Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 January 4

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January 4

Contemporary classical/electronic music question

Probably relates to noise music in particular. I recall a story, possibly apocryphal, of a contemporary musician who shocked his audience by presenting as "music" the sound produced by some food preparation machine or another - I can't recall exactly, but possibly a food processor/mixer or orange juicer. I thought it might be Stockhausen but I can't find any reference to that story on his article or on google. Any clues on the "composer", the kitchen implement involved, and the year? ManyQuestionsFewAnswers (talk) 01:21, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Apologies for not knowing the answer. Your question does remind me of the brilliant use of several household implements in the film The Triplets of Belleville MarnetteD | Talk 01:50, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Not quite the right room, but Living Room Music comes to mind, as well as lots of other John Cage percussion pieces which don't specify the instruments. Staecker (talk) 02:37, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

And here's a Washington Post article about Cage with this tidbit: "Another time, he fed vegetables into an amplified food processor and put a microphone on his stomach to catch the sound of his own gastric juices." No specifics about the piece's title or year. Staecker (talk) 02:40, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

OK here it is: this google book page says it was in 1962, in a performance of 0'00". Staecker (talk) 02:43, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Excellent! Any idea about what the audience or critical reaction was? Is there a possibility the story or perhaps some aspects of it (I didn't recall the stomach sound part) are apocryphal? ManyQuestionsFewAnswers (talk) 03:01, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

muppets four green guys singing

What are the names of the four green guys who are always singing? I believe they have Italian names. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.54.67.160 (talk) 02:20, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

We have a list at The Muppet Show#Characters and a more detailed one at List of Muppets. After a quick look, the only ones with Italian names seemed to be "The Flying Zucchini Brothers" who are acrobats and not green. Alansplodge (talk) 11:57, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

It might be The Barbershop Cactus Quartet (see List of Muppets#Muppets that debuted in Muppets Tonight and their entry on Muppet Wiki), but they don't appear to have names (as far as I can tell). Tevildo (talk) 12:20, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

If you could remember one of the songs they've performed, that would narrow it down a lot.

There are also a lot of nameless "whatnot" Muppets that were costumed up for a single show. They often were used to sing backup. Some of them are green. APL (talk) 02:01, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

I think it was three elvises but they are different because they don't parodizes Elvis's songs and they have Italian names. I am talking about the four green guys. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.231.174 (talk) 18:42, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

"The Muppets Tonight" definitely had a trio of Elvis's. I think they were green. You'd know them because They were constantly saying "thank you very much" in a parody of Elvis's voice. APL (talk) 20:37, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Elvi ? StuRat (talk) 20:53, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Elves (to rhyme with "fat knees"). Third declension. Tevildo (talk) 23:09, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Football

Is the center required to snap the ball away from the line of scrimmage at a right angle? Or can he snap it at a different angle? 71.146.3.27 (talk) 05:00, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

No idea. (But I'm curious. The Wikilinks are great for clarification of your post, and show great skill at editing Wikipedia, but why did you hide the whole meaning behind them, forcing the reader to click on the links to find out what on earth you were talking about?) HiLo48 (talk) 05:05, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

This NFL rules reference[1] goes into detail about it. Executive summary: The snap is a special case of a backwards pass. Anyone on the line can snap the ball to anyone not on the line. That is, it can be snapped to any of the four backs, not to any of the seven linemen. However, if it hits the ground in the process, it's a fumble, and anyone can go after it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:51, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Summary of Bugs's executive summary: The center can snap the ball to anyone of the four players who is lined up behind the line of scrimmage, and can do so at any angle, whether straight behind himself, or at an extreme oblique angle.--Jayron32 00:08, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Don't listen to them. The center has to be straight. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:05, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Does the snap have to be executed using the center's hands? Hack (talk) 09:18, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Yes, from whichever lineman is snapping the ball. From the rules link I posted earlier, "Article 3: Restrictions for Snapper. The snap (3-31) may be made by any offensive player who is on the line of scrimmage but must conform to the following provisions: ... (b) It is not necessary that the snap be between the snapper’s legs, but it must be one quick and continuous motion of the hand or hands of the snapper. The ball must leave or be taken from his hands during this motion." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:50, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. 71.146.3.27 (talk) 05:38, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. 71.146.3.27 (talk) 05:38, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. 71.146.3.27 (talk) 05:38, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

I know I've seen a trick play where the quarterback lines up behind the center (in shotgun), and the center snaps the ball at an angle to someone else in the backfield. Some Googling would probably reveal a video of this. OldTimeNESter (talk) 15:37, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

That would be a direct snap. Clarityfiend (talk) 12:38, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

Troy on Channel 4 (UK)

In their current "Coming Shortly" ads between programs, Channel 4 are making brief mentions of a new series called "Troy". I don't know if it's a local production or an American import, and I can't find any reference to it on their website (or anywhere else online). Does anyone know what they're referring to? Rojomoke (talk) 07:15, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

It refers to one Troy von Scheibner (on whom we have no article as yet), a Jamaican/German magician. This is the relevant page from their website. Tevildo (talk) 11:00, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Musical transposition; Bb clarinet

I have purchased a Bb clarinet which I hope to learn to play. I intend to play with a friend (on accordion), both reading piano music. I know the clarinet is a transposing instrument so that when you read and finger a C what actually emerges is a Bb. Can I not simply avoid a lifetime of transposition by learning each fingering under the name of the sound I make? Are there disadvantages to this I have not considered? Thank you for your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.12.64.149 (talk) 15:33, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Yes, you can do this, however there are a number of disadvantages that may outweigh the present advantage when playing with your friend. Primarily, if you learn the fingerings of the notes that are off by one whole step, you will be stuck in two ways - one, you will have to always be playing along with C instruments, and two, you will always have to play from music written in C. In addition to this, the music written for clarinet is written for a B flat instrument. That means that the arranger has a already taken into account the fact that the clarinet plays one whole step lower than written. Every single piece of music that you pick up that says for B Flat instruments, or for B Flat Clarinet on the top will require you to transpose back into the natural key for the clarinet. All your efforts learning the wrong keys and fingerings will be for nothing.

If you read music now, it would be a good exercise to simply transpose your part from the piano music into B flat and write it out. If you don't read music, do the same thing as a tool for learning musical notation, which you will need if you plan to continue learning on your clarinet. Romantic Mollusk (talk) 16:28, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

See Transposing instrument for a good explanation of what this is all about. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:33, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Learn to do it right unless you never want to play with other wind instruments; you'll want to have a common language of discourse, and a clarinet player expects you to refer to that note you play in that way as a C, not as a Bb. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 19:34, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Old hoverbike soccer game

I'm looking for the title of an old game I had years and years ago. It was one of the first polygonal 3D games I remember playing. Basically, it involved playing a sort of soccer-like game played on hoverbikes. I can't remember many more details about story or gameplay, sadly. For timeframe, I believe I got it the same Christmas I got The 7th Guest, so it probably came out around 1994. It was probably for Mac. Horselover Frost (talk · edits) 16:13, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Perhaps Ballblazer, or (given your timeline and machine) one of the remakes or clones of it mentioned in that article. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 00:01, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Jesse Michaels' birth date

When was Jesse Michaels' birth date? The article currently has two, they're unsourced, and I can't find a reliable source for either. benzband (talk) 20:09, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Nope! Couldn't find a source either - almost everything out there seems to have been sourced from Wikipedia! Alansplodge (talk) 19:25, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Thankyou Alansplodge, I'll remove the birth date(s) from the article then. benzband (talk) 20:14, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Good idea; see WP:DOB.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:24, 6 January 2014 (UTC)