Kid Koala rocks the house

The Price of Love

I have often remarked that, if I could do it all over again, I should have been an economics major. I was the curve-setter in my micro-econ class and ended up with over 100% for the semester. And my interest in the topic has continued far beyond my college years. In fact, I may be one of the few living Americans (human beings??) who has watched an entire session of (former CBO Director) Douglas Holtz-Eakin's testimony to a session of Congress live on C-SPAN.

Talk about your riveting drama. I mean who could take their eyes off this guy when he's discussing the deadweight cost of proposed tax legislation? (Notice the gritty stubble mildly evoking the Don Johnson-Miami Vice look, but sans the pastel-hued linen sportcoat to maintain an aura of gravitas.)


(Douglas Holtz-Eakin)

In any case, had I followed this potential lifepath, not only might I have had the chance to hang out with Doug (or Holtzie-E as he's known on "the street"), but it is possible that I could have more efficiently won the affections of my lovely wife through the use of love ballads such as the one noted below.

I mean, what woman could withhold her heart when courted with the likes of this:

"Girl Your Marginal Benefits" (listen here)

Now girl being with you has always been so tough
With each passing minute your marginal cost goes up
But my love is inelastic and it all belongs to you
I'm the only love producer and my good is for you to consume

Cause girl your marginal benefits far outweigh your marginal costs
Without our equilibrium baby well you know I'd be lost
Trapped inside this market I need you to buy my love
Girl without your complementing goods well I'm just not enough

Now you say that I'm producing below my ATC
But I'm optimizing quantity baby, why can't you see?
We could share this surplus each and every day
If you would just buy my love I'd make my fixed costs go away

Baby I want to keep you for the long run (Oh yeah)
I think our supply and demand will become one

Cause girl your marginal benefits far outweigh your marginal costs
Without our equilibrium baby well you know I'd be lost
Long run equilibrium is no place for me
I need the profits of our love to grow exponentially

Courtesy of Greg Mankiw.

Free-Association Synthesizing, but w/o the Purple Trench Coat

Here's the way my head is working today: Blog -> Synthesizing -> Synthesizer -> Synthesizer riff -> DMSR.

Alice says the thing she likes about my blog is the way I "pull things together." And, certainly for my longer posts, I tend to try to knit together a distillation of my thoughts by gathering pull-quotes from multiple sources on any given topic.

It is a matter of processing and synthesizing the opinions of others in order to figure out what I ultimately think.

The word synthesizing got me to think about the synthesizer as a musical instrument. This got me to thinking about my favorite synthesizer riff in any song I could remember.

And so, without further ado, I present Prince releasing the hounds of funk on DMSR.

All the white people clap your hands on the floor now...

Watch more imeem videos on AOL Video

(P.S. Prince-nerd shout out: Those of similiar ilk to myself will recall this one as featured during one of the party scenes at Tom Cruise's house in Risky Business.)

A 5 foot 2 inch black man who can slay with a guitar

I still remember seeing this performance live on TV from over 20 years ago. I told Alice, before even finding the video on the Interwebs, what he was wearing and about the moment when he kicks the microphone over (you could see Cyndi Lauper stand and pump her fist in the audience, but is not easily visible here due to the poor video quality).

Needless to say, the accuracy of my recall indicates that I:

a) am not yet currently showing signs of senility, and;
b) was a massive, fanatical Prince fan as a high school student.

But, with performances like this, who could blame me... (keep scrolling, couldn't figure out why this extra white space appears)

I got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell

More Cowbell - The best bloopers are here

Does this mean I should add Snoop Dogg to my nativity scene?!?

You have to stick around until the 4:30 mark, but prepare to be disturbed.

Steel Cage Death Match: Culture Club vs. Rolling Stones

In 40-50 years time, how much of the music of my youth (1980's) will still be listened to and appreciated?

Some, one would hope, but the 80's seem, in retrospect, to be a somewhat frivolous age, musically speaking. There was a terrible lot of New Wave pop-synth (A Flock of Seagulls, Pet Shop Boys, etc.) as well as big hair metal (Ratt, White Snake, etc.).

Probably the biggest development, musically speaking, would be the birth of rap and hip-hop into a mainstream musical form. But, I am not into it enough to discriminate Tone Loc from Run DMC (ok that's an exaggeration, but you get the point).

Now there is no question that Father Time separates the wheat from the chaff and what I am exposed to from the 60's era is the the cream of its crops, so to speak. Still, if I was trapped on a desert island and had to choose an oldies station that would play 80's hits vs. 60's hits, the 60's wins hands down.

Have a listen... I ain't lying :)

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Rolling+Stones/_/Gimme+Shelter

The lyrics of the song speak of seeking shelter from a coming storm, painting a picture of devastation and social apocalypse while also talking of the power of love:

Oh, a storm is threat'ning,
My very life today;
If I don't get some shelter,
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

War, children, it's just a shot away, It's just a shot away;
War, children, it's just a shot away, It's just a shot away

A much higher-pitched second vocal track is sung by guest vocalist Merry Clayton. Of her inclusion, Jagger said in the 2003 book According to... The Rolling Stones: "The use of the female voice was the producer's idea. It would be one of those moments along the lines of 'I hear a girl on this track - get one on the phone.' "

Clayton gives her solo performance, and one of the song's most famous pieces, after a solo performed by Richards, repeatedly singing "Rape, murder; It's just a shot away, It's just a shot away," and finally screaming the final stanza.

At about 2:59 into the song, Clayton's voice cracks twice from the strain of her powerful singing; once during the second refrain, on the word "shot" from the last line, and then again during the first line of the third and final refrain, on the word "murder".

She and Jagger finish the song with the line, "Love, sister, it's just a kiss away." To date it remains one of the most prominent contributions to a Rolling Stones track by a female vocalist.