Cool tech product: Logitech Mini Boombox

I found this in a CIO.com article this morning — the Logitech Mini Boombox.

From the first link:

Priced at just $99.99, the Mini Boombox is much cheaper than many comparable products. This makes it a great buy iconsidering its larger-than-life sound reproduction. I don’t plan to purchase a Mini Boombox for myself, as I already own a couple similar speakers, but it would be a reasonably-priced and solid optionfor business users looking for a quality wireless speaker that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

“The Blackwater dudes would play Nickelback … “

Talk about the bar from hell — in the midst of Iraq’s Green Zone during the worst of the war, everyone’s favorite “security contractor” (nee Blackwater, nee Xe, now Academi) allowed its employees to frequent a speakeasy and soil the airspace with cover songs.

Hope this doesn’t ruin your holiday cheer, but from the link:

Bearman: There actually wasn’t a jukebox. They had a stereo system with an iPod attachment. They played random music. No one gave me a playlist, but they had to take Men At Work off because Aussie security contractors would go apeshit when Men At Work came on. Which I understand! When i’m in a war zone and drinking, I kind of want to let off a little steam, too.

But actually, sometimes they had live bands. Contractors who were over there a long time would bring instruments and musical equipment. There would be jammy, crappy cover bands. The Aegis guys would play the Kinks. The Blackwater dudes would play Nickelback. There was a strong cultural difference in what mercenaries were into, musically speaking.

I (don’t) want my MTV

Anymore.

King Khan and the Shrines …

… are a great live act. If you don’t know anything about King Khan, this album — Supreme Genius of King Khan — is a great place to start. I featured King Khan and the Shrines in a “video fun” post early last year. The King Khan and BBQ show is a lot of fun live, but he’s at his best with the Shrines.

Big Bucks Burnett and the Wall Street Journal

I actually caught the original gallery show at Barry Whistler last fall and it was pretty cool. Of course I have a decent eight-track collection including Kiss, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Wild Cherry (of “Play that funky music white boy” fame) and more. Sadly, I do not own a working eight track player right now.

Congrats, Bucks, on the latest show/temporary museum, the WSJ feature and best of luck with the permanent eight track museum.

From the link:

Last fall, more than 200 people crammed into one of this city’s premier contemporary art galleries for a three-day show. The white walls, accustomed to paintings that sell for thousands of dollars, were home to less rarified fare.

The show? Eight Track Tapes: The Bucks Burnett Collection. “It was packed,” says gallery owner Barry Whistler.

Presiding over the affair was James “Bucks” Burnett, a portly fellow with long gray hair and a white beard. He wore a tailored brown suit covered with images from the album cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1973 Houses of the Holy. Strangers showed up offering boxes of eight tracks, which Mr. Burnett happily pawed through, plucking out dusty rarities and putting them on display.

The positive response “led me to think maybe I’m not insane,” says Mr. Burnett. But it also helped him realize that a brief gallery show simply can’t contain his vision for the hard plastic tapes, one of the clunkiest and most short-lived music formats of all time.

He wants to open an eight-track museum. “There are only two choices. A world with an eight-track museum and a world without an eight-track museum,” he says. “I choose with.”

Friday video fun — the Carolina Chocolate Drops

For anyone who loves bluegrass, blues, country, Americana, the sound of old-time gospel, and , of course, traditional string band music.

It doesn’t get much more simple — or great in this case — than two voices, two strings (fiddle and banjo here) and jug percussion.

Enjoy!

Les Paul, RIP

The man, among many other things, changed electric guitar forever. And for the better. I proudly own a 1976 Kalamazoo cherry sunburst.

From the link:

Les Paul, 94, a Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuoso and inventor of the solid-body electric guitar who helped bring his instrument to the forefront of jazz and rock-and-roll performance, died Aug. 13 at a hospital in White Plains, N.Y. He had pneumonia.

Happy birthday Walkman!

The Sony Walkman turned 30 last week. Over the years I’ve owned versions of the Walkman andDiscman numbering in double digits.

JJ Grey & Mofro, “Country Ghetto”

Lots of music blogging this week from me, but I had to get the word out about this band — JJ Grey & Mofro — and their album, “Country Ghetto.”

Here’s what I came up with trying to characterize the music —  “R&B influenced slow funk with more than a spoonful of Southern gospel thrown into the mix.”

And here’s what Harp magazine had to say:

“Smoldering Otis Redding-inspired ballads…full-bore blues-rock, down-home roots and country-soul…uproariously funky and melodic homespun tales that are gritty and deeply personal…Grey’s resonant vocals are potent and authoritative, mature beyond his age.” –Harp

And to provide a taste, here’s a video of “Orange Blossoms” and a second video of an interview with JJ Grey. Good stuff all around!

 

 

Music lessons strengthen brain

I knew all that guitar practice would eventually pay off …

From the link:

Taking music lessons can strengthen connections between the two hemispheres of the brain in children, but only if they practice diligently, according to a study reported here 14 April at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. The findings add to a long-running debate about the effects of musical training on the brain.

(Hat tip: KurzweilAI.net)

 

The RIAA is really looking out for the artist

The RIAA and recording companies are certainly doing a bang-up job of protecting the artists creating every work named in every lawsuit.

Oh, you mean they’re only protecting their money, not the artist?

From Hit & Run:

Surprise! Actual musicians have gotten diddly from the $370 million copyright infringement settlement between record companies and Napster et al.

Artist managers are girding for battle with their music overlords over when their clients are going to see some of the dough negotiated last year in copyright-infringement settlements with a host of Web sites….

“Artist managers and lawyers have been wondering for months when their artists will see money from the copyright settlements and how it will be accounted for,” said lawyer John Branca, who has represented Korn, Don Henley, and The Rolling Stones, among others. “Some of them are even talking about filing lawsuits if they don’t get paid soon.”

Way to encourage and reward innovation, intellectual property law!