News from the Mudd

On December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley met President Richard M. Nixon in the White House. Elvis just showed up at the White House that morning and asked to see the President by presenting a letter to a security guard. A meeting was set up for 12:30 that day. The National Archives and Records Administration of the United States has an entire web site marking this event. "Wha...?" you say? This iconic photo from that meeting is said to be the most requested image from the National Archives. Look through the images on NARA website very quickly and you'll get a nice flip-chart effect. It's almost like being there. The Wikimedia Commons entry on this event includes this photo with the helpful description: "Elvis is on the right."

We always love it when Cheryl, our former ILL person, drops by. It's great to see her. We so look forward to the time we can spend with her. She's a welcome visitor any time. Come back again soon, Cheryl!

Holy Hanna, we forgot to commemorate the anniversary of Beethoven's baptism, Dec. 17, 1770. Here's Dudley Moore playing a little fake (but perfectly executed) Beethoven.

Today's first CD pile is a piano-rama, with the exception of one flute (AND piano) recording that slipped in there. And for good measure we bring you another bunch featuring choruses, orchestra, chamber music and music for wind ensemble.

We're smack in the middle of the National Soybean Rust Symposium, which began Dec. 12 and runs through tomorrow, Dec. 14 in Louisville, KY. Seems soybean crops are plagued by a ruddy fungus which, we have to say, would make an excellent name for a rock group.
You can read proceedings from last year's symposium. You can also view related websites, such as "Soybean Rust Advisory Program (SoyRAP)" (SoyRAP, there's another excellent name) on the Plant Management Network website.

It may surprise the young folk out there that what is widely considered to be the first rock 'n' roll recording was done three years before Bill Haley and the Comets did "Rock Around the Clock." Jackie Brenston and the Kings of Rhythm recorded "Rocket 88" in 1951, a recording which had nothing to do with either the space program (then non-existent) or a piano. It was an Oldsmobile. Again, ask your granddad. Please enjoy the audio on this clip and ignore the wildy inappropriate video. We have a recording in the Mudd, too.
One of the people responsible for that 1951 recording died today. Ike Turner, probably more widely known as the Svengali/abusive husband to Tina Turner, was 76. Ike and Tina were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

We can hardly keep ahead of the onslaught. For all of you who have been clamoring for CDs featuring doughnuts, trombone, didjeridu and Brahms piano music, too, today is your day. You can get everything you want in the Mudd's latest CD pile.

Today's new CD pile takes you from Bach to Takemitsu with a stop for some American composers. Take a look.

Frank Sinatra would have been 92 today. That's all (which is a great song and the Mudd has it.) Enjoy some Sinatra, too.

On December 11, 1792, Louis XVI was brought before the French Convention Nationale, the assembly that governed France after the overthrow of the monarchy. Not long afterward the Convention Nationale released a statement that went something like this:

If you had been a nicer king
we wouldn't do a thing,
but you were bad, you must admit.
We're gonna take you and the queen
down to the guillotine
and shorten you a little bit.

The Mudd has some contemporary reports of this event, including a transcript of the trial, which may or may not contain the above text.

Photographs, programs, and other items of holiday traditions at Lawrence and Milwaukee-Downer College are on display in Riverview Lounge in Memorial Union. Traditions shown in the display include the different Christmas cards sent by Lawrence presidents. Traditions celebrated at Milwaukee-Downer College include lantern night and plays put on during the Christmas season. Come and learn about how the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was brought to the United States by a Milwaukee-Downer professor, and why one year it was reported there were no virgins at Milwaukee-Downer College.

The exhibit is up through the month of December.

This latest bunch of CDs carries on the Mudd tradition of bringing you just about every kind of music you desire. Today if you want vocal music, we've got it, both jazz and classical. How about cello? Some nice string quartets? Does symphonic music float your boat? Done, done, done and done.

Discover is the greatest periodical. Naturally the Mudd subscribes to it. The latest issue (January, 2008) has "20 Things You Didn't Know About Snow." We'll let you read about the other 19, but this one is a doozy: Too much snow can drive a person crazy. It seems pibloktoq, a little understood hysteria, can "cause senseless repetition of overheard words and running around naked in the snow." Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye. Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye. Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye.

A bunch of marauders-come-lately have invented a day to celebrate today: Annual Day of the Ninja. While we are all in favor of the quite legitimate holiday "Talk Like a Pirate Day," we are not at all convinced that this ninja thing will catch on. Their suggestion to "wear a ninja mask to work" will most likely result in a call to the local constable. Wearing an eye patch to work, however, will evoke great admiration at your new-found coolness. Pirate versus ninja is like Mac Guy vs. PC Guy on the TV: one oozes self-confidence and the other tries a little too hard.

Who has to win the award for the hippest minister ever? Why Little Richard, of course, whose birthday is celebrated today.

Listen to a few versions of Tutti Frutti, including one by Pat Boone (ask you granddad.) For the real thing, watch the master at work on Long Tall Sally, and then compare the version by a very fine cover band. This recording we've got.
Rolling Stone has an item about the bizarre rivalry between Pat Boone and Little Richard.

Here at the Mudd we don't think The Web is evil. In fact, its beauty lies in the fact that it makes everyone's lives easier and more complicated at the same time. If there were no internet you wouldn't be reading this right now. You'd have to intercept this message using your tin-foil hat.
The latest issue of the online magazine Online is featuring a subject near and dear to our hearts: research. And music research to boot: "Music to Researchers' Ears: Ten Top Sites for Researching Music." This helpful guide, written by a music librarian in California, runs the gamut from Mozart to world music. Unfortunately, as web resources sometimes go, one of the links she's included is no longer valid. It's the International Sheet Music Library Project and if you go to the site you'll get a rather depressing message from the site's founder explaining why he's decided not to go on. Those who value the site's purpose are trying valiantly to get another sponsor in spite of the threats of legal action. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, all of the other sites get the official Mudd Seal of Approval.

A finals week stress relief event will take place Monday, December 10 from 7-9 pm in Riverview Lounge in the Union. The event will include snacks, chair massages, a fire, games, and puzzles. The event is sponsored by the Celebrations and Traditions Team and the Wellness Committee.

Fox Cities Magazine has named Alexander Gymnasium this year's "Great Spaces Great Places" award recipient for "Best Historic Landmark Building." In honor of this award, the current exhibit on the first floor of the library features photographs and other items documenting the history of the first Alexander Gym, located where Youngchild Hall now is, and the current Alexander Gym located across the Fox River.

It's December. It's cold. There's snow. That means two things are certain: fewer students wearing shorts and flip-flops, and the concert season is in full swing. Today's CD pile features some fine performances by well-known artists, and some home-grown talent on LU Conservatory CDs. We'll be dribbling in more LU CDs on future CD piles.