« September 2005 || current || January 2006 »
From one of the greatest rock records of all time, AC/DC pimps the new black RAZR with, of course, "Back in Black."
Neil Young said it best:
Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you.
Like so many others I fell into the dreaded Sony DRM software snake pit. After popping My Morning Jacket “Z” into the computer I blindly accepted whatever stupid Sony/BMG EULA dialog that appeared. Big mistake. Fortunately my story didn’t reach the same horrific proportions of some. Thanks to J. Alex Halderman for providing a fix that allowed me to rip the songs to MP3. A few lessons learned: 1) Don’t trust weird DRM stuff from Sony or any other big music label; 2) Don’t trust any 3rd party software from no-name companies like SunnComm (apparently my new CD excitement caused me to temporarily lose my mind); 3) Turn off Autorun.
As for “Z” it’s getting better with every listen. Despite a hodgepodge of tempo and tone all the songs are held together by the reverberated voice of Jim James. Favorite tracks so far: “It Beats 4 U” with an eerie high plains drifter whistle at the end and “What a Wonderful Man.”
The most recent Austin City Limits is worth checking out, Coldplay with a guest performance by Michael Stipe. Stipe collaborates on a new song with Chris Martin and then follows with “Night Swimming” which is prefaced by Martin announcing, “This is the best song ever.” While I agree it’s beautiful, Martin’s hero worship might have gotten the best of him. His accompaniment seemed hurried and included some muffed notes. Michael was steady eddy. His voice and charm have aged well. At the completion Martin seemed relieved to have finished the song. You could almost hear him thinking, “Whew!”
Other highlights included a cover of Ring of Fire and mad props to the “greatest country singer of all time Johnny Cash.” I might have to agree with Chris on that one.
In other music news, critic Ken Tucker put Same !@#$ Different Day on his top 10 of 2005. Word.
In the last few days…
Found Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg. Although the podcast is just lame snippets of hour-long interviews it was enough to hook me. Unsubscribe podcast > Season Pass Tivo. Suggestion for Tivo/Apple: Give me another button so I can subscribe to the TV show directly from iTunes (I’m really lazy). Does Tivo’s online scheduling have an open API?
and
Learned via Slashdot Review: Matt Groening says new Futurama episodes could be on the way. I’ve been following this story for awhile, but up until now head writer David X. Cohen has had the most to say about a possible resurrection. Man oh man this would make me happy.
I wouldn’t say I’ve had an a-ha moment with podcasting, but my discovery has coincided nicely with my rainy winter commute on the Wet Dog Express, also known as the N Judah.
I finally tracked down a song that got stuck in my head back in August at a Black Eyed Peas show. The fact that this is the first new post in ages might mean there’s a tangential thread to my website and life after all.
A kind waitress from the University & San Pablo Lanesplitter Pizza led me to Lyrics Born (from Berkeley) and a great funky album, Same !@#$ Different Day. The remix includes guests by KRS-One, Morcheeba, Dan The Automator, and DJ Shadow. Apparently I’m way behind the curve on this one, “Callin’ Out” has already made it into a Diet Coke commercial.
Of Note: Lyrics Born is part of a collective called Quannum that includes other Bay area standouts who all met in the early ‘90’s at UC Davis — not the first place you think of as the hot bed of hip hop.
PS The “Splitter” comes highly recommended.
Bell Canada Metal Pillars: Line the avenue
