From the Music Memoirs:
Top 5 recent musical discoveries
~ This can be bands, songs, albums a mixture of all of them
1) “The French Song” by Joan Jett
2) Sonic Youth
3) Charles Mingus
4) “The Rare Ould Times” by Flogging Molly
5) Steve Shelly, drummer for number 2. He’s awesome! Check him out in this clip. He really gets going three minutes in.
Video Prompt
The instructions are:
1. Watch this video.
2. Write about the person it makes you think about.
I believe my friend Jess is amazing. She is so kind to me, and we get along so well. We really share a connection that's ever-growing. I feel at home whenever I'm spending time with her. Everything else gets put on the backburner because I value my time with her more than anything. She makes me incredibly happy, even happier than the people in the above video. She's a true friend and I think the world of her.
It's been a long time indeed since The Chieftains, the Beatles of Irish music, have released anything new. Well, the wait is over this week. They are back with a new album entitled San Patricio. If those two words look familiar, yet not familiar, they should. San Patricio is the story of a group of Irish immigrants who deserted the US Army during the Mexican-American war to fight for the Mexican cause.
Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains take this little-known chapter in history and make what sounds to me like great music from it. They have many special guests on the album, including Ry Cooder, and the music has a decidedly Mexican flavor. They've explored the sounds of the Latin world before with Santiago, and this album takes a different approach to that sound. Listening to the previews, I hear a great deal of beauty. I can tell this is an album I'll be wanting to buy sometime this year, perhaps very soon.
If you'd like to listen to the album in full, go to this NPR website. Also, here is a Youtube video about the project:
Just yesterday, I mentioned the song "How Bizarre" by 90s group OMC. Well, it has come to my attention that OMC's founder and lead singer Pauly Fuemana has died. If you're reading this recently after I post, you should really go read that article because the group's history is really fascinating. If you're reading after Yahoo pulls the story, go do some research online.
Here's the video for OMC's biggest hit:
Today I discovered something that will greatly change the way I use one of my favorite sites, Flickr.
Its name is Fluidr and it will rock your world.
It's much like FlickRiver in that it displays and endless stream of photos. It does much more than that, however. The number of options are massive and mind-boggling. You can view:
NPR has been posting some great articles about the past decade in music. I talked about one here, and I'm reading another good one here. The model of how to make money as a musician, and even be a musician, has changed so much over the past ten years. I've been thinking about it and I have a brave idea.
Why do artists need to make studio albums at all?
I think the way of the future is in streaming and playing live shows. Sales of full albums are declining, and even I can't deny that methods of buying music will change greatly in the years to come. I think musicians will make most of their money from touring, endorsements, and merchandise while their recorded music will be increasingly seen as a giveaway.
If recorded music is a giveaway and a band isn't making any money from the hours they spent in the studio, why spend it in the studio at all? Think of how much money would be saved if only a few artists used expensive studio equipment and complex computer programs to spend endless amounts of time perfecting a song that isn't going to have as much soul as a live version to begin with. This would free up time to go out on the road and tour, which is where bands really make their money.
With no studio album to promote, bands could choose their own schedule. They could take breaks when necessary, and work on new songs in rehearsals or even live on stage. Once those songs are ready, a live album can be made. Think of bands like Dave Matthews Band and Phish. They have two or three times as many live albums as studio albums. If the jam bands can do it, other bands can too.
A live recording has more energy, soul and passion than a studio recording. Listeners and buyers are more likely to respond to a great live performance than a bland studio version of something. Audience reaction can play a part too. If a song just isn't working, it can be discarded and replaced with the newest composition. Instead of full albums, let's go back to E.P.s. That's a product to sell, and it's usually stronger than a full-length album. If the band wants to use the studio, they can record pristine versions of singles. Maybe the most well-liked new song can be recorded, put out in the media and sold on iTunes.
I know this can be done. I have many live albums, and most of them sound great. This would also serve as a method of separating the good from the bad. The pop tarts could still make records and singles, but other artists can go in this new, live direction if it suits them better.
I'm mostly brainstorming here, but I think I'm on to something.
I'm very excited about the announcement that The Who might be performing in this season's Super Bowl halftime. The Who always put on a great show, even with only two original members. I might have to actually watch the game this year if they do get to play it. I'm betting they'll play "Baba O'Riley" or "Pinball Wizard."
NPR posted a very interesting discussion about the state of the music industry as part of their Decade-In-Review this week. The part that interests me is the mention of streaming music as a deterrent to illegal downloading. Personally, I have pretty much stopped downloading songs because I can listen to most of them for free online any time I want. It's convenient, and it really doesn't take much longer than opening an MP3 or finding a CD or record and playing it. Sites like Myspace and Grooveshark give you so much music on demand, for free. That has been the biggest change in my listening habits lately. I think of a song, search for it on Myspace, and listen. Nothing could be easier.
Of course, streaming has its downsides. You need an internet connection to do it, and you need to be at your computer. You can't stream while in your car or out for a walk. I think streaming will be part of the public's listening habits in the future. If you want to listen to something and you're at your computer, you can stream it. If you want to take it away from the computer, you can buy it as a download or *horrors* buy it on CD (or whatever format wins out in the future). Yes, I think there will always be physical music around. Humans have too much experience owning things to give that up.
Streaming is the way of the future. I can see a day when there are no record companies (or the companies exist only to promote the artist) and musicians make money by touring and selling merchandise. Actual recorded music will be streamed for free and treated as the art it actually is.
The Firefox web browser is five years old now! I've been using it for most of those five years. I love it because it's so customizable and because using it makes me feel part of a larger community. Firefox is the first browser to be seen as 'cool' and 'in.' I'm still using it, and I'll keep using it as long as it still works for me.
In honor of Firefox's fifth birthday, here are my Top Five Firefox Add-Ons:
1. Session Manager
This is a life saver. If you need to restart your computer, or if it crashes, or if your browser crashes - you're covered.
2. Toolbar Buttons
Keyboard shortcuts are great, but they don't cover everything. I like the ability to add buttons for functions and extensions that I can place wherever in the browser I wish them to be.
3. Quickdrag
This makes opening links and searching so much faster! Just highlight or click and drag. Very, very useful.
4. Stumbleupon
You need never be bored again with Stumbleupon. I've found many great sites with this tool.
5. NoScript
It makes browsing much safer, yet it's easy to use. Just keep in mind that it's not a replacement for your brain.
Ya gotta have themes too, and my favorite (in fact, the only one I really use) is Whitehart
Frank Taylor, webmaster of Google Earth Blog, and his wife are about to begin an incredible adventure. They're going to spend the next five years sailing around the world in their boat the Tahina. That's not all -- they're going to share their adventures with the world through their website The Tahina Expedition. If everything goes right, they will be sharing GPS tracks, photos, videos and more. Of course, there will be a regular blog as well. They have some cool toys to play with including a kite for aerial photography and an underwater video camera.
They hope to leave as soon as possible once the weather in the Atlantic clears up for their initial passage to Bermuda. They had a lot to do to prepare, and now their trip is about to begin. Follow their journey on the Tahina Expedition website..
Today I'm browsing around in the Firefox Add-Ons, and I found a little gem that seems like it's going to help me a lot:
Places Cleaner
In the past month or two, I've noticed Firefox's performance slipping. The program tends to freeze up a lot, especially when I'm typing in a URL or looking through my bookmarks in the organizer. I figured it was just Windows being Windows or Firefox being Firefox.
Then, I found Places Cleaner and it seems like all will be right with the world once again.
What does it do? It takes the database of your bookmarks and history and defragments it. This should lead to a speedier performance and fewer lockups. I've only used it for ten minutes and I already notice a huge difference. The organizer launches incredibly quickly now, and searching from the address bar doesn't slow things down. Of course, I'll realize I'm wrong the first time I do have problems again, but right now it seems like this add-on really works!
I also added Tab Mix Plus last night. Why didn't I do that sooner? It's an awesome extension, almost too powerful in some ways.
Yes, I'm geeking out. Deal with it.
I've seen a lot of great things lately, and I thought I'd share them with you:
First and foremost, today is the birthday of my very good friend Jessica. It's not polite to tell a lady's age, but she'll always be three years younger than me. I don't think she reads my blog, but if she does - happy birthday, Jess!
Second, according to This Day In Music, the Jimi Hendrix Experience's classic album Electric Ladyland was released today in 1968. It's such a great album! What does it mean to me? Well, I think it's Hendrix's finest. The double-album length gave Jimi the space he needed to really expand his ideas and lay down the music in his head. The creative spirit of such songs as "Rainy Day Dream Away" and its sister track "Still Raining, Still Dreaming", "1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)" and "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" and "House Burning Down" make Electric Ladyland a delight to experience.
If you want to read the live blog of my first time listening to Electric Ladyland, click here.
I can't remember how I found this, but it's really cool. The site's name is Shorpy.com and it is a daily vintage photography blog. All sorts of photos are posted - cityscapes, people, stores, and many others. Most are in black and white and most were taken decades ago, if not longer. If you like to look at old black and white photos, this is the site for you. You can even view the full-size photos if you wish.
Enjoy! I know I have. The site is now on my Google Reader feeds.
What helps you wake up in the morning?
The snooze button on my alarm clock! When the alarm goes off the first time, I'm not quite ready to get up. I push it a couple times and then I'm ready. Also, the thought of breakfast tends to motivate me to get up.
What tourist attraction near you have you never seen?
Sadly, I have never been to Crater Lake. Closer to home, I have never been to the top of either Skinner's or Spencer's Butte.
Pick a crazy spot to have your next birthday party. Someone else is footing the bill.
Versailles Palace in France. That place is so beautiful.
Junk
One of the peculiarities of modern life is the concept of junk. Our houses are larger than ever, so we have more space to put things. Something about human nature compels us to fill all the space we have and consume, consume, consume. So we acquire endless amounts of 'stuff,' some useful and some not so useful.
Roger Ebert wrote a good blog recently about his very large collection of books. He knows that many of them are doing nothing more than sitting there, but he can't compel himself to throw them out. Each of his books means something to him, even if he hasn't read it in years or at all. I think that post is as good as any to illustrate our love-hate relationship with our things.
Are these habits natural or are they learned? I know I see patterns in behavior among people I know. I'm not naming names, of course. I think the way a family deals with 'stuff' can determine a person's reaction to 'stuff' in his or her own life. One either takes up the same habits or rejects such habits after living in a house full of 'stuff.'
I think part of this is simple human nature. It's much easier to let things pile up than take the effort to put it away, categorize it, remove it, deal with it. Organizing things becomes a 'later' activity, but for too many people 'later' becomes 'never.
I'm in the middle of the spectrum, I think. I do have a lot of stuff, that's for sure. On the other hand, I'm not afraid to go through things once in a while and cut out what doesn't belong. Like Mr. Ebert, a lot of the space in my room is devoted to books. I do re-read books, so I don't have a major reason to get rid of them. The big problem for me is acquiring more books. I love nothing more than a used book store or used book sale. I have a huge to-buy list which grows all the time. The problem isn't just the number of books, but the size of the books. A large coffee table book takes up the space of two or three paperbacks, at least. Thick books take up a lot more space than thin books. One must be an expert in making the most of the space available.
Another reason to keep 'stuff' is that 'stuff' has a lot to do with memories. This is not necessarily bad. I think we should keep things that mean something to us. But when does it go too far? I tend to keep all the holiday cards I receive over the years. I was surprised to find out that many people do not. I suspect most of those will disappear someday. If the only thing the card says is "Happy Birthday!," does it really have a reason to be kept?
I also have a large collection of newspaper and magazine articles. I've kept a good number of issues of The Hockey News. I haven't re-read a single one, but I can't help but want to keep certain issues. I'm sure most of those could go as well.
I think I mostly have the right approach. It's OK to keep things around, if you have the guts to go through it all once in a while and reassess what needs to be kept and what you still want to keep. Opinions change, emotions change, and priorities change. Our collection of 'stuff' also needs to change.
Yesterday I told you about the very cool Wikimapia and how I used its information to navigate through Google Maps. Well, the story gets better. Last night I found a link to a Google Earth network file that pulls Wikimapia information and displays it in Google Earth! The places are outlined in blue, making them very easy to see. Hover over one and you see a yellow circle which, when clicked, tells you what you're looking at and gives a link to the Wikimapia page for it. If you turn on Street View, Panoramio, or any other layer, you can immediately see the content instead of copying coordinates and pasting into Google Maps! That's so much faster. The information is fairly fast to load, too.
If you want to download the Wikimapia KML for Google Earth, just go to this page on the Google Earth Blog and load it up.
People are getting excited about Wave, Google's new all-in-one communication tool. I'm not going for an invite, because I really have little use for it right now. I do think it's an interesting product, though.
I'm not sure if Google Wave itself will be as widely used as Google wants it to be. Not everyone has a Google account, and people won't use it if people they know don't use it too. I do, however, think that Google Wave will succeed as a model for communication software. It's open-source, so I can see the Wave format replacing the typical email inbox. Of course, Waves will have to work between different systems (web, desktop, etc.) but I'm sure that can be accomplished. In any case, I would expect Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail to become more like Google Wave sometime in the next few years.
Dear Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio:
After seeing your list of current candidates to be inducted in this year's class, I have a suggestion for you.
Just stop.
That's right. Stop inducting people unless they really, truly deserve it. Stop inducting non-Rock and Roll people into a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame unless you change the name of your organization to the Popular Music Hall of Fame or some similar name.
Each year you induct five artists/bands into the Hall of Fame, and each year the number of non-worthy candidates increases. Do you really need an induction class every single year? Why not induct only those artists who truly deserve to be in there. Pretty soon, your Hall of Fame will become meaningless. It may already be so. Are you trying to induct the best artists, or are you trying to induct any and all artists who may be familiar to any segment of the U.S. population? If there are not five artists who deserve induction, don't induct five of them!
Who deserves to get in this year? KISS, I think, just for the spectacle they put on over the years. Rock and roll is all about spectacle, after all. Genesis, for being artistically creative, at least until the 1980s. The Stooges, for being one of the earlier and more influential punk bands. It can't hurt if Anthony Bourdain likes 'em. Get that guy on your panel.
Everyone else - meh. ABBA? Disco group. LL Cool J? Definitely in the hip-hop hall of fame, but not here. Jimmy Cliff? Reggae Hall of Fame, but not here. Not until you run out of other people. Donna Summer? Are you serious? She's everything rock and roll is NOT. Red Hot Chili Peppers? Not yet. Time will tell what their influence will be. I'm leaning toward yes, but give it time.
What's the use of a hall of fame if anyone can get in?
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