spilla da balia

Gaye Advert and TV Smith at the 100 Club, 1976

mission of burma - nicotine bomb

A very tiny percentage of creators go on to be famous, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t remember little things you did for years and years. Who came up with most of the world’s most famous jump rope rhymes? Who coined some of the famous idioms we use in daily speech? Who made up ‘Jingle Bells, Batman Smells?” Somehow, all of these things stuck and spread around.

When I was a small child, I saw a high school put on a production of the musical HONK. In one song, the mother duck describes various dangers that her baby should avoid in the water, including fishing line, which could strangle him. A member of the ensemble played the role of fishing line, doing a maniacal laugh and over-the-top strangling motions, and I found it hilarious– and to this day, that’s an example I often think of when talking about how ensemble members can still stand out in theatre. The guy who played the role might not even remember that he did that, but I do.

I took Suzuki violin lessons as a kid. The teacher made up lyrics to some of the songs, and she let her students make some up, too. Now whenever I hear the instrumental of one of those pieces, I always remember these ridiculous lyrics about a skunk that we sang in violin class. I don’t even know which student invented them!

In middle school, I found a video about atoms parodying Bill Nye made by some kids for a school product. It probably had less than 1,000 views, but I think of quotes from that video all the time. They had a parody of “We Will Rock You” with the chorus, “Protons, neutrons, electrons” that I think about a lot.

Fresh one for ya, rushed but somehow coherent. Crackle and hiss abound from these records and tapes. Tune in live on Saturdays from 8-10am EST, or catch the replay on Tuesdays from 12-2am EST, only on Radio KCM (dot com).

August 8 playlist

Background: Phill Niblock, “Summing II”

Idea Fire Company, “The Laboratory”

Vanessa Rossetto, excerpt from the A-side of Adult Contemporary

A.C. Marias, “Drop”

Rump State, “Petty Dieties”

Krube., “Untitled I”

Omit, “Lander”

Hardijs Lediņš, “La Dance Binoculaire de Paris”

Sic Alps, “Everywhere, There”

Gun Outfit, “Don’t Remind Me”

Tommy Jay, “Gusto Hungry” (live)

The Grebes, “Portrait of the World”

Dredd Foole & the Din, “So Tough”

Mellow Harsher, “Stinge”

Gaoled, “Hospitalized” / “Voices”

Grief, “Tar”

Graves at Sea, “Pariah”

Permission, “Stimulation”

Condominium, “Thug”

Pious Faults, “Worship the Surface I”

Station Model Violence, “Crepe Throne”

Chrome Cell Torture, “The Good That Hurt Does”