Sometime in late-August, Steven Wilson had announced his very first full-length solo album. It goes without saying that I was excited. I am a huge fan of Steven and the entirety (is that a word?) of his musical career. And now, after repeated visits to the Steven Wilson Headquarters and later the Insurgentes website, the new album is available for pre-order!

It is currently available in only two formats, 2xCD/DVD-A or 4×10″ Vinyl. Both editions contain a hardback book of photographs by Lasse Hoile who is creating a documentary of the same name. I browsed around a bit more and finally took notice of the pricing: £34.00.. which is roughly $50.. which, after shipping, is over $75. Boo!

Anyway, I ordered it. I also found this lovely comment on the Insurgentes website:

Music is Art and it should be presented as such, not as a set of compressed computer files or a basic disc in a disposable crystal case.

I couldn’t agree more. There are a lot of things wrong with things like iTunes. If you really take a look at what you get when you spend $9.99 on an album, you’d realize you’re getting ripped off. When a (good) artist creates an album, it is Art and everything involved has its part. Especially the high fidelity audio and the packaging. iTunes sells compressed files (believe me, it’s audible). Then the mobility of these files are restricted courtesy of digital rights management. Sometimes you’ll get a PDF version of the liner notes and album art, which is definitely better than nothing.

I’d like to be able to purchase something on iTunes (for the convenience of things) and then later spend a little bit extra to receive the physical copy. $9.99 up front through iTunes, then $7.00 later to get the CD ($16.99 for the disc, minus $9.99 = $7).

Anyway, this turned from a thing about art to a rant about iTunes. I’m done. You can order this piece of art by visiting this link. Bye.

This is something that will never make sense to me. If you “turn your life around” any more than once, shouldn’t you be right back to where you started?

I suppose it’s that, or you just didn’t do a good job the first time ’round.

Please, discuss…

Last night at about 9:00 (midnight, east-coast time), I gave my good friend Jim a Happy Birthday call. Today, October 8th, is his birthday. Alas I was not the first, since he was with two other people at the time. They beat me to the punch after realizing who was calling at such a late hour. Anyway, we chatted for a bit. I heard stories from their recent trip to Northport and brief updates on how everyone in CT was doing. I also received some very troubling news. On Saturday September 20th, the Green Room closed.

I suppose we all knew this was coming. The Green Room was by far the best bar in/near Fairfield. Of course, “best” is a subjective term. To me, and my group of friends who would frequent the Green Room, the other bars in the area were loud, crowded, expensive and hosted a crappy clientele.

The Green Room was perfect. Most nights, we would be the only ones in there. Drinks were cheap (and strong). Any song we picked on the jukebox would play nearly instantly. The walls were lined with couches and other comfy chairs giving the place a “living room” vibe. They had board games and card games strewn about and a pool table that actually had an entire rack of balls (no dart board unfortunately - it’s only flaw). Occasionally, a local band would be performing for a very small audience. And now, it’s gone.

The thoughts had crossed my mind before: “How is this place still in business? We seem to be the only ones who come here regularly. Maybe we only come on their ‘off’ days. They’re probably much more busy other nights of the week.” I was wrong, dead wrong. It’s a shame that such a nice, respectable establishment is now gone. I am saddened.

Green Room End Scene

Friday evening, Sigur Ros performed at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. Then on Saturday, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers were at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. And once again, it’s now Tuesday and I’ve completely lost interest in posting some form a review of either show. That’s not to say that either were remotely close to a disappointment. Both were fantastic in their own way (very different genres of music).

The opener on Friday, Parachutes, was apparently connected to Sigur Ros in some way. They were basically Sigur Ros if the band couldn’t play in time with one another and the singer was shy. It was amusing to hear a lot of people around me asking one another “that’s not them is it?”. Anyway, the main act performed flawlessly (except for one section while playing along a sample). Here’s the setlist, with links to songs/videos from the official website: here and here…
1. Svefn-g-englar
2. Glosoli
3. Ný Batterí
4. Við spilum endalaust
5. Hoppipolla
6. Með bloðnasir
7. Festival
8. Fljotavik
9. Untitled #6 - E-bow
10. Saeglopur
11. Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
12. Haffsol
13. Gobbledigook
Encore. Untitled #8 - Popplagið

During the encore it started to rain a bit, which I’ve noticed people saying it was “God crying after a beautiful performance”. That about sums up the evening.

Stephen Kellogg was on Saturday, but I don’t have any pictures so I’m not going to say much: It was once again another very entertaining show.

Lastly! Matthew Good has a new live CD out. For some reason I had this crazy idea in my head that it would possibly also be released as a DVD. Guess not. Anyway, it’s only out on iTunes right now. So if you love DRM and lossy compression, go get it now! Otherwise, the physical release is available for pre-order and will ship to the US.

I decided to post some music I’m working on! Huzzah!

Also, I made it a link instead of embedding it within the page. So, unfortunately, it’s much easier to save-to-disk which I would not prefer. Anyway, it’s only a minute long or so. Oh and the fake drums are aaawful. Enjoy!

<Link Removed>

Hey! This is the second post in a whole month. Who’s a good blogger and has two thumbs? Anyway, I can’t remember who I was talking to about this, and it was a really good idea, so I am going to rewrite it here in like 5 sentences. These first 5 don’t count (the first one being “Hey!” which is a minor sentence).

The idea is for a song where the lyrics are basically a complete recipe. But the catch (and creative twist) is that it would be synced up to everything. For instance, if it was a pasta dish, there would need to be like 15 minutes or so allocated for the time it takes to bring the pot of water to a boil. Unless the “chef” should be doing something else during that time. If I ever write it, it shall be posted, I promise.

It’s about time for a new post. After two very busy weeks and weekends I’ve finally had a moment to dick around all day, listen to the new Buckcherry album, and crack open a very dusty Wordpress.

Anyway, last weekend I flew into Vancouver, BC to visit with those two crazy people I met in Vegas nearly a year ago (just over a year ago after I’ve written this). Everything was a blast (as expected). Like my last visit to the North, I’ll just put a summarizing list (which Amy wrote and I edited, slightly) followed by 2 pictures. Yay. More pictures here, here and here.

Two Kegs, One Van
Beer Bong, Beer Pong
Tiki Bar, Cabana
Perudo/Duder/Rapid Fire
Extreme Dance Party
Kings Rule: Switching Shirts
Leather Jacket, with Chaps of course
Secret Nachos
Neighbor(-our) Calls
Strip Pool
Dirty Socks
Coffee, with Baileys and Whiskey of course
Lake Lounging
“Get the Fucking Keg Out of the SUN!!!”
Horseshoes and Croquet
One Up, One Down, Two Up, Two Down
Safety Meeting
Hookah
“I’m Getting a Buzz off of this Hookah” - Chad
Beer-in-the-Butt Chicken
BBQ Dinner
Scotch n’ Cigar
Extreme Dance Party, again
“Gimmie Corn, Gimmie Gimmie Corn”
Benny and the Jets
Djarums n’ Tequila
3 “flats” of Cider
More Safety Meetings
Body shots
Lake jumping
“FALSE! That was Jay’s story!”
Scotch and pajamas
Somberos
Logical Tiki swing
Afternoon Delight
The Lions’ Den
Ultimate Pasta Dinner
National Anthem(s) Sing-a-Long
Loud Drunks - Mad Burrows
All I Wanna Do is a Pow-Pow-Pow-Pow and a Gun-Load and Take Ya Money!
Naps (losers…)
Safety Meetings, again
Hot Tub
Empty Kegs!!! (117.4 litres aka 15.5 gallons)
Missed F1 Race
Epic Breakfast
Broken Towel Rack, Stinky Towels
Amazing Cleaning Teamwork
Sad to Leave - Via Airports and Roadtrips

Here’s a short-er clip from a recent, much longer, voicemail:

click to download

I recently watched the latest John Mayer DVD, on Blu-Ray.

What’s the deal with that anyway? What if you watch a Blu-Ray? I’ve really only heard people say “xxx DVD on Blu-Ray” which makes no sense. The term “DVD” has become synonymous with “Movie” which is completely false, in a lot of respects. Firstly (which some people might not realize) is that the V in DVD does not stand for “Video”. It is “versatile”. What everyone knows and loves as “DVD” is actually more specifically “DVD-Video”. There is a whole other realm of “DVD-Audio” discs out there.

Anyway, that’s not my point right now. My point is, I returned said John Mayer movie to Netflix. As usual, I was prompted to “Rate My Recent Return” to “Reveal 2 Movies I’ll Love”. Anyway, here’s what I got:

Six Feet Under and the Godfather? Really? That’s totally random and not remotely relevant to a music-type-movie. Granted I do “love” both. Oh well, kudos Netflix.

Facebook had a sponsored link to YearbookYourself.com and I made myself from the 70’s or something. I thought it looked hilarious. It’s apparently hanging on a wall at my old office. Right below a blown up printout of the cover art for Prince’s album LoveSexy.

Tonight I plan on listening to “Domino” by Genesis, really loud, in surround sound. It’s been my driving-to-and-from-work music so far this week.