Let the theremin rip

My first experience of the musical instrument called theremin was at Melbourne's Southbank, where there was a huge operational theremin, a few metres squared and perhaps a metre tall. It operated by moving around the instrument. I think I only photographed it at the time and I did blog about it sometime in the 2000s. 

I brought it up again in the twenty teen years (help me express those years better) and below this video you can read the comments at the time. I remember first hearing the term 'pensioner porn' from a blogger, but who knows which one. The term refers to tv perennial tv programmes like Doc Martin and Midsomer Murders, avidly watched by many older people.

I find the instrument quite fascinating. 

Wow, so many former bloggers commented, and some current ones. A different MC commented back then.

11 comments:

1. 
   diane b7:52 am

   You learn something new everyday from blogging. Midsomer Murder is Bill's favourite show and Gattina another blogger.

   Reply
2. 
   smudgeon10:04 am

   Theremins are fascinating instruments. I have one in kit form, just waiting for me to pick up a soldering iron (yuck) and put it together.
   
   "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys is another good example of a theremin used well.

   Reply
3. 
   Andrew11:18 am

   Diane, some knowledge you can sprout as the opening credits roll on Sunday night. I like the show especially for the scenery and the buildings.
   
   And then Smudgeon, you have to learn to play it. I am surprised that I had not heard of it. I just listened to the BB track and I can hear it clearly.

   Reply
4. 
   Rubye Jack12:08 pm

   Oh, I've seen these before - somewhere. Simply lovely.

   Reply
5. 
   Hels5:06 pm

   I too had never heard of the Theramin, as the first electric music machine ever made or as an instrument making sound tracks for horror movies. But it was and is totally brilliant.
   
   How old is the film footage, by the way? I loved hearing the Russian...it tapped right into my family's collective unconscious :)

   Reply
6. 
   Andrew9:33 pm

   Rubye, note that any pretender who like to conduct an orchestra would have great fun.
   
   Hels, Theramin invented it in the late twenties, so I imagine the film is not much newer than that. It is a cool and weird instrument.

   Reply
7. 
   River10:04 pm

   Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory has a Theramin, that's where I first heard of them. it's an interesting sound.

   Reply
8. 
   BlissHill9:02 am

   I have never heard of one either! If you close your eyes, the sound is very close to a wavery soprano. What a great little machine.

   Reply
9. 
   Andrew11:36 am

   River, good that it is in popular culture.
   
   Bliss, it is something I would like to play with. It is very high pitched isn't it.

   Reply
10. 
    Middle Child2:52 pm

    Wow - thannks for that - you learn something new every day of the week some weeks...now How can I slip that into my conversation? Maybe wait till i hear one in a theme track and say, "Isnt it amazing what a well played Theramin" can do"
    
    You are a fount (or is it font) of knowledge

    Reply
11. 
    Andrew3:11 pm

    MC, I just heard a tiny bit about it and forgot the name. The rest I found on the net.

    Reply

 

Politics and our Kylie Minogue

It is interesting to observe former politicians, especially but not only the conservative ones, who suddenly become reasonable once retired. Former Australian conservative politician Joe Hockey seems to be such a person. From his ridiculous rants while on the floors of the parliament and once retired, he went on to be appointed Australian ambassador to the United States, 2016 to 2020. His speaking on tonight's tv seemed quite honest with his views of US politics, and the corruption within.

It isn't a good idea for bloggers to mix up subjects, but here you go with snaps of the tv screen when Kylie Minogue performed ahead of the Australian Rules Football Grand Final. 

She put on a fabulous twenty minute spectacular, and the 100,000 crowd loved her. 

It is Friday night, once a going out night, later becoming a stay at home night, and to use a great American expression after a glass or two of Scotch, Ray and I would 'shoot the shit'. Sometimes a significant plan for the future came out of such a conversation but mostly not.

I am excited about tomorrow's Australian Rules football grand final match, because the pre game entertainment will be performed by our own Kylie Minogue and I'll be glued to the tv to see her. Say a bad word against her, you will be sent to a prison at Port Arthur. My favourite Kylie song....not sure. My favourite video clip, this one. She is enough to make a gay man straight.

The rights and the wrongs

Three years ago the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas attacked very innocent Israeli musical festival goers. Many died, many were taken hostage, and then dying. It was so awful to comprehend. 

Israel then attacked Palestine itself, with far many more innocent Palestinians killed, and those that weren't survived with great deprivation of food, housing and medical care.

Being so personally directed, the attack on Israelis seems worse to me than instantly dying by an Israeli bomb or bullet. A moot point really. Israel has just gone too far, and as I see it, Israeli settlers moving into Palestinian land and targeting resident Palestinians and being allowed to do so by the the government of Israel is a disgrace.

So, now a rapper in the US, as a support act, seems like he has brought down a tour by British musician Ed Sheeran. Although with a history of being anti Israel, he spoke a few words at a concert concluding with 'Free Palestine'.

He was banned from future performances by the owner of the venue, who owns other venues, and he was banned from them too. So much for the US First amendment, mentioning freedom of speech (I am not a great one for the absolute right to free speech). 

Subsequently other support act musicians have withdrawn for Sheeran's tour. What a bloody god damn disaster.

It is disappointing that the very rich Sheeran is sitting on the fence about the matter. In a more minor way, similar has happened here in Australia. 

I am not anti Jewish, as you long time readers will know. But I am very anti the extremist right wing Netanyahu Israeli government. Rather than my rant, you read about it here at The Guardian. 

Repost from 2017 (I forgot about this even after this post)

 

I know nothing

When you have been with your partner for 38 years, you would think there wasn't too much you didn't know about them.

We were watching the English tv show Vera last night. The show is set in and around Newcastle in the north of England, where R hailed from. The scene was set in a pub.

R: I worked in that hotel. It was at the base of the High Level Bridge.

Me: Fascinating dearest. You've worked in so many places, it is a wonder you can remember.

R: Yes, my brother in law to be and me both worked there as we were saving to go to Butlins (a holiday camp of the most ghastly variety, but this is with hindsight) and of course that was where I met Cat Stevens. The hotel has changed........

Me: Stop! Now! What did you just say?

R: About meeting Cat Stevens?

Me: Yes, you've never told me that before?

R: Thought I had. Cat Stevens was Irish (I didn't know that) The pub was owned by an Irishman and he was a friend of Cat and he came to visit him once at the hotel and we were introduced.

Me: How come you have never told me this?

R: I thought I had. He was only semi famous then.

I used to find Cat Stevens so sexy before he became a weird religious Moslem nutter who agreed with murder of those critical of the prophet Mohammed. I am quite perplexed as to why I did not know R had met Cat Stevens.

A memory

This is written more for myself than for you. Clarity of thought and memories came through.

There were two Melbourne DJs I really liked in the 1980s who played at the clubs. They really knew how to work a turntable, playing the stereotypical music gay men liked. One was Andrew Collins, who is still around, Andrew on the left in this pic.

The other, who I had the privilege of being introduced to once, was Guy Uppiah. 

It was sad to learn Guy died a couple of years ago. 

Later edit: A question was asked in the comments about what is 'gay music'. There is a subjective list compiled by the magazine Rolling Stone. There are many more songs that could be there. The only one I know in the 2000s is by the Scissor Sisters. Check it out here.

Songs of Phyllis

At times I hear a song I like coming through the car's sound system being played by Phyllis' phone. I don't really expect most of you to like the music.

My first discovery, and I am repeating a previous post, was Dua Lipa. I'd never heard of her until I heard Phyllis play her music. I love hearing Phyllis singing along when he is in the shower.

This one is a real flea in the ear for me, by Samuel Kim. Da, da, da da da da.

There is a Just a Boy song and Just a Girl song. I prefer the Just a Boy video. The song is described as rap. I don't hear it like that at all, at worst it is light rap. It sounds sweet to me, and is also quite catchy. 

Always learning, as I composed this post I came across a Japanese word that is often used to describe sex or rather lack of between married Japanese couples. Yep, I feel rather mendokusai about 'the biz'.

Musical Monday

Thanks to Linda for reminding me of this song, and so many decades later it is still great. I am bit too young for The Beatles (take that, kapow).

I've never really taken notice of Ringo Starr which led me to check him out. Yeah, I like his looks and the last photos are of him in his eighties. Absolutely amazing. Sexiest Beatle, for sure. He had style, he had grace, Ringo gave very good face.

The song is quite brief, as were songs at that time. I have tried to train my ears to be more sophisticated about music, really listening closely to whatever I choose. The sounds quite sophisticated to me, especially for the time.

I enjoyed the rabbit hole I partly went down as I checked out Ringo. I didn't look at his Wikipedia entry or any bio.

Windows 11 update seems to have turned on autoplay a next song, which I thought I had turned off. It was nice to hear too. Go on. Wallow in some nostalgia with Mary. 

Sadly I also knew this next to play one too, Mouldy Old Dough. The seventies were a crazy musical time.

YouTube's algorithm that curates my music feeds has kept me up very late at night in the past. Grand Designs, England, with its superior being Kevin is about to appear on my tv screen. I might just have an evening of music. 

Soulful Saturday

Tom Dula, pronounced Dooley, in North Carolina murdered a woman and was hanged for the crime. 

A live performance of the song by Kingston Trio in the 1950s has poor audio. This audio only recording is good. 

The Dooleys

For some reason Australia's bird expert came into my mind, and Sean Dooley now has permanent presence on ABC Melbourne at I think ten past two. It is talk back, and people tune in to listen and to call in with questions about birds. 

Then into my mind came a choone, a tune, and the first couple of lines were like this.

Hang down your head Tom Dooley

Hang down your head with shame

Hang down your head Tom Dooley

Hang down your head and cry.

I won't look it up, and don't you. Allow those who already know the song and what it is about speak first.

Was it black American related? Or maybe it was Irish? I don't know.  

Australia's bird expert, Sean Dooley.

A very happy divisive day

Happy Australia Day, and as is my wont most years, also happy Indian Republic Day. Thankfully the overt jingoism that occured in Australia for several years seems to have toned down since Covid lockdowns. The genuine celebrations of our country's achievements and what it is to be Australian are wonderful, but protests become louder. I've long thought the date should change to reduce friction.

It's not such a happy Invasion Day for Australia's indigenous population.

The new ABC tv programme Always Was Tonight is quite challenging satire to watch, and it's been a while since the ABC has made anything that upsets conservative types. 

Those usual types are on the warpath, aided and abetted by the the conservative Murdoch media, The Australian and Daily Mail.  

The white head coverings in this clip are called spit hoods, and I don't necessarily agree with not using them. Staff who work in these places don't deserve to be spat upon, unless their own behaviour has been bad.

Satisfying Saturday

The cows seem very satisfied with their new scratching facility.  They do like a good rub and scratch.

As I uploaded the video, a message arrived that it would not be viewable in some countries because of the accompanying music, Hall and Oats I believe. I investigated further, and I could silence the music or change it to some YouTube approved music, so that's what I did. It kinda works.

Non gleeful Glee

I'd forgotten that this was an original Gotye recording, a music video I rather like. 

However, I came across this recording I believe is from the tv show, Glee. And by golly, does the guy sing with such passion. While Gotye sounded so sad, the character Blaine Anderson comes across as angry, hurt and very emotional. The character Blaine is played by Darren Criss. I thought his performance was terrific, and Cooper, Matt Bomer, was rather good too. 

I hate the way at times instructions like 'must watch to the end' are inserted in video clips, however in this case the performers who seem like lovers are not, and you need to watch to 2.45 for the connection between them becomes clear, but there is also a rather obvious hint at 1.30.

Musical Monday

This is a first class Flashdance. I had no intention of watching more than a minute, but I sat transfixed. The video was filmed in Paris. 

A shocking train crash

It was a long time ago when I posted about the local Sunshine train crash back in 1908. I was reminded of it when I recently came across this memorial plaque at Sunshine Station.

You can read about the detail on Wikipedia, and here is a snip. 

The Sunshine rail disaster occurred on 20 April 1908 at the junction at Sunshine railway station (in Sunshine, Victoria, Australia) when a Melbourne-bound train from Bendigo collided with the rear of a train from Ballarat. 44 people were killed and over 400 injured, almost all of them from the Ballarat train, as the Bendigo train was cushioned by its two locomotives.^[2]

It is the second worst train disaster in Australia after the much later 1977 Granville train crash with 83 killed. Nowadays, train crashes are so rare here, and deaths even rarer. 

Removed, it didn't work.

I worked on this for a long time, simply to find the audio, upload it and somehow place it here. Hence no post yesterday. I think it will work but truly, you are better to go to the website and just click play, and the lyrics are there too. 

Monday Mural

It was time for Phyliss to learn reverse parallel parking. His first attempt was a fail, and that was my fault as I failed to initially see the trailer behind the SUV. Pull out and try again. I gave no advice and he parked perfectly. Yeah, well, anyone can fluke a perfect parallel park. We moved on and jesus, he made a second perfect parallel park. I could not believe it. I think I was happier than he was for his achievement.

I rarely parallel park, and you do become rusty. The ladies who shop and lunch in High Street Armadale are experts at parallel parking their large black Beemers and Mercs.

Anyway, this is supposed to be about murals and as usual, I join with Sami and others. What can I find today. I took this photo in July 2024 and this is a street we/I often walked along and I had not noticed the mural painted in 2023. It's rather marvellous, even if it doesn't correctly represent the heavily built up area. Route 78 was the last tram route to see the old W class trams running in regular service, not so long ago really. It is now served by the more modern A class trams, which are quite old too now, dating back to the 20th century. 

This is a bit interesting, not so much for the artists name, but in the top right are the words 'Poof Doo..'. Poof Doof is a gay venue in Chapel Street with an overall name of Chasers. If you don't know, poof is slang for gay, and doof is the loud heavy backbeat normally heard in young people's dance clubs, and sometimes coming out of car windows. 

About three weeks, the international artist Katy Perry performed at sold out concerts in Melbourne. I know nothing about her, not even her nationality, but no matter. One evening after performing, she turned up at Poof Doof and opened the bar for an hour to all the queens at the venue. Phyllis was very jealous. 

The most successful female stars have always created a strong gay base, going back to Audrey Hepburn, Piaf and of course, July Garland, or even earlier. Later think Cher, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Madonna, the stars of my era, and a whole lot more since. 

Memorable tv ads

Cadbury gorilla in the air tonight. NOT AI but still fake.

Yellow Pages Not happy Jan (This phrase, Not Happy Jan, really slipped into Australian lingo)

Louie the fly. Nowadays, this tv ad might make the kiddies cry. Poor Louie!

\

TDK. Was it some type of purgative that would do amazing things to your system? I expect my straight male readers might like this ad. 

Last but not least, if you are entertaining an Australian overseas and want to see them cry, give them a couple of cans of beer to drink, or an extra strong voddy and tonic, a schnapps, a sake or a bourbon then play this tv ad to them. Contrary to to the nonsense of politicians proclaiming we are the best country in the world, we do like to call Australia home, even if most of us don't think it as being the best country in the world. I hate to think how much this ad cost.

Friday Fun

These are a couple of clips that I just came across, that I thought were interesting, that I accidently downloaded, that I downloaded. 

I would expect a slim guy to be able to do this, not this quite solid guy. Clearly he is all muscle. Quite amazing, and as the audience is doing, I would give him a good clap.

I don't know that I approve of this guy's suggestive dancing. Nevertheless, he is rather nice. What are you saying? There is another guy in the clip? Sorry, I did not notice him. You know me well enough to know which one my focus was drawn to. 

A nothing kind of post

I haven't come across anything hilarious this week for a Friday Funny. Only the mildly amusing. 

From what I can see,  as usual (see capybara, see One way Ticket to the Moon) I've missed the boat on what young people have been up to. Apparently last year it was Blue Monday. Ok, while checking some detail, I realised I posted about the same dance once before, ten days before my life changed forever. Never mind, a bit of fun. 

Happy Valentines Day

I was given a card, a single red rose and a letter opener (long story) this morning by my tenants. 

I dedicate this to Phyllis and Kosov. Young love is wonderful to observe.