Slight delay, but in a good way.

I know the suspense is killing folks out there. What will be Clurg's next perfect pop tune choice?

I'll get back to that soon.

We had some emergency out-of-town practices with the Necronomikids because an unexpected gig came up. Should be fun. Should be recorded.

I found out yesterday that I got the new job teaching dual enrollment English 101, 102, plus Honors 10th Grade English. Our new school, when finished, will be the most expensive in the state, plus I will be involved in developing a fine arts and communications academy. Awesome! I've got a lot of work to do this summer...

Also. I'll be seeing one of America's great guitarists, Bill Frisell, this Sunday.

(R.I.P. Stan Winston and George Carlin)

To keep with the pop music theme (not to mention the YouTube theme, yikes!), here's an example of what I consider brilliant early pop music (could be called jazz--whatever) and an example of contemporary pop music that I like (could be called hip hop--whatever). The first is the Raymond Scott Quintett. If you've ever watched cartoons you'll recognize this from the Carl Stalling arrangement for Looney Tunes (@ 1:25). Scott is amazing. Supposedly that's Johnny Williams playing drums, the father of Star Wars, etc. composer John Williams. Scott did some commercials with a very young Jim Henson.



So, that's the past for me. I see M.I.A as part of the future of pop music, for better or worse. This song "Bird Flu" is from her first album, which I find much better than the last one, even though it was produced by Timbaland (whose done some great work with Missy Elliot). This is a line of pop music I see as starting with the blues (and various African forms: drums and fife, etc.), moving through jazz, soul, (especially James Brown), rock/funk (Funkadelic, Parliament, etc.) and then rap groups like Public Enemy who sampled these earlier artists, to contemporary hip hop/rap groups (who are pop in my book).

Actually, I didn't intend to write so much on something I have only tenuous knowledge of--just enjoy the songs--or not.