Here we go again...
September 25, 2008
In an effort to turn more profit for their product by reducing their shipping and manufacturing costs (they call it "being green"), the record industry has again lauded the end of the CD in hopes the new microSD cards will be the way people buy music.Of course, you still have to physically purchase the card to get the music, which is in mp3 format - not high quality wav format like CDs are...which is entirely the point of going out to physically buy the music (not to mention getting the artwork). If I want mp3-quality files, I can download those without leaving my home.
And this is better for the consumer because...? Yeesh.
Demotivators
September 23, 2008
You've seen those cheesy posters on corporate office walls with nice stock photography and a 'motivational' message. Now you can get back at them with Demotivators. A few of my favorites...
Visit the website for many more!
The Return Of Earlier
September 16, 2008
I'm pleased to announce that starting on October 14th, Earlier is coming back to CBC Radio One.
What's Earlier? It was a show that I hosted last year during the summer, only heard from 5:12-5:30am on CBC Vancouver 690 AM (and everywhere that signal reached). Now, Earlier is going province-wide, replacing Neil Gillon's program Headstart, who's retiring in October (but still it will only be until 5:30am).
A new website will be launched in the near future (which I'll post the link to when it's up) which will host daily playlists, an weekly audio archive of shows and anything else that I want to share, much like this blog (which I guess I'll also be retiring, but the archive will also be available).
So stay tuned!
For all the cyclists out there..
September 10, 2008
Dar Williams
August 26, 2008Today for Women's Equality Day, I played "When I Was A Boy" by Dar Williams. Dar has always been a favorite, ever since discovering her first album The Honesty Room when in was released in 1995.
She's scheduled to have a new album out soon, and you can find out more about it and her at her website.
Kathryn Williams and Neill MacColl
August 22, 2008
Another album that's going on my 'best of the year' list (besides Eliza Gilkyson's Beautiful World) is Two by Kathryn Williams and Neill MacColl. I could say lots of wonderful things about how gorgeous and beautiful the music is, but you should hear it for yourself. The album isn't available in North America yet, but you can order through UK online retailers.
For more about it, here's the EPK for the album featuring the track I played this morning "Come With Me".
The Night James Brown Saved Boston
August 21, 2008
A new 3-DVD set has just been released documenting the events of a James Brown concert in Boston the night after Dr. Martin Luther King was killed. It's a great documentary, and you also get the complete concert as it was broadcast live that night, plus a bonus disc of James live at the Apollo Theater in 1968.The concert was broadcast on PBS station WGBH on that night, in an effort to keep people off the streets and keep Boston safe from rioting, which was what was happening in surrounding cities like New York and Chicago. Click here to listen to the entire concert in high-quality streaming audio.
Everything That Happens
August 19, 2008
David Byrne and Brian Eno have again collaborated, their first official effort since their landmark album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. The new album is called Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, and the album is available right now - you can purchase the download, or wait a little while for the deluxe CD version (like me).But they are also streaming the entire album in high quality at their website so you can hear it right now:
There Once Was A Man From Nantucket...
August 18, 2008
Happy Bad Poetry Day! A perfect day to celebrate all the bad poetry you've written over the years and Rick and I did it in style this morning, including a poem submitted by listener Lock in Courtenay, BC about rocks in his grandson's crocs (which actually wasn't that bad at all). Click here to listen.
(runs 5:44)Tomorrow is Aviation Day, and I don't think I'll be playing any music about that in particular, because I've got a nice stack of new releases that I'm eager to get into. So have a good day, and don't get rocks in your crocs.
Bad Poetry Day
August 15, 2008
Monday is Bad Poetry Day, and I want your bad poems! I'll be bringing in poetry of my own recited by CBC Radio 2's Tom Allen, and don't be shy...send me yours and I'll read it on the air.
You can send me an email or call 604-662-6690 or my personal line at 604-662-6116 if you'd like to recite it yourself.
Good Gothe
August 14, 2008
Even though Jurgen Gothe will continue to be on CBC with his new weekend show that is slated to begin in September, I can't help but being sad Disc Drive is coming to an end.I know all things eventually do, but hardly do they end at the right time. I'm relatively a new fan of the program, compared to the listeners he's had for decades (since 1992 when I discovered it) and I'm feeling the same way I did when Night Lines was cancelled, and I don't like this feeling.
I learned a lot from Disc Drive and Jurgen before I even started working at the Ceeb. I learned that you can play Mozart, followed by The Muppets and make it work. I learned that you can be fascinated by a description of the variety of teas in the cafeteria (also long gone from the building). I celebrated Willis Point Fire Department Day on March 25th. I even sent Jurgen a card the year after he proclaimed it - yes, it was tremendously geeky but so what?
Back in 1993, I also hooked up my Hi-Fi VCR to the radio so I could tape all 3 hours of the show in high quality when I was working during the day, and then isolate my favorite parts of the show onto cassettes. I still have those cassettes, and I've put them on CD so I can listen to them without wearing them out. Every time I listen, I want to open a bottle of wine, get a cat and just enjoy a truly ecletic music mix - even though I don't drink and cats aren't allowed in my building.
So here's to you, Jurgen - thanks for the music, the inspiration and great company.
A&B RIP
August 13, 2008
I never like seeing the closure of any record stores.When I came to Vancouver in 2000, A&B Sound was a novel place - there weren't any in Winnipeg at the time, so the selection and prices were outstanding. Having Sam's next door too was great with their 5th floor cut-outs, and there were a number of used record stores, all within walking distance. All of them are gone now, except for Virgin's location, taken over by HMV and Future Shop, who just recently downsized their selection and moved the music to the back of the store.
In a way, I'm not surprised that A&B closed; I could see major problems the staff had to deal with a couple of years ago. The first sign things were troubled was when I tried to order something. I was told that I'd have to pay for the item upfront before it was ordered, to guarantee I would pick it up and the store wouldn't be stuck with something.
However, the computer ordering system that the staff had to use was horrible. Everytime the poor woman behind the counter made even the slightest error, the entire screen when blank and she had to re-type everything in again. It took her 45 minutes to places orders for 5 DVDs. That is not good sense on any level, especially business.
It was more taxing for her than me, but generally I wasn't bothered because I got what I wanted at a price that I couldn't get anywhere else...even online, and I was supporting local business.
However, the next month I tried to place another order of newly released classic movies that no stores were carrying (another big problem retail stores have, but more on that further on). I was now told from the store "no longer accepts orders" - EVEN if I paid for it in advance. Uh-oh...
Then they slowly stopped getting new releases on time. It got to the point when I didn't even bother going to the store to look for items the day they were out (a tradition for me) because I knew they wouldn't be there. That made me more sad than anything else.
The most recent event of placing 50% off selected items was because the company was "getting out of carrying CDs and DVDs." A couple of weeks later, the sale is over and the location in North Vancouver is getting boxes and boxes of stock. Ok...so they will still carry CDs and DVDs, but according to a staffer, will still not get any new releases. Hmmm. Ok. So, what's the point of staying open?
Unfortunately, when a store closes there a number of factors that cause it to happen. But the whole system of buying and selling music is flawed, right from the beginning. You see, every record store company is serviced by major distributors, which are all from major labels. Whenever a label has a big release it wants to sell, for example a new Hootie and the Blowfish album, they offer the store a deal. The label is going to put all their promotional effort behind it, so it's bound to sell gangbusters.
If the store buys X amount of titles (say 2000 copies), then the label gives them a discount on the whole purchase (say 15%). This sounds good, so the company buys 2000 and sends them to all their stores.
However, the label will only allow the record store to return product up to a certain percentage of how much they buy. So, the more the store buys, the more they can send back product that isn't selling to the label. As a result, you have a store that is bloated with a ton of copies of the Hootie and the Blowfish CDs that aren't selling and can't turn over old stock that quickly. AND there're a limited window of which you can send product back in - if the label no longer carries the title (out of print) - then you can't send it back, even if you have credit. Defective product (scratched, broken, etc) falls into this credit allowance too.
So, who do you think is making all the money here? The system is designed to the disadvantage of the store, the music fan and the artists ultimately. What bugs me most is the same labels that set up this system sell their music online on iTunes - without having to pay for packaging, shipping costs, or materials - are still overcharging for downloadable music. And you can't sell your downloaded album to a used record store, who will also be out of business pretty soon if this all keeps up.
And don't get me started on these 'green' packaged CDs I keep seeing lately. Don't be fooled folks - the only thing the labels are trying to save is their own money. Those flimsy cardboard sleeves allow them to save money on printing costs, and for shipping: they can pack up to 3 times as much stock in one box. But it doesn't protect the CD from scratches like the standard jewel cases do, resulting in more defective product that you have to keep taking back to the store and get replacements.
And why do they need to be environmentally friendly? I don't throw away my CDs or the covers or the cases - do you? Oh, and those used record stores don't take product that's all scratched up. So then you might as well throw them away, and guess whose fault it is?
Sorry to see you go, A&B Sound.
Laura Nyro Nested Available Again
August 12, 2008
Laura Nyro died from ovarian cancer in 1997, and it's taken this long for her 1978 album Nested to be available again. It was released on vinyl back in the summer of '78, and since vinyl became passe around the late 80s, it quickly became rare and mint copies went for big bucks in the traders market.Thanks to new label Iconoclassic, Nested and another rare live album, Season of Lights is available in North America on CD. I would highly recommend both of them, as I would almost anything from Nyro's catalog. Of course, if you're new to Laura's music, you should certainly have Eli and the 13th Confession in your collection. Everyone should.
Nested and Seasons of Lights is a little hard to find in stores in Vancouver, but you can easily purchase them online from CDBaby (where you can listen to samples of the albums) and other online retailers.
And for a little something extra, here's a video of Laura performing live at Kraft Music Hall in 1969.
Rick and I paid tribute to the late great soul R&B master Issac Hayes this morning (
I'm always fascinated by sound, and how sounds make people feel, and how you can manipulate sound to achieve something completely new.
20. Byron
19. Luba
18. Son
17. Jale
16. The Pursuit Of Happiness
15. Rheostatics
14. Sloan
13. Leonard Cohen
12. Crash Vegas
11. Mae Moore
10. Uzeb
9. The Heavy Blinkers
8. Plumtree
7. Spookey Ruben
6. Ron Sexsmith
5. The Nines
4. Jane Siberry
3. Joni Mitchell
2. FM
1. Rush
Yes, dear readers, I am going on my annual two week vacation, and I wanted to let you know why there won't be updates for a while. Not that I've been terribly consistent with this page...I just write when I can and when I actually have something that I'd want to share with you. But it will be a while before there's something new here.