Recent Posts
Regardless of how talented you may be, music is still a group effort more often than not. And while it's good to stand on your aesthetic sensibilities, "vision," and your principles, it's still no excuse for being utterly insensitive to other creatives, or difficult to work with.
While I hesitate to pass judgement on any musician I haven't personally worked with (except for Jeff Beck! I have no qualms about dissing Jeff Beck!!!) based on most of what I've seen and read about the man over the course of his career (including his own words from several interviews), I can't help but conclude he was a royal horse's ass - and a royal pain in the ass to work with at even the best of times. And while talented and obviously an accomplished musician, I don't see anything in his career that justifies elevating him to the status of a minor deity that the popular press seems so intent on making him. He was a very good pop musician. And an accomplished stage performer. And that's about all he was. Shouldn't that be enough?
-40hz (April 25, 2016, 02:58 PM)
Well, as others have pointed out (and I've experienced this as a bit of a creative myself--I'm a photographer) you would like to make enough off your skills, vision and effort that you can continue to afford to do what you love, and be able to focus on it instead of having to take other work just to pay the bills.
Speaking to music, the world has been sadly deprived of two fantastically talented artists, Mark Linkous and Vic Chesnutt, both of who killed themselves and in both cases, friends have said, financial struggles contributed to their depression and may have led to some extent to their deaths. Both had physical problems that likely made touring somewhat onerous, and they did not seem emotionally equipped for the rigours of life on the road. It's a shame that they couldn't make enough off their recorded output--even though they were never huge sellers, both had a fanatically loyal fanbase and vast critical acclaim--to sustain them financially.
And for some odd reason, I get the feeling that the bad news for 'this year in music' isn't over yet.-40hz (April 21, 2016, 01:37 PM)
Pop music fans may have only known Billy Paul for a single song, but what a song it was. And soul music fans will remember the much deeper catalog of soul and jazz recordings and live performances that kept Billy in our minds right until this sad day. He will be missed and remembered.
I'm old, but I'm not old ... and I've no interest in getting stuck on a bunch of pills by some quack that is "Practicing" medicine because they think I should be on something...for some reason...that's probably insurance billing related.-Stoic Joker (April 22, 2016, 01:13 PM)
I didn't really mean anything by my comment about 50 being the new 35. I guess I was just surprised at 57 being considered "older" because to me it doesn't seem to fit my idea of an "older" person. Time for me to adjust my perspective.-Deozaan (April 21, 2016, 07:25 PM)
Oh bullshit...there is nothing wrong with your perspective. 57 is older than 35 true...but it isn't older like people think of their grandparents being "older".
...Even if I am a grandfather at 51, that's different..-Stoic Joker (April 22, 2016, 11:16 AM)
Science has made it so that people can live longer, healthier lives. So, considering the improvements in science and medicine, is 57 still considered "older" these days?-Deozaan (April 21, 2016, 07:25 PM)
Flu kills older people, so it makes sense.-wraith808 (April 21, 2016, 04:37 PM)
Is 57 considered "older" these days? I thought 50 was the new 35. Or all the marketing departments just lying in an attempt to appeal to the baby boomer generation?-Deozaan (April 21, 2016, 06:04 PM)
A bad year for music. First Bowie, and now Prince. Two innovators in music in the same year.-wraith808 (April 21, 2016, 12:26 PM)
wow, that was a surprise
EDIT// realised that might have sounded a bit flippant. I really was stunned by that one, I guess because of his age, and not having heard of any illness etc.-tomos (April 21, 2016, 03:31 PM)
Same as cranioscopical, root the device as soon as you get it and remove everything that's not required, (or flash a ROM that does what you want, not what the manufacturer thinks you want) - makes for a much more pleasant experience.-4wd (April 20, 2016, 07:49 PM)
I tried (and am trying) the Android ecosystem. I still prefer my iPhone and iPad. Got rid of the Mac- that's mostly propaganda, IMO. But the iDevices to me are better, even for their annoyances.-wraith808 (April 19, 2016, 12:29 PM)
IMO most Android manufacturers ruin the Android experience by adding their little custom hooks and things into Android. Vanilla Android is pretty sweet. But some of the most popular Android devices (Samsung anything) run a customized version of Android, which has lots of little things about it that annoy me. I wish they'd cut it out and let people experience Android as it was meant to be experienced. But then again, that may just be down to "what I'm used to" in Android.
And this is getting off topic, so I'll stop there.-Deozaan (April 20, 2016, 12:10 AM)
I want a Surface Pro 4. The only reason I haven't gone for it yet is because I'd need one of the more expensive ones for it to be powerful enough for development, and that's a bit out of my budget for the time being.-Deozaan (April 20, 2016, 12:05 AM)
I have many other reasons to hate iTunes
-Scott_Y (April 18, 2016, 07:07 PM)
Glad to hear I'm not the only one! That piece of software drives me mad every time I have to deal with it.
I just don't understand the logic by which its features and menus are organised or why it works the way it does...
But it might just be that I don't fit their user profile. Still, I'm curious what the logic behind it is, if there is one.
Or is it just features piled upon features over time, without much care for making it user-friendly?-dr_andus (April 19, 2016, 03:16 PM)
I've been thinking about getting a Surface Pro 4 or a Surface Book, so watching this thread with interest!I too have some interest. I'm pleased to see w3bcrawler's remarks.-wraith808 (April 18, 2016, 10:10 AM)
I'd own one by now were it not for what I consider to be an alarming number of user reviews that are critical of it.-cranioscopical (April 19, 2016, 07:11 PM)
