Assignment Afghanistan: Writer/photographer Elliott Woods gathered some devastating sounds & stories during his 2010 embed with Lima Company, US Marines. HV collaborators, Jesse Dukes with Shea Shackelford, produced the slideshow series for the Virginia Quarterly Review.
Here’s “Our Deepest Sympathies:”
[jwplayer config=”HV600″ mediaid=”8378″]
Video for Sarah’s new book, Unfamiliar Fishes (amazon):
Quoting Penguin publisher PR:
Many think of 1776 as the defining year of American history, when we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self- government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international superpower practically overnight.
Among the developments in these outposts of 1898, Vowell considers the Americanization of Hawaii the most intriguing. From the arrival of New England missionaries in 1820, their goal to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d’état of the missionaries’ sons in 1893, which overthrew the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling, and often appealing or tragic, characters: whalers who fired cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their God-given right to whores, an incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband, sugar barons, lepers, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode “Aloha ‘Oe” serenaded the first Hawaiian president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade.
MAYA Design audio-visually asks What is Information Architecture? by breaking down the query into “What is Information”…
…and “What is Architecture?:”
When we say Information Architecture (IA) we are really talking about everything you can define about a solution without specifying the underlying system (the raw plumbing) or specifying the particular user interface that will be employed to deliver and manipulate the information. By thinking about the architecture of how information is used, how it flows, and how it fits within the user’s world (its context), you can capture the essence of how to build a system that is not only intuitive but futureproof.
—MAYA Design: What is Information Architecture?
A video of a poem by Taylor Mali (who’s been on HV several times), “What Teachers Make :”
via Ben- Comma Q.
BBC asks GHP to mash/mess/mix their theme: “Music sampling and remixing in the bedroom.”
Mark Vidler = Go Home Productions
More info, and audio of the GPH-remixed BBC News theme: “BBC News – New utility that breaks music down into its components.”
22yo Brit, Adele has a new album, 21, and an Adele: Tiny Desk Concert : NPR.
From Funny or Die, “Sarah Palin Media Addict”(starring Gina Gershon):
More FOD Gina Does Sarah:
Gina Gershon Strips Down Sarah Palin
A few songs from Montreal.ca band Stars, beside the All Songs Considered Tiny Desk:
I’ve been Best Coast (space) crazy of late. Now the band has finally scrapped enuf shekels together for some videos.
From their 2010 debut album Crazy for You
[UPDATE: Added Paul Rose’s memorial song.]
Lost another friend and great keyboardist, Dave Arnott (Band Universal and & Triumphant, FOG ) died at 49yo.
One early 1980s night, I was leaving KGLT about 3am, and this wild, ethereal piano was echoing up the stone stairwell. Odd, since the building had been closed for hours. Tracked it down to the grand in the 1st floor lounge, being played by one very serious and very accomplished young man. I introduced myself, so did he: Dave Arnott.
He was (as I recall) on a break from helping sound-wire the Student Union Theatre. I sat and listened. He played another half-hour.
I’ve seen some of this land’s best musicians of many genres in excellent venues across USA. But that pre-dawn Dave solo performance, to an audience that had just increased from 0 to 1, was among the most memorable concerts I’ve ever attended.
Music (“Yellow Jacket” by FOG from Rain) and Footage by David Arnott. Edited by Tol. Additional Footage by Tol, Blue, and Mike. More…
Democracy is the peaceful passing of power, as exemplified by this Jimmy Kimmel clip:
And what’s with Boehner’s Big Gavel?
Great new tune by my ol’ bud Bill McClintock, “Dollar Store”:
I bought a wrench & a saw & a screwdriver too, deluxe corkscrew & a jug of shampoo. A new dog dish for my pup, a baseball cap & a coffee cup.
I bought a flashlight & a safety knife, a can of corn & a real cool kite. I bought a faucet drain & a picture frame, a pair of dice & a can of Raid.
I bought some Saniflush & a new toothbrush, some Christmas cards & a tape by Rush…that fine Canadian band.
HV brings you a belated helping of Hanukkah cheer in this new
Maccabeats single, “Candlelight”:
We are know the feeling, what music’ll do to ya…
“Uomo d’acqua dolce:”
My Italian friend, DJ Lara Vaienti, sent me the vid, and this story summary:
So he [comedian Antonio Albanese] goes in (awesome way to enter) and he says “Excuse meeee” Hey DISC JOKEY!!, MR DISC JOKEY–excusee meee!!–”
Then he starts uttering those sounds… finally he gets the attention and speaks in… English: “I’m a countryman.”
He says he’s looking for something very underground, he wants something very, very underground. Then he gets suggestions, and he’s like “no, no — NO. I mean, I mean, very very underground.”
And then he makes up some American, something like “watcha get down, hey get down,” etc..
So again suggestions — “Ben Harper!”
“CHIIIIIIIII????” [means “who???”]
“Lou Reed!”
“NO–”
“James BROWN!”
“no, NO –NO!”
“Fine Young Cannibals!”
So then the owner is sweating over thism, and the “countryman” is trying to comfort him. He calls him “MASSIMINO” [“little Max”], it’s ok, it’s ok, you did your best…” etc.
[Lara: The part where he is dancing makes me cry. Italians—]
HV’s Jack Chance did the sound for the Timothy Syrota video, documenting the 20K Burmese refugees who’ve recently fled to the Thai border:
Fleeing Myawaddy
A cat named Cadamole raps up pubradio — stick w/ it, it digs in and gets good as it goes along (fea. Jenna Sullivan):
“Good Radiation (public radio rap)”
Expialidocious is up again. “Guess Who’s Back In Wonderland,” sez cut-up Aussie artist, Pogo:
After a year producing professionally for Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios, my contract has finally come to an end. The gag order is released, and my classic Disney mixes are allowed back online.
(Old Expialidocious post w/ autre Dizknee audities.)
Musician Jess Atkins — whose music HV uses lots — demonstrates his newly acquired Bose L1 portable sound speaker system (vid made for Music Villa):
Full disclosure: He’s my kid — insert proud parent’s smile here. Check Jess playing Marcel Dadi’s “Blue Angel.”
Birds are such fascinating, delicate, amazing and downright annoying creatures, from Look Around You, the BBC Comedy series:
“Birds of Britain”
A fren clued me to this Seattle band, Head Like a Kite. Nice pop tune, inventive vid, “We’re Always on the Wrong Side of Sunrise” from their 2010
Dreams Suspend Night:
Another HLAK.
