News from the Mudd

Holiday Traditions on Display

Photographs, programs, and other items of holiday traditions at Lawrence and Milwaukee-Downer College are on display in Riverview Lounge in Memorial Union. Traditions shown in the display include the different Christmas cards sent by Lawrence presidents. Traditions celebrated at Milwaukee-Downer College include lantern night and plays put on during the Christmas season. Come and learn about how the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was brought to the United States by a Milwaukee-Downer professor, and why one year it was reported there were no virgins at Milwaukee-Downer College.

The exhibit is up through the month of December.

Today’s CDs

This latest bunch of CDs carries on the Mudd tradition of bringing you just about every kind of music you desire. Today if you want vocal music, we’ve got it, both jazz and classical. How about cello? Some nice string quartets? Does symphonic music float your boat? Done, done, done and done.

Pibloktoq!

mudd snowDiscover is the greatest periodical. Naturally the Mudd subscribes to it. The latest issue (January, 2008) has “20 Things You Didn’t Know About Snow.” We’ll let you read about the other 19, but this one is a doozy: Too much snow can drive a person crazy. It seems pibloktoq, a little understood hysteria, can “cause senseless repetition of overheard words and running around naked in the snow.” Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye. Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye. Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye.

TLAND?

pirate ninjaA bunch of marauders-come-lately have invented a day to celebrate today: Annual Day of the Ninja. While we are all in favor of the quite legitimate holiday “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” we are not at all convinced that this ninja thing will catch on. Their suggestion to “wear a ninja mask to work” will most likely result in a call to the local constable. Wearing an eye patch to work, however, will evoke great admiration at your new-found coolness. Pirate versus ninja is like Mac Guy vs. PC Guy on the TV: one oozes self-confidence and the other tries a little too hard.

Have Some Fun Tonight

pianoWho has to win the award for the hippest minister ever? Why Little Richard, of course, whose birthday is celebrated today.

Listen to a few versions of Tutti Frutti, including one by Pat Boone (ask you granddad.) For the real thing, watch the master at work on Long Tall Sally, and then compare the version by a very fine cover band. This recording we’ve got.

Rolling Stone has an item about the bizarre rivalry between Pat Boone and Little Richard.

We Love the Web

Here at the Mudd we don’t think The Web is evil. In fact, its beauty lies in the fact that it makes everyone’s lives easier and more complicated at the same time. If there were no internet you wouldn’t be reading this right now. You’d have to intercept this message using your tin-foil hat.

The latest issue of the online magazine Online is featuring a subject near and dear to our hearts: research. And music research to boot: “Music to Researchers’ Ears: Ten Top Sites for Researching Music.” This helpful guide, written by a music librarian in California, runs the gamut from Mozart to world music. Unfortunately, as web resources sometimes go, one of the links she’s included is no longer valid. It’s the International Sheet Music Library Project and if you go to the site you’ll get a rather depressing message from the site’s founder explaining why he’s decided not to go on. Those who value the site’s purpose are trying valiantly to get another sponsor in spite of the threats of legal action. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, all of the other sites get the official Mudd Seal of Approval.

mudd seal

Finals Stress Relief

A finals week stress relief event will take place Monday, December 10 from 7-9 pm in Riverview Lounge in the Union. The event will include snacks, chair massages, a fire, games, and puzzles. The event is sponsored by the Celebrations and Traditions Team and the Wellness Committee.

Alexander Gymnasium named this year’s Fox Cities “Best Historic Landmark Building”

Fox Cities Magazine has named Alexander Gymnasium this year’s “Great Spaces Great Places” award recipient for “Best Historic Landmark Building.” In honor of this award, the current exhibit on the first floor of the library features photographs and other items documenting the history of the first Alexander Gym, located where Youngchild Hall now is, and the current Alexander Gym located across the Fox River.

More CDs

It’s December. It’s cold. There’s snow. That means two things are certain: fewer students wearing shorts and flip-flops, and the concert season is in full swing. Today’s CD pile features some fine performances by well-known artists, and some home-grown talent on LU Conservatory CDs. We’ll be dribbling in more LU CDs on future CD piles.

Goodbye George

It was a very sad day in 2001. George Harrison died of cancer in Los Angeles. Those of you who remember the 20-something George will be stunned to see his son Dhani who looks exactly like him. This clip is from “Concert for George,” organized a year after his death by his widow Olivia and his friend Eric Clapton, who, incidentally used to be married to George’s ex-wife Pattie Boyd.

If you’re under 30 you can get a good sense of George on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website. And the Mudd has a few of his recordings.