theo: Music

MySong

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:57:47 GMT

Just spotted MySong (includes video and demonstration results). Looks like a fun app to have a play with if it gets released.

Pretty good results with the basic piano backing track as long as the artist sings in time with the click track!

A Musical Fable

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:43:50 GMT

I don't very often bother to read the comments on Techdirt, but was interested in what the sensible folk might have to say about Another Look At The 'Does File Sharing Equal Stealing?' Question. With most of the commentors missing the point of the article about as badly as those of The Dilbert Blog, I soon got bored, but luckily this little fable cheered me up:

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a very rich man who liked to whistle. He was actually very good at it, and would make up elaborate tunes that he would whistle as he strolled through town with his bodyguards. One day, he heard a shopkeeper whistling, and realized the song was one of his, the rich man's, tunes.

This outraged the rich man. His creations belonged to him and only him, he decided. If someone else wanted to whistle them, they would have to pay him a fee. When confronted with this demand, the shopkeeper merely laughed and kept on whistling. And so the rich man ordered his bodyguards to beat the shopkeeper, smashing his face until his lips were so bruised and torn that whistling was impossible.

As it turned out, this shopkeeper was not the only person in town who liked whistling tunes that the rich man had composed. Whenever the rich man heard other people engaging in such unauthorized whistling, he would send his bodyguards after them. But of course there were too many people in this town for such a strategy to be widely effective. The offensive whistling continued more or less unabated.

But being a clever fellow, the rich man realized there were better ways to go about enforcing his will. He went to the town council and suggested that tunes created by any individual should be legally protected. If someone was caught whistling someone else's tune, the town constable and his deputies should force that person to pay the tune's originator a fee.

When the town council wondered, quite reasonably, why they should spend public time, money, and manpower on such a trivial matter, the rich man had a very reasonable answer. He invited the entire town council to a lavish banquet at his mansion, plied them with fine foods and rare wines, and then explained his thoughts:

Didn't they like listening to whistled tunes? Didn't they want to encourage the creation of as many tunes as possible? Further, didn't they want town trade to prosper from the legal sales of a new items, such as whistled tunes?

Well, of course the town council wanted all of these things. And the rich man's arguments seemed all the more reasonable for having been presented after a splendid meal and excellent drink. The council members immediately held an impromptu meeting and voted in a new law exactly as the rich man had proposed.

And while the rich man would've preferred that everyone lived happily ever after at this point (and always told the story that way), this was not the case. Every time someone was beaten and fined by the constable's deputies for whistling an unauthorized tune, town citizens began to dislike both whistling and the rich man just a bit more. Everyone became very aware of what they were whistling and who was listening to them, and so whistling -- all whistling, authorized and unauthorized -- occurred more rarely, only quietly, and usually in private.

When the rich man noticed the relative lack of whistling in the town's streets, he began to suspect something dishonest. He sent his bodyguards out in disguise to spy on citizens, and discovered the covert unauthorized whistling, both of his tunes and possibly other people's tunes. Clearly this was a serious problem, and so he persuaded the town council to work even harder to enforce the laws that they had created. New deputies were hired and sent out in disguise to punish unauthorized whistling.

Eventually, townspeople stopped whistling altogether. Instead, they started to hum tunes. The rich man heard this newfangled music-making and was outraged.

And the whole story happened again, and again, and again.

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:34:42 GMT

This is too good to hide away on the fun wall!

Sooo... enjoy Straight No Chaser - The original members of Straight No Chaser perform their comedic version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" at the Musical Arts Center, Bloomington, Indiana. December 7th, 1998.

More here:

Frak! MIDI

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:26:57 GMT

I've finally got my JV-1080 setup again so went hunting for a few MIDIs while I was playing and thought why not give Frak! another search... drum rolll... Some great person has done the conversion :) so anyone else that wants it (erm, no one? ok, just me then) can find it here: Frak! MIDI.

Time to replace the Beetlejuice ringtone I've had for many years methinks!

Sweet Child of Madness

Mon, 22 May 2006 11:31:31 GMT

Independent DJ Alex H (http://www.alexh.org/) has released a Sweet Child of Madness mix, featuring the following tracks:

** Sweet Child of Mine - Guns and Roses
** House of Fun - Madness
** Driving in my Car - Madness
** Baggy Trousers - Madness
** Oh Yeah - Yello
** Warhead - Krust

http://www.alexh.org/mp3/sweet_Child_of_Madness.mp3

[Duration: 4 mins 23 secs.] [via]

Canon in D

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 12:49:55 GMT

If you enjoyed Beethoven's keyboard improvs in Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure then wander along for a listen to Canon in D played by a Japanese guy on leccy guitar.

Madness 'Write you a song'

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 11:04:34 GMT

You can win a chance to have Cathal Smyth aka Chas Smash of Madness ‘Write You A Song'. Cathal is a twice recipient of the Ivor Novello award and one of the main songwriters of the band.

Gift includes meeting Cathal Smyth and having him tailoring a song to you. You will have your very own song unique to you. You’ll also receive 2 back stage passes to watch a 2006 gig plus meet and greet the band. The show might be at the tail end of 2006 so you might have to be patient, but it’ll definitely be worth the wait…

See www.projectgift.org for full details [via].

X Factor & The Conway Sisters

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 21:15:45 GMT

Never thought I'd write about the X Factor, but I can't believe how much crap has been thrown up since last week's decision, so thought I'd add some more...

I didn't think it would ever happen, but I actually had some respect for Louis Walsh tonight when he stuck by his decision to kick Maria out; admittedly he then went back into annoying mode, but at least it was a start!

Whatever Louis's reasons for sticking with the Conways (I'm guessing producer's orders) he had the right to make that decision, and tonight's performance by them showed just how good they could be with the right song. Maria is not going to lose out from that choice, and Sharon's comments this week after the Conways performed made her look stupid. Maria didn't impress the public last week, and was in the last two for a reason; if eveyone's so upset about it, how come they didn't vote for her when they had the chance?

I'm guessing the Conway Sisters have seriously pissed off Simon & Sharon because they've both seemed determined to kick the Conways out for the past few weeks. It's obviously not down to talent because Nicholas is still in and he's still getting kind comments even though he's been performing badly for the past few weeks.

I'm guessing it's going to be down to Andy and Shayne as the last two, with Chico competing against them in the final. Nicholas has to go tonight; the Conway Sisters were too good to be kicked out this time round.

Bad Manners Christmas Tour

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 14:53:17 GMT

From this week's M.I.S. Online:

British ska legends , Bad Manners , are to embark on their annual Christmas Tour shortly . You can catch Buster and the boys at the following venues .

13th Nov ... The Speedfreaks Ball , Great Yarmouth .
24th ... Time , Nass ( Eire ) .
25th ... Voodoo Lounge , Dublin .
26th ... Music Factory , Carlow .
27th ... Roisin Dubh , Galway .
3rd Dec ... Butlins , Bognor Regis .
4th ... Sainsburys Social Club , Basingstoke .
8th ... The Waterfront , Norwich .
9th ... The Brewey , Kendal .
10th ... Corporation , Sheffield .
11th ... Merry England Bar , Blackpool .
15th ... The Weslch Harp , Gloucester .
16th ... NCLA , Newport ( Wales ) .
18th ... Wulfrun Hall , Wolverhampton .
21st ... The Fleece & Firkin , Bristol .
27th ... Crypt , Hastings .
29th ... Jumpin' Jaks , Bournemouth .
More dates will follow .

For the latest Bad Manners news visit the official web site at: http://www.badmanners.net/

» Christopher ' Dell ' Wardell .

Madness to play Rock City Nottingham

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:12:31 GMT

Monday 5 December 2005 [via]

DHP Presents: Madness

Over 18s show. Featuring the Dangermen sessions.
At Rock City, Nottingham
From 7:30pm
Price: £25.00 in advance.

For tickets or further information, contact the venue directly:
www.rock-city.co.uk.

Joe Stilgoe @ The Stables

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 21:37:40 GMT

Wow, what a difference a few weeks (and a decent band) make!

Joe Stilgoe came along to The Stables last Tuesday and lit the place up. After last month's not-so-great outing, this month was great fun. I definitely agree with John Dankworth, quoted as describing Joe as a "great young talent".

Joe Stilgoe and his band have a lot to offer, as they not only play music that draws you in, but Joe has a great rapport with the audience, and the three of them looked like they were having a lot of fun which always helps.

The music was varied from up-tempo numbers, to slow and steady tunes, and various styles in between with compositions by both Joe Stilgoe himself, and better known pieces. I just wish I'd bought a CD when I had the chance.

All in all a great night, and with the huge applause at the end, we weren't going to let them go without an encore!

Andra Sparks @ The Stables

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 23:26:09 GMT

Spent a mostly relaxing evening listening to Andra Sparks and her band at this month's Jazz Forum at The Stables tonight.

Not sure exactly how much I enjoyed it, mainly because Trevor Tomkins on percussion liked using his cymbals a bit too much. These were annoyingly louder than each of the other instruments, so that Jeff Clyne on Double Bass was almost completely drowned out and even Nick Weldon on Piano and Russell Van Den Berg on Sax were mostly covered by the persistent white noise.

All of these players are teachers or professors at both Royal Academy of Music plus either Trinity College or Guildhall School, so they are obviously very knowledgable in their field, but it just felt as tho they were playing as individuals rather than as a single group...

...until the second half, when it all started to come together, especially towards the end of the set! During the first half, they were playing quieter pieces, and Trevor's cymbals just sounded out over everything else. During the second half they were playing much bigger tunes, and it all came together so that there were plenty of people tapping away in the audience. And Trevor even stopped playing occasionally to let Nick's playing and Andra's voice sound out properly.

Unfortunately they didn't come back for an encore, and out of two years of enjoying these Jazz Forums every month, that has only happened once or twice, so I guess the whole audience felt a similar way, and the players probably picked up on the fact we were a bit of a difficult crowd to please with their particular style, but it's always a bit embarassing when that happens.

I think overall these are all big names in what they do, and perhaps they are each too big to be playing together and following each other, or perhaps we were just a miserable bunch and didn't get them wound up enough!

Looking forward to Joe Stilgo next month. With a "Great young talent" accolade from John Dankworth, it will hopefully be a lot more fun.

The demise of "classical" music?

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 22:37:06 GMT

My musical tastes can seem pretty random, with albums from Madness & Squeeze, through Chumbawumba & Macy Gray, Pink Floyd, Bond, Black Grape, and on to Vangelis, Mike Oldfield & Bob Rivers, which all get listened to depending on my mood, along with many many others.

Among all this, I find "classical" music the easiest to work to, from Yo Yo Ma playing Elgar to albums by Bond & Vanessa Mae, so up until now I didn't quite get why the record companies trying to sell classical music were getting so worried that fewer people were buying their music.

Some of the arguments do make sense, among others the fact that there's only so many versions of an Elgar cello concerto that one person will buy. And I guess that's why the like's of Bond were so loved by the record companies in that they were creating new music; unfortunately I haven't heard anything in the way of new music from any of these style of composers & artists in the past couple of years which is dissapointing. Instead, like with a lot of music these days, the themes are just being remixed into a slightly different versions.

Another thought is that perhaps there's something in the back of people's minds that stops them buying classical music, and sometimes stops them listening to it, but they're not sure why, if they've even thought about it.

Last weekend I played the organ at a church service, and ended up getting a bit stressed for a few days beforehand because it's not something I've ever done before. Strangely enough since then, I have felt uncomfortable listening to classical music with mini-flashbacks to the stress. Hopefully that will change within the next few weeks, but it got me wondering whether for some people this uncomfortable feeling could be longer lasting.

Many of my friends at school learned to play an instrument, and many of those also played in bands and orchestras, but for those of us who aren't so confident as performers, perhaps the stress of going out there and playing for an audience did actually get to us over time?

The Party Party

Sat, 27 Aug 2005 09:46:52 GMT

How do you fancy tunes with political babbling? Go try out The Party Party... particularly liked Imagine... [via]

Popcorn to Moog By

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:25:06 GMT

Listening to: Gershon Kingsley, Music to Moog By...

Finding this gets chalked up to the crazy frog doing a version of Popcorn recently. To me, Popcorn (as done by Hot Butter) is the classic theme to the BBC game 'Pengo' which got me hunting around to see if I could find a copy of the tune somewhere to download.

I soon came across popcorn-song.com which lists every version of Popcorn ever done with a sampler for most of them; luckily that educated me to the original by Gershon Kingsley and led me to Music to Moog By.

Excellent album; loving it all from covers of Scarborough Fair and Paperback Writer, to Kingley's versions of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and of course, Popcorn!

Having looked around Kingley's website, it would be great to get hold of a copy of some of his work with the Boston Pops, but having hunted around Amazon, many other online stores, and various search engines I'm still no closer to finding anything. Anyone have any ideas?

Perhaps crazy frog'll release a version of the Frak! music sometime too!

Smallest iPod ever...

Sat, 30 Jul 2005 09:53:16 GMT

Yet another iPod released. See the promotional video for more info. [via]

London Festival, 16-Jul, feat Suggs

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:58:36 GMT

London Festival to Remember City Bombings

A free music festival is to take place on Saturday in London to remember those who died in the city’s terrorist attacks.

The event, ’London United’, will take place at Burgess Park on July 16 between 12 noon and 8.30pm, and aims to show the city’s "defiance of those who try to change the character of the city through terror".

Madness star Suggs, who will be performing at London United, said: "'We love London because London lets you be yourself. On Saturday at 'London United' we will show that London stands firm in all its diversity after the terrible events of last week."

Full Story at nme.com

Madness Interviews

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 11:39:46 GMT

From this week's M.I.S. Online:

Capital Gold - Lee & Mike Interview - 9th July 2005
It features Lee and Mike and discusses such things as Suggs' recent voice problems, the recording of the Dangermen Sessions and Lee's brush with the law whilst fly-posting around Camden.

[filename] cg0907.mp3
[size] 6.89mb
[duration] 10mins 2secs.

Radio 2 - Suggs Interview
Suggs talks about fame, bees and much more.

[filename] r2suggs.mp3
[size] 6.12mb
[duration] 8mins 54secs.

Madness Lyrics back...

Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:00:21 GMT

I've finally got round to pulling in my old Madness content from my previous site, mainly because my old ISP has finally decided to can the free FrontPage accounts it used to allow. Maybe I'll get round to updating it and adding more info and pictures one day (it's only taken me 18 months to get this much done!)

It's a bit scary looking back through content that I started putting together almost 10 years ago, but that which is still relevant is now up on Theo Gray .com, including a few lyrics and details about the Nutty Dread album.

The main bit that I've dumped is the Links page, as my long list of Madness fan sites now contains about 5 that still work. The simplest way to find out more about Madness is to go along to the official Madness website.

One thing I do remember about 10 years ago is when my email signature used to have "Madness is all in the mind" as a quote until my boss got a complaint from a customer that didn't understand why I had included that at the bottom of a work email... ho hum!

Whatever happened to The Original Gents?

Wed, 02 Mar 2005 10:38:39 GMT

Does anyone out there know what happened to The Original Gents? After a lot of hunting I managed to find a bit about them on Peoplesound; it's always fun to hear a rousing rendition of "Uncle Rubbish Thinks He's A Turnip" and "Standing With A Gimp And Smiling", to bring back some comedy memories, but it'd also be great to know whether they're still playing around the area at all, or if they've just moved on to other things...

If you've never heard of the band, go take a quick peek at The Original Gents page on Peoplesound. The songs are best played when accompanied by alcohol and general merriment!

In search of a Frak! MIDI

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 20:50:22 GMT

I'm looking for a MIDI version of the Frak! theme from that great old beeb game. Anyone know where I could get a hold of it?