3 Stations East

Sort Of

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:55:00 -0500

Yesterday I was looking at my iPod's artist listing - my preferred way to get to music - and realized something: A.C. Newman was the first artist.

This couldn't be, I thought, because forever and ever 10,000 Maniacs have been the first artist.

It seems to be a change in iTunes 7.2.5.2.1.5 though, as no matter how I choose to sort the artist column within the program, my number-based artists are now at the bottom of the heap!

So why did this change? When did this change? And more importantly, why the heck can't I tell iTunes to put my number-based artists up top again?

Here's an Apple Discussion on the issue.

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Various & Sundry

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:23:07 -0500

McNear's Mystic Theatre

Last night I made the trek to Petaluma's Mystic Theatre to witness Various & Sundry, a west coast tour featuring a number of my favorite artists, and one I didn't know.

The lineup:

Glen Phillips, once of Toad the Wet Sprocket and master of solid solo records;
Luke Bulla, a fiddler I did not know;
Sean and Sara Watkins of the soon-to-be-on-hiatus Nickel Creek;
Grant-Lee Phillips, once of Grant Lee Buffalo and likewise master of solid solo records.

Jeani and I went to see Glen many years back in Chicago, and saw him with Nickel Creek a couple years later.

I can't possibly remember every single detail nor the entire song list. The show was a good 2 1/2 hours, though, and I got a front row seat - can't beat that.

Here are highlights and things I remember, in bulleted form:

Glen, the Watkins, and Luke played "Exit Music (for a Film)" - and it was absolutely fantastic. Sara and Luke did a whole verse on fiddle and violin... just lovely.
Glen did "All I Want" - awesome!
The Watkins performed "Somebody More Like You" from the last Nickel Creek release, and Sean captured the song's vitriol really well.
Grant is damned funny. (Well, all of 'em are, but Grant was especially.)
Luke took a picture of the crowd for his MySpace page (not there yet though!)
Grant did a moody version of "Mockingbirds"... great to hear some old stuff.
It was revealed that Grant wears a flannel thong whilst driving the minivan the musicians are touring around in.
Probably the funnest part (for me, anyway) was when Glen got on stage and started talking about a big bowl of peanut butter M&Ms they had backstage. He launched into this long pseudo-scientific explanation about why they were so good... they were frozen, and he said you could split the chocolate and peanut butter on either cheek of the inside of your mouth... "so sweet!" The others agreed. Then, before their final encore, Glen made reference to them again. "Man, they're good. Wait... I'm going to bring out the bowl." So sure enough, after removing his guitar and a round of applause, Glen Phillips emerged from backstage and handed me a bowl of cold peanut butter M&Ms. "Thanks, Glen!"
Somehow the Beatles came up, and Grant expressed his surprise at Paul McCartney's Starbucks-wide promotion. "That guy had his album played in every Starbucks everywhere... what was the name of it?" He took on a British accent and said, "Memory Almost Full?" Grant laughed and then said, "If it's almost full, delete some crap!"
Glen shared how he thought one of the closing numbers - "Hop High" - was called "Hop Eye", "Like someone who had all that green stuff in their eye."
Sara Watkins is generally kickass. Her vocals have gotten way stronger, even in the short time I've become familiar with Nickel Creek. She showed it last night on a great, great version of "Different Drum" with Grant and Sean.
Sean Watkins is a very, very good guitarist.

...And I think that's it for now. All in all, I really enjoyed it! These are five excellent musicians, doing what they love, and it was really inspirational. Live music is just great. As Grant put it, "Isn't it nice to be out here, watching some music instead of just being at home watching TV?" Sure enough.

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A Grower: "My Rights Versus Yours" by The New Pornographers

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:29:38 -0500

Have a listen.

This is, as Matador puts it, a "slow burner". It's the first New Pornographers song I've heard in a while that took a lot of time to grow on me. Most of their stuff is heavy on riffs and hooks, and is easy to get into. This still has them but definitely not in the same vein of, say, "Letter from an Occupant". I'm going to trust it's one of the quieter songs on the upcoming disc Challengers.

Structurally it's nothing different than the other dozens of New Pornographers tunes. You get the instrumental poppy intro (this time a weird keyboard/organ thing, very quiet), a teaser into the verse, and then the chorus. This is a breezy and summery song. The backing vocals set the tone more than the intro, I think, and surprisingly it never explodes in any way. It simmers. It bakes. And then it sits in your head like any of their other tunes.

Not as accessible, perhaps, but I suspect I'll be coming back to this one in the future.

Bonus: their cover of "Your Daddy Don't Know" by Toronto.

New Pornographers - Your Daddy Don't Know

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Song of the Moment: "9 Hours to Go" by Po'Girl

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:19:20 -0500

The song in heaviest rotation this week is, as the title says, "9 Hours to Go" by Po'Girl. Po'Girl is a group out of East Vancouver, and their latest disc is Home to You. I'm pretty sure it's going on my "discs to buy" list.

This particular tune works for me in a lot of ways. It's got a great chorus. It's got banjo. It's got lively, tangy (tangy!) vocals. And it even has a rap break that is not cheesy in any way (see R.E.M.'s "The Outsiders" for an example of cheesy.)

It's not surprising that I like this, given I like the Ditty Bops and a lot of that olde-tyme-ish music.

Check out their tunes on their internet website.

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MacBook, Loud Shirts and Coffee, and 1995 Deja Vu

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:09:21 -0500

The MacBook is back and better than ever. The Apple Store replaced my finicky SuperDrive and had it back to me in a day (well, technically less.) There's definitely a Ping coming about the lousy, stupid reservation system for the Genius Bar though - it doesn't work, or at least, didn't for me.

Just glad the thing can read CDs again.

II.

Yesterday morning I was drinking coffee in the car when I started to spill some. I feared the worst, imagining it had spilled on my shirt. I looked down to see all of it had been spilled onto the seat belt. So I said out loud...

"Saved by the BELT!"

IIa.

Of course I spilled coffee on myself here at work about an hour ago. This time, not so lucky as I wasn't wearing a seat belt. The upside is that my shirt's pattern is loud enough to mask any coffee spill.

III.

I added both the new Tori Amos and Nine Inch Nails albums to my ever-growing "albums to buy" list. It's like it's 1995 all over again, isn't it?

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Still the One

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:21:18 -0500

The New Pornographers remain my Favorite Band of the moment, and here is one of the 30+ reasons why.

New Pornographers My Slow Descent Into Alcoholism

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New Favorite

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:56:28 -0600

I think it's pretty safe to say that the New Pornographers are now my favorite band.

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The Killers

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:43:10 -0500

Mr. Gruber linked to this season's iPod killers. Or, lack thereof.

I don't think the iPod is unstoppable or will be the dominant player forever. I do, however, agree with Gruber that this batch is pretty much a lost cause. I'll give you two big reasons why.

First is clutter. Outside of the Zune, nearly every player pictured on that page has a lot going on. Even the wee Sony, uh, tube player has the Sony logo and the Walkman logo taking up space. But some of these... remind me of the stickers that come on PCs. I mean, does an MP3 player with Bluetooth need a Bluetooth logo right on its fricking face? Do I need a button whose sole function is to repeat a track? Do I need an "X OK" button? (What the hell does that mean, anyway? Cancel and OK?)

Some may argue that these buttons are necessary due to the software UI. In that case, the UI is flawed. Pure and simple.

The Zune is a unique case here: it is almost too decluttered! That's a negative thing, because if you were to look at a Zune you'd have no idea what control does what. Okay, there's a back arrow button and a play/pause button. But how do I get a menu? How do I fast forward? I guess I need to try out that wheel and hope nothing bad happens. (And this may be small but when I rotate the Zune 90 degrees, the buttons don't rotate... so now I've got a down arrow and a sideways play/pause. Petty? I don't think so.) This button/control setup is in stark contrast to the Motley Crew of MP3 Players, with buttons for everything. Both approaches, frankly, stink - but the Zune's stinks for a different reason.

Another problem is these things are horribly named - again, outside of the Zune and the Disney Mix Max (that's actually a great name). But let's get real here. StormBlue A9+ Bluetooth. Sony NW-S706. OSIM iGoGo. Creative Zen V Plus. Maxfield MAX-SIN Touch. Coby PMP4230. Not a single one is compelling. I know Sony has a history of cryptic, oddball names but if you want the tube Walkman instead of the stick Walkman, will you remember the NW-S706 versus the NW-205F? Come on now.

Creative is another close but not quite one here: Creative Zen V Plus is all right, but "V"? Ambiguous. "Plus"? What's in the V that's not in the V Plus? Why am I getting less? Also, Creative Zen Neeon 2. Neeon?

Zune is, in my limited opinion, not compelling. But I give Microsoft some credit here: they obviously looked at the design of the unit and shot for the iPod.

It's unfortunate for people who dislike the iPod - for whatever reason - that the other players out there are frustrating, confusing, and ultimately alienating. They are technology for the sake of technology and that, my friends, almost never wins.

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Pandora, WTF?

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 09:51:40 -0500

Why is Pandora thinking I would like Paris Hilton?

Did someone swap my profile with Anil Dash's? (No offense, good sir.)

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Booker T.

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 09:41:13 -0500

Something that has become obvious to me in the past few months is that I am a huge fan of Booker T. & The M.G.s.

It all started simply enough: I had a song in my head forever, known from my childhood. Did some research on it on iTunes earlier this year and found out it was "Hip Hug Her". Great stuff.

And now, every time a groovy instrumental track appears on Pandora... it's by them. Every time.

I'd like to welcome Booker T. to the upper echelon of Musical Artists I Really Like... so... welcome!

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