Music
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
We're going to mark the anniversary of the Walkman tonight, and we came across a piece of writing from Hans Fantel in the New York Times, December 20, 1979. Can you imagine reading this passage today, about the effect of a personal stereo?
"The listener is sonically isolated and psychologically removed from his surroundings. Schubert on Conrail unquestionably helps in traversing the South Bronx."
Where to begin? The gender specificity of "his" surroundings? Conrail? Remember Conrail? You can still see the old logo on a couple of grizzled veteran engines along the track siding. Best of all, what did he just say about the South Bronx?
It's wildly unfair to apply modern standards to criticize a piece of journalism written in another era -- but my intent here is merely to show, using just 21 words, how much change there's been since then.
To another change: nobody used to grunt in tennis. Ever. While my theory is that it's a tributary of our societal trend toward the celebration of self (I will throw down over any challenges to my theory, but without grunting), it has reached ridiculous levels at Wimbledon this year. While I don't play or follow tennis, I thought former NBC Sportscaster Len Berman had some good, provocative reporting on the subject on his blog today.
We're preparing the broadcast for this Wednesday night, and we sure hope you can be with us.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
After a long absence due to my workload and travel, I'll soon be updating my music site. Today here at 30 Rock, I interviewed Tony Dekker, the founder and ongoing heart and soul of Great Lake Swimmers. Their music has been described as earnest, airy, sensitive, delicate and restrained. In a word: mellow. But also thoughtful, interesting and carefully crafted.
My favorite song of theirs is a beautiful song called "Everything is Moving So Fast."
He talks about the song, his life and his music in the discussion we will post early next week.
Photo by Subrata De
On the broadcast tonight, we'll look at a surprising Supreme Court decision of interest to so many of us with children of school age. We'll also look back at the life and work of Farrah Fawcett, and much more. We hope you can join us.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
For music fans, a new suggestion: Camera Obscura. Actually, they've been around for a while -- but some new cuts on their latest effort named "My Maudlin Career" deserve a listen. Specifically, "The World Is Full Of Strangers," "Swans," "Away With Murder" and "The Sweetest Thing." Among my fellow Dylan fans, consensus seems to be that "Forgetful Heart" is among the best efforts from his new "Together Through Life." If you haven't heard Dylan in a while, here's a hint … he sounds … like a much older Bob Dylan. Looking for something ephemeral? Try "Floating" by Julee Cruise, a standby for me. It's good when you're trying to fall asleep on an airplane. If she sounds familiar, she did the theme song for "Twin Peaks" a few years back.
Okay. I'm out -- from the music business we turn our attention back to the news business. My thanks to Ann Curry for allowing me some time off. We hope to see you tonight.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
My thanks to Ann Curry for allowing me to travel back from London and rid myself of much of the jet lag from our week's trip. Back in New York today, where the following got my attention:
Correction of the day
This is a verbatim quote from today's New York Times corrections: "The Basics column on Tuesday about using quantitative reasoning to find an approximate answer to complex problems, misstated the number of utilities in a game of Monopoly. It is two, not four." Brilliant. Bravo.
New music of the day
While overwrought music writing always sounds like overwrought wine reviews, ("a hint of plum and accents of oak, with a woody finish...") the song "Kingdom of Rust" by the Doves is interesting for the influences that you can hear on just one listen: the Moody Blues, The Edge, the E-Street Band (keyboard and glockenspiel, for starters) not to mention the Chris Martin-esque vocals. In the mellow category, another nice new one is "Everything Is Moving So Fast" by the Great Lakes Swimmers...their song "Palmistry" is also good. And longtime Leonard Cohen fans and followers may be surprised at the banter and humor on his new live recording. I was. Especially strong are "The Future" and "Tower of Song." And it’s been a while, so it deserves another mention: the great song "Dirty Dishes" by the Rhode Island bar band called Deer Tick. I've received a few emails from fellow fans...I notice they are getting a bit more traction. The new single by the 17-year-old Australian phenom Gabriella Cilmi "Sweet About Me" is hooky and great, and for something heavier, try "To Lose My Life" by White Lies...a couple of Brits who sound a lot like Interpol. And that's today in music.
Back to our day jobs: tragedy in Italy, three awful shootings in three days here in the U.S. The President continues overseas, and we'll end the broadcast with a Making A Difference report tonight. We're glad to be back at home base, and we hope you'll join us.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Because the people I know who are truly mental about this upcoming election cannot stand the coverage and the wait and the suspense (a friend of mine stocked up on rental DVD movies just to keep her mind off the election and her eyes off the media coverage), here's another attempt to make the time go more quickly: The best playlist I could come up with on short notice, a thematic countdown to the big day:
Seven Days - Bob Dylan
Six Days on the Road - Dave Dudley
Five Days, Five Days - Gene Vincent
Four Days - Counting Crows
Three Days - Jane's Addiction
48 Hours - The Clash
Tomorrow - Avril Lavigne
Today - Smashing Pumpkins
Bonus track:
Let's Do It Again - The Staple Singers
Please remember to stop listening long enough to join us tonight for our broadcast.
