Baron Dave Romm
Target: Audience
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Picked up at Marscon 2009
The 2009 Marscon has come and gone, but lives on in our hearts and in our ears. The concerts were fun, and the convention was packed with win. I picked up a few CDs which took me a while to listen to. Here is the first of the batch I'll be reviewing in the next few weeks.
Target: Audience
Novelty/Filk/Dementia Music is in a tricky place these days. Not that comedy musicians ever did well in the competitive field of pop music. Weird Al Yankovic set and then broke the mold for the current paradigm. No one is ever going to succeed in quite the same way he did because he changed the field. File sharing and music downloads have further established different parameters. An artist must balance the desires of new or casual listeners for whom you are one in a thousand with the few but intense fans who want more and the want it now and they want current pop references. In addition to being funny and making yourself laugh, you have to do the marketing and know your audience.
If anyone is going to inherit Weird Al's mantle, it will be the great Luke Ski, who performs tirelessly and promotes his friends and fellow Dementia artists. He is a major contributor to The Funny Music Project, aka The FuMP, a prime locale to hear the latest from many artists and buy or download samples. They are are serious about being funny and sneak into each others cuts.
Target: Audience is the latest original CD from the great Luke Ski. He has the enormous, self-imposed, task of balancing the great majority of listeners who might know him from his many appearances on the Dr. Demento Show or in reviews such as this one and his rabid fans who want more and the want it now and they want current pop references.
And it works.
I didn't get the album last summer because i had songs about Battlestar Galactica and Heroes and I wasn't current. I eventually gave up on Heroes but did see the BSG episodes extant as of the release date. (I haven't seen the finale, so don't tell me anything...) Verdict: Worth the wait. Half the battle in parody is picking the right song to filk. Nobody is better at it than tgLS.
Battlestar Rhapsody takes the plot of the series up through the end of Season 4.0. If you're not that far along in the series and care about spoilers, avoid the song. For everyone else, the song is vintage Luke Ski. Gorgeous harmonies, a good recreation of the original Queen song and wonderful parody lyrics that skewer BSG (and others) in exactly the right places.
Anywhere the fleet goes,
doesn't really matter to me- To me.
Babylon 5 is well established in the science fiction television pantheon. Finding new angles to explore is tricky. Long-suffering megalomaniac Londo Molari gets an historic song of his own. Just A Gigolo is originally a WWI song, sung by a formerAustrian hussar who remembers himself parading in his uniform and is now a sad, bittersweet, dancer in a Parisian cafe. Unchanged, an utterly perfect torch song for Londo. The song made it to Tin Pan Alley, was used in a Betty Boop cartoon, combined with "I Ain't Got Nobody" by louis Prima for a hit in 1956, covered by David Lee Roth in 1985 and given the Luke Ski treatment in 2008 with Just Mister Londo:
I'm just Mister Londo, and on the Zocalo,
People know the part I am playing.
Gambling all my credits, girls who like my status,
In my bed they're staying.
In the Grand Old Days, I was decadent in ways
That would disgrace a pastor.
But today here I know,
I am just Mister Londo,
The fan-haired Ambass'dor.
For those of his targeted audience who likes their parody a dish best served cold (and spicy), Luke slips in short interstitials such as "Public Enemy Sings Tom Lehrer", "Firefly Starring Daffy Duck" and "Lewis Black Does Shakespeare". Really.
Carrie Dahlby joins Luke for A Middle East Country, A Middle Earth Mountain Troll which requires some set up that I'm not going to do here. Rob Balder joins the fun to explain some internet acronyms at the OMGWTFBBQ. Art Paul Schlosser is remixed to make him even stranger in "Everybody Get Weird".
Carrie Dahlby comes back (she's a busy girl these days) in Holding Out For A Hiro, a parody of the Bonnie Tyler song about Heroes. Babylon 5 meets the Beastie Boys in No Sleep 'Til Babylon. Before the torture memos were released, Jack Bauer gets and original song:
Jack Bauer. He got the power.
Minute by minute, and hour after hour.
He's hard corps, gonna stop the war.
And he ain't gonna quit until he hits 24.
A big production like The Chainsaw Juggler requires a big cast and everybody (except me) seems to get in on the act. More of a takeoff (in classical terms, a variation) than a parody, everyone is earnestly odd.
Target: Audience is highly recommended, whether you're a target audience of the great Luke Ski from previous albums or want to hear some current entries in the field. If you just want to dip your toe in the waters, go to the great Luke Ski's store and sling a few bucks for "Battlestar Rhapsody", "Just Mister Londo" and ""The Chainsaw Juggler" though the interstitial tracks aren't listed for download and the whole album is iPodWorthy.
Landslide Al Franken
Ho hum. Yet another court has increased Al Franken's lead over Norm Coleman. The Republican's response: Trial lawyers!
Even the conservative news media is laughing at the GOP these days. When Ashton Kutcher beat CNN as the first Twit to reach a million followers (by 29 minutes), he appeared on the network, and Larry King graciously conceded. "I'm not a sore loser. I'm not Norm Coleman. I'm not going to take this to the courts." -- Larry King Live 4/17/09
The comedian beat the joke fair and square. The trio of Michele Bachmann, Norm Coleman and Tim "Mayor Daley" Pawlenty are turning the Minnesota Republican party into the laughingstock of the nation. As a Minnesotan, this bugs me. As someone who wants to see the radical elements of the GOP purged so we have a real two party system again, I'm pleased that the wingnuts are being marginalized.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Scott Burns: Buy a Home, Save America, Become a Citizen (assetbuilder.com)
Open our borders to immigrants who can buy a home in the USA. Let a million immigrants a year do this for two years and the entire oversupply of homes and condos will be absorbed. Supply will no longer dwarf demand. Prices will stabilize. The most important asset owned by the vast majority of Americans will, once again, be a source of pride and security.
FROMA HARROP: "Economic Anxiety: Like Rats in a Cage" (creators.com)
One day last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 246 points. On CNBC, Jim Cramer punched the Sousa March button. NPR's "Marketplace" boomed, "We're in the Money." Yeah! Happy days are here again. Right? And just when the Prozac started to kick in. Or perhaps wrong.
FROMA HARROP: A State-ly March Toward Gay Marriage (creators.com)
This has been a month of forward leaps in the campaign for gay-marriage - or so it is said. The Iowa Supreme Court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage, providing a toehold in the heartland. And the Vermont Legislature legalized gay marriage, marking the first time that elected lawmakers, rather than state judges, initiated such change.
"One Nation under Dog: Adventures in the New World of Prozac-Popping Puppies, Dog-Park Politics, and Organic Pet Food" by Michael Schaffer: A review by Jonathan Yardley
Six of ten U.S. households own pets, up 12 percent between 2000 and 2006. Spending by Americans on their pets more than doubled from $17 billion in 1994 to $41 billion in 2007 and is expected to rise at an 11 percent clip over the next two years. No doubt most of that spending is for routine stuff, but as Michael Shaffer recounts in this informative, entertaining and sobering book, our most privileged pets "live in a world of dog walkers and pet sitters and animal trainers and canine swim therapists and pet Reiki masseuses. . . . [a] baroque and endlessly subspecialized array of service providers."
CHRISTIAN JOHN WIKANE: An Interview with Platypus (popmatters.com)
How did a progressive rock-funk band from Dayton, Ohio become label mates with KISS and Donna Summer? 30 years later, the members of Platypus tell the story.
David Medsker: A Chat with Annie Wersching, Co-star of "24" (bullz-eye.com)
On slapping Kiefer Sutherland in a scene: It was very fun. He was a very good sport about it, and was actually encouraging me to slap him harder. I think he may have enjoyed it a little too much.
Will Harris: A Chat with Greg Grunberg, Co-star of "Heroes" (bullz-eye.com)
I try and play everything really real, and when I'm being Bad-Ass Parkman, it has to be justified. It has to come from a place where he's trying to protect his wife or himself. Because at heart, he's a good guy who wants to do the right thing.
Joe Weider: Can a Vegetarian Get Enough Protein? (creators.com)
Tip of the Week: Chew your food! I realize this is something your mother probably told you to do more times than you care to remember while growing up, but it was good advice then, and it's good advice now.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Texas Pretty Boy Void
Or How to Secede in Politics and Be Really Trying!
The Weekly Poll
The 'Know thy Enemy' Edition...
The ancient Chinese military tactician Sun Tzu (400-320 BC) wrote in his acclaimed work, The Art of War...
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
I whole-heartedly believe in that wisdom and think that progressives should peruse conservative web sites regularly in order to keep up with current conservative trends, strategy and dogma. i.e Know thy Enemy.
That said, the question is... Do you read any conservative web sites and if so, which ones?
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
Results Tuesday
answered:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Better than 20° warmer than seasonal, and it's supposed to get even hotter.
Ack.
Reporters Face Jail
Current TV
In a state "guest house" on the outskirts of Pyongyang, Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been held for more than a month: valuable pawns in an growing international nuclear stand-off.
Hanging over the heads of the American journalists is the possibility of a show trial and ten years in a notoriously harsh North Korean prison camp. The outside world knows little about how they are holding up - because North Korea is not saying and the United States, while trying to free them through diplomacy, has tried to impose a blanket of silence.
The signs, though, are not good for the employees of Current TV, a web-based television channel founded by Al Gore, the former US Vice-President, because their future appears bound up in the widening rift between Pyongyang and much of the rest of the world over its recent missile launch. The reclusive regime of Kim Jong Il has halted all talks and expelled international experts monitoring its nuclear activities after the United Nations condemned its decision to fire a rocket over Japan.
The team, hoping to interview defectors from North Korea, began with a series of meetings in Seoul before flying to the Chinese city of Yanji, on the North Korean border. They were warned not to leave Chinese soil but ventured across the frozen Tumen river anyway. Exact details of their capture vary, with some accounts indicating that they were arrested by North Korean troops after refusing to stop filming, and others suggesting that they were pursued across the ice and back on to Chinese soil before being taken into custody.
Current TV
Overnight Best Seller
'Open Veins of Latin America'
A book by an Uruguayan journalist that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave to President Barack Obama is now the No. 5 seller on Amazon.com.
It's an astounding jump for "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent," by Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano.
The paperback edition was ranked 54,295 on the online retailer before Chavez gave Obama a Spanish-language edition of the 1971 book on Saturday. It had jumped to No. 5 by Sunday.
The English hardcover edition is listed as out of print.
'Open Veins of Latin America'
Effort To Save Rare Hawaiian Bird
Alala
Federal wildlife officials say they plan to spend more than $14 million to prevent the extinction of the Hawaiian crow, one of the rarest forest birds in the world.
The endangered bird, known as the alala, is only found in captivity on the Big Island.
Two bird conservation centers are home to 56 alala. The bird hasn't been seen in the wild since 2002.
Alala
UNESCO Launching
World Digital Library
The World Digital Library, a website offering free access to rare books, maps, manuscripts, films and photographs from across the globe, launches Tuesday at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Bringing together priceless material, from ancient Chinese or Persian calligraphy to early Latin American photography, it is the world's third major digital library, after Google Book Search and the EU's new project, Europeana.
Drawing on content from libraries and archives worldwide, it aims to reduce the rich-poor digital divide, expand "non-Western" content on the web, promote better understanding between cultures and provide a global teaching resource.
Launched by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and 32 partner institutions, it was the brainchild of James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, the world's biggest library.
World Digital Library
Statue Unveiled
Laurel and Hardy
Hundreds of people gathered at the hometown of Stan Laurel as a statue of the comedian and his sidekick Oliver Hardy was unveiled.
The duo, who captivated early cinema-goers with their slapstick mishaps, have been immortalised with a £60,000 bronze sculpture in Ulverston, Cumbria.
The statue of them leaning against a lamppost has been placed in the town's County Square where Stan brought Ollie in 1947 and the famous duo waved from the balcony of the Coronation Hall to a huge crowd of fans below.
It was unveiled by Ken Dodd, who arrived with Stan and Ollie look-a-likes in a vintage Model T Ford.
Laurel and Hardy
Fell From Horse
Madonna
Madonna is under the care of doctors after falling off a horse over the weekend - an accident she is blaming on the paparazzi.
A representative for the superstar said Madonna suffered "minor injuries" after she fell while horseback riding in the Hamptons, a playground for the rich and famous on the eastern end of Long Island, N.Y.
"The accident occurred when the horse Madonna was riding was startled by paparazzi who jumped out of the bushes to photograph the singer, who was visiting friends," Liz Rosenberg said in a statement Saturday evening.
The 50-year-old singer was treated at a Southampton hospital and released, and is being monitored by doctors, Rosenberg said. No other information was released and a request for additional comment was not immediately returned Sunday morning.
It was unclear whether the incident happened on private property and whether photographers were trespassing in the incident; Southampton police did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment Sunday morning.
Madonna
Father Tried To Sell Daughter
'Slumdog Millionaire'
The father of "Slumdog Millionaire" child actress Rubina Ali tried to sell his nine-year-old daughter for adoption in a bid to escape the Mumbai slums, a British newspaper said Sunday.
News of the World alleged that Rafiq Qureshi wanted 20 million rupees (400,000 dollars, 310,000 euros) for the girl, who played the young Latika in the British hit film set in India.
News of the World said its reporters posed as a wealthy family from Dubai, employing its regular "fake sheikh" sting tactic.
The newspaper published pictures of the actress, her father and uncle posing with their undercover reporter, plus video clips of Qureshi and his brother-in-law during their meeting last week.
'Slumdog Millionaire'
Drink Hearty
Water
U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water - contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.
Hundreds of active pharmaceutical ingredients are used in a variety of manufacturing, including drugmaking: For example, lithium is used to make ceramics and treat bipolar disorder; nitroglycerin is a heart drug and also used in explosives; copper shows up in everything from pipes to contraceptives.
Federal and industry officials say they don't know the extent to which pharmaceuticals are released by U.S. manufacturers because no one tracks them - as drugs. But a close analysis of 20 years of federal records found that, in fact, the government unintentionally keeps data on a few, allowing a glimpse of the pharmaceuticals coming from factories.
As part of its ongoing PharmaWater investigation about trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals in drinking water, AP identified 22 compounds that show up on two lists: the EPA monitors them as industrial chemicals that are released into rivers, lakes and other bodies of water under federal pollution laws, while the Food and Drug Administration classifies them as active pharmaceutical ingredients.
The data don't show precisely how much of the 271 million pounds comes from drugmakers versus other manufacturers; also, the figure is a massive undercount because of the limited federal government tracking.
Water
Tomb Found?
Cleopatra
Egypt's top archaeologist made his version of a sales pitch Sunday, presenting 22 coins, 10 mummies, and a fragment of a mask with a cleft chin as evidence that the discovery of the lost tomb of Mark Antony and Cleopatra is at hand.
Zahi Hawass showed off the ancient treasures to journalists during a tour of a 2,000-year-old temple to the god Osiris, where they were found. He believes the site near the Mediterranean Sea contains the tomb of the doomed lovers that has been shrouded in mystery for so long.
Mark Antony and Cleopatra challenged Caesar Augustus for control of the Roman Empire more than two millenia ago. Their armies were defeated and rather than submit to capture, the lovers committed suicide - Mark Antony by his sword, Cleopatra with a poisonous asp.
The Roman historian Plutarch said Caesar allowed the two to be buried together, but their tomb was never found.
Cleopatra
Inbreeding Lesson
Spain's Habsburgs
Rare inherited genetic disorders worsened by repeated inbreeding may have brought down the powerful Spanish Habsburg dynasty, Spanish researchers said.
Checks of genealogical charts and analysis of King Charles II's reported health problems suggest he may have had two rare conditions called combined pituitary hormone deficiency and distal renal tubular acidosis, the researchers speculated in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.
While the occasional marriage of close relative such as first cousins is harmless, repeated intermarriages can make genetic flaws more common, Gonzalo Alvarez and colleagues at the University of Santiago de Compostela reported.
Their analysis showed nine out of 11 marriages over the 200 years were between first cousins or uncles and nieces.
Spain's Habsburgs
Weekend Box Office
'17 Again'
Zac Efron's comedy "17 Again," in which he plays the youthful version of a middle-aged man magically transformed to high school age, debuted as the top weekend movie with $24.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Universal had the No. 2 movie with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck's Washington thriller "State of Play," which pulled in $14.1 million. Crowe plays a reporter investigating a series of deaths linked to an old college friend (Affleck) who's now a rising star in Congress.
Overall revenues were at $112 million, up nearly 20 percent from the same weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "17 Again," $24.1 million.
2. "State of Play," $14.1 million.
3. "Monsters vs. Aliens," $12.9 million.
4. "Hannah Montana: The Movie," $12.7 million.
5. "Fast & Furious," $12.3 million.
6. "Crank: High Voltage," $6.5 million.
7. "Observe and Report," $4.1 million.
8. "Knowing," $3.5 million.
9. "I Love You, Man," $3.4 million.
10. "The Haunting in Connecticut," $3.2 million.
'17 Again'
In Memory
J.G. Ballard
Writer J.G. Ballard, best known for the autobiographical novel "Empire Of The Sun," which drew on his childhood detention in a Japanese prison camp in China, died Sunday, his agent said. He was 78.
Ballard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006. He had been ill "for several years" and died in London at the home of his long-term partner, his agent Margaret Hanbury said. She did not give the cause of death.
Ballard was born in Shanghai, China, and was interned there in a prison camp by Japanese troops in 1941 - an experience he drew on in the 1984 novel "Empire of The Sun," later adapted as a film by U.S. director Steven Spielberg.
The writer moved to Britain in 1946, where he lived until his death.
Ballard was sometimes controversial. His 1973 novel "Crash," which explored contentious themes about people who derive pleasure from car accidents, was made into a film by David Cronenberg in 1996.
Born James Graham Ballard, the author was a sharp critic of modern politics, who once mocked the West's search for "near mythical weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq, in the buildup to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Ballard was educated at Cambridge University and served as a British Royal Air Force pilot before working as a writer.
Ballard married Helen Matthews in 1954. She died in 1964. He is survived by their three children.
J.G. Ballard
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