Party Sounds with Grateful Dead
Posted: September 25, 2009 Filed under: Listening | Tags: Grateful Dead, iPhone, party sounds, Voice Memos 2 Comments »Voice Memos is rapidly becoming my favorite iPhone app.
Tonight, I used it to capture a wonderful, soothing sound: a party with the Grateful Dead on in the background.
Do these folks know they’re being recorded? A few days ago a total freak came on the subway, feathers in his hair, shopping cart, stuffed animals, crazy colorful clothes. Some meek shlub with Ira Glasses took his picture with his iPhone. This is the panopticon, except we are our own jailers. We’re watching/listening to each other and ourselves.
There was a ditty we used to sing back in the day, in a slightly different context. I think DeLa or somebody was the originator:
“I am the cage, because I know the cage,
I love the cage, and I am the cage.”
To go meta with you, I see your “panopticon” point (thank you for introducing me to that concept – just looked it up on Wikipedia), although I’m still on the glass half full side of things on this. In other words, sure, it’s a little creepy that we can share our experiences so easily now, but I think there’s ultimately more good there than bad. What about the social synthesizer, man?