The Friday Playlist:

Lightin’ Hopkins  The Swarthmore Concert  1964:  It opens with some commentary and a Baby Please Don’t Go that leaves you feeling hollow inside.  Just him on the stage with an acoustic guitar.  He plays with the audience, talks to them, but it seems like he’s talking to himself or playing for himself. The stories are great and the blues are smooth.  Its is a show worth picking up.  -BL

Kids’ Music:  If you read my rant on Hannah Montana, you know I’ve got some issues with kids music.  I offer up Steve Winwood, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5–kids making music, and rockin’ hard enough to make the Jonas Brothers Paranoid:

Tanya Tucker–Delta Dawn>  The Spencer Davis Group–Gimme Some Lovin‘  > Stevie Wonder-Uptight (Everything Is Alright) >  Jackson 5-I Want You Back

They are nothing new, and they barely belong in the same library.   But string these together and you’ve got a playlist of kids making great music that you can (lightly) blast at a stoplight with the windows down.  Maybe your kids will learn to love it, too. –BL

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Cory Branan

I enjoy logging into my gmail to find a megaupload/sendspace/yousendit file. This past week, a fellow music nerd buddy of mine turned me on to Cory Branan’s album – 12 Songs.

I’m a sucker for singer/songwriters – especially southern ones. The fast tracks on this album such as “A Girl Named Go” and “Mohammed Ali (and me)” will rock your face off. I still need some more time for the slower tunes to grow on me. The album sounds a taaaaaaaad overproduced on the slower tracks, but not so much where it would deter you from listening to the album in its entirety. This dude is a solid and entertaining storyteller who is without a doubt on my show radar.

Wilco, a band who I have been chasing around the USA for over 10+ years is playing in Dallas TEJAS tonight. In honor of tonight’s performance, my Friday playlist is the audio from their most recent DVD, Ashes of American Flags. Go to www.wilcoworld.net to buy that and other goodies.

Playlist:

Ashes of American Flags >Side with the Seeds>Handshake Drugs>Late Greats>King Pin>Wishful Thinking>Impossible Germany>via Chicago>Shot in the Arm>MondayYou are my Face>Heavy Metal Drummer>War on War>I’m the Man Who Loves You>Airline to Heaven>It’s Just That Simple>At Least That’s What You Said>I am Trying to Break Your Heart>Theologians>Hate it Here

SEE you at the ROCK SHOW!

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AF

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I’m going to stick with the NWW – Nurse with Wound.  I’ve been deep in there this week, and see no need to turn back today.  NWW could be hard to describe for many.  Hell, it may be pointless to try.  John Cage reminded us that everything is music, and he constantly set up chances for us to realize this throughout his life’s work.  Seen here in this video from 1960.  Browse for more of his compositions.  While there is a long line of musicians which walk the John Cage Trail, NWW is one that keeps me reminded of the beautiful vistas such a trail can exhibit.

If you are capable of going beyond, then search out some NWW. Or get a hold of me, and I’ll set you up with a trial. – HT

Webby Stuff:

This link takes you to some recreations of some old arcade games, but go to the main page and you’ll find the best online map that I have stumbled on.  It puts together several different maps (yahoo!, Google, NASA, etc.) so that you can see a place in several different ways.  There is also a Planetarium if you are still unclear about which star goes with which.  A Flash Master, he is.  –BL

WWW.NEAVE.COM

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For those of you who do any type of presentation work, either PowerPoint or Keynote, there is a fairly new, web based tool, called Prezi.  They call it “zooming sketches on a digital napkin”.   I stumbled upon this one during a listen over at Twit.tv.  Its pushing in the direction of a non-modal atmosphere, though just not there yet.  The interaction and ease of use is insane.  There are no slides, everything gets laid out before you and you choose the path, or lack there of.  I recently set up a test Prez  for a project we have been working on here in Palm Beach.  While I see some glitches and tools which could use refining, I think that Prezi is the way of the future in presentation format.  You save as you go, and upon any sort of completion, you decide who gets to check it out.  Give my first run at Prezi a look if you feel the need, its Worth Avenue(click here), and some snapshots of the improvements to come in 2010.  Cheers.  – HT

PREZI

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This ranks up there with the “Mullet” sites, but is much broader in scope.  The only part of this that isn’t hilarious is that it is real.  After about 20 pages, the tears seem to come fromsomething other than laughter.

People of Wal Mart