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01 Jul 2010 20:35

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Music: The odd couple: Aretha Franklin and Condoleeza Rice, in concert

  • condoleeza On top of her diplomatic skills, she’s an accomplished pianist who once played for the Queen of England.
  • aretha The Queen of Soul, on the other hand, once wore an embarrassing hat to Obama’s inauguration – a diplomatic faux pas. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2010 20:15

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Culture: Merton, the Chatroulette piano guy, is a genuinely cool dude

  • Mashable did an awesome interview with him. Skype is quickly becoming the blogger’s interview tool of choice. And in the case of Merton, the lovable, not-Ben-Foldsy guy behind Chatroulette’s biggest phenomenon, it drew out some pretty great details.
  • one The original video
    was forced offline
    after two chatters
    felt their privacy
    had been violated
    by the coolest
    guy ever.
  • two That same video
    was also the
    highest-rated
    video YouTube
    has ever hosted,
    which is pretty
    crazy to consider.
  • three Merton, who
    chooses to (for
    now) remain
    anonymous, is
    way more inspired
    by Tori Amos than
    Ben Folds.
  • four That doesn’t
    mean he doesn’t
    find Ben Folds’
    rendition hilarious,
    though, especially
    with the crowd
    interactions.
  • five He says that the
    clips allow him to
    mix his sense of
    humor with his
    often-maudlin
    piano playing.
    Neat. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Mar 2010 23:37

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Offbeat: Chatroulette’s first star: Merton, the piano-improv supergenius

  • We went back and forth on posting this. Not because it’s not HILARIOUS, but because we were afraid we missed the viral boat on it already. Now, if we saw more guys with pianos and fewer guys with their hands on their (#&(@(&, Chatroulette would be a cool place. Please tell us this guy is actually Ben Folds pretending to be someone else.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

08 Oct 2009 09:20

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Tech: This talking piano talks better than we do (kinda)

  • Now, if only they could give this piano a brain so that it could talk back to us when we sassed it. “Oh no you di’int” in the key of G. (The Austrians are geniuses, by the way.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

04 Feb 2009 10:47

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Music: We saw Antony and the Johnsons last night in D.C.

  • We thought it was awesome, but … There were a couple of moments of very uncomfortable silence just before “Fistful of Love” in which our man Antony Hegarty went into a lengthy, meandering rant on the evils of nuclear war. The crowd, which was silently in awe of the transgendered man, was visibly squirming. It only hurt the show a little, though. Dude’s voice sounds amazing in person, especially on “Another World” and the encore, “Hope There’s Someone.” On a side note, seeing a show in a synagogue rules. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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