This guy, let me see, his name is Dana Collins, he e-mailed me a CD.<\/p>\n
I’m gonna tell you a secret.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t play CDs.<\/p>\n
No, not never ever.\u00c2\u00a0 But just about.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially if they’re of unsigned acts,
those priorities you’re always inundating me with.<\/p>\n
I’m gonna give you a clue.\u00c2\u00a0 Anybody listening to your music on a CD is
hopelessly out of date.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless your goal is to sign a deal with Warner Music and
have David Foster produce your record, e-mail people tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not only much
more convenient, they’re much harder to ignore.\u00c2\u00a0 I can ignore any CD that
comes in the mail.\u00c2\u00a0 But a file in my inbox, I feel an obligation.\u00c2\u00a0 Assuming, of
course, you don’t abuse the privilege.\u00c2\u00a0 Which I thought this Dana Collins was
doing.\u00c2\u00a0 By e-mailing me tracks after I’d just written about Cinematic.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not
part of your promotion machine.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not a train, I don’t take you from here
to there.\u00c2\u00a0 Please don’t EVER send me ANYTHING unless for a very specific
reason you’ll think I’ll like it.\u00c2\u00a0 The fact that YOU like it and\/or are working
it\/own it is irrelevant to me.\u00c2\u00a0 And because I thought this woman was abusing the
privilege, jumping on me right after I’d done a solid for somebody else, based
purely on liking the music, I played the MP3s she sent, just so I could tell
her that they were terrible, and what kind of pushy person whom I don’t even
know forces bad music upon me for no good reason other than to try and fatten
her wallet.<\/p>\n
Only one problem.\u00c2\u00a0 The music wasn’t bad.\u00c2\u00a0 It was kind of good.\u00c2\u00a0 And then,
there was this one piano interlude that bugged my eyes out, it sounded like it
was straight off of "11\/17\/70".\u00c2\u00a0 With maybe the swinging feel of a Steely Dan
record.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like Ben Folds, but without the humorous excesses, without ANY
of the excesses Mr. Folds employs.<\/p>\n
And, as I was downloading the second track, it occurred to me, I HAD a CD of
this act, Dana had ALREADY SENT IT!\u00c2\u00a0 So I fired off the angry note anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 I
mean isn’t this overkill?\u00c2\u00a0 And I told Dana NOBODY sends CDs anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 And that
he shouldn’t bother to e-mail me the rest of the tracks, I’d now rip them
(yes, that’s all CDs are good for in my book…ripping).\u00c2\u00a0 And on this CD, after
ripping it, I found the best cover of "Hey Joe" since the one on "Are You
Experienced".<\/p>\n
I was shocked.\u00c2\u00a0 The Dead used to cover this tune all the time.\u00c2\u00a0 But the Dead
were untogether stoners, best when the groove coalesced, it wasn’t about
nailing it, but FEELING IT!\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m down with that.\u00c2\u00a0 But when someone nails it and
I DO feel it, it’s transcendent.\u00c2\u00a0 I was just reading the newspaper thinking
that my life was all wrong, that I should be in high school again, when my life
wasn’t about writing about life, but living it.\u00c2\u00a0 When I didn’t listen to
music to evaluate it but when I bought records like they were food, and devoured
each and every one, in my bedroom, in my secret world.\u00c2\u00a0 And then I turn off the
XM, saunter over to my computer, rip the CD and hear this.\u00c2\u00a0 On the hottest
night of the year let’s put the top down and drive out to the cemetery, or some
field in the middle of nowhere, and lie down and just stare at the sky, saying
nothing.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S what this feels like.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s LIVE!<\/p>\n
I’d like to tell you this "Live At The World Cafe" EP by the Gabe Dixon Band
is the new Coldplay, better yet, the new Beatles.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not.\u00c2\u00a0 But I can’t
quite stop playing it.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe because everybody else isn’t playing it, and it’s
intimate, it’s absent the sheen, the shine.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d like you to hear it.<\/p>\n
But you can’t.<\/p>\n
It’s not like Gabe Dixon is doing well.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s out on the road playing
keyboards with Loggins & Messina.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s almost as if his solo career is a sideshow.\u00c2\u00a0
Oh, but he’s a big swinging dick, you can buy the EP at the iTunes Music
Store.\u00c2\u00a0 But why WOULD YOU??\u00c2\u00a0 Please don’t do so at my insistence.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe "Hey Joe", but the rest are not that good, you’ll feel ripped off.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you could
listen to them, be exposed to them, bask in them as opposed to worrying about a
financial transaction, you might get hooked.<\/p>\n
But you can’t hear the music on Gabe’s Website.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s going for the big money
at iTunes.\u00c2\u00a0 What a laugh.\u00c2\u00a0 This ENTIRE EP should be freely downloadable on
his Website.\u00c2\u00a0 On the very first page.\u00c2\u00a0 But no, he can’t undercut his economic
future.\u00c2\u00a0 Huh?<\/p>\n
Oh, Gabe’s got a few MP3s on his site.\u00c2\u00a0 Just none of these.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually,
there’s a demo of the song with the great piano part.\u00c2\u00a0 But the piano part misses.\u00c2\u00a0
He’s so busy getting it right, that it’s got no soul.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas live, it kills.\u00c2\u00a0
But you can’t hear it.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless you want to buy it.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you feel like buying
it?<\/p>\n