Recently in Music Category

The band Weezer has a viral hit of a video by spoofing viral videos. This week it's the No. 1 viral video.

At YouTube today:

Added: 1 week ago
Views: 5,330,026

Duh!

ValleyWag said: "Weezer understands how to work YouTube: allude to these 24 viral videos."

Susan Mernit said "Did I mention how much I enjoy Weezers Pork and Beans video?  The meta-approach of making a video that includes bits of popular vids from YouTube--notably Tay Zonday of Chocolate Rain Blendtec's "Will it Blend" blender, Miss Teen South Carolina, the  Numa Numa video, All Your Base are Belong to Us, Peanut Butter Jelly Time, the "stupid" ninja guy, and a nerd who made  the Guinness Book of World Records for wearing the most t-shirts at any time. just makes me smile."

Take a breath. Now, dive in for more.

Relative newcomers to Knoxville may not know this: Weezer guitarist Brian Bell is an Knoxville expatriate living in L.A. and a Bearden High School. He is the son of a university geography professor and an elementary school principal.

From his 1994 bio on the Weezer site:

"raised in tennessee, little brian knew he wanted to be a rock star at an early age. lucky enough to catch and elvis (presley, that is) concert at the age of four, he wanted nothing else but to be a hounddog. studying "geetar" pickin' on tv from such fine eastern tennessee programs as "the barneyloo and buster show" and, of course, "hee haw," little brian learned how to pick 'n' grin on a ukelele his grandma won at a bingo game. brian's dad, a wacky absent-minded professor and ex-college dj, turned him onto cool music he had from the 50's and 60's. so, armed with his first turntable, a fisher price lo-fi stereo system, little brian managed to scratch and destroy most of dad's valuable 45's. as brian grew older, he began to feel isolated and out-of-place with the other reindeer. while the "normal" tennessee boys were out hunting possum, chewing tobacco and making up fish stories, he preferred to stay home and watch billy mumy movies. ah, movies, music and show biz. Why was it all based in one glorious place -- los angeles? so, just like the clampetts, brian packed up my bags and moved to yucca St., hollywired (cause everyone he met at first was on crystal meth.) not at all like the movies."

Now I'm virally blogging about a viral video about viral videos. Play on before the loop makes me dizzy ...

Updated:  Weird, the video has been disabled for embedding from YouTube, but not from DailyMotion. I have updated my embed code. More from Silicon Alley Insider.

This song "Conjugal Visit" is on the Wayback's new "Loaded" album. Good stuff. The band plays Merle Fest April 24-26 in Wilkesboro, NC.

Amazon's MP3 download service rocks.

I wonder if my headline is direct enough?

If you have a minute, join the new Facebook group that co-worker Lauren Spuhler created called "Songs of Appalachia."

She describes it:

"Songs of Appalachia" is a monthly video series featuring musicians from East Tennessee who help define the music of this region. It is published on knoxnews.com and is more than just country music.

The music may be classified as "home-grown" or "old-timey" and has deep roots to Africa, Scotland, Ireland and England. It is a mixture of fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar, incorporating jigs, reels, polkas, country and bluegrass.

Join online producer/videographer Lauren Spuhler and News Sentinel staff writer Morgan Simmons as they explore the musical roots of our region.

Anyway, join her group to keep up with this interesting project. If you're into mountain roots or even ruts, it's a must.

My Sunday afternoon jogging music was a good one from 2004, "Films About Ghosts (The Best Of Counting Crows)."

I notice the band is offering a free "Digital 45" on its Web site. The MP3s are time stamped Jan. 11. The two "sides" are "When I Dream of Michelanglo" and "1492." They are from the coming March 2 release of the album "Saturday Nights & Sunday Morings." Get 'em.

Anyway, a track listing for "Films About Ghosts."

1. Angels Of The Silences 3:38
2. Round Here 5:31
3. Rain King 4:15
4. A Long December 4:57
5. Hanginaround 4:14
6. Mrs. Potters Lullaby 7:45
7. Mr. Jones 4:32
8. Recovering The Satellites 5:23
9. American Girls 4:33
10. Big Yellow Taxi 3:45
11. Omaha 3:39
12. Friend Of The Devil 4:35
13. Einstein On The Beach (For An Eggman) 3:52
14. Anna Begins 4:31
15. Holiday In Spain 3:48
16. She Don't Want Nobody Near 3:08
17. Accidentally In Love
    

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If you need a sound track for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, try Mavis Staples' "We'll Never Turn Back." The YouTube video is one of the tracks, "Eyes on the Prize."

Fantastic set of civil rights songs done by fantastic lady. (Ry Cooder's pretty good, too).

1. "Down In Mississippi"
2. "Eyes On The Prize"
3. "We Shall Not Be Moved"
4. "In The Mississippi River"
5. "On My Way"
6. "This Little Light"
7. "99 And A Half"
8. "My Own Eyes"
9. "Turn Me Around"
10. "We'll Never Turn Back"
11. "I'll Be Rested"
12. "Jesus Is On The Main Line"

It's also as good as time as any to remember one of the pivotal institutions in the Civil Rights Movement has its home in East Tennessee, the Highlander Institute.

Many of the influential figures in the Civil Rights Movement -- Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, Pete Seeger, among them -- visited the Highlander farm. It's teachers turned "We Shall Overcome" into a Movement anthem. (The Highlander continues to administer the "We Shall Overcome Fund," funded by the song's the royalties.

The Highlander Institute was started in Monteagle, Tenn., in 1932. It was moved to Knoxville in 1961 and moved to a more remote setting in nearby New Market in 1971. The photo above right is a Ku Klux Klan protest of the Highlander Institute in Knoxville in 1966.

It was clearly feared throughout the South for it was, a truly disruptive force on the status quo of segregated race relations and an economic system that strived mightily to the keep Southern poor poor. Its focus has shifted over the years and it now carries the struggle against the environment pollution, the ill effects of globalization, and for expanded social rights

Its remarkable history is here, but this NPR piece from last September about the Institute's 75th anniversary does a good job of putting it in perspective in a short amount of time.

Its history in song and photos is in the audio slide show below.

So crank up Mavis and remember what it's all about because, as she says, we're not done yet.

(Photo from Highlander)

The rumor about Led Zeppelin headlining at Bonnaroo just won't go away. Maybe that means there's some truth to it or maybe it means the Internet is nothing but an echo chamber.

My suspicion is that AC Entertainment's Ashley Capps is loving keeping us guessing about whether the band will be in Manchester.

A couple of quotes from a Washington Post story:

The [recording] industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

Copying a song you bought is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy,'"

So ripping a CD you bought to put it on your iPod is illegal, the music industry's attorneys maintain.

That's taking a logical law to its illogical end.

Preposterous? Ask a few formerly naive University of Tennessee students about the recording industry's ball peen hammer tactics.

More from Duncan Riley at TechCrunch.

One of my Christmas music favs from Robert Earl Keen, who has described it as the Rocky Horror Picture Show of Christmas songs. The song has a fairly extensive Wikipedia entry for the curious.

Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party
We were drinking champagne punch and homemade eggnog
Little sister brought her new boyfriend
He was a Mexican
We didn't know what to think of him until he sang
Felis Navidad, Felis Navidad

Brother Ken brought his kids with him
The three from his first wife Lynn
And the two identical twins from his second wife Mary Nell
Of course he brought his new wife Kay
Who talks all about AA
Chain smoking while the stereo plays Noel, Noel
The First Noel

Carve the Turkey
Turn the ball game on
Mix margaritas when the eggnog's gone
Send somebody to the Quickpak Store
We need some ice and an extension chord
A can of bean dip and some Diet Rites
A box of tampons, Marlboro Lights
Haleluja everybody say Cheese
Merry Christmas from the family

Fred and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motor home in
They blew our Christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited out on our front lawn
He threw a breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night, Oh Silent Night, Oh Holy Night

Carve the turkey turn the ball game on
Make Bloody Mary's
Cause We All Want One!
Send somebody to the Stop 'N Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Diet Sprites
A box of tampons, some Salem Lights
Haleluja, everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the Family

Led Zeppelin at Tennessee's Bonnaroo? John Battelle says naw.

Did AC Entertainment break some news yesterday on Twitter?

Announcing Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder's Christmas Show with The Whites at the Tennessee Theatre on Dec. 15! On sale Friday

AC_Ent on Twitter

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