From the Record Collection- (4 of 8) "More Songs..." by Talking Heads

It is a busy night for sports and politics here in the United States, as Virginia Tech and the University of Michigan, my late father's two alma maters are playing in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Meanwhile, Republicans are holding the Iowa Causes. NPR and "USA Today" have both projected that Mitt Romney has the leading going into tonight.

But, even at busy times like these, it feels like there are few things better than listening to old, vintage vinyl records. And, amongst the ones I have, few of them are played as often as "More Songs About Buildings and Food," the second studio album by Talking Heads which was released in 1978.

The album, which runs 41:32, includes the single "Take Me to the River," which is a cover of a version that rhythm and blues singer Al Green released in the early '70s. Other great songs on "More Songs..." include "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" and the catchy tune "The Girls Just Want to be With the Girls."

"More Songs..." marked the first of three collaborations between Talking Heads and legendary producer Brian Eno, who has also worked with David Bowie and U2. The album got critical praise, but it didn't sell well upon initial release.

But, "Take Me to the River" made it to number 26 on the charts, and strangely enough it lead to Talking Heads appearing on "American Bandstand." Given that the band is an artsy New Wave punk band, one might sooner expect to see Toby Keith on "Austin City Limits" today.

The band consisted of lead singer David Byrne, who also designed the amazing art work on the album's cover which consists of many tiny Polaroid photos, drummer Chris Frantz, his wife and bass player Tina Weymouth and keyboardist/guitar player Jerry Harrison, who has since become a successful music producer since the band's split in 1991.

Casualties of Modern Technology_ Polaroid 600s (4 of 12)

Amazingly enough, we actually learn things while researhing entries that we were completely unaware of. We had presumed that Polaroid cameras were completely off the shelves, as we say here in America, but there are actually at least two new Polaroid cameras: the Polaroid 300, which is more economical, and the Polaroid Z340, which is more cool.

But, it still seems like a safe assumption that the Polaroid 600s, the ones that most of are familiar with (pictured) have gone the way of the dinosaurs (well, except for Barney).

According to Wikipedia, the first Polaroid instant cameras (the model 103s), which were quite bulky, were developed by American scientist Edwin Land (1909-1991).

Polaroid, a camera that both Andy Warhol and David Byrne* used in their art, actually discontinued making instant cameras altogether in 2008, but in October 2009, they were reintroduced in their current forms.

The Polaroid Z360 goes for circa $300, while Polaroid 300s go for about $70. Used Polaroid 300s can still be found on e-bay or amazon.com; prices vary.

*- The lead singer of Talking Heads, a band which has broken up, is also known for his art work and photography; he even directed a film!_ ("True Stories").

SIDEBAR ONE: While we intend for this blog to be an escape and refuge from everyday insanity, we did want to send our thoughts and condolences to the family of Deriek Crouse, the Virginia Tech campus police officer who was killed yesterday in Blacksburg, Va. So far, no motives for the homicide have been determined or reported to the media. The likely assailant was also killed or found dead on campus.

"The Collegiate Times," the student-run newspaper for Virginia Tech, has an article about the exam delays. Exams that were originally scheduled for today will now be made up on Saturday, and Monday exams will go on as scheduled. This has caused major inconveiences for some students. The source quoted a student from Iceland who said she had plane reservations to fly back home on Saturday, and she was working with her instructor to take the exam before her flight.

SIDEBAR TWO: Last week, we asked: "What do William Shakespeare, Che Guevara and Jesus Christ have in common?" Our answer at the time was they each had bobblehead dolls in their image. That is actually correct, but there is another thing these three seemingly radically different individuals have in common.

Yes, they all have active Twitter accounts?! For some reason, pretending to be a person who is no longer alive is trendy both on Facebook and on Twitter.

The man pretending to be Che Guevara (well, there are actually several others on Twitter) is a man in Turkey, which now means we can all jokingly say: "Che Guevara Turkce konustugunu hic bilmiyordum," which translates to 'I didn't know Che spoke Turkish,' which sounds much funnier in Turkish.

All three have considerably more followers on Twitter than the average person or entity. Of course, as one might expect, Jesus leads the pack with an astonishing 379,976 followers, that is as of yesterday. William Shakespeare has 7,582, and the Turkish Che Guevara has 2,236 people digging his tweets.

Amadeus in Bethesda- Easy Rider (2 of 3)

The next morning was a bit hectic as there were many people from Saudi Arabia staying at our hotel, and since many Saudi families can consist of one man, two or three wives, and many rugrats, there was considerable commotion. We think that there may have been 45-50 people in the group, and they were being loud well into the night. Since I am a Turkish-American myself, I am careful about stereotyping people, but there were at least a few people in this delegation that were a bit rowdy.

One of the interesting things about the Saudi group was that some women were covered in black veils in which one could only see their eyes, and some of the 'more progressive' women were simply wearing designer headscarves. It also surprised to see that many of the women were wearing European style shoes which revealed their feet and toes. I suppose there is no notion in conservative Islamic circles that a woman with a lavish pedicure can be as seductive as a woman with blonde hair.

So, we did hop on the DC Metro. Mom was a bit agitated since she decided to skip the continental breakfast. I was full, but I had just eaten one of the worst bagels in my life. We soon dined at a cafe near the Sculpture Gallery adjacent to the National Gallery.

Since we had accidentally gotten on the red line instead of the orange line on Thursday, my mom was convinced we were lost. So, I asked some tourists from Frankfort, Ky., who had traveled even farther than we had, for directions. They had a DC map; we did not. And, they made us feel secure that the National Gallery was just a few short steps away.

We got to the Gallery around 11:00 a.m. Mom demanded that we head straight to the Gaugins and 'get it over with.' There were impressive paintings that the French master painted in both his native France and Tahiti. Since Gaugin's paintings are more erotic that many artists of his generation, I have noticed that Barrucuda actually blocks some of them on Internet search engines perhaps just as the mullahs in Iran and Afghanistan would do!

Four of the Gaugins that were part of the exhibition included "The Yellow Christ," "Spirit of the Dead," "Self-Portait" (1889) and my personal favorite "Two Tahitian Women," which shows two topless women holding mango blossoms.

While researching this piece, I learned that the painting was actually 'attacked' at the National Gallery in early April by a woman who yelled: "This is evil!;" we have no idea if she was a tea partier from Fort Mill, SC. Fortunately, the painting was protected by plexiglass and no damage was done.

After seeing the Gaugins, we gazed at some paintings by the Dutch master Gabriel Metsu, including "Man Writing a Letter" and "Lady Reading a Letter," both of which were completed in 1665.

Then, we followed that up with photographs by the acclaimed, living California photographer Lewis Baltz, who is arguably best known for his hidden camera-taken photograph "South Laguna" (1972) which features a Buick as its centerpiece.

Lastly, we headed to the tower of the museum to see a small, but startling exhibit by the late South Korean performance and technology artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) who reminded me of both Andy Warhol and David Byrne (of the band Talking Heads); the most impressive piece on display by the artist involved closed circuit tv images revolving around a statue of Buddha!