Scratching my DJ itch: "Lujon" and beyond

I possibly have too many forms of social media going on at once--Facebook, Twitter, a MobileMe gallery, a Me.com website, a couple of YouTube accounts, to name but a few too many. Heck, I think I still have a presence on MySpace out there somewhere.

So in this new blog-carnation, I want to collide a few worlds and try to mix up my media some. I'll begin by sharing some of the music podcasts I've done over the last couple of years. They're nothing fancy, and I'm still learning tricks and tips with the Garage Band technology I use. But I hope you'll enjoy nonetheless.

I am a frustrated DJ, remixer, and radio presenter. If I thought my recorded voice was better, I might have gone into that line of work, but, alas, no. So now you have to suffer the consequences. And you get to do so in stereo, so to speak, with two music podcasting series I've created--I Pop, Therefore I Am and Pop Tarts, a theoretically condensed version of the longer-form I Pop series.

I'm not consistent with these podcasts--for example, it's September, and I'm still trying to finish a spring-themed podcast I started last March. I'll get to them all eventually, but to tide us over until then, here's another, non-season-specific podcast from a year+ ago, entitled "Lujon and Beyond."

In this podcast, I turned my ear to what I think is one of the most sensuous, seductive pieces of music you’ve probably never heard--”Lujon” by musician, arranger, composer, movie scorer, and--egad, a Renaissance man!--Western Pennsylvanian Henry Mancini. Then you’ll hear how different musicians have interpreted and employed this work to interesting effect in their own compositions. Along the way, there will be other, related sounds to savor--jazz, pop, electronica, and even spy and surf music. As we move forward, I'll try to make connections and draw comparisons. Maybe even successfully.

Here's a link to the podcast. Wish I could figure out how to embed it, rather than burying the link like this, but the missing-in-action approach doesn't take away from the content.

* * *

For your additional listening pleasure--you might also enjoy my mash-up (at least I think that's what the kids call it) of two songs that sample Henry Mancini's "Lujon": Dimitri from Paris's "Souvenirs de Paris" and Hooverphonic's "No More Sweet Music." Because an alternate title for "Lujon" is "A Slow Hot Wind," I call this mash-up "A Slow Hot Mix."

You, however, may think of it as "A Slow Hot Mess," if you so choose.