Free
Posted: October 22, 2009 Filed under: Deep, Listening | Tags: phish, Techdirt Leave a comment »Techdirt today had an interesting read: “How The Record Labels Are Killing Innovative New Music Services: No Money, No Content.”
The record labels with their “no money, no content” mantra have destroyed their own business. So many services that could have helped better promote musicians killed off because of this silly and suicidal mantra.
I’m not sure I’d go as far as to say “silly and suicidal,” but I do see the benefits of relaxing the grip on content. All roads (or most of them) lead to Vermont on this blog: The other day, I downloaded half an hour of live Phish off Mr. Miner’s Phish Thoughts. Those kind of downloads didn’t dampen at all my enthusiasm to shell out for “Joy” when it was released. Au contraire. Listening to all that good stuff online has given me a fierce jones to buy the band’s new music and see them live. I’m still smarting from getting dinged in the lottery.
Oh, That’s Harsh
Posted: October 21, 2009 Filed under: Concerts | Tags: lottery, phish, rejection Leave a comment »Lady luck let me down today.
We regret to inform you that you did not get the tickets that you requested through Phish Tickets.
The email – with subject line “Your Phish Ticket Request” – sort of brought back some flashbacks of getting college rejection letters.
A Blurry Photo of Liz Phair at 930 in 2008
Posted: October 20, 2009 Filed under: Concerts, Deep, Listening | Tags: ColorSplash, Liz Phair, Matt Dellinger, metro shuffle 3 Comments »
Bits and pieces this evening.
- Metro shuffle. On the bus this morning, Liz Phair’s “Explain it to Me” popped up. It occurred to me that I’ve probably heard the song 5,328 times, but I’m not at all sick of it. In fact, it still hooks. Why? Why is that? I tire of some tunes after three listens.
- ColorSplash. That’s Liz Phair in the picture above, by the way. She’s the shiny, blurry one. I snapped the shot at a 2008 gig at 930 Club. The picture ain’t much. I tried to fancy it up a bit with ColorSpash, an iPhone app I downloaded last night.
- Life Blogging. MPomy will love this one: via Matt Dellinger, a story about a camera that “promises to capture your whole life.” What was that about the panopticon?
Mobile Musical Microblogging
Posted: October 19, 2009 Filed under: Recording | Tags: musical microblogging, public transportation, SoundCloud, SoundGrid Leave a comment »
This is Grid #8.
I composed this on the Circulator bus – the red one on the left in the photo above – on my way to work this morning. Then I gave it a listen on the Metro, during my evening commute home, and uploaded it to SoundCloud whilst walking down the street.
Def Leppard: $700,000 Per Gig
Posted: October 18, 2009 Filed under: Concerts | Tags: Def Leppard, money, phish 1 Comment »Via the Associated Press today, I learned that Def Leppard had some unspecified issues that caused them to cancel the remainder of their North American tour. There was also this tidbit.
Before canceling, Def Leppard had one the top 20 shows on tour, according to information from the trade publication Pollstar. The band was taking in nearly $700,000 a show.
As nearly all roads on this blog lead to Vermont, I applied Def Leppard’s reported per gig haul to the forthcoming Phish fall tour. Assuming the two bands are in the same ballpark, that would suggest Phish’s upcoming 13 dates will pull in $9.1 million.
That sounds about right. Say Phish sells out its dates or comes close. Say the arenas they’re playing seat 14,000 people. Thirteen times 14,000 is 182,000. Multiply that by $50, which is the price I offered to pay per seat in the lottery, and that’s $9.1 million. Add to that the merch haul; say 1,400 people each night pay $20 for a t-shirt. That tacks on an extra $364,000. Do bands get a slice of food and drink sales?
For the Record: Brian Wingfield, Band Name, Piano Sounds
Posted: October 17, 2009 Filed under: Listening, Recording | Tags: Brian Wingfield, Fucking Awesome, piano Leave a comment »- Brian Wingfield, a journalist (former colleague) and guitar player, has some nice work up at his MySpace page.
- Something for the record. I’m sure I’m not the first person this has dawned on, but it occurred to me a few years ago that it would be great for band to be called “Fucking Awesome.” That way, they could get up on stage and yell out, “Good evening – we’re Fucking Awesome!”
- Also for the record, and not much else, here’s a voice memo of my piano that I did last weekend. The instrument lives two hours away. Someday, I’ll have room for it here in DC. Someday.
More Swedish Hooks
Posted: October 16, 2009 Filed under: Artists, Listening | Tags: Built to Spill, Festival 8, Friska Viljor, New Releases, phish, Tim McGraw, Wall Street Journal Leave a comment »- Via Jambase today, I came across Friska Viljor, who have a new record out this week. Some nice hooks on there, judging by stuff they’ve got up on MySpace. May have to check it out.
- Speaking of new music, I downloaded Built to Spill’s new one last night, “There is no Enemy.” I can’t say the music is bowling me over thus far, but I guess you have to give a record a few listens before you really know how how you feel.
- In the humongous pop star category, WSJ reports that Tim McGraw is now managed by the same outfit that manages Phish. Six degrees.
- Speaking of Phish, the band appears to be pulling out all the stops for its forthcoming festival out in Indio, CA.
Right at the entrance to the concert field is an elevated area partially covered by spectacular Olympic Peak Tents that looks out onto the lush concert field. Here at the Overlook you’ll get the chance to enjoy a particularly bloody mary at the Bloody Mary Bar, a movie area showing vintage Halloween classics, archival Phish video, (not to mention The World Series and NFL games), a massive 100 foot Ferris Wheel and an internet cafe (though wi-fi will be provided throughout the site).
Sometimes, I wish I lived in Southern California.
Let Down
Posted: October 15, 2009 Filed under: Listening | Tags: Let Down, metro shuffle, OK Computer, Radiohead, shazam 1 Comment »
Thom Yorke, originally uploaded by mehan.
All I’ve got this evening is a Metro shuffle reflection: “Let Down,” by Radiohead. I’m pretty sure I first heard the song on the radio back when “OK Computer” was released in the summer of 1997. DC 101 or something. It was one of those situations where you hear a song, and you go out and buy the record immediately. I suppose that’s the thinking behind Shazam, which I just downloaded today but haven’t really used yet.
Anyway, I love the way Thom Yorke brings the heat in the song.
Little Flashes that are Just Comfortable Visuals
Posted: October 14, 2009 Filed under: Artists, Listening, Technology | Tags: Bldgblog, I Heart Guitar, improvising, metro shuffle, Peter Hodgson, shazam, Steve Vai, XTC 2 Comments »A multitude of bits and pieces this evening.
- I’m not sure if this is a phenomenon, but I found myself checking out someone else’s iPod on the Metro the other day. You know, just to see what they were listening to. Call it “iPod snooping.” I got the song, “Contact,” but not the artist. Was it Phish? Was it the Police? I’ll never know. On a related note, I got my first good look at a Kindle this evening. The guy was reading the Washington Post on it.
- Hodgson has an interview up with Steve Vai. On improvisation:
Improvising, most of it is listening – responding to what’s coming into your ears and letting your fingers move in an unobstructed way. And there are all these little flashes that are just comfortable visuals, like you’re hearing something and you know that there’s a particular scale or note or atmosphere or chord that’s going to work.
- Metro shuffle: XTC, “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead,” followed by “My Bird Performs.” Those tunes just bring me back to the 90s.
- FT’s Techblog on Shazam, a “mobile phone music discovery” service that apparently is attracting venture money. Can’t say I’m familiar at all with the company. Maybe I’ll check out their iPhone app. Don’t cost nuthin’.
- Bldgblog links to a blogger who captures “the internal sounds of WWII bunkers,” including some freaky pigeon noises.
Six Degrees of Phish
Posted: October 13, 2009 Filed under: Listening | Tags: Games Without Frontiers, Hugh Padgham, Joy, Peter Gabriel, phish, Songfacts.com, Steve Lillywhite, Wikipedia Leave a comment »Wow, I have not much at all tonight. The best I can do is make an observation – Peter Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers” makes for terrific Metro listening. The song popped up on the iPod during my commute this evening, and I suddenly felt like I was in a music video on the blue line.
Also, via Songfacts via Wikipedia, I learn that the whistling in that song was done by Gabriel, Hugh Padgham, and Steve Lillywhite. The latter, incidentally, produced “Joy,” Phish’s last record.
