The Piano Guys have fixed what was wrong with classical music. They show that classical music doesn’t have to be the baroque and tinny garbage my grandfather played on the radio when I was a kid. It can, with some pop influences and modern production — not to mention excellent songwriting and performances — be textured and layered and interesting and listenable.

In fact, when done the way The Piano Guys have, classical music can have a broad appeal. My musical focus tends to be on heavy metal and punk rock. My wife likes punk, rock, and angry-girl music. My daughter only likes Taylor Swift. We all like The Piano Guys, and probably you will, too.

Actually, my history with this group started with their cover of What Makes You Beautiful. My daughter positively loves that song, and this version makes it more than just listenable, it makes the song wonderful.

Now, sometimes, just living the life you’ve carved for yourself is difficult. We’ve all been there. My friend Adam Carola has been saying, somewhat famously, for many years that the quickest, most effective cure for everyday depression is exercise — usually just a walk where there are some trees — and classical music.

I know first hand how well this works. As a former runner, I know that exercise cures so much of what’s wrong with a bad day. No matter how bad the day was, if you’re put six miles behind you, well, your problems are about six miles behind you, too.

My running music of choice tends to be metal, of course, but Slayer sucks to run to. The tempo is too fast, the message too harsh. I prefer the neo-classical stuff. Dream Theater, Symphony X, Katatonia, Opeth, Kamelot. Mid-tempo, complex music.

So my wife was having a hard time of it. I spouted off with the easiest thing a person can do when life’s getting them down, the least expensive thing a person can do to fix a slightly derailed life, the least intrusive thing a person can do, and yet the thing which, somehow, everyone can ignore, put off, or find excuses against: get some exercise and listen to classical music.

To my surprise and delight, my wife immediately embraced my suggestion of exercise and classical music and she bought The Piano Guys first album. It’s titled The Piano Guys and it is, top to bottom, amazing.

First, the name is kind of a misnomer. There’s as much cello as piano on this album. And The Piano Guys’ website even says they have but a single piano player. But that diversity is what makes it so good. The extra instrument(s) are what make it so interesting. Generally speaking, the songs are more Ramones style wall of sound and less Tori Amos style girl with a piano.

Besides the performances, the guys have chosen excellent pieces of music to play. A Star Wars medley, a gorgeous and fresh version of Over the Rainbow, the Mission Impossible theme and a Charlie Brown and a Lord of the Rings medley — and so many others, plus original pieces — make for wonderful and wonderfully interesting and engaging listening.

Now, if only we could up the exercise portion a little bit.

Critical Creig Rating: A+, 10/10, ★★★★★, buy the album. Seriously, buy it on either iTunes or Amazon. You’ll thank me and my wife.

Anyway, this trailer is positively wonderful. If it doesn’t make you want to watch the movie right now, I don’t know what’s wrong with you.

]]> http://criticalcreig.org/2013/05/raiders/feed/ 0 http://bcove.me/2puq9w7l http://criticalcreig.org/2013/05/hfj-on-hfj/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 14:50:47 +0000 Creig P. Sherburne http://criticalcreig.org/?p=7317 I love this video. It’s the type design team H&FJ, Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones talking about their workflow and inspiration and the typographical landscape. In less than six minutes, and without getting too specific or nerdy, they describe exactly what it is I love about fonts so much. (Via Daring Fireball.)

Damn. Is it the end of Slayer, too?

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

I went to Atascadero Crossfit yesterday for a story and stuck around for a class. I was going to go lift weights anyway, so why not try the class out? There’s nothing like actual participation to let a guy know what’s going on.

In my class, there were four people, including me and my lovely wife. The exercise was to move some dumbbells in three different ways as fast as we could. I saw the class before and thought I would come in first or maybe second out of the group.

I was dead last. It was humbling, and so very good.

Crossfit is a bit different from a traditional workouts. It’s sort of weights and cardio all rolled into one, engaging the entire body, with an emphasis on getting work done quickly. My specialization became glaringly apparent, and my personal best at bench pressing immediately became less important. I run at a comfortable pace and rarely push terribly hard. And even on a bike, which I love, having gears means a constant rate of pushing, so I rarely get my heartrate way up there.

So I finished last. It was terrible and wonderful. I was miserable and it was so stinking hard. It revealed weaknesses I didn’t know I had, and it showed me that there’s strength and then there’s strength. I’d specialized for too long. Once I got my entire body — upper, lower, cardio — involved, I found that I wasn’t as fit as I thought.

But I stayed after and talked with the other two kids who took the class. Misery loves company and I may have found the community I need to inspire me to excellence.

I’ll be back.

Update: On the other hand, it’s $100 per month per person, so I guess that’s that.

First of all, the drama.

Queensrÿche the band kicked the singer, Geoff Tate, out for being a lousy person. There are allegations of drugs and getting wives involved and general insanity. Ultimately, the band kicked him out. But he seems to think that he is the band, so he named his new band Queenscrÿche also, even though the rest of the band is also called Queensrÿche and have an album planned for next month.

A thing that totally smacks of desperation to me is that former Queensrÿche guitar player (and, according to Tate himself, drug king) Kelly Gray is listed as a band member even though he only had a guitar solo on the album.

Same goes for keyboard player Randy Gane. He’d played on and off with Queensrÿche for many years, mostly associated with Kelly Gray.

The end result is twofold: 1. “Queensrÿche” as reviewed here isn’t a band. It’s a bunch of people who played some stuff that got turned into an album. Also, calling it Queensrÿche seems disingenuous at best, and like a flat-out lie at worst. He should have just called it a solo album and recorded under his own name.

But how’s the music?

Eh. It’s ok. Not worth it, really. And Tate’s voice seems shot. It’s still recognizably him, but more annoying.

On the album, Tate covers old, really good, Queensrÿche songs. He’s the weak link. The musicianship sounds really cool and fresh. I like them, except for Tate’s performance.

I can’t imagine listening to it again. It goes on the shelf with American Soldier.

Critical Creig Rating: D. It makes me want to listen to good Queensrÿche instead. Makes me look forward to what the rest of the band is going to release later on.

The best song of its kind. Total best of breed.

I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.

I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, “I’m different.” If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.

The backlash seems small, according to Sports Illustrated, which I am very surprised by. In my experience, Sports Guys are among the most manly and intolerant on Earth. So this is really heartening.

I called former NBA star Tim Hardaway. Several years ago, Hardaway made some harsh anti-gay comments, and the backlash was severe enough that Hardaway decided to educate himself about homosexuality. His views have changed radically. He told me he was wrong several years ago, and that gay people deserve the same rights that heterosexuals have.

Hardaway, who now works for the Miami Heat, also said this:

“If people on teams were to come out, people would get over it and accept it and move forward. I really do think that. Any sport. If one person or two people, whoever, comes out in any sport, that sport will accept it and go from there.”

That is about to happen.