Show Prep 74

Greetings and Salutations, people! -

Today on VSR – We will begin work on creating “The League”, The major theme of the day is “Being Surprised by Music” so we will discuss a few situations where music might come as a complete surprise, I have a Power Rankings to unveil, and of course…we have some news as well. To jump into the proceedings, you can call…

Give out the phone number - (646) 716-6831 OR 6-HOP-1-MOVE-1

To contact VSR via email:
Email address: radio@verticallystripedsocks.com
 

Let’s get to the news… (Play News Music – Clip 03)

WATSONVILLE, California - A man was arrested Wednesday afternoon after he walked into a Watsonville bank, said he had a bomb in his backpack and demanded $2,000 so he could pay his friend's rent, police reported. But when Mark Smith, 59, allegedly tried to rob the bank, the bank manager suggested that what he actually needed to do was take out a loan, and she had him sit down while she said she was going to retrieve the loan paperwork. Instead, she called 911, according to the Assistant District Attorney.

"Quick-thinking staff kept the man calm and distracted him with some paperwork until we arrived," said Lt. Darren Thompson of the Watsonville Police.

Police arrested Smith, a Watsonville resident, on suspicion of attempted robbery, making criminal threats and making a false bomb report, according to police.
Smith didn't have a bomb or any other weapons and no injuries were reported…Smith now faces the prospect of doing some jail time, although not all is lost as he is now halfway through the paperwork for his mortgage application.


WATERBURY, Connecticut - Call it the case of the flying hippo. Connecticut police said a man stole an American flag from Waterbury's Town Plot Park and hoisted a stuffed hippopotamus toy in its place. Twenty-three-year-old Jeffrey Kovic, of Waterbury, was arrested and was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail on misdemeanor larceny, criminal mischief and conspiracy charges.

He is facing charges, but I think it would all be worth it to be able to be able to say, “I pledge allegiance to the Hippopotamus”
 


TONGEREN, Belgium

(Reuters) - A Belgian woman went on trial on Friday charged with the murder of a fellow skydiver and love rival who plunged to her death after her parachute was sabotaged.

Els Van Doren, 38, smashed into a back garden from some 4,500 meters (14,764 feet) in November 2006 because both her main and reserve chutes failed to open after she jumped from a plane with defendant, Els Clottemans, 26, their lover, Dutchman Marcel Somers, and another man.

Clottemans, an elementary school teacher, is accused of cutting through key parts of the parachute system the weekend before the jump to remove her rival and have Somers for herself.

Lawyers for Clottemans issued a statement expressing their firm belief that their client did not kill a woman she regarded as a friend.

Interest in the case was so great that a live television feed was laid in an overflow room in the courthouse.

Prosecuters said Clottemans was an experienced skydiver and would have known how to sabotage a parachute and that she had the opportunity to do so when she and Van Doren were with Somers a week before the fatal drop.

Van Doren's pilot chute, a small parachute deployed to pull the main chute out, was detached from that, while a line that should have connected the reserve chute to the harness was free.

Experts ruled that both items had been deliberately cut and that it could been done in just 30 seconds with scissors.

Psychiatric experts have identified signs that Clottemans suffers from a psychopathic disorder.

Clottemans' lawyers say that is no hard evidence against their client, whom they say investigators intimidated and belittled in hours of questioning.

The trial, which is likely to feature video of the fall shot from a camera on Van Doren's helmet, is expected to last four weeks…Although, I expect it to last longer due to the “gravity” of the situation.

I’m Craig, and that’s the news… (Play News Music – Clip 03)

Bring on Face:

“The League” – 32 Teams made up of random and goofy team names for some unknown purpose

Pirates
Ninjas
Monkeys
Robots
Gorillas
Yetis


Musical Mash-up – Van Halen “Jump” and John Lennon “Imagine” (Clip 95) – One of the main themes of today’s show is being surprised by music. This particular thing that I’m going to play is just a matter of being surprised by how well some things can mix that you would never really expect would mix well. Kind of like this old commercial..(Clip 97 – Reeces Peanut Butter Cup commercial)

 
Power Rankings

Also receiving votes:
Netflix (Play clips from King of Kong)


10. Carmelo Anthony trade rumors

9. Getting paid for an advertisement – 25 bucks for posting a link to nfl.pointspread.com/odds

8. Red Dwarf – BBC Sitcom that ran from 1988 to 1997. Rather than cursing, they came up with their own curse word… “Smeg”

7. Dan Lebatard – Sooey rule (Clip 94)

6. Mike Vick – Got announced as the starter for the Eagles

5. The Tooth Moose – Much cooler than the tooth fairy.

4. The Random Dude in front of me at during my commute on Friday morning: He had a giant Pentagram bumper sticker, two even larger Broncos decals on his window, and a Blue Cross Blue Shield Health insurance sticker on his tailgate. Clearly, this dude has a lot of irons in the fire.

3. Bizzaro World in the NFL – I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, as this kind of weirdness happens each year in the NFL, but the Chiefs, Bucs, and Bears are undefeated and the Cowboys, Vikings, and 49ers are winless.

2. Kenyon Martin’s Tattoo – Kenyon thought it meant “Warrior.” However Yao Ming told him that what it actually meant was “Noodles”

1. NFL Red Zone

 

Musical Road in Lancaster, California (Clip 96) - The Civic Musical Road was built on Avenue K in Lancaster, California, on September 5, 2008. Covering a quarter-mile stretch of road, the Musical Road used grooves cut into the asphalt to replicate part of the Finale of the William Tell Overture. It was paved over on 23 September after nearby residents complained to the city council about noise levels.

After further complaints from city residents about its removal, work began to re-create it on 15 October 2008 on Avenue G between 30th Street West and 40th Street West — this time, two miles away from any residence. This road is named after the Honda Civic. It opened two days later. The new section on Avenue G is only in the far left lane of the westbound side of the road.

 

Washington Metro Story – Violin in the Subway

On January 12th, 2007 Virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell in association with the Washington Post decided to do a little social experiment. Bell, a renowned musician who a mere three days prior to the experiment had packed out Boston’s Symphony Hall where merely average seats were going for one hundred dollars a piece, was going to play for free…In the subway.

The event had been described to him as a test of whether, in an unexpected context, ordinary people would recognize genius. So, on a cool January day, a rather unspectacular looking man in a Washington Nationals cap walked in to the L’Enphant Metro Station in Washington DC, and put on a world class performance for a mostly non-interested crowd.

The artist was world class, and the instrument was one of the greatest ever made. In fact, Bell rode a taxi cab to the station from his hotel…despite the fact that it was only 3 blocks, because he didn’t want his instrument to risk being damaged by an accident or by the cool weather, and when you hear a little more about the violin, you will understand why.

Bell’s violin was handcrafted in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari during the Italian master's "golden period," toward the end of his career, when he had access to the finest spruce, maple and willow, and when his technique had been refined to perfection. Bell bought it a few years ago. The price tag was reported to be around $3.5 million.

When the violinist shows his Strad to people, he holds the instrument gingerly by its neck, resting it on a knee. "He made this to perfect thickness at all parts," Bell says, pivoting it. "If you shaved off a millimeter of wood at any point, it would totally imbalance the sound." No violins sound as wonderful as Strads from the 1710s, even today.

Bell played some classic and stirring pieces for nearly 45 minutes in the L’enfant Station of the Washington DC Metro Rail. Before the experiment began, the organizers worried what would happen if Bell were to be mobbed by admirers. Turns out, that was not even close to an issue. In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, only seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance for longer than one minute. Twenty-seven people gave money, most of them on the run -- for a total of $32 and some change. 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.

An interesting observation can be made on the video. Despite the fact that the majority of people walking by almost completely ignored the talented musician, EVERY kid that passed by strained to look and had to be dragged along by the adult that they were travelling with. Almost as if kids are born with an innate ability to appreciate beauty and are still endowed with enough innocence to not realize they should be ignoring the music.

Of the seven people who stopped longer than a minute to listen, only one person recognized him. A woman named Stacey who had seen him a few weeks earlier at a concert. She arrived when there were only a few minutes remaining in the performance. She gets a giant grin on her face and plants herself 10 feet from Bell for the rest of the time Bell plays. She then introduces herself to him at the end of his set, and tosses a 20 dollar bill into Bell’s guitar case. One other person, it turns out a man who had studied violin in his younger days, listens intently and humbly tosses in a 5 at the end of the music. In an interview done by the Washington Post with the man who was watching, this man didn’t know who Bell was, but recognized the genius. Five other people stood for at least a minute listening, but other than these few people, most everyone just walked by ignoring the brilliance.

Which begs the questions:

IF A GREAT MUSICIAN PLAYS GREAT MUSIC BUT NO ONE HEARS . . . WAS HE REALLY ANY GOOD?

If we as a culture wasn’t so wrapped up in ourselves, would we have more time to recognize brilliance?

Clearly context matters, but is it the context that makes brilliance, or is the context the thing that makes brilliance noticeable?

If this were in another country besides the United States, would people have taken the time to sit and notice?

Are we in so big of a hurry in America that we are missing out on untold beauty?

Are you looking for amazing things in unexpected places?


 


The Vertically Striped Music Recommendation:
Anberlin – “Like a Rolling Stone” from the Album “Lost Songs” (Clip 93)

Thanks to: (Whoever called)


Shalom and Good Evening to you all!
 


Week in Wankery:

Yellow Card:


Man of the Match:


Red Card



(Clip 92) Onion News story about the Hamburglar.

Magnificent 7: Top Seven McDonalds Characters
7. Birdie the Early Bird - She was the first identifiably female character, introduced in February 1980 to promote the company's new breakfast items. She is a yellow bird wearing a pink jumpsuit and flight cap and scarf. In the ads she is frequently portrayed as a poor flyer, and somewhat clumsy in general. Birdie's origin is explained in one old commercial: a giant egg falls from the night sky into McDonaldland, and Ronald McDonald decides to show the egg love.

6. Ronald McDonald – The original Ronald was actually Willard Scott.

5. Uncle O'Grimacey - He was created in 1977 and even appeared in 1986 for an advertising narrative of McDonald's both in celebration of Saint Patrick's Day and to mark the annual appearance of the Shamrock Shake. O'Grimacey is the Irish uncle of the character Grimace and is a variant of the Grimace-design in that he is green instead of purple, sports a frock coat covered with several four-leaf clovers, and carries a shillelagh. His design motif is not unlike that of a stereotypical depiction of the Irish folkloric leprechaun. O'Grimacey resides in his home country for eleven months of the year and visits his nephew Grimace in March, bringing with him his "incredibly delicious" shake. Uncle O'Grimacey is no longer used by the chain for its promotions of the shake.

4. Fry Guys - They are characters used to promote McDonald's french fries. When they first appeared in 1972, they were called Gobblins and liked to steal and gobble up the other characters' french fries. Accompanying them was the "Keep Your Eyes on Your Fries" jingle. Their name was later changed to the Fry Guys in 1983, then the Fry Kids in 1987, as female characters (the "Fry Girls") were introduced. They are differently-colored, shaggy, ball-like creatures with long legs and no arms, almost resembling a pom-pon with legs and eyes.

3. Hamburglar

2. Grimace - Grimace is a large, purple character who was first introduced in November 1971 as the "Evil Grimace". In his first two appearances, he was depicted with two pairs of arms with which to steal milkshakes and sodas. "Evil" was soon dropped from his moniker, and he was reintroduced in 1972 as one of the good guys. In 1974, he was redesigned, going from two pairs of arms to the single pair he has today. His role continued to grow, and by the mid 1970s, he was a major character in McDonaldland. Commercials and merchandise generally portray Grimace as a well-meaning simpleton whose clumsy antics provide a comic foil to Ronald McDonald.

1. Mayor McCheese - Mayor McCheese was an enormous cheeseburger who appeared from 1971–1985, he has a burger for a head, and sports a top hat, a diplomat's sash, and a pair of pince-nez spectacles. He is portrayed as a giggly, bumbling, somewhat incompetent mayor.



Patron- Does this library have any information of King Malcolm the Tenth?
Reference Librarian – You mean the King from the play, Macbeth?
P – No I mean the civil rights leader.
RL – Oh, you mean Malcolm X.

P- Do you have a videotape of Abraham Lincoln giving the Gettysburg address?
RL – No, we don’t.
P – You should get it. You have Bush on tape, and Lincoln was a greater President.
RL – Thanks for that historical analysis.

P- Do you have a good English translation of Hamlet?
RL – Yes, it’s by a man named William Shakespeare…very close to the original.

P – Who invented the time machine?
RL – H.G. Wells

P – I need information on the car BMW. How do you spell it?
RL – Go to the head of the class…you just did.

P – Why were so many Civil War battles fought in national parks?
RL – Trees provided great protection from bullets.

P – Do you have an audio tape of live dinosaur sounds?
RL – No, but you might want to try the zoo.

P – I need information on the woman named Rosetta Stone.
RL – Good luck. Let me know when you find it.

P- I need books on youth in Africa.
RL – You need books on young people in Africa?
P – No I need books about killing old people and vegetables.
RL – Oh, you have the wrong continent. That’s youth in Asia.

P – Is the correct term Swiss or Swedish?
RL – Yes.

P – I want to get the Gutenberg Bible on inter-library loan.
RL – That depends. Will you pay the shipping costs?

P – Do you have a copy of the Jerusalem newspaper on the day Jesus was born?
RL – No, but it might be on microfiche.

P- I need a book on impudence.
RL – Can you be more specific?
P – My husband can’t sustain an erection.

P – I need a cookbook for preparing dog food.
RL – You mean like kibbles and bits?
P – No for preparing a roast dachshund.

P – Is this library a government suppository?
RL – Sometimes it seems like it is.

P – I need a biography of a prehistoric man.
RL – How about Ralph the Hairy?