collection of pipe images - woodcuts, engravings, etchings, paintings and photographs.
[via BiblioOdyssey]
My colleague Professor Larry Bernard once told me that he didn’t believe in midlife crises, rather he looked at them as midlife exuberances. I liked that. It put the old “is that all there is?” existential blues into a positive spin. I began to think that we go through these things much more than once. […]
It has been interesting, and somewhat unfair, to see what pop musicians from the 60s have withstood the test of time, or at least forty years worth. Many were one hit wonders, but many were in there in the charts, respected and loved by many, but faded once the 70s began. [Speaking of which, for […]
TV Cello
Autograph owned by RB
Cab Calloway was one of the great 20th century American popular entertainers. I had never seen young Cab in action until I saw this video. The energy in this song is superhuman. My heart rate accelerates from the opening frenetic bass solo through the dizzying clarinet and sax licks, and if you […]
Here is one of the photos that won the 2006 Biomedical Image Awards. It is a thrilling manifestation of life’s desire to reach out, expand, and know the universe.
Nerve cells
A cluster of special nerve cells called cerebellar granule cells, growing in culture. These cells naturally gather together, and when placed in a culture dish covered […]
I’m unclear on who is behind this website, but if any of you PI enthusiasts, you will be in pi heaven. Click on the image above to hear the pi song.
[Thanks Ursi.]
Why is time lapse photography so interesting? In the case of plants, it’s just they look so ALIVE when they move quickly. Check out the good work at Plants in Motion. Here is one of their small video clips.
[Thanks Ursi]
Today, in memory of those who have lost their lives in Java (Indonesia) in yesterday’s 7.7 earthquake and tsunami, I present music from that area that I love and has been long out of print. I’ll post individual songs over the next few months.
SANGKALA: performed by E. Koestyara and Group Gapura
I’ve owned this music on […]
This blog called Red Black Window is now over 6 months old. As a ‘dear diary’ exercise I feel compelled, for some strange reason, to look back to see what this project has been for me and where it seems to be going, if anywhere.
The blog started as a sketch pad for my book on […]
I don’t hear people talk about Son House, but then maybe I don’t hang out enough in blues circles. I grew up with an album by Son House that had this song on it (”Death Letter Blues”). The rhythmic language of the guitar and his voice is amazingly slippery. There are places in the song […]
This one caught my attention: Concerto for two voices? how bizarre. And look it’s two dreamy eyed teenagers singing against and angelic consort of peers, and rock band that ruined everything. But wait! There are MORE performances of the same song sung by the same group! Thank God they fired the drummer on the 2nd […]
“The Piano” A digital animation by Aidan Gibbons with music by Yann Tiersen.
In 1966, rock and roll invaded classical music’s personal space by including orchestras, string quartets, oboes, and harpsichords in their arrangements “Eleanor Rigby,” Joshua Rifkin’s “Baroque Beatles” as well as his arrangements for Judy Collins were all co-existing at this time. There was also a short-lived group called The Left Banke who managed to put […]
It’s Frank Zappa in the background. Great video of bullets tearing things apart in slomo.
One of the most thrilling music performances I know is captured in Jonathan Demme’s film, STOP MAKING SENSE. The film documents David Byrne and the Talking Heads live in concert. One of my favorite moments is the video of “Once in a Lifetime.” (You saw the commercially released earlier video last week.)
In this performance, the […]
When “Strawberry Fields Forever” first came out, we knew things were getting serious; very serious. Their whole look was different. Even Paul had a mustache. The instrument you hear at the beginning is called a “tubon” which Paul plays. (Here is a scan from my Beatles scrapbook.)
Everything about this song was unusual. The opening […]
My blogsite been inundated by naughty spam lately. I am thankful for a plugin called AKISMET for yanking these nasty things out of the comments area. The count today is up to 1400 over the past few days. I’ve figured out that when I use the word s*x or er*tic or g*y or any of […]
This is one of my favorite vocal ensembles in the world. I’m not going to tell you that THIS song (”O Susanna”) is my favorite song they do by any means, but if you’ve never heard them, you’ll get a rough idea of what they sing. (This was all I cd find on YouTube.) You […]
[My comment feature on the blog doesn’t seem to be able to allow people to post pictures. I might have posted this as a comment, which it is, but without the picture it wouldn’t mean much, so I reprint it here. I must admit, I was a bit nervous bringing out “You Never Know” as […]
Parents can rarely know what will tweak a child’s first inkling of the mysterious world that will eventually be called sex and love. I assume that the majority of children have no idea what is involved in procreation or its many non-procreational variations, alone and with others. Are pre-pubescent children capable of erotic thoughts? I […]
BACKGROUND ABOUT CHORDS FOR NON-MUSICIANS
When musicians describe music, very often they will refer to the “chords” that are sounding in or behind the musical texture. There are seven notes in a major scale, each one can have a 3-note chord on it, and our traditional music theory teachers teach us to call those entities “triads.” […]
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