Ever see those colored light bulbs in the store labeled “Party Lights”? I must have been invited to the wrong parties all these years. I have never been to a party with party lights. Please, if you’ve been to (or thrown) one of these zany-lighting parties… tell me what it’s like!
I’d like to be invited to a party with pink or blue or green light bulbs. Sure, I’ve seen the yellow ones in action keeping bugs off of a porch, and red ones in a dark room… and black lights(& the cheap black lights that don’t make stuff glow very well), but I’ve never seen party lights used for a party. I’ve eveseen Christmas lights strung up for a party. That can’t compare to the whimsical hilarity of putting in a green light bulb!
The other day I posted a Facebook status, and wanted to expand upon it here. This is what I said:
I get that digital & cloud media are the next step. I get that ALMOST everything is available for streaming as part of a service. Anyone else weirded out by it? Some stuff… obscure or whatever just isn’t available for streaming. What happens when the companies close or the cloud’s redundant services fail? What happens if someone buys the rights to streaming movies, just to keep them from the public? What if censorship goes out of control and some committee decided certain movies are no longer available? Will they all be lost forever because no one will have physical copies? Don’t say it can’t happen… it has in the past with books.
I like the idea of Digital movies & TV shows… I love having Netflix‘s library available in an instant. I love being able to watch a movie from Netflix or rent a digital movie from Amazon through the Blu-ray player.
I like the idea of Pandora or Google Play where there’s streaming music there in an instant. Pandora just disappoints because of the variety of music I listen to… a lot of smaller bands that I really dig just have a minimal or even no presence there. Google Play at least lets you upload your own mp3’s in addition to purchasing new ones. Amazon holds your stuff in the cloud too. I just wish all the music that I wanted was all in one place.
I have had an older external hard drive crash. It’s not good. I still need to get it fixed without breaking the bank. Anything physical can be destroyed… CD’s & Records can melt or scratch, and not too many people have 8-Trak or even cassette players any more.
My original question is as much about content control & ownership as much as anything else. Say you purchase a ton of music that’s in the cloud… and that company shuts down. How do you hold on to that music? Were you just renting it? What happens if the parent company gets into a disagreement with the management of your favorite band and their catalog is removed from your clous storage?
“…a time when people cared about who’s ass it was, and why it was farting!”
What if you bought the movie Idiocracy and it becomes so true to life that it’s banned? Don’t sit back comfortably and think it can’t happen. Books are banned all the time by different groups. No one comes & takes all of your books… yet. What if the banned book could be deleted from your Kindle or Nook? All In The Family would never fly on TV now, but what if it was no longer available because of its abrasive humor?
I just feel uneasy about it.
That being said, I absolutely hate cash money. I hardly ever have it on me. I like swiping my card for everything. If I could use it in parking meters and pop machines, I would. There’s a swing back towards cash though, as credit card company fees are crushing small businesses, especially if you’re making a purchase with a low dollar amount. Is it odd that I have no problem with my money being intangible, but when I use to to purchase an album or a movie… I need that to be tangible?
I’d like to get a good discussion going in the comments.
A quick look at Wikipedia shows that some guy in the late 1950s named George S. Richardson was actually a computer that designed the Fort Pitt Bridge. Well, maybe he used a computer. The Wikipedia article is surprisingly unclear. It says that Richardson designed it, but it also says “It was the world’s first computer designed bowstring arch bridge.”
The bridge opened in 1959. It’s 2013. I’m not sure how many revisions (if any) have occurred since 1959. I get that in combination with the Fort Pitt Tunnelit’s quite popular, but certainly there should have been changes over the years. I haven’t checked census data, but it’s a safe bet that the region’s population & the number of people who own cars has risen quite dramatically since then. I believe it’s time for an overhaul.
Did this ever make sense? (From Bing)
The green arrow shows where Jagoffs come from.
There are several problems, but the biggest one that drives me crazy is Yinzer drivers coming out of the city making their own lanes. It’s bad enough that you have to sometimes cross 3 lanes in a short distance to make sure you’re in the correct lane to get where you’re going. Check out the green arrow in the picture to the right. This is the ramp coming from Liberty Ave. downtown. Apparently during the afternoon commute out of the city, people coming up these two lanes decide to not merge into one lane as suggested by those funny little white dashed lines. They also choose not to obey the only traffic sign on the bridge, a STOP sign. Well, there’s 2 of them… but both for the same lane. These images from Google’s street view might show what I mean:
This is what you see coming up the ramp…
This is how it all merges…
It’s pretty clear how one is supposed to merge in such a situation. The STOP sign here is ridiculous. It ought to be illegal to pull out from a full stop while traffic is whizzing by at a high speed. It’s there nonetheless… and should be obeyed. Like I said, there are many problems. Let me get back to focusing on the crazy extra lane-making Yinzer drivers. Look at this…
2 cars, 1 lane
Those dingleberries are side-by-side in one lane. So are these dingleberries behind them:
Following the lead…
Buses are the Devil.
Now, is this really helping the traffic situation? No. It does slow down everyone in my lane. No one seems to want to stop, they pull out & to the left to go into the tunnel, or out & right to go to the West End. I took those photos of these numb-nuts a while ago… but on a very special day a while ago, I saw a bus doing it. Yes, a PAT bus was beside a car in a single lane, and trying to cut across into the lane to my right if I were to stay in the lane I was in & simply go forward.
Just typing all of this out & trying to explain it rationally hurts my head. Why aren’t there cops there? You could triple the city or count’s monthly revenue in about 2 hours at that spot.
Clearly something needs done at this intersection. Traffic lights? A camera that captures your license plate when you break a law or 10 merging lanes? It’s absolutely ridiculous. Who started this? Obviously others have seen people get away with it, so they are trying it too. What part of your brain rationalizes that this is somehow acceptable behavior?
Have you run into this insanity? Please, share your hate for the Fort Pitt Bridge in the comments.
Well, that’s what they told us. Words can’t express how beautiful this is to me. Seeing that little heart beat today made it all hit me.
I’m sure I’ll post more funny goofy silliness about having a daughter eventually, but right now I’m just so happy and I wanted to share. I can’t wait to meet her!
Also, the feet on the printout were adorable, but I could be biased:
So, did you read the last post about the Guitalele & Guitar Center’s price match guarantee? The whole thing is pretty awesome, especially if you’re a musician and you actively purchase gear. It’s worth checking out, so click that link.
Once you’ve read that, this will make sense:
Free Gig Bag From Guitar Center! (1)
Free Stand From Guitar Center! (1)
Free Stand From Guitar Center! (2)
Free Gig Bag From Guitar Center! (2)
The gig bag & the stand are a perfect fit! Thanks again to Luke for the excellent customer service, and to YaJagoff for sparking it!
On the Saturday before Christmas, we were headed to a family gathering & gift exchange. On the way, we stopped at Guitar Center in Monroeville so I could pick up a book of Christmas Carols that I had seen at the Guitar Center in Robinson. I didn’t find the same book, but was pleased with two that I did find.
Guitalele GL1 (Photo credit: matsuyuki)
Usually, I’m the one who lollygags in guitar stores, but the wife has taken up the ukulele, and over the past few years she’s the one that lingers near the ever-growing uke section at music stores. In Monroeville’s Guitar Center, the ukes were right by the music books, so we both started looking. Bethany was the first to spot our newest acquisition… The Yamaha GL1 “Guitalele“. We both were fascinated by it, and I played with it a little as she asked “Do you want this as an early Birthday present?”
At first, I said no and went to hang it back up, but flipped over the price tag and saw that it was $99.99. She gave me the “just get it” look, so we both new I just landed an early birthday present. I do enjoy the wife’s ukulele, but the GCEA tuning did always mess with me. Now I can play the ukulele without having to play the ukulele. Although, if tuned “properly” the guitalele should be ADGCEA. Of course, I dropped it to E because I didn’t like pretending it was a guitar with a capo on the 5th fret. Although, I may have to get thicker strings or just suck it up & put it back in the A tuning. They’re sort of like rubber-bands at this point.
Well, that’s just the first part of the story. The second part stems from some interactions on Twitter. I’ll try to post it all here as it happened, thanks to @YaJagoff and Luke from Guitar Center.
Photo: Stopped at Guitar Center today to buy a book of chords for Christmas carols, and Bethany bought me an... http://t.co/pUgD3INm
A simple question. I gave the easy, flippant, and predictable answer. Rock musicians are supposed to rail against the establishment and big business, right? Well, Guitar Center proves to be awesome here…
@YaJagoff hmm... Local shops always beat Guitar Center. Ha ha. Pgh Guitars on South Side is awesome.
Musician’s Friendhad the Guitalele itself for $79.99 (It’s oddly now up to $99.99 on the website — aren’t Musician’s Friend & Guitar Center the same company? From Wikipedia: “Guitar Center’s sister companies/subsidiaries incorporate Music & Arts, Musician’s Friend, GuitarCenter.com, LMI, Giardinelli, Musician.com, Private Reserve Guitars, Woodwind and Brasswind and Harmony Central.” …Interesting.)
I only half-jokingly asked “Any chance I could get a gig bag or stand for free?” I mean, it never hurts to ask, right?
I was met with a response saying I was getting both of them for free! We discussed shipping details & the right size gig bag in a few more email exchanges… but they’re now on the way to me via UPS.
I’ve written to companies before, but I’ve never had any of them seek me out on a social media platform in a conversation that wasn’t even addressed to them. It’s pretty cool that Guitar Center believes in their price guarantee so much that they actively go after any perceived detraction. It’s also cool that they’ll not only go up against brick-and-mortar stores, but online retailers too.
That being said, the “little guys” could argue that they have no way to compete. They can’t buy in quantities & therefore probably not at such a low price… so there’s no way they can pass on such savings. Free enterprise, supply & demand, competition, it’s all very interesting & a continually evolving battle.
At any rate, I win out here… with a free gig bag & stand. So, thanks to Ya Jagoff!!! & Luke for helping to set the whole thing into motion! I’ll post some photos of the gig bag & stand as soon as I have them.
So, does the Guitalele count as a guitar in my “13 Guitars in 2013” goal?
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 81,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
The other day I plugged my crappy old Insignia Pilot into the truck stereo’s auxiliary input, & I started playing the songs on my trusty & hardly ever updated mp3 player in order by song title. I have no idea why I decided to take it off of “random”, but I did. (Sadly, my 500 GB hard drive has stopped working and unless it’s fixed I’ll lose a TON of music, so whatever this Best Buy generic brand mp3 player holds may be it for my collection for a while!)
I thought that “song titles that start with numbers” would be a pretty cool playlist. I’d thought I’d share some of my favorites.
I’ve posted advice for existing and aspiring bands before, and I thought this email from a pro would be useful. It was sparked when I saw his Facebook status the other day: “Great way to start the day: my favorite venue in the country complimented my email skills in contacting them to booking a date. It’s the highest praise I could hope for.”
The status went on to some comments & basically the author said he’d share the knowledge with those who cared to learn. I asked if I could post it in a blog, and here we have it. If you’re in a band on any level, pay heed to the advice below.
As far as background on Bengt, he’s in a band (& been in many), he records bands, he’s booked bands, and he’s generally been in every part of the scene. He knows what he’s talking about.
Action Camp
On to the advice & the guest part of this guest post:
♪♫♩♬♩♫♪
Alright, so here is what we usually send like 99% of the time. There always a bit of customization but this is the basic format:
1. Greeting, name the booker if you know it (usually listed on indieonthemove.com or their website)
2. Band name (with a link to the website), genre, location.
3. Date(s) requested in bold. They love that, it makes it easier read. If you can swing 3-5 dates that’s best, it gives them room. Do them a favor and check the website for those dates first, they appreciate that a ton. Also make sure to follow their booking procedure to the T. A lot of places have a specific way they like to work (Facebook message, Sonicbids, email format, etc). If you do it right it shows you listened so you’re already at the top of the pile.
Also, if another band that’s played there before suggested it, tell them so. It’s like introducing yourself to anyone else and starting with saying you have a mutual friend. It’s a job reference.
4. Links to music, video, press – let them decide if they want to book you. The more you talk about how awesome you are and why you should be booked, the more they think you probably suck and are trying to gloss over it. It’s like handing someone your demo and saying it’s not your best work.
5. If you played there or in the city before tell them. If you know what you drew and stuff be honest, they love that.
6. Offer to help build the bill, and specifically name bands you know or have contacted already.
7. Thanks in advance, Thanks for your time, etc.
8. ALL of your contact info including phone numbers. It shows you are easy to reach and you have your shit together.
One final thing: DON’T say someone famous produced your record, quote random blog reviews, list facebook or twitter numbers, anything like that. No one cares about that if they know what their doing in the working touring circuit. Steve Albini producing your record won’t make 100 people come out in Dayton on a Monday night, and facebook and twitter followers are ostensibly your imaginary friends that only you can see. Plus, even you have 4,000 people odds are only 10 of them are near the venue you are trying to book.
We are Action Camp, an art rock duo from Pittsburgh, PA.
We’re looking to see if you have Friday February 15th or Saturday the 16th available to book in the Revival Room – both look open on your calendar but I wasn’t sure if you would do a full house those nights. Our music is pretty different from what’s going on those nights so I’m not concerned about audience bleed over. This would be our 4th time to Southgate, 7th time in 3 years in the Cininnati/Newport scene. We know plenty of bands so we’d throw a bill together with 2 or 3 locals to help support.
If these are unavailable I’d love to work something out in the future. Southgate was/is by far our favorite venue on tour, I can only assume the new house is great. Sincerely, I (Bengt) booked a venue in Pittsburgh, and based many of my practices on the way SGH was run by Rick and his crew.
Previous dates:
Parlour 10/1/2010 (Gallery Opening, free show, 100+ attending)
Parlour 1/2/2010 (w/ Duppy a Jamba, 97 paid)
Parlour Summer 2009 (Flux Capacitors last show, well attended, don’t have stats)
Our most recent dates in the area were both in Cincinnati:
12/8/2012 The Comet Cincinnati, OH (100+, free show)
7/5/2012 Sitwells Coffeehouse Cincinnati, OH (smaller acoustic show, last minute add on tour)
Thanks in advance, can’t wait to see the new place,
So that’s it, pretty simple. Just be honest and to the point. I also should point out that this was 1 of 10 venues we emailed on Christmas, and he got back just a day later with this response:
“Thanks for writing. Those dates aren’t announced yet, but they are spoken for. How about Wed Feb 13, or Sun Feb 17?
“PS – very well done email, especially listing previous show turnouts. You’re way ahead of the curve on that one, and it did persuade me to jump on this, and get you in!”
I always email every venue that would work for us in a city, it’s better to have choices than no show at all.
So, there you have it. Got it? Good. Doing research in advance before you ask for dates seems like a no-brainer, but apparently it needs to be said. I guess some bands naturally put more thought into stuff.
I’m not sure how you’d approach this if you had no previous gigs in an area… perhaps we can get Bengt to comment further for new bands, first time tours, etc.?
From: Chick-fil-A CARES <chickfilacares@na.ko.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 26, 2012 at 8:09 PM
Subject: Chick-fil-A Response
To: <me@my.email.address>
Dear Valued Customer:
Thank you for taking the time to contact Chick-fil-A. You are very important to us, and we appreciate your suggestion regarding the cup holders. We hope the following information will be helpful.
Chick-fil-A is fortunate to have many loyal customers. Many of these fans take the time and effort to inquire about sharing their own ideas about ways they wish to see us improve – whether it is adding a specific new product, service or feature. We are grateful for our customers’ intent, and this motivates us to work even harder to keep improving.
Unfortunately, it is our corporate policy not to accept or consider any unsolicited creative ideas. This is a difficult decision because we realize that by following this policy, Chick-fil-A may miss out on some great ideas from our customers. We would rather miss out on some of these ideas than to risk any potential future misunderstanding should Chick-fil-A develop or already have developed a product, service, or feature that may seem similar to a customer’s idea.
We hope you will understand the reasons for our policy. You can view our Unsolicited Ideas Policy at www.chick-fil-a.com/Legal (under Submissions) for more information on this issue. Beyond this policy, we gladly welcome customers’ feedback about their restaurant experiences.
We appreciate your family’s loyalty, and we look forward to serving you all at Chick-fil-A for many years to come. Again, thank you for your time and interest in Chick-fil-A.
From: <me@my.email.address>
Date: Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 4:56 PM
Subject: Re: Chick-fil-A Response
To: Chick-fil-A CARES <chickfilacares@na.ko.com>
Hello Cheala,
Any idea how I can get my idea solicited? I’m honestly not interested in monetary compensation, I just don’t want to spill my drinks. Has anyone run this by Mr. Cathy? He’s responded to my emails before, and I understand that he’s a shrewd business man as well as a great family man. I’m sure he wouldn’t want drinks spilling on anyone… and that he’d like to pick up a free idea.
Thanks once again for your time & help!
My pleasure,
-Eric
Wonder if I’ll get a reply? I just want a good cup holder.
World (and Lunar) Domination 