Is This Music?: An Inter-Species Social Gathering on a Scale Never Seen Before in Australia

Often, as the night-sights of fire flies fall away, leaving only the smell of clean sheets and the cool air coming through my window, I have a recurring dream.  So it was with surprise that I learned that I share this dream with Lou Reed’s wife, Laurie Anderson, who recently remarked: “Wouldn’t it be great, if you were playing a concert and you look out and you see all dogs?”  Unlike Ms. Anderson, I’m lazy and also have no musical talent (when I tried to learn guitar in middle school, my dog would bark at me until I stopped), so I’ve never quite got around to organizing this, but she made her dreams come true by putting on an up-coming “high-frequency concert” called Music for Dogs in Sydney, Australia.  The BBC has the run-down here.

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Leagal Affairs Desk: Road To Nowehere, Independently

Music is a powerful political tool; it both has aesthetic appeal and the ability to project a message.  It is then easy to understand why candidates for public office play music at rallies, appear with iconic musicians, or include songs in their commercials.  The impact of these tactics varies, but there have been some notably positive results: take, for example, the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign’s use of Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.”  Not only did it help to propel Clinton into the White House (though I will not go so far as to claim that the Mac is responsible for that achievement), but Clinton was apparently able to convince the then-broken-up band to play at his inaugural ball.

However, not all is well at the intersection of politicians and pop music.  Playtonic favorite David Byrne (who kinda looks like Charlie Crist nowadays) has filed suit in the Federal District Court in Tampa, Florida against Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who has been serving in that capacity as a Republican and is currently running for the open Senate seat as an Independent.  The charges stem from the alleged unauthorized use of the Talking Heads song “Road to Nowhere” in an online campaign ad that attacked rival Republican Marco Rubio.  Byrne has alleged both copyright infringement and false endorsement and is seeking $1 million in damages.  Unfortunately, the video has been removed from both Youtube and the Crist campaign website.

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Philosophy Action Figures

Yes.

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Internet Haters Critical Of NYT’s ‘The Stone’

Mornin’ Playtonics,

Last week I wrote about the New York Time’s exclusive online opinion series ‘The Stone.’ Well, since the blog’s first post, What Is a Philosopher?, it appears that a number of blogs and websites have launched criticism at both the article and the series’ moderator, Simon Critchley.

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Thirty Years Since Ian Curtis

With the death of Ronnie James Dio yesterday, it may also be appropriate to recognize that today is the 30th anniversary of the death of Ian Curtis, the front-man of Joy Division.

In recent years, there has been resurgent interest in Curtis, whose life inspired a 2007 biopic called “Control.”  Perhaps a few interesting tidbits about his career and death are in order.

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The Stone

Mornin’ Playtonics,

If you are like me and enjoy a daily dose of philosophy, you’re going to love The Time’s new  exclusive online opinion series ‘The Stone.’ According to the homepage for ‘The Stone,’ it “feature the writings of contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless — art, war, ethics, gender, popular culture and more.” Furthermore, “The series moderator is Simon Critchley, chair of philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York, who introduces The Stone tonight with an examination of the question, What Is a Philosopher? In coming weeks, The Stone will include contributions from a rotating group of philosophers, including Nancy Bauer, Jay Bernstein, Arthur C. Danto, Todd May, Nancy Sherman, Peter Singer and others.” Check out the homepage here and except to hear a lot more about this opinion series from the PD staff.

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Dio Dead

It is with a heavy heart that I learned this morning that Ronnie James Dio has died at the age of 67.  Dio is one of those rock solid artists who are the cement that holds a genre together.  Not only did he enjoy success independently, as a member of Elf, Rainbow, and eventually Dio, but was able to put together a fairly good album with Black Sabbath in the aftermath of Ozzy’s exit.  The New York Times has fine obituary here (the description of his cameo in “Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny” sounds hilarious).  For the title track off of his first album with Sabbath, go here.  For the epic ‘Holy Diver,’ with his band Dio, go here.

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For TMT: Roy Orbison – “In Dreams”

Hey Playtonics,

I am thrilled to report that my third article for Tiny Mix Tapes’ Delorean blog was posted today! For those of you who don’t know, I, under the moniker “Playtonic J”, am writing for the online music magazine Tiny Mix Tapes’ Delorean blog. Previously, the Delorean section used to solely consist of reviews for older music. However, with TMT’s redesigned website (and ethos?), the ‘Delorean Blog’ will now be a place where I can write about almost anything: track reviews, lists, Beatles conspiracy theories, etc.

My first article was a kind of a kitsch nod to the holiday and film Groundhog Day with a review of the Manic Street Preachers’ song “Groundhog Day.” For my second article,  I continually listened to and painstakingly researched Talking Heads’ 1983 album Speaking in Tongues. Now, after a bit of a lull, I decided to unravel the use of Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” in the film Blue Velvet by David Lynch. Click the link below to see my thoughts on Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams”:

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/delorean/roy-orbison-dreams

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May Shows

Good Afternoon Playtonics,

In a divergence from the norm, I failed to post the shows I am covering this month for the House List at the beginning of the month. So, for those of you who don’t know, in addition to writing semi-daily for Playtonic Dialogues, I am also a contributing photographer and writer for The Bowery Presents The House List. Since moving to New York, I have written reviews for Animal Collective and Battles/!!!/Flying Lotus, as well as many other concerts produced at all New York venues currently booked by The Bowery Presents, including the Mercury Lounge, the Bowery Ballroom, Webster Hall, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Terminal 5, the Brooklyn Bowl, and more… This month I will be contributing reviews for the following shows:

5/4: Yeasayer, Webster Hall (I already covered this show and you can click the link to see the review)

5/21: Fuck Buttons, Music Hall of Williamsburg

5/22: Josh Ritter, Music Hall of Williamsburg

Look out for my reviews and photos which will be on The Bowery Presents The House List as well as this site.

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For Prefix: Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma

Mornin’ Playtonics,

I am thrilled to report that my first review for Prefix Magazine was posted today! For those of you who don’t know, I, under my plain ol’ name, am writing for the online music blog/ website Prefix Magazine. Prefix Magazine offers breaking news, reviews, and a host of other interesting music related content. So far I have written primarily news posts and occasionally album abstracts. However, today my first full length review was posted! Check out my review for Flying Lotus’ excellent new album Cosmogramma here.

SPOILER ALERT: My numeric rating is pretty close to an influential music website.

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