fly towards those dreams you’ve left so very, so very far behind (12. 516)

Released on this day in 1969, Empty Sky is Elton John’s debut studio album, and the harpsichord track (later remastered with piano and orchestra for Don’t Shoot Me—I’m Only the Piano Player) below, which became the most famous and enduring song from the record still occasionally performed at live shows and in 1990 for the funeral service of young HIV/AIDS victim Ryan White, has been described by the duo of John and Taupin as their first collaboration that they were genuinely excited about putting out. Although the premier work never topped the charts, critics roundly agreed that it deserved a deep listen and demonstrated John’s potential. The hymn’s lyrics give the account of a pigeon flying high and free after being released from its metal coop by a sympathetic hand.

why, why, why, why (12. 407)

Via our faithful chronicler we learn that on this day in 1961 (along with many other events of pith and circumstance) the single by Charles Weedon Westover (better known by his stage name Del Shannon, which he adopted reluctantly later in his career after his favourite car, the Cadillac Coupe de Ville, and a regular from the his first venue) began a four week run at the top of the Billboard charts. Like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, honing his instrumental skills whilst stationed in West Germany during the post war period, Del Shannon found a part time gig after returning stateside and was a rhythm guitarist for the Moonlight Ramblers at the Hi-Lo Club in Battle Creek, Michigan and found himself band-leader after the organiser was fired for consistent drunkenness, regrouping at the Big Little Show Band with the addition of keyboard artist and electronic music pioneer Maxfield “Max” Doyle Crook, the song’s signature bridge performed on a Musictron, an early synthesiser that predated the Moog and Univox of his own invention. Covered by Elvis, Bonnie Raitt, the Small Faces, it was an instrumental version released the following year by Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra that made the lament about an unamicable break-up an international hit.

*     *     *     *     *

synchronoptica

one year ago: a treasury of weird words (with synchronoptica), AI running out of data to scrape plus the ISO’s Online Browsing Platform

seven years ago: filmmaker Miloš Forman, a different meaning for heart-shaped plus Trump on the rampage

eight years ago: cherry blossom season, speech-recognition to screen asylum-seekers, the photographic-eye of Melania Trump plus political dynasties

nine years ago: finally getting iPhones, our tented house in the papers, lèse-majesté plus a stay at Elsinor

eleven years ago: a visit to Alzey

and we all shine on (12. 245)

Conceived, recorded and put out in the course of ten days at the end of January after returning to London from New Year’s in Denmark (see previously), the single Instant Karma! was released on this day in 1970 in the US (credited to the Plastic Ono Band for other markets expect in America, where the by-line went to John Ono Lennon) going on the be the first solo work from an ex-Beatles member to sell over a million copies. The song presupposes living with the immediate consequences of one’s decisions and action rather than borne out over lifetime—or the next. Heralded already for his pacifist activities, the couple pledged to donate all future royalties to the peace movement. Personnel included former bandmate George Harrison, Yoko Ono and Billy Preston on instruments and backing vocals. On the B-side was Ono’s gentle acoustic ballad “Who Has Seen the Wind?,” taken from a nineteenth century Christina Rossetti poem.

*     *    *     *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Mister Roger’s Neighbourhood (1968) plus modular cardboard feline furniture

eight years ago: Stars Wars anniversary edition action figures plus more links to enjoy

nine years ago: death taxes, gravitational waves and the Underworld, charting radio-ownership plus the imprisoned paint portraits of the biggest criminals

ten years ago: even more links, urban beekeeping plus an appreciation of sci-fi authors

12x12 (12. 237)

little sisyphus: a challenging NES-style side-scrolling game—see previously—via Waxy  

behind every robot that turns evil there’s an engineer that installed red diodes in its eyes in anticipation: Meta wants to create AI powered robots to do your chores 

quipu: the largest known superstructure in the Cosmos, named for the corded knot accounting of the ancient Inca culture—via Strange Company  

parataxis: storytelling loves a list  

i will say this only once: John J Hoare responds to a video take-down notice for reposting an old clip—that suggests that YouTube is focused on hate speech against Nazis  

pantograph engraving: the unseen typeface all around us—via the new Shelton wet/dry 

pump and dump: nothing to see here, just another perfectly normal president pulling the rug out from under his country with a memecoin 

return to forever: Chick Corea and friends at the forty-third Jazzaldia festival 

stairwell of the quarter: more on the design efficiency of alternating tread stairs  

nanook of the north: Robert J Falherty’s 1922 documentary on the Inuit  

how many department of government efficiency employees does it take to screw in a lightbulb: a look at DOGE at work—via Nag on the Lake  

windows, icons, menus, pointers: a cursor dance party—via Pasa Bon!

13x13 (12. 185)

embossed: turn of the century tactile teaching aids for the visually impaired for lessons on nature and geography  

lab-leak theory: US Central Intelligence Agency embraces controversial vector for COVID-19 pandemic, discounting zoonosis factors 

ghostwatch: the supernatural horror BBC mockumentary broadcast on Halloween (see also) 1992 and never shown again due to the panic it elicited  

sb593: Oklahoma legislature introduces bill to “restore moral sanity” and criminalise production, distribution and possession of adult material—see previously 

minimoog: a fully-functional analogue synthesiser in LEGO  

haptics and macros: an idea to add gait gestures to one’s smart phone—we can hardly do the right kind of fake kick to open the rear hatch on our car 

mox nix: language borrowings from German propagated by US and UK soldiers stationed there post WWII  

electric garden: a run-down lodge transformed into a living museum mapchat: interact with AI shopkeepers for local businesses—results may vary 

wassergöttin: prehistoric figurine from the Hallstadt culture found in 2022 in Lower Franconia goes on display at the Bavarian State Archaeological Museum in München  

walk without rhythm and you won’t attract the worm: graboids—see also—the other in-jokes that Tremors leans into  

underrepresentation: as part of order to eliminate DEI programmes, US Food and Drug Administration curbs clinical trials aimed at diverse populations for cancer research 

 switchmen: the sign language of railroad workers

the köln concert (12. 177)

Recorded on this day in 1975 at the West Germany city’s opera house Keith Jarrett’s live double-album went on to become the best-selling solo jazz and the best-selling piano record in history despite some inauspicious beginnings. Problems with booking pushed the hour-long performance (attended by a sold-out audience) to late Friday night, and the requested concert grand was not available and so the musician, who was fatigued from touring, had to make due with an out-of-tune and meek sounding baby grand that was only used for rehearsals. Jarrett however was able to lean into the instrument’s shortcomings (see also) and improvised in such a way that celebrated its disrepair.

*     *     *     *     *

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Family of Man (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: A Fashionable Melange of English Words, website traffic, RIP Ursula Le Guin, an AI generated concert lineup plus the Babylon Bee

eight years ago: a conflict of interest 

nine years ago: an X-Files reboot plus the Ronnie Horror Picture Show

ten years ago: Hildegard of Bingen, canine astronauts plus Charlie Hebdo wine labels

send in the clowns (12. 107)

Known as the Bohemian Sousa for his vast body of works including marches, polkas and waltzes, we are introduced to the military bandmaster, conductor and composer Julius Ernest Wilhelm Fučík outside of Czech ceremonial and patriotic music via his opus sixty-eight, written in October 1897 whilst stationed in Sarajevo for the Austro-Hungarian Army, originally titled “Grande Marche Chromatique,” in reference to the climbing and descending scales used throughout, but retitled based on his personal interest in the Roman Empire and impressed by a particular scene in Quo Vadis? to Vjezd gladiátorů (Entrance of the Gladiators). Adapted for piano and later for woodwind orchestra, the air renamed to “Thunder and Blazes,” became up tempo synonymous by the turn of the century with circuses and anticipated the procession of clowns. Despite this well-established and enduring association (see also, see above), the popular piece was used accompany the arrival and departure of SS commandants in Nazi concentration camps.

directors’ cut (12. 063)

What an absolute gift to be able to watch an individual being paid tribute while they can still be part of it. Via Nag on the Lake, we are directed to this brilliant music video from Spike Jonze and Mary Wigmore from Coldplay’s new album, Moon Music, for the track “All My Love,” which together with the band they turned into a moving early birthday celebration for Dick Van Dyke (*1925) who sang and danced and was joined by his extended family. Chris Martin on piano delights at the end with an impromptu song about growing old for Van Dyke.

akademie (11. 204)

Held on this day in 1808 at the venue of Theatre an der Wien, the benefit concert—orchestral symphonies at the time referred to as academies and because of the year’s performance schedule and booked out concert halls (no summertime performances were held as the influential aristocracy left the city over those months for their country estates and space was given over to rehearsals for operas as the higher status productions during the winter with only the weeks of Advent and Lent available for purely musical concerts)—of Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by the composer himself and incredibly debuting his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, Choral Fantasy and Fourth Piano Concerto, for the musicians’ “deserving widows” fund was a four hour affair in the bitter cold of the theatre and suffered in terms of audience reception. Rather incensed with the shoehorning of so much new material into one block, Beethoven’s former teacher Antonio Salieri organised a counter-concert—on the same day—with proceeds going to the same cause, although the relationship between the two warmed again shortly afterwards—Beethoven’s fame spreading by those who had been in attendance and admittedly overwhelmed by the scope of the evening (too much of a good thing) and eager to have a chance to digest individual movements more slowly and at one’s leisure. The entire programme as performed as been recreated a number of times since.

lux æterna (10. 854)

Ahead of the composer’s centenary tribute from the Proms, the Guardian profiles the life and career of influential, dissident virtuoso György Ligeti whose work informed the likes of John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Radiohead, and rather infamously used by the director in 2001: A Space Odyssey to frame pivotal moments without the artist’s full permission, Stanley Kubrick opting not to use the work commissioned for the soundtrack and using public domain classic orchestral arrangements instead. 2001 is by far not his lasting legacy, having created many evocative and innovative works, like an arrangement for one hundred metronomes, but his plexiglass Ehrengrab (1923 - 2006) in Vienna’s Central Cemetery looks as if it could have been fashioned from the original Monolith. Read more about the progressive compositions of Ligeti at the link up top. Below is one of his final works, the 2003 reworking of the Hamburg Concerto with distempered tuning.

learning fast as the weeks went past (10. 519)

Recorded in the studios of Château d’Hérouville during the previous summer and put out as a pre-release for the forthcoming sixth studio album Don’t Shoot Me—I’m Only the Piano Player, the lead single by Elton John and Bernie Taupin climbed to the top of the charts in the US on this day in 1973—becoming the duo’s first number one hit in America—holding its position for three weeks. Played on a Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) electric organ—derisively to imitate the nostalgic sounds of songs that sounds better in our memories though a popular instrument for Led Zepplin, Blondie, Pink Floyd and the B-52s—‘Crocodile Rock’ is a tribute to the Australian group Daddy Cool’s ‘Eagle Rock’ as a fun side project. While acknowledgedly derivative and escapist (and a number he stopped enjoying performing), John didn’t expect it to prove so popular and even rising to a lawsuit alleging plagiarism from the estate of the writer of the Pat Boone novelty song ‘Speedy Gonzales’ for the chord progression and falsetto. The matter was settled out of court.

thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me (10. 328)

Beginning on this day in 1975 and lasting for nine weeks, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, the six-minute, multi-part musical suite referred by author Freddie Mercury as a “mock opera” released as a lead single (B-side, “I’m in Love with My Car”) from their studio album A Night at the Opera hit the top of UK’s charts. For the promotional video—credited with spurring on the complementary medium—and for the band’s UK tour, Mercury played on a Bechstein concert grand piano, which was—according to lore—the same one that Paul McCartney used for recording “Hey Jude” and David Bowie’s “Hunky Dory.”

6x6

pontifices maximi: the denatured bridges of euro notes 

top banana: the fruit label collecting community—via Weird Universe  

toccata and fugue: Bach’s compositions—see previously—from eight perspectives  

trolley problem: pedestrians recruited involuntarily in self-driving car trials—see also 

trivia killed the video star: a look back on how quiz games replaced arcade fascination  

soli cui fas vidisse minervam: polymath Lauri Maria Caterina Bassi Veratti, nacknamed after the goddess of wisdom, first salaried female professor

6x6

berggeschrei: Saxon princes collected, modelled miniature mountains and enjoyed miner cos-play 

#oddlysatisfying: the hypnotic and self-soothing qualities of visual ASMR  

it’s not a cult thing: an interview with the real estate agent selling this ‘sexy funeral Goth house’ in Baltimore—via Super Punch  

erard square action: a tool that measures a piano key’s up- and down-weight  

slamilton: a basketball musical of Space Jam meshed with Hamilton—see previously—that works better than it should, via Waxy  

den hügel hinauf: Amanda Gorman’s inspirational US presidential inaugural poem (see also) will be published in German

prepared piano

We were happy to be introduced to a new type of technique, intervention signature to French composer and pianist Benoît Delbecq’s style and showcased in his latest album “Weight of Light.” Inspired by John Cage’s 1938 Bacchanale, the preparation involves careful selection and placement of items, reeds and twigs being Delbecq’s preferred disruptors, between or on the strings and hammers to create a mysterious, uncanny timbre outside of the instrument’s characteristic range, as illustrated in the video below.

frühaufsteher

Rise and shine, Turophiles, to the musical stylings of organist Ady Zehnpfennig from his 1976 record album Early Bird. Graduating from the accordion to an electronic Hammond organ (see also here and here) and formed a trio with his brothers, performing first at night clubs in Köln. The fun accompanying image is from the reverse jacket cover.

typatune

From the venerable bon viveur Card House, we are presented with another novel approach to teaching those aspiring touch typists in the form of this melodious marvel from 1945 whose notes correspond to keystrokes (see previously) which surely must have resulted in a discordant cacophony with the prescribed exercises. No font specimen is available as the contraption instead operated like an accordion and though it seems rather counter-productive to play a QWERTY keyboard like that of a clavier, perhaps there was some method to this music box.

glissando

Digging into the discography of Scott Bradlee’s and his interpretation of the American Song Book, Miss Cellania treats us to a very jazzy merging of George Gershwin’s 1924 Rhapsody in Blue and Queen’s 1975 suite from A Night at the Opera. A talented composer and arranger, Bradlee is also a frequent collaborator with the rotating musical collective Postmodern Jukebox, an initiative he founded in 2011, the same year as he created this musical number, and has since amassed a huge following, attracted guest artists and has held concert tours, performing contemporary popular music in the style of Big Band, swing, cabaret, Dixieland, ragtime or doo-wop.

deceptive cadence

The always marvellous Nag on the Lake brings us a pleasant performance of the first digits of the mathematical constant π composed for piano by David Macdonald in the key of A minor.
The music is underscored with a series of factoids about the number, including the supposition that every possible sequence of numbers—a string of perfectly consecutive numbers, lottery winners, one’s past and future cell phone numbers—is contained in the infinite series but it’s never proven until calculated out, many argue. That piece of knowledge made me recall that I’ve encountered this quandary before—formalised as the Kate Bush Conjecture, wherein the singer on a 2005 album sings π to seventy-eight decimal places before skipping ahead to the one hundred thirty-seventh. The theory was advanced, arguing that that sequence would be found somewhere within the number, just not at the beginning. Infinite yet non-random, π is suspected to have that property though it remains unproven.

player-piano or à quatre mains

I did enjoy seeing this demonstration called “Andante” by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Tangible Media Group, which aims to reformat performances as interactive, collaborative and engaging for all the senses. Figures gallop and dance over the keyboard with the music and the video of the duet (piano four hands) is really amazing, and I bet such a show could be a tutor for instrument-lessons.