St. Vincent (Annie Clark)

Her latest music is making me think of Cowboy Bebop. This is the easy listening music of the cyberpunk future dystopia.

Music Updates

It's been a while since I have posted anything specifically about my music. Over this last year I have finally gotten down the production side of things (that is producing decent sounding songs in an apartment environment) but have had moderate success with my vocals. I was finally able to get better equipment that made my vocal recordings clear enough to hear what was wrong. Through trial, error, and reading advice from pros I have learned a lot about recording techniques that strengthen the diaphram and make my vocal clear. Things no longer sound muddy or drowned out by music. I'm still working on not holding back. Because I live in an apartment and do a lot of my recording at night, I am often self conscious of being too loud. However, to get past this, I just belted it out during the day today instead. After some takes and honest criticism from myself and friends it is clear that my vocals are better but they are just slightly flat, occasionally, really flat. Sometimes, I'm able to get things perfect, but not as much as I want. I've thought about auto-tuning but I really don't like the sound of it even if it's making slight adjustments. I've also thought that maybe over time practice will make my voice better. Practice definitely will help but I think I should get lessons to teach me where the notes are, so I can really feel it instead of just guessing. I say guessing because it is hard to find the right pitch when you're hearing it through your inner ear. Being taught that alone will make everything that much easier. I can't afford lessons, but I've been producing some songs for a singer, so I'll just ask for lessons from him in trade for my work.

I have a lot of new songs but I've been holding out on releasing them because I want to do things right and with more discipline from now on.  I bought a drum-set so that has helped a lot in making my songs sound fuller. I'm still hoping to get a bass guitar soon because that's the other essential part of the backbone of a song. Again though, the biggest thing is my vocals. I really want to get them better and I'm sure I will. I just have to be patient with myself as I'm working on them. As one of my friends said, I'm great at expressing myself , just my delivery is a little off. It will all come together eventually.

Best of all, I am having more fun than ever!

-Rooster

Monday Night Grunge Fest (part 2)

The next guy has unfortunate hair.

Still.

Monday Night Grunge Fest (part 1)

This next one by Nirvana is a great example of how fun they were. Very little of Top Of The Pops was live, so they never pretended it was. Here they are screwing around and complete making fun of the illusion of "Rock Star". There are even cover and tributes of this version of Kurt's singing.

Music Videos for the Last Day of November

In my last posting there was a cover of The Pixies' Where Is My Mind?, so I've decided to start today's set with the original.

 

While I'm at it, here's a live version of one of my favorites of theirs, Gigantic.

Okay, on with the set...

This one by Fluffy had a music video but it is hard to find. I have a copy of the video on a VHS tape. Eventually, I'll upload it.

Music Videos for the First Saturday After Thanksgiving

Some Videos For Saturday Night

I just found out that Chevelle covered the previous song:

Sabrina [1954]

Some YTMND's

Going To the Store

United States of Reducto

Woah! You're In A Wheelchair

Skit Skat Kat

Goldblum Retriever

The Baxter [2005]

A movie about guys like me. I never was a "Baxter" ...until one day I woke up and realized that I had become one. At some point it happens. I definitely relate to the "Baxter" in this movie, Elliot Sherman; and I can definitely see myself falling in love with someone like Cecil Mills. I highly recommend this movie to single 30 somethings.

...For guys like us, there is hope.

 

Matthew Dean Shaffer #15

Remarkable!
...It was the neighbors basement.
Once again I could use their VHS without them knowing.

Alice In Chains - Facelift [1990]

Obi-Wan Escapes with the Waffles

Obi-Wan Escapes with the Waffles

Aimee Mann - I'm With Stupid

Videos from the I'm With Stupid album circa 1995:

...I should note that the first video is one of the reasons why I'm in love with the 90s woman. I was 16 in 1995 and I guess women like Aimee shaped my ideas of beauty.

The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen

Videos from the Gentlemen album circa 1993:

Is It What You Hoped For?

Grunge Is the Soundtrack of Fall

It's worth noting that most of these songs came out in the 1991-92 season. The feeling of Fall was definitely a common theme in this period.

Dead Poets

Sub Urbian

Matthew Dean Shaffer #14

I once saw years ago, like '94 or '95, a smiley face shirt that said "have a day". The face was green and the mouth was straight instead of smiling. I've thought about making one ever since.
   
 : |

like that but green

I don't know why but I still find that funny. In fact it's funny (to me) in the way that it gives me a funny bone kind of tickle between my collar bone and my throat. Is that weird?

Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch Dies at 47

Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:59pm by Madeleine Morgenstern

(AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)

NEW YORK (AP) — Adam Yauch, the gravelly voiced Beastie Boys rapper who co-founded the seminal hip-hop group, has died at age 47.
Yauch’s representatives confirmed that the rapper died Friday morning in New York after a nearly three-year battle with cancer.
Also known as MCA, Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous salivary gland in 2009. He had undergone surgery and radiation.
At the time, Yauch expressed hope it was “very treatable,” but his illness caused the group to cancel shows and delayed the release of its 2011 album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.”
The Brooklyn-born Yauch created the Beastie Boys with high school friend Michael “Mike D” Diamond. Originally conceived as a hardcore punk group, it became a hip-hop trio after Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz joined.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

Adam Yauch, the gravelly voiced Beastie Boys rapper and the most conscientious member of the seminal hip-hop group, has died, his mentor Russell Simmons said Friday. He was 47.
Calls and emails to representatives for the Beastie Boys were not immediately returned. Simmons‘ Def Jam label released the Beastie Boys’ first album, “Licensed to Ill.”

The cause, time and whereabouts of death weren’t immediately known. Yauch, who’s also known as MCA, was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland in 2009. He had undergone surgery and radiation.
At the time, Yauch expressed hope it was “very treatable,” but his illness caused the group to cancel shows and delayed the release of their 2011 album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.”
He hadn’t performed in public since 2009 and was absent when the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April.
The Brooklyn-born Yauch created the Beastie Boys with high school friend Michael “Mike D” Diamond. Originally conceived as a hardcore punk group, it soon became a hip-hop trio after Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz joined. They released their chart-topping debut “Licensed to Ill” in 1986, a raucous album led by the anthem “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”.
But in the seven studio albums that followed, the Beastie Boys expanded considerably and grew more musically ambitious. Their follow-up, 1989′s “Paul’s Boutique,” ended any suggestion of the group as a one-hit wonder. Extensive in its sampling and sonically layered, the album was ranked the 156th greatest album ever by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.
The Beastie Boys would later take up their own instruments – a rarity in hip-hop – on the album “Check Your Head” and subsequent releases.
The Beastie Boys – a trio of white Jewish kids – established themselves as one of the most respected groups in hip-hop at a time when white rappers were few.
Introducing the group at the Rock Hall, Public Enemy rapper Chuck D said the Beastie Boys “broke the mold.”
“The Beastie Boys are indeed three bad brothers who made history,” said Chuck D. “They brought a whole new look to rap and hip-hop. They proved that rap could come from any street – not just a few.”
Yauch also went under the pseudonym Nathanial Hornblower when working as a filmmaker. He directed numerous videos for the group, as well as the 2006 concert film “Awesome: I F—– Shot That!” He also co-founded the film distribution company Osciolloscope Laboratories, named after his New York studio.
Yauch is survived by his wife, Dechen Wangdu, and his daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.

The Lemon Revolution Now On iTunes

Just follow this link. It's only $9.99 for 14 tracks! You know you want a copy, so why haven't you bought one yet?

Joy #6

Self-Driving Car Test: Steve Mahan 

 

Joy #5

YTMND or Die Hard

http://livefree.ytmnd.com/

The Smoothest Man in Space

http://smoothest.ytmnd.com/

Matthew Dean Shaffer #13

Sorry, I’m Not Don Draper











happy valentine's day to me

Some Of My Wall Art

It's been a while since I posted anything about my art or my photos, so how about photos of my art? They aren't really all that great. But I had fun making them.

This one I made with my dad:

This one was a tribute to my old rust bucket, ye olde Chevy Nova. It consists of a hubcap and random things I found at work over the course of several years. I also rigged it with lights so you can plug it in like a lamp:

This one is made up of three broken skateboards with graffiti on them:

This one I had trouble photographing, but with the two pictures you can get an idea of what it looks like in low and bright lighting. I also used sections of this oil painting for two of my (music) album covers:

Matthew Dean Shaffer #12

There is a heart shaped grease stain on the floor of my kitchen. I don't have the "heart" to clean it up. Ha haaaa.... (Jeff Goldblum laugh style).

Matthew Dean Shaffer #11

"We'd be making a lot more progress if Timmy Torture over here wasn't trying to kill me every two seconds!"

Matthew Dean Shaffer #10

"I'm sure I do... but only because Dr. Fumbles McStupid over here was in way over his head!"

‘God Drenched’: Paul Simon May Be ‘Not…Religious’ — But Believers Sure Love His Latest Album

Posted on February 1, 2012 at 6:37am by Dave Urbanski

Listen again to the storied lyrics of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Sounds of Silence”—assuming those tunes aren’t already hardwired in your brain—and you might find yourself agreeing that legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon doesn’t mind infusing his music with spiritual themes from time to time.
But for the Jewish-raised troubadour to spend his most recent album, the critically acclaimed So Beautiful or So What, singing about Jesus, angels, the afterlife, and other elements close to the heart of Christianity?
Well, that‘s a narrative turn even Simon didn’t expect.
“It’s funny,” Simon, 70, reflected in a recent PBS interview, “for somebody who’s not a religious person, God comes up a lot in my songs.”
You can watch the entire interview below:

 

Watch Paul Simon on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Simon’s most recent project took 6th place in Christianity Today‘s top albums of 2011. CT’s review of So Beautiful or So What, which garnered five out of five stars, noted that Simon is “clearly content with life’s perplexities, humble in the face of what is bigger than himself.”
Spiritual things are “part of my thoughts on a fairly regular basis. I think of it more as spiritual feeling,” Simon told Kim Lawton, who interviewed him for the PBS segment and penned a follow-up piece for CT. “It’s something I recognize in myself and that I enjoy, and I don’t quite understand it.”
You don’t get that impression digging into the spiritually aware lyrics of So Beautiful or So What. One of its best examples is “Getting Ready for Christmas Day,” the catchy, vibrant opener for which Simon samples audio of a 1941 sermon (with the same title) by the Rev. J.M. Gates.

The result is a kind of bittersweet advent prayer—a mix of life’s ups and downs, with Simon’s protagonist looking toward “the power and the glory and the story of the Christmas Day”:

From early in November to the last week of December
I got money matters weighing me down
Oh the music may be merry, but it’s only temporary
I know Santa Claus is coming to town
In the days I work my day job, in the nights I work my night
But it all comes down to working man’s pay
Getting ready, I’m getting ready, ready for Christmas Day
(Reverend Gates) Getting ready for Christmas Day. And let me tell you, namely, the undertaker, he’s getting ready for your body. Not only that, the jailer he’s getting ready for you. Christmas Day. Hmm? And not only the jailer, but the lawyer, the police force. Now getting ready for Christmas Day, and I want you to bear it in mind.

You can check out the song’s music video below:

 

 In the behind-the-scenes video (below), Simon appears a bit in awe of how Gates’ sermon just seemed “meant” for his music and lyrics:

 


“The Afterlife”—a whimsical tune with insightful perspectives on eternity—features a striking lyric offering that a face-to-face meeting with God should obliterate any earthly burdens we bear:

After you climb up the ladder of time
The Lord God is near
Face-to-face in the vastness of space
Your words disappear
And you feel like you’re swimming in an ocean of love
And the current is strong

And check out the opening salvo of “Love and Hard Times”:

God and His only Son
Paid a courtesy call on Earth
One Sunday morning
Orange blossoms opened their fragrant lips
Songbirds sang from the tips of Cottonwoods
Old folks wept for His love in these hard times

Based on such a collection of (dare we say) biblically rich lyrics, one can‘t help wondering what’s been going on in Simon’s soul of late, whether he understands those goings on or not.
Others haven’t waited for the fabled bard to figure it all out.
Cathleen Falsani, an acclaimed Christian cultural and arts critic, calls So Beautiful or So What “one of the most beautiful, gracefully powerful and memorable collections of spiritual musical musings in recent memory.” She adds a declaration from fellow believer and critic, Northern Ireland’s Steve Stockman, that Simon’s latest effort is “so God drenched that it could win best Christian album of the year.”
It came close, but that would seem a trivial concern to Simon, who clearly gets more out of enjoying this strange turn in his spiritual journey…wherever it takes him.
“Quite often, people read or hear things in my songs that I think are more true than what I wrote,” he told Lawton. “I feel I’m like a vessel, and it passed through me, and I’m glad.”