Music: February 2005 Archives

About a year ago, I was complaining bitterly. Emusic, the independent music website which had offered near-unlimited mp3 downloads from its site for $10 a month. Suddenly, they got rid of their discussion boards and cut the downloads to a piddly 40 songs a month. The website itself wasn't even that great. To be offered lousier service for the same amount of money seemed like an offer I could refuse, and so I spent a month downloading everything I could get my hands on (when I could connect to the site at all) and then quit, never to return. Or so I thought.

Since Emusic started, many other music services have popped up. ITunes has been fantastic, of course, since they have a lot of the major-label stuff I would never find on Emusic. Audiolunchbox lets you download indie music, charging by the download rather than by the month. More recently, I discovered CalabashMusic, which focuses on world music (and fair-trade artist policies)

But every now and then, I'd visit my old stomping grounds and see if anything had changed. It had. Emusic was totally redesigned by its new owners. They put the discussion boards back on the site, and added articles, reviews, and the ability to see what other Emusic members were listening to. They have an exclusive new service in which they upload shows from certain venues within days. It mostly seems like a novelty, but if you're a big enough fan and really liked the concert, now's your chance to grab a souvenir for much less than the price of a t-shirt!

But best of all, they added a lot more music. Dar Williams. The Silent League. Modest Mouse (not that I like them that much, but still...). A Girl Called Eddy. Steve Earle's new album.

It's still 40 downloads for $10, but at least now they offer "booster packs", so you're not unexpectedly stuck with half an album and a month to wait.

Darn it, I'm such a sucker. On the other hand, I'm listening to some really cool music right now thanks to Emusic... what can you do.

A music professor and singer named Pam Bricker killed herself over the weekend. I hadn't realized she was also the vocalist in Thievery Corporation ("Shadows of Ourselves", "Lebanese Blonde", etc.) She had a beautiful voice... what a shame. (Yes, I know everyone else is blogging about Hunter S. Thompson, but I haven't read his books ((shocking, I know)); Bricker's work had left more of an impression on me.)

Napster got served!

Moral and legal issues aside, peer-to-peer demonstrates that what consumers really want to do is download free music by the dumpsterful and do whatever they like with it à ³make it available on college networks, burn mix CDs and pass them out to their friends, and trade it on other networks for music they don à ­t already have. I see very little in the peer-to-peer experience that hints that what consumers desire is to have their listening limited to a computer and single portable music player. And, the last time I looked, the web wasn à ­t smoking with demands for a service that disables that music when you fail to pay a monthly ransom.

Fun concert at Bimbo's last night. First, I ran into a neighbor and her date, who, it turns out, are Long-Time Fans. They gave me a bunch of album recommendations and regaled us with tales of past concerts. When I mentioned that my first Richard Thompson album was The Old Kit Bag,  I was informed that it was O.K., but that others were far better. (Considering it's one of my favorite albums of the last couple years, I guess I'd better start doing my homework!)

Then the concert itself started with "Sumer is Icumen In" and just kept on rolling. 2 1/2 hours, nonstop. All I can say is, when I'm in my 50s or whatever age he is, I can only hope to have half that much energy. He and his bandmates also seemed to be having a lot of fun. Even the soundboard engineer was having a good time. Every time I looked in the corner, there he was, singing along to every song. (I thought it was normally a professional requirement that soundboard engineers sit there looking totally bored, but no, not this one.)

Much has been made of the cover of "Oops! I Did It Again", and it is indeed a good song the way he performs it. I also really enjoyed his version of Prince's "Kiss" (though didn't Tom Jones cover this territory already?). He also threw in Squeeze's "Tempted". But the songs I hadn't heard before were just as enjoyable, like "Blackleg Miner", "So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo", and "Trafalgar Square."

My one complaint is about one of his bandmates, who did much of the singing. She has a great voice, and her version of "Cry Me A River" rocked. But other times, I found her voice a little too... mannered. There was something a bit forced there. Also, she tended to make these very elaborate and distracting gestures with her hands.

Still, overall, a terrific show.

The between-song patter was hysterical too. Best moments:

• Richard Thompson's explanation of honky-tonk, which apparently started in 1958 and ended in 1959. "They ran out of lyrics. There was 'barstool', and 'jukebox'..." "Truck!" someone shouted from the audience. "No, no. That's country!" "Women!" "No. You see, that's country too!"
• "Oh, you've heard of Trafalgar Square, have you? You're a cosmopolitan bunch. Not just content to stay at home in San Francisco, you go places." "Like Oakland!" yelled someone in the audience.
• A discussion of a not-very-good soccer team in Scotland. "People are under the impression that the town's name is 'St. John's-Nill!'"
  
• The intro to a song which was originally a poem by W.B. Yeats. Thompson's British accent caused the first initial to sound suspiciously close to the nickname of a certain president. Much hissing ensued.
• The very large gentleman who went up to the stage and handed Thompson a dozen white roses. He seemed taken aback, but then accepted them graciously, handed two to his bandmates, and tossed a couple more into the audience.
• "They sure could rock back in the 16th century, couldn't they? Of course, all the songs were rather dark. 'It's my pustule and I'll cry if I want to!'"

Incidentally, the whole thing was being filmed in preparation for a concert DVD. So you may see me on camera, giggling and clutching a handful of kleenexes. Hopefully not.