From Tin Foil Phonographs to iPods…
Earlier, Greg told me he had some sort of old-fashioned phonograph contraption, which got me thinking about how we listen to and have listened to music. I’ve grown so accustomed to my iPod and iPhone playing music at my command, on-the-go, in high quality and with great choice, that it’s now hard to imagine a world where that wasn’t possible.
I remember having a CD walkman and a CD player, which at the time seemed so cool because you could choose songs without waiting, even if the machines skipped sometimes. And before that, I think I recall a cassette walkman, on which I would play mixtapes I had recorded off the radio, pausing, rewinding and fast-forwarding the songs I loved when I was 10. Before that, I have vague memories of an old radio my dad kept in his workshop in the basement, where he would play classic rock while he built adirondack chairs and American Girl doll furniture. I had seen a few record albums in the basement, tucked away here and there–Billy Joel, maybe Earth, Wind and Fire–but I don’t know that I’d ever heard music play from a record player. (Greg showed me one once while we were walking around in NYC, but it was in the window of a store that was closed–so, no music.) Long before I was born, jukeboxes were installed at the Wonderbar Restaurant, owned by my godmother’s family in Worcester, Mass. When I worked there all through high school, the music was always playing–Sinatra crooning away as hungry families ate Italian.
I never really thought about music players dating before that. But this timeline from Steven E. Schoenherr (that unfortunately only takes us through 2005) gives a detailed history of how people jammed out to their tunes all the way back to the first recording of a human voice on a tin foil phonograph in 1877. Now we can share music online, start our own Internet radio stations, discuss the meaning of lyrics with people all over the world with the click of a button–hard to believe it all started with a clunky phonograph in the 19th century.
What’s interesting too, is that I associate certain songs and artists with certain music players. When you think about it, technology can drive our music memories. Do you have songs or albums that you think of in the context of the technology you use or used to listen to them? And how far back do you remember? Growing up, did you ever imagine that we’d carry music around in our pockets, listen to it from our mobile phones, never hear a skip or have to fast forward to the song we really wanted? I didn’t. Thomas Edison probably didn’t. Did you?
Today’s Honey: July 31, 2008
I think this girl is a hoot. Today’s Honey video is in honor of tomorrow, which is National Girlfriends Day. Ladies, it can be tough being a girl sometimes, right?
The 7 Things Guys Don’t Have to Do:
Breaking News: Amanda is an Embarrassing Person
When Hanson came onto the scene, I was the audience for that crap. I am actually younger than the youngest Hanson. And now, the Jonas Brothers have filled that void. Let’s call them Hanson 2.0. There is absolutely no reason I should like this. But I do.
I am such a loser… Enjoy:
Today’s Honey: June 17, 2008
Dance has always been an important part of my life. I start teaching my summer dance classes next weekend, and so the honey I’m sharing is a performance I love with a song I adore. I know half of you enjoy the dance videos I share and half of you probably don’t, but this is just beautiful and I hope everyone can appreciate it.
Music: “Swans” by Unkle Bob
Dancer: Lauren Garrett, Steps Dance Company
Choreography: Calen Kurka
“Swans”
Today’s Honey: April 20, 2008
I came across this video on Yianni Garcia’s blog and thought it was absolutely fantastic. Alana Taylor is definitely a rockstar in my book.
Lyrics:
When I wake up in the morning,
The first thing I see,
Is an e-mail in my Gmail,
Sayin’ you’re followin’ me.
And next thing you know,
I’m followin’ you,
Not everybody does it,
But me and Scoble do.
Chorus:
Cuz Twitter beats Facebook any day,
140 characters is all you need to say.
Cool thing ’bout Twitter is you meet new people,
You even get to stalk the famous ones too,
We’ve got Veronica Belmont from Mahalo Daily,
Barack Obama and Hugh MacLeod, too.
Chorus
Twitter’s like a family,
As long as you’re not spamming me,
We keep in touch, we share too much,
And @garyvee meets up for lunch.
Chorus
But be careful with your iPhone…
Don’t DM the whole worldddddd!
Chorus
Today’s Honey: March 29, 2008
Love and technology.
Today’s Honey: Common
Music colors my days. As a choreographer, I like music that lets me see movement and feel something at the same time. This takes many forms, and I always like finding new artists and songs that give me something new to feel. Like my good friend Amanda Mooney, I find some great music on television, but I also get a ton of great music from browsing dance videos on YouTube. Of course, right?
So, I want to share with you some musical honey that I think is cool today. I usually don’t like rap music, but I really like Common’s new song “I Want You” and the moody video he created for it. I think Common’s music is a refreshing take on hip hop, and I love how he uses his music to really tell a story.
While Britney Was Killing Her Career, GM Was Turning it On
I almost turned off the 2007 VMAs after I saw Britney pseudo-lip-synching during her gigantic failure of a perform-mess, but I’m glad I kept the award show on long enough to see some commercials from the new GM-Chevy Volt campaign. The funniest part of it was that the day before, E and I were talking about car brands and he couldn’t remember what the Chevy symbol was. I tried to explain the sideways parallelogram and the little slash through it, but he still couldn’t even picture it. I was thinking, “Damn, I kind of feel bad for you as a brand, Chevz. My boyfriend, who actually knows a lot about cars, can’t even picture your brand icon.”
Lo and behold, the next day, I had the pleasure of seeing some new Chevy commercials, which, in my opinion, were delicious. So, after I finished screaming, “There! There! That’s the symbol! I told you it was a parallelogram,” and pointing like a lunatic at the TV screen, I shut up long enough to actually watch this endearing little spot.
I mean, everyone and their grandma is “going green” and I’m getting sick of hearing about how eco-friendly you are, but something about this really just hit me the right way. The absurdity of each spot’s premise (pug licking feet, fairy playing the freaking ocarina of time or something…) cancelled out the seriousness of preaching about going green and saving the environment and all that jazz. And wouldn’t we be more likely to listen to these energy evangelists if it poked fun at itself? Don’t lecture to me about how I suck at turning lights on because I don’t use energy-saving bulbs– show me a dog tongue-bathing someone as an alternative to showering.
