my magnificent* return to the blogosphere

wouldn't it be great to revisit your high school days knowing what you know now? fully loaded with adult self-confidence and smug knowledge of the future, you could manipulate your peers and take risks you never dared as a teen.

last night i watched peggy sue got married, a 1986 dramedy about the regret and nostalgia that high school reunions can evoke. i live in another country and across the continent from my high school now. the idea of returning to the mid 1990s of my youth is not quite as enticing as returning to peggy sue's class of 1960. can you really compare air jordans, grunge, and tree huggers to sweater sets, doo-wop, and broody beatniks? what about the edsel! majorettes!


in a fit of true teen tantrums, peggy says "i'm an adult, i want to have fun! i'm going to go to liverpool to discover the beatles." oh, if only.


*alright, this may not be such a 'magnificent' return to blogging but it is an attempt to get back into the habit of chronicling my influences, petits recherches, and obsessions.

good browsing

art + music = sexy

ohhhh how i love you, gigposters.com

well, today's the day, RIP radio free internet. (see previous post)
i have uninstalled the scrobbler from my computer.
11,900 tracks, ending with a fanfare of my favourite song of all time:
how could they know just what this message means
the end of my hopes, the end of all my dreams...
no milk today, my love has gone away, the bottle stands forlorn, a symbol of the dawn

time to think about summer festivals!
ottawa bluesfest lineup announced today (must see okkervil river and the zombies!)
osheaga day two (must see arctic monkeys and le volume était au maximum)
road trip to long island for teen idols II with peter noone, mickey dolenz and mark lindsay? hmm, probably too far.

the end is nigh

biding my time until two and a half years of faithful "audio scrobbling" come to an end.

scrobbling is a service from last.fm, based on data collection from users across the world. users automatically report all the songs played on their computer, ipod, cellphone or other file player. last.fm uses this data to create radio stations out of music libraries, recommends songs and friends based on compatibility to other users, keeps statistics about what's popular, and mash up with other services to allow you to preview and buy new music. other content is created by the users, who write artist bios, comment on songs, and upload band photos.

i have discovered a lot of great new music using this service, and also a bit about my own habits. i've scoped out my musical compatibility with old friends in canada and the states, and made new friends from australia, chile, iceland, england, and sweden.

so i'm heartbroken to read these blog announcements from last.fm indicating that any day now they will begin charging a fee to listen to radio stations from all users living outside the UK, US or germany. although the US $3/£3/€3 per month fee's not going to break my piggy bank, users in other countries, particularly latin and south america, have indicated it would absolutely break theirs. i'm feeling pretty sick over this decision. i understand last.fm is a business, but i can't believe they're not charging users fairly, based on their local economy, or equally across all countries.

other users seem most disturbed by the significance of putting political borders on a borderless internet. what are the cultural implications if users outside the G3 leave last.fm? for me personally, a whole lot less exposure to hot 60s-inspired music from around the world, like dutch beat band the madd, québécois garage punk les breastfeeders, swedish indie group mando diao, and spanish yéyé enthusiasts!!

so why should i continue to track what i listen to, giving last.fm free data they turn around and sell to my neighbours in canada, while they give it away for free to the richest countries on earth?

i'm trying to stream as many radio stations as i can until the new day the music died. already in mourning.

last assignment!

it's been a sweet ride down the 2.0 superhighway. thanks matt and caitlin for the relatively painless homework. i learned some new stuff and started to get back into the habit of blogging. now there is an online record to keep me accountable for continuing my songwriting goal for '09.

here are some rocktastic books i read lately.

girls rock : how to get your group together and make some noise by robyn goodmark

some good advice on how to start a band, whether or not you're a girl. seems doable? must schedule time specifically for writing, otherwise i will put it off forever!

1. - pick a song and mimic its structure
2. decide on a theme to write about
3. write a LOT, rearrange and repeat stuff to make it fit song format
4. play around until you have a catchy hook
5. jam/practice/rock out until you figure out a tune for your lyrics
   

(alternate version - jam first, write words later)


les tempêtes par alain m. bergeron
(desolée en avance pour tuer la langue français)

c'est l'année 1964 et deux frères ados veulent devenir les prochaines beatles québécois. en moins de six mois, ils créent un groupe de rock avec leurs amis, ils s'enseignent jouer leur instruments, ecrivent des chansons de l'amour, et prennent leur rock de jeunesse d'aujourd'hui, une émission de la télé. ces sont mes rêves realisé! inclut beaucoup de vrai details du temps, et culmine avec la beatlemanie au premier spectacle des beatles à montréal. (comme ça!) aussi ce livre vient avec un disque des quatre chansons!

keep yr drunk photos out of the office

facebook doesn't replace myspace as the best social network for fledgling musicians. so my music blog doesn't have much to say about facebook (as per 2.0 training homework), however...

here is an essential article about facebook privacy.

rave on <3

today's the 50th anniversary of the day the music died.

how to pull shapes

"we are the pipettes" was one of my favourite albums of 2006.
these girls can cut a rug!



unfortunately last year the two best girls left (brunette and glasses) and now the vibe is gone! booo. still amazing inspiration reference video.