The Music Thread.

[Rath Darkblade]

Um ... I could only pick up a couple of words here and there. Is he screaming "Hail Fauci" or "Hate Fauci"? *shrug*

Sigh. This isn't music; this is some dude screaming into a microphone without making himself understood. Noise for the sake of noise.

Do I dare to ask ... what is this in aid of? What is he trying to accomplish? I'm lost. =\

[Tawmis]

Um ... I could only pick up a couple of words here and there. Is he screaming "Hail Fauci" or "Hate Fauci"? *shrug*
Sigh. This isn't music; this is some dude screaming into a microphone without making himself understood. Noise for the sake of noise.
Do I dare to ask ... what is this in aid of? What is he trying to accomplish? I'm lost. =\

He's an Anti-Vaxxer. So if you look at his shirt, it's Lady Liberty - and she's wearing a face mask that says "Slave" across it.

So what this artist does - he takes random videos of people ranting, and makes it a metal song. He doesn't change ANYTHING about the original audio (no autotune or anything).

He takes it - and just puts music to it - and HE (the artist) is incredible. The dude with the dreads... well, I will just say I strongly disagree with his views. He's entitled to his beliefs, after all, as we all are.

[Tawmis]

Here's another one where the artist took a bunch of sermon videos of ... evangelists.... (if they can be called as such; I'd call'em charlatans... and this is not to say I don't believe in God, I do... just not these people...)




The artist is incredible - here's a much lighter subject.... and... utterly.... insane.




And he does some cool, just normal, music mash ups too.

[Tawmis]

I took a break from Space Quest V tonight... I had Criss Oliva (and Savatage, still my favorite band - though currently defunct) - and I've talked about Criss before (and how he was killed back in the 90s by a drunk driver who crossed the divide and slammed into his car, killing Criss instantly - critically wounding Criss' wife - while the Drunk Driver survived, and only served 3 years in prison - despite being his SEVENTH DUI OFFENSE.... Thanks Florida....) Anyway, had Criss on my mind, so I took some of their official videos, some live footage, and spliced it all together, and used a lot of the faded image effect (that I used in the SQIV edit I did).....
I made a 1080 image to host the video into so it could easily be watched in 1080 (though the video remains true to it's size of roughly 640x480)






This is the smaller version (without the black box) - because 640x480 was the largest most of these old videos are....

[Rath Darkblade]

Ah, thanks! I get it now. Sorry, I wasn't sure what the Statue of Liberty with the mask thing was. Yes, I also disagree with the rant -- but then, I've been working in healthcare for the past 14-15 years or so. (I'm not a doctor or nurse here, but I work in finance to support doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. They work hard, they do good work and deserve our respect, especially now).

Yes, the guitarist is very good indeed! I like his "Sultans of Swing"/"Hotel Califronia" mash-up best of all these.

As for evangelists ... well. After the huge evangelist scandals I've seen and read about (Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson etc.) ... well. Let's just say I'm very sceptical.

[Rath Darkblade]

As for COVID-19 ... sigh. Any of us are entitled to our views, of course, but the virus doesn't care what our views are. All we can do is protect ourselves from it as best as we can. Wearing masks, practising social distancing, and regular hand-washing can help.

The vaccines act as any vaccines for another illness would. If you do get COVID-19 -- and we all hope that such a thing doesn't happen, of course -- the vaccine helps your body to fight the virus. Without it, the virus is much more powerful and can easily be fatal. With it, you'll still be sick, but at least you might be able to recover at home.

Unfortunately, we (as a larger society) have squabbled amongst ourselves for over a year. Our leaders and their followers have played a political football with the issue, using it to smear their opponents. But the virus doesn't care about politics. All it seeks is to survive by mutating into more lethal versions of itself and destroying everything it infects -- including us. All we can do is understand that and stop playing politics. Reality is not a game; misinformation is often deadly.

I've noted that, in recent days, anti-mask movement leaders and anti-vax media people have passed away. These are not coincidences. Actions have consequences. Please stay safe.

Sorry to digress. And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

[Tawmis]

Then I went back - edited the official "When The Crowds Are Gone" video by Savatage and added the faded images of Criss - so that way when Jon sings - the lip syncs correctly.

[Tawmis]

I love when it's like, "Hey, do you play piano?"

"Oh, I do."

"Want to play?"

"Sure."

Starts slow. Then... she's on fire.

[Rath Darkblade]

The 'slow start' is very technically adept (and beautiful). The 'on fire' bit (starts about 2:25 or so) is more difficult than it looks - and back to the leitmotif!

3:35 is when it goes to 'on fire' bit -- very good technique. Eleven incredibly agile fingers.

The couple behind her ... the woman looks like "Wake me up when this gets good". Then they go to their phones. They don't know what they're missing.

Incidentally, the start-slow-and-soft, then gradually-become-fast-and-loud business is a very common technique in music. Gioachino Rossini (author of about 37 operas, plus many songs, some chamber music, piano pieces and sacred music) came up with it. Listen to Rossini's "Barber of Seville" overture, for instance:


Incidentally, this is of course the music that inspired Looney Tunes' "Rabbit of Seville."

[Tawmis]

The couple behind her ... the woman looks like "Wake me up when this gets good". Then they go to their phones. They don't know what they're missing.

Pretty sure those are her friends (if ye watch from the start, she seems to be walking with them; and they pause when she goes to play piano)

[Rath Darkblade]

Agh, you're right. I missed that. So they'd be thinking "Yeah, whatever. We've seen her play already."

[Tawmis]

Scott Stapp (whose vocals I truly enjoy - especially post Creed with his solo stuff) - collaborated with some folks to make this:

[Tawmis]

I had to pick up my jaw by the time this was done.

[Tawmis]

This dude's channel is pretty amazing - another great one.

[Rath Darkblade]

Yup! There are a lot of very talented (and very generous) people out there.