Paul McCartney lounging Paul McCartney, yawning at the Grammys, constant gratitude to A-Rod, Roger Clemens and the New York Yankees, Happy Birthday Alban Berg
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FEBRUARY 9
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Alban Berg, composer of "Wozzeck" and "Lulu" and "Violin Concerto," and best of all, "Lyric Suite." Whoever can conceive the following 12 pitches in this order
F-E-C-A-G-D Ab-Db-Eb-Gb-Bb-Cb
my favorite "all-interval row," is a genius.
Of the 479,001,600 possible 12-tone rows, Alban Berg's, "F E C A G D Ab Db Eb Gb Bb Cb" is in my Top 10, along with this row:
C#-G# D-B-G-F# A-E-F-C Bb-Eb
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GRAMMYS
I DIDN'T SEE MUCH OF THE GRAMMYS THAT impressed me. It seemed to be the usual middle of the road, average, vapid, safe and predictable stuff that permeates a lot of popular culture. It's good that there is a large body of music that makes up the history of rock music, R & B, soul, blues, jazz, hip hop and country already as thousands of good songs exist. If one had to judge the state of music solely by what gets Grammys, one could conclude that, yes, music is not important to society or to the education of the intelligent responsible citizen.
I really liked the Radiohead/USC Trojans performance. The Stevie Wonder/Jonas Brothers performance was good and better than tolerable. The hip hop guys and MIA were the best of what was there, just as hip hop at least often has more substance and originality han most of the formulaic pop stuff that is celebrated by those who vote for this stuff.
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PAUL MCCARTNEY - let the past stay buried or let someone else dig it up
And then there was PAUL McCARTNEY. PAUL - STOP IT! I am one of the millions of people you changed, along with the all-important invisible entity known as "music." You will forever be one of the greats who ever walked the Planet. But now you're old, and even though you wrote, sang and recorded, "well she was just 17, you know what I mean," and "I'll never dance with another" because the 17 year old is so good looking and your "well my heart went BOOM when I crossed that ROOM," you really would be much better off to let lounge singers in suburban Sarasota do Paul McCartney at age 21 than have Paul McCartney at 66 do Paul McCartney at 21. You should be the still very good songwriter you are (most of your post-Wings stuffs is average to good to very good and even a few songs are great). Why, with all of your money, does your hair color look so bad, and why would you sing songs that very young people should sing to each other? You are past the age of social security eligibility - don't lust for a 17 year old in 2009, eve if that 17 year old is someone you created. It's ugly-ing up your great legacy. I hope someone who can get your ear will step up and tell you to stop!
JOHN LENNON and George Harrison and George Martin and Ringo Starr all used to have input into what Paul did. From what is known, John Lennon and Paul McCartney could each give great advice. But who can coach a legend?
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A-ROD, always and forever
Fortunately for me, there is A-ROD, a gift that keeps giving, a guy who is so likely to hit fantastically mighty home runs when his team is leading by 6 runs late in the game and early in the baseball season. The guy who virtually guarantees that the New York Yankees will not win a World Series for another 8 years.
I hope A-ROD goes into ROGER CLEMENS mode and keeps denying, as he already did on CBS 60 MINUTES in 2007 that he ever used any steroid or performance enhancing drug and was never even tempted to do this... PLEASE, Alex, PLEASE KEEP DENYING the truth. You, like Barry Bonds, grew your big muscles much bigger, you both also grew your heads much bigger (not metaphorically - your head and Barry Bonds' head must be size 12 or so - I'm 7 1/4 and fairly large - you're the very big deal).
I am delighted and more that you'll be a New York Yankee for 8 more years. I always smile at the thought, as do many Boston Red Sox fans. In the words and affectation of Private Gomer Pyle, "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
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The mother of the Baby Factory - the one who's already hatched 14 children (Nadya Suleman) - is not happy about her idiotic offspring and has called her actions, "unconscionable." That's very good to hear as I usually see parents who blindly praise and adore their children and want to, more than anything, make them feel good about themselves even if the children are not capable of living responsibly and being accountable for their actions.
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And I too am a proud of fan of Captain Sully Sullenberger. I could see wanting to take vacations to where he is flying just for the extra sense of safety. I loved the 60 Minutes interview with S and his crew I heard on CBS radio while driving last night.
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My life's challenges.... I've got to figure out how I can have time to Twitter. I am flattered that some very good people want to follow me on Twitter, but I just don't know where I am going to find the time to Twitter, along with being an active professor, creator, musician, citizen, friend and explorer, and one who is amazed by and wants to track his friends. It's bad enough I don't have time to write significantly, blog, Facebook or work out enough.
Annuit Coeptis
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