Not only was he an honorable and admirable contender for Trump’s celebrity contest, Trace Adkins knows how to write a good song. I heard “You’re Gonna Miss This” for the first time a couple mornings ago and it made me cry in the car on my way to work.

Here’s a live performance of this song in Bloomington (which increases it’s poignancy for me):

Perhaps one of the greatest live rock band ever sings one of my favorite songs (from their Pulse tour). The video clip doesn’t show the entire song, but it does cover the powerful opening verses:

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field
from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

Did they get you to trade
your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange
a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?

Great… now this song will be stuck in my head for the next few days.

I listen to NPR all the time, mostly because they present a wide range of stories that are not as biased as other “news” out there. The other day I caught a short interview with Anoushka Shankar, who happens to be Norah Jones’ half sister. She is a musician herself and just released a new album called Breathing Under Water.

This type of music isn’t exactly mainstream - it’s an eclectic mix of electronic and sitar sounds - but for some reason the CD is great to just relax and listen to. There are also duets with more mainstream artists like Sting (honestly, who doesn’t duet with Sting?).

Here’s track 7, “Easy,” featuring Norah Jones:

Shannon, Libby, and I spent a long (relaxing) weekend in Virginia with Shannon’s parents. I’m back in Indiana now: Shannon and Libby won’t return until Thursday.

It’s eerie how quiet the house is… it feels still and lifeless. I miss my wife and daughter.

However, until they get home I will be enjoying the solitude. Tonight I’ve been listening to a lot of music and I wanted to share a few tracks that really tweaked my ears:

• Say It Right by Nelly Furtado from Loose
  I love the rhythmic layered sound
• Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne from The Best Damn Thing
  Grrrrl rock rules when Avril sings it.
• What Goes Around…Comes Around by Justin Timberlake from FutureSex LoveSounds
  Shannon’s favorite
• A Violent Yet Flammable World by Au Revoir Simone from The Bird of Music
  A wispy soft ballad
• The Bar Song by Jack Zerby from The EP
  A great, catchy song: worth your time

In case you are wondering where those last two songs can be found the answer is Amie Street, a novel DRM-free online music store. All music starts out free. As more people buy a given song the price inches up (to a maximum of $0.98/track).

If you recommend a song on Amie Street and it continues to increase in popularity they pay you a portion of the price increase, so there is a strong motivation for users to find good emerging artists and recommend them. This has a beneficial effect for the rest of the users, since new (good) music is quick to rise to the top.

Their site still needs a bit of work (I wish the guys from AllOfMp3 would give them some tips), but I can’t imagine buying my songs in any other way. Most songs/albums are cheap as hell, it’s LEGAL, and there is no DRM so you can play the music anywhere (iPod, computer, laptop, stereo, etc)!

The Finetune Wii player is the first in (hopefully) a long line of websites and internet services designed specifically to “play nice” with Nintendo’s Wii. Using the Wii’s built-in web browser you can navigate to this site and have the music play right over your television or stereo speakers. In fact their beautiful flash-based player will work through any web browser (like the one you’re using right now), but the interface just fits best with the wand interface of the Wii.

My brother was lucky enough to find a Wii to buy the day after Christmas, so as a result I was lucky enough to see and play with it in person. Of course, now that I have seen the Wii in all of it’s wonderful glory all I can think about is how much I want one for myself! But alas now is not the time for such toys - perhaps someday when the kids are old enough to join their dad in a fun game of Wii sports…

Mark is a good buddy from my years at UIC; we both worked as SKiT fellows, helping to bring computer-based activities into urban Chicago schools.

In addition to being a computer geek (like myself) he has many gifts including musical skills, singing, and a good sense of humor. All of these talents recently combined to create a rather humorous spoof of Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” song - enjoy it here:

• Markito Music’s “Learning Back” song [5mb]

… well, technically he never left. But it has been a good 5 years since I had last heard a song from him and I must say that he still has a gift of parody.

I just heard a newly released song titled “White and Nerdy” (which parodies Chamillionaires’ “Ridin’ Dirty”) and it was hysterical as I am both white and nerdy. The song is from a soon-to-be-released album called “Straight out of Lynwood“, which covers many spoof genres (not just hip-hop/rap). It is going to be half DVD and half CD (so lots of videos and other extras). I must admit, I actually might buy this album!

In other Weird Al news, I just ran across this NPR story about one of his songs being removed from the new album by Atlantic (who refused to give him permission to parody James Blunt’s “Beautiful”, even though James gave him blessing). So, since it’s not available on the album, go ahead and download it here (screw you Atlantic):

• Weird Al Yankovic - You’re Pitiful

The short:
Goto Centripetal Notion and download an awesome hour-long hip-hop mix.

The long:

As summer fades to autumn, hot jams congeal into warm grooves and Centripetal Notion serves up an hour-long mix of semi-retrospective summer tunes before the weather turns south.

It’s not common to find a rapper who can incorporate traditionally geeky topics smoothly. We geeks already have MC Frontalot, and he is certainly entertaining, but could there be others who can walk the fine line between cool and uncool?

Well, a duo called Blackalicious has taken up the challenge of being geeky… and surprisingly, they’re also quite good! Inky Circus has more links, clips, and information if you want to check them out.

Ever wonder what you grandparents listened to when they hung out with their friends? Click on over to 20 songs from 1901-1920 for a list of the top songs from that era (freely available to download).

The recordings sound muffled due to their age and the fact that the original performances were sung directly into an “acoustical horn” whose vibrations transcribed the sound, carving circular grooves into a revolving wax cylinder.

(via foldedspace.org)