MOG - Truth's Posts

Yuris Night Bay Area - A festival at a NASA facility featuring Phil Lesh and Amon Tobin

Truth — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:00:28 GMT

Posting this for some friends of mine who are organizing and promoting this event.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. NASA + Amon Tobin + Phil Lesh + much, much more

================================== Calling all cosmonauts, inventors, dreamers, and explorers ...

Tickets for Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 are

now on sale!

http://yurisnightbayarea.net

Yuri's Night Bay Area

2pm - 2am, April 12th, 2008

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

This year the San Francisco Bay Area will be home to the largest Yuri's Night celebration ever. At the NASA Ames Research Center over 8,000 people will join astronauts, artists, musicians, scientists and engineers to learn, celebrate, and pay tribute to our global space heritage; and to celebrate the anniversaries of the first human spaceflight and the first space shuttle mission. Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 is a one-of-a-kind local community event: a perfect fusion of celebration and tribute, technology expo, Maker Faire, art exhibition, and music festival; all rolled into one.

Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 includes:

A mind-expanding series of speakers including SAUL GRIFFITH, head of

MAKANI POWER, an innovative new company seeking to harness high-altitude

wind energy as a cheap alternative to coal; and NASA astrobiologist

JONATHAN TRENT, leader of the new NASA G.R.E.E.N. team for green

technology research.

A TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE featuring leading Bay Area alternative energy

companies including SOLFOCUS, WRIGHTSPEED, CALCARS, and TESLA MOTORS.

Plus, dozens of art and science installations spanning everything from

NASA ROBOTS & ROVERS to the unveiling of the newest fire sculpture by

the FLAMING LOTUS GIRLS.

A world-class lineup of musical artists, ranging from the electronic
breakbeat sounds of AMON TOBIN, TIPPER, and JOHN TEJADA to rockin' live

performances by FREEZEPOP, PARTICLE, and the very special debut of

TELSTAR, featuring PHIL LESH of the Grateful Dead.

Live performances of all kinds, from dance and acrobatics by CAPACITOR
(San Francisco's ground-breaking interdisciplinary dance company) to

aerial demonstrations featuring Yuri-Gagarin-era AEROBATIC AIRCRAFT.

...and much, much more! Browse the partial list below!

Tickets are available on-line for $40 (plus applicable fees). A limited number of tickets may be available for $50 at the door -- check the website for status. If you are interested in helping out at the event, please fill out the volunteer form on our website.

Muxtape

Truth — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:50:06 GMT

Has anyone checked out this new service yet?

http://www.muxtape.com

I think you'll like it...making my first mix right now.

killer weekend ahead with Wilco and The Beastie Boys in Berkeley

Truth — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:37:36 GMT

It's Wilco tonight and The Beastie Boys tomorrow night. I'm planning on posting some updates through it all via my twitter account.

Have you seen the Stmashing Pumpkins setlists?

Truth — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:15:21 GMT

I just took a look at the sets the Pumpkins were playing during their residency in North Carolina. Pretty amazing stuff. Multi-set shows and performing songs I thought we're bygones from the previous Pumpkins era - such as "Drown" and "Starla"

Anyone actually at any of these shows and file a report?

Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John is this summer’s “Crazy”

Truth — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:33:17 GMT

Remember how every radio station, regardless of what their rock variation format is, played Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” last summer? This year’s equivalent is Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks”, a song I’ve been liking ever since I heard it the first time. But that first time was 9 months ago and now every single radio station out here in San Francisco is playing it every hour.
A good song in danger of being put in “sick of” status.
Even worse, all the DJs out here refer to it as “That whistling song”

My Summer Album 2007 - "The Mix Up" by Beastie Boys

Truth — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:30:10 GMT

Happy Summertime!

It's my favorite time of year. Shorts, sandals, long days of sunshine. Just love it.

And I'm declaring the new Beastie Boys album "The Mix Up" as my soundtrack album for summer.

Enjoy...

And Wilco is coming to the Greek Theater this summer, too

Truth — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:35:56 GMT

Holy crap...what a weekend at the Greek in late August. Wilco on Friday, August 24.

Then the Beastie Boys the next night.

Beastie Boys Coming to San Francisco

Truth — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:57:28 GMT

Holy Crap...I didn't think I'd get to see the Beasties at anything less than some giant coliseum or stadium ever again.

Saturday, August 25 at the Greek Theater in Berkeley.

Bay Area Moggers - Who's Going to Arcade Fire Tomorrow Night?

Truth — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:33:32 GMT

The Arcade Fire wraps up the North American part of their tour tomorrow night at the Greek Theater in Berkeley.

Who's gonna be there? Who wants to meet up by the beer tent?

Heard the new Smashing Pumpkins single this morning

Truth — Mon, 21 May 2007 17:19:21 GMT

Heard Tarantula this morning on the drive into work. And you know what? I liked it. And I've made that leap into deciding that I'm happy they're back -- despite it only being 50% of the original band.

Maybe I'm enthusiastic because I managed to score tix to 2 nights of their Fillmore run. Anyone else around here going to those shows? What nights?

Here's a YouTube clip of Tranatula (sorry about the lame Billy Corgan slideshow)

The Greatest Long Tracking Shots in Cinema

Truth — Thu, 17 May 2007 23:25:33 GMT

Yeah, I know this is a music community, but there's been plenty of discussion of movies here and since I just spent 90 minutes with this blog post - http://dailyfilmdose.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-take.html - I'm willing to wager a beer at the Mog anniversary party that someone here might find it intersting.

The post is about the greatest tracking shots in movie history and it has the added bonus of actually including the YouTube clips. If you like movies, check it out you won't be disappointed.

Here's my favorite...from Kill Bill, Vol. 1:

Smashing Pumpkins to play 8 Shows at The Fillmore in late July

Truth — Mon, 14 May 2007 15:20:41 GMT

Thats right - 8 shows at the Fillmore. Also a 9 night run in North Carolina

http://harpmagazine.com/news/detail.cfm?article=11212

10 Minutes from the Film Baraka

Truth — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:54:06 GMT

One of my favorite films of all time.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7877306475042790908

Note: Tried embedding the video, but couldn't.

Getting ready for the weekend with Desmond Dekker

Truth — Fri, 04 May 2007 23:01:43 GMT

Wilco ... toys?

Truth — Fri, 04 May 2007 20:25:55 GMT

Wilco is selling "1,000 sets of these 2" super cute/cool/freaky dolls" (their words not mine). Available from the Wilco store on June 15

This is interesting...OK, its downright weird. And certainly not as cool as the Big Lebowski action figures coming out in the fall

Now THAT I'll be getting my hands on.

Thick Like Beyonce's Leg

Truth — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:59:18 GMT

Hilarious...According to Mike D, "Thick Like Beyonce's Leg" was considered as the title for their upcoming album.

http://www.xfmmanchester.co.uk/Article.asp?id=400039

I'm hoping this new album has the Beasties picking up their instruments again...like in the Check Your Head days.

(And apologies to all those Beyonce fans out there)

Tonight From NASA Ames...

Truth — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:20:51 GMT

Yuri's Night '07 Bay Area A Science and Sound Expo at NASA Ames Research Center.

Hey folks...ive been missing in action around here for quite awhile. Whats been keeping my so busy is this project: http://center.arc.nasa.gov Just took the wrapping off of it this morning.

The site launch was also coordinated with a cool event thats been thrown at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. Yuris Night -- which if you're in the bay area I encourage you to come check out. Its going to be a great time...something completely different for NASA Ames. Specific details at http://www.worldspaceparty.com

Lots of DJs performing, including Plaid. A detailed schedule is at http://center.arc.nasa.gov/category/events/yuris-night/. I'll be live blogging on the page from the event (hopefully) all night long. Stay tuned.

And theres a webcast going on if you cant make it. Link for that is: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=38879 I'll be live blogging from the event (hopefully) all night long. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile... -The MOG notifications folder of my email client contains 500+ unread emails -Mason is crawling all over the house...and the house is terribly un-childproofed. -Lots of cool new features on Mog which I have no idea how to use yet. Its like I left the house and while I was gone, a reality show came in and redesigned the whole place -Did manage to book a family trip to Tuscany for this October. Those plane tickets are like Linus' blanket to me right now. -Neil Young's "live from massey hall" and Emiliana Torrini's album have been the on heavy rotation the last few weeks

Update on the guy down the hall who has 3rd row tix to the Police

Truth — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:59:23 GMT

He came in this morning apparently with a change of heart and told me he'd sell them to me for face value (& ticketbastard fees) as long as was going and not flipping them, saying "its the right thing to do"

So I'm going. YAAAAAAYYYY.

Lester Bangs on Van Morrison's Astral Weeks

Truth — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:06:28 GMT

If you're looking for some good reading this evening, check out this excellent essay Lester Bangs penned about Van the Man and the masterpiece Astral Weeks

http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/reviews/astral.html

The Van Morrison vinyl has been on heavy rotation in our house since Valentine's Day. My wife and I are seriously considering referring to Valentine's Day as Van Morrison Day for the rest of our lives.

What is there to do in Houston?

Truth — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:00:48 GMT

My company is shipping me off to Houston all next week. I've never been there and have no idea what to do with my evenings. Anyone know anything about that city? Or can lead me to a good website that can set me straight?

I need some info on good places (neighborhoods, bars, etc) to hang out and things to see.

Help me out.

thanks in advance!

So the guy down the hall has 3rd row tix to the Police...doesnt want to go...and wont sell them to me

Truth — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 12:17:33 GMT

Someone I work with just got into the Police presale and scored 3rd row for the Police show in Oakland. But he has zero intention of going. I offered him face value plus all his expenses/charges for the tix. And he said no. His intention is to post them on stub hub and scalp for a profit.

SOOOOOO PISSED

Double Shot Thursday – Here’s 2 from Looper

Truth — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:49:39 GMT

Had a random flashback on the drive into work this morning of growing up in Connecticut in the 80’s and listening to WHCN while getting ready for school. You always knew it was Thursday, because WHCN would do “double-shot Thursday” and play two songs by every band. Back then, that meant two Zeppelin, Clapton, or Who tunes. Unfortunately, it also meant that sometimes you’d get stuck with two songs from Bob Seger or Boston. This was the 80’s after all…in not-so-hip Connecticut….where classic rock rules all.

So I’m going to pay homage to that this morning by giving you two songs from Looper. One of those bands I had forgotten about until I recently unearthed a shoebox containing some items (including misc. cds full of songs) thought lost from a moving tragedy.

Looper is a band headed up by Stuart David, who at one time was bassist in Belle and Sebastian. If you think you’ve heard these songs before in a commercial or a movie or something like that, you probably have. The band has funded their recent efforts by licensing use of their songs for soundtracks like Vanilla Sky. For the past couple of years, they’ve been releasing songs directly to the public at their website http://www.looperama.com/

The Police - Reunion Tour - North American Dates

Truth — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:03:00 GMT

From http://www.thepolicetour.com/news/

28 May GM Place, Vancouver BC 06 Jun Key Arena, Seattle WA 09 Jun Pepsi Center, Denver CO 15 Jun MGM Grand Garden, Las Vegas, NV 16 Jun Bonnaroo Festival, Manchester, TN 18 Jun US Airways Arena, Phoenix, AZ 26 Jun American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX 30 Jun New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA 02 Jul Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO 22 Jul Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON 25 Jul Bell Centre, Montreal, PQ 28 Jul Fenway Park, Boston, MA 01 Aug Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 03 Aug Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Steve Jobs posts "Thoughts on Music"...

Truth — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:38:16 GMT

... and proposes abolishing Digital Rights Management (DRM)

From http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/

"The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player."

I bet I can completely lose track of time with one of these.

Truth — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:07:10 GMT

Good chance somebody has already posted about this...

Reactable

The reactable, is a multi-user electronic music instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface. Several simultaneous performers share complete control over the instrument by moving physical objects on a luminous table surface. By moving and relating these objects, representing components of a classic modular synthesizer, users can create complex and dynamic sonic topologies, with generators, filters and modulators, in a kind of tangible modular synthesizer or graspable flow-controlled programming language.

This instrument is being developed by a team of digital luthiers (Sergi Jordà, Martin Kaltenbrunner, Günter Geiger and Marcos Alonso), at the Music Technology Group within the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.

More information: http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable

Can we get one for the Coachella Mog House?

Requesting input for a mix

Truth — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:42:30 GMT

I'm heading up to the mountains of Tahoe this weekend for a couple days of skiing. And I've got an iPod shuffle to fill with tunes to listen to while shredding down the mountain and chilling on the lift ride up.

What could be me more enticing to the Mog community that the blank canvas of an empty iPod shuffle to fill?

Looking for input and suggestions. Fire away.

Been Mogging for 6 months…Time to introduce you to my family

Truth — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:26:54 GMT

It’s been 6 months (plus a few days) since I signed on to be part of the Mog community and as one might expect, my music collection has inflated and my iPod is starting to expand at the seams. Without the great people on Mog, my music collection would still be void of wonderful artists such as Iron and Wine, Sufjan Stevens, and The Be Good Tanyas. Nor would I have been given a heads up to great plays like “Sinatra At the Sands” or that Zero 7 actually released a new album last year. And I’m not sure that I would have awareness of emerging artists like The Hold Steady, TV on the Radio, and Peter Bjorn & John.

So first I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you for enriching my life in such a wonderful way.

But while discovering new music through people has been a total and expected joy, what I did not anticipate was the joy and how my life has been enriched by the other part of Mog's mantra - discovering new people through music.

Admittedly, I came to the Mog world very guarded. This was my first serious attempt at being part of an online community and while I wasn’t interested in being a total lurker, I participated in a manner that, for the most part, attempted to maintain a degree of personal anonymity. I have no solid reasons for this behavior. Perhaps the media’s obsession with MySpace incidents or some paranoia of online identity theft subconsciously planted a seed of “don’t give them too much info about yourself”. Or maybe I’m just shy and prefer the spotlight be shined somewhere else. Honestly, I’m not sure.

However, as I spent more time hanging around Mog, it became clear that continuing to have just one foot in the pool just wasn’t going to cut it. Such behavior meant that I wasn’t going to get as much out of Mog as I could be. Thus, a change is necessary and change is what I am planning.

It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago that someone on Mog actually referred to me by my actual first name in a post. While it may have been a subtle thing, it “broke the ice” so to speak and it’s time to continue breaking through by sharing the important thing to me – my family.

Not to make excuses, but I actually joined Mog 2 weeks before my son, Mason, was born. Without a doubt, Mason’s presence in our home the last 5 ½ months, finding my way as a first-time father, and simply giving up being on the net for spending time with him has impeded my ability to post all the music-related things I think of and responding in a timely manner to the excellent posts I read and want to participate in.

Anyway, here’s a pic of Mason – who bumped my iPod from the list of top 5 things that give me pride and joy. Mason’s number one - with a bullet.

That’s a pic of him preparing for his first recording session. I like to walk by saying “I could of used a little more cowbell!”.

Here’s my wife, Keturah, with Mason before a 49ers game last December

And finally, here’s me and Mason on the walk out to Mavericks near our house in Half Moon Bay (the surfers here probably know what I’m talking about)

Yeah…all of our recent pictures have Mason in them. I mean, look at him. How could you just not want to take pictures of him all the time?

So if you don’t already know it, my name is J.J. and it’s a complete pleasure to be with ALL of you.

I will now end this long bit of melo-drama and return you to your regularly scheduled Mog programming.

Cheers!

The Shins -- performing on Morning Becomes Eclectic next week

Truth — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 17:59:32 GMT

Listening to KCRW this morning and just noticed that the Shins will be performing on the show next week. Specifically on Thursday, Jan. 25

http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/mb070125the_shins

Just thought id pass it along

from NPR -- Band Tries to Make It Big Without Going Broke

Truth — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 17:56:46 GMT

This is an excellent piece that I heard on NPR's "All Things Considered" last night about a band's life in the biz and the struggles of making a career out of music, which ultimately can make you a business person when what you really want to be is an artist.

You can read the full transcript of find a listen link over here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6885355

Here's an excerpt...

"The Dresden Dolls are a band on the verge of making it. Unless, of course, they don't. They've been touring almost full time for years, playing to ever-larger crowds and opening for some big-name bands. They've toured with Nine Inch Nails. But even at that level, it's very tough for a band to make enough money to survive. Just renting a tour bus costs $1,000 a day, including the cost of gas and a driver.

So like many other musicians, Palmer has been finding out that before you can take over the world, you have to learn how to survive. You can't play for beer money. Bands have to scramble, be entrepreneurial and make money in some unexpected ways. And you need to draw large crowds to buy tickets to your shows."

(Apologies if someone has already posted about this)

to the iPhone critics

Truth — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 06:21:06 GMT

OK...so $500-$600 is a lot for a cellphone or even for an ipod.

And yeah...4 or 8 gb just isnt enough

But remember when you first loaded up your iPod with all your tunes and used that scroll wheel. Here's how thats been advanced. (taken from an article at the new york times)

As on any iPod, scrolling through lists of songs and albums is a blast — but there’s no scroll wheel. Instead, you flick your finger on the glass to send the list scrolling freely, according to the speed of your flick. The scrolling spins slowly to a stop, as though by its own inertia. The effect is both spectacular and practical, because as the scrolling slows, you can see where you are before flicking again if necessary.

holy shit does this sound cool. this is a major advance in the computer interface and good sign for the future.

theirs an faq page at the times thats worth a look. (watch the demo of the finger flick in the video)

Prediction: The Arcade Fire will own 2007

Truth — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:53:52 GMT

It seems like that everytime I check out the mog-o-sphere there's a fresh post about The Arcade Fire (and yeah...here's another) and there's tons of us excited about the upcoming album

They will most likely have a prime slot at Coachella Their upcoming set of 5 shows in NYC sold out in minutes.

All signs point to a big year for this band. I'm just crossing my fingers for a Fillmore or Greek Theatre show out here in SF.

So who do you think is going to play Coachella this year?

Truth — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 23:56:15 GMT

A Coachella lineup annoucement is probably just a couple weeks away and I just read an amusing take on predicting who's going to be performing at Coachella over at Idolator:

I agree with the article that Arcade Fire will be there.

Also hoping for TV on the Radio, The Shins, Peter Bjorn and John, and Mos Def

Hell would probably freeze over before this happened...but how about if Fugazi got back together and played one of those hot tents in the afternoon.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Noise Pop 2007

Truth — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 23:31:38 GMT

Just saw who's confirmed for Noise Pop 2007 in San Francisco.

Wow!

http://www.noisepop.com/2007/schedule.php

The Ponys, The Dandy Warhols, Jolie Holland, The Donnas, Sebadoh, Ted Leo And The Pharmacists, Josh Ritter, Autolux, Richard Swift, Earlimart, Ghostland Observatory, Midlake, Hella, Vic Chesnutt, Lyrics Born, John Vanderslice, Spinto Band and Clinic are all confirmed to play

Tour Dates for The Shins

Truth — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 15:03:52 GMT

Here you go.

02-08 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue 02-09 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom 02-10 Chicago, IL - Congress Theater 02-11 St. Louis, MO - The Pagent 02-12 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall 02-13 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall 02-15 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium 02-16 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue 02-20 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater 02-21 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom 02-25 London, England - The Astoria

Sadly, no San Francisco dates. :-(

Johhny Cash Box Set - great deal over at Amazon

Truth — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 20:52:07 GMT

If you're lacking any Johnny Cash in your cd collection, you can take care of that little problem by heading over to Amazon and getting The Legend box set at the super steal price of $20 (!!!!). I just ordered a copy and thought orders might like to know, too.

Retro Panasonic Headphones

Truth — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:19:32 GMT

I'm really wanting these for some reason. And just in time to add to my wish list for Santa. My parents had headphones like these that connected to their faux-oak encased audio hi-fidelity system, probably made by Magnavox...another thing I randomly lust after.

Panasonic RP-HTX7 retro-style headphones Only $35.

More info at http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9663334-1.html?tag=cnetfd.mt

Yusuf Islam - The Return of Cat Stevens

Truth — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:35:42 GMT

I first posted about this last Thursday, right before MOG has its breakdown and spent the afternoon in therapy. When MOG got up off the couch, it would seem that my post was lost.

Regardless, what I wrote was a spur of the moment post about hearing a song by Yusuf Islam on Morning Becomes Eclectic and loving it so much that I jumped over to Amazon and ordered it right away.

The cd - An Other Cup - came yesterday and I'm truly loving it.

Some of you may know Yusuf's music from his former name - Cat Stevens. Its been a long time since I even thought about listening to Cat Stevens and let me just say, that I forgot how enjoyable his music is. With a 3 month old baby boy sitting around my house and redefining my existence these days, its fair to say that hearing Yusuf Islam on KCRW last week and being reminded of Cat Stevens may be a case of me hearing the right music at the right time. Furthermore, I can report that my son seems to be enjoying this new record as much as I am. He is certainly being given every opportunity to take it in.

Yusuf has changed much more than his name in the 30 years since he last recorded pop music, having converted to Islam, gotten into a controversy with Salman Rushdie, and had some difficulty with acces into the U.S. Still, I'm happy to report that this record bleeds positive vibes that you might expect him to lose sight of in the decades since he decided to no longer be Cat Stevens. If you liked the sound of Cat Stevens (or if you're a Nick Drake fan), I can say that you'll probably like An Other Cup.

Archive of Wilco's show from the 9:30 club in DC

Truth — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 19:46:40 GMT

Someone may have already posted this, but if you are interested in streaming an archive of Wilco's performance from the 9:30 club in D.C. on Oct. 19 head on over to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6262709

Listening to it right now and one thing I'm thinking about how improved the audio quality of music streaming is these days. It's come a long way since the first time I tried something like this (SonicNet's broadcast of the Tibetan Freedom concert in the late 90's)

In need of iPod help...surely theres a genius out there that can help me

Truth — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:02:52 GMT

I listen to my iPod on shuffle songs mode all the time. Sometimes Ill hear a song i want to earmark for later (to remember to add to a mix...talk to somebody about...etc.) by quickly adding it to my On-The-Go playlist default on the iPod

This scenario happens often when im driving my car to/from work and fumbling with an iPod while driving is even less safe than holding a cell phone to your ear when behind the whell.

I thought that you were supposed to be able to easily hold down a button for a few seconds and the song you are listening to gets added to the on-the-go playlist. But I cant figure it out.

Can someone show me the way?

thanks!

Wilco streaming their show from D.C. on the internet tonight

Truth — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:39:32 GMT

Just got this in my email box and passing it along.

Wilco is streaming their show onto the Internet tonight from the 9:30 Club, Washington DC

Streams live beginning at 10pm Eastern Time. Go to http://wilcoworld.net/roadcase/ or to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6262709

Good read about the closing of Tower Records in San Francisco

Truth — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:54:18 GMT

I must have driven by the Tower Records on Columbus and Bay a hundred times...hard to believe it won't be there anymore.

This is a an enjoyable article about that store and its history. The article has some wonderful stories and decent commentary about the current state of the music retail busines..

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/19/TOWER.TMP

Thought it was worth sharing.

The Filter for iTunes

Truth — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 03:58:12 GMT

No...this isnt a new Mog feature that allows you to do something like "filter posts to view only posts that have something to do with what is on my iPod"

The Filter for iTunes seems like a way to use your iTunes library in way similar to how you use Pandora. So if you like picking a song a two and then telling a piece of software "make me a cool mix to listen to based on that"...this might be for you. Except that what The Filter makes for you is based on stuff that you've already stuck into iTunes...so presumably you already think that its cool...you adore it...etc.

From the web site at www.thefilter.com

"Instead of browsing at random through your music collection we’ve created a program that can build you excellent playlists to fit your mood. All you need to do is select a few songs from your iTunes library and then start The Filter."

im just starting to try it out...will report back on my tests.

Seu Jorge

Truth — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:49:30 GMT

First things first. Wes Anderson's last movie "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" was completely disappointing for me. After being completely transfixed by his first 3 films - Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, & The Royal Tennenbaums -- I truly believed Mr. Anderson could do no wrong. I went into Life Aquatic expecting continued greatness and even while I was watching it, I knew it was falling flat.

Pretty much the only thing I found enjoyable about the film was Seu Jorge -- the acoustic guitar player who seemed to be in the background of every scene singing a Portuguese version of David Bowie songs.

There's actually a CD of those recordings availalbe and I'm pretty hooked on it. I seem to be putting it on every Sunday morning while drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. It always puts a smile on my face and makes even the cloudiest of mornings a little brighter. Makes my two month old son smile, too.

Wait a minute...THAT'S the Beastie Boys???

Truth — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 16:49:36 GMT

It's funny to me how many times something similar has happened to what happnend the other night. We're having a couple guests over our house for dinner and for dinner music, I put on "The In Sound From Way Out" by the Beastie Boys.

Certainly, many of you know and adore that album (like I do). For those who don't, it's a collection of instrumental tracks that have been sprinkled throughout Beastie' albums like "Check Your Head" and "Ill Communication".

It's a great album to have on in the background (like during dinner) as its rich in jazzy and minor funk grooves. It never gets too heavy...but it never gets too snoozy either. I've put this on during dinner many times and its inevitable for a guest to say something along the lines of "This is really cool music, who is this?" When I reply, "it's the Beastie Boys"...the typical response response is along the lines of jaw dropping, disbelief, and "NO WAY!" Apparently, there's many uneducated listeners out there who still associate the Beastie's with the "Fight for Your Right (to Party)" days or, at best, "Sabotage".

Get it...throw it on next time you have guests. You'll see what I mean.

Another disc that evokes similar reponse is a 1974 album from Robert Palmer..."Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley"

Yes, THAT Robert Palmer. The guy ususally associated with chicks wearing tight skirts that wear lots of lipstick and Pepsi commercials. This album just grooves from start to finish. A perfect listen for a bright, sunny day. And by the way, The Meters were the backing band on this album.

I dont know how to label this category but anyone want to add to it?

Dust Galaxy - new project from Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation

Truth — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:27:18 GMT

I'm a pretty big Thievery Corporation fan. So much that I've even seen them perform dj-sets at clubs -- which isn't the best way to get into Thievery Corporation. They are much better performing with their live band. Eric Hilton isn't that bad of a DJ, but Rob Garza can'd beat match at all...and he dosent even try. Which is why I was a bit concerened to read the email about Rob Garza's new solo project called Dust Galaxy.

You can hear some samples at this myspace page

And you know what? Its not as bad as I thought. Not groundbreaking. But not unlistenable.

From the email...

"While recording in London with producer Brendan Lynch (Primal Scream, Paul Weller), Lynch and Garza enlisted guest musicians including Shawn Lee, Martin Duffy & Darrin Mooney (Primal Scream), Adam Blake (Cornershop), and Jim Townsend (the Peoples Revolutionary Choir). These new songs were born out of little musical and lyrical sketches. Expect to hear sounds of psychedelic India , British paisley beats, post-punk, and American roots rock when the self titled album drops in March. Look for several singles this Fall starting with Come Here the Trumpets featuring remixes by Shawn Lee, Fort Knox Five, and Beyond The Wizards Sleeve.

But first is a short tour of east coast culminating in a headlining slot at legendary radio station KCRWs CMJ showcase in New York City on November 1st. The touring band will feature such luminaries as James Canty (The Make-Up, Ted Leo/Pharmacists) on guitar and effects, Jerry Busher (Fugazi, French Toast) on drums, Ashish Vyas (GoGoGo Airheart,) on bass, along with Rob on guitar and vocals."

In Memory of Janis Joplin

Truth — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:14:11 GMT

She died on this day in 1970.

File under the "there will never be another..." category

Can't decide? Just buy all of it

Truth — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:55:57 GMT

Granted, this is hard to do the first time you hear someone with a huge catalog (like Miles, Dylan, Johnny Cash, Van Morrison, etc.), but…

Have you ever been so inspired by hearing a piece of music for the first time that you went out to Tower (or Virgin or Amoeba or wherever) and bought that entire artist’s catalog?

Most recently, it happened to me after seeing Daft Punk at Coachella.

Over the years, I’ve been inspired to empty my wallet for…

The Chemical Brothers Thievery Corporation Jane’s Addiction Ben Harper The Shins Money Mark Mogwai

What about you? Ever hear it, then just go out and get it all?

Up From The Catacombs: The Best of Janes Addiction- (???) - reviewed at Pitchfork

Truth — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 17:29:31 GMT

There’s a review of the new Best of Janes Addiction album up at Pitchforkthat’s worth a read. It’s more of a nice commentary on Jane’s than a review of the album. There are some good things to ponder. I ponder I have.

When I heard that a best of Jane’s album was on its way, I thought to myself, "Why?" (just like in the article) They should just package up the first 3 Jane’s cds (self-titled, Nothing’s Shocking, and Ritual De Lo Habitual) up as a box set and everyone should just have that. Its hard to eliminate anything from the first three albums.

I took a look at the tracklist for the Best Of disc and it validated what I thought.

1.Stop 2.Ocean Size 3.Whores 4.Ted, Just Admit It 5.Ain't No Right 6.Had A Dad 7.Superhero 8.Been Caught Stealing 9.Just Because 10.Three Days 11.I Would For You 12.Classic Girl 13.Summertime Rolls 14.Mountain Song 15.Pigs In Zen 16.Jane Says - (live)

How can “I Would For You” make it, but not "Then She Did"? No "1%?? I’ve heard "Just Because" No way is it better than "Standing in the Shower, Thinking". There wasn’t a better concert opening than "Up The Beach" and that’s not here, either.

Back in the early 90’s, I was a major Jane’s Addiction. I distinctly remember the first night of my sophomore year of college and being exposed to Jane’s Addiction for the first time. I was playing drinking games with my friends in a dorm room and someone had the first Jane’s album on. I remember listening and thinking, "OK, this is kinda cool" then hearing the trio of Janes Says – Rock and Roll – Sympathy for the Devil and then thinking "Wow, this is REALLY cool"

I dove in pretty hard after that. Everytime Jane’s was written about in a magazine, I bought it. First time I saw them live was at the Springfield, Massachusetts Civic Center. That was the first concert I ever experience slam dancing or the rush of crowd surfing. (I’m older now and I don’t miss slam dancing all that much, but would love to go to crowd surf again). They used some sort of compressed cardboard to cover the ice of the hockey rink and all the slam dancing stared to flake it apart. I remember after the show, I blew my nose and a bunch of brown paper flakes came out it. The following summer was the first summer of Lollapalooza and I went to four of those shows. That was a defining summer for me – I moved away from home for good, had my first experiences living both by myself and with strangers. I went through “experimenting with hallucinogens” phase. Lollapalooza was a big part of that summer.

I’ve been struggling with my relationship with Janes for a couple years. It’s like a girl you once loved and spent a ton of time with him. Eventually you drifted apart (amicably), kept in touch, and even emai’d once and a while. Then, randomly, she moves to the same town as you and you start bumping into one another all over the place. Problem is you’ve both changed and you think to yourself “I don’t really like you are anymore. You’re really full of yourself and it’s hard to see what I saw in you in the first place.” And that’s never any fun.

The recent albums and tours have reeked of “let’s cash in” and I’m worried that, in the end, they’re going to end up with a nightly gig at some Las Vegas casino. I noticed a post that Chucky made where she embedded a YouTube video of a recent (sometime in the past few years) Jane’s show. It didn’t look right to me. Perry was missing something (maybe it was the heroin)…there wasn’t a dangerous edge to that performance. It looked…forced.

Anyway…I’m rambling and I’m not sure what I started writing about. Oh yeah…go check out that thing in Pitchfork.

In closing, I’d like to say that Chucky’s story in that post about how Jane Says played a part in her marriage is priceless. It’s those sort of stories about the role that music plays in the stories of our lives that make the people here so interesting, in my opinion. Sure, we can connect by saying "Here’s the music I like and here’s what I’m listening to" and that’s great. But I love reading about the roles that music has played in shaping who we are and brought us to this point. It’s just another way that music allows us to share and connect with each other and it’s my favorite part of Mog.

At least until, Mog faciliates me crowd-surfing with all of you.

Read a good book lately?

Truth — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 18:12:04 GMT

I just finished reading a book last night and have nothing on deck.

Yes - I'm kinda of in the mood to read a music related book and thats why im posting here, but all recos are welcome.

Incidentally, what i just finished was "The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth.

Cover of Beck's Upcoming Album

Truth — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:12:01 GMT

Just read that Beck's new album "The Information" will supposedly ship with a sheet of stickers so that people can make their own album cover.

Fun!!!

This will probably be the first new physical cd I buy in my post itunes/ipod world.

DJ Shadow at Amoeba Records in Berkeley and SF today

Truth — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:05:55 GMT

Hey Bay Area moggers...

DJ Shadow will be making in-store performances today at ...

Amoeba Records Berkeley at 4 pm Amoeba Recods San Francisco at 8 pm

(Times are cali time)

http://www.djshadow.com/

Jurassic 5 perfomring on Morning Becomes Eclectic this morning

Truth — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 18:03:48 GMT

Head over to www.kcrw.com around 11:20 this morning (that's 11:20 California Time) to hear Jurassic 5 perform live on Morning Becomes Eclectic

Poor sound quality in itunes 7?

Truth — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:58:53 GMT

This report references issues people are having with iTunes 7. What's worrying me are the reports of poor sound quality in the new version

Is anyone here noticing that?

Sonic Palette

Truth — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 14:58:17 GMT

Thought people here might be interested in this new "instrument" that was created by someone who went to the same graduate program I did.

http://www.sonicpal.com/

SONIC PALETTE SP06 MIDI PERFORMANCE CONTROLLER

• 84 arrayed (7 by 12) pressure sensitive pads

• Completely portable seven octave range

• Exceptionally expressive

• 2 pitch bend sensors, 2 pre-set or assignable knobs

• Multi-channel MIDI set-ups

• Custom set-up options

• Hand finished wood body

• Superior ergonomics

• Play standing, moving, or sitting

• Professional quality

• Easy to learn system

Can You Hold My Stare?

Truth — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:31:19 GMT

The genesis for this post was actually in a comment I made on Lemontwist's post about Mix Tapes. LT (correctly) encouraged me to publish this story as a post, for the reasons you’ll see at the end.

The best cassette mix tape I’ve ever heard wasn’t one that I made or even one that was given to me by a friend or acquaintance. It was actually given to Chris - one of my best friends from college at the University of Vermont. Actually, Chris went to another school in the Burlington area, but that’s a whole different story.

One winter break while back home in Massachusetts (this is about 15 years ago), Chris met this girl who, if I remember correctly, was attending college somewhere in Ohio. Chris came back to Burlington from winter break talking about this girl he had met and started dating…how they’re sort of doing the long-distance relationship thing. Naturally she does what many of us who have done the long distance thing have done…she put together a mix tape and sent it to Chris. Who then shared it with the rest of us.

Let me tell you. This was no ordinary mix tape. The production value was through the roof. In between the songs, she filled the seques with sound bites from movies and non-music pieces from other cd’s. For example, the “W-E-F-U-N-K” bit from a Parliament Funkadelic album was dropped in between songs. The cover art was fantastic and reeking of her artistic efforts.

And then there was the music, which blew me away at the time…introducing me to artists I’ve never heard before like PJ Harvey (“Sheela-Na-Gig” was the track) Then there were some bands that I had heard of before but hadn’t given too much listen to. “Monkey Goes To Heaven” was on it, starting me on my Pixies education. There was a b-side Smashing Pumpkins song – “Starla” – which has become one of my all time favorite songs by SP. At a Smashing Pumpkins show that summer in Montreal, they did Starla during their encore and I think I was about one of 10 people that knew what song it was in the first few bars. I have that mix tape to thank for that.

I wish I could remember all the tracks on it. There was even a secret track at the end of side 1 that she didn’t put on the label. Like I said before, HIGH production value.

She titled her masterpiece “Can You Hold My Stare?” Every once and a while I think about it and send Chris an email with that as the subject line. I think he still has that tape somewhere. At least, I hope so.

The real point of this post really isn’t to tell you all about that tape. What I really want to do is tell that person THANK YOU. Sadly, I don’t even remember her name (and neither does Chris). As I commented on Lemontwist’s post, I realized that she may be a Mogger. And if so, she should know that she did a lot of good with that tape. That her effort was, and continues to be, appreciated. And as much as Mog is about connecting one another with new friends through our musical obsessions, it can and should also be about reconnecting us with influences that have been lost.

Nice work…whoever you are. And if you’re here…step forward and take a bow.

Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem

Truth — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:15:08 GMT

I just love the fact that a thorough wikipedia page exsists for these guys. Ahhh...its the little granular details that make the internet so awesome.

There was a mix tape I made in college that was often played at our parties.. It had "Can You Picture That" on it...raised the roof every time.

Drinking the Punch: Dylan's Modern Times

Truth — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 19:47:24 GMT

Moggers have given this album a bunch of attnetion and I finally gave it my first listen this morning. Yup...its real good. Hosting a bar-b-q here on the Cali coast Saturday afternoon and have already decided to stick it into heavy rotation that day.

Bar-b-q...beer...dylan ... on a sunny afternoon: how wonderfully american.

WTF??? Dave Navarro on a reality show?

Truth — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 21:53:11 GMT

Seriously, just what the hell is Dave Navarro doing HOSTING a lame reality show on CBS? I loved Janes Addiction while I was in college, but now...I dont know. Im confused. It's bad enough that Flavor Flav ended up as a reality show cast member.

By the way...I only know about crappy tv shows because I have a pop-culture addicted wife. Please believe me!

Music Documentaries

Truth — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 21:08:26 GMT

Im a big fan of the documentary film format, in general.

Over the years, there's been a number of excellent "Rockumentaries." I hate that term for some reason, but no point in trying to think of anything new. Here are some good ones I've seen over the years.

Woodstock - This is just a great documenatary, period. I love the seque into the Who's scene as well as "Villanova Junction" by Jimi Hendrix near the end of the film.

Time Will Tell - I’ve been looking for a copy of this Bob Marley documentary on DVD for years. Still can’t find it. Don't suppose anyone knows where I might be able to find it?

Instrument - People should know a lot more about Fugazi. They stand for a lot of good things. More than just music.

DiG! - Chief Mogger David Hyman was actually the guy who turned me onto this film about The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. After watching it, I started to question how cool the Dandy Warhols actually are.

Gimme Shelter - A documentary about Altamont. The most chilling part of the film is when they show Mick the footage of the Hell’s Angels stabbing fans.

Meeting People is Easy - After seeing this, I’m convinced that Radiohead consider themselves conceptual artists, not musicians. I’d watch this more for the visual appeal than to find out anything truly interesting about Radiohead.

The Compleat Beatles - I’m still waiting to watch the perfect Beatles documentary. I thought The Beatles Anthology just wasn’t objective enough. (I thought the same thing about Bob Dylan: No Direction Home.) The perfect Beatles documentary lasts about 8 hours over the course of 4 nights. I want to the same level of detail given to the Beatles as Ken Burns gave to jazz (which I thought had some good moments, but would have been so much better if he didn't just blow over the whole Miles Davis fusion period ).

Of course, no rockumentary list is complete without mention of “This is Spinal Tap” or “The Rutles”.

Have I missed any other great ones?

Playing in Fog

Truth — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:42:16 GMT

Apologies in advance if someone else aready posted this, but there's a really nice article in the San Francisco Chronicle about Playing in Fog. Basically it's a story about how a music lover turned from a fan into a respected club booker/promoter in San Francisco.

I'm sure there are many among us who have similar daydreams.

It's inspiring and online at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/31/NSGDOIM5RB1.DTL

More about Playing in Fog - http://www.playinginfog.com.

I Miss The Beta Band

Truth — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:19:09 GMT

I caught the film “One Day in September” on IFC the other night, which contains the song “Its Not Too Beautiful” by the Beta Band. And thus, I started thinking about The Beta Band and realized that I miss them. They’re a band, in my opinion, that still had some greatness in them at the time they called it quits. Yeah, I was pretty disappointed by Heroes to Zeroes, but only because I think that “Hot Shots II” is the best album in the past 5 years by a band not named Radiohead.

As long as I’m thinking about it - I also miss Morphine. OK, so they’re gone because Mark Sandman collapsed onstage, but they were pretty unique being a power trio of 2 string bass player, saxophonist, and drummer.

Who do you miss?

By the way, “One Day in September” is a fantastic documentary on the Munich Olympics. You should watch it BEFORE (or even instead of) watching Spielberg’s “Munich”.

Rethinking Coachella 2006

Truth — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 05:00:12 GMT

First things first. Coachella 2006 was a blast. But I’ll be honest and admit that I wasn’t fully prepared to appreciate the music of Coachella as I could have. I didn’t use Coachella as a weekend to discover lots of cool music and artists I wasn’t familiar with. The music I checked out at Coachella was bands that were already in heavy rotation within my music collection and even some bands that I’ve seen live before.

Oh yeah…and I used Coachella 2006 to party…big time. Mainly, because I went down there with a fun crew of over 20 people … including my (at the time) 6 months pregnant wife … who deserves a VERY special call out for being a certified All-Star for those two days…sticking around until after midnight both days. Did I mention that our crew all had V.I.P passes? This, in addition to providing shade during the hot days, made it easy to keep a steady flow of vodka tonics pumping into my blood stream. Certainly, that didn’t help me appreciate what was happening on the stages. That was mistake #1.

But I digress. Here were the set times for the two days of Coachella 2006. http://www.coachella.com/06times.html

One of the major challenges of Coachella is being forced to make choices. You just wont be able to see everything. That’s a basic fact. So you definitely need to plot out some sort of plan of attack for your day. Mistake #2 for me was not doing more investigation of who these bands are in advance.

Anyway, on day 1, I managed to take in Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - which would have been cooler had the sound system in the tent been cranked up Kanye West Damien “Jr Gong” Marley Franz Ferdinand Depeche Mode - which I found pretty boring, but Ill blame that on being too drunk Tosca – highlight of the day She Wants Revenge Daft Punk

If I could change that day, I would shown up in time to watch Wolfmother…blown off Jr. Gong Marley and watched Ladytron, taken a nap to sober up during Franz Ferdinand, and gotten into the tent earlier for a better spot for Daft Punk. Those guys were pretty unreal. It would have been easily worth it to miss She Wants Revenge.

On day 2, it was: Matisyahu Sleater-Kinney Digable Planets Madonna (my wife made me come with her. Madonna was actually a bit cool, but I missed 80% of Mogwai because of it) Massive Attack Tool

A redo would have seen me blow off Madonna and stuck entirely with Mogwai. I’ve since thought that I should have checked out Gnarls Barkley live, but Sleater-Kinney rocked. And you know what? Other than "Crazy", I find the Gnarls Barkely disc to be pretty lame. Massive Attack disappointed…should have been at Mylo’s DJ set.

Anyone else at Coachella this year with second thoughts on the bands they saw and the bands they missed?

Need Live Pearl Jam Recommendations

Truth — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 22:36:10 GMT

One of my cherished live bootleg tapes is a Pearl Jam show from April 1994. Loved listening to that tape. I saw "loved" - as in past tense - because my tape deck hasn't been hooked up for years and my box of tapes occupies the back of a closet in my house. I now consider it a "box of memories that defines ages 12-28 of my life." If my wife makes me toss it, I'm making her toss her youth gymnastics trophies and ribbons.

Anyway, I realized that I miss listening to the energy of live, raw Pearl Jam and have been interested in picking up a couple of the live shows they have released. But since they're releashed about 700 live shows, I'm turning to my fellow Moggers to (hopefully) point out some of the stand outs.

So Moggers -- let me hear it. What are the best live Pearl Jam cd releases?

Mason's Top 5

Truth — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 21:04:24 GMT

In the spirit of "High Fidelity", here are baby Mason's "Top 5 songs that didnt make me cry this past week".

1) "Such Great Heights" - Iron and Wine (from Garden State Soundtrack) 2) "Sonne Mond Und Sterne" - The Starseeds 3) "Human Highway" - Neil Young 4) "Tennessee Stud" - Johnny Cash 5) "What Deaner was Talkin' About" - Ween

Vinyl Found at Garage Sale This Morning

Truth — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 18:58:43 GMT

One of my favorite activities is stumbling upon a garage sale with crates of records. This morning, I went to check my mailbox and saw the neighbors selling off some stuff. Heres is some of what my good fortune got me (for 50 cents a record)

Let it Be - The Beatles Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits Thriller - Michael Jackson Regatta De Blanc - the Police Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits Crosby Stills and Nash

These are mostly nostalgia listens for me now. (Though the Neil Diamond record will come in handy after every big Red Sox win) When I was younger, I had a lot of these things on cassette tapes...but I stopped hooking up my tape player about 3 house moves ago.

LaLa

Truth — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 22:46:41 GMT

I've gotten pretty hooked on lala.com the past few months. Between lala and mog, the web is a cool place for music lovers again. It hasn't been this simple to get new music since the thriving days of Napster. Im all for finding music in Bit Torrent files, but the whole process of finding a torrent file, downloading the torrent, then unpacking it into itunes and my ipod was too time consuming for me. With lala.com, I can trade my older cd's and replensih my collection all for the cost of approx $1 per recevied cd. The time saved to get my hands on an album I've been wanting to check out is worth the dollar.

check it out at http://www.lala.com

Mason and Me

Truth — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 22:37:08 GMT

My baby boy, Mason, was born 9 days ago on August 2, 2006. To get me started contributing to the world of Mog...here's a short list of the some of the music Mason "listened to" when we was still in mommy's womb:

Bob Marley (disc 1 from Songs of Freedom and the Acoustic Medley from disc 2)
Lots of classical music (his mom's favorite)
"Yesterday", "Yellow Submarine" - The Beatles
"Wishful Thinking" - Wilco
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Blue Train - John Coltrane
"New Slang" - The Shins
A bunch of Thievery Corporation
Suzuki - Tosca