The only interesting drum solo. Ever.

"What did the drummer get on his IQ test? Drool."

Drum solos may be the part of the concert where everyone but other drummers gets up to get another beer, but this one is from one of the greats, and it's easy to see why.

Hands

So I'm starting a new feature here on the website. YouTube is great for a lot of things, but I think one of its greatest uses is as a repository of amazing performances by the world's greatest musicians.

Now I'm not talking about ripping a concert DVD, but of meaningful, remarkable performances that are likely not found anywhere else. First up, the Rach 3 by Martha Argerich.

Sync Sounds

I don't drive big cars. Hate them. In my book, if a car's going to weigh 4,300 pounds it better have a second car sitting on top of it.

And despite all that, I was sad to see the MKS go. It's a fantastic ride, mostly due to the THX sound system and, gasp, Microsoft's Sync.

 

Okay, so writing verse obviously isn't part of my job description. But finding and writing about (and coveting) cool stuff is, so if anyone in your house still needs another 'prise or two under the tree, feel free to crib from my own Christmas wishlist:

TV Talk

I was interviewed for a podcast over on DigitalTrends.com about the future of TVs.

Shockingly, I don't make too much of a fool of myself, given that it wasn't edited.

So if you want to hear me babble on for 20 minutes about all sorts of TV stuff, you can check it out here.

 

 

Pure Marketing Obfuscation

I understand the need for a manufacturer to differentiate their product. It's a crowded field out there, and anything you can do to make your product stand out is a good idea.

Well, almost anything.

But let's not call it lying, let's call it a gift for fiction.

I know what's about to happen. I'm about to sit here and type a thousand words or so, waxing left and right about The Beatles: Rock Band, how it fits into the current glut of music/rhythm games, whether it does justice to the band and their legacy, blah blah blah...

When really, what it all boils down to is this: if you like The Beatles, go buy this game. Now. If you like the Beatles and don't own a PS3 or Xbox 360 (or Wii, I guess), go buy one of those. Now. And then buy this game. Right after that.

Within half an hour of Tweeting the fact that I finally got my paws on the new stereo Beatles remasters this week, my email inbox was clogged with the same question repeated practically ad infinitum: “So... don’t leave me hanging. How do they sound?” The ellipses were often stretched to the point of abuse, and the question marks ranged from solitary to the obscene, but I read that exactly question so many times I almost started to have Tweet remorse

Honestly, though, who doesn’t want to know how these discs sound? So I’ll cut to the chase and tell you all what I told them:

Forty years ago yesterday, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin sat on the tip of a big metal stick at the end of a massive explosion and pointed themselves toward the moon. Forty years ago this coming Monday, they arrived at their destination, kicked a little dirt, and said a few words we all know by heart, I'm sure. And to commemorate all of that exploding and dirt kicking and aphorism uttering, The Criterion Collection has released a new gussied up restored version of Al Reinert's seminal 1989 film For All Mankind.

It seems that the goal of the entertainment industry these days is to make me feel old. This fact first hit home for me a few years ago when Guns N' Roses' seminal Appetite for Destruction turned 20. It occurred to me, reflecting upon that fact, that as I terrorized the streets of my neighborhood during the summer of '87 in my beat-up old Camaro of Many Colors, pushing my newly acquired Learner's Permit to its limits, screaming "Paradise City" at the top of my lungs, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, itself turning 20 that year, seemed like old fogies' music. Or, at least, I pretended to think of it as old fogies' music. But if "A Day in the Life" was oldies music then, what does that make "Mr. Brownstone" now?