ldahlke

Today's Music Monday is something I stumbled on a few months ago.

Microsoft developed a program that automatically generates accompaniment to music that you sing (or play) into your computer. They call it Songsmith.

It wasn't too long before people tried inserting classic hits into Songsmith to see what the program would do to them.

The results are yummy.

Tomorrow eeez Valentine’s Day, you crazee young lauvers you!  So lez dance zee Friday Dance Parteee of luuuuv, ehhh?

Tango scene from The Tango Lesson
Posted in Friday Dance Party

For this Friday Dance Party, if your feet fail you…you always have your fingers.

fingers breakdance 2
Ohhhh woh woh wohhhh.  Let’s hear it for the boy…let’s give the boy a hand.
Posted in Friday Dance Party

Thank God It’s Friday Dance Party!  Today is a Dance Party Request - Praise Dancing.

Praise Dance by Full Effect Gospel Ministries’ dancers
Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Praise Dancing.  When you first start watching it you might think it’s just random freeform stuff, but after awhile an almost Kabuki-like language starts to emerge.  It’s kind of cool.
This group is part of the Full Effect Gospel Ministries out of Brooklyn.
Posted in Friday Dance Party

It's Friday, and time for another Dance Party Request - Krump

J-Slaught

Krump got its start in South Central LA as a dance alternative to violence. Krunk and Clown Dancing were featured in the 2005 doc Rize. See the 10 minute Battlezone scene from the film here.

Finally Friday.  For our 14th Friday Dance Party and our 44th President…

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.  They called it!
Posted in Friday Dance Party

It’s Friday, so put on your parka and dance!

A little wishful thinking from Ann Miller and Kiss Me Kate!
Posted in Friday Dance Party

It's Friday. You've worked hard. So put on your groovy and dance.

The first Friday Dance Party of the New Year.  And how do we start 2009?  One word…Bean.

Rowan Atkinson first appeared as Mr. Bean on New Year’s Day 1990.  Not only that, he turns 54 on January 6th.
Posted in Friday Dance Party

I hope you all had a nice Christmas.
This Day-After-Christmas Friday Dance Party recognizes the retirement of Christmas…and a Christmas retirement.

The wonderful Bobbie Gentry on an episode of The Smothers Brothers Show.
Why play this today?  Apparently on Christmas Night 1978 (30 years ago), Bobbie Gentry performed on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson…and then stopped performing.
She was never a big fan of the spotlight and after 14 years in the biz she had had enough.  Bobbie Gentry went back to being Roberta Lee Streeter and apparently now lives in LA.  She is 64.
Posted in Friday Dance Party

It’s the last Friday before Christmas.  Today’s Friday Dance Party isn’t Christmas-y at all, but it does honor a man associated with some of our favorite holiday songs:

From a 1959 Timex Show with Dean Martin, Mitzi Gaynor and Der Bingle.
Posted in Friday Dance Party

Despite the theremin’s margin status, people are still exploring the concept of music from the air.  As long as these stories raise my eyebrows, I’ll put them here.
My friend Steve alerted me to this - a fellow named Ken Moore made a theremin out of a Wii Remote and a pair of LED rigged gloves.  This is really marvelous.

I would think that even theremin purists would have to appreciate what he has done.  The no-touch performance principle is firmly in place with one very important advantage.  This is fully optical.
A traditional theremin depends on electromagnetic interference to determine pitch.  Your hand’s distance from the antenna creates that interference, BUT so does everything else around the theremin.  Trying to get consistent results in different environments can be very difficult (though some might argue that’s part of the art).
The Wii Remote is essentially a camera that is only looking for LEDs.  It can pick out only these points of light and therefore be completely consistent.
Whichever, it made me smile.  Anything that can make music and simulate bowling is okay by me!
[via joysitq.com]
Posted in Music Monday, Theremin

Is it Friday already?  Well then dance!

Movin’ Out was choreographed by Twyla Tharp who was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient this past Sunday.
Posted in Friday Dance Party

A little holiday theremin for you today.

It’s getting on to Christmas and this is the Friday Dance Party.  It has to be this.  It just has to be.

A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired December 9, 1965.  Sadly, this year we lost the director (and uncredited voice of Snoopy), Bill Melendez.
It will run again on ABC next Monday, December 8 @ 8pm ET.
BONUS: Check my friend R.Scott’s blog for a Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol clip. I had never seen this one.
Posted in Friday Dance Party

Now this is something.  YouTube is assembling a symphony orchestra for a global online classical experience.  More than that, the best of the best will be selected to perform at Carnegie Hall.
From the YouTube Blog:
Starting today, musicians around the world can submit audition videos to www.youtube.com/symphony for a chance to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra and summit, the world’s first collaborative online orchestra connecting aspiring musicians with leaders and stars in the classical w