Friday, September 28, 2007

Deep Thoughts on Music

I do my best thinking with a cup of coffee and music streaming through my ear phones. As I read a Freakonomics blog on music, I came across a real gem halfway through the article from Fredric Dannen, author of Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business:

My epiphany, if you want to call it that, was simply this: consumers of recorded music will always embrace the format that provides the greatest convenience. No other factor — certainly not high fidelity — will move consumers substantially to change their listening and buying habits. The single exception to this rule was the introduction of two-channel stereo in the late fifties.


Way to boil it down for us Fred. Seriously.

iTunes made buying music and playing music on an iPod really easy, that's why it took off (plus it looked cool). So where is the next evolution in convenience? Songbird can suck music up from the rest of the internet. Do a search, find a blog with your favorite wilco in San Francisco in 2004 bootleg, and you are off and running. (Here's my Wilco search through Songbird) Did I mention I could add these songs to my Web Library and play them anytime I'm online.



Now, Songbird makes it possible, not convenient, but something tells me those folks read blogs too. I can almost hear them chirping while they work.

Best DVD Ever?


Most of you know that I'm prone to hyperbole (and misspellings). "Best Song Ever", "Best Class Ever," and "Coolest Company Ever" come out of my mouth regularly. What can I say, I'm an excitable guy. So I'm introducing my new recommendation service. When I think there is something you should check out, it will be dubbed, "Best ___ Ever."

Kicking off this series is the new Pearl Jam DVD, Immagine in Cornice. It's the Best DVD Ever. Here's a little slice of what you get.


Ahh, PJ, get's me fired up. The background is they brought an artsy Italian director to film their 5 shows in Italy last year. Scotty, my brother and I went to a private screening SF on Monday. Ok, it wasn't private, but we did watch it in an actual movie theatre with actual people. The highlights were a great Alive, Rocking in the Free World (shot in an awesome Italian courtyard) and Scotty's personal favorite, Come Back.

Here is another video sample, from Alive.



You can buy the DVD here and mine is on the way.

Because this is the Best DVD Ever, I'm going to give you a bonus treat. Here is a cool clip from the Best DVD Ever. Eddie and Mike are playing a little known song off of Vitalogy called Lukin. It's meant to be played as loud and fast as possible and they do just that. It's lyrics are obscured by Eddie but they're pretty interesting. Lukin is one of his bud's and he is trying to get over to his place, but get's harassed.

Enjoy the Best DVD Ever.

Da Basement


One of the best things about graduating from B-school is seeing your friends take jobs that they will love. My ex-roomey Aaron Schweifler did just that, signing up for a gig at Sports Basement.

The Basement is an institution in SF and one of my favorite places to shop. If you are a macho triathlete like me (or rad feminine one), then it's the place for you. Probably 83% of my clothing has been purchased at the Basement.


They just opened another store in Walnut Creek and got a little press.
Check it out.

Kudos Schweif on a job well picked!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Chuck & The Globabl Housing Downturn?

In June 2006, Chuck Norris fever swept through Kellogg. We would check this website to see what new powers, feats of strength and intelligence and general heroics Chuck Norris had come up with lately.


It kept us entertained for quite a while. Embarrassing isn't it...Well not really. Chuck Norris is pretty cool, check the website.

You can imagine my excitement then, when I received this email forward today from my friend Matt. It turns out Chuck Norris may be able to cure the Global Housing Slump.

"The tears of Chuck Norris would supply enough liquidity to solve the credit crisis. Too bad he never cries."

Chuck, if you are out there, two things. 1st, thanks for reading my blog. B) Kudos to you for solving something Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and the rest of the financial system couldn't do.


By the way, my buddy Nick passed on this epic Ben Bernanke -Helicopter action figure. Here is how he got the reputation.

Bought & Paid For...


First of all, big thanks to you folks who took the time to read the blog. Glad you liked it.

There was one big question that kept coming up: Is Amazon paying me to talk up their music service? Unfortunately...No. Let's just say I wouldn't be adverse to taking a little mula in exchange for talking about all things Amazon. Are you listening Mike
Walton?

Second, kudos to the reader who noted that Costanza & Marissa Tomei episode was actually a two parter. Here is the preview of the finally.



My favorite quote: "How is it a man like you, so bald, so quirky,...how are you not taken?"

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Neko, George & Marissa


I'm back from a great trip to LA last weekend. I moved my flight up to Thursday afternoon so my buddy Matt and I could see the New Pornographers at the Henry Fonda Theatre. Great venue with an open roof deck. Matt and I indulged in a few beers and talked about some of his latest free-lance writing assignments. Good times all around.

Now let's get down to business. The New Pornographers are great, they are a Canadian super group, but we were really there to see Neko Case. She's very cute and can sing like the Wind (or is that an Angel). She was there, we were there, and probably every guy in the audience was mesmerized. Dudes yelling out, "Neko Case!", or "Hey Neko Case!", or "Yo, Neko Case!" You get the idea.

More importantly, it reminded me of one of my favorite Seinfelds. Marissa Tomei take an interest in George Costanza (who I resemble in almost every way). George "takes a meeting" with Marissa, and the rest is Seinfeld history: http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/seinfeld/episode_guide/?sl=episode&ep=714


Anyhoo, Neko is the best, the New Pornographers rocked with my favorite songs being Challengers, Mryiad Harbour, and The Old Showstoppers. If you are into semi-sensitive slower stuff, you'll probably like Unguided, because I do. The Bleeding Heart Show is still the best though.

Did I mention that Amazon is selling music nowadays and you can buy the album here?

One more thing, I found the Costanza clip by surfing through Songbird, an open source music player that people should check out. It's still really early for Songbird, and they're in build mode, but remember that name.