The Ubuntu logo stood there innocently over an orange bar that indicated the completion rate of the project. Meanwhile, inside my desktop computer, files and programs vaporized into thin air. Nothing was left in its wake except empty storage spaces on my hard drive. Then slowly, the Ubuntu Linux operating system began to establish itself in the barren wasteland that had once been a Windows environment. Step by step, a new operating system and new programs made their home on my computer.
Category: music
the Bangles star “bangled” banner night
I didn't intend for this to be 80's nostalgia week, with back-to-back postings about Prince and the Bangles, but that's how the muse struck me this week. So what? I make no apologies for that. And you can try to throw the proverbial book at the Bangles for the supposedly heinous crime of performing while old (though they really aren't that old), and they will still continue to play hard. The way they played Friday night, the band had nothing to apologize for.
a nice little gem of a band called Soundpool
Could Soundpool end up being Brian Wilson’s favorite shoegazer band?
in defense of the art of DJ’ing
Recently, there has been debate over whether DJ’s can, in fact be considered legitimate musicians or musical artists. Since I’ve begun to do a little DJ’ing recently, and have also played musical instruments and taken music lessons, I feel that I can speak to this issue.
tribute to D. Boon
I went to a number of punk shows when I was in college. I listen to very little punk nowadays—when I do, I usually grow tired of it after about ten minutes. But I've never grown tired of the Minutemen--indeed I listen to them now more than before. They did not fit the stereotype of spiked, pierced and leather-clad punk rockers (which usually wasn’t accurate anyway), they were just three regular guys from San Pedro who played a high-octane mix of punk, funk, jazz and folk.
dance as if i’m in the DJ booth
Friday night I make my debut as a DJ at the Madtown Barefoot Boogie.
arthur lee, the good humor man he sees everything like this
YouTube has been a great way to find footage of the musical groups that I like. Unfortunately, for me it was also the source of some sad news. I learned that Arthur Lee, the lead singer of the 60’s rock band Love, passed away two months ago.
the polyphonic spree…it’s alternative to alternative
I think the Polyphonic Spree take it a step further. They minimize the idea that they are anything beyond a choral symphonic pop band. But to me it feels they are making a deliberate, revolutionary, and downright subversive act by flooding the room with positive words and positive energy, without irony and without apology.
music format: what is the sound of a round object spinning?
In my still relatively short lifetime, I am astounded at the many rapid changes that have occurred in the way that people play and store music. If people ask me what format I have my music in, my reply will be simple—I’ll say I prefer the round kind.
times like these, time and time again…
So when I first heard Nirvana, I thought “Yuck! It’s warmed-over Black Sabbath!” I felt frustrated as the record industry and the music press seemed locked in a goose-step towards grunge, a two-dimensional world in which music “sucked” if it didn’t “rawk.” I felt that Seattle grunge represented the death of Alternative rock, with the band members of Nirvana as its pallbearers. However, I did develop a grudging (grunging?) respect for the late Kurt Cobain, born just three months before me. I have a copy of their “Unplugged in New York” CD, which I consider to be a classic. It features acoustic (and therefore non-abrasive) versions of their songs as well as some folk and blues standards by other artists, including an old Leadbelly song.