ickmusic

The Woes of Satellite Radio

November 19th, 2008 by Pete

Eek! I thought I was getting such a bargain when I bought a bunch of Sirius stock a few years ago at $2.50 a share. I watched in delight as it rose to almost $8.00 after Howard Stern signed on. Well, it’s 2008, the economy is in the shitter, Sirius is now SiriusXM, and do you care to guess what the stock closed at today? $5.00? $3.00? $1.00?

Right, try $0.16. That’s s-i-x-t-e-e-n cents.

I’m starting to wonder if I’ll hear anything on my receiver when I start my truck six months from now. I’m wondering if this downward spiral can ever make a significant rebound.

Maybe it only truly appeals to a certain segment of society, primarily music lovin’ geeks like me. I LOVE my SiriusXM Satellite radio!! Granted, I’m sort of pissed about some recent consolidations of “redundant” stations that eliminated two of my favorites - Backspin and Sirius Disorder - but the selection of music (commercial-free) is so far better than terrestrial radio that you can’t even make the comparison.

I’m surprised satellite radio isn’t a lot more popular than it is. But given the economy, the availability of music on the internet (iTunes, music discovery sites like Last.fm, Pandora, and Rhapsody), music on smart phones, and the looming collapse of the U.S. auto industry - well, things ain’t looking so bright for SiriusXM.

Me? I’ll be subscribed until Satellite Radio is six feet under. Sorry, I need my variety of music. I need another way to discover new music. And dammit all, I need my Howard Stern!

You guys and gals are music lovin’ fools like me. Who can’t live without their satellite radio? Who could give a rat’s behind?

Sirius XM at 17 cents - look out below - Nov. 19, 2008 (CNN Money)

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »

And Speaking of 80’s Prince…

November 18th, 2008 by Pete

he showed up on Letterman last night. Well, sort of…

Edit: Wow, they’re quick. No mas for this YouTube clip. If anyone else sees the video out there, post in the comments. I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna let the elevator bring me down…

Posted in Funk, Prince, Video | No Comments »

More Prince Ramblings

November 17th, 2008 by Pete

I just read this short, what seems to be rather abbreviated piece in the New Yorker. Claire Hoffman was invited over to Prince’s 30,000 sq ft mansion in Beverly Park to chat over carrot soup. It got me once again to thinking about the purple man, so bear with me and my stream of consciousness typing…

As Prince has aged, he’s undergone some significant transformations. He’s always been someone who has changed styles with seemingly every album. The quiet, pompadoured lust king of Purple Rain, the 60’s psychedelic from Around the World in a Day; the outgoing, smiling, short-do’d comedian from Parade, and on and on.

In the 90’s, I watched in a sort of curious fascination as he changed his name to a unpronounceable symbol. The music still grabbed me though. The Gold Experience, Chaos and Disorder, Emancipation - I still ate it all up.

Since Prince joined up with the Jehovah’s Witnesses earlier in the 00’s, he still has managed to pump out some music that I enjoy - I can enjoy parts of The Rainbow Children, Musicology, 3121 and even Planet Earth.

But it’s not the same.

I guess I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m most enthralled with the Prince of the 80’s - the prolific wunderkind that produced, arranged, composed and performed music that was wholly original, groundbreaking, and off the wall… Sex, God, straight, gay, starfish, coffee, Head, cab drivers, tambourines, banana daiquiris at Christmas time, dirty minds, strange relationships, squirrel meat (uh! don’t try it), revolutionary rock & roll, girls & boys, old friends 4 sale…

Fast forward to 2008 - Prince performing at exclusive rooftop gigs for $1000 a head; changing the lyrics of his song “Sexuality” - an affirmation of complete individual freedom - now to be known only as “Spirituality”; chasing after web sites for posting his image; and not even maintaining his own web site, or offering any sort of presence on the web to connect with the people who have supported him all these years.

“I can’t understand all the things people say”, Prince sang in “Controversy”, “Am I black or white, am I straight or gay?”

Who was that guy? What was he all about? No one knew, not even Prince - and man was it fun to go along on that ride with him.

And in this interview, we get this gem, from the man who has spent his entire adult life blurring the lines between male and female, straight and gay:

When asked about his perspective on social issues—gay marriage, abortion—Prince tapped his Bible and said, “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’ ”

I’m not ready to jump off the train, mind you. I’ll always be interested in what he’s doing, and will always shell out the money when it comes time to buy albums or concert tickets (but sorry, no perfumes or coffee table books). But clearly, our paths have diverged. And nor do I want for Prince to ever return to the Prince of days past. I mean, we don’t need a 50 year old Prince jumping around stage in bikini briefs and leg warmers - no thank you very much.

I guess all my ranting and rambling here is a chance for me to affirm to myself that we’re all getting older, people change, and some things are just gone forever.

This Prince is gone forever…

Posted in Prince | 3 Comments »

“Outlaw Pete” and Other Songs - New Boss Album Due January 27th

November 17th, 2008 by Pete

Fresh off the heavily edited debut of his song “Working on a Dream” during last night’s Sunday Night Football half time on NBC (almost in the “why even bother” category, imho), there is great news from the East this morning… a new Boss album, a release date, and a track listing!

Much to my delight, a song named “Outlaw Pete” leads off the album! I’m glad Bruce finally took the time to sit down and capture my essence. It’s an honor really, and I look forward to hearing it.

So mark your calendars. It’s January 27th, the Tuesday before the Super Bowl - where we’ll all watch Bruce and the E Street Band tear it up during the half time performance. The title of the album is ‘Working on a Dream’, and has 12 new tracks and 2 bonus tracks. Here’s the listing…

1. Outlaw Pete
2. My Lucky Day
3. Working on a Dream
4. Queen of the Supermarket
5. What Love Can Do
6. This Life
7. Good Eye
8. Tomorrow Never Knows
9. Life Itself
10. Kingdom of Days
11. Surprise, Surprise
12. The Last Carnival

Bonus tracks:
The Wrestler
A Night with the Jersey Devil

Life = Good.

BruceSpringsteen.net

More info from the press release…

Bruce Springsteen’s new album “Working on a Dream” has been set for a January 27 release on Columbia Records. “Working on a Dream” was recorded with the E Street Band and features twelve new Springsteen compositions plus two bonus tracks. It is the fourth collaboration between Springsteen and Brendan O’Brien, who produced and mixed the album…..

…Bruce Springsteen said, “Towards the end of recording ‘Magic,’ excited by the return to pop production sounds, I continued writing. When my friend producer Brendan O’Brien heard the new songs, he said, ‘Let’s keep going.’ Over the course of the next year, that’s just what we did, recording with the E Street Band during the breaks on last year’s tour. I hope ‘Working on a Dream’ has caught the energy of the band fresh off the road from some of the most exciting shows we’ve ever done. All the songs were written quickly, we usually used one of our first few takes, and we all had a blast making this one from beginning to end.”

“Working on a Dream” is Bruce Springsteen’s twenty-fourth album and was recorded and mixed at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, GA with additional recording in New York City, Los Angeles, and New Jersey.

Posted in The Boss | 3 Comments »

Ickmusic’s Friday Five: November 14, 2008

November 14th, 2008 by Michael

If you are a minority of one, the shuffle is the shuffle.

Ah Friday it’s time to relax and you know what that means a glass of wine, your favorite easy chair and of course the Friday Five shuffling on your home stereo. So go on indulge yourself, that’s right, kick off your shoes, put your feet up, lean back and just enjoy the melodies. After all, music soothes even the savage beast….

For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with a bit of insight for each track.

Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.

Here are this week’s tracks:

1. Effcee - Purple Rain (from Electro Goth Tribute to Prince)

Imagine Garbage covering Prince with a less adept lead singer (Shirley Manson is amazing) and that is about the sum of this. To illustrate just how bad this collection is, Rebecca Romijn (yes, that one) performs “Darling Nikki”. For a much more fitting (and listenable) tribute head over to Psychotic Leisure Music and check out Dump’s That Skinny Motherfucker with the High Voice, it’s well worth the time.

2. Diana Ross & Lionel Richie - Endless Love (from 80s Gold)

I’m not sure what frightens me more, the fact that I have no less than 4 instances of this song in my iTunes library or the fact that I actually genuinely, in my heart of hearts, like this song.

3. Ra Ra Riot - Too Too Too Fast (from The Rhumb Line)

A record that is sure to place highly on my year end list, The Rhumb Line by indie pop darlings Ra Ra Riot delivers 10 undeniably catchy and sprite tunes. If you don’t have this record yet, you should.

4. Jellyfish - The Ghost at Number One (mp3) (from Socrates, Pathos, and Plato)

This is the demo of the tune from the bands power pop opus Spilt Milk. I’ve been revisiting my power pop past lately and this is always at the top of the list. The quality is not all that great but this one absolutely deserves to be played on 11.

5. The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back (from Greatest Hits)

This is the first bass line that I ever tried to learn. So damn funky!

What’s kicking you into the weekend?

Posted in Friday Five | 7 Comments »

Clap your hands everybody, and everybody clap your hands

November 14th, 2008 by Pete

Posted in Funny, Video | 2 Comments »

A Faces Reunion

November 12th, 2008 by Pete

Beware. I found this cool feature in Wordpress that lets me instantly blog any article I come across on the web. I’ll keep it music related, don’t worry. For the most part. Sort of.

Now this is something… I read Ronnie Wood’s autobiography a few months ago, and towards the end, he hinted that a Faces reunion was drawing near. At least that was his hope. And it appears that it will happen. Ronnie, Rod Stewart and the original lineup (minus Ronnie Lane, who passed away in 1997) will convene for some jamming next week. Here’s hoping a U.S. tour ensues, with a stop through Phoenix.

Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood to reform Faces - Yahoo! News.

Posted in Rock | No Comments »

New Boss Tune To Debut During NFL Game Sunday

November 12th, 2008 by Pete

New Bruce Springsteen Song To Debut During NFL Game Sunday : Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily.

Posted in The Boss | No Comments »

Jenny Lewis

November 8th, 2008 by Pete

So Jenny Lewis has been doing her thing for a while now - solo, with the Watson Twins, and with her band Rilo Kiley. She’s also a former child actor who moved on to the righteous musical path.

But it took me until last week to finally discover her.

It all started when I stumbled across the video of “Rise Up With Fists”, a song from her 2006 debut solo album ‘Rabbit Fur Coat‘ (with the Watson Twins). The video is a parody of the old C&W variety show Hee Haw, and also features Sarah Silverman. I’m not sure if it’s from Sarah’s show or if it’s a music video of its own. But suffice it to say that I’ve watched this video about 50 times over the past week or so.

A couple days ago, I was watching it, and looked behind me to see my kindergarten age daughter transfixed as well. She now proudly states that her three favorite artists are “Gogol Bordello, Led Zeppelin, and Jenny Lewis”. Never mind the fact she thinks Led Zeppelin is Jack Black, because “The Immigrant Song” was in ‘School of Rock’. But that’s quite a top three for a girl about to turn 5.

But back to Jenny Lewis. I love the folksy/indie/country vibe she exudes. I love her stage presence (watch her recent Letterman performance below). I love the effortlessness and clean quality of her singing voice. And face it, she’s pretty easy on the eyes too.

Here’s “Rise Up With Fists”

And here’s Jenny and her band with Elvis Costello, from last Monday’s Late Show with David Letterman. The song is “Carpetbaggers”, from her most recent album, ‘Acid Tongue‘, which came out a couple months back. This is a country-rock barnburner. I love this tune. And like I said, the presence she exudes…. Great stuff.

Me gusto Jenny Lewis!

Jenny Lewis.com | MySpace

Posted in Indie, Rock n' Folk | 1 Comment »

A Promising Week

November 8th, 2008 by Pete

Well, on Tuesday morning I said I’d see you on the other side. And here we are. And you know what? The other side is a good place! On January 20th, Barack Obama will be sworn in as 44th president of the United States.

Granted, this country is in a mess, and our new president has an enormous series of tasks in front of him, but to know that we’ll have an intelligent, coherent, rational, calm presence in the White House is so refreshing to me.

And to think also that this nation - a country that still has a looong way to go with its race issues - elected an African American to the highest office in the land… I find it profoundly encouraging. And so does most of the country and the world. I can’t understand how anyone can fail to be deeply moved (in a very positive way) by the events of the last week. But everyone sees different things in different ways. Hopefully Obama will help ease the doubts, fears, and in a lot of cases, the hatred and the venom among his detractors.

For this white American dude, his African-American bride (born in Kenya, raised in Seychelles), and our two gorgeous girls, this week was like a burst of sun through the clouds.

Bob Marley & the Wailers - Coming in From the Cold (mp3)

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SHORPY - An Amazing Web Site

If you’re a history buff like me, you will love this site. Dave regularly posts high resolution photographs from times long gone, which offer vivid, often breathtaking views into the past.

Here are a few examples. Click them to see the high res versions… Seriously, look at the high res images. Stunning.

1914. "White House tent in Rose Garden." A view of the executive mansion from over the West Wing looking east past the Treasury and along Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.