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Walter Becker

Report in The Telegraph. Just yesterday, yet again and before this news, I happened to watch the making of Aja, one of the greatest albums of the 70s and beyond. I always thought Steely had class and intelligence (in an OCD way) but boy could they funk out as pure entertainment. For serious commentary on…

The Voice of Liberal Learning

Judging by the numbers “in” class today (not to mention the hundreds of thousands that will view the podcast over the next few weeks), it is clear that the post-modern marxist monopoly on education is being severely corroded. The authoritarian priesthood are increasingly behaving like monomaniacal Aguirres adrift on a raft . . . with the…

The Stax Story

The outrageous wheel of fortune that is the Stax Story. A couple of segments are blocked from this very decent documentary but you’ll still get a damn good idea about Stax’s torrid and tragic story. If you appreciated Muscle Shoals, then this too is a must. I came to Stax via Booker T, Isaac Hayes…

The malaise

How a young atheist and a priest who lost his faith made me a better evangelizer — America Magazine. What Percy called the malaise, Kierkegaard described as a kind of despair: being lost in everydayness, unable or unwilling to confront ultimate questions. Kierkegaard thought that every person lived in one of three spheres of existence:…

Walker Percy Wednesday 151

It was necessary to hit upon a mathematical and semantic vocabulary. The former was easy, again using the physical properties of the hydrogen atom, assigning the binary number 1 to the transition between the parallel and antiparallel proton and electron spins of the neutral hydrogen atom. Such a transition emits a radio-frequency photon of wavelength 21…

Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary Western Popular Music

This study from a few years back confirms what genuine music lovers already know to be the general trend in the homogenization of music. Full report in Scientific Reports 2, Article number: 521 (2012). Check out Thoughty2’s popular and rightfully scathing overview below. It was reassuring though to see some under 35s at a recent Pokey LaFarge show, Pokey himself…