A public apology on behalf of all loudmouths

Although I haven't specifically been called a loudmouth, I think I occasionally inhibit the charms of such. My specific style also seems to have a annoying element of selfishness to the point of being oblivious to the contributions and comments on others.

I apologize.

Unfortunately, alcohol appears to be a catalyst for this behaviour (like it is for many unpleasant characteristics). So the evening social is a perfect setting to view the loudmouth at his best.

To give you a Being-John-Malkovich-like perspective, from the mind of the loudmouth, it appears the conversation is just ripping along, everyone is laughing and enjoying themselves and you just happen to be the centre of attention. Well, there's the rub, you shouldn't be (at least not for more than your fair share). Everyone should enjoy being the centre of attention at some point in a social evening.

Unlike this blog, which seems to an acceptable forum for a loudmouth, being one amongst valued friends and family is unacceptable.

In the fine words of Del Griffith "The last thing I want to be remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth... You know, nothing grinds my gears worse than some chowderhead that doesn't know when to keep his big trap shut... If you catch me running off with my mouth, just give me a poke on the chubbs...".

Making the most of digital music

O recently asked me for advice regarding digital music. I provided some comments (actually in person) but since then there's been a few other occasions that suggest I should write some of this stuff down.

Finding music

Read this blog. Well that's an ok start if you like the same music I do, otherwise here are a few ideas:

• Hardcopy. Music mags, local entertainment weeklys, etc. My fave is Q Magazine.
• Your local record store. Most have sample stations these days and a great way to hear stuff on the way home from the subway. Most will let you listen to a CD if you're still unsure.
• Full content streaming audio. 2 flavours - online radio stations (my fave is Virgin Radio) and streaming music sites like Pandora. I just found (via a tip from the Post) a new one of this type called finetune that I've been spending too much time on today. Check out pjmixer on filetune to listen to an extended collection of my best of 2006. This may now be the best way for me to share music with friends and family.
  
• Radio and satellite radio. Make note of those tracks that you hear on local radio rotation every 60 minutes (if you can stomach the advertising) or tune you cable box or satellite radio receiver to one of hundreds of finely tuned stations.
• Online sample sites. This is your last stop before your online or full reality CD purchase. Most music download sites offer 30 seconds of high quality sample of any track you can buy (if 30 secs is enough of a sample for you) or some offer lower quality full samples. Some online music sites like Q also offer samples.
  

Format and quality

There are a plethora of formats to make your digital life confusing these days, incl. music. I prefer to keep it simple with mpeg (MP3). AAC and WMA are the others you bump into and are typically associated with specific vendors, AAC with Apple/iPod and WMA with Microsoft/Windows Media Player. MP3s will play on all personal players and on home/car systems when burned (copied from the computer) on CDs. More info for geeks. Once you pick a format, then choose the quality that fits your listening style. I choose to rip (copy music from CD to the computer) and download at 192 kbps. Some say 128 kbps is CD quality but I disagree. Test the quality differences out yourself wherever you listen to music. Note that the higher the quality the bigger the file, the slower the download, rip and burn. Interestingly ACC offers better quality at smaller file sizes (better compression I imagine) and some download sites vary the cost with the quality you choose.

Buying music

I've covered this topic on quite a few controversial blog posts already, so I don't think I need to say much more. Usual suspects are: iTunes (although there continue to be problems with the proprietary nature of their downloads); Napster and Puretracks (in Canada). However most put DRM in effect and limit your sharing and copying. As one cynical person said, it's like buying a CD and about a year later they come into your home and take the CD back. No big secret that I buy my music online from the controversial Russian site allofmp3.com (which has no such limits and is much cheaper that other big players, although it's tagging is a little weak), and honestly, I don't feel too guilty about it. I go and see a lot of concerts, I buy music DVDs blah blah blah...

Organizing your collection

This is easy for some people, but very difficult for me. A few things I do in keeping my music organized:

• When ripping your favourite older albums to your computer, I only pick the tracks I've come to loved over repeat listening - say 5 or 6 tracks. If you always skip track 11 on that Flock of Seagulls classic, then why rip it and have it pop again when you're least expecting it.
• Make sure track, album and artist are correctly tagged.
  
• Choose a limited set of genres that make sense to you. For instance, I am way too heavily weighted on Rock/Pop. Note that genre tagging on the file does carry between players.
• Rate your music so you can create best ofs easily and remember which tracks you like more than others when tackling more obscure named album tracks.
• Add one more categorization - upbeat and mellow. You may need to dig a little deeper into the player to find out where to do this, e.g. I use Grouping within iTunes.
• Start creating playlists, then begin to combine them for more intelligent mixing - this could itself turn into a whole other subject in efficient and effective playlist management.
  

A few years ago I was using Musicmatch but I moved to iTunes when I got an iPod. Both are very good players with their own pros and cons. If you're a iPod user, then iTunes it is.

[finishing this up on day 2 - taking a little longer than planned to get thru this one, and I'm still probaly going to miss some crucial element - drat !]

Playing digital music

There are many possibilities these days on how, where and when to play and listen to digital music from iPod equipped family cars to mobile phones to the comfort of your very own living room couch.

One simple, and key piece of connectivity gear that is a must-have is a micro-RCA cable. On the micro jack end it plugs into the headphone thingie on all digital music players (incl. a computer itself) and on the other it has stereo white/red RCA jacks to plug into your your existing home hi-fi system. Note that you don't necessarily need all those special cradles and base stations to have digital music playing through your hi-fi.

The variables of home design, budget, equipment, technical savvy will come into play when trying to optimize your own digital music listening system. My solution at home is quite simple and reasonably effective:

My home computer with about 3,000 tracks of digital music is located at the back of the house on the main floor. The living room with my hi-fi system is in the front of the house on the main floor. I have a second pair of hi-fi speakers mounted high on the back wall of the kitchen connected to my hi-fi with speaker cables partially hidden under the floor when the basement was renovated. I have a long (20' perhaps) micro-RCA cable connected to the sound card jack on the back of the computer to my hi-fi. One trick here is I have a "y" connector between the cable and the computer so you can simultaneously hear the computer speakers and the hi-fi. Note that this isn't usually possible if you just use the front headphone jack on the computer. I use iTunes to manage the music and Suze uses Musicmatch to create playlists against the same source music.

Problems: Windows alarms, email notifications etc will be heard on your hi-fi. And if the kids want to play a computer game, you're out of luck. This is where you may also need a more portable back-up plan. Burn come MP3 CDs from your computer on a regular basis and play them directly on your newer model DVD or CD player (most newer model portable CD even play MP3 CDs) connected to your hi-fi. Or synch your portable music player and connect that using the same cable or a handy second one directly to the hi-fi.

Next move for me is adding a third pair of speakers for the deck at the back of the house this spring. The neighbours will love it ! However, complexity comes when adding a third pair of speakers to a standard hi-fi receiver. Extra box probably involved to handle the connections and potential circuit overload.

My home theatre is a completely separate system in the basement that has no connectivity to the computer but does include a DVD player that can play MP3 CDs. It's currently pining for a sexy HD TV.

Making the most of digital music

O recently asked me for advice regarding digital music. I provided some comments (actually in person) but since then there's been a few other occasions that suggest I should write some of this stuff down.

Finding music

Read this blog. Well that's an ok start if you like the same music I do, otherwise here are a few ideas:

• Hardcopy. Music mags, local entertainment weeklys, etc. My fave is Q Magazine.
• Your local record store. Most have sample stations these days and a great way to hear stuff on the way home from the subway. Most will let you listen to a CD if you're still unsure.
• Full content streaming audio. 2 flavours - online radio stations (my fave is Virgin Radio) and streaming music sites like Pandora. I just found (via a tip from the Post) a new one of this type called finetune that I've been spending too much time on today. Check out pjmixer on filetune to listen to an extended collection of my best of 2006. This may now be the best way for me to share music with friends and family.
  
• Radio and satellite radio. Make note of those tracks that you hear on local radio rotation every 60 minutes (if you can stomach the advertising) or tune you cable box or satellite radio receiver to one of hundreds of finely tuned stations.
• Online sample sites. This is your last stop before your online or full reality CD purchase. Most music download sites offer 30 seconds of high quality sample of any track you can buy (if 30 secs is enough of a sample for you) or some offer lower quality full samples. Some online music sites like Q also offer samples.
  

Format and quality

There are a plethora of formats to make your digital life confusing these days, incl. music. I prefer to keep it simple with mpeg (MP3). AAC and WMA are the others you bump into and are typically associated with specific vendors, AAC with Apple/iPod and WMA with Microsoft/Windows Media Player. MP3s will play on all personal players and on home/car systems when burned (copied from the computer) on CDs. More info for geeks. Once you pick a format, then choose the quality that fits your listening style. I choose to rip (copy music from CD to the computer) and download at 192 kbps. Some say 128 kbps is CD quality but I disagree. Test the quality differences out yourself wherever you listen to music. Note that the higher the quality the bigger the file, the slower the download, rip and burn. Interestingly ACC offers better quality at smaller file sizes (better compression I imagine) and some download sites vary the cost with the quality you choose.

Buying music

I've covered this topic on quite a few controversial blog posts already, so I don't think I need to say much more. Usual suspects are: iTunes (although there continue to be problems with the proprietary nature of their downloads); Napster and Puretracks (in Canada). However most put DRM in effect and limit your sharing and copying. As one cynical person said, it's like buying a CD and about a year later they come into your home and take the CD back. No big secret that I buy my music online from the controversial Russian site allofmp3.com (which has no such limits and is much cheaper that other big players, although it's tagging is a little weak), and honestly, I don't feel too guilty about it. I go and see a lot of concerts, I buy music DVDs blah blah blah...

Organizing your collection

This is easy for some people, but very difficult for me. A few things I do in keeping my music organized:

• When ripping your favourite older albums to your computer, I only pick the tracks I've come to loved over repeat listening - say 5 or 6 tracks. If you always skip track 11 on that Flock of Seagulls classic, then why rip it and have it pop again when you're least expecting it.
• Make sure track, album and artist are correctly tagged.
  
• Choose a limited set of genres that make sense to you. For instance, I am way too heavily weighted on Rock/Pop. Note that genre tagging on the file does carry between players.
• Rate your music so you can create best ofs easily and remember which tracks you like more than others when tackling more obscure named album tracks.
• Add one more categorization - upbeat and mellow. You may need to dig a little deeper into the player to find out where to do this, e.g. I use Grouping within iTunes.
• Start creating playlists, then begin to combine them for more intelligent mixing - this could itself turn into a whole other subject in efficient and effective playlist management.
  

A few years ago I was using Musicmatch but I moved to iTunes when I got an iPod. Both are very good players with their own pros and cons. If you're a iPod user, then iTunes it is.

[finishing this up on day 2 - taking a little longer than planned to get thru this one, and I'm still probaly going to miss some crucial element - drat !]

Playing digital music

There are many possibilities these days on how, where and when to play and listen to digital music from iPod equipped family cars to mobile phones to the comfort of your very own living room couch.

One simple, and key piece of connectivity gear that is a must-have is a micro-RCA cable. On the micro jack end it plugs into the headphone thingie on all digital music players (incl. a computer itself) and on the other it has stereo white/red RCA jacks to plug into your your existing home hi-fi system. Note that you don't necessarily need all those special cradles and base stations to have digital music playing through your hi-fi.

The variables of home design, budget, equipment, technical savvy will come into play when trying to optimize your own digital music listening system. My solution at home is quite simple and reasonably effective:

My home computer with about 3,000 tracks of digital music is located at the back of the house on the main floor. The living room with my hi-fi system is in the front of the house on the main floor. I have a second pair of hi-fi speakers mounted high on the back wall of the kitchen connected to my hi-fi with speaker cables partially hidden under the floor when the basement was renovated. I have a long (20' perhaps) micro-RCA cable connected to the sound card jack on the back of the computer to my hi-fi. One trick here is I have a "y" connector between the cable and the computer so you can simultaneously hear the computer speakers and the hi-fi. Note that this isn't usually possible if you just use the front headphone jack on the computer. I use iTunes to manage the music and Suze uses Musicmatch to create playlists against the same source music.

Problems: Windows alarms, email notifications etc will be heard on your hi-fi. And if the kids want to play a computer game, you're out of luck. This is where you may also need a more portable back-up plan. Burn come MP3 CDs from your computer on a regular basis and play them directly on your newer model DVD or CD player (most newer model portable CD even play MP3 CDs) connected to your hi-fi. Or synch your portable music player and connect that using the same cable or a handy second one directly to the hi-fi.

Next move for me is adding a third pair of speakers for the deck at the back of the house this spring. The neighbours will love it ! However, complexity comes when adding a third pair of speakers to a standard hi-fi receiver. Extra box probably involved to handle the connections and potential circuit overload.

My home theatre is a completely separate system in the basement that has no connectivity to the computer but does include a DVD player that can play MP3 CDs. It's currently pining for a sexy HD TV.

What's real anymore ?

That's probably too big a title topic to cover thoroughly right now, but as before maybe this is just post #1 of something I'll keep coming back to !

A recent article whose bi-line was Ads posing as blogs creating generation of skeptics caught my attention on the weekend. It talks about companies posting content to sites like YouTube in a stealth marketing move. This is just one of the latest examples that threatens to erode the integrity of the entire internet (if there every was any in the first place). How long will it be before people just don't believe anything they read on the internet ? Could it be possible that a marketing villain could even bias even well known facts by bombarding sites like Wikipedia with marketed infused falsehoods ?

My Dad's spidey sense kicked in when he first began to surf the net - "how do I know that the information I'm reading is true ?". I don't think I ever gave a thorough answer, but relied on "you learn to trust certain sites, e.g. The New York Times". However, with the amount of reader and viewer created collaborative content these days, even traditional respected sources must fear some degradation of their online integrity.

YouTube combined with powerful photo, audio and movie editing tools of today can easily create this same problem with images and sound.

There is talk about technology playing a role in fighting this problem and I think it may be possible. I work for Entrust who happens to be the first company selling Extended Validation Certificates for internet sites. In layman's terms, how you learn to trust e-commerce web sites will change over the next 12 months as smart online users will look beyond the simple lock and look for indicators of higher levels of trust validation, e.g. your address bar turning green in IE7. It mention this because I don't think it's much of a stretch to think of root anchors of trust (the BBC perhaps in combination with Entrust) providing some validation on the integrity of online content. Make sure I can credit for this idea if one of your geeks runs with this ! See our company web site for more info on EV Certs.

Do you trust my content ?

Check point - 100 posts

I just saw that my last post was number 100. Got at least one new post in the hopper for tonight while watching the Grammys. Currently watching the pre-red-carpet show and liking a few snippets from recent PJMixer faves Ok-Go, Gnarls Barkley and yes, Christina Aguilera. Interesting segment on big TV shows fueling the music scene, incl. K.T from Grey's Anatomy.

More posts on (now blogger categorized*) music, movies, society, controversial corner pockets and more.

*Should I go back and index the older posts ?

One thing that bugs me...

...people who are in the way, more precisely, people who are in my way.


It's like some people are still little kids, completely oblivious to their surroundings. You know, when you son is goofing around, walking backward showing off to his little sister, and is alerted at the last minute to the fact that he's about to plow into into a bunch of old ladies coming the other way !

The blockers typically fall within the following demographic categories:

• Teenagers. Caught up in their own mini ecosystems of he said / she said.
  
• College students. Nothing is more important that solving world peace and having a cigarette directly in front of the main entrance to your office.
  
• Visitors. See that map over there on the wall ? Give it a try.
• Shoppers. Don't these people know that there are people actually trying to get somewhere not just exercising their ICollectMoreMilesThanYou Visa card?
• Old people. God bless 'em, they're just slow.

And then there's the blocking technique or positioning:

• You're on your way to a meeting cutting through the department store and you come up behind the 5 person wide trolling shoppers. Hit the breaks before you step on their trailing scarves.
• You excuse me / excuse me past chatty teenagers on the escalator only to me met at the top by a gaggle of visitors who haven't got a clue which way they are going. Watch out the bodies are starting to pile up !
• You're rushing out of the subway station, spinning through the exit turnstiles and immediately blocked by the after-school-stand-in-circle-crowd discussing how unfair Jenny Petriedish's biology test was.

Here are the rules:

• In North America, like driving, walkways follow the stay-on-the-right rule.
• When on the escalator, stand on the right, walk on the left.
• When traveling along a walkway, do not just stop. Perhaps take a glance around and slowly make your way to the side of the walkway to evaluate your next move, check your map or to kiss cute Johnny Pencilcase from Math class.
• Heads up please when you're walking and talking on your mobile phone or texting on your Blackberry (I must admit I'm a little guilty here - see funny from Rick Mercer).
• Please put the tunnel-vision parka hoods down when you're inside. Maintaining a good amount of peripheral vision is key.
• If you walking your pet or perhaps even have you children on a tether, don't let that tether out more than 12 inches in crowded places.
  

I imagine a corollary to this post is how to handle crowds in unavoidable situations such as airports, the Santa Claus parade, Walt Disney World (no, I haven't forgotten about writing about our trip), Christmas shopping, rock concerts, the loo during intermission of a hockey game, the subway at rush hour (my next stop)...

Heads up !

Music and movie tips

A few for your entertainment dollar...

Death Cab for Cutie. Raved on my close buddy Eek (sp). Immediately appealing, gentler tunes, deeper lyrics lying undertone.

Muse. Passed this band up for a while, but this latest album has something ! #2 of the year as ranked by Q.

The Automatic. Catchy and corny, esp. Monster.

Arctic Monkeys. But you've heard me rave before.

Ok, it's getting too late now, getting pissed off with finding the right links, incl. The Editors - All Sparks (Cicado remix) - absolutely love this track, sorry allofmp3 not cooperating tonight.

Starting to warm up to Hot Chip (big in the UK last year).

Trying to get my head into new Nora Jones and Carli Bruni.

Looking forward to new Kaiser Chiefs album as we have tics for the show here in April.

Re: movies. Odd mix these days. A soccer lady friend had recommended It's all gone Pete Tong and I just saw it this week - loved it, Ibiza tracks, Brit edge and deeper thoughts.

Also caught most of Green Street Hooligans about football hooliganism on the UK. Interesting perspective.

Just picked up a version of The Professional on the way home. Great buy, $8 for the remastered DTS version on Superbit. If you've never seen it, great movie, Reno just phenomenal.

And the Katrina movie. Already referenced.

Why music is better than the movies (and maybe TV)

With music, it can be all around you. Especially if you're an iPod or you're home wired. You groove, you dance and you sing (badly) while doing important stuff like doing the dishes or tidying or filing a mound of financial receipts.

With movies, to get the most out of the experience you really need to "buy in" to the movie. That means focus, that means few distractions. Hence the problem, you need to set time aside for a movie.

Well, some TV can be enjoyed "in the background" (especially repeats of Seinfeld or Friend) or "a glance every 3 minutes" for the less intense shows.

And if you've been reading the blog who'll appreciate how important music is (in my life). But then again, don't most of my grand visions come from movie inspirations ?

Q.E.D music is better than the movies.

Why music is better than the movies (and maybe TV)

With music, it can be all around you. Especially if you're an iPod or you're home wired. You groove, you dance and you sing (badly) while doing important stuff like doing the dishes or tidying or filing a mound of financial receipts.

With movies, to get the most out of the experience you really need to "buy in" to the movie. That means focus, that means few distractions. Hence the problem, you need to set time aside for a movie.

Well, some TV can be enjoyed "in the background" (especially repeats of Seinfeld or Friend) or "a glance every 3 minutes" for the less intense shows.

And if you've been reading the blog who'll appreciate how important music is (in my life). But then again, don't most of my grand visions come from movie inspirations ?

Q.E.D music is better than the movies.

#5 Who cares ?

Starting backwards. And it's a little easier because I can transcribe from my personal, neglected handwritten journal.

Once again, inspired by a movie, in this case When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.

'Zan and I watched this recently and coming out of it I wondered "could this happen in Canada" (or for that matter any apparent caring country) ?

This HBO movie is about the aftermath of the Katrina hurricane.

I am lucky enough to have enjoyed the sheer pleasure of N'awlins on 3 occasions (maybe 4, but the intoxicating effect of the Big Easy is taking a toll) and I must say I'm a big fan.

But getting back to the plot...well just see the movie and I can save a lot of typing...

I'm sure that smaller scale stories of injustice [insurance companies] and examples of governments not caring occur all over the world.

The difference with Katrina is not economics (US-oil-Iraq), but when things go wrong the people who really care help out. And with smaller events, these people are not political leaders and very rarely biz execs. They are your family, your friends and your neighbours.

Can you really count on your government to help ?

But help out where you can when family, friends and neighbours need help and there will be someone there to help you one day.

It's sad to say, that in Nola there were no family, friends nor neighbours to help out because everyone was in it together.

I'm back, sorry I've been gone for a while

Friday night. A little bit of a buzz. Too late to watch a movie. Dishes are done. Wife has gone to bed. 10:58pm. iTunes playing scrambled best tunes. A beer (Tiger) and a little blogging perfect !

I'll post the following separately (if the beer lasts and I'm awake):

1. Walt Disney World Vacation summation.

2. Making the most of digital music.

3. Why music is better than the movies (and maybe TV).

4. Music and movie tips

5. Who cares ?

2006 Music Roundup

First post of 2007. But before I get deep on new ideas, I wanted to share some music highlights for 2006. Plus I'd like to try out a few new ideas for sharing music !

I've given a few of you my 2006, best of CD. But I didn't include a playlist on a lot of handouts nor did I add any clever annotations.

Top songs for 2006. Grouped and ordered by genre and tempo. Note that the track may be pre-2006, but may have only made its way to my ear'oles in 2006. A little of everything !

Links to preview tunes should work (but I've been having a lot of trouble with them all day). Warning that the site is the infamous pseudo-illegal Russian download site, but should be harmless for a quick naughty listen. Some links are for entire album.

John Mayer "Continuum"— Waiting On The World To Change

Yes, poppy, but the words that seem to sum up a lot of thoughts about the world today. I think it's Mayer's college circuit popularity that always makes me think about my Bro when I hear his voice. Great album.

The Kooks "Inside In - Inside Out"— Naive

Close choice for group and album of the year. Nice Brit lads with cheeky and cheery lyrics. Other select tracks - 1,5 and 7.

Richard Ashcroft "Keys To The World"— Music Is Power

Fab solo track from ex Verve front man. We saw him open for Coldplay in '06 and with the help of a appreciative crowd, put an incredible set together of older Verve sing along classics and newer stuff. A gruff lovely voice.

Snow Patrol "Eyes Open"— Shut Your Eyes

PJMixer's pick for groove track from the second big album. Great show from the Scottish lads at Koolhaus in '06. Potentially, on the runway to the next big anthem Brit band.

The Killers "Sam`s Town"— Read My Mind

Another great sophomore album, another off-hit pick (actually Bones is a fave, but Suz picked it for her best of). I still don't get the references to Springsteen ! Again, this show's the groovier side of the band, but still shows of Flowers' unique vocals. Other select tracks - 3 and 8.

Scissor Sisters "Ta-Dah!"— I Don`t Feel Like Dancin'

Pop dance track of the year. Lots 'o fun. I think Sir Elton is playing piano on this one. Great story Suz heard about the drummer on tour...

Bodyrockers "Bodyrockers"— I Like The Way

Dirty track of the year. I just feel a little sleazy listening to this one, but it's an irresistible bum mover. Actually first heard this a long time ago on the Victoria's Secret 2005 runway show, then it made regular airplay all year.





Prince "3121"— Fury

Hard guitar licks from the 'lil guy who happens to have a home here in TO. Great performance on SNL.





Primal Scream "Riot City Blues"— Country Girl

Great country rock track. The lyrics just got stuck in my head in '06.

Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium"— Dani California

Another catchy heavy guitar track from the fun Californians. About to check out more tracks from the album ! Aren't this guys getting old yet!

Fratellis "Costello Music"— Chelsea Dagger

Absolutely fab track from album with a few other rocking tunes that get a lot of PJMixer airplay. Surprisingly didn't make Q top 100 albums.

Arctic Monkeys "Whatever People Say I Am, That`s What I`m Not"— Dancing Shoes

One of the many great tracks from the undisputed best album of 2006. One thing I heard about their music was the unusual structure of songs that contain multiple hooks. Love it !

Young Stanley "Sing It For England"— Sing It For England

It got us all in the mood for the World Cup, but not sure if the lads on the field heard it ! England could definitely beat up Italy or France on the dance floor or a Karaoke ! Inspired words from from five builders from Bromley.

Jurassic 5 "Feedback"— Work It Out (Featuring Dave Matthews Band)

Hot hip hop band meets the smooth voice of Dave Matthews (which I finally got around to listening to in '06).

Gnarls Barkley "St. Elsewhere"— Smiley Faces

2nd great track off this very eclectic record that got my attention. We all needed a break from Crazy. Add Gnarls to the Monkeys and there is now significant proof that downloads are a bigger force than CD sales.





Corinne Bailey Rae "Corinne Bailey Rae"— Put Your Records On

Simply a beautiful musician and performer. Lots of great tracks on one of the top albums of the year.





Feist "Let It Die"— One Evening

Canadian lady I initially heard about from Paris based DJJuice. Interesting multi-media web site too. Sultry and fun. Other select tracks - 2 and 10.





John Legend "Once Again"— Save Room

I think his second album is a little easier to enjoy than his first, a warm voice and earnest lyrics.





Diana Krall "From This Moment On"— Exactly Like You

My favourite lady of jazz. This album gets back to what she does best - the standards sung with great care and orginality. For those not familiar with Diana Krall she is now married to Elvis Costello and just gave birth to twin boys - musicians of the future maybe ?

Crash "Soundtrack By Mark Isham"— Bird York - In The Deep

A deeply moving track from the best movie of '05.




I chose to include the album covers for a few reasons...it perhaps tells another story about the band; it's a little throwback to the nostalgia or having a vinyl LP cover to hold in your hands as you're listening to the music; it may help you find the CD if you love the track(s) so much you want to own it !


2006 Music Roundup

First post of 2007. But before I get deep on new ideas, I wanted to share some music highlights for 2006. Plus I'd like to try out a few new ideas for sharing music !

I've given a few of you my 2006, best of CD. But I didn't include a playlist on a lot of handouts nor did I add any clever annotations.

Top songs for 2006. Grouped and ordered by genre and tempo. Note that the track may be pre-2006, but may have only made its way to my ear'oles in 2006. A little of everything !

Links to preview tunes should work (but I've been having a lot of trouble with them all day). Warning that the site is the infamous pseudo-illegal Russian download site, but should be harmless for a quick naughty listen. Some links are for entire album.

John Mayer "Continuum"— Waiting On The World To Change

Yes, poppy, but the words that seem to sum up a lot of thoughts about the world today. I think it's Mayer's college circuit popularity that always makes me think about my Bro when I hear his voice. Great album.

The Kooks "Inside In - Inside Out"— Naive

Close choice for group and album of the year. Nice Brit lads with cheeky and cheery lyrics. Other select tracks - 1,5 and 7.

Richard Ashcroft "Keys To The World"— Music Is Power

Fab solo track from ex Verve front man. We saw him open for Coldplay in '06 and with the help of a appreciative crowd, put an incredible set together of older Verve sing along classics and newer stuff. A gruff lovely voice.

Snow Patrol "Eyes Open"— Shut Your Eyes

PJMixer's pick for groove track from the second big album. Great show from the Scottish lads at Koolhaus in '06. Potentially, on the runway to the next big anthem Brit band.

The Killers "Sam`s Town"— Read My Mind

Another great sophomore album, another off-hit pick (actually Bones is a fave, but Suz picked it for her best of). I still don't get the references to Springsteen ! Again, this show's the groovier side of the band, but still shows of Flowers' unique vocals. Other select tracks - 3 and 8.

Scissor Sisters "Ta-Dah!"— I Don`t Feel Like Dancin'

Pop dance track of the year. Lots 'o fun. I think Sir Elton is playing piano on this one. Great story Suz heard about the drummer on tour...

Bodyrockers "Bodyrockers"— I Like The Way

Dirty track of the year. I just feel a little sleazy listening to this one, but it's an irresistible bum mover. Actually first heard this a long time ago on the Victoria's Secret 2005 runway show, then it made regular airplay all year.





Prince "3121"— Fury

Hard guitar licks from the 'lil guy who happens to have a home here in TO. Great performance on SNL.





Primal Scream "Riot City Blues"— Country Girl

Great country rock track. The lyrics just got stuck in my head in '06.

Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium"— Dani California

Another catchy heavy guitar track from the fun Californians. About to check out more tracks from the album ! Aren't this guys getting old yet!

Fratellis "Costello Music"— Chelsea Dagger

Absolutely fab track from album with a few other rocking tunes that get a lot of PJMixer airplay. Surprisingly didn't make Q top 100 albums.

Arctic Monkeys "Whatever People Say I Am, That`s What I`m Not"— Dancing Shoes

One of the many great tracks from the undisputed best album of 2006. One thing I heard about their music was the unusual structure of songs that contain multiple hooks. Love it !

Young Stanley "Sing It For England"— Sing It For England

It got us all in the mood for the World Cup, but not sure if the lads on the field heard it ! England could definitely beat up Italy or France on the dance floor or a Karaoke ! Inspired words from from five builders from Bromley.

Jurassic 5 "Feedback"— Work It Out (Featuring Dave Matthews Band)

Hot hip hop band meets the smooth voice of Dave Matthews (which I finally got around to listening to in '06).

Gnarls Barkley "St. Elsewhere"— Smiley Faces

2nd great track off this very eclectic record that got my attention. We all needed a break from Crazy. Add Gnarls to the Monkeys and there is now significant proof that downloads are a bigger force than CD sales.





Corinne Bailey Rae "Corinne Bailey Rae"— Put Your Records On

Simply a beautiful musician and performer. Lots of great tracks on one of the top albums of the year.





Feist "Let It Die"— One Evening

Canadian lady I initially heard about from Paris based DJJuice. Interesting multi-media web site too. Sultry and fun. Other select tracks - 2 and 10.





John Legend "Once Again"— Save Room

I think his second album is a little easier to enjoy than his first, a warm voice and earnest lyrics.





Diana Krall "From This Moment On"— Exactly Like You

My favourite lady of jazz. This album gets back to what she does best - the standards sung with great care and orginality. For those not familiar with Diana Krall she is now married to Elvis Costello and just gave birth to twin boys - musicians of the future maybe ?

Crash "Soundtrack By Mark Isham"— Bird York - In The Deep

A deeply moving track from the best movie of '05.




I chose to include the album covers for a few reasons...it perhaps tells another story about the band; it's a little throwback to the nostalgia or having a vinyl LP cover to hold in your hands as you're listening to the music; it may help you find the CD if you love the track(s) so much you want to own it !


Sports pics of the year

Compliments of great photos from Sports Illustrated and thanks to my wife for finding this great gallery of pics from 2006 - The Year's Most Interesting Pictures.

The bad part of doing the Yonge street TTC loopback shuffle...

Sometimes it doesn't work.

Sometimes you overhear that typical Bay street crap...

"Our Christmas dinner was at Didier. $4500 for 10." "Not bad" he says. Then he goes on to say that it wasn't that good, and "the service was sh***y." Then he drops the J.P. Benson name as if that means anything !

He's still going on. Only these types and unknowing tourists talk across the subway car like no one else is here.

Where's he getting off ?

And what the lady's story ? They both seem to trying to impress.

He's trying to think of Tru... something...sure enough Triax, one of those bastard labour sponsored funds I sunk money into a while back. Makes sense he's buddies with the founders.

Getting off at St Clair.

* The Yonge Street TTC Loopback Shuffle is a commuting technique where you get on the subway travelling the opposite way you need to go, then get off and switch back in the intended direction. This technique drastically increases the odds you'll actually got on a train and maybe find yourself a little elbow room in the middle of the car.

Charity

I've touched on this topic a few times before, incl. Recent Observations.

To a lot of people, thoughts of charity become more frequent during this time of year. I've had a bit of a (good) habit for many years to carry a few extra loonies and twonies around to give to the street people that I walk by regularly, to the old or young that look like they need a little extra handout, or the entertainers that (selfishly) put a smile on my face. Giving a little change when the temps drop below freezing like last week, seems only human to me.

There was an reader's letter in the local paper saying it shouldn't just be the responsibility of the mayor to take care of the homeless, its our civic responsibility. I can't say I completely agree with this but I can see where they're coming from. I think our cities and world would be a much better place if we thought about other people more often, especially those less privileged than us.

However, I must say I have to turn a blind eye on occasion because there are simply way too many charities to give to. This may not come out right, but I dislike many charities because of the guilt they leave if you chose not to support them. This happens very frequently when people come knocking at my front door, asking for donations for many apparently worthy causes. Sadly, mostly of them are to do with children. One charity that I must compliment for not falling into this trap is Sick Kids. Their volunteers are out on the streets all the time, and always have a pleasant greeting and surprisingly never directly request a donation. To me it's polite, they know that people know Sick Kids and they'll gladly offer up some change if they can spare it or perhaps, if that person has chosen Sick Kids as one of their charities.

So I think it makes sense to pick a few charities that you are somehow connected to or deserve the most in your opinion. To tackle the difficulty in choosing and having to say no to many charities, I try to give to a few specific causes.

As it happens, my daughter's classmate is the brother of Jacob Schwartz. Jacob has touched many lives and his family help drive Jacob's Ladder - The Canadian Foundation for Control of Neurodegenerative Disease. This has become our family charity.

This type of charity does take us a little further away from the people who need our help now, however I think they are just as important as other more direct charities. It seems to make sense to me that the best cure for many problems that face our world today, is prevention. Giving to charities live Jacob's Ladder and the The Heart and Stroke Foundation (which I also have some direct connection to) seem great ways to help out future generations.

But it seems rather obscene to me, to extend the good intent of philanthropy to the political arena ? You could argue the above point, but that's a pretty big swerve off course if you ask me. Surely money is better spent on the search for a cure for tragic debilitating diseases rather than propping up some sorry old gent who fancies a go in office !

The types of local charities that help cloth and feed street people are also very important to me and I try to make more tangible donations to charities like The Daily Bread Food Bank.

And lastly, there are occasionally a number of global incidents and causes that get my attention. For instance, the Gap (RED) program, Make Poverty History, or the fallout from natural disasters like Katrina. I'd like to say I pay attention because of the massive number of people affected or the global significance, but I must admit that part of the attraction is that it's in (hip, cool). Do I really need to wear a white rubber band or a red bead on a safety pin to show that I care ? I'm sure this is a little shallow of me, but often, the only way I hear about these causes is via the musicians I listen or via some other "commercial" advertising. I don't think there's anything wrong in a musician using there global reach to at least bring attention to some very worthy world problems. Problems, which we can give a little help to. Maybe if it takes a little self-promotion or a step into a state of fashion to get people to give more generously, then maybe that's ok.