Today "Far Side" cartoonist Gary Larson released 3 new comics for the first time in 25 years. You can see them here.
Friday, July 10, 2020
Ray Manzarek - Riders on the Storm
Ray Manzarek was the keyboardist for The Doors. Here he talks about the making of "Riders on the Storm".
He refers to being in the studio with a bassist but on tour, The Doors had no bassist - Ray would play the bass part with his left hand. On nights when Jim Morrison was incapacitated or arrested or otherwise unable to perform, Ray Manzarek would take over the vocals. So there you have one guy playing the bass part with one hand, playing the melody with the other and singing.
I find there's a certain set of songs - a certain collection of keyboard parts in popular music that I just find hypnotizing and feel like I could listen to them forever. It might be a blog post. This is one of those keyboard parts. The falling "rain" scale thing is as evocative to me as anything in music. I've been trying to figure out why but have not. If you think about it, it has nothing to do with rain at all. But it just so plainly evokes rain for some reason.
Part of the keyboard melody sounds like the original sample used in Beck's "Where It's At" but in actuality there is no connection (as far as I know).
In honor of a full day of constant rain.
He refers to being in the studio with a bassist but on tour, The Doors had no bassist - Ray would play the bass part with his left hand. On nights when Jim Morrison was incapacitated or arrested or otherwise unable to perform, Ray Manzarek would take over the vocals. So there you have one guy playing the bass part with one hand, playing the melody with the other and singing.
I find there's a certain set of songs - a certain collection of keyboard parts in popular music that I just find hypnotizing and feel like I could listen to them forever. It might be a blog post. This is one of those keyboard parts. The falling "rain" scale thing is as evocative to me as anything in music. I've been trying to figure out why but have not. If you think about it, it has nothing to do with rain at all. But it just so plainly evokes rain for some reason.
Part of the keyboard melody sounds like the original sample used in Beck's "Where It's At" but in actuality there is no connection (as far as I know).
In honor of a full day of constant rain.
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Happy Independence Day
It just so happens that leading up to July 4th, the book I've been reading is "1776" by David McCullough. I actually started reading it without knowing what it's about. I was so amazed by "John Adams" that I bought "1776" sight unseen. That caused a slight problem later on.
It turns out that, whereas "John Adams" gives insight into the Revolutionary War from the perspective of the Continental Congress and diplomacy with Great Britain, "1776" is specifically about the war itself. George Washington, General Howe, the Battle of Long Island, strategy, the soldiers, cannons, it's all here. As fascinating as the subject of John Adams is, the war is even more fascinating and I was delighted and enthralled.
There was just one problem with going in blind that dawned on me slowly as I got further and further and realized how much attention was put into each detail... I kept looking at how far I was into the book and thinking "there's a long way to go here and not many pages to do it". It turns out the book is about the war ONLY DURING the year 1776, not a history of the entire war. I came into it only knowing the title but I should have paid more attention to it. 1776... I get it.
As much as I would have loved an entire history of the war, it still remains that the book is fantastic. If you only read one thing for Independence Day, I recommend "1776". And if you don't read that, read "John Adams". And if you don't read "John Adams" watch the series "John Adams" and if you don't watch the whole series, just watch the second episode. And if you don't watch the second episode, I don't know, I think I'm out.
It turns out that, whereas "John Adams" gives insight into the Revolutionary War from the perspective of the Continental Congress and diplomacy with Great Britain, "1776" is specifically about the war itself. George Washington, General Howe, the Battle of Long Island, strategy, the soldiers, cannons, it's all here. As fascinating as the subject of John Adams is, the war is even more fascinating and I was delighted and enthralled.
There was just one problem with going in blind that dawned on me slowly as I got further and further and realized how much attention was put into each detail... I kept looking at how far I was into the book and thinking "there's a long way to go here and not many pages to do it". It turns out the book is about the war ONLY DURING the year 1776, not a history of the entire war. I came into it only knowing the title but I should have paid more attention to it. 1776... I get it.
As much as I would have loved an entire history of the war, it still remains that the book is fantastic. If you only read one thing for Independence Day, I recommend "1776". And if you don't read that, read "John Adams". And if you don't read "John Adams" watch the series "John Adams" and if you don't watch the whole series, just watch the second episode. And if you don't watch the second episode, I don't know, I think I'm out.
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams
Thursday, July 2, 2020
Rad Deleted Scenes - Epilogue
I thought I'd make just one more post about this since I'm sure everyone other than me is tired of it.
About 20 years ago me and a friend bonded over our mutual love of "Rad".
"I know 'Rad', he gets the Murray from the store!", I confidently told him.
"What? That's not in the movie."
And he was right, it wasn't in the movie. But I felt sure that there was something going on - surely I hadn't just made up a movie scene in my mind. There must be multiple versions. The version I rented from the video store must have had scenes that other VHSs didn't. Years later I started buying up tapes, trying to find another one like the one I had seen.
It didn't take too long before I was investing more money in Rad VHSs than I hoped to. I'm a pretty cheap guy and it's not a cheap habit, for anyone. The next phase was contacting Rad VHS sellers on eBay and simply asking them if the copy they were selling had extra scenes. I told them I'd pay more if it did, but this also was fruitless. Many, many messages to many, many people and no one had a special copy like the one of my youth.
The recent news proves that my memory was real, the scene was real and I was not crazy. So I have that. But it does raise another question. If my local video store's copy of Rad had a deleted scene and no other similar copy seems to exist... where did it come from? How?
Well someone on facebook might have a clue:
Is it a coincidence that this took place in the Philadelphia area and that's where I am too?
So the video store recorded a movie off of TV and offered it for rental? Keep in mind, this is before the widespread use of home printers so they can't just make a professional cover and put a VHS in it and pass it off as the real thing. I guess my best theory is that they had a real copy, someone didn't return it and they replaced it with a bootleg.
The funny thing about this idea, if it is what happened, is that my friend had watched his VHS so much he even memorized the movie advertisements before the movie and I... I don't remember any ads before the movie.
About 20 years ago me and a friend bonded over our mutual love of "Rad".
"I know 'Rad', he gets the Murray from the store!", I confidently told him.
"What? That's not in the movie."
And he was right, it wasn't in the movie. But I felt sure that there was something going on - surely I hadn't just made up a movie scene in my mind. There must be multiple versions. The version I rented from the video store must have had scenes that other VHSs didn't. Years later I started buying up tapes, trying to find another one like the one I had seen.
It didn't take too long before I was investing more money in Rad VHSs than I hoped to. I'm a pretty cheap guy and it's not a cheap habit, for anyone. The next phase was contacting Rad VHS sellers on eBay and simply asking them if the copy they were selling had extra scenes. I told them I'd pay more if it did, but this also was fruitless. Many, many messages to many, many people and no one had a special copy like the one of my youth.
The recent news proves that my memory was real, the scene was real and I was not crazy. So I have that. But it does raise another question. If my local video store's copy of Rad had a deleted scene and no other similar copy seems to exist... where did it come from? How?
Well someone on facebook might have a clue:
Is it a coincidence that this took place in the Philadelphia area and that's where I am too?
So the video store recorded a movie off of TV and offered it for rental? Keep in mind, this is before the widespread use of home printers so they can't just make a professional cover and put a VHS in it and pass it off as the real thing. I guess my best theory is that they had a real copy, someone didn't return it and they replaced it with a bootleg.
The funny thing about this idea, if it is what happened, is that my friend had watched his VHS so much he even memorized the movie advertisements before the movie and I... I don't remember any ads before the movie.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
What Makes This Song Great? - Black
He's right about that piano. I never noticed how there was a guitar in this that sounded exactly like "Yellow Ledbetter". It's like they're ripping off themselves.
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