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Saturday, December 30, 2006

back in business

I've done it!

kitchen table math, the sequel

I'm thinking group blog this time around, so I'll start sending out invitations shortly.

In the meantime, since it's the week between Christmas and New Year's, a period for which I have declared, but failed to observe, a moratorium on "talking about education" as Christopher puts it, I'm drawing my inaugural post from a Times article on music & the brain ($):

Dr. Levitin dragged me over to a lab computer to show me what he was talking about. “Listen to this,” he said, and played an MP3. It was pretty awful: a poorly recorded, nasal-sounding British band performing, for some reason, a Spanish-themed ballad.

Dr. Levitin grinned. “That,” he said, “is the original demo tape of the Beatles. It was rejected by every record company. And you can see why. To you and me it sounds terrible. But George Martin heard this and thought, ‘Oh yeah, I can imagine a multibillion-dollar industry built on this.’

“Now that’s musical genius.”

Music of the Hemispheres
By CLIVE THOMPSON

Damn straight.
at

6 comments:

  1. Jo Anne CDecember 30, 2006 at 6:45 PM

    I'm so glad you are back on line.

    I depend greatly on KTM to help me sucessfully navigate the education road blocks I continue to encounter.

    Thanks so much Catherine and KTM contributors for devoting so much time to helping the rest of us figure it out.

    Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year,

    Jo Anne C.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Catherine JohnsonDecember 30, 2006 at 7:37 PM

    Hi Jo Anne!

    What a lovely message - thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Catherine JohnsonDecember 30, 2006 at 7:37 PM

    Not happy to hear about those roadblocks, though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 31, 2006 at 6:36 AM

    Marvelous!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Catherine JohnsonDecember 31, 2006 at 7:39 AM

    thanks, rightwingprof!

    It's a little intimidating, signing up with Blogger.

    My district has now sent me...3 "messages," I believe it is, about my use of "inflammatory language" on the web; plus the teacher's union, in a public meeting attended (iirc) by members of the school board, the administration, and the PTSA, has threatened to sue "a parent" for defamation of character.

    I'm thinking, jeez.

    If they didn't like inflammatory language on a website nobody could open, they're going to have a fit when they see me banging on about crystalinks here on Blogger.

    oh well

    see you & raise you

    ReplyDelete
  6. Catherine JohnsonJanuary 1, 2007 at 1:03 PM

    My friend's husband, who manages musicians, says that's not the way it happened.

    (the Beatles, I mean)

    ReplyDelete