Meet Bad Hat Railroad

If you haven't already, which, if you're not related to me, you haven't.
I've noticed a lot of music videos on YouTube these days with no more than a still shot of an album cover standing in for the video, and I thought: I can do that, too. Hell, I could do that shit in my sleep. And do it better!  I could write better songs in the bathtub on acid than what you kids listen to today!
Okay, maybe not on acid. But I did go to music school, and I do have some old tunes about. And I can always shoot some pictures of Ken dolls in dumb hats and pretend I'm a band. This one is entitled "The Dog In The Rocket."  Lyrics are below the fold.. And I do want to give a shout-out to Laika, the Russian dog that did fly in a rocket back in 1957. She gave her life for the Soviet space program and deserves honor. Also, I do like dogs and none were harmed during the making of this "video."

I Loved This Too Much Not To Share

This video is the result of a collaboration by  Lithuanian conductor, composer and music educator Mindaugas Piečaitis,  Philadelphia musicians and artists Betsy Alexander and Burnell Yow, and a wonderful cat named Nora. It was premiered in June of 2009 by the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra.
Piečaitis evidently wrote the orchestral score after contacting Alexander and Yow to obtain video of their cat, Nora, who taught herself to play after watching Alexander teach the instrument for a year.
A hearty thanks and a virtual finder's fee goes out to Jerry Coyne at Why Evolution Is True.
I'd like to think I might have done something like this had I continued my studies in music composition.

Why 80's Rock Sucked: A Scientific Approach

Rock music of the 1980’s was many things to many people, but on this we can all agree: it sucked.  But why, you ask?  Here we present some of the leading theories. (Note: this was originally published at Cracked.com in 2009.)