February 26, 2009
February 23, 2009
strays, and randomness...
it doesn't seem like it, but this is a big story...text books...and children's books...are huge pieces of the book business...if this is the first place people start taking digital books seriously...the timeline for the written word on paper...just got a little shorter...
completely unrelated...
on friday the AVClub reported on others reporting on a new internet meme that the kids are having fun with...click random article on wikipedia...click random page on wikiquote...click on interesting photos of the last 7 days on flickr...
and you have your new band name (wikipedia page)...the title of your first album (no more than the last 5 words of the last quote on wikiquote) ...and your album cover (chose an appropriate photo)...here's one of my favorites...
completely unrelated...
on friday the AVClub reported on others reporting on a new internet meme that the kids are having fun with...click random article on wikipedia...click random page on wikiquote...click on interesting photos of the last 7 days on flickr...
and you have your new band name (wikipedia page)...the title of your first album (no more than the last 5 words of the last quote on wikiquote) ...and your album cover (chose an appropriate photo)...here's one of my favorites...
February 21, 2009
my friend Andy is livecasting...
Andy Ard and Eric Shively are playing a house show tonight...and guess what...they're live casting it...who knew???
catch it here: (or go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-supafly-bungalow)
Online video chat by Ustream
7pm Mountain, 9pm Eastern, 6pm pacific...central, you can do the math...
catch it here: (or go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-supafly-bungalow)
Online video chat by Ustream
7pm Mountain, 9pm Eastern, 6pm pacific...central, you can do the math...
February 20, 2009
Imagine a workplace...
Imagine a workplace...where the person in charge...avoids making decisions...especially the tough ones...doesn't know what's going on with the people who are supposed to be managed...doesn't communicate what's going on in the higher levels of the company...only seems to care about getting promoted...
Imagine a workplace...where the only person who wants to jump into the leadership vacuum...has neither the skills nor disposition to do so...but is looking for a promotion anyway...
Imagine a workplace...where the rest of your co-workers are apathetic, argumentative, congenitally lazy, chaotic, malcontents...
Imagine a workplace...where they handle the administration of your pay and benefits as if you were an adversary...and you had to triple check everything...because you don't trust them...
Imagine a workplace...where you just want to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay...be treated like an adult...like a professional...and you wanted to work along side other adults...professionals...
Imagine...
James P. Johnson
Showing up is not enough.
February 16, 2009
i learned something new today...
and ms. scribe keeps telling me that this show is a waste of time...we'll see what she thinks the next time i get strapped into a straight jacket...
February 15, 2009
I have a character who kills herself...
at first it was by pills...and the blade...but the more i think about it, the more i want to change it...and yes, i do spend a considerable amount of time pondering some of life's more gruesome realities...this is the work that i choose...
anyway, i'm beginning to reconsider her method...for the following reasons...
too generic...maybe i watch too many movies, but this seems to be the preferred method of suicidal girls in the 20th century...really...all i need is a bathtub of hot water and Michael Stipe in the background wailing...everybody hurts...
the other reason i want to change it is...i like this character...if she has to die...yes, she does...and if it has to be by her own hand...yes, again...i want it to have some meaning...yet not be dramatic just for the sake of drama...
besides...i have an idea...something i've noticed for a long time, and just realized how i can write about it...
but i bring this up here because i want to hear your thoughts...and reactions...
like i said...this is the work...
on a completely unrelated note...
i pick up business cards...really...you don't want to see the stack of bent, crumpled, and completely irrelevant business cards i've collected over the years...
but...
i would have never encountered these wonderful artist websites if I hadn't picked up some random card...
anyway, i'm beginning to reconsider her method...for the following reasons...
too generic...maybe i watch too many movies, but this seems to be the preferred method of suicidal girls in the 20th century...really...all i need is a bathtub of hot water and Michael Stipe in the background wailing...everybody hurts...
the other reason i want to change it is...i like this character...if she has to die...yes, she does...and if it has to be by her own hand...yes, again...i want it to have some meaning...yet not be dramatic just for the sake of drama...
besides...i have an idea...something i've noticed for a long time, and just realized how i can write about it...
but i bring this up here because i want to hear your thoughts...and reactions...
like i said...this is the work...
on a completely unrelated note...
i pick up business cards...really...you don't want to see the stack of bent, crumpled, and completely irrelevant business cards i've collected over the years...
but...
i would have never encountered these wonderful artist websites if I hadn't picked up some random card...
February 13, 2009
Your word of the week...
Crepuscular- Of or like twilight; dim:
one of those fancy words that fancy people like to use to describe this phenomena when language is just not enough to convey part of the magic of being alive...while it looks good, and has a nice sound...say it...cray-pus-q-lar...it doesn't come close to capturing what it attempts to describe...it sounds more like a medical term...for some kind of bodily function..leakage perhaps...i would rather go with something more mundane...say, twilight...
February 9, 2009
my bed of nails is sharper than yours...
a couple of months ago i thought i had an idea...i would have been better off if i had pursued music...at least i could raise a few bucks playing on the street...if I had any talent...
and then i realize that notion is very romanticized...i know a handful of musicians...and it's very easy for me to sit on the sidelines and run my mouth...but after someone dropped this interview with Monique Ortiz into my Inbox...
i realized that it's the same story for most the musicians i know...
Andy Ard works to support his family and still finds a way to scrape together an album...and promote it on local radio...
Eric Shiveley plays house shows and coffee shops to get his music out into the world, and still manages to produce other folks music too...
even BobbyC...on an indie label...with bookings...and an excellent new release of headphone gems...
yet, a word of mouth recommendation from a nobody like me still helps to get people to listen to his work...
and these guys are the successful ones...for each of them there are three others i know who are getting nowhere...
meanwhile...all i have to do is sit here at my desk and type words until they form sentences that will make up a cohesive and entertaining story...
we just make it look easy...
and then i realize that notion is very romanticized...i know a handful of musicians...and it's very easy for me to sit on the sidelines and run my mouth...but after someone dropped this interview with Monique Ortiz into my Inbox...
i realized that it's the same story for most the musicians i know...
Andy Ard works to support his family and still finds a way to scrape together an album...and promote it on local radio...
Eric Shiveley plays house shows and coffee shops to get his music out into the world, and still manages to produce other folks music too...
even BobbyC...on an indie label...with bookings...and an excellent new release of headphone gems...
yet, a word of mouth recommendation from a nobody like me still helps to get people to listen to his work...
and these guys are the successful ones...for each of them there are three others i know who are getting nowhere...
meanwhile...all i have to do is sit here at my desk and type words until they form sentences that will make up a cohesive and entertaining story...
we just make it look easy...
February 8, 2009
excellence....
"Good food starts with good ingredients, followed by good ideas, finished by good execution. And greatness follows only in the laborious improvement of all three."
these words have been ringing in my head since I first read them...my initial reaction was to do this:
good anything starts with good fundamentals, followed by good ideas, finished by good execution. And greatness follows only in the laborious improvement of all three.
that right there is a lifetime of wisdom...this is the reason why I like the way Jason Sheehan writes...he gets it...I'd have a beer or three with that dude...
meanwhile, I'll use those two sentences to keep my compass pointed towards true North...
these words have been ringing in my head since I first read them...my initial reaction was to do this:
good anything starts with good fundamentals, followed by good ideas, finished by good execution. And greatness follows only in the laborious improvement of all three.
that right there is a lifetime of wisdom...this is the reason why I like the way Jason Sheehan writes...he gets it...I'd have a beer or three with that dude...
meanwhile, I'll use those two sentences to keep my compass pointed towards true North...
February 6, 2009
allow me to introduce you to my inner nerd...
this is just fascinating to me...especially three minutes in when she whips out a real human brain...
via wired
via wired
February 3, 2009
never too late...for second chances...
thanks to the positive response to my year end music wrap up last month, let's see if we can make it something of a regular thing...
January is usually the month I find myself playing catch up with things I missed the previous year...or giving a second chance to stuff I chose to ignore...that's where most of the items on this list come from...
Cool Calm Pete, Lost The Album- One of those mechanical recommendations from Last.fm or emusic. They got this one right. Pete's got that old New York style flow and a sense of humor. Read more here.
Facing New York, Get Hot- Read about this one over on the AV Club. Sort of a garagey take on the Steeley Dan sensibility. It's not as retarded as I'm describing it.
Holy Fuck, Holy Fuck- Found this digging around on emusic. An instrumental band out of Canada. They make a joyful, raucous, noise. Here, they did a remix of Radiohead's Nude.
Jim White, Transnormal Skiperoo- One afternoon cruising the cable wasteland, I found this crazy movie about Southern music called Wrong Eyed Jesus. Our guide was Mr Jim White. I try to keep up with whatever he does now.
John Common, Why Birds Fly- A Denver singer-songwriter. He calls his music Indie-Folk. I just call it awesome. Here he is working a Joe Henry vibe...
Melvins, Nude With Boots- I saw these guys years ago open for Primus. This was around the time Cobain name dropped them as an influence. I thought, "Really?" It was nothing but noise to me. Maybe I was distracted by the lead singer's hair. It made him look like an angler fish. Their new album is growing on me though.
Nellie McKay, Obligatory Villagers- I heard her perform If I had You on NPR, and I decided I needed to know more. I still haven't found that performance anywhere else, but her latest album makes me smile.
Tilly And The Wall, Wild Like Children- Team Love is a small NYC based label that opens the vault every month and just gives away a full album of one of their artists. This allowed me to finally catch up and check out Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. Also, I found that I love this band that I never heard of.
TV On The Radio, Dear Science- Another band that I just did not get. The critics and the cool kids raved about them, and all I heard was noise. (I'm old) Every time they released a new album, I gave them a shot to win me over. Nothing stuck. This one reminds me of early Talking Heads. (if only in spirit) I think they finally got me. What changed, them or me?
Wynton Marsalis Septet, Citi Movement- 'Cause I'm a Jazz snob, yes I am.
January is usually the month I find myself playing catch up with things I missed the previous year...or giving a second chance to stuff I chose to ignore...that's where most of the items on this list come from...
Cool Calm Pete, Lost The Album- One of those mechanical recommendations from Last.fm or emusic. They got this one right. Pete's got that old New York style flow and a sense of humor. Read more here.
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