The brain on jazz

Researchers have been studying at the brains of jazz musicians:

The scientists found that a region of the brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a broad portion of the front of the brain that extends to the sides, showed a slowdown in activity during improvisation. This area has been linked to planned actions and self-censoring, such as carefully deciding what words you might say at a job interview. Shutting down this area could lead to lowered inhibitions . . . .

The researchers also saw increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, which sits in the center of the brain’s frontal lobe. This area has been linked with self-expression and activities that convey individuality, such as telling a story about yourself.

Read all about it:

This Is Your Brain on Jazz (Johns Hopkins Medicine press release)
Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Performance: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation (PLoS ONE)

Related reading
"Self-Reliance" and jazz
All jazz posts (via Pinboard)

(Thanks, Elaine!)

Victoria's Secret "too sexy"

Not from The Onion:

Victoria's Secret likes to ask in its marketing, "What is sexy?" Now the lingerie chain is trying to figure out, "What's too sexy?"

The chief executive of the brand known for its provocative televised fashion shows and alluring stores made an admission yesterday. In her mind, the brand has become "too sexy" — or at least the wrong kind of sexy.

"We have so much gotten off our heritage," CEO Sharen Jester Turney said in a conference call with analysts.

Read the rest: Apparently, You Can Be Too Sexy (Wall Street Journal)

More "Not from The Onion" posts
Jesús Malverde
Outsider outsider artist
Reality trumps The Onion
Reality trumps satire
Reality trumps satire (again)
University of Wisconsin sues over W

Mildred Bailey, the stars, and us

Trombonology at Relative Esoterica has a wonderful post on the singer Mildred Bailey, born 105 years ago this past Wednesday. This post made me think of James Schuyler's poem "Let's All Hear It for Mildred Bailey!" It begins

The men's can at Café Society Uptown
was need I say it? Upstairs
and as I headed for the stairs I
stumbled slightly
not about to fall
and Mildred Bailey
swept by in a nifty outfit:
off-brown velvet
cut in a simple suit-effect
studded with brass nail heads
(her hair dressed with stark simplicity)
"Take it easy, Sonny," she
advised me and passed on to the supper club
(surely no supper was
served at Café you-know-which?)
A star spoke to me
in person! No one
less than Mildred Bailey!

I love the dowdy diction of this passage: the vulgar can next to the swank Café, the nifty outfit, the dressed hair, and of course, Sonny. You can read the poem here. I've taken the lines above from Schuyler's 1993 Collected Poems, where the punctuation differs slightly.

Schuyler's poem made me think of the various close encounters that my dad had when doing construction work in New York City and environs. He once met Doro Merande, who asked "What are you men building?" And he once said hello to Groucho Marx, who moved his eyebrows in response. I need to get a list. Until then, let's all hear it for Mildred Bailey, Doro Merande, Groucho Marx, and those wonderful people out there in the dark — i.e., us.

A related post
A poem for the day (by James Schuyler)

Related reading
Mildred Bailey (Wikipedia)
Mildred Bailey (MySpace, with four songs)

Leap Year card by Roy Doty

[Found at Boing Boing. Click to enlarge. ]

Related reading
Roy Doty

Un candidato luchando por nuestra nación

Mariachis for Obama. ¡Viva!

¡Viva Obama! (YouTube)
¡Viva Obama! with English subtitles (YouTube)

[Translation: A candidate fighting for our country.]

Levitt bankruptcy

Levitt, the company that built archetypal American suburbs, has filed for bankruptcy:

More than a half-century ago, Levitt helped to pioneer the whole notion of suburbia when it built Levittown, a post-war community of mass-produced housing in New York. Other Levittowns followed — in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico.

In recent years though, Levitt and Sons accumulated debt, and with the downturn in housing sales, its luck finally ran out. When the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November, Levitt halted construction on dozens of projects from South Carolina to Florida.

Levitt Bankruptcy Leaves Homeowners in the Cold (NPR)

Related reading
Levittown (Wikipedia)
Levittown: Documents of an Ideal American Suburb (Peter Bacon Hales)
Slideshow: Levittown Through the Years (New York Times)

Jason Dockter, who blogs at insert title here, pointed me to this news. Thanks, Jason!

Chicago Style Q&A

Q. How do I spell MIKE in Spanish? I want to put it with a tattoo I'm getting. Thanks.

A. Unfortunately, my Spanish is a little rusty, but I’m pretty sure it's "Mico." Let us know how your boyfriend likes it when it's done.

The Q&A section of The Chicago Manual of Style Online makes for good browsing.

[A more helpful answer followed the one above: "Note from our proofreaders, who won’t let us make a monkey out of anyone: If you’re serious, try Miguel."]

Everything but the kitchen sink

Hillary Clinton's campaign is said today to be throwing the kitchen sink at Barack Obama. The New York Times quotes a Clinton aide's description of "a 'kitchen sink' fusillade." The sink has now made it to headlines: "Struggling Clinton throwing 'kitchen sink' at Obama."

The idiom though involves everything but the kitchen sink, the point being that the kitchen sink cannot be removed and hurled through the air, even when one is intent upon throwing everything at hand.

Related post
The kitchen shink (sic)

World Saxophone Quartet on YouTube

A YouTube treasure, in four parts: the World Saxophone Quartet performing for schoolkids in Lovejoy, Illinois: James Carter (tenor), Greg Osby (alto), Oliver Lake (alto), Hamiet Bluiett (baritone). The first tune is "Hattie Wall" (Bluiett), the WSQ's theme; the third is "For the Love of Money" (The O'Jays): 1, 2, 3, 4.

And one more clip, with the original quartet: Julius Hemphill (alto), David Murray (tenor), Oliver Lake (sopranino and alto), Hamiet Bluiett (baritone). Yes, that's David Sanborn (who studied with Hemphill) introducing the WSQ on network television.

YouTube theme song

"It's a blessing for mankind, that's for sure."

Ninety-two-year-old Irving Fields, he of Bagels and Bongos, has written a YouTube theme song.

"YouTube Dot Com" (YouTube)
The making of "YouTube Dot Com" (YouTube)

(Thanks, Ben!)