Teamwork: The Movie

Today, after recovering from my annual irritation with G.V. Hudson and the retail industry, I showed the boys xtranormal which I learned about thanks to a few colleagues. Of course, the boys immediately wanted to make a movie. So here you go.

The script is totally random--has nothing to do with my life or the boys (really)! You can tell for sure that it has nothing to do with the boys because it includes none of the available bodily function sounds that xtranormal provides you with (although early versions did and provided belly-laughing, tear-rendering responses).

And so for now, we give you the short cathartic sketch: "Teamwork."

Sounds of Spring

Curious to find myself wanting to hear side one of Outlandos d'Amour this morning on the way to work and then side three of Three Sides Live on the way home--okay they were discs but had I been a teenager back in my bedroom acting like I was doing homework with my headphones on, it would have been vinyl and those would have been the sides. But why the sudden urge to hear The Police and Genesis? Could it be just more signs of regression as I head for the fetal position searching for some lost happy time?

Possibly. But more likely it is the fact that the weather for the last few days has actually felt like spring. The sun has been out and the days extend. The air is decidedly warm by afternoon and evening. People are outdoors, working, eating, enjoying the luxurious warmth. And that has us all believing that at long last, winter might (knock, knock) be done.

For me that means that certain music starts to call to me. Music that reminds me of springs past like that first Police album and how "Roxanne" mysteriously came on over the loudspeaker when our tennis coach in high school was giving us our pep talk. Music that hints at summer and so you put it on urging the sun and summer to arrive (but not really, because spring and the promise and the anticipation are so wonderful). Music that is jangly and a cacophony of sounds like spring. Music that celebrates the end of another academic year--a cycle that I still cannot shake after ten years out of the classroom. But mostly, music that makes you want to put the window down and let the warm spring wind with its hint of summer (and the music) brush over your skin and awaken your senses.

So here are just a few bands and albums that make me think of spring. Some are from many years ago and some more recent. They aren't only "spring bands" but many are. And no apologies here for the sappy or overly popular as these are all bands that hit me at a certain time in my life and still stay with me.

• Steve Winwood: Arc of a Diver and Back in the High Life
• English Beat: I Just Can't Stop It and Special Beat Service
• Dire Straits: Communique
• Los Lobos: The Neighborhood
• Ani Difranco: Living in Clip
• Soul Coughing: El Oso
• Van Morrison: Moondance
• Rickie Lee Jones: The Magazine
• Wilco: Sky Blue Sky
• Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
• Rilo Kiley: Take Offs and Landings

Then there is all that acoustic music that comes out when the long rains and lush spring green comes out in full ranging from Celtic music to Nick Drake to Fleet Foxes. But for now, we enjoy the anticipation.

Friday Haiku

Unexpected package

Japanese death poems - small things,

Friends renew like Spring

Educating EMI (and others): Pass It On

NPR's All Songs blog has a great post up about OK Go's new video which they fought with their record label over around the issue of whether or not to allow the You Tube version of the video to be embedded. As All Songs reports, OK Go's lead singer Damien Kulash took to the NY Times to make his case, writing:

"In these tight times, it's no surprise that EMI is trying to wring revenue out of everything we make, including our videos. But it needs to recognize the basic mechanics of the Internet. Curbing the viral spread of videos isn't benefiting the company's bottom line, or the music it's there to support. The sooner record companies realize this, the better -- though I fear it may already be too late."

Amen--and when I saw this on All Song's Twitter feed I was just going to retweet it and be done, since really, All Songs really covered the story. But then I thought a bit more about it. Given all the discussion around Google take-downs of music blogs, and the increasing move toward a splinter-net, I thought, anyone who tries to promote music via blogs, social media and the web in general really ought to support OK Go's basic position, which is to let the Internets do their job.

So here is the fabulous new Rube Goldberg inspired OK Go video and I am asking any blogger or person with a Facebook page or Twitter or Buzz account who wants to promote music to also embed this video so we might teach EMI and any other label that there is value in what we do here on these crazy linkable viral pages.

In addition to all of that, this is a fabuluous video for getting kids interested in physics, engineering, etc. (says the father who showed it to his boys, once, twice, three times--no really you need to go to bed now). And for the real curious, as All Songs notes, you can get links to the "Musicians and Nerds" series of videos about the making of this video over at Monkey See.

Now, embed it and viralize it people!