Tag: Music

Punch Brothers Punch

Went to go see a Punch Brothers show at the Jorgensen tonight.
Successfully surprised Nishi.

On the way out, I overheard someone say “Great show, but why didn’t they play Wagon Wheel?” I’m not sure whether they were serious or not.

Paying Nothing

There was a very long discussion on a website I read about whether or not “Pay what you want” for music included “nothing.” It was an interesting back and forth, but there was this one little gem that popped out in the discussion.

God I hate modern consumers like you. “I’m going to take this apple, vendor. IF I like it, and I have some extra money, and I don’t have anything else I want to spend it on, and I’m feeling generous, I might pay you some amount that may or may not meet or exceed your asking price. But only if I feel like you’re making exactly what it cost to produce that apple, and not a cent more, because then you’re a greedy 1% asshole.”

It’s more like “You’re a convenient apple cart and I like you so I’ll buy an apple for $1 from you on the way to work even though apples are theoretically freely available from trees.”

The corollary being “And boy I’m glad you’re not a dick who goes around through the countryside chopping down and burning every wild apple tree you see to ‘protect your livelihood’ and ordering every kid you see picking free apples shot.”

One of these things is just like the others

Have you seen that video? Where she whips her hair back and forth? Or that video where we learn the days of the week? Or…this? Yikes.

Here’s what I don’t get: Rebecca Black, age 13 and Eden Wood, age 6, sing songs not written by them to music not arranged by them, appear in videos not directed or produced by them, and motivations are questioned. Willow Smith, age 10, does the same thing, gets reviewed by legitimate music critics, and even receives radio play. I’m not confused about why one song/video/whatever is more popular than the others, but I am confused about why they’re seen as different. Complaints and accusations of abuse and exploitation leveled against both Ms. Black and Ms. Wood are just as valid against Willow Smith. Being the daughter of a musician does not give her a free pass.

While it’s true that we police social deviance among adults, it’s also true that children are held to completely different standards, and plenty of actions that are socially acceptable among adults are not among children.

iCaved

I’ve been considering buying an mp3 player for months now, but I’ve avoided doing so because the only real option I have is a large capacity iPod. I don’t like iPods for one big reason: once you put music on, you can’t take it back off. Sure, tools like Senuti exist, and work well, but it doesn’t work that way by design, and I don’t like that at all. However, there aren’t many >100GB players, and of what is out there, the iPod is the best for my needs. So I caved, and bought a refurbished 160GB recently.

Moving from my main computer with it’s 60GB internal, I’m really really happy with all the new space. Things I’ve had lying around on DVDs can now be readily accessed, and life is good.

On a side note, I have a set of speakers that I bought at the same time I bought my first computer. It was a bottom-of-the-line Dell, and I paid as much for the speakers as I did for the computer. While that computer is now living out its remaining years as a MythTV box, I still have and love those speakers. They’ve traveled with me to college and back – but upon returning home were never unpacked. I just used the speakers that were already set up. I’ve recently set up these speakers, and I’m shocked at the difference I notice when listening to anything. I’m enjoying listening to music again, a hobby I’d taken a leave from for…well…about as long as it’s been since I’ve heard these speakers. While audiophiles might go overboard sometimes, a good set of speakers really makes a world of difference.

Bonnaroo 365 Video

I usually try to catch Bonnaroo sets at AT&T’s blueroom, because they’re pretty good. But since it streams live, if you miss it, you miss out. Bonnaroo is starting to stream videos of previous sets from their own website, and I’m pretty happy about it. The Raconteurs set from ’08 is up, and there is supposed to be more on the way.