Rhapsody in DRM-free mp3.

Last week was the debut of Real Networks' Rhapsody MP3 store. To celebrate, they offered a $10 credit to the first 100,000 people to sign up. Yours truly was among the people who ended up downloading an album (and then some) on Real.

I didn't even know Real was entering the DRM-free mp3 sales arena until I heard about the sign up offer. And, I'll admit, the $10 credit offer struck me as either ballsy or desperate, I still haven't quite decided, though I'm leaning towards the latter.

The question is, who is Rhapsody trying to reach? At this point, they are the fourth of the five biggest major label download music sellers to go the mp3 route. Their site, which, to be fair, is listed as a beta, isn't all that user friendly. Trying to search for a specific album title may or may not net you what you're looking for, though the artist search seems a bit more fleshed out. The keyword search is just about useless though.

One thing that shouldn't be in beta is their customer support, which needs some serious work. Unfortunately, I've already needed it and clicking through the customer support pages is a frustrating maze which leads you to help for every service Real offers except the mp3 store. I was able to get on the live chat through a page for their subscription service and my issue was resolved. However, it took about a half hour in the chat to get a simple matter cleared up which, if there had been a email address like everyone else has, I wouldn't have had to hang on and re-explain the issue to who or whatever I was talking to over and over.

And then there's the issue of what they are offering. Their selection leaves quite a bit to be desired. At times the albums available almost seemed like a random assortment of an artist's catalog. While they are offering all four major labels and a smattering of indies, Amazon's selection is much better.

Their prices are pretty standard. .99 cents songs and $9.99 albums, which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that a lot of their content can be purchased cheaper through Amazon. Oddly, there is an apparent mis-pricing of a bunch of box sets, mostly from the Rhino catalog. While it's possible that these prices could be correct (and I would certainly welcome that,) I find it a bit unlikely that a set retailing at Amazon for $97 is correct for $9.99 at Rhapsody.

So, other than a free $10 credit and fishing for cheap, but sure to be price corrected, box sets, what exactly does Rhapsody have to offer in this crowded market? As best I can tell, nothing. I can't really find a single reason to continue using this service. The site is clunky, the normal prices aren't anything special and the selection is smaller than Amazon.

While I'm all in favor of competition, there needs to be something different going on to make it happen. Competition is more than just a different name on your billing statement. It's surely not offering a lesser version of what the market leader is doing. But, unless they have some drastic changes in store, that's exactly what Rhapsody's mp3 store is, at the moment. Time will tell if Real can come up with something to make their store stand out, but personally, I'm doubtful they will.

DVD Review: Phase IV (1974)

I can't believe I haven't done a review of Phase IV prior to now. I was first exposed to this obscurity via the infamous "season zero" of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Upon tracking down the old VHS, Phase IV has become one of my favorite movies. Now, thanks to Legend Films (who have other DVDs with a Mike Nelson commentary, coincidentally) Phase IV is finally out on DVD.

Phase IV is a movie about ants. Not gigantic ants like a Bert I. Gordon or Corman flick. These are small, regular sized ants. But ants that become highly intelligent and attempt to take over.

So, we have two scientists out in the desert investigating strange occurrences caused by the ants. They've killed livestock, run people off their land and built a bunch of Stonehenge like monoliths. Michael Murphy plays James, the "good cop" scientist, trying to learn their language and figure out what they're after while Nigel Davenport as Dr. Hubbs becomes more and more engrossed in defeating the ants, regardless of the cost.

Hubbs takes delight in shaking the ant farm, so to speak, which always results in disaster and the ants evolving. Because of Hubbs' recklessness, they pick up Kendra (Lynne Frederick,) a wide eyed farm girl who is now orphaned and in shock. Meanwhile, James is trying to decipher the ants messages and get Kendra to safety before Hubbs gets them all killed.

This 1974 film was a directorial debut for Saul Bass, who was an Academy Award winner for his animated title sequences. Phase IV is a post-2001 sci-fi flick, unspooling at a leisurely pace, with heavy philosophical overtones and a trippy, ambiguous ending.

At it's heart, it is another man vs. creature movie. But, because it gets into issues of evolution, the possibilities of communicating with other species and the idea that we might not be the smartest animals on Earth, it becomes more. OK, it's not the greatest movie ever, but it handles a lot of interesting ideas in an intelligent way and, if you can appreciate slow, cerebral sci0fi, I think there's a lot here to enjoy.

The stunning thing about it is the miniature photography. I know it sounds silly to say, but the ants really are the best actors in the film. The way Bass manages to capture them on film and get them to do things that actually advance the plot (we see many of the evolutionary steps) is pretty remarkable. Plus, Bass throws in some style from time to time, so if nothing else, this movie is pretty interesting to watch.

Unfortunately, this DVD is about as bare bones as it gets. No extras, not even a trailer. Just the film itself. While I understand this is a pretty obscure film, I'd have loved even a simple "how they did it" featurette, as from a technical standpoint, there's some interesting stuff going on here.

The ants have more detail than the old VHS I had, this transfer is pretty flat and the print used has quite a bunch of specks and is pretty bland to look at. I'd love to see this film in a good HD transfer, to say nothing of a Blu-Ray release.

This is to say nothing of the fact that the original theatrical release was rumored to be longer with more of an ending. Apparently it was cut down a pinch for home video and this disc runs the same length as my old tape. (Though a little longer than the french TV rip my friend Kevin sent me. I think that had a couple of brief cuts for violence.)

Honestly, I wasn't expecting Phase IV to get a DVD release at all, so just having this is better than nothing. And considering I paid the same amount ($10) for an age old ex-rental VHS, I'm not too disappointed. Still, I feel this movie deserves better than what we got. Hopefully, some day we will, but until then, fans of intelligent sci-fi should feel pretty safe picking this up.

General Cinemas Eastgate

Shot some pictures at what is left of Eastgate Consumer Mall today. The six screen GC still stands in the out lot and one of the emergency exits was open so I managed to get a couple of shots in one of the auditoriums. However, not feeling like stumbling around in a pitch black abandoned movie theater with air so dusty it set off my allergies almost instantly, there's just a couple of quick shots. Maybe some other day I'll brave the elements and go back with a flashlight (and risk getting pinched for trespassing, I guess.)

Anyway, the shots are here. They're not fantastic and they're all pretty self explanatory. You can see all the dust that got on my lens just from opening the door. For the good of the order, here's shots around Eastgate itself. There's some demo work going on and sadly everything is boarded up. I wish I could have gotten up the main stairs, but I was too late for that.

A little more on the Esquire Theater

I was doing a little research in to the theaters of my youth and found out a little info about the Esquire. It was part of the Jerry Lewis (yes, that Jerry Lewis) chain, which was designed as a family friendly franchise. From what I've read, the idea was to create a turnkey chain showing G rated movies that all someone had to do was pony up the money and open the doors.

Well, it didn't quite work like that. The chain started in the early 70s, which wasn't exactly a good time for G rated pictures. Additionally, the idea that you didn't need to know anything about running a movie theater to get in this turned out to be fatally incorrect. A lot of people lost their investments as they had no idea how to run a movie theater and set up shop in poor locations.

Rumor has it, many of the theaters tuned into adult houses as a reaction against the strict rules on what type of movies could be shown. I don't think the Esquire ever showed porn, but I think it became a second run house as I'm pretty sure the last thing I saw there was Return of the Jedi in the mid80s, after it had it's first run.

The Esquire was at the end of the Esquire Plaza strip mall on Pendelton Pike. As such, it was sandwiched between two other theaters, the Eastwood, which was a really nice place, and the Pendelton Pike Drive-In. I don't know for sure when it stopped showing movies. My guess is it didn't make it to the 90s as neither of the other theaters on Pendelton Pike did. The building still stands and today houses a Pip Printing.

(Sidenote, the anchor store for the strip was a Zaires, another long gone relic. I'm pretty sure it became an Ames, like most of the Zaires in the area, and then closed up for good. Currently it houses a cut rate furniture store.)

The reason I mention all this is I found a pretty interesting YouTube video of a Jerry Lewis in Frankfort prior to being demolished. This one was a standalone, so the building itself isn't much like the Eastwood, but the inside and auditorium are a lot like what I remember.



I know of at least two other Jerry Lewis Cinemas in and around Indianapolis. Both of them still show movies, which seems to be kind of a rarity for this former chain. One is the Greenbriar Cinema Grill on 86th st. The other is now Key Cinemas on west Keystone.

Addendum to my Theaters post.

First off, I got so swept up in my General Cinemas love, that I totally forgot the last theater I was going to talk about. That would be the Loews Cherry Tree Plaza theater. Here's a picture of what it looked like before it got flattened:



Not my pic, but I'll get to that in a minute.

I really can't remember how many screens this had, I'm pretty sure it was six just like the General Cinemas Eastgate theater that opened a little later, if I'm remembering correctly. There wasn't a whole lot special about this one. It looked pretty much like every other Loews in the area, with the kind of olde timey paintings of famous movie people at the top of the entrance. To me, this had less character than the mall General Cinemas I remember so vividly.

Anyway, I think it closed for a while, reopened as a Sony theater then went back to being Loews. Now it's just a lot next to a strip mall that itself is decaying on a side of town that has some pretty bad rot itself. There's a nearly identical theater to this one on the northwest side that is still operating, I think. I used to work up there, but I only paid passing attention.

I only mention the Loews as I saw a ton of films there as a youth, though I don't have the affection for it that I do for the ones I mentioned in my last post.

I snagged the picture from a site called Cinema Tour. Another one I've used for some nostalgia tripping is Cinema Treasures. Both of the sites are kind of light on the information about theaters I was looking for. Treasures had more than Tours, but Treasures doesn't even list the Washington Square GC or the Cherry Tree Loews. Still, I'm throwing these out there as I know Koven mentioned in the comments a place he used to see some movies and maybe it's listed at one of those sites.

And, in case anyone was wondering if I was going to do a follow up post on the theaters of my driving years, the answer is no. Really, there's the Cinemark Movies 8, which was manna for a poor high school student, the Loews and the Eastgate GC, which I may touch on if I do another GC post, and the random mall GCs that were left. That's about it. Movies 8 isn't quite interesting to devote a post to, but I will leave you with this, which if you were there will bring back some memories:

MST3K does General Cinemas

One of my favorite MST3K host skits, for obvious reasons.



(PS- I'm using this clip for non-commercial purposes under what I believe to be Fair Use. Thanks.)

Theaters I have known and loved

I haven't done a DVD review in forever, and I'm not quite ready to kick one out there, but I wanted to write about a bit of a nostalgia trip I've been on as of late. For some reason, I've really been interested in the places I used to see movies, especially in my pre-driving days. The kicker of it is, I just realized that none of them show movies anymore. Most don't even exist today.

Let's take the Pendelton Pike Drive-In. This was the first place I ever remember seeing a movie. For my folks, this must have been a godsend as it was five minutes from where we lived and, being as it was a drive-in, they could bring me along with no problems. I remember laying in the back of their Monza station wagon with my sleeping bag usually watching a bit of the movie but falling asleep before the second feature. (Though I distinctly remember seeing Stripes there. And I'm pretty sure I saw Star Wars there, not on the first run, more on that in a moment.)

As I recall, the Pendelton Pike was a very old school drive-in. One screen, speaker boxes, rusty playground, kind of scary concession stand. I can't remember if they had double or triple bills. I suppose it may have varied. Strangely enough, I seem to remember the intermission clocks more than anything else.

We still went there occasional after we moved from that side of town. I don't remember how often though. I'm sure we went to some of the other drive-ins around town, none of which, except for the Tibbs are still running. The Pendelton Pike shut down in 1993 and all that stands is the screen.



There are two other places on Pendelton Pike I remember seeing movies. One was the Esquire Cinema in Esquire Plaza. Another single screen relic, the building still stands, but I don't know what is in there these days. I really don't remember too much about this place except going there once for someone's birthday to see Return of the Jedi and we all were kind of nonplussed as we'd each seen it about a dozen times by then.

The other is the mighty Eastwood Theater and this place I have vivid memories of. I mentioned Stars Wars earlier and there's a good chance I may have seen Star Wars there as it had the exclusive on the first run. In fact, Star Wars seems to be one of the only reasons anyone mentions the Eastwood on-line.

OK, let me tell you what I remember of this place. It was located in kind of a sketchy part of Pendelton Pike, adult bookstores and whatnot. It looked like a barn on the outside, but inside it was totally cool. Again, this was a single screen, but it was a huge curved Cinerama screen! There were mechanized curtains that opened up and the whole nine yards. In fact, the place reminded me a little of the Seattle Cinerama, though I may be imagining things.

Mostly what I remember seeing at the Eastwood were Disney flicks. Pretty much all of them came around in the early 80s and we went to them. Specifically, I remember Fantasia making a huge impact in that theater with the surrounds (back when not all theaters were even stereo, let alone Dolby,) and that massive curved screen. I might have seen Star Wars there, but I'm not going to lie and say I remember it. (I'm still convinced I saw it at the drive-in, somewhere.)

The Eastwood went downhill in the late 80s. If I recall correctly, it may have been showing porn for a while before converting to a music venue and then folding entirely. Now there's a Menards where it used to be. Shame, as that was a movie theater with soul.

So, to the opposite end of the spectrum, I have a huge amount of nostalgia for the old General Cinemas. Specifically, the twin at Washington Square, though I know I saw stuff at Glendale, Eastgate and Castleton Square. Those old GC theaters in the mall were pretty funky and soulless, but I still have some nostalgia for them. I remember them being kind of squatty and ugly. In fact, I know one of them had a screen split into two very long and narrow rooms, which always kind of freaked me out when we saw a movie in one of those.

Still, I have a lot of stupid good feelings for those ugly things. And aside from a lot of red and orange carpet, what do I remember most about General Cinema? The intro bumpers!!! w00T!



I know I've had that one on the blog before, but you know, for years that thing was impossible to see and it was driving me crazy. Then there was this later one which, for some reason, I don't remember liking as well:



Then there's this one, which I remember very fondly:



And then there's this popular one, though now we're well into the multiplex era:



I still dig the psychedelic projector one the best. The fact that the music (which I believe is from an Optigan) is all jacked and out of time just adds to the charm and funky feel I remember those little shopping mall theaters had.

So that's what I've been thinking about as we prepare ourselves for drive-in season (though daylight savings time plays hell with that.) Even though I don't get out to see movies as much these days, I still miss the old theaters I used to visit, back when there weren't a dozen screens and the sound systems didn't move your bowels. I wish I had more pictures to go with this, but there just isn't a lot out there. If anyone know of anything, or wants to share some memories of these theaters, leave a comment.

The Score, So Far.

Well, the Man Moat is not a moat any longer, but it sure feels naked without anything in it. We decided to toss all the carpet in there and the fancy title stuff didn't seem worth putting back down as it would need to get pulled again if we had another flood.

I have about 80 some odd records with covers that are in various states of disarray. I think the actual records are going to be ok, but the covers are pretty trashed. Among the losses were titles by James Brown, John Coltrane, Sunn0))), Jesu, Albert Alyer and Ornette Coleman.

Because I needed to pull some files off my laptop and decided I had nothing to lose, I just checked out one of my drives. This one was a little USB drive that was completely submerged and discovered on the other side of the room from where I left it. It worked fine. This gives me hope for the other drives, though my backup drive that didn't get flooded decided to work finally and I have early April images if need be.

The computers themselves are still untested. I'm not feeling that brave yet. I'm also unsure about a handful of power supplies and a fancy schmancy Monster power strip which were completely submerged.

My Grestch bass drum seems to have dried out fine and obviously the Vistalites are ok.

That's pretty much it right now.

Dogzilla vs. Ultramonkey

I love Japan.

Man Lair, Flooded.

I am a very sad panda this morning. After valiantly fighting torrents of rain on several occasions, the elements finally caught up with us last night while we were sleeping. Ironically, I'd been checking the flood situation all through the day and was lulled into thinking everything was ok.

When I went into the basement this morning (ironically to try and coax a backup image out of my submerged Windows XP machine that was giving me headaches yesterday,) the carpet squished. I looked over at a copy of Gato Barberi's Chapeter One I'd just bought two days prior and noticed the bottom corner of the gatefold was sticking out at a 90 degree angle, throughly saturated. The entire basement had flooded.

Before when we'd had problems, it was just isolated to a small area. Judging by the waterline on my PC, we got about three inches all the way to the back wall last night. Several things floated away from where they were, waiting to be found in corners were I hadn't put them.

The good news/bad news is that most of what I had was off the floor. The bad news is that I now have a crate of records throughly waterlogged.

So far, that seems to be the biggest loss, though I have two computers whose conditions are as yet unknown. The bass drum from my vintage Grestch kit got a bit damp as did the amber Vistalite bass drum, which is at least the second time that poor drum went in the drink.

Anyway, I'm a bit numb at the moment. It could have been much worse, and it still might be. I guess I'm hoping at least I can salvage the drives from the computer and maybe insurance will cover some of the records. I hope.

UPDATED: Fire at Universal Studios

UPDATE: False alarm. Nevermind. Thanks to Idolator for the tip.

However, reports of Bo Diddly's death are sadly accurate.

It's kind of old news now, but in case you didn't hear, there was a fire at Universal Studios over the weekend. This wouldn't be news except this wasn't just a small fire somewhere on the property, this was a big one which, apparently, started on the back lot and ended up in the vault.

What got damaged? Well, they aren't exactly saying yet, but the reports I'm seeing look as is music masters stored in rented space in the video vault. (Uni Records is a separate organization from the film and TV Universal but were renting vault space from them. Confused yet?) According to this report, they managed to save the video backups but lost the music masters, which, apparently hadn't been backed up.

I know it's popular to pile on Uni and Doug Morris, I've done it here, and they usually deserve it. But, depending on how forward thinking they were about making safety copies, this could be a devastating loss for music lovers.

Anyway, I'll be curious to hear what the official statement is on this and what was lost.

Usborne Guide To Computer And Video Games

Found this via Game, Set, Watch. Talk about something I hadn't thought about in years, this was my favorite book as a youngster. It's still pretty cool today as a piece of retrofuturism. (Speaking of, I had a dream about Disney's Space Mountain last night, back when RCA was still sponsoring it.)

http://www.pointlessmuseum.com/museum/usbornecomputergamesindex.php

Looking at this book now, the interesting thing to me is all the handheld and tabletop games in it. At the time, I assumed many of these were made up as I'd never seen them. Well, in the time since then, I think I've seen every one of those somewhere.

I also still love the diagram of how a computer works with all the little robots running information around. Way cool.

Cheap eMusic, Acid and Green's Leak

First off, I should mention that if anyone out there is an eMusic subscriber, it might be worth your while to swing by Circuit City some time soon. They have starter subscription packs that work like booster packs for the blow out price of $4.98 for 65 tracks. A really good deal, considering the usual eMusic booster price is something like $19.95 for 50.

Unfortunately, you can't still get Ray Baretto's Acid through eMusic (though a bunch of other Fania titles are available, seems they switched distributors and not everything is through the new one yet) but it's an album worth checking out. I'm no expert, but I think it's considered a high point of boogaloo music and it's one of those albums I come back to often.

About the only track on there you might know is "Deeper Shade of Soul" which, of course, was sampled by Urban Dance Squad ages ago. There's also "The Soul Drummers," which has appeared on a comp or two. Really though, it's all killer Latin soul which kind of makes you glad to be alive.

I also wanted to mention the new Al Green. Yeah, I was naughty and downloaded a leak. I've been a big fan of his for ages and was pretty impressed with his two previous comeback albums. (I think I did a review of one for Nuvo. I really can't remember.) I'm also a big fan of ?uestlove, so when I found out he was producing this time around, I couldn't wait to hear the results.

It's kind of ironic that this album nails the whole mid 70s vibe better than "I Can't Stop" and "Everything's OK" considering those two albums were produced by Green's old producer (Willie Mitchell) at the old Royal Studios with as many of the old musicians as are still around. "Lay It Down" features younger cats such as the Dap-Tone horns and a younger producer but really sounds like someone dug up some old tapes and put them out. Just roll the treble off a big and compress it a hair to get the sound of those old 45s and you'd think it was some mid-70s Hi release that fell through the cracks.

The problem is, while "Lay It Down" may have vibe to spare, the material is weaker this time around. Green's two previous Blue Note albums each had a single or two worth of classic stuff (and, after all, Green is a singles artist at heart.) This time around, there just isn't anything that gets under your skin like an Al Green classic should.

Add to that a few completely unnecessary guest shots. John Legend and especially Anthony Hamilton at least hold their own but Corinne Bailey Rae (who?) is totally outclassed. An interview with ?uestlove in Wax Poetics implies the record company would have like more guests and he talked them down to three. I feel it was three too many. Granted, I'm not a big fan of these appearances anyway as they always feel shoehorned in, no exception here. But I really think on an Al Green record, when the man is still in fine form, why do I want to hear someone else?

And that is the bottom line. Green still has it. I think his voice has a little more "air" on top than it did on "Everything's OK" but he's still got the fire and is still pretty much nailing it. The problem is, despite Green and all the talent surrounding him on "Lay It Down," the lack of any memorable songs makes this one a pretty big disappointment.

To be fair, I'm judging a leaked copy I picked up about a month ago. As far as I know, the album drops next week, so I don't know how much different the release will be from the advance. Maybe they have a tune or two that they held back. Somehow I kinda doubt it.

I Smell Like an Exhaust Pipe

IMG_0042.JPG
Originally uploaded by CaptainWrong

because I went to the auto auction at the state fairgrounds today. This wasn't my favorite car, but it was close. I dig the late 60s Mopar. I got better pics coming soon.

Speed Racer Goes Crazy

From the blog Catroon Brew:



I only hope the upcoming movie is this good.

Got my first YouTube takedown notice.

Kind of surprised I hadn't received one of these before. About two (maybe it was three?) years ago, I uploaded a bunch of clips to YouTube from this random pile of VHS tapes I thrifted. One of which was SCTV's Michael McDonald parody. (This was before yacht rock, I think.) Well, that was the one pulled.

It's kind of a shame as it's a funny clip and due to the use of Christopher Cross' "Ride Like The Wind," I doubt its going to get a video release. I know there have been a couple of SCTV collections, but they were low budget and, judging by the number I've seen at Big Lots and Half Price Books, I'm guessing didn't sell too well.

Oh well, that's life, I guess.

UPDATE: looks like they torched my entire account over that one clip. Thank SCTV.

Got my Pinball Machine.

A little over two years ago, I acquired a pinball machine. This morning, it finally arrived at my house.



I always wanted a pinball machine with the image of a bigoted actor and that plays C&C Music Factory.



Mel sez: I got a bad reputation.

You sure do, pal.



This may not be my dream machine (that would probably be Gotleib's 1982 Haunted House or Bally's Fireball) but this is still a lot of fun. Good table, lots of action, slightly odd license, but ok. Kind of an obscure table, but who cares? It's fun!

This Was My House A Few Nights Ago.

(I don't mean that literally, just the same scenario.)

Brilliant Site!

I have a hunch I'm the last to know about this, but check out Trailers From Hell. Directors of a mostly cultish nature, giving commentary over trailers of Psychotronic films that influenced them. On the negative side, there's a lot of Eli Roth. However, there's alot of Joe Dante, so it all balances out. (To be fair, the Roth stuff I've watched is actually pretty good.)

Be cautious though, there's loads of spoilers in the commentaries, though you can just watch the trailers as they are.

Here's a good one, where the director of Shaun of the Dead discusses Danger: Diabolik (aka the source for the Beastie Boys' "Body Movin'" video.)



Joe Dante nails From Hell It Came:



PS: dunno if it's just me or my connection, but the trailers really stutter on the streaming.

Music To Assemble Ikea Furniture By

The last couple of nights I've been putting together a bunch of Ikea furniture so I loaded up the CD player with some Mosaic sets I've been meaning to spend some time with. If you don't know, Mosaic is a small jazz specialist label who do primarily high end box sets centered around a complete segment of an artist's work.

Their big boxes are pretty neat. They have a consistent look and bring together a lot of hard to find material. They're also highly collectible so the sting of the cost of admission is tempered by the fact that everything they've put out has gone up in value, if you care about such things. I've been real lucky that I've found most of mine really cheap. I've only paid collector's price once and managed to buy another on sale.

Of course, when they started out, the music was much harder to get than it is now. A growing criticism about Mosaic is that much of the music in their sets gets reissued by the licensing labels once the Mosaic set goes out of print. For instance, I'm pretty sure almost everything in the Jackie McLean Complete Blue Note 1964-66 Sessions set (which was the second Mosaic I bought) is available through Blue Note at a much cheaper cost. But, people still like the Mosaic sets as they generally have great liner notes and lots of cool pictures.

Recently Mosaic has created a second line of smaller sets called Mosaic Select and this was what I started with. Specifically, it was the Duke Pearson set. The Select series has been a bit controversial as the stuff contained in these sets hasn't been as hard to find. The Pearson set is a good example of this as I think one could assemble this set with a combination of domestic and Japanese Blue Note discs, but if you don't want to import, this is a cheaper alternative.



Anyway, Duke Pearson was a pianist who ended up as an A&R, house arranger and kind of all round go to guy at Blue Note in the 60s. This set focused on his last batch of sessions for the label in the late 60s. If you know anything about Blue Note, you know this was a transitional period for the label (and jazz itself.) These recordings have a commercial bend, to be sure, but I think there's some gems in there.

Specifically, the first session which came out on LP as "The Phantom" is a keeper. It's also been recently reissued domestically on Water Records. Bobby Hutcherson, who is maybe my favorite vibe player, adds a lot to these soulful bossa nova tunes. Duke must have been really feeling the Latin vibe as pretty much all the stuff on the first two discs continues in this groove. As a comparison, it's kind of like a stripped down version of some of what CTI was doing at the same time. It's maybe a little lightweight, but I dug it.

However, the third disc tripped me up. It ends with "Merry Old Soul" a Christmas album. This actually sounded kind of cool, but I'm just not ready for Christmas music yet. But, prior to that, is a session with a chorus that is straight up old school dentist office music. I really wanted to find something to like on this stuff, but it was way too easy listening for me to dig.

My recomendation would be for someone to get the reissue of "The Phantom" and pass on the whole set unless you can hear some samples first. This is not going to be everyone's bag and while I'm glad to have it in the collection, it's pretty non-essential stuff.



The bulk of my furnature building was done to the Classic Argo, Emarcy and Verve Small Group Buddy Rich Sessions. This was the one I actually bought new. Most of this stuff is hard to come by as little of it has been released on CD domestically. Plus, there's an entire unreleased session of about an album's worth of material.

This stuff is really interesting to me. It's squarely between two big band periods for Rich. During this time, Buddy was kind of in flux, even giving up drums to become a song and dance man for a while. What's really interesting about this set is hearing how good an accompanist he could be when he wanted to. As he was trying to downplay the drumming, there's not a ton of fireworks here. Just Buddy grooving behind some great musicians. (Not to worry though, he does whip out a solo often enough that you don't ever forget whose name is on the label.)

For my money, the best stuff in this set is on the last four discs when Buddy has a working group going with vibe man Mike Mainieri. What possessed Rich to put together a front line with vibes and flute, I'll never know, but it works. And you'd think it would be all lightweight west coast stuff, but there's some fire here.

I also really like the live set that kicks off disc four. Flip Phillips is a player I'm not terribly familiar with, but he really steals the show there. The first three discs are quality as well. Lots of Basie alumni and lots of Basie tunes. Nothing wrong with it at all, but I just think the later stuff with Buddy's working group, as opposed to the people thrown together for the session, is more interesting.

To be sure, for someone who only listens to Buddy Rich for the drum solos, I'd say avoid this and stick with the 60s and 70s big band stuff. If you dig the 50s Verve stuff and mainstream early 60s jazz, I'd say this is a good set to pick up. Plus, if you're the kind of person who thinks Buddy overplays, I think you'll be surprised.

Speaking of overplaying, I batted cleanup with the Stan Kenton Complete Holman/Russo Charts. This set holds the distinction of being the one I paid the least for. (And I mean a ridiculously low amount, less than the cost of a single CD.) It's also the one that I don't think I'm ever going to really get into.

See, I can appreciate arrangers. I can appreciate the idea of arranger's bands. I dig Gil Evans, for instance. I think I just don't like the Kenton style. It's too loud, to brassy, not swinging enough for me. Frankly, a lot of this set sounded like mediocre soundtrack material. Then there were some vocal sides that were just corny.

So, anyway, if you like the idea of jazz played by a marching band, maybe you should seek this one out. I don't think I'll be putting this one back in the player any time soon, if ever.

And, in case you were wondering, I got a new computer desk and a dresser that is going to be perfect for CD storage. I like Ikea stuff, but their store freaks me out.

You Shoulda Been Here...

because you would have heard all this while I was fixing the computer:

Eric Dolphy - The Complete Prestige Recordings (Discs 1 & 2) I bought this set when it came out. It was pretty expensive and I was still a neophyte on the jazz tip. What possessed me to take a $120 (I think) leap of faith, I'll never know. But glad I did.

And the crazy thing is, I bought this sucker at Best Buy! Try finding ANY jazz at Best Buy today that isn't Miles' Greatest Hits, A Love Supreme or whatever Kenny G. poops out, let alone a nine CD comprehensive set from a bass clarinet avant playing cult figure.

But I digress...

One and Two cover Dolphy's "Outward Bound," Oliver Nelson's "Screamin' the Blues" and Ken McIntyre's "Looking Ahead." If you know anything about early 60s jazz, those titles should tell you everything you need to know about the contents. If you don't, well, the first and third are more "modern" with what was then pretty avant guard stuff while the second is more downhomey, Saturday night BBQ.

When I first got this set, the Nelson sides (and there's two albums worth here) didn't impress me as much as the more "out" stuff. Now I've really come to appreciate just the soulful bluesy stuff. Of the listening, this was probably what hit me closest to right the other day, though it's all pretty good. Of course, the Five Spot set with Booker Little is the crown jewel of this box, but really it's all good.

Sonny Rollins - The Complete Prestige Recordings (Discs 5, 6 & 7) Oh man, Now here is some classic, classic stuff. You want state of the art mid-50s small group jazz? It doesn't get much better than this batch of recordings.

Disc five starts off with "Sonny Rollins Plus Four" which is the legendary Clifford Brown/Max Roach group in all but name. You simply can not argue with that group of players at that time. I went through a period where I bought any Brown/Roach album I could find and I was never disappointed.

Then we move to "Tenor Madness." Stupid title, but you get Sonny with Miles' rhythm section of the time and a guest shot from Coltrane. It's easy to argue that this album is a bit overrated. It gets reissued every couple of years based on the combination of Sonny and Trane playing together. Alright, sure, but you can't deny it's still good stuff. Maybe not Sonny's best, but so what?

Speaking of, here comes "Saxophone Colossus," another dumb title, but probably Rollins' first masterpiece. If I had to pick one album out of this box to have and to hold forever and ever amen, it'd probably be this one. Everything just comes together here. And as much as "Blue 7" has been mythologized, it's still an impressive bit of improvisation. Plus, I'll always dig "St. Thomas," even if this version is a bit stiffer rhythmically than later versions.

Then there's "Rollins Plays for Bird" and "Tour de Force." I have to admit, listening to these two after "Colossus" is a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong, there's some great stuff and I have a budding appreciation for Kenny Dorham, so hearing him on the Bird stuff is always cool. But it's just that "Colossus" was so strong, so inspired, that most anything following directly is going to pale a bit.

And that's kind of the problem with a set like this. You can't really sit down and listen to all of it, or even a large chunk like I did, at once because the amazing moments tend to wash out the merely fantastic. But, when you're babysitting a bunch of installs, you've got the time and that's just what happens.

So tonight it was:

Booker Ervin - Texbook Tenor I have to confess, this one was just background for me tonight. I love Booker and I'm sure when I get a chance to really dig into this, I'll dig it too. Dig?

Larry Young - Lawrence of Newark Wow. Outsville, baby. This ain't no backgound music here. I've been wanting this one for ages and didn't even know it was on CD until I saw it at Dusty Groove earlier this week. Really, it was all I expected and then some.

I loved Lifetime. (Tony Williams' Lifetime I mean, I think there's some emo band out there using the name, so let's be clear.) And as much as I loved Young's Blue Note stuff, the Lifetime records just blew my mind. This is an extension of that. The best way I can describe it would be if Pharaoh Sanders had been in Lifetime, this might have been the album. It's got that rock bottom fusion stuff, but with some free/spiritual stuff on top. Kooky, crazy stuff. I love it. Three hundred stars.

Big John Patton - Blue John Gadzooks, I hadn't listened to this one in forever. After the Lou Donaldson platter the other night, I was in the mood to hear more Grant Green/Ben Dixon and Big John.

So, yeah, good stuff. Kind of a legendary session in so far as the album cover showed up on the back of other Blue Note LPs, but it was ever released. Oops.

Now, the one thing about this that I'm still not sure about is George Braith. When I first heard him, I was not impressed at all. It's too easy to write him off as a Roland Kirk imitator doing the two horns at once bit. But, I've heard a lot of his stuff since then and getting back to this album, well, let's just say he doesn't mess things up. Still, I think there's probably a half dozen other sax players I would have liked to hear here(including Kirk himself!), but still , he does bring something different to the album.

Charles Kynard - The Soul Brotherhood From Larry Young's spacey freak outs, to Kynard's funky soul. Have definitely been in a Hammond mood as of late.

So this is a two albums on one disc set. I'm not going to lie to you, the first part was enjoyable enough, but didn't really grab me as too much different than a million other soul jazz sets I've heard (most of which feature Grant Green on guitar, as does this one.) I'll need to give it another spin because I've heard there's some really hot playing from Mr. Green here. I just didn't hear it in the first pass.

The second album here, is something a little more special, IMVHO. Right away, the rhythm section grabbed me and refused to let go. Kind of odd to have a bass player on an organ jazz record, but it's Carole Kay! And you got Paul Humphreys on drums (sounding a ton like Pretty Purdie, not that that's a bad thing.) Then you got Wilton Felder from the Crusaders on tenor and Joe Pass (!) on guitar. It's like a weird left coast session jam.

And believe you me, this record smokes! Seriously, I didn't know what to expect here because, on paper, this really looks like a straight session gig where everyone plays like worker bees. But dang dang DANG. I don't know what got into everyone, but this is some sweaty, greasy, funky stuff going on here. B3 sets come a dime a dozen and, as much as I like them, they do tend to sound similar after a while. But this, man, this is good stuff.

Goodbye Vista

If I had to make a list of the worst decisions I've made computing, installing Vista would be near the top. At the time, it made sense. I was in IT and Vista had been out early to us. I was using it on my machine at work, as were my co-workers. No one had really come across any issues. The future looked bright.

Since I was putting new dives in my machine anyway, I figured I'd go ahead and make the jump. It seemed like everything was headed that was, so I could do it now with a clean install that I was going to make anyway or wait a while and do it later. I've never had any luck going the upgrade route with Microsoft, so it seemed logical to do it then rather than wipe and do the whole bit at that time.

Well, that was a few months before Vista hit the streets. For a while, everything was fine. Then the crashes started. And the performance dragged. And dragged. And dragged.

To be fair, I have an older machine. But everything I'd checked with, including Microsoft's own upgrade adviser, led me to believe I would be able to run Vista fine on my machine. Yeah, I could use a new video card, but still, the specs were above the minimum and comfortably in the recommended area.

What went wrong? I really don't know. I leave my machine on all the time and with XP it was never a problem. Vista would crash at least once a week, usually more, with absolutely no reason why. The closest I ever came to an answer was a nebulous driver issue. Rigorous checking and double checking of drivers, pulling hardware, etc., never uncovered the culprit.

Additionally, I had to remove all the graphical candy and run what looked like a stripped down XP anyway to make little things like opening folders or switching between applications less of a "start process and go make a cup of coffee" affair.

I waited out for SP1 and found it to be no better. No help. Nothing changed. If anything, I was crashing more and moving slower.

So, that's it. I'm done with Vista. As painful as starting over on XP has been (three days later and I'm only now to the point where I can start installing software,) I'm up. It's working. It starts up fast. I can switch between programs and not have time to read War and Peace while waiting.

However, there were some causalities along the way. Somehow my older Western Digital My Book got hosed. I mean, it's completely toast. As it was just my redundant backup, I'm not too worried about that, but I am a little irritated that I lost a drive that was less than two years old and old used for backups. If you can't trust the backup drive, what can you trust?

Also, I'm irritated that I had to buy floppy discs. Really irritated. All because this SATA card drivers came on CDROM and, for some reason, I couldn't ever coax the XP installer to read the disc. Once I got the floppy, all was well. However, I now have nine other floppy discs I bet I'll never use (to say nothing of the fact that I'd just thrown out a dozen of the damned thing in the last couple of months.)

The upside to the floppy situation is what I found along the way. See, my clever wife suggested I hit the Goodwill for some floppy loving. Clever and sensible, though they turned out not to have any. I did find an original copy of the infamous Sensational Dan & Dale Batman album which is actually Sun Ra and the Blues Image in disguise. Yeah, it's a bit beat, but it had the original inner sleeve and I now have a copy and you don't so there!

Connecting Two Totally Unconnected Thoughts About Music in 1993-4

For some reason, I've had the music of my high school years (that would be 90'-'93, went to a three year high school) on my mind lately. Specifically, the music from "Nevermind" to about the time Kurt Cobain snuffed himself, because that was the time I shifted away from listening to hip-hop and back to rock, alt-rock, grunge, whatever you wanna call it.

It was never as absolute as that. I discovered the Cows and Black Flag while I was a huge Public Enemy fan and likewise was heavy into the Roots while I was buying the first Shellac 7"s. But, for the most part, once I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit," I got interested in rock again and that was where my money went.

Of course, it didn't help that hip-hop was moving towards the pop-gansta kind of stuff that dominates today. Yeah, I dug "The Chronic" and "Doggystyle" but I didn't need endless clones and I missed hip-hop what wasn't just about partying or fighting.

Needless to say, I missed some classics. Probably the biggest one, and an album I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't even heard until last year, was Nas' "Illmatic." And it's a shame that it took me so long because at the time this came out, I would have been burning out on my punk phase and trying to find some indie rock that didn't bore the hell out of me. This album probably would have convinced me there was still life left in rap.

What's so good about "Illmatic"? For starters, we have intelligent lyrics delivered expertly over classic beats. That right there is pretty much everything I look for in a hip-hop album. While Nas addresses street life, he never blows himself up to a Blaxsploitation stereotype. Nas is a good storyteller, and the stories he tells are worth listening to.

"Illmatic" is also lean and mean. There's not a wasted track on here and while the trend in the 90s was towards longer and longer albums, padded with stupid skits* and pointless posse cuts, "Illmatic" was just shy of 40 minutes. I'd rather have 40 minutes of quality than have to dig through 70 minutes to find them.

On the flip side of things, in the alt-rock world, was Stone Temple Pilots, who Steve Hyden at the Onion AV Club thinks are ripe for a reevaluation.

If you were about my age then and semi-connected to any cool music, I'm sure you remember how STP was pretty much the poster band for corporate grunge/alt-rock. Everyone slagged these guys. They sold a gazillion albums, yet I don't remember ever meeting anyone who would cop to buying one. (Kind of like Nickleback now. Who is buying their crap anyway?)

Well, I'll confess. I had "Core." Got it as a freebie through the BMG CD Club. Basically, I got it just to see if they were really as bad as we all thought. I mean, it was hard to ignore the singles being shoved down your throat a million times a day. But, maybe, just maybe, there was some redemption on the album proper.

No. There wasn't.

Luckily for me, this was the brief period of time when a used CD store would actually take a copy of "Core," so I'm sure I marched that down to Discount Den and came back with Mercury Rev or something like that. Never looked back and, as much as I normally like the writing at the Onion AV Club, I don't plan on it now.

Sure, I still ended up hearing all the singles after "Core," so people can spare me the "well, you just need to hear ______." You couldn't help but hear them and you can still hear them on local radio without trying too hard. And they just don't impress me.

I know there's a tendency to get nostalgic as one ages. Critics especially tend to get nostalgic and what was once trash becomes undiscovered treasure. Strangely, I'm finding myself judging the music of my high school years even harsher as time goes on.

For instance, in a used CD store yesterday, they were blasting "Nevermind," which I haven't heard in years. Some tracks (like "Territorial Pissing") actually made me wince. To be fair, there were still highlights. But as a whole, I found a lot more wrong with that album than I did the first time around.

Getting back to STP, it doesn't surprise me that some critics are changing their opinion on the band. However, that doesn't make it right. And hearing Nirvana yesterday only brought home to me that even many of the critic approved from the beginning bands of that period weren't always as good as people thing.

But, even as I have to chuckle over seeing my youth becoming enshrined in the amber of nostalgia, it's always pretty cool to find a true, new to me, gem from that period like "Illmatic." I'm just hoping that twenty years from now we can still agree that the Spin Doctors did indeed suck.

* if you are not Prince Paul, Dr. Dre or Wu Tang, you have no need to be doing skits on you record. Thank you.

Move Backwards Stopped by Obsolete Technology

Dang.

This weekend was it. I finally decided enough was enough. I am tired of the bottlenecks, tired of the crashing, tired of the piss poor performance. I am finally ditching Vista and going back to XP.

I've tried before and just couldn't pull the trigger. Plus, my computer wasn't making things easy. I've done a million XP installs, and for some reason my machine was flat out refusing to boot from the disc.

Long story short, finally got past that. Finally got on the right track. Worked up the nerve to do it. After a whole day of backing up the data on the drive I was going to wipe, I was ready.

Then the XP installer couldn't find a disc. Ok, well, it must need a third party driver for the SATA card I have in there. Alright found the CD, cool.

What? You want that on a floppy? Umm...ok. Now let's see...

oh, yeah...

I JUST GOT RID OF ALL MY FLOPPIES ABOUT THREE MONTHS AGO!!!

Oh man, I need to break something.

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Now playing: Mel Rhyne - Yesterdays
via FoxyTunes

A Fist Full of Reviews

Hey! You! Wanna pretend like you were chilling with me in the Manlair tonight, slapping wax on the Rega? Arrite, here we go...



Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun: OK, Mr. Castor really isn't an album artist, per se, but this thing hangs together really well. The title track is a killer, I mean one of the heaviest funk tracks ever. The rest of the album leans more to Castor's "Mr. Everything" philosophy, but it never dips into the schmaltz like some of his later records. Very enjoyable. Dull sounding Scorpio reissue on red wax (and why in the heck is an OG copy of this so hard to find? I've never seen one, and I've been looking.)



Joe Chambers/Larry Young - Double Exposure: Impulse purchase. One of those things I didn't know existed. Duet album between underrated drummer and one of my fave organists. But hold on! I didn't realize Chambers also played piano. First side is piano and organ duets. After Chambers doing a solo "After the Rain," he finished out the second side on drums. Sounds a little like Lifetime without guitar. Sadly, Young was dead about four months after this session. Sadly, this record left me really wanting more from these two. Both sides give you just a taste and leave you wanting a lot more. Sadly, this is a typical Scorpio reissue and side two is slightly off center.



Lou Donaldson - Musty Rusty: Oh snap! This album is smoking. Prime Lou with Grant Green and Ben Dixon (who is quickly becoming a new favorite drummer.) Billy Gardner is no Big John Patton, but he still keeps things going on the B3. This is house party jazz, stuff you can dance to, though it's not out and out funky like Lou would get about three years later. This music makes you glad to be alive and it's a damn shame Universal keeps this stuff locked up in the vaults, though there is a Spanish bootleg CD out there. And I'm convinced that Chess, like Motown, used the cheapest vinyl possible as this record looks beautiful but plays like Snap, Crackle and Pop made an uncredited cameo.



Marva Whitney with Osaka Monaurail - I Am What I Am: Finally, damn! First off, the Monaurail have NAILED the classic JB's sound. I mean, close your eyes and you'd swear you were listening to some unreleased track with Fred Wesley. And these dudes are Japanese! So, when they hook up with Marva, perhaps the most underrated of all James Brown's ladies, you know it's going to be good. And it is...mostly. There are a couple of songs on here that make me go "meh." I suppose that's keeping authentic to the 1969 vibe they have going on here, though I don't think it's intentional, that's just my taste. Still, I like this album a lot, maybe not as much as Osaka Monaurail's own Reality for the People, but when this hits, it hits hard. The big question for anyone who is not me will be is this worth the import price? The vinyl was $20. I've seen the CD as much as $15 more.

Johnny Sokko on Hulu

It strikes me as very odd that you can't (legally) buy a DVD of Johnny Sokko here in the US, but you can watch it for free at Hulu. There's 10 episodes up, pretty rad. I'd stayed away from the site as I assumed it was not Apple friendly, but the video is Flash based, so there's no compatability problems.

Anyway, enjoy. This is a killer show. Maybe someday we'll get it on DVD restored and all that.

Sirius is just alright with me.

I've had Sirius in the ride for a few months now and with the big Sirius/XM merger passing hurdles and on it's way to happening, I figured this would be kind of a good time to take a look at what this music obsessive who used to dabble in a little radio thinks of the service.

Well, on the surface, it has a lot going for it. There's a ton of commercial free music channels. There's a bunch of talk. The reception is better than terrestrial radio plus, if you're on the road, Sirrus stays with you so you don't have to scan around for stations each city you hit.

On the other hand, there may be a lot of music stations, but there's a definite skewing towards boomer rock. Off the top of my head, I can think of about half a dozen stations that would fall into this category, with a lot of crossover between their playlists.

If, like me, you're into jazz, you have one station. Wait, maybe there's a fuzak station as well. Popular genre like hip-hop only has a couple of choices, the main one, Eminem's vanity station, the "blazin' hip-hop and r&b hits" station and Backspin, the oldies.

Which brings me to the next thing. I listen to Backspin from time to time and I'll be damn if any time I tune in it's not Das Efx, Arrested Development or MC Lyte "Shut the Eff Up!" I could give other examples on some of the other music stations I check out, but the point is, for all Sirius portrays itself as better than terrestrial radio, their programing shares a lot of the same problems. It seems like the play lists are fairly shallow with a good amount of repetition, just like any Clear Channel owned station.

Still, I could overlook that, to an extent, and I'd be willing to listen to more music if the sound quality wasn't so poor. Remember the first mp3 you ever heard? Remember how cymbals sounded wooshy and vocals sounded slightly metallic? Yeah, that's pretty much what Sirius sounds like, even in the car with all kinds of road noise. They advertise CD quality, but they're pretty far from it.

Because of all that, I end up listening to a bunch of talk. While the music stations maybe commercial free, the talk stations most certainly are not. There are so many commercials on the talk stations (NPR excepted, though they have their station breaks with ads for other Sirius channels) that it feels like close to a 1:1 ratio of programming to advertising. It's enough to really drive a person crazy.

So, if you get the impression I'm not terribly impressed with Sirius, you're right. If the merger with XM goes through, which I'm guessing it will, I don't see any of these things improving. However, I'm not sure it matters.

I think satellite radio was an interesting idea, but I think it's time is starting to pass. For one thing, it's too easy to carry an iPod if you really want to listen to music. Most new cars have some type of dock or aux input making connecting an iPod very easy business.

For another thing, there's competition from HD radio and internet radio. I'm not sure how much competition these two mediums will be as HD radio is starting to feel like a non-starter to me and internet radio isn't quite ready for breaking free of its computer tether.

But, in my mind, it goes back to the iPod factor. It's just too easy to create and carry your own radio station wherever you are. These two titans may merge, but I don't think it's going to matter that much in a market that may have already peaked.

My New Favortie Drummer.

Politics is ugly business.

What I find most interesting about this is, there's no way of knowing (yet) if this is for real or not. My first inclination is to say, this has to be a parody. However, ther lead singer posted a short, salty, explicative laden follow-up video that has me thinking that this may be the real deal.

Plus, the story behind it makes me think this may be authentic. Apparently this sat on YouTube a little while until someone on Huffington Post discovered it. That still doesn't prove anything, but I'd think if this was an opposition party trick, it would have gotten more press before that.

The thing of it is, it doesn't really matter if it's authentic or not. It's out there and it's been spreading. Most people are likely to think about it whatever they want, so the issue of whether it's real or fake is almost irrelevant.

That's what I think is interesting about the time we are living it. It's practically a post-irony world. There's so much more information easily accessible than ever before but, at the same time, it's so much harder to separate the fact from fiction. And fiction still has a way of traveling faster than the truth.

Of course, it's also a commentary on the time we are living in that something like this even has the ability to be come known outside of a handful of people. The theory behind the internet's democratization of the means of distribution is that the cream will rise. Time and time again, it's the truly awful that become "internet phenomenon." I think there's something inherent in human nature that we must enjoy laughing at others. That's about the only way to describe 90% of what's popular on YouTube as well as "reality" TV and so many other things.

Either way, this video is pretty amazing. Though it wouldn't surprise me to find out a Hillary or Obama supporter is behind it, I just think the McCain Girls are a little too authentic to not be real.

Protect your hearing

OK, sorry I've been kinda lazy on the posting, but I have to drop kind of a heavy post here for a second. I have a friend who went to an audiologist recently and found out that he is pretty much deaf in one ear and is very close in the other. He's a musician and has years of going to loud shows (metal, hardcore, electronic, industrial, etc.) It also doesn't help that he works in a very noisy environment, though he told me he always wears earplugs at work.

And that's the key. It's easy to not think about hearing protection when you go out, but too many clubs run the sound too damn loud. If you are involved in a music scene for any length of time and you're going to shows often without earplugs, you're going to feel the effects sooner or later.

I know that it took me a long time before I was wearing earplugs with any regularity. Basically, by the time I really got serious about it, I'd already developed a high pitch ring in both ears. I've had my hearing checked and apparently I haven't suffered any loss, but I can't help but wonder if I'd started wearing earplugs sooner if I'd have this ringing.

So, what I'm saying is, invest in some earplugs. You don't have to get custom ones, though if you are a musician or someone who goes to a lot of shows, I think it's the smartest money you can spend. The foam stoppers are ok, but even the slightly more expensive ones with the filters that you can get at music stores are better. Anything is better than nothing.

Also, watch the volume on the ear buds. I know sometimes when I'm listening to the iPod I catch myself turning it up too loud. Now I start at a volume that seems a little too low and let my ears get used to it rather than turning it up.

Well, that's my public service message for the month. Protect your hearing. Seriously though, it's easy to do and so often overlooked. And the alternative is pretty depressing.

Once more...with feeling!

The so-called "World's Greatest Music Collection" hits eBay again. And again, with a $3 million starting bid. And again, as the whole enchilada. Except this time, approved bidders can access the 45 database. Whoo, hoo.

It's funny. You'd think this guy would be tired of flogging this thing. He's been at it for, what, four or five years? Each year, the number of people interested goes down.

And I remember the follow up to the first eBay auction. After the winner was found to be a fraud, they announced they were in talks with the runner ups and they had a deal, they just needed to work out the details.

Yeah, it was all BS.

So, here we are. Same scenario, except they must approve bidders first. Any guesses at to if this thing sells this time?

(See also here and especially here.)

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Now playing: Liasons Dangereuses - Los Ninos Del Parque (12" MIX)
via FoxyTunes

iTunes to add subscription service?

Usually I don't pay much attention to Apple rumors, but this one caught my eye. According to the Financial Times, Apple is in talks (with whom?) to add an "all you can eat" subscription service to the cost of a new iPod. What I've seen on the article (it's hidden behind a subscriber login,) it seems they would do something similar to the Nokia/Universal deal.

Now, I think i've mentioned it before, but I'm a big supporter of the subscription music thing. Well, at least I'm a supporter in principal because as of yet, I haven't been able to take advantage of one of the few in operation. And this leads me to the criticisms that people always trot out when you bring up subscription bases music services and why I think they're off the mark.

One of my favorites is the ever popular "it's doesn't work/it's a failed business model." This implies that there has been some large scale subscription music service out there that people just don't want a part of. Well, there are two companies offering such a thing, Napster and Rhapsody. Both of them only offer tracks as protected Windows Media, which won't work on the iPod (or Microsoft's own Zune.) So, is it really fair to declare the whole idea a failure when the only companies to try it have made their product incompatible with the most popular music player out there (and completely incompatible with an entire computer operating system as well.)

Then there's the "people want to own, not rent, their music" crowd. Sure, there's a lot of people who feel that way. For many things, I agree with them. But, I think the reality of the current music biz doesn't play this one out. Sales are dropping. Used CD are glutting the market. People are still downloading music though.

OK, I'm one of those people who doesn't equate downloading with owning the music, especially when it's DRM laden. To my eyes, if people really cared that much about owning the music, CD sales would still be climbing, not falling. People wouldn't be ripping and tossing their CD collections. I just don't think it's all that important for most people to "own" their music as long as they have access to it, which is what the subscription thing is really about.

And let's take a look as the kind of stuff people are buying. Something like fifty skadillion people downloaded "Crank That." How many of those people do you thing really feel the need to own that one? How many will want to hear it five years from now? This time next year, I guarantee that CD will be clogging used bins.

Now, let's say those people were offered a chance to download that on a subscription basis. They could listen to it as much as they wanted as long as they were paid up, and they could listen to millions of other songs too. When they were sick of Solja Boy, that track disappears and they never have to think about it again. Unless they want to hear it and it's just a click away.

I think the people making this argument are also creating a false dichotomy. The existence of subscription based music service does not mean CDs are going to disappear. I'm sure the music industry will be more than happy to accommodate, for an additional fee, those who wish to "own" all the Solja Boys and Nicklebacks and whatever else. As I understand, even Napster and Rhapsody's subscriptions allow one to purchase tracks if they want.

Now, there are a few things I think are valid. The big one is who is making money off this and where it is going. I'm already skeptical about how much money actually goes back to the artists in the current download system. If things change to a one time fee of $20 - $80 (as the Times article mentions,) how is anyone making anything out of this? Specifically, how does that filter to the artists actually making the music? My guess is, like the RIAA settlements, it doesn't.

And when the industry is moaning about lost profit etc., doesn't turning over the keys to the shop for a one-time payout (and a small one at that) seem counterintuitive? Far be it for me to cry for the major labels, but I find it curious they would even consider something like this when it seems like every other day we hear about how in the crapper they are. (Of course, business decisions like this might have something to do with it.)

The other thing that I think needs to be addressed is, will this be optional? Let's say you are someone who really has no interest in downloading stuff and you're only planning to use your iPod for your own rips. Why should you be charged for a service you'll never use? (Let's face it, the Times article makes it sound like Apple is paying for this, but we all know it will come back to the consumer. Apple is not a charity and they don't need to take a loss to add something like this, even though I think it would totally decimate the competition if they could pull it off.)

So there's my take on this whole thing. As a consumer and music fan, I think it's a great idea, if they can make it work. As a musician, I'm a little concerned about following the money.

R.I.P. $4 Thrift Store Philips 212 Turntable

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the passing on to audio gear heaven of a dear friend, the Philips 212 turntable I paid $4.04 for at the thrift store at least three, possibly five, years ago. I really can't remember.

See, I wasn't looking for another turntable at the time. And the only reason I picked this one up was I had a friend enamored with this particular model at the time. He'd just got burnt on one on eBay, so I thought I'd give him this one. However, he'd already changed his attention to some other make, and I was stuck with the Philips.

Even though it was homely as all hell, with it's chipped and scratched dust cover and missing top part of the head shell, I figured I'd throw a cartridge on there and see what happened.



Well, I actually liked this turntable a lot. It was very easy to use with a great suspension chassis design that held rock sold even in the less than optimal place I was using it (on top of a dresser. And I could open and close drawers while playing records and not have it jump. Nice.)

Eventually I put a better stylus on it, moving up the Grado line. I always appreciated the irony of using a stylus that cost about 30 times more than the turntable, but I actually felt the results were pretty good. I used this deck for tons of needle drops and never had a complaint.



One day, while I was out of town, my upstairs neighbor's bathroom flooded, sending a cascade of water into my room and all over the little Philips. Never had a problem, though the turntable gained a little water damage in the process. I'm pretty sure I've dropped this thing once or twice and still no problems.

Then, not to long ago, it's like the wiring just cut loose. At first, I was missing one channel, then both. Seemed like a short somewhere, but now it's just dead. I almost feel like I should put some effort into finding out what's going on, as this deck is such a survivor, but I just can't justify it.

So, anyway, it's the end of the line for the little Philips 212. $4.04 well spent. If you're looking for a good old school deck for not much scratch (these go for cheap on eBay), I'd highly recommend checking one out.

It's been a while...

hope this will make up for it.

More thoughts on the World's Greatest Music Collection auction.

Well, there were some bidders, but *shock* the winner has vanished into thin air. Who didn't see that one coming?

As a certified record nerd, I've been thinking about this auction and I think I have it figured out. See, there's a lot about it that just didn't make sense to me (as I noted last post.) But there's even more, like why didn't they use a real auction house instead of eBay? And, considering they've mentioned it's inventoried, why wouldn't you put an inventory list up, or at least the most valuable stuff, to entice a buyer? The actual listing was pretty poor and the Q & A with the selling agent really didn't give much more insight.

Then it hit me, they didn't expect to sell this on eBay. I mean, if they did, cool. But, I think this turned out exactly like they planned.

Why? Well, you can't buy the kind of publicity this auction got. A lot more people are aware this guy is cashing out than would be if this was just done at Christie's or announced in the record collecting press.

The three million starting price was a joke and they knew it. I'm sure they would have taken it had it been seriously offered, but I don't think they expected to get any real action at that opening bid. But, they did get the word out and now the world knows this guy is looking to sell.

I'm still highly skeptical of the estimated $50 million value. How many $10K Rolling Stone albums (currently available on eBay, buy it now for $4000, BTW) does it take to offset the hundreds of "Here Comes the Hotstepper" I'm sure are in this bounty? And I think that right there is a lot of the reason the guy is having a hard time finding anyone to pony up for this collection. It isn't worth nearly as much as he thinks.

On that note, if my theory is correct, they might have hurt themselves with the auction. We already know the collection isn't really worth $50 million as no one is willing to pay that for it. Same for $25 million, which, IIRC was what he was shopping it around for prior to eBay. Now we can safely say it isn't worth $3 million either as no one was willing to pay that for it.

I guess the big question is, what is this collection really worth? The truth is, no one really can say until it sells.

The other side of this is that a collection this large is going to be a constant money drain. He has this in a warehouse I'm guessing he owns. How many people in the country own enough space to house something like this? And managing this beast would be a full time job on it's own. No private collector has those resources, to say nothing of the fact that it's way to broad a collection for anyone not obsessed with owning a copy of every record pressed to keep together (which is one of Paul Mawhinney goals in selling this thing.) Unless you're Bill Gates, you'd have to sell parts of this thing full time just for upkeep on the parts you want.

Regardless, I think this was a neat way for them to get publicity. As to what happens now, I think one of two things will occur. First off, I'm really skeptical anyone is going to come through and buy the whole thing. I could see a group of people wanting to get into selling, but even then, I have a hunch this would be a poor investment and if Mawhinney really wants to keep this together, I don't see this happening.

So, that's the question. How serious is Paul Mawhinney about not breaking up his collection? Assuming he's serious, he'll end up donating it somewhere, if he can find someone who has the resources to deal with a collection of this size. (And really, what museum would this collection fit into anyway? That's the part I can't figure out.) If it's the money he's after, he's going to have to begin the long process of selling it off piecemeal.

Now, this guy has been a dealer for a long time and I think he knows what's up. While many people in the media were portraying this as the bargain of the century, I really think he'd take a bigger bath selling out one at a time than all at once. (See the Rolling Stones auction above.)

It'll be interesting to see what happens now, that's for sure. Having just taken a pittance for selling a huge load of records at a chain reseller, I guess there's some solace in knowing there's at least one guy doing even worse than I am.

EDIT: I'd like to add this link to a 2003 Pittsburgh Business Journal article about the two previous failed sales of this collection. I'd encourage you to read it and make up your own mind, but I think it's just making me a bit more convinced I'm on to something here.

EDIT #2: After reading a bit more about this guy and going over the part in the above link about the Library of Congress' offer in 2003 that he told them to go shove (and I'm assuming it was more than the eBay thing,) I'm starting to doubt my theory after all. The picture I'm seeing is a dealer guy who knows the "book value" of what he has and wants nothing less. The funny part is, most of the current articles highlight a few records that really aren't that impressive (17 first editions of Elvis' Christmas album! Whoopie!) so I'm beginning to really doubt the value of this collection. Historical value, sure. Financial value, maybe not.

At the Corner of Preservation and Profit.

While I've been taking a bit of a bath on the records and CDs I've been getting rid of, at least I'm not Paul Mawhinney, owner of the self proclaimed World's Greatest Music Collection. (I'm assuming the definition of "great" would have to equal 20th century American music. But I digress.)

Paul's collection consists of an estimated 6 million unique titles. It's value is claimed (according to whom?) to be $50mil. It's in a climate controlled warehouse. It's amazing! It's colossal! It's for sale!!! ...again.

After offering this bounty for sale twice with no one able to cough up the asking amount, off to eBay it goes. Less than 24 hours left (as of now) and no one has touched the $3mil starting bid. I'd be shocked if anyone did.

Now, here's the problem: if you read the info, they are only interested in selling to someone who will keep the collection intact. It's been offered to museums and I get the impression that's where they'd like it to go. And that's really where it should go.

However, no museum has that kind of cash, not to mention the logistical nightmare or transporting and storing this massive collection. $3mil is a lot of scratch, even if this is the bargain of the century (is it?)

And I'm not so sure a big old record collection would exactly be worth building a museum around, although if they really want to keep this collection preserved this way, I think that's their only choice. Either that or they are going to have to donate it and as I music fan, I'd love to see this end up in the Library of Congress.

The big thing I have to wonder is why? Why does this collection exist? They estimate on the site it'd take someone fifty some odd years, listening 24 hours a day, to hear it all. This sounds like a "life's work" project. Mawhinney was a dealer, owned a few indie labels and some publishing. Sounds like kind of an "American Graffiti" era fan. I have huge respect for all of that. There's obviously passion (or obsession) here, but passion doesn't pay the bills, as Mawhinney is discovering.

If he really intended this to be some archive of recorded music, why didn't he look into setting up a museum himself or find a worth donor to give it to? I don't begrudge the man wanting to leave something for his children, but intending to do so on the back of a record collection is a very poor financial decision, especially in this market.

If I can play armchair quarterback for a minute, I think this collection is going to be broken up and sold off, which in itself is going to be a massive undertaking. I just don't see any other way this guy is going to get anywhere near what this collection is estimated to be worth.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens next. Maybe someone will come in with a last minute bid and take it all. I find that unlikely though. I think, at the end of the day, the finances are going to override the historical value and that will be that.

And I can't imagine what is going through this guy's head right now. To have find that what has essentially been one's passion for decades isn't worth a fraction to anyone other than themselves has got to be crushing.

Anyway, I wish him the best of luck. Like I said, I honestly don't begrudge the man wanting to get some return on his investment. It's not my collection, but I know what I'd like to see happen with it. It will be interesting to see which path Mawhinney chooses.

New Vinyl Has Me a Bit Perplexed

After all the writing I've done recently about ditching my CDs and not wanting to put cash into a stereo upgrade I've been lusting after for years that I didn't think I'd use, I've done a partial about face. I'm still ditching a ton of CDs (and LPs too, for that matter,) but I decided to finally sink some money into upgrading my stereo. This is due in part to the fact that all my thrifted gear from the 70s is finally giving up the ghost, but I digress...

Anyway, I'm focusing mainly on records, as that's what I still enjoy listening to and it's what I'm keeping the most of. That said, I'm not new to this. I've owned a record cleaner for a few years. I know how to set up a turntable and properly care for the vinyl disc.

What I'm discovering is just how lousy modern record pressings are. Now, I'm someone who can deal with noisy vinyl. A lot of what I own has come from the thrifts and is in much less than fantastic condition. I can listen past pops and clicks, especially on a platter I've spent less than a dollar on. But when I plunk down $15+ for a new album and rip off the shrink wrap (and all the stickers bragging about the weight of the pressing,) that sucker better sound like a new record. Saddly, that's rarely the case.

Now, I know how records are made. I know it's as much an art as a science and I know if you want perfectly quiet, you might as well snag the CD. What I'm talking about is this Amy Winehouse LP I have that first time on the turntable has some terrible surface noise during the first couple of songs on both sides. Or the new Dungen album with what sounds to my ears like the distortion from an LP being repeatedly played with a mis-tracking tonearm.

Those are just two instances off the top of my head. I can say for certainty it's not my table as it plays other records just fine. I was still buying new vinyl on into the 90s and even then it sounded fine. I guess I just don't understand what the deal is. Maybe it's too many people jumping into the vinyl bandwagon assuming people either aren't going to play the things or that they have no idea new records aren't supposed to snap crackle and pop.

Speaking of suspect vinyl pressing, I believe I've written before about all these reissues showing up in shops of a seemingly suspicious origin. What I mean is, there are legit reissue labels like Sundazed, Simply Vinyl, 4 Men with Beards, etc. Then there are these other LPs that don't have any information about their origin. They look like photocopies of the originals. Some are colored vinyl, some claim 180g wax. They retail for about $9-$15 and they have a lot of stuff that isn't even out on CD.

Well, I believed the name of the company was Scorpio and I've had that confirmed. What I didn't know was that they have a website (vinyl.com) and are apparently on the up and up. I find it a little weird that they claim to be legit when they have some real "who the heck owns that" type obscurities, but that's what they claim.

What I can tell you about them is, their discs are mastered from DATs or CDs and are really hit or miss as far as it goes. Sound quality can vary from really great to pretty dull and unimpressive. The biggest problem they have is a high rate of warped records. It's happened to me, and even the next batch of that title was warped as well.

Still, I have a bunch of their stuff, as sometimes it's the only way to find it without paying collector's prices. However, I think they are aiming mostly at the hip-hop DJ market, which is pretty smart. Why ruin your original JB vinyl, when you can get a Scorpio for $9?

Anyway, fun stuff and if you're into the fetishism of vinyl (not *that* kind, you perv) you can pick up that stuff with confidence. If you're looking for the "magic" of vinyl, you might want to pass though.

Welcome to my personal hell...

Whitney Houston has so much to answer for.

Et tu, U2?

U2 manager Paul McGuiness thinks the technology industry is to blame for the record industry's woes. He things they should do more to filter and spy on users. He thinks Dell and Apple should be be paying money to the music companies for (alleged) lost revenue*.

I could go on for days about the number of faulty pretenses this bozo is basing his screed on, but why bother? If you're reading this, chances are, you could do. What I will say is this: people like U2 and Paul McGuiness could eliminate a large chunk of illegal tomorrow if they really wanted to. But it would involve rich rock stars (and the parasites feeding on them) finally saying "we're rich enough."

U2 made news with the first digital download "boxset", The Complete U2. Though they opened the vaults and collected some tracks, there wasn't anything really that new there. They threw together a digital booklet. No physical product was made. Expenses to put this thing together were pretty low, I'm guessing.

The set cost $150, for which you got 398 unique DRM encrusted 128kbp AAC files. Some might look at that as a great deal, at about 38 cents a track, but I'm saying, if you really want to kill illegal downloading, you can do better.

$150? How about $30? I can go out and buy The Complete Spiderman, all the issues from '63-2006 for less than $50. And those weren't in a digital format to begin with. I'm going to guess it was a lot more complicated to transfer hundreds of comics to the digital domain than essentially ripping stuff already digital to AAC.

Don't like $30 for the whole shooting match? Well, how about this: let's drop the album prices. $10 for a download of The Joshua Tree? How about $5? $3? $2? Make it so ridiculously low that one would be stupid not to purchase it legally.

And let's take an album like The Joshua Tree. At this point in it's life, it's pure profit, if we're getting in the download world. The recording expenses have long since been recouped, there's no physical product and the cost of delivery is very small.

Anyone want to tell me why back catalog albums from megastars have to sell for close to the cost of a physical CD? OK, I know, I know. It's because they are pretty much pure profit at this point. I can't say I blame a person for wanting to get fat checks rolling in for doing nothing.

But the system isn't working like that anymore. Rather than finding creative new ways to work within it, these dinosaurs are making fools of themselves whining about technology and suing their fans.

It's funny. I am a musician and a huge music fan, but everyday someone opens their mouth and makes me a little less sympathetic to the plight of the folks at the top.


*Sidenote: anyone else choke on the irony that this guy comes out railing against Apple when Bono was (and still is, to an extent) the poster boy for the friggin' iPod? Come on, there was a U2 signature model iPod fer gawdsakes!

Care for a Me-LT?

New Yacht Rock.

New Glasses

Oh wee ohhh I look just like Buddy Holly...



Second pair:



They're like 3D without the red/blue lenses. From the side:



And finally, the glasses that have more personality than I do.



We have nicknamed these the poop glasses.



Thanks to our friend Jenny at SEE Optical in Skokie, IL for the hook up.