M Is FOR MASHUP - May 23rd, 2012
Five Great Mashup Producers
By DJ Useo
It sure is easy to find really great mashup producers. They're all over the world posting new tracks 24 hours a day. It's not hard to sate an appetite for the format. You'd be surprised how many people enjoy hearing their Lady Gaga, Muse & Led Zeppelin all at the same time. Amongst the large throngs of mashup mixers there're five that always deliver impressive mixes at a seemingly impossible rate. There're plenty more I could mention, but these five will make you happy indeed. First up is…
01 - DJ Schmolli ( djschmolli.com/ )
This guy is a fantastic deejay & he does just about the best mixes coming out. He works with varied styles often at the same time to acclaimed results. A huge bonus with DJ Schmolli is he nearly always does a video for his mixes. I personally don't remember a time when he wasn't posting proficiently. I advise signing up for his email notices. I know I have & you not only get first notice of new tracks, but often he throws in an exclusive. If you think tracks like 'We Are Axel F's New Internet Friends' (Madonna vs Basement Jaxx vs as'st), 'Telephone Rattle' (Lady Gaga vs Beyonce vs as'st), or 'Cruelly Good Summer Feeling' (Flo Rida vs. Avicii vs. Ace Of Base vs. Sak Noel vs. Jason Derulo vs. Stanton Warriors vs. Aura Dione vs. t.A.T.u. vs. Adele vs. Travie McCoy vs. Groove Armada vs. Britney Spears) would appeal to you, check out DJ Schmolli. There's even more to him than I mentioned.
( djschmolli.com/ )
02 - Oki ( oki-mashups.yolasite.com/ )
kills me with his rapid-fire posting, yet excellent tracks. He has a strong hand with videos just as he does with the audio mixing. I can turn around & find he's mixed up another creative marvel & sure as shooting they often have a video. Three such tracks of his are '
Killing In the Dumbass' (Rage Against The Machine vs Liliy Allen vs High Contrast)
( www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wa6ZF_BqZfU ), ,'
Move Over Katy (Janis Joplin vs Katy Perry)
( vimeo.com/39156445 ) , & '
Welcome To The Sledgehammer' (Peter Gabriel vs Guns n Roses vs the Young Punx)
( www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nV3fkNuaCeY ) Oki's site Is easy to negotiate & there's so many very fine mixes.
Hear for yourself
( oki-mashups.yolasite.com/ )
03 - Chocomang ( chocomang.org/ )
is a mashup producer with evident skills.He regularly posts superb tracks but he also excels at the video part as well. His track '
Stop Me Cruising' (The Smiths vs Thessi Be Cool Crew) is already a splendid audio experience, but when you combine it with the
added video
( www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VcwGO-UJi0 ) it becomes the lifeblood of internet memories. I mean, you could just as easily be outdoors making mud pies. lol. But no! Chocomang lures you to his sites with tracks like 'We R the Sanctuary' (The Cult vs Kesha vs BEP), 'Seek the Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum vs Britney Spears), and 'Oversun (Motörhead vs Smash Mouth). You'll be stunned & pleased with how many amazing tracks you can hear at his site, & the ease of access to all his content.
( chocomang.org/ )
04 - G3rst ( www.g3rst.com/ )
has always held my interest since I heard his first mix. He has a true gift for surprising the listener with unknown artists, yet leaving you well pleased enough to long for the next mix. His latest tracks all bear his hallmark of new vs familiar. The latest are 'Crazy Vision' (Seal vs Röyksopp), 'When I Come Around Kansas City' (Green Day vs "Jelly Roll" Morton's Red Hot Peppers), & '500 Miles Of Motivation' (The Proclaimers vs Sum 41). G3rst is well known for posting swell video versions of his mashups. I am in love with
his video for the Proclaimers one
( www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJGAqCyd7aY&lr=1&feature=results_video ) . His site is packed with the impressive number of mashups he's done in the last few years. All easy to stream or download. You can bet that by the time this article posts, G3rst'll have a great new track up!
( www.g3rst.com/ )
05 - Mashup dj number 5 is not available in your country. He regularly makes awesome tracks that get cease & desist letters with minutes. He also has enjoyed a long history of posting super video versions that get removed for perceived copyright violations. His hosting site has been seized & someone threw eggs at his front door. He's worth mentioning because his tracks are so good. If a way is found to access his work, I'll pass on the info.
These five are actually only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mashers who post great tracks often. By my reckoning there's approximately 500 mashup dj's who are worth following & let me assure you, I'm terrible at math. More mashup messages next week. -Useo
Mix Of The Week
I got a 'Invalid query:no results' answer when I went to get this weeks mix of the week which was on the
BLENTWELL mix site
( www.blentwell.com/ ) . if the site comes back proper it's the trance mix at the top.
Mashup Tip : Always mix with a cat on your shoulder. They bristle their fur when you're mixing out of key. Very useful.
Latest Useo Thing
I wanted to make another track with only new songs so I did up '
Universal Entity Gone Man' (The Eels vs The Higher Intelligence Agency vs Noel Fieldings Luxury Comedy). So far they're so new no one has recognized any of the parts. lol. It's rock 'n roll vs techno vs comedy. Have fun with it
here
( www.groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2012/05/eels-vs-higher-intelligence-agency.html )
Podgornio, The Mashup Psychic Predicts
All efforts to ban mashups will cease once the aliens land in 2017 as mashups are the only defense against the psychic attacks. It seems hearing more than one song at once dissolves the aliens central cortex. Hey, this could make a good movie!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Heist of the century: Wall Street's role in the financial crisis (Guardian)
Wall Street bankers could have averted the global financial crisis, so why didn't they? In this exclusive extract from his book Inside Job, Charles Ferguson argues that they should be prosecuted.
Leo Babauta: How I Changed My Life, In Four Lines (Zen Habits)
1. Start very small. 2. Do only one change at a time. 3. Be present and enjoy the activity (don't focus on results). 4. Be grateful for every step you take.
Scott Burns: There Is Nothing Quite Like the Assurance of Failure (AssetBuilder)
Should any of us own a managed bond mutual fund? Should any of us ever own a managed bond fund?
Paul Krugman: Musical Meta (New York Times)
… while I grew up in a house saturated with classical music, in my late middle age I find great solace in the fact that people are making great music now. I love Mozart as much as ever; but it would be a sad world if we had to go back to the 18th century - or even the 20th century! - to find music that moves the soul.
Lucy Mangan: saving the planet, one loo roll at a time (Guardian)
'How are we - after 30 years of being warned about impending disaster - still working at a level at which an 11mm tweak to a cardboard tube can be lauded as any kind of triumph?'
I, Anonymous: Social Disservice (The Stranger)
To all of my fat, lazy patients-get off the couch, stop shoving crap down your throat, and get a job so I don't have to support you and your kids with MY tax dollars!
Karen Zarker: "20 Questions: Kate Bornstein" (PopMatters)
"I was a Scientologist for 12 years, which is a lot more embarrassing than saying Hi, I'm a transsexual SM dyke living with borderline personality disorder," Kate Bornstein tells PopMatters 20 Questions on the release of her memoir, 'A Queer and Pleasant Danger.'
David Bruce: Wise Up! Advice (Athens News)
Zsa Zsa Gabor was Miss Hungary of 1936, and she often entertained the troops with Bob Hope. She also freely gave advice. For example, a young woman whose engagement to a wealthy man had broken up asked her for advice. The wealthy man had given her diamonds, a fur coat, a Rolls Royce and a stove. What should she do? Zsa Zsa advised her, "Give back the stove."
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."
wrote:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bosko Suggests
International Tripoints
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Paranoia Strikes Deep
From the 'Paranoia Strikes Deep' File...
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Nice day for a field trip.
We took the Blue Line to the Gold Line for our little excursion to Chinatown.
You know you're in LA when the panhandling religious freaks not only have props, but also costumes.
Comanche Nation
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp has been made an honorary member of the Comanche tribe.
Depp is in New Mexico, shooting the film adaptation of "The Lone Ranger." He plays "Ranger" sidekick Tonto in the film.
Comanche Nation tribal member LaDonna Harris said Tuesday that the tribal chairman presented Depp with a proclamation at her Albuquerque home May 16. She said the Comanche adoption tradition means she now considers Depp her son.
His spokeswoman, Jayne Ngo, confirmed the actor participated in a ceremony, but she declined to provide details.
Harris said she had read in interviews that Depp identified himself as being part Native American, so she thought it would be fun to adopt him - a tradition she says is common in Comanche culture. She ran the idea past her adult children, and they agreed.
Johnny Depp
Final Frontier, Finally
James Doohan
James Doohan, Scotty from "Star Trek," spent his acting career whizzing through the cosmos. Gordon Cooper was one of America's famous Mercury seven astronauts. And Bob Shrake spent his work life anonymously helping send NASA's high-tech spacecraft to other planets.
Now the three men who made space their lives are also making space their final resting place. Their ashes - and those of about 300 others - were aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket that blasted into orbit Tuesday as part of an in-space for-profit burial business.
The ashes were in a special container, which SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell confirmed Tuesday was in the second stage of the Falcon rocket. That section of the rocket was jettisoned about 10 minutes after launching a capsule full of supplies for the International Space Station. It will remain in orbit for about a year then burn up as it returns to Earth.
Some people's ashes that flew Tuesday, including those of Doohan and Cooper, were also on a botched 2008 SpaceX launch that didn't get the remains into orbit and dropped into the Pacific Ocean. This is a makeup flight for them.
Others whose ashes have flown previously include "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and his actress-wife Majel Barrett, who was in the series.
James Doohan
Struck By Car In NYC
Michael McKean
Actor Michael McKean, who portrayed the lead singer in the movie "This is Spinal Tap," was injured when he was struck by a car in New York City.
A McKean spokeswoman, Harriet Sternberg, says the actor suffered a broken leg.
Emergency officials say McKean was struck at West 86th Street and Broadway in Manhattan just before 3 p.m. Tuesday. McKean was taken to St. Luke's hospital. Police say he was in stable condition. They had no further details.
McKean also played Lenny on the hit television show "Laverne & Shirley." He's currently starring in the Broadway production of Gore Vidal's political drama, "Best Man."
Michael McKean
Marvel Comics Plans Wedding
Northstar
Wedding bells will ring this summer for Marvel Comics' first openly gay hero, super speedster Northstar, and his longtime boyfriend.
The New York-based publisher said Tuesday that Canadian character Jean-Paul Beaubier will marry his beau, Kyle Jinadu, in the pages of "Astonishing X-Men" No. 51. That's due out June 20.
Northstar revealed he was gay in the pages of "Alpha Flight" No. 106 in 1992, one of Marvel Entertainment's first characters to do so.
Ten years later, in 2002, gay characters Apollo and the Midnighter were married in the pages of "The Authority" published by DC's Wildstorm imprint.
Since then, numerous comic book heroes and villains have been written as gay, lesbian or transgender - from DC Comics' Kate Kane, aka Batwoman, to Hulkling and Wiccan in the pages of "Young Avengers."
Northstar
Renewed By CBS
"Rules of Engagement"
The CBS sitcom "Rules of Engagement" has been picked up for a seventh season.
The series, which stars Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price, averaged a solid 3.3 rating/9 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic for its most recent season.
The "Rules of Engagement" renewal comes at the 11th hour, following "Two and a Half Men"'s renewal earlier this month, and the earlier renewal of 18 of CBS' series, including "How I Met Your Mother," "2 Broke Girls" and "The Big Bang Theory."
"Rules of Engagement"
Syfy Cancels
"Sanctuary"
Syfy's Sanctuary will not fly for a fifth season, it was announced on Monday - news that elicited a familiar refrain from series lead Amanda Tapping.
"'Bloody hell' indeed," Dr. Magnus' portrayer shared via Twitter, not long after the bad news broke. But prior to that, the actress gave kudos to the show's passionate fans, saying, "We love and adore you. Thank you for the love and support. Now to the long dark tea time of my soul."
In the months after Sanctuary's Season 4 finale aired in December 2011, little or no buzz surrounded its possible pick-up, leaving fans to fear-slash-prepare for the worst.
"Sanctuary"
Cancelled By A&E
'Dog the Bounty Hunter'
"Dog the Tancredo-Loving Racist Bounty Hunter" has been put to sleep.
A&E has cancelled the reality series - which followed Duane "Dog" Chapman and his family-run bounty-hunter business - after eight seasons.
No reason was given for the cancellation, but the series has generated its share of controversy and headaches for A&E. Last year, Hoang Minh Phung Nguyen - who was presented as a fugitive on the show - sued Chapman and his crew for defamation.
According to the suit, Chapman's crew accused Nguyen of firing a gun at them, leading to his arrest for suspicion of attempted murder and menacing. Prosecutors decided not to file charges, Nguyen said, but he still lost his job and was forced to relocate over the incident.
'Dog the Bounty Hunter'
Blood For Sale
Reagan
Ronald Reagan's foundation expressed outrage on Monday at a British company's auction of what it says is a vial of the late U.S. president's blood taken at the hospital where he was treated after a 1981 assassination attempt.
PFC Auctions, a company based in Guernsey in the United Kingdom, announced on Sunday that it would sell the vial of blood in an online auction set to end on Thursday.
The website for PFC Auctions said the latest online bid for the vial stood at 6,270 British pounds ($9,910). A PFC Auctions representative could not be reached for comment.
The seller said he or she had contacted the California-based Ronald Reagan Library and Museum, which is run by the late president's foundation, months ago and had been told that Reagan's family would like to have the vial given to them.
"I told him that I didn't think that was something that I was going to consider ... and that I was a real fan of Reaganomics and felt that President Reagan himself would rather see me sell it rather than donating it," the statement said.
Reagan
Turns The Table
Hawaii
Hawaii is apparently so sick of people asking for proof of President Obama's birth, that they've turned the tables on Arizona's secretary of state, demanding that he's the one who has to prove he deserves to see it.
Ken Bennett has made headlines in the last few days for suggesting that Obama may not be on the ballot in Arizona this November without some solid proof that the President was actually born in Hawaii. Bennett, who says he's just trying satisfy questions raised by his state's citizens, has made several phone calls and written inquiries to Hawaii's health department asking for "verification," but has yet to get his answer, mostly because state officials are giving him the run around. Which is a nice way of saying he's being clowned.
Talking Points Memo got ahold of some of the emails and they reveal some epic trolling on the part of Hawaii's Deputy Attorney General Jill Nagamine. After Bennett sent an itemized list of all the information he wants verified, Nagamine responded with an even longer list of Hawaii statutes that spell out how they don't give that information to just anyone and asking under what authority does Bennett thinks he's entitled to the information.
Hawaii
De Medici Morality
Legionaries of Christ
The leader of the Legionaries of Christ admitted on Tuesday he knew for years the scandal-plagued Roman Catholic order's most famous priest had fathered a child but still allowed the popular cleric to preach about morality.
The order, still reeling from revelations that its founder was a sex abuser and drug addict with two secret families, suffered another major blow last week when it admitted that Father Thomas Williams, an American based in Rome, also had led a double life.
In a letter to members published on the order's website, the order's leader, Father Alvaro Corcuera, said he found out about Williams's child "early in my new assignment" as director-general, which began in 2005.
Williams was the public face of the order, appearing often on American television networks to explain Church teachings. He was the author of more than a dozen books, including one called "Knowing Right From Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience".
He was a big draw on the lecture circuit at Catholic institutions and had two websites, both of which were shut down last week after the order issued a statement about him.
Legionaries of Christ
Painting Defaced
Jacob Zuma
South African President Jacob Zuma and his African National Congress sought a court order Tuesday to have a painting depicting the president's genitals removed from an art gallery but two men took matters into their own hands by defacing the portrait with gobs of paint.
The case is spiced with freedom of expression on the one hand and the right to dignity on the other and emerged after the painting by Brett Murray went on display in a Johannesburg gallery early this month and was reported on in local media. Zuma, who has a reputation for promiscuity, took it very personally and compared himself somewhat ironically to a rape victim. Zuma himself was put on trial for rape, and acquitted, in 2006.
Zuma and the ANC sought to have the painting, titled "The Spear," removed from the Goodman Gallery and to stop the newspaper City Press from displaying a photo of it on its website.
After the painting was defaced, a third man spray-painted the first three letters of the word "respect" on a wall near the gallery's front gate before he was taken away by police. He shouted that the gallery had shown the president disrespect.
But Sophia Morren, a ceramicist who was in the gallery with her daughter when the painting was defaced, said Zuma had shown little respect for himself. She referred to Zuma's six marriages - he currently has four wives, his 21 children, and his acknowledgment in 2010 that he fathered a child that year with a woman who was not among his wives.
Jacob Zuma
TV Networks Worried
Auto Hop
The maker of a new DVR that lets consumers zap away broadcast TV commercials at the touch of a button suggested Tuesday that the networks are being short-sighted in opposing the technology.
The Dish Network, which has offered its new Auto Hop feature on new digital video recorders since March, said it believes that people who buy the machine are watching more network television than they had before. The Auto Hop automatically records every minute of prime-time programming on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and stores it for eight days.
Network executives are angry about how Auto Hop allows viewers to eliminate commercials on the recorded shows through one button, no fast-forwarding required. It didn't help their moods that Dish, the satellite service with about 14 million customers in the U.S., was advertising the new feature on the week that networks were touting their new fall programming. The feature isn't available for cable network programming.
Dish said Fox and NBC have refused to allow its ads for the new DVR on their networks.
Auto Hop
June 24th
"Levitated Mass"
A rockin' good time is planned next month when the Los Angeles County Museum of Art pulls the covers off artist Michael Heizer's latest creation - a 340-ton boulder positioned to appear as though it's floating in mid-air.
The gigantic work titled "Levitated Mass" will be unveiled June 24 and is intended to remain forever.
Its centerpiece is the two-story-tall chunk of granite that was hauled 105 miles from a Riverside rock quarry earlier this year. Since then, the rock has been carefully positioned above a 465-foot-long trench that museum visitors can stroll.
It took dozens of people and a specially built trailer to haul it over the surface streets of 22 cities.
The trip lasted nearly two weeks, with the rock traveling only at night and rarely faster than 5 mph. Thousands of people turned out to cheer it on.
To thank those who put up with road closures and other delays, the museum is granting free admission for a week to people who live in zip code areas traversed by the rock.
"Levitated Mass"
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for May 14-20. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "NCIS," CBS, 19.05 million.
2. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 17.68 million.
3. "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 16.4 million.
4. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 15.79 million.
5. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 15.19 million.
6. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 13.68 million.
7. "Person of Interest," CBS, 13.47 million.
8. "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 13.23 million.
9. "The Mentalist," CBS, 13.09 million.
10. Movie: "Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt," CBS, 12.93 million.
11. "Mike & Molly," CBS, 11.79 million.
12. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 11.55 million.
13. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 11.44 million.
14. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 11.42 million.
15. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 10.58 million.
16. "America's Got Talent" (Monday), NBC, 10.48 million.
17. "60 Minutes" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 10.13 million.
18. "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.8 million.
19. "Modern Family," ABC, 9.36 million.
20. "How I Met Your Mother," CBS, 8.58 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Eugene Polley
Couch potatoes everywhere can pause and thank Eugene Polley for hours of feet-up channel surfing. His invention, the first wireless TV remote, began as a luxury, but with the introduction of hundreds of channels and viewing technologies it has become a necessity.
Polley died of natural causes Sunday at a suburban Chicago hospital, said Zenith Electronics spokesman John Taylor. The former Zenith engineer was 96.
In 1955, if you wanted to switch TV channels from "Arthur Godfrey" to "Father Knows Best," you got up from your chair, walked across the room and turned a knob. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
Or you could buy a new Zenith television with Flash-Matic tuning. The TV came with a green ray gun-shaped contraption with a red trigger. The advertising promised "TV miracles." The "flash tuner" was "Absolutely harmless to humans!" Most intriguing of all: "You can even shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen."
Polley was proud of his invention even late in life, Taylor said. He showed visitors at his assisted-living apartment his original Flash-Matic and how it had evolved into the technology of today. "He was a proud owner of a flat-screen TV and modern remote," Taylor said. "He always kept his original remote control with him."
Polley's Flash-Matic pointed a beam of light at photo cells in the corners of the television screen. Each corner activated a different function, turning the picture and sound off and on, and changing the channels.
Chicago native Polley and fellow Zenith engineer Robert Adler were honored in 1997 with an Emmy for their work in pioneering TV remotes. In 2009, he received the Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award from the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers.
During his 47-year career as an engineer, Polley earned 18 U.S. patents. At Zenith, he worked his way up from the stockroom, according to a biography from Lincolnshire, Ill.-based LG Electronics, which owns Zenith. Polley also worked on radar advances for the U.S. Department of Defense during World War II. He helped develop the push-button radio for automobiles and the video disk, a forerunner of today's DVD.
Eugene Polley
In Memory
Eddie Blazonczyk
Grammy Award-winning polka great Eddie Blazonczyk, who began playing the lively music in the 1950s and went on to earn the nickname "Polka King" after starting his own band and label, has died. He was 70.
His record label, Bel-Aire Recordings, and his son, Eddie Blazonczyk Jr., said Tuesday that Blazonczyk died of natural causes Monday at a hospital in the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights.
Blazonczyk retired in 2001 after suffering a stroke, and his son took over his band, Eddie Blazonczyk and the Versatones. The band formed in 1962, after Blazonczyk's brief venture into pop music that landed him on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand," and toured the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe.
"He attracted so many people to the polka audience, whereas previously they were scared away by the word polka," Eddie Blazonczyk Jr. said. "After hearing his style of the music they weren't afraid of polka anymore. They knew it wasn't 'She's Too Fat For Me' or 'Roll Out the Barrel.' They knew it was an evolution of the music."
The younger Blazonczyk described his father as a kind of music mogul, a founding member of the International Polka Association, a disc jockey and polka music promoter who ran a publishing company and music school.
Blazonczyk was born to Polish immigrant parents on July 12, 1941, in Chicago. His parents operated music clubs in the city and he started playing in the 1950s with "Happy Eddie and his Polka Jesters," performing at Polish festivities.
For a time, Blazonczyk performed pop music with Mercury Records as "Eddie Bell and the Bel-Aires," when he appeared on "American Bandstand." But he returned to polka in 1962, forming the Versatones and going on tour.
Blazonczyk played many instruments but preferred the bass, and he sang lyrics in both English and Polish. Some of his biggest hits include "Angeline Be Mine Polka" and "Poor Boy Polka."
Blazonczyk earned many accolades throughout his career. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow in 1998.
His son said many friends have been sending him condolence messages since learning of his father's death.
Eddie Blazonczyk
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