One of the greatest paradigm shifts to credit to the Internet is turning the tables on who provides the content. Way back when, there were only three network television stations, four if you could wiggle your rabbit ears the right way, and they would push out whatever they were pushing at the time. If you wanted some alternative, you were left to look at your cat or watch your family doing psychologically confusing things. Whatever the limits of imagination or corporate profit motives were, the gatekeepers defined what you discovered. Without jumping to the Wikipedia article or making up facts, let’s skip ahead to raw, unfiltered blogs and streaming audio, with the brilliant possibilities of no gatekeepers. This author appreciates the irony of discussing blogs that lack in fine editorial craft. Continue reading →

This weekend I have been on a road trip to Indio, California. It hasn’t been too rough on my car, only had to eat a couple of truck stop hot dogs, I’ve been able to get pretty decent lodging and parking hasn’t been bad at all, even though this was for the super crowded Coachella Festival. I’ve been in the same space as probably a few hundred thousand other hippies, but then in reality I have been holed up in my TV room with the heater cranked up (cold, late winter freeze in Utah) and plugged into the YouTube broadcast at coachella.com. Every year in April I idealize about how I should actually pack a tent in my car and drive down to Palm Springs to get in on the big party but it’s hard to rationalize the time away from responsible life, but more honestly it’s a grueling gauntlet of discomforts. I did join in for one day in April 2002, and with the relatively short drive from San Diego, the day pass only costing about $70, the lucky find of an open motel room, and temperatures not pushing past 90 degrees that day, I was thoroughly wiped out after seeing Bjork, Siouxsie, and the Chemical Brothers late into the night. I was heat fatigued, dehydrated, and wedged up into some massive, sweaty Samoan’s ass the whole time. Continue reading →

I talked up “Diva” so much last time that a sense of proper decency came over me. I should be an honest man, show a genuine commitment, and put down some money for the cause. Even though it is far beyond its shelf life I wanted to put in my own small affirmation that the record today is worth some merit and holds value to me. I thought I’d just go out and buy a copy of the album, but it raised the question of how do I convey that value back to Annie Lennox, or any other artist, without just paving a row of intermediary fees that falls short of my intentions? Continue reading →