Music

Richard Corliss Makes Excuses for Michael Jackson

Before Michael Jackson's death Friday, I wasn't aware that I had any affection left for the King of Pop. Like millions of others, I grew up watching Jackson and the rest of his family grow up. Janet Jackson's my age, and when she played Penny as a 10-year-old on the sitcom Good Times, I was in love. I decided to save myself for her -- not that she appreciated it -- until I finally gave up at age 18. I'm not the only one who still had some affection for Jackson, but the extent of the tonguebath ... (read more)

2009/06/27

Meet the Fourth Jonas Brother

You may not know this, but there's a fourth Jonas Brother -- a ginormous bald black guy named Big Rob who comes out occasionally to supplement their musical caterwauling with rap. Until I found a blog entry by Rickey Laurentiis, I was not aware that Big Rob was an attempt to establish white supremacy in an unsuspecting audience of tween girls: I've seen them around, figuratively, on the covers of magazines and on the TV, but I didn't really take notice until So You Think You Can Dance final ... (read more)

2009/06/17

It Takes Diff'rent Strokes

Monty Propps, a 36-year-old Brit who creates video mashups, has re-edited the Diff'rent Strokes opening with new music. The music was composed by Chris Young for the 1982 horror flick The Dorm That Dripped Blood. The mashup is more frightening than the actual trailer for that film. ... (read more)

2009/04/16

How to Create a YouTube Time Link When Sharing a Video

It's easy to link directly to a specific time in a YouTube video. All you have to do is add a t parameter to the end of the URL that indicates the time position in seconds. Here's an example that links to Post Malone's Nirvana tribute benefit concert for the coronavirus pandemic 118 seconds in when the performance begins: https://youtu.be/f7eaGcIyhPU?t=118 The t=118 parameter causes the video to begin playing one minutes and 58 seconds after the beginning. There's also a way to accomplish the ... (read more)

2009/03/20

ABC Cancels 'Life on Mars'

ABC has cancelled Life on Mars, the surreal crime drama that dropped a New York cop 35 years into the past, reports Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly: Multiple sources are confirming that ABC has canceled my beloved Life on Mars. Per an insider, the network recently advised the show's producers that it would not be ordering a second season. The heads-up will allow them to make this year's season finale a series finale, thus leaving no questions unanswered. And unlike Pushing Daisies, ... (read more)

2009/03/03

TechCrunch Runs Bogus Last.fm Rumor

Late Friday, TechCrunch ran a single-sourced allegation that the CBS-owned music-recommendation service Last.fm had handed over user data to the RIAA for use in illegal file-sharing lawsuits: ... word is going around that the RIAA asked social music service Last.fm for data about its user's listening habits to find people with unreleased tracks on their computers. And Last.fm, which is owned by CBS, actually handed the data over to the RIAA. According to a tip we received: I heard from an irate ... (read more)

2009/02/23

The Fine Line Between Sucks and Rocks

The political blogger Andrew Sullivan has the obnoxious practice of running reader emails without naming the person. I can only assume his motivation is to hog as much of the spotlight as possible, yet still allow other people to shoulder some of his workload. I enjoy reading Sullivan, but he strikes me as a person who always has to be the prettiest brain in the room. One of his wrongfully uncredited readers just submitted the perfect explanation for the popularity of the Pet Shop Boys: I'm ... (read more)

2009/02/20

Cyber-Cowboy Post-Apocalyptic Kung Fu

I found a great "cyber-cowboy post-apocalyptic fu" music video on another blog this morning. Watch for the appearance of Col. Wilma Deering, the Planet of the Apes Statue of Liberty and the film crew in a mirror: This video for Muse's "Knights of Cydonia" is the work of Joseph Kahn, a prolific music video director whose next project is a film based on William Gibson's Neuromancer. (Via Stan!.) ... (read more)

2008/10/28

Henry Hey's 'Palin Song'

Before you dismiss Palin Song as a slam against the candidate, listen to it a few times to see how jazz musician Henry Hey stalks her speech with his piano. The song takes me back to Mister Rogers neighborhood. (Via Michael Sippey.) ... (read more)

2008/10/23

Going to Buckethead at Jacksonville's Freebird Live

Last night I took my 12-year-old son to see Buckethead at Freebird Live in Jacksonville Beach. In the past year all three of my sons have developed an appreciation for, and I hope I'm using the term properly here, people who can shred an axe. They acquired this taste by spending most of their waking hours and some REM sleep playing Guitar Hero. To give you an idea of how out of place I was at this event, the last musician I saw perform live was Janet Jackson at the MGM Grand in Vegas back in ... (read more)