Kooky Christmas: #19, “Bizarre Christmas Incident” by Ben Folds

We turn now to the seedier side of our Kooky Christmas (if philandering Santas weren’t seedy enough for you). Now Santa has turned to robbery, and the results are unpleasant for everyone involved. Number 19: “Bizarre Christmas Incident” by Ben Folds This song comes to us from Maybe This Christmas, a compilation of alternative artists …

Kooky Christmas: #20, “The First Noel” by Crash Test Dummies

Picking up where we left off last year, let’s continue counting down my top 25 Kooky Christmas songs. “The First Noel,” Crash Test Dummies Those of us who remember when MTV played music videos all the time may remember Crash Test Dummies from their hit, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,” notable for the extreme low bass …

Music for an international mixer: “Une americaine a Paris” by Rupa & the April Fishes

With leaders of the twenty largest economies, their assistants and entourages, worldwide news media, and demonstrators and protesters of all stripes converging this week on Pittsburgh, life in this region has begun to feel a wee bit tense. OK, more than a wee bit. So far there have been people hanging banners from bridges, march …

“Sunday Morning” covered by Beck and friends

Big thanks to my friend Sharon for letting me know that Beck has covered The Velvet Underground & Nico and posted the music videos online. Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico ‘Sunday Morning’ from Beck Hansen on Vimeo. It’s part of an on-going project by Beck called Record Club, covering classic albums, rehearsing and recording …

Add to your playlist: Eleni Mandell

I learned about Eleni Mandell through an interview on The Sound of Young America podcast. Eleni Mandell (her Flash-based website and MySpace page) In the interview, she seemed a little nervous and hesitant, but also charming, thoughtful, and well-spoken. She comes from the Los Angeles music scene of the 1980s, a big fan of the …

One week and counting — best Steelers song round-up

Super Bowl Sunday comes in just one week, and all of Steeler Nation seems to be searching for “The. Best. Steelers. Song. Ever.“ If you are among these searchers and have thusly arrived here at My Brilliant Mistakes, here are a few key links to help you on your quest: Bob Braughler at Masters of …

Resolutions, animated

Through I Let My Fists Do the Talking , I found xtranormal, which lets one make animated movies by making scripts with camera cues, dialogue, sounds, etc. Here’s yesterday’s blog post, rendered in LEGO-like animation. I was aiming for a "The Show with Ze Frank" editing style, and I think that aspect came out OK. …

Love, love is a verb / Love is a doing word

Massive Attack – New Music – More Music Videos I enjoy the TV show House, largely because I like watching Hugh Laurie. One of the small but pure joys of watching the show is watching the opening credits — or rather, listening to them. The music used in the credits comes from the song “Teardrop” …