The Vernacularist

Muse concert

At MSG...and it rocked. I forgot how Queen/Pink Floyd/Yes this band sounds in their latest album.  I had a blast with Ross and Haley.  I've been waiting to hear Muse for 2 years.  I almost went last year but I missed the show because of crazy Treo scheduling difficulties.  That sucked.  But I rebounded for this year's concert and it was very worth it.  I needed a big release like this.  I've been listening to Muse's albums for 2 years and really felt very connected to the music.  Big beats, great melodies...a mix between Faith No More and Radiohead.  Jeez, have I compared them to enough great bands or what? 

Muse puts on an excellent show. I was disappointed with the crowd, though.  Few new the lyrics to the songs, and if they did, no one seemed to really move to the music.  I think that's a problem with MSG. It's so big that even a good show can seem impersonal and separate.  Well...I felt up close and personal to the show.  I'll upload more pics as soon as my freakin Treo starts bluetoothing again. I'm on my 4th Treo in a year. I am not impressed.

Ideas for Media Conference Please

If I wasn't busy enough, now I also have to help organize the MBA Media and Entertainment Conference, which is managed by MBA students at Stern, Columbia, Upenn, Duke and MIT.  (I know the website is out of date...we are on it. )  I'm revved for it.  Feb 9, 2007 at Columbia University.  It switches between Columbia and NYU every year.

This is what I need from you.  I have the opportunity to organize a panel on anything that falls within these categories...so it's a lot.  Of course, I'm already thinking of inviting executives from new media companies and interactive companies, but what else should I be thinking of?  What would you want to know more about?  I would really appreciate some suggestions from my very fun and creative friends who are paying attention to all this stuff. Don't forget that this is a conference for MBAs, so finance, mergers & acquisitions, and all that glorious business stuff is muy importante too. 

Here are some topics and companies I've been toying with:

Mobile technologies - entertainment companies are dipping their toes in the water, but no one has experimented enough to know what works.  What will it take?  Invite marketing execs who have tried campaigns.

Snakes on a Plane: what went right and what went terribly wrong...lessons learned. Invite the creative team and studio.  I realize this is a long shot, but there are other ways to explore this topic too.

How to make money off of mashups (beyond music)? Invite who??

Help me out, peeps....

Lots going on

I've done a lot since I last posted:

• Left EchoDitto (yes, I was teary eyed)
• Took a 4 day vacation to Acapulco
• Went to the Mike Doughty concerrt with Tim and Emily
• Studying for my B-School assessment exams in accounting and quantitative statistics

On June 9, EchoDitto had a little happy hour at Trio for me and Jessica O'Connell, who also left EchoDitto. They gave me some gifts (pics here): Starbucks card; iTunes card; model of a Chrysler building; an Executive decision die with "no," "yes," or "maybe" etc written on each of the six  sides; a cool box with Fanta labels decorating it. And last but not least, an EchoDitto hoodie that's still in the mail.  I can't wait for it.  Thanks for the presents, Dittos.  It means a lot to me.

Acapulco was very relaxing.  I met my friend Vera there, who lives in Cuernavaca.  I only took a couple photos, most from the hotel room balcony.  I wasn't feeling the "inside photographer"  in me so I didn't take many pictures. I recommend Acapulco for a quick vacation. It's not too expensive and takes about 8 hours to get there via connecting flights. Big draw back is the many mexicans trying to sell you things on the beach.  Every minute you have 2 people trying to sell you jewelry or scarves or massages.  It gets tiresome very quickly.  After the first day spent on the beach, we spent most of the rest of the time at the pools and jumped into the ocean when we felt like it. 

I spent many of the days sitting in the pool and watching the World Cup on the televisions.  Whomever invented the bar inset into the pool idea deserves a Noble Peace Prize.  Imagine how many conflicts have been avoided because people were watching sports while swiming with a drink. The Pacific ocean water was very warm.  I also recommend seeing the famous divers of Acapulco.

The Mike Doughty show was fun. Thanks to Tim and Emily for planning the evening. He definitely has a fun, rock/pop sound that has just enough soul to prevent a candy sound.

Lastly, I passed my first online assessment exam for B-School.  Accounting done. Quantitative stats review next. You know those stereotypes of accounting as boring and mind-numbing?  They're accurate.  I'm glad I have to work on this now, while my energy is high. As I get closer to starting school, I'm getting more and more excited. I wish I had a little more time for a vacation, but I can't complain. I have an easy schedule till July 10, when I start.

Dinosaur Jr. covered in Pitchfork

One of my favorite bands growing up was Dinosaur Jr.  Rhino Records reissued two classic albums from Dino, Greenmind and Where You Been. They also released an  album of J. Mascis' playing an acoustic show at CBGB's. Pitchfork offers a retrospective look at these albums and gives them a lot of due praise. I actually lost my Greenmind album a couple years ago and have been meaning to buy it again.  The acoustic album is somthing I always wanted issued. He plays a mean acoustic show, if you already like his music.  It's surprising how well his music and style transfer to an acoustic set.

Pandora coming to town

I'm a big fan of Pandora, much like the rest of the online music junky world.  If you look at end of the right column on my blog, you will see a Pandora module that I activated a couple weeks back.  Basically, Pandora asks you to submit your favorite band and then streams music similar to the qualities of that band.

About two weeks ago, I received an email for the founder of Pandora, Tom Westergren.  He's on a listening tour around the U.S. to hear new music and talk to Pandora users.  You can follow the trip on Pandora's blog.

On Wednesday (tomorrow), he'll be hosting a town hall to talk about what DC folks about the Pandora service, local music and probably a whole host of other things.  I bet digital rights management becomes a hot topic during the event. Here's Tom's explanation of the event:

Join Pandora founder Tim Westergren and other music insiders and enthusiasts for a discussion on the future of music. Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora.com, along with Gary Greenstein of Soundexchange and David D. Oxenford, a  music copyright lawyer at Davis Wright Tremaine, will lead a lively and informative conversation about the impact of the digital revolution on the future of music.

Among the questions we hope to tackle:
- How is technology changing the nature of radio?
- What are the implications for intellectual property and licensing rights?
- What is the role of radio in helping music lovers find new songs and artists to love?
- Is online radio here to stay or just a fad for tech enthusiasts?
- Is this the best of times -- or the worst of times -- for new, emerging artists hoping to find their audience?

Wednesday, May 17th

7:00pm

Greenberg Theatre

4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

I wanted to go, but can't anymore because of my MBA school interview in NYC on Thursday.  I think it should be a great event though.  I want to read some DC blog posts about it so freakin go, ok?  No excuses music lovers. 

Swearing At Motorists

Would you ever guess that this is a name of a band?  I recently bought this amazing album by Swearing At Motorists.  While reading their website, I discovered they are a Philly band.  Many don't remember that I lived in Philly for 2 years. I loved the music and nightlife of the city, I just never had that many friends.  Honestly, I was jealous that all my friends from college were living in NYC together.  I felt like I was missing out on spending time with all of them.  I certainly didn't leave because of the art or music, that's for sure.  Philly has one of the freshest rock sounds I've heard in a long time.

Most importantly, I've gotten a terrible itch for one song off the album: Lost Your Wig.  The whole rock album is a very dark, almost folk rock at times, but this song digs even deeper and more spare.  The melody and lyrics have a way of reminding you of some of the best -- and worst -- times you've ever had.  It's a rare song that draw on both of those memories at once.  The lead singer has a powerful, soulful voice that makes each note echo far past the actual sound.

The song moved me so much that I've spent time learning it by ear.  I think I've got most of it, but the verses at the end have confounded me.  So I've sent an email to the band to see if they can reward my efforts (I transcribed the lyrics to add to their collection) with the guitar tab for the song. 

I'll let you know how it goes. Buy the album.  It's really worth it. (No, I won't copy it for you.)

Save this number: 202 299 7949

My friend and colleague, Tom Lee, has just unleashed a great mobile phone-based search service called Last Call.  In his spare time, Tom is the director of technology for DCist, the most popular blog about all things Washington, DC. So it's no surprise that he took on this challenge, and now, after some laborious nights, gives birth to the greatest thing to hit DC since baseball came back. 

The service offers all the information you need to figure out your night on the town:  Metro schedules, OpenTable reservations, concert listings, movie showtimes and SMS weather report.

All you have to do is text the number 202 299 7949 with some easy to remember nomenclature and you are all set.  If you forget the words to use, just text HELP to this number and it'll send you the cheat sheet. Save the number. Test it while you are out. And let Tom know if there are any errors.

Added Pandora to my blog

Typepad recently launched a whole mess of widgets that I can add seamlessly to my blog.  What is a widget?  It's a window that lets you use internet based software on your personal computer or blog without having to actually open or login to that program. Said another way, it's a one-touch seamless interface that puts a specific internet application at your fingertips. 

There are about 20 widgets that I get to choose from Typepad's release.  The only one I'm currently interested in is Pandora's music-finder service.  You tell Pandora what band you like and it serves you music that matches the melodic structure and compositional style of the artist.  Pretty cool, right?  You'll find my Pandora feed at the bottom of the right column.

I can't help but love the rock music I grew up on.  I was in a hip-hop phase for college and a couple years after.  Blame the sorry state of rock music for that.  Recently, I've come back around to my first love: hard rock!  I learned how to play the drums to Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Metallica, Dinosaur Jr., Faith No More, Living Colour, Cream, and Led Zeppelin.

In a week or two, I might create a custom search tool using the Rollyo platform, but Steve Rubel has a great interactive marketing search engine that I use regularly.  Why recreate the wheel?  I'll create something that better suits my interests, but until then, Steve's will do.

Hope you all like my Pandora stations.  We should come up with a station trading plan. Or better, I get to chose the blogs in my "station universe" so that Tim, Tom and I can share stations. 

Ping Pong music

Caught this on YouTube and thought I'd share.  The electronic/experimental musician in me can't help but be intrigued by ping pong - a great game of champions - and syntheziers.  Take a look and listen:

Jenny Lewis at the Birchmere

My friend Tom had and extra ticket to see Jenny Lewis at the Birchmere this evening.  I had no idea who she was, much to the entire posse's amazement.  I guess I missed Rilo Kiley and all the other child starlet appearances spangled in her biography.

I'm not normally a fan of alt-country music. Anything that sends even a waft of leather vests and cowboy hats through the bar room door will turn me around, wallet directly back in pocket.  However, Ms. Lewis (I've never met her, so why not be a little formal)  has such an angelic voice  -- so rare today -- that I was immediately drawn to her music, which was enough rock to not upset my stomach. 

She's touring with The Watson Twins, two sturdy voices in their own right.  Not bad on the eyes either.  The back up band keep it tight and clean so as not to mess with the crisp voices of Ms. Lewis et al.  I appreciated their low key style which allowed the vocals to be the brilliant center piece -- the sparkling swan ice sculpture of the melodic buffet.

On to the Birchmere, where you can get a good meal and beer before taking in a show.  I really liked the place, partly because I was really hungry at 7:30 this evening.  I'm definitely going to look out for more occasions to go there. 

All around, I feel like I expanded my horizons tonight.  There is no way I would have gone to this show without an excuse. I'm going to find some Rilo Kiley music and maybe even buy Jenny Lewis' new album,  Rabbit Fur Coat.