Break Out the MSDS Sheets
Early this ante-m., the covers (duvet actually, imported all the way from Debenhams in England which took up most of the space in my luggage but was highly, exceptionally, worth it) came off to the incessant looping of Toxic. The Britney song. This wasn’t an outside, uninvited intrusion due to radio-alarm randomness, but instead an internal performance which I blame on too many ukulele videos before bed:
I remember having a ukulele as a kid, and also remember my musical skills mostly encompassing breaking the strings. It turns out that there is a huge (not so) seedy underworld community of ukulele devotees with mad ukulele skills. For example, I managed to miss the rise to popularity of this performance (which occurred thousands of years ago in internet time):
Hell, there are even multiple ukulele “orchestras” in existence. Here’s the GB one covering Kate Bush — which actually makes me just want to turn it off and listen to the original, but the “Heathcliff!” is kind of funny:
It almost makes me want to pay for and try playing the ukulele.
Almost.
Playing the Building
David Byrne put together this installation in which the keys of an organ have been wired to various contraptions which vibrate or whack various parts of the surrounding architecture. This allows budding, masonry-inclined organists to literally — you guessed it — play the building. BoingBoingTV has done a nice little feature in which they discuss the installation with the man himself:
We’ve had this recommended to us a bunch of times now, but haven’t made it there yet. Perhaps this weekend when I’m down in the city visiting g we’ll pop our heads in.