M Is FOR MASHUP - February 10th, 2010
Make Space For The Frunt Room 5
By DJ Useo
Yes, I do really value the ability of the top mixers to produce tracks that are as appealing & readily-listenable as most of them. Sometimes I even feel some small pressure to follow suit. Then I hear tracks by a trail-blazing team like the FRUNT ROOM 5 ( fruntroom.tv/ ) & know again the joy of hearing very personalized mixing. With nary a seeming thought toward mainstream acceptance, they post work after work of incredibly-hearable tunes that use what interests them most.
If you've heard their podcast, you know they each have their own tastes in music, & how they co-exist anyway in a wide world of wondrously-diverse musicality. Not meaning to steal text,the best explanation of the FRUNTROOM 5 comes from their own site & reads as such -"the Frunt Room Five (or FR5), is the resident house band which produces all of the tunes for the Frunt Room podcast. Not much is known about this offshoot project as the band is deliberately secretive, rarely venturing outside of their studio down the road from the Frunt Room house. Are there even five of them? Nobody knows for certain, but the one thing we do know is that the front (frunt?) man is none other than Mr Tony Crackburn."
Read more from their site because there is more, & then enjoy the bootleggy goodness inherent in their tracks. Posted in large numbers at fruntroom.tv/ you'll find 'mashups & remixes' like 'Eleven', a play on Spinal Tap, to 'Joke Spunge', a Killing Joke Dubstep mix to 'Technically Perfect (But Also Really Bad)' which is self-descriptive enough. lol. You'll come away after hearing with a strong appreciation of Frunt Room, & a clear concept of how they operate with appeal outside of the mainstream. For ages I'd enjoyed Mr Crackburn's mixing before there ever was a Frunt Room. Now I get him & more with every new show & mix.
Before there was a Frunt Room 5 there was a mixing duo called Pilchard. They existed during the early years of the 2000's & were a good part of the GYBO ( www.gybo5.com ) scene of mashups. Much joy can be found in their expressive mixing. I personally won't soon forget tracks like 'Puppet Pecker' (Lily Allen vs Meat Katie vs Sandie Shaw), 'Drugstitute' (The Who vs Sheep On Drugs) or 'Papadecoder' (Perry Como drum and bass remix). It's really quite boggling to imagine the splendid output contained on the Frunt Room site, exemplified by these tracks & many, many more. You'll have hours & hours of fun grabbing & listening to their output.
The Tony Crackburn Orchestra's mixing is available on the site as well, including his collaborations with the Who Boys. There're truly classic Crackburn gems like 'Road Kill' (Wolfmother vs The Doors vs Canned Heat vs Frank Zappa), & 'Hold The Punk' (Chemical Brothers vs Add N to X vs Cypress Hill). Check out the unforgettable Crackburn/WhoBoys mixes like 'In The Kitchen At Parties' a remix of the Jona Lewie hit, & 'Tony Crackburn' Feat. Les Baxter, a rap about the enigmatic man that is Tony. Rumour has it that Giles WhoBoy has actually come into the Frunt Room fold for the upcoming podcasts. The WhoBoys reigned supreme in the podcast world for several years. No doubt Giles will bring much of that WhoBoy charm & wit to the Frunt Room shows. Make sure to sign up for the newest podcasts & grab the previous shows here - ( fruntroom.podomatic.com/ )
The Frunt Room 5 podcast ( fruntroom.podomatic.com/ ) is celebrating it's 1-year anniversary this week. Join the party & tell them Useo sent you!
Mix Of The Week
Sorry.The dog ate it.
Mashup Tip : More drums!
What's new with DJ Useo
Man Its So Disco In Here (They Might Be Giants vs Rinkadink) Certainly it's an extraction with loops of They Might Be Giants' 'Man Its So Loud In Here' set to a further extracted & looped 'Disco' by Rinkadink.
I'm told it's very likeable.
DJ Useo's Podcast
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
ROBERT FOGEL: $123,000,000,000,000* (foreignpolicy.com)
*China's estimated economy by the year 2040. Be warned. ... What, precisely, does China have going so right for it? The first essential factor that is often overlooked: the enormous investment China is making in education.
Scott Burns: Right Incentives, Wrong Incentives (assetbuilder.com)
As long as our government is spending $1.35 trillion it doesn't have, let's ask some rude questions. What do we want more of? Saving. What do we want less of? Debt. Then let's have tax policies that encourage more saving and that discourage debt. Sounds pretty simple, right?
BOB HERBERT: Time Is Running Out (nytimes.com)
Rescuing the U.S. economy will require a commitment, and undoubtedly sacrifices, that need to start now.
Bob Fernandez: Franken criticizes planned Comcast-NBC Universal merger (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Former comedian and current U.S. Sen. Al Franken on Thursday offered sharp criticism of the proposed $30 billion merger between Comcast Corp. and NBC Universal Inc., saying he thought the merged giant wouldn't be good for consumers.
Anonymous: You John Edwards-Resembling *sshole (thestranger.com)
To my best friend, who I just discovered had a three-year affair with my wife.
Charlotte Northedge: "What I'm really thinking: The burlesque dancer" (guardian.co.uk)
'A common misconception is that we do it to turn men on.'
Mark Lawson: Masters of American literature (guardian.co.uk)
With the death of JD Salinger last week, a remarkable era in US literature came to its end. Mark Lawson reflects on the passing of an unrivalled generation.
Amy Kaufman: Nicholas Sparks is a master of romance, and Hollywood knows it (Los Angeles Times)
Hours before the Hollywood premiere of "Dear John" earlier this week, best-selling author Nicholas Sparks was sitting in the expensive hotel room he'd been put up in, continually glimpsing at his iPhone as it lighted up with phone calls and text messages.
Alicia Lozano: "Neil Gaiman tells L.A. fan: 'Trust your dreams, your heart and your story'" (latimes.com)
Neil Gaiman had a rough year.
Brandon Voss: Sarah Silverman's Wild Mustache Ride (advocate.com)
The Sarah Silverman Program's sporty, taboo-skewering star promises a very gay season and renews her vow to stay unmarried until there's marriage equality.
Tom Shone: Jeff Bridges on 'Crazy Heart' (timesonline.co.uk)
The staggeringly laid-back Bridges is Oscar nominated for a fifth time. Meet 'the most natural screen actor who ever lived.'
Matea Gold: Claire Danes did homework to play autistic scientist in 'Temple Grandin' (Los Angeles Times)
To capture the unique inflections of Temple Grandin, an autistic pioneer whose life is the subject of a new HBO film, Claire Danes spent weeks listening to recordings of Grandin on her iPod, practicing her gruff abruptness.
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Putting The Man on the Spot' Edition...
If you were given the opportunity to sit down with President Obama and ask him
three questions, what would they be?
1.) _____________
2.) _____________
3.) _____________
Send your response to
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
Presents Donated Instruments
Jamie Foxx
Oscar and Grammy winner Jamie Foxx says music got him where he is today.
He encouraged the next generation of musicians to pursue their passion Tuesday at Walt Disney Concert Hall, where Foxx helped present $500,000 in new violins, flutes, French horns, trumpets and drums to students from 16 high schools nationwide.
The donated instruments are part of the Fidelity FutureStage program, an effort by the investment firm to enrich arts education in public schools. The 4-year-old program provides instruments, specialized training and a chance to perform with renowned orchestras, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Boston Pops.
Dominic Monaghan hosted Tuesday's program, in which students in Boston, Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles performed and received donated instruments.
Jamie Foxx
Visits Haiti
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie began two days of meetings with Haiti earthquake victims Tuesday in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency.
The actress, representing the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, met with U.N. officials in Port-au-Prince and visited an SOS Villages camp for orphans outside the capital, where she was cheered by Haitians yelling, "Angie! Angie!"
Jolie also toured a Doctors Without Borders hospital in a Port-au-Prince suburb, waving to onlookers. She and partner Brad Pitt have contributed $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for its emergency medical operations in Haiti.
On Wednesday, Jolie planned to visit the southern city of Jacmel, a camp for people made homeless by the quake, as well as a Save the Children relief supply center before returning to Port-au-Prince and leaving for the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Angelina Jolie
Sinatra & Martin To Receive Stars
Las Vegas
Sin City is paying homage to iconic singers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin by giving them each a place on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars.
Las Vegas Walk of Stars spokesman Pablo Castro Zavala said stars for the crooners would be unveiled Feb. 22 in a ceremony at the Flamingo Las Vegas casino-resort. The stars will then be placed in the sidewalk outside the Flamingo on the Las Vegas Strip.
Sinatra and Martin are icons of Sin City entertainment because of their appearances on stage, in film and on television.
Officials say Dean Martin's daughter Deana Martin will accept his star on behalf of her father.
Las Vegas
Hospital News
Louis Gossett Jr.
Actor Louis Gossett Jr, best known for his Oscar-winning role as the tough drill instructor in "An Officer and a Gentleman", said on Tuesday he was fighting prostate cancer.
Gossett, 73, said his cancer was in its early stages and that he was going public to encourage African-Americans to seek early examinations and treatment for the disease.
The award-winning actor said he had begun an intensive treatment program so that he can resume his acting schedule, and work with his Eracism Foundation, as soon as possible.
He said he wanted to go public "to set an example for the large number of African-American men who are victims of this disease because of the comparatively low emphasis in our community on preventive examinations and early treatment."
Louis Gossett Jr.
Sued Over "Devil" Song
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry has found himself in a bit of copyright trouble lately for allegedly incorporating portions of copyrighted gospel music in his many successful shows.
In the latest case, North Carolina songwriter Johnny Tyrone Stringfield filed a $100,000 lawsuit last week in California District Court accusing Perry, cable channel TBS, and its Time Warner parent of incorporating an entire verse of lyrics from his song "I Got Away" in Perry's hit TV show "Meet the Browns."
According to the complaint, characters in the show sang the copyrighted song with the refrain, "The Devil thought he had me but I got away."
This is the second time that hallelujahs tuned to the prospect of deliverance have caused Perry grief. In late November, he was sued for allegedly incorporating a chorus from a gospel song in the movie "Madea Goes to Jail."
Tyler Perry
When Conservatives Clash
Italian Catholic Scandal
A scandal in Italy's Catholic Church has morphed into a tale of Vatican intrigue complete with forged documents, reports of dueling cardinals and a papal admonishment Tuesday to put the matter to rest.
The scandal erupted in August, when the newspaper Il Giornale reported that it had court documents showing the editor of the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference had paid to settle charges that he harassed the wife of a man he was romantically pursuing.
The revelations were initially seen as retribution by Il Giornale, which is owned by Premier Silvio Berlusconi's brother, against the bishops' newspaper, Avvenire. The Catholic paper had harshly criticized the premier and demanded he answer questions about his purported liaisons with younger women.
Il Giornale accused Avvenire editor Dino Boffo of hypocrisy, saying the journalist had been fined in a plea-bargain several years ago for making harassing calls to the man's wife.
Prosecutors say Boffo made the calls, but have denied the case involved a gay angle. Boffo acknowledged being fined in the case but said someone else had used his cell phone to make the calls. Amid the fallout, he resigned from Avvenire in September, saying he wanted to spare his family and the church further humiliation.
Italian Catholic Scandal
Upset About Losing Sports To ESPN
ABC Affiliates
ABC affiliates are boiling mad that corporate sibling ESPN is being handed live sports events that they initially were supposed to carry.
The most recent move came last month, when ESPN said it will take eight NASCAR races this fall off ABC to run on ESPN. Even before that, though, ABC coughed up the Rose Bowl beginning in 2011 and golf's British Open this year to ESPN, which is majority-owned by Disney, the full owner of ABC.
ESPN can cherry-pick sports from (or occasionally move sports to) ABC because ESPN in effect took control of ABC Sports in 2006. All sports programing on ABC is now produced by "ESPN on ABC," as the onscreen logo reads.
A few station execs privately suspect that because ESPN is a big money maker for Disney, the parent company is letting it pull more live sports from ABC to justify hefty subscriber fees. ESPN charges cable operators $4.10 a household, according to SNL Kagan, and is said to be seeking a hike.
ABC Affiliates
Defends $chwarzenegger Invite
Vancouver
Winter Olympics organisers on Tuesday defended their decision to invite Arnold $chwarzenegger (R-Cadaver Parts) to run in the torch relay despite the former movie star's admission that he used drugs in his bodybuilding career.
California's failed governor $chwarzenegger (R-Groper), who will be a torch bearer on Friday in the run-up to the 2010 Games' opening ceremony, confessed in 2005 that he had used steroids on his way to becoming a seven-time Mr Olympia.
"It was a new thing," he said. "So you can't roll the clock back and say: 'No, I would change my mind,' or anything, because for those days that's what we did."
Vancouver
May Not Make You Healthier
Being Religious
Religious people may have taken comfort from a number of studies over the past two decades showing those adhering to a faith tend to be healthier but a new study casts some doubt on this belief.
The study, published in the journal Circulation, suggests that when it comes to heart disease and clogged arteries, attending religious services or having spiritual experiences may not protect against heart attacks and strokes.
In a review of data from nearly 5,500 people, Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones and his colleagues expected to see less risk for heart disease among those with more "religiosity."
The researchers did note that those who went to religious services, prayed, meditated, or were highly spiritual were more likely to be obese, and less likely to smoke.
Being Religious
Cites Bogus Philosopher
Bernard-Henri Levy
French celebrity intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy has been caught red-faced quoting a "Botulist" philosopher who, it turns out, was invented as a joke by a journalist from a satirical weekly.
In his new book, "De la guerre en philosophie" (Making war in philosophy), Levy cites the insights of Jean-Baptiste Botul to show that German philosopher Immanuel Kant was not the bright light that some believe.
He has since discovered, however, that Botul is a fictional character, created as a literary satire by journalist Frederic Pages, who writes for the tongue in cheek Le Canard Enchaine.
Levy admitted he had often quoted Botul's work "The sex life of Immanuel Kant" during public appearances and now in the pages of his latest book.
BHL's embarrassing mistake was discovered by journalist Aude Lancelin of the left-leaning weekly Nouvel Obs.
Bernard-Henri Levy
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for Feb. 1-7. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "Super Bowl: Indianapolis vs. New Orleans," CBS, 106.48 million.
2. "Super Bowl Post Game," CBS, 75.47 million.
3. "Undercover Boss," CBS, 38.65 million.
4. "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 24.71 million.
5. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 21 million.
6. "NCIS," CBS, 19.23 million.
7. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 16.51 million.
8. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 16.42 million.
9. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 15.51 million.
10. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 14.75 million.
11. "The Mentalist," CBS, 14.68 million.
12. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.49 million.
13. "CSI: NY," CBS, 14.16 million.
14. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 13.44 million.
15. "House," Fox, 13.38 million.
16. "The Good Wife," CBS, 12.81 million.
17. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 12.55 million.
18. "Bones," Fox, 12.37 million.
19. "Lost," ABC, 12.09 million.
20. "The Bachelor," ABC, 11.73 million.
Ratings
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