Pop music study proves hip-hop's influence; fans totally not surprised

Of all the things suggested by Royal Society Open Science's massive study of Billboard Hot 100 hits, hip-hop's revolutionary qualities shoudn't have been so surprising.

No one questions the genre's radical sense of identity that came from taking elements from dance, graffiti, and vocal storytelling from marginalized worlds to make something wholly orginal out of separate parts.

But the musicality of hip-hop - the way melodic samples of existing music are chosen and manipulated, the way funk breakbeats are chopped up and slowed down to create an entirely new approach to rhythm and bass -- was entirely new to popular music. And for all the inherent weirdness of attempting to quantify popular culture through this study, it's good to see that innovation acknowledged here.

For all of pop music's lionization of rock 'n' roll and the British Invasion as the defining musical revolution of the late 20th century, bands like the Beatles and Stones were openly elaborating on the ideas of acts like Howlin Wolf, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Phil Spector and Motown. The music got more sonically innovative as careers went on, but it's no knock to say that each of those bands got started by putting an attractive new spin on covers from R&B, rock and blues artists they admired.

Hip-hop (and, to a lesser extent in this study, electronic pop), really was something unprecedented. Even though the genre is built on stock electronic instruments like drum machines and samples of other artists' recorded material, that concept in itself was a measurably new idea that opened up a whole range of never-before-heard musicality. Guitarists and drummers could find their own style, but they were always limited by the structures of their instrument. Hip-hop production turned that inside out, and rebuilt the palette of pop composition by mining its own history.
Home theater installation los angeles.

Projectors installation services los angeles.

Alternatives to Windows Media Center (Make your own Home Theater PC)

Want to turn your PC into a digital video recorder and media center box? For more than a decade Microsoft has made that by offering Windows Media Center. But when Windows 10 ships in the summer of 2015 it won’t include Media Center.

The good news is that there are still some good options available for Home Theater PC (HTPC) enthusiasts.

The bad news is that some of the best alternatives were killed long before Windows Media Center:

    Google acquired SageTV a few years ago and stopped selling that company’s DVR and media center software (although an open source version may be on the way).
    Snapstream ceased development of BeyondTV and stopped selling the commercial version of its digital video recorder software to focus on the enterprise market.

If you want to retain all the functionality of Windows Media Center, Microsoft says your best option is not to upgrade to Windows 10. The company will continue to offer support for Windows 7 through January, 2020 and for Windows 8 Pro through January, 2023.

And if you’re using Windows Media Center with a CableCard to record encrypted broadcasts from your cable TV provider, that really is probably your best bet.
Home theater installation los angeles.

Security cameras installation los angeles.

Brother killed in street race against sibling in San Bernardino

A late-night street race between two brothers turned deadly Wednesday when one of them lost control of his vehicle and crashed into another vehicle, killing himself and seriously injuring three people.

The brothers were racing east on the open, straight mile-long stretch of Highland Avenue about 10 p.m. when the pace of competition quickly changed.

One of the brothers lost control of his 1992 Mitsubishi GT 3000, causing it to slide head-on into a Toyota Corolla traveling west, said Lt. Rich Lawhead, spokesman for the San Bernardino Police Department.

I can’t imagine… what it feels like,” he said of the surviving brother.

The San Bernardino County coroner’s office later identified the dead brother as 19-year-old Mark Anthony Jimenez.

The driver and passengers inside the Toyota were not racing and just happened to be driving through the area at the time, he said.

They suffered major injuries, and one had undergone several surgeries, Lawhead said.

Police tried to talk to Jimenez’s brother, but he declined to give a statement. The brother was not arrested. Read more..
Security cameras installation los angeles.

Home theater installation los angeles.

Stagecoach 2015: Deaf music fans want to have fun too
Should all the fun of experiencing live concerts and music festivals such as Stagecoach and Coachella be reserved only for fans who can hear?

Tracy Halmgean says no, and that’s when she goes to work. For the last seven years she's been coordinating sign language interpreters for both festivals under contract with festival promoter Goldenvoice.

"The music is just one part of all that goes on at a festival or a concert," ‎said Halmgean on Sunday during a lull before a couple of the interpreters she lined up for the weekend — Sara Groves and Jimmy Granger — were going to get busy signing at the Mane stage for three of the biggest shows of the day: Sara Evans, the Band Perry and headliner Blake Shelton.

People who are deaf or hard of hearing, she noted, also enjoy traveling, mingling with others in the desert, availing themselves of food and merchandise booths and the social networking aspects of the live music experience. The only element they can't access as easily as anyone else is what's being played and sung from the various stages.

It takes a sign language interpreter with a special set of skills to put music across to those who can't hear it. Unlike interpreting for students in a classroom, for patients in their doctor’s office or clients in a business meeting, working at a music performance becomes equal parts the technical job of getting words and phrases across and physical performance.

Halmgean said interpreters who are passionate about music — as she is — bring that passion to bear in their unusual line of work.

Home theater installation los angeles.