A Donut's Blog

Saturday, January 14 2012

"Bam" became the tagline of celebrity chef Emeril LaGasse at the start of the last decade.

With Emeril's star having largely faded, a coalition has now proposed a new use for the word. They propose to use it as an acronym to replace the word "Jazz". The acronym's long form? Black American Music, and Nicholas Payton introduces us to the new genre with his new album, "Bitches."

The word "Coalition" may not be the right one. It appears that Nicholas Payton was the first to publish his thoughts on the issue on his blog in a lengthy November entry where Payton simply states several dozen reasons why "Jazz" is no longer a relevant term. A few other musicians have signed on since then although I have been unable to find a listing.

So I give you two pieces of music to compare, both taken from Payton. First is the quintessential "Take Five" from Dave Brubeck. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwNr...
And the second is off of Payton's recent release, "Bitches" (apparently a reference to Miles Davis's groundbreaking 1970 Columbia release, "Bitches Brew") is the original composition "Give Light. Live Life. Love." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXgy...
Not so different, stylistically. Close enough that they can be described using the term jazz, I think. But one has sold millions of copies (over 43 years) and the other would be delighted to sell 100,000.

And that is really the core of Payton's argument -- Jazz is a hard sell in America today. Maybe jazzers should try something else.

With that, "Bitches" provides some interesting new tracks such as "iStole Your iPhone" which melds elements from Jazz, the Caribbean, and Urban music. But take away the vocal track, and its still jazz.

Another part of Payton's explanation is one that flirts with "Occupy Jazz." Payton tries to convolve jazz with the n-word, calling it in a subsequent blog entry "the derogatory j-word." I don't want to touch that one, so I simply quote someone hopefully more versed in the field than I, AllAboutJazz columnist Greg Thomas

Equating jazz with the "n" word, is, in my estimation, not wise.

My total opinion of the project is this: I feel it is a fool's errand for Payton to try changing a genre that has become known for its closed-mindedness, a genre with few living influential figures, and hundreds of academics who will try to defend the original label by psychoanalyzing the statements deceased greats like Miles Davis.

The album itself probably deserves 3 and a half stars on the five star scale. If not for Payton manufacturing this controversy, it probably would have slipped under the radar of almost everyone as being too experimental -- which suggests that Payton's speaking out is having the desired effect. If not for the "BAM" storyline, I never would have heard of the album. It will be interesting to see if the statement causes Payton to be shunned in the future, though.

Wednesday, November 30 2011

James Gilmore headshot James Gilmore Jr. himself was deceased nearly 11 years ago. But his company, Gilmore Enterprises lived on -- until today, when the sale of its final major asset closed.

It seemed to me like this was a good time to look back at a man who had fingers in many industries. By the time he was fifty-one, Gilmore had won a term as mayor of Kalamazoo, MI, purchased a string of car dealerships, operated numerous broadcasting outfits, helped run a family department store, and taken an Indianapolis 500 championship.

Saturday, November 19 2011

Just minutes ago, Mark McVicar said farewell for the final time on the NEWS 25 Sports Channel. As reported by Jacob Newkirk over the last few weeks, McVicar is among those losing their job shortly as Nexstar takes over operation of WEHT December 1, and today's Mater Dei/Guerin Catholic game was the final scheduled local broadcast before the channel shuts down.

During my time in college, I was able to work with several current and former staffers of the NEWS 25 Sports Channel, from McVicar himself to some of the producers, statisticians and camera operators.

I would take the opportunity to work with any of them again if it arose, and I hope everyone lands a position quickly.

Sunday, November 13 2011

The following is a survey conducted on the web by the University of Evansville campus magazine, the Crescent: Internship Importance

Almost 75% of respondents say that you must have an internship experience to be employable. I don't like that idea, but I understand a competitive job market in many industries can force students to become student-interns, or (worse) student-unpaid-interns

It seems to be a commonly accepted fact outside of Evansville. There are a number of universities where 60% or more of graduates held internships at one point. The linked USA Today article covers the main ground that is relevant here, but there's one more thing I don't understand:

Why do colleges charge full tuition prices for internship hours? It costs the school approximately nothing to administer an internship. Not a minute of faculty time is spent on internships (unless the internship is within an academic department). The clerks who do the processing are paid at a much lower rate than faculty, and probably only spend a few minutes on each student-intern.

What service does the university provide that's worth somewhere between $300 and $2500 (depending on your school's tuition prices and guidelines)?

Sunday, September 25 2011

This evening the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for a remote portion of the Evansville television market with approximately 8,000 people and a population density of 30 per square mile. The weather service warned for the possibility of a weak tornado, surely an EF0.

Two of the television stations in the market have the blanket policy that "whenever a tornado warning is issued for our DMA, we will carry continuous coverage."

Combine that with one of those two television stations carrying the Colts/Steelers game when that tornado warning is issued, and the first reaction is to look at the competition: if they don't cut in, we won't either and just hope nothing happens.

When that fails, it doesn't take long for some folks to be upset.

After about five minutes of a fill-in meteorologist fumbling, not knowing what to say other than explain how unlikely it is that there is anything damaging actually happening in a remote corner of the DMA and that he'd rather be watching football too. Meanwhile, the staff in the the control room rigs this up:

Let's back off for a moment and look at the big picture: who benefits from policies like this? Is it the public, or is it only insurance that the media outlets, who make big money on weather coverage, don't get egg on their face by missing even the tiniest event?

I'm not suggesting that these decisions be made based solely on what programming is on the air. I'm suggesting that a decision to insert a 60 second bulletin could have been made because of the lack of severity in this situation. Perhaps, in those 60 seconds, folks could have been directed to watch the competing station for full coverage.

Friday, July 29 2011

Integra Bank is one of three victims of the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency this week.
Integra Bank Headquarters

The Integra Bank headquarters was bustling at dusk this evening as executives, regulators and rank-and-file employees prepared for a long working weekend

Integra was based a short distance from my home, and I held a relatively small amount of stock in the now-failed bank. I don't imagine a whole lot of people care about the fate of their bank, so long as the full faith and credit of the United States Government backs up their deposits. (Which appears to be about 3 more days)

The national news reports about the bank focus on it being the third-largest failure of the year, with assets of $2.2 billion and $1.9 billion in liabilities; the first collapse in Indiana since 2009 and only the second in the whole banking crisis. The national reports indicate how Old National and the FDIC are sharing the losses. But they're lacking the backstory.

When the banking crisis first hit U.S shores, we knew that Integra was in trouble. The bank was losing money before the front fell off the industry. Then Integra took millions of dollars in TARP. $83.5 million, in fact. I saw this number in 2008 and thought that no bank their size could possibly lose that much money, and felt that the company's stock was a relatively safe investment, especially at its price of around $1/share at the time. As time rolled on and Integra began selling banking branches and laying off employees, the investment seemed less and less safe. For about nine months, it has been apparent that a receiver would be appointed after a dismal fiscal 2010 where the company lost more then $9 per share.

From here on out, the future of Integra's 52 remaining bank branches are somewhat unclear. Old National Bank will take over the branches and rename them. It seems certain that some branches will be closed because the two banks most of their geographic footprint. It is too early in the game for Old National to know how they will pick which branches to close and which to save. For example, the combined company will have 23 branches and 71 ATMs with an Evansville address. In some areas, Old National and Integra are a few hundred yards separated; a clear redundancy. I also would expect some branches to be closed in smaller towns like Rockport and Mt. Vernon where both banks had a branch. I suspect Old National will probably keep nearly all of the Illinois and Kentucky branches open, because, although both banks already operate in the state, both have a very limited presence.

By the way, the photo in this entry was taken from the Old National Bank parking garage. You can see another building owned by Old National Bank at the left, in white. One thing that will clearly not get in the way is geography.

Tuesday, July 26 2011

In 2011, Congress has passed 23 bills through both chambers.

I analyzed the voting records on all 23 of those bills, and was shocked to find that 48% of those bills passed both houses by unanimous consent. And in that bastion of partisanship, the United States Senate, 18 of the 23 bills received no dissenting votes.

What are these weighty issues that 530+ Congresspeople have agreed on universally?

Five Laws Rename Federal Properties (post offices, federal courthouses and the like)
Three Laws Appoint Directors to the Smithsonian Institution
Three Laws provided programs for improvements to local airports

Some further bills that faced some opposition in the House but passed unopposed in the Senate:

Ended the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission
Federal Highway funding
Funding for various programs supporting small business
A continuing resolution for the Federal Budget
Authorization for the US's intelligence agencies
Funding to issue to refunds overpayments to the government
An "Interest Rate Reduction Act"

The most contentious bill this year to pass was an the budget continuing resolution 180 "Nays" in the House. (As mentioned above, the resolution passed the Senate without opposition). A close second was the extension of the Patriot Act with 153 "Nays" in the House and 23 "Nays" in the Senate. Almost all of the down votes to both of those bills came from Democrats. Overall, 80% of all "No" votes in both houses on successful bills since January 1 have been cast by Democrats.

By the way, President Obama has not vetoed one bill in the 112th Congress.

Wednesday, July 6 2011

I've written a number of blog posts over the years about other people's legal problems. I mean, "WordPress" and "GPL" are two of my five most-used tags on this blog. But the key point is that I've done it on my blog, a resource for which I pay and on which no one should feel compelled to write a response.

Now look here: http://tracker.phpbb.com/browse/PHP...

I couldn't think of anything better to do than smile.

Monday, July 4 2011

Evansville's fireworks display began this evening at 9:01. It concluded at 9:30. Traffic seemed to return to reasonable, non-congested, levels on all downtown streets around 10:30.

In the intervening 59 minutes, I was able to make it to six problem areas, including both ends of the official detour. I have several observations to make, in brief:

Drivers are unfamiliar with downtown.
Drivers did not plan ahead when selecting parking.
Traffic cops and drivers don't speak the same language.

Consider: At minute 33, there were cars lined up for blocks along 2nd Street at Main in both directions. This despite at least eight officers directing traffic at various intersections on 2nd. A large part of the problem appeared to be drivers who were trying to go west on a 1-way, turn, and go east on the next street. The police were not allowing turns at many already-congested intersections, causing some frustration on both sides. Exacerbating the situation were drivers who stopped their cars in the middle of the street either to ask the officer what his signals meant or to argue.

The other two observations I had went hand in hand. Drivers either did not plan their escapes, or did not know what choices to make to do so. Consider how far able-bodied people can walk in 30 minutes. (1 mile seems OK here) It is less than a mile from any point on the river to the new arena, which has access to a number of streets to get out of downtown.

What were the major problem spots I saw? Basically all of 2nd St., Division St. between Mary and Fulton, and First Ave. at John St. were all congested for a long time. Shorter-term bottlenecks took place on all the "tree" streets -- Chestnut, Sycamore, Cherry, and the like as folks tried to align themselves in a direction to get out of town.

WEHT promoted a story on their late news to this idea. I didn't watch their late news because I was doing the reporting for this blog. WEHT's angle was supposedly that this was a test for how events would unfold at the new arena when it opens in a few months. I'm not sure I agree with this premise because the two classes of events are in different locations with different infrastructure in place. However, it does seem to me that, at least until the visitors to downtown become more familiar with the layout of the streets, arena events will take a long time to disperse.

Monday, June 27 2011

With WTVW losing its FOX affiliation this week, I humbly submit two branding concepts sure to increase viewership.:

NewsWatch7 Turn to 7

"Turn To 7" could even be supplemented with awesome jingles like this: Turn to 4

Nevermind that the two concepts are both based on the logo of two canceled CBS soap operas.

Tuesday, June 14 2011

The University of Evansville yesterday announced they would create a Center for Innovation Engineering in time for the upcoming school year.

“The new center will intensify the practical nature of its programs, and this Kern Family Foundation-supported project will give UE engineering students an extra edge to compete in our global environment.”

From UE press release.

This puts Evansville at the crest of what seems to be a trend of entrepreneurial engineers. Related Post: Review of book "The Entrepreneurial Engineer"

I imply that it is a trend because of reports from the mainstream media. CNN published an editorial from one student who received a $100,000 fellowship to leave college and start his own business. Dale J. Stephens was one of twenty such dropout-entrepreneurs who received such seed money.

The Miami Herald reported last month that young entrepreneurs see their own businesses as their best chance to make at least a little bit of money in a portion of the country were unemployment is 13 and a half percent.

Coming back to Evansville, one of the great things about a degree in engineering is that, upon graduation, you have the skill set to be able to create any number of products that people might find useful. The problem for many engineers is that they have no idea how to go about rendering those services to potential clients. I personally see market openings in which I could have attempted to built a business. Many of my fellow graduates will probably begin to move the same way when they don't find a "job" by the end of the summer.

On another note, the fact that the College of Engineering would rather hire their own entrepreneur rather than depend on the School of Business just a hundred yards away says at least a little something. Schools of Business have been foundering in the economic climate for various reasons. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, graduates with degrees in finance, management, and marketing all face below-average job outlooks over the next 1-3 years. Schools of Business nationwide are facing questions on what needs to change in curricula to help their students in a "new economy." At Evansville, that means that classes in entrepreneurship are being dropped from the requirements for some degrees.

It is also important to note the importance of the Kern Foundation. The foundation is based in Wisconsin, run by the family who created Generac corporation. Evansville is one of 18 colleges to receive the grant, including some well-known names in the field (e.g. Illinois Institute of Technology, Villanova, Boston University). I see every reason to think this is another good decision by the CECS.

Monday, June 13 2011

John King: One of the worst debate moderators I've seen this decade. Partially to be blamed on the format with seven candidates competing to get the most face time in the two hour block. His frequent stumbles on questions frustrated me.

Debate Format: There were at least 10 different people who asked questions. That didn't make the job any easier for King. The number of commercial breaks seemed over-the-top, and the crowd in attendance should have been prohibited from distracting, time-consuming applause. The "this or that" questions also chewed time.

Ron Paul: As abrasive as ever, but he seemed to be the only candidate who gave a straight answer to every question.

Michelle Bachmann: Didn't always seem comfortable, but generally made a good impression on those who were not familiar with her.

Newt Gingrich: As I wrote on Twitter during the debate, Gingrich actually made a few good points. In particular, his response on the immigration question, that some middle-of-the road solution needs to be found. On the other hand, he probably made a gaffe when talking about "loyalty tests" for federal employees.

Tim Pawlenty: Pawlenty's biggest moment in the debate was unfortunately a loaded question. King asked which vice presidential candidate from 2008 was stronger: Biden or Palin. He went off on a rant of how Joe Biden was "always wrong", whatever that meant. His second biggest moment was the opportunity to lambaste former Gov. Mitt Romney on "Oh-Romney-Care." Pawlenty declined, backing away from his comments.

Mitt Romney: Romney had a pretty good night. There were no standout shining moments or gaffes. The other candidates mostly left him alone.

Rick Santorum: Another pretty boring performance.

Herman Cain: Seems to have cemented himself to sit in the 3% range with Ron Paul with today's performance. With his complete lack of political experience, he'd have to be twice as good as the other candidates to have a chance, and he's showing mediocrity and a few gaffes. His comments on Sharia law were just weird.

Sunday, June 12 2011

Flashback: Late Summer 2008. The Evansville Freedom Festival board has an upheaval and decides to split in two. The Freedom Festival featuring Thunder on the Ohio will become the Freedom Festival in mid-June and Thunder on the Ohio in August.

Flashback: Summer 2009. The Evansville Freedom Festival, presented by the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville (GAGE), flops. According to reports in local media, the Growth Alliance lost $300,000 on the festival. Thunder on the Ohio takes place to a smaller than average crowd.

Flashback: Summer 2010: The Evansville Freedom Festival, again presented by GAGE is reduced to a fireworks show on July 4. Thunder on the Ohio is canceled because the board has insufficient money to bring in the "Unlimited Hydroplane" boats which were a fixture in Evansville for 30 years.

Flashback: Fall 2010: The mayor and the Hadi Shrine jointly announce that the Shiners will be taking over planning for the 2011 Freedom Festival, and that the US Navy's Blue Angels will be a part of the show for the first time in 7 years.

Present: The Blue Angels ended up canceling last-minute due to internal problems, but the festival went on. The price dropped 100% from 2009, and the crowd seems to have gone up by 100%. The thing is, there is actually less to do than there was in '09. GAGE brought in a major amusement ride company which operated noon to midnight. That space is occupied this year by the Budweiser Clydesdales, each horse in an individual cage about 10 ft by 10 ft. GAGE had river races, a dog talent show, a BBQ competition, a queen contest, and major concerts (Billy Currington, the Kevin Bacon Band).

All of that: gone. This year's Shrinerfest had smaller regional entertainers from Indianapolis and Nashville. Mike Harvey, a syndicated radio disc jockey appeared to be the headlining entertainment.

But! There were several hundred more people at Mike Harvey's "sock hop" than were there for Billy Currington two years ago!

Ladies and gentlemen, the power of free. If my memory serves me, the best tickets for Currington were $125. The cheapest tickets were $15. The Mike Harvey appearance was underwritten by a Bierstube with a $5 cover, but there was no admission charged if you weren't inside the fenced-off beer garden.

What it boils down to is the fact that the Shriners understand the community better than GAGE did. Even though the attractions are of a lesser grade than the GAGE festival had, the crowds are better despite similar weather. There's no way the Shrine will lose $300,000 this year.

Monday, June 6 2011

There are 32 bulletin boards listed in the Wikipedia article Comparison of Internet forum software (PHP). Only ten of them have had any kind of a release in 2011 so far. Of those ten, only XenForo and BeehiveForum have made feature releases this year.

To me, this is evidence that the products are mature. As "revolutionary" as XenForo was supposed to be, it seems to be running less than a thousand sites. The other commercial developers have made sure to copy the unique features for their upcoming releases (IPB 3.2 and vBulletin 4.1). But even though the effects of competition are meaning new features, I don't see many users clamoring for those features. Some, sure, but not even a major fraction.

Does the relative stagnation mean the products will slowly disappear? I suspect that many of the smaller free solutions will go away. The same for many of the smaller paid solutions. This is more of an effect of fewer individuals starting up their own sites to satisfy their egos.

Sunday, June 5 2011

From Public Policy Polling:

Last week, PPP released numbers showing the political dimensions of the Rapture. GOP primary voters are slightly more likely than the overall public to say the Rapture will occur in their lifetimes (18% versus 11%) and that they personally will be taken up to Heaven if it does (72% versus 66%). Those who think they will not or who are not sure if they will be Raptured favor Romney at 23%, with most of the rest in the low double digits, and the results for those who do think they will be Raptured closely mirror the toplines.

Can I sit in on the meeting where they decide to ask voters who their favored candidate is if the Rapture occurs sometime between 2013 and 2017? And is it a direct relationship that a majority of those polled think Sarah Palin would be Raptured, and would therefore not want her to be President during the Rapture?

More Rapture Polls, Please!

Source

Tuesday, May 31 2011

I had eight of those "Week in Review" posts planned for the first week of the month. Things got in the way. I'll just post a simple timeline:

May 4: Take possession of an apartment across town. Begin to move in.
May 6: Death in the family. My mother was lost to cancer more than five years after the initial diagnosis.
May 7: College Graduation
May 7: Finish moving my stuff
May 8: Mother's Day.
May 10: Mom's visitation
May 11: Memorial services and burial
May 13: Actually move into new apartment.
May 16: Start a full-time job at Ciholas.

I'm only beginning to get settled into new habits. Workin' 9-5, getting used to running a household, and new familial roles all in one month. Its been an adventure, and I'm sure the adventure won't cease any time soon.

Monday, May 2 2011

Second in a series

There are six days until I graduate college and cease formal education. Four years at UE, and there's a lot I want to say. And above all, a lot of people who have been important along the way. The focus is very sharply on people whom I would have been unlikely to meet away from UE.

Brandon Gaudin

For the second day in a row, I salute a person who has left Evansville to work in a larger city. Brandon Gaudin was the manager at WUEV 91.5 for a shade less than two years.

Gaudin is the kind of professional I wish every professional would imitate, always organized and on time.

The reason he gets a note here is because he was the guy who gave me my first shot broadcasting a live sporting event: softball vs. Southern Illinois. It was in this manner that I began to appreciate diamond sports. I mean really appreciate them.

But it was someone else who I really wanted to imitate: one Dan Egierski. The dude has been a part of Evansville sports since the 80s, broadcasting almost every variety of sport in Evansville. Egierski has a very unique style, one I felt was worth immitating. Did I get there? I don't think so, but the experience was priceless.

Gaudin now works for Butler University, and was able to broadcast the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game on 1070 the Fan in Indianapolis. Egierski works at ESPN 106.7.

Just barely got today's entry in under the daily time limit ... will try to do better tomorrow!

Sunday, May 1 2011

First in a series

There are seven days until I graduate college and cease formal education. Four years at UE, and there's a lot I want to say. And above all, a lot of people who have been important along the way. The focus is very sharply on people whom I would have been unlikely to meet away from UE.

Brian Erickson, Part 1

Two years ago, 104 weeks ago, a hundred or more people, mostly in their 20s, gathered for a the fourth Sunday of Easter at the campus chapel. And the sermon began very similar to the above. Two years ago it was the chaplain, Brian Erickson who was preaching for the last time. His sermon settled in with reminiscing about the men of faith who had influenced him. He said that he wasn't one to remember much detail from the sermons they preached. He remembered the big ideas, studied the Gospels, and eventually ended up with the title "Reverend."

I'm not too interested in all of that, though. The reason Erickson was popular among students didn't have a lot to do with the fact that he knew the Gospels. It was because he was (and probably remains) witty and personable. He was also a musician who liked to provide music during the services. At some point his morning, this song popped into my head, and I eventually realized the bizarre syncrhonicity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Gb...

It was slid in at the end of the "farewell" service two years ago.

Erickson and his wife, Mollie, have since moved to Alabaster, Alabama. Their church, Alabaster First United Methodist, has been providing assistance to displaced Alabamans. I hadn't realized until a few minutes ago how close they were to Birmingham.

Thursday, April 28 2011

James Spann has had a few marathons in his life. Yesterday was one of them. As chief meteorologist for ABC33/40 in Birmingham/Tuscaloosa, he spent eight consecutive hours in front of a green screen yesterday, trying to prevent loss of life as numerous tornadoes ripped across his portion of Alabama.

The network of skycams he pushed the station to purchase provided live video of at least two tornadoes on the ground in Tuscaloosa and Cullman.

We can only guess at how much he helped with more than a hundred already confirmed killed in Alabama as the mile-wide twisters moved across multiple densely populated areas, affecting the homes and businesses of hundreds of thousands. If the fatality rate is less than 1%, then everyone involved, not just James Spann, should feel like they accomplished their goal.

James Spann is to Central Alabama what Batman is to Gotham City

(Screen grab at the top was from an earlier event)

Monday, March 28 2011

CBS and Turner Sports this year commissioned a revision of their iconic theme music which has been used for their NCAA tournament broadcasts since 1993. Initially I thought it was only a reorchestration of the theme, but they actually hired a new composer and the new theme has multiple cues for use going into break.

The original 1993 version was interesting to listen to in a full mix, but it had a very intense 90s sound to it: the theme was obviously synthesized. I can still hear Pat O'Brien talking over this theme as he introduced a game between Louisville and Kentucky, as the Eye Device opened up into Rupp Arena. The heavy dose of electric bass and staccato notes in the horn section makes me like this version. I absolutely loved that logo with the Eye Device falling through a netting. CBS NCAA Logo 1993 The fact that the instrumentation (such as it was) varied from moment to moment, giving a possibility to play a few different styles of cuts going to break, and good extended versions as parts of the introduction, as Pat O'Brien did.

1993 was therefore the year that CBS debuted its five note signature which so many now identify with the NCAA tournament.

CBS previously revamped the music in 2004. The version that they created that year was uptempo but repetitive. There was a 4 minute mix of that theme, but it was essentially a loop of about 17 seconds of music over and over, with no real variation in the instruments. The repetitive nature of the theme made me a little bit glad when CBS joined the trend of using mundane rock songs as bumpers from time to time. The composer seems to have added a second voice to the music, as the theme opens with the traditional five note signature. Then you hear low brass (probably a trombone) respond with its own five notes. Every time the main signature is played, the trombone is not more than two beats behind. I feel the composer was trying to bring out the nature of basketball of point and counterpoint as two teams go up and down the court, but he did not consider allowing for variations.

The 2004 update did have some good features though. It was primarily recorded with real instruments (I think I still hear a synthesizer line). The addition of a drum beat was a nice sonic addition. The overall tempo of the piece was appropriate, although a couple of well-placed staccato notes could have provided the variation I was longing for. Overall, I felt this theme was tired by the middle of this season, no doubt due to CBS using the same 4 seconds going into every break.

The 2011 refresh does a lot of what I felt was missing in the 2004 version. The 2011 version opens with the 5 note signature in a powerful form, the response somewhat more weakly, the first part again, and then a triumphant response. The next part sees orchestration gets kicked up a notch for the most virulent version of the 5-note signature to date. For about 10 seconds, it becomes reminiscent of the 2004 update with the trombone line, but a drum interlude has been replaced by a rock guitar (could be a steel guitar, but I'm not certain). Again, the 2004 combined signature/response appears, and the theme ends with an excellent build-up featuring electric guitar, a few well placed trombone notes, and the powerful signature that CBS has been playing extensively over the last two weekends.

To make the "final four" truly four, I will also submit the current ESPN college basketball theme. This theme has a neat signature as well, but it hasn't been through iterations and is only 5 or so years old. The ESPN may be a little too complicated to be memorable, with what appears to me to be a nine note signature.

I give the following grades to the themes presented here:
1993 CBS theme: A (groundbreaking)
2004 CBS theme: C (bastard stepchild)
2011 CBS theme: A- (definitely an improvement; hopefully CBS uses it well)
ESPN CBB theme: B (respectable, but not at the top of its class)

A Donut's Blog

Introducing BAM!

RIP James Gilmore Jr.

End of NEWS25 Sports Channel

Internships: Required -- And Costly

Competition: When It Isn't Optimal

A Requiem for Integra Bank

The Integra Bank headquarters was bustling at dusk this evening as executives, regulators and rank-and-file employees prepared for a long working weekend

Bipartisanship is Alive and Well: Statistics

Want to air your legal laundry? Become an OSS Project!

59 minutes with traffic

Television Branding Suggestion

Center for Innovation Engineering @UE

CNN Debate Notes

Evansville Freedom Festival presented by Hadi Shrinersfest

Development in the Bulletin Board space

The Politics of Rapture

May: A turbulent month in review

Final Week: Day 2

Second in a series

Brandon Gaudin

Final Week: Day 1

First in a series

Brian Erickson, Part 1

James Spann: Superhero in Suspenders

A Musical Final Four

Search

Pages

Categories

Tags

Subscribe