Late Boomer's Den

Hi Ren – unique Gen Z talent

February 15th, 2023

Being the old codger that I am, I have “get off my lawn” moments. I can’t deal with autotune, for one thing – keeps me from getting into music I might otherwise like.

I just had a conversation with a friend about how growing up on the internet has turned Gen Z into aliens. We don’t get their memes, their references. I tried a couple of songs his teenagers like and it was nails on a chalkboard. To be fair, Dad felt the same way about AC/DC.

Still I believe there is talent in every generation, even that one. I usually find a young artist or band that impresses me. When I do, that gives me hope. The latest of those is Ren, a young musician who just went viral with his song “Hi Ren.”

To be honest, I didn’t quite get it. What even is it? Song? Spoken word poetry? Acoustic hip hop with an English spin? I wasn’t sure if I liked it or hated it.

But there’s something to it. It’s original. Inspired. I think the world has been craving something like that. As he states in the song above, Ren has been sick a lot in his young life (from effects of long misdiagnosed Lyme Disease). He’s been able to channel his suffering into something creative and amazing.

And wouldn’t you know it? As soon as “Hi Ren” went viral, Ren got sick again and will take several months to recover.

In the meantime give his other music a listen and don’t forget him. I’ve subscribe to his YouTube channel and will be going through his other songs.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6uCrpzbPY

#Ren, #Music, #Gen Z, #Generation Z, #Hip Hop, #Guitar, #Singer Songwriter, #Troubador
Happy Frederick Douglass Day!

February 14th, 2023

Frederick Douglass, ca. 1879. George K. Warren. (National Archives Gift Collection) Exact Date Shot Unknown NARA FILE #: 200-FL-22 WAR & CONFLICT BOOK #: 113

Today I’m happily married. My wife and I are eating strawberries dipped in chocolate. But I remember when Valentine’s Day was something I just had to endure as a chronically single person.

If that’s you, or you’re tired of celebrating yet another commercialized holiday, it turns out there are a lot of alternatives. Extraterrestrial Culture Day kinda jumps out at me.

The first REAL holiday on the list is Frederick Douglass Day.

Frederick Douglass deserves to be celebrated, and not just during Black History Month. He was a fiery activist for the abolition of slavery, and as an escaped slave, he knew exactly why it needed to end.

February 14th was the day when Frederick Douglass celebrated his birthday. He had to pick a day, because he was never able to find out when he was born.

I plan to know more about him by next Frederick Douglass Day. his works have been on my reading list for the longest time.
All’s fair in love and pee fights

February 14th, 2023

Am I a bad dog owner or a team player if I let our dog pee on his arch-enemy’s bush?

Since he’s scared of other dogs and we can’t take him to the dog park where at best he acts like he’s in jail.

He has leash aggression and shows it by picking fights with other dogs, including the ones who could eat him for breakfast. He acts like he has a tuff, but we know different and so do they. So a little passive agressive peeing is about the only inter-species satisfaction he gets.

The other dog is also a shit-talker who can’t back it up either, so it seems like a fair pee fight to me.

#dogs, #war
Don’t think about elephants

February 13th, 2023
mammal elephant botswana chobe baby

“Don’t think about elephants.” What did you just think of? Mom used to pull that on us when we were kids.

The sports editor at one of my newspapers used to do something similar. When I least expected it, he’d say, “You just lost the game.” Yup, I knew the rules. Sometimes I got him first. Our coworkers were playing the game too. They just didn’t know it.

It was simply called “The Game.” Apparently it’s something that’ started in’s been going around since the late ’90s or early ’00s. If you think about it, you lose. If you say “you just lost the game” you lose, but the listener loses also. The aim isn’t to win, but to make somebody else lose.

Wikipedia has an article about The Game. Wikipedia describes The Game as follows:

Rules:
1. Everyone in the world is playing The Game. Everybody in the world who knows about The Game is playing The Game. You are always playing The Game, you cannot refuse to play The Game. It doesn’t require consent and you can never stop playing.
2. Whenever you think about The Game, you lose.
3. You have to announce when you lose the game. You may have to be reminded of The Game.
The Wikipedia article also refers to related games. Leo Tolstoy used to play a game with his brother where they would try not to think about a white bear and the image would appear every time. Similarly, when someone says “don’t think about elephants,” you cannot keep from thinking about elephants.

This is an example of Ironic Process Theory, aka “The White Bear Problem”.

Kinda funny how brains work.

And BTW, you have SO lost the game.
CDs I spent 20+ years collecting

February 12th, 2023

I’m the only one I know who still has a CD collection. I just couldn’t let it go. Some of the disks are rare, but most of it is nostalgia. I spent so many years collecting these things. I bought new, used, cut outs, mail order, you name it.

I’m glad I stuck to my guns. I never did trust streaming or the cloud. I didn’t like that computers and phones were coming out without jacks or disk players. It felt like a trick and I think it was.

We have so much choice, but a lot of what we “choose” gets pushed to the top by some algorithm. I want to make my own decisions. I chose these albums for a reason.

I do use Spotify. I needed to check out some newer rap music and that’s where it was. It’s a good deal for consumers, but I keep running into albums they don’t have. Some I can’t seem to find anywhere online. And you never know when your favorite music will get yanked. Neil Young definitely messed up my psychedelic playlist when he got mad at Rogan.

I weeded out some thrift store crap before my last move, but I have six small Home Depot boxes worth, however many that is. Several hundred. Some are run of the mill, some are hard to find, and some just bring back memories.

Now I have an external CD drive and a portable CD player with a BlueTooth transmitter. Could do better, but it’s a start. Enjoying a disk that’s not on the Internet right now:

Pretty cool CD compilation of Moroccan folk music called “Morocco, Crossroads of time.” It comes with a neat little book.

#CDs, #Compact Disks, #Streaming, #Music, #Spotify
OK, new rabbit hole – Algerian music

February 11th, 2023

I believe I just found my next rabbit hole: Algerian music. I stumbled across this song in my YouTube feed and I’m already obsessed.

I haven’t been able to find much out about Houda Hamouda, probably because there’s nothing searchable in English. I wish I knew Arabic.

I’ve listened to North African music for years, but this feels new to me. I know it isn’t Rai. Apparently it comes from central Algeria. I’ve been able to find that out.

If someone knows Arabic music better than I do and would like to tell me what type of music it is, I would be grateful.

I have to give Google credit for allowing me to translate fan comments into English. Common speech comes off as poetic to me.

I will definitely look for more of this woman’s music, and now I’m interested in Algerian music in general. I think I’m about to find some new favorite groups.

Doesn’t mean I’m not still into all the other things I’m into. Still need to check out more Polish classical and folk music. There’s another music culture I plan to check out as well.

#Algeria, #Algerian, #World Music, #World Folk, #Arabic, #North Africa, #Africa
Kasia Mos – incredible Polish singer does Stanislaw Moniuszko

February 10th, 2023

I’m definitely going down a Polish culture rabbit hole. I found the most amazing singer, Kasia Mos. What a set of pipes!

The song above is from a project called Moniuszco 200. According to the venue: “New takes of compositions by Stanislaw Moniuszko performed by AUKSO Chamber Orchestra for voice, piano, synthesizer, moog, electric violin, bass and drums.”

The concert was captured in a gorgeous live album by the same name. Here it is on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/15mvNUiRKknH1rnti2oT2Z?utm_source=generator

I didn’t know about Moniuszco, although I am very much into classical music. He’s a famous composer in Poland, “The Father of the Polish opera” (Belarussians claim him too). Here’s a detailed biography.
RIP Burt Bacharach, dies at age 94

February 9th, 2023

When it comes to popular music, Burt Bacharach is one of my favorite songwriters. When it comes to pop music, his music was about as good as it gets.

Every now and then I find an indie band that obviously loves his songs as much as I do.

Contrary to popular Boomer sentiments, good music is still being made today. But this was a template for a lot of great American music we take for granted.

I also love Dionne Warwick’s voice. I think she did it best. Much respect to her, as well as lyricist Hal David, who wrote the words for Bacharach’s biggest hits.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries%3Flist%3DPLLBkkD7Zi2H44fHqcWnNLrlTjt7PRZY0O
She knows me too well

February 9th, 2023

My wife told me last night, “I love the enthusiasm you exhibit when you talk about the worst case scenario.” Dang it. Nothing I could say. Lifelong #pessimist. Busted.

But two can play. I was picking on her for being double-plus Type A. She was beating herself up about not doing some work project 100 percent perfectly when she was probably in the high 90s.

“My Type A personality gives us a good life.” I said “So maybe you should enjoy life then?” Busted 🙂

Those are the kind of arguments we have. They basically amount to, “You’re sillier.”

“No, you’re sillier!”

#Relationships, #Personality
Muonium? Why wasn’t I told?!

February 8th, 2023

So I am so tripping right now. I just found out about muonium. It’s lighter than regular matter and has nothing to do with cows. Why do I care? I don’t know. I’m a little high. And a lot nerdy.

I barely learned about muons a few months ago. Another one of those atom smasher stories. That was hard enough for me to wrap my head around.

Usually, “they just discovered a particle” quantum physics news goes in one ear and out the other. I can’t keep up with all the subatomic particles they keep finding in labs. It’s voodoo to me at this point.

I pay attention to science news, but they keep finding things out. When I was in school, atoms looked like the solar system. People on the news were going nuts over something called a God particle a while back, but I didn’t bother to dig into it. I usually don’t care as long as it’s not gonna blow me up. I might get curious about it later.

Muons grabbed my attention, because they already have a commercial use. Like electrons only bigger? Still trippy, but particles you can shoot at stuff is something I get. They have lasers now.

Now I find out there’s a kind of matter called muonium, like a little bitty atom. With an anti-muon (anti-matter!) and an electron. So it’s an “atom” that’s lighter than hydrogen. It’s another one of those things in the atom smasher that lasts a fraction of a second, but it’s long enough to make compounds like muonium chloride and Sodium Muonide (!). It’s too much for my brain.

They discovered it in 1960. Never came up in school. That kinda pisses me off. Anyway, it’s all of my life late, but now I know another physics thing. Now when are they going to figure our how to make something out of it?

#Physics, #Muons, #Muonium, #Science, #Nerd Alert