On Wednesday January 18, 2012, this site will be participating in the protest of the proposed SOPA bill – Stop Online Piracy Act. It, along with PIPA, are bills in the House and Senate that are designed to stop online piracy by way of changing certain parts of how the internet works. Yes, recently Rep. Lamar Smith-TX announced they are removing the DNS blocking portion of the bill. But even with all of the other provisions that remain, this bill is not the best option for stopping the illegal download of movies, music and media and intellectual property of artists and copyright owners.

There are other ways and methods of reducing piracy including the supporting of increasing legal options of obtaining media. And while there are legal methods today like Amazon and iTunes, the MPAA and RIAA have not fully embraced new media and spend more money litigating than they do promoting.

Seized

You will see the following graphic on my site tomorrow. DO NOT BE ALARMED!! MY SITE DIDN’T GET SEIZED FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY!!. All will be back to normal on Thursday.

a sample notice of a site that is seized
Original image found at Anondora.org

If you want to join in, feel free. Be creative or be simple. If these bills are passed, changes that are out of your hands could happen. Stop SOPA and Stop PIPA.

I still owe you a post on Amazon Cloud Drive, but it can wait. Spotify is in the US now, previously only in the UK and Europe. What is Spotify? Yeah, it’s another music streaming service. But this one is a bit different than the others. I told you about Google Music. That’s a music locker that uses your own music to upload to the cloud. Spotify is a combo streaming service. It syncs your music to mobile devices AND allows you to play music you don’t own over the internet. For free, or you can expand your options and pay a monthly subscription. Interested yet? Let me show you how this works.

Playing an album

First off, once you are signed up, you need to download the app for your Windows or Mac computer. Once you have that, install it and login. Above is what the main app window looks like when you are playing an album. The left bar is all sorts of different options like syncing your iTunes library, checking what’s new and to see what devices are connected to your Spotify account.

The free version is ad supported, like banner ads. And also when you are listening, ads will play in between every few songs. Like listening to a radio station. To get rid of the ads, you can sign up for a monthly service for as low as $4.99/mo.

Palm Pre mobile syncing with desktop app

Have a mobile device? There’s apps for webOS (Palm Pre), Android and iPhone. I installed the iPhone and the webOS apps. For my Palm Pre, I can sync all local songs that I have on my iTunes, but any streaming from music that is on Spotify, I need to sign up for a paid account. Same with the iPhone. Sync local, but streaming live needs a subscription.

And speaking of syncing local, by signing up for a Premium account for $9.99/mo. you can have any of the songs you would stream on the free Spotify synced local to your computer or mobile device. All playable, so long as you keep that subscription going. Think of it as paying a licensing fee to play music.

My Thoughts

So far, I like it. I’ve been able to listen to a good 20 or so albums… some I’ve been wanting to hear like Bon Iver and others that I might not ever listened to before like Britney Spears and Katy Perry. I could see continued use shoving something like iTunes aside and giving it some serious competition. There are Spotify users already planning to make the switch. For now, it’s an additional place for me to play music [I still have a sizable investment in iTunes], but it’s a solid product and one that I see having a use for integrating one’s music across multiple platforms.

Need an invite? Want to see what is the buzz with Spotify? Click the photo above or this link to sign up. It should be good for a while.

Give Spotify a shot. It’s free and you might find some cool music you’ve enjoy.

Who already has Spotify? Tell me how you are liking it (or not).

Better late then never for Episode 5.

Let me tell you. It’s hot… really hot. Episode 5 of this season of Scooter Sunday is all new. Head over to ScooterSunday.com and catch the heat wave.

Vimeo version – UPDATING.

Visiting a place like Myrtle Beach, you have your share of tourist guides. In one of them, they had an ad for KISS Coffeehouse. It looked real, it had the official logo and images of the band members. It had to be legit. If there was going to be a music-themed coffee shop, leave it to the mass marketing machine known as KISS to create one. Only one way to find out.

Coffee Umbrella

Walking up to the store front, it was obvious this was no ripoff. The decor was very cool. All sorts of KISS designs and the logo plastered all over. Tables with umbrellas are standard fare for any coffee shop, only with the KISS logo at this java hut.

You wanted the hottest, you got the hottest.. cup of coffee

Walking inside, it’s a KISS fan’s pleasure zone. All sorts of souvenirs, coffee and music and videos – all KISS, all the time. “Rock and roll all night, and coffee every day!” [you can get a t-shirt what that exact phrase on it]

Their specialty drink is called a “rockuccino” which is pretty much a frozen cappuccino drink. I tried it and it was actually really good. Tasty, not too sweet and refreshing on an 82 degree day. It was $6.50 (including tax), which is steep even compared to Starbucks, but hey, this is their only location and it was a novelty thing, so there’s that.

I’m no Gene Simmons, but I’m giving it my best shot.

So if you find yourself in Myrtle Beach, check it out. If you are a KISS fan, you’ll love it. Otherwise, there are plenty of other coffee shops to get your daily fix of morning joe.

Body Count

Back in 1992, Ice-T was a rap artist who decided to get a metal band together. What ended up happening is only something you can read about in the news. And did we ever.

The debut album is mostly a political and social rant, mixed with some humor that’s meant to be humor. It was released to mixed reviews at the time, but as time went on, the album ended up standing on it’s own and defied religious bans, record company boycotts and conservative protests.

Back when Warner Bros was a record company that stood up for their artists, they didn’t back down to pressure when the cries came in to ban the album. Only after Ice-T himself stepped in and changed the album, removing the song “Cop Killer”, did the album take a censored hit.

Speaking of the afore mentioned song, it was never intended to be a rally cry to kill a cop. It was a statement about the black community and it’s constant badgering from law enforcement. In fact, take a listen here (if you dare):

“Cop Killer”

Metal Voice

It’s been years since I’ve heard this album and a friend from work starting singing “KKK Bitch” a few weeks ago and I told her how much I loved this album back in the day. So I dug it out of the archives and have played it a few times in the last few days. It still holds up very well and even 18 years later, I’m still of the same mindset with the humor and message of this album.

Here’s the official track listing of the uncensored original release:

1. “Smoked Pork”
2. “Body Count’s in the House”
3. “Now Sports”
4. “Body Count”
5. “A Statistic”
6. “Bowels of the Devil”
7. “The Real Problem”
8. “KKK Bitch”
9. “C Note”
10. “Voodoo”
11. “The Winner Loses”
12. “There Goes the Neighborhood”
13. “Oprah”
14. “Evil Dick”
15. “Body Count Anthem”
16. “Momma’s Gotta Die Tonight”
17. “Out in the Parking Lot”
18. “Cop Killer”

Tracks like “Oprah”, “Smoked Pork” and “Now Sports” are small clips that are spoken leaders that meld into the next song. It’s like a series of events told in song, and mostly with a social message.

Not For Everyone

I admit this album is not for everyone. It’s something that you either get or you don’t. For me, I liked it on first listen. It’s abrasive, but I’ve always liked the envelope pushing in music. And it’s been one of those albums that not only started the metal core sound, pushed the limits of censorship boundaries and ignited the start of the “PARENTAL WARNING” labels that are found on albums with explicit and controversial material, but also placed a true dividing line of music for that understand to those that want to ban it. And any musician today that wants to release an album without being censored can thank Ice-T and Body Count for paving the way.

iTunes is getting long in the tooth. The interface hasn’t changed in years. Yes, there have been some cosmetic changes here and there and lots of cool and useful features added, but in general, it’s looked and acted the same for many years. I am mostly ok with that, as I’ve learned how to navigate around my music and videos and can make things work for me very easily. I wouldn’t mind seeing some changes, though.

So when I went to Apple’s main site on Monday morning and saw the above, I became curious. I wonder what changes will be announced this morning. Here’s my guesses:

• Streaming and subscription service – We already have last.fm as a decent site for streaming and music discussion. The previous lala site was purchased by Apple. The inevitable would be to see some sort of offering from Apple.
• 90 Second Song Previews – This would be nice for quite a few songs that need more than the 30 seconds currently available.
• Remove DRM from videos – Hey, a boy can dream, can’t he? They did it for music, maybe someday, our video purchases will be liberated, too.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

… The Beatles

None of the above came true. It was the Fab Four that are now on iTunes for the big news this morning.

I celebrated at 7:58am and purchased “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” from The White Album. This is big news since any change in the types of media that music is offered on, getting The Beatles onto that new format is a labor of negotiations, licensing and all sorts of back and forth talks to work it all out. So love them or hate them, The Beatles on iTunes is an important step in the world of music.

As for my other wishes for changes to iTunes, I guess we’ll wait for future announcements and events.

I’ve been a long time Weezer fan, all the way back to their debut album [also known as the Blue Album] released in 1994. Songs like “Buddy Holly” “Say It Ain’t So” and “My Name Is Jonas” all stuck to me like glue. Sure, it was quirky and maybe a bit out of my age range, but I enjoyed their sound.

Every other album seemed to have those nuggets of greatness and even entire albums – like 2005′s “Make Believe” and 2001′s “Weezer (Green Album)“- delivered that quirky sound I came to love. In fact, I tend to play the aforementioned albums from start to finish a lot. Who can’t listen to a cool song like “Island In The Sun” or “We are All On Drugs” without bopping your head and tapping your toe? [you can't? then comment away below]

2009′s “Raitiude” didn’t do much for me. It seemed like it was rushed and didn’t have that cool sound I’ve grown to like. Thankfully, they issued this year’s “Hurley”, which for me, was a return to greatness. Yes, I tired of hearing the first single “Memories”, but other tracks like “Ruling Me”, “Unspoken” and “Hang On” all exceeded my expectations. Rivers Cuomo, that odd-like creature who leads this band, came through for this long time fan.

Have you heard the new album? Are you a Weezer fan? Speak to me.

I loved Journey and still do. A great band that had some great hits back in the day. I had a couple of their albums, but it was the “Escape” album that really hit it big.

Back in the summer of 1981, I had just graduated from high school. I also had barely turned 18 when I first heard this album. It instantly became a favorite album and I embraced it completely.

Around this time, I also started dating a girl – Carol who was 14 – that I had met at a church dance. Turns out she wasn’t Mormon, but had tagged along with a friend. My mom and I shared a single car [a 1972 Chevy Vega] so I ended up riding my bike a lot. I used to ride over 6 miles from my house to Carol’s house, hanging out with her during the day while her parents were at work. Then I would leave with just enough time to get to my job at the Fotomat.

The song I would play a lot was “Stone In Love”, which for me, making out with a great looking girl, so defined how I felt. I really thought I was in love.

When my mom found out that she was 4 years younger than I was, she flipped out. Then Carol’s parents flipped when they found out she was dating a Mormon kid [the Baptists hated the Mormons]. Oh man, those were some good times. I didn’t care what any parent thought.

But that didn’t matter to a couple of kids. Both my mom and her dad decided we needed to break up. It was tough, but I eventually moved on.

To this day, I still hear this song and think of a cute girl that knew how to make out and made me feel like a cool guy that was stone in love.

Here’s a funny video of the song with some clever people “remaking” the video

Were there any songs that you had that made you think of the person you were dating? Was it “your song together”?

So back on August 5th [of this year, 2010], my wife and I went to see Rush for my birthday, which was the next day. I had seen them live twice before, but you can never see a great band like Rush too many times.

All the world’s a stage… or at least it was in Utah

Who the hell is RASH? Some cheesy cover band, I bet.

I’ve been a Rush fan since pretty much they started. I had all of their albums from their debut to their latest on some form of media, be it vinyl, cassette, CD and now digital. But it was in 1981 when the now-classic “Moving Pictures” came out that showed this long time fan could allow this trio of Canadians to go mainstream.

YYZ Comes Alive

And so this tour called “Time Machine” would have them play the entire “Moving Pictures” album live, in it’s entirety. A seven-song masterpiece in a crowd of thousands. Did it work? I think it did. Three hours later, I felt I had a great time, got to hear many of my favorite songs, including “Freewill”, “Spirit of the Radio”, “Working Man”, La Via Strangiato”, “Closer to the Heart” and a very cool live version of “YYZ”, my favorite song on the afore-mentioned honored album.

Broon’s Bane is not Banal, that’s for sure

As always, Rush will remain a concert draw each time they tour in the future.

BTW, if you won’t take my word for it, go check out another Rush fan’s review of his concert experience. After all, two Rush fans can’t be wrong.

And just to ensure there are more of us that agree, here’s a third Rush fan who’s dream came true*

* you really need to go read that post to find out what happened

NOTE: this is a new blog feature that I hope to have each and every Monday here. Concerts I’ve been to, albums I like, meet and greets I’ve been to… everything and anything related to music.

Back on August 3rd, Arcade Fire released their third album entitled “The Suburbs”

If you’ve never heard of Arcade Fire, they are a Canadian band with American roots who took the indie music scene by storm in 2004 with their debut release, “Funeral” Songs like “Wake Up” and “Haiti” became anthems for fans and the band took their new found fame in stride.

In 2007, they released their second album called “Neon Bible”, which brought a slightly different sound, but the same type of musical vibe with tracks like “Intervention” and “Keep The Car Running”. This was the year I first heard of them, from my daughter. We saw them live in concert (and got to meet them afterwards) and I was hooked on their music.

“The Suburbs” was a highly anticipated album on my list for this year and when it came out, I played it non-stop for several days, attaching myself to it’s great mix of songs like “Ready To Start”, “Month of May” and “City With No Children”

I can’t recommend this album enough to anyone who appreciates a good creative process in making music and turning something discrete that turned popular back to something independent.

CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE or double click on the screen above

Vimeo version – Click Here

Big Thank You To…

I would like to thank both BlondeBlogger and Mr Shiny for allowing me to use their footage of the snow they captured on video during the big snow storms that hit their area. Without it, who knows how much longer it would have been before I posted a new episode of Snowy Sunday. [several more episodes are in production at this time]

A special shout out to Mr Shiny’s son for his brave trek through the snow-packed terrain.

I grew up listening to music on vinyl records – 45′s, 78′s and 33 1/3′s. From the time I was just a kid listening to those Disney songs, then graduating to pop music, rock and roll and heavy metal, I loved putting a record on the turntable and playing my favorite artists.

As a teen, my favorite was always to play the entire side of an album, letting each song track into the next. By the end of the last track on the album, I was in musical ecstasy.

Going back as far as thirty-two years, there have been three albums that I listen to on a regular basis where I really love the flow of the last three songs on each of these albums. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t listen to all three and sometimes more than once [seriously]. There’s just something about each one of these that really resonates and connects with me.

But it goes beyond how these songs sound to me. It’s how they were originally placed onto the album by the band. They are all connected, running from one song to the next without a break – most prominently on two of the three albums. The term is called gapless playback and the design of many albums that incorporated this were most likely attempting to connect them all together in a way to create a musical montage – a story to be told, note by note – without interruption.

So without further explanation, here are the 3×3 albums/songs.

The Cars “The Cars” – 1978

Click the album name above to link to the MP3 album page and listen to samples
Track 7 – “Bye Bye Love”

This song and the two that follow it were sung by Benjamin Orr, who was the bass player for the band. While he is most famous for the lead vocals of the song “Drive” on the album “Heartbeat City”, it was his powerful voice, which is similar to that of Ric Ocasek’s, that cemented the beauty and awe of this song as a stand out track on this debut album. “I can’t feel this way much longer/expecting to survive” then the common musical keyboard riff on repeat. Add in a guitar solo, the enunciated and sped up vocals “Substitution/Massconfusion/Clouds Inside Your Head” and then bring back the repeats towards the end of the song as it works right into the next track.

Track 8 – “Moving In Stereo”

The last few bars of “Bye Bye Love” flow into the eery and haunting reverb of this song. The lyrics are simple, yet strong. “Life’s the same/I’m moving in stereo”, brilliantly mixed in stereo. Listening to this song in an acoustically-sound room [or at least a nice room with hardwood floors] provides a type of echo that only this song can be enjoyed in. Now put on a pair of nice headphones, preferably over the ear. Wow. Just Fucking Wow. The back and forth stereo mix adds a trippy level as the sound moves from left to right.

Track 9 – “All Mixed Up”

As “Moving In Stereo” fades out it’s psychedelic sounds, it’s morphs into the calming “All Mixed Up” Part love song, part regret and part guitar solo genius. But all of the keyboards and synths are where the real meat of the song takes place. Benjamin sings “She tricks me into thinking/I can’t believe my eyes” on the vocal track, keyboards in unison on another. Let’s add the sythesized cymbal tings and the repeated ending lyrics of “she said to leave it to me/it will be alright” and you have one of the best endings to an album.

Tears For Fears “Songs From The Big Chair” – 1985

Click the album name above to link to the MP3 album page and listen to samples
Track 6 – “Broken”

Technically speaking, it’s the last four songs that are connected without gaps on this album, but for me specifically, it’s the final three that have always spoken to me. Not that I don’t like “I Believe”, it’s just a bit out of place when played with the final three. “Broken” is one of those tracks that starts off strong and ends strong. The repeated chorus of “We Are Broken” flows well with the musical arrangement and I always like the vocals of Roland Orzabal sung as powerful as the music builds.

Track 7 – “Head Over Heels”

As the words “.. funny how time flies” escapes the lips of Roland, the first keyboard strikes of this song quickly rolls into the depth of this track. It’s another Roland lead vocal masterpiece. But then we add the harmony vocals of Curt Smith throughout each lyrical segment. Not to mention Curt’s bass notes adding even more to this popular yet addictive song. The lyrics don’t make much sense, which is sometimes the case with love songs. “This is my four-leaf clover” starts the end of the song as the multitude of “La La La La La La” chant easily moves into a final, yet fast arrangement.

Track 8 – “Listen”

Towards the end of “Head Over Heels”, you think the song is just going to end, with the crowd cheering. But as it migrates into a zen-like atmosphere of sound, “Listen” becomes pretty much the only lyric you remember from this calming tune. Not much more to say about this song. It’s nice. It flows. It has some oddness to it. And yet, it’s the perfect ending to a great album.

Radiohead “OK Computer” – 1997

Click the album name above to link to the MP3 album page and listen to samples
Track 10 – “No Surprises”

The first time I heard this album wasn’t until it had been out for almost three years. Tracking through the first nine songs left me breathless. But once the defined guitar picking notes of this song start, it quickly becomes obvious that this is the beginning of the end. The song builds into multiple facets. It’s bright and cheery, even given the gloomy vocals of Thom Yorke. Like a walk in a field of flowers, you want to jump around and smile and enjoy each and every note.

Track 11 – “Lucky”

While there is not a gapless transition from the previous song to this one, the flow of happy to a sonic sound of deep guitar and defined vocals begins to tell a story… “Pull me out of the aircrash/pull me out of the lake”… Doesn’t sound happy, but it is. It’s the hope of being the superhero that saves someone. And at the end of the second chorus, when the solo guitar strums take center stage, it speaks out… “We are standing on the edge” at least in musical form.

Track 12 – “The Tourist”

Again, lacking a gapless transition, the soulful guitar of Jonny Greenwood starts, soon to be joined by an even more soulful vocal yearning. “Hey man, slow down, slow down” The song is already pretty slow at this point, even with the guitar kicking it up a notch. The low and faint tone can seem to be a drop off. But just as it starts to drop, the guitar once again picks up and keeps going, right up until you hit the last few notes. Then we have that slow down that Thom has been singing about, ending with a single hit of the chimes.

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Any albums or sets of songs that you like? Please share. And go into detail. As a music lover, I want to hear.