Taking the week off from recording the Christianity and War Audiobook…
ByI have been thoroughly swamped for the past week with lab work and preparation for the incredibly cool *WHOA TOP SECRET* event coming up… Umm, yeah I wasn’t supposed to say that. Thanks WordPress Editor! Ok, actually you’ll get more information on that this week, but I’m telling you it’s gonna be HUGE. So get ready…
At any rate, I decided that I need to take a break this week from recording the Christianity and War Audiobook. This will give you a chance to get all caught up with everything thus far, and I’ll have a fresh podcast for you next Monday or Tuesday. For a glimpse at what life has been like here the past few weeks, see the following PHD Comic:
Actually, this isn’t quite accurate. My advisor *does* have confidence in my competence… Hehe.
By the way, here’s something else for you… A couple of people have asked me what the music is at the beginning of the podcast. That music, my friends, is by my favorite fingerstyle guitarist of all time: Michael Hedges. The song is called Ritual Dance. Incidentally, it was featured in the film August Rush, played by Kaki King (in the guise of the main character).
Michael died in a car accident in 1997, and thus the world lost one of the most innovative musicians of our time. He literally revolutionized the way guitarists practice their craft, and Michael’s work has influenced my own music quite a lot. He often was categorized as a “New Age” musician, but this is mainly because there really wasn’t a way to categorize him (and that he was on the Windham Hill label). Michael would often in response describe his music as “Heavy Mental”, “New Edge”, ““Acoustic Thrash”, “Deep Tissue Gladiator Guitar” or “Savage Myth Guitar,” amongst other terms. The wiki article says Michael was affectionately known as “The Guitarist from Another Planet.” yeah, he was a bit weird…
Here is the essential chronological discography of Michael Hedges with links to Amazon… I recommend every album but Road to Return, which is kinda kooky but has some great songs like Sister Soul and Communicate.
- Breakfast in the Field
- Aerial Boundaries (MP3) <– In my opinion, this is his best album.
- Watching My Life Go By (MP3)
- Taproot (MP3)
- Live on the Double Planet (MP3)
- Road to Return
- Oracle (MP3)
- Torched (published posthumously)
- Some compilations of his best stuff:
You can also, of course, find many videos of him playing on Youtube. Most of them are live concert videos which prior to Youtube were extremely rare. It’s actually quite extraordinary that we have the opportunity essentially to watch and learn from the master himself whenever we want! Here’s one of my favorite songs, Aerial Boundaries, from a DVD Windham Hill made a while ago:
A toast to musical enjoyment!
Norman Horn is the creator and primary writer for LCC. Learn a little bit about him in the 