Death of the iPod Classic?!

/ / Opinion, rantings

I have a 160GB iPod Classic. It holds approximately 1/3 of my music collection. That’s just mp3s. This doesn’t include audio book, FLAC or wav files, or miscellaneous audio files. JUST music. I’m past the point of wanting to continually load/unload songs from my iPod.

There is no solution forthcoming.

I have searched high and low for the scrap of a hint of a rumor that Apple is working on a larger iPod size. Not only could I not find a single whiff of a clue as to if/when a larger iPod would be released … I found quite the opposite. It is entirely possible that Apple is phasing out their classic model in favor of the much smaller capacity touches, nanos and iPhones.

To Steve Jobs et al, I have a simple, basic, one-word question: “WHY?!”

I mean, really … who amongst us anymore has a scant 160GB music collection? Anyone? No? That’s what I thought. Not to mention that iTunes has an incredibly robust and rounded-out video library. Those take up tons more space than does a single song. So why the seeming slide backwards in the size department?

Let me pose this question: What if size really didn’t matter?

For all you female readers, I’ll give you a moment to quit your snide snickering. Done yet? Good.

Fact: Apple is buying up property left and right: old HP campuses, private land owned by old people (Fullbrights, anyone?) … what do they plan on doing with all that land?

Fact: Apple is moving away from the classic iPods with the larger storage capacities in favor of the smaller, slimmer, slicker looking iPhone and Touch devices.

What if capacity were no longer a necessity?

What if all your media resided “in the cloud?”

Think about it. It wouldn’t matter what capacity your device has: it would pull it ALL from a cloud-based location. All of the sudden, your 160GB iPod is moot.

Or is it? What about those who don’t have access to their “cloud?” Hikers? Anyone going “off the grid” is going to have a difficult time accessing their media content.

So in a nutshell, I went from being super-down about the classic line going away, to realizing what the potential reason for its demise is and actually getting excited about the prospects, to being upset about the whole “cloud” concept and not having access to all my music and stuff in a localized location. Interesting.

To be fair, most of these thoughts are based on articles that have been written in the last few months. This is pure speculation on my part, paired with the speculations of others who have written on similar topics. Will we see the end of the iPod classic? I bet we do. In favor of smaller-capacity devices? It would certainly seem so. Will it matter if iTunes goes cloud-based? Who knows?

RIP, Children

/ / Blah-ness, Opinion, rantings

So, I had a post written. It sucked. Here’s a new one. It will probably suck too cuz I have no idea what I’m going to write.

Earlier in the day, I was listening to the Moody Blues. They were a high school staple of mine. I wore thin every tape of theirs I had. On the way to school, at lunch, during free periods, on the way home, on the way to my job, doing homework … I listened to them a LOT. Of course, I listened other things too, but for a while, they were my main band.

Times they do change …

As the years have passed, my tastes have broadened–become more refined. Gone are the days sitting around enjoying a rousing round of the Sea Hags. Yes … that’s an actual band. Anyway, those days are gone. In their place is an appreciation of more musical bands–ones with talent.

So it is with a continually heavying heart as I listened to the Moody Blues’ 2nd album, To Our Children’s Children’s Children today. Now … to caveat that statement, I have to go on record as saying that most of their older music holds up nicely. They were innovative for their time for incorporating orchestral arrangements in a lot of their music, so that’s pretty cool. Lyrically … wow. I don’t remember them being so cheesy. Granted, it was the late 60s/early-to-mid 70s when they wrote a majority of their stuff. Lots of cheesy lyrics. Talking about a rocket launch as if it were “10 million buttefly sneezes”? Come on … really?  Granted, it’s off their sophomore,  and sure–“Higher and Higher” is more an environmental statement, but … ugh. “10 million butterfly kisses.” Not the best line.

And that album is riddled with lines like that. Incredibly simple and … elementary, cheesy, and … well, dare I say it–weak. “Do as you please with so much ease.” So I’m labeling today “Nit-picky Sunday” cuz that’s pretty much what I’m doing. TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE BANDS.

It kind of makes me sad. I’ve kind of known that there was a high cheese factor to a some of their lyrics for years, but today it just *really* grated it on my nerves. Sad! I’m blaming it on the Percocet. I can do that … right?

Kids Won’t Listen Unless It’s Cassettes Won’t Listen

/ / Blah-ness, rantings

The other day, my wife needed some song to help my daughter clean. Typically, she will do anything when it comes to dancing. So wife woman found a song on Amazon that she thought would do the trick. Bought it, thew it in iTunes, and played. Miraculously, child #2 immediately started to clean. The heavens opened and angels sang harmonious melodies as our daughter beautified our home. Granted, it was her mess, and it was substantial in size … but SHE DID IT. Baby steps …

So this morning, the same room was a disaster. Wife couldn’t remember the full name of the dance song, so she searched for the part that she could remember: “Freeze Dance.” Two songs popped up. The iTunes search function being what it is, it didn’t quite filter properly, so the list consisted of “The Freeze Dance”–the song she wanted, and “Freeze and Explode” by Cassettes Won’t Listen. To my surprise, the girls (both of them needed to help because they both made the mess) refused to do anything unless the Cassettes Won’t Listen song was on. They loved it! This makes me happy for a number of reasons:
  1. It shows that they’re starting to out-grow the generic kids’ songs that are so utterly mundane and boring
  2. They’re starting to develop a good sense of musical taste.
  3. They like to dance to good music–not crap.
These same children also like “They Will Not Control You” (they’re way of saying “Uprising” by Muse), “I Want It Now” (“Hysteria” by Muse), and other assorted songs with their own strange titles, typically consisting of snippets of lyrics that they actually remember. It’s funny and cute.
Anyway, that’s it. I was going to review Scars on Broadway’s CD since that actually did come in the mail yesterday, but I’ll get to that later today or tomorrow.

New Music Friday, Percocet Edition

/ / review

Okay, not that Percocet has ANYthing to do with the fact that I bought this stuff. I just happen to be on Percocet while I’m typing this. Yes it’s related to yesterday’s post. I will say this much: catheters are not a pain in the ass; they’re a pain in somewhere MUCH worse. If you can avoid them, do so.

So here’s the new stuff. It’s an awesome set, too. Already  previewed some of it.

  • Sinoia Caves – The Enchanter Persuaded
  • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Some Loud Thunder
  • Cul de Sac – Death of the Sun
  • Combustible Edison – Schizophrenic
  • The Delta 72 – The Soul of a New Machine
  • Division Day – Visitation
  • Double Dagger – Masks
  • Division of Laura Lee – Black City
  • Division of Laura Lee – DasNotCompute
  • Digable Cat – Letters from My Dreams
  • The Early November – For All of This
  • Common Loon – The Long Dream of Birds
  • Club 8 – The Friend I Once Had
  • Clinic – Walking With Thee
  • Consonant – Love and Affection
  • Decibully – Sing Out America

I’m also waiting on a Scars on Broadway CD from Amazon. That’s Daron Malakian and Jon Dolmayan from System of a Down fame. I’m curious to see how they sound. I’ve always like Daron’s vocal contributions, so I imagine his solo material (read: half of SOAD) will be awesome. Guess I’ll find out when the CD comes, eh?

And now the CD ripping begins.

“Dude. You buy CDs still? Why …?”

I like it. So what? It also means that no one can tell me what to do with MY purchased and ripped material. I don’t have to worry about what iTunes window it’s playing in, no picky DRM … it’s all mine.

And on that note, I bid you all a great night. This Percocet stuff is gonna knock me out cold. Again. I hope …

Comfort Music for the Day from Hell

/ / Blah-ness, rantings

Today.

Has.

High.

Suck.

Factor.

General anesthetic. Knives. Post-op pain killers.

Okay, the pain killers part isn’t so bad. The reason behind the pain killers though … imagine that Freddy Krueger and Jigsaw had a dream about you. In that dream, they were able to conceive a hell-child that was going to perform surgery on you. That’s how today is shaping up.

This lovely lady is helping me start journey down the primrose path. She was really nice and friendly. Probably cuz she knows I’m having a knife shoved up my junk and is taking pity on me.

Like I said … day from hell.

Anyway, to keep this somewhat musically related, on my way in, I thought, “man … I need some pump-up music.” On my phone, I have mostly mellow stuff: Mia Doi Todd, The Weepies, Angela McClusky, Sarah Fimm, Dulcesky, Band of Horses, Samantha Crain, Vas, Paisley Rose … mellow stuff, all of which is lovely music. However, I needed something high-energy.

Muse …

Specifically, “The Resistance.” Small little factoid about me: I like to sing in the car. Muse is a great band to sing along with. They could get me in the right frame of mind to

Crap. It’s go time … Holy hell, this sucks.

Ooh. Maybe not. Warm blanket, IV … guess this isn’t so bad.

Oh wait … they’re still shoving a knife where no knife belongs … so yah. Still sucks.

IV NEEDLE …

And now the wait begins. Apparently, 15 minutes or so.

Finished IV handi-work.

NO POST-OP PAIN MEDS?! GUESS AGAIN, JACK.

Okay bye.

5:00 UPDATE

So, I’m at home, heavily sedated and glad that it’s over. I’m pretty sure that this Percocet is gonna cause a massive headache. It doesn’t feel very happy-ish.

I got scrips for Percocet, some spasm medicine, and some anti-biotics. All told, I should be done with this by Monday morning, if not sooner. Here’s hoping.

Meanwhile, to keep me company, I have iTunes on shuffle, playing in the background. The sweet sounds of Bettie Serveert are keeping me even more mellow.

I Hate To Do This, But …

/ / review

I *might* be off the grid for the weekend. I’m trying to get some stuff written tonight so I’ll have posts lined up for tomorrow, Friday, and the weekend. Long story short, I’m going under the knife. Well, okay … in this case, it’s the scope, but to get to where the doctors need to go, they have to scrape away a lot of scar tissue. Ask me how excited I am about this. Actually, don’t. In fact, I’ll just tell you: I am not at all looking forward to this. Not even for the post-op pain killers. Definitely *not* worth it.

So gonna be thinking about Type O-Negative. Good news about this is that they’ll be using general anesthetic. That’s about where the good news stops. Other than maybe a 20 to 4o-count of either Lortab or Percocet. If that can be called good news, then … yay. Other than that, the rest of the weekend is shaping up to haz teh suxors.

*grumblemumblemutterundermybreathaboutstupidscopeanddeathanddumbandshitidontwant
todealwithbuthavetocuzifidonticouldendupdeadwhichwouldsuckworsethantheactualknifestuff*

Karma Phala in All Its Glory

/ / New Music, review

It is with much over-due pleasure that I review one of my most recent musical … acquisitions. Not purchased, not pirated. A simple email, a simple response, and a simple response to the response. Next thing I knew, I got a lovely little package in the mail. Sarah Fimm is working on her 7th CD. Meanwhile, she had been working on a project called “Karma Phala.” This compilation was distributed in the single most philanthropic method I’ve ever seen:

She mailed me a thumb drive full of music, pictures, and a video, and she mailed it to anyone who asked.

That’s it. And she’s been mailing them all over the world. Correct me if I’m mistaken, because oftentimes I am, but isn’t the current music business model to sell your soul to the RIAA so they can rape and pillage our wallets? So … how is she doing this? WHY is she doing this? Truthfully, I don’t have an answer. All I know is that I am the happy recipient of a thumb drive full of love and beauty. Maybe it’s the fact that she knows how to “pay it forward”: she mails off this nifty little gift with tracks from her previous 6 CDs PLUS previously unreleased material, and she hooks people enough for them to want to buy all 6 CDs (if they don’t have some or all of them already). For the unfamiliar, it’s a great way to indoctrinate new fans. For those who are well-acquainted with her work, they’ll be  happy to have new material to tide them over until the new CD comes out. For everyone, it’s a piece of awesome-ness.

Oh. And it’s not just a thumb drive. It’s silk-screened with a fitting little logo. You really should just get one of  these. I don’t know if she’s still running this promotion, but if she is, jump on it.

Now … for the music.

To understand the scope of this project, keep in mind that there are 31 tracks, 13 of which are previously unreleased material. In that mix are a few instrumentals and experimental tracks, all of which will haunt your auditory canals until the day you die. And even then you’ll probably mix and mingle with the ghosts of Karma Phala past, present and future.

Rather than review individual tracks, I’m going to give you an overall view of what you can expect. You can expect to get some lovin’ with your significant other. And by that, I mean intense, sweet, hot lovin’. There are some serious grooves on here that will turn the most shriveled up grape into the sweetest bottle of wine. You could actually get drunk from listening to this over and over. It’s that intoxicating.

She works her vocals like a snake charmer works a python in and out of a trance. She’ll take your breath and she won’t give it back until she’s ready. There is something ultra-sexy about her voice and music that … riles. Turn off the lights, light some candles, burn some incense, and grab your lover cuz there’s gonna be some sweet-ness going on. If her music doesn’t have that affect on you, you’re void of life. Or at least of hormones … cuz seriously? Damn.

There are definitely some stand-out tracks on this compilations, but I’m going to let you discover those on your own. You know what I think of the music. Now … if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find my wife and some candles. 😉

The Theme of This Post Is …

/ / Blah-ness, rantings

THEMES!

So I have been tinkering with some theme modification ideas. I like a lot of the themes that are out there, but none of them are “me.” So I’m working on my own. The theme you see before you right now is very much a WIP. If I had access to Photoshop, it would be infinitely cooler. However, it’s something I’m working on and will continue to work on throughout the evening. As in, now. Anyway, just thought I’d tinker with the page some and give it a somewhat new feel. I’m trying to streamline my twitter and blog pages so there’s a similar look to each. We’ll see how that goes.

White Stripes – Under Great White Northern Lights

/ / Concerts, Opinion, review

So I guess DirecTV still has us on the 3 free months of Showtime and Starz. That’s swell. Time to scan the channels and see what’s coming on.

Oh, look. The White Stripes. They’re always fun. Let’s record that.

Also, let’s forget that we ever recorded it and skip ahead a few weeks.

Next, let’s decide to see if a new episode of Bones came on Thursday. No? Oh well … wonder what other mystery surprises the DVR holds.

Oh look–that White Stripes vid I forgot that I recorded. Wonder how that is.

Pure awesomeness?

Energetic?

Personal?

And we’re back to pure awesomeness.

So I guess the premise behind the video is that they had never played in Canada. They’ve been to tons of other countries, but they had never set foot in Canada. Odd, considering they grew up with Canada practically being their backyard. So at some point, Jack and Meg decided that they would tour all of Canada. Not just the major cities, either. We’re talking Inuit villages, Yukon territory, frozen solid towns … they played a LOT of shows. In every one of them, they had little pre-concert warm-up shows. My favorite was the the first thing shown on the video: One-Note Concert. A crowd of several hundred greet them as they exit their car, get out, and walk to the stage. Jack dons his guitar, Meg grasps her drumsticks with full intent, and they promptly launch into  … one note. Then they leave the stage. The crowd immediately starts chanting for more, which is absolutely hilarious.

What amazed me most about the video is just how personable Jack is with everyone. He and Meg played a warm-up gig at what looked like a convalescent home located just a bit south of the north pole. So at a lot of these pre-gig warm-up shows, they’d play a regular, White Stripe-style show, just scaled, way, way down and back. This particular show, however, featured Jack with an acoustic, Meg with a hand-held percussiony thing (can’t remember if it was a tambourine or some maracas), and they played this folksy little ditty. The tenants loved it so much that they decided to reciprocate with a song of their own. Very cool. They also played “The Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round and ‘Round” while riding a bus all through the town. What?!  Yes–all through the town. And the fellow bus-riders were LOVING it … singing along, laughing … awesomeness.

How a two-person band can have that much energy and intensity is beyond me, but they bring it to each and every one of their shows. They live in the moment, for the moment.

So yah. If you have a chance to pick up this incredible documentary concert footage DVD, I would highly recommend it. It’s worthy of your time, your TV, and your disc player. Or if you have cable or satellite, see if it’s on and record it. If you’re a fan of raw and intense energy, pick this up.

Y’all Ready for This?

/ / rantings

Yes–that is indeed a reference to 2 Unlimited’s one-off, sports arena thumpin’ anthemic dance track. Quick tangent … I have a 6-year old Yamaha keyboard right next to my workstation. Every now and then, I like to dabble and figure out songs. So far, I’ve figured out Rush’s “Subdivisions,” Muse’s “Uprising,” Van Halen’s “Jump,” and a bunch of others. Also, I like to make stuff up and just tinker. I’ll go through the sound bank and tinker for hours. The other day, I hit a low E and I thought, “Hmm. Sounds like a basketball game.” So I started tinkering with the keyboard and found the right chords, etc. Next thing i knew … “Y”all ready for this?!”

Anyway, that’s the perfect segue into the main point of the post. I kind of had a lack-luster last few months of 2010. Blame it on the lay-off. That took a pretty massive toll on my psyche. So much so that I really just didn’t have the desire to do much of anything except job hunt. And when I *did* land a job, I hit the ground sprinting. “Baptism by fire,” as it were. So, yah. It’s been a wicked crazy 2 months at the new gig.

Having said all that, I am planning on posting a ton more. 2011 already has an awesome feel to it. Gotta capitalize on the feel-goods and keep hitting the ground running! So I have a ton of plans for posts. Reviews, thoughts, opinions, concert announcements (maybe … there are already tons of great sites to check out in the SLC area for concert stuff … another site might just be overkill), and whatever else crosses my mind.

So here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to 2011!

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