R.E.M. "Losing My Religion"

"YOU BETTER NOT BE POOPING ON THE UNICORN!!!"

This is the kind of sentence that:

A) You never expected to hear yourself say.

B) Your childless friends will never understand how this is part of your existence.

C) You should never, ever have to actually say out loud.

D) All of the above.

It is now nearly 1am.  Officially, Monday has become Tuesday.  And I am just sitting down to write this post.

I don't know if it was the holiday, or some stir-craziness, or a pre-cursor to getting sick, but the kids were just insane tonight.

Not bad.  Just reeeevvvvvvvvved up.  There were performances.  Costume changes.  Lots of yelling.  And hammering.

And yes, the 2 1/2 year old boy, who is potty training, took off all his clothes, but instead of making his way to the potty, he sat down, naked, on his sister's oversized stuffed pink Unicorn.

(No, he did not poop on the unicorn.  We did get him to do the right thing)

After a Skype visit with their Grandparents (my folks spend winter in Florida), despite the high energy, we moved the kids to the bedroom, hoping to wind them down.

Sometimes the high energy is really a sign that they are over-tired, and if you can get them to sit still, they sack right out.

9:30pm.  We have finally gotten to lights out.  Neither kid is asleep.  But if we can just get them to relax . . .

10:30pm.  My 5 year old daughter is asleep.  So is my wife.  But the boy is lying there, in the dark, just talking, talking, talking.  He's wiggling and kicking.  So I tell him to get up and come out to the living room with me.

11:30pm.  He's still motoring around.  I haven't cleaned up after dinner, or checked my email, or thought about a blog post.  I ask him if he wants to come sit with me.  He says, "Nope," and keeps on playing with his puzzle.

But I have a secret weapon.

"C'mon up here," I say, and scoop him up off the floor.  He protests, but his squirming eases when I put on the TV and say, "Let's watch Charlie Rose."

Some highlights of the Presidential Inauguration flicker on the screen, ("Dad!  A parade!") and he settles into my arms.

Five minutes later, he is asleep.

After cleaning up---I love taco night, but it does create an assload of dishes---updating the Save mvyradio Pledge-O-Meter and brushing my teeth, I'm finally here at the computer.

With nothing prepared.

Soooo, let's make this a "I Looked At The Internet Today So You Don't Have To" feature.

My friends Jess Phaneuf and Lindsay Reid both posted this video.  Someone with some time and some good music software edited R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion."  The very Minor Chord heavy song, has had the Minors changed to Majors.  It sounds completely different, yet surprisingly the same.

That's all I got.  G'night.


Hear the song on Vimeo.

The Highly Irritating Orchestra "Bolero Completely Unraveled"

Producer Don Was has a great quote where he define genius, in a documentary about Brian Wilson. (The interweb was not helpful in finding this recalled quote, but Was paraphrases himself in the Charlie Rose interview below).

Was described Wilson's genius as being able to see things that are beyond the field of vision of an average person AND being able to articulate those unsee-able things to, in Wilson's case, the other musicians he was working with.

Artist Sandra Boyton's drawings can be as deceptively simple as "The Warmth Of The Sun," as joyous as "Good Vibrations" and as emotive as "Heroes And Villians," while seeming as unforced and as innocent as a Brian Wilson composition.

So when you hear that, as a companion piece to her new book "Amazing Cows," Sandra decided to record Ravel's "Bolero" with a team of 300 kazoos, well, you know she's seeing things that normal humans just ain't.

For a $175 donation to Friends of mvyradio, today the station is offering Sandra Boynton's Amazing Cows book; They Might Be Giants "Here Come The 123s” CD/DVD; Putumayo Kids Reggae CD; Doc Dauer presents "The Body Rocks" CD; and an mvyradio Infant Romper or Youth t-shirt.


Click thru to hear a little bit of The Highly Irritating Orchestra "Bolero Completely Unraveled"

 

Don Was on Brian Wilson's genius