Songs

"You must remember this . . ."

OK, fess up - name your favorite classic movie. (For our purposes, since I just turned 50, we'll say any movie older than I am is 'classic'.)

I'll say Casablanca. It's got Bogart, and Nazis, and guns, and booze, and Ingrid Bergman, and many quotable lines - what more could you want?

So, what's yours?

Jim Downey

Carll Hayes is a Houston musician who spent a few years kicking around Crystal Beach in Texas and playing the bars, honing his songwriting and performances. He's also the kind of artist that makes me excited about, and gives me hope for country music again. Key lyrics in the chorus:

She left me for Jesus and that just ain’t fair
She says that he’s perfect how could I compare
She says I should find him and I’ll know peace at last
If I ever find Jesus, I’m kickin’ his ass

Heheh... Enjoy.

Okay, I guess no one thought Sara Silverman's "I'm F'ing Matt Damon" was funny, but I don't care. As a matter of fact, I'm posting a parody of I'm F'ing Matt Damon called I'm F'ing Obama. Sorry, but I still have a 3rd grade sense of humor and think these things are F'ing hilarious!

This guy is great! Although without much bling, a gat or treating women like whores, he probably won't sell a million cd's. Oh well, I liked it.

A Rational Response - Greydon Square

If you enjoyed that, he has a few more good ones like The Dream, Squared and Say.

And if you want to purchase his album, it's only $12 at his website TheComptonEffect.

(*with apologies to Steely Dan)

So, a couple days ago, I was hitting some of my usual haunts, and on MeFi came across a link to something truly amazing: the most advanced personal energy system available today!

Personal energy system? Huh? Some kind of new sports drink? Maybe a reworked diet fad? Or a new way to charge your, uh, personal massagers?

Nope. They're talking Sympathetic Resonance Technology! Wow! Even the name is impressively scientifical! What is Sympathetic Resonance Technology? I'm glad you asked:

The Q-Link’s fundamental technology can be understood by imagining a tuning fork that vibrates at a certain pitch. Similarly, the Q-Link’s Sympathetic Resonant Technology™ (SRT™) is tuned to optimize the human energy system through resonance. As it interacts with your biofield, it leads to a rebalancing and restoration according to your individual needs.

Ah, yes, imitation is the highest form of lameness, at least when it comes to GodTube - a Christian YouTube wanna-be.

To lighten the mood a bit...

We will worship mighty Cthulhu
H. P. Lovecraft's big old hoodoo
(1930's fiction voodoo....)
But that's good enough for me!

And there's a whole lot more, with many religions featured, from That Real Old Time Religion.

Jim Downey

OK, I can't honestly decide whether this is a joke or not, but Pam over at Pandagon has up a wonderful piece (with embedded vid - I'll leave that up to Brent whether he wants to do that with this) about this group that has everyone scratching thier heads. Why? Because it is either brilliant parody, or cringingly-painful religiosity. Here's part of the lyrics:

“God hates a fag…Read your bible, and you’ll be sure — to enter heaven, there’s no backdoor. Righteous man, get on your knees, there lies no virtue in so-do-my. Lord you are my shield, stay me through the fight, shelter me from urges and help me see the light.”

You gotta see this - bloody hilarious. Whether intentionally so or not, I'll leave for you to decide.

Jim Downey

You gotta love Eric Idle.

Flash. Nice work up of the classic routine, with some good pics.

Jim Downey

First, I apologize for not posting in a while. My company has had me on a grueling travel schedule. For the past few weeks I have often had to ask the people I am working with what city I am in!

So, where do you get your music? It is not something that most people think about. You hear a song on the radio or TV and like it, so you go to a local music store and you purchase it. But most people are not aware that the music sold by the major record labels generates virtually no money for the artists who actually make the music. A typical CD sale in a music store costs you about $12-$15 and the artist in most cases earns less than one dollar. A major-label song sold on iTunes generates only pennies for the artist.

Why? Because when an artist signs with a record label it is at the beginning of their career when their earning potential is unknown and their eagerness high. The contracts they sign require them to pay for just about every aspect of their career and to even repay the record label for investments they've made before they can see any income themselves. So, even if a record label earns tens of millions of dollars on an artist, that artist is still required to repay the record label for recording costs, travel, just about everything. And the record label retains the rights to your songs, sometimes forever. If this doesn't sound all that pleasant an employment agreement, you are correct. This is why most artists signed to major labels make most of their money from touring and merchandising. Unfortunately, the record labels are trying to tap into those sources of revenue as well to try and collect more revenue on top of their failing business model.

How many times have you watched an award show like the Grammys, and during an acceptance speech the winner thanks god? When people say that, I wonder. Many artists claim that their works are derived from divine inspiration. I've also heard people say that divine inspiration is the only reason that we have the arts at all.

So, what if the artist is an atheist? Are atheists incapable of artistic expression? What IS funny about this whole topic is how many musicians you know that are atheists. I found this link which provides a list of musicians who are known atheists and I was very surprised at some of the names that I saw:

Johannes Brahms
Peter Buck, the guitarist for REM
Micky Dolenz, from the band The Monkees
Brian Eno
Ludwig van Beethoven
Niccolo Paganini
Neil Peart, drummer for the band Rush
Sir Bob Geldof (an atheist was knighted!)
Billy Joel
John Lennon
Barry Manilow
Dave Matthews
Sarah McLachlan
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Roger Waters
And a host of others……

Purchasing acoustic guitars online?

First of all, I would like to thank Brent for giving me the opportunity to post on UTI. I have been an reader of UTI and its associated blogs for a long time, and I have a great respect for all those who post here.

We all know about the record industry's backwards attempt to shore up its revenues by suing people who download music. As a musician, I have seen this as purely selfish and all about profits for the record labels. I always felt that these actions were hurting musicians too, even if it was peripherally. Now I am finding that the music industry is directly attacking musicians and their craft.

More below the fold...