12 posts tagged “music”

The stock white faceplate on the Guitar Hero III Wii guitar is nice, as it matches the Wii's clean aesthetic, but let's face it, it's a bit boring. Fortunately, due to it's stark design, it's also very customizable!

This is the first of (hopefully) many stickers/decals I'll be adding to my guitar in the coming days. This Savage Machiine sticker just happens to fit perfectly as well as keeping with the black/white theme. The idea is to add more local (San Francisco Bay Area) band logos/stickers/decals. Any ideas as to who or what I should add next?

This video makes me smile. I wish it was longer, though.

Definitely one of the stranger things I've seen today.

What could make the theremin even cooler than it already is? How about The Ether and Aether Experiment's cover of Gnarles Barkley's "Crazy".

Usually people use the higher octaves to make that creepy high-pitched "whine" heard in sci-fi and horror movies. It's refreshing to hear it played in this way. Excellent.

Video:  Show us the first video that appears when you search your name on YouTube.

The only video I've ever posted, taken at a 5 Days Dirty show at the Oakland Metro Operahouse. I'm behind the (semi-crappy) camera.

Fortunately, there are no videos of my ugly mug to be found on teh YouTubes.

When space tourism finally gets to the price point where I can afford it, I'm taking the RIAA (Robotic Intergalactic Astro-Artists) most excellent mash-up album "Sounds For The Space-Set!!" with me.

Here's a song for all you freaks from the beautiful city of Oakland, CA. The artist is Carne Cruda, and the song is called "Oakland's Tight".

They're going to be playing at Carnival in San Francisco Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th, 2007. For more information, check out the Carnival San Francisco web site.

This is one of the most truthful, honest, insightful songs I've heard in a long time. The songwriter is James McMurtry, and the title is "We Can't Make It Here". You can hear the full band version here, or hear the simpler (and I think better) acoustic version here. There are more songs (including his also excellent "God Bless America") on the obligatory MySpace page, and for more information you can check out his website at JamesMcMurtry.com.

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James McMurtry - "We Can't Make It Here"

Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one's paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
We can't make it here anymore

That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore

The bar's still open but man it's slow
The tip jar's light and the register's low
The bartender don't have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day

Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can't make it here anymore

High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it's way too late to just say no
You can't make it here anymore

Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can't make it here anymore

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their shit don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the damn little war
And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat shit, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore

And that's how it is
That's what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind
If you're listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why

In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That's done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There's rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can't make it here anymore

Music and lyrics © 2004 by James McMurtry

From her album "Not So Soft". Just thought I'd share...
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ROLL WITH IT
By Ani DiFranco

She says my ass hurts
when I sit down
she says my feet hurt
when I'm standing around
I think my body
is as restless as my mind
and I don't know if I can
roll with it this time

She packed his uniforms
and drove him to the base
she was crying all the way
the world looked her in the face

And said, roll with it baby
make it your career
keep the home fires burning
till is in the clear

The mainstream
is so polluted with lies
once you are wet
it's so hard to get dry

We are all taught how to justify
history as it passes by
and yes, it's your world
that comes crashing down

When the big boys
want to throw their weight around
but just roll with it baby
make it your career
keep the home fires burning
till America is in the clear

But what if the enemy
isn't in a distant land
what if the enemy lies behind
the voice of command
the sound of war
is a child's cry
behind tinted windows
they just drive by

and all I know is that those
that are going to be killed
aren't those that preside
on Capitol Hill
I told him don't fill
the front lines of their war
those assholes aren't worth dying for

But he said roll with it baby
make it your career
keep the home fires burning
till is in the clear

She says my ass hurts
when I sit down
she says my feet hurt
when I'm standing around
I think my body
is as restless as my mind
and I'm not gonna roll with it this time

You can check her out at the obligatory MySpace page (http://myspace.com/reginaspektor), and at her website (http://www.reginaspektor.com). I think I'm in love. Heh...

Go. Now. Or click to watch the pretty moving pictures below, if you prefer.