Matthew Siegel // Blog

I am sorry I didn't get to this post sooner - mostly bec ause I wanted to write about this concert while it was fresh in my head. I've been a huge Billy Joel fan my entire life (like most kids from Westchester or Long Island), but the only live show of his that I'd seen was the Billy Joel/Elton John tour in Boston about 6 or 7 years ago.

So, I braved the secondary market and decided that no matter what it cost, I would procure tickets for this show - good tickets. I ended up with 6 tickets for the July 16th show - 2 for me, 2 for Dan , and 2 for my parents about 15 rows back from the field. It turned out to be worth it, because this was an incredible concert.

Even if you weren't a big Billy fan, this was a truly legendary show. Surprise guest performers included John Mayer, John Mellencamp, and Tony Bennett. Billy also played more than a few Beatles songs in a tribute the band that is one of Billy's biggest influences, and also the first music act to ever play Shea. Billy became the last since they'll be tearing it down at the end of the 2008 season. More exciting for me however was Billy's own music - all 3 hours of it.

Billy played just about every one of his big hits (with the exception of Extremes, Uptown Girl, and one other that I can't remember anymore). It was absolutely incredible to hear these songs live, and Billy delivered them with his typical high-energy, crowd-pleasing excitement - I was on my feet the entire show. Even more exciting for me though were the songs that aren't his most well-known hits...he opened the show with Miami 2017 off of Songs in the Attic...this was the one song I desperately wanted him to play but never thought he actually would (probably my favorite Billy song, if I had to pick one). Other amazing, lesser known songs included Ballad of Billy the Kid, Angry Young Man, and The Entertainer (I guess that one doesn't really count since it's on Greatest Hits volume 1). Whew...just repeating that list gets me excited. This was the kind of show that I really didn't want to end. Although it did of course, it seemed like they were shooting for a DVD (multiple cameras, unusually formal intro at the beginning of the show, etc.), so maybe I'll get to watch it over and over once the recording comes out. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

Yes, yes they can. This story (via Create Digital Music) chronicles an amazing sound installation in Scotland that automatically produces music in response to changing environmental factors associated with plant life in a greenhouse.

A composition for plants, yangqin, bamboo robot and robotic chimes, Three Pieces is designed as a collaboration between robots, traditional instruments, and living things, housed in Victorian Palm House of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. A traditional Chinese dulcimer is played by a robot with many bamboo fingers while the surrounding foliage hides an ensemble of robotic chimes. Despite being separate individuals, the robots communicate and perform together. The robot performers are conducted by all the living things in the Palm House. The moisture content of the soil changes slowly as the plants absorb water, while on a much faster timescale, the temperature changes in the building as animals, including humans, move about. The installation detects this living presence in the Palm House and the music changes accordingly. The robots react to humans, but their mood alters with the plants.

The robots and plants are taking over. Maybe they're mad that we've been killing all of them for so long (the plants, not the robots).

THREE PIECES sound installation from Ziggy Campbell on Vimeo.

I get bizarre thoughts in the morning - don't ask. This morning it was a thought about Meatloaf, and the fact that he'd do anything for love. Except that he won't do anything for love, because he won't do that. How can we let him get away with this contradiction?

Anyway this got me thinking if there are any others like this out there...anyone? Bueller?

This Wired post is HYSTERICAL. In what must be one of the weirdest marriages of a political figure and musicians ever, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice hung out with KISS in Stockholm during a conference on Iraq. Maybe she's going to get the KISS army to help out the other army.

Everyone knows that gas prices are through the roof, but I hadn't thought specifically about the impact they had on musicians. The Chicago Tribune did a great job highlighting the difficulty that rising oil prices create for indie bands on the road - check out the full article here.

"Traveling from town to town and playing for an audience is the lifeblood of any musician. It's a calling that has transcended centuries, generations and styles. But it's imperiled by the rising price of gasoline.

'We drove from Omaha to Madison to play a show and it cost us $240,' said Matt Maginn, bassist for the Omaha indie-rock band Cursive. 'My jaw just about hit the floor. That's double what it cost us before. If you're a new band driving cross-country in a van pulling a trailer of equipment that's getting 6 miles a gallon, and you're getting paid 50 or 75 bucks to play a gig, I don't know how you survive.'"

I feel a slew of songs about gas prices coming on. What do you say Indaba? Bueller?

Just when you thought there was a social network for everything, in comes wuchess, a social network for hip-hop and chess. Yes, you read that correctly.

According to the site, "WuChess is a new online chess + hip-hop community that will offer live game play, chat rooms, tournaments, lessons and exhibitions featuring RZA and special guests." It hasn't launched yet, but RZA seems pretty excited about it and it looks like it may be released soon, so stay tuned.

I love these guys - they're hysterical. Aside from thinking that the show is pretty funny, their music is catchy and really amuses me. Check out this video for "Ladies of the World" (from the band's current full-length album on Sub Pop).

Duncan Riley over at TechCrunch wrote a great response to some ridiculous comments from The Society of Authors, the UK Association representing professional book authors. These folks are claiming that internet piracy will put an end to original writing. Sound familiar? It should, because this was the same argument music industry execs made for music when the internet and P2P hit the scene.

I'm glad Duncan is calling shenanigans on this kind of argument, but I take issue with one point he makes. In his words, "While online content and E-Book readers are changing the book game, there will always be a market for books; literature is not modern music, it can’t be created on a whim by 9 year olds using Garage Band."

I feel like people outside the music world often make this mistake - as anyone on Indaba will attest to, digital production technology makes it easier for anyone to create music, but it doesn't guarantee that the music will be any good. Musicians, engineers, and producers still need to be talented - this hasn't changed in over 100 years of recorded music. The implication that all of modern music is about inexperienced 9 years old hacking songs together on Garage Band is moderately offensive.

A very amusing new Flash campaign for Swedish telco Tele2 features an interactive beatboxing dog. Not sure what it has to do with the advertiser's business, but it's music and it's funny so I figured I'd share.

[via GigaOm]

Gordon brought these hysterical analytical interpretations of rap lyrics to my attention today...some very, very funny pokes at some of the most famous (and/or funny and cheesy) rap lines* of all time. Evidently you can also buy them on t-shirts too! A few of my favorites are below.

*Because a lot of the songs depicted graphically after the jump include misogynistic and sometimes vulgar lyrics, I feel compelled to mention a wonderful talk that Moby gave at SXSW this year in Austin. Moby is such a wonderful human being and so it was a great interview all around, but I was particularly moved by his thoughtful way of looking at offensive lyrics. Moby is by no means a fan of censorship and said he is indeed a member of the ACLU, but he also said that he takes great personal offense to lyrics that demean women or any other persecuted group. Moby therefore makes a personal choice not to listen to such lyrics. It was a meaningful discussion to me because hip hop and rap songs with offensive lyrics have been ingrained in my memory and childhood...they were a big part of the music I grew up with...and so now I feel bad even writing this post because it indirectly calls the wrong kind of attention to these lyrics. So I wanted to point out that I don't take the lyrics lightly (even if some of these depictions are positively hysterical), and everyone should check out Moby's talk for some good perspective on things.