Compare & Contrast ~ Luthiery Laboratories

September 12, 2020

Compare & Contrast

September 12, 2020

What is that skinny white guy doing in Bruno Mars' video?

He's not doing it here, but Bruno Mars can play pretty much any instrument you throw at him. He's like an even-smaller version of Prince.

( turn on the subtitles )

How come people don't spontaneously tap dance any more? There was a time when the big stars in Hollywood were triple-threats - sing, dance, and act. How many Hollywood stars can do even one of those things nowadays?

The willowy brunette that is in every other scene is Eleanor Powell. And a sharp eye will spot James Cagney several times - Hollywood's go-to villain was a song-and-dance guy at heart.

Tim Akers & The Smoking Section
This is what Nashville session musicians get up to in their spare time.

Music, 09/12/20

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Music

No, not my music. I don't play much any more. I spend more time with the band saw than the band.

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September 21, 2020

Zooey & Dusty

September 21, 2020

Hollywood and the music industry are not totally bereft of talent today. Here is actress Zooey Deschanel and her musical partner M Ward doing a wonderful rendition of Dusty Springfield's 1964 Stay Awhile:

Deschanel has a very nice singing voice. And while she's not Eleanor Powell or Ann Miller, she competently dances her way through a clever and stylish video. I can't speak for her acting, the only thing I've seen her in is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; the rock I live under gets very bad TV reception. She was good in that though, so I'll give her all three - sing, dance, act.

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Mash-Ups

To my mind, there are three kinds of "mash-up": functional, constructive, and stylistic.

A functional mash-up changes the purpose of the base instrument, for example, building a bass on a guitar body. The Uke bass takes this to an extreme.
A constructive mash-up is building a classic design in a different way, for example, substituting masonite and plywood for rare and expensive "tonewoods" ( most of which are in truth neither rare nor expensive, although you can pay a lot for them if you shop in the right places. )
A stylistic mash-up consists of taking features from two or more different instruments and jamming them together. For example, horns on a violin body.

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