Yeah.

This is the song in my head for the past few days. Between the meteorite and the announcement... it just feels right. And then the letter? Oy.

[link]

They'll do other gorgeous things.

We rarely (ever?) talk about opera here, but I thought Buffistas might appreciate this: Nico Muhly has written an opera, to be performed at the Met this fall, about sockpuppets. [link]

10 Things You Didn't Know About Robyn Hitchcock

My faves:

He is available for weddings.

“I’m a minister of the Universal Life Church of Arizona: I can marry people in the States, although I’m not sure I can do it in Britain. I married Colin Meloy of The Decemberists and his wife [artist] Carson Ellis five years ago. I haven’t done a marriage recently, though.”

...

He suspects cats may one day rule the Earth.

“The dinosaurs ruled for something like 100 million years and we’ve been here 30,000 years. I don’t know if we’re going to outdo the run of the dinosaurs. Will a feline dynasty in 5 million years be looking back at us, the super-cyber cats who survived the next apocalypse? Have you seen those Bengal cats with silver skins? I can imagine them walking around museums that have our iPhones in, looking in wonder.”

Hey a couple of music questions for those in the know.

1. How would you explain New Wave to someone?

2. Say I was interested in exploring a bit of progressive rock. (Because I am.) Current exposure is basically Pink Floyd. Where should I start?

1. How would you explain New Wave to someone?

Well, "New Wave" was a marketing ploy to find a more palatable name for Punk. But really it was a splitting off of one part of early punk - the part interested in pop hooks and dance beats and wacky imagery. Bands like Devo, Rezillos, B-52s were all kitschy and catchy.

As a genre it's more keyboard driven, and - as I put it in the Bubblegum book - the refuge for gays, geeks and girls as punk turned into hardcore (white, suburban, skater boys).

In a way it encompassed the bands that owed the most to Bowie and Roxy Music, the artier end of glam rock. And less to the Stooges/NY Dolls.

So Gary Numan, Devo, the Cars, B-52s, Lene Lovich...

Slate did a series on the history of prog last year: [link]

Check out this 60-minute concert (5 songs) of Genesis with Peter Gabriel from 1973: [link]

As a genre it's more keyboard driven, and - as I put it in the Bubblegum book - the refuge for gays, geeks and girls as punk turned into hardcore (white, suburban, skater boys).

I like this. I think this is pretty much what I was looking for.

So Gary Numan, Devo, the Cars, B-52s, Lene Lovich...

This is interesting, with the exception of Devo, none of those acts come first to mind when I think of New Wave. (For me New Wave mostly means UK, so Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Ultravox, Adam and the Ants etc.)

(For me New Wave mostly means UK, so Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Ultravox, Adam and the Ants etc.)

Those are all New Romantics which is yet a later wave. (Though New Romantics are properly a sub-genre of New Wave.)

Those are all New Romantics which is yet a later wave. (Though New Romantics are properly a sub-genre of New Wave.)

Not the Eurythmics, and Adam Ant disavows the label (unconvincingly, to my mind), but yes, there's a lot of New Romantic in my New Wave.

I recorded Biyi an album of 80s New Wave; artists on it were:

The Buggles
Split Enz
Devo
Robert Palmer
Adam and the Ants
Ultravox
Duran Duran
The Human League
Kim Wilde
The Stranglers
Madness
ABC
A Flock Of Seagulls
Eurythmics
Spandau Ballet
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Thompson Twins
Nik Kershaw

Being specifically 80s, obviously it's going to be a bit further from the genre's origins. Nonetheless, i'm noticing that I barely associate New Wave with the US at all. (I'd say unfairly, except that this is more about personal taste than a comprehensive survey. Still, that's quite a bias.)

Apparently I like New Wave! Or New Romantics!

I hate the term prog, though. It sounds unfinished aloud, and in print I always read it as prong