Song of Fire

The enigma of Prince

Jon O — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:53:43 +0000

This much is indisputable: Prince is one of the greatest musicians alive. His musical output has been prodigious — perhaps too prodigious for his own good. But even putting aside the mediocre songs, his body of hits and his songs that are great despite limited commercial success put him at the top of the heap. And though his years of peak influence may be limited to the crazy 80s (just as the Beatles' peak influence was limited to the trippy 60s), most artists would kill for a fraction of that kind of influence.

Wave your hand and create a song

Jon O — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:45:33 +0000

Imagine putting on a pair of gloves, and by gesturing you could make a device talk, or sing. Well, the future is here. Sidney Fels, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, led a team of researchers that built such a device.

The 5 best Christmas albums

Jon O — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 02:38:40 +0000

Okay, you've heard all the typical Christmas collections — popular singers performing familiar carols, divas singing newly minted "contemporary" songs, tasteful arrangements of the same old same old — but you're craving something unique, something that breathes new life into the tradition, something that stimulates both your need for nostalgia and your need for adventure. These five choices deliver the goods.

The 10 best Christmas holiday songs

Jon O — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:52:23 +0000

The holiday season for me conjures images of a mug of hot chocolate, a cozy fire, and the tranquility of snow falling. Cutesy songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" make fun singsongs, but I prefer tunes that convey the spirit of the season. Here is my take on the best songs that create a Christmas mood.

Recording the music of The Beatles

Jon O — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 01:23:57 +0000

The 1960s were a time of immense creative experimentation, questioning the status quo, breaking the rules. Geoff Emerick was a young engineer at London's EMI recording studio when he began working with the Beatles to record the Revolver and Sergeant Pepper albums, which set the pace for the innovative era. Secretly contravening EMI's stodgy policies on how to mic and record music, he broke new ground in helping the Beatles in their quest for new and different sonorities.

Ndegeocello takes a chance with Weather

Jon O — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 04:37:26 +0000

One of the great losses in this era of downloadable, individual songs is the practice of sitting down with a new album and letting it seep into your soul. That's especially important for an artist like Meshell Ndegeocello, who explores unexpected avenues in her music. I had the opportunity to listen to her latest CD, Weather, several times before hearing her in concert this week in Alexandria, Virginia. It's is a superb album; the quality grows with each hearing.

iPhone’s Siri debuts in love duet

Jon O — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:42:37 +0000

I just purchased an iPhone 4S. The feature that has everyone chattering is Siri, Apple's intelligent personal assistant, which takes voice recognition software to the next level by interacting with the user. Musician Jonathan Mann has utilized this built-in eccentricity to create a clever duet with Siri, which he has posted on YouTube.

Fela with an !

Jon O — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:42:32 +0000

After a successful run on Broadway where it garnered two Emmys, the musical Fela! has now started a national tour. I missed it during a trip to New York earlier in the year (tickets were too difficult to obtain), so I was thrilled to hear that it was coming to DC. Based on the life of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, the musical uses his songs to tell how he developed his popular Afrobeat sound and used music to protest the corrupt Nigerian government.

Copyright copywrong

Jon O — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:08:05 +0000

If you've been following the latest copyright brouhaha, you'll know that it's another salvo in a long history of recording labels screwing over artists. ow that artists are starting to exercise those rights, four record companies — Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner — are arguing that most artists do not qualify under this provision because their recordings were a "work for hire." Stung by dwindling profits, these companies are trying to squeeze blood out of musicians yet again, even though it clearly violates what Congress intended.

Unique eBook Released: Song of Fire

Jon O — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:16:49 +0000

Music infuses everything in the universe, from the rotational beat of a pulsar in space to the rhythm of the heart. Is it possible that music is the essence of the universe itself? The newly released ebook Song of Fire is on a journey to discover this fundamental truth. The interconnected, real-life stories are a rhapsody on the elements that constitute how we experience the world: the moments of humor, sorrow, passion and revelation that give significance to our origins and endings.