Kram's Content Kuration: Music
an interesting slice into the brain of a man who once re-reads The Hobbit twice a year
Welcome (back) to KCK, a weekly TW tradition wherein Kram takes the theme of the week and recommends content that is semi-adjacent to said theme. This week is gonna be weird cuz Bag chose music which is a recommendation in and of itself.
Per the KCK rules, every KCK will include a recommendation for each of the five major content kategories:
music
film
literature
food
random
Let’s get started
Music (Theme: Music)
This is pretty straightforward. Here’s my synopsis of recommending music:
If you like alt-rock music, listen to Mt. Joy.
If you like weird music, listen to Bears in Trees or Rainbow Kitten Surprise.
If you like country music, listen to Muscadine Bloodline.
If you like “I want to be reminded of 2007” music, type in “Summer Hits of 2000s” on Spotify".
If you like rap music, don’t ask me for a recommendation.
And that’s really all you need.
KCK #1 Music Recommendation for Music: Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood
It’s a perfect album. It contains three bangers: Mr. Misunderstood, Kill a Word, and Three Year Old. Record Year is a bop. Mistress Named Music, Chattanooga Lucy, and Knives of New Orleans are fantastic filler songs.
I listen to MM when I work, when I jog, and when I drive.
If you are going to give anything a listen today, pop on Mr. Misunderstood (don’t you dare click shuffle) and let it run.
Film (Theme: Music)
Honestly this was a very interesting category as an incredible amount of songs were written for film. Here are a few off the top of my head:
“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” at the end of Breakfast Club is iconic.
“Lose Yourself” in Eight Mile still makes me want to run through a wall.
“Ghostbusters” in, um, Ghostbusters cannot be left out.
Rocky wouldn’t be Rocky without “Eye of the Tiger”
Top Gun’s “Danger Zone” is dope
“Shallow” in A Star Is Born will forever be an ideal Karaoke song
I also had to consider movie musicals like Hamilton, Frozen, Greatest Showmen, etc. — even though I hate movie musicals.
But only one song has ever made me tear up on film (and it wasn’t even a movie, it was a TV show).
KCK #1 Music Recommendation for Film: That’s How I Got to Memphis
“That’s How I Got to Memphis” is a classic. Written by Tom Hall in 1968, the song has appeared in a gamut of movies, TV shows, and documentaries. The crooned lyrics are both universal and poetic; an ode to heartbreak and old-school American romanticism.
If you love somebody enough
You'll follow wherever they go
That's how I got to Memphis
If you love somebody enough
You'll go where your heart wants to go
That's how I got to Memphis
I know if you'd seen her you'd tell me 'cause you are my friend
I've got to find her and find out the trouble she's in
If you tell me that she's not here
I'll follow the trail of her tears
That's how I got to Memphis
She would get mad and she used to say
That she'd come back to Memphis someday
That's how I got to Memphis
I haven't eaten a bite
Or slept for three days and nights
That's how I got to Memphis
I've got to find her and tell her that I love her so
I'll never rest 'til I find out why she had to go
Thank you for your precious time
Forgive me if I start to cryin'
That's how I got to Memphis
I have always liked the original song, but I fell in love with it during the finale of “The Newsroom,” the Aaron Sorkin-led drama that went three seasons too short on HBO. THIGTM showed up in the finale’s last moments, a wistful, sweet moment of togetherness before the final breakup of the show.
What stands out to me about the song (and its place in the show (which was a funeral episode) is how clearly it captures the feeling that we are all just a memory away from breaking into song, or into laughter, or tears, or another bottle. Hope and despair are just different shades of life, THIGTM suggests.
This scene is literally imprinted on my brain (tho it will probably seem cheesy to anyone who hasn’t watched the full series).
Literature (Theme: Music)
Ok, so Lord of the Rings is going to play a prominent role in this newsletter because, well, Lord of the Rings has played a prominent role in the life of Kram.
Let’s start this section with a history lesson about the author of LoTR, J.R.R. Tolkien.
The dude was a scholar first and writer second and a very, very close friend to C.S. Lewis (the Chronicles of Narnia guy). He specialized in myths as a scholar and had a particular interest in Beowulf and languages, which led to the creation of LoTR….
Interestingly, however, his love for myth and languages did not originally lead to the creation of LoTR — it led to J.R.R writing verse and epic poetry and building worlds. From there, only once J.R.R had written extensive amounts of songs and outlined all the rules of a world called “Middle Earth”, did any type of story arise from his pen (meaning The Hobbit and LoTR).
So, pretty much, LoTR is more about the songs than about the story and I fucking love that.
KCK #1 Music Recommendation for Literature: The Hobbit
Obviously The Hobbit is the best book in the world of Middle Earth and the best song is sung by the best character, Bilbo Baggins (not pictured because Gandalf smoking a pipe came up first on Google).
“The Old Walking Song” is a song written for Bilbo’s journey back to the Shire. He is celebrating the return home after a long adventure and I just love it:
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long ha.
Food (Theme: Music)
Honestly I have no idea what to write about here so we’re gonna go train of thought. Food. Music. Makes me think of live music and eating food. Wow. That’s not creative. For reasons explained in the past three sentences (and due to my uncreativity) I’m thinking about the best music I have listened to while eating food. Candied popcorn at Billy Bob’s during a Flatland concert. A beer at Red Rocks but not at a Keith Urban concert cuz I was a pussy. One time I found myself at a beach in Maryland watching fireworks and listening to country music while eating out of a bucket of fries.
Anyways.
KCK #1 Music Recommendation for Food: Consume Before the Concert
Here’s all I’m going to say about this:
Random (Theme: Music)
Ok, let’s pitch The Song Game (a card game to pass the time, get to know friends, and explore new music), but as an NFT drop cuz I’m bored and I think that normal music applications like Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora suck and should be more gamified.
Let’s Talk About The Rotation Game
The Rotation Game is a deck of cards with a song prompt written on each one. The Rotation Game doesn’t really have rules.
I usually play it with a group of friends, reading a single card and passing the aux around the circle, allowing each player to queue a song related to the prompt printed on a simple black and white card. There are no winners or losers. Just music, flowing from one recommendation to the next.
“Play a song that describes your future (or current) wife.”
“Play a song about rain.”
“Play a song you would want playing whilst pulling off an Ocean’s 11 bank heist.”
The Rotation Game was birthed from long car rides and many a night sitting around listening to music. Imagine a beat-up Volkswagon traversing the barren grounds between Houston and Albuquerque — nothing but music could fill that eleven-hour drive. Picture an old-school boombox tucked into the corner of a garage, endlessly thumping beats into the late whiles of the night as old friends reminisce.
It’s in these moments that my frens and I created The Rotation Game.
Introducing: The Rotation Game NFT Drop
Over the years, I have come up with roughly 150 song prompts that I have meticulously recorded in a Google Doc. At one point, I started to play the rotation game so much that I printed out a physical deck of cards (which is pictured above).
My idea for The Rotation Game is to release a batch of 1,015 NFTs.
Each NFT will come with the same cover art — “The Rotation Game” in white letters atop a block card. In addition to the cover art, each NFT will give access to a CSV file with the 150 song prompts. I will also link a Quizlet with the 150 song prompts.
At the bare minimum, purchasing a Rotation Game NFT will give a user access to the 150 song prompts that I put together over the last decade.
The drop will come in two tiers:
1000 True Fans (.01 ETH)
12 Superfans (1)
3 Artist NFTs (free)
Now, here’s where it gets interesting.
If the entire drop sells out, I will order 1,015 physical boxes of the Rotation Game and mail them out to NFT holders. I will also add an extra 50 crypto-themed cards to the game (ex: Play: a song that lasts longer than a BTC block or Play: the ringtone Vitalik uses for Charles Hoskinson).
For my twelve superfans, if they exist, I will hand-deliver a copy of The Rotation Game anywhere in the US during 2022.
When/if the mint sells out, each Superfan NFT holder will be able to vote on the following:
whether or not to drop another batch of NFTs
the price point of the new batch
how many NFTs will be minted
In addition, ALL NFT holders will gain access to a token-gated Discord server where they can submit suggestions for new song prompts in later drops.
Problems
Shipping is going to be burdensome
Getting someone’s address is going to be tough
Burning NFT once redeemed
Minting NFTs is costly + technical?
General Positives
If the project does not sell out, the only thing lost is 1) exclusive access to my quizlet and 2) gas fees
Purchasers of the NFT should be incentivized to get the project to sell out so they can receive a physical copy
Learning experience
Conclusion
This is the conclusion.