Friday Frights and More

1) The Occasional Dumba$$ Rapper Roundup: Shouldn't surprise anyone, but yet another rapper just got their ass handed to them by the justice system and rightly so. One Remy Ma of New York was pronounced guilty of assault, illegal posession of a weapon (.45 calibre with hollow point bullets) and attempted coercion (shouldn't that read, attempted robbery?) after shooting a woman near a nightclub in 2007. Remy claims that she meant to shoot someone else, a friend (HUH?) she suspected of stealing $3000 from her. Sadly, someone else just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ms Remy is staring down the barrel of 25 years in the slammer (GOOD I say!), though somehow, she was acquitted of witness tampering and gang assault charges (how did THAT happen?). I know, some people probably think I'm stereotyping unfairly, but dang it, this kind of thing happens WAY TOO OFTEN to be a coincidence or some unjustified stereotype, this is a real serious problem people, and the Hip-Hop/Rap culture shares more than a little of the blame for such stupid, violent and criminal/anti-social behavior. Story HERE

And while we're at it, Atlanta rapper TI finally saw there was no way he could beat the rap so he pleaded guilty to illegal weapons charges (which SHOULD'VE gotten him 10 years easily) but because of a plea agreement, he just might get a lighter sentence (his first installment is 1000 hours of community service effective now). Formal sentencing willl take place March of 2009, which could mean if he lives up to his deferred sentencing agreement, he will be sentenced to one year in prison, pay a $100,000 fine, spend three years under supervised release, including a year of home detention, and perform a total of 1,500 hours of community service, this according to U.S. Attorney David Nahmias. Story HERE Another account in the AJC goes on to say that if TI blows it (which he most likely will), it's 8 years in the joint for him.

2) Hillary's Delusions of Grandeur: Poor Hillary Clinton, can't seem to catch a break, especially since many documents regarding her time as First Lady (and to me, "Lady" is stretching things) were made public. In her desperate bid to claim "foreign policy experience" it seems that she recalled a trip to Bosnia, claiming to be under heavy sniper fire when she landed, but in reality, she made the trip 3 months after the war in Bosnia was officially over, taking along her daughter Chelsea and two entertainers. Ands that's not even the half of it, as at least from thsi list on Fact Check.org indicates, she, shall we say LIES or EXAGGERATES HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS, OOPS, I'm sorry, that should read, "Misspoke". More here on FactCheck.org

3) World's Earliest Sound Recording?: Clocking in at a whopping 10 seconds but no less significant, US researchers have found a recording of someone singing "Claire De Lune'". A French inventor, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville was responsible for this significant first step in recording technology in the year 1860 with a device known as the phonautograph, which scratched sound onto a sheet of paper coated by the smoke of an oil lamp. This was 17 years BEFORE Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. The interesting twist is, that de Martinville had NO intention of playing back the sound, he simply wanted a visual representation of sound waves to study. News story HERE, and even more amazing, the recording itself can be heard HERE

4) Outrageous Rockstar Demands: From time to time, I've wondered how some of these intelligence-deficient but ego endowed rock stars got their demands met or what they were to begin with (out of some morbid curiosity I admit), well, The Smoking Gun has aspecial secton on its website specially dedicated to rockstar/entertainer backstage demands, some relatively benign, others enough to want to call the Happy Wagon and stage an intervention, read 'em HERE

ON THE PLAYER

King Kong: Jean Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa

From the year 1970 comes this quirky gem by an up and coming violinist from France who paid his dues initially in the classical world before developing a jones for Coltrane and other jazz greats. Ponty had played on Frank Zappa's groundbreaking "Hot Rats" LP and good 'ol Frank wanting to showcase the violinists talents more visibly (though he'd already been making albums since the mid 1960's) put this session together utilizing some of L.A.'s top jazz players (like Ernie Watts) and even some from the classical world. Here, Ponty re-interprets several of Frank's songs to great effect (the jaunty title track, the HILARIOUS "America Drinks and Goes Home", and even the haunting balladry of "20 Small Cigars" for example) and even contributes an odd half-blues/half Latin original, "How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That?". The real challenge comes with Zappa's "Music for Electric Violin and Low Budget Orchestra" (named so because Frank couldn't get the necessary funds for a full orchestra for the piece, so he had to settle for a smaller chamber ensemble. The piece hits a lot of terrotory from Stravinsky to jazz to whatever with Ponty weaving his way through it masterfully and with great wit. Highly recommended

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!