On this day in 1906, the Wright brothers were granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine.” Me? I’m a terrible flyer. I get anxiety sweats and headaches and I hold my neighbor’s hand so tightly that everyone’s knuckles turn white. But when I need to get across the country, I sure do appreciate that I can hop on an airplane for a few hours instead of driving my car for a week. Here, six songs about flying. Did your favorite make the list? Tell us in the comments.

Fly Me to the Moon

Though Frank Sinatra popularized this song, it was also sung by Marvin Gaye, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Anita O’Day and many others.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Written by John Denver, this song was Peter, Paul & Mary’s biggest hit. Coincidentally, John Denver died in a plane crash in 1997. (more…)

Our only son graduated from high school tonight. In honor of the occasion, here are some of the things that went through my head as we prepared for the ceremony.

Completely off the Stage

And then go on like nothing is wrong.
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The Principal Pushed Him

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Welcome back to the game that is sweeping the nation, GUESS THE THEME! All the clips below have something in common. Leave your best guesses in the comments.

Pink Floyd – Money (more…)

Today happens to be the birthday of tons of famous musicians. Here’s a little roundup of tunes by Liberace, Jonathan Richman, Krist Novoselic, Janet Jackson, Richard Page, Robert Fripp, Boyd Tinsley, and The Beach Boys (whose album “Pet Sounds” was released today in 1966). Other notable musical birthdays today — unfortunately left out of this wrapup — include Pervis Jackson of The Spinners, Billy Cobham, Barbara Lee of The Chiffons, Simon Katz of Jamiroquai, and Ralph Tresvant of New Edition. I’m telling you, May 16 is some kind of mega-birthday for musicians. Enjoy:

Vładziu Valentino Liberace – 1919

In this 1978 show, Liberace performs “Blue Danube” in Las Vegas, with the colorful Dancing Waters behind him. Sparkly.

Jonathan Richman – 1951

I saw a YouTube comment that summed Richman up nicely: “Either you love Jonathan Richman or you’ve never heard of him.” My favorite song of his is “Vincent Van Gogh.” Here’s an early version, performed with The Modern Lovers live in Toronto. The sound quality isn’t great, but the dancing and 80s sweater are fantastic. See also: this version from “Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love.” I prefer the version on the hard-to-find “Rockin’ and Romance.”

Krist Novoselic – 1965

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In my life off the Internet, I live in Philadelphia, where I was born and raised. My city’s got a lot of history: the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the site of the first department store and the first post office in the U.S., the birthplace of awesome things like Bill Cosby, Kevin Bacon and the American flag. In 1985, it was also one of the sites of Live Aid. Yesterday, Jay-Z came to Philly to announce Made in America, a big Labor Day music festival that supposedly will rival Live Aid in the caliber of artists coming to my fine city. So, naturally, I spent the day watching Live Aid videos. And now you can too.

Neil Young

“The Needle and the Damage Done”

Madonna

“Holiday” (more…)

Two years ago I wrote an article on the webcomic xkcd and the influence it has on its fans. We had another example this week. Monday, Randall Munroe posted a comic called Every Major’s Terrible. It was a multi-panel comic about the difficulty of selecting a college major, with rhyming lyrics we were told went to the tune of “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.” There are three verses in total.
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It wasn’t very long before I was contacted by Errol, who within a few hours of the comic’s publication, had made a video of himself singing the song.
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When I went to YouTube, there were already a half-dozen or so singing versions.

Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa sang and Carrie played the piano -and she sang along on the chorus.
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Welcome back _flossers to the game that is sweeping the nation: GUESS THE THEME! All the clips below have something in common. Leave your best guesses in the comments.

The Police – Every Breath You Take (more…)

Today the Piano Man turns 63. To celebrate, here are ten of his greatest hits (my favorites), arranged in chronological order. Looking back on it, it’s stunning how many hit records Billy Joel released — according to Wikipedia, his catalogue includes “13 studio albums, 5 live albums, 59 singles, and 11 compilation albums.” Virtually all of the studio albums went Platinum or Multi-Platinum in the US, with his “Greatest Hits Volume I and II” (which were standard equipment for music listeners in the 80s) hitting 23x Multi-Platinum (that’s over 23 million records sold) and 1977′s “The Stranger” achieving rare Diamond Record (10x Platinum) status.

“Piano Man”

1973, but this performance is from 1975 (at 9 o’clock on a Saturday).

“New York State of Mind”

1976, performed in 1978. Featuring some artful smoking up top.

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AC/DC is pretty cool. Ukuleles are also pretty cool. What happens when you combine them? Totally awesome videos of people playing AC/DC songs on ukes! Here’s six great uke versions of the hard rock band’s best hits. If you could learn to play any song on the ukulele, what would it be? (I’m kind of obsessed with this version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.)

Hells Bells

The song was the first track on AC/DC’s comeback album. It was written to commemorate the death of AC/DC’s former lead singer, Bon Scott.

Thunderstruck

Angus Young picks every note in this epic tune’s main riff. Does that translate to uke? (more…)

I know I’m showing my age when I talk to people and say something like, “Remember when The Simpsons was really funny?” and they don’t. Awkward. Anyway, among my favorite Simpsons moments from their best seasons (3-9) are the musical numbers. Here are my top picks, but the list is by no means exhaustive. Leave your favorites in the comments.

“Talkin’ Softball”

The only thing more brilliant than parodying Terry Cashman’s “Talkin’ Baseball” with lines like “Ken Griffey’s grotesquely swollen jaw/Steve Sax and his run-in with the law” is getting Cashman himself to perform it. Despite the ear-buggy tune’s age (the episode “Homer at Bat” aired in 1992), it’s still one of the better known Simpsons songs, even among casual fans.

The Canyonero Song

The “country-fried truck endorsed by a clown” is a perfect satire of not only truck commercials, but also razor blade ads, the Marlboro Man, and any other marketing that targets the male mind’s fixation on masculinity and excess.
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