Accept no substitutes

Category: Amusements (Page 19 of 31)

Things that are amusing

How Should Parents Behave at a Green Day Concert

Green Day
My 12 year old son saved enough money and was quick enough on the draw to get good seats for the upcoming Green Day concert. I’m going with him and a couple of his friends and their parents. As I look back, I could not begin to imagine going to a rock concert with my father (fine person that he is and was). I saw most of my early rock as an usher at the Charlotte Coliseum which is no longer called the Charlotte Coliseum any more, but Independence Arena instead. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a big venue concert and when I was there (maybe the Elvis Costello/Nick Lowe tour), I paid no attention to how a parent should behave at a rock concert.

So tell me what would you suggest is appropriate parent behavior? I’ll post my observations after the concert (Wednesday night unless Billie Joe’s voice is still on vacation).

Rich News at least in Features

This morning’s News and Observer is full of stories, features and articles on or by some folks I know and some I love.

Artist Jane Filer (we own one of her paintings) whose show will open next Sunday at Jane Tyndall’s Gallery at University Mall is the subject of a longish feature in which both Janes are quoted.

Bob Moog and theremins are part of a feature story on the Ether Music 2005 (in Asheville) and are subject of another feature as well as a photo and audio slide show. Steve Burnett, who has commented here, is the Rasputin lookalike in the fifth picture.

Susan Gladen’s short story which won the Doris Betts Award is featured in the Sunday Journal section. Susan and Peter Kramer let me write in their chicken house occassionally.

Sam Ruby and Michael Teiman talk about corporate blogs in the Business Section. (I was deep background on part of this. So deep that Jonathan Cox may have forgotten he even spoke with me ;->).

My favorite real life pirate, Captain Horatio Sinbad, is Tar Heel of the Week. Besides leading raids on local to Beaufort and Morehead City waterfront restaurants and tourist cruises, the relatively good captain won a sailboat race and as part of his prizes, he will be bringing sailing ships to Beaufort. Great profile of a man who never grew up — in th every best way.

Remember that Bob Moog is undergoing cancer treatment at Duke. You can sign his guest book and leave him a message.

Pirate alert from 1974

“Next time you’re out shopping for records or tapes — watch out for pirates. Not the kind with skull and crossbones and crusty cutlasses–watch out for music pirates. There are plenty of them around and, like their 18th Century colleagues, they’re breaking the law, to the tune of $200 million a year.” So begins the alert, the “Buyers Bulletin,” on the record sleeve of the Vassar Clements LP from 1974 that I was revisiting. Besides describing how to tell an official versus a pirated 8-track cartridge, we are treated to a tale of extra-legal and sociopathic behavior by the Killer Jerry Lee Lewis as he finds himself at a gas station in the south with rack of illegal 8 tracks as told by John Polk an RIAA investigator. It’s not clear what behavior is being celebrated as legal what which as morally wrong. Obviously the target is the right one. Massive amounts, allegedly, of 8 track tapes suddenly showing up for sale is definitely a negative market force, but then we have the Killer who smashes what he deems to be a rack of illegal tapes and drives off saying “Tell him ‘Killer’ was here.”
The confusion persists to this day. Bands and rappers are presented as outlaws up until there’s product involved. Then when the distribution systems fails and that structural hole is filled by entrepreneurs as indifferent to norms as the bands the name calling starts. And even then “Killer” is held up as an example of “taking the bull by the horns” — without irony.
The confused message does not serve the industry well and worse for all of us, we have become numb to it after 30 years of handwaving.
I too oppose massive illegal file trading and the more harmful cousin counterfeit recordings, but clarity here is a persistant problem.

Target-ed advertizing in New Yorker

Target logo
You’ll have to pick up the current New Yorker (August 22) to see the spate of illustrations featuring various imaginative uses of the Target logo; you can’t see them online unfortunately. The amount of page space dedicated to the illustrations by various artists all with the red Target as part of them. The company name is never mentioned. There is very little text in any of the illustrations. Each of the images does have something to do with New York though. Some of buildings as flower petals with the center of the flower being the Target logo. A dog fetching a Target logo frisbee. A worker at the coffee counter with a white rag hanging out of his pocket — and a red Target logo on that rag.

Vassar Clements (1928 – 2005)

I first heard Vassar Clements back in the 60s when I was in high school. Always the odd boy, I was not digging the sweet soul music called “beach music” and the rock and roll available was mostly from the UK. But I was happy to be one of the few long haired or gypsy dressed kids at a serious bluegrass concert. I recall fondly how Vassar Clements was early to play with John Hartford and then with the Earl Scruggs Review and then soon after on the Nitty Gritty Dirtband’s Circle LPs.
Over time I heard Vassar, recorded, in various surprising and excellent combos playing with various rockers and jazz players.
Even the play list on the one LP of his I own, Vassar Clements (on Mercury in 1975), shows his diverse friends and interests — Charlie Daniels, Marty Stewart, John McEuen, John Hartford and others. Sadly this, one of the best instrumental LPs I own, has never been released on CD and is out of print.

Rex Libris Public Librarian

I, Librarian
Jeff Pomerantz points out (over lunch but not on his blog) a new comix from Slave Labor, Rex Libris, Public Librarian. The peek at the book online is worth your time. Should be out this month.

Just spoke to our School of Information and Library Science Librarian, Rebecca Varga, and she tells me that she ordered Rex Libris a few weeks back. If you are in Manning Hall, there is a good chance you can get the book right here!

Note:
After posting this I went to the book store to try to buy or order the book and they couldn’t find it in their inventory (okay) nor could they find it in the suppliers list (not so good). May have to be ordered on the net.
After Jeff, Rebecca and I are done with it of course.

Dome at SigGraph (elumenati)

David in the Dome with Friends
elumenati founder and ibiblio alum David McConville sends pics of the elumenati custom inflatable dome as it appeared at this year’s SigGraph conference.

David also sends an alert for his show at The Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center (56 Broadway in downtown Asheville) called “Immersive Media Environments.” The show is part of the “Buskmaster” oops R. Buckminster Fuller celebration there.
When (too soon): Thursday, August 18, 8:00 pm

Monkees make it a Billion

WorldCat from OCLC announces that they have cataloged their 1 billionth entry into their 34 year old shared catalog of library holdings.

The Monkees : The day-by-day story of the ’60s TV pop sensation
joins over 61
million unique catalog records representing 1 billion items in more than 54,000 libraries in 96 countries. The Bible, Mother Goose, Huckleberry Finn, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are among the Top Ten holdings in the catalog. Entirely unique items such as a Babylonian temple receipt for cattle and sheep used
in temple services around 2350 B.C are also in the catalog. The Monkees will not be entirely unique nor in the Top Ten I predict.

Note: My collegue, Fred Kilgour, founded OCLC in 1967 and was its President until 1980 then was Permanent Founder Trustee until 1995.

Power of the Peep and Dr Fun

Dr Fun creator Dave Farley writes to say that he’ll be interviewed for a documentary on the Eastertime favorite Peeps called “The Power of the Peep.” Dr Fun has had a load of fun with peeps over the years.

Dave was also interviewed about webcomics by Le Figaro (in French of course).

A few links to some Dr Fun peep featuring cartoons below.
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200004/df20000424.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200104/df20010410.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200104/df20010411.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200104/df20010412.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200203/df20020325.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200203/df20020326.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200203/df20020327.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200203/df20020328.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200203/df20020329.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200304/df20030414.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200304/df20030415.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200304/df20030416.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200304/df20030417.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200304/df20030418.jpg

Rain and Netscape IPO

August in Chapel Hill is usually dry. I recall several summers in the past decades when we were under water restrictions. Today we are simply under water. When I walked in this morning, water wasn’t rushing out of the grates; it was shooting up out of the grates! I had on a poncho and was carrying an umbrella but from the knees down I was soaked. Megan reports that Franklin Street was/is flooded down toward Panzanella (and the Wicked Burrito).

This week is the 10th anniversary of the Netscape IPO. Some people are claiming that should be the anniversary of the Internet or the Web, but of course things were longer in the making than that. Kevin Kelly has a good essay in Wired this month on the subject with an amusing projection into the next decade.

Kerouac Scroll to Roll into Town

The original scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road will be exhibited at the UNC-Chapel Hill Wilson Library from September 29-December 17 this fall. The opening reception will be free to the public on September 29, from 5-7 p.m. at the Saltarelli Exhibit Room, third floor of the Wilson Library. The NC Writers’ Network is a cosponsor of this significant event

Marching Penguins

No not the Linuxbierwanderung, but the movie about Emperor Penguins, the March of the Penguins. I wondered if people were serious about how good and how moving this Antarctic documentary had been for them when they saw it. Now that I’ve seen it myself, I too am impressed. The story of the penguins yearly life cycle is dramatic and amazing on its own, but thinking (when not totally absorbed by the movie’s story and beautiful photography) about how the movie was made in such adverse conditions raised my level of amazement even higher.

Orange County Elections Resourses

Ruby Sinreich and the folks at Orange Politics has created not only the best discussion forum about local politics at the main OP.org site, but also other very useful resources on their special elections page. Besides the candidate lists (with links to websites/blogs), there is information about filings and about registering to vote.

My favorite is Corey Reece’s Dynamic Election Map of Orange County, North Cackalacky made using the Google Maps API which pinpoints the registered residencies of all of the candidates. Corey has added RSS-fed recent articles from each candidate’s site (that make use of RSS).

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