Category: Music

One of the J-School profs I share an office with brought in an hilarious (and scary true) cartoon on copyright madness from the New York Times today [free reg required]. The fine print at the end:

WARNING: Do not forward this column through email, make photocopies to send to a child in college, tape it to your dorm-room-door or put it on a bulletin board in your office… or you may be receiving an unexpected knock on your door.

I made ten photocopies and passed them out to iPod-wearing (or similar) students.

Laying down newspaper to varnish some trim yesterday, found half an article on the recent Sex Pistols’ reunion.

“… the night never pretended to be anything more than a greatest-hits cavalcade.”

Ack, where’s the other half? SFGate to the rescue.

The real Sex Pistols met their Goetterdaemmerung with open arms on a spit- soaked Winterland stage in 1978. The embalmed facsimile that played San Francisco on Wednesday as part of its second blighted reunion tour (the first was in 1996) barely qualified as an homage.

Sounds painful. Almost glad I missed it. “”Ever get the feeling you’ve just been cheated?”

Matthew’s memorial concert was tonight. So much packing to do, so much prep work for tomorrow, and was in the middle of taking the aquarium apart, almost didn’t go, but somehow needed to. Amy was teaching so took Miles in the Baby Bjorn (aka the Baby Bjork). Knew we wouldn’t make it the whole night, but just wanted him to experience the love in the house, and to hear some great improv. Was glad I did. Place was packed. First thing we sat down to was a trio — shakuhachi, alto sax, clarinet — tender and exploratory. Miles just cooed gently and made small noises. People around him were delighted. He lights up rooms wherever he goes. He got feisty a while later and we had to leave, but it was just enough.

Tons going on matthewsperry.org lately – it’s been a challenge maintaining that site with everything else going on.

Phillip Greenlief sends along the following:

Matthew Sperry Memorial Concert
Thursday, June 19th, 8pm
21 Grand – 449 B 23rd Street, Oakland, CA
(510) 444-7263
21Grand@21Grand.org

One of the Bay Area’s brightest musical lights, bassist Matthew Sperry, was struck down in a fatal accident by a truck while riding his bicycle to work. Many members of the SF Bay Area New Music Scene have aligned to present a concert to raise funds for Matthew’s wife Stacia, and Lila, their adorable two year girl.

Admission is sliding scale, $5 – $50, no one turned away for lack of funds.

Matthew moved to the SF Bay Area a few years ago from Seattle. He was most recently featured in the Victoria Theater’s production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”. He has recorded with Tom Waits, David Byrne, and a host of musicans from the SF Bay Area New Music scene. For a complete bio, go to: http://www.oneroom.org/mattsperry/resume.html

The following musicians will play to pay homage to our dear friend.
(in alphabetical order)

Ashley Adams
Aaron Bennett
Angela Coon – Jenya Chernoff – John Shiurba
Philip Gelb
Phillip Greenlief
Vinny Golia
Morgan Guberman – Andrew Voigt
Brett Larner
Scott Looney
Moe!
Dan Plonsey’s Daniel Popsicle
Scott Rosenberg
Dave Slusser – Ron Thompson duo
Damon Smith
Matt Sperry Trio (Gino Robair, Matt Ingalls, Tim Perkis, John Shiurba)
Christopher Williams
Francis Wong

Please help us spread the word about this important event in our musical community. Leap Frog, Matthew’s former employer, will be setting up a fund for donations. We will keep you updated about this in the coming weeks.

I am at your service, should you have any further questions.
Peace,

Phillip Greenlief
c/o Evander Music
PO Box 22158
Oakland, CA 94623-9991
(510) 652-7914
pgsaxo@pacbell.net
www.evandermusic.com

Matthew would have wanted us to go hear some good bass. Our long-time hero Mike Watt was in SF to finish off his “the cord that spun its own top” tour at Bottom of the Hill. Went with Will, Mike, Roger, Chris, Josh (xian and Jeremy also there). No words for this show — bass, drums, organ trio, but this was no Jimmy Smith, no MMW — organ such a perfect foil to Watt’s bass, rhythms unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, but totally rocking in a maritime punk sort of way. Difficult to describe, but utterly satisfying.

Matthew told me once he actually had mixed feelings about Watt’s playing, and I guess I can understand why, from Matt’s perspective, although he did dig a lot of Watt’s thing — just not all of it. At the same time, Matthew was nothing if not totally open minded, happy to be turned on to new experiences, happy to see people stretching out into new territories. I think he would have really enjoyed the evening — it sure felt like he was with us. We hoisted a glass or two in his honor.

As the band approached the stage for the encore, I snagged Watt and told him quickly about Matthew Sperry, Bay Area bassist hit by a car while on bike and killed two days ago. Watt took stage and dedicated the encore to Matthew, so everything that came next was for him. It was hard to know whether to focus my attention on the music or on the memory of Matt, so I danced instead. The encore consisted of a (for lack of a better description) Hawkwind-style driving space jam segued into The Minutemen’s “This Ain’t No Picnic,” morphed into The Stooges’ “Little Doll,” which finally evolved into an inspiring rant on getting real, connecting with people, making your own art, etc. In a low voice, Watt intoned:

Go to the source. Cut the strings. No Old Navy. No Gap. No American Idol. Make your own life. People living together. Start a band. Make your own fun.

Later, as Watt was busy signing posters, we came up to the stage and told him a bit more about Matthew, told him how much the encore had meant to us. Watt said he was a bicyclist himself. Seemed genuinely moved. Pressed his palms together and made a small namaste bow. Signed a poster for us:

bass and bikes,
Mike Watt

Between the years 12 and 24, more or less, I lived with a Pioneer PL-A35 turntable. All of my formative musical experiences ran through its tonearm. It was part of the landscape of every bedroom I inhabited. Not sure when or why, but it ended up in my mother’s garage, gathering dust for 15 years. When I rescued it a few months ago, the main bearing was frozen solid. The Sound Well in Berkeley said they had a cut-off point beyond which they refused to work on vintage turntables (parts too scarce), and I didn’t make the cut. They suggested a hole in the wall called Handy Electronics. Finally got there today — one of those places with torn apart toasters and VCRs everywhere. Broken English. But 24 hrs later it’s in perfect working order and I’m reunited with the turntable of my teens. Such a physical feeling to slide an LP from the sleeve. Such a short period of time before you have to turn the damn thing over :)

philm points out that the BBC has done a piece on misheard lyrics which refers to my own sadly neglected kissthisguy. Weird quotes in there about how sites like mine are technically illegal, which makes no sense since kissthisguy only quotes 3 or 4 lines from songs, not entire lyrics.

Re: recent discussions about whether iTunes’ new streaming capabilities amount to webcasting (and whether royalties are thus due): SpyMac Music aggregates iTunes sharers under a single roof, which makes a feature Apple was careful to mark as private into a public service similar to live365. Great debate on the legality and implications in this MacSlash thread.

Very good guide / review comparing AAC and MP3 at various bitrates.

emusic just released an OS X download client, which is great because I just got hooked on the service. After getting all hopped up on the iTunes store last week, began to read more and more pieces making the points that A) the .99/track price at the iTunes Store isn’t so impressive when you compare it to eMusic’s all-you-can-eat chuck-wagon smorgasbord for $10 or $15 month and B) emusic’s catalog will be more up your alley if your tastes veer off the Billboard Top 100.

The emusic subscription pays for itself if you download an album per month. Many broadband users download an album per hour. But it’s not just about big value. In the past two days I’ve rediscovered The Fugs, The Cramps, The Kinks, Dub Syndicate, John Fahey and Bert Jansch, discovered Mission of Burma records I didn’t know existed, and fleshed out my Wes Montgomery and Leo Kottke collections. I’m not saying there isn’t lots of stuff I like from the Big 5 labels represented by Apple, only that it’s a lot more expensive and emusic is more in line with my tastes. Why not have both? Between the two you have access to a huge swath of both Top 100 and more obscure music. iTunes costs nothing to have access to, and emusic is way cheaper than my usual CD habit (which has abated greatly since Miles arrived).

One other important point: emusic is pure MP3, rather than DRM’d AAC. In other words, no “infected” files — no authorizing and de-authorizing computers – emusic puts the responsibility of not stealing music into the customer’s hands, rather than trying to solve it with technology. On the other hand, the iTunes interface rocks. On the other other hand, emusic can be used on most any platform.

As always, Andrew Orlowski gets surly on the point. TechTV has a good comparison of the services.