If you love Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, you'll laugh your ass off at Wolverine, The Musical! Stay tuned after the credits roll for the url to directions for making his awesome claws, so you, too, can slice the wings off of a bee.




How did I get these mutton chops?

-Carin-

Labels: carin, funny, movie, music, X-men

Loads of tributes to the late and well-loved Patrick Swaze are swirling around the interwebs, all shiny and pirouhette-y and full of that special energy he seemed to have. And these tributes are so very appropriate -- this is a man who was a spectacular performer, a respectable professional, and an honorable yet down-to-earth guy off-stage and off-screen. How great that we're celebrating him.

Some of these tributes are pretty conventional and expected, and some are slightly elevated. And then there's this one.



THAT'S a celebration. THAT'S the sort of tribute I want when I succomb to Death's enveloping embrace. It made me laugh, cry, dance, and stand still in awe.

If you've never seen To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, I can't recommend it strongly enough. It really is a good movie, and not just because I'm all over anything that's got a clear antidiscrimination message.

Celebrate life. Celebrate diversity. Dance for any damned reason -- every reason, if you're doing it right! And embrace whatever form of beauty that is true to you, without compromise.

Dancing in drag with wild abandon,
rebecca.

 

Labels: death, equality, movie, music, performance, rebecca, video

Happy Independence Day. I hope your weather is just right and the fireworks are spectacular, and that you are able to take a little time away from your hotdogs and potato salad and watermelon to think about what "independence" means, and how it applies to your life.

End of MomSpeak. This is The AntiCraft. (...which kind of is why I brought up that whole "think about independence" thing... we sometimes have a little different perspective on that...) And as such, I have something a little odd to throw in about the holiday.

You're going to be hearing the sounds of P.I.Tchaikovsky's The 1812 Overture today, if you haven't already been hearing it. Did you know that it is not about OUR War of 1812?? It's 100% France v Russia, with the Russians pwning all sorts of Napoleonic arse.

(I'm pretty sure you all knew that.)

In fact, it's a spectacular mash-up of two national anthems (La Marseillaise v God Save the Tsar) in a classic battle of the, well, cross orchestra instrumentalists. (It can't really count as a battle of the bands.)

Here's a reenactment of what La Marseillaise WOULD have sounded like if it were sung/shouted by angry Finns.


It's a little different from what you hear pretty much everywhere else (again: angry Finns; 'nuff sed). My theory is that if the French had sounded a little more like this (and, perhaps, invaded Russia AFTER winter, duh) there might have been a different outcome for the little Corsican.

Anyway.

What I really wanted to post today was a recording of The 1812 Overture as sung by barn animals. It's hilarious, but I can't find it. It was all over the Chicago radio WGN when I was a kid. It's probably too old to be uploaded to Teh Webz, so I found this instead.

There's an old brass instrument called a Serpent, and it sounds like a somewhat stuffy french horn. A musician named Douglas Yeo recorded The 1812 Overture using 26 of these intriguing horns. The link provides you with a free mp3 of this very performance. It's a good sound, and I recomend it for your holiday listening, bearing in mind always that this is not a song about any American war. (You want something American and 1812? Google "Don't give up the ship" and Commodore Perry. THAT'S an amazing story.)

I also recommend it just because Mr. Yeo is so darned adorable. I bet he'd be good at reading (or, more likely, reciting) children's stories, as well as playing arcane brass instruments.

Of course, I have a theory for why Americans like to use this foreign war rememberance to celebrate our Independence Day.

We like to blow things up. And there's no other classical tune that goes so well with cannons blasting like this one, outside of the movie Apocalypse Now.

Have a safe holiday!

slathering on sunscreen,
rebecca+

PS -- How would you design a musical instrument from an AntiCraft perspective? Would you choose a different animal (a spider as a stringed instrument, perhaps)? What would it sound like? What would you play on it?

 

Labels: music, rebecca, video

But it will feel like you do:



And, no, they don't have a drummer. That's all voice and "beat box."

The group's name is Perpetuum Jazzile, and you can find more of their work (in their native Slovene) on You Tube.

Labels: carin, music

Labels: music, video, zabet

I never cease to be amazed at the things you can find on the Internet. Here's the Sledge Grits Band, made up of sisters, aged 6 - 13 that play "funky blues-infused rock and soul." I'm fairly well jealous that I didn't have a band as a kid.



Did I mention the 6yo is the drummer? Did I mention she's already WAY better than I am? I think she may actually be cuter than Spooky, my foster bunny.

Labels: music, zabet

I don't think I've ever thought of Bruce Springsteen this way before. Rawr.



.:Zabet

Labels: music, video, zabet