Lynn at Reflections in d minor posts a funny joke at the expense of one of the better-known minimalists of the latter 20th century. This would be my version of the joke:

While repetitive, I actually enjoy Philip Glass.
While repetitive, I actually enjoy Philip Glass.
While repetitive, I actually enjoy Philip Glass.
While repetitive, I actually enjoy Philip Glass.
While repetitive, I enjoy Philip Glass' music. And it evolves.
While repetitive, I enjoy Philip Glass' music. And it evolves.
While repetitive, I enjoy Philip Glass' music. And it evolves.
While repetitive, I enjoy Philip Glass' music. And it evolves.
It's tonal, while repetitive, and it evolves, so I enjoy Philip Glass' music.
It's tonal, while repetitive, and it evolves, so I enjoy Philip Glass' music.
It's tonal, while repetitive, and it evolves, so I enjoy Philip Glass' music.
It's tonal, while repetitive, and it evolves, so I enjoy Philip Glass' music.

etc.

I first encountered Glass in his soundtrack to the visually stimulating Koyaanisqatsi. Glass is a polarizing figure, as I later discovered while a music student at UT Austin. I went to see him in concert (on solo piano). Before the concert, the theory-comp majors all slammed him as a gimmicky composer with no real talent (as though their atonal screeches were superior, somehow). Then, at the concert, were the rich and snobby non-musician hangers-on who pretended to have their moments of greatness, some even air-kissing (I'm serious!) when they met him. Gag.

When I met him briefly, he was friendly, warm, and quite unassuming. So I won't judge him too harshly as a person. As a composer, he made tonal music popular again, even if in the context of minimalism. One CD that I play about every three months to clear my mind is Passages (with Ravi Shankar). Hypnotic, lovely melodies that repeat, develop, intertwine, and resolve themselves. Music at its simple -- minimalist -- best.

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Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy points out that great jazz organist Jimmy Smith passed away this week at the age of 79.

I've excerpted part of his New York Times obituary in the extended entry.
more...

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Norman Geras has posted the results of his "greatest songs of rock 'n roll" poll.

Yours truly submitted a list of ten, and Norm was gracious enough to post a link back to me with his results.

Go check out his list, topped by "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones. I can't really argue that the top 10 belong there any more than mine did, although I have to say that my list attempted to identify "non-standard" standards.

Only 2 of mine even made his top "not-quite-100": #17 - A Day in the Life (Beatles) and #61, Nights in White Satin (Moody Blues).

Go check out the whole thing.

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Rob tagged me with this music meme several days ago, but I'm just now getting around to answering it:

Random Ten

Let's see -- first, open iTunes. Next, hit "shuffle" in the "Library" playlist. Hit Play. Write down song info. Hit Next. Repeat. Etc. Voila:

• Peter Gabriel, "Gethsemane," Passion: Music For The Last Temptation of Christ


• D Tent Boys, "Dig It" (Full Version), Holes [Soundtrack]


• Okui Masumi, "Shuffle," Devotion [Import]


• "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (Transferred to hard drive from vinyl Readers Digest's collection of Joyous Music For Christmas Time)


• Fear Factory with Gary Numan, "Cars," Obsolete


• Eagles, "Seven Bridges Road (Live)," Very Best of the Eagles


• AC/DC, "Hells Bells," Back in Black


• Bobby Vinton, "I Love How You Love Me," All-Time Greatest Hits


• Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing," Brothers in Arms


• Peter Gabriel, "Games Without Frontiers (Remix)," Steam [CD-single]

1. What is the total amount of music files on your computer?

Somewhere between 4 and 5 GBs at last count.

2. The last CD you bought is:

Presto, by Rush, about two weeks ago.

3. What is the song you last listened to before this message?

Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song (on the radio on the drive home from work)

4. Five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

Rob broke the rules here by listing five nice classical pieces. None of them were really "songs." As you can tell from the random list above, my tastes are incredibly varied, so I've chosen five that mean a lot to me, and not all are "pop" songs:

• It Had to Be You, as performed by Harry Connick on When Harry Met Sally (the song I played when I proposed to my wife)


• Free Will, Rush, Hemispheres (A great statement of my philosophy and sense of life. Excerpt: "Each of us a cell of awareness, imperfect and incomplete. Genetic blends with uncertain ends, on a fortune hunt that's far too fleet...")


• Fanfare for the Common Man, Copland, as performed by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (this is the song whose video inspired me to teach myself keyboards again in 1983).


• Battle Hymn of the Republic, Wilhousky arrangement (This song is as much fun to listen to as to sing. I am a multiple-generation Texan, but I never saw the charm of Dixie -- the Battle Hymn, on the other hand, has been a favorite of mine as long as I can remember).


• America The Beautiful (I've long thought this a more appropriate National Anthem than "O Say Can You See..." I like any version, but Ray Charles sure did a great one).

5. Who are you gonna pass this stick to (five persons and why)?

Nobody. I waited too long and many of the five I would forward this to have already done it. Please feel free to do it yourself, though, and trackback here.

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BoingBoing points to this excellent mashup of the Beatles' Paperback Writer and Neil Diamond's I'm A Believer (as performed by the Monkees).

The video and audio are virtually seamless, an inspired combo of a couple of treacly 60s pop songs.

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