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That Eric Alper

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Billy Corgan on Music Media and Reviews

Feb 21, 2015

Is your relationship with Marilyn Mansion the kind of friendship where you’d call each other up when things seemed to be going badly for the other one. Say, during the aftermath of Columbine …

I’m sorry, but to me that’s a silly question.

Why?

Because it presupposes that those situations needed attending to. I think those things, and some of the things I’ve been through, they’re false narratives. They’re not real narratives. He’s brilliant in that he can intuitively identify those false narratives and rather than run from them he goes straight at them. We need people like that.

Do you think you’ve suffered from false narratives throughout your career?

I think that’s obvious. I’m laughing because I thought for sure I would get really strong reviews for our new album [Monuments to an Elegy], based on all the feedback I was getting. But I’m getting the same reviews I got back in the day, these kind of middling, muddling reviews that just won’t fucking say: “This is a fucking brilliant album from a brilliant artist.” It’s always got to have a qualifier to it. So my point is this: I made, according to most people, two classic albums in my life. But go back and read those reviews – I got the same type of reviews then as I’m getting now! People assume we got great reviews back then – we got shit reviews. So it’s weird because this is like: “Here I go again.” I strike on to something fresh, fans are going fucking nuts, everyone’s excited, and we’ve got to have some fucking guy going: “Oh I don’t know how to feel about this.”

You feel like the reviews are pre-written?

Yes. I think these are false narratives. The old guard sets up gatekeepers who decide who is in and who is out. The joke for me is that I’ve been on the fucking outside for 25 years and yet here I am. My whole point is – at what point do I get invited inside?

Do you even want to be invited inside?

I do.

I don’t understand why you’re bothered by what critics think if fans are liking the record.

It’s bad for business. If you’re Martin Scorsese and you’ve got a new picture coming out, you want good reviews, because then more people see your film. So if you make a good album then you deserve a fair review of your work, especially after being in the culture for 25 fucking years. But I realise now I’m not going to get my due from that culture.

Via The Guardian

Joan Jett Gives A Damn ’bout Her Bad Reputation

Feb 21, 2015

“Aggressive, tough and defiant may describe me, but that leaves the impression I’m mean and I’m not. People expect me to have fangs.” – Joan Jett

Behind the Scenes Photos of “Dazed and Confused”

Feb 21, 2015

Dazed and Confused is one of my all-time favourite movies, written and directed by Richard Linklater. It’s astounding watching the cast of actors who would later become stars, including Matthew McConaughey, Jason London, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Nicky Katt, and Rory Cochrane. A fascinating insight into the minds of teenagers in the 1970s, it’s also hilarious and as real as improvised direction through little scripting as you can get. All people who were a teenager should watch this at least once. Alright, alright, alright.

(via The Criterion Collection)

1980s Slang Poster is Schweet

Feb 21, 2015

This guide salutes the greatest decade of verbal artistry ever known. To all you former Preps, Head Bangers, Skaters, Jocks, Wastoids, Wavers, Valley Girls, and Goths: hang this chart and remind your friends to stay rad to the max.

Order prints of this rad poster at Charley Chartwell. -Via Laughing Squid

Infographic: Make a Joyful Noise – Music and Ministry

Feb 20, 2015

Whether accompanied by organ, handbells or electric guitar, or not accompanied by an instrument at all, Christians have used songs and music to worship God throughout history. Let’s take a look at musical instruments in the Bible, the history of music and worship and how different denominations of Christianity use music today.

Source: ChristianUniversitiesOnline.org/

One of the greatest, and strangest Sesame Street clips ever

Feb 20, 2015

Cracks is one of the strangest clips Sesame Street has ever produced. It features a young girl riding a camel made up of wall cracks that takes her meet other crack animals and finally “The Crack Master.” If that doesn’t scare you from watching it the first time, go ahead. If you vaguely remember this, here’s another thought – it was from 1975, and yes, you’re old, and this clip is going to come back to you.

Kids who actively participate show greater thought processing gains

Feb 20, 2015

Greater participation inmusic classes may benefit children’s language development, a new study finds.

Researchers followed kids in the nonprofit Harmony Project, which provides music education and instruments to poor children in Los Angeles.

Over two years, children who actively participated in the classes showed larger improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading, compared to those with lower levels of participation.

Also, the benefits of active participation in music classes occurred in the same areas of the brain that are traditionally weak in children from poor families, according to the study published online Dec. 16 in the journalFrontiers in Psychology.

“Even in a group of highly motivated students, small variations in music engagement — attendance and class participation — predicted the strength of neural processing after music training,” lead author Nina Kraus, professor of communication sciences and of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University, said in a university news release.

“Our results support the importance of active experience and meaningful engagement with sound to stimulate changes in the brain,” she added.

Participating in music classes can actually “remodel” a child’s brain in a way that improves the ability to process speech, an ability that’s closely linked to reading, according to researchers. The study finding is important for children from poor families, who process sound less efficiently. This increases the risk that they’ll do poorly in school, Kraus said.

“What we do and how we engage with sound has an effect on our nervous system,” she said. “Spending time learning to play a musical instrument can have a profound effect on how your nervous system works.”

Wham!’s “Last Christmas” Slowed Down Gazillion Percent

Feb 20, 2015

Slowed and stretched over and over… a few thousand times. This is Wham! or a vast glimmering drone of digital data. Either way, I know it’s a bit early (or late) for Christmas music, but believe me, keep this handy in 10 months to be life of the party. You’ll get tangled up in this, and there’s no way out.

Tom Odell Is Playing His Next Batch Of Shows In A Forest

Feb 20, 2015

Forgt playing the usual dive bars and lush concert venues for a moment, and think about, if you’re an artist, where you can play your next batch of shows. Somewhere different. Somewhere exciting. Like a forest.

Tom Odell is hitting the road, announcing a slew of special gigs in UK forests next summer. That’s right. Parks and forests.

The chart-topping Long Way Down star, who took home the 2014 Ivor Novello award for Songwriter Of The Year, will be returning in 2015 to play some unique shows as part of Forest Live – an independent program in the UK organised by the Forestry Commission to bring forests to new audiences.

Money raised from the shows will go towards protecting, improving and expanding England’s forests and woodlands.

“This will be a whole new experience for me,” said Odell. “I can’t wait to bring my live show to the woods and I hope to see you there.”

Friday 19 June: Bedgebury Pinetum, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Saturday 20 June: Westonbirt Arboretum, near Tetbury, Glos.
Thursday 25 June: Dalby Forest, near Pickering, N Yorks.
Friday 26 June: Sherwood Pines Forest, Edwinstowe, near Mansfield, Notts.
Saturday 4 July: Delamere Forest, Delamere, Cheshire.
Sunday 5 July: Thetford Forest, near Brandon, Suffolk.
Sunday 12 July: Cannock Chase Forest, near Rugeley, Staffs.

That’s thinking outside the box.

Sesame Street spoofs Birdman – ‘Big Birdman’ starring Caroll Spinney and Big Bird

Feb 20, 2015

For your Oscar consideration: A veteran puppeteer, who plays an avian icon, battles his ego and attempts to find his way back to a certain furry and friendly street. This is ‘Big Birdman.’ It features original cast member Caroll Spinney as himself and Big Bird, who he played, and also Matt Vogel as Big Bird, too. You’ll figure it out….