A Night On The Town

We may not be as old and frumpy as rumor suggests...

We went out last night to catch a concert at the Cafe Montmartre, a reasonably classy little place over by the Capitol. Anita noticed that an Ithaca band (J-San and the Analogue Sons) was playing there, and we haven't been to see any live music in a while, so we took naps in the afternoon and rolled in for the 9:30 (really about 10:00, of course) show.

It was cool. They play a sort of reggae/ska-influenced rock, and they play it very well. Lots of fun. Appropriately enough, the Montmartre itself had a very Ithacan vibe to it - something like a cross between Stella's and the ABC, with hints of the old Haunt once it fills up completely. It was an interestingly mixed crowd of old hippies, young hippies, young hipsters, old hipsters, and a few confused-looking Packers fans. There were also make very classy snacks, including a "Chocolate Gooey" dessert which lives up to its name, and delivery of which through a tight-packed dance floor earned our waitress a serious bonus on her tip.

Less Old Timey Than Is My Wont

Hey, hey! Mosey on over to Old Timey, Dammit for my latest recording. "Wagon Wheel" is an old Bob Dylan song, but I don't know if he ever actually recorded the thing. I learned it from an Old Crow Medicine Show album.

Note the three-finger banjo picking, as opposed to my usual clawhammer style. Nothing fancy, but I just wasn't able to make my usual playing fit the texture of the song. No one will mistake me for a bluegrass musician anytime soon, but it's nice to know I can hold onto that rolling rythym for a whole song without losing it.

Edit: I've put up a new, slightly improved version of "Wagon Wheel". After a listen the next day, I did some minor remixing. The rythymic failure at the beginning of the instrumental bridge is less obvious now :-)

Bad blogger. No cookie.

Oof. Sick and overworked, but that's no excuse for blatant blog neglect, gosh darn it.

Anyway, two things I feel that everyone should know about:

1) Carl Zimmer has a a blog. If you're as much of a nerd as me, reading it will make you happy, and give you something interesting to talk about at the water cooler.

2) This is officially the best idea ever.

And now, if you'll excuse me, there's a cup of tea and a warm cat waiting for me. I need to be well and fully recovered to teach a class full of feisty undergrads Tuesday morning.

Yet Another Important Scientific Advance

Progress marches on!

"The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute" from the British Medical Journal, which seems not to be taking itself too entirely seriously this month...

I wonder if we should send them the mathematical quantification of Fun we wrote up over dinner that one time.

Maybe Asimov Was On To Something

Hyperspace propulsion: next big thing, or just a lot of incoherent raving?

You decide! (From New Scientist)

I got your "old-timey" right here

As requested by Dan, I've recorded some more old-time music for you all. This one is called "Reuben's Train", and is closely related to "900 Miles", which you may have heard. Of course, this being the old-timey version, it lacks certain frivolities. Like chord changes...

It also represents the recording debut of the Woodstock Banjo-Tam, an instrument peculiarly suited to this kind of song, since its frets are too close together to be played by human fingers. However, now that I've figured out that the correct tool for tuning it is a screwdriver, I think it works out fairly well.

Enjoy!

Two thousand and what now?

Happy New Year, y'all!