Episode seven was dedicated to songs about science, but we gave a fair amount of leeway in the interpretation of the theme. Gary was the first to arrive and while the salad was being finished and the lasagna was being pulled from the oven, we discussed the theme. We agreed that while there are many songs about science, there are precious few great songs about science.
Gary played an overture for the evening, Passport to the Future by Jean Jacques Perry, a vanguard moog player from the late 1960's
Erik opened with Modest Mouse's We've got everything. A song about people's overconfidence in the progress of science.
Gary was up next with the B-52's Trism, a science fiction number about a transporter device.
Connors was up next with a track from Steve Allen's educational album about the brain. This one is about the limbic system.
Reents played a track from a musical titled You've Got a new Brain about a playwright with a brain tumor.
Madden played Brian Eno's fantastic By This River.
By drawing lots, Madden led the second wave with an early track by Guided by Voices, I am a Scientist.
Gary played The Dandy Warhols, I am a scientist. Before it played we thought it might have been a cover, but once it started playing we quickly figured out it was not.
Connors followed with an amazing song commissioned for a Exxon corporate event titled Up Comes Oil.
Reents played a Lena Horne number from a musical called Jamaica called Push De Button (note that the video cleaned up the title to "the," but the actual title is "de.")
Erik played The Vines Highly Evolved.
Gary drew the first lot for the third wave and played Danny Elfman's Breakfast Machine from Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
(Worth watching is the clip from the movie where this is played, the song comes in at about 1:10)
Madden played Streamlining, a track from Labradford, a Richmond Virginia band.
Erik played Susanne Vega's Blood Makes Noise, which he listens to about twice a year to help empathize with his patients.
Reents played a track from the Guys and Dolls soundtrack, Adelaide's Lament.
Connors shared everyone's favorite, which he introduced with the line, "I'm afraid this one is just as bad as the last." Of course playing Tom Lehrer's fantastic The Elements.
As Gary led the bonus round with Hugo Montegero's Moog Power, Frank arrived-most apologetic.
Frank played Jonathan Coulton's ode to Laika, the Russian canine cosmonaut. A song he wrote in a ridiculous 90 minutes as part of a completion (which he won). Frank relayed that while the party line had always been that she was euthenized prior to her oxygen running out, but in 2002 it was revealed that the cooling system had failed and she died within hours of the launch from heat exhaustion.
Connors played another Corporate song, this one for Clark Equipment titled, logically enough, Hurray for Human Engineering.
Erik played Laurie Anderson's Mach 20. While it played, everyone seemed to have some story to share about Laurie Anderson, though-as is frequently the case-Connors story trumped them all.
With symmetry, Frank closed the evening with Sun Kil Moon's excellent rendition of Modest Mouse's Neverending Math Equation.
