{"id":741,"date":"2007-03-27T15:58:24","date_gmt":"2007-03-27T23:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2007\/03\/27\/this-afternoon\/"},"modified":"2007-03-27T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-28T00:00:00","slug":"this-afternoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/27\/this-afternoon\/","title":{"rendered":"This Afternoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feelin’ Alright<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, I’m not.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got this sinus infection that won’t quit.\u00c2\u00a0 But you can’t stay home forever, so I met Jane for lunch at the Century City Shopping Center.<\/p>\n

Houston’s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Funny how this restaurant sustains, when so many fall by the wayside.<\/p>\n

Jane told me about MySpace.\u00c2\u00a0 You see she’s jumped from the record company world to the Internet.\u00c2\u00a0 If only labels had done so years ago, instead of fighting new technology.<\/p>\n

I don’t have a MySpace page.\u00c2\u00a0 Life is too short to cavort with fake friends.\u00c2\u00a0 But I do have an account, so I can delve into the pages of acts sent to me.\u00c2\u00a0 Music is the backbone of MySpace, it’s what makes it special.\u00c2\u00a0 The Snocap deal?\u00c2\u00a0 Irrelevant.\u00c2\u00a0 Bands are better off giving away the music, and sale by track is economic death and not the future.\u00c2\u00a0 But to have your music hosted for free…\u00c2\u00a0 And at this point, every act that ever existed seems to have a MySpace page, where you can go and listen to their music.\u00c2\u00a0 This is good.<\/p>\n

As for the site itself, why does it have to be so clunky in an era of broadband smoothness?<\/p>\n

The numbers keep growing, but who are the people JUST signing up?\u00c2\u00a0 Did it take them that long to get the memo?<\/p>\n

Jane says social networking is just the backbone, that the future is content.\u00c2\u00a0 And as she told me, excitedly, the way no one who works at a label now does, about placing content on the Canadian homepage, even I got excited.\u00c2\u00a0 For there’s a pulse, and an opportunity.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’ve got this program where they give bucks to charities, is it every week, or every month?\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, some kids organized some skate to save something and they got 10k.\u00c2\u00a0 That’ll keep your site sticky.<\/p>\n

I heard a big muckety-muck tell me all about MySpace, and it was more boring than high school math.\u00c2\u00a0 There was a zeal in Jane’s eye when she told the story that made one think that sure, MySpace has problems, but they’re trying to survive, despite the Murdoch connection, they’re trying to ride the Net bucking bronco.<\/p>\n

Geox<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we passed this shop I asked Jane, "Does Geox make ANY fashionable shoes?"<\/p>\n

She said no.<\/p>\n

But I’m intrigued.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, aren’t you?<\/p>\n

How does the air come out without water getting in?\u00c2\u00a0 I’m a fan of Nike Air, walking on a cushion, that appeals to me.<\/p>\n

I studied the shoes in the window after Jane took off.\u00c2\u00a0 But I didn’t go inside.\u00c2\u00a0 I didn’t want to be sold.\u00c2\u00a0 Funny how salespeople won’t leave you alone, but if you need one, you can’t find one.<\/p>\n

Palm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, there’s a Palm STORE in the Century City mall.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s reminiscent of nothing so much as that old Scotch Tape store skit on SNL back in the day.\u00c2\u00a0 Is there really a need?\u00c2\u00a0 How many products ARE there?\u00c2\u00a0 Customers aren’t being satiated at the phone company stores?<\/p>\n

Apple<\/strong><\/p>\n

Has replaced the record store.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, there’s a buzz inside Apple’s retail establishments, a low level hum, like there used to be in the old indie record shops.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re never going to get this in Best Buy or Wal-Mart.\u00c2\u00a0 Didn’t the labels realize this?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not always about getting your product in more places, it’s important what those places ARE!<\/p>\n

There wasn’t a single soul messing with Apple TV, the just shipped product that every tech writer known to man reviewed last week.\u00c2\u00a0 I fucked with it.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s very cool.\u00c2\u00a0 Operation is completely intuitive, and when you see the album covers from your iTunes library or the iTunes Store large on screen, it’ll take you aback.<\/p>\n

Is Apple TV a failed product, like the Cube, or another AirPort Express?<\/p>\n

Yes, the AirPort Express is a wonderful item, allowing you to throw your tunes to your stereo, but most people don’t know it exists.\u00c2\u00a0 Seems like Apple TV is the same for now.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, maybe Apple TV is the iPod, only purchased by early adopters at first, and eventually a mainstream product that everybody wants.\u00c2\u00a0 If only the movie studios would loosen up and allow their products to be distributed legitimately online.<\/p>\n

We used to pooh-pooh home theater.\u00c2\u00a0 But now there’s home theater in a box for a few hundred dollars and hi-def sets for under a grand.\u00c2\u00a0 The future eventually comes.\u00c2\u00a0 Will Apple rule it?\u00c2\u00a0 They’re trying, but as of now, the hoi polloi just haven’t gotten the message.<\/p>\n

But they have gotten the message about Macs.\u00c2\u00a0 The darndest people are now buying Macs.\u00c2\u00a0 Credit the Intel chip inside.\u00c2\u00a0 Why not purchase a machine that can run both Windows and OS X?\u00c2\u00a0 Especially if you’re hooked on the iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 And people buy these Intel-based Macs and…suddenly they don’t find themselves using Windows anymore.<\/p>\n

Still, except for Apple TV, I didn’t see or learn about anything new in the store.\u00c2\u00a0 Funny how shopping can be done more easily online, and they ship right to your door.\u00c2\u00a0 Credit Westfield for reconfiguring the Century City mall, but I almost never visit, and after today I’m not eager to go and hang out.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no need.<\/p>\n

Clothing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is the goal in life to STOP wearing a suit?<\/p>\n

While waiting for our table at Houston’s, I was alongside a twentysomething in a suit, who met another twentysomething in a suit.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas everybody over the age of forty five was dressed down, casual.\u00c2\u00a0 Has the game lost its luster?\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the techie\/genius at Apple was wearing shorts.\u00c2\u00a0 And, if he went indie, he could probably make as much as his dressed up contemporary, there’s a need for tech-knowledgeable people, not only fixing people’s home networks, but creating sites like MySpace.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it seems you sell out temporarily until you can find a way to jettison your corporate gig, the bullshit, and be the real you, dressing like the real you.<\/p>\n

Kow Kow (Calqulator?)<\/strong><\/p>\n

On "Brave New World", it’s just "Kow Kow", on the boxed set, it’s "Kow Kow Calqulator"<\/p>\n

I did a podcast on "Brave New World".<\/p>\n

Maybe if it had a better cover, the album would be seen as a classic.\u00c2\u00a0 But now, people seem to think the classic Steve Miller era is the one containing "Fly Like An Eagle", "Jet Airliner" and "Rockin’ Me".\u00c2\u00a0 I love those ditties, that burned up the chart.\u00c2\u00a0 But the truly classic Steve Miller period is the first!<\/p>\n

He cut more songs than "Living In The U.S.A." and "The Joker".\u00c2\u00a0 Be sure to get "Sailor", with "Quicksilver Girl".\u00c2\u00a0 But my favorite is the third album, "Brave New World".<\/p>\n

You drop the needle, you hear the explosion and then…<\/p>\n

We’re traveling fast from a dream of the past to the brave new world<\/em><\/p>\n

And that it was.\u00c2\u00a0 Steve’s mellifluous voice with a jaunty groove.\u00c2\u00a0 This was FANTASTIC!\u00c2\u00a0 How did I discover it?\u00c2\u00a0 From Paul Volberding, the music fan in the basement of the fraternity house on the University of Chicago campus.<\/p>\n

And I love the second song, "Celebration Day", which follows the initial cut and sounds like something off of a homemade McCartney album, but it’s not my favorite song on the album.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s "Kow Kow".<\/p>\n

There’s a blues lick that hooks you, and then, like a pebble dropping in a placid lake, there’s a keyboard and a bass and you’re enraptured.<\/p>\n

What comes thereafter sounds like a picnic by this same lake.\u00c2\u00a0 Absent the bullshit of real life, the hype, the oppressive Top Forty radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Steve Miller was as important a part of the San Francisco scene as the Airplane and the Dead, listening to this you get it.\u00c2\u00a0 And when the song accelerates and gets heavy, after the dreamy "Turn on your love light break", you just want to ride away with the record.<\/p>\n

Of course "Brave New World" contains "Space Cowboy", one of the great stoner tracks of all time, but it’s not the best track on side two.\u00c2\u00a0 I prefer "My Dark Hour", with the uncredited McCartney vocal.\u00c2\u00a0 But the track that IS better than the classic is the opener, "Seasons"…<\/p>\n

This is the record that sold me on XM.\u00c2\u00a0 I heard it the very first day I had a radio in my car, on Deep Tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 What kind of service plays "Seasons"?\u00c2\u00a0 One that I have to subscribe to!<\/p>\n

I postulate that many Steve Miller fans have never heard "Seasons".\u00c2\u00a0 And, if they had, if the music community was exposed to it, he’d garner newfound respect.<\/p>\n

Stunningly, "Brave New World" sounds as fresh today as it did back in ’69, when it came out.\u00c2\u00a0 And few records do.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s just as fulfilling a listen.<\/p>\n

\n

To hear more, go to Rhinocast -The Lefsetz Letter: Steve Miller Band<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and listen\/download the podcast.\u00c2\u00a0 Or go to the iTunes Music Store and search on either "Rhino" or "Lefsetz" and subscribe.
\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Cryin’ To Be Heard<\/strong><\/p>\n

After I exited the parking structure, when the satellite could see the sky once again, I heard this on the Loft.<\/p>\n

Oh, thereafter I heard a mediocre Arcade Fire track and a very good Death Cab cut on Ethel, but this Traffic song truly resonated.<\/p>\n

Steve Winwood gets all the credit, but Dave Mason was in Traffic for a while too.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s his presence that makes their second album the band’s best.<\/p>\n

Forever "Cryin’ To Be Heard" was my favorite cut off the album.\u00c2\u00a0 It replaced my first favorite, the opener, "You Can All Join In".\u00c2\u00a0 But now, somehow, I like "Forty Thousand Headmen" best.\u00c2\u00a0 Remembering Steve play it during the "John Barleycorn" tour at the Fillmore, when he hesitated, just before singing the line about having to stop and reload, gives me shivers.<\/p>\n

You won’t hear any of these three cuts on terrestrial radio.\u00c2\u00a0 And you won’t find any deep cuts like this on the FM band either.\u00c2\u00a0 And therefore, the big labels don’t sell stuff like this anymore, a shame.<\/p>\n

Baby’s Callin’ Me Home<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, this was on one of those early Steve Miller albums too.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s where I eventually found myself.\u00c2\u00a0 Thinking I wanted to write about the podcast, but thinking how being out had stimulated me.<\/p>\n

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Feelin’ Alright Actually, I’m not.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got this sinus infection that won’t quit.\u00c2\u00a0 But you can’t stay home forever, so I met Jane for lunch at the Century City Shopping Center. Houston’s Funny how this restaurant sustains, when so many fall by the wayside. Jane told me about MySpace.\u00c2\u00a0 You see she’s jumped from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-bX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}