Michael's Musings

As The Quarantine Turns
Michael Shinafelt

This weeks episode of As The Quarantine Turns clearly has me doing something many of you have more than likely done too. That's correct minions, it's called going through all of your old photos as you can see by this weeks image of myself, I have clearly been doing just that.

Once upon a time I used to bleach what was left of my hair blonde. I did have more fun, and it looked groovy, onward with this weeks tomfoolery buttercups.

It's Purple Monkey Time, woot!

Florida beaches are now open. I'll  just leave that here.

I can deal with your problem, or rock out. But I can't do both

The season finale of  Law and Order: SVU is on tonight, while I can't wait I am riding on a bummer there will be no other new ones until who knows when 😞

Four months in and 2020 feels like 2024

Some sweet news - See's Candy is slowly resuming operations

Now for some frivolous news - It's official I can't stand new addition to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Sutton Stracke, ugh, simply ugh!

Pets are smarter than people, because pets don't hate people over politics

Woman Crush of the Week - Fiona Apple, she made "Fetch" happen with her latest album Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Jack Nicholson recently turned 80, I love me some Jack, what a great actor

All I want is a Disco Stick 

Yesterday was the day when people who were flying private roughly a month ago made social media posts about Earth Day

Also happened yesterday, the title of the Hunter S. Thompson novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas took on a whole new meaning. Think about it, but not too much...

Pizza is my latest food group during quarantine

Join me for a Pepperoni/Jalapeno won't you? at:
https://www.instagram.com/michaelshinafelt/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/MShinafelt.

Hump Day & Chill

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Handwash Jukebox

Free Alexa skill featuring hand-washing songs from Lisa Loeb, Zoey Lilly, John S Hall and others help families protect themselves during COVID-19

“Handwash Jukebox” is a contactless Amazon Alexa skill that uses music to help people wash their hands for the full CDC-recommended 20 seconds

Music and technology join forces to help families protect themselves and fight COVID-19. Handwash Jukebox, the new contactless voice skill for Amazon Alexa, plays a different family-friendly 20-second song every time the user opens the skill, the amount of time the Centers for Disease Control recommends scrubbing your hands. The free skill is available now in the Amazon Skill store in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and India. To use, simply enable the skill and then through your Amazon Echo device, just say “Alexa, open Handwash Jukebox.” To learn more, please visit https://www.handwashjukebox.com.

“We created this skill as a simple and fun way to help flatten the curve.” - Daniel Bremmer, Creative Director

There are thirty songs representing a wide range of musical genres in the skill, with more artists being added regularly. About a third of the artists primarily record music for children, including two GRAMMY® nominees—The Alphabet Rockers and Sonia De Los Santos—and GRAMMY® winner Jon Samson. The skill also includes music by Lisa Loeb, Zoey Lily, The Mammals, GRAMMY® winner Sadler Vaden, Icelandic artists Úlfur Eldjárn and Ólöf Arnalds, King Missile’s John S. Hall and Californiosos, featuring “Farmer” Dave Scher of Beachwood Sparks and others.

The skill is an all-volunteer effort led by advertising creative director Daniel Bremmer and creative technologist Layne Harris with GRAMMY®-winning children’s artist Lucy Kalantari. Dublab veteran Derek McNeill serves alongside Kalantari as Music Supervisor. Katherine Choi is the Design Director and Frank Verderosa is the Sound Engineer.

“Given that Alexa is natively a shared household experience, it was the perfect platform for an idea like Handwash Jukebox.” - Layne Harris, Creative Technologist

Full List of Artists (so far!):

Alphabet Rockers, Ólöf Arnalds, Azalia Snail, Californiosos, Clark Chimp, Dog On Fleas, Shana Falana, John S. Hall, Andrew Koestel, Joanie Leeds, Zoey Lily, Lisa Loeb, LoveyDove, Kent Lucas, The Mammals, Marsha And The Positrons, Mi Amigo Hamlet & Alina Celeste, Music With Michal, Nicolas Pacheco, Rithma, Snowflakes, Sonia De Los Santos, Jon Samson, The Slackers, Sweatson Klank, Úlfur Eldjárn, Sadler Vaden.

“Our mission is to remind families the importance of joy, community and resilience–even in times of great difficulty. It felt right to be part of something that would turn an immensely important activity, like hand washing, into a light and fun experience.” – Lucy Kalantari, GRAMMY® winning artist and Music Supervisor  

The Quarantine Shuffle

Wonder Woman
Lynda Carter

Like most of us I have been watching way more TV of late. Hey, what are we Corn Teen minions supposed to do with limited options???

Well yesterday while channel surfing I struck Television Gold! "Yes" I was feeling my inner Yukon Cornelius when I stumbled upon a two part Batman episode with Julie Newmar as the Catwoman on, followed by an episode of Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. 

The thing I remembered most about these shows from my days of yore was that they were silly fun. What I really did not recall was how skilled the actors were in bringing depth to that silliness. 

Catwoman
Julie Newmar

Julie Newmar brought surprising pathos to her performance as the kinky Catwoman, even though the material she was given on Batman was pure camp on a stick, Ms. Newmar really understood what she was doing and how to elevate it. 

Likewise Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman and Lyle Waggoner as Major Steve Trevor. They all elevated something silly into something magic.

I truly enjoyed rediscovering these two old friends, sometimes The Quarantine Shuffle isn't too shabby.

Wonder Woman on IMDb -

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074074/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6

Batman on IMDb -

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059968/?ref_=nm_knf_i1

Moving 909s

John Tejada
Photo:
Holly Parker

Palette 71, Moving 909s, kicks off with legendary Warp artist Plaid on remix duties. Transforming the title track, re-synthesized 909 samples and Lua scripted sequencing, Plaid builds melodies and arrangement to epic proportions in classic Plaid fashion.

John Tejada’s new EP is an homage of sorts to the sample heavy production style of the late '90s. "Limiting the options and just creating and manipulating a batch of samples is my happy place,” says Tejada. 

The title track hints back to a personal favorite, Optical’s 1997 gem, "Moving 808s." While the sound is quite different, the approach is similar: samples, editing, some filters and not a whole lot more opens up a lot of creative possibilities without too much getting in the way. Of course, the bass plays an important role. Combing through some older influences of varying styles, the production became more in line with Tejada classics like “Timebomb” and “Western Starland,” both sample collage pieces focused on groove.

The final track, "Infinity Room" also follows this production process while resulting in a slightly moodier sound

John on IG - https://www.instagram.com/johntejadaofficial/ 

Bandcamp - https://johntejada.bandcamp.com/ 

Saturday Sinema: My Big Gay Jewish Conversion

Like a conversion, hey!

Is Israel really the best place in the world to be gay? And is Judaism the one mainstream religion that accepts homosexuality? Meet Simon, a gay Catholic man from the West of Ireland on a quest to find out. Simon has never truly felt accepted by his own church, a problem that Matthew, his Jewish boyfriend from North London, has never had to face. Simon begins to wonder if the grass may be greener, and considers converting. He starts with a trip to the local Rabbi where they chat, among other things, about getting 'snipped', but Simon is itching to get to Judaism's homeland: Israel. He hops on a plane and first hits the streets of Tel Aviv, 'the gayest city on Earth', where he meets gay people from all walks of life, including gay soldiers in the IDF. Then he heads to Jerusalem, where the story here is very different. Extreme views towards homosexuality are rife and Simon encounters this at an uncomfortably close proximity. Then, it's crunch time. Faced with the facts, will Simon jump ship and become Jewish?

Order Here: https://mvdb2b.com/b2b/s/MVD2730D

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's "The Aquabats!"

THE AQUABATS!

What better way to start than with a pair of singles from everyone's favorite crime-fighting superheroes, The Aquabats!.  The first single, "Pajamazon!," is available now and it's the perfect upbeat theme to help get you through these quarantined days.  The band addresses the positives of staying inside while combining sax and trumpets with insanely catchy lyrics.  It's the first taste of The Aquabats' first studio album since 2011 and the family-friendly swinger the world needs.

The band's second single, "No One Wants to Party!" comes out on May 1st and it sees the band trying to figure out why no one wants to party at their place. Could it be the man-bun?  Both singles are from the band's upcoming eighth album, Kooky Spooky...In Stereo, which is scheduled for a summer release and will be available on CD and LP as well.