Archive for music
Why Every President Sucked
Posted by: | CommentsLCC Reader and Humble Libertarian Blogger Eric Olson informed me recently of his latest project: Why Every President Sucked. You absolutely must check it out.
Besides having a really cool and creative site layout, his content is fantastic. Essentially, he has gone through the history of each United States President and shown why each and every one, from George to Barack, was terrible and a blight to liberty. He is cataloguing “America’s Undying Pursuit of a King.” You heard us right: the United States has never had a “good” president. Every single one has exacted tyranny in some way or another. Eric doesn’t excuse anyone because some foolish historian or civics teacher told us once that “Presidents have to make the hard decisions.” As if it’s hard to make a decision to do the right thing, like not incinerate 250,000 Japanese civilians with an atomic bomb, or imprison those who dissent against your policies. But I digress, back to Eric…
On every page, he gives in short form what exactly each President did that was so heinous. Then – and this is where it gets great – he has written a short song for all 44 presidents about their crimes against humanity. Every song has been recorded as a short video and posted on YouTube. When you think about it, just writing, say, 20 of these to start up the site would be quite an achievement, but he has already written a song for each one!
After each song, he has posted the lyrics and guitar chords so you can read along or even learn the song yourself, if you like.
I have to hand it to Eric; he really did a great job here. It is truly an achievement of note, and worthy of remark. It’s just so, I don’t know, simple. Not simplistic, just the good kind of simple. If you know the history, you can enjoy the songs and learn quick facts that you can bring out in a jiffy when talking to people. If you’re not as aware, then you’re being exposed to great information in short form, with an entertaining way of remembering it.
I mean, seriously, how can you forget that John Adams wrote the Alien and Sedition Acts after hearing Eric sing, “Is it ‘cause you kind of look like an alien?” Really, what’s your problem, John?
This video/song about John Adams is definitely one of my favorite. I also really like the songs about Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, and Harry Truman.
So thanks Eric, for telling the truth and making it ever easier to learn and retain the truth. GREAT JOB!
Check it out, here’s the link once more: http://whyeverypresidentsucked.com
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Tags: history, music, politicians, politics
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Taking the week off from recording the Christianity and War Audiobook…
Posted by: | CommentsI 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!
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Tags: audiobook, comics, music, science
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Guitar pickin’ in St. Louis…
Posted by: | CommentsThis past week I have been on the road to St. Louis, Missouri, to attend my sister’s wedding. She asked me to play a particular song for her at the wedding, her favorite piece off the CD I recorded back in 2004. So I thought it might be fun to record a little video with my FlipCam and show you what I’ve been doing lately… The song is called Wild Mountain Thyme (the HERB, silly!) and it is a modified arrangement of Scott Tennant.
Oh, and if you want the CD or MP3s, we can arrange that…
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