As if I needed another reason to love this song any more

This guy is great!  Makes me wanna learn sign language.  At least now I know what “Hey” is in ISN.  I’m no dancer, but I sure do move to this song.

PS: Yes, I really do like the song; no sarcasm here, like you might see on other people’s blogs.

PS#2: I didn’t mean the first PS to point at specific people, nor am I sour about it.  Not a bit.

PS#3: I’ll let you decide if I’m using sarcasm in #2.

That was definitely worth 5 mins of my time.

But I still don’t believe in man-caused global warming.

I received notice recently that one of my all-time favorite performers is once again coming to Austin.

See there?  It even says that he’s one of my “favorite performers”.   Here’s the bio write-up from the eventful site:

Jonathan Coulton is the Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science magazine and the musical director for John Hodgman’s Little Gray Book Lectures. His songs about vengeful nerds, ennui-afflicted clowns, partially-imagined historical figures, and devotees of a certain Swedish prefab furniture store are insanely clever without ever being too clever for their own good. They repeatedly lure you into laughing before suddenly breaking your heart. And the sick part is, you keep coming back. Coulton’s is the voice of every spooky elementary school kid who could never quite keep his shirt tucked in or shoes tied; every lovelorn mason and mad scientist; every one of us who has ever sat despairingly on the floor, surrounded by parts of an Ikea endtable, weeping over our allen wrenches. He is ready to soft-rock your socks off.

My interest and involvement in JC has waxed and wayned over the last year; I even wrote a parody song of a parody song of his, sang & recorded it and started a video but then I dropped it for no apparent reason.  I also have footage of me interviewing him DITL-style (along with Paul and Storm as well) and I have yet to incorporate it into one of myDITL’s. 

Yes, I am that potentially famously procrastinatorial.

I’m even slightly interested in the Summer Cruise he tempted everyone with on his blog. 

If you want to meet up for the show here in Austin in February, drop me a line.  You know I’ll be live-tweeting the whole thing.

Pessimists suck.

I was thinking today how… if I wanted to, if I *really* wanted to, I could be unhappy. 

I thought – if I concentrated hard enough, I could find a ton of things to be upset about.  Things to complain about.  Things to ruin my day or my week.  Things that could ruin my life if I let them.

Have you heard of gratitude journals?  I believe Oprah is a fan of them.  You’re supposed to write down the things every day that you’re thankful for.  I’ve never tried it myself, but have heard the wonders it does for people who are depressed or unhappy.

Since I’m so happy all the time, I wonder what would happen if I decided to start a complaint journal.  You know, for balance.

I could dwell on the fact that I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life.  Two hundred and seventy-five pounds of blogging muscle.

I could lament that I’m not at #avitaween this weekend like all the cool bloggers.

There are personal issues that could seriously weigh on me if I let them.  I don’t disclose them on the blog.

I owe a lot. In many ways to many people, and not just financial.

My feet itch.

There’s more politics to rile me up than ever before in my life, and it feels like the entire news media, the government, the blogging world, and most of my friends are against me and my principles.

I went without internet at our new house for a full week. Also, AT&T’s 3G coverage at our new house is horrible compared to our old house.

I forgot to set FastForward to record for my wife.  Now we’re weeks behind.

We still don’t have jet packs.

There are at least 3 jobs in my past that had I taken them when offered, I’d be a millionaire now.  I have 2 jobs in my past that I took a year too late and missed out on a million dollars.

My car’s muffler / tail pipe scrapes the bottom of our new driveway because of the incline.

I have health concerns. 

I’ve had to spend > $1000 on our two cars for maintenance, and I have at least another $1500 that needs to be spent, but we can’t right now.  $320 of it was for a leaking gas tank, and they just had to replace one little rubber grommet, but it costs that much anyway.

I still don’t have the game room TV cable hooked up, and we’ve been in our new house a week.

A road I drive every day will be moving from 2 lanes to 1 lane for 19 months while the government spends unneeded TARP stimulus money to pay workers to rebuild a bridge that doesn’t need rebuilding.

Speaking of driving every day, I used to work from home.  A LOT.  Now I have to go into work with 0% teleworking.  That means an additional $100-200/mo on gas expense.

I took a new job where I’m not the man in charge any more.  No clout, no history, no old-timer’s advantage.

That’s a lot of stuff, and I’m just disclosing or hinting at things that I’m comfortable saying on my blog.  If you know me and my blogging style, then you know there’s a lot more reality behind the scenes.

These were complaints off the top of my head.  Yet, I can easily come up with ten times as many things to be thankful for.  And it’s easy for me. 

In fact, it’s usually all I think about.  I keep being amazed at how lucky I am in life.  Everywhere I turn, I’m impressed with something.  There’s always something to make me smile.

Why don’t others have an easy time with it? Is it just perspective?

Despite all those things I listed above, I’m having one of the best days of my life today.

Here’s one of the reasons.  I found this on Iron Fist’s blog and I love it.

I’m so easy.

I bet you thought I meant DM as in “Direct Message” didn’t you?

No.

I mean Demitri Martin.

I’ve really come to love more and more things on my iPhone and one of the most recent ones is the AOL Radio app.  AOL Radio is like XM or Sirius or a radio station but goes over this magical thing I like to call “the Internet.”  It streams in different stations, like Rock, Pop, All Beatles, Sports, Talk, Politics, Country, or whatever has a station.  There are millions of stations (sort of). 

There are a couple of stations in my AOL Radio “favorites” list that are Comedy specific – AOL Comedy Classics and AOL Comedy Attack!

Now, Faiqa, Avitable and you other liberals, please don’t get all freaked out about the AOL Progressive channel. It’s *not* what you think it is.

Here are some videos for your enjoy to see if Demitri is up your alley or not.  I’m giving you two options because you might be busy and want a shorter one.

(and yes, the 2nd one has a couple bad words in it, and has a couple repeat jokes from the first one.  I consider this the extent of my responsibility in warning you since my blog is PG-13 rated.)

This morning as Jaden and I were waiting for the bus, I popped in one of our favorite songs – Adiemus‘ Adiemus.

Note: I’ve not seen this youtube video until this morning as I was searching for something to embed.  It’s pretty cool, but the emphasis for this post is the music itself.  I recommend putting on headphones, starting it and closing your eyes.

This song appears on a CD I’ve had for a looooong time called Pure Moods. 

The version on the CD is only a shade over three minutes long and this youtube version is more than five minutes long.  The CD also features Enya, Enigma, Jan Hammer, and even the X-Files theme.  Relaxation is a lot easier when this CD is playing.

This morning’s routine was different because Jaden actually woke up tired.  He’s usually chipper, early and ready to do stuff in the morning before school but today it was a challenge to get him going.  One thing that got him up eventually was the thought of getting out to the bus stop early, waiting in the car, and being able to sleep again.  I said I’d play “our song” and he immediately brightened up.

We got through it twice before that infernal bus showed up.

But it was a good time.  Man I love that song.

And that kid.

You’ve undoubtedly heard of the 2012 connections of late – the supposed end of the Mayan Calendar, the alignment with the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the potential energy blast that might shock our system, alien visits, humans suddenly becoming telepathic, the poles shifting, total catastrophic destruction, or maybe just a small transformation in how mankind honors and lives with nature.

There’s even a movie coming out about it:

As I was listening to Prince’s 1999 this morning, however, it became clear to me that he already knew what was going to happen, and why.  The fact that he was able to capitalize on the vision he had while dreaming, not only in the 80’s but also at the end of the 20th century, is beyond impressive. It’s downright amazing.

The primary key to unlocking the meaning of his song is embodied here in the chorus

‘Cuz they say two thousand zero zero party over
Oops out of time
So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999

Let’s start with “two thousand zero zero.”  This is commonly mistaken for the year 2000.  But it’s really “2000, zero zero,” which is 200,000.   There are 200,000 people currently believing in the 2012 phenomemon.  Coincidence, you say?

Moving on, “out of time” is one of the central themes to the Mayan Calendar connection to 2012.  They refer to “the end of time” or the end of the calendar as we know it.  Some have likened this to the end of the world (as in destruction) and others have said it’s like an odometer that has cylinders that start over at zero.  Still other say it’s the end of an era, whatever you take “era” to mean.

Many people thought that Prince’s song was about the year 1999, as if the world would end during that specific year.  But the lyrics clearly say “like it’s 1999.”  This indicates that there’s a reference to the hype, foreshadowing, or reminiscence about the attitude towards partying when you know the end of the world is coming.  I correlate this to events in 2012, and more specifically, December 21st, 2012 at 11:11 am GMT.  12-12-2012 because that’s when the once-in-every-25-thousand-years alignment happens between the center of the galaxy and the sun (from the Earth’s point of view).  I picked 11:11 because, well, just because.

I thought I should also point out that “Prince knew it all along about 2012″ anagrams into “It’s the end of the world, sucka!” if you take away a few letters and add a couple more.

In Prince’s dream, the “sky was all purple” and there were “people running everywhere.”  This clearly can’t happen, and everyone’s saying the 2012 prophecies can’t happen, so there’s a tie-in as well.

Do you see how it all comes together?

Don’t even get me started on his new “name” or Symbol or whatever.  It’s got 2012 written all over it.

(side note: those of you who follow me on twitter know that my wife underwent major knee reconstruction surgery on Friday, so my online presence and blogability has been hampered a bit while I help her out with her healing process.  As a result, I’ve reduced the housework she’s responsible for by about 7%.  I know. I’m a saint.  And I told her to just skip mowing this week. Sure, it might be harder on her knees next week, when the grass and weeds will be much higher due to the recent rains, but what’s important is that she heal safely)

Jaden adores Fred.

You’ve seen Fred, right?  He’s one of them thar “Internet Sensations.”  He’s also called “Youtube Fred.”  He’s kind of like Star Wars kid, but on purpose and not nearly as sad, once you know Fred Figglehorn is NOT really a 6yr old pumped on on drugs and pining for a fictional girl named Judy.  Or Wendy.  Who knows.

You either love Fred or hate him, kind of like Rush Limbaugh or Ben Stiller.  Wait, I take that back.  I like Ben Stiller in some things but hated him in others.  But wouldn’t it be neat if they married and had a kid and named it Rush Stiller?  Because that would be like an oxymoron – stand still while rushing?  Or Ben Limbs? Sounds like you’re flexing your muscles.  Heh, or Stillbaugh Benrusher.

Wait a second, where was I?

Oh yeah, Jaden, my 7yr old son.  He loves watching all the Fred episodes.  He watches many over and over, like the one about going to the dentist.  I’ve heard it said that Fred was the first to hit 1,000,000 fans on youtube.  Jaden just sits and watches and laughs and laughs and entices us to come over and watch the hilarity.  I guess if I’m going to introduce my son to the dangers of  medications, this is the way to do it.

So.

One morning Jaden told me he wrote a letter to Fred.  And sure enough, in MARKS-A-LOT, there it was – a big 8.5×11 sheet of paper holding Jaden’s letter to Fred:

click to embiggen

In case you’re having trouble reading it, here it is transcribed:

Hi Fred, this is Jaden.  I am your biggest fan.  I like you.  You’re really funny, so I am going to watch your videos every day.  I like the part when you said “Oh My Gosh! I just peed inside the pool!”  So write back, Fred.  From: Jaden Wayne Hall

I told him we could mail it to Fred.  We got an envelope, folded it up, and found a stamp.  I taught Jaden how to self-address an envelope.  Then I told him I’d take it to work and mail it off.

However, try as I might, I couldn’t find a snail-mail address for him at any of his websites.  I didn’t want to let Jaden down, so I PDF’ed the letter and found an email address for Fred. I haven’t heard back yet, but I’m hoping there’s some kind of response for Jaden, even if it’s canned and cheesy, like cheeze whiz because, well, who doesn’t like Cheeze Whiz?

We also bought Jaden a Fred T-Shirt, which he wears as often as he can.  It’s his favorite shirt.

Who did you write a letter to as a kid?

May 12, 2009

Dear Mr. Hall:

Thank you for the opportunity to guest post for you this week. It was quite the honor to be selected to be among the elite few given this chance to write before a wonderful audience and share my talents.  I’m relatively new to this blogging community, and I feel that this has been a brass ring for me in a way — something for which I can reach, grab hold, and be successful — pushing through my success back to my own blogging home where I can celebrate such victories.

Sadly, Mr. Hall, I feel that I have failed you.

You see — I had a wonderful idea in my head. One which came to me over the weekend. Something which would have been extremely special and which would have fit in appropriately with your usual blog fodder.  But due to certain factors, some within and some completely out of my control — I was not able to achieve this memorable task.

You see, I have a specific talent: I can start writing with one audience in mind and, before you realize it, I can select an entirely different audience within the span of one sentence. Instead of addressing this to Wayne, I’m now talking to you — the reader. You see how simple I made that look? It comes from quite a bit of practice. Sadly, it is a realized talent, one which manifested itself on this blog far more successfully than a perceived talent I thought I had.

For those of you unfamiliar with me, Wayne Hall and I happen to be very different in many ways.  However, there are three staples of our lives which we both share items in common. They are (a) our common love for frivolous government spending; (b) our common intrigue with 80s music being slapped together, track on-top-of track like a scrumptious dagwood sandwich; and (c) our common passion for the music of legendary rock band Yes. I chose to focus on the latter two qualities we have in common since I had a feeling someone else would post something about the first one.

The band Yes has gone through many incarnations in their 40+ years of existence.  Their arrival to a more mainstream crowd, however, came about in 1983 with the release of their 90125 album — the first of which to feature a guitarist and singer named Trevor Rabin. It was also produced by a former member of Yes, Trevor Horn, and spawned Yes’s first and only #1 hit, Owner of a Lonely Heart. I can’t lie — this was my gateway into the world of Yes, even though much of their music from the decade before sounded nothing like anything on 90125.

Perhaps their most atypical song was one on the second side of the LP, a piece called Leave It. It was a magical song with weird lyrics (a staple of all things Yes) and lots of vocal harmonies.  The music video was popular on MTV; in fact, there were fifteen different versions of the video created for novelty’s sake so that fans could figure out what subtle differences existed among them all.  The single for Leave It was released on ATCO records. And the B-side was a completely a capella version of the song.

Through the magic of my computer and sound editing software, I decided to give myself a challenge: to sing the a capella version of Leave It for this very blog entry.  To mask tracks of myself singing with other tracks of myself singing. To come together with eight voices of Shiny singing such a wonderfully atypical song of the band! It was going to be spectacular!

However, I gave up after recording three tracks of myself singing. I came to the realization that it simply sounded muddy. I do not have a recording studio in my home, and the cheap-o headphones I was using with the built in mic simply weren’t cutting it. Also. my voice sounded flat. And I couldn’t determine the harmonies for the first four measures of the song.

So I gave up.  And for that I’m ashamed.  How else could I demonstrate my common love of the music of Yes?  What other way could I demonstrate our shared interests?

And then I was thinking: Wait! People  make fun of Wayne all the time for his obsession with LOLCats!  What if I could somehow do something with that? True, I’m not a huge fan of LOLCats. But if there’s anything I’ve learned from the blogosphere, it’s important to pretend that you like certain things so people will like you and you’ll gain new readers! It is this healthy attitude which has allowed me to thrive through to today.

Which is why I present to you — LOLYes!

I do understand that many of you don’t have the working knowledge of Yes that Wayne and I do. Because of this, I’ve decided to give you some rudementary background while I post these pictures.  For instance — the trippy logo above? Created by artist Roger Dean! It was used by Yes on most of their albums — but not all of them. They have consulted with other artists who have created different logos. But this one seems to have stuck.

The fun thing about a band from the 60s which continues to tour is seeing how well (or poorly) these rockers age.  See the guy on the far right? That’s Steve Howe. He was in other bands like GTR and Asia. And he used to have a very strong mane of hair in the 80s.  And while his hands are truly a gift of guiltar playing from an early age,  his forehead has since emerged as a more prominent feature as of late.

You see? They used to be more photogenic! Kind of. Their debut album, cleverly titled “Yes” came out in 1967 or 68 or something.  It had virtually no hits. But there was a song called “Dear Father” which I like quite a bit despite the repetition.

That’s Steve Howe on guitar sometime in the mid-1980s! See what I mean about his hair? And speaking of hair, the guy with the tambourine on the left is not Doug Henning. It’s Jon Anderson, the lead singer for quite a big chunk of the group’s history. His voice is amazing. His taste in all clothes loose and comfortable on stage is just fun.

The 70s were kind to Yes. And their prescription eyewear. (Can you spot Jon Anderson? Hint: sleeves…)

“Yours is No Disgrace” is a powerful song off of The Yes Album. It’s about the world’s involvement with the Vietname War. I think. Honestly, I haven’t thought about it. I’ve seen Yes in concert three times, and each time they’ve opened with this song. Powerful.

South Side of the Sky was a rare, deep track off of their 1972 critically-acclaimed Fragile album.  It was lesser known than their infamous hit Roundabout from that very album. They usually don’t play the song. And it has nothing to do with the length of the drummer’s shorts. (Not Alan White; he didn’t join the band until right after Fragile was released. But he’s in the picture above.)

Going for the One was a departure for Yes in the late 1970s. They were inclined to record long symphony-type pieces with different movements. Take, for instance, their Tales From Topographic Oceans double album.  One song on each side. four sides, four songs. Not great if you have an attention span issue.  But Going For The One went back to shorter songs with more of an edgy, rocky feel to it.

That’s Chris Squire — the bassist for the band. He has more shelf life with Yes than anyone else! However, there was a period of time during which one of the lineups of the band decided to depart from Yes and form a group called “Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe” (ABWH) while Yes was still in existence with a different lineup. ABWH plus Chris Squire were the lineup for Fragile. They just… well, it was rumored that they didn’t get along well. But in 1990, Yes and ABWH merged and released an album called Union, which was bascially both groups just putting their own songs on. But Chris Squire was able to lay down some bass tracks for ABWH after all.

Oh — and the tour was pretty cool — an eight-member Yes performing. In the round. Fun times…

Jon Anderson had to cancel the tour last year because of some vocal problems. Poor guy. But poor Wayne! He felt very let down when this happened. Sadly, Jon will not be on tour this season for their latest lineup. Speedy Recovery, Mr. Anderson!

You know what? Me singing Leave It would have been a whole lot better. Again, Mr. Whall, I apologize.

Sincerely,

– Shiny

I’m gonna give this another go.  Follow along with me, won’t you?

First, I begged people to sign the petition to get my all-time favorite band YES into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (hint: go do it if you haven’t yet.)

Then, I announced to the world how lucky I was that I was going to get to see my favorite band *and* get to meet them.

Shortly after that, I lamented about the tour being canceled the day before my chance to meet them and losing out on the opportunity.

[time passes]

Well, it’s ON AGAIN!   WWWOOOOOOO-oo-HOOOOO!

I’m so pumped again!  On July 15th, YES and openers ASIA will be rocking the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, TX, only about 3hrs north of Austin.

Possibly the best part of this whole thing is that they completely branded and renamed the series in my honor:

Isn’t that sweet?  They named it the “Hall Series.”  *sniff*

And how cool is it to have Asia be the opening act?  Steve Howe will actually be doing double-duty and playing both with YES and ASIA, along with “original Asia members, including ex-YES and Buggles keyboardist Geoff Downes, ELP’s Carl Palmer on drums and former King Crimson and UK bassist/guitarist/vocalist John Wetton” (quoted from press release.)

Hmm.  Maybe I should try and host a blogger meet up the day before or after the show in the DFW area.  I *just* might be popular enough to get about 1/3rd of a person to show up.  Interesting.  I’d make sure I didn’t take appointments for it.  I’d call it WHALL-CON (get it? walk-on? no appointments?  I crack this house UP)

This is gonna be so. totally. whallsome!