Month: January 2008

Tosy Was Wrong

Tosy wrote: For some reason, I get the feeling that everyone knows about Coverville. But maybe I’m wrong. Yup, Tosy, you were wrong, ’cause I wasn’t familiar with this eclectic website that offers a podcast two or three times a week consisting of cover songs, nothing but cover songs. Now I’ve subscribed to it via iTunes. I was considering listening to some of the earlier episodes, but there are 407 of them, so I thought the better of it.

I love cover tunes. I have whole albums dedicated to the works of Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, The Eagles, Marvin Gaye, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, Curtis Mayfield, Charlie Mingus, Harry Nilsson, Doc Pomus, Pete Seeger, Richard Thompson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Who, and Neil Young. The Red, Hot Blue albums tend to be filled with covers. I have Motown artists covering other Motown artists, and pop versions of West Side Story. And Beatles – LOTS of Beatles covers.

Coverville also features a search mechanism by which one can find who covered what songs. The main search page was offline last I checked; however, Brian Ibbott, host and producer of the radio broadcast, has sent me a link to the beta search site that works much better. I’m loath to put the beta link on this page because the original search page will be back online soon, but if the original search engine is not working, e-mail me and I’ll get you the beta site.

It also has a discussion board, where I found this cover of Stairway to Heaven, if it had been done by four moptops:

Thank you for being wrong, Tosy.
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There are other sites to search cover versions such as The Covers Project and Second Hand Songs.
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Singing in a choir will keep you young
Misty Harris, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, January 05, 2008

Though Brahms and Beethoven aren’t what Richard Simmons had in mind with “Sweatin’ to the Oldies,” new research suggests the composers’ choral work might be just what your body wants.

According to Victoria Meredith, a University of Western Ontario professor who used the school’s adult choirs as a “live research lab,” participation in choral music leads to increased respiratory function, improved overall health, a heightened immune system and improved brain function. Meredith also concludes that performing in a choir “can keep you younger and healthier for longer,” pointing to similar studies that found people who sing on a regular basis require fewer doctors’ visits, are less prone to falls, don’t need as much medication, and are less likely to be depressed.

More: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist.

ROG

ROG

Remembering

There’s a character called Little Critter that I read to Lydia. He said, “Sometimes I remember, and sometimes I forget.”

So when I reviewed my 2007 albums, I forgot Nellie McKay’s Obligatory Visitors. I got it so early in the year, relatively, it slipped my mind. It’s much shorter than her previous two epics, and while I liked it in parts – a wonderfully vulgar 23 seconds of “Livin”, e.g. – I prefer her singing to that of the bloke who she had crooning with her.

I forgot to give my football playoff picks; trust me, I was 3-1 the first weekend (I thought Washington would beat Seattle). The second weekend, it’s more who I hope would win: Green Bay did (this has much to do with my dislike of The View’s Elizabeth Hasselbeck, who’s married to the Seattle QB, Matt); and my others won as well, except for Jacksonville, who lost to New England. (But doesn’t everyone?) So my rooting interests for the rest of the season are set: Giants, San Diego, Green Bay, in that order.

I was glad that Goose Gossage got into the baseball’s Hall of Fame, but I’m still looking for some love for Jim Rice, Lee Smith, and Andre Dawson.

On my list of TV themes, I didn’t forget Barney Miller, M&R. It was on Greg’s cusp list and on mine. Interestingly, that first season, not only was the show less good, in spite of the fine Barbara Barrie as Barney’s wife, the theme was fairly lackadaisical.
The later theme, like the second Magnum theme, was MUCH better:

The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme didn’t quite make it either, mostly because love may be all around, but Mary Richards’ love life mostly stunk. I think I preferred the “you just might make it” of the first season, which I can’t find, to “you’re gonna make it” of later seasons.

I did find this:

Oh, a question: did the That Girl theme ever have lyrics? I know it didn’t normally, but I swear I heard them at least once.

I forgot to mention that it was my friend Dan who gave me the comics-related question which I posed on Saturday that YOU can STILL answer.
I don’t want him, or especially his wife Lynne, who I’ve known even longer, ticked with me.

I was going to use this piece from a United Methodist website on one of my grumpy days, but I forgot:
Lawsuit prompts new music and video copyright developments for churches
Dean McIntyre, of the General Board of Discipleship, is warning churches of new developments in legal cases regarding the use of copyrighted music and video in worship. In an article posted on GBOD’s worship website, McIntyre writes, “In a new attempt to stop illegal copying — which may have an impact on churches — the music industry is now making a stronger claim of copyright protection not previously claimed.”

He concludes that, “If the courts continue to uphold the new music industry claim, the implication for churches is clear: it is illegal to legally purchase copyrighted music or movies, to copy and store that music or movie, even a clip, on your own computer or disk, and then use the copy in worship. Churches that want to replay copyrighted CDs or videos in worship can legally do so only by using the original purchased copy.”

ROG

ROG

Turn On the Mind

You Are 72% Open Minded

You are a very open minded person, but you’re also well grounded.
Tolerant and flexible, you appreciate most lifestyles and viewpoints.
But you also know where you stand firm, and you can draw that line.
You’re open to considering every possibility – but in the end, you stand true to yourself.

Don’t recall where I found this.

1. Do you remember learning to read? How old were you?
No, but it seemed like I’ve always read – of course not true, is it?

2. What do you find most challenging to read?
Novels with flowery multiple adjectives. Certain fonts.

3. What are your library habits?
I go a lot for Lydia, maybe once a week. We usually get two books and one video.

4. Have your library habits changed since you were younger?
Well, yeah. Mostly, I access it remotely, accessing databases.

5. How has blogging changed your reading life?
I might pick up something that someone has recommended.

6. What percentage of your books do you get from: New book stores, second hand book stores, the library, online exchange sites, online retailers, other?
About 10% each from the library, new book stores, and second-hand stores. About 70% from Amazon or the like.

7. How often do you read a book and NOT review it in your blog?
Maybe once. Excluding children’s books, which I often read and seldom review.

8. What are your pet peeves about ways people abuse books? Dog-earing pages? Reading in the bath?
Marking in books that aren’t theirs, even highlighting them.

9. Do you ever read for pleasure at work?
Most of my reading at lunchtime are periodicals (newspapers, mostly.)

10. When you give people books as gifts, how do you decide what to give them?
Hope they give clues. That said, people have given me books, and if I like it, I might imagine other people who might as well.

ROG

ROG

Top 10 5 Albums of 2007

I only got 13 albums that came out in 2007, all CDs, as opposed to downloads or vinyl. Unlike the movies I didn’t see, this fact does not particularly distress me as much as it might, since I did download some individual cuts as well as older albums I had on vinyl.

So coming up with a Top 10 seemed silly. I will discuss all of them, but then give you my Top 5, which is pretty soft.

Across the Universe SOUNDTRACK – It’s OK. Too much of it sounds the same. Didn’t see the movie, though, and that might have helped. I love EDDIE IZZARD doing Mr. Kite, though.

Like A Hurricane-Neil Young Tribute, Uncut Magazine. Pretty good actually, though invariably uneven.

It’s Not Big, It’s Large- Lyle Lovett. As I wrote here, I like it, but haven’t played it in over a month. Might rank higher when I hear it again.

Memory Almost Full-Paul McCartney. I liked it, especially some of the latter songs. The cut that explains the meanings of the songs really enhanced the album for me.

Magic-Bruce Springsteen. I enjoyed it quite a bit actually, but with a couple of exceptions, it sounds as though it could have come out a decade or more ago.

Live In Dublin-Bruce Springsteen. This lives heavily on the songs from the Seeger Session of 2006 that I loved so much. Works well here, too, plus some great reframing of the Springsteen oeuvre, and a surprise or two.

We’ll Never Turn Back-Mavis Staples. Lefty Brown turned me onto this album, and it was in constant rotation in the summer, one track in particular.

Photograph: the Very Best of Ringo Starr. Quite possibly all the Richard Starkey I’ll ever need. A mostly known commodity going in, and some good songs. Beatlefan magazine posed the question a couple months ago whether Ringo, as a solo artist, deserved to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; I’d say no, as commercial success, and is largely not a criterion.

And now, my Top 5:

5) West- Lucinda Williams. This might be is a hard album to love for me. Sometimes the lyrics are weak, sometimes the music, though usually at least one element is outstanding. Some of the lyrics are as nonsensical as Dylan’s most obtuse. There’s a 9-minute quasi-rap song that somebody on Amazon called the WORST SONG EVER. But when it clicks, it really works for me. It’s no “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”, but it is a worthwhile effort about loss.

4) Dirt Farmer – Levon Helm. – Maybe I’m a sucker for a feel-good story. Helm, the voice of the legendary group The Band, survived throat cancer, but he was unable to talk, let alone sing. But with treatment, he was able to do both. And this album, which sounds like The Band mixed with the music of the group’s roots, is outstanding. His daughter Amy, who sings with the group Olabelle, is also present here.

3) Chrome Dreams II-Neil Young. What Nik said about the eclectic nature of the project. BTW, Tosy once had a post about the longest and shortest album cuts. He and I had the same Dylan cut as the longest, but Ordinary People on this album at 18 minutes surpasses that. (I have since discovered that I have a 20-minute live version of Frank Zappa’s Don’t eat the Yellow Snow.) Here’s a review from the United Methodist Church website!

2) Raising Sand- Alison Krauss/Robert Plant. Actually, I bought this for my wife for Christmas. I always buy Alison Krauss for my wife for Christmas or her birthday when she has a new album out. While there were some duets that sounded more like her fare, there’s at least one cut that’s louder than anything on any Krauss album I’ve heard. In any case, it works because of genre-bending song selection and a great production by T-Bone Burnett. The more I hear it, the more I like it.

1)I’m Not There SOUNDTRACK- (Nik: this is how I write every day – I just quote other people.) As Nik says, compilations are tough, but this one works exceedingly well, even though I didn’t see this movie yet, either.

The album I’m most likely to get, sound unheard, based on everyone else’s reviews: LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver.

ROG

ROG

Online Comics QUESTIONS

I get e-mails:

Lacking for material to write about? No, of course not. But I’d be interested in your take on this subject. Do you think Cory Doctorow is right?

The main point of the story, titled “Boom! comics’ new series available as downloads on the same day as in stores” is that “comics publishers should — at a minimum — put up downloadable comics after they disappear from the stands, so that people who are coming to the serial after it starts can catch up. The trade paperbacks help here, but usually there’s a 2-3 issue gap between the collection and the singles.”

Well, I have no idea. In my days of retailing comics (1980-88 and again in the early 1990s), the business model was very different. I do know that a customer coming in in the middle of a story was/is maddening. I do know that dealing with back issue comics was often a pain. But does the online page of back issues solve the problem?

There seems to be an overriding premise in the piece that almost everything that comes out as singles (his term) or floppies will turn up in book form eventually, which I don’t believe to be true, any more than every TV show eventually coming out on DVD.

I also don’t buy the premise that the “publisher could spend approximately $0.00 and post downloadable singles 30 days or even 60 days after they hit the stands.” To do a quality job online does not cost nothing, assuming you have to pay someone to do it. And what of the creative team? How are they getting paid for this, beyond the flat page rate? Or should it just be considered “promotional? (Shades of the AMPTP!)

I would really like to know, from comics collectors and especially retailers: does the online model stimulate new readers, and more importantly, new spenders, or are folks just reading product online for free? What is the general quality of the existing products – easy to use or not? Of readable quality or full of eyestrain? What’s the best of the current crop, and what’s a must to avoid?
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Last weekend, the Wall Street Journal gave a plug for HowToons, an interesting site. It does have a link to a book for sale on Amazon, but I don’t know how else it makes money, if in fact it does.

ROG

ROG
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