Not Much

Not much to say today other than this: (1) The case for my new computer arrived. It’s nice. (2) My law class won’t be so bad. (3) When you’ve broken up with a girl, whether it’s been two months or two years since, it’s still upsetting that you won’t get to see any of her cool friends and family you admire.

This is Big News

Roger Waters Online reports that Roger Waters performed with Pink Floyd for the first time since the last Wall concert in 1981 on Friday. For those unfamiliar with the group’s history, this is huge. Unfortunately, the occasion they got together for was Pink Floyd’s manager’s funeral. They played Fat Old Sun (a great jam song, pre-Dark Side of the Moon) and Great Gig in the Sky (from Dark Side). Wow. I’d love to hear a recording…

Organization

When it comes to disorder, disorganization and disarray, it’s all relative. My boss called me from London today. One of our conversations went as follows:

Him: Okay, so Thanksgiving is not this week, is it?
Me: No—
Him: —is it next week?
Me: No, it’s the week after.
Him: So I’ll want to be back in London next week?
Me: You are in London next week. You can fly back here at the end of next week or the beginning of the week after to be in the U.S. for Thanksgiving.

Coincidence or Conspiracy?

This November 22 marks 40 years after John F. Kennedy was killed (or assassinated, as they like to say). November 23 will be 40 years after the first episode of Doctor Who was aired on the BBC. It was the first television show that station aired after broadcasting news continuously. Speaking of Doctor Who, it’s on its way back as a new series for BBC.

Need Suggestions Immediately

Someone, please introduce me to some music I can get excited about. I want to hear someone or some group that I immediately want to go out and see. This feeling of musical mediocrity has been settling in over the last year. Today I was asked if I want to see a Dar Williams concert. I responded saying that her music just doesn’t excite me anymore. She replied with, “I don’t think you get excited about any music anymore.” That’s definitely not true, but I could defintely use a little stimulation. Really, Damien Rice is the only performer who has come close lately, but even he isn’t doing anything that hasn’t been done before.

I think we’re heading for a renaissance in music. That usually happens after periods of insipid popular music. For example, punk and new wave (Talking Heads, Sex Pistols, even They Might Be Giants) were reactions to disco. Pink Floyd was originally part of the London underground scene, taking rhythm and blues to new psychedelic heights (and later becoming a psychedelic jam band, later becoming a social activist psychedelic jam band, and then a cheesy pop social activist psychedelic jam band) as a reaction to the early Beatles and their imitators who played rhythm and blues pretty straight and boring.

Something has to change in the music scene, and it’s not going to come from the Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera/Beyoncee Knowles types or the Dave Matthews/Jason Mraz/John Mayer (they’re all the same person, I’m sure of it) types. It’s going to be a reaction to all of that.

But when? I’m tired of waiting. I need something new, good, now.

sounds

The Hammond B3 Organ is now digital. You have to hear these sound samples. They’ve replicated the analog sound of the B3, Farfisa, and Harmonium better than any Roland or Yamaha sound bank, and that is a gross understatement.