The MetaFilter Sekrit Orchestra: Happy Birthday, Jessamyn!

Happy 41^th Birthday, Jessamyn! Congratulations -- you have found your Audio Birthday Card which we all recorded in secrecy. Enjoy!

Signed affectionately and in order of appearance,

Intro & Outro - The Whelk
Lazy slide guitar - umbú
Eerie whistling - Alvy Ampersand

Not in French - Meatbomb

Backing rock track & vocals - edlundart
Strings & vocals - davejay
Vocals - nola
Vocals - blueandrea and her hubby

Recorder that sounds like a saw - Kronos_to_Earth
Monkey Verse (a classic) - klangklangston

The Faux Philip Glass Choir - DiscourseMarker & Horace Rumpole
Vocals - mathowie
Voicemail - mygothlaundry

Vocals and backing track - chococat
Vocals and bells - minifigs

The Golden Plinka Harps - Karlos the Jackal!
Vocals and Guitar - ORThey
Vocals - Cat Pie Hurts
Voicemail - nickyskye

Vocals with flourish - goodnewsfortheinsane
Autotune this shit! - gman

Vocals - dashiv
Vocals, strings, and backwards masking - man vs sun

Backing RAWK track - The World Famous
Robot - East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94
Men's chorus - askmeaboutLOOM
Jazzy vocals - The Miss Lynnster

Mixed with love by - not_on_display

My deepest gratitude to those who contributed, and to those who wanted to contribute but didn't or couldn't, and the rest of you who received the form letter soliciting your participation. Apologies to those who now wish they received a form letter but didn't! I mean, come on, do you really like form letters that much?

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by not_on_display (60 comments total)

Supergroup!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:36 PM on September 4

Dang it! I missed out on sending the vocals Kattullus and I hurriedly recorded on Monday.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 4:40 PM on September 4

Great job mixing all this, fantastic contributions all, and 'twas a joy to contribute. Happy Birthday, dear Jessamyn. Happy birthday... to you!
posted by ORthey at 4:41 PM on September 4

This is what the internet is for. Well, this and porn, obviously.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:42 PM on September 4

This isn't porn? (This was AWESOME).
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 4:43 PM on September 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Utterly utterly awesome!
My contribution was to not inflict my singing on Jessamyn or anyone else, and I bet none of you quite appreciate what a gift that is.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSAMYN!

Fantastic job Not On Display, and all whole contributed!
posted by goshling at 4:50 PM on September 4

It is awesome! Lovely mix, n_o_d.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:54 PM on September 4

Altho, I like "41th birthday." It'th cute.
posted by ORthey at 4:55 PM on September 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Eh, it's no bacon bra.
posted by Eideteker at 4:55 PM on September 4

And hey, you are exactly as old as me, cool.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:55 PM on September 4

oh man i totally fucking forgot about this, i am a bad friend and coworker

Happy birthday, Jessamyn. Awesome work, y'all.
posted by cortex at 4:57 PM on September 4

A BIRTHDAY CAKE SONG FOR YOU
posted by The Whelk at 5:04 PM on September 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Awesome!

Many happy returns, Jessamyn!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:04 PM on September 4

Sir, I call you out!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:08 PM on September 4

Magnificent!
posted by ColdChef at 5:12 PM on September 4

Hah, this worked out really well. Happy birthday jessamyn! May your day be filled with as few MetaTalk posts as possible!
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:12 PM on September 4

Wow I was wondering how this would turn out, very nice work everyone. Happy Bday Jessamyn!
posted by nola at 5:13 PM on September 4

Happy Birthday, Jessamyn! My present to you was NOT singing.
posted by misha at 5:15 PM on September 4

Wow, this is great. MetaFilter Orchestras rule.

(I have no idea what "Golden Plinka Harps" are.)

Happy Birthday Jessamyn!
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 5:15 PM on September 4

I had no idea jessamyn was old enough to be my slightly older sister.

Merry Bmas! And this was awesome!
posted by DU at 5:22 PM on September 4

Yeah and 41th is really cute.
posted by nickyskye at 5:25 PM on September 4

Oh my, thanks you guys! This is totally terrific. Yay for early birthday presents.
posted by jessamyn at 5:27 PM on September 4

Holy hell that was amazing. Wow.

And happy birthday!
posted by DarlingBri at 5:29 PM on September 4

n_o_d is the awesomest. ^_^

Happy happy, and, as hubby said, "Brilliant!"
posted by blue andrea at 5:43 PM on September 4

Best of the web.

Also, happy birthday Jessamyn!
posted by WidgetAlley at 5:44 PM on September 4

Brilliant!

And Happy Birthday, Jessamyn!
posted by crossoverman at 6:05 PM on September 4

So much fun. And so many great moments. I love the rawk, and the faux Philip Glass choir, and the Jessamyn Charity Wesssssssst harmony. We should be doing this sort of thing more often.
posted by umbú at 6:33 PM on September 4

Nice work everybody! Sorry I couldn't join in the fun, n_o_d, same reason as I couldn't contribute to last month's Mefi Music Challenge: just didn't have the time.

Happy Birthday, Jessamyn!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:34 PM on September 4

Happy birthday, Jessamyn!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 6:38 PM on September 4

This is so great. Thank you all!
posted by rtha at 6:50 PM on September 4

Happy Birthday, Jessamyn!
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 7:03 PM on September 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wow! That really rocks out at the end. Happy Birthday!
posted by xorry at 7:31 PM on September 4

Amazing job n_o_d! Happy happy birthday, jessamyn!

Also, anyone else surprised by just how, well, uh, sweet der klanger sounds? Gotta watch that rep, man.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:33 PM on September 4

This turned out great!
Great job, not_on_display. And of course, Happy, Happy Birthday Jessamyn I met you once in Toronto at a meetup.
posted by chococat at 8:07 PM on September 4

My present was also not singing. Happy Gringle, Many Smores!
posted by yhbc at 8:24 PM on September 4

Happy birthday! This is pretty insane sounding, in a good way.
posted by edlundart at 9:10 PM on September 4

I totally dropped the ball on adding to this, goddammit. But I'm here in spirit. Happy Birthday!
posted by middleclasstool at 9:33 PM on September 4

Wow, you guys are super-creative! Well done. Happy Birthday Jessamyn.
posted by anitanita at 9:42 PM on September 4

Wow, this sounds so awesome! I had a lot of fun putting our part together (much more fun than the paper I'm supposed to be finishing)!

Hippity Happity Buthudathuh Jessamyn!!
posted by DiscourseMarker at 10:03 PM on September 4

I like to think of my submission as being in the form of a Lumberjack Octet. Also, I played mandolin and provided the effects for man vs sun's Chair voice.

If anyone cares, our individual versions can be found here and here.

Happy birthday, O Queen of all things Lybrarienne.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 12:01 AM on September 5

Happy Birthday Jessamyn.

On a sidenote: Sitting in a room on your own singing Happy Birthday over and over again is uniquely dispiriting.
posted by minifigs at 3:28 AM on September 5

<3333333 Jessamyn!!!
posted by Hildegarde at 4:58 AM on September 5

On a sidenote: Sitting in a room on your own singing Happy Birthday over and over again is uniquely dispiriting.

Sitting in a room on your own listening to Happy Birthday when it is not your birthday is apparently an odd-seeming thing, sans explanation.
posted by desuetude at 5:14 AM on September 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

Aww. That's awesome.

Happy birthday Jessamyn!
posted by JoanArkham at 5:39 AM on September 5

Great stuff, not_on_display! (and everyone else)

Happy Birthday, Jessamyn!
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 6:32 AM on September 5

Excellent!

Bon anniversaire Jessamyn!
posted by bru at 7:24 AM on September 5

I just realized the chosen tempo (108 beats per minute) is moderato. Happy Birthday, again!
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:20 AM on September 5 [2 favorites has favorites]

Logic Pro, by the way.
posted by gman at 12:25 PM on September 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

Aw, that was cool. Happy birthday Jessamyn!
posted by SpacemanStix at 1:38 PM on September 5

Happy Birthday!!!!11!!

(And good job not_on_display and everyone else, that's great stuff!)
posted by snsranch at 3:02 PM on September 5

Totally Awesome! wtg, n_o_d!
posted by pjern at 4:02 PM on September 5

Happy birthday jessamyn!! That turned out AWESOME and my son would like to say Happy Birthday and also that we are all a pack of freaks. As if we didn't know that. Yay, n_o_d - that turned out freakily fantastic!
posted by mygothlaundry at 4:05 PM on September 5

You such did a great job mixing that! WOW. :D

(Although in my typical fashion of being annoyed with myself, now I'm wondering why I sounded sooooo much slower than everyone else... I was going by the metronome to the right tempo and key, I thought... it shoulda worked. Hmmm. Still sounded great though!!!! I just wanted it to be perfect... 'cuz I'm like that.)
posted by miss lynnster at 7:24 PM on September 5

Miss Lynnster, at least you didn't do like me and play it a full 2x slower than anyone else! Oops.
posted by umbú at 8:22 PM on September 5

Boy am I glad my contribution is un-credited. It's great to hear it mixed in with the rest of the stuff, though.
posted by Plutor at 6:33 PM on September 7

It's been days since I've had access to the inarnets on my computer; basically, I posted it, and then drove up to see Jess, and we drove ever further north into the Northeast Kingdom of VT, and then even further north into Quebec. (Why are there no ground cherries available in the US?) I haven't had the real time until now to go over the thread... but during the time off the grid, I was able to play for Jess each of your individual tracks so that she could know exactly who was doing what.

^{^}Plutor: "Boy am I glad my contribution is un-credited. It's great to hear it mixed in with the rest of the stuff, though."

I forgot to mention that! ... Plutor is conducting a rendition of John Cage's 4'33" throughout the entire mix. Well done, Plutor, and the rest of the avant-garde section of the orchestra.

^{^}miss lynnster: "... I'm wondering why I sounded sooooo much slower than everyone else... "

You were totally on tempo, but just doing it in your own time. I placed it at the end because it sounds like someone (with a great voice) lazily singing it to themselves while doing dishes.

^{^}umbú: "Miss Lynnster, at least you didn't do like me and play it a full 2x slower than anyone else! Oops."

Yeah, but it made for a great laaaazy intro. You guyses takes, along with the Whelk's, provided great bookends.

^{^}Kronos_to_Earth: "I just realized the chosen tempo (108 beats per minute) is moderato. Happy Birthday, again!"

I totally missed that! The universe works in wierd ways. According to the wikipedia page on tempo:
Andante — at a walking pace (76–108 bpm)
Moderato — moderately (108–120 bpm)
...and Andante Moderato — a bit faster than andante...

...so you were all walking quickly with the moderator!

Happy Birthday to you all, whenever yours is.
posted by not_on_display at 8:07 AM on September 8

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get my submission in. Chalk it up to a combination of laziness, a two-week chest cold, and a complete lack of confidence in my ability to produce anything musical.

In any event, happy birthday, Jessamyn. You've got one hell of a creative and swell boyfriend.

Why are there no ground cherries available in the US?

My son brought some back from the Natick Community Organic Farm, though I don't know if it was just a one-off or if they sell them to the public.
posted by bondcliff at 12:27 PM on September 8 [1 favorite has favorites]

Aren't tomatillos and ground cherries the same thing? I just picked up a pound at Russo's in Watertown the other day.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 4:06 PM on September 8 [1 favorite has favorites]

Ground cherries encompass the entire Physalis genus, of which tomatillos are just one species. As with most botanical distinctions, though, the two terms are probably fairly interchangeable at the supermarket.
posted by Plutor at 5:10 AM on September 9

I thought this was coming out yesterday, so I'm late to the party. \o/ FANTASTIC job, better than anything I was hearing in my head. Terrific, without caveats.
posted by davejay at 4:06 PM on September 11