Cory Henry’s solo on “Lingus”

I’m going to retire this tumblr and leave this post at the top for posterity. The world is dark right now, but about three months back, I found this video which has been church to me ever since.

It’s pretty simple: an upbeat, odd time signatured, fairly dorky prog jazz song played live in-studio with an audience by the funk band Snarky Puppy (oof that name, as though lonelysandwich were any better) and at 4:20, the extraterrestrial genius Cory Henry takes a keyboard solo that elevates it above music, above performance, into religious territory. Watch his bandmates’ faces as he plays. Watch the other keyboardist take off his headphones and stand up laughing because he just can’t take it any longer. They’ve never seen anything like this. You’ve never seen anything like this. This is a man who speaks the language of his instrument with such a profound gift that music is transcended. I believe this solo to prove the existence of God.

But not all by itself. Because once the importance of this solo hit me, I started to research and found that it’s not an unheralded fluke. This solo is a cultural event, and millions of people have been touched by it. This Reddit thread about the solo invites people to weigh in and break down its impact with theory.

This guitarist, Jonathan Asperil covers the solo so virtuosically, so in sync that it seems like a special effect:

This French vocalist, Camille Bertault, scats along to the solo with such effortless grace you’d think she has a MIDI cord plugged into the back of her neck.

So it’s not just Cory Henry’s solo by itself that makes me believe this piece of musical splendor was put on our planet for a reason...it’s the planet’s response to it. If I believed that music were the spiritually divine’s encoded messages attempting to tell us that yes, there’s a truth to existence, and that nature is harmony (which I do), then this is my Bible. I’ll leave it here and wish us all good luck.

QuizUp “Come at me”

Have you played the game QuizUp? It’s addictive, the topics go deep on whatever your obsession might be (mine is Arrested Development, I play as @lonelysandwich) and today, they launched a new version with a whole social thing under it, where you can find and fall in love with people who like what you like. Also, a tumblr-like thing that’s just for following posts specific to the topics you play.

And this video! With me in a silly cameo in my favorite hat.

Bloomberg: Robinhood

I don't think I'll get very many opportunities to be illustrated in medieval friar gear standing between Snoop and Jared Leto and called a chubby stoner, so I'll put this here to remember it as the WSJ stipple portrait that never was.

“Lot 128” by Darren Bader

I’ve been close friends with Darren Bader for eighteen years. His work is always unique, always challenging, sometimes funny, sometimes provocative. A new piece will go up for auction at Christie's next month. Darren is raising money at this Indiegogo page, and the money raised will be put up for auction as art. Proceeds from the sale will go to charity. I made this video. Support the arts.

Maybe my favorite set still?

Me on set for Final, by William Wilkinson (affectionately Willy Wilks), who is a supreme and mutidisciplined talent.

I'm reading the pilot episode of Breaking Bad and this was a fun find. Vince Gilligan knows the evocative richness of a sandwich eaten alone.

Watch

While no one was looking, Apple just took possession of a word no one expected could be owned. Apple of seven years ago might not have been able to just do that. They probably would have defaulted to iWatch. But they've shown they can so completely reinvent and dominate a space that the  is just an honorific, not a part of the name. In six months, when most people refer to their watch, they'll most likely be talking about their Watch.

Permission to Touch

All the tech giants want to touch your body. The end game of course is to touch your brain but the way they get there is by starting on the outside and politely inching their way closer and closer. First, 18" from your face. Then, into your pants pocket. Then...

Well, then, Google tried to put itself on your face like a bad kiss on a bad first date. Amateur move, Google, you dork. You should have been more subtle, more gentle. Look at how Apple played it. Apple gently touched your wrist first. That feels nice. We do not feel invaded. We'll take this slow and see what happens next.

Farting About Fashion

In 2001, the iPod was a new entrant in a new space littered with false starts, attempting to disrupt a well-established product category. Using it necessitated owning a separate, more robust device as a hub. It would be the precursor to the iPhone six years later, which would eclipse its predecessor and eventually overtake the hub device in market significance. Meaning: in ~six years, look out for what the Watch has made way for, the next thing that couldn't have existed were it not for what was introduced today, because that will be the next hub, and will represent the next epoch in personal computing.

Sneak peek at Tuesday's keynote

Push for Pizza

Maximillian and Cyrus, two 19-year-olds from Brooklyn, sent me an email back in March because they and their friends made an app. Push a button. Get a pizza. I said, “Let's make a video”.

You like pizza, don't you? Get the app.