I’d rather be a musician than a rock star.
—George Harrison
Quote of the Day
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Quote of the Day
Creation exists only in the unforeseen made necessary.
—Pierre Boulez
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A Sonification in Two Movements
This data sonification of the star V838 Monocerotis, or V838 Mon, shows two Hubble images taken almost seven months apart
Video Credit: NASA
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Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
Op-Critical was the house band that Brett Kimberlin fronted for Justice Through Music Project. Some time ago, the opcritcal dot com web site went defunct. However, it the domain is now being hosted on the same offshore server as most of the other Kimberlin-related domains, but there’s no public website.
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Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
Presented without comment—
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Are You Pondering What I’m Pondering?
I think so, Brain … but if the band isn’t loud enough, they might be tempted to replace their B3 with C4.
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Quote of the Day
I’d like to end up sort of unforgettable.
—Ringo Starr
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What’s Confusing You is Just the Nature of It’s Game
American Songwriter asked GhatGPT to rewrite Sympathy for the Devil. The AI came up with this for the chorus—
So won’t you please have empathy for our kind?
Understand the shadows that we bear
We’ve played our role throughout history’s pages
But we’re not solely to blame, I swear
While not on par with the song Jagger and Richards wrote, it’s style does seem to be in line with a bureaucratic, deep state, 21st-century vision of Hell.
Hmmmmm.
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Quote of the Day
I haven’t understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it.
—Igor Stravinsky
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Quote of the Day
I can’t get too offended when somebody parodies me.
—Al Yankovic
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Sonification: R Aquarii
Video Credit: NASA
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Sonification: Stephan’s Quintet
Video Credit: NASA
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Sonification: Chandra, Spitzer, Hubble, and M104
Video Credit: NASZ
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Quote of the Day
Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.
—Frank Zappa
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Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
It’s the eleventh anniversary of the most popular post ever published on Hogewash!—Review: “Nothing Else” by Epoxy (#BrettKimberlin).
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Back in 2002, Brett Kimberlin fronted a band named Epoxy and released a CD called Nothing Else. The story he spun promoting the album was that it contained songs that he had written while he was being held as a political prisoner in the federal prison system.
The band consisted of Brett Kimberlin on guitar and vocals, Wade Matthews on Bass, and Robbie White on Drums. The genre of the album is someplace between grunge and punk, neither of which are among my favorite musical forms.
Let me first comment on Mr. Kimberlin’s voice. I had heard his speaking voice in court, and I understand why some people refer to it as whinny. His singing voice reminds me of the silly voice that Weird Al uses on tracks such as Eat It. Mrs. Hoge, who listened through the CD with me, said, “Eddie Haskell.” On most of the tracks his voice was off key, usually flat.
Most of the songs could have been filler tracks on a generic grunge album. Some of the alienation in them seems to be more appropriate for a 17 year old, not someone 30 years older. Mr. Kimberlin was in his late 40s when the recording was made. However, three of the songs stood out. Vicegrip was actually interesting musically. Donuts had clever lyrics. It’s about lousy prison food and would probably get a nod of approval from G. Gordon Liddy.
Then there’s the last cut Keyhole. It was outstandingly bad. Mrs. Hoge and I met while we were in the music business, and during her career as a recording engineer, she recorded more gold and platinum records than I did. Her comment was, “If you’re gonna mike a guitar that close, you should use a better guitar and make sure it’s in tune. And get a better guitar player.”
While he didn’t do especially well with the acoustic guitar on Keyhole, Brett Kimberlin is actually a reasonably good guitarist. He probably couldn’t cut it in Nashville or LA, but could make a living in a minor market (such as Seattle) or playing the Holiday Inn circuit. Indeed, the world would be a better place if he did ignore the usual advice and give up his day job.
Nothing Else by Epoxy (Pollen Records, $16.04 from Amazon) is interesting because of who recorded it, but I can’t honestly recommend it for the musical experience it offers.
UPDATE—Instalanche! Thanks again, Prof. Reynolds! And welcome to all you Instapundit readers. Please click on the Home link in the menu bar above and scroll around the site.
UPDATE 2—Aaron Walker’s review of music videos by Mr. Kimberlin’s latest band can be found here.
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As of yesterday evening, the price for a used CD was $13.49 on Amazon.
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Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
There’s good news, and there’s bad news.
First, the bad news. The Justice Through Music Project YouTube channel is still active.
Now, the good news. They haven’t bothered to post anything for a decade.
So there may have been at least one good thing to come from Brett Kimberlin’s focus on lawfare since 2012.
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Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
Eleven years ago today, I posted about #BretKimberlin’s Online Music Reviews.
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If someone goes online to find out about your music, they’ll first find reviews by a blogger who doesn’t have much sympathy for you or your “art,” your PR strategy has failed.
Justice through music blogging.
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This morning, I did the same search using DuckDuckGo.
The site has no comments and hasn’t been maintained since 2013. However, I did find the Home page amusing—especially its last sentence.
Heh.
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Jimmy Buffett, R. I. P.
Jimmy Buffett died yesterday. He was 76. I met him once when Mrs. Hoge was working as one of the recording engineers on some sessions for the Volcano album at Quadrafonic Studios. Parrotheads will be playing that record and many … Continue reading
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Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
Brett Kimberlin has set up two not-for-profit entities. One is a 501(c)(3) organization called Justice Through Music Project. 501(c)(3) entities are tax exempt and donations to them are tax-deductible. The other was a 501(c)(4) organization originally named Velvet Revolution US. 501(c)(4) entities are also tax exempt themselves, but donations to them are not tax-deductible. Kimberlin changed the name of Velvet Revolution US to Protect Our Elections/EMPR Inc. in 2017, and the IRS revoked its 501(c)(4) status in 2019.
For several years, Protect Our Elections/EMPR Inc. was involved with the operation of an English-language Ukrainian news site call EuroMaidanPR (empr dot media). The empr dot org URL now redirects to ukrainefrontlines dot org, but that site contains much of the earlier version of the site and contains links to the (at)EuromaidanPR account on X (TSMSFKAT).
While wandering through the new site, I found an opinion piece posted on 25 August entitled After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, most Americans hate Russia, and I understand more about the difference between “dyakuyu” and “spasiba”. It’s bylined Kelsie Kimberlin. The article is a puff piece promoting her latest release, a song called Armageddon. The article quotes her as saying,
I write my songs myself, and often my dad helps me. It was he who helped me write “Armageddon” …
It certainly sounds as if he did.
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Sonification: Sagittarius A*/Galactic Center
Video Credit: NASA
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Quote of the Day
There is two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind.
—Louis Armstrong
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Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
One recurring bit of mockery for some members of Team Kimberlin is poking fun at their lack of musical talent. Six years ago yesterday, I reran my review of the CD released by a band Brett Kimberlin fronted called Epoxy, and one of the Gentle Readers left this comment—
The TKPOTD for six years ago today mocked the reactions to that comment by Cabin Boy Bill Schmalfeldt and Very Ordinary Seaman Ferguson.
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Yesterday’s TKPOTD must have stoked some envy out in Sutter County, California. Very Ordinary Seaman Ferguson had this exchange with the Cabin Boy
yesterday—
I’ve never heard lorddewclaw play either live or on a recording, so I can’t comment on what kind of musician he is. However, I have heard recordings that VOSF has posted of his alleged music. Based on what I’ve heard, I doubt that he could have made it as a sideman on any of Brett Kimberlin’s recordings. I’d advise him not to give up his day job, but I’m not sure he has a real one.
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The mockery continues.
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Quote of the Day
No, it’s a B-flat. It looks wrong and it sounds wrong, but it’s right.
—Ralph Vaughan Williams
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I’m Not Making This Up, You Know?
The former opening act for Ike and Tina Turner were unavailable for comment.
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Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
Brett Kimberlin is an unsuccessful musician, and rather than take responsibility for his failure, he sued me (and a long list of codefendants), claiming that truthfully blogging about him was a cause of damage to his career. Here’s the TKPOTD for nine years ago today.
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The Dread Pro-Se Kimberlin alleges that the coverage he receives here at Hogewash! is bad for his business. This is from his second amended complaint in the Kimberlin v. The Universe, et al. RICO Madness.
Musician? Humpf. From my point of view, the biggest obstacle to The Dread Performer Kimberlin’s success in the music business is his lack of talent. I more fully explain my feelings about his musicianship here.
Perhaps his omnibus opposition to all the motions to dismiss (due at close of business a week from today) will offer some crackpot legal theory that will attempt to keep alive the claim “supported” by this allegation.
Stay tuned.
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The link in the post above goes to my review of a CD Kimberlin released a couple of decades ago.
If the Gentle Reader is a glutton for punishment, he can checkout Kimberlin’s talent for himself. Used copies of the Epoxy Nothing Else CD are still lurking on the used market. Here’s an Amazon link.
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