Well thank goodness the powers that be are using Artificial Intelligence to solve climate change and make healthcare more equitable… oh wait, no, they’re using it to create a “new” Beatles song.
Because that’s what the world really needs… yet another song to go along with every other song in the Beatles catalog that has been overplayed over the past 60 friggin’ years.
I could go the rest of my life without hearing another of their songs and would be fine with that.
America, please stop with the Beatles obsession. For me. For you. For all of us. Two of them are deceased. It’s time to move on, not time to run some lyrics and melodies through AI and generate something that sounds vaguely like a Beatles song being performed by the Starland Vocal Band or the Ray Conniff Singers. It’s not just a bit cheesy, it’s full-on two-tons-of-Velveeta cheesy. It’s the aural equivalent of this:
The alleged song already has 17,635,546 spins on Spotify. And if you think I’m going to link to the recording of this Drab Four song, you’re more delusional than the folks who think the new song is good.
Here’s a song from an artist named Chris Catalyst. It has 6,516 listens on Spotify. But it’s a million times better.
Maybe Chris Catalyst isn’t your cup of tea. That’s fine. But please, for the love of music, go find another new artist… any new artist… and stop living in the past!
Matthew Perry’s passing prompted the piece, but Dan’s thoughts could — and do — apply to anyone with a modicum of fame.
To achieve lasting self-esteem and a feeling of belonging in the world, we need a more intimate connectionwith others than fan worship can provide.
The post is well worth reading. Even if you’re not “famous” by the usual standards, this thought rings true:
I began to realize the most valuable things in life are not wealth and fame but relationships and community. I started paying more attention to the 3-dimensional people in my life than the number of followers on my social media accounts and have found it a much more satisfying use of my energy.
Nailed it! Who needs the A-list when we’ve got 3-D friends?
If I’ve learned anything from my friend’s passing a month ago, it’s that it’s fine to “be here now” but it’s even better to “be thankful for being here now.”
“Away from brain and ambition, toward heart and soul…” Nailed it!
And then there’s this:
My dad said after his cancer diagnosis that we are all on borrowed time, and it is good to be reminded of this now and again.
My most recent reminder came at the beginning of this month, when my dear friend Ned passed away suddenly. As we gathered to mourn his loss, we were also coming to grips with the fact that it means while we’re all unsure when we’ll be picked in God’s version of the NFL draft, we’re all “on the clock.”
A lot of us thought when we were younger that we might want to stretch ourselves into other areas, master new realms. Now, I know better. I’m happy with the little nesty areas that are mine.
So true. The clock is ticking, but so’s my heart. And I just need to make sure it’s in the right place.
If you’re old enough to remember the 1990s, and if you’re even slightly into music, and you appreciate great writing, you really owe it to yourself to check out the 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s podcast.
Rob Harvilla, a senior staff writer for The Ringer, spends each episode breaking down a song from the ’90s. Actually, he spends about half of each episode on a series of digressions, often about his time growing up in northern Ohio in the 90s, before finally getting to the featured song. And the digressions are great – brilliantly written, completely engaging, and typically hilarious… and the humor is usually self-deprecating.
Writing about this podcast doesn’t do it justice… especially when it’s my writing. Just listen to the first three minutes of one of the episodes — pick any one, they’re all great — and you’ll be hooked.
Here’s the opening of the episode that covers Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”:
The series (which is well over 100 episodes/songs now… Rob himself calls it “the world’s most inaccurately named music podcast”) covers all sorts of tunes from the ’90s – from pop to country to R&B to hip-hop to indie rock. Some songs were monster hits… some have been mostly lost to the mists of our memory. It doesn’t really matter, as they all offer Rob a chance to wax eloquently about music and life (not necessarily in that order).
(Apparently this podcast is the #1 music podcast on Spotify, so I’m probably about three years late in touting it… sorry, I was busy.)
Rob Harvilla just released a book to accompany the podcast.
This book description does the podcast justice:
Ringer music critic Rob Harvilla reimagines all the earwormy, iconic hits Gen Xers pine for with vivid historical storytelling, sharp critical analysis, rampant loopiness, and wryly personal ruminations on the most bizarre, joyous, and inescapable songs from a decade we both regret entirely and miss desperately.
Kevin Sullivan on Life advice from a man who lived it: “A good one Damian. Bring our lens into focus after the long weekend or our long life journey.” Jul 7, 09:38
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