harmonic progression (13. 412)

Via Web Curios, we are directed to this handy reference calendar in The Year in Songs. Whilst incomplete as not every date has been celebrated or at least mentioned in music—maybe something that needs to be remedied, we quite liked the concept, only able to summon up a paucity of two specific tunes, Ode to Billy Joe and of course the perennial favourite by Earth, Wind and Fire changing the mind of pretenders. For instance, we are informed that on Sunday “by May the tenth, Richmond had fell,” as the lyrics to The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” the narrative of social and economic distress experienced by a poor white southerner, Virgil Caine, during the last year of the American civil war relate. Performed at Woodstock with reprise by Joan Baez (as the audience wasn’t too enthused for their set—or maybe I am confusing that with Sha Na Na), the song written by a Canadian and played by an almost exclusively Canadian band was hardly an endorsement of slavery or the Lost Cause ideology of the Confederacy but rather theretofore, ironically, the first and only cultural artefact that addressed the division of the American republic and delivered an anti-war message meant to be mapped onto contemporary conflicts.

one nation underground (13. 409)

Beginning their studio recording session on this day in 1967 for their debut record, recently signed to ESP-Disk of New York City, the psychedelic folk garage band—the group’s name from the Book of Matthew passage “Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine,” meaning do not cede things of value to those who will not understand or appreciate them, the concept album of tracks on the themes of protest, elan and mysticism was quickly mired in controversy, leading to many stations banning it from airplay. A troop of boy scouts correctly deduced that in the song “(Oh dear) Miss Morse,” the chorus was coded with the expletive f-u-c-k, prompting the scout master to phone in a complaint. Despite not receiving any royalties from the label after selling two hundred thousand copies, Pearls Before Swine remained with ESP for their next album the following year, Balaklava, inspired by Charge of the Light Brigade with strong anti-war themes against involvment in Vietnam. With eclectic instrumentation, sampling from classical recordings, literary references ranging from Herodotus to Tolkien and album art featuring Bosch and Bruegel, the band kept producing new music and garnered quite a cult following.

baby, if you’ve ever wondered—wondered what became of me, i’m living on the air in cincinnati—cincinnati, wkrp (13. 408)

With programming already similar to the classic rock roster of the original sitcom, we learn from veteran disc-jockey Miss Cellania that an Ohio-based radio network recently acquired the call letters of a small station with limited range in North Carolina auctioning off its broadcast identifier to raise funds (sad to learn that they were in financial straits, like the fictional station, but at least it wasn’t a struggling NPR affiliate). Airing only for four seasons on CBS from 1978 to 1982 (in the timeslot following M*A*S*H—the transmission tower featured in the opening credits actually belonged to local NBC channel, WLWT), it achieved unexpected success in syndication, the show featured Gary Sandy and Lori Anderson with an ensemble cast of hosts and personalities, Gordon Jump, Howard Hesseman, Richard Sanders, Tim Reid, Jan Smithers, running a small AM station that catered to contemporary radio Top 40 hits. I recall the reruns and when it was added to the Nick-at-Nite line up—but due to licensing difficulties, the latter iteration was without the songs, which could be the best parts, edited around the music, replacing them with public domain stock-tracks or dubbing in extra dialogue and no one wants to encourage a chatty DJ.  I swear I thought turkeys could fly!

dubsteppe (13. 367)

Via Metafilter, we are introduced to the outstanding musical talents of Siberian folk-pop ensemble Otyken (Отукен, from a term in the nearly extinct local Tartar language Chulym designating a place of truce where feuding warriors lay down their arms for peace talks) through their new techno, noir jazz single, “Tundra,” performed in the indigenous Dolgan language, all members of various ethnicities of the Taiga, outfitted with traditional costumes and an assortment of native instruments fused with modern counterparts. The video below with the little kid trying to sneak into the show reminds me of Madonna’s “Open Your Heart.”

8x8 (13. 360)

what1tune: a musical address regimen to geohash the globe with simple melodies—see previously 

neon colour spreading: a compelling optical illusion—see also 

imperial megalomania: Commodus ordered the entire city of Rome named after himself, executed anyone who mocked him, dispatched and quick subject to damnatio memoriae 

measure for measure: the religious hypocrisy (and ignorance) on display in the Trump White House with attacks on the papacy and crusader mentality through the lens of Shakespeare’s play  

proleporn: AI slop in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four—see previously  

on the clock: Maarten Baas studio recruits a thousand volunteers to represent the hands of time at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport—see previously 

hollyworld: filming location substitutes in California

if you block me, then i block you (13. 356)

What a strange timeline we live in.  Iranian communication officers have already proven their trolling chops with a series of Lego shorts trolling the US administration over its illegal war of choice, but the below video, a riff on the 1986 French europop hit by Desireless, attributed to the Iranian embassy, is really the chef’s kiss even with the stakes as high as they are. I wish conflicts were settled this way, and although designed to send Trump into conniptions, I am afraid that the dowager queen might be a little flattered by this competent use of AI.

setlist (13. 353)

Via Kottke, we are directed to the Aadam Jacobs’ collection of bootleg concert recordings of over ten-thousand venues now online with the help of archivists at the Internet Archive. Starting taping live-shows in 1984, the massive, high quality bank features early performances by Stereolab, Björk, Sonic Youth, Tracy Chapman, REM and many, many more including forgotten and disbanded collaborations held in bars and nightclubs that are a distant memory. Not considering himself an obsessive nor an archivist, as many call him, Jacobs labels himself a fan and a documentarian, a fixture especially for the Chicago touring scene, eventually invited in by club owners with the express purpose to unofficially record sessions.

9x9 (13. 350)

reference desk: harness Google’s secret card catalog—via Kottke  

nitrate divas: a remarkable 1928 amateur film adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” 

📍: a Scrabble Map commissioned for the word play game’s (previously) international commemoration, celebrated yesterday  

middle powers: Carney’s Liberal Party secures supermajority in parliamentary special elections  

print gallery of an artist: an MC Escherque exploration of recursive spaces—via Waxy 

infallibilità papale: ally Meloni (previously) breaks with Trump over criticism of Pope, cancels security arrangement with Israel  

dutch cartocubism: an overlooked approach to simplify mapping from the early 1930s from the figures behind ISOTYPE—via Quantum of Sollazzo—see also  

connie converse: rediscovering the forgotten folk-music genius 

огас: the 1960s proto-internet that the Soviet Union passed on—see previously

maplemusic (13. 345)

As the world looks to disengage and untangle itself from the increasingly unreliable and lamentable American hegemony over the rentier economy, the most tenacious gain of purchase for US tech and fintech conglomerates, we appreciated learning about this pioneering experiment from the Toronto creative scene that predates iTunes and Apple music and the pervasiveness of YouTube for music on demand that sought to promote local artists for free with the gratuity of creating a portion of paying subscribers through the nascent vehicle of e-commerce and digital content, first germinating in the late 1990s. Whilst not originally a record label or distributor per se in this new environment, MapleMusic—with its spinoff MapleSolutions, a website design service and domain-registry—was an innovator very much ahead of its time. Surviving the Dot-Com bubble by maturing and splitting into different subsidiaries that still exist today as champions and promoters of different artists through Puretracks and Moontaxi. Whilst subordinate to the current ecosystems striving to retain their dominance at all costs, this early success story demonstrates that the current algorithmic regime was not inevitable and cannot be toppled. Represented artists include Alabama Shakes, Gogol Bordello, Minus the Bear, the Old Crow Medicine Show and Radiohead. More from the Walrus at the link up top.

một trăm (13. 331)

Via Laughing Squid, we are directed to this rather lit rap video from language teacher Levion that teaches one how to count to one hundred in Vietnamese following in the tradition of Multiplication Rock and others that reenforces learning through a catchy format. The teacher also uses the technique for teaching colours and the days of the week. This is really rapid-fire but in the cadence one can pick up of the patterns and conventions of the numbers (see previously). More straightforward in terms of forming the base, there are historically two sets of numerals, native Vietnamese used here and the version most used for everyday accounting purposes and another of Sino-Vietnamese influence generally only used for fixed expressions and very large numbers, like Latin and Greek prefixes in English. Arabic numerals and Roman script (chữ Quốc ngữ) supplanted Chinese characters during the era of French Indochina.

7x7 (13. 311)

jack-in-the-box: a list of restaurant franchises nominatively housed in unusual structures by order of appeal of the dining experience in said edifice 

: – ): this generation will never the struggle of emoticons—see previously  

smelting operations: with the world’s supply of aluminium stuck in the Persian Gulf and major production facilities disabled, automakers are cutting production of electric cars 

fallout boy: Trump’s East Wing ballroom to act as shed atop of a war-graded military bunker  

fahr’n, fahr’n, fahr’n auf der autobahn: Kraftwerk’s pioneering electronic music masterpiece in full—see previously  

as slow as possible: Pippin Bar assesses attention span with meditative remakes of classic arcade games—via Waxy  

smoke ‘em if you got ‘em: startups hope to put biometric age-verification technology in flavoured vape cartridges

jazzy spies (13. 295)

Also known by the above for the closing undercover lineup, the Jazz Number series was a collaboration between Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick,whom provided the vocals after her then husband, Jerry Slick of San Francisco animation studio Imagination, Inc, was commissioned to produce the segments for the new Children’s Television Workshop show Sesame Street. Slick’s team of animators were also behind the noonee, noonee typewriter guy and this upbeat psychedelic interstitial certainly belongs on the pantheon of nostalgia along with the pinball count and Multiplication Rock! More from Open Culture at the link up top.

there were plants and birds and rocks and things (13. 294)

Recorded in Doric mode and composed whilst the trio was staying with shock-rock artist Arthur Brown in Puddletown, Dorset, the track, originally called “Desert Song” was not included on the band’s eponymous debut album, achieving only modest success for its European release, “A Horse with No Name” began a three-week run on the US singles charts on this day in 1972, achieving similar commercial achievements in the UK and the Netherlands. America’s song writer Dewey Bunnell (all members were army brats that met while their fathers served in the US Air Force at RAF Ruislip outside of London) wrote the lyrics as a reminiscence of his time where his family was stationed at Vandenberg Airbase and his childhood travels through Arizona and New Mexico, the nameless conveyance being a metaphor for escaping life’s confusion and finding refuge in peace and quiet. Some stations refused airplay as they thought “horse” was a reference to heroine use, and whilst the band maintains there was no illicit allegory, the above catalogue was written under the influence, the band a little embarrassed in the recording studio over the awkwardness of “the heat was hot” and “cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain” but were convinced to stay true to their final draft.

according to our new arrival (13. 269)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, Mr Belvedere debuted on ABC on this day in 1985, and while having scant affection, nostalgia or memory (except maybe for the nightly journaling) for this culturally mismatched sitcom, a posh British, world-travelled butler engaged by a nouveau-riche American family living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh as a mentor and caretaker, in the tradition of Family Affair from two decades earlier and inspired by the character created by novelist Gwen Davenport at the end of WWII with the displaced coming to the aid of the dysfunctional, just like with antecedent and precedent series like Charles in Charge and Who’s the Boss?, I do have a fondness for the theme song as performed in ragtime style by Leon Redbone throughout its relatively short and ultimate shelved run, whose full franchise was ultimately aired in syndication, a rarity for a show that was cancelled and on the cusp of expository intros. Belvedere himself was adapted cinematically several times before the pitch for television was made and failing until being buoyed up by the above thematically similar shows.

oh who will find the antidote for pentagonorrhoea (13. 261)

Having coming across a clip of someone lip-syncing a section of this ditty the other day, I appreciated, courtesy of r/ObscureMedia, the full version with spoken-word intro from the Chad Mitchell Trio of this 1964 number, should you find any drafts that need dodging in your area. The group is rather famous for their satirical songs lampooning topical and controversial subjects during the Cold War, the civil rights movement and the Vietnam era, pivoting away from folk music with their then daring ridicule of the anti-communist, ultraconservative John Birch Society. Draft Dodger Rag was originally written by Phil Ochs and after being popularised by the Trio was soon afterwards performed by the Smothers Brothers on their comedy hour.

algeria, gabon, benin, the gambia (13. 257)

This was delightful and really could be integrated as a classroom geography lesson, since most of us are only disabused of our ignorance through wars. There I Ruined It (previously) improves Toto’s “Africa” by lyrically listing all fifty-four nations of the continent. More mnemonics from Kottke at the link above.

7x7 (13. 229)

all modern digital infrastructure: a XKCD panel made interactive 

hell harp: Oxford scholars recreate the musical instruments from the Garden of Earthly Delights and play them—see previously 

≲5×10³: Iranian academics propose that technologically advanced civilisations wipe themselves out and have a constrained lifespan on Earth and throughout the Cosmos—see also here, here and here  

set theory: literary news in Venn diagrams  

tragic mansions: the sadly overlooked life and career of Mrs Philip Lydig  

orrery: a mechanical clock to tell the time in our solar system  

habe mortem præ oculis: perhaps the worst pun ever  

usage clause: AI can rewrite, refactor COBOL language applications, reportedly reducing the risk of moving away from legacy systems—see also, see previously

9x9 (13. 226)

strength is not strong: it takes more than might to make right 

right of reply: Palantir sues small Swiss media outlet for accurately reporting of the government’s rejection of their surveillance and analytic services offers  

lifeguard on duty: annual design competition to reimagine Toronto’s beach rescue stations as public art during the winter break  

a tuba to cuba: the travelogue of a jazz band’s trip to Havana to explore their musical roots  

visual variable: a free library of thousands of cartographical icons that can be scaled down to the head of a pin—via the Map Room  

the tamizdat project: a library curating literature smuggled into the Soviet Union as part of US spycraft (“published abroad”) to destablise the Bloc from within 

site specific: a roundup of some of the most garish public art installations in the world—via Miss Cellania   

homily: Pope Leo urges priests to stop using AI to write sermons 

brother fire: reflections on a war of choice and the dashed hopes of the Arab Spring

rundweg rhönblick (13. 223)

For a warm and sunny day on this first meteorological day of Spring, H and I returned to Höhe Geba (see previously, see also) and explored a circular path named after Helmershausen native son, novelist, physician and avid wanderer Dr Theo Malade through a juniper heath, past the source of a mountain spring and to a shelter on the western slope of the plateau, overlooking the Leichelberg (see above). 

 Inside the Hütte, there was an information board with the lyrics to Das Rhönlied, the 1912 regional anthem by Andreas Fack (“Zieh an die Wanderschuh / Und nimm den Rucksack auf, / Und wirf die Sorgen ab / Marschier zur Rhön hinauf!”—see also) and a stamp for one’s hiking card. 

The path led back through the eponymous village on the plateau, remote and with only fifty-seven residents even smaller than our hometown, which had an interesting octagonal church and historic schoolhouse.

9x9 (13. 220)

a real chadwick: nineteenth century missionary and polyglot John Ross’ role in why Hangul uses spaces whereas other Asian scripts do not  

the count: an annual tally tradition from Diamond Geezer—see also  

τεσσαρακοντήρης: the ancient super-galley commissioned by Ptolemy IV Philopater, so named as it was rowed by forty 

lettres decoratives: open source letterform templates inspired by the artisanal signs of Paris  

calendar girl: RIP Neil Sedaka—more here  

abc schengen: a bundle of fonts inspired the typefaces of the transportation industry—see previously  

δώδεκαθεϊσμός: an introduction to the practitioners of the Hellenic religion who worship the twelve Olympian gods 

happy map: in an increasingly fraught world, a deep longitudinal survey of tiny and momentuous moments of joy  

data ≠ knowledge: poetic reflections on large language models by Rishi Dastidar—via Web Curios