Song of the Day – “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” – David Bowie

Kind of an obvious choice for Halloween, but what do you want for nothing? Enjoy the clip choices made in the video, and have a ghoulishly great day!

Song of the Day – “Toystore” – Pianosaurus

The full name of the song is “(Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the) Toystore” and it’s from the 1987 album Groovy Neighborhood, produced by Peter Holsapple. Those are all toy instruments played by the band, and they manage to make them rock!

iPhoneography Apps: Hallows Eve, and a two-year celebration

On November 7, 2012, I published my first tutorial on Hipstamatic. As I approached the anniversary, I had a request from The App Whisperer site, which also publishes my tutorials (since late July 2013) to do a large set of tutorials in the new app Pixelmator. That will follow in ensuing weeks, but I needed to mark the anniversary first; therefore, I am “celebrating” a bit early. At the end of the article you will find a list of the apps I have covered in the last year. You’ll find that my weekly tutorials have resulted in fewer than 52 apps covered. That is because I had several multi-part tutorials, several procedurals, and quite a few additional tutorials on apps I covered the year before, such as iColorama and Paint FX.

Last year on the anniversary I covered major changes to several apps, because those updates, while not making the tutorials obsolete, required additional explanation. Snapseed, Big Lens, and the Brain Fever apps like LensLight and LensFlare had changed substantially in 2013. There were no major updates among the apps I’ve covered in 2014, so instead I’ll talk about Hallows Eve, a new entry by JixiPix that you might get a chance to use in the next few days before the holiday is upon us.

Hallows Eve is not a subtle effect; but by judicious use of blending in other apps a subtle effect can be achieved.

Song of the Day – “New Music” Wednesday – “Something Blue” – Neil Diamond

Everything about this makes me happy. The fact that this sounds like early Diamond. The fact that the album, Melody Road, was produced by Don Was of Was (Not) Was. The fact that Neil strides through a field, in time with the music, holding a puppy.

It’s cheesy-licious, and oh so good.

Song of the Day – “Name’s the same” Tuesday – “Pickin’ Up the Pieces”

Fitz and the Tantrums – Poco

If you haven’t heard Fitz and the Tantrums, look them up. They do seventies soul in 2014, and they’re awesome.

.

Richie Furay wrote this song with the deathless prose:

Sittin’ pickin’ and grinnin’, casually, you and me
We’ll pick up the pieces, uh-huh

Uh-huh.

Song of the Day – “Images of Heaven” – Peter Godwin

Godwin was a one-hit wonder whose song with his previous band (Metro), “Criminal World”, was covered by David Bowie on the Let’s Dance album a year later.

There was a trend of putting modern songs over this compilation of movie dance clips. This wasn’t the first song to be treated this way, but I like the way it fits.

Song of the Day – “Jack of Speed” – Steely Dan

You know he’s movin’ on metal, yes he’s
Hanging tight with the Jack of Speed

A fine track from their comeback album, 2000’s Two Against Nature.

The album was great, but the DVD from which they pulled this video is even better, combining old and new songs in live versions that are very clean and a lot of fun to watch. Every solo, every backup singer, is clear as a bell.

Song of the Day – “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)” – David Ruffin

This was the debut single by Ruffin after he was forced out of the Tempations in 1968. He was to have only one more comparable hit; being a solo artist didn’t work out for him.

The song was covered within a year or two by the Chi-Lites and the Spinners. Quite a pedigree.

Song of the Day – “How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower” – Emmylou Harris

I contend that anyone who dismisses the entire genre of country music has obviously never heard Emmylou Harris. Here she goes meta with a song about a girl who could sing the traditional American tune, The Wildwood Flower.

It was written in conjunction with the fabulous McGarrigle sisters, and is featured on 2008’s All I Intended to Be.

Song of the Day – “What Do I Get” – The Buzzcocks

Pioneers of punk The Buzzcocks were formed in Manchester in 1975. They disbanded for a while in the eighties, but after reuniting have gone strong, releasing their latest in 2008, 30, and counting on another, The Way, arriving next month.