Friday, March 22, 2013

All That You Buy, Beg, Borrow Or Steal

At work today we were reminded by the news that Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon  is forty years old as of the first of this month. Also, the remains of Saturn V rocket stages were recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic to be preserved. I wondered if it were possible to get internet service on the moon yet, and what speed it would be; or, how long would it take to download Dark Side Of The Moon on the dark side of the moon?

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Poor Little Darling With A Chip Out Of Your Heart

I used to think that the Elton John song 'All The Girls Love Alice' was about Alice Cooper. But no, I believe the song came out while Alice Cooper was the name of the band, not just a renamed Vincent Furnier. The song turned out to be about a lesbian.

Yeah. That was an awkward moment for me.

Why, whenever I hear Debbie Harry sing 'walking on imported air' in 'Walk Like Me', do I think of Spaceballs - namely the scene where President Scroob partakes of a can of 'Perri-air'?

More recently, in 'The Eton Rifles' by The Jam, there's a bridge part that repeats once, but is slightly different the second time around: 'What a catalyst you turned out to be/load up your guns and run on home for your tea/left me standing like a guilty schoolboy'. The repetition makes this change: 'Left me standing like a naughty schoolboy'. I myself kinda prefer 'guilty', as I think it sounds better. But when the song gets stuck in my head, my brain seems to prefer 'naughty' in the line. I wonder.

Then you have the time I figured out that the Foghat lyric in 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You' is 'I don't want you to be sad and blue', not 'Sailor Moon'. Deaf sonova.

I know there's more, I just don't remember them all.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Humble Thyself To The King Of The Kids

You hipsters have nothing on dear old dad. Dads Are The Original Hipsters

Since the federal government nixed the Death Star proposal, I guess this hotel will have to do. From TYWKIWDBI. Hotel's Solar "Death Ray"

Looking for new music? This online doodad may be able to help you find stuff you'd like. Music Plasma: Visual Music Search Engine

That about sums it up. Humor Train: The Internet Is A Lot Like Ancient Egypt

Sunday, March 10, 2013

She's Coming In 12:30 Flight

A friend of a friend is currently on a mission trip in South Africa, and is having quite the experience during her stay. Check out Jess In South Africa for details as she records and recounts her experience.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Turn On The Turntable And-A Turn Me Loose

Recently I decided that I needed something better to listen to my records on than the simple mono portable player I received as a Christmas present when I was in my teens. So I did a little bit of looking around and decided on this Pyle turntable, recommended by the Turntable Doctor at Jerry's Records in Squirrel Hill. When I finally got a chance to check it out, the first record I played was the Pale Bride picture sleeve 7" by the Von Bondies, shown below.

This photo is a reenactment. 
As an aside, I had never before heard the song that makes up the B-side, 'Falling In Love'. It's just as good, and I don't entirely see why it wasn't on the VBs' last album along with the A-side. 

I'm not much into collecting singles, unless I get a good deal or find something that was lost to me a long time ago (or more likely, both at the same time). But I have to say I've made a nice beginner's collection of picture sleeves so far. I've got the aforementioned Von Bondies 7", a sleeve but no disc for 'Hey Hey My My' by Neil Young, The Cars' 'You Are The Girl' (I had the single, and my friend Jeremy later stumbled on the matching sleeve as we were looking for the Neil sleeve), 'Every Breath You Take' from The Police (and the B-side, 'Murder By Numbers' is brilliant), and I'm on the lookout for XTC's 'Making Plans For Nigel' and need to go back to Jerry's to pick up the Weird Al Yankovic 'Like A Surgeon' sleeve I found, but couldn't take home with me. 

I had also started to convert my grandfather's old country records to digital, to make CD's for him, but after a few tests it seems that I could really use a pre-amp. The blasted thing is supposed to have one built in, but it only seems to work on the USB output. I'm not using the USB output because the computer I'm plugging it into has a multitude of issues, and USB connectivity may be one of them. I'll probably still need a pre-amp for setting it up with speakers. 

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Words That Never Were True

Have you ever written something that sounds reasonable in your own head, but as soon as you ship it off to the intended recipient you begin to think 'I bet they hate me now'? I think I just did. Don't read it at work.