Zoom-in Online

Funny how things time out sometimes... I just started reading this fascinating book called This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, written by Daniel Levitin, focusing on the deeply intertwined relationship between music and the mind, and how singing—and the melodies that we know and love and return to—may have left a distinct impression on the path our lives have taken.

Just into reading the third chapter of the book or so, my friend Scott—who is a true "lover-of-all-things-brain," as well as a passionate music listener and eloquent communicator—was visiting, and I just had to give him the book to read, even though I was not finished with it. Just after doing so, and still feeling like "I can't wait to get back to that book," (lest I fritter away the 7 minutes a week I actually have to curl with a good one reading one of the other six books on my bedside table), I found this great website called seedmagazine.com. I had never heard of it before. The magazine itself first appeared in November of 2001, and is published bi-monthly.

There is a feature on the site called "The Seed Salon," and this month (for May 2007) there is an absolutely fascinating 1 hour long video of a discussion between Daniel Levitin and David Byrne. What a pairing! Renaissance thinker / musician meets renaissance musician / thinker. "Ok talk to each other. Ready, go." The Full Cut (1 Hr Flash Video) is here. The two are a perfect pair for an exceedingly interesting discussion. Levetin is a professor of Psychology at McGill University, a musician and a producer, and Byrne (in addition to occasionally burning down the house), is a musician, artist and author. Both men have led very interesting lives, and paired with their unique brands of eloquence, this topic of inquiry is endlessly fascinating. In case you don't have the full hour, nine minutes of highlights from the discussion are here. I can't wait to read the rest of the book.