Round of 256: Division F, Day 1

Posted on February 17, 2011 by g-mo

I have to publish this a little early- I’ve had a bizarrely fruitful and simultaneously stressful mile-a-minute week, it’s not over yet, and I won’t have internet or free time after now until tomorrow afternoon. I do want to at least make sure you guys have the next round of match-ups though. Votes for E1 are still due at 9 am EST tomorrow, but I won’t get the results up until around noon or so. Votes for these songs are due Sunday at 8 pm (back to nighttime for Janos)- Grooveshark link is here, comment below to vote or e-mail LTDdotorg@gmail.com. Let’s go, music.

#1 The Weight (The Band) vs. #16 Wonderwall (Oasis)

#8 Tonight, Tonight (Smashing Pumpkins) vs. #9 Come On Eileen (Dexy’s Midnight Runners)

#4 Over The Hills and Far Away (Led Zeppelin) vs. #13 Rock And Roll (Velvet Underground)

#5 Suspicious Minds (Elvis Presley) vs. #12 Busted (Ray Charles) I love this match-up. Funny how things work out sometimes.

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LTDMT: Round of 256, Division E, Day 2

Posted on February 17, 2011 by g-mo

Finishing up Division E…and man does the right side of the bracket look different than the left side. Well, to the races. Four of these eight move on. Last chance dance for both White Stripes and Arrested Development- a propos, I like the idea of those guys in some Fight Club style welterweight basement fight, with all the other big dogs watching and nodding in approval. Grooveshark link is here, except for “In My Life” (in case you’re new, the Shark doesn’t do Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins, a few others. So just youtube it or listen to your own version for cases like this.)

#2 Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin) vs. #15 Ruby Soho (Rancid)

#7 Seven Nation Army (White Stripes) vs. #10 Tennessee (Arrested Development)

#3 Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) vs. #14 Graceland (Paul Simon)

#6 In My Life (Beatles) vs. #11 Burning Down The House (Talking Heads)

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LTDMT: Round of 256, Division D, Day 2 Results

Posted on February 17, 2011 by g-mo

So if anyone caught a glimpse of my sweet explanation of standard deviation that was up for exactly 5 minutes, sorry for boring you. After a recount and a look in the Spam folder to pick up some more votes that for some reason went there, we have modified results. Can’t do too much narrative, gotta run to an interview in a hot sec.

Respect takes American Music, 107-102.5.

Let’s Spend The Night Together over Sweet Jane, 94-91.25.

Fool In The Rain beats Gimme Some Lovin’, 104.25-96.

Buffalo Springfield records the top score for the day and defeats The Only Living Boy In New York, 111.5-94.75. Those are the guys in that picture, by the way. I figure if you get to the Round of 128 people should have some idea of what you look like.

Out of the tournament: Spencer Davis Group.

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“I for one welcome our computer overlords.”

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Janos Marton

I was walking down 7th Avenue earlier tonight, explaining the story of the indomitable  computer, Watson, to my co-worker.   IBM spent four years designing Watson, whose 3-day Jeopardy! battle against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter aired this week.   Watson, unconnected to the internet, was to rely on his analytical skills and deep database in going head to head against arguably the two greatest humans ever to compete on the quiz show- Jennings won a record 74 times in a row, and Rutter set the record for most money accumulated in a single game, then triumphed in the Tournament of Champions.   Watson crushed them.

I was describing, in vivid terms, the savage beating Watson had administered on Jennings and Rutter, when a voice behind me yelled, “Watson sucks! Root for the humans!”

I half turned, saw a man a few steps behind me, and replied, “Of course!  You gotta root for the humans.”

I looked back again and saw the man branching off on 51st street, a blonde woman on his arm.  She laughed.  “You’re talking to one of the humans.”  That’s when I realized the man behind me was none other than Brad Rutter!

I raised my first and yelled, “Go humans!”  He smiled, raised his fist in the air, and turned the corner.  I kind of wanted to chase and ask about how Watson was able to buzz in first on nearly every question.  Couldn’t a human anticipate a question halfway through better than a computer?  But after trashing his performance for two blocks with him walking right behind me, and then not recognizing him, I figured it was best to let things rest.

Not that he totally disagreed with my assessment.  Finishing a distant second place tonight, Rutter added a little note to his Final Jeopardy! answer:

“I for one welcome our computer overlords.”

CORRECTION AND UPDATE:  It turns out Jennings, not Rutter, uttered the quote that titles my post.  Well, all for the better.  No need to welcome those f’in computers yet.  I stand with Rutter in support of the human race.

Also, Brad and I are now following each other on Twitter, and he seems to be a good dude.  A better rep for the Human team if Watson’s got the balls for a rematch.

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LTDMT: Round of 256, Division E, Day 1

Posted on February 16, 2011 by g-mo

New pair of days and a new division. And some big-time artists involved in last stands here- we’ll have to see how it all shakes out for everyone. Grooveshark Playlist is here, except for Here Comes The Sun, votes are due by Friday, Feb. 18th at 9 am EST. Vote by posting a comment or by e-mailing LTDdotorg@gmail.com.*

Note: We’ve been having some tech issues with our Grooveshark account lately. My suspicion is we hit the max for # of playlists associated with one account and now it’s confused. fixing this, in the meantime this playlist associated with my personal acct should work.

#1 Beat It (Michael Jackson) vs. #16 Paper Planes (M.I.A.)

#8 Maggie May (Rod Stewart) vs. #9 We Didn’t Start The Fire (Billy Joel)

#4 Break On Through (Doors) vs. #13 We Won’t Get Fooled Again (Who)

#5 Here Comes The Sun (Beatles) vs. #12 Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love (Barry White)

Last song stands for M.I.A., Rod Stewart, The Doors, and Barry White.

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LTDMT: Round of 256, Division D, Day 1 Results

Posted on February 16, 2011 by g-mo

Born To Run vs Three Little Birds was the name of the match-up to watch for this round. Lotta back and forths, including at least one 10 for each of them. In the end, Bruce generally kept a slight advantage over Bob and ended up on top, 125.5-118.5. Born To Run pulled three 10’s, from adam, Jordan, and myself, and is the first song to earn two nods to the Wall of 10’s.

(I originally had Born To Run’s album cover up, then remembered this thing from the 80s and…well, I hope the picture cheered you up a bit this morning. Hump day, people, let’s do the damn thing)

Don’t Stop Believing seemed to be coming up against a few instances of inexplicable hate, but continues strong and defeats Don’t Fear The Reaper 137-105.75. Still, everyone should watch this if you haven’t seen it as we bid our farewell to Blue Oyster Cult. (Note on this: if a voter only votes for one song and doesn’t submit a vote for the other one, we’re considering that the equivalent to a 7-5 split; we don’t know whether __ = “0”, or __ = “my boss came in and I had to alt-tab my way to seeming productive, and when I came back I forgot to put in my second score.” There was one instance of that here, so for future reference…)

Giving Journey a run for their money for high score: didn’t Janos say something about Simon & Garfunkel being underappreciated? Mrs. Robinson takes its match-up easily, 135-112.5.

Last, and maybe biggest upset to date, 13 seed All Apologies squeaks past 4 seed Hotel California, 120.25-117.5….and knocks the Eagles out of the tournament! I only checked the low seeds on the potential knock-outs earlier, but on further review…yes, the Eagles are dead. That’s exciting, yes? Nirvana has no apologies for Don Henley.

Eagles and Blue Oyster Cult out. Ramones 0-1 with one left. Marley 0-1 with three left.

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LTDMT Round of 256: Division D, Day 2

Posted on February 15, 2011 by g-mo

Division D has one really disparate match-up, but three that fit nicely for genre/tempo.  Grooveshark link is here (really here now, as of 12:23 pm) or you can e-mail your votes to LTDdotorg@gmail.com. Votes due by Thursday, Feb. 17th at 9 am. Last stands for Buffalo Springfield and Spencer Davis Group (and Steve Winwood by default, who lost a solo play-in months ago.)

#2 Respect (Aretha Franklin) vs. #15 American Music (Violent Femmes)

#7 Sweet Jane (Velvet Underground) vs. #10 Let’s Spend The Night Together (Rolling Stones)  [Note on this: I remember Brian, Janos, Cristina, and myself being really confused about the bridge on Sweet Jane during NYE voting. I looked into it, got this from the Wiks: “When Loaded was originally released in 1970, [Sweet Jane’s] bridge was edited out. The box set Peel Slowly and See and reissue Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition restored the missing section.” Since it was the original recording without the edit that advanced, we’ll keep using that one, but that’s why it might seem a little different.”]

#3 Gimme Some Lovin’ (Spencer Davis Group) vs. Fool In The Rain (Led Zeppelin)

#6 For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield) vs. The Only Living Boy In New York (Simon & Garfunkel)

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LTDMT Round of 256: Division C, Day 2 Results

Posted on February 15, 2011 by g-mo

So apparently 30% of regular tournament participants have at some point walked in the snow and had a spiritual moment listening to Tunnels. I think I felt something close this morning while listening to it and walking my dog alone around a lake in the pre-dawn chill. Regardless, Arcade Fire is definitely coming to each match-up elbows up. Tunnels and Sunday Bloody Sunday rocked back and forth for 48 hours, and AF looked almost out for the count after the 1-2 “3” drops of Meghan and Meghan’s dad. But it came roaring back and ended up on top 144.5-141.25. Three 10’s for Tunnels: Colin, Brian, and sweetems, so they’ll join the Wall of 10’s. U2 falls to 0-2 in the Round of 256 (probably too early to say “uh oh”, but uh oh?)

Hey Ya never lost the lead on You Oughta Know, 153.25-124.

There were moments where “Livin’ On A Prayer” had the slight lead on “Sympathy For The Devil,” but the Stones finished stronger in the home stretch than Bon Jovi and took this one, 146.5-140.

High score for the day from….an 11 seed? That’s correct. Jeff Buckley’s cover of “Hallelujah” defeats “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5, 155.5-143.

Out of the tournament: Alanis, Bon Jovi, and 4 of the Jackson Five. Looking forward, the Round of 128 match-up between Hey Ya and Tunnels should be interesting.

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Music Tournament Round of 256: Division D, Day 1

Posted on February 14, 2011 by g-mo

Alright team, let’s get into this. Good to be back at the helm. As I mentioned in my results post, we will be pushing back the post times from night to morning for D, E, and F. The votes for D(1) will be due Wednesday morning the 16th at 9 AM. Grooveshark link is here, or e-mail votes to LTDdotorg@gmail.com.

Also, check it out: Steve Perry DID invent the fist pump.

#1 Don’t Stop Believing (Journey) vs. #16 Don’t Fear The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult)

#8 Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen) vs. #9 Three Little Birds (Bob Marley & The Wailers)

#4 Hotel California (The Eagles) vs. #13 All Apologies (Nirvana)

#5 Mrs. Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel) vs. #12 Rock ‘N Roll Radio (Ramones)

Surprisingly enough (well not surprising if you look at their names,) most of these bands are not facing elimination. The only one’s are the Don’t duo- whether it’s Journey or Blue Oyster Cult, either will be out of the tournament with a loss.

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Music Tournament Round of 256: Division C, Day 1 Results

Posted on February 14, 2011 by g-mo

First of all, sorry for the late post. When I’m doing my days of admin, I think I need to switch the deadlines from evening to morning to work with my internet access schedule. We can switch back to night or whatever Nos wants to do when we get to Division F, but for now expect two full days and nights, with results due at 9:00 AM the next morning.

Now, results:

Like A Rolling Stone, as predicted, exploded all over Personality Crisis, 109.75-72 and logged the top score for the day.

Louie Louie and Everyday People are arguably equals in their contemporaneous importance in rock n’ roll history- including the cool fact that the FBI launched an investigation into the potential obscenity of the lyrics to Louie Louie. Check this quote from Wikipedia: “In June 1965, the FBI laboratory obtained a copy of the Kingsmen recording and, after two years of investigation, concluded that the recording could not be interpreted, that it was “unintelligible at any speed,”[6] and therefore the Bureau could not find that the recording was obscene.” This fact alone makes me happy about the outcome: the Kingsmen triumph 96.5-79.5.

The funky, more recent MGMT entry “Kids” brought a lot to the match-up, but in the end couldn’t get over the John Fogarty hump- Looking Out My Back Door takes this one, 107.5-92. Also of note: we’ve had a smattering of 10’s here and there, but none from two voters from the same song in the Round of 256 until today. The Catholic and adam both gave LOMBD 10’s, so it earns a place on the Wall.

Last, closest match-up of the day was Blowin’ In The Wind vs. New Year’s Day. Bob Dylan takes this one also, 105.2-95.

Out of the tournament: New York Dolls, Sly & The Family Stone, and MGMT. U2 starts the Round of 256 0-1, with six entrants still remaining.

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