Muffin Bottoms [not] Just another WordPress weblog

02/20/2015

Asking To Learn Then Learning So Much More!

Filed under: Academic,Music and Stuff,Pop Culture,Sports — admin @ 5:13 am

Asking To Learn Then Learning So Much More!

 

An old blog note I found in google cache. I don’t want this one to ever disappear and it looks like a database went away where this entry used to sit. Bummer.

Monday, 12 August 2013

The most serendipitous kismet I’ve had this side of the Millenium happened yesterday afternoon. I was looking around Danbury for Marian Anderson’s famous homestead. Not the studio, I’d already seen that, and I found a building I thought might’ve been it. I asked a guy in a station wagon near me if he knew if that building was the famous growing up home, and he said he wasn’t sure, but his granddaughter was about to have her cheer-leading camp and the instructor might know so I should wait and ask her.

“He’s a famous baseball player,” said the granddaughter. Well it turns out the fellow I asked was Gilbert Black who played professionally in the “Negro Leagues” in ’56!

He gave me an autographed photo and I gave him a copy of my newest CD, etc. He was delighted to meet a young folksinger because it turns out he went to grade school with Josh White’s daughter and he was shocked when being asked if I knew who Josh White was, I quickly recalled the name even though never knowing actual songs I could say I knew he got famous in the ’40s. He said he listened to nearly the entire NPR stream of this year’s folk festival for three days straight and almost none of the people there knew who he was. Pete Seeger sure, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, etc., but almost no one knew who Josh White was. Well, Mr. Black, I’ve heard of him, and now I’ve heard of you, and thank you for pointing that out so I can go find his renditions of “Joshua Fit,” and “Dying Bed” and stuff. Wow. Amazing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VijUoiBhVOw

04/04/2012

A Roundup of S(h)orts

Filed under: Humor,Music and Stuff,News,Pop Culture,Sports,Tech — admin @ 1:04 pm

Here’s a roundup of shorts, er uh ground up sorts, um, I mean some wound up sports, or wait, I know, a Roundup of Sorts…

My heartfelt version of Flatt and Scruggs’ “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” (written by Charlie Monroe) in honor of the late Earl Scruggs. (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012)

http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/9464509

Looking over my record deal I consider how much better mine is than ones my friends signed with majors the past decade or so.
OK please support Jay Roc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3u8H-G_FR4
Friend of a friend sort of, really kind of a distant cousin’s son!
Some old guy in this bkfst nook just asked his buddy how he can get a vibrator for his fone.
A guy behind me just told his mom he can’t talk with her on the phone anymore because he’s “coding.”
what was he doing? WOW online.
Yes, my peeps – be ready to look for it. I’m taking my album art inspirations most deliberately from a Zeppelin, a Miles Davis, a Melanie Safka and a Duane Eddy rekkid.
My luthier just compared my production style in a rendition of “Follow the Drinking Gourd” to Lennon’s “working class hero” recordings. That compliment made my day!
What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it’s all about?

Listen, I know everyone feels great about their new releases, etc., and we all work so hard and want to hype ourselves, but I can tell you, my debut folk full length that I’m releasing 12apr12 is very very good.

And as they say in the middle school where I sub the most, it’s “mad beast.” 😛

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_12648062

Old and dear friend of mine, David Rovics singing a great new song that really got my attention. Except for the pointed slam at Bruce Springsteen and who I’m going to assume is Little Steven Van Zandt pretty much every lyric in this song is spot on.

We all still live and die by this punk rock sensibility that everyone who makes it is a scumbag, like so many crabs in a bucket.

Having hung out a lot with people like Robbie Robertson, John Densmore, Warren Buffet’s son Peter, Jacob’s dad from Twilight and the old blue guy from Avatar, I can say it’s more about what you’re doing and how you live your life than what amount of dollars or checkbooks you carry around in your pocket.

And not trying to rib David too much, if you’re not talking about Silvio Dante, you must mean Rodriguez and not Berlusconi, right? What are you doing man? Tell me what’s up! 🙂


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkw6Uq7nhBs

“Marc, I don’t remember if I told you this, but I’m a group leader for a group of Tiger Cub Scouts. We had our monthly meeting last night, and we do some sort of activity as a group. Well, I chose to teach those kids a few songs. We did “Frybread” and “The Shortest Song You Ever Heard.” Can you imagine a group of kids singing “Frybread, frybread, make me some frybread.” I concluded the meeting by telling the kids to sing those two songs at school tomorrow. Neat, huh?”

– Patrick Moore

A feedback recovered from the old IUMA website, thanks be to the WAYBACK MACHINE!!!

http://web.archive.org/web/20051208014506/http://artists3.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Marco_Capelli/lyrics-0.html

“I hope as my kids get older they stay compassionate, stop to talk to old people, the homeless, the sick…sing to our military, continue to brighten peoples days and bring them hope.”
Mistr Gritshttp://www.gritsworld.com/press_page

Holy cow! 61st nationally in the Folk charts. Thank you everybody, for helping my music climb like this! (In January it was 300th!!!) Alls I ever wanted “when I grow up” was to have people hear some of the songs I write, and you’ve helped me make that happen. I’m quite grateful!

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_9895127

Two NYE’s ago my Rosebud friend Frank gave up a heavy gig with Baby Phat because it just didn’t feel right. I’m sure he had to do some serious soul searching to turn away from something such as that! Now he’s learning Recording Engineering at a cool school in Chicago. Big ups to Frank Waln; you rock bro!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3kPW-fE5Yc

It was while substitute teaching in either Windham or Baltic I came to the realization I can track each and every success and failure in my life back to a specific teacher’s words and deeds when I myself was but two feet tall or so. And may I repeat, Governor Scott walker you are meanspirited and just generally a very bad person.

My midwestern eeuu friend Jill says she’s already seen a bunch of RWBB’s and SandHill Cranes! I have yet to see either although there have been a handful of robins lately. In my preparation for the first chance encounters with some RWBB’s (you already know I have an affinity type friendship with the little black, red, yellow & white critters) I give you this song from last year. 🙂 enjoy…

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_11152313

And if you are guessing I might be finally getting ready to start publishing my humble little weekly ‘Zine again soon, you umm… Might be right…
😉

03/22/2010

Sometimes You War; Sometimes You Dialogue; Sometimes You Do Both.

“Sometimes it’s a good day to die, sometimes it’s a good day to have breakfast.” — Thomas Builds-the-Fire

College teacher Julie Jennings conveys the following breaking news:

“The 3-20-10 Providence Protest has sparked a dialogue with the game’s publisher. The game-maker is starting to consider Native pre-testing of the game. Julie Jennings would like the game-maker to be invited to present to the Rhode Island Indian Council. His letter will be printed soon and he (B. Youse, a corporate owner no doubt) can be reached at byouse@cablespeed.com ”

RE: King Philip’s War role playing game.
Company Name: Multi-man Publishing.

My Opinion:

Awesome. Maybe he’ll allow a hefty portion of the outside panels of the box be words from elders of many tribes saying how they feel and strongly suggesting people learn more about not just Metacomet and Massasoit but find out more about each and every river name and street and town name. Heck there can be explanations that there are always more than one story that make up history at any time, and near the UPC label there could be a coupon for 5 bucks off at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research center. And maybe he’ll give a buck or two from each purchase to children in Haiti and Pine Ridge.

And how about a booklet listing NDN bands, artists, actors, songwriters, movie makers and all kinds of other talented people both contemporary and old.

There should be a separate booklet showing the facts that the original 13 colonies only succeeded in driving England out because native american boys were such skilled harpooners, lancers, swimmers, helmsmen and tacticians.

\

\

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36LO_zmTGOU

/

/

I demand somewhere on the box be placed the quote that almost got John Ledyard jr. kicked out of Dartmouth where he wrote in a bluebook that he felt Uncas should be placed right up there with Darwin or Isaac Newton for his grasp of science, technology tactics and domestic and nation to nation concerns.

OK I better stop ranting or this will get too long. Let me just say that all represents how I feel so far. I don’t want this box to see light of day but if it must, this is some of the treatment I believe it should be given from beginning to end.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/INDIAN_WAR_GAME_03-15-10_46HKPR8_v28.3a62f30.html

07/14/2009

Donating TAB of John Mayer’s Presentation During Michael Jackson’s Funeral

Filed under: Music and Stuff,Sports — admin @ 8:28 am

Here’s TAB of John Mayer’s version to Human Nature which he played
at Michael Jackson’s funeral. I began from GypsyFire’s work on his
intro and then added some of the soloing that Mayer does throughout.
(http://www.twitter.com/johncmayer) He repeats many licks for emphasis,
which I don’t notate each time. I mostly put each new phrase “in order
of appearance.”
If you can open two windows on a large enough computer monitor
(or maybe print the TAB out the old fashioned way and set it in front
of you) I recommend playing the video and watching both the video and
the TAB. If a lick is stumping you, go back a line or two and play a
bunch of phrases in a row and I bet you’ll find it again quickly.

———————————————————————5———-
—3——————————————–3——-5———-5————
-/4—6—-2h4–2—————————-4——-6——-7——-7–6–4b5r4
———————–/4–2—————————————————-
——————————–5—–2p0—————————————
——————————————3———–5————————-

——————————————————————————–
—–3—–5———————————–3——-5————————
—–4—–6—–/4–2————————4——-6——–4—-6\4p2—4–2
————————–4—2————————————————-
————————————2——————————————-
-3———5————————-0—3————5————————-

—————5———————————————–5—————-
—–3—-5—5h7–5——————-3—–5—–5h7—7p5–5—————–
—–4—-6————7–6–4b5r4—-4—–6———————-7—6–7p6—
—————————————————————————–(7)
——————————————————————————–
-3——-5————————–3———5———————————

“this is the beginning of mayers version today. its not exact i took some of his
stuff and added some of my own. use your thumb on the low E string i find it the
easiest to get those low notes and keep the chord. you can play along to this tab
on my profile i uploaded the mp3 so you can practice…the rhythm is pretty free”

— GypsyFire  http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1158334

Bluff Point Today

Bluff Point Today

:52 secs or so
(where orchestra 1st comes in full)
1:18
——10—-10—————————————————————–
——————————————–3-5br3h5p3————————-
—————–4/7\5—-2h4-2———-2h4———————————–
——————————-/4\2——————————————–
——————————————————————————-
——————————————————————————-

1:42                            Does He Do                   Does He Do
——————————————————————————-
-3-5———————————————-12-14b-r—–15-15-15-17-15–
-4-6–11-9———————7–7–7h9-7—————-14—————–16
———-12-11-12-11-9-7——————-9———————————-
——————————————————————————-
——————————————————————————-
Me That Way                     Me That Way

2:48
——————————————————————–10\–10\-
—15-14———————————-15-17br15—–12h14brbr————
-16—–14–16-14———–4br2h4—14h16———————-14———–
—————-16–14——————————————————-
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–

(*from a fullstep bend)
[Gets a pick]3:06
———————–15br12-15b—-10-10h12p10—12br10-12\———12b10-
b11r-9–9————————————12—————————–
——10—————————————————-21br19-21——-
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-

(*The release FROM a bend is trademark Mayer and he’ll use something similar
at the ending to get what I call that teardrop tone.)

By the way, that’s a good observation GypsyFire makes about the thumb on the
low E. Mayer pretty much holds to traditional classical guitar style in finger
picking, where you use your thumb (P, from PIMA) for the bottom three strings.
And then your index, middle and ring fingers get one string each. But don’t
try to fixate on that part too much. Play whatever comes natural and there’s
a very good chance you’ll fall into something very close to what he’s already
doing.

http://www.angelfire.com/wi/kokopeli/johnmayeratmichaelsfuneralTAB.html
http://www.tinyurl.com/johnmayerTAB

03/26/2009

SCOOP: Ashton Kutcher 2 film his own bodyhair waxing. Will keep U posted.

Filed under: Humor,Mundane Or Sublime,News,Sports — admin @ 9:50 am

SCOOP:

Ashton Kutcher is planning on filming

his own painful chest & bodyhair waxing

4 stickam or liveleak or something.

I’ll keep U posted.

03/23/2009

My Time In The ‘Circus.’

Filed under: Humor,Sports — admin @ 8:30 pm

hahahaha. one morning I wanted to run away and join the circus but then started to put my brown, black, tan and green lipstick all over my face and the rest of my battledress uniform there in a barracks in colorado springs in the army, looked in the mirror and realized I was already in.

02/23/2009

Open Letter To University Of Connecticut About Tuition

Filed under: Academic,Mundane Or Sublime,Sports — admin @ 11:42 am

I have an option E, please take it seriously. I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I plan to craft it  even more in between my mid terms and finals this semester.

Let’s give our coaches like Geno Auriemma and Jim Calhoun the opportunity to make even more each year but risk making less too, by making each aspect of their income depend on the gross take each game spread over the year.

Three bad years in a row and they have to justify their salary just as eloquently as the President Hogans and Vice Provost Comprones of our campuses.

Then we can make proffesor salaries AND tuition amounts each semester more aggressively variable as well. We have all these computers and bandwidth, right? Why not put a few of them to work crunching all the numbers so we can see how much more we might be able pay our professors each semester too!

When our sports teams, and the annual Pow Wow, and the ROTC donations and nanotechnology grants give us a smaller amount one semester, my tuition goes up a little and Calhoun’s salary goes down a little.

When all those elements climb a little, my tuition goes down and Calhoun’s salary goes up.

Seriously, and don’t get me wrong, I honor athletics, but it really is quite surreal that Calhoun can command 1.6 million a year plus incentives, yet my best professors teaching me can only look forward to a smidgen higher than $111K a year!

Is your main roll in administration still doing whatever it takes to get me a quality education or had it become figuring out how the heck you’re going to get the Basketball coach his salary every time there’s a new contract negotiation?

Unfortunately I can answer that for you, I’ve been dropping out and returning to UConn as an undergrad since 1982.

Marco

Fellow students,

On March 10th, the UConn Board of Trustees will determine tuition for the
2009-2010 academic year. This decision will affect all students; therefore, we
want your voices to be heard.

Please consider the following information, which is a list of
options that the Board of Trustees will be reviewing regarding tuition
increases:

• Option A: would be no tuition increase. It would require cuts that would
likely result in approximately 290-310 layoffs. If tuition is not increased at all,
UConn will have to close programs and cut services to students. The hours at
the Library, Rec Center, Student Union, dining halls, museums and other
venues would be sharply reduced and many students working at these
facilities would lose their jobs. More classes would be moved to Fridays and
weekends, fewer classes would be offered and they would be larger. The
University would have to reduce financial aid and increase charges for things
like parking and ticket prices to events.

• Option B: would be a tuition increase of 6.0% (this is the standard amount
that tuition has increased by annually over the past few years). This would
amount to a $432 annual increase for resident students over the current
tuition rates. It would require cuts that would likely result in approximately
150-170 layoffs. Programs and services would still be curtailed. Student jobs
would still be lost. Classes would be fewer, bigger and offered at less
convenient times and financial aid would still be cut.

• Option C: would be a tuition increase of 8.67%. This would amount to a
$624 annual increase for resident students over the current tuition rates. It
would likely result in the equivalent of approximately 80-100 lay-offs. It would
save more jobs, programs and services. Financial aid would not have to be cut.

• Option D:  would be a tuition increase of 13.67%. This would amount to a
$984 annual increase for resident students over the current tuition rates. It
would not entail any lay-offs. This would avoid the need to close down
programs and services. Student jobs would not be eliminated. Financial aid
would not have to be cut.

President Hogan has recommended an 8.67% tuition increase (Option C,
shown above) in order to save as many UConn programs as possible, while still
keeping tuition affordable. He has asked for the support of the Student
Government in this recommendation.

However, we at USG do not feel that we can responsibly support a tuition
increase without first getting direct feedback from as many students as
possible. It is our job to represent you, and we need to make sure we are
doing what is in your best interest.

In order to get direct feedback on the options for next year’s tuition, we have
set up a poll, click the link below to take the poll:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspxsm=8LL2HkzTVn9XNHZYd6f_2bCw_3d_3d

Please complete the survey (it’s only ONE QUESTION) so that we can begin to
understand which of these four options you, the students, are most
comfortable with. We will be presenting the results of the poll to the
administration and Board of Trustee’s at the begining of next month so please
respond ASAP.

USG is also sponsoring a Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday night, February 24th
at 7p.m.-9p.m. in the Konover Auditorium (at the Dodd Center). President
Hogan, UConn’s Chief Operating Officer Barry Feldman, and Vice President for
Student Affairs John Saddlemire, along with other key figures will be on-hand
to discuss the recent budget cuts and tuition with anyone who would like to
attend.

This meeting will be a great opportunity to voice any opinions or questions you
might have about the potential tuition increase. Please try to attend.

I realize that these are difficult times for all of us, and I thank you all for your
time and effort.


Meredith L. Zaritheny
President of the Student Body
University of Connecticut
Undergraduate Student Government
2110 Hillside Road
Storrs, CT 06269
(860) 486-3708
meredith.zaritheny@uconn.edu

02/01/2009

Essentials: Boiling down the first half of Superbowl Ads.

Filed under: Sports — admin @ 6:08 pm

Down, set, Sprint.
Hey Jack, it’s a fact, everyone’s ready for
ads discounted way down under the list prices.

Singing songs of praise for our great nation,
including, “Buy Books For Our Chain,” here’s
McGraw-Hill.

And now, please stand for American Idol to sing
one of our most popular National Anthems “Cars
and Hypes.”

Wow, Jennifer Hudson with the nailed ending. I’m
impressed. No really, I am.

So GI Joe’s the first biggie. Was that list price?
Now I know Avon didn’t pay fullprice, did they?
So now that we’ve finished the Multi-Level-Network-
Marketing of Jesus, let’s bork the Superbowl.

OK, I know Ronald McDonald paid full price. He prolly
paid extra to subsidize others, right?

Joining us in the Superbowl CoinToss General David
“I Better Not Dare Say Something That’ll Piss Off
Bush” Petraeus.

“Back into the injured area to promote healing,”
Who remembers Bob Backlund’s fake backbreak?
Remember when he was stretching with that ab
crunchine

And now Billy Corgan for Edityourown.com
Corgan would later claim he is a self-taught
HTML coder.

We could cut down on Bud Light, I mean marketing.

Angels & Demons, and Audis Oh my.

So did NBC use Silverlight for their platform on
this? If so, they seem to have worked out all those
embarrassing rebufferings happening that other time
they tried it out, you know, the “hesitation blues”
employees there did NOT dare speak of.

Will i am and Dylan for Everyoung. Pepsi, Everyoung,
drink it and feel good about yourself.

And don’t forget the coolranch Doritos, right?

Oh, how poetic. Right when the football got dislodged,
so came his contact lens undone. That boy will have
to be sidelined for at least 2 or 3 minutes. Keep an
eye on him.

Poetic. Hey, whatever happened to that bikinibowl that
danced to a roaring crescendo each time on an alternative
channel? I guess nipple-slips and wardrobe malfunctions
are passe now, eh? Nowhere near as exciting as 4 and 5
star generals tossing coins and stuff I guess.

Yeah, Conan doesn’t do commercials. Not even commercials
about commercials. What does he think he’s Shakespeare??

Influenced by many, gassed up by none. The all new Toyota
Venza. Get it where prices are slashed at least 40% under
list!

I think I liked you better in pantie.. er, uh, I mean 3d.

Woah, did you see that play?? The motorcycle skids and
wipes out bigtime, the Audi gets away without even a
scratch. Such aplomb.

After these messages we’ll have good snacks.
Grean, now Mr Potatohead knocked off his girlfriend’s
big red lips. He shoulda had Bridgestone tires.

Get even, fast and furious, with Castrol synthetic
stuff in a container.

It’s happening again, the coroner, the yellow tape,
the pictures, Medium looks just like NCIS + 24 +
Sopranos divided by 3!!!

We’re back now with Matt Lauer for SNL looking
adventure crap. Enjoy the stupidity, and don’t
forget to buy popcorn with extra Castrol synthetic
stuff poured onto it.

There’s that doritos commercial I was waiting for.
He turns a cop into a Godaddy commercial.
Suddenly I have the urge to renew one of my
domains.

And now here’s Danica Sue Patrick (born March 25,
1982 in Beloit, Wisconsin) for clothing if you feel
like it.

Hey, who put the howler monkey in the police pants?

So how many of these ad executives have watched
entirely too many episodes of Jackass?

Maybe you should get a howler monkey.

Ah, Justin Morgan had a hernia. Raymond James
stadium. You can call me Ray, or you can call me
Jay, or you can call me RayJay, or you can call
me Raymond James stadium, but don’t you dare
resell naming rights to my Lambardeau, ok?

Star Trek, Next iteration.

Mission G. Gatorade looking stuff so you can stick
extra electrolytes into your bod. Call me, we’ll
save goldfish and rabbits together.

Cars.com for everything else there’s Mastercar.

TWITTER: Any1 else tired of looking at Danica
Patrick? Seriously. I never salivate & then go
search 4 domains anymore. Wait, I never did that
anyhow.

Win one award and suddenly everyone gets your
name right. Funday, that’s my Honda.

ETrade, That’s China.

Immediately after the first half, drink some
Sobe and stuff.

So MC Hammer likes Pittsburgh’s D. He’s twittering
everyone all about it.

Disney Pixar for Etch A Sketch 2.0

Bud White, with 35% more drunkability, chicks
diggit.

And now here’s Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
for H&R Block. Just send us a check as soon as you
get a chance, k?

Ah, the Gatorade Halftime Retort. Give me some cold
gooey green radioactive looking stuff, I wanna eat
healthy.

Eww. The Cheetos thingamabob in front of a generic
non-product-placement starbucks-looking thing.

And now here’s Paula Abdul for Pitch Correction,
Sobe and Chuck in 3D.

01/19/2009

24 hours at Sundance; Watching Irina; Punking Shira

Filed under: Humor,News,Sports,Tech — admin @ 5:19 am

Did you watch or participate in Ashton Kutcher’s Gameshow Reality Show thingamabob?

I did.

My favorite thing to watch was when my friend Irina built an igloo on a curb (right in the road!!!) and invited two people into it to watch a premiere using the back side of their new swag Nikon CoolPix as their movie screen.

Click this pic to watch it…

Asking them to come out and give a movie review on their way out of the “theater” was precious!

But my favorite thing to do was when I punk’d Shira Lazar. (http://qik.com/video/878860)

At 2:35 mins you see her blink three times and try to figure out a phone call I sent her through http://www.wakerupper.com — Yup, that’s me on the other end. Sorry Shira, I punk’d you!

[TO BE CON’T]

12/21/2008

Bragging Rights

Half.com 100%
Twitter 96.1
Linked In 90%
UConn 3.751
UWGB 3.667

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