Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I do. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. In fact, while we may disagree about what particular type of music we like, I would find someone who doesn’t like any music weird.

I sometimes listen to music when I can’t get to sleep. I have a small MP3 player that I plug some tiny earbuds into and relax while listening. I put it on shuffle and lie there amazed by the random mix I get. It’s seldom produces any jarring transitions and sometimes plays songs that go together better than I could arrange them if I tried myself. Of course, the first part of the formula is that the only songs on the player are songs I like, otherwise I wouldn’t have put them there.

This is the second Zen V Plus I’ve owned. I left one in a hotel room once and was kicking myself so bad, that I went online and searched another one out. Even back then, it was an obsolete model and I had to go through third party sellers to get one. But I like the small size. It’s like a fat book of matches. And it’s pretty easy to put music on it. I don’t use special software anymore. It shows up in Winamp (another lost cause) and is easily loaded from there. Continue Reading…

I was channel-flipping last night and came across The Voice and stopped to watch this one song. It completely blew me away. It is all at once what is right about The Voice and what is wrong about our American music industry.

Here you have a young woman, the youngest on this season’s show, singing a great song and obviously owning it. She was on top of her game, confident enough to enjoy every moment of it. I told my wife, if she wrote this song, she’s got it all. She didn’t, it was written by Jo Dee Messina, but I didn’t really expect an original composition.

The song was clearly targeted to a country audience. That’s what is wrong with so-called country music these days. It’s not a country song at all. It could have been arranged slightly differently and been a rock song or a ballad. But country sells, so it gets twisted into that genre. She still nailed it, though. Continue Reading…

above: Google Doodle commemorating Freddie Mercury. Captured and converted to Flash using BBFlashback Express. Continue Reading…

Is the party over for MySpace? Is the exodus beginning? Has Facebook killed it off? Maybe.

MySpace hasn’t been ‘cool’ for a while now. Not that long ago, though, it was the place to be to make friends and keep in touch with them.

I started a MySpace account when I was doing my podcast. As a way to find and keep in touch with musicians, it was without equal. Show dates, band info, it was all there at your fingertips. Continue Reading…