On December 8, 1980 John Lennon’s life was tragically and violently cut short. In an age before 24-hour cable news networks and no cell phones or social media, here’s how a lot of people found out about it.
Category: Music
Good Ol’ Freda
In conjunction with the Mudd’s celebration of The Year of the Beatles, the documentary film Good Ol’ Freda will be shown Wednesday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the Warch Campus Cinema. Admission is free.
Freda Kelly was a teenager in Liverpool in 1961 when she was asked to be personal secretary and fan club president for an up-and-coming local band. She stayed with the Beatles for 11 years.
From the Good Ol’ Freda official website: “In Good Ol’ Freda, Freda tells her stories for the first time in 50 years. One of few documentaries with the support of the living Beatles and featuring original Beatles music, the film offers an insider perspective on the beloved band that changed the world of music.”
Music to Start Your Summer!
This past school year the Mudd acquired some great popular music including Neko Case, Vampire Weekend, Bon Iver, Arctic Monkeys, and Arcade Fire just to name a few. One of our favorite summertime albums is Helplessness Blues by the Fleet Foxes. Check out this great CD and more in the library!
America’s Music is Coming
Lawrence University, through the Seeley G. Mudd Library, is presenting a 6-week program on the genesis and influence of American popular music and how it is deeply connected to the history, culture, and geography of the United States. Told through award-winning documentary films, each program will feature an introductory talk by Visiting Assistant Professor Erica Scheinberg, the film screening, and a discussion afterwards.
This weekly series is free and open to the public and will begin Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. All programs will be held in the Warch Campus Center Cinema except the February 28th program which will take place at the Appleton Public Library.
For complete information, go to the America’s Music web page. And join the Lawrence University America’s Music Facebook page for updates and a chance to chat with scholars and music fans. Think of it as that popular music class you always wanted to take, but with no homework or grades.
National Carry a Tune Week
You may be able to carry on, Carrie Nation and karaoke, but you may not be able to carry a tune. Even so, check out National Carry a Tune Week, October 7-13, 2012. This is all about tunes American in origin from 2001 or before, like the one Paul Simon wrote (ask your grampa,) so don’t be expecting to hear any of those non-American tunes.
“National Carry A Tune Week is held annually near the birthday of America’s first tune composer, William Billings, born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 7, 1746.” Of course.
There’s also an “online event” associated with this celebration which is a little foggy but supposedly involves sending in 10 tunes of your choice and possibly winning a CD, but we’re sure all will become clear next week.
Star-Spangled Banner
Today is the eightieth anniversary of the designation of The Star-Spangled Banner as the United States national anthem. Read 46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301, “Conduct during playing” while listening to what we think is the definitive VOCAL rendering of the tune from SCTV. Then, of course, there’s also Jimi Hendrix.
What’s in the Mudd?
You know that we strive to provide you with the best resources available for all of your research needs, but did you know that there’s more to the Mudd library?
Today, we begin a new series called “What’s in the Mudd”. Stop in the library and take a look at our display of interesting and unusual resources. Better yet, take one to the circulation desk and check it out.
Our display includes:
- Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale– You know and love Peter and the Wolf. Here it’s performed by the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra. Includes a helpful Yiddish glossary. As a bonus, includes Klezmer versions of Brahms, Satie, and Mahler.
- The Ramones, Anthology– The accompanying booklet says “loud and fast.” We think that sums it up nicely.
- Airplane!– The “Don’t Call Me Shirley” edition. A hilarious homage to disaster movies. Technically, there is a plot, but mostly it’s a string of one-liners. A classic.
- Super Smash Brothers Brawl– The back of the game case claims, “There’s no end to the smashing fun.” It’s true- ask a friend.
- Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat– Read it in English or attempt it in Russian.
- Perfect Hips: Belly Dance Workout– Need we say more?
- Caribbean Cooking for Pleasure- The Mudd library has scads of cookbooks. You can find them by using the term “cookery” as a search term in LUCIA.
- AC/DC Rockband Trackpack– Tired of playing the same songs on your Rockband setup? Why not totally rock out with “the majestic power of AC/DC?” (from game case)
- International Sound Effects Library, volume 1-28- We are featuring volume 3, which contains such sounds as rat squeaks and baboon barks.
- And more!
All this month, we will continue to delight and surprise you with some of the Mudd library’s hidden gems.
More Digital Scores
By the light of the silvery moon, lyric by Ed. Madden ; music by Gus Edwards. New York : G. Edwards, c1909. From the New York Public Library Digital Library Collection, Performing Arts in America, 1875-1923
We admit it. We’re not Harvard. But we keep our noses pressed up to the Harvard window like little kids in a library candy store, gazing longingly. And when they come up with something this cool we jump on it like a great horny toad on a passel of harvester ants.
Here’s a link to their Online Resources for Music Scholars from which you can search 78 (as of today) databases for digital scores. Pretty much anything in the public domain you can imagine is there, free to legally view, print and download:
- Chopin piano music
- string quartet parts
- opera libretti
- medieval polyphonic music manuscripts
- facsimiles
- sheet music and broadsides, concerning slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and related topics
There are also some audio, video and image files. Jump on it!
Jazz at The Trout
The Trout Museum of Art, 111 W. College Avenue, is hosting Jazz at the Trout, Thursday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m., featuring LU’s own Matt Turner, cello and Bill Carrothers, piano. The Mudd has many CDs of these artists, including all of the Bill Carrothers recordings mentioned in this Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 8th and 9th editions, and 4 CDs featuring them in collaboration:
- To the Moon
- Play Day
- The Voices That Are Gone (The music of Stephen Collins Foster)
- Armistice 1918 (Popular music from the first World War)
Tickets:
FREE for members; $10 non-members; $5 students
920-733-4089 or info@troutmuseum.org
IPA, With a Twist
You say “IPA” to most people around here and they think “India Pale Ale.” Mmmmm. Beer. But singers are different. Their IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet, that mysterious combination of other-worldly symbols that only singers can decipher. It’s their secret handshake. Now the Mudd has access to IPA Source, a database of phonetic translations of songs and arias. And with 24/7 access on and off campus, sopranos in their kerchiefs and tenors in their jammies can just settle down to O! ne finis jamais.