I was waiting around for the telephone to ring for an interview with UK New Rave sensation The Klaxons, twiddling my thumbs and wondering what was taking so long. I'd gone over to Digg.com out of boredom, just to see what I could dig up by doing a search for videos using "synthesizer" as a search term.

Just as I got the results, the phone rang. I managed to sneak a peek at the Digg page long enough to see something about Herbie Hancock demonstrating a Fairlight, which definitely peaked my interest. But I had to tear myself away and answer the bloody phone.

The Klaxons press agent was on the other line, telling me that the group attended the Brit Awards last night, and so they were probably passed out in a seedy hotel somewhere in a bathtub full of ice and with no kidneys, and could we please reschedule the interview?

It ain't easy being me. I got these brit-bands, you see, turning my schedule inside out. And then being forced to interview Sparklehorse at the unholy hour of 4:30 in the afternoon. The very idea! I can still taste the toothpaste at 4:30, can't we do it at nine PM like any sane person would? Oh, no, the press agent tell me, we can't possibly do it at nine.

AGONY! What's next? It's an incredibly difficult, dangerous, and wearying road we music journalists must travel, kids. Don't try this at home. You might get a traumatic injury.

Or bedsores.

I went back to Digg and Herbie Hancock where I saw that the video (linked from YouTube) was taken from a...get this...Sesame Street episode.

So naturally I hit "play" to see Herbie Hancock do some rudimentary sampling, and at the end of the clip, an actual performance on the Fairlight. It was pretty tasty once you get to the performance. They even demonstrated some primitive video display of a soundfile. That part was hilarious, with the big green monochrome screen and klunky 80s future-now design. It makes one feel so...dated. Best of all, the host asks, "You're making music, what do you need a computer monitor for?"

What I really liked was the fact that there were a pile of other Herbie Hancock videos on YouTube, including more Fairlight stuff. I wasted plenty of company time watching them, too, I don't mind telling you.

There was recent news about YouTube being forced to remove a massive pile of vids based on a request from Viacom, who apparently didn't like all the free publicity they were getting for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. YouTube complied and took down plenty of videos, according to an article at AdWeek.com.

If you are a Fairlight lover, or just into Herbie Hancock, I'd get on over to look at those videos quick. Some corporate skinflint will probably order them removed because they felt threatened by the thought that a 20-year old clip that nobody is able to reasonably access otherwise is being seen, and that it should continue to be unavailable.

Did that last sentence make ANY sense? What I mean to say is, go see em before they're taken down and disappear forever. All you have to do is Digg the phrase "synthesizer" and Herbie's Fairlight Sesame Street demo will pop right up there. It's fun.

I've gotta go get ready for that Sparklehorse interview now. I don't know if I can wake up sufficiently on my own, so I'm off to the coffee shop to get four large coffees and some caffeinated gum.