Ode to the Harmonica.

Oh… the harmonica… totally underestimated right? Maybe…. either way, it’s pretty darn neat.

Tones or notes are made by blowing air into or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes (reed chambers) or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound. Each chamber has multiple, variable-tuned brass or bronze reeds which are secured at one end and loose on the other end, the loose end vibrates and creates sound. Reeds are pre-tuned to individual tones. Each tone is determined according to the size of reed. Longer reeds make deep, low sounds and short reeds make higher-pitched sounds. On certain types of harmonica the pre-tuned reed can be changed (bending a note) to another note by blowing or drawing air strongly into the chamber.

The harmonica has made its way into all types of genres of music: folk, blues, rock, jazz, even dance and hip hop, And now, it is making its way into Carnegie Hall!

Check out this gnarly video!

Think your Extreme?

So you think you’re extreme? You like danger? Take a look at the cases below… and then reconsider your answer!

Wingsuit flying is much like watching a flying squirrel. The jumpsuit shapes the peoples bodies into an airfoil which can create lift. It was mostly used in skydiving activity, but recently they’ve been playing around with base jumping. It’s one of the most spectacular spectacles I’ve seen for a long time. Although it scares the shit out of me… it is still astounding! The flyer enters freefall wearing both the wing suite and the parachute equipment, and when the all the fun of flying is over, the parachute is deployed in order to get a safe landing. This is pretty amazing stuff… It pretty much allows your to imitate birds… and as you will see below, the experience from flying a wing suit can be compared to the experience of a hawk!

Now this… This is Dan Osman…. Pretty much a pretty damn good definition of extreme. Dan was known for the dangerous sports of free-soloing (climbing without ropes or other safety gear), and rope jumping (a controlled free-fall of around several hundred feet, and then being caught by a safety rope). He was even the record setter for rope jumping…1200 feet of free-fall…. That’s enough to turn my intestines inside out 5 times over! Unfortunately for the climbing world… Dan died on November 23, 1998 at the age of 35 after his rope failed while performing a rope jump in Yosemite National Park. Dan did miscalculate on his last jump. For some reason he moved his jump site. In doing so he crossed the ropes (either on the retrieval line or on the main jump line). When he jumped, the first knot above the one he was tied in with slid down a section of rope several lengths up. The sheath was heavily melted and removed in several sections on this upper part of the rope. The knot that slid down the rope was melted in multiple locations and was melted nearly completely through, deep inside the knot. This knot was not tight, yet others in the system were (this is the one open question that is unresolved as far as I know). He was a pretty amazing person! Check out the video below!

 

 

Join the Gun Club!

What a great band! Originally I was a little bit frightened by them… but I learned to love. Please check out this link for more information, and check out the videos for music goodness!

Coffee Comedy

Sorry for the lazy post today, my stress levels are at an all time school-related high, and I would rather be writing my super sweet essays! (I kid you not, these essays will be some of my best work yet!) So Instead of giving you an entry to expand minds, I instead give you something to bring you back down, calm those senses, and let you enjoy a little chunk of time amongst this ‘end-of-school’ hustle and bustle.

Enjoy the videos!

Coffee that looks to good to Drink!

Much like rubbing your tummy and tapping your head, pouring latte art requires that you do two things at the same time. Pour the milk at a consistent and even rate AND shake the pitcher side to side with the even tempo of a metronome. Sounds pretty simple right?

Ever since I got my espresso machine, I’ve wanted to be able to pour latte art [as cheesy as that may sound]. To say the least, it took a lot of trial and error involving steaming the milk properly [which is a much harder task than in sounds like… it has to be velvety and at the right viscosity], finding a decent steaming pitcher, and knowing what to do with the milk when I was ready to pour. Now I’ve got a pretty decent idea of what I’m doing, and recently some have been coming out looking very good!

These are just some examples of what you can do with latte art!

Dancing should get Rad again!

People need to do awesome dancing again… dancing like the Charleston… It was popularized in 1923 and developed in African-American communities in the USA. At the time the Charleston was seen as quite a provocative dance… but compared to some the stuff that goes on now, it’s pretty clean! For me, the Charleston never really hit its peak till it was incorporated into American 1930s and 40s swing music.

Anybody know any other rad dances that should come back into fashion?

Man… My grandma taught me how to do the Charleston… just not quite like this!

‘Just Coffee’ Documentary – Striking Back!

Just Coffee takes a look at the different types of certified coffees on the market and assesses the benefits for coffee producers and consumers.

The coffee industry has suffered a crisis in recent years, with the price of raw coffee reaching its lowest price for over a century. There are an estimated 25 million small-scale coffee farmers in the developing world and the drop in price has cost them a staggering $4.5 billion a year. This has had a catastrophic knock-on effect for workers, the local community and the future sustainability of the entire coffee industry.

If you have the time, please watch the documentary and learn how the coffee industry is striking back! Just Coffee takes a look at four of the biggest certification labels on the market: Utz Kapeh, Rainforest Alliance, Organic and Fair Trade. It examines what they offer the consumer and how they benefit the producer. The film talks to large-scale coffee plantations and small-scale cooperatives in Brazil about the differences certification has made to their community and their local environment. It also speaks to coffee roasters, trade officials, labelling organisations and retailers in Europe about what they are doing to develop the certified coffee market.

You’re Daddy’s Rich, and Your Mamma’s Good lookin’

After reading break ends, it seems as though school takes the form of a drill Sargent beating you with a non-stop onslaught of work. I’m a bit behind on my blogging assignment, but that because I’m chin deep in a pile of assignments; probably caused by my own procrastination.

Because of all of my recent late-night cluster-fucks of essay writing and studying, it’s provided a great opportunity for listening to hours of music. For me, picking music to study to is as tedious of a task as it was for John Cusack to build the perfect mix tape in ‘High Fidelity.’ You want it to grab your attention (for keeping you alert and attentive to your work), but you don’t want it to keep your attention (you focus needs to remain on whatever your doing). You want it to fill the silence, but it can’t be intruding….

Lately, I’ve found my music of choice in Sam Cooke. It’s perfect really… the music is beautiful, his voice is beautiful, they’re smooth pop songs so you don’t really have to pay attention to what’s going on, they make you happy, and (seeing as how the songs are only about 2 and a half minutes each) there is always circulation; you’re not hearing the same song for long periods of time (I find that it can make me tired). Another favorite has recently been Guided by Voices, ‘Half Smiles of the Decomposed’ in particular. It seems as if the whole album just floats by.

On that note, I’m going to leave you with some videos of the two artists mentioned above and I’m going to get back to school work. Enjoy the shit out of these.

 

I appologize for the sound on this one…. but you’ll have to turn up your speakers. This is Sam Cooke singing ‘You Send Me’

 

This is Guided By Voices with ‘Bulldog Skin’. Not off of “Half Smiles of the Decomposed,” but off their 1997 release “Mag Earwhig.”

 

Celebrate the New Polvo Age!

Doesn’t it suck to know that you will never get to see one of your top 5 bands? You know… like when they break up before you have a chance to see them and you’re stuck watching hundreds of 40 second cell-phone-video clips off youtube? I definitely know the feeling! However, one of my most music-life-altering bands of the last 5 years is reuniting for a US and Europe tour.

Polvo are an extremely influential in the world of noise rock. Guitarists Ash Bowie and Dave Brylawski blew me away with their angular, unpredictable, dissonant guitar harmonies, driving rhythm, and their Asian and exotic scalar references.

They formed in 1990 in Chapel Hill, NC and continued to pump out musical pure diamond goldess until 1997 with their release of their last album ‘Shapes.’ If interested in doing some further listening to Polvo, my suggestion would be to check out these albums: Today’s Active Lifestyles, Celebrate the New Dark Age, and Exploded Drawing – Although all are great!

Announced Tour Dates:

5/9: Washington, DC – Black Cat
5/10: Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
5/16-18: Minehead, England – Butlins Holiday Resort (Explosions in the Sky-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties)
5/29-31: Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound Festival (ATP stage)

Ohh how I hope there is more!

 

These are live videos probably taken sometime around 1996 – not super great quality, but if you love the band they’re fantastic! Please take the time to watch!

“Fractured (Like Chandeliers)” – Part of the song and “Solitary Set.”Both are from the album Celebrate the New Dark Age.

“Every Holy Shroud” – From the album Celebrate the New Dark Age

“Feather of Forgiveness” – From the album Exploded Drawing

So give me Coffee and TV…Peacefully

In the early 90’s, Blur was one of the most popular emerging bands in the U.K., and carried on, as well as broke down barriers, in the Britpop scene!

Why do I am including them in this post? Well, for one, they’re a great band…. I also just happened to stumble! Onto their Coffee and TV video from their 1999 release “13.” The song is sung by the band’s guitarist Graham Coxon, and the lyrics are apparently about Coxon’s attempt to give up drinking. It really reminds me on Blur’s earlier years, which I personally enjoy. As for the video, it features Milky (a milk carton with a mission) who is on search for Graham Coxon who has unfortunately gone missing. It’s a great video, and I’m sure that your just burning to find out how it ends!

The video itself is great, the band is great, it has coffee in the title, it’s music… It should be incorporated into my blog… so here it is! “Coffee and TV”

Do you want to make your own Milky??? How About Miss Milky??? Click Here!It’s a downloadable layout that you can cut out and put together for your own personal enjoyment!