TAKE THAT, MUSIC INDUSTRY!

I just digitized 4 LPs that you never bothered to put on CD with some help from Toast, mp3splt, and turntables. (I admit some of these are on CD. Still, they are generally HTF.)

Because I have to share my sometimes dubious musical taste, I’m posting a couple blurbs and images here. (images taken from flickr users and linked back to the photo page)

Various Artists: Dance, Be Happy!, 1957

I think my sister originally bought this, either at a thrift store, The Great Escape, or the man I bought lots of records from as a teenager (aka “The Record Man”). I think this was inspired by Swing Kids. Eventually, she tired of it and it drifted to me. It has lots of great songs and well-known band leaders such as Benny Goodman, Percy Faith, Duke Ellington, and Xavier Cugat. Definitely worth a listen if you can find it!

Bobby Sherman: Bobby Sherman, 1969

Oh, Bobby and his gorgeous blue eyes! This album actually belonged to my father. My sister and I just loved the songs: Bobby has a great voice and these are very catchy tunes. It includes the hits “Seattle” and “Little Woman”, along with some tunes written by Bobby himself! One of my favorites is “This Guy’s in Love with You”, written by Burt Bacharach and originally performed by Herb Alpert. (Don’t worry, I have some of his albums to digitize, too!) Just sit back and gaze into the bluest eyes this side of The Sound of Music.

Petula Clark: My Love, 1966

Amazingly, this is the only Petula Clark album I own. I can’t recall where I got it. This has her hits “My Love”, “Sign of the Times”, and other good tunes such as her cover of “We Can Work it Out” by the Beatles and “If I Were a Bell” from Guys & Dolls.

Burt Bacharach: Reach Out, 1967

I remember why I bought this album: I had heard the delightfully strange “Bond Street” (from Casino Royale, I think?) and had to have my own copy of it. This features Bacharach playing his own songs as well as instrumental versions… one standout is “The Look of Love” . I think my favorite might be “Lisa”, which is really quite lovely, even if its lyrics are rather insipid.

As you can tell, I have a great fondness for 1960s pop and music from before then. I don’t say that my taste is impeccable, but I do derive much joy from the music I love. Even if it is cheesy. I love cheese! Now I’m off to find that cd full of Price is Right themes…

One of the readings for a class some weeks ago was Christine Rosen’s “The Age of Egocasting.” It’s a fascinating article, and we all had something to say about it, whether agreeing or disagreeing. I recommend everyone read it, as it’s bound to start a train of thought and interesting discussion.

I was speaking with one of my classmates about how much technology we allow into our lives and have found myself thinking about a tech/non-tech life balance ever since. How far do we allow technology and personal devices into our lives?

It’s amusing, as I think I’m getting a reputation in class as a techie. We were asked what services and/or computer-y things we do, and I was one of the 2 people who raised our hands to almost every question. But I don’t think of myself as a techie. I suppose I’ve always thought of tech people as people who enjoy technology for technology’s sake. Perhaps I’m a part of that after all. But I’m not interested in building the technology or making new technology or getting behind the scenes with it at all. But I do like using technology to explore things I enjoy. I’m a practical user of technology, but also one who enjoys trying out new things if they can do something useful and interesting. This is some sort of tenuous distinction, I admit.

I currently use these social networking services (some under my real name, some not):
facebook
flickr
last.fm
youtube
librarything
etsy
livejournal
dreamwidth
google reader
delicious
tumblr
kaboodle
netflix
iPod
myspace (dormant)
twitter (dormant)

I am an advocate of open-source software and love customizing my computing and web experience. We have Ubuntu on 2 laptops (this one and my netbook, which is dual-boot XP & UNR capable), love firefox and its add-ons and userscripts, and generally advocate the “information wants to be free” idea. I also have this website and blog and have made some short videos and plan to do more since I am in The Studio every week. So I suppose I could be considered a techie (but not by techies themselves, because I am a gurl.)

I agree with Rosen in some ways: I don’t enjoy listening to tvs when I’m in a restaurant, or piped-in music when I’m outside, or hearing everyone’s cell phone conversations when I’m anywhere. I would love to tell the world to SHUT UP some times and just let me think, or hear, or see, or smell by myself. I don’t need the constant input from the media or other people.

So, I’ve made some choices as to things I don’t do with technology:

texting
watching broadcast/cable tv
DVR-ing
always talking on the phone
surfing the web on my phone
listening to my iPod all the time

so I can have some peace. And most people I know do this as well. It all depends on our comfort level with the technology and how much we enjoy doing what it enables us to do.

Example:
I don’t listen to my iPod most of the time, because I like hearing what is going on. Not only will I be able to interact with people on my journeys, but it is also safer to not have something blaring in your ears when you need your senses to figure out what’s going on. Even when I’m gardening, I don’t take my iPod with me. I want to hear the birds chirping or my neighbor saying hello.

I also consciously choose to do activities that don’t involve the internet or media. Gardening doesn’t require a streaming video feed to keep me interested and watching the birds in the backyard doesn’t need real-time comments to be fun. When N and I go on a walk, we take along the Sibley’s and that’s it. Sometimes when we see or hear a new bird, we can’t precisely identify it even with the Sibley’s, so we check out Cornell’s awesome All About Birds. So the web does help in non-web activities, but I still try and structure time away from the internet and electricity if possible.

So I think the way to avoid the catastrophe that Rosen seems to think is inevitable is to pick and choose what we use, how we use it, and when we use it. And doing that is very hard, because it relies on us as individuals to tune out of some things and stop blindly following the ads and what the corporations and media want us to do (consume, consume, consume!) and use our minds and hearts and really pay attention.