This is the amazing, hilarious and true story of Sue Carpenter, a woman who gave corporate radio and the FCC the big 'ef U' by starting her own pirate radio station - right out of her apartment atop a hill in San Francisco.

A career opportunity (writing for a magazine) and first attempt at junkie-boyfriend escape causes Carpenter to move KPBJ (yea, like the sandwich) to Los Angeles where her bedroom/closet station resurfaces as KBLT (yea, like the sandwich).

Now the real fun begins.

How many people can say that they've had the Red Hot Chili Peppers do an acoustic show from their apartment? That they've had Mike Watt and Sylvain Sylvain (to name just a couple) DJ on their radio station? That Mazzy Star performed a show at a benefit for their station?

I'm not saying that everything Carpenter went through was all rock romance (far from it), but she definitely put her ass on the line for something she believed in. A pretty danged rare commodity if you ask me.

KBLT's first big era came to an end not in glamorous Pump Up The Volume-style but with a few FCC agents confiscating some equipment on an LA rooftop.

That's OK though as the spirit of pirate radio lives on (check out Mike Watt's The WATT from Pedro Show on the Internet).

Anybody interested in indie music and the washed-out state of commercial radio should check out 40 Watts To Nowhere.

Cool things about Australian punk rockers The Living End:

• they took their name from the ending to the movie "Rock Around The Clock"
• they've toured with AC/DC
• there are actual guitar solos on their tunes
• they landed a warmpup spot on Green Day's Australia tour by sending them a t-shirt and a demo
• they sound like they've been sitting around in their rooms on Friday nights listing to Clash, Jam and Green Day records
• they'll be performing with No Doubt and Blink 182 this summer
• their new record, Modern Artillery is coming out on March 2, 2004

I predict that the record Modern Artillery will be making me drive my car too fast in the very near future.

Passion - Peter Gabriel

All this hootenany about Gibson's movie got me to thinkin' about Gabriel's music from The Last Temptation Of Christ (which I've never seen...a 'sin' I should probably remedy). It is one fantastic & spicy bowl of instrumental world-music stew. Of course when 'Temptation' came out the uproar was not over alleged anti-semitism but instead the sex between Jesus & Mary. My office-mate at the time jokingly said "Well of course it had to happen. Nobody would turn down sex with Barbara Hershey!"

Oh, the other reason for this post is that me & the wife are going on a little mini-vacation this weekend up to Portland, Maine. They do have internet cafes up there but the luddite in me cringes at the thought.

• terrorism
• economic stagnation
• offshoring of jobs
• education
• ongoing problems in iraq
• massive debt load
• haiti
• north korea
• ...
• GAY MARRIAGE?

Our priorities are seriously out of whack.

A greatest hits package can be a cause for celebration. All too often though, Best Of's are seen (right or wrong) as cynical attempts at squeezing that last bit of cash from the artistic stone.

Now, what to think about a Best Of series? A bold move to be sure. In this case I'm seeing the ECM :rarum series as a celebration of its artists. Just look at the level of artist involvement: they chose the material (which has been remastered), arranged the song order and provided the liner notes (yes...liner notes in an ECM release...it does seem a little odd). In this way ECM head Manfred Eicher has allowed his artists to have their say in presenting a picture of their ECM years.

Pat Metheny's relationship with ECM began around 1974 and extended through 1984. During that period Metheny recorded in several configurations including solo (New Chautauqua), jazz trio (Bright Size Life, Rejoicing), quartet (80/81), duo-plus-percussion (As Fall Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls) and several flavors of "The Group". All are represented on :rarum IX: Selected Recordings.

I didn't plan on a track-by-track rundown here but the inclusion of Metheny's extensive liner notes has inspired me:

Bright Size Life - Title track from the amazing trio release featuring Bob Moses on drums and Jaco Pastorious on bass. One of the most unique jazz trios records ever made.

Phase Dance - From the first Pat Metheny Group record (known by long time fans as "The White Album"). Pat describes the early group sound as a search for the possibilities inherent in juxtapositions of acoustic and electric instruments.

New Chautauqua - Solo material from the heartland. Pat's great-great grandfather, Moses Metheny, was a member of a performing Chautauqua troupe during the late 1800's. Pat's grandfather, Harrison Metheny, compared Pat's constant touring schedule to that of his great-great grandfather's.

Airstream - From the first Metheny record I ever bought, American Garage. It's a transitional record of sorts. Pat claims they still play this tune live on occasion. I should be so lucky!

Every Day (I Thank You) - 80/81 was a jazz supergroup that lived up to the description: Charlie Haden (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums) and Dewey Redman & Mike Brecker on tenor saxes.

"It's For You" - In 1980 Pat and Lyle Mays, along with percussionist/vocalist Nana Vasconcelos, recorded As Fall Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. Not easily categorized, that record has become something of a cult classic (among Metheny fans, that is). The mere hint of a note of this song in the live setting will provoke an audience eruption. The music is pensive and sweet, somehow reminding me of my late teen years (when everything still seemed possible). To that add this 'new memory': of Pat and Lyle unloading their own gear from a jet:

One funny thing about this session. The assigned location for this recording was in Oslo, Norway, which meant that we had to fly from Boston (where we were based at the time) to London, and then London to Oslo. When we arrived in London, there was a huge strike going on by the guys who move the bags from plane to plane at Heathrow. We had to make the connection - so somehow, Lyle and I found ourselves inside the cargo bin of the jet that brought us from Boston, getting all of our stuff out, then wheeling it all down the tarmac (an active runway) to the next terminal to get it on the SAS flight to Oslo. It was the only way that that recording was going to get made. We still laugh about that one.

Now that is dedication to your art.

Are You Going With Me? - A long-time concert favorite, this slow-building tune features Pat making the big noise on the Roland GR-300 guitar synth. Though it originally appeared on the album Offramp, Pat made the right choice in picking the live version from Travels.

The First Circle - Probably the most unique song in the Metheny Group catalog. Odd rhythms, handclaps, violently strummed acoustic guitars, a stunning Lyle Mays piano solo and the amazing voice of Pedro Aznar.

Lonely Woman - The Horace Silver composition from Metheny's trio album Rejoicing. I really like how Pat chose to bookend this collection with tunes from his two "super-trios". Lonely Woman is one beautiful ballad. Just listen to the interplay between Billy Higgins' stellar cymbal & brushwork and Haden's bass.

:rarum IX achieves that elusive quality not found in many Best-Of packages: nothing's missing. It's a perfect distillation of Metheny's ECM career. Want to know what Pat Metheny is all about? This is the place to start.

Tina Fey delivered the following joke during this past Saturday's Weekend Update:

Apparently they've had a breakthrough in the continuing controversy over teaching evolution in the Georgia schools. They've come up with an acceptable compromise: Teachers will still be able to talk about evolution, but from now on dinosaurs will be known as "Jesus horses."

A definite "milk-snorted-up-nose" joke if you ask me.

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo!

Two of the most jaw-dropping musical guests I've ever seen on Saturday Night Live: The B-52's and Devo.

I'd read nothing about either group before seeing them on the tube. The B-52's were so odd-looking. I can't remember the first tune they played but I do remember my reaction: it was "What the...?!".

Devo on SNL was another matter. My reaction was to just sit there with my jaw hangin' open. To this day, Devo's first record (which I also own on pink marble vinyl) remains one of my favorites. It's got just the right amounts of blippy synths, odd lyrics (delivered via Mark Mothersbaugh's freaky robotic voice), rockin' and sometimes dissonant guitar, and plain old weirdness.

And even with all of the weirdity, it's still a great party record.

Oh yea, it also has the best (or worst!) cover of the Stones' "Satisfaction" ever made.

I'll come clean right now and admit that my last contact with with J.R.R. Tolkien was back in early 1980-something. It was very late at night and my borrowed hardcover copy of The Silmarillion slipped out of my fingers, tilted backward and smacked me right in the face. I guess I musta dozed off there for a minute.

Looking back on it, I can't piece together a decent reason as to why I was making the attempt at reading that book. The endless Middle Earth stuff in The Two Towers drove me batty. Maybe The Return Of The King got me psyched for more background material. Maybe I was just tryin' to look cool with The Silmarillion on my book pile (probably right next to Godel, Escher, Bach). Who knows?

In any event, this was right about the time that me & science fiction/fantasy (yes, I know they're not the same thing...don't get huffy) parted ways. Those genres never truly resonated with me anyway. When I started working in an engineering environment the ever present "Love Of Spock" pushed me away even more. The "Love Of Spock"? That's what I call the expectation that because you're interested in engineering you must be into science fiction.

Fast forward to the present, and here I sit with a copy of Howard Shore's The Return Of The King....having seen none of the film series. It's an interesting situation because while I'm a big fan of film music, I've almost always seen the movie before purchasing the soundtrack/score.

Well, that's OK. The music should be able to stand on its own, right? And this is Howard Shore we're talking about. The score to Naked Lunch sits right up there with my all-time favorite film music, a list that includes Thomas Newman's American Beauty, Jerry Garcia's guitar improv for Zabriskie Point, and Ennio Morricone's entire body of work.

If I had to use a single word to describe this music, it would have to be "majestic", a word that was probably used to death in the umpteen-million reviews of Lord Of The Rings. The moods and emotions painted by Shore: pensive, tense, mysterious, fearful, aggressive, joy and wonder. These are accentuated by some truly fine solo performances including Ben del Maestro on "Minas Tirith" (an amazing contrast to the dark choral work preceding it), Billy Boyd ("The Steward Of Gondor"), Renee Fleming ("Twilight And Shadow", "The End Of All Things") and James Galway ("The Black Gates Opens", "The Grey Havens"). The recording closes with "Into The West", performed by Annie Lennox. Fan's of the film series will find a lot to like here. The emotional sweep of the recording tracks the arc of Tolkien's storyline beautifully.

Some of Shore's music is so intense that I almost want to see the movies now.

Almost.

Live In Texas - Linkin Park

Shadow Zone - Static-X

So it has come to this. I've been on this planet for a little over 42 years and finally my father's words have come out of my mouth:

"It all sounds the same."

These two discs have been fermenting at the bottom of my review pile for several months now. I guess I was hoping something interesting would sprout. Every so often I'd pull one or the other out (it doesn't seem to matter which) and give it another listen. There's tons of slamming down-tuned guitar. (Gee, I should be up for that). Heavy-duty drums. (I know I like a propulsive beat).

The issue here is dynamics. What with all of the angst-filled screaming vocals, the whole experience distills down to one of pure monocromatic rage. I'm not judging these guys. Heck, maybe their lives were full of pain, misery and loneliness. And maybe this is a great way to work all of that out. It just isn't all that interesting to listen to.

This is the part of the review where I get to thinkin' about guitar solos. Would they help here? Dunno. The samples and the use of turntables don't help. Maybe if they were more forward in the mix, or were used as an integral part of the music.

Ah, who knows. Obviously, I've finally gotten to the stage where the music "that these kids listen to today" doesn't do anything for me.

The record that my dad said had tunes that all "sounded the same"? We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll - Black Sabbath. I listened to it loud every morning while getting dressed for school...for about a month straight. My folks were not happy about it.

Anybody remember those old Palmolive commericials? Actress Jan Miner, who played Madge the Manicurist, died Sunday. She was 86 years old. Here are some bits from the CNN obit:

From the 1940s to the 1980s, Miner appeared on and off Broadway and in productions in St. Louis, New Haven and Stratford. She also appeared in radio programs, including a leading role in "Boston Blackie" -- a series in the late 1940s. She appeared in repertory productions at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford for six seasons and in films and television plays and series.

Most amazing of all was that she played the Madge character for 27 years! That's a lotta soakin'!

Nope, not PowerPoint. This will be an old box set of vinyl records, a book on drug addiction and NASCAR.

More specifically, Chicago - At Carnegie Hall, Junky - William S. Burroughs and of course, The Daytona 500.

I just love weird combinations of, uh, stuff. I mean, what's better than walking down the street and snapping a picture of a lovely bed of wildflowers? Well, that would be snapping a picture of a lovely bed of wildflowers...in front of which is a broken-down and moldy copy of Bennett's Book of Virtues, lying face down in a mud puddle.

On Saturday, I walked out of my local record shop clutching a used copy of Chicago's At Carnegie Hall box set. Oh yea, complete with liner note booklet, how to register to vote insert and poster ('Pop' quiz: What's uglier? A. A poster of any 70's rock band. B. The flying monkey creatures in The Wizard of Oz). I've been looking for this record for a long time. My record dealer had four copies and allowed me to pick the best discs from each. What I ended up with was nearly mint.

Out the record shop door I go with a big grin on my face. Now over to the used bookstore where my wife is attempting to complete her collection of EveryDamnedEnglishLiteratureAnthologyEverPrinted. Right near the door is a bookcase with the top shelf labeled "Beat". Uh oh...

So out of that store I walk with used copies of Junky (which I haven't read) and Naked Lunch (which I have read...though it turned my brain to mush).

So a big chunk of Saturday afternoon was spent listening to Chicago in their prime (at least to me) while reading accounts of Burroughs and his addiction to opiates. Heroin and "Colour My World" don't really mix, but it is a funny combination of stuff.

Now on Sunday something really weird happened. I watched all of the Daytona 500 and enjoyed every minute of it. No, strike that...I didn't enjoy Leanne Rimes destruction of "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." and went to use the bathroom during Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The U.S.A". But as far as the race was concerned, I was shocked to be sittin' on the edge of my seat as Earnhardt Jr. passed Stewart with only 20 laps to go. I'm probably not gonna go out and buy any Earnhardt tee-shirts or NASCAR beer cozies, but I did have a good time.

What's next? Line dancing?

Marvelous Things (EP) - Eisley

In a perfect musical world, or at at least one where MTV still had influence, and where ClearChannel hadn't yet bleached all of the color out of commercial radio...the pop group Eisley would be a household name.

These young kids create some beautiful melodies, shimmering harmonies and snappy pop hooks. Why the heck are they not more popular? Their first EP reminded me of Letters to Cleo-meets-Radiohead (ok, maybe not that weird). Marvelous Things (EP) mines that same territory, but with boatloads more warmth and charm (than Radiohead, that is).

A new, full-length record is in the works so at some point we'll get to see what Eisley can do in that setting. I'm lookin' forward to it.

(More fine writing about this EP can be found here and here)

Everybody's had the experience of being tailgated. This morning I had the pleasure of being tailgated by this incredible loser who's favorite activy (aside from driving his pathetic, beat-up Hondra right up my butt) was nose picking.

Lovely.

Don't people realise that the glass used in car windows is two-way?!!!

Double trouble this week:

Oh Mercy - Bob Dylan

Vibrations - Albert Ayler and Don Cherry

Last night I finished (finally!!) slogging my way through the book Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited. Ever since I forced myself to finish Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, I vowed that I'd never again push myself all the way through a book if I wasn't enjoying it. Well, that rule worked pretty well for me for, oh, about 12 years. But somehow I couldn't drop this Dylan book no matter how many times I got pissed off at the author (for bad writing, snarky putdowns of band's he didn't care for, more bad writing...oh boy, the list goes on and on). The last third of the book devolves into a bunch of gossipy passages as the author had no use for any of Dylan's latter-year music. Oh well, it's my fault for pushing on to the end.

When I got to the bottom of page 720 (ack! what a nauseating number) I closed the book and felt free. It was a little like that last day of school and the whole of summer was just waiting there. No, better yet...it was like when I used to get out of confession when I was a little kid...free at last! (Never mind that I used to make "sins" up...isn't lying a sin? Duh!)

One of the few decent things I got out of that book was the reminder that Daniel Lanois produced Oh Mercy. About 30 seconds of "Political World" confirms that. Yep, it's that signature Lanois swampy sound. A very good match for Dylan at the time.

Oh, the Alyer record? I got up this morning and was so happy that I was free of that big loada pulp that I just wanted to hear some joyous free blowing. Vibrations begins with the stately march of "Ghosts", but then the squawkin' fun begins on "Children". Think of a few of those Dr. Seuss musical instruments strapped to the belly of a mad cow.

Or something.

I've never met Greg Brown (though I did get to see my mom, all five feet and seventy-something years of her, run up to him to shake his hand after a show)...but if by chance he was to invite me over to his place for some whiskey and music, I'd imagine it'd be something like Honey in the Lion's Head.

This latest Brown release is a collection of traditional folk tunes that were, as Greg puts it, "the soundtrack of his youth". These songs, delivered in Brown's trademark gravelly baritone, have a nice old-timey feel. This is why I mentioned dinner at Greg and Iris' (He's married to folk singer Iris DeMent. You knew that, right?) place. I can easily imagine sitting out on the back porch as Greg picks up the guitar. His daughters Pieta and Constie would be there for the occasional background harmony. A good time was had by all.

Seriously though, since this will probably never happen, I'll have to remain content with the record. I'll close my eyes and imagine the scene as Greg plays these songs with longtime cohort Bo Ramsey. The addition of Bob Black on banjo and Al Murphy on fiddle make the traditional folks aspects of the tunes really stand out. Just one listen to "Old Smokey" or "The Foggy Foggy Dew" will give you a pretty good idea of Greg's background. This isn't to say that everything is laid back and contemplatin'. No, just check out his uptempo and intense "Samson".

There are a couple of non-traditional songs here too. One is Jim Garland's "I Don't Want Your Millions Mister", a country swingin' working man's lament. The other is the Brown original "Ain't No One Like You". Dang, love sounds pretty when it's dressed up with Greg's voice, a banjo and Constie Brown's backing vocals.

When this record finishes, I open my eyes and well...I'm still sitting in suburban America. I guess there are some limits to how far music can transport me.

What is the sound of a lone Pepper?

Not as hot, not as funky...but more distinctive than you might expect.

While all three of the tunes on this Shadows Collide With People sampler share bits of Chili Pepper-ness, there are definitely a few non-Pepper moments.

First of all, the electric guitar does not play a big role here. No, a strummed acoustic is used to build the bed of sound supporting the vocals. This isn't really out of left field with respect to the Peppers: acoustic guitars are used there, just not to this degree.

Another new texture is the blurpy synth. "Song To Sing When I'm Lonely" starts off with a synth figure that's right out of 1980's new wave. A lone electric guitar joins in unison with the synth before settling into the first verse.

The most interesting track is "Carvel". The introduction is a California-style channeling of King Crimson's "In The Court Of The Crimson King". Yep, there are strings, ominous synths lurking and dirgy vocals. Way cool.

What is very Pepper-like is the overall tempo. All three tunes settle into that familiar mid-tempo "Californication"/"Scar Tissue" area. It's also quite amazing to hear Frusciante's vocals: because they're so much like Anthony Kiedis. Not quite as distinctive maybe but they sure do sound like they could be brothers.

It's hard to draw conclusions about the whole album based on three selections, but my interest has been peaked.

Shadows Collide With People will be released on February 24, 2004.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)

Smack in the middle of the initial Norah Jones explosion (Remember? When it seemed like the radio was tryin' to brainwash you by playing "Don't Know Why" every 20 minutes or so...and you kept thinkin' "Gee, aren't there any other songs on that CD?) it was pretty easy to pick up on signs of the backlash.

It was bound to happen. Somebody steps into the official RisingStar position and immediately the wet blanket brigade pipes up with "weak voice", "too slow", "all the same", "not so hot on the piano", etc. All of this followed by the lovely nicknames of "Snorah" and "Borah". Nice.

Well, I'm here to tell you that Feels Like Home will not convert those detractors. Because this record is more of the same (it is...and it isn't)? No, because Feels Like Home, like 2002's Come Away With Me, is full of musical subtlety and passion: things that are lost on those folks.

In fact, there is 'more' on Feels Like Home. More melodic twists and turns, more blues, more beauty, passion and, as hinted at by the Come Away shows...just a little more country.

Norah's band (The Handsome Band) is in fine form here. They also make some nice songwriting contributions including "Sunrise", "Those Sweet Words" and "In The Morning". Special guests show up here and there too with Garth Hudson and Levon Helm on "What Am I To You?", Brian Blade ("The Prettiest Thing") and my favorite: Dolly Parton on bassist Lee Alexander's swingin' "Creepin' In".

There are no Jesse Harris tunes this time around, though Harris does appear on guitar on a few tracks. This does not mean that Feels Like Home lacks for moments of inspiration. The cover of Townes Van Zandt's' "Be Here To Love Me" is fantastic, with Garth Hudson's accordion for added zing. Another cover, of Tom Waits' "The Long Way Home", is given a stripped-down country treatment (and now I've got this crazy idea of Waits croaking "Come Away With Me"). The closing "Don't Miss You At All" is actually Duke Ellington's "Melancholia" wrapped around Norah's lyrics. Kinda cool.

For me the high point of the record comes with track #9: the emotional bomb that is "Humble Me". Written by guitarist Kevin Breit, "Humble Me" is a song written from the viewpoint of a person who's more than down and out. I don't want to give away too much but let's just say that the tune delivers serious emotional power, enhanced by the sparse arrangement (just guitar, bass and pump organ) and that voice. If this one doesn't melt you, just a little bit, well...there might not be any hope for ya.

To be sure, the short attention span crowd won't find much to like on Feels Like Home, but that's their loss. With the last few years of a music industry looking very much like it's favorite activity has become forcing its soul to lapdance for the accounting staff, maybe the popularity of Norah Jones is a sign of a turning tide.

And the answer is: the spam filter batch thingy on the gateway machine. Stupid spammers!

I wrote a review of Norah Jones latest record Feels Like Home...wrote it late last night. Where is it? Dunno. I mailed it to work from my wife's laptop. The mailer said it sent it.

Who's to blame. The culprits are: Mozilla (not likely), Microsoft (somewhat likely), Verizon (very likely), the spam filter batch thingy on the Foliage gateway.

I'd really like to blame Microsoft..but that probably won't happen.

By the way, the new album is pretty good. Maybe I'll tell ya about it sometime....

Voice Of Chunk - The Lounge Lizards

The weird music of New York's Lounge Lizards is exactly what I need this morning to help with the cobwebs (a looming deadline has me sitting at this danged computer waaaaay too much the past several days).

If you've never heard John Lurie's cool blend of jazz, blues noir and ambient flow, you owe it to yourself to check 'em out. A unique and underappreciated gem of the jazz world.

Plus, they've had both Arto Lindsay and Marc Ribot taking the guitar chair. You can't go wrong with that!

My, oh my...it's such fun to see news like this: in the 2005 budget proposal, there is an increase of $18 million for the National Endowment For The Arts. Yessir, I just knew there was a reason I liked Laura Bush. A quote from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Laura Bush played a significant role, personally announcing a $15 million touring program called American Masterpieces while at NEA offices last week. "I am very pleased to announce the president's strong support for this initiative and for the arts in this country," the first lady said. "Through American Masterpieces, citizens will reconnect with our nation's great artistic achievements and rich cultural heritage."

Those folks at the Cato Institute must have steam comin' outa their ears.

In fact, they do:

"At a time when we face a $477 billion deficit and President Bush has called on Congress to restrain domestic discretionary spending, it is astounding that he would propose a double-digit increase in the budget for something as unnecessary as the National Endowment for the Arts," said David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute. "If we can't restrain spending on the arts bureaucracy in a time of budget crisis, no one can take the president's rhetoric about spending restraint seriously."

That's ok, nobody takes the president's rhetoric seriously anyway.

This past Saturday I had a little free time in the afternoon so I thought, hey, why not paw my way through some used records? Off to the local used vinyl emporium I went.

Second only to the smell of books in a used bookstore, the vinyl greeted me with a scrumptious eau-de-Black Circle. Over the years I've spent a ton of time flipping my way through records...and there's something about the smell of 'em that dredges up memories of my youth. Anyway, enough with the nostalgia stuff. Lemme get on to the loot.

Close To The Edge - Yes

I've never owned this before, either on CD or vinyl. Though I usually prefer live versions of things, it's nice to hear Siberian Khatru in its original form. Oh yea, and the sound is so much better than the digital versions I've heard.

In And Out Of Focus - Focus

70's Dutch progressive rock at it's finest (hmmm, doesn't that sound like a car commericial? "...and a rear passenger space with the most foot room in its class") Everybody remembers them for the 'hit' song "Hocus Pocus" (which reminds me of that tune by The Darkness). They sort of disappeared after that.

Sunburst Finish - BeBop Deluxe

Bill Nelson (did he make the Rolling Stone list?) played some fantastic guitar way back when. If you can find a copy of this (big 'if' there) check out the song "Crying To The Sky", which reminds me of Prince's "Purple Rain" by way of Jimi Hendrix.

8:30 - Weather Report

Easily my favorite Weather Report record. The live "Birdland" kills.

It Takes A Year - Will Ackerman

Can't get enough of the three amigos of "New Age" guitar: Michael Hedges, Alex DeGrassi and Will Ackerman.

Expectations - Keith Jarrett

Jarrett in a modern jazz setting. You can't go wrong with Charlie Haden and Dewey Redman either.

Les Chants Magnetiques - Jean Michel Jarre

Jarre's first recording using digital synthesizers. Not as good as Oxygene, Equinoxe or Zoolook...but nothing beats those records.

Just As I Thought - Davis Sancious

Keyboard and piano player on the early Springsteen records. I've got another solo piano record of his and it's mighty fine. Being the Springsteen completist that I am, just hadta pick this one up.

Body Meta - Ornette Coleman

Score! Any Ornette release on vinyl is a cause for celebration in my book. This one features Prime Time at their funkiest. Guitarist Bern Nix really mixes it up with scratchy rhythms and tangled leads.

Encore - Tangerine Dream

These guys have, like, a million records out there. I've always wondered what a group like this would do in a live setting. I guess I'll find out.

Crystal Silence - Gary Burton & Chick Corea

Burton and Corea's landmark recording. It's very fine, though maybe not quite as good as Live in Zurich. Ever seen these guys play together live? It's scary, like musical conjoined twins.

Wings Over America - Paul McCartney

Even though I'm not a huge McCartney fan, this record's always been a lot of fun for me. The live "Live and Let Die" is spectacular.

Now, after I got all this stuff home, all cleaned up and inner sleeves replaced...I got to thinking about the ongoing "Downloading Is Killing Us" phenomenon that the recording industry is going through.

The industry sees each and every downloaded song as vanished money. Yep, those little mp3 files represent lost revenue. While I don't really agree with that sentiment, I do have a problem with the phenomenon of kids who see all music as 'free'. It creeps me out. More than that, it makes me realize that a big & important part of the culture that I grew up in is now seen as without value by the younger generation.

It's a sad thing....but maybe it doesn't have to be that way.

The industry needs to look at reliable, low-cost and unlimited digital downloads as opportunities. One part of the file-sharing thing they seem to completely not get is the fact (I will use the word 'fact' because I'm absolutely certain that this occurs) that exposure to new music inevitably leads to demand for more music. People will sample here and there if the price is low and the experience is painless...and they will want more. Just look at my weekend LP trip. As far as the record industry is concerned, I might as well have downloaded ALL of that music because they certainly didn't get a dime for it. And now, after listening to the majority of the albums, I've added several artists to my "want" list. Yes, there is more Yes, Focus, Keith Jarrett, Tangerine Dream and Gary Burton in my future. There's no doubt about it.

Downloaded music can easily serve the function once the domain of commercial radio (before ClearChannel squeezed the life out of it): spreading the word on new artist's music.

Or...the RIAA and its partners can continue to waste money and time in their hopeless effort to stuff the technological genie back into the bottle. At the end of that road is the unemployment line.

Whoooee, there's a whole lotta crazyness going on over at Blogcritics concerning the Janet Jackson Superbowl halftime thing. You would thing she killed somebody or somethin'.

Cool spam received today: "impervious declamation beef nicholas osborne".

I'd just love to be a fly on the wall in the meetings where they come up with strategies for stuff like this.

Dang, I am very tired. That was one of the best, and most emotionally draining sporting contests I've ever seen.

Now, can Dion Sanders a) shut his trap and b) hang up those god-awful pinstripe suits.