The RTH Xmas record is the 15 best Xmas songs as nominated by you: the villagers of Rock Town Hall.
Here are the rules: You nominate a song for inclusion. The moment another villager seconds your vote, it’s in. We keep going until we have 15. This becomes the Official (Mod? [Mod – Why not, provided my favorite rockin’ Xmas song is included?]) Rock Town Hall Xmas Album.
This process should leave us with a pretty great mix tape or iPod playlist to pair with a single malt and drown out the shrill caroling of crazy Aunt Bea from Winnipeg.
I am going to start us off with a song I think should have no trouble at all being seconded; “Fairytale of New York,” by The Pogues.
[video:dailymotion:k2GBiXAejtOMGLNSE8]
As we learned in the 2008 NLCS, the manager of a major league team functions as a DJ of sorts, selecting just the right groove to fit the ebb and flow of the game. We’ve yet to determine exactly what Phillies manager Charlie Manuel spins while sipping a late-night bourbon, but we’re pretty sure its not an artist who would be confused with a Kentonite. Charlie’s probably more of an oldtime, late-night country radio DJ, making his selections from that ample gut. He’s not worried about rocking the house as much as he is putting a little spark in the lives of longtime couples trying to reignite what little spark they have left after a hard day’s work.
Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon, on the other hand, fancies himself as an auteur, with his cool horn-rimmed glasses and fauxhawk, his tales of drinking beer in some souped-up early ’70s Javelin with his Hazleton, PA high school buddies, and his penchant for peppering the Ray’s locker room with literary quotations. He’s some unexpected cross between Phil Jackson and Drew Carey, or as one Townsman pointed out recently, the older, wiser Joe Walsh. When he talks music, which is more often than any Major League manager I can remembers talking music, he usually starts with The Stones and ends with The Boss. He’s not been shy in declaring which side of the Temps vs Tops divide he leans. As a fan of the team that I’m hoping will smash his team’s march to the Top of the Pops, I can honestly say this is all cool. Joe Maddon is a breath of fresh air. If he were managing any team but the Rays at this point in the baseball season, I’d give the guy his due and move on. As it is, however, I feel compelled to take a more critical look at his iPod.
Although Rock Town Hall has partnered with the Apple Empire and iTunes and values them greatly, there are days when we suddenly find ourselves simply hating something about our iPod/iTunes experience. For me, that one of those days was Monday night, when I was burning CDs that my young son sequenced and wanted to give his friends at his 7th birthday party.
I might have told a few of you about my boys’ getting into ELO over recent months and my realization that I owned exactly 0 ELO albums. To rectify that situation and acquire 15 ELO tracks I thought would be healthy for my boys to enjoy, I went on iTunes and legally bought the band’s best material – what I consider their best material, because lord knows they’ve got a spotty run of Greatest Hits albums in their catalog. The boys have been digging this hand-picked Best of ELO CD ever since.
So Monday night I’m working on my boy’s ELO-heavy compilation CD for the 8 friends he’s invited to his birthday party. iTunes has burned the first 7 CDs efficiently. What a marvel of modern technology!, I thought to myself. Then, when I pop in the 8th CD I get a message to the effect of, “You are only licensed to make 7 copies of music purchased from iTunes.”
BASTARDS! Apple’s put a digital fence around the 15 ELO tracks I purchased from them. I’m sure this was all spelled out in the User Agreement that I insincerely clicked Yes to when asked if I’d read it, but come on! This was supposed to by my sons’ ELO, as selected with care by their rock snob father. At that moment I cursed the Apple Empire. A couple of days later and I’m still reluctant to use any of the Apple software on my Mac. I’ll get over it and return to singing the praises of iPods and iTunes, I’m sure, but today I’m still feeling the hate.
How about you? Please complete the phrase in the title of this post. Tell us what you hate about iPods or iTunes. In those rare times when you’re feeling the hate, that is.
So my latest personal rock project is quite possibly the nerdiest thing I’ve done yet: The History of British Rock, According to Me. It’s currently five volumes of CD-length iTunes playlists. It’s also a work-in-progress, so I’m not ready to share the full track listing. However, I need some feedback from discerning rock-o-philes such as yourselves. I’m a little unsure what to do about bands from other countries who resettled in England at some point.
I’ve decided that The Pretenders and My Bloody Valentine belong in this collection. But what about the following acts?
’60s-era The Bee Gees
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Nick Cave (The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds and/or Grinderman)
The Go-Betweens
(It’s too bad Links Linkerson, with his exacting standards of chronology and classification, continues to eschew this mutation of RTH. I just may have post a query in the RTH basement.)
RTH, I Need Your Help!! The Great 48, alexmagic, berylant, Mr. Moderator, saturnismine, hvb and everyone else, please let me know your feelings. Homefrontradio, surely you must have an opinion to share about the three Australian-based acts.
I heard something the other day about poor Generation iPod that kind of cracked me up. Until the mega gig iPods came out, most people I knew had what I would consider a handful of CDs or LPs and that was their music collection. Truth be told, they watch a lot more TV these days, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But now they’re trying to understand this new phenomenon that people with even 50 GB of music are somehow getting bored with their music.
I’d just laugh and figure that the music/media industry hasn’t known what listeners want for 20 years or more anyway usually, but then I ran into this exchange. I don’t think I actually own 25,000 songs. That used to require a truly dedicated music nerd many years to accomplish. But in these days of bittorrent it makes a situation like the first response to actually happen.
Here are a few details of my playlists that have helped me better enjoy my large collection:
1. 100 random songs than have been added in last 120 days that I’ve never played.
2. 100 songs that I’ve never played yet.
Why would anyone do such a thing? That’s like buying 9 or 10 albums and not even being interested in them enough to listen to in 4 months! I realize that this stuff was probably stolen, but why steal what you don’t even want or won’t even use?
I’ve filled another cabinet!
Most of all, I think we’re winning. Sort of. If the geeky afflicion of not having enough music (c’mon – if you’v got a spouse they’ve probably asked at least once, “When will you have enough music?”) actually creeps out into the public at large we may actually see radio station playlists change. Right?
Let me see if I can summarize a recent experience and then open the Halls for some thoughtful discussion on that great lost avenue to record buyers on a budget: cut-out bins. Continue reading »
If you’ll recall, a few weeks back I reported on my being selected to test iLose, a revolutionary weight loss program being developed by Apple’s iTunes empire in conjunction with Bakersfield-Area Weight-Loss Labs (BAWLL). iLose combines iPod technology with Apple’s vast iTunes inventory and BAWLL’s 40-plus years of weight-loss expertise. Three weeks after a representative from Apple contacted me and set up my participation in a Phase II study on this digital weight-loss program I lost 6 pounds and gained a wealth of great tracks to load onto my iPod! I’m now halfway through my second month on the program and I’ve lost even more weight while downing yet another batch of calorie-free digital tunes!
This month’s selection kicks off with some mellower tracks, like an outtake from The Basement Tapes and a “twofer” of LA-style rock by an obscure 1977 by a band called Anonymous. Soon enough, The Small Faces and Finn’s Motel crank up the energy. Why don’t you load these tracks into your iPod, take a walk now and then, and tell me if you don’t start shedding pounds like I have. You, too, can lose!
A sample of the playlist from my most recent iLose session follows. Consider it your trial version of this possibly revolutionary weight-loss program!
Before continuing, please read the following Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: The health information contained herein is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace a discussion with a healthcare provider. All decisions regarding patient care must be made with a healthcare provider and consider the unique characteristics of each patient.
