Professor Peedston

LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS BABYYYYYY I had a teacher in high school who was really into Yanni. This fact always bewildered and fascinated me.

Thank God. Probably saved those people's lives. (edit: I originally posted about Yanni in here. That was obviously the wrong thread because I had two open at the same time)

Actually I'm pretty sure Shirley Manson is the only Scottish member of that band... the rest are all American.

What he said.

Sweeeeeeeet, Brian Wilson and Bjork finally.

the original 1971 classic isnt really aimed at kids either. Certain jokes are intended for adult audiences even back then, so I am assuming the new one will continue, I also heard that the new version is truer to the book. Have you read the book? Its a bit dark at times... Yeah, I doubt a whole lot of kids got many of the dozens and dozens or obscure (and not so obscure) literary references in the first movie.

I just figured out how to play the big piano part in "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Because that song kicks ass, and it sounded easy, and it was. :lol: And then earlier today I went and figured out "Terrapin" by Syd Barrett because I'm obsessed with Syd Barrett right now.

I haven't heard the new Backstreet Boys (I can't believe there IS a new Backstreet Boys record), but I too have to agree with "Hollaback Girl" and "BYOB." System of a Down have some great songs, but... that's not one of them. And I've never really liked much that Gwen Stefani did even going back to No Doubt (although the last No Doubt record when they were almost on the verge of being dance pop wasn't too bad), but "Hollaback Girl" is nails on a chalkboard for me. I don't need to hear her voice doubletracked when she's not even singing a melody.

Every time I listen to it, the big fanfare of the second track (I don't remember the absurdly long title and I don't feel like walking over and picking it off the shelf) sends chills down my spine. And then the third track (again, I don't remember the title) kicks my ass even harder. And there are other great moments too. Like how he seamlessly switches between rocking guitars to fingerpicked acoustic and flutes in "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" (ok, I caved and picked the record off the shelf), and the building of layers of instruments in "Prairie Fire That Wanders About," and countless other great moments. This is really a fantastic album. I hope he comes to Philly again soon, I saw him last October when he was playing Seven Swans stuff, and it was all right... but I wanted to hear the more complex stuff (although his band wasn't really equipped for that, they did play a couple Michigan songs).

Freedom of Choice = Championship Record

Tom LOVES this album. Album of the year right here. (Unless the Super Furry Animals or the Animal Collective or some non-Animal related group pulls something REALLY great out their ass this fall.)

The weather forecast here says "heavy rain" for Friday, but I don't know if that's hurricane-related or not... hurricanes are usually just tropical storms again by the time they get this far up the coast anyway (although Floyd managed to knock a tree onto my roof several years ago), and that map looks like it's making landfall somewhere around Alabama, so it probably won't head up this direction. So... good luck to those of you sitting in its path.

Kanye TORE IT UP at Live 8 on Saturday. I saw him in person. :blush:

she done sang some purdy songs.

I always get Eve and Li'l Kim confused, because I'm not really a fan of either. This confusion was made much worse by the fact that Li'l Kim is the one going to jail and Eve is the one whose home sex tape has leaked. :confused: I do remember that Eve is the one from Philadelphia.

I'm still kinda ticked off that they made this. I know that Roald Dahl's family says this is a more accurate representation of the book, but I'm not a fan of the book, I'm a fan of the first movie. I LOOOOOOVE the original movie. So I'm not really excited to see anybody but the brilliant Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka's shoes.

Just remind me one more time what kept the "Speed of Sound" single from the #1 spot in England? :rolleyes: Also: who cares if they're not #1? They've still probably sold more albums in the past month than any other artist will this entire year.

How about "Kokomo" by "The Beach Boys" (note the quotation marks, because Beach Boys without Brian Wilson only loosely qualify as Beach Boys). I would doubt if there's a bigger Beach Boys fan on this entire forum than I am (hell, I own most of their pre-80s catalog on both vinyl and CD, and even shelled out the big bucks for the 4-disc Pet Sounds Sessions box set), but I really really really hate that song. Aside from that, I'm having a tough time thinking of things. Usually when there's a "Name ____ songs" thread I just glance over at my CD's and records, but you know... those are full of music I like, so that doesn't work for this one. :P

And now you know why bored kids usually only do that to toilets in public restrooms. :lol:

I was at the Philly show. I live within walking distance, so I just crossed over the Spring Garden bridge and also wound up about 100 yards from the stage even though I got there at 11:30 or so (except on the other side). I left for awhile to go home to get something to eat, and came back for the last few hours and got even closer than I was before, because a lot of people seemed to leave after the Dave Matthews Band.

My favorite part of Pink Floyd's performance... ...was when Roger was talking at the beginning of "Wish You Were Here," and said "We're doing this for everyone who's not here, but particularly, of course, for Syd." Ahhhhh that made me feel glad. Especially because I was one of the people whining that a Pink Floyd reunion isn't REALLY complete without Syd Barrett (and that's obviously never going to happen), since he wrote and sang most of my favorite Pink Floyd album. So I was glad that Pink Floyd's original Crazy Diamond was acknowledged in some way. :cool:

I just got back from seeing Elton John and fireworks. It was awesome. Well, Elton John was awesome. The fireworks were so-so. I think that's kind of a dumb tradition. Anyway, Elton was good, Rufus Wainwright was good, Patti Labelle was good (she was even joined onstage by my very favorite Philadelphia Eagle, Dhani Jones), and Bryan Adams... well, he was Bryan Adams. But Wayne Brady and Billie Jean King were there too for some reason.

Yeah, difficulty has nothing to do with beauty or enjoyability or whatever, as far as I'm concerned. Listen to a Brian Eno record. How much in there is really difficult to play? Anybody with the most rudimentary knowledge of the piano could recreate most of it. And yet Brian Eno has created some of the greatest music of the last 50 years, in my opinion. That said, I don't really think that Coldplay are among the most talented songwriters of their generation, and I don't think their live performances have really gotten that much better (in fact, I enjoyed them much more the first and second times I saw them than I did the third, but that was probably due to venue size and lack of intimacy at the third show). With the fractured market for music we live with today, accessability has a lot more to do with who becomes the biggest stars than talent does. I won't deny that Coldplay are talented (I am posting at this message board, after all), but I would say that there are far more talented songwriters and performers than them. (Sufjan Stevens, M83, the Flaming Lips, and Super Furry Animals all come to mind, among others.)

Whoa I remember The Tea Party from those few months several years ago when I had MuchMusic and I started seeing all these Canadian bands that I'd never heard of on it. I have no idea if I liked them or not.