ReadWriteWeb: 10 Things You Need to Know about Apple’s New Social Network, Ping.

Some handy privacy tips.

BBC News: Musician Nick Franglen creates bridge symphony.

”Nick Franglen is using London Bridge and its human traffic to create a 24-hour piece of music — armed only with a theremin and an espresso machine.”

Beneath the Underground: Top 5: Older Artists and Social Networking.

”Our job as artists is to astonish. To create a gravity so undeniable it attracts everything around it. THIS IS NOT EASY ...” Great post, Jeremiah.

Partizan.com: The Bike Song.

Great.

YouTube: Dancing at the Movies.

Nice editing. Didja have to use “Footloose”?  I’ve heard that song about a bajillion times ... every time we did a blasted candids video at events, it ended up being cut to that damned song. Comes on the radio, I immediately jab the ‘off’ button.  I’ll be ready to hear it again about 2038.

Arcade Fire: The Wilderness Downtown.

Clever use of tech. Their music seems vintage late 90’s to me [White Stripes/Modest Mouse/The Shins/Bloc Party], but smart marketing is making their value soar.

NY Post: Susan Boyle got Auto-Tuned on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.

”News that Boyle’s audition was retooled comes as a particular shock, since it got more than 120 million YouTube hits and turned her into a global star.” We were sold a bill of goods ... anyone still have a stomach for reality shows?

NY Times: After Mozart’s Death, an Endless Coda.

That his great genius went unmemorialized at the time of his death, shames a great many.

NY Times: In Mongolia, the Horse-Headed Fiddle Rides Again.

“The origins of the morin khuur are hazy, but legends recounting its creation all center on a herder’s abiding love for a horse who dies. To numb his grief, the herder is said to have fashioned a musical instrument from the animal’s carcass, covering a wooden frame with its skin, crafting strings and a bow from its tail hair, and carving the scroll in its image.” If you sing along with it, be sure you’re not hoarse (you might get turned into an instrument yourself). /*rimshot*/

Wired: Simon Cowell’s X Factor Singing Contest Auto-Tuned Contestants.

Busted. Can’t say that AI winner of last season, Lee Dewyze, ever got Auto-Tuned. Dude was almost never able to hit a note on key - yet he still won.

Gramophone.UK: Naxos founder Klaus Heymann on what lies ahead for classical recordings.

”I think the future of listening will be an all-you-can-eat formula where people pay a flat rate, per month or per year, and they can listen to as much as they want.”

NASA’s Space Rock.

Create a song to wake up the astronauts on the final Shuttle missions. Contest here.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Zoom H1 audio recorder now shipping for US$99.

”Despite its small size it incorporates many of the features of the popular (and larger) H4N, ones that should make it suitable for capturing sound alongside digital SLR video.”

Shmoop: Born in the USA Songwriting

”So that was the song Bruce Springsteen wrote, as sad a song as you’ll ever here on Top 40 radio. But that wasn’t quite the same song most fans heard.”

I never did figure this one out. In 1984, the irony was that Reagan and the right wing embraced it, without ever *reading* or *understanding* the lyrics.

Emblematic, however, of why we called him “Bonzo.” King of tall tales and never a connection to reality ... which, if you recall history at all ... the Reagan Administration is when Presidential press conferences became rare occurrences. The White House got tired of issuing retractions and clarifications. As John Sears (Reagan’s campaign manager) once said, “There is a generation gap between what Reagan thinks he knows about the world and reality. [snip] Reagan has all these old phonograph records in his head, and a lot of them are full of misinformation. We used to talk about getting into his ‘record library’ and throwing some of them out.” Or as a Presidential aide said, “There are some uncomfortable moments, especially with guys like [Pierre] Trudeau, who have complete mastery of their dossiers and can talk about these things off the top of their heads. The President’s not there yet, and my guess is that he won’t ever be.” Every press conference, you could feel the tension rise as Reagan would start winging things, deflecting serious questions with folksy one-liners.  The press eventually just settled on treating him as a child.

Well, the ‘child’ understood Bruce as all the other authentic children did ... as a catchy patriotic-sounding chorus.

CNet: NASA Athlete rover dancing its way to the stars.

Cute.

Macworld: Pink Floyd albums leaving iTunes for the great gig in the sky.

”You’re trying to keep our feelings off the street.
You’re nearly a real treat,
All tight lips and cold feet ...”

vowe dot net: Mixed Tape 34 “Red Rhythm” is out

Volker always keeps me in tune, for very affordable prices (free).

The Australian: The Peggy Glanville Hicks Address.

”Here begins one of the dilemmas facing leading arts organisations today. While the presentation of artistic experience of the highest calibre, of the best quality, is their mandate and their reason for existence, to discuss the content of their work as such is to attract accusations of being detached from the real world and of placing themselves somehow above their audience. How can an organisation strive for improvement or demand standards from its artists, when debate about quality is stifled?” A very good read.

Beneath the Underground: The First Five Thousand.

”And herein lies one of the cruelties of the arts: the closer you get to your ten thousand mark, the more appealing the choice to abandon it altogether will appear. It gets easier to quit.”

ars technica: Capo 2 for Mac: music learning software done even better.

”Capo restored our confidence that not all competent developers were focusing on the iPhone, and that there could still be high quality software for the Mac. Now, Capo 2 has launched.”

NY Times: Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart Play Hammerstein.

Sounds like they had a good time. Do you remember Heart in their heyday?

My Modern Metropolis: Beauty and Grandeur of Opera Houses.

Wow.

Washington Post: Will.i.am doesn’t support new Jackson album.

”So what? You don’t disrespect someone when they’re gone. ... How much can you suck from his energy? ... Freaking parasites!”

Miller-McCune: Classical Music an Effective Antidepressant.

”A newly published study from Mexico reports repeated listening to certain classical works — including one by Mozart — helps ease the debilitating symptoms of clinical depression.” Sure cheers me up.

NY Times: Mitch Miller, Maestro of the Singalong, Dies at 99.

The angels now get to sing along with Mitch. Rest in peace, sir.