I know Nihar Patel from his production work with the NPR News program “Day to Day” (I’m a contributor, and have had the privilege of working with him on reports). But I’ve just discovered that he’s also a singer-songwriter in a yet to be named geek music genre.
He wrote a kitschy, nerdy fan homage to the Discovery STS-116 mission — think Bowie’s Space Oddity meets Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, but more dumbtastic:
Space Shuttle Discovery touched down on Friday. On this mission, astronaut Robert Curbeam made a record FOUR spacewalks. As a tribute to Curbeam, enjoy this rock aria featuring lyrics and vocals from Nihar Patel, and music from The Alan Parsons Project. It’s titled “L’morte du Spacewalker.”
Link to MP3 (via wikupload). Nihar says anyone’s welcome to mirror it elsewhere for noncommercial use if you are so moved.
It’s not Filk. It’s not nerdcore. It’s starschlock, and it’s fabulous.
Image (NASA): Astronaut Bob Curbeam prepares to replace a faulty TV camera outside the International Space Station during the mission’s first spacewalk.
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Reader comment:
Freddie Freelance says,
Haven’t you heard of the music Genre called Space Rock? Hawkwind? Flying Saucer Attack? ?!? Maybe we could get Mr. Patel an opening slot at NEARfest 2007?