M Is FOR MASHUP - RERUN from - January 18th, 2012
Never Mash The Punk Rock! O Rly?
By DJ Useo
If you have any past familiarity with this weekly column on mashups, you'll know that the
Sound-Unsound
( sound-unsound.com/ ) mashup forum puts out themed mashup collections every so often. The last one was '
MASH A WAVE"
( groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2011/10/sus-mash-wave-new-surf-mashups-album.html ) , a surf mashup album that I came up with the idea for. I regard the album as a huge artistic success, although I was disappointed that many apparently did not find much appeal with the idea of surf music, so they passed it by without listening before judging. Luckily couple thousand others disagreed, & got their rocks off to it.
Moving right along, we were gifted the next album theme of punk rock from SUS Moderator & gifted bootlegger Chocomang. The immediate concensus of the other moderators was 'this is a great album theme'. In fact it eventually became apparent that the lure of the punk style was drawing people outside of the SUS forum. Chocomang gave it an extra boost when he added a facebook page for the album, & invited some great international mashup artists to join in as well.
The record swelled to 2 discs by deadline, with multiple tracks by SUS regulars like mARKYbOY, me & Chocomang. Also offering great tracks were SUS members rillenrudi, G4Gorilla, MaxwellJump, DJ MXR & DJ Petrushka. Then comes the wonderful non-SUS members DJ Schmolli, ToTom, Michmash, MightyMike, & Comar who all devised super mixes that combined some strong element of punk with non-punk bits like hip hop, pop, & rock. All the contributors are worth mentioning, so lets not overlook Envision, Dra'Man, & Fissunix.
There's certainly a few better mashup albums out there, but no way are there better punk mashup albums available. This baby has bits of the Buzzcocks, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Green Day, & the Dead Kennedys, along with many more excellent punk acts. I did a check to see how much it would cost to clear the samples for proper label release. It would be generally around 1800 Simoleon if my figures bear up. Then of course there would be all the other costs associated with releasing any record. The covers, the pressings, the under-the-table bribes. lol. So we aren't releasing it with a label. The good news, then, is the record comes with no cost!
I hope you'll take a moment to download the 2 files that contain the album 'Never Mash The Punk Rock Mashup Album'.
Mirrored links are here
( chocomang.org/mashup/nevermash.htm ) In the time I've been writing this article, I see Chocomang & DJ Schmolli have added videos of two of their tracks. Sweet views indeed. If you like the album, have a great time pogo-ing & slam dancing, & if you didn't like them, there's another SUS themed mashup compilation coming down the pike a couple months from now. See ya then. ;)
Mix Of The Week
Lee Summers has another superb
DJMix.net
( djmix.net/ ) long mix available called '
I Am Out Of Here'
( djmix.net/LeeSummers/IAmOutOfHere/ ) . It's awesome new club tunes from the best new acts like Michael Calfan, Mord Fustang, & Voodoo & Serano. At just over an hour, it's essential listening mixed well by an established talent. You will enjoy!
Mashup Tip : Audacity ( audacity.sourceforge.net/ ) is a freeware audio mixing program that can give you the needed tools to make mashups.
Latest Useo Thing
Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, aged 69, died last month but left a splendid musical legacy as a member of Frank Zappa's original Mothers of Invention. I would like to pay tribute to his talent with two new mashups I've made. The first is 'No More Mr Peace Corps' (Alice Cooper vs Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention). The second is 'Absolutely Roy' (Elton John vs Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention). I've been told they're massively weird. Haha.
Links posted here
( www.groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2012/01/rip-motorhead.html )
Podgornio, The Mashup Psychic Predicts
Mashups will never receive their own category in any award shows. A true tragedy.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Bruce: Wise Up! Good Deeds (Athens News)
Despite good intentions, not all would-be good deeds work out. In 2009, actress Anne Hathaway saw a shabbily dressed woman sitting on a bench at a bus stop. Thinking that the woman was homeless, she offered her a doggy bag of leftovers - gourmet leftovers. Rather than being pleased, the woman was outraged: "What do you think I am - HOMELESS?… I'm just waiting for the bus!… Just because I'm not all dressed up, you think I'm a homeless woman?" Ms. Hathaway apologized and left. (She does get credit for her attempt at a good deed.)
Paul Krugman: The Austerity Debacle (New York Times)
The infuriating thing about this tragedy is that it was completely unnecessary. Half a century ago, any economist - or for that matter any undergraduate who had read Paul Samuelson's textbook "Economics" - could have told you that austerity in the face of depression was a very bad idea. But policy makers, pundits and, I'm sorry to say, many economists decided, largely for political reasons, to forget what they used to know. And millions of workers are paying the price for their willful amnesia.
Rick Reilly: The Parade of Life (ESPN)
… Rudy wasn't there anymore. He was all over America. He had checked the donor box on his driver's license, so his lungs went here, his kidneys there, and his pancreas somewhere else. His heart stayed close, though. It went to a man named Sammy Robinson, 44, in nearby Hughes, Ark., who'd been waiting for eight months.
Patrick Kingsley: Hard at it in the all-night gym (Guardian)
Who on earth wants to work out in the middle of the night? We visit one of the growing number of 24-hour gyms to find out.
Pamela Stephenson Connolly: My boyfriend refuses to give me oral sex (Guardian)
Introduce this step-by-step programme and you'll help your boyfriend overcome any fear of giving you oral sex, advises Pamela Stephenson Connolly.
Margot Adler: Film Noir: Weegee Was His Name; Murder Was His Game (NPR)
Weegee talks about murder in a 1958 recording called "Famous Photographers Tell How." He says the easiest job to cover is a murder, "because the stiff would be lying on the ground; he couldn't get up and walk away and get temperamental, and he would be good for at least two hours."
John Crace: "Anthony Hopkins: 'I've never been really close to anyone'" (Guardian)
The actor on composing music, walking out on dictatorial film directors and why he moved to the US.
Kevin Smith discusses his new AMC reality series 'Comic Book Men' (LA Times)
"Never in a million years did I imagine I'd have my friends on TV."
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
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'The Simpsons'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
'June Gloom' for the last day of January.
Cleans House
"Ex-Factor"
Simon Cowell gave his talent show "The X Factor" a major shake-up, showing the door to host Steve Jones, judge Nicole Scherzinger, and even his old friend Paula Abdul after a lackluster first season on U.S. television.
Cowell and broadcaster Fox confirmed on Tuesday that British host Jones, and former Pussycat Dolls singer Scherzinger would not be returning for the second season of the show in September.
Abdul -- Cowell's old "American Idol" sparring partner -- was also voted off in what some industry watchers called a bloodbath for the TV show that failed to measure up to its hype last year and struggled to achieve the top-level viewership promised by Cowell.
The exit of Abdul -- whom Cowell had courted assiduously for the show -- took industry watchers by surprise.
There was no word on Tuesday on who would replace the three but speculation swiftly fell on singer Mariah Carey. Cowell said last year that she had been his top choice but she was sidelined because she was pregnant. Carey gave birth to twins in April.
"Ex-Factor"
Ambassador At Large For Haiti
Sean Penn
Actor Sean Penn has been named ambassador at large for Haiti in recognition of his humanitarian work since the 2010 earthquake.
The Hollywood star received the honor from Haitiian President Michel Martelly at a special ceremony Tuesday evening at the National Palace.
Martelly thanked Penn for keeping the spotlight on the Caribbean nation.
The president joked that the "only downside" to Penn's new position is that he can no longer call the actor by his first name. Now Penn will be called "Ambassador."
Sean Penn
Steve Jobs Listened To Vinyl
Neil Young
Legendary rocker Neil Young took his campaign for higher-fidelity digital sound to the stage of a technology conference Tuesday, saying a giant of the industry was on his side: the late Steve Jobs.
Young said the Apple co-founder was such a fan of music that he didn't use his iPod and its digitally compressed files at home. Instead, he used a physical format well-known to have better sound.
"Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music. His legacy is tremendous," Young said. "But when he went home, he listened to vinyl (albums)."
Young told the "D: Dive Into Media" conference Tuesday that he spoke with Jobs about creating a format that has 20 times the fidelity of files in the most current digital formats, including MP3.
Such a format, he said, would contain 100 percent of the data of music as it is created in a studio, as opposed to 5 percent in compressed formats including Apple's AAC. Each song would be huge, and a new storage and playback device might only hold 30 albums. Each song would take about 30 minutes to download, which is fine if you leave your device on overnight, he said.
Neil Young
HBO Picks Up Second Season
'Luck'
The new Dustin Hoffman series "Luck" has been renewed for a second season by HBO, the network said on Tuesday.
The horse-racing drama, which Hoffman stars in and produces, will begin production on its 10-episode second season at the end of February, and will premiere in January 2013. Filming will take place at the Santa Anita Park horse-racing track and various other locations.
"Luck," which is executive-produced by "Deadwood" creator David Milch, Michael Mann and Carolyn Strauss, and co-stars Nick Nolte, has amassed a gross audience of 3.3 million with its first episode, which premiered Sunday following a December preview. The preview drew 1.1 million viewers, with an additional 1.1 million tuning in for the premiere Sunday at 9 p.m. Re-broadcasts at 10 and 11 picked up 711,000 and 420,000 more viewers respectively.
Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming, said of the series, "We couldn't be more thrilled with the critical response to this beautiful piece of work, and we are very excited about where David and Michael plan to take these incredible characters."
'Luck'
Super PAC Has Raised Over $1 Million
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert's sway in the U.S. presidential election might be a joke, but he's got some real financial muscle.
The comedian disclosed Tuesday that his Americans for a Better Tomorrow "super" political action committee has raised a staggering $1.02 million. PACs were required to submit their financial reports to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.
In a letter to the commission, Colbert was quoted as saying, "How you like me now, FEC?"
Colbert raised the money by asking for donations from viewers of "The Colbert Report." He has used the PAC to highlight what he considers the absurdity of campaign finance law and, in particular, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to raise limitless money to run campaign ads.
"We raised it on my show and used it to materially influence the elections - in full accordance with the law," Colbert said in a press release. "It's the way our founding fathers would have wanted it, if they had founded corporations instead of just a country."
Stephen Colbert
Clarifies Remark
Cynthia Nixon
Actress Cynthia Nixon is trying to clarify her earlier remarks that got her in hot water with some fellow gay rights activists.
The "Sex and the City" star's personal life became an exercise in the politics of sexual orientation last week when The New York Times Magazine quoted Nixon saying that for her, being gay was a conscious choice. Nixon has been in a relationship with a woman for eight years. Before that, she spent 15 years and had two children with a man.
After some gay rights activists complained that Nixon's remarks could be used to deny a biological basis for homosexuality, the actress on Monday released a statement to The Advocate magazine explaining she is technically bisexual, and not by choice.
Nixon told the magazine: "What I have 'chosen' is to be in a gay relationship."
Cynthia Nixon
Breaking Into TV
Clear Channel
Radio broadcasting giant Clear Channel is breaking into the TV production business.
The company announced Tuesday that it is taking a minority stake in the production company of "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest.
Ryan Seacrest Media produces "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and other spin-offs involving the celebrity family. Its other shows include "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution."
In a separate deal, Clear Channel's majority investors, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, are committing $300 million combined to work with Seacrest's company to identify, acquire and develop innovative media companies.
Clear Channel
Outlawed UK Film Finally Unbanned
"Visions of Ecstasy"
The only movie ever banned in Britain for blasphemy was finally approved for distribution Tuesday, 23 years after it was outlawed.
The experimental short film "Visions of Ecstasy" features scenes of Jesus being seduced on the cross and became a free-speech cause celebre after Britain's film censors refused to give it a rating, a requirement for legal distribution.
The British Board of Film Classification ruled in 1989 that a fantasy scene in which the Spanish mystic St. Teresa of Avila sexually caresses Christ's body could constitute blasphemous libel. The board judged that cutting out the potentially blasphemous material would shorten the 19-minute film by half, so they refused to approve it.
The movie, directed by Nigel Wingrove, became a rallying point for anti-censorship activists, and Wingrove fought the ban all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, which upheld the British decision in 1996.
Blasphemy was abolished as an offense in 2008 and on Tuesday the film board gave Wingrove's film an "18" rating, meaning it may be viewed by adults.
"Visions of Ecstasy"
Identity Revealed In 100th Episode
Gossip Girl
The 100th episode of "Gossip Girl" on Monday night was chock full of revelations, including the show's big mystery: the identity of Gossip Girl herself. And be warned, if you haven't seen it yet, spoilers lie ahead.
For four and a half seasons, viewers have known GG's voice -- as provided by "House of Lies" star Kristen Bell -- but have never seen the trouble-stirring gossiper's face.
But in the final scene of the episode, which featured the wedding of Blair and Prince Louis, the camera panned to Gossip Girl's face to reveal that she is . Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg).
Two more spoiler/shockers from the wedding installment: After blowing off true love Chuck to marry the prince, Blair learned Louis didn't marry her with the best intentions. And she responded by running off with Dan, for whom Blair's BFF Serena had just professed her undying love.
Gossip Girl
Air Force Punished Whistle-Blowers
Dover
Federal investigators have concluded that Air Force officials at the military mortuary in Dover, Del., illegally punished four civilian workers for blowing the whistle on the mishandling of body parts of dead troops.
The Office of Special Counsel said in a report released Tuesday that they have recommended to the Air Force that it discipline the three officials who allegedly retaliated against the whistle-blowers. The three were not identified by name. It said one is an active-duty military member and the other two are civilians.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said in a statement that he has appointed a two-star general to review the findings and take "appropriate action." Donley said reprisals against whistle-blowers are unacceptable.
In an earlier investigation report released last November, the Office of Special Counsel said it had found "gross mismanagement" at the Dover facility, where small body parts of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan were lost on two occasions. The Air Force said at the time that it took disciplinary action - but did not fire - three senior supervisors there for their role in the mismanagement. The reprisal accusations were a separate matter and were investigated by the Special Counsel under the Whistleblower Protection Act.
The four whistle-blowers had alleged that they suffered retaliation for their disclosures, including job termination, indefinite administrative leave and five-day suspensions.
Dover
Landowners Fight Liars
Pennsylvania
When federal regulators approved a 39-mile natural gas pipeline through northern Pennsylvania's pristine Endless Mountains, they cited the operator's assurances that it would make sparing use of eminent domain as it negotiated with more than 150 property owners along the pipeline's route.
Yet a few days after winning approval for its $250 million MARC 1 pipeline in the heart of the giant Marcellus Shale gas field, the company began condemnation proceedings against nearly half of the landowners - undercutting part of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval rationale and angering landowners.
Some of the landowners are now fighting the company in court, complaining that Central New York Oil and Gas Company LLC steamrolled them by refusing to negotiate in good faith on monetary compensation and the pipeline's location. Their attorneys say CNYOG has skirted Pennsylvania's eminent domain rules.
The company, a subsidiary of Inergy LP of Kansas City, Mo., insists it's trying to reach a "fair settlement" with all property owners and wants to be a good neighbor.
The dispute could foreshadow eminent domain battles to come as more pipelines are approved and built to carry shale gas to market in states like Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.
Pennsylvania
Architect Wanted To Reanimate Corpse
George Washington
George Washington wasn't only America's first president, he was also almost its first zombie. After Washington died from an illness in December 1799, his family nearly accepted an offer from a physician who believed he could bring America's first commander in chief back to life.
The website io9 writes that physician William Thornton is best remembered as the first designer of the U.S. Capitol. But he also proposed reviving George Washington's deceased body using a combination of blankets, an air pump and lamb's blood.
Washington had become ill after traveling through the wet winter rain that year. He finally succumbed to his illness after a painful series of "treatments" that included regular blood drainings, having his stomach drained and drinking mixtures of vinegar, molasses and butter. Washington famously told his doctors before passing, "I die hard, but I am not afraid to go."
The morning after his death, Washington's step-granddaughter brought Dr. Thornton to the Mount Vernon. That's when Thornton made the offer to Martha Washington. The plan involved thawing Washington's body which had been placed on ice, rubbing it "vigorously" with blankets, performing a tracheotomy to pump Washington's lungs full of air and then finally an infusion of lamb's blood, which at the time was believed to contain special medicinal properties.
Washington's friends and family reportedly turned down the offer not because they didn't think it could work but because they felt Washington would have wanted to rest in peace.
George Washington
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 23-29. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 19.67 million.
2. "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 17.14 million.
3. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 16.13 million.
4. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.26 million.
5. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 13.82 million.
6. "Undercover Boss," CBS, 13.15 million.
7. "NCIS," CBS, 12.55 million.
8. NFL Football: Pro Bowl, NBC, 12.5 million.
9. "Touch," Fox, 12.01 million.
10. "Rob," CBS, 11.5 million.
11. "Pro Bowl Pregame Show," NBC, 11.39 million.
12. "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.19 million.
13. "The Good Wife," CBS, 11.08 million.
14. "Once Upon a Time," ABC, 10.91 million.
15. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 10.57 million.
16. "Person of Interest," CBS, 10.54 million.
17. "Castle," ABC, 10.05 million.
18. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.78 million.
19. "American Idol Encore," Fox, 9.642 million.
20. "The Mentalist," CBS, 9.641 million.
Ratings
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