Balloon Juice, Steel Drummer Doing Bizet, a Cheesy Vette

Just bits and pieces this evening. I may get around to finishing up 071009, but the hour is getting late.

• At the Metro entrance this evening, there was a guy doing a steel drum rendition of an opera song from Bizet’s Carmen. That may sound like I know my shit, but I only recognized the tune from a Sesame Street number featuring Elmo and Metropolitan Opera singer Denyce Graves. Melody may have worked on Sesame Street, but I can’t say I was feeling the steel drum version.

• Here’s a funny, music themed post at one of my favorite political blogs: Balloon Juice. Proprietor John Cole’s got some serious blogging chops. Yesterday, he asked his audience for help identifying a jazz tune he had heard on NPR. The key turned out to be this:  “Bah, bah bap ba bada.”

• Unrelated to music, I don’t like to harsh on strangers in a superficial manner, but this morning I spotted a balding, middle aged dude driving a convertible Corvette which bore a vanity license plate that read “NO1.” First reaction: disgust. But then I thought, hey, we all have to do what we have to do to get through this slog of a life. Who am I to judge that dude? But then, this evening I saw the same NO1 gunning his cheesy ass ride up a quiet, residential street near my place. So, back to disgust.

Maybe I will have time to finish up 071009.