If you’re deploying decent phones onto your head, the tweaky little amplpifier on your iPod is going to be an issue – it will let you down! It has a tiny equalizer and ‘loudness’ feature, but at the other end it will sound tinny and hollow or just nasty and blown out if you turn the gain up on anything with a bassline. I’m using a little intermediary gadget as a headphone amplifier; thank goodness it’s not as massive as a full-sized stereo amplifier with 15 lb magnets. So here’s a rare product placement (though I’m not getting paid), look up the FiiO E5 Headphone Amplifier. It works great. I actually did not originally buy this for headphones, but for my car stereo. That’s another long story, but with the same problem: Trying to plug my iPod into an aux jack without an amplifier, and it still doesn’t help. If I want to listen to something I hate and make it sound even worse I load it in my car with that setup.

Minding my own business dashing in and out of a mega-retail, I accidentally noticed a giant, bold, black and white “U2” propped up along the record aisles. I must have missed the big news about a new U2 album, but it was no time before I was in line at the cashier with a copy of “No Line on the Horizon“. Just like seeing a queen of diamonds card in “The Manchurian Candidate” I’m subconsciously triggered to buy U2 records. Remember my last story about the weird places I ended up after being “activated”? Not so bad this time, I actually remember walking back to my car, ripping through the plastic, and loading the CD in my stereo. I’ve been playing it a few times to figure it out and it is growing on me. You know it’s hard though to introduce something new to the context of very deep memories. U2 records have been a part of my life to the roots of my identity, and this is their twelfth, almost thirty years from their first. It’s a stretch to accept new books in the bible. Continue reading →

I believe I can make a difference outside of my four walls; so much good within my reach. I’m on the mailing list for ONE.org to stop kicking poor nations while they’re down. I live 3 blocks away from the local Food & Care Coalition. I tip generously if they don’t scowl and mutilate voodoo dolls in front of me at restaurants. I refrain from flashing the international “You’re number .1.” hand signal on the freeway when just edging behind and clipping the corner of their bumper will do. I cheer up my neighbor dog because he obviously doesn’t get much love. And I’m now sharing just the thumping bass register of my new stereo with my upstairs neighbor. Continue reading →

Small. Slight. Dismissed. Imagine you’re a megaton bomb born to look like just a firecracker. Juliana Hatfield imagines that the world wrote her off as a riot grrl from the 90s and that she’s permanently afflicted with Lilith Fairitis. She plays guitar, writes songs about jerk boyfriends, comes from Boston, and has a naturally girly voice. She is so pissed off about that last detail that her throat gets unfairly abused and a lot of guitar amps regret being born. She’s tried chain smoking and thrashing her vocal chords to grind off the sweet sheen of her voice, but all she needs to do is hear herself for once and see what a big stick she carries. Continue reading →

My earliest memories of listening to a record was on an 8-track tape. You could click between the 4 channels of the narrow band of magnetic tape and take it with you on the road encased in a plastic package. I’m sure back in the 70s there was still some serious thought going on about how to take a vinyl LP with you to the car dashboard. Imagine trying to flip to the B side on the freeway without wrecking your needle or your car. I am not doing much better now dialing in my playlist whims with my iPod. I won’t be surprised to see a factoid statistic roll across the bottom of Headline News of traffic fatalities directly related to motorists distinguishing between Radiohead and REO Speedwagon on their iPods. Continue reading →