Thanks to Bad Religion, there is a theme song for this. Here are the lyrics:
Somewhere high in the desert near a curtain of a blue St. Anne's skirts are billowing But down here in the city of the lime lights The fans of santa ana are withering And you can’t deny that living is easy If you never look behind the scenery It's showtime for dry climes And bedlam is dreaming of rain
When the hills of los angeles are burning Palm trees are candles in the murder wind So many lives are on the breeze Even the stars are ill at ease And los angeles is burning
This is not a test Of the emergency broadcast system Where malibu fires and radio towers Conspire to dance again And I cannot believe the media Mecca They're only trying to peddle reality, Catch it on prime time, story at nine The whole world is going insane
When the hills of los angeles are burning Palm trees are candles in the murder wind So many lives are on the breeze Even the stars are ill at ease And los angeles is burning
A placard reads "the end of days" Jacaranda boughs are bending in the haze
More a question than a curse How could hell be any worse?
The flames are stunning The cameras running So take warning
When the hills of los angeles are burnin Palm trees are candles in the murder wind So many lives are on the breeze Even the stars are ill at ease And los angeles is burning
'Weird Al' Yankovic finally hits the top 10 - CNN.com
Topic: Music
8:20 am EDT, Oct 24, 2006
"Lynwood," Yankovic's 12th album, debuted this month at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, his first top 10 album ever. Meanwhile, the Chamillionaire parody "White and Nerdy," reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, besting his previous high of No. 12 with "Eat It" in 1984.
For his part, Yankovic tends to credit the Internet. "The ("Nerdy") video has gotten a lot of attention, and the proliferation of places like YouTube (has) been a big help," he says.
Once "Nerdy" hit outlets like YouTube, there was no stopping it. "As much as people are griping about the Internet taking sales away from artists, it's been a huge promotional tool for me."
] A friend who relocated to California from NY said she ] missed hearing all the odd variety of music that was ] played around the office here. "I miss hearing what ] you all are listening to," she wrote. This "radio"? ] is my response. It will stream for a few hours and then ] it will recycle. Maybe it will run longer in the future. ] The artists played here are respectful of one another and ] gunplay is forbidden.
I haven't checked this out yet but it sounds worth a listen.
] Martin and Ruth, aka Spike, the next big girl/boy duo (so ] they hope) add some synth and a new background vocal to ] the mix. He saves the song and she emails it to ] Polyphonic Human Media Interface who, within 24 hours, ] will tell them whether their song will be a hit. When the ] results arrive they hover over the 20in screen and click ] on the returned mail. There is a graph, showing a cluster ] of many dots, like a constellation, and somewhere in the ] cluster a red spot. The spot marks their song, not quite ] a bullseye, but still in the throng. "It's scored a ] seven," Ruth says, scanning down. "We're in. The record ] company will definitely meet us now." Their future ] suddenly looks a lot rosier.
This seems ahead of it's time. Quite impressive. I'm going to disagree with Kerry here. This is the future. First, it gets cheap enough for every band to tune every song on the suckometer such that it becomes a hit. Then, it gets cheap enough that everyone with garage band can work against the suckometer. Thats when the music industry really starts to collapse, because your friends start producing billboard quality music in their garage. Then someone decides to eliminate the middle man and simply have the computer compose the music directly. Of course, this enables lots of customization.
The end result is that humans will view music as simply a mirror which reflects and re-enforces their emotions. In the same way they use political commentators. In the same way they use clothing. It won't matter that it isn't being made by a person. The idea of people making music will seem quaint. Sort of like having a professional pianist living in your house instead of buying a stereo. Something so expensive and unnecessary that it will seem a little sickening. The machines will do it better. They'll make you feel the way you want to feel, exactly when you want to feel that way, and they'll never bore you with repetitive songs...
Don't worry. You'll be long dead when this all comes to pass.
The New York Times | Cat Stevens, threat to national security
Topic: Music
10:31 am EDT, Sep 22, 2004
] The Department of Homeland Security ordered a United ] Airlines jet flying from London to Washington rerouted to ] Bangor, Me., on Tuesday afternoon so it could intercept a ] passenger, Yusuf Islam, the musician formerly known as ] Cat Stevens, two government officials said. ] ] Mr. Islam was "denied entry into the United States," said ] an official, and was in the custody of Immigrations and ] Customs Enforcement. The plan on Tuesday evening was to ] deport Mr. Islam, who is a British subject, the officials ] said.
The peace train Stevens was riding on was forced to land in Maine. Officials made a statement saying we should just remember there's a lot of bad and beware, beware, oh baby baby it's a wild world. Cat Stevens can no longer get by on just a smile, because he gave money to the wrong people.