Category: Music

RanchoCast – May 12, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast tonight. I think it’s another good one, with some great new music by relatively unknown artists you will love.

I played some Deadstring Brothers, Pieta Brown, a two-fer from the Gourds, a song I once described as “perfectly beautiful,” a song by the greatest American rock and roll band working today and much more. 60 minutes of great music.

Not much tech talk tonight, as I am profoundly bored with the blogosphere these days.

RanchoCast – May 5, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast tonight. I think it’s the best one we have ever done.

The theme is the Girl Power Show. Lots of great obscure music, most of it by female musicians and singers.

I played some gems by Holly Golightly, the Greenhornes, Neko Case, Bonnie Bishop, Rico Bell and others. I ended the show with a great jazz/blues jam by Rashaan Roland Kirk.

You can also hear my take on these self-important bloggers who don’t think they need to link to anyone.

RanchoCast – April 29, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast this afternoon.

I played a little Alice Cooper, two great songs by the Bluerunners, some more great alternative country numbers and a classic blues number by Rising Sons.

This episode’s tech talk involved the Lance Dunstan lawsuit (which should be immediately dismissed in my opinion) and a great new blog I have discovered.

Another Vote for Alice

alicecooperFred Wilson posts today on the absurdity that is the fact that Alice Cooper is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I couldn’t agree more.

Fred praised four of Alice’s records from the early 1970’s : Love It To Death, Killer, School’s Out, and Billion Dollar Babies. I owned them all too and agree that they are all excellent records. I’d add his next record Muscle of Love to the excellent list as well.

If there’s a better rock anthem than I’m Eighteen, I’ve never heard it. Cassidy knows School’s Out, via the A-Teens’ cover. Like Fred, in many ways these albums are like soundtracks to my early teenage years.

I’ve only seen Alice live one time- around 1976 during his “Goes to Hell” tour. It was a pretty amazing show. If he plays Houston again, I will be there.

My irritation at the fact that Alice is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was summed up nicely by Bob Lefsetz in a similar post:

First this:

It is absolutely positively CRIMINAL that Alice Cooper is not in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. While Robbie Robertson and other exalted insiders have left the boards, are sitting behind a desk instead of standing in front of a microphone, Alice Cooper is out KILLING night after night and those in power, with their multi-thousand dollar suits and private jets, are IGNORING HIM!

and then the knock out punch:

What kind of crazy [screwed] up world do we live in where “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is revered as a generational breakthrough but “Eighteen” is ignored. [T]he Nirvana song has got a great riff, but its words don’t COMPETE with those of the Alice Cooper anthem.

Amen, brother.

The fact that Alice Cooper isn’t in the hall is a travesty.

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Bring Out Yer Dead: The Last Days of Traditional Radio

Bring out yer dead.
Here’s one.
I’m not dead.
He says he’s not dead.
Yes he is.
I’m not.
Well, he will be soon, he’s very ill.
I’m getting better.
No you’re not, you’ll be stone dead in a moment.

-Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Podcasting News reports today that podcasting and MP3 players are stealing listeners from traditional over the air radio. Cited is a study by Bridge Ratings, which predicts that by 2010, traditional radio’s current 94% penetration will have sunk to 85%.

According to the study, 27% of people 12-24 attribute their reduced use of radio to MP3 use; 22% attributed it to tired radio programming; 3% attributed it to podcast listening.

Other than the podcasting number, which seems about 10 times too high, those numbers sound pretty logical to me. I wonder, however, why there wasn’t consideration of the migration to satellite radio. My guess is that satellite radio, which is largely ad-free, will be the biggest threat to traditional radio.

Fred Wilson thinks HD Radio may save the traditional radio format. Perhaps, but I still say the desire for no ads will trump the desire for higher audio quality.

I believe that what’s killing traditional radio, and particularly FM radio, is its dependence on ads as the major revenue source. You can get away with ads for sporting events and other exclusive programming, but not music. No way. Not anymore.

The world is too flat for traditional advertising to fly. This is true in every media, and it is especially true for music. The smart PR firms out there are huddled in conference rooms thinking up some revolutionary marketing strategy that we haven’t seen yet. Mark my words- in 5 years advertising will be a lot different than it is today and in 10 years it will be a completely different industry.

Entire companies have been launched in the name of ad-avoidance. There’s simply no way people are going to continue to listen to over the top car ads and other nonsense just to hear the same songs they can hear without ads via an MP3 player or satellite radio. I often burn a CD-R with MP3’s and listen to it for a few days in shuffle mode. As the CD and DVD recording technology becomes more widespread and as auto makers continue to put better technology in cars, this trend will continue.

So what does traditional radio do? It has one major revenue source- and it is the exact one that will not work long term.

Traditional radio is dead. The only question is what will take its place.

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RanchoCast – April 7, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast tonight. The theme is the Classic Rock Show.

Raina and the kids are visiting her parents this weekend, so Lucky Dog and I turned it up and played some of my favorite classic rock songs. Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Grateful Dead, Mountain, a live gem from the Guess Who and much more.

64 minutes of good classic rock.

Buck Owens (1929-2006)

buckowens

Buck Owens died today in Bakersfield, California. He was 76 years old.

He was a great songwriter, a great performer and, of course, the host of Hee Haw. He wrote many great country songs, including Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got a Heartache) and Act Naturally, which was covered by the Beatles.

I met him once when I was a kid. Pepsi opened a big bottling plant in my hometown in 1968. Buck Owens was the featured entertainer at the grand opening. Afterwards, I met him and he signed one of his 45 records and gave it to me. Of course I lost it sometime between then and now.

Along with Merle Haggard and George Jones, Buck Owens was the basis for my early and continuing love of country music (not to be confused with the drivel that comes out of Nashville these days).

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RanchoCast – March 24, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast tonight.

No particular theme, but it has my favorite selection of songs so far, including songs by Goose Creek Symphony, Slobberbone, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Toby Darling, a funk song I spent 20 years looking for and more.

The blogosphere’s been a bit slow lately, so there’s not a ton of tech talk. I did talk a little about old media arrogance in the context of the recent Berkeley CyberSalon.

50 minutes of country rock, classic rock, tech and blues.

Jukebox, Annotated

You know the drill. Open up your jukebox of choice, point the shuffle feature to your entire library of songs and list, without exception, the first 10 or so songs that play. I like to add a little commentary about some of the artists, songs, albums, etc.

The Heart of Saturday Night – Tom Waits (The Heart of Saturday Night) (1)

Everything’s Gone – The Mertons (Girandole) (2)

Hunting High and Low – A-Ha (Hunting High and Low) (3)

Green Apple Quick Step – The Byrds (Byrdmaniax) (4)

Honky Tonk Baby – Highway 101 (Bing Bang Boom) (5)

I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water – Johnnie Taylor (Who’s Making Love) (6)

It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World – James Brown (Star Time) (7)

Southern Loving – Jim Ed Brown (The Essential) (8)

Old Joe – Guess Who (Canned Wheat) (9)

Sweet Thing – David Bowie (Diamond Dogs) (10)

(1) My pal G-Man and I went through a phase where we listed to nothing but Tom Waits. This is a great song from a great record.

(2) This record has come up before. Great driving alternative country. A must-buy for alt. country fans.

(3) People sometimes sell the 80’s short musically, and that’s a mistake. The alternative rock, particularly coming out of the UK, back then was pretty amazing. Beautiful song.

(4) An often overlooked Byrds record from 1971. This is a good an instrumental romp as you’re going to find.

(5) This is the lesser version of the once great band, after the wonderful Paulette Carlson left. Good workman like country music, but not a good as the prior records.

(6) A fine song from a great record by the seond best soul singer ever. Yes, ever.

(7) A fine song from a box set by the best soul singer ever. Yes, ever. I make my kids listen to The Godfather at least once a month. They have to appreciate.

(8) Normally I just play Pop a Top over and over, but this is another good song by a country legend.

(9) The Guess Who made some fantastic records, including this gem from 1969. You’ve heard their hits, but their records have a ton of great songs you’ve never heard. One of my favorite all-time bands.

(10) By far the best David Bowie record. I love this song and I love this record. It’s a masterpiece. Haunting. Rent 1984, put it on the DVD and mute it, put this record on.

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