• Miscellaneous

    The Woes of Satellite Radio

    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)

  • Miscellaneous,  Rock

    Austin Bound

    Off I go for my second Austin City Limits Music Festival experience in as many years. I’m just – ohh – a tad excited. Because I am an über-music-nerd, I’ll be snapping pics with my iPhone throughout the weekend, and uploading them to my Picasa photo site. More pics will be uploaded from my camera after I get back.

    9/27 Update: Greeting from the Dell buuble like structure at the ACL festival. Yeah, so apparently, intense heat, snapping pics, and uploading by email seems to drain an iPhone battery quite quicky. So, I won’t be able to post as many pics as I want to my Picasa site from the festy. Now, where’s my supersized can o’ Heineken?

    Austin City Limits 2008

  • Miscellaneous

    Observations: Film Music

    https://ickmusic.com/pics/Observation.jpg

    I found this post from the summer hiding in my GoogleDocs folder and it somehow never made it to the front page. Better late then never? – Michael

    I’ve successfully avoided the urge to rant on about this, that and the other thing in this most public of forums. It all feels very Jerry Seinfeld. But bah, what the hell…

    Has anyone else noticed how crappy music in movies has become? Let me frame this, the wife and I have watched a few movies in the last couple of weeks that made me think “would it even be possible to have this much music licensed in a single movie?” It all started with this..

    First off, if you have not seen this movie you owe it to yourself to see it. One of the first things that you’ll notice is the fact that there is a bevy of bloody awesome tunes. And not just a 30 second snippet, but a full intro, verse, chorus, solo… you get the point. Cheap Trick, The Ramones, The Clash, Van Halen, Hendrix and The Cars were all well represented in multiple appearances each. And at the end of the movie I say to my wife, “you know, the damned music industry has ruined soundtracks!”

    We watched this with my son Miles this evening as Huey Lewis & The News played into Billy Idol‘s “Hot in the City” into Patrice Rushen‘s “Forget Me Nots”. A truly awesome selection of 80’s classics served over the sickly sweet film. And don’t you know that when I got to the end of it I was running to the iTunes to listen to some cheesy 80’s music, dancing around like a fool.

    But seriously folks, isn’t it time we get better music in movies?

  • Miscellaneous

    Tunes in Telluride

    telluride

    It’s summer time in Arizona, which means it’s high time to hightail it out of town. This week finds me back in one of my favorite places on God’s green earth – Telluride, Colorado. I snapped the pic above this afternoon near the Nelly Mine, up in the San Juan Mountains at about 11,200 feet. The hike kicked my ass, but as you can see, there’s a lot around to inspire and motivate a weary hiker.

    I felt fortunate too that the song bouncing around my head today wasn’t one of the selections from ’30 Songs for Toddlers’ that played 3-4 times on the drive up from Phoenix. Nope, it was this Band of Horses song – a tune that has been getting more air time than any lately. Ben Bridwell – voice from the heavens. Just beautiful. Listen to it all.

    Nice eh?

    The next couple of nights are good nights for music here in Telluride. Tomorrow night, it’s Junior Brown, who’s playing a free concert up in Telluride Mountain Village.

    Then there’s Thursday night. I’ll be at the Sheridan Opera House, seated in front of the stage (with my wife and two brothers) at a cocktail table, taking in an evening with Steve Earle and Allison Moorer.

    Yes, life is good.

  • Miscellaneous,  Soul

    One for Barack Obama

    Tonight, an African American man is the Democratic nominee for the President of the United States. This is truly an historic day – one of the brightest in our nation’s 231 year history. And how does Hillary Clinton handle the news and reality of the day? She does everything but concede to Obama in her speech tonight. Classless as far as I’m concerned. Shame on her for not recognizing Obama, on a night when the entire Democratic party should be united, and the entire country should pause for a moment to salute Obama’s accomplishment.

    Take it all the way, Barack Obama!

    photo courtesy of Yahoo News / AP

  • Miscellaneous

    Idle Idol Thoughts

    Okay, let’s pretend I watched American Idol, and I need to chime in…

    Did anyone else besides me experience such a high level of unadulterated, pure joy while watching Jason Castro forget the lines to “Mr. Tamborine Man“? Oh, such good entertainment (will someone dump the Youtube link in the comments when it’s available? I wish to entertain myself further with repeated viewings).

    And is there anyone else out there with an urge to smack David Archuletta upside the head, pleading for just a little testosterone?? I know the kid’s only 16, but my god, what a giant wuss-ball. I knew by age 16 not to exhibit such ample amounts of wuss-dom, and I was a Prince freak!

    Syesha – you go on with yo bad self. Yum.

    David Cook – I’m not always down with your remakes of the tunes you perform, but at least you put an original spin on everything you do. You shall be the victor – you shall be – dum-du-du-dum – the next American Idol.

  • Miscellaneous

    Ickmusic.com: The Unavailable Weeks

    Question for the regulars. Have you had problems over the last few weeks with my web site timing out, or being unavailable? Has it happened more than once for you? And most importantly, is it getting to the point where it’s a nuisance for you?

    I’ve been on a new host, Hostmonster, since mid March. While their customer service is great, I’m having trouble with my web site staying up 24×7. I wanted to get some feedback from you all to find out if it’s noticeable.

    Bear with me, I’ll get everything going full time. If I have to jump to another host, so be it.

    UPDATE (4/14): Okay, I moved back to my old host (IPOWER) – Hostmonster’s customer service was great, but the site would be down multiple times every day. iPower’s customer service isn’t stellar, but at least they keep my site up.