Not my practice blog, by Scott Knaster

Hitchhiker's cognitive dissonance

Recently I saw and enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. Although it wasn't the incredible revelation that the original radio play, BBC TV series, and books were -- and how could it be? -- it was fun. I liked that the filmmakers seemed to be respectful of Douglas Adams and the original works. For example, the lovely banjo-tinged theme from the BBC series turns up a few minutes into the movie.

A few days later, I read on my friend CJ's blog that the TV theme was actually a song called Journey of the Sorcerer by none other than The Eagles. I figured she meant the theme was based on an Eagles song, or was similar to an Eagles song, but a quick trip to sample the song at the iTunes Music Store revealed that the HHG theme was exactly the original Eagles song.

Immediately, I suffered major cognitive dissonance, for two reasons:

1. I like the Eagles just fine. And I like Hitchhiker's Guide a lot. But I like them in entirely different regions of my brain. I just never thought of them together. The Hitchhiker's Guide is cosmic and self-deprecating. The Eagles are pretentious and definitely non-cosmic.


2. This is such an awesome, juicy triviality that it seemed impossible that I, a member of the Trivia Bowl Hall of Fame, was unaware of it.

"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."
-- Sir Arthur Eddington

Playing music A to Z

KFOG is my awesome local radio station. Every once in awhile they show off by spending a week or so playing songs in alphabetical order by title. They started doing that again yesterday, and now they're in the B's. Here's what they've played recently:

Black Tambourine, Beck
Black Maria, Todd Rundgren
Black Magic Woman, Santana
Black Horse & The Cherry Tree, KT Tunstall
Black Dog, Led Zeppelin
Black Cow, Steely Dan
Black Coffee In Bed, Squeeze

Bagpipe solo

You might know the early '90s pop hit "Under The Milky Way Tonight" by The Church. This one is rocking along, when suddenly, a bagpipe solo breaks out. It's almost comical, but it works. It's surely one of the most unexpected solos in rock music.

What's on Bush's iPod?

This article provides insight into what's on President Bush's iPod: sounds like country and classic rock, mostly.

The Sippy Cups

The Sippy Cups are a San Francisco-based band that plays music for kids. But instead of the usual kid stuff, they play classic rock like Pink Floyd, The Who, and The Ramones. You just haven't lived until you've seen a roomful of toddlers pogoing to "I Wanna Be Sedated".

TMBG in SF

They Might Be Giants performed live and free yesterday at Border's Books in San Francisco. A big, happy, all-ages crowd jammed the small space -- clearly more people than were expected. John and John and drummer Marty Beller hit the stage at 4:00 and played for about 40 minutes. We Knasters were right up front, about 10 feet from the tiny stage, and the band sounded great. The set was mostly very tight, except for a few minutes of Flansburgh guitar troubleshooting at the start (Flans: "We'd like to thank Guitar Center for not being open"). After that, the music poured out and soon the happy TMBG vibes were flowing.

They performed four songs from "Here Come the ABC's", the subversively addictive CD/DVD project that's supposed to be for "kids". The show started with a terrific "Alphabet of Nations" that included bonus nation lyrics by Linnell, and drummer Beller stepped to the mike to sing lead on "Alphabet Lost and Found" while John and John sang chorus harmonies a bit off key (big grin from Linnell). A tune that was "written by Linnell's right index finger" proved to be the intro to "Istanbul". They also performed "Robot Parade" and the 21-part classic "Fingertips".

Because the show promoted "Here Come the ABCs", there were plenty of little kids around. One tyke of about 5 wearing a "No!" t-shirt was loudly singing along to "Fake Believe". Linnell teased him by first holding back on his vocal and letting the kid sing, then jumping in fast to preempt the kid.

After the show, They set up a table for autographs and photos (Flans: "We're going to stay here until all of you are gone.") And it was good.

TMBG in SF TODAY

Attention, SF Bay Area fans of They Might Be Giants! They are appearing at Border's Books in Union Square for an all-ages free show at 4 PM today, Sunday March 27th. If you're there, come on over and say hi.

New TMBG!

New from They Might Be Giants, Brooklyn's ambassadors of love: Here Come the ABCs, available as a DVD with animation, live stuff, and lotsa puppets, CD, and bits. It's a lot of fun for kids, kids-at-heart, and They Might Be Giants fans: imagine what John & John would do if they made alphabet songs for Sesame Street.

Although this is "educational" music for "kids", some of these are going to RAWK when played live. For a sample, check out this clip from Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

The Dead Hensons

The Dead Hensons were on KFOG yesterday morning. They play works from the shows of the late, great Jim Henson and crew: Sesame Street and The Muppet Show & movies. Get some free MP3s here, including a stirring rendition of Rainbow Connection.

Ball of Confusion

The Neville Brothers have covered the classic Temptations hit "Ball of Confusion", and they did a fine job. It's fun to compare the original lyrics to the updated version.