Thinking of Joe Cocker's great cover of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends", I started wondering: what other cover versions have actually changed the time signature of the original?
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 9:54 PM on June 21, 2008 (48 comments)

"In this rare documentary, Satyajit Ray talks about his films. Part 1, 2, 3. Satyajit Ray... is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and letters, Ray studied at Presidency College and at the Visva-Bharati University. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing the Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves during a visit to London. He directed thirty-seven films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali, won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Document at Cannes film festival"
posted to MetaFilter by vronsky at 7:04 PM on June 4, 2008 (7 comments)

The Atlantic Monthly has helpfully indexed literary interviews from its archives. These include, among others, Alice Munro, Chinua Achebe, Dennis Lehane, Zadie Smith, Charles Simic, Salman Rushdie, Susan Sontag and John Irving.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus at 8:44 AM on May 31, 2008 (5 comments)

With a pickup mounted on the body of the instrument just below the strings, Revathy Krishna, KP Sarada and Sivanandam and Jayanthi Kumaresh get an unexpectedly fat sound out of their veena. Rocking! The instrument is more often amplified with a microphone, in which case it sounds more like this performance by D. Balakrishna, who, as you'll hear, ain't no slouch, neither. And here Pichumani gets his groove on, no doubt about it. So, hey, two more raags for the road, courtesy of Rajeswari Padmanabhan. The second tune on her clip, by the way, has got some deep blues in it, so I'm thinking maybe Rajeswari might've been down to the crossroads at midnight... [NOTE: see hoverovers for link descriptions]
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 1:24 AM on May 16, 2008 (28 comments)

You say you don't like drum machines? Well, here's one even the staunchest Luddite has gotta love. Or you might like some of the recent experiments in making the interfaces more physical. And surely you'll admit this one's really very charming. Wanna go non-Western? Get yer talas out with this tabla machine. It'll be only a matter of time, then, till you get into the whole classical Hindustani gitchtronica thing, which is what the cool kids are into. [NOTE: see hoverovers for link descriptions]
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 6:14 AM on May 7, 2008 (22 comments)

Garry McDonald, aka Norman Gunston, aka the "little aussie bleeder," may be well known out Australia way. For most Americans, however, Norman G remains far, far down under the radar. But he's the forefather of the UK's Ali G; he's Canadian Nardwuar thee Human Serviette's nerdier dad; he's America's Lazlo Toth (US) with a combover and a microphone; he's Jiminy Glick's Jack Sprat. Perhaps you saw Norman long ago in a segment on USA Network's Night Flight variety show. [bonus: many many youtubes of Night Flight segments, courtesy of this awesome website.] But I bet you didn't know he released a KIckaSS single (among others), jammed with Frank Zappa, and was at the right place and time to upstage a piece of Australian History. Not bad for someone whom Keith Moon dumped his drink on and called a "great pooftah."
posted to MetaFilter by not_on_display at 3:21 PM on May 4, 2008 (21 comments)

Illustrated Histories of Various Recording Technologies
posted to MetaFilter by carter at 1:25 PM on April 22, 2008 (15 comments)

Sandals, socks, and dudes
posted to MetaFilter by Blazecock Pileon at 10:31 PM on March 12, 2008 (164 comments)

1,780 Cult Movies Online ~ A huge repository of online movies described as cult classics.
posted to MetaFilter by Dave Faris at 5:51 AM on February 10, 2008 (35 comments)

10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online.
posted to MetaFilter by nickyskye at 10:45 PM on January 29, 2008 (16 comments)

Is This Transparency? OP with very slim, one-year posting history asks a question about finding a good charity in AskMe, just prior to year-end tax-decision time. Newly registered responder posts a newly formed charity-aggregator/evaluator organization, without mentioning that he is, apparently, one of the two founders. Self-promotional setup leading to self-link? Or am I being too cynical?

[update, 1/3/08: a summary of events is being developed on the wiki. --cortex]
posted to MetaTalk by Miko at 10:44 AM on December 31, 2007 (1426 comments)

When Maurice Martenot met Lev Sergeivich Termen in the early 1920's and heard his revolutionary new musical instrument the Theremin, he was inspired to create his own electroacoustic instrument , which he christened Ondes Martenot. Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of the first performance of this remarkable hybrid keyboard which, aside from its lovely and ethereal sound, is also aesthetically pleasing visually, with its handsome collection of multiple speakers. See and hear the instrument being played and explained in this video interview and demonstration by Jean Laurendeau, which closes with a lovely rendition of the theme from Star Trek. And, here's the instrument in use, live, alongside who else? Radiohead.
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 11:04 PM on December 25, 2007 (20 comments)

The 1960's and early 70's saw an explosion of creativity and an astonishing variety of stylistic influences coming together in the pop and rock music of Cambodia.Tragically, almost all of the artists of that era were executed (or otherwise perished) during the nightmarish Khmer Rouge years. The following MySpace Music pages will help you to get acquainted with some of the wonderfully eclectic and adventurous music of this fertile period: Pen Ron, Yos Olarang, Rous Sareysothea, Sin Sisamouth, Vor Sarun, Houey Meas, So Savoeun, Eng Nary, In Yeng, Choun Malai, Mao Sareth, Sem Touch, Chea Savoeun, Toche Teng, Teth Sombath, Pen Rom, Em Songserm and Choun Vanna. Also, these related pages: Cambodian Rock, Radio Khmer Sitya, Cambodian Style and Cambodian Soundtracks. NOTE: For personal recommendations, check the hover-overs accompanying each link.
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 2:07 AM on December 15, 2007 (38 comments)

Agence Eureka is a French language image-blog with hundreds or even thousands of scanned illustrations, mostly from mid-20th century French schoolbooks, educational material, magazines, and ephemera. The current front page is slightly NSFW. Some of the categories include anatomy 1 & 2 (mildly NSFW); chocolate wrappers/trading cards; bricolage; decoupage (cut-outs); math education; playing cards; books and magazines; cars; cinema; orientalisme; sport; mild pin-ups; and many others (scroll all the way down the right to see the tags).
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple at 6:53 PM on December 4, 2007 (12 comments)

China is famed for its many inventions: gunpowder, paper, printing; some even claim golf and football. Who knew that the origins of hip-hop lie in the vast northern wastes of the Celestial Empire too?
posted to MetaFilter by Abiezer at 4:42 AM on November 19, 2007 (18 comments)

Wolof has seven Nearby users. Of the seven, two (naturesgreatestmiracle and twirlypen) have error! instead of Nearby users.
posted to MetaTalk by tellurian at 2:11 PM on November 19, 2007 (30 comments)

NickCaveFilter: Fifty years ago this very day, Nicholas Edward Cave [previously] crawled from the womb and started to plot.  At 16 he formed his first band which evolved quickly into the Boys Next Door [Shivers].  This in turn mutated into the Birthday Party (1980) who terrorised the post-punk soundscape in Australia and the UK [Release the Bats | Nick the Stripper].  The Birthday Party relocated to England and in 1984 the band imploded in an orgy of drugs and booze.  Shortly after Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were born [The Ship Song - video & solo live | The Mercy Seat - video & live | Where the Wild Roses Grow], and 23 years and 11 studio albums later (not to mention a best selling book, a great screenplay, some acting and several soundtrack projects) he is still going strong.  But, instead of sitting on his musical laurels he decided to get back to basics and, in 2006, grew a huge moustache and formed Grinderman – a four piece with a primeval hybrid Birthday Party/Bad Seeds sound [No Pussy Blues | Honey Bee].  Fellow Mefites, I ask you to raise a glass to Mr. Cave… And, especially if you are not familiar to his work, don’t forget to “look inside” for my primer on the enigma that is Nick Cave, one of the finest song-writers on the face of this miserable planet.
posted to MetaFilter by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 4:59 PM on September 22, 2007 (98 comments)

Where's the best place in Jamaica to spend my life savings on Reggae music? I am going to be in Jamaica for one day. My cruise lands in Ocho Rios. I have from 8:30am to 3:30 pm and I want to spend every penny I can spare on music I can't get anywhere else. Please help. Do I have time to drive/ride to Kingston? Do I need to go to Kingston? Or does Ochos have somewhere I can go? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. ps. I don't/can't do wax. I'm a child of the 80s/90s. CDs are where it's at. pps. Any jerk places not full of tourists I should stop at along the way to my music shop?
posted to Ask Metafilter by gummo at 12:56 AM on April 20, 2007 (9 comments)

Memoirs of Phillipe de Commynes. A first-hand account of the 15th-century military and diplomatic struggle between Louis XI of France, a master of intrigue, and his most powerful rival, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. "At that time the subjects of the house of Burgundy were very rich because of the long peace which they had enjoyed and the great moderation of the prince under whom they lived, who taxed his subjects little. It seems to me that then his territories could well have been described as the Promised Land, more so than any others on earth. They were overflowing with wealth and they had a peace which they have not since experienced during the last twenty-three years. ... But today I do not know in this world a people so desolate, and I fear that the sins of the time of their prosperity have brought them their present adversity; most of all because they did not recognize that all these favours came from God who distributes them as it pleases him."
posted to MetaFilter by russilwvong at 6:17 PM on January 9, 2007 (6 comments)

Set your Tivos: Metafilter's Own^TM Chance Ruder, aka FeistyFerret, will be on Larry King Live tonight with talk-show-wildlife-guy Jack Hanna. Chance's contribution to Metafilter history was cemented when he provided this best answer over in the green and then successfully fought off accusations that he didn't actually exist. Having overcome this existential crisis, Chance is now poised to become a Television Personality.
posted to MetaTalk by Saucy Intruder at 10:41 AM on January 1, 2007 (75 comments)

Olderwomenwholikeyoubutwon'thavesexwithyoufilter: There it is. 75% of the women I've dated in the last 8 months (and ALL of them have been older than me) have a strange issue, in that we can make out all night to the point of being naked, kissing, touching, but that final step of actively engaging an orgasm seems to be too much for them. So... what the... ?
posted to Ask Metafilter by saysthis at 3:07 AM on May 25, 2006 (39 comments)