10at10 Club
Main Discussion Area => Stream of Consciousness => Topic started by: Gazoo on June 07, 2005, 08:45:41 AM
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Where I post links to stuff I've been working on.
The latest: my review for the Voice of Aimee Mann's new album, The Forgotten Arm:
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0523,mccombs,64661,22.html
Hope you dig. It's on the front page of the Voice website today, so I'm hoping it gets enough hits that they encourage me to pitch more stuff their way.
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Where I post links to stuff I've been working on.
The latest: my review for the Voice of Aimee Mann's new album, The Forgotten Arm:
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0523,mccombs,64661,22.html
Hope you dig. It's on the front page of the Voice website today, so I'm hoping it gets enough hits that they encourage me to pitch more stuff their way.
Good review, but I don't understand the headline. I have a Drop Kick Murphy's album, but what's the connection to Aimee Mann? Am I missing something obvious?
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The world needs more song cycles about junkie boxers.
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Where I post links to stuff I've been working on.
The latest: my review for the Voice of Aimee Mann's new album, The Forgotten Arm:
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0523,mccombs,64661,22.html
Hope you dig. It's on the front page of the Voice website today, so I'm hoping it gets enough hits that they encourage me to pitch more stuff their way.
Good review, but I don't understand the headline. I have a Drop Kick Murphy's album, but what's the connection to Aimee Mann? Am I missing something obvious?
The connection doesn't translate as well on the website. DKM's latest album refers to boxing as well, so Chuck Eddy thought they'd make for good bookends.
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My latest article: coverage of last weekend's Playing For Life softball tournament. Cyd loved it, so here's hoping I can get more work from him.
http://www.outsports.com/softball/2005/0704pfl.htm
Hope you dig.
Gaz
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Another article for your perusal: an interview with Robert McChesney, a highly visible talking-head on the topics of media consolidation and media manipulation.
http://www.villagevoice.com/people/0528,interview,65909,24.html
(A web exclusive, not in the print edition.)
(Yes, that means I get paid less for it.)
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My latest article: coverage of last weekend's Playing For Life softball tournament. Cyd loved it, so here's hoping I can get more work from him.
http://www.outsports.com/softball/2005/0704pfl.htm
Hope you dig.
Gaz
Cool. The Park looks wonderful. I'd love to play there.
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My latest article: coverage of last weekend's Playing For Life softball tournament. Cyd loved it, so here's hoping I can get more work from him.
http://www.outsports.com/softball/2005/0704pfl.htm
Hope you dig.
Gaz
Fine work, bub. You should pitch a story about your experiences at the Gym "Sports Bar". :wink:
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My latest article: coverage of last weekend's Playing For Life softball tournament. Cyd loved it, so here's hoping I can get more work from him.
http://www.outsports.com/softball/2005/0704pfl.htm
Hope you dig.
Gaz
Fine work, bub. You should pitch a story about your experiences at the Gym "Sports Bar". :wink:
That's happening in the Best Of New York issue, coming out in late August or early September: I'm doing an entry on GYM as "Best Sports Bar For Guys Who Don't Like Sports."
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My latest article: coverage of last weekend's Playing For Life softball tournament. Cyd loved it, so here's hoping I can get more work from him.
http://www.outsports.com/softball/2005/0704pfl.htm
Hope you dig.
Gaz
Fine work, bub. You should pitch a story about your experiences at the Gym "Sports Bar". :wink:
That's happening in the Best Of New York issue, coming out in late August or early September: I'm doing an entry on GYM as "Best Sports Bar For Guys Who Don't Like Sports."
ROTFL!
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Another article for your perusal: an interview with Robert McChesney, a highly visible talking-head on the topics of media consolidation and media manipulation.
http://www.villagevoice.com/people/0528,interview,65909,24.html
(A web exclusive, not in the print edition.)
(Yes, that means I get paid less for it.)
Keep in mind, that's how Mark Morford got where he is today. (Writing for the Web, not necessarily getting paid less. Although from what I've heard about the Chron....)
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BTW, Urth - I just applied for a full-time copy edit position here in NYC for CNET's Computer Shopper magazine. I played up my experience with digital media technology and legal issues along with my copy edit bkgd in the hopes of bonus points, but didn't dwell on my past work with ZDNet Music b/c it was (shudder) five years ago.
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BTW, Urth - I just applied for a full-time copy edit position here in NYC for CNET's Computer Shopper magazine. I played up my experience with digital media technology and legal issues along with my copy edit bkgd in the hopes of bonus points, but didn't dwell on my past work with ZDNet Music b/c it was (shudder) five years ago.
Very cool! Even tho' it's more or less the same company, I didn't know they were hiring. (There are some cross-posting between the two "publications" but their staffs are pretty much separate.) I'll nose around and see if I can find out who's hiring for the position and let them know they should just sign you on and be done with it.
And I would at least mention in passing that you've worked for the company before, so long as you left on good terms anyway (and maybe even if not, if only to put your own spin on it). Figure they're going to find out sooner or later, once they enter your SSN in the HR computer. And I know of several folks who have worked for the company, left, and then come back (some more than once), so I don't think they'd hold it against you.
Who were your supervisors 5 years ago? And was ZDNet a CNET property back then?
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And I would at least mention in passing that you've worked for the company before, so long as you left on good terms anyway (and maybe even if not, if only to put your own spin on it). Figure they're going to find out sooner or later, once they enter your SSN in the HR computer. And I know of several folks who have worked for the company, left, and then come back (some more than once), so I don't think they'd hold it against you.
Who were your supervisors 5 years ago? And was ZDNet a CNET property back then?
I was working with them on a freelance basis immediately after leaving RadioSpy in August 2000. Andy Deemer was the guy who brought me on and shepherded me, but my articles were sent to Ankarino Lara. Both wonderful people whom I wish I hadn't lost touch with. They introduced me to Jeff Wachs and a guy named Charlie (I forget his last name; I remember that he had only one arm), who were hiring an associate producer for the ZDNet Music division (I don't think they were a wholly owned CNET property at this time). They wanted to bring me on, but needed the person to start *the next day*. I hadn't yet moved back to SF from Orange County at the time of interview, and had already committed to being a groomsman at a close friend's wedding on the east coast that weekend, and so was unable to do that, and they ended up going with someone else. I've wondered at times how things might have turned out had I gotten that position, realizing full well that I couldn't have changed those circumstances or made a different decision.
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New material online at the Voice website: a short article about the pending acquisiting of MySpace.com by Rupert Murdoch's Fox Interactive Media.
http://villagevoice.com/screens/0533,webmccombs,66817,28.html
Unfortunately, I didn't get a callback on the CNET opening. Still failing to parlay my current work into further copy editing gigs or mid-tier writing assignments, which is admittedly frustrating. But in under 16 hours I'll be meeting Marty Balin for the first time, so on shall go the smiley face.
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If I don't have anything to say here in the near future, this is why:
http://www.gawker.com/news/village-voice/index.php#village-voice-to-sell-soul-to-new-times-117332
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If I don't have anything to say here in the near future, this is why:
http://www.gawker.com/news/village-voice/index.php#village-voice-to-sell-soul-to-new-times-117332
that's gross.
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If I don't have anything to say here in the near future, this is why:
http://www.gawker.com/news/village-voice/index.php#village-voice-to-sell-soul-to-new-times-117332
I recall recently I assumed that the VV was already owned by NT. Maybe I was just psychic...
On the other hand, if you survive the takeover, maybe you can request a transfer to SF Weekly or the East Bay Express :wink:
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If I don't have anything to say here in the near future, this is why:
http://www.gawker.com/news/village-voice/index.php#village-voice-to-sell-soul-to-new-times-117332
that's gross.
Completely bites. And far too common these days. I did find Christgau's comments interesting though. He laid it right out there--how much these changes would cost the average freelancer, and also Chuck Eddy and himself, if these reductions are allowed to stand.
Fight the power!
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If I don't have anything to say here in the near future, this is why:
http://www.gawker.com/news/village-voice/index.php#village-voice-to-sell-soul-to-new-times-117332
that's gross.
Completely bites. And far too common these days. I did find Christgau's comments interesting though. He laid it right out there--how much these changes would cost the average freelancer, and also Chuck Eddy and himself, if these reductions are allowed to stand.
Fight the power!
Xgau did us all a huge favor by putting himself out on the line like that. (He does, however, treat copy editors like a lower life form, which makes me seethe.)
I don't have good feelings about New Times. While I was living in SF, it often seemed that the SF Weekly only existed to fire squirt-guns at the Bay Guardian (which seems to have become tit-for-tat in recent years, sadly), the same kind of jealous animosity that the NY Press has long held toward the Voice. I've kind of extrapolated from that a feeling that New Times has no visionary or progressive agenda other than to sell LCD faux-controversy and offer insipidly hipsterite snark-reviews of current artistic product. (At its worst, the Voice is guilty of same, but they engage in such banality far less often than other alt-weeklies.)
Work's been a drag today as a result. It's felt like, well, work.
P.S. If it turns out I don't have a future at the Voice, I may well leave NYC come February. As I've ranted here before, I just don't like the way people do business in this city.
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Three cheers for Gaz and his article on outsports.com about Gay Night at the Phillies game!
http://outsports.com/baseball/2005/0819philsgayday.htm
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Three cheers for Gaz and his article on outsports.com about Gay Night at the Phillies game!
http://outsports.com/baseball/2005/0819philsgayday.htm
too bad the story made me cry. way to go, gaz. :)
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If I don't have anything to say here in the near future, this is why:
http://www.gawker.com/news/village-voice/index.php#village-voice-to-sell-soul-to-new-times-117332
More reasons for pessimism:
http://blogs.citypages.com/ctg/2005/08/why_city_pages.asp
http://www.sfbg.com/Extra/ntvvm.html
Gee, I can't wait for the New Times "why waste your time on idealistic politics, go be a good American and BUY SOMETHING" approach to take hold here. I'm embarrassed that I believed the Voice was different, that it was something to believe in.
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Sounding the death knell for alternative media. It's a lose-lose if this happens. New Times' brand of libertarian conservatism and press-releases-are-journalism-too attitude will ruin the Voice's unique, um, voice and reputation for social progressiveness. Not sure I'll have, or want, a place at that table, but we'll see what's necessary to do to keep food on my OWN table. (And this will probably be my last post for a while, as I leave for Montreal on Wednesday and have a ton of work to finish before then ... so have a good week, all!)
http://www.sfbg.com/Extra/merger.html
Merger on the march
Exclusive: Internal Village Voice documents detail plans to create 18-paper alt-press chain.
By Tim Redmond
THE NATION'S TWO largest alternative newspaper publishers have been in intense negotiations over a merger that would create an 18-paper chain controlled to a significant extent by venture capitalists, new documents obtained by the Bay Guardian show.
The documents, which appear to be valid, include a May 27, 2005, draft of a merger agreement between Village Voice Media and New Times. They were provided by a source close to the negotiations.
The draft calls for the creation of a new company controlled by a nine-member board. Five of the members would come from Phoenix-based New Times and its primary venture-capital firm, the Boston-based Alta Communications.
New Times, which owns 11 newspapers including the SF Weekly, would have 62 percent of the equity in the new venture, and VVM, which owns the Village Voice and six other papers, would have 38 percent.
The documents mention a Nov. 30, 2005, date for closing the deal, but suggest that the date may have to be pushed back, in part because of federal regulatory issues.
Rumors of a possible VVM-New Times merger have been swirling for months (see "Chain Gang," 5/25/05). Neither of the principals has denied the reports, although employees of some VVM papers have attempted to dismiss them.
But the new documents are the first concrete confirmation that talks are indeed going on, and that the two parties are close enough to agreement that they've circulated draft bylaws of a new limited liability corporation that would own all of the VVM and New Times papers.
As of late May there were clearly still some issues to be resolved: The documents include a memo from VVM CEO David Schneiderman complaining that New Times wants to "renegotiate the terms of our deal" and arguing that some New Times papers, including the SF Weekly and the East Bay Express, are losing a lot of money.
"In the 2004 Calendar year, SF Weekly, East Bay Express and the Cleveland Scene racked up losses of $4 million," the memo states. SF Weekly, it says, "is locked in a brutal struggle in SF with no sign of success and the same is true in Cleveland."
The memo concludes: "In short, they have some real losers and we don't.... given these facts, I don't believe a renegotiation is warranted."
But overall, the shape of the deal appears to be fairly clear. A new Delaware-based LLC would be created, with a nine-member board. Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin, the executive editor and CEO of New Times, would each have a seat on the nine-member board, as would an Alta representative. Lacey, Larkin, and the Alta rep would then choose two more members – one of whom would be New Times chief financial officer Jed Brunst – giving New Times and its banker a 5-4 majority.
Schneiderman (who is slated, the documents show, to receive a $500,000 bonus for his work on the merger) would have a seat on the board, and the final three seats would go to Goldman, Sachs & Co., Trimaran Capital Partners, and Weiss Peck & Greer, all of whom are VVM investors.
So in the end, at least four of the board members – and almost certainly more – will be venture capitalists. There may be as few as four directors who have any background in publishing or journalism.
The documents state that all but two of the board members (also called "managers") can be removed from the board for "cause" – but "the Lacey Manager or the Larkin Manager may not be removed as Managers with or without Cause, it being understood that the sole basis on which either such Manager may be removed as a Manager shall be such Manager's conviction of a felony."
The documents suggest that the new company has been set up with the idea of an eventual sale: They state that, for the first three years, the company can only be sold with the consent of six of the nine board members. But over the next two years, five board members could approve a sale, and after five years, three directors could make that decision.
"In the event the Board of Managers approves a Sale of the Company ... all Members shall be required and hereby agree to cooperate with and participate in such sale," they state.
The documents also address the prospect that the SF Weekly, the East Bay Express, and the Cleveland Scene could be sold off or closed if they continue to hemorrhage cash. "f at any time up to and including the Third Anniversary date, the cumulative losses for any of the [East Bay, Cleveland or San Francisco units] (brackets in original document) exceed the cumulative projected losses for such unit ... the Company, with the consent of five managers, shall be permitted to dispose of such non-performing unit by merger, consolidation, sale of assets or otherwise," they state.
The new company would be required to honor the union contracts at the Village Voice – the only paper in either chain that's unionized. But other employees may not fare so well. The new company "may, in its reasonable discretion, transition all employees ... to new compensation, benefit plans, programs or arrangements."
One source in New York said that "as I understand it, Larkin will be the CEO and Schneiderman will run the Internet operations. I believe the rest of the VVM corporate staff (essentially finance people) will be let go."
A separate document, dated June 1, 2005, is titled "NT/VV Proposed Business Consolidation Agreement Issues List Relating to NT Draft of Contribution and LLC Agreement." It lists some concerns – apparently from VVM executives – about the deal.
It cites a "drop date of Nov. 30, 2005," but notes that "[t]his is too short, obtaining HSR approval may take a long time." That's a reference to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, which requires federal approval of any merger that may have an impact on business competition.
That might not be routine: New Times and VVM have run afoul of federal antitrust laws in the past. The two chains were charged a year and a half ago with conspiring to end alt-weekly competition in Los Angeles and Cleveland (see "New Times Nailed," 1/29/03). Under a consent decree, the companies are required for five years to give the Justice Department notice before pursuing any merger.
We've spoken to several sources close to the negotiations who say it's likely that process is already under way. But the Justice Department has consistently maintained that any such notice would be confidential.
The two parties are also keeping a tight hold on the information. Staffers at VVM and New Times papers seem unaware of the details of the talks, and top management has refused to answer their questions about the situation. The agreement includes a clause stating, "No press releases or public disclosure, either written or oral, of the transactions contemplated by this agreement, shall be made by a party to the agreement without written consent of VV Media LLC and NT holdings."
The merger would signal the biggest step so far in the consolidation of ownership in the alternative press. The merged company (which thus far is identified only by the dummy name "Newco") would represent some 15 percent of the membership of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and would give one chain operation control of some of the biggest media markets in the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, and Houston (see "SOS: No secret New Times-Village Voice Media deal, sfbg.com).
Schneiderman, Lacey, and Larkin all declined to return messages seeking comment.
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This is a totally random question & I'm not sure where else to post it. So I guess it's self-indulgence.
Do any of you know what kind of help the "Help Center" provided on The Jeffersons? For all the time Louise talked about volunteering there, I don't think any episodes actually placed her there. Was it counseling? Job training? Food? Clean needles?
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This is a totally random question & I'm not sure where else to post it. So I guess it's self-indulgence.
Do any of you know what kind of help the "Help Center" provided on The Jeffersons? For all the time Louise talked about volunteering there, I don't think any episodes actually placed her there. Was it counseling? Job training? Food? Clean needles?
She helped dorky British white guys speak "jive". :wink:
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The Voice's annual Best of New York issue is out. The whole issue's worth reading (he said immodestly), but for now, here's the links to my three blurbs:
Best Bar to Be a Philly Sports Fan:
http://www.villagevoice.com/bestof/?page=05_result&categ=Drinks&id=4561
Best Sports Bar for Guys Who Don't Like Sports:
http://www.villagevoice.com/bestof/?page=05_result&categ=Drinks&id=4559
Best Rock Club for the Lazy and Limp-Legged:
http://www.villagevoice.com/bestof/?page=05_result&categ=Music&id=4890
Hope yr amused ...
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The Voice's annual Best of New York issue is out. The whole issue's worth reading (he said immodestly), but for now, here's the links to my three blurbs:
Best Bar to Be a Philly Sports Fan:
http://www.villagevoice.com/bestof/?page=05_result&categ=Drinks&id=4561
Best Sports Bar for Guys Who Don't Like Sports:
http://www.villagevoice.com/bestof/?page=05_result&categ=Drinks&id=4559
Best Rock Club for the Lazy and Limp-Legged:
http://www.villagevoice.com/bestof/?page=05_result&categ=Music&id=4890
Hope yr amused ...
Your Gym Bar comments are priceless.
Is Wogie's gay or straight? Is that the place across the street from Elephant & Castle?
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Is Wogie's gay or straight? Is that the place across the street from Elephant & Castle?
Wogie's is very, very straight. They're down a couple blocks (cross street is either W 10th or Charles, I forget which), on the other side of the street from the E&C -- maybe you're thinking of Fiddlesticks?
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Is Wogie's gay or straight? Is that the place across the street from Elephant & Castle?
Wogie's is very, very straight. They're down a couple blocks (cross street is either W 10th or Charles, I forget which), on the other side of the street from the E&C -- maybe you're thinking of Fiddlesticks?
I don't remember what it was called last year, only that it was something different from when I was there in '93. But the E&C totally rules, and hadn't changed at all.
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Gaz, FYI, There's a thread on Outsports asking people to vote for The Gym as "Best Gay Bar in NYC" in the AOL poll (started by Cyd, natch, because they host his flag football team). So I posted a link to your VV writeup :wink:
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Gaz, FYI, There's a thread on Outsports asking people to vote for The Gym as "Best Gay Bar in NYC" in the AOL poll (started by Cyd, natch, because they host his flag football team). So I posted a link to your VV writeup :wink:
Hee! Thanks! BTW, I now know who "FireMikeTiceNow" is, and I am very aware of the incident he's referring to -- I wasn't a witness myself, but it was a major issue in our softball league. Unfair to hold that against GYM, though!
(In case anyone thinks this is intrigue: A guy in my softball league had his leg broken by a reckless slider, and it became a very controversial matter over issues of safety and accountability -- and later, other issues, but don't get me started.)
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So Jorge, the former copy chief, who's now the Theater section editor, summons me to his cube Monday night. "Not to typecast you," he says, "but will you see this and review it?"
It's an off-off-Broadway play: Sodom: The Musical, starring erstwhile Village Person Randy Jones as God.
Not typecast at all. :o
So the show was kind of disappointing. In the meantime, I did this:
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0545,mccombs,69816,15.html
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So Jorge, the former copy chief, who's now the Theater section editor, summons me to his cube Monday night. "Not to typecast you," he says, "but will you see this and review it?"
It's an off-off-Broadway play: Sodom: The Musical, starring erstwhile Village Person Randy Jones as God.
Not typecast at all. :o
So the show was kind of disappointing. In the meantime, I did this:
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0545,mccombs,69816,15.html
Nice work as always, bub.
Randy Jones IS God, isn't he?
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The Voice, like any other alt-weekly, runs a music listings section with all the upcoming shows. Of course, in NYC, this is a bigger task than in most cities, and so the listings get spread out among many writers, at least a dozen. I am among them, and have cultivate a niche covering what my friend Pam and I call "fartcore": the package tours and hits recaps undertaken by career artists years beyond their commercial prime. Such were four of my five assignments this week -- by far my biggest workload for one week -- so I thought I'd share them here:
Wednesday
November 16
Chicago
North Fork Theatre, Westbury Music Fair, 960 Brush Hollow Rd, Westbury, NY, 516-334-0800.
8pm.
By touring in support of Rhino’s reissue of their 1971 Chicago at Carnegie Hall concert set, these innovators of brass rock obviously feel they’ve still got the chops for both old catalogue and new. Over their career they went from political sunshine pop to ballady schmaltz: No one likes it all, but everyone likes some of it.
Friday
November 18
Whispers
B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 W 42nd, 212-997-4144.
8 & 10:30pm, $40-45.
The soul outfit from L.A. had only two major crossovers—“And the Beat Goes On” and “Rock Steady”—but over a full quarter-century they charted every few years, never innovating but always riding trends reasonably well. Best-case scenario: They do their 1976 Tower of Power knockoff “You’re Only As Good As You Think You Are.”
Saturday
November 19
Davy Jones
B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 W 42nd, 212-997-4144.
8pm, $42-45.
Appearing in Living in TVLand next spring, raising race horses, planning a Monkees museum in his adopted Pennsylvania home, and taking the odd gig, usually for charity: That’s the life of our Daydream Believer, a consummate showman who despite his limited range will take on some of Micky’s songs as well as his own.
Sunday
November 20
‘Wall Street Rising’: Aimee Mann + Keren Ann
TriBeCa Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers, 212-220-1460.
8pm.
The Music Downtown Concert Series concludes with Aimee Mann—whose deceptively complex The Forgotten Arm remains my favorite album of 2005, a sensitive elegy to a junkie boxer and the hard-luck woman who loves him—and Keren Ann, whose lullabying folk is Suzanne Vega on the rocks with a splash of Peyroux.
Tuesday
November 22
Carly Simon + Ben Taylor + Sally Taylor
Frederick P. Rose Hall, Time Warner Center, 60th & Bway, 212-258-9800.
8pm, $95-150.
Pedigree counts for little in rock, as Lisa Marie Presley will someday admit, but that hasn’t kept Ben and Sally Taylor from following in Carly and James’s footsteps. Ben’s album Another Run Around the Sun bears all of Dad’s granola-harmonic traits, while Sally’s jazzier and lazier like Mom, whose new Moonlight Serenade picks up where Rod Stewart’s Songbook left off.
submitted by:
Joseph McCombs
November 10, 2005
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"Suzanne Vega on the rocks with a splash of Peyroux."
nice turn of phrase, that.
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"Suzanne Vega on the rocks with a splash of Peyroux."
nice turn of phrase, that.
indeed! i love the carly simon one, too.
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So Jorge, the former copy chief, who's now the Theater section editor, summons me to his cube Monday night. "Not to typecast you," he says, "but will you see this and review it?"
It's an off-off-Broadway play: Sodom: The Musical, starring erstwhile Village Person Randy Jones as God.
Not typecast at all. :o
So the show was kind of disappointing. In the meantime, I did this:
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0545,mccombs,69816,15.html
Nice work as always, bub.
Randy Jones IS God, isn't he?
Here's what I had to say about Sodom: The Musical:
http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/0546,mccombs,70042,11.html
Next on the agenda: a short piece on holiday volunteer opportunities next week, followed by a week copy editing for Biography magazine (my first gig with a truly national mag; seems copy editing is a much easier ladder to climb than rock writing).
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Hey gang,
I hope you all had lovely Thanksgivings. I haven't read any threads since Wednesday, will catch up on things tomorrow while at work -- but for now, I need to solicit some quick opinions.
You guys are, I realized this afternoon, pretty much the target audience for the "33 1/3" series: rock fans with an intellectual and historical bent to go with the critical one. I spent some of this weekend reading a volume of the series in its entirety -- Michaelangelo Matos's take on Prince's Sign 'O' the Times -- and was surprised to find that it wasn't the here's-what-it-was-like-in-the-studio kind of historical narrative I was expecting, but rather a more casual, dare I say glib, critical analysis of how the artist got to the point of deciding to make this album, what its songs sound like and why they work as they do, and a smattering of context (artists influenced and influenced by, relationships, social affairs and news impacting the scene/period). And a lot more basic artist biography material than I'd expected -- a full chapter, a quarter of the book, in this case.
So I'm really really undecided about which book to propose -- and while I'm not expressly forbidden from proposing more than one or submitting two simultaneous proposals, my gut feeling tells me that to do so would be a bad, bad idea. To add to the mix, I've added a third album I'd like to propose that I think could be interesting.
I've listed the albums and their pros and cons below. Can you let me know which album you personally would be most interested in reading an entire book on, were you to do so? I'd be grateful, as always.
Gaz
Jefferson Starship, Red Octopus
Pros: This is the album I'm personally, deep down, most passionate about; I have a very good chance at access to the band's biographer, Jeff Tamarkin (I've spoken with him before and he's read my JS reviews on the All Music Guide); talking about songs like "Miracles" and "There Will Be Love" let me really flap my wings in the grand-language games.
Cons: There's not a lot of mainstream interest in the band (their episode of "Behind the Music" was the series' worst-rated, I read once), hindering saleability; I can't be sure of having access to the band members themselves.
The Monkees, Headquarters
Pros: The Monkees have been a popular story for the mainstream; this is a very important and interesting point in their history, their reclaiming of their instruments; getting this would work marvelously in conjunction with a potential EMP Pop Conference presentation on the band.
Cons: No access to the band or any of the other participating parties; this isn't my favorite Monkees album (I prefer its followup, PAC&J Ltd.).
Terence Trent D'Arby, Introducing the Hardline According to TTD
Pros: More current; there's been fewer '80s than '60s/'70s books in the series so far; chance to wax effusive about every single track and explore his influences (Smokey, JB, Bobby W); probable access to the artist himself for interviews.
Cons: I'm not good with the technology of production (drum machines used, etc.), which is more central to TTD's work than the others; I have nothing in my portfolio to demonstrate my expertise on him; I don't know his history a fraction as well as the others.
Oy yo yo do I overthink these things . . . Thanks again.
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This is what I'll be submitting later today:
“33 1/3” Series Proposal: Jefferson Starship, Red Octopus
Submitted November 30, 2005
By Joseph McCombs
1. An Outline of What I Want to Say, and How:
By the early 1970s, the members of the Jefferson Airplane were releasing increasingly erratic and fragmented records to an increasingly diminishing audience. 1972’s Long John Silver, the last studio record bearing the group’s original name (save for a 1989 reunion album), was lambasted for its indifferent songcraft; the following year’s Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun, credited to principal players Paul Kantner and Grace Slick plus Marty Balin replacement David Freiberg, was an embarrassingly low charter; and Slick’s 1974 “solo” LP was a bizarre effort, counting among its six tracks an instrumental, another song altogether absent her, and an album closer that relegated her to suppressed backing vocals. It seemed the band’s impact, culturally and commercially, was on an irreversible downward slide.
1974’s Dragon Fly album began to reverse these fortunes, on the heels of “Ride the Tiger,” Kantner’s most focused pop song in years and a surprise charting single, and a seven-minute collaboration with former member Balin called “Caroline” that helped return the group to FM radio playlists. The record, released under the new, optimistic moniker of Jefferson Starship, went gold and suggested that there might yet be some creative juices flowing among the aging rockers.
But nothing could have foretold the comeback that would commence in 1975. (Save for Kantner’s incantation on “Ride the Tiger” to “look to the summer of ’75/All the world is gonna come alive.”) Balin was unexpectedly convinced to rejoin the band as a full-time member, and the now eight-piece outfit found its once splintering crew collaborating free and easy on a set of brisk love songs. “It’s a vehicle that people get on,” Kantner would explain of the Starship, “embark and go to a destination and then get off.” For this album, everyone was on, and working together. “Maybe everybody just felt good for a while,” even the normally sardonic Slick had to acknowledge.
That album of love songs, Red Octopus, became the group’s biggest hit to date, propelled by Balin’s most ambitious and most fully realized song of his career, the #3 smash “Miracles.” Balin’s contributions to Red Octopus were his most extensive on a Jefferson Whatever album since 1967’s Surrealistic Pillow, and would decisively point the group in the direction of MOR balladry for the next few years.
Subsequent Jefferson Starship albums sold well and produced their share of tasty hit singles. But none of their records ever matched Red Octopus’s cohesion, verbal playfulness, instrumental and vocal intricacy, or cultural and commercial impact (the album hit #1 on four separate occasions that year, and Balin’s blatant celebration of cunnilingus on “Miracles” remains a delicious sedition against Top 40 values). Red Octopus had one other interesting and unintended effect as well: Its success pioneered the notion that a rock group approaching middle age (Slick turned 36 during the album’s chart run) could be a successful touring band, integral to making “rockers for life” a viable option for CSNY, the Stones, the Who, and others.
My intent with turning the Red Octopus story into an entry in the “33 1/3” series is to recap the band’s underexplored history from Balin’s 1970 departure to his return (only ardent JA/JS fans know what happened between Volunteers and Red Octopus), briefly discuss the successes of the 1974 Dragon Fly album, and use that discussion as a launching pad to reviewing the making and impact of the Red Octopus album. Drawing on my own lifelong deep immersion in the group’s work, Jeff Tamarkin’s band biography Got a Revolution!, and what I hope will be numerous interviews with band members and others involved with the making of the album, I will offer a vibrant retelling of how the songs were written and recorded, how the record was received by critics and the public, and how it’s assessed today, particularly in light of its 30th anniversary reissue with bonus tracks this fall. Insufficient light has been shone on the Jefferson Starship’s impressive 1970s output, and I wish to make some measure of correction with this book. I feel this will fit in perfectly with “33 1/3” ’s mission of telling the stories behind remarkable albums while addressing what I see as one of the series’ few drawbacks: minimal coverage of the albums of the mid ’70s, an era all too often written off as one of trash singles and little more.
2. A Few Words About Myself: I’m a music journalist, trivioso, and aspirant historian with a particular bent toward the pop music of the late 1960s through mid 1970s, and a particular interest within that time frame of the recorded output of the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Years of reading extensively about them and listening closely to all the albums in their broad repertoire have given me a strong degree of expertise in their story, manifested so far by reviews of several of their albums for the All Music Guide. My writings in recent years include over 100 AMG reviews, hundreds of indie artist reviews for musician development website StarPolish.com, over 100 concert listings and several features for the Village Voice alt-weekly, and an extended paper that I presented at this year’s Experience Music Project Pop Conference in Seattle.
3. A Bit About the Series: I wouldn’t compare the books in the “33 1/3” series to each other, as they’ve been written with different tactics and different intents. But Michaelangelo Matos’s swirling track-by-track investigation of Prince’s Sign ‘O’ the Times with extensive backstory especially succeeded in its mission: It convinced me to go back and listen to the album with a fresh and eager pair of ears, and I found I appreciated it far better than I ever had before. I hope to do the same for readers with a lively recap and critique of the Red Octopus album.
4. An Estimate of My Timeline: It took me five weeks to write a 4,500-word paper (while working a full-time day job and freelancing as a part-time copy editor) for presentation at the EMP Pop Conference this spring, which included time for research as well as wordcraft. As I no longer have the day job, I can work more regularly and more efficiently on this novella, which will involve less background research but more time devoted to interviews. Including the time necessary to garner interviews with first- and second-hand sources, I would put myself on a schedule to complete the book in 25 weeks from the date of being given the go-ahead. However, if an alternate time frame is needed or desired to ensure the volume’s success, I can adapt my plans to the needs of you and Continuum.
Thank you for considering me for possible inclusion in the “33 1/3” roster. I am confident that my contribution to it will be an engaging and informative addition to the series, and I look forward to hearing from you in January. Please feel free to contact me in the meantime with any questions regarding my proposal.
Sincerely,
Joseph McCombs.
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Hey Gaz -- SPIN magazine moving to SF? Something to investigate when you're here?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=3&entry_id=3080
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Hey all,
I'm going to be copy editing at JANE magazine for the next three weeks M-F 10-7, so you're not going to find me here in real time until May. And with Time on Saturdays and the EMP paper still to finish, I'll be a far more muted late-night presence as well. So I wanted to take a sec to say Bon Voyage to the dear Princess as she heads to Amsterdam imminently (Knock 'em dead! Sell some music!) and cheers to you all as I brace for three 75-hour work weeks in a row, a test of character that, if I bear it, just might get me on the major-league radar. I remain ever appreciative for alls y'alls friendship, kindness and good will, insights and factoids and opinions, and alladat. As well as for letting me test material out here every once in a while. :D Ciao for now.
PS: At 3:32am, it's my official 33 1/3 birthday! I'm having friends over next Sunday to celebrate and spin records. Including "Sugar Don't Bite" and the other stuff I got in Mill Valley. :P
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Hey all,
I'm going to be copy editing at JANE magazine for the next three weeks M-F 10-7, so you're not going to find me here in real time until May. And with Time on Saturdays and the EMP paper still to finish, I'll be a far more muted late-night presence as well. So I wanted to take a sec to say Bon Voyage to the dear Princess as she heads to Amsterdam imminently (Knock 'em dead! Sell some music!) and cheers to you all as I brace for three 75-hour work weeks in a row, a test of character that, if I bear it, just might get me on the major-league radar. I remain ever appreciative for alls y'alls friendship, kindness and good will, insights and factoids and opinions, and alladat. As well as for letting me test material out here every once in a while. :D Ciao for now.
PS: At 3:32am, it's my official 33 1/3 birthday! I'm having friends over next Sunday to celebrate and spin records. Including "Sugar Don't Bite" and the other stuff I got in Mill Valley. :P
Happy 33-1/3, bub! And Best of Luck with the simultaneous gigs -- I know you'll make out just fine. Your presence will be missed but we're thrilled for you! And Time and JaneyJaneyJaneyJane are lucky to have you.
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Hey all,
I'm going to be copy editing at JANE magazine for the next three weeks M-F 10-7, so you're not going to find me here in real time until May. And with Time on Saturdays and the EMP paper still to finish, I'll be a far more muted late-night presence as well. So I wanted to take a sec to say Bon Voyage to the dear Princess as she heads to Amsterdam imminently (Knock 'em dead! Sell some music!) and cheers to you all as I brace for three 75-hour work weeks in a row, a test of character that, if I bear it, just might get me on the major-league radar. I remain ever appreciative for alls y'alls friendship, kindness and good will, insights and factoids and opinions, and alladat. As well as for letting me test material out here every once in a while. :D Ciao for now.
PS: At 3:32am, it's my official 33 1/3 birthday! I'm having friends over next Sunday to celebrate and spin records. Including "Sugar Don't Bite" and the other stuff I got in Mill Valley. :P
thanks, gaz!! and good luck with jane, jane, jane!
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FUCK. Chuck Eddy was released today from his duties as senior music editor of the Voice. This was confirmed to me by a guy who works in copy there. Gawker rumor-milling suggests Xgau is gone too, but I don't know either way about him.
This sucks. Chuck was the one who took a chance on me as an intern in August 2003, and who thereafter gave me some assignments, ran with some pitches, and above all taught me valuable lessons in music discussion and how to effectively speak in shorthand when constrained by word count. He was a fastidious editor, always turning in his copy well ahead of deadlines (a blessing to those of us copy editors) and paying close attention to all responses and comments. He made it a point to cover all genres of music -- find me another alt-weekly that regularly reviews country and jazz CDs as well as pop/rock/R&B/hip-hop -- and kept in rotation many if not most of the nation's premier music critics. And most importantly, he was genuinely passionate about the music itself and not the celebrity of its industry. When he'd hear something he liked, he wouldn't wonder if they had a picture in a magazine that week, he would wonder what its sonic references were.
His departure also says dangerous things about the state of New Times journalism, indeed, of alt-journalism itself. Chuck's being replaced by a guy at another New Times paper, which portends the hastened transition to using syndicated content. The Voice's film section already has begun to syndicate some of its reviews from other NT papers. This is an awful thing. It's not that the others are bad writers, but they're writing for smaller-market audiences who, by and large, are satisfied with reviews that consist of plot summaries with a single-sentence opinion at the end. New York audiences, especially the Voice audience, expect something rather different, something more intellectually challenging and engaging. That the same seems poised to befall the Voice music section is an embarrassment.
It also severely limits my options as far as writing for them; and Chuck was actively considering one of my pitches as of last week.
At least I didn't have all my eggs in that basket.
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It's not that the others are bad writers, but they're writing for smaller-market audiences who, by and large, are satisfied with reviews that consist of plot summaries with a single-sentence opinion at the end. New York audiences, especially the Voice audience, expect something rather different, something more intellectually challenging and engaging. That the same seems poised to befall the Voice music section is an embarrassment.
This was a horribly elitist thing for me to say and so let me publicly apologize for it. Just my embittered reaction to what's been happening to the Voice over the past year.
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It's not that the others are bad writers, but they're writing for smaller-market audiences who, by and large, are satisfied with reviews that consist of plot summaries with a single-sentence opinion at the end. New York audiences, especially the Voice audience, expect something rather different, something more intellectually challenging and engaging. That the same seems poised to befall the Voice music section is an embarrassment.
This was a horribly elitist thing for me to say and so let me publicly apologize for it. Just my embittered reaction to what's been happening to the Voice over the past year.
I didn't think it elitist at all. NY audiences ARE different. No apology necessary.
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So that all set, the behavior of New Times in general and Michael Lacey in particular has been nothing short of shameful. Chuck deserved better. The other Voice employees who have been either shown the door or shown sufficient reason to find it themselves deserved better. And the reading audience deserves better. I'd really had a mind to build a career with them, and now it's hard to fathom ever writing another word for them without feeling dirty and despicable.
Fuck you, Mike Lacey. Your kind shan't last long.
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So that all set, the behavior of New Times in general and Michael Lacey in particular has been nothing short of shameful. Chuck deserved better. The other Voice employees who have been either shown the door or shown sufficient reason to find it themselves deserved better. And the reading audience deserves better. I'd really had a mind to build a career with them, and now it's hard to fathom ever writing another word for them without feeling dirty and despicable.
Fuck you, Mike Lacey. Your kind shan't last long.
Now THAT'S the Gaz I know & love!
BTW, a nice NY-vs.-SF piece in today's Chron:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/19/DDG9EIAGGG1.DTL
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BTW, a nice NY-vs.-SF piece in today's Chron:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/19/DDG9EIAGGG1.DTL
It's no wonder people so often gravitate to one or the other when they want to start over, reinvent themselves, start dreaming that anything is possible. New York and San Francisco are the country's two great stage sets -- gloriously dense, beautifully overwrought, ethnically teeming places that seem simultaneously more real than other cities and more fanciful. They are the exceptions that give American culture its sharpness and definition, its heat and light, on the edges.
SO on the money. And this, from someone who's had more than his share of startings over.
Which suggests to me, in light of current events, that the time to move back to SF will be sooner rather than later. More TK once I see where the Time and Jane gigs can take me. (Anyone know anyone at the Bay Guardian?)
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So that all set, the behavior of New Times in general and Michael Lacey in particular has been nothing short of shameful. Chuck deserved better. The other Voice employees who have been either shown the door or shown sufficient reason to find it themselves deserved better. And the reading audience deserves better. I'd really had a mind to build a career with them, and now it's hard to fathom ever writing another word for them without feeling dirty and despicable.
Fuck you, Mike Lacey. Your kind shan't last long.
Apropos of this discussion, VV film critic (and legend) J. Hoberman has his review of American Dreamz running in the new SF Weekly. Betcha he doesn't get paid extra for that, eh?
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I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:
http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html
And I forgot to pass this along—a short piece on Rosanne Cash:
http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0624,mccombs,73533,15.html
Lastly for now, I have an interview Friday with a women's fashion magazine for a copy editing staff position. I'm not altogether serious about it; I'm mostly going in to find out what kind of salary/benes I command on the current market. Will be useful knowledge for when I commence my search in the SF market. (And yes: I am wholeheartedly serious about an imminent return, unless my work here in Gotham REALLY blossoms. Best-case scenario is September; realistic scenario is February.)
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I have an interview Friday with a women's fashion magazine for a copy editing staff position. I'm not altogether serious about it; I'm mostly going in to find out what kind of salary/benes I command on the current market.
just remember: The Devil Wears Prada!
Congrats on the 2 pieces, the Gay Games article was especially fine.
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I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:
http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html
Gaz, did you collect the following quote personally?
Fellow Wizard David Benaym described [Montreal] as "hockey-wise, a much, much better experience," adding that Canada has long been "a huge part of the hockey world."
WTF!? Sounds precisely like something W would say if he were in Canada.
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I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:
http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html
Gaz, did you collect the following quote personally?
Fellow Wizard David Benaym described [Montreal] as "hockey-wise, a much, much better experience," adding that Canada has long been "a huge part of the hockey world."
WTF!? Sounds precisely like something W would say if he were in Canada.
LOL. "Little Italy has long been part of the pizza world". I'm wondering if he said "... of the gay hockey world" and something got garbled.
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I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:
http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html
Gaz, did you collect the following quote personally?
Fellow Wizard David Benaym described [Montreal] as "hockey-wise, a much, much better experience," adding that Canada has long been "a huge part of the hockey world."
WTF!? Sounds precisely like something W would say if he were in Canada.
LOL. "Little Italy has long been part of the pizza world". I'm wondering if he said "... of the gay hockey world" and something got garbled.
No, that's exactly what he said. I conducted and transcribed the interviews myself. Yes, that quote was rather obvious, but remember, I'm writing for an audience that isn't necessarily up on its sports.
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I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:
http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html
Gaz, did you collect the following quote personally?
Fellow Wizard David Benaym described [Montreal] as "hockey-wise, a much, much better experience," adding that Canada has long been "a huge part of the hockey world."
WTF!? Sounds precisely like something W would say if he were in Canada.
LOL. "Little Italy has long been part of the pizza world". I'm wondering if he said "... of the gay hockey world" and something got garbled.
No, that's exactly what he said. I conducted and transcribed the interviews myself. Yes, that quote was rather obvious, but remember, I'm writing for an audience that isn't necessarily up on its sports.
Then if I were you, I'd have written "Fellow Wizard David Benaym earnestly described..." or some such modifier. But hey, great article & congrats are still due!
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I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:
http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html
And I forgot to pass this along—a short piece on Rosanne Cash:
http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0624,mccombs,73533,15.html
congrats!
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Hey all,
Just egocentrically forwarding along the results of my second week of review contributions to the Stylus Singles Jukebox.
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/the_singles_jukebox/pulsating-surrealism.htm
Not expecting anyone to be familiar with most of these songs but I hope it makes for entertaining reading all the same. I'm represented on the songs "Eleanor, Put Your Boots On" by Franz Ferdinand; "That's No Way to Tell a Lie" by James Dean Bradfield (the singer for Manic Street Preachers); "Insistor" by Tapes 'n' Tapes (with the striking line: "like Harvard Square holds all inane"); "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio; and Gnarls Barkley's "Smiley Faces." Funny how none of us were able to talk about the latter without talking about "Crazy."
Best line that anyone wrote: "Keyshia Cole, who brings less to the party than she should (it’s BYOB and she showed up with Fresca)."
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Hey all,
Just egocentrically forwarding along the results of my second week of review contributions to the Stylus Singles Jukebox.
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/the_singles_jukebox/pulsating-surrealism.htm
Not expecting anyone to be familiar with most of these songs but I hope it makes for entertaining reading all the same. I'm represented on the songs "Eleanor, Put Your Boots On" by Franz Ferdinand; "That's No Way to Tell a Lie" by James Dean Bradfield (the singer for Manic Street Preachers); "Insistor" by Tapes 'n' Tapes (with the striking line: "like Harvard Square holds all inane"); "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio; and Gnarls Barkley's "Smiley Faces." Funny how none of us were able to talk about the latter without talking about "Crazy."
Best line that anyone wrote: "Keyshia Cole, who brings less to the party than she should (it’s BYOB and she showed up with Fresca)."
ha! i love that line, too. good words, but you´re right. the only song i know is "smiley faces," one of my favorite tracks from the album ("just a thought," "go-gi gadget gospel," and "st. elsewhere" being the others).
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ha! i love that line, too. good words, but you´re right. the only song i know is "smiley faces," one of my favorite tracks from the album ("just a thought," "go-gi gadget gospel," and "st. elsewhere" being the others).
Those are precisely my other favorites from the album as well.
Just got this week's tracks, which include the new Madonna, Pet Shop Boys, and George Michael singles. A good day to be gay, I suppose, but the GM track is a disaster on first listen. Will report back on the rest if folks are interested.
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Just got this week's tracks, which include the new Madonna, Pet Shop Boys, and George Michael singles. A good day to be gay, I suppose, but the GM track is a disaster on first listen. Will report back on the rest if folks are interested.
"New Madonna" meaning something that's not on the current album? Always interested in what the PSBs are doing. GM... notsomuch.
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Just got this week's tracks, which include the new Madonna, Pet Shop Boys, and George Michael singles. A good day to be gay, I suppose, but the GM track is a disaster on first listen. Will report back on the rest if folks are interested.
"New Madonna" meaning something that's not on the current album? Always interested in what the PSBs are doing. GM... notsomuch.
No, just her current single ("Get Together"). Indistinguishable from her other Desperation on a Dance Floor offerings. PSBs issued their worst song ever a few months ago, "I'm With Stupid," so I'm coming to the new one with lowered expectations. And I keep wanting to defend GM but he keeps giving me reasons not to, which is my summary of his career since 1999's Songs From the Last Century (and that's being generous).
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Just got this week's tracks, which include the new Madonna, Pet Shop Boys, and George Michael singles. A good day to be gay, I suppose, but the GM track is a disaster on first listen. Will report back on the rest if folks are interested.
"New Madonna" meaning something that's not on the current album? Always interested in what the PSBs are doing. GM... notsomuch.
No, just her current single ("Get Together"). Indistinguishable from her other Desperation on a Dance Floor offerings. PSBs issued their worst song ever a few months ago, "I'm With Stupid," so I'm coming to the new one with lowered expectations. And I keep wanting to defend GM but he keeps giving me reasons not to, which is my summary of his career since 1999's Songs From the Last Century (and that's being generous).
i can´t take this GM bashing...patience is a wonderful album!!! everything he does is golden.
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i can´t take this GM bashing...patience is a wonderful album!!! everything he does is golden.
including his showers.
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i can´t take this GM bashing...patience is a wonderful album!!! everything he does is golden.
including his showers.
i knew that was coming.
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Hey gang,
With choler.com sadly out of commission, I've had to create some quick 'n' dirty webpages via my earthlink account to host my indulgent links to articles and reviews. Here's the current product:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/
I'll eventually make it more robust, or else I'll hire some 12-year-old to do so for me. I'd rather have drop-down menus than endless scrolling, but my HTML knowledge is limited. Still, the goods are there, and they're almost up to date (I'm just missing the Stylus Singles Jukebox and a few other stray links). Not turning you guys into my QA team, but if you should glance through and notice anything that looks wrong or just bad, please let me know. Thanks!
Gaz
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Hey gang,
With choler.com sadly out of commission, I've had to create some quick 'n' dirty webpages via my earthlink account to host my indulgent links to articles and reviews. Here's the current product:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/
I'll eventually make it more robust, or else I'll hire some 12-year-old to do so for me. I'd rather have drop-down menus than endless scrolling, but my HTML knowledge is limited. Still, the goods are there, and they're almost up to date (I'm just missing the Stylus Singles Jukebox and a few other stray links). Not turning you guys into my QA team, but if you should glance through and notice anything that looks wrong or just bad, please let me know. Thanks!
Gaz
Looks good to me! Great picture, BTW.
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Hey gang,
With choler.com sadly out of commission, I've had to create some quick 'n' dirty webpages via my earthlink account to host my indulgent links to articles and reviews. Here's the current product:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/
I'll eventually make it more robust, or else I'll hire some 12-year-old to do so for me. I'd rather have drop-down menus than endless scrolling, but my HTML knowledge is limited. Still, the goods are there, and they're almost up to date (I'm just missing the Stylus Singles Jukebox and a few other stray links). Not turning you guys into my QA team, but if you should glance through and notice anything that looks wrong or just bad, please let me know. Thanks!
Gaz
Very good.
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Hey gang,
With choler.com sadly out of commission, I've had to create some quick 'n' dirty webpages via my earthlink account to host my indulgent links to articles and reviews. Here's the current product:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/
I'll eventually make it more robust, or else I'll hire some 12-year-old to do so for me. I'd rather have drop-down menus than endless scrolling, but my HTML knowledge is limited. Still, the goods are there, and they're almost up to date (I'm just missing the Stylus Singles Jukebox and a few other stray links). Not turning you guys into my QA team, but if you should glance through and notice anything that looks wrong or just bad, please let me know. Thanks!
Gaz
shit! was euophoria morning really released all the way back in '99??!? looks good, bub. if you need some re-working, remember i'm closer to 12 than you are. :)
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Hey gang,
With choler.com sadly out of commission, I've had to create some quick 'n' dirty webpages via my earthlink account to host my indulgent links to articles and reviews. Here's the current product:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/
I'll eventually make it more robust, or else I'll hire some 12-year-old to do so for me. I'd rather have drop-down menus than endless scrolling, but my HTML knowledge is limited. Still, the goods are there, and they're almost up to date (I'm just missing the Stylus Singles Jukebox and a few other stray links). Not turning you guys into my QA team, but if you should glance through and notice anything that looks wrong or just bad, please let me know. Thanks!
Gaz
shit! was euophoria morning really released all the way back in '99??!? looks good, bub. if you need some re-working, remember i'm closer to 12 than you are. :)
Ageist fux0r! :wink: Chris Cornell is older than both of us. (I still have that album, btw, though I haven't listened to it yet this decade.)
Merci buckets to you all and I'm glad you like the stuff. (I'm using a pic from 1998; is that gauche? I'd like to think I haven't aged too visibly since then. Forget I asked.)
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(I'm using a pic from 1998; is that gauche? I'd like to think I haven't aged too visibly since then. Forget I asked.)
Ageless and timeless, bub.
I was gonna say "boyish" but that was once code for "gayish".
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I'm using a pic from 1998; is that gauche?
it's probably better for a job app than if you used your current icon! :lol:
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Ageist fux0r! :wink: Chris Cornell is older than both of us. (I still have that album, btw, though I haven't listened to it yet this decade.)
Merci buckets to you all and I'm glad you like the stuff. (I'm using a pic from 1998; is that gauche? I'd like to think I haven't aged too visibly since then. Forget I asked.)
TANC: i just listened to the album last week for the first time in a few years.
and, fwiw, i don't think you've visibly aged.
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Ageist fux0r! :wink: Chris Cornell is older than both of us. (I still have that album, btw, though I haven't listened to it yet this decade.)
Merci buckets to you all and I'm glad you like the stuff. (I'm using a pic from 1998; is that gauche? I'd like to think I haven't aged too visibly since then. Forget I asked.)
TANC: i just listened to the album last week for the first time in a few years.
and, fwiw, i don't think you've visibly aged.
Moisturizer, baby, moisturizer...
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This week's Stylus Singles Jukebox, in case anyone wants the lowdown on the current crop of Euro pop (and some American stuff too):
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/the_singles_jukebox/bubble-yum.htm
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This week's Stylus Singles Jukebox, in case anyone wants the lowdown on the current crop of Euro pop (and some American stuff too):
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/the_singles_jukebox/bubble-yum.htm
FWIW, Laura Lynn looks like Kelly Ripa.
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Inspired by Barry Scott's "Lost 45s" playlist at finetune.com (a service still in its beta stages), I've created a playlist of my own. Go to http://finetune.com/ and search for Gazoo for a collection of 45 of my all-time favorites from the '60s and '70s. Tilted toward brass rock, bubblegum, and sunshine pop, with touches of psych soul and various pop/rock elements. 'Cuz I'm like that.
Hope yahs dig. (I could listen to Billy Stewart's "Summertime" all day.)
Gaz
ETA: The direct link is http://www.finetune.com/playlist/1280660
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Inspired by Barry Scott's "Lost 45s" playlist at finetune.com (a service still in its beta stages), I've created a playlist of my own. Go to http://finetune.com/ and search for Gazoo for a collection of 45 of my all-time favorites from the '60s and '70s. Tilted toward brass rock, bubblegum, and sunshine pop, with touches of psych soul and various pop/rock elements. 'Cuz I'm like that.
Hope yahs dig. (I could listen to Billy Stewart's "Summertime" all day.)
Gaz
ETA: The direct link is http://www.finetune.com/playlist/1280660
that's one fine list! yay for lighthouse.
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Anyone got recommendations on online travel fare finders? I've searched usairways.com, jetblue.com, expedia.com, and travelocity.com, and the best I've found is $337 with a Christmas-day return (deets below, sorry if the formatting's bad). Apparently any travel between 12/25 and 12/30 was supposed to be booked in the spring. :evil:
Depart Arrive Flight # and Details
7:15 AM 18 Dec 2006
New York, NY (Laguardia)
8:26 AM 18 Dec 2006
Philadelphia, PA
Flight: 3005
Class: Coach Chautauqua Airlines Embraer RJ135/RJ145
On-Time: N/A Meal: None
Travel Time: 1 h 11 m
9:30 AM 18 Dec 2006
Philadelphia, PA
12:49 PM 18 Dec 2006
San Francisco, CA
Flight: 939
Class: Coach Airbus A320
On-Time: 80-90% Meal: Buy on Board
Travel Time: 6 h 19 m
Return Arrive Flight # and Details
6:00 AM 25 Dec 2006
San Francisco, CA
8:51 AM 25 Dec 2006
Phoenix, AZ
Flight: 486
Class: Coach America West Airlines Boeing 737-300
On-Time: 80-90% Meal: None
Travel Time: 1 h 51 m
9:45 AM 25 Dec 2006
Phoenix, AZ
3:59 PM 25 Dec 2006
Baltimore, MD
Flight: 81
Class: Coach America West Airlines Airbus A319
On-Time: 80-90% Meal: Buy on Board
Travel Time: 4 h 14 m
5:00 PM 25 Dec 2006
Baltimore, MD
6:06 PM 25 Dec 2006
New York, NY (Laguardia)
Flight: 4126
Class: Coach Piedmont Airlines Dehavilland Dash 8
On-Time: N/A Meal: None
Travel Time: 1 h 6 m
Chautauqua Airlines Flight operated by Chautauqua Airlines doing business as US Airways Express
America West Airlines Flight operated by America West Airlines
Piedmont Airlines Flight operated by Piedmont Airlines doing business as US Airways Express
Summary (1 Passenger)
Base Fare $293.00
Taxes and Fees $44.50
Grand Total Hide Details $337.50
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Anyone got recommendations on online travel fare finders? I've searched usairways.com, jetblue.com, expedia.com, and travelocity.com, and the best I've found is $337 with a Christmas-day return (deets below, sorry if the formatting's bad). Apparently any travel between 12/25 and 12/30 was supposed to be booked in the spring. :evil:
wish I had a suggestion. I sympathize, tho', since i just started started lokking at hotle prices for NYC in late June. (guess the fact that it's Pride Week doesn't help, but jeez)
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Ladies and gents, we have an itinerary: Gaz is taking a vacation!
M 12/18: Lv JFK 7:05am, Arr SFO 10:35am
R 12/28: Lv SFO 1:22pm, Arr JFK 9:56pm
Should I move this to the "Next Culb Get-Together" thread? :D
Can't wait to see the City again, and I hope to see all of you! The trip will be equal parts vacation, job search, and apartment search, unless by then work has convinced me to stay in NYC another year.
Hearts and flowers,
Gaz.
ETA: The flights are on Alaska Airlines, who have served me well over the years. I'm paying almost $100 more than I'd hoped, but decided it was worth it to have direct flights on both ends.
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Ladies and gents, we have an itinerary: Gaz is taking a vacation!
M 12/18: Lv JFK 7:05am, Arr SFO 10:35am
R 12/28: Lv SFO 1:22pm, Arr JFK 9:56pm
Should I move this to the "Next Culb Get-Together" thread? :D
Can't wait to see the City again, and I hope to see all of you! The trip will be equal parts vacation, job search, and apartment search, unless by then work has convinced me to stay in NYC another year.
Hearts and flowers,
Gaz.
ETA: The flights are on Alaska Airlines, who have served me well over the years. I'm paying almost $100 more than I'd hoped, but decided it was worth it to have direct flights on both ends.
Direct flights rule! Set aside Sat nite 12/23 for that Sharks game if you can.
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Ladies and gents, we have an itinerary: Gaz is taking a vacation!
M 12/18: Lv JFK 7:05am, Arr SFO 10:35am
R 12/28: Lv SFO 1:22pm, Arr JFK 9:56pm
Should I move this to the "Next Culb Get-Together" thread? :D
Can't wait to see the City again, and I hope to see all of you! The trip will be equal parts vacation, job search, and apartment search, unless by then work has convinced me to stay in NYC another year.
Hearts and flowers,
Gaz.
ETA: The flights are on Alaska Airlines, who have served me well over the years. I'm paying almost $100 more than I'd hoped, but decided it was worth it to have direct flights on both ends.
Excellent. Non-stop rules--much preferable to that cluster-f*** of transfers you posted the other day on US Scare. Not to mention not having to suffer the indignity of flying on Xmas day, thereby cutting your trip short by three days.
One FYI for job-hunting: do it as soon as you get here. A lot of businesses won't be doing business after the 22nd. CNET included.
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One FYI for job-hunting: do it as soon as you get here. A lot of businesses won't be doing business after the 22nd. CNET included.
Woofa! Duly noted - thanks!
Mike - I'm in for the Sharks unless Pat Burrell needs me to do Bay Area condo-hunting with him that day. Many thanks!!
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Mike - I'm in for the Sharks unless Pat Burrell needs me to do Bay Area condo-hunting with him that day. Many thanks!!
ROTFL!
I hope you and Pat are finally able to share a city, if not a condo. Of course the Giants are also looking at Jeff Suppan, which would not please me -- if they're gonna pay big bucks for a pitcher, I'd prefer it be Zito. But since Suppan is Mr. Anti-Stem Cell Research, it'd be quite ironic for him to wind up in the epicenter of said research.
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Hey all,
I've just been asked to appear on a local (Nassau/Long Island) radio show, "Loud n Queer" (http://www.loudnqueer.com/), which is building an episode around the paper I presented at the EMP last year, "Whoops, I Mean Girl: Toying With Sexual Identity in Song" (http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/id13.html). The host hoped I might bring a CD of the songs I discuss, and so I wanted to see if any of you have one that I'm missing, Timbuk 3's "Legalize Our Love." It's sadly not on iTunes. I have fat (and phat) bandwidth here so emailing me MP3s is no problem on my end. If no luck, I'll break down and buy the CD. Thanks in advance!
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Hey all,
I've just been asked to appear on a local (Nassau/Long Island) radio show, "Loud n Queer" (http://www.loudnqueer.com/), which is building an episode around the paper I presented at the EMP last year, "Whoops, I Mean Girl: Toying With Sexual Identity in Song" (http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/id13.html). The host hoped I might bring a CD of the songs I discuss, and so I wanted to see if any of you have one that I'm missing, Timbuk 3's "Legalize Our Love." It's sadly not on iTunes. I have fat (and phat) bandwidth here so emailing me MP3s is no problem on my end. If no luck, I'll break down and buy the CD. Thanks in advance!
I mistakenly thought I did, but urth must have it on an archive disc somewhere. Which CD is it on? AMG doesn't help, as they only show the track listing for their first album (which I have & love).
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Which CD is it on?
Their 1995 swan song LP A Hundred Lovers.
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mostly for Gaz's benefit, an interesting piece about the V.Voice's film sectionn (or what's left of it):
http://www.thereeler.com/features/the_voice_in_the_wilderness.php
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Hey all,
I've just been asked to appear on a local (Nassau/Long Island) radio show, "Loud n Queer" (http://www.loudnqueer.com/), which is building an episode around the paper I presented at the EMP last year, "Whoops, I Mean Girl: Toying With Sexual Identity in Song" (http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/id13.html). The host hoped I might bring a CD of the songs I discuss, and so I wanted to see if any of you have one that I'm missing, Timbuk 3's "Legalize Our Love." It's sadly not on iTunes. I have fat (and phat) bandwidth here so emailing me MP3s is no problem on my end. If no luck, I'll break down and buy the CD. Thanks in advance!
Email Dave. You KNOW he has it. He'd probably be pleased to assist.
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Ladies and gents, we have an itinerary: Gaz is taking a vacation!
M 12/18: Lv JFK 7:05am, Arr SFO 10:35am
R 12/28: Lv SFO 1:22pm, Arr JFK 9:56pm
Should I move this to the "Next Culb Get-Together" thread? :D
Can't wait to see the City again, and I hope to see all of you! The trip will be equal parts vacation, job search, and apartment search, unless by then work has convinced me to stay in NYC another year.
Hearts and flowers,
Gaz.
ETA: The flights are on Alaska Airlines, who have served me well over the years. I'm paying almost $100 more than I'd hoped, but decided it was worth it to have direct flights on both ends.
Direct flights rule! Set aside Sat nite 12/23 for that Sharks game if you can.
I want to see you guys at the game. I'm already there Dec. 7, 16, 21. Bob might freak if I go to another.....we'll see.
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(http://www.sacsheriff.com/kids/images/junior_deputy_badge.jpg)
As of December 29, 2006, I will become the Deputy Copy Chief of The Village Voice.
Part of me is pained to not be moving back to SF just yet. Part of me is worried about what kind of newspaper the Voice has become, and has yet to become. But a big part of me is excited to have a staff position at what remains the gold standard of alternative print media. I hope I can do my part to continue the tradition that Norman Mailer, Jack Newfield, Georgia Brown, Ellen Willis, Nat Hentoff, Robert Christgau, and so many others have upheld so amazingly over the past 51 years.
Here goes nothin', kids.
(PS: The SF trip is still on. Anyone for karaoke?)
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(http://www.sacsheriff.com/kids/images/junior_deputy_badge.jpg)
As of December 29, 2006, I will become the Deputy Copy Chief of The Village Voice.
Part of me is pained to not be moving back to SF just yet. Part of me is worried about what kind of newspaper the Voice has become, and has yet to become. But a big part of me is excited to have a staff position at what remains the gold standard of alternative print media. I hope I can do my part to continue the tradition that Norman Mailer, Jack Newfield, Georgia Brown, Ellen Willis, Nat Hentoff, Robert Christgau, and so many others have upheld so amazingly over the past 51 years.
Here goes nothin', kids.
(PS: The SF trip is still on. Anyone for karaoke?)
CONGRATS!!! I hope this is indeed the springboard to even bigger & better things that it by rights ought to be.
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(http://www.sacsheriff.com/kids/images/junior_deputy_badge.jpg)
As of December 29, 2006, I will become the Deputy Copy Chief of The Village Voice.
Part of me is pained to not be moving back to SF just yet. Part of me is worried about what kind of newspaper the Voice has become, and has yet to become. But a big part of me is excited to have a staff position at what remains the gold standard of alternative print media. I hope I can do my part to continue the tradition that Norman Mailer, Jack Newfield, Georgia Brown, Ellen Willis, Nat Hentoff, Robert Christgau, and so many others have upheld so amazingly over the past 51 years.
Here goes nothin', kids.
(PS: The SF trip is still on. Anyone for karaoke?)
Congrats Deputy Dawg! First Mshray, now you. I gotta get my search on.
Glad you got a direct flight. I was tired after reading leg after leg of your orig itinerary.
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I put this here because it's Village Voice-related. Apparently the Voice will carry on with the annual music critics poll (Pazz & Jop) without Robert Christgau, but there will be rival polls:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/arts/music/30idol.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin
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I put this here because it's Village Voice-related. Apparently the Voice will carry on with the annual music critics poll (Pazz & Jop) without Robert Christgau, but there will be rival polls:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/arts/music/30idol.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin
Wow, awkwardness. I'm not friends but friendly colleagues with Rob Harvilla (the Voice's new music editor) and Michaelangelo Matos (the crit who's taking up the reins for Idolator). I'm anticipating taking part in both polls, and if I'm part of the Voice family, I'm sure I'll play a large role in Pazz & Jop's execution.
BTW, wrong thread, but here's my prelim list of the best of the year. James Morrison and Lemar are British neo-soul acts. Pipettes are retro Ronettes-meet-Tracy-Ullman types. If you're curious about any of these let me know.
Best Singles of 2006:
1. Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy"
2. Mary J. Blige, "Be Without You"
3. Mary J. Blige & U2, "One"
4. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, "You Are What You Love"
5. Rihanna, "S.O.S."
6. Strokes, "Razorblade"
7. Sean Lennon, "Parachute"
8. James Morrison, "You Give Me Something"
9. Pipettes, "Pull Shapes"
10. Prince, "Fury"
11. Badly Drawn Boy, "Long Way Round"
12. Animators, "The Senator Goes to Hell"
13. Beyonce, "Irreplaceable"
14. Lemar, "It's Not That Easy"
15. Gnarls Barkley, "Smiley Faces"
16. Sean Paul, "Temperature"
17. Raconteurs, "Steady As She Goes"
18. Starsailor, "In the Crossfire"
19. Chris Brown, "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
20. Animators, "Buy Buy"
21. Stereolab, "Excursions Into 'oh, a-oh' "
22. Stereolab, "I Was a Sunny Rainphase"
23. Neil Young, "Restless Consumer"
24. ?uestlove/Roots, "It Don't Feel Right"
25. Prince, "Black Sweat"
26. Ne-Yo, "So Sick"
27. Gnarls Barkley, "Go-Go Gadget Gospel"
28. Michael Nesmith, "Boomcar"
29. Lemar, "Someone Should Tell Her"
30. Lyfe Jennings, "S-E-X"
31. Basement Jaxx, "Hush Boy"
32. Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, "Run to Me"
33. Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, "She May Call You Up Tonight"
Best Albums:
1. Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
2. Morrissey, Ringleader of the Tormentors
3. Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, Under the Covers Vol. 1
4. Stereolab, Fab Four Suture
5. Shane Hines, Zoe
6. Animators, Why We Fight
7. Neil Young, Living With War
8. Starsailor, On the Outside
9. Scissor Sisters, Ta-Dah
10. Charlatans UK, Sympatico
11. Badly Drawn Boy, Born in the U.K.
12. American Catapult, Trees of Mystery
13. Willie Nile, Streets of New York
14. Strokes, First Impressions of Earth
15. Roger Joseph Manning, The World of Pure Imagination
16. Joan as Police Woman, Real Life
17. Lemar, Truth About Love
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BTW, wrong thread, but here's my prelim list of the best of the year. James Morrison and Lemar are British neo-soul acts. Pipettes are retro Ronettes-meet-Tracy-Ullman types. If you're curious about any of these let me know.
Best Singles of 2006...
I've heard the following
1. Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy"
3. Mary J. Blige & U2, "One"
9. Pipettes, "Pull Shapes"
15. Gnarls Barkley, "Smiley Faces"
17. Raconteurs, "Steady As She Goes"
23. Neil Young, "Restless Consumer"
Which means I'm way out of the loop. Note that "Crazy" and "Steady as She Goes" are the only songs on your entire list that got any KFOG play.
FYI, the Pipettes are a Little Steven fave, as was the Willie Nile album -- the one song I heard from that one I really liked.
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Hey all,
I've just been asked to appear on a local (Nassau/Long Island) radio show, "Loud n Queer" (http://www.loudnqueer.com/), which is building an episode around the paper I presented at the EMP last year, "Whoops, I Mean Girl: Toying With Sexual Identity in Song" (http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/id13.html). The host hoped I might bring a CD of the songs I discuss, and so I wanted to see if any of you have one that I'm missing, Timbuk 3's "Legalize Our Love." It's sadly not on iTunes. I have fat (and phat) bandwidth here so emailing me MP3s is no problem on my end. If no luck, I'll break down and buy the CD. Thanks in advance!
here's (http://www.ameliaray.net/legalize.mp3) "legalize." if you can't download it for some reason, let me know and i'll email it to you. you wouldn't happen to have lemar's hit from last year, "justice in the world," would you? i can't find it anywhere. was a staple on that smooth brit station we used to listen to online.
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Hey all,
I've just been asked to appear on a local (Nassau/Long Island) radio show, "Loud n Queer" (http://www.loudnqueer.com/), which is building an episode around the paper I presented at the EMP last year, "Whoops, I Mean Girl: Toying With Sexual Identity in Song" (http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/id13.html). The host hoped I might bring a CD of the songs I discuss, and so I wanted to see if any of you have one that I'm missing, Timbuk 3's "Legalize Our Love." It's sadly not on iTunes. I have fat (and phat) bandwidth here so emailing me MP3s is no problem on my end. If no luck, I'll break down and buy the CD. Thanks in advance!
here's (http://www.ameliaray.net/legalize.mp3) "legalize." if you can't download it for some reason, let me know and i'll email it to you. you wouldn't happen to have lemar's hit from last year, "justice in the world," would you? i can't find it anywhere. was a staple on that smooth brit station we used to listen to online.
Got it! You are a Princess among Princesses.
And the show will be airing next Saturday, 12/9, from 11pm to midnight EST here (Real or Windows audio) :
http://www.hofstra.edu/CampusL/WRHU/index_wrhu.cfm
More info on the show here: http://www.loudnqueer.com/
Alas, I don't have the Lemar, but I'd love to seek it out when my life calms down a bit (i.e., after the holidays).
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Hey all,
I've just been asked to appear on a local (Nassau/Long Island) radio show, "Loud n Queer" (http://www.loudnqueer.com/), which is building an episode around the paper I presented at the EMP last year, "Whoops, I Mean Girl: Toying With Sexual Identity in Song" (http://home.earthlink.net/~jmccombs/id13.html). The host hoped I might bring a CD of the songs I discuss, and so I wanted to see if any of you have one that I'm missing, Timbuk 3's "Legalize Our Love." It's sadly not on iTunes. I have fat (and phat) bandwidth here so emailing me MP3s is no problem on my end. If no luck, I'll break down and buy the CD. Thanks in advance!
here's (http://www.ameliaray.net/legalize.mp3) "legalize." if you can't download it for some reason, let me know and i'll email it to you. you wouldn't happen to have lemar's hit from last year, "justice in the world," would you? i can't find it anywhere. was a staple on that smooth brit station we used to listen to online.
Got it! You are a Princess among Princesses.
And the show will be airing next Saturday, 12/9, from 11pm to midnight EST here (Real or Windows audio) :
http://www.hofstra.edu/CampusL/WRHU/index_wrhu.cfm
More info on the show here: http://www.loudnqueer.com/
Alas, I don't have the Lemar, but I'd love to seek it out when my life calms down a bit (i.e., after the holidays).
Just a quick reminder that the show's airing tonight, should any of you be around and curious. (If not, don't worry, it's not my finest broadcast moment.)
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Just a quick reminder that the show's airing tonight, should any of you be around and curious. (If not, don't worry, it's not my finest broadcast moment.)
hey there, anyway we can listen to the show now?
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Hey guys - Apropos of nothing, does any of you remember a grapefruit-ish soda/mixer from some years ago with a name like 20/20 or 50/50 or something like that? I vaguely recall it being a staple at my grandmother's house, but haven't seen it in years. (And no, I'm not thinking of Mad Dog 20/20.)
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Hey guys - Apropos of nothing, does any of you remember a grapefruit-ish soda/mixer from some years ago with a name like 20/20 or 50/50 or something like that? I vaguely recall it being a staple at my grandmother's house, but haven't seen it in years. (And no, I'm not thinking of Mad Dog 20/20.)
Must be this:
http://www.beveragesdirect.com/detail-776-Canfields_5050_Soda_12_Pack.asp
I'd never heard of it, tho' I know of Fresca and Squirt.
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(And no, I'm not thinking of Mad Dog 20/20.)
it's a good thing you added that...
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Hey guys - Apropos of nothing, does any of you remember a grapefruit-ish soda/mixer from some years ago with a name like 20/20 or 50/50 or something like that? I vaguely recall it being a staple at my grandmother's house, but haven't seen it in years. (And no, I'm not thinking of Mad Dog 20/20.)
Must be this:
http://www.beveragesdirect.com/detail-776-Canfields_5050_Soda_12_Pack.asp
I'd never heard of it, tho' I know of Fresca and Squirt.
Guldamn, that's it! Thank you! Musta been a regional thing, like Nehi and Swiss Creme Soda. And one I recall from my initial days on Boston, OK Cola.
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Hey guys - Apropos of nothing, does any of you remember a grapefruit-ish soda/mixer from some years ago with a name like 20/20 or 50/50 or something like that? I vaguely recall it being a staple at my grandmother's house, but haven't seen it in years. (And no, I'm not thinking of Mad Dog 20/20.)
Must be this:
http://www.beveragesdirect.com/detail-776-Canfields_5050_Soda_12_Pack.asp
I'd never heard of it, tho' I know of Fresca and Squirt.
Guldamn, that's it! Thank you! Musta been a regional thing, like Nehi and Swiss Creme Soda. And one I recall from my initial days on Boston, OK Cola.
I remember Nehi (grape & orange) from when I was a kid in Sacto, so they must have been somewhat nationwide, at least for a time.
Anyone remember Delaware Punch?
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Anyone remember Delaware Punch?
"Hey, how 'bout a nice Delaware Punch?"
oh, wait, wrong punch.
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Not to derail that convo, but wanted to send along the final Stylus Singles Jukebox (http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/the_singles_jukebox/falling-tramps.htm) of the year -- I'm immodestly enjoying my Keith Urban suggestion.
Never heard of Delaware Punch. But if someone could hook me up with some Dixies chicken-flavored crackers, I'd be the happiest girl in the U. S. of A.
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if someone could hook me up with some Dixies chicken-flavored crackers, I'd be the happiest girl in the U. S. of A.
Are they better than Nabisco Chicken-in-a-Biskit crackers? Along that line, in the late '60s Nabisco made ham-flavored crackers called Hammies that were delightful with cheese.
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if someone could hook me up with some Dixies chicken-flavored crackers, I'd be the happiest girl in the U. S. of A.
Are they better than Nabisco Chicken-in-a-Biskit crackers? Along that line, in the late '60s Nabisco made ham-flavored crackers called Hammies that were delightful with cheese.
Quite similar -- and I remain a huge Chicken in a Biskit fan -- but they were shaped like drumsticks. I haven't seen them since maybe 1980.
"Hammies," huh? I can scarcely imagine.
Think I'll buy some Sociables on my way home, though. Mmmm, MSG.
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Quite similar -- and I remain a huge Chicken in a Biskit fan -- but they were shaped like drumsticks. I haven't seen them since maybe 1980.
"Hammies," huh? I can scarcely imagine.
CIAB crackers are great with chopped (chicken) liver. Oy!
Hammies were shaped like little hams. very smoky/salty (I'd wager there was no actual ham in 'em). And lo:
http://www.rareads.com/scans/6414.jpg
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and here's an "80's food page" that mentions both Dixies and urth's fave, Delaware punch
http://www.inthe80s.com/food/d.shtml
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So my friend Dave* has started a blog this year called "40 Years Ago Today." It is, as you might infer, ruminations about 1967, what was happening and how it helped get us to where we are. But he also digresses into pop culture arcania, including this surprising discovery: Art Garfunkel painstakingly maintains a log of every book he's read:
http://www.artgarfunkel.com/library.html
Dave* makes an amusing observation:
On a more cynical tack, I flip through the lists and hear Hannibal Lecter's voice: "Clarice, doesn't this random scattering of sites seem overdone to you? Doesn't it seem desperately random?" Don't most of us occasionally read two books on the same subject in a row? Apparently Art doesn't -- or, if we assume it's a lie, whoever wrote the list didn't think of that. Yet it would be a bizarre thing to lie about. The American public doesn't care if a celebrity, especially on the D-list, is well-read. So I'm going to assume he really had read all these great works. Good for him.
And he concludes:
Is it such brainpower that has been supporting his afro for the past forty years?
Check it out if it piques your interest:
http://40yearsagotoday.livejournal.com/
(My own reading list is kind of nonexistent and would be almost humiliaring to make public, fwiw.)
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So my friend Dave* has started a blog this year called "40 Years Ago Today." It is, as you might infer, ruminations about 1967, what was happening and how it helped get us to where we are. But he also digresses into pop culture arcania, including this surprising discovery: Art Garfunkel painstakingly maintains a log of every book he's read:
http://www.artgarfunkel.com/library.html
Dave* makes an amusing observation:
On a more cynical tack, I flip through the lists and hear Hannibal Lecter's voice: "Clarice, doesn't this random scattering of sites seem overdone to you? Doesn't it seem desperately random?" Don't most of us occasionally read two books on the same subject in a row? Apparently Art doesn't -- or, if we assume it's a lie, whoever wrote the list didn't think of that. Yet it would be a bizarre thing to lie about. The American public doesn't care if a celebrity, especially on the D-list, is well-read. So I'm going to assume he really had read all these great works. Good for him.
And he concludes:
Is it such brainpower that has been supporting his afro for the past forty years?
Check it out if it piques your interest:
http://40yearsagotoday.livejournal.com/
(My own reading list is kind of nonexistent and would be almost humiliaring to make public, fwiw.)
Haven't looked too closely at Dave*'s web site yet, but I just spent about 10 minutes poking around on Artie's. It's definitely not your run-of-the-mill musician's site. Yeah, he has the usual stuff (news, discography, press, guestbook, management contacts, etc.) but he's got that damn library, which (and I agree with Gaz and/or Dave*) is pretty imposing--if he in fact has read all those books (an amazing number of which are classics), he's read ONE HELL OF A LOT. But then again, he's wealthy, so he has time to read if he chooses.
But he's also got a few pages labelled "Walk Across America." And apparently, over the space of 12 years, in about 40 ro so small chunks, he walked all the way across the country, from New York to Washington. He started from his apartment in Manhattan, walked for a few days, stopped and flew home; then after a period of time, returned to where he'd left off and walked for a few more days. Remarkable. The guy is either a monk in folksinger's clothing or just a goof. Either way, I think that's kind of cool.
http://www.artgarfunkel.com/poems/america/walk.html
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So my friend Dave* has started a blog this year called "40 Years Ago Today." It is, as you might infer, ruminations about 1967, what was happening and how it helped get us to where we are.
Check it out if it piques your interest:
http://40yearsagotoday.livejournal.com/
This guy was born in 1973!
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Revisiting the below as 33 1/3 has put out another call for submissions. I'm heeding more than before this helpful advice of theirs -- "Choice of album is important - we're here to sell some books, after all. We're more likely to accept a proposal on Odessey & Oracle than on Angels With Dirty Faces, as much as I love them both." -- and will be proposing something other than "Red Octopus." Most likely "Headquarters," which has an interesting backstory and more saleability (there are a lot more Monkees fans in 2007 than Jefferson Starship fans, obvs).
Here are the specs. Interested in any suggestions.
http://33third.blogspot.com/2007/01/time-of-season.html
Hey gang,
I hope you all had lovely Thanksgivings. I haven't read any threads since Wednesday, will catch up on things tomorrow while at work -- but for now, I need to solicit some quick opinions.
You guys are, I realized this afternoon, pretty much the target audience for the "33 1/3" series: rock fans with an intellectual and historical bent to go with the critical one. I spent some of this weekend reading a volume of the series in its entirety -- Michaelangelo Matos's take on Prince's Sign 'O' the Times -- and was surprised to find that it wasn't the here's-what-it-was-like-in-the-studio kind of historical narrative I was expecting, but rather a more casual, dare I say glib, critical analysis of how the artist got to the point of deciding to make this album, what its songs sound like and why they work as they do, and a smattering of context (artists influenced and influenced by, relationships, social affairs and news impacting the scene/period). And a lot more basic artist biography material than I'd expected -- a full chapter, a quarter of the book, in this case.
So I'm really really undecided about which book to propose -- and while I'm not expressly forbidden from proposing more than one or submitting two simultaneous proposals, my gut feeling tells me that to do so would be a bad, bad idea. To add to the mix, I've added a third album I'd like to propose that I think could be interesting.
I've listed the albums and their pros and cons below. Can you let me know which album you personally would be most interested in reading an entire book on, were you to do so? I'd be grateful, as always.
Gaz
Jefferson Starship, Red Octopus
Pros: This is the album I'm personally, deep down, most passionate about; I have a very good chance at access to the band's biographer, Jeff Tamarkin (I've spoken with him before and he's read my JS reviews on the All Music Guide); talking about songs like "Miracles" and "There Will Be Love" let me really flap my wings in the grand-language games.
Cons: There's not a lot of mainstream interest in the band (their episode of "Behind the Music" was the series' worst-rated, I read once), hindering saleability; I can't be sure of having access to the band members themselves.
The Monkees, Headquarters
Pros: The Monkees have been a popular story for the mainstream; this is a very important and interesting point in their history, their reclaiming of their instruments; getting this would work marvelously in conjunction with a potential EMP Pop Conference presentation on the band.
Cons: No access to the band or any of the other participating parties; this isn't my favorite Monkees album (I prefer its followup, PAC&J Ltd.).
Terence Trent D'Arby, Introducing the Hardline According to TTD
Pros: More current; there's been fewer '80s than '60s/'70s books in the series so far; chance to wax effusive about every single track and explore his influences (Smokey, JB, Bobby W); probable access to the artist himself for interviews.
Cons: I'm not good with the technology of production (drum machines used, etc.), which is more central to TTD's work than the others; I have nothing in my portfolio to demonstrate my expertise on him; I don't know his history a fraction as well as the others.
Oy yo yo do I overthink these things . . . Thanks again.
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Hey Gaz -- didya see this job description posted on Outsports for GLAAD:
http://www.outsports.com/outreach/2007/0131glaad.htm
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Hey Gaz -- didya see this job description posted on Outsports for GLAAD:
http://www.outsports.com/outreach/2007/0131glaad.htm
NO! And I'm delighted that you've told me about it - thanks! (The Voice copy chief gig, she does not go so well.)
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OK, I turned in my proposal tonight. I should have had someone edit it, but was too lacking in time. Here are the specs; we'll see what happens in a month or two.
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“33 1/3” Series Proposal: The Monkees, Headquarters
Submitted February 14, 2007
By Joseph McCombs
It was 40 years ago in March that the Monkees began recording the most crucial album of their career. They’d already scored two No. 1 albums (the cleverly titled The Monkees and More of the Monkees) and two No. 1 singles (“Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m a Believer”) in their short lifespan, yet they’d also become in some ways the most hated band in America. The Prefab Four were catching flak from the press, and more important, from fellow musicians, for not playing their own instruments on their records, for being “phonies” by some judges’ senses of cred. Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy had reached a crucial existential moment: They didn’t just want to be the stars in a show called The Monkees; they wanted to be the Monkees.
It was out of this rather unique quest for authenticity that the boys laid the tracks for Headquarters, the album that liberated them from Don Kirshner if not from prefabricated songcraft, the album that legitimized the band’s previous successes, the album that I wish to discuss in a forthcoming volume of the “33 1/3” series.
The Monkees have been biographed many times, but always in the most casual of ways. Few writers and critics have seen fit to take seriously their musical output (despite a half-dozen Top 10 hits and four No. 1 albums), and this book on their most important album can make great strides in correcting that.
Headquarters is not only the story of a band making an album, it’s the story of a band making a band. The lads had a very short amount of time to get onto the same musical page—in terms of aptitude as much as direction. Michael Nesmith was a gifted and prolific songwriter, and could more than hold his own on pedal steel; Peter Tork played bass, banjo, guitar, keyboards, and harpsichord with flavor but was maddeningly imprecise; Micky Dolenz, whose malleable, Top 40–friendly vocals were already the group’s strongest suit, gamely achieved competence on the drums and contributed the exuberantly chaotic “Randy Scouse Git” as his first songwriting credit; and Davy—well, he played the tambourine and sang as well as he needed to.
Over several weeks in March the boys accumulated and tracked a dozen songs (plus two well-received goof tracks) that were of their time, and more than competitive with their time. Upon its June 1967 release, the album shot straight to No. 1—a perch it lost the next week to Sgt. Pepper, but to its lasting credit, hung on at No. 2 for 11 weeks afterward. Hindsight tells us that the album is imperfect, but engaging: pleasant bite-size nuggets of garage pop with strong elements of what would a year or so later become known as “country rock,” and some faint hints of the then unnamed “sunshine pop” genre that would be explored months later on the boys’ less autonomous follow-up, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. With such highlights as the clopping Nez opener “You Told Me,” Torkian peace missive “For Pete’s Sake,” and the semi-improvised romp “No Time,” Headquarters is an album well worth placement on the shelves of any fan of 1960s pop. And Headquarters, the book, will legitimize the album as well as the four men whose band name could finally be their own at the end of the day.
About myself: I’m a music journalist and aspirant historian with a particular bent toward the pop music of the late 1960s through mid 1970s. I learned to program selections on diner-top jukeboxes at age 3 (thank you, Captain & Tennille), discovered the Beatles at age 5 and immediately memorized “Penny Lane,” and took dual citizenship in the Jefferson Airplane and Monkees camps a few years later. Teenage years spent in part memorizing entire Monkees episodes (thank you, Nick at Nite rerun schedule) may not have prepared me to biograph one of their albums, but subsequent years of close, critical listening and employment in music criticism have. Since 2001 I’ve written album reviews, brief biographies, news, concert previews, and other short-form pieces for the All Music Guide, The Village Voice, and various music-related websites. My writings in recent years have included over 100 AMG reviews, hundreds of indie-artist reviews for musician-development website Starpolish.com, over 200 concert listings and several features for the Voice, and papers delivered at the past two Experience Music Project Pop Conferences. Last year, my (nearly) unhyperbolic presentation was “10 Reasons Why the Monkees Should Be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” and the positive response to the paper I received from EMP attendees encouraged me to go forward with this proposal. I have a strong grasp of the Monkees’ history, a smart appreciation for the quality of their music and the role they played in evolving the country-rock and sunshine-pop genres, and an exceptional ability to express the history and the pluses and minuses of the album in terms that will engage Monkee fans, music historians, pop aficionados, and casual readers alike.
Revisiting the below as 33 1/3 has put out another call for submissions. I'm heeding more than before this helpful advice of theirs -- "Choice of album is important - we're here to sell some books, after all. We're more likely to accept a proposal on Odessey & Oracle than on Angels With Dirty Faces, as much as I love them both." -- and will be proposing something other than "Red Octopus." Most likely "Headquarters," which has an interesting backstory and more saleability (there are a lot more Monkees fans in 2007 than Jefferson Starship fans, obvs).
Here are the specs. Interested in any suggestions.
http://33third.blogspot.com/2007/01/time-of-season.html
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OK, I turned in my proposal tonight. I should have had someone edit it, but was too lacking in time. Here are the specs; we'll see what happens in a month or two.
[/quote]
Well, I'D sign you up in a heartbeat! Good luck, bub, we're rooting for ya.
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Thanks!
So the 33 1/3 folks have posted the list of all the proposals they received. Over 200 in all ... and I wasn't the only person to propose a book on Headquarters, which tells you perhaps more than you need to know about the insular world of obsessive music criticism.
http://33third.blogspot.com/
Some utterly intriguing choices, including a personal favorite of mine that no one knows (Bran Van 3000, Discosis) and a personal favorite that is hilariously illogical for the tone of the series (John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together). And *two* Osmonds albums!
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Thanks!
So the 33 1/3 folks have posted the list of all the proposals they received. Over 200 in all ... and I wasn't the only person to propose a book on Headquarters, which tells you perhaps more than you need to know about the insular world of obsessive music criticism.
http://33third.blogspot.com/
Some utterly intriguing choices, including a personal favorite of mine that no one knows (Bran Van 3000, Discosis) and a personal favorite that is hilariously illogical for the tone of the series (John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together). And *two* Osmonds albums!
Hey, you turned me onto Bran Van 3000. I know it.
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The latest Stylus Singles Jukebox is a tribute to '80s sophistipop. Since several of you are fans of the genre, thought you'd enjoy. And this marks the first "10" I've ever awarded -- congrats, Style Council!
http://stylusmagazine.com/jukebox/
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[redacted]
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Thinking out loud about what I think could be a cool business idea:
Create tiny files, smaller than text files, that can be incorporated/embedded into the data of an MP3 file, so that, depending on a person's preferences, information would appear on the screen/iPod, either as a scrolling stock-ticker-type bar or as a pop-up delivered by an avatar, about the song playing: facts about it, quotes from it, trivia, jokes and commentary like we post on these boards. I think it would be a fun subscription add-on for people who are geeky about their music or who want some amusement during their iPodded commutes. Imagine Joe Sixchip launching the ListenToJoeMama app with his iTunes and seeing the likes of our ramblings pop up with every song.
But I wouldn't actually call it ListenToJoeMama.
Do you think there's a market for this? (I have more specific ideas about this if anyone's curious.) Or is it the hash?
but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea! :lol:
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Thanks!
So the 33 1/3 folks have posted the list of all the proposals they received. Over 200 in all ... and I wasn't the only person to propose a book on Headquarters, which tells you perhaps more than you need to know about the insular world of obsessive music criticism.
http://33third.blogspot.com/
Some utterly intriguing choices, including a personal favorite of mine that no one knows (Bran Van 3000, Discosis) and a personal favorite that is hilariously illogical for the tone of the series (John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together). And *two* Osmonds albums!
Here's what made the cut (no Osmonds, and no Monkees):
Funkadelic: Maggot Brain - by Matt Rogers
Slayer: Reign in Blood - DX Ferris
Tori Amos: Boys for Pele - Elizabeth Merrick
Fleetwood Mac: Tusk - Rob Trucks
Nas: Illmatic - Matthew Gasteier
The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy & the Lash - Jeffery Roesgen
Wire: Pink Flag - Wilson Neate
Big Star: Radio City - Bruce Eaton
Pavement: Wowee Zowee - Bryan Charles
Madness: One Step Beyond - Terry Edwards
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: Facing Future - Dan Kois
Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions... - Christopher R. Weingarten
Van Dyke Parks: Song Cycle - Richard Henderson
Weezer: Pinkerton - Jessica Suarez
Black Sabbath: Master of Reality - John Darnielle
Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - S.H. Fernando, Jr.
Afghan Whigs: Gentlemen - Bob Gendron
Flying Burrito Brothers: Gilded Palace of Sin - Bob Proehl
Elliott Smith: XO - Matthew LeMay
Outkast: Aquemini - Nick Weidenfeld and Michael Schmelling
The Flaming Lips: Zaireeka - Mark Richardson
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Another development, along with the new job: My landlady is planning to sell the building I just moved into six weeks ago. A few of the tenants are discussing looking into buying individual units as a co-op situation. I'm intrigued -- I like this place and the neighborhood's poised for growth -- but am ignorant of the process. Any of you ever been through something like this, or know any good resources for my education? So far all I've got is what's at hud.gov. Thanks in advance!
(PS: Yes, this means I'm in NYC for quite a while longer, I guess.)
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Another development, along with the new job: My landlady is planning to sell the building I just moved into six weeks ago. A few of the tenants are discussing looking into buying individual units as a co-op situation. I'm intrigued -- I like this place and the neighborhood's poised for growth -- but am ignorant of the process. Any of you ever been through something like this, or know any good resources for my education? So far all I've got is what's at hud.gov. Thanks in advance!
(PS: Yes, this means I'm in NYC for quite a while longer, I guess.)
sounds like a great opportunity to me. If nothing else, get to know the other interested tennants really, really well, both for the obvious reason that buying into a co-op is not far removed from getting married to them, and for the reason that as long as at least one of them really knows what they're doing (and you trust them) all you have to do is follow their lead.
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Another development, along with the new job: My landlady is planning to sell the building I just moved into six weeks ago. A few of the tenants are discussing looking into buying individual units as a co-op situation. I'm intrigued -- I like this place and the neighborhood's poised for growth -- but am ignorant of the process. Any of you ever been through something like this, or know any good resources for my education? So far all I've got is what's at hud.gov. Thanks in advance!
(PS: Yes, this means I'm in NYC for quite a while longer, I guess.)
sounds like a great opportunity to me. If nothing else, get to know the other interested tennants really, really well, both for the obvious reason that buying into a co-op is not far removed from getting married to them, and for the reason that as long as at least one of them really knows what they're doing (and you trust them) all you have to do is follow their lead.
I agree that this is potentially a great opportunity, but I'd caution you to get to know all of the other partners in the coop well before you pass the point of no return, and assure yourself they're all reasonable, sensible, sane people. Just one loose cannon or wack job in the group could make life exceedingly difficult. I'm not sure how a coop differs from a TIC (which I believe is the SF equivalent) but I've heard they can be a pain if there is dischord.
That's me, the voice of encouragement.
Oh, and congrats on the new gig. Sounds as though you've finally paid the requisite dues to be given your worth in the NY publishing community. Bravo, Joe!
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sounds like a great opportunity to me. If nothing else, get to know the other interested tennants really, really well, both for the obvious reason that buying into a co-op is not far removed from getting married to them, and for the reason that as long as at least one of them really knows what they're doing (and you trust them) all you have to do is follow their lead.
I agree that this is potentially a great opportunity, but I'd caution you to get to know all of the other partners in the coop well before you pass the point of no return, and assure yourself they're all reasonable, sensible, sane people. Just one loose cannon or wack job in the group could make life exceedingly difficult. I'm not sure how a coop differs from a TIC (which I believe is the SF equivalent) but I've heard they can be a pain if there is dischord.
That's me, the voice of encouragement.
Oh, and congrats on the new gig. Sounds as though you've finally paid the requisite dues to be given your worth in the NY publishing community. Bravo, Joe!
Many thanks, guys. I'm getting together with the other interested tenants tomorrow night to discuss details and get to know each other better. Might be posting more about this in the coming days/weeks.
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Two other tenants and I met with someone at the Attorney General's office this morning to learn the process of converting a building for sale into a co-op arrangement. It's a long process (12-14 months at least), which is a good thing, as it buys me time to get to know the other residents better and save up for the down payment.
And now I'm at work, listening to the 5th Dimension's greatest hits, cracking up at something I'd never noticed: They correct the grammar to "whomever" on their version of "Go Where You Wanna Go." Most stilted reading ever. I should have saved that word for a Scavenger Hunt.
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And now I'm at work, listening to the 5th Dimension's greatest hits, cracking up at something I'd never noticed: They correct the grammar to "whomever" on their version of "Go Where You Wanna Go." Most stilted reading ever. I should have saved that word for a Scavenger Hunt.
So the 5-D are whiter than the Ms&Ps?
I just got a fab 2-disc 5-D Anthology (same one you have?) but haven't listened to it yet. It's got literally every charted single (even "The Declaration") except for "Love Hangover" which was on a diff label, sadly.
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Two other tenants and I met with someone at the Attorney General's office this morning to learn the process of converting a building for sale into a co-op arrangement. It's a long process (12-14 months at least), which is a good thing, as it buys me time to get to know the other residents better and save up for the down payment.
But is your landlady gonna sell the place in the meantime? Where would that leave you guys?
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I just got a fab 2-disc 5-D Anthology (same one you have?)
No. I wish I had the one you have. This one is missing "Groovy Thing," "Declaration," and a Top 10 I've never heard, "If I Could Reach You." And, of course, "Love Hangover." But it does have the unintentionally hilarious "California Soul."
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Two other tenants and I met with someone at the Attorney General's office this morning to learn the process of converting a building for sale into a co-op arrangement. It's a long process (12-14 months at least), which is a good thing, as it buys me time to get to know the other residents better and save up for the down payment.
But is your landlady gonna sell the place in the meantime? Where would that leave you guys?
The landlady is apparently giving the tenants priority to match the highest bid, but more importantly, we're all rent controlled or stabilized, so no one can boot us without a big payoff until our leases are up (which in my case is next April).
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So I spent some of today condensing old files -- shredding/trashing a lot of old financials, revisiting some old correspondence and memories -- and found a Live 105 playlist from 1997 when I won one of their call-in contests. Thought y'all might get a kick out of their chart (January?), for which I remember about 75% of the songs:
1 Cake - The Distance
2 311 - All Mixed Up
3 Sublime - What I Got
4 No Doubt - Don't Speak
5 Soundgarden - Blow Up the Outside World
6 Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-Three
7 Space - Female of the Species
8 Beck - Devil's Haircut
9 Garbage - #1 Crush
10 Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn
11 Butthole Surfers - TV Star
12 Bush - Swallowed
13 Bush - Greedy Fly
14 Failure - Stuck on You
14 Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye (yes, they had two #14s)
15 Republica - Drop Dead Gorgeous
16 Poe - Hello
17 Eels - Novocaine for the Soul
18 Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground
19 Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun
20 Prodigy - Breathe
21 Fountains of Wayne - Radiation Vibe
21 Presidents of the USA - Mach 5
22 Fiona Apple - Shadow Boxer
23 RHCP - Love Rollercoaster
24 Mazzy Star - Flowers in December
25 Soul Coughing - Super Bon Bon
26 Suicide Machines - No Face
27 Better Than Ezra - Desperately Wanting
28 BT w/ Tori Amos - Blue Skies
29 REM - Bittersweet Me
30 Orbital - The Box
31 Lemonheads - If I Could Talk I'd Tell You
32 Morcheeba - Trigger Hippie
33 STP - Lady Picture Show
34 Kula Shaker - Tattva
35 Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
add Sublime - Santeria
add Weezer - The Good Life
add Screeching Weasel - Cool Kids
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So I spent some of today condensing old files -- shredding/trashing a lot of old financials, revisiting some old correspondence and memories -- and found a Live 105 playlist from 1997 when I won one of their call-in contests. Thought y'all might get a kick out of their chart (January?), for which I remember about 75% of the songs:
1 Cake - The Distance
2 311 - All Mixed Up
3 Sublime - What I Got
4 No Doubt - Don't Speak
5 Soundgarden - Blow Up the Outside World
6 Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-Three
7 Space - Female of the Species
8 Beck - Devil's Haircut
9 Garbage - #1 Crush
10 Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn
11 Butthole Surfers - TV Star
12 Bush - Swallowed
13 Bush - Greedy Fly
14 Failure - Stuck on You
14 Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye (yes, they had two #14s)
15 Republica - Drop Dead Gorgeous
16 Poe - Hello
17 Eels - Novocaine for the Soul
18 Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground
19 Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun
20 Prodigy - Breathe
21 Fountains of Wayne - Radiation Vibe
21 Presidents of the USA - Mach 5
22 Fiona Apple - Shadow Boxer
23 RHCP - Love Rollercoaster
24 Mazzy Star - Flowers in December
25 Soul Coughing - Super Bon Bon
26 Suicide Machines - No Face
27 Better Than Ezra - Desperately Wanting
28 BT w/ Tori Amos - Blue Skies
29 REM - Bittersweet Me
30 Orbital - The Box
31 Lemonheads - If I Could Talk I'd Tell You
32 Morcheeba - Trigger Hippie
33 STP - Lady Picture Show
34 Kula Shaker - Tattva
35 Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
add Sublime - Santeria
add Weezer - The Good Life
add Screeching Weasel - Cool Kids
on titles alone, i'm at about 50% recognition. maybe if i heard the tunes. don't remember the bt with tori amos, for instance.
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The Stylus Jukebox changed format at the start of the year to a rolling blog. I haven't had much time to contribute this year but did write a few blurbs this week:
http://stylusmagazine.com/jukebox/
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Thinking out loud about what I think could be a cool business idea:
Create tiny files, smaller than text files, that can be incorporated/embedded into the data of an MP3 file, so that, depending on a person's preferences, information would appear on the screen/iPod, either as a scrolling stock-ticker-type bar or as a pop-up delivered by an avatar, about the song playing: facts about it, quotes from it, trivia, jokes and commentary like we post on these boards. I think it would be a fun subscription add-on for people who are geeky about their music or who want some amusement during their iPodded commutes. Imagine Joe Sixchip launching the ListenToJoeMama app with his iTunes and seeing the likes of our ramblings pop up with every song.
But I wouldn't actually call it ListenToJoeMama.
Do you think there's a market for this? (I have more specific ideas about this if anyone's curious.) Or is it the hash?
but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea! :lol:
VH1 is rolling out this very idea for phones:
http://gawker.com/news/short-attention-spans/-300619.php
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A dear friend is getting married this weekend. Alas, to a woman, and not to me. But they're both wonderful people and the groom is also the cousin and close friend of my good friend Dave*, in many ways the center of my collegiate Freak circle.
So Dave* and I conspired to make a wedding mix for them. He wanted to open with three wedding songs from the Mikado, and gave me rein to flesh out the rest. I've long pondered my own ideal wedding mix; since I'm not the marrying kind, I won't get to use it on myself, so now seems as good a time as any.
Much more I wish I could have fit, will save for someday volume two. And one or two are specific to the groom (particularly the Samples song, which holds personal relevance to him, so don't take that title the wrong way). But this is more or less what I'd love for a wedding day to sound like, and I hope they enjoy it as well, and any of you are of welcome to copies if you like. And foreshadowing: My next mix is going to be called "The Return of the Attack of the Name Game." Will be Christmaskwanzukah presents when the time comes, unless sooner.
Songs for a Wedding Morning
1. The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze - D'Oyly Carte Opera Co.
2. Braid the Raven Hair, Weave the Supple Tresses - D'Oyly
3. Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day - D'Oyly
4. Forever Came Today - Supremes
5. With This Ring - Platters
6. Beatles - Good Day Sunshine
7. Baby It's Fact - Hellogoodbye
8. Two Fine People - Cat Stevens
9. I Get the Sweetest Feeling - Jackie Wilson
10. The Air That I Breathe - Hollies
11. Count On Me - Jefferson Starship
12. I Believe You - Dorothy Moore
13. And Suddenly - Left Banke
14. Run to Me - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
15. As We Go Along - Monkees
16. Hounds of Love - Futureheads
17. Oh Love, We Finally Made It - Love Unlimited
18. I Hear a Symphony - Supremes
19. Sweetie - Josh Rouse
20. Here, There, and Everywhere - Beatles
21. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
22. Nothing Lasts for Long - Samples
23. We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters
24. They're Either Too Young Or Too Old - Bette Davis
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Songs for a Wedding Morning
1. The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze - D'Oyly Carte Opera Co.
2. Braid the Raven Hair, Weave the Supple Tresses - D'Oyly
3. Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day - D'Oyly
4. Forever Came Today - Supremes
5. With This Ring - Platters
6. Beatles - Good Day Sunshine
7. Baby It's Fact - Hellogoodbye
8. Two Fine People - Cat Stevens
9. I Get the Sweetest Feeling - Jackie Wilson
10. The Air That I Breathe - Hollies
11. Count On Me - Jefferson Starship
12. I Believe You - Dorothy Moore
13. And Suddenly - Left Banke
14. Run to Me - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
15. As We Go Along - Monkees
16. Hounds of Love - Futureheads
17. Oh Love, We Finally Made It - Love Unlimited
18. I Hear a Symphony - Supremes
19. Sweetie - Josh Rouse
20. Here, There, and Everywhere - Beatles
21. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
22. Nothing Lasts for Long - Samples
23. We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters
24. They're Either Too Young Or Too Old - Bette Davis
I love the fact that you included the TH song, but you best hope not too many people saw the movie 1408 two tracks later. :wink:
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21. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
22. Nothing Lasts for Long - Samples
23. We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters
24. They're Either Too Young Or Too Old - Bette Davis
I love the fact that you included the TH song, but you best hope not too many people saw the movie 1408 two tracks later. :wink:
I've never seen the movie myself, so I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean.
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21. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
22. Nothing Lasts for Long - Samples
23. We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters
24. They're Either Too Young Or Too Old - Bette Davis
I love the fact that you included the TH song, but you best hope not too many people saw the movie 1408 two tracks later. :wink:
I've never seen the movie myself, so I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean.
But I saw it. LOL!
"Nothing lasts For Long" -- shouldn't you save that for their divorce mixtape?
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21. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
22. Nothing Lasts for Long - Samples
23. We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters
24. They're Either Too Young Or Too Old - Bette Davis
I love the fact that you included the TH song, but you best hope not too many people saw the movie 1408 two tracks later. :wink:
I've never seen the movie myself, so I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean.
John Cusack is a writer who specializes in haunted places, and comes to NY to stay in room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel, against the very intense urgings of Samuel L. Jackson, the hotel manager, who among other things tells him, "No one has lasted more than an hour." Having checked in anyway he is sitting there on his bed dictating into a recorder, when the clock radio turns on by itself to the strains of the Carpenters, and then changes from displaying the time to displaying a 60:00 min/sec countdown. Lots of scary shit happens & the song comes back a couple more times, the last of which (trying hard not to be a spoiler here) is impactful.
btw, if anyone hasn't seen this yet, it's a good rental & we just got the netflix director's cut last weekend, but the ending is COMPLETELY different than the theatrical release. I mean as different as it could be, and to my thinking better.
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if anyone hasn't seen this yet, it's a good rental & we just got the netflix director's cut last weekend, but the ending is COMPLETELY different than the theatrical release. I mean as different as it could be, and to my thinking better.
I'm glad to hear that, the theatrical ending was the only thing that disappointed me about the film, otherwise very well-made and Cusack is wonderful.
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A dear friend is getting married this weekend. Alas, to a woman, and not to me. But they're both wonderful people and the groom is also the cousin and close friend of my good friend Dave*, in many ways the center of my collegiate Freak circle.
So Dave* and I conspired to make a wedding mix for them. He wanted to open with three wedding songs from the Mikado, and gave me rein to flesh out the rest. I've long pondered my own ideal wedding mix; since I'm not the marrying kind, I won't get to use it on myself, so now seems as good a time as any.
Much more I wish I could have fit, will save for someday volume two. And one or two are specific to the groom (particularly the Samples song, which holds personal relevance to him, so don't take that title the wrong way). But this is more or less what I'd love for a wedding day to sound like, and I hope they enjoy it as well, and any of you are of welcome to copies if you like. And foreshadowing: My next mix is going to be called "The Return of the Attack of the Name Game." Will be Christmaskwanzukah presents when the time comes, unless sooner.
Songs for a Wedding Morning
1. The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze - D'Oyly Carte Opera Co.
2. Braid the Raven Hair, Weave the Supple Tresses - D'Oyly
3. Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day - D'Oyly
4. Forever Came Today - Supremes
5. With This Ring - Platters
6. Beatles - Good Day Sunshine
7. Baby It's Fact - Hellogoodbye
8. Two Fine People - Cat Stevens
9. I Get the Sweetest Feeling - Jackie Wilson
10. The Air That I Breathe - Hollies
11. Count On Me - Jefferson Starship
12. I Believe You - Dorothy Moore
13. And Suddenly - Left Banke
14. Run to Me - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
15. As We Go Along - Monkees
16. Hounds of Love - Futureheads
17. Oh Love, We Finally Made It - Love Unlimited
18. I Hear a Symphony - Supremes
19. Sweetie - Josh Rouse
20. Here, There, and Everywhere - Beatles
21. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
22. Nothing Lasts for Long - Samples
23. We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters
24. They're Either Too Young Or Too Old - Bette Davis
Fabulous selection of songs. I hope they can pay enough attention to realize what a great compliment you've paid them (but maybe give them a copy so they can listen later and remember...) Only song I might have added was an obvious choice--Beach Boys' Wouldn't It Be Nice.
But you never explained why the asterisk with Dave's name.
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But you never explained why the asterisk with Dave's name.
Oh, private joke, sorry: In college, Dave*'s roommate was also named Dave, and the asterisk was added to conveniently distinguish. The former still sometimes signs his letters and e-mails with an asterisk, keeping the joke going. We Freaks are weird that way.
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But you never explained why the asterisk with Dave's name.
He explained it many moons ago, he had a plurality of friends named Dave back then, so this one decided (or else the group decided) that he should be known as Dave* instead of any other variation.
ETA: oops, to late.
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But you never explained why the asterisk with Dave's name.
Oh, private joke, sorry: In college, Dave*'s roommate was also named Dave, and the asterisk was added to conveniently distinguish. The former still sometimes signs his letters and e-mails with an asterisk, keeping the joke going. We Freaks are weird that way.
Ah, OK. So I'm curious: in conversation was Dave* referred to as Dave-asterisk? :)
Reminds me of a college dorm friend named Eric, who became known as Eric the Bee, a reference to a Monty Python sketch about Eric the Half Bee. Our Eric certainly wasn't a half bee, so it followed that he must have been a whole bee, hence Eric the Bee.
Guess you had to be there.
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Stylus Magazine, for whom I'd been writing for a little over a year for its Singles Jukebox, shut its virtual doors this week. Sorry to see it go. We were all invited to write short goodbye essays, which I did.
http://stylusmagazine.com/jukebox/
In the year or so I’ve spent playing in Stylus’s jingle sandbox, I’ve been very grateful to the site for performing the music-introduction function that radio stopped providing me many years ago. What made it even better to discover new music from Messrs. Swygart and Burns was their elimination of any distinction between “chart” music and “indie” music: Everyone was on level footing in this playground, equally fair game for exaltation or derision. (Usually both, unless you were MIA or Paolo Nutini.) And in the end, over half of the two-disc Best of 2006 compilation I put together for friends was material I was first clued to by Stylus, including two tracks from Joan as Police Woman. “Eternal Flame” embodies everything that was gratifying about writing for the Jukebox: It was unexpected, off-kilter, honest, and poetic, never obvious or ostentatious. (Not to mention a lesson in self-preservation: Be the lighter of your own eternal flame.) Joan and company reminded this corny old pop guy that great music with heart and intellect will always be made, even if it’s not reflected on the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. And so did Stylus, a place that helped its readers not only learn about music new and old, but also clarify where their heads are in relation to pop music and its critics today. (A dry way of saying: Thanks for giving us all so much to think about.) Hearts and flowers, all.
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So my latest personal project involves YouTube: I'm looking for good examples of people who are using the medium to fulfill their oldies-DJ aspirations. I'm thinking there are some interesting stories to be found among them. Here's an example of what I mean: a guy who calls himself "Music Mike," producing these little segments he calls "Flashback Favorites":
Lighthouse, "Pretty Lady" (http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=AIssdqXKMEQ)
(And hey, isn't that the most lovely song? Horns aside, it would fit so nicely on Red Octopus, dare I say. Its writer, Skip Prokop, also wrote "One Fine Morning" as well as my favorite Three Dog Night song, "I'd Be So Happy.")
Anyway, if any of you watch a lot of YouTube and have come across any interesting DJ-producers, I'd be curious to know. Thanks!
Gaz
PS: Another example is "Vinyl Junkie," who knows a lot about Faith Hope & Charity:
http://www.youtube.com/user/vinyljunkie1960
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Meant to post this earlier: my just-submitted-to-Pazz&Jop top 10s of the year:
ALBUMS:
1. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
2. Josh Rouse - Country Mouse, City House
3. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
4. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
5. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
6. Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army
7. VA - Binky Griptite's Ghetto Funk Power Hour
8. Travis - The Boy With No Name
9. Ryan Shaw - This Is Ryan Shaw
10. Annie Lennox - Songs of Mass Destruction
SINGLES:
1. Jens Lekman, "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
2. Hellogoodbye, "Baby, It's Fact"
3. Josh Rouse, "Sweetie"
4. Orson, "Ain't No Party"
5. MIA, "Jimmy"
6. Marilyn Manson, "Heart Shaped Glasses"
7. The Gossip, "Careless Whisper"
8. James Blunt, "1973"
9. Musiq Soulchild, "Buddy"
10. Maroon 5, "Makes Me Wonder"
(I left out Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons' "Beggin' (Pilooski edit)" on a technicality - not really a "new" release.)
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Great news on my job front, guys: After eight months of working for TIME as a "project" employee, at tonight's annual review I was told that they'd like to bring me on as a permanent staffer. Glory be! Job security! Name on masthead! The ego smiles.
So this was my celebration in song tonight (skip the videos and just listen):
Lesley Gore, "Sunshine, Lollipops & Rainbows" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaLllzqT9Lk)
Dells, "There Is" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5h8Kh6qub8)
Black Box, "Fantasy" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_KMaEJLOp0)
Hues Corporation, "Freedom for the Stallion" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngWrkT2zsZ0)
Chas Jankel, "Questionnaire" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8adu_dH74M)
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Congrats, Gaz!!
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Great news on my job front, guys: After eight months of working for TIME as a "project" employee, at tonight's annual review I was told that they'd like to bring me on as a permanent staffer. Glory be! Job security! Name on masthead! The ego smiles.
So this was my celebration in song tonight (skip the videos and just listen):
Lesley Gore, "Sunshine, Lollipops & Rainbows" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaLllzqT9Lk)
Dells, "There Is" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5h8Kh6qub8)
Black Box, "Fantasy" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_KMaEJLOp0)
Hues Corporation, "Freedom for the Stallion" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngWrkT2zsZ0)
Chas Jankel, "Questionnaire" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8adu_dH74M)
Very cool, Gaz. Congrats!
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CONGRATULATIONS!!! You deserve it! :D :D :D
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Great news on my job front, guys: After eight months of working for TIME as a "project" employee, at tonight's annual review I was told that they'd like to bring me on as a permanent staffer. Glory be! Job security! Name on masthead! The ego smiles.
We're all smilin' -- great news, could not be happening to anyone more deserving. Health benefits totally rock, dude.
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Thanks, everyone! :D :-* (And I hope this doesn't derail from the concurrent thread on *changing* careers -- lawd knows I believe in the constancy of change.)
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Thanks, everyone! :D :-* (And I hope this doesn't derail from the concurrent thread on *changing* careers -- lawd knows I believe in the constancy of change.)
Does this represent a significant uptick in salary and/or bennies? Sure hope so!
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Thanks, everyone! :D :-* (And I hope this doesn't derail from the concurrent thread on *changing* careers -- lawd knows I believe in the constancy of change.)
Does this represent a significant uptick in salary and/or bennies? Sure hope so!
I have had full benefits in my project status, I'm happy to report (which is what allowed me to have my wisdom teeth taken out last fall). Slight salary uptick (1.5% raise). The big perk, along with the masthead ego-tripping-out, is increased job security. Which feels good - although I'll miss the perverse pride I sometimes took in being a career free agent.
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My new music blog is live today: Baby I've Been Thinking (http://babyivebeenthinking.blogspot.com/)
Not sure how often I'll be updating it. And don't mind me if I use some of my lines here on that blog. 8)
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My new music blog is live today: Baby I've Been Thinking (http://babyivebeenthinking.blogspot.com/)
Not sure how often I'll be updating it. And don't mind me if I use some of my lines here on that blog. 8)
Just don't use any of *ours* without attribution, bub ;) Congrats!
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I haven't self-aggrandized in quite a while! (At least not in this thread.)
So. This is the book I copyedited for Time last month - it's doing well in pre-sales:
http://www.amazon.com/Time-President-Obama-White-House/dp/160320072X
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Time-President-Obama/Editors-of-Time-Magazine/e/9781603200721/
They've only given me 5 copies, which are promised to family, but if I can get more I'll bring a few copies next month, if anyone's interested.
(Speaking of the impending visit ... next week might be about time to start firming up some plans with y'alls.)
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I haven't self-aggrandized in quite a while! (At least not in this thread.)
So. This is the book I copyedited for Time last month - it's doing well in pre-sales:
http://www.amazon.com/Time-President-Obama-White-House/dp/160320072X
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Time-President-Obama/Editors-of-Time-Magazine/e/9781603200721/
They've only given me 5 copies, which are promised to family, but if I can get more I'll bring a few copies next month, if anyone's interested.
(Speaking of the impending visit ... next week might be about time to start firming up some plans with y'alls.)
I'll call you, but if you are indeed arriving Thurs evening (I thought that was what you said) and need a ride from the airport, let me know (assuming it's SFO).
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This was thoughtful: The Village Voice has improved its search for specific contributors. Here are my Voice links, in case anyone's curious (most of them are events pieces and off-off-Bway reviews):
http://www.villagevoice.com/authors/joseph-mccombs
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
You've become Immortal!!!!
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
You've become Immortal!!!!
Coming soon: HIGHLANDER IV: THE GAZZING
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
Excellent! Was hoping I'd get a chance to see that some day! (And good for you for putting the whammy on the rockabilly dude who was hatin' on the Beatles. Wotta schmuck.)
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Excellent! Was hoping I'd get a chance to see that some day! (And good for you for putting the whammy on the rockabilly dude who was hatin' on the Beatles. Wotta schmuck.)
Indeed -- that guy looked like Greg Proops' bastard son. And I bet you'd know the Springsteen quote if you played today. But the early-in-his-career Jeff Probst was just awful there.
"And nice penmanship to boot!"
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
Right on, Gaz, good job!
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
Right on, Gaz, good job!
Why, thank you! Glad y'alls enjoyed.
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
Right on, Gaz, good job!
Why, thank you! Glad y'alls enjoyed.
Very cool. BTW, do you still have your London Fog Fleece?
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
Right on, Gaz, good job!
Why, thank you! Glad y'alls enjoyed.
Very cool. BTW, do you still have your London Fog Fleece?
Haha, I do!
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One of my music-geek colleagues - the guy who was the inspiration for my Timi Yuro blog entry a few months ago - is currently unconscious, in grave condition, in a Seattle hospital. I know only these scant few details. But please think a good thought for Rickey Wright and join me in hopes for his full recovery.
Thanks.
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My list of all-time favorite songs is now roughly organized to the top 250. Already on its way to 300+, though.
1 Jefferson Starship, "Miracles"
2 Grass Roots, "I'd Wait a Million Years"
3 Lighthouse, "Pretty Lady"
4 Todd Rundgren, "I Saw the Light"
5 Nina Simone, "Wild Is the Wind"
6 The Turtles, "She's My Girl"
7 Billy Stewart, "Summertime"
8 Stevie Wonder, "Another Star"
9 The Beatles, "Penny Lane"
10 The Mamas & the Papas, "California Dreaming"
11 Lighthouse, "One Fine Morning"
12 John Lennon, "#9 Dream"
13 Culture Club, "Time (Clock of the Heart)"
14 Aretha Franklin, "Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)"
15 Rod Stewart, "You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)"
16 Stevie Wonder, "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing"
17 Orpheus, "Can't Find the Time"
18 Barenaked Ladies, "Jane"
19 War, "Galaxy"
20 Barry Manilow, "Daybreak"
21 Marty Balin, "Hearts"
22 Grand Funk Railroad, "Bad Time"
23 Lesley Gore, "California Nights"
24 George Harrison, "My Sweet Lord"
25 Joni Mitchell, "Coyote"
26 Los Pop Tops, "Mamy Blue"
27 Nuclear Valdez, "Summer"
28 English Congregation, "Softly Whispering I Love You"
29 Flaming Ember, "Mind, Body and Soul"
30 Beach Boys, "God Only Knows"
31 Norman Connors, "You Are My Starship"
32 Gladys Knight & the Pips, "I Don't Want to Do Wrong"
33 Stevie Wonder, "As"
34 Sade, "Sweetest Taboo"
35 Jefferson Starship, "There Will Be Love"
36 The Beatles, "Only a Northern Song"
37 The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"
38 Air Supply, "Even the Nights Are Better"
39 Wilco and Billy Bragg, "California Stars"
40 The Supremes, "You Keep Me Hanging On"
41 JoBoxers, "Just Got Lucky"
42 ABBA, "The Winner Takes It All"
43 Captain & Tennille, "Love Will Keep Us Together"
44 The Supremes, "I Hear a Symphony"
45 Elton John, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
46 The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"
47 Tears for Fears, "Sowing the Seeds of Love"
48 The Turtles, "Happy Together"
49 The Beatles, "Your Mother Should Know"
50 Player, "Baby Come Back"
51 Spinners, "(They Just Can't Stop It The) Games People Play"
52 Sly & the Family Stone, "If You Want Me to Stay"
53 Pulp, "Common People"
54 The Turtles, "Love in the City"
55 Sly & the Family Stone, "Somebody's Watching You"
56 Jellyfish, "Baby's Comin' Back"
57 The Turtles, "Goodbye Surprise"
58 Four Tops, "Bernadette"
59 Three Dog Night, "I'd Be So Happy"
60 David Bowie, "Stay"
61 Sonny and Cher, "Living for You"
62 Marvin Gaye, "I Want You"
63 Maxine Nightingale, "Right Back Where We Started From"
64 Lovin' Spoonful, "Summer in the City"
65 Bobby Sherman, "Easy Come, Easy Go"
66 Nina Simone, "Do What You Gotta Do"
67 Kantner/Slick/Freiberg, "Harp Tree Lament"
68 War, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
69 Liz Phair, "Supernova"
70 George Harrison, "What Is Life"
71 Stevie Wonder, "I Was Made to Love Her"
72 George Michael, "Cowboys and Angels"
73 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, "Without Love"
74 The Temptations, "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)"
75 The Miracles, "Come 'Round Here (I'm the One You Need)"
76 The Mamas & the Papas, "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)"
77 The Monkees, "You and I"
78 5th Dimenson, "Aquarius / Let the Sun Shine In"
79 Dells, "There Is"
80 Wilco, "Nothingsevergonnastandinmywayagain"
81 Gladys Knight & the Pips, "If I Were Your Woman"
82 Curtis Mayfield, "Move On Up"
83 Four Tops with the Moody Blues, "A Simple Game"
84 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"
85 The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"
86 The Supremes, "Forever Came Today"
87 The Montanas, "You've Got to Be Loved"
88 Sophie B. Hawkins, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover"
89 Three Dog Night, "Eli's Coming"
90 Earth, Wind & Fire, "Fantasy"
91 Elton John, "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters"
92 Jefferson Starship, "Hyperdrive"
93 Sly & the Family Stone, "Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"
94 Kiki Dee Band, "I've Got the Music in Me"
95 Terence Trent D'Arby, "Sign Your Name"
96 Beginning of the End, "Funky Nassau"
97 The Doors, "Shaman's Blues"
98 Dionne Warwick, "Anyone Who Had a Heart"
99 Wild Weeds, "No Good to Cry"
100 Aretha Franklin, "Call Me"
101 The Supremes, "Up the Ladder to the Roof"
102 Procol Harum, "Conquistador"
103 Gloria Gaynor, "Reach Out, I'll Be There"
104 Charlatans UK, "The Only One I Know"
105 The Doors, "My Eyes Have Seen You"
106 The Beatles, "Strawberry Fields Forever"
107 Sonique, "It Feels So Good"
108 Shannon, "Let the Music Play"
109 Dusty Springfield, "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten"
110 Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, "Fallin' in Love"
111 The Supremes, "Stoned Love"
112 Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, "A Taste of Honey"
113 David Ruffin, "Walk Away From Love"
114 Barry Manilow, "Ready to Take a Chance Again"
115 Hellogoodbye, "Baby It's Fact"
116 Steve Winwood, "While You See a Chance"
117 Roberta Flack, "Killing Me Softly With His Song"
118 Air Supply, "The One That You Love"
119 David Ruffin, "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)"
120 John Lennon, "(Just Like) Starting Over"
121 Sweet Sensation, "Sad Sweet Dreamer"
122 The Flirtations, "Nothing But a Heartache"
123 Jefferson Starship, "All Fly Away"
124 Bran Van 3000 f/ Curtis Mayfield, "Astounded"
125 Love, "You Set the Scene"
126 Connells, "'74-'75"
127 Four Tops, "Love Music"
128 Alice Cooper, "You and Me"
129 Edwin Starr, "My Sweet Lord"
130 Dionne Warwick, "Walk On By"
131 David Bowie, "Wild Is the Wind"
132 Lou Christie, "Lightning Strikes"
133 Amen Corner, "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice"
134 Neil Sedaka, "Laughter in the Rain"
135 De La Soul, "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'"
136 Barry Manilow, "Could It Be Magic"
137 Robbie Williams, "Karma Killer"
138 Chris Rea, "Fool (If You Think It's Over)"
139 Gladys Knight & the Pips, "I've Got to Use My Imagination"
140 Leon Haywood, "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You"
141 The Turtles, "Elenore"
142 Benny Mardones, "Into the Night"
143 Paul Mauriat, "Love Is Blue"
144 Flamin' Groovies, "Shake Some Action"
145 King Harvest, "Dancing in the Moonlight"
146 Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy"
147 Carole King, "Avenue P"
148 The Beatles, "Good Day Sunshine"
149 Donovan, "Wear Your Love Like Heaven"
150 Amerie, "1 Thing"
151 The Addrisi Brothers, "Nanny and the Professor"
152 Jim Croce, "I Got a Name"
153 Sly & the Family Stone, "I Want to Take You Higher"
154 B.J. Thomas, "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"
155 Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks, "Whenever I Call You 'Friend'"
156 Moody Blues, "Isn't Life Strange"
157 Dusty Springfield, "This Girl's in Love With You"
158 Grass Roots, "The River Is Wide"
159 The Marmalade, "Reflections of My Life"
160 Marvin Gaye, "You"
161 Looking Glass, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"
162 Spiral Starecase, "More Today Than Yesterday"
163 Dave Matthews Band, "Dancing Nancies"
164 Wings, "Silly Love Songs"
165 George Michael, "Praying for Time"
166 Sheena Easton, "Morning Train (Nine to Five)"
167 The Four Seasons, "C'mon Marianne"
168 Simon & Garfunkel, "My Little Town"
169 Petula Clark, "Downtown"
170 Queen, "You're My Best Friend"
171 Wilco, "Jesus Etc."
172 Three Dog Night, "An Old-Fashioned Love Song"
173 Barbra Streisand, "Woman in Love"
174 Bangles, "Hazy Shade of Winter"
175 Joni Mitchell, "River"
176 The Monkees, "As We Go Along"
177 Joe Jackson, "Steppin' Out"
178 Spinners, "I'll Be Around"
179 The Beatles, "Eleanor Rigby"
180 Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter"
181 Andy Gibb, "Everlasting Love"
182 Robert Palmer, "You Overwhelm Me"
183 The Partridge Family, "Summer Days"
184 Wham!, "Freedom"
185 Jefferson Airplane, "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil"
186 Elton John, "Where to Now, St. Peter?"
187 Dexys Midnight Runners, "Come On Eileen"
188 Culture Club, "Church of the Poison Mind"
189 Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods, "Who Do You Think You Are?"
190 Vanity Fare, "Early in the Morning"
191 Pulp, "Disco 2000"
192 Charlie Rich, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"
193 Dandy Warhols, "You Were the Last High"
194 Deee-Lite, "Groove Is in the Heart"
195 The Mamas & the Papas, "Glad to Be Unhappy"
196 Neneh Cherry, "Buffalo Stance"
197 The Beatles, "We Can Work It Out"
198 Pet Shop Boys, "Always on My Mind"
199 Christopher Cross, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"
200 Joni Mitchell, "Court and Spark"
201 George Harrison, "You"
202 Parliamets, "I Wanna Testify"
203 Monkees, "Carlisle Wheeling"
204 Left Banke, "Walk Away Renee"
205 Box Tops, "Neon Rainbow"
206 Bocephus King, "Wreck of the Century"
207 Indigo Girls, "Language or the Kiss"
208 Concrete Blonde, "Joey"
209 Odyssey, "Native New Yorker"
210 Peter Criss, "You Matter to Me"
211 Jefferson Starship, "St. Charles"
212 Sade, "Never As Good As the First Time"
213 Culture Club, "Victims"
214 Orpheus, "Walk Away Renee"
215 Left Banke, "And Suddenly"
216 Grass Roots, "Midnight Confession"
217 Gladys Knight & the Pips, "Let It Be"
218 Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman. "Stumblin' In"
219 Waterboys, "Fisherman's Blues"
220 The Doors, "Love Street"
221 The Temptations, "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone"
222 Godspell, "Day by Day"
223 Stories, "Mamy Blue"
224 The Monkees, "Sometime in the Morning"
225 Jake Holmes, "So Close"
226 Electric Indian, "Keem-O-Sabe"
227 Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, "Say Say Say"
228 Love Unlimited, "Walking in the Rain With the One I Love"
229 Tommy James and the Shondells, "Get Out Now"
230 Stevie Wonder, "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)"
231 Adam Ant, "Desperate But Not Serious"
232 Paul Revere & the Raiders, "Let Me"
233 Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, "Winners and Losers"
234 Glen Campbell, "Wichita Lineman"
235 Jefferson Starship, "Count on Me"
236 Roachford, "Cuddly Toy (Feel for Me)"
237 Curtis Mayfield, "If There's a Hell Below (We're All Gonna Go)"
238 Little Anthony and the Imperials, "Hurt So Bad"
239 Adam Ant, "Goody Two Shoes"
240 R.E.M., "Texarkana"
241 Billy Joel, "Pressure"
242 Robbie Williams, "The Road to Mandalay"
243 Elvis Presley, "Suspicious Minds"
244 Roberta Flack, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
245 Little Anthony and the Imperials, "Goin' Out of My Head"
246 Three Dog Night, "It's for You"
247 American Breed, "Bend Me Shape Me"
248 Foreigner, "Cold As Ice"
249 Waterboys, "The Whole of the Moon"
250 Aztec Two-Step, "The Persecution and Resurrection of Dean Moriarty"
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My list of all-time favorite songs is now roughly organized to the top 250...
Nice -- thanks for reminding me about the fabulous "Pretty Lady".
Have you submitted a list of "shoulda-beens" to Rich Appell?
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My list of all-time favorite songs is now roughly organized to the top 250...
Nice -- thanks for reminding me about the fabulous "Pretty Lady".
Have you submitted a list of "shoulda-beens" to Rich Appell?
I'm going to, sometime this weekend.
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
awesome!
I liked your posing during the intros. I suppose they really encouraged the big gesture thing, which you pulled off nicely.
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
awesome!
I liked your posing during the intros. I suppose they really encouraged the big gesture thing, which you pulled off nicely.
Even though I was, um, LOOKING AT THE WRONG CAMERA? I seriously shudder every time I see that part. :)
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
awesome!
I liked your posing during the intros. I suppose they really encouraged the big gesture thing, which you pulled off nicely.
Even though I was, um, LOOKING AT THE WRONG CAMERA? I seriously shudder every time I see that part. :)
See, I thought you were playing to the studio audience! you seemed to have lots of support there...
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Hi gang,
A website column I used to write for, the Singles Jukebox, is being relaunched. And it looks like I'm being invited back to critique new pop singles again - will let you know when it's confirmed.
http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/
I'm on vacation this week - either I'm going to get a lot of writing done or I'm going to spend a lot of altered hours rehashing relationship drama.
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My 10-year-old game show appearance is now on YouTube. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8nTqHFzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgxEf9m4H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0WNuzD1ok
awesome!
I liked your posing during the intros. I suppose they really encouraged the big gesture thing, which you pulled off nicely.
Even though I was, um, LOOKING AT THE WRONG CAMERA? I seriously shudder every time I see that part. :)
See, I thought you were playing to the studio audience! you seemed to have lots of support there...
Did you return for the following episode?
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I'm on vacation this week - either I'm going to get a lot of writing done or I'm going to spend a lot of altered hours rehashing relationship drama.
well, whatever you do -- watch out for flying arrows!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/03/16/national/a074924D19.DTL&tsp=1
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I'm on vacation this week - either I'm going to get a lot of writing done or I'm going to spend a lot of altered hours rehashing relationship drama.
well, whatever you do -- watch out for flying arrows!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/03/16/national/a074924D19.DTL&tsp=1
cripes...! note this is an AP story and the headline is not the most copy-edited one you might find, which prompted a user to quip:
"Shot _BY_ an arrow? We need to take the guns away from the arrows. I guess this is similar to another woman in NY I heard about who was shot _WITH_ an arrow."
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Did you return for the following episode?
Oops, I never noticed that I didn't answer this. No, R&R Jeopardy didn't invite its winners back to defend their crowns; since it aired only weekly (maybe 2 eps a week?), they wanted new faces each time.
So gang - I ended my blog, and I suppose I did so in a brusque and abrupt manner that was unfair to my readers. Long story short, two weeks ago I finally got the (kind but unequivocal) rejection I was overdue to get from the guy I fell in love with at year's start. All the color drained out of my world. I lost all interest in writing and all faith in communication. I buried myself in a hole for a while. I'm still not feeling terribly conversational but I wanted to say hi.
Gaz
PS: Mike, thanks for your last blog note as well as all the others over the past year. I regret that the blog proved to be impenetrable to my non-music-fanatic friends.
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Did you return for the following episode?
Oops, I never noticed that I didn't answer this. No, R&R Jeopardy didn't invite its winners back to defend their crowns; since it aired only weekly (maybe 2 eps a week?), they wanted new faces each time.
So gang - I ended my blog, and I suppose I did so in a brusque and abrupt manner that was unfair to my readers. Long story short, two weeks ago I finally got the (kind but unequivocal) rejection I was overdue to get from the guy I fell in love with at year's start. All the color drained out of my world. I lost all interest in writing and all faith in communication. I buried myself in a hole for a while. I'm still not feeling terribly conversational but I wanted to say hi.
Gaz
PS: Mike, thanks for your last blog note as well as all the others over the past year. I regret that the blog proved to be impenetrable to my non-music-fanatic friends.
hang in there, bub. There are people here who love and support you.
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All the color drained out of my world.
There's a feeling I'm all too familiar with, though it's been a while. Best wishes Gaz -- keep your head up.
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Did you return for the following episode?
Oops, I never noticed that I didn't answer this. No, R&R Jeopardy didn't invite its winners back to defend their crowns; since it aired only weekly (maybe 2 eps a week?), they wanted new faces each time.
So gang - I ended my blog, and I suppose I did so in a brusque and abrupt manner that was unfair to my readers. Long story short, two weeks ago I finally got the (kind but unequivocal) rejection I was overdue to get from the guy I fell in love with at year's start. All the color drained out of my world. I lost all interest in writing and all faith in communication. I buried myself in a hole for a while. I'm still not feeling terribly conversational but I wanted to say hi.
Gaz
PS: Mike, thanks for your last blog note as well as all the others over the past year. I regret that the blog proved to be impenetrable to my non-music-fanatic friends.
Keep on pitching, bro. You will come out of this, despite however low you might feel now. Peace.
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Keep on pitching, bro.
or catching, as the case may be... ;)
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Keep on pitching, bro.
or catching, as the case may be... ;)
TMI, dude. :)
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hi Gaz, really miss you around here! sorry to hear of the troubles...
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I do thank you all. I try to be a giving person but sometimes the vessel runs empty. Sorting through some stuff now but you guys are near and dear to me as always. That you make me smile and laugh so often makes it all the richer.
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Hey gang,
I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus. Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible? Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure. Would I have to go with more familiar songs? Stop with the needlessly big words? I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.
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Hey gang,
I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus. Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible? Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure. Would I have to go with more familiar songs? Stop with the needlessly big words? I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.
First of all -- it was a MUSIC blog. In many ways it was *about* music-geekery. Your non-music-geek friends should read something else rather then expect you to dumb things down just for them. Seriously. It really burns my onions when people do that. It was NOT "impenetrable and obscure", it was a breath of fresh air, smart and beautifully written.
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Hey gang,
I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus. Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible? Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure. Would I have to go with more familiar songs? Stop with the needlessly big words? I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.
First of all -- it was a MUSIC blog. In many ways it was *about* music-geekery. Your non-music-geek friends should read something else rather then expect you to dumb things down just for them. Seriously. It really burns my onions when people do that. It was NOT "impenetrable and obscure", it was a breath of fresh air, smart and beautifully written.
Mike, thank you, a thousand times. But the observation remains: if my shtick is obscurantist music, then I might as well just post my musings here and on FB instead of maintaining a blog.
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Hey gang,
I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus. Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible? Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure. Would I have to go with more familiar songs? Stop with the needlessly big words? I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.
First of all -- it was a MUSIC blog. In many ways it was *about* music-geekery. Your non-music-geek friends should read something else rather then expect you to dumb things down just for them. Seriously. It really burns my onions when people do that. It was NOT "impenetrable and obscure", it was a breath of fresh air, smart and beautifully written.
Mike, thank you, a thousand times. But the observation remains: if my shtick is obscurantist music, then I might as well just post my musings here and on FB instead of maintaining a blog.
point taken, and yet, what's the goal here? If you had hoped to sell Google ads in your blog, you could use that metric for success or failure. But, if you just need to write, and you have a few people that enjoy it, and it doesn't cost you any money, why not blog? It's less restrictive than FB, easier to navigate than here, and we should just post a link on the main page to it from here anyway.
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Hey gang,
I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus. Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible? Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure. Would I have to go with more familiar songs? Stop with the needlessly big words? I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.
First of all -- it was a MUSIC blog. In many ways it was *about* music-geekery. Your non-music-geek friends should read something else rather then expect you to dumb things down just for them. Seriously. It really burns my onions when people do that. It was NOT "impenetrable and obscure", it was a breath of fresh air, smart and beautifully written.
Mike, thank you, a thousand times. But the observation remains: if my shtick is obscurantist music, then I might as well just post my musings here and on FB instead of maintaining a blog.
point taken, and yet, what's the goal here? If you had hoped to sell Google ads in your blog, you could use that metric for success or failure. But, if you just need to write, and you have a few people that enjoy it, and it doesn't cost you any money, why not blog? It's less restrictive than FB, easier to navigate than here, and we should just post a link on the main page to it from here anyway.
I liked it as a blog too. I may never take to facebook, which I pretty much just find irritating so far. But I like having a place to find what Gaz is thinking about.
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...I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.
Gaz, don't change what you're doing if it's really what you want to do. If the blog wasn't successfully interesting and thought provoking, we'd have let you know. Since I'm only assuming that what you meant by 'succeed' was to reach a somewhat wider audience, please ignore the following if that assumption is wrong. I have experience dealing with people who consult to bloggers/podcasters to make them successful, and I can share the basics (in order of importance):
1. Create your content based on something you have a real passion for, because only that passion will make you want to keep doing it on a regular basis indefinitely. It is always fatal to be imitative.
2. Do it on a regular basis, and be as regular as possible. This is critical for audience retention.
3. To proactively expand your audience, spend at least as much time on other people's blogs making comments (2x -3x is recommended) and aggressively use features such as trackback. Whenever the comments mechanism gives you the chance to include a URL with your comment, do so. It is perfectly acceptable to mention your own blog in your comments, as long as you are polite about it. If you make a good enough impression on other bloggers they will put a permanent link to you on their page (and you probably want to look for other bloggers who have already linked others on their page). Note that there is an unwritten rule of quid pro quo on this, and you can take the first step if you are inclined.
4. Repurpose your content in any and every way you can think of. There are literally millions of websites that are desperate for any kind of remotely useful content.
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BTW Arianna Huffington just wrote a book on How to Blog, FWIW...
http://www.amazon.com/Huffington-Post-Complete-Guide-Blogging/dp/1439105006
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Hey Gaz,
If you need to write, you should. It's important to know your audience and create work that gets through to people, but don't let non-music geek friends affect what your music-geek blogging persona wants to write.
Writing is hard, and writing well is esp hard, and heaven knows creating just one single quality blog entry takes a lot out of any writer, but perhaps you could cleave your blog into one that follows the Pop Argot muse (wonderfully "impenetrable and obscure") and one that is more gossipy and "commercial?" or whatever it is your non-music geek friends are hoping for? I know one person who has diff blogs for diff online personae, but it's a helluva lot of work. ... ok, a silly idea, forget I mentioned it, unless you choose not to. :)
Facebook is ok, sorta takes the place b/w email and texting, but I hope you keep writing your blog.
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Keep your creative juices flowing. You're an intelligent writer with valid musings. You have to be able to have that release somewhere. If monetizing the blog was a goal, you'll decide how to modify the content for mass appeal. It's all marketing and networking and what Mark said.
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Guys, I can't thank you enough for the advice and encouragement. In answer to one question y'all had - no, I have no interest in monetizing the blog. It's a way for me to hold up my end of the bargain in life being a shared experience. And if I can entertain a few people and get some music and tales in return, so much the better.
As I said a while back, my urge to write did leave me. I'm still working on getting it back. I'm so glad to know, though, that you guys have enjoyed the output so far. Means a lot to me.
Gaz
PS: John, the "persona" notion is an interesting one to consider. But yeah, I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.
PPS: Mark, you bring up a great point: I don't do nearly enough reading of and commenting on others' blogs. It's very hard to keep up with the information deluge that the Net provides, but we get what we give when we give what we get.
Thank you all again. Seriously.
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Guys, I can't thank you enough for the advice and encouragement. In answer to one question y'all had - no, I have no interest in monetizing the blog. It's a way for me to hold up my end of the bargain in life being a shared experience. And if I can entertain a few people and get some music and tales in return, so much the better.
As I said a while back, my urge to write did leave me. I'm still working on getting it back. I'm so glad to know, though, that you guys have enjoyed the output so far. Means a lot to me.
Gaz
PS: John, the "persona" notion is an interesting one to consider. But yeah, I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.
PPS: Mark, you bring up a great point: I don't do nearly enough reading of and commenting on others' blogs. It's very hard to keep up with the information deluge that the Net provides, but we get what we give when we give what we get.
Thank you all again. Seriously.
yeah, some of my friends like my blog, and suggest I do it more regularly, but I just don't have the time. I often wonder how people find time to do the good blogs on a regular basis.
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I heard that advice given to a room full of people who paid a bunch of money to hear it. I was helping with audio & video in the back of the room.
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So gang,
I've been idly thinking about attending a meditation conference, "Integrating the Infinite," in mid-October at this retreat site near Santa Cruz:
http://www.mountmadonna.org/
Anyone know anything about it? If I come, I'll make a proper Bay Area vacation out of it - any suggestions on whether a visit before Oct. 16 or after Oct. 18 schedules better, both in terms of seeing you guys and catching some events in the city?
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So gang,
I've been idly thinking about attending a meditation conference, "Integrating the Infinite," in mid-October at this retreat site near Santa Cruz:
http://www.mountmadonna.org/
Anyone know anything about it? If I come, I'll make a proper Bay Area vacation out of it - any suggestions on whether a visit before Oct. 16 or after Oct. 18 schedules better, both in terms of seeing you guys and catching some events in the city?
Didn't the princess say she was coming here in October? might wanta get in synch with her.
I have NY friends who used to do Mount Madonna every year ("Mount Madonna? Didn't Jose Canseco and A-Rod both do that?" Har Har). There's an ashram there, I drove them down to it one summer when they were here. It was a week of eating brown rice (No outside food allowed!) and, well, not exactly sleeping on a bed of nails but it was pretty spartan. They swore by it; we already know how I feel about New Age spirituality ;)
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So gang,
I've been idly thinking about attending a meditation conference, "Integrating the Infinite," in mid-October at this retreat site near Santa Cruz:
http://www.mountmadonna.org/
Anyone know anything about it? If I come, I'll make a proper Bay Area vacation out of it - any suggestions on whether a visit before Oct. 16 or after Oct. 18 schedules better, both in terms of seeing you guys and catching some events in the city?
it's impossible to predict, but that's just about the breaking point for the end of Indian Summer here.
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"Baby I've Been Thinking" is once again live. Hopefully to be updated daily.
It's also the one-year anniversary of the blog.
And I'm about 60% sure that I will be in SF sometime in October. If I have my way, my friend Andy will be in tow. I need to shoot PoC a note to find out her visit dates!
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"Baby I've Been Thinking" is once again live.
It's live, live, it's all the way live
Don't even have to walk, don't even have to drive
Just slide, glide, slippity-slide
Just forget about your troubles and your 9 to 5
Welcome Back, Bloggah!
(http://www.scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Games/Images/welcome-back-kotter-cast.jpg)
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"Baby I've Been Thinking" is once again live. Hopefully to be updated daily.
It's also the one-year anniversary of the blog.
And I'm about 60% sure that I will be in SF sometime in October. If I have my way, my friend Andy will be in tow. I need to shoot PoC a note to find out her visit dates!
I know you were targeting mid-October, but keep in mind that Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is usually the first weekend of the month, and despite the crowds it usually offers some pretty amazing performances by performers and combinations of performers that don't tour much or at all. And it's totally free. This year it's Oct 2-4.
http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/
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Years I've covered thus far in "Baby I've Been Thinking" blog entries: everything except 1998 in the post-Beatles era.
# 1957 (1)
# 1960 (1)
# 1964 (2)
# 1965 (1)
# 1966 (6)
# 1967 (4)
# 1968 (5)
# 1969 (7)
# 1970 (7)
# 1971 (7)
# 1972 (11)
# 1973 (9)
# 1974 (4)
# 1975 (6)
# 1976 (7)
# 1977 (6)
# 1978 (2)
# 1979 (6)
# 1980 (5)
# 1981 (5)
# 1982 (1)
# 1983 (1)
# 1984 (8 )
# 1985 (6)
# 1986 (4)
# 1987 (1)
# 1988 (2)
# 1989 (1)
# 1990 (3)
# 1991 (2)
# 1992 (3)
# 1993 (2)
# 1994 (3)
# 1995 (1)
# 1996 (1)
# 1997 (2)
# 1999 (2)
# 2000 (1)
# 2001 (1)
# 2002 (2)
# 2003 (1)
# 2004 (2)
# 2005 (2)
# 2006 (5)
# 2007 (3)
# 2008 (12)
# 2009 (4)
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If I were doing a blog like yours, I would have hit either of a couple songs from Hole's Celebrity Skin 1998 release: "Boys On The Radio" or "Heaven Tonight"
I can throw you the MP3's if you want.
ETA: hey, just noticed that in 5 more posts your total will be 12345!
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If I were doing a blog like yours, I would have hit either of a couple songs from Hole's Celebrity Skin 1998 release: "Boys On The Radio" or "Heaven Tonight"
I can throw you the MP3's if you want.
ETA: hey, just noticed that in 5 more posts your total will be 12345!
Mark, sorry I never got back to you on this. I like a surprisingly large percentage of the Courtney Love songs I've heard - even "Mono," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upwCSe6Frso) which completely flopped in '04. So I don't know why I've been resistant to hear more. The latter isn't a Cheap Trick cover, is it? I'll YouTube it in a bit.
So I'm thinking, it's not like I was disengaged from music in '98; quite the contrary. Was listening to lots of KFOG and Live 105. But I just don't have anything to add to "The Way" or "One Week" or "Never There" (to pick three faves). Nor do I remember anything I hated enough to excoriate.
So sure, I'll check out some Hole and see if words come. I haven't been very inspired in recent days - it is difficult to maintain a daily blogging pace without phoning it in half the time. Thanks. And if you or anyone else sees anything in this Wikipedia summary of the year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_in_music#Biggest_hit_singles) that jumps out as particularly good/bad/interesting, I'm all ears.
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Too bad I'm filling in at work Thursday night: a bunch of rock critics here (Stampfel, Robert Christgau, Rob Sheffield, Joe Levy, K. Leander Williams, Jay Ruttenberg, and others) are doing "Critical Karaoke," in which they'll recite comments about why they love a song over its backing track. I once imagined doing something similar with my blog, but it's too much of an investment in every way to take things to that level. Wish I could see what they do with it.
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If I were doing a blog like yours, I would have hit either of a couple songs from Hole's Celebrity Skin 1998 release: "Boys On The Radio" or "Heaven Tonight"
The latter isn't a Cheap Trick cover, is it?
It's not, and I'd be interested to hear what you think of it, as I have my own theory, but don't want to influence your first impression.
"Boys On The Radio" on the other hand seems quite easy to interpret.
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If I were doing a blog like yours, I would have hit either of a couple songs from Hole's Celebrity Skin 1998 release: "Boys On The Radio" or "Heaven Tonight"
The latter isn't a Cheap Trick cover, is it?
It's not, and I'd be interested to hear what you think of it, as I have my own theory, but don't want to influence your first impression.
"Boys On The Radio" on the other hand seems quite easy to interpret.
My reactions to these YouTube clips:
"Boys on the Radio" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxK55Njzmj4) is one of the more breezily melodic things I've heard from CL et al. Was this during the period when Billy Corgan wanted to turn her into Stevie Nicks? It's got the jangly texture of a Gin Blossoms single. Too bad Court didn't take her responsibilities as a vocalist seriously. She's a gifted dilletante. As for the lyrics - it's about Kurt, yeah? Right down to the burn/fade in the refrain - a reference, I assume, to his misguided suicide note.
"Heaven Tonight" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt-69R4zBnQ) is more fun musically than I've ever heard them have. Power pop was a good fit for them, especially since (Melissa Auf der Maur?) is a better bvox than I realized. Too bad the song's a celebration of junk.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure BotR is about Kurt.
I thought that "Heaven Tonight" might be about a girl having her first serious affair with another girl. For whatever reason it reminded me of a girl that worked as a temp at Schwab when I was in the Margins dept, although this might have been before your time. She was very cute, early 20's, and had apparently just fallen in love for the first time, and was showing everybody a photo of her & her new girlfriend. I remember John* telling me that she would have been any lesbian's dream girl. That was the vibe that this song captured for me, and obviously that's how I would have blogged on it. :)
*forget his last name, but wasn't he your team leader when you got there?
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure BotR is about Kurt.
I thought that "Heaven Tonight" might be about a girl having her first serious affair with another girl. For whatever reason it reminded me of a girl that worked as a temp at Schwab when I was in the Margins dept, although this might have been before your time. She was very cute, early 20's, and had apparently just fallen in love for the first time, and was showing everybody a photo of her & her new girlfriend. I remember John* telling me that she would have been any lesbian's dream girl. That was the vibe that this song captured for me, and obviously that's how I would have blogged on it. :)
*forget his last name, but wasn't he your team leader when you got there?
I don't remember offhand who that John would have been, alas. Nor do I know who that temp would have been.
But the reason I gave "Heaven Tonight" the reading I did was that Courtney repeated the "horses galloping" metaphor 3 times. Repeated metaphors can be a sign of lazy songwriting, and that may well be applicable, but just as often it's a sign that someone has chosen a very particular phrase for a very particular reason, and I find it all too easy to read H into horses. Much is inferrable from this song; everybody's right.