Reader Blog: Just Musing About...

Bruce, This One's For You!

2007-12-03T20:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been really busy with work and life and I haven't been blogging in a while. (Sorry)

My buddy Bruce was asking what was up, so I figured I should set a little time aside tonight and write. I told him that since the mainstream media (MTM) has noticed the improvements in Iraq, I haven't had to do much writing about it. But I told him that with the 2008 Presidential election heating up, I'll probably have plenty to write about!

And boy was I right!

It seems that Hillary Clinton has fallen behind in the polls in Iowa and now trails Barak Obama. And she's freaking out! Today she issued a press release attacking Obama and at first I thought it was a satire piece from the Onion:

Sen. Obama Rewrites History, Claims He Hasn't Been Planning White House Run

Today in Iowa, Senator Barack Obama said: "I have not been planning to run for President for however number of years some of the other candidates have been planning for."

Oh really?

"Senator Obama's comment today is fundamentally at odds with what his teachers, family, classmates and staff have said about his plans to run for President," Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer said. "Senator Obama's campaign rhetoric is getting in the way of his reality."

Immediately after joining the Senate, Senator Obama started planning run for President. "'The first order of business for Senator Obama's team was charting a course for his first two years in the Senate. The game plan was to send Senator Obama into the 2007-2008 election cycle in the strongest form possible'...The final act of the plan was turning up the talk about a potential Presidential bid, which was greatly aided by his positive press and suggestions by pundits that he run for President." [U.S. News and World Report, 6/19/07 ]

His law school classmates say that Senator Obama has been planning Presidential run for 'more than a decade.' [A]ccording to those who know him, he has been talking about the presidency for more than a decade. "It was clear to me from the day I met him that he was thinking about politics," says Harvard Law School classmate Christine Spurell. [Washington Post, 8/12/07 ]

15 years ago, Senator Obama told his brother-in-law he was planning to run for President. Craig [Robinson] pulled him aside [in 1992] and asked about his plans. "He said, 'I think I'd like to teach at some point in time, and maybe run for public office,' recalls Robinson, who assumed Senator Obama meant he'd like to run for city alderman. "He said no -- at some point he'd like to run for the U.S. Senate. And then he said, 'Possibly even run for President at some point.' And I was like, 'Okay, but don't say that to my Aunt Gracie.' I was protecting him from saying something that might embarrass him." [Washington Post, 8/12/07 ]

In third grade, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President.' His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she said." [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]

In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.' "Iis Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said." [AP, 1/25/07 ]

You have got to be kidding me...

First, Hillary Clinton issuing a press release ridiculing another candidate for "planning for years to run for President" is frankly hyper-ironic. Pot, meet kettle.

But the real jaw dropper here is that Hillary dug up Obama's essays from 3rd grade and Kindergarten! LOL

So if you have a 6 or 7 year old son or daughter with political ambitions, you better teach them to be careful with their writings... it may come back to haunt them!

Is she really saying that no one but Hillary is allowed to have dreams of being President of the United States?

This reminds me of the Dean Scream... I wonder if she'll make out better than he did.

Mark Steyn: World Should Give Thanks for America

2007-11-18T07:46:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Mostly because it's a time for the family and it's not overly commercialized. When Thanksgiving is approaching, you don't have to worry about budgeting funds for gifts or credit card bills the following month. All you have to worry about is exercising and/or dieting to work off your over-consumption.

One of my favorite columnists, Mark Steyn, has written a column about Thanksgiving. As a Brit living in America, he always provides a unique perspective to things. It's a very good column and an interesting perspective comparing the longevity of the US Constitution and the European constitutions. When you hear someone pining for America to be more like Europe, keep this in mind:

Thanksgiving (excepting the premature and somewhat undernourished Canadian version) is unique to America. "What's it about?" an Irish visitor asked me a couple of years back. "Everyone sits around giving thanks all day? Thanks for what? George bloody Bush?"

Well, Americans have a lot to be thankful for.

Europeans think of this country as "the New World" in part because it has an eternal newness, which is noisy and distracting. Who would ever have thought you could have ready-to-eat pizza faxed directly to your iPod?

And just when you think you're on top of the general trend of novelty, it veers off in an entirely different direction: Continentals who grew up on Hollywood movies where the guy tells the waitress "Gimme a cuppa joe" and slides over a nickel return to New York a year or two later and find the coffee now costs $5.75, takes 25 minutes and requires an agonizing choice between the cinnamon-gingerbread-persimmon latte with coxcomb sprinkles and the decaf venti pepperoni-Eurasian-milfoil macchiato.

Who would have foreseen that the nation that inflicted fast food and drive-thru restaurants on the planet would then take the fastest menu item of all and turn it into a Kabuki-paced performance art? What mad genius!

But Americans aren't novelty junkies on the important things. The New World is one of the oldest settled constitutional democracies on Earth, to a degree the Old World can barely comprehend. Where it counts, Americans are traditionalists.

We know Eastern Europe was a totalitarian prison until the Nineties, but we forget that Mediterranean Europe (Greece, Spain, Portugal) has democratic roots going all the way back until, oh, the mid-Seventies; France and Germany's constitutions date back barely half a century, Italy's only to the 1940s, and Belgium's goes back about 20 minutes, and currently it's not clear whether even that latest rewrite remains operative. The U.S. Constitution is not only older than France's, Germany's, Italy's or Spain's constitution, it's older than all of them put together.

Read the whole thing!

Is The Surge Working???

2007-11-17T08:33:00.000-05:00

There was a comment on an earlier post of mine that I found interesting:

gypsy hammond said...
The surge is working? That must explain why 2007 has seen the highest level of troop deaths since the war began. But then, defining success downwards has been a hallmark of this war and this administration.

While this reflects the usual "it's all Bush's fault" thought process, what caught my eye was the statement about 2007 being the highest level of troop deaths. So I went to icasualties.org to see if it's true.

And it is.

But Gypsy's comment is a little disingenuous. The commenter states that the Surge isn't working because 2007 has the highest troop deaths so far.

So the critical point is: When did the Surge begin?

President Bush announced the Surge in January 2007, saying that 35,000 additional troops will be sent to Iraq. The troops were deployed between Febuary and May 2007. In June 2007, the Surge's offensive operations began (once all of the troops were fully deployed).

Using Excel and the figures from icasualties.org, I built a chart to better reflect what is happening from January 2006 through November 2007 (click on the image for a larger view):

So clearly, once offensive operations began in June 2007, US military deaths have begun to significantly decline. Coupled with the Anbar Awakening, it really looks like Iraq has turned around for the better.

The media hardly reports on Iraq anymore BECAUSE deaths are down, there are few if any car bombs, etc. etc. It reminds me of the old saying about the news media: "We don't report when a plane lands successfully, only when they crash". That's what is happening with Iraq RIGHT NOW! Even to the point that Afghanistan (which they've ignored for a while) is now being painted as a failure because Iraq is not.

What is really distressing though, is the complete and utter disconnect with reality I am observing from the Democratic Leadership (Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi in particular). They continue to say that the Iraq War is lost. And worse, they are continuing to try and cut off support for the troops to ensure that the war is lost.

Whose side are they on? We can all argue about how the war began, but the reality is that it happened and we need to deal with the current situation. And the current situation shows that the Iraq War can be (and possibly is) won. To continue to try and pull the rug out from under the troops when they are succeeding is one of the most politically suicidal moves I have ever witnessed. The American people may not agree with how the war started or if the war was worthwhile, but few Americans want our troops to lose - and that's something that Reid and Pelosi obviously don't understand.

The Last of the Last

2007-11-13T13:35:00.000-05:00

Here's a really nice (although sad) article in the New York Times about the last surviving American soldier from World War I:

Over There — and Gone Forever

Four years ago, I attended a Veterans Day observance in Orleans, Mass. Near the head of the parade, a 106-year-old named J. Laurence Moffitt rode in a Japanese sedan, waving to the small crowd of onlookers and sporting the same helmet he had been wearing in the Argonne Forest at the moment the armistice took effect, 85 years earlier.

I didn’t know it then, but that was, in all likelihood, the last small-town American Veterans Day parade to feature a World War I veteran. The years since have seen the passing of one last after another — the last combat-wounded veteran, the last Marine, the last African-American, the last Yeomanette — until, now, we are down to the last of the last.

Unfortunate Headline

2007-11-13T09:24:00.000-05:00

I love finding newpaper headlines that are either poorly worded or can be read differently. Here's one I found in the Washington Post today:

Panel May Cut Sentences For Crack

Drug dealers rejoice! They say that crack is very addictive, but this is ridiculous... maybe they shouldn't be responsible for sentencing.

Close Call

2007-11-13T09:10:00.001-05:00

Here's a video of some firemen in Boston making a hasty retreat from a rooftop...

The New Da Vinci Code

2007-11-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

Interesting news article:

An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting...

Pala explains how he took elements of the painting that have symbolic value in Christian theology and interpreted them as musical clues.

Pala first saw that by drawing the five lines of a musical staff across the painting, the loaves of bread on the table as well as the hands of Jesus and the Apostles could each represent a musical note.

This fit the relation in Christian symbolism between the bread, representing the body of Christ, and the hands, which are used to bless the food, he said. But the notes made no sense musically until Pala realized that the score had to be read from right to left, following Leonardo's particular writing style.

Hat Tip: InstaPundit

The Iraq Embarassment: The Times of London

2007-11-04T08:19:00.000-05:00

It's been interesting watching the news as Iraq has been improving... it's been getting more and more difficult to find any reports, other than independent reports from Michael Yon and other freelance reporters in Iraq.

It looks like the Times of London has noticed the same thing:

The Petraeus Curve

Is no news good news or bad news? In Iraq, it seems good news is deemed no news. There has been striking success in the past few months in the attempt to improve security, defeat al-Qaeda sympathisers and create the political conditions in which a settlement between the Shia and the Sunni communities can be reached. This has not been an accident but the consequence of a strategy overseen by General David Petraeus in the past several months. While summarised by the single word “surge” his efforts have not just been about putting more troops on the ground but also employing them in a more sophisticated manner. This drive has effectively broken whatever alliances might have been struck in the past by terrorist factions and aggrieved Sunnis. Cities such as Fallujah, once notorious centres of slaughter, have been transformed in a remarkable time.

Indeed, on every relevant measure, the shape of the Petraeus curve is profoundly encouraging. It is not only the number of coalition deaths and injuries that has fallen sharply (October was the best month for 18 months and the second-best in almost four years), but the number of fatalities among Iraqi civilians has also tumbled similarly. This process started outside Baghdad but now even the capital itself has a sense of being much less violent and more viable...

The current achievements, and they are achievements, are being treated as almost an embarrassment in certain quarters. The entire context of the contest for the Democratic nomination for president has been based on the conclusion that Iraq is an absolute disaster and the first task of the next president is to extricate the United States at maximum speed. Democrats who voted for the war have either repudiated their past support completely (John Edwards) or engaged in a convoluted partial retraction (Hillary Clinton). Congressional Democrats have spent most of this year trying (and failing) to impose a timetable for an outright exit.

Me? I think the big news in Iraq is that Iraq was turned around because of two men: General Petraeus and Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld. It is now obvious that Rumsfeld's strategy of a "light footprint" (meaning few troops on the ground) allowed Al Qaeda to thrive and move throughout Iraq unimpeded causing spiralling violence and civilian casualties. Once Rumsfeld resigned, it gave Bush the ability to change strategies and in the end appointing General Petraeus. His "surge" strategy provided the additional troops to stop Al Qaeda and help turn native Iraqi insurgents to our side. If President Bush had gotten ridden of Rumsfeld sooner, the story of the Iraq War could have been very different.

Nanny State

2007-11-04T08:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry about not posting last week. I've been swamped at work and home!

But anyway...

I found this interesting NBC News report (via InstaPundit) that talks about the Nanny State movement and how it can create kids that are unprepared for the real world. I've written about this before (HERE).

In particular, this phenomenon has struck South Jersey recently, as a 7 yr. old kid was suspended for creating a stick figure drawing of him and his friend playing with water pistols...

Check this out. I think I'll pick up the guy's book!

Children 0, Senator Spector 166

2007-10-24T10:51:00.000-04:00

Interesting stuff happening on Capitol Hill. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposed an amendment to a major health spending bill that said no lawmakers' pet projects (i.e., earmarks) would be funded until "all children in the U.S. under the age of 18 years are insured by a private or public health insurance plan."

Sen. Coburn has been fighting both political parties on earmarks/pork projects, his amendment was an interesting political test to all 100 US Senators: Do you support pork or children?

Not surprisingly, they chose the pork by rejecting the amendment (68 voted for pork, while 26 voted for children).

What I did find surprising is that Sen. Arlen Spector (R-PA) had 166 earmarks in the bill... 166... one hundred, sixty-six earmarks... OMG...

I'll try to get a complete list of the 166 earmarks (as well as the Casey (D-PA), Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Menendez (D-NJ) earmarks) and I'll post them here.

Interesting Global Warming Report from ABC

2007-10-22T20:38:00.001-04:00

Michael Yon in Iraq: Resistance Is Futile

2007-10-22T09:45:00.000-04:00

Another dispatch from Michael Yon in Iraq: Resistance is Futile:

No thinking person would look at last year’s weather reports to judge whether it will rain today, yet we do something similar with Iraq news. The situation in Iraq has drastically changed, but the inertia of bad news leaves many convinced that the mission has failed beyond recovery, that all Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence, or are waiting for us to leave so they can crush their neighbors. This view allows our soldiers two possible roles: either “victim caught in the crossfire” or “referee between warring parties.” Neither, rightly, is tolerable to the American or British public.

Today I am in Iraq, back in a war of such strategic consequence that it will affect generations yet unborn—whether or not they want it to. Hiding under the covers will not work, because whether it is good news or bad, whether it is true or untrue, once information is widely circulated, it has such formidable inertia that public opinion seems impervious to the corrective balm of simple and clear facts.

READ THE WHOLE THING!

I Was Tied Up At The Time

2007-10-22T04:58:00.001-04:00

I'm not a big John McCain fan, but this is a GREAT debate line that only he could have delivered:

Hacker Break Into 911, Sends SWAT Team On Fake Call

2007-10-17T19:54:00.000-04:00

I don't know whether to laugh or cry: Man accused of hacking into 911

SWAT officers expected to find a victim shot to death, drugs and a belligerent armed suspect when they surrounded the home of an unsuspecting couple, but found they were only a part of a false emergency call caused by a teenager who hacked into the county’s emergency response system, authorities said.

As officers swarmed the home with assault rifles, dogs and a helicopter, a Lake Forest couple and their two toddlers inside their home slept unsuspectingly.

On March 29 at 11:30 p.m., authorities allege, Randall Ellis, a 19-year-old from Mukilteo, Wash., hacked into the county’s 911 system from his home and placed a false emergency call, prompting a fully armed response to the home of an unsuspecting couple that could have ended tragically.

On the surface it's kind of comical until you spend a second and think about it. This idiot could have gotten the homeowners shot, the toddlers without a parent(s), and a SWAT team member with unbearable guilt for the rest of his life.

They should put this idiot away for 20 years.

Michael Yon Reports From Iraq

2007-10-16T19:11:00.000-04:00

I just received this email from Michael Yon via Basra, Iraq:

Greetings:

Iraq is on the mend, al Qaeda is on the run, and the civil war has abated to a point where the term "civil war" no longer applies.

Accurate war coverage is increasingly important. Even prominent seemingly well-informed persons can get it wrong, such as retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez who previously commanded the war in Iraq. His recent public statements – selectively excerpted and then widely dispersed by the hot winds of media – made it clear that this former senior commander is far out of touch with the current situation.

But there are commanders with a finger on the pulse.

When earlier this year I wrote about the 1-4 CAV transforming an abandoned seminary in a Baghdad neighborhood that had been decimated by civil war, the "surge" had not even begun; but already pundits, politicians and editors had declared it a failure. Though I'd spent only a few days with LTC Crider and his 1-4 CAV soldiers at the new COP Amanche, I ended the dispatch on a note of hope based on observation. I recently received an email from LTC Crider with an update on that Baghdad neighborhood. Please read "Achievements of the Human Heart" and see for yourself.

I was in al Basra province when I saw news reports claiming that Basra city had descended into chaos in the wake of an announcement about the draw down of British Soldiers. I emailed the facts about Basra to several bloggers who hold the media accountable, and the resulting effort got the attention of Tom Foreman who anchors CNN's "This Week at War." We were able to make a CNN interview, and the result is a segment that accurately reflects a complex and changing situation. Bravo to CNN for setting the record straight, and to the tireless bloggers who are making a substantial difference in the way news about the war is delivered.

There are major developments to share with readers in upcoming dispatches. If things go at-least-mostly according to plan (which is all we can hope for in war), and if I can rely on the help of readers who share my frustration with the lack of accurate reporting, we can significantly widen the stream of news flowing from Iraq so more people can obtain a truer picture. This will require the will and generosity of readers. But more on that, soon.

Michael
Basra, Iraq

Michael does an incredible job as an embedded reporter in Iraq. If you want a good, detailed report of what's going on in the war (good and bad), please visit Michael's web site. Also, please send him a donation. He is completely funded by the viewers of his web site!

Monday Morning Music Review: McCartney and Illinois

2007-10-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full

Paul McCartney released his latest studio album on June 5th and it's pretty good. It's not as good as his 2005 release, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (which I think is incredible... more about that another time) but it's definitely worth listening to.

In general, the songs find McCartney mostly reflecting on his life (hence the double-meaning album title) and they even sound like different periods throughout his career. Some sound like the Beatles, Wings, solo and even John Lennon / George Harrison numbers.

The album starts off with Dance Tonight. You may have seen this on the iTunes + iPod commercials. The song features a strummed mandolin along with acoustic guitars, bass, and bass drum. Occasionally other instruments pop-up. It reminds me of Any Road from George Harrison's Brainwashed album. The lyrics are simple ("Everybody's gonna dance tonight, everybody's gonna feel alright, everybody's gonna dance around tonight"). On first listen I thought I would grow tired of it, but the melody does get in your head and you will find yourself singing it.

Next is Ever Present Past, which is an upbeat rocking song with a very modern sounding production. It's pretty good but to me does not seem to have a chorus. The "The things I think I did" part sounds like a bridge. Just a minor nit.

See Your Sunshine follows and really sounds like some unreleased Wings track. Even the backing vocals sound like Linda McCartney and Denny Laine. A cool part of the song is the "Look what you do to me baby" line. I hear a kind of Elvis type of performance the way he sings it. The song is OK, but Paul's bass playing is killer in this - really cool chops on display. If your really into Wings, you would probably love it.

The next song, Only Momma Knows, harkens back to Wings also, but the rockin' Wings a la Helen Wheels or Uncle Junior's Farm. This songs throws you off a bit because it starts with classical music. Sorrowful sounding violins play for a bit before everything kicks in. It took me a few listens to really appreciate it and now I love it.

You Tell Me sounds like a track from Chaos. I really love when McCartney does moody and somewhat dark music. Here is someone most famous for being happy and writing love songs, but if you look back some of his best work is dark and moody (Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday, Let It Be, Hey Jude, For No One, etc.). This falls into that category too. The lyrics could be better though. But I really like the melody.

Mr. Bellamy is quintessential McCartney: a song about some eccentric English character... think Eleanor Rigby, Uncle Albert, etc. At first listen it really caught me offguard and I wasn't sure if I liked it, but on repeated listenings it is probably the one song I look forward to on the album. It's a classic pop song that is structured like a classical operatta. You can imagine it being acted out on stage. I LOVE THIS TRACK.

Gratitude is probably the weakest song on the album. It sounds like a solo John Lennon song (think "God"), but while "God" had some pretty deep lyrical meaning, this song doesn't. Also the performance and production seems weak.

After Gratitude begins what's been pitched as a 5 song medley (sort of like side 2 of Abbey Road). I say "pitched" because to me, only 3 of the songs are actually linked. Anyway, the medley starts with Vintage Clothes/That Was Me/Feet In The Clouds.

Vintage Clothes is a very 1966/67 Beatlesque song. It's pretty catchy and while the lyrics are somewhat quizzical, you understand what he is saying (basically everything is cyclical and while fashions/styles change, who you are on the inside is what matters). There is a whistling motif/hook in the song which is very catchy and probably should have been repeated a couple of more times, but all in all it's quite enjoyable.

That Was Me is a groovy jam that has McCartney flipping through an old photo album and reminiscing about periods in his life (childhood, teenage years, early Beatles). It's a good jam and catchy.

Feet In The Clouds is McCartney doing Brian Wilson (Beach Boys). It's a pretty good song. There is a middle section of vocal harmonies that, in my opinion, is almost blasphemous. I say this because the harmonies are done with a Vocoder or AutoTune (i.e., very mechanical sounding). As an effect it's fine (you hear it in many pop songs today), but it's FREAKING Paul McCartney doing a Brian Wilson-type song!!! In other words two of the best at creating and singing multi-part vocal harmonies and here they are done with a device. That said, I still like the song itself, but it would have been better with natural harmonies.

Next up is House of Wax, which is a very dark, somewhat long song. It has Pink Floydish aspects to it. In fact there are two guitar solos that are just dying to be performed by David Gilmour. The solos aren't bad, but they don't have the emotional/bluesy tone that only Gilmour can seem to pull off. It took me a few listens to really appreciate the song and it's still growing on me. The lyrics are very poetic and probably some of the strongest stuff McCartney has written.

The End of the End is... well... McCartney's own funeral instructions. That's the easiest way to put it. It can be a little uncomfortable listening to a man sing about the day he dies, but the melody is enjoyable. It's in the McCartney piano-style of Let It Be and Hey Jude, although this song doesn't have the chorus pay off of the other two.

Nod Your Head closes the album. This song is growing on me, but there's not much on the bones here. It's one of those McCartney songs that are basically jams (think "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" or "Wild Honey Pie"). There are aspects of it that remind me of AC/DC believe it or not.

So there you have it. It's definitely a continuation of a string of very strong albums (Flaming Pie, Driving Rain, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Memory Almost Full) that have marked McCartney's later life resurgence. It's good. Get it. Case closed. Available at Amazon and iTunes.

Illinois - What The Hell Do I Know?

Illinois is a Bucks County, PA band - what? but their name is... Yo! furgetaboutit! They are a pretty cool sounding folk / electronica indie outfit that released their debut EP called What The Hell Do I Know? and it's pretty good. I found these guys via WXPN in Philadelphia. I first heard the song Screendoor, which I absolutely love! I went and found them and their EP on iTunes. The EP is only $3.99, so take a chance and spend $4 on their music instead of a pack of cigarettes or a Starbucks Latte - what do you have to lose? Overall the EP has flashes of Beck and 70ish pop rock music, and it's a definitely good listen. Available at Amazon and iTunes. Here's a video of them performing Screendoor:

Speak Softly And Carry A 12-Gauge

2007-10-13T19:03:00.000-04:00

From the video:

Nathaniel Brooks stole a line from an old Western movie to capture a pair of burglars. A Fort Bend County, TX homeowner fought back when he found burglars in his home. “You know there's something about when you hear a pump shotgun click,” said Nathaniel Brooks. “It makes everybody think twice.” And the two burglars did think twice...

When Music and Technology Collide - Part 2 of 5

2007-10-13T07:58:00.000-04:00

Part Two: Building A Home Studio On With NO MONEY DOWN!

During the summer of 2006 we had our basement finished. Whenever you get your basement finished, it forces you to do something you’ve probably been putting off… cleaning it out! While cleaning out the basement, I came across my Strat. Just for fun, I got it out along with an amplifier, dusted them off and cleaned them up, and started playing again.

The muse struck me hard. All of a sudden, I really got excited about music again. I really enjoyed it after not even thinking about playing and writing for so long. I started writing songs again and quickly had 4 new songs. With the new songs, I knew I wanted to record them, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it.

Back then, I spent about $5,000 in equipment to outfit a 4 track recording studio in my basement. I was curious about what might have changed in the last 10 years in recording technology and how much it would cost me to create a new studio. I was pleasantly and thoroughly amazed...

First, a quick inventory of what I started with. Although I did sell most of my studio equipment years ago, there were several instruments that I held onto:

Morris MD-502 Acoustic Guitar
Fender Stratocaster
Fender UltraChorus Amplifier
Shure SM58 Microphone

I also have a Dell Dimension E520 with the following specs:

2.13GHz Core-Duo Processor
2GB RAM
250GB SATA Hard Drive

As I did some research, I found that digital multitrack recording technology is widely and somewhat cheaply available. You can either purchase a stand-alone system, like the Tascam DP-01FX/CD, or a computer-based system that uses an audio interface with a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software package.

I was really intrigued by the stand-alone systems at first because many included equipment pieces that I would need: drum machine and effects. But in the end, I decided to go the computer DAW route because (1) I had a powerful computer already and (2) in the long run it would give me more flexibility via software upgrades and additional software packages.

So I started looking for an audio interface. For a fraction of what I paid for equipment 10 years ago, I was able to purchase a nice audio interface for my computer. The interface was an E-MU 0404 USB that cost me about $185. It is an external USB based device that includes (2) 1/4" unbalanced inputs (for guitars); XLR inputes with phantom power (for microphones); and MIDI. It also came with some free OEM software, most importantly Cubase LE, which is a digital multitrack recording software package with unlimited tracks (both audio and MIDI). It also came with a software-based synth called the Proteus VX. In a single unit, I had almost everything I needed to get recording.

I also needed a good condenser microphone to record acoustic guitar and vocals. For my last studio (10 years ago), I purchased a nice condenser microphone for about $500 - this was considered "bottom of the barrel" cheap. But today, there are many cheap, effective, and good microphones on the market. After doing some research, I decided to purchase an MXL 990 (which came with a case and shockmount) for $50.

I also started scouring Craig's List and eBay for used equipment. I wanted to get some guitar effects, a bass guitar, and drum loops and found several:

Line 6 Pod 2.0 for $100
Digitech RP80 for $65
Digitech BP50 for $25
Beta Monkey Drum Loops for $75
Fender Squier P-Bass for $75

At this point, I started recording some of my songs and in the process, learning the software. Overall, most of the learning curve was found in Cubase LE. While Cubase was fine, I found that I didn't like the interface (it wasn't that intuitive to me), so I switched to Sony Acid 6.0 Pro. Acid cost me about $300. It was much more intuitive to me and (in particular), the looping and sequencing capabilities were much better and easier than Cubase.

The power and efficiency of the newer technology is what really amazed me. Where in the past I might have spent weeks carefully recording a song using a 4 track cassette machine, bouncing tracks, mixing down, bouncing back – with the computer and digital recording I basically had unlimited tracks, the ability to cut and paste, and better sound quality. I felt like a modern day Rip Van Winkle!

So for my new setup, I spent less than $1000 and ended up with a home office studio that has CD quality audio with unlimited tracks... SWEET! Keep in mind, you can do it even cheaper by using the OEM software like Cubase (saves $300) or purchasing other audio interfaces. Also, I financed most of the $800 by selling old woodworking tools and other used items via eBay.

From January 2007 to June 2007, I proceeded to use this setup in my home office to write and record 12 songs. I mostly recorded on weekends and occasionally at night after work.

As I worked on each song, I wanted to get some feedback about my songwriting as well as my recording sound quality. So, once again I turned to the Internet...

Stay tuned for Part 3: Getting feedback via the Internet

Al Gore wins Nobel "Peace" Prize

2007-10-12T19:17:00.000-04:00

It was an impressive year for Al Gore... he convinced Iran to abandon their nuclear program. He brokered the Anbar Awakening in Iraq. He jetted to Palestine and convinced Hamas and Fatah to stop fighting. Then he got the Israelis to join them. Then he drove up the road to Damascus and got the Syrians to stop blowing up Lebanese politicians.

He deserves his "Peace" prize. Good for him. It'll look nice on his mantle next to the Oscar for Best "Documentary".

BTW, there is a reason he wasn't awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics or Chemistry:

Al Gore's Oscar-winning environmental documentary contains nine scientific errors or omissions, a British judge said, ruling on a challenge from a school official who did not want the film shown to students.

High Court Judge Michael Burton said he had no doubt that the points raised in "An Inconvenient Truth" about the causes and likely effects of climate change were broadly accurate, but in a ruling published Wednesday he wrote that they were made in "the context of alarmism and exaggeration."

Burton outlined nine errors — including Gore's claim that sea level rises of 7 meters (23 feet) might occur in the immediate future — something Burton characterized as "distinctly alarmist." Other errors, he said, included the claim that Hurricane Katrina, the evaporation of most of Lake Chad and the melting of the snows of the Kilimanjaro were all the result of global warming. Burton said there was insufficient evidence to back his claims.

The Nobel "Peace" Prize is a political prize. Past recipients include: Yassir Arafat, Jimmy Carter, Mohamed El Baradei, Le Duc Tho.

New Music Price: It’s Up To You My Friend

2007-10-11T06:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday (Oct. 10), the ground shook violently at record companies around the world as a major artist, Radiohead, decided to release their new album, In Rainbows independently and with a new price model: Name Your Own Price

That’s right. You can order the album from their website and name your own price… whether you enter $0, $10, $100, or $1,000,000, you will receive an email with a download link to a zipped copy of the album.

Why did Radiohead do this? Well, two things are at play:

1st, Radiohead has not been quiet about their dislike for their past record label, EMI, as well as the music industry in general. Even to the point of not releasing music on iTunes. So there's a little bit of "sticking it to the man" in the release.

2nd, the current trend of music (i.e., the songs themselves), is that they are “loss leaders” to help the artist establish a fanbase. Once the artist gains a following, the artist can sell other items, such as concert tickets and merchandise (T-Shirts, hats, underwear, lunchboxes, yada yada yada) and fan club services, such as access to exclusive content like song demos, behind the scenes information and documentaries, and the like. Some artists have experimented with subscription-based fees where instead of releasing an album every two years, they release songs on a monthly or quarterly basis.

So where does that leave the unknown indie artist and fans? Well, obviously fans will enjoy getting music for free (not like they weren’t doing that already through filesharing). Music that gets played on the radio has been “bad” for at least a generation, but “good” music has almost always found a way to get released and gain at least cult status. I’m thinking of bands like XTC, which write and create very intelligent pop rock music, but for the most part are relegated to cult status. If you were to ask Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding if they are rich, they would laugh in your face. They may have a comfortable existence, but they are not millionaires. In the 90s, they even got to the point of parking cars for a living while they recorded one of their albums… and this is a band that has sold millions of records. If the music is free, a band like XTC may not survive.

So good music will still get recorded and released via the Internet, but how will the fans find it if they need to wade through millions of “free” songs? Promotion is key. For my own release, the money from any CDs or downloads I sold went right back into the project in terms of marketing and promotion as well as shipping materials and postage for CD reviews. If I were to release the music for free, I would not be able to fund the promotion of this project or fund my next project. I would have to get a band together to start playing some shows to generate some cash for projects… Dude, we’re getting the band back together! ;-)

But seriously, the music industry is changing with both artists, record labels, and fans trying to figure out a way to make a living with their love of art.

So give me some feedback and ideas. If an indie artist were to give their songs away for free, how could they can build a fanbase and generate some revenue to live on?

Chris Matthews vs. Jon Stewart

2007-10-08T08:05:00.000-04:00

Chris Matthews appeared on the Daily Show last week to promote his new book, Life Is A Campaign. It's meant to be a self-help book about how to succeed in life using tactics of a political campaign. Jon Stewart gave him a pretty hard time about the book's message and I found it quite revealing about Matthews' outlook on the world and life in general. As you watch the interview, think about this: Chris Matthews is an MSNBC News Anchor. Jon Stewart is the host of a comedy show. Which of the two has a more uncynical view of the world? Shockingly to some (but not to me), it's the comedian! Kudos to Jon Stewart for bravely questioning Matthews about it:

I used to really like Chris Matthews and once upon a time watched Hardball consistently. But honestly... he looks like a paranoid, cynical blowhard these days. I can't even watch it for 10 minutes any more.

Interesting side note: Both of these guys grew up in the area, Chris Matthews from Philly and Jon Stewart from Lawrence, NJ.

Monday Morning Music Review: Springsteen and G33K

2007-10-08T00:05:00.000-04:00

I’m going to try and post music reviews every Monday morning. I’ll cover an album from a major (i.e., signed) artist as well as an indie (i.e., unsigned) artist. I’m a big proponent of indie music and these people don’t have huge marketing and promotion budgets. Please help support the indie artists by purchasing their albums. BTW, if you are an indie artist doing Rock and Pop Rock music and you would like me to review your CD, shoot me an email at musings.dln@gmail.com and tell me about your music. I do not promise to review everything sent to me, but I’ll do my best to help you get some exposure.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Magic

The latest album from fellow New Jerseyan Bruce Springsteen and the gang returns back to the classic E Street rockin’ form… but don’t let it fool you. Lyrically there’s a dark undercurrent to the album about lying, losing, and making mistakes. It also sounds like two separate EPs packaged as a single album – this isn’t bad, but there’s a definite change in mood about half-way through the album (from rockin' good time Springsteen to somber acoustic Springsteen).

The lead off track, “Radio Nowhere” is a pretty good driving song with typical Springsteen lyrics – questioning the current state of music and radio and in extension the American Dream. The next song, “You’ll Be Coming Down” gets right to the modern Springsteen sound with some great lyrics like the line “You’ll be fine long as your pretty face holds out, Then it’s gonna get pretty cold out”. "Livin’ In The Future" has that classic E Street Band sound (think 10th Ave. Freeze-out) and seems destined to be a great concert song, including a NaNaNaNa ending to get the crowd going. "Your Own Worst Enemy" is one of my favorites on the album. It has a little bit of a Beach Boys influence to it and finds Bruce really giving a nice vocal delivery. "Gypsy Biker" is an anti-war song (could be about Iraq or Vietnam, it doesn’t matter), but the message is subtly and effectively told about a soldier being buried. Springsteen does a good job of talking about the divisions within our country right now with lines like “To the dead it don’t matter much ’bout who’s wrong or right”.

"Girls In Their Summer Clothes" is the second Beach Boys influenced song and you can almost picture the Jersey Shore in the summer. "I’ll Work For Your Love" includes the classic E Street chiming piano along with lyrical references to Christ and the Bible. The title track, "Magic" is a nice somber acoustic song with a haunting violin. The next song, "Last To Die" is another anti-war song that evokes the line from the famous congressional testimony of John Kerry. "The Long Walk Home" is another favorite of mine, with lyrics describing those moments in your life when you are reflecting on the things you’ve done and lost. The final song on the album is "Devil’s Arcade" which starts with a beautiful cello that plays the main melody line from the song. The lyrics evoke images of a wife or girlfriend visiting a wounded soldier at Walter Reed (or any veteran’s hospital). Available at Amazon and iTunes.

Here’s the video for The Long Walk Home, which was shot in Freehold and Asbury Park, NJ:

G33K – Some Assembly Required

G33K is really indie artist Todd Moore from Grayling, MI. I first noticed Todd’s music when he posted his song "Supermarket Superstars" on the Harmony Central songwriting forum. "Supermarket Superstars" is a great snapshot at the current state of celebrity in our country, with the triumvirate of Paris, Britney, and Lindsey. Plus it has a tinge of XTC to it, so I had to love it!

G33K’s CD is called Some Assembly Required and it’s a great mix of PowerPop with a little Modern Country sprinkled on top. The first 3 songs on the CD ("What You’re Doing To Me", "Supermarket Superstars", and "Some Assembly Required") really get the album off to a rocking start. G33k slows it down a little bit with "Float Me On The Key Of C" but picks it right back up with "Clone Of You". Both of these songs ("Float Me..." and "Clone of You") have a modern electric country feel to them. In particular "Clone of You" could be a great live roadhouse song with flying beer bottles and chicken wire! Next up is "Barbie Doll" which gets you right back into the PowerPop mood with a distinct Cars feel to it. "Any Other Way" is another really nice ballad that’s a duet with Theresa Wagner that you could imagine on a country radio station. The next song, "Where You Won’t Be Alone" is a good midtempo rocker that reminds me of Document-era REM. G33K fires up the PowerPop machine again with the next track, "4 2 Nite" and continues with the last track, "Darlene" – another midtempo rocker. The CD also includes several bonus tracks for your enjoyment. If you enjoy good PowerPop songs and good vocals with tight harmonies, definitely pick up this CD. Available at http://www.myspace.com/g33kfr34k

When Music and Technology Collide - Part 1 of 5

2007-10-06T20:30:00.000-04:00

Why would someone need a record label?

The reason I pose this question is that today's indie artist has many options because of the advancement of technology. Technology and music has always gone hand in hand, but it was usually only available to artists signed to record labels. In order to gain access to a state of the art recording studio, an artist would have to sign a contract (whose terms favored the record label) and the record label would promote and distribute the songs and artist (while collecting most of the profits).

Advances in technology have now given unsigned indie artists the ability to create state of the art recordings in home studios on a shoestring budget. In particular, the Internet has given indie artists the ability to distribute their music in a number of different channels, whether they are trying to sell physical CDs or selling digital music via iTunes and other digital stores. They can do all of this while maintaining control and ownership of their songs and recordings and keeping more of the money they make.

Take me for example... In this 5 part series, When Music and Technology Collide, I'll be walking you through the process I went through during the past year in releasing my own CD, Rittenhouse Square. I'll be describing the incredible world of options that are available to the modern indie artist (i.e., an unsigned, relatively unknown artist).

Part 1: Once Upon A Time...

Well, before I get too far along, let me give you my own musical history. I started playing guitar when I was 14. I played in a few bands, wrote some songs, and basically had a good time creating music with friends. This was about 10 to 15 years ago.

The thing was I never wanted to make it big necessarily… I really just wanted to write some good songs and put out an album. That was it… that was my dream. I didn’t care about becoming a “rock star” or famous or anything like that. Like many people, you needed a big break – get some attention, get a recording contract, yada yada yada. And the odds of that were 1 in many millions.

Between 1989 and 1994, I spent about $5,000 in equipment to outfit a 4 track recording studio in my basement. A band I was in recorded a couple of songs as demos for some record company, but nothing really came of that. In 1995, I recorded a mini cassette with 3 songs and contributed that to a tape sharing club via US Mail (for you youngsters out there – this was before MP3s and the Web was still in diapers). I got really good reviews on the songwriting, but the sound quality was lacking. The songs were recorded on a 4 track recorder and while I did learn alot about recording techniques, I never took the recordings that seriously. The recordings were definitely not marketable.

So what happened? Well, life happened... As John Lennon famously said "life happens while you are busy doing other things." I got married, got a house and started a family. After a while, I decided that I wanted to focus on my career and several other goals I had. I took about 10 years off from music and in that time I authored a few books and became an expert in information technology (IT). The family grew and I really enjoyed my life and career.

I basically considered my music career over because (a) I was too old to get a recording contract and (b) I didn’t want to tour (which would've been required), so why bother? I sold all of my equipment except for an acoustic guitar and my Fender Stratocaster. The Strat went into storage in my basement and the acoustic went into my home office where I might noodle around with it on occasion. I might occasionally write a new song or snippet of a song, but I wasn’t recording or finishing anything (and frankly, I didn’t care).

During the summer of 2006, we had our basement finished. Whenever you get your basement finished, it forces you to do something you’ve probably been putting off… CLEANING IT OUT! While cleaning out the basement, I came across my Strat. Just for fun, I got it out along with an amplifier, dusted them off and cleaned them up, and started playing again.

The muse struck me hard. All of a sudden, I really got excited about music again. I really enjoyed playing and writing after not even thinking about it for so long. I started writing songs again and quickly had 4 new songs. With the new songs, I knew I wanted to record them, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it.

I was curious about what might have changed in the last 10 years in recording technology and how much it would cost me to create a new studio. I was pleasantly and thoroughly amazed...

Stay tuned for Part Two: Building A Home Studio With NO MONEY DOWN!

Office Live Workspace

2007-10-05T20:20:00.000-04:00

Microsoft announced a new hosted-software service called Office Live Workspace. It's currently in beta (you can preregister for the beta HERE).

Office Live Workspace provides users with a web-based workspace to share and collaborate on documents created with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Think of it as SharePoint Lite. They will provide you with 250MB of storage space.

Office Live Workspace is not the equivalent to Google Docs (which provides web-based word processing, spreadsheets, and file storage). Office Live Workspace is simply an extension of the Microsoft Office Suite (i.e., the applications that are installed on your computer).

It'll be interesting to see how it will be delivered. Since Office Live Workspace doesn't have web-based apps, it protects Microsoft's existing installed desktop base. But with Google Docs and other web-based apps becoming available, it's just a matter of time before you will be purchasing a subscription to Microsoft Office and accessing your favorite word processor or spreadsheet over the Internet.

I'm more interested in the true SharePoint functionality: contacts, calendars, tasks, custom lists, etc. I could see a huge market opening up for households using SharePoint sites to coordinate kid's schedules (sports, dance, swim lessons), contact lists (family phone numbers, plumber, doctors, etc.), and tasks (honey-do lists?). Doc storage is one thing, but give a family the ability to communicate more effectively in this busy world (from work, school, home, while traveling) and you will see a new market grow.

I have some problems with both web-based storage and web-based applications though. 1st, why would I ever store sensitive documents (like contracts) on Google or Microsoft's servers? I definitely don't trust Google when it comes to privacy and I'm not so sure I would trust Microsoft either. 2nd, what would I do in the event of an Internet outage? Not only would I lose access to my docs, but I wouldn't be able to work on anything else either...

Interesting stuff that I'll be writing about in future posts.

Welcome!

2007-10-03T20:20:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to Just Musing About... I'll be using this blog to write about technology, music, books, and news.

My name is Neall Alcott and I live in Deptford NJ with my wife and 3 kids. I work for Springhouse Education and Consulting in Exton, PA as their VP of Technology Services. We are a Microsoft Gold Partner specializing in training (technical, project management, and professional development). We also provide consulting services in very select areas (Microsoft Project and Project Server, SharePoint, and Performance Improvement).

I'm a published author whose written several books about technical topics as well as white papers and magazine articles. I've been published by O'Reilly, Microsoft, Sybex, Coriolis, Sams and several magazines.

I'm also a musician and songwriter. I recently released my debut CD, Rittenhouse Square on Sept. 15. Rittenhouse Square is a collection of 12 songs in the pop rock realm influenced by the Beatles, XTC, Squeeze, Lindsey Buckingham, Michael Penn, U2, and others. The CD is available at CDBaby and iTunes.

So as you can see, I have many different interests that center around technology, music, and writing. I also enjoy writing about topics in the news that may interest me from time to time.

At Just Musing About... I will be writing about technology topics, such as SharePoint and Project Server, Internet services and developments, and just technology in general.

I also plan to write music reviews for both major (i.e., signed) and indie (i.e., unsigned) artists and bands. Matter of fact, one of my first posts will be discussing how technology and music have converged to give indie artists more options for creating and distributing their music and finding fans.

I'll also occasionally write book reviews. I'm an avid reader and if I find a book enjoyable and/or chock full of useful information, I'll be pointing it out to you.

So welcome! Kick off your shoes, make yourself at home and take a look around. I hope you'll stop by often!

Neall