Category Archives: Music

Chinese street extortion as entertainment.

Peng Ci, as the Chinese call it, is a scam where a person will go out in public, pretend to be injured by another person’s clumsiness, and then try to extract money or favors from the person they accuse of injuring them. I’m sure it’s not only a Chinese thing – in fact, I suspect it even explains an odd public interaction my wife and I were confronted with right here in the US a few years ago – but this American living in China was inspired to make what is actually a pretty catchy tune out of it.

Free music all the time, any time.

YouTube has dozens of channels that provide background music of various styles. Some are videos of multi-hour length, others just live stream 24/7. Depending on your lifestyle and your musical interests, this could conceivably be cheaper for you than a Spotify or other subscription, especially if you’re like me and have YouTube Premium, which eliminates ads.

If you haven’t heard Klezmer music you need to.

OK, I’ll admit it might be an acquired taste, but try it once. Klezmer is a style of folk music that comes from the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. I think it dates back at least to the 1700’s but from what I can tell it’s been active ever since. Remember the song “If I Were A Rich Man” from Fiddler On The Roof? That’s like a “See Spot Run” introduction to Klezmer.

Rick Beato is so cool.

He’s a rock musician who has taught music theory in colleges and can analyze the technical side of any song, but still likes it just because it’s rock and roll. Anybody who likes pop music will like him, but I can’t shake the feeling that boomers will like him roughly10% more.