Ted

Growing up, in the relatively small town I grew up in, I encountered a few people repeatedly over the course of my life. One of those people was named Ted. He was an extremely bright kid; we were in the gifted program together (which involved a lot of fistfights and marker huffing - it's a long story) and eventually in High School together too. He was one of the hardest working and most intelligent people I've ever met. He is charming, able to make conversation and jokes, interested in music, and athletic. He is one of those rare people whose brilliance is unmistakable and completely uniform across his personality. He's almost done with medical school now, and should be starting his residency soon. And his brilliance reminds me of the people I've seen talking at TED.

I think that by now, most of us (that is, geeks) have seen at least one or two TED clips. Usually, people have seen then one with the Wiimote:



Or the one with Photosynth:




But there are also some others that are either entertaining, or touching, or inspiring. I'm listing five of them here, not in any particular order, and why I think they're great.

1. John Hodgman



Hilarious. What makes this one so great is Hodgman's ability to not just say ridiculous things, but to point out how easy it is for a man with glasses to seem knowledgeable. I highly recommend his book.


2. Ben Dunlap



This is one of the first exposures I had to the TED talks, and is absolutely fascinating. Dunlap's voice, his story of the life of this fascinating man Tessla, and his enthralling delivery, make it a captivating oration on a par with any of the great theatrical or film performances I have ever seen.

3. The Raspyni Brothers


As a juggler myself, I admire their skills. I also like that old-school cheeseball comedy.

4. Michael Shermer



Usually I don't like this guy. I read his articles, and I think he's kind of an annoying ass in his writing a lot of the time; he has the same obsession as a lot of people with quantitative data as a basis for everything, not just systematic data. But, as a scientist, I think his presentation is useful in showing people that seeing and believing do not make a thing so.

5. I'm going to bed, because it is 0500. Go to the TED Website and find a favorite of your own. I recommend Dave Eggers.

Performance

I have a problem. A lot of the music I have been learning lately has been filtered through some great performers. So the problem is, I learn their version, and not the original. The clips above and below are perfect examples. In my opinion, the version above is vastly inferior to the version below. The song is basically the same, but below, it is filtered through the incredible style of Chris Smither.



I don't think I would have seen the potential for that song, much less have had the wherewithal to actually rewrite it in a way that turned it into such a great number. Similar things can be said of Smither's renditions of "Memphis in the Meantime" by John Hiatt, "It Ain't Easy" by Ron Davies, and, if I'm honest, most of the other covers he does.

What troubles me about this is that I feel like I ought to be listening to crappier music. Smither obviously heard these songs somewhere, and took the time to memorize them well enough to do a new arrangement of them. Which means that either my personal guitar hero must have shitty taste in music, or a great musical insight, which I lack. Moreover, I feel weird doing a cover of a cover, but I really enjoy playing these songs.

There is of course a third possibility: that I have neither a specific musical voice, nor an ability to see the good in a song aside from the performance. While it's possible that this is true, I, like all musicians have no choice but to pretend that it is not, or it would make what I do pointless. So I guess I'm going to stop worrying about it, and proceed as I have been.

I'll end on a very rocking number, performed by Alvin Youngblood Hart: "Big Momma's Door," with the tab (by AdrianD) following. You'll have to paste it into notepad to see it proper-like.

Intro:
.
D-|--0-------0----------------------|--0------------------------------|
B-|-/3------/3-------3---------3----|-/3-------3--------3-------------|
G-|--0-------0-------5-----3---5----|--0-------5---3p0--5----3--------|
D-|---------------------------------|----------------------------5~---|
G-|------0-------0-------0-------0--|------0-------0-------0-------0--|
D-|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
.
D-|---------------------------/3----|---------------------------/3----|
B-|--------------------0------/3----|------------------------0--/3----|
G-|----------------0---0------------|------0-------0-----0---0--------|
D-|----------------0----------------|------0-------0-----0------------|
G-|------3b--0-------0-----------0--|------0---3b--0-------0-------0--|
D-|-/5----------/5------------------|-/5--------------/5--------------|
.
D-|----------------------------0----|
B-|------------------------0--/3----|
G-|------0-------0-----0---0--------|
D-|------0-------0-----0------------|
G-|------0---3b--0-------0-------0--|
D-|-/5--------------/5--------------|
.
.
Verse:
.
D-|--3h5-----3h5-----3h5---5---3----|--3h5-----5-------3-----5---0----|
B-|--3-------3-------3---------3----|--3---------------3-----3---3----|
G-|--0-------0-------0---------0----|--0---------------0-----0---5\4--|
D-|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
G-|------0-------0-------0-------0--|------0-------0-------0-----0----|
D-|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
.
D-|---------------------------/3----|---------------------------/3----|
B-|--------------------0------/3----|------------------------0--/3----|
G-|----------------0---0------------|------0-------0-----0---0--------|
D-|----------------0----------------|------0-------0-----0------------|
G-|------3b--0-------0-----------0--|------0---3b--0-------0-------0--|
D-|-/5----------/5------------------|-/5--------------/5--------------|
.
D-|----------------------------0----|
B-|------------------------0--/3----|
G-|------0-------0-----0---0--------|
D-|------0-------0-----0------------|
G-|------0---3b--0-------0-------0--|
D-|-/5--------------/5--------------|
.
Ending:
.
D-|------0--------------------------|
B-|-----1---------------------------|
G-|----0----------------------------|
D-|---2-----------------------------|
G-|--3------------------------------|
D-|---------------------------------|

Ragtime