Education vacations are nothing new. Universities from Padua to Princeton offer short-form courses for youths looking to experience learning abroad as well as lifelong students just looking for a little didactic fun. But a new, tuneful twist comes courtesy of the “Oxford Experience”—a continuing education service at the ancient English university that offers crumpet-sized samplings of their lecture-and-tutorial based ... Read More »
Tag Archives: music
Elephant Man and Major Lazer Give Beyoncé’s “Halo” Jamaican Boost Via London and Philly
Were you, like us, tuning in and out of the Grammys last night? Yes, we know, you had better things to do. Of the many special (and many more not-so-special) moments you missed was Houston’s own Beyoncé Knowles breaking out of “If I Were a Boy” for a verse and chorus of “You Oughta Know”, the 1995 hit by ... Read More »
Greatest Hits: The Tate Britain’s Chris Ofili Retrospective as a Mixtape
As an article over at Arts21 notes, “The new Chris Ofili mid-career retrospective at Tate Britain feels like walking through a mixtape of semi-obscure black American music from the last 50 years, created by a middle-aged record shop owner with an encyclopedic knowledge of musical history and a body odor problem.” Actually, it’s not just the backward glance that ... Read More »
Traveling Without Moving: Gadling’s Guide To Bringing The World Back Home
As we head out for the weekend and, hopefully, you head off toward the airport, we thought we might leave you with these useful tips from the pros at Gadling for incorporating the lessons we learn as we travel into our daily lives (one can’t be up in the air or leagues from home all the time, after all). ... Read More »
“Simpsons” Creator Proves Indie Cred Again at England’s All Tomorrow’s Parties
It’s a little-known secret that the man who brought us “The Simpsons” and “Life in Hell” has a taste in music to match his facility with humor. For the second time, Matt Groenig (in self caricature above, top right) is curating the English edition of the constantly changing music festival All Tomorrow’s Parties and demonstrating that he may have ... Read More »
Lilith Fair Grows a Pair: Gossip, Metric, and Others Join Resuscitated Touring Festival
It was 1999 the last we saw hide or hair of The Lilith Fair—that estrogen-heavy touring festival created by Canadian balladress and hacky sack champ, Sarah McLaughlin. Back then, a solid day of heartfelt, acoustic, overly literal tunes was still a marketable concept—Ani DiFranco was still huge, “Ally McBeal” was one of the top shows on television, and popular ... Read More »
LCD Soundsystem Is The Latest To Haunt Spooky 2451 Laurel Canyon Manse
Even though the area has only recently been populated in the scheme of human history, the sprawling mansions of Southern California have whipped up quite a tradition of hauntings in a relatively short amount of time. There’s the famous Winchester Mystery house (filled with trap doors, false stairways, and Native American spirits) in San Jose, the home of ’50s ... Read More »
Got a Wall Street Bonus? Blow It on Beethoven’s Skull
Certainly, he hasn’t been using it lately. Collected when the composer’s composer succumbed to liver failure in 1827 at the age of 57 (let that be a lesson to you drinkers out there), Ludwig van Beethoven’s skull has traveled a long way from his Viennese deathbed to the hands of California businessman Paul Kaufmann, who is now auctioning off the ... Read More »