I don’t just want these four minutes back, I want all the time I could have been reading a book or going for a walk because I know most of these! Ah, mother Internet: You take so much of my time for no reason and I still love you.
What’s Wrong with Radio & The Music Industry
I wonder what is going to happen to the sale of commercial music. The paradigm of exploitation of the artist by big companies is going to end at some point.
The idea of music distribution by Internet subscription (Lala, Spotify and soon, iTunes) may mean the end of individuals “owning” recorded music in the physical form of CDs or even as downloads. The subscription thing smells of crap to me. I don’t know if the small business model of the artist selling his CDs from the back of his car after the gig or from MySpace will continue to work in the next few years.
And what happened to the taste leaders, those people, generally disc jockeys, who picked their own music and opened my mind and ears to new sonic ideas?
Big Tom Donahue was one of those amazing radio DJs. He was at KMPX in San Francisco. I remember one day when I was listening to Donahue and he said, “Look who’s here: It’s Otis Redding who’s appearing at the Filmore this weekend.” Otis sat down saying, “I’ve got this new song. I haven’t finished it. I’ve been staying on a houseboat in Sausalito and it kinda got me going.” He then strummed his guitar and sang the unfinished “Dock on a Bay.” I didn’t know Otis but it led me to find all his recordings.
While not a disc jockey, I’ve always been grateful to Bill Graham for his omnivorous musical tastes that brought amazing playbills of artists to the Filmore, Winterland or the Carousel Ballroom back in my younger days. Graham made million of new fans for such legends as Muddy Waters, BB King and Lightning Hopkins.
There have been lots of other radio DJs that changed my life and mind and ears along the way. I’m grateful to them all. Nowadays I look for playlists on iTunes but even they’re hard to find now.
Where do you turn for new ideas? Podcasts? Word of mouth?
Hip Hop Violin
Hip Hop Violin - Paul Dateh & inka one
Violinist Paul Dateh and DJ inka one lay down a wonderful big beat with a longhair twist.
From Dateh’s MySpace page:
Originally, Paul Dateh was only supposed to be a violinist. Beginning his violin studies at the age of four, it seemed that Dateh’s future in the classical industry was set in stone. But, on his first day at The University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Dateh suddenly dropped his major in Violin Performance and enrolled in the Jazz Studies program instead. The move shocked his colleagues as it was hard to understand why anyone would walk away from fourteen years of classical training to begin learning an entirely new musical discipline. But, Dateh knew that he wanted to be more than just a classical musician; his goal was to become a musician, in every possible way.
Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address
Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, gave this address to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford. In it he discusses the big moments of his life. The address is a very worthwhile bit of self-examination from a guy who never graduated from college.
Pigeon: Impossible
A rookie secret agent is faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase. [Tip o' de hat to David G. for the pointer.]
Epic Drummer
Drummer Steve Moore just kicks the crap out of his kit with amazing style and upstages the rest of the band in this performance of ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man. Recorded at Knoebel’s Grove, Pennsylvania, Moore makes an amazing display of showmanship. The band is Rick K and the Allnighters. FTW!
Aretha Meets Beatles Mashup
A spectacular mash-up of “Pride (A Deeper Love)” by Aretha Franklin & “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles with a hint of Franz Ferdinand “Take Me Out”. I defy anyone listening not to move their feet!
