The Dross - Matt Yglesias
In a very loose way this post from Yglesias sparked a thought in my mind about our songs from youth and the Dallas music scene. I can remember the first time I recognized that, yes, Dallas did indeed have its own scene. It was with the purchase of the first Dallas Observer music compilation. The compilation itself didn't do anything for me, but the Funland track, Head in Hands on Floor, was the first song to make me realize that not only did Dallas have a scene, it was good. So the question for you is what album, song, event, or mere moment made you realize that Dallas had a music scene? Maybe we can make a contest out of this and the winner can get hit over the head by Will Johnson's drum head.
9/30/07
9/28/07
fun friday facts - redheads
Redheads
- Red hair is a genetic mutation.
- Red hair is seen on the heads of only four percent of people. Most of these exist in the U.K., the Republic of Ireland, and Australia.
- There is a belief that redheads are prone to industrial deafness. This actually could be true as the melanocytes are found in the middle ear.
- In the early 1600’s, at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the belief of Pixies (aka fairies) emerged in southwest England. They were then and have since been strongly associated with red hair for their mischievousness and otherworldly talents.
- A 2002 study found that redhead are harder to sedate than any other people requiring twenty percent more anesthesia. Inadequate doses cause people to wake up during surgery and have increased recall of procedures. (I can vouch that study is accurate)
- Red headedness is, genetically speaking, a recessive trait. It may appear after several generations of darker hair.
- The perception of the color red, scientifically speaking, enhances the viewers metabolism and increases heart rate and respiration.
- The first human redheads walked this earth about 50,000 years ago in Africa and then spread throughout Northern Europe.
- The country name of Russia means "land of reds" in honor of a redheaded Viking by the name of Rurik.
- Adams first wife Lilith, always depicted as a redhead, is known to have refused to lie beneath Adam during sexual intercourse, and stated” why should I lie beneath you when I am your equal since both of us were created from dust” –Patai
- At St. Paul’s cathedral in London, figurines tell the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden. Adam points one hand to the forbidden fruit and the other to a golden haired Eve. Then the arch angel drives them from the garden. Adam with his fig leaf loops his arm around Eve who is now cowering and sporting a main of long red hair.
- Similarly in the paintings of the Sistine Chapel in 1874, Michelangelo’s Temptation depicts a brown haired Eve being handed a red apple by a red headed bare breasted serpent woman (Satan manifested as woman of course carries red hair). In the adjacent fresco Eve is thrown out of the garden with a shameful face and a twist of red hair.
- Eves’ red hair is seen as the stain of sin like the original scarlet letter. Later her son, Cain, will bare the red hair and also a fall from grace.
- The first redheaded British monarch was a woman. Boudicca was a Celtic warrior was led her people, the Icenti, against the Romans in the C.E. 60’s.
- Belief that redheads are witches is a folk belief in Germanic culture. From 1483-1784 thousands of suspected witches were nearly always stripped and searched for “marks of the devil”. These included any “abnormality” such as freckles, moles, warts, and birthmarks. Red hair was certainly considered an abnormality. Considering the freckle factor for redheads this was a deadly and shocking horror. Somewhere around 45,000 women were tortured and murdered usually by burning at the stake or by drowning.
- The Egyptians regarded the color as so unlucky that they had a ceremony in which they burned red-headed maidens alive to wipe out the tint- Claudie De Lys.
- British Press recently reported that that the MC1R (redhead gene) will be used in DNA testing to rule out, or in, if suspected killers in crime scenes are redheads. This will narrow a search if the gene is found to a small percentage of perpetrators. The hope is that next skin color and physical features will be detectable.-Marion Roach
- In central Africa’s Cameroon redheaded albinos, called Nguenguerous, are believed also to come by this color by menstrual intercourse. The UN and other world organizations have studied and advocated for their rights as there have been allegations of the ritual murders in some regions of Africa.
- Archaeological digs in the Chinese desert of Takla Makan found mummified redheads dating back 3,000 years.
- An Irish judge in 2001 fined a man for disorderly conduct stating “I am a firm believer that hair coloring has an effect on temper and your coloring suggests you have a temper.”
- Redheads have always been thought untrustworthy. Judas is most always depicted as a redhead displaying the prejudice against red hair.
- The Romans kept red haired slaves, and at a higher price.
- Adolph Hitler reportedly banned the marriages of two redheads as he feared their children would be “deviant offspring”.
- “Ill beat you like a redheaded stepchild”. This phrase was born out of the American south and implies the status of illegitimate offspring with a white master.
- At some point in history Brahmins were forbidden to marry redheads.
- In France, to be redheaded is thought to be a fate so dire that some women have formed a “Proud to be Red” association.
9/27/07
A Mountain of Amphetamine, Mescaline, and Cannabis
Oliver Sacks on Earworms, Stevie Wonder, and the View from Mescaline Mountain - Steve Silberman, Wired
As an aside from the normal Dallas-centric blogging done here I've pulled this interview with Oliver Sacks from the latest issue of Wired for your viewing pleasure. What hit me the most in Sacks' words was his description of music as providing an avenue to new sensory experiences that only a mountain of hallucinogenic drugs could provide. The spiritual/mystical experience music can provide is one of the most astounding aspects of our world. While the medium on which music is tossed into our world goes through rapid transformations the essential elements of the experience remains the same. Rhythmic sounds enter our ears and are processed by our brain producing images and emotions that are incredibly difficult to reproduce in any other fashion. Music is that river we can never step in twice. A single song might receive several hundred plays by me and each one is new and different, even if only in the most subtle of ways. It is truly a religious experience of the Dionysian. For example, while my own sister cannot stand the music of Paperchase, I find it one of the most cathartic experiences possible. It feeds a primal force inside of me that no drug, no book, no movie or any other cultural object can do. Music is one of the most intangible of things and yet it can produce the most visceral and real emotions. You can never hold a song in your hands but you can go through the most profound of physical transformations just by listening. So open your ears more, experience the newness even from the oldest of songs.
As an aside from the normal Dallas-centric blogging done here I've pulled this interview with Oliver Sacks from the latest issue of Wired for your viewing pleasure. What hit me the most in Sacks' words was his description of music as providing an avenue to new sensory experiences that only a mountain of hallucinogenic drugs could provide. The spiritual/mystical experience music can provide is one of the most astounding aspects of our world. While the medium on which music is tossed into our world goes through rapid transformations the essential elements of the experience remains the same. Rhythmic sounds enter our ears and are processed by our brain producing images and emotions that are incredibly difficult to reproduce in any other fashion. Music is that river we can never step in twice. A single song might receive several hundred plays by me and each one is new and different, even if only in the most subtle of ways. It is truly a religious experience of the Dionysian. For example, while my own sister cannot stand the music of Paperchase, I find it one of the most cathartic experiences possible. It feeds a primal force inside of me that no drug, no book, no movie or any other cultural object can do. Music is one of the most intangible of things and yet it can produce the most visceral and real emotions. You can never hold a song in your hands but you can go through the most profound of physical transformations just by listening. So open your ears more, experience the newness even from the oldest of songs.
9/26/07
9/25/07
RocknRoll Acrobatics with The Fatal Flying Guilloteens
at a recent show opening up for Les Savy Fav in Brooklyn, the lead singer fell off the stage and was humped by audience members. good stuff.
interview with CMJ
9/24/07
Metal Monday
Miss Info was feeling kinda thrashy this morning and asked me to put her playlist up for her. Enjoy.9/23/07
9/20/07
fun friday facts - Baseball Fields and Ballparks
we know it's not Friday yet, but we can dream can't we?
for a baseball field-themed weekend, we present:
Baseball Trivia!
- The first World Series was played between Pittsburgh and Boston in 1903 and was a nine-game series. Boston won the series 5-3.
- The New York Yankees have won 26 World Series titles, which is more than any other team.
- Former Yankees right fielder Mickey Mantle holds the record for most career home runs (18) and RBI (40) in World Series history.
- Baseball stars from the National League and the American League played the first All-Star Game in 1933. The National League has won 40 of the 73 games. The game ended in a tie twice. In 1961 rain in Boston prevented extra innings and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. And in 2002, the game went 11 innings with the score knotted at seven before it was finally called off due to a lack of pitchers.
- Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. didn't miss a game in 16 years. He played in 2,632 consecutive games from April 30, 1982 to Sept. 19, 1998.
- Pete Rose, who played for the Cincinnati Reds and then was banned from baseball for life for betting on games while managing the team, holds the all-time record for hits (4,256) and games played (3,562).
- In 2001, San Francisco's Barry Bonds broke the all-time single-season home run record when he hit 73. He broke the mark of 70, set by St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire in 1998.
- Fourteen players have hit four home runs in one game: Bobby Lowe, Ed Delahanty, Lou Gehrig, Chuck Klein, Pat Seerey, Gil Hodges, Joe Adcock, Rocky Colavito, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, Bob Horner, Mark Whiten, Mike Cameron and Shawn Green.
- Pitcher Nolan Ryan played 27 seasons in major league baseball and struck out more batters in his career than any other pitcher.
- San Francisco's Barry Bonds has won the National League MVP Award seven times. That's four more times than Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, and Mike Schmidt, his closest NL co-winners. On the American League MVP list are Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle with three awards each.
- Philadelphia A's (now the Oakland Athletics) manager Connie Mack has 3,755 career victories, more than any other manager in history.
- The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum is located in Cooperstown, N.Y. It was created in 1935 to celebrate baseball's 100th anniversary.
The Dimes Go to the Houston Zoo!
in their latest video, full of parks, ice cream, awkward zooms, and duck butts. hooray!
9/16/07
9/13/07
fun friday facts - Tall Bikes
brought to you by:
Glurmann's Yogurt....It's Not Denver!
"Modern tall bikes are most commonly constructed by individuals from spare parts. Two conventional bicycle frames are connected, by welding, brazing, or other means, one atop the other. The drive train is reconfigured to connect to the upper set of pedals, and the controls are moved to the upper handlebar area." (wikipedia)
Dallas supports an active tall bike scene, which includes tall bike polo, as well as many independent, local tall bike designers and builders.
know about it.
Fine Art Taco Photography
looks good, tastes good!
Fine Art Taco Photography:
"I have always liked tacos. You have to respect the simplicity and ergonomics of the taco. It is what it is. Many will believe this is a joke; that I'm making the point that anything, when photographed in black and white, looks artistic and interesting. Please view the photographs and make up your own mind. I believe they speak for themselves. "
9/12/07
Dallas SUP Laws
we're not in the business of editorializing, but fotophonic is concerned about changes to the Dallas zoning laws, particularly as they affect local music venues. shutting down clubs and locally-owned, independent businesses in our neighborhood neither looks, nor sounds, nor feels good.
for an introduction to the issue, see The Sub-Rosa's informative post and the contact info below. also, fotophonic's resident law librarian, missinformation, is available for questions at our email, fotophonic@gmail.com.
The PDF on the City's site is old (2002), but here are some links to City information on this type of permit, plus contact info:
http://www.dallascityhall.com/pdf/planning/1sup.pdf
Building Inspection - Permit Center
Oak Cliff Municipal Center
320 E. Jefferson Blvd., Room 118
Dallas, TX 75203
(214) 948-4480
http://www.dallascityhall.com/building_inspection/permit
for an introduction to the issue, see The Sub-Rosa's informative post and the contact info below. also, fotophonic's resident law librarian, missinformation, is available for questions at our email, fotophonic@gmail.com.
The PDF on the City's site is old (2002), but here are some links to City information on this type of permit, plus contact info:
http://www.dallascityhall.com/pdf/planning/1sup.pdf
Building Inspection - Permit Center
Oak Cliff Municipal Center
320 E. Jefferson Blvd., Room 118
Dallas, TX 75203
(214) 948-4480
http://www.dallascityhall.com/building_inspection/permit
we are arctic monkeys!
if you bet that we look good on a dancefloor, then you'd be right!
fotophonic sends big thanks and slobbery smooches to Big D Little D for sending us to the Arctic Monkeys show.
octopus project @ good records
photo by Mike Clouser.
Mike sez these are "cross-processed slide film, meaning it's slide film that was C41 processed rather than E6". so cool.
Mike sez these are "cross-processed slide film, meaning it's slide film that was C41 processed rather than E6". so cool.
9/9/07
9/7/07
Fun Friday Facts - Robots
What is a robot?
A robot is a machine that can complete a series of actions automatically. Robots can be any shape or size.
How do robots move?
Electronic circuits make is able to move. These can be controlled by radio signals from a distance, a local remote or a computer.
Where does the word "robot" come from?
The word "robot" was first used in a Czech play in 1920. It comes from the Czech word for work or labour.
Can robots feel?
Robots cannot feel emotions. However, they can be built to have senses. Television cameras have light sensitive cells that can "see" for the robot. Some robots have touch-sensitive pads that enable it to pick up a delicate object without breaking it.
The Youth Online Club
9/6/07
9/5/07
9/2/07
Friday Facts - cake
Cake
]
Cake is a term with a long history (the word is of Viking origin, from the Old Norse kaka) and denotes a baked flour confection sweetened with sugar or honey; it is mixed with eggs and often, but not invariably, with milk and fat; and it has a porous texture from the mixture rising during cooking. The Food Museum
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