Addictive music video by NAIVE NEW BEATERS. I definitely enjoyed the video more than the song.

Photo by Dusty California

Photo by Margarita Gonzalez

This is the third time that I saw Radiohead play live. First in 1995 when they opened for REM in support of “The Bends.” REM lead singer Micheal Stipe boldy praised the band saying “They’re so good, they scare me.” He commented on Radiohead for a total of three times during their performance that night. But let’s get one thing clear – I was there to see Radiohead. It is still one of the most memorable shows I’ve seen.

I also saw Radiohead in 2003. The funny thing is that I don’t remember much of the show. I remember Thom Yorke putting in a good performance but that’s about it. It was a good friend of mine that reminded me that I even attended the show in the first place!

Fast forward to last week. Radiohead was opening their North American tour in West Palm Beach, Florida. West Palm Beach Florida? What an interesting choice since most bands skip South Florida altogether because of the location. Once a band plays Tampa, it’s straight down to Miami for a quick set up and tear down and another 7 hours before the equipment gets out of the state. Yorke commented during the show that the band spent the previous three days in Miami preparing for the show. Perhaps it was the sunshine that attracted the band.

Yorke addressed the audience like a nervous school child making an appearance at his first recital. He sauntered up to the microphone and said “Hello” with the usual normal tick. The band chose ‘All I need’ to start things off – immediately followed by ‘Bodysnatchers and ‘There there.’ I was really looking forward to hearing ‘Weird Fishes’ which was eventually played the 10th song in. This is when the concert started for me. Something rather strange happened though. Close to the ending, the band stopped playing. They had botched the ending and Yorke quickly huddled up with his band mates around their drummer, Phil Selway. After some chatter they quickly returned to where they left off. Selway counted them off and they played the ending correct.

I really don’t think too many people really noticed the screw up. However, Thom – in his pursuit of perfection – played it again the way it was written. [see videos here] Afterward he exclaimed to the audience that they really should have practiced that one or something to that tune.

All and all I would say it was a great show. The big missing for me was the more musically inspired numbers. I would have liked to have heard more of the classic Radiohead before they discovered synths. Not that the later stuff isn’t great, it’s just that I wanted to hear the guitars roar. A little less prefab action and a bit more guitar driven music.

I’m not a huge fan of musicals. I always thought it was bizarre that spontaneous song and dance would suddenly break out and the extras in any scene would never react. Hello? Does anybody else out there find musicals incredibly corny? This video shows how people really act when a musical breaks out in the food court. Brilliantly pulled off by improveverywhere.com.

Today, in the United States, it’s Martin Luther King Jr. day. A day or remembrance and reflection on a man whose words are as powerful today as the day he spoke them. One year after King’s famous “I have a dream” speech [28 August 1963], he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 1964. This is an excerpt from his acceptance speech:

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.

Interesting that King graciously accepts the Nobel Peace Prize and at the same time asks why the prize is awarded to a struggle which has yet won the peace and brotherhood which is what the Nobel Prize is all about in the first place. King makes a strong point without disparaging the very award he is given. He merely wants the audience to understand that the movement is ongoing until peace + brotherhood is achieved.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. “And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.” I still believe that We Shall overcome!

“I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up.” This unto itself is a powerful and relevant statement for our time. Self-centered can be good or bad. It just depends on the focus. I like the positive spin he puts on self-centered. As if to say we can take that self-centered energy and focus it on something positive for all of humanity rather than the opposite. So it is on this day I reflect on King’s words and see so much relevance for today. Like all great leaders and prophets, Martin Luther King life was taken on April 4, 1968 by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee. He was only 39 years old.

Here is a mashup, from an earlier post, of King’s famous “Drum Major Speech.” I took the speech and added music and a female backing voice:

This is what is sounds like when a nightingale sings the word "mindtoss." Words can also be translated to in R2D2 language. That’s helpful!
Try it for yourself at nightingale-song.com

Nothing funnier than a drunk Malcolm Middleton dressed up as a drunk Santa in and around London town. This must be a fairly normal event as most of the people in the video hardly notice or have any reaction to him at all.

In this video, indy rocker Malcolm Middleton puts a holiday spin on his upbeat “We’re all going to die” number. Just add bells, a children’s choir and BANG, you’ve got yourself a holiday classic. He’s pining for the number one Christmas slot on BBC radio one. See the official song site here.

We’re all going to die
We’re all going to die and what if there’s nothing
We’ll all have to face this alone
There’s a when not an if inside everybody
Mortal thoughts like this can make you feel so alone

You’re gonna die, you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die alone
You’re gonna die, you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die alone
All alone.

And what if I don’t become famous posthumously
Maybe my story’s no good
If I can take one possession then it’ll have to be my duvet
When oblivion comes calling it’ll be so cold

You’re gonna die, you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die alone
You’re gonna die, you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die alone
All alone.

When you can’t sleep at night and there’s no one to hold you
Remember I’m going through the same
You’ve got to laugh into the dark
We’re all one in a million
We’re alive, we existed, we took part, in the game.

We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die alone
We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die alone
We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die alone
All alone.

Also see:
www.myspace.com/malcolmmiddleton

Congratulations dinosaurs – welcome to the nineties! Now you can trade in your 8-tracks, cassettes, and compact discs for the latest new fangled technology. An MP3 player!

Fans can purchase songs including the tired and overplayed Stairway to Heaven and Whole Lotta Love digitally for the first time. Guitarist Jimmy Page was quoted as saying that he was pleased with the move, which would “better enable fans to obtain our music in whatever manner they prefer”. Wow Jimmy, you are right on the cusp of technology. What’s next, a haircut? Say it isn’t so.

Although the group have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide their release on digital stores like iTunes will only add more cash in ‘ol Robert Plant’s pocket. Good thing I already ripped my CD’s.

Seeing MINI KISS of course. However, they don’t play any instruments but hey, who does these days! I was a huge fan of KISS when I was a kid. This made me laugh out loud. Great parody.

Here's a Mashup of Shakira's "Hips don't lie" and Pink's "Stupid girls" that I created with Soundtrack.