Date: February 1, 2011
Title: The Solar System Gets A Whole New Groove
Podcaster: Daniel Pendick
Links:
http://geeked.gsfc.nasa.gov
http://oneringzero.dreamhosters.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Holst
Year of the Solar System: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss/
The recording of “Mars, Bringer of War,” used in this podcast was performed by the United States Air Force Band, and its royalty-free use is gratefully acknowledged.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_United_States_Air_Force_Band
Description: NASA has decreed 2011 the “year of the solar system.” Stardust NExT encounters Comet Tempel 1 on February 14. MESSENGER enters orbit around Mercury on March 18. Dawn begins its approach to asteroid Vesta in May. Next comes the launch of the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter in August, the launch of GRAIL to map the gravitational field of the Moon in September, and the launch of a roving science lab named “Curiosity” to Mars in November.
Such an ambitious program of exploration needs a soundtrack! For almost a century, the default choice has been “The Planets,” by Gustav Holst. But a new contender has entered the field: “Planets” by the New York pop band One Ring Zero. In this podcast, self-described Holst-lover Dan Pendick puts One Ring Zero’s co-leader, Michael Hearst, in the hot seat. His question: Given the privileged position of Holst’s “The Planets” in the culture, we ask you, Sir, “How dare you?”
Bio: Daniel Pendick is a science writer and blogger at Goddard Space Flight Center. His ³Geeked On Goddard² blog takes an irreverent insider¹s look at science and engineering at Goddard. His writing has appeared in Astronomy, New Scientist, Earth, Scientific American Presents, and many other science and medical publications and websites.
One Ring Zero is led by Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp. The band has released seven albums. Their most recent album is titled “Planets,” and is a collection of new compositions to represent the solar system and beyond. One Ring Zero¹s music has been featured in dance concerts, films, television, animations, fashion shows, and NPR programming including This American Life, Fresh Air, and Morning Edition.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by Neil Christie. Those who can Podcast, those who can’t donate.
Transcript:
The music you’re listening to is Mars, Bringer of War. It’s part of a classic orchestral work, called The Planets, by the English composer Gustav Holst.
My name is Dan Pendick. I discovered Holst in the 1980s, when I was a college intern in the link planetarium in Binghamton new york. We used Holst’s music, especially mars, in our planetarium shows. I’ve been a big fan ever since.
Holst composed this music almost a century ago, during the dark days of world war one. Each of its seven parts are named for one of seven planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Holst was an amateur astrologer, and he intended his orchestral suite to convey the astrological influence of the planets. The piece was first performed with a full orchestra in 1919.
Now fast-forward a century to Brooklyn, home base of a band called One Ring Zero. A few years ago, band leaders Joshua Camp and Michael Hearst decided that it was time to revisit the solar system, musically speaking. The result was an album called, simply, “Planets.”
Gustav Holst died in 1934, but if he were alive today, he might find One Ring Zero’s version of the solar system bewildering. It’s an eclectic and quirky journey from Mercury to Pluto, with influences as diverse as gypsy violin, Pink Floyd and David Bowie, Electric Light Orchestra, and even klezmer.
I asked Hearst, speaking on the phone from his Brooklyn apartment, to explain where he got the nerve to take on Holst’s masterwork.
PENDICK
Let’s see…Holst’s The Planets, enduringly popular, they say; influential; widely performed and the subject of numerous recordings. Much beloved by astronomy and space fans the world over. And you, Mr Popular Music Guy, think you have what it takes to meet Gustav Holst. To you I say, sir, how dare you! How do you comment?
HEARST
Well, you’re welcome to say that. In many ways it’s sort of an homage to Holst; it was inspired by him. We’re certainly not trying to compete against what he created, which was fantastic and very much the inspiration for our work. However, with all due respect, it has been just about a hundred years.
PENDICK
He started writing it, composing it, in the middle of world war one!
HEARST
Yeah, exactly. The other big difference is his is based on astrology, where ours is much more based on astronomy.
PENDICK
Right, he was trying to capture the astrological influence…
HEARST
Yeah, apparently he used to even read his friends’ horoscopes for fun.
PENDICK
Right…
HEARST
Nothing wrong with that, but that was his kind of angle.
PENDICK
An astrological hobbyist.
HEARST
Whereas Joshua and I are much more geeks, and inspired by all things science. [A] slightly different angle.
PENDICK
For example, listen to One Ring Zero’s take on Mercury. It’s a ballad about a boy so obsessed with the, “planet of speed,” he can hardly think of anything else.
[music starts]
Quick and the color of a pinball
you’re pretty sure it’s a close door down the hall,
and hot enough to melt your mother’s clock on the wall.
Your friend’s sister makes her intentions known,
but you can’t be bothered,
counting the eighty-eight days until its return.
PENDICK
Ironically, One Ring Zero’s musical meanderings around the solar system started with an icy body that was recently stripped of major planet status: Pluto.
HEARST
And it was, in fact, the International Astronomical Union – the IAU’s – decision to demote Pluto which was what started the project. We were fascinated. It just seemed like perfect fodder for a song…. Write about poor Pluto, which is this thing we grew up with and known about as a planet is no longer a planet.
[music starts]
This moment in history
has chosen us to decree
of what is icy debris
and what is planetary.
HEARST
The song is not so much about the planet as this decision that took place. It was a stand-alone song that we just wrote and recorded and started playing it live in our shows without it being on any particular album. And that’s what made us realize, wow, we love science and planets. Wouldn’t it be fun to just continue this and keep doing more songs about planets? And at the same time we realized it’s been almost a hundred years since Holst did his, and certainly our knowledge of the solar system and beyond has changed since then — as well as music, of course.
PENDICK
Well the only other thing I wanted to ask you about is just peoples’ reaction [to the album]. I was joking here in our emails about any classical music fans, you know, showing up at your shows with pitchforks to, uh, straighten you out.
HEARST
Not yet [laughing] but it may still happen.
PENDICK
I mean, what was the reaction, say, from your fans, or from anyone – science people? – or whoever you’ve been in contact about this?
Well, it’s funny, because if anything this album is much more classical than any of our previous albums. This is our 8th or 9th full-lengths album, and most of our earlier albums are quirkier, sort of ethnic eastern European circusy rock, for want of better adjectives to string together. And this one, we spent much more time really trying to compos, and had lots of sheet music laid out and brought in lots of extra musicians. Originally, the idea was we were going to try and write something that would work with an orchestra, and try to get local – even if they were tertiary orchestras to back us up. As far as our fans are concerned, this might be more classical and more thought-out than our previous stuff. And this one has really taken off in the science world. [music fades in]
We’ve gotten sort of a lot of warm embracement from the science side of things, and in fact even planetariums and science centers have been inviting us to do shows.
PENDICK
Starting way before Holst, musicians, writers, photographers, painters, and other artists have drawn inspiration from the night sky and what lies beyond. Astrology fired Holst’s imagination 100 years ago. Today, One Ring Zero and other musicians look to the Hubble Space Telescope and planetary probes for inspiration. Last year’s science fiction is this year’s science news.
For example, since Holst’s time, the number of planets to set to music have gone from seven to more than 500, if you include all of the exoplanets discovered around other stars. Here is “Exoplanets,” One Ring Zero’s musical vision of the multiplicity of alien worlds, the final tune on the album. Thanks for listening.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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