“Among N.B.A. teams, the Lakers are famous for their fame: they have Jack and Penny and Denzel and a whole human gallery of plastic-surgery glamour; the Knicks have Spike and Woody and Chris Rock and a rotating roster of Broadway stars. The Thunder has Wayne Coyne, the singer of the alternative-rock band the Flaming Lips.”(ht mcoatney)
We are all right. We are praying for our fans, and the people of Indianapolis. We hope you’ll join us. They need your strength.The members of Sugarland • In a tweet sent out soon after last night’s devastating stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair, where Sugarland was performing last night. There has been a spate of these lately — just last weekend, The Flaming Lips suffered a bunch of damage to their gear after a similar stage collapse in Oklahoma which took out a massive video screen. And prior to that, Cheap Trick had a stage fall to the ground in Canada, nearly injuring the band and thousands of spectators. The Indiana situation was clearly the worst, however — five lives were lost and 40 people were injured, and those numbers could go up. Devastating. source (via • follow)
The Atlantic plays The Flaming Lips’ smartphone symphony
Alexis Madrigal provides some context:
The Flaming Lips are known for odd musical experiments. They once released a four-CD album that required four separate players to experience. Then there were the boombox experiments that accompanied it.
Now, just in time for Valentine’s Day, they’ve released a 12-part smartphone symphony on YouTube called “Two Blobs Fucking.” When I watched the instructional video, it felt like a challenge I had to try. And I knew that Harriett Beecher Stowe and the other founding editors would be proud if we could harness The Atlantic’s forces for this important performance.
Well, the technology has caught up to Zaireeka, sorta.