Category: Uncategorized

Well, it’s about time…the Associated Press has finally recognized the return of Doctor Who to the BBC after a 16-year absence of new television episodes (except for that promising, yet poorly executed FOX/BBC television movie in 1996).

The return of ‘Doctor Who’

Well, I have written, recorded and published the first complete song of what I am calling “my second musical phase” (or BK 2.0).

The song is called “Parting of the Ways.” I’m not sure this will remain the final product, but it’s a complete song for the most part.

I am trying to find time to “perfect” the vocals (with my definition of “perfect” being as good as I can possibly get them) and I may try to trim it down a bit. That being said, I’m quite pleased with it. I set a goal to write something this past weekend and, as Dubya himself would say, “Mission accomplished!”

Oh, one more note about the title…since this is the first song of BK 2.0 and it comes at the same time a new version of Doctor Who (Who 2.0?) is currently airing on BBC (and everywhere, it seems, except the USA…thanks for declining, Sci-Fi Channel), I couldn’t resist the chance to borrow a title from the new Who. The season finale, which airs in a few weeks, is called “The Parting of the Ways.”

Parting of the Ways (7.4 MB, 5:22)

You may recall that around this past Christmas an asteroid named 2004 MN4 was briefly given the distinction of having the best odds of any known space rock to hit the Earth in 2029. Of course, as often is the case, additional computations and observations showed that while it would be a close call, the Earth would get through the encounter unscathed.

In announcing the Earth will be safe from that flyby, the scientists apparently left out some significant information — that the 2029 encounter with the Earth is going to affect the asteroid’s path so that there is a decent chance of it hitting us — a 1-in-10,000 chance — in April 2036. In fact, there are several scenarios between 2034 and 2065 in which the same asteroid has even BETTER odds of hitting the planet.

While scientists are still confident further observations will likely reduce the odds to zero, there is a problem…the rock is going to be mostly out of view from some point in 2006 through 2012.

Anyway, there is a story on Space.com about a former NASA astronaut who wants Congress to approve a space mission to monitor Asteroid 2004 MN4, which is “only” about 1,000 feet wide in diameter so it should “only” cause local or regional devastation…as opposed to the whole wiping-out-mankind-global-annihilation type of thing.

Astronaut Asks Congress to Investigate Threatening Asteroid

Musical genius Ben Folds played a sold-out show at The Electric Factory in Philadelphia last night. Wasn’t able to get any pictures, though…since I realized earlier in the day that the display on the digital camera I bought less than two months ago cracked (GRRR!) and my cell phone camera just wasn’t cutting it.

I think I saw Ben play bass for the first time at the end of “Rockin’ the Suburbs” (have to check on that, though…I know I heard him play bass on a live version of “Rent a Cop” I downloaded). Also heard a new “Paul Simon” story that was nearly drowned out by the idiots screaming for “Rock This Bitch,” but it was a good story (especially since there was a Philly connection).

For my friend Katie out in the Ben Folds-free zone known as Seattle, here is the setlist from the show (courtesy of Chris at the Ben Folds Tribe…

1. In Between Days
2. Consider You Gone
3. There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You
4. Jesusland
5. Bastard
6. Still Fightin’ It
7. All U Can Eat
8. You to Thank
9. Landed
10. Bitches Ain’t Shit (Dr Dre cover)
11. Zak and Sara
12. Where’s Summer B.?
Band leaves-solo Ben
13. Lullabye
14. Alice Childress
15. Brick
16. Army
Band returns
17. Trusted
18. Carrying Cathy
19. Rockin’ the Suburbs
20. Philosophy
Encore
21. Late
22. Not the Same
2nd encore
23. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces

To make it easier to download and listen to my music, I am now posting MP3s of my work at my site on OurMedia.org, which you can visit by clicking on the headline above.

However, I am only going to publish what I consider “completed” songs on that site, as opposed to some of the musical sketches I have posted in the past. I have a bunch of ideas and emotions swirling in my head and need to release them in a creative way so I will be spending a lot of time with my keyboard and PowerBook.

Onward!

I had a front-row seat to see music legends Joe Jackson and Upper Darby, PA’s own Todd Rundgren perform (with opening act Ethel, a New York-based string quartet) at The Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, April 24, 2005.

What a freakin’ awesome show! Joe and Todd are personal music heroes of mine and to be able to see them that close in such an acoustically pleasing and incredible venue like Verizon Hall (its design is based on that of cello’s and was built specifically as a home for the Philadelphia Orchestra) was absolutely mind-blowing.

The photo was taken with my Motorola v265 camera phone at the end of the show as Joe (left, in purple coat) and Todd (right, in yellow coat) — with Ethel behind them — bid adieu to the crowd.

This is really more about testing photos on this page than my first trip to The Palestra, but it is a photo of that event.

I plan on doing more audioblogging in the future and will be getting into podcasting as well. Stay tuned for updates!

Here is my latest project (even though I still haven’t finished “The Happy Song” yet…see below). It is known only by the date it was created…

083004 (2.3 MB)

Wow! Now that I downgraded the quality of the music downloads on my .mac site, I have room to add a couple of musical ideas that are in progress…

Trancin’ (2.5 MB)

I’m not sure where this is going. I took a few days off from work back in July 2004 and tried to get at least one thing recorded during that time. It’s really not “trance” music, but the fact that the music doesn’t really shift a lot — except for the lead “synthy guitar” sound — gave it an element of the genre.

071404 (1 MB)

This one, named only by the date I recorded it, is really nothing right now. I may try to find somewhere to take the idea, but it hasn’t happened so far.