Modern Buddy

Most people's avatars are pretty easy to figure out: their scoot, or a scoot they'd like; a favorite image at the time; stuff like that. But I couldn't figure yours out. So...

Since I work in a building full of EEs, I blew your avatar up, printed it out and asked one of them. He said it looked like a vacuum tube. (To be honest he mentioned capacitors, and inductors and stuff, but my ears kinda glazed over until he said it looked like a tube.)

So John, what's your avatar? And I guess is anyone else wants to come along, what's your avatar?

Ha, I bet the EEs were scratching their heads over that one! In fact that is a bit of the schematic for the variable pitch oscillator section of the original RCA Theremin. For space reasons I had to cut the upward directed line at the top terminating in the antenna.

The story of the guy who invented the Theremin, Léon Theremin (anglicized), is a true, real-life epic. Even this short little Wikipedia entry on his life is enough to make your head spin. He was a brilliant guy whose life was completely caught up in the swirling currents of twentieth-century history.

Dude, thanks for asking!

Always wanted to build one o' these:


$230 or so, including the wooden case.

www.paia.com/theremax.asp

jrsjr, have you ever built or used one?

I know a couple people who have built them from kits, but I've never had the chance to play with one.

Damn... I think I might have just found an outlet for all this extra free-time I've run into. Doesn't hurt that I have a fully equipped workshop and left-over lumber. Jsrjr, shoot me a message if you want to team up to build one of these.

Wow! Never heard about it before. Sounds creepy, like a Bela Lugosi movie soundtrack. And The Thing? Incredible. Thanks for changing your avatar, jrsjr.

One of my favorite songs with a prominent theremin. (Not to everyone's taste, I'm sure—my wife hates this stuff. )
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y_2c_E_c-U0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Something a bit more rockin':
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DgakmlM0zCw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Just learned by Googling around that the instrument the Beach Boys used on "Good Vibrations" isn't actually a theremin, but a similar instrument called a tannerin. Weird because that's one of the most famous uses of a theremin in pop music, but it's not one. Huh.

ericalm wrote:...my wife hates this stuff.

Ha! I totally hear you about that! Theremins are definitely not spouse-friendly instruments, at least not at my house, and it sounds like I'm not the only one. Thanks for the video pointers! In fact I was not familiar with either of those. Very nice. In response to your earlier question, I have played with a theremin, though I've never constructed one. In fact, I was once lucky enough to attend a small lecture by Robert Moog where he showed off what was one of his then-new Big Briar Etherwave Theremin. My spouse had to physically restrain me from ordering one.

ericalm wrote:...the Beach Boys used on "Good Vibrations" isn't actually a theremin, but a similar instrument called a tannerin. Weird because that's one of the most famous uses of a theremin in pop music, but it's not one. Huh.

That's not the only example by far. Wendy Carlos once wanted to use the theremin sound in a composition but she's a perfectionist and couldn't stand the fact that it was not possible to perfectly perform what she wanted. She ended up using some kind of gizmo like a tannerin. Keith Emerson used to use a ribbon controller that he could slide a finger up and down to play in concert to get a similar sound. I thought it was pretty great until he pointed it over my head a fired a flare out of it. Bet the liability insurance guys don't let him do that in concert any more. Heh.

Electronic music, it's not a hobby, it's a lifelong obsession.

My favorite use of the theremin is the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Afro," I always thought it was my favorite guitar solo ever, until i learned it was a theremin solo…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK7vtJlVYi8

Fuuuuuuzzzz at 1:50

And this is an awesome Jon Spencer theremin demonstration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyF_UN8g9f0

If you like White Stripes and/or Black Keys and you don't know about the Blues Explosion, you're wasting your life, ha. And of course before that, he was in Pussy Galore, who once did a cover of the whole Exile On Main Street Album even though three of them had never heard it. It's admittedly not for everyone…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVSh7JHH04g
(it starts at about 1:00 but the intro is the best part)

Bb.

ericalm wrote:My wife hates this stuff.

Your wife sucks.

I wish Jonathan and Wayne would get back together and play some rock and roll again.

ericalm wrote:Something a bit more rockin':

Oooh, if only they'd made a decent video. I think that might be Eric Drew Feldman on theremin, I don't think they ever used it live, even though he toured with them sometimes.

That's right, I'm the 90s Tommy Saxondale.

illnoise wrote:

ericalm wrote:My wife hates this stuff.

Your wife sucks.

I wish Jonathan and Wayne would get back together and play some rock and roll again.

ericalm wrote:Something a bit more rockin':

Oooh, if only they'd made a decent video. I think that might be Eric Drew Feldman on theremin, I don't think they ever used it live, even though he toured with them sometimes.

That's right, I'm the 90s Tommy Saxondale.

The reason the Velouria video sucks: It was their first single to chart in the UK and they were going to be on Tops of the Pops. TOTP had a policy then that there had to be a video for the single in order for it to be on the show. So, quickie video. Then they were never on the show but the video stuck. Or something like that.

I think you're right about Eric Drew Feldman playing theremin on the song; IIRC he used a keyboard when they did it live with him.

The most "OMG, Have You People Never Heard Blues Explosion?" track I've heard is this Hanni El Khatib song in a Converse ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 01SuLHraYI

Re: Jonathan and Wayne reunion: They've both had some good highs and not so good lows apart. I'd be afraid they'd get together and do some experimental BS, like a 36-hour-long track assembled from space noise picked up by radio telescopes and 1000 recordings of Henry Rollins blowing his nose. Not rock and roll.

ericalm wrote:The reason the Velouria video sucks: It was their first single to chart in the UK and they were going to be on Tops of the Pops. TOTP had a policy then that there had to be a video for the single in order for it to be on the show.

All their videos are pretty bad though, except maybe Gigantic (which I think was made later from old footage) and Alec Eiffel. They were not a video band, which is a shame because they were more photogenic and interesting looking than they thought.

ericalm wrote:Re: Jonathan and Wayne reunion: They've both had some good highs and not so good lows apart.…Not rock and roll.

Yeah, it's hard to dis Flaming Lips, and I even like their weird stuff, but I miss the Stinky and Dingus days, not to mention the Ronald days.

Bb.

illnoise wrote: All their videos are pretty bad though, except maybe Gigantic (which I think was made later from old footage) and Alec Eiffel. They were not a video band, which is a shame because they were more photogenic and interesting looking than they thought.

You mean before Frank became the Walrus???

Right, like when I was 22 I thought I was fat and ugly, but that was only because I had no idea how much fatter and uglier I'd be when I was 42.

Now when I look at old pictures of myself, I look downright stunning.

Bb.