He can dance; they can play

and another great cover

It's the End of the World

Make My Bed? But You Say the World’s Ending

The Marlboro Marine- Extended resource for Brandon, Dom, and Vinnie's Presentation

The Cat by Ryan Alexander
The War Works Hard-Dunya Mikhail

Bohemian Rhapsody on Uke from TED Conference

When I see this performance I think of this quote from my favorite author Joseph Campbell:
People say that what we're seeking is a meaning for life.
I don't think that's what we're really seeking.
I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive,
so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.

More Covers! Jolene vs. Jolene

Ray Lamontagne- Jolene

Zac Brown Band- Jolene

Say Hello, Wave Good Bye

This is one of my favorite songs by David Gray. How he found inspiration from the original clearly required vision.

David Gray


Soft Cell

Evolution or de-evoltion of a song?

Gold Digger- By Kanye West


I Got a Woman- Ray Charles


I Got A Woman- Blind Snooks Eaglin

Tuesday Covers- White Stripes and Neil Diamond

Fell in Love With a Girl



Joss Stone- Fell In love With a Boy


Neil Diamond- Red Red Wine


UB40- Red Red Wine


Beatles- We Can Work It Out


Stevie Wonder- We Can Work It Out


Imagine- John Lennon


Imagine- A perfect Circle

Covers- Tears for Fears- Mad World

The Original


Gary Jules from Donnie Darko Soundtrack

Adam Lambert

Friday on Monday

We are doing this... Matt Rayos was all over this meme early last week. Poor guy


Let's let the voice out of the studio...


 But what of this music studio that finds such talent...
and of course here come the tributes

Kill Your Idols- Drafting

Here is where you be for today:

Part A- Description of your disillusion of this album
Part B- Your counter-argument with critics who herald this album
Part C- Your three song reviews from the album
Part D- Your discussion about what the stain of this album on popular music
Part E- Saved to your Google Docs
Part F- Share with me and your partner

Stage 2- Co-Editing
Now you are an editor.  It is your task to offer constructive feedback to your writing partners.  Just as you push a team mate to dig deeper during a race, ask of similar creativity of your partners.  If you find a particular strength, ask more of it.  Where they are weak, offer a more creative angle.  If you need to, argue with them in a hypothetical way to draw out more.  Don't be reluctant to ask , "SO WHAT?"
Insert no less than five comments into their draft this time.



Style/ Voice
Allusion
Sarcasm
Dead pan formula/ code break
Participle + noun adjectives
extended metaphor
rhetorical question
personification
antithesis

Kill Your Idols- What's the effect?

So far you have drafted the following components for your Kill Your Idols expanded critique:

1. Your description how you came to see this "classic" differently from the rest of the music establishment.
2. Your two responses to music critics using "moves" from the Index of Templates handout.
3. Three song reviews from the album.
4. Writing moved into Google docs for future editing with partners.

Here is the next part that will serve as your headiest discussion of this album.  What are the deeper problems of this album in terms of what it reflects about society and culture?
Consider the following questions to guide your critique:

• Why is it such a problem that we have built this album up so much?
• What weaknesses does this reveal about our culture's taste in music (lack of sophistication, political ignorance, unworthy praise of "individuality", etc)?
• Has this album opened up more problems through copy cat artists or a downward spiral of widespread musical talent?

Here is some clever writing by Jace Lacob from the Daily Beast about Glee: (Annotation my emphasis of technique)

What is Glee doing when other shows would be moving forward, or showing their characters in challenging, or funny, situations? (1) Well, Glee has become a music single-delivery mechanism. (2) Scenes involving dialogue or plot development are shoehorned between massive musical set pieces, which draw from the vast and varied world of popular music. (3) Instead of illustrating the unspoken and inner desires or fears of the characters, the songs here seem like coldly calculated viral videos, designed to rapidly spread across the Internet.(4)
The more it focuses on the music and less on the characters, the higher the ratings climb. (5)
Why, I ask as I tear my hair out, is the show so beloved? (6)
Perhaps the answer is as simple as why people loved American Idol so much for so many years. The songs on Glee are not original; they’re culled from a huge catalogue of singer-songwriters, rock bands, and alternative types, but what they have in common is that they’re all part of the pop-culture lexicon already. These are songs that people know the lyrics to, after all. By redoing them within the context of Glee, Fox and its sister studio, 20th Century Fox Television, have created a cottage industry of mass-produced knockoffs, easy to consume and cheap to buy. (It might also be why Idol is so successful, but the original songs for the finalists fall flat every time.)

1. Rhetorical question which bluntly exposes the show's lack of creativity.
2.  Shoehorn connotes a forced attempt to avoid character development to adhere to the show's "winning" formula.
3. Cold metaphor meant to strip the show of any artistic merit and reveal its equate it to boiler plate replication of industrial production.
4. Simile meant to continue the slight by raising the content to creativity of LOL cats.
5. Clever use of an antithesis.
6. Hyperbole to capture intellectual exasperation.

         

Kill Your Idols- Writing and research links

Let’s channel your rebellion into some sharp irreverent writing about albums that too often pass for “classics.”  Aim your sights higher than the schlock that is all too easy to sniff out from the ever present heap of corporate cut-outs.  For this writing, I want you to target an entire album that has unjustly earned unconditional love from the establishment.  Your criticism will boot this album from its entrenched perch in popular music’s hall of champions.  As Jim DeRogatis states from the preface of his book Kill Your Idols:

…each writer addresses an allegedly “great” album that he or she despises.  If we want to be high-minded about it, we can call it a spirited assault on a pantheon that has been foisted upon us, or a defiant rejection of the hegemonic view of rock history espoused by the critics who preceded us….A savage but well –considered critique of a piece of art that you love gets your blood flowing.  The point isn’t necessarily to change your thinking about a work you adore, but to prod you to consider anew why you admire that work.

Stage I:  Group Formation/ Album Selection

For this longer writing, you will be forming writing circles by which you will draft and edit each other’s writing.  Through constructive dialogue, you will push each other to find the best expression.  By Wednesday you will have secured a copy of the album (library, youtube playlist, etc).  Start listening and taking notes.  Every observation may be the seed for creative expression once you start writing.

We are not looking for low-hanging fruit like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, or Justin Bieber.  The album must meet one of the following criteria:

Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of all time.

Pitchfork's Highest Rated Albums of 2010 and beyond
AV Club Best of 2010  and worst.
Paste Magazines Albums of the Decade

Grammy Winner (any year)

Or convince me of its “greatness” (Glee/ Paramore)

Monday/ Tuesday-

A)    Select your album.  Group limit 3.

B)     Find three positive reviews of the album.  Do not print the first review you find.  Find a review that attempts to place the album in some sort of context (political. cultural, genre, etc).   Start in ProQuest for reviews by professional writers.  Print the best.

C)    For Wednesday-  Write a full –page explanation why you are selecting this album.  This might be an attempt to remember your first nagging itch about the fuss of the album and why you can’t hear the “brilliance.”

Review #5- Extended Metaphor of Terrible Song

 Requirements-

• Minimum Word Count: 140 
• No less than two different forms of sentence variety (See Sentence Spice Handout)
• Three points of comparison to your extended metaphor
• Active verbs
• Noun + participle adjectives
• Some biographical context of artist
• Ape a complex sentence from the Nevermind review or others.
• Choice adjectives to describe music/instruments

Due Monday- 2-28

Review #4- Song Review of Heartbreak

Song Review #4

Fall/ Summer

Due Monday!
What song captures heartbreak?

•
Minimum Word Count: 140 

• • No less than two different forms of sentence variety (See Sentence Spice Handout)
• • Noun + Participle Adjectives
• •Simile-Metaphor/Imagery
• •Allusion ( Greek, Historical, Pop-Culture, Biblical, Literary-Shakespeare 
• •Active verbs
• •Some biographical context of artist
• •Choice adjectives to describe music/instruments

The Seasons- A Youtube Mix-Tape

Spring


Summer


Fall


Winter

New Music Mondays 2-7-2011 Brandon, Dom, and Raj

From Brandon


From Dom

Song Review #2- Dropping Allusions

Team Bieber -Thursday/ Team Cyrus-Friday
Here are the ingredients for Song Review #2:       

•  Minimum Word Count: 140 
•  No less than two different forms of sentence variety (See Sentence Spice Handout)
• Simile-Metaphor/Imagery
• Allusion ( Greek, Historical, Pop-Culture, Biblical, Literary-Shakespeare
• Active verbs
• Some biographical context of artist
• Choice adjectives to describe music/instruments

New Music Monday 1/31 "Craig"/Justin and Raj

primeval- original; belonging to the first or earliest ages
pallor- lack of color; unnatural paleness
licentious- characterized by lust; lewd
-phobia/phobic + fear/ one who fears  
-philia/phile + love of/ one who loves


My pick of the week:
The Black Keys _ I've got mine

Assignment #3- Song Review 1

You have read plenty reviews and we dissected the structure of quality reviews in class. Let's write a positive review for a new song of your choice. Here are the ingredients:

• Minimum Word Count: 140
• No less than two different forms of sentence variety (See Sentence Spice Handout)
• Simile-Metaphor/Imagery
• Active verbs
• Some biographical context of artist
• Choice adjectives to describe music/instruments

Look to our class notes for best word choice.  Read more reviews to get additional
Here is the analysis of Martin Douglas's review of Weekend from Pitchfork

Due Dates:
Team Bieber-Last Names B-O       1/31/2011  MONDAY! 
Team Cyrus- Last Names P-W       2/2/2011   WEDNESDAY!

If you want to really impress...This is what you can already do now that you have a Google account.
Google Sites Tutorial

Assignment #2- Choose Your Own Adventure

You are assembling the necessary materials for our study of effective writing.  This is the task over the next few days in the computer lab.

Save your reviews on the server.  Make note of the source.  Print all material.  Edit the copies so that you will be comfortable annotating.

1. Locate four album reviews of an album released within the past year.  Look no farther than the links to your immediate right on the blog.  Professional writers only.
2. Read the reviews.  Pick the writer/critic/reviewer that  has the most talent.  Find four different album reviews by the same author.  Attempt to find a range of positive and negative reviews.
3. Find lyrics to your top five songs.  Minimum of two different genres.  Hip Hop + Country + Screamo for example.
4. Find lyrics to the worst lyrics.  Cliche, missed metaphor, or whatever...

Feckless- A)Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective. B) Careless and irresponsible.
Gauche- Lacking grace or social polish; awkward or tactless

New Music Monday- Megan and Neil

Alchemy- a method of miraculous change of one thing into another.  Traditionally changing lead into gold is a common example.  Yet think how a musician can be an alchemist in terms of what emotions they can pull from their audience. 

What a difference a word makes?

and compare this to the studio version.

Contrite- crushed in spirit by a feeling of guilt.
Lyrics- It was not your fault but mine.
           It was your heart on the line.
           I really messed it up this time

This is my favorite Joe Satriani- Not necessarily Neil's favorite!

Google Doc Tutorial- Assignment #1

New Music Mondays

New Music Mondays- As part of your class participation grade, you will share with us some new music. Here are the guiding ideas:
A) The music must be new to you, as within the past month. I hop the song came to you as act of serendipity The best discoveries will require you to push some boundaries. Pick up a parent's or older sibling's album. Get lost on Pitchfork or stumble across it in non traditional spaces (Pandora or WONC). If you found it on Kiss FM or MTV, it was already pre-chewed for you and we will sniff that out.. Keep searching.
B) Explain to the class how you stumbled across this song/band.
C)  Describe your attraction to this song.  Why is it fresh to you?  What instruments should we listen to specifically?  Any lyrics that were especially jarring?
D)  Either bring the song in or send me a link (youtube, etc) on the Friday prior to your Monday presentation.

LCD Soundsystem- One Touch


The XX- Intro



The XX- Islands

Yoko Ono- We're All Water and MoMA Scream Performance 2010