Thanks to jochen for the photo!
Less than a month past my first trip to Düsseldorf, including the obligatory geek shot in front of where Kling Klang used to be, I am struck by the news that Florian is leaving Kraftwerk.
I am really caught between the serene understanding that all good things eventually come to an end, that of course this is not going to wipe away the many hours of good music, and the feeling that no, it can’t be.
Sheiße.
It’s a real shame that one of the bands I’d die to see live is doing a gig I’d rather die than go to, on the most inconvenient day of my totally inconvenient year.
And who knows when they’ll be back.
Last Thursday I went to Umbria Jazz in Perugia, to see Gary Burton with Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow and Antonio Sanchez.
Not surprisingly given the musicians on stage, the concert was very good.
Thanks to my very resourceful friend Rick, we got the chance to meet Mr. Metheny backstage after the show and have our complimentary photograph with him taken.
In case this ever happens to you, this is a list of things you may want to say to Pat Metheny while you’re waiting for your photo to be taken, in the form of fictional dialogues.
(Y: you, P: Pat Metheny)
Y: wonderful night. and it’s a great honor to be here.
P: thank you.
Y: no, thank you!
Y: please tell me you’re working at the new Group album.
P: hm. you should talk to old man Lyle. boy, is he lazy!
Y: 
Y: what about tonight’s rendition of Question and Answer. I’ve heard it live many times, but tonight it was so special. your solo was terrific.
P: glad you liked it. I have to admit it was quite good.
Y: you could definitely say that.
Y: first time I see Steve Swallow live… gotta say the old man kick serious bass.
P: didn’t you know yet?
Y: actually I heard about it before, but now I can confirm. and hey, you did quite good, too.
P: oh, thanks, pal!
Y: no prob
This is how it went instead:
(A: andrew, P: Pat Metheny)
A: sorry to bother you.
P: no problem. (as in: let’s do this quick, will we?)
A: (hinting at Rick) we’ve been to a lot of your concerts together. (as in: it’s a precious moment for us.)
P: thanks, man! (as in: what, you want your money back?)
What’s left of this moment is the most out of focus, stupid-faced, boy-do-I-look-fat photo of me that was ever taken, and a great lesson to be learned: do not ever impinge on your heroes’ lives.
Ever.
It is on days like these that I really wish someone stood in front of me and took the force of the blow.
Mirror, mirror,
What u see?
Have I still got those dark clouds over me?
Or, am I really feeling what I feel?
The last days of the Devil’s Deal
Oh, mirror, what u see?Prince, “Family Name”, “The Rainbow Children” (2001)
I’m just listening to the new album from Radiohead, named In Rainbows, which was released yesterday. I’m still halfway through, but so far it seems like a good record.
So, what’s new?
I just downloaded it off the net.
Again, what’s the deal?
I actually paid for it.
Hm, interesting, for a change, but not exactly earth shattering, I can almost hear you think.
Well, think again.
I didn’t buy it from iTunes or another online music store. I got it directly from the album’s own website, after paying directly to the artists. Immediatly after checking out I received a web link that started the download of a zip archive, containing plain simple 160kbps mp3 files. No DRM. No strings attached. Just good music, click and play.
Now, hear this. What you pay for it is left up to you. No, really, it’s up to you.
So, what do you say? I say it’s high time you put your money where your ears are. I’m going to be quite upset when I see someone pirating this.
P.S.: curious about how much I chose to pay for the album? £3.33. I’d pay less for 160k mp3s, but I really wanted to vote with my purse on this one. I am generally concerned about sound quality; give me royalty-free, lossless high-quality audio files (hint: FLAC) and I will gladly pay more than that.
Moreover, while I understand it would somehow lessen the impact in this instance, generally I’d appreciate a little preview. Also, artwork does not necessarily mean paper.
P.P.S.: no, you can’t have my mp3s. Go download them off the site.
Fellow Europeans, go sign your umpteenth petition! Do it now! Let the healing begin!
It will cost you nothing. By the way, exactly what it’s worth.
Like it or not, everybody will be a Copy Criminal before long.
If you want to do something, do the only thing that makes sense: opt out. But I guess that if you’re smart enough to do that, you already figured that out for yourself… and if you haven’t…
By the way, Boing Boing says it’s urgent, so it must be.
it ain’t no joy
for an uptown boy
who just isn’t willing to try
UPDATED: 2007-03-18
UPDATED: 2007-02-20
I read the recent essay titled “Thoughts on Music” from Steve Jobs and its interesting exegesis by John Gruber with much interest.
Though I’m not even remotely as insightful and influential as these two, I find at least interesting how they fail to grasp (or graciously turn around) what I consider rather obvious.
They both talk about the fact that most of the music circulating sold today, in the form of CDs, is DRM-free. Not even Gruber, who puts this in relation with the DVD, goes further by saying that it’s obvious that the CD is the media industry’s biggest mistake of all times.
They made this horrible mistake, then they realized it and had a first, quick shot at a solution, but failed miserably again with the DVD.
Anyway, I don’t think they will fail again. They will eventually succeed in taking more and more rights away from the consumer (say you like the sound of that word). And we the consumers will let them, no matter how much you and I stand against this.
Look at it this way: freedom has never been easy, and people want it easier all the time. Do your math, it’s inevitable. And the same old, same old.
So all of this talk is only poetry. Jobs’s bluff is just too obvious to even bother calling.
Something new came out of Daring Fireball:
[...] in fact the music companies have tried all sorts of various tricks to ship CDs that play in regular CD players but which prevent PCs from ripping the music to digital files. Remember Sony’s root kit fiasco? That the music industry sees DRM-free CDs as a problem is not an indictment of Apple.
As usual, Gruber raises interesting points. Anyway, I don’t subscribe to all of them. Of course Apple would take some benefit from a DRM-free iTMS (for a start, I know I don’t buy from iTMS now and would definitely buy from a DRM-free iTMS). I also tend to agree that Apple would sell as many iPods without FairPlay today. Anyway, that’s talking about today.
What about the future?
It’s obvious that Gruber has a strong faith in Apple:
Why is it so hard to believe Jobs meant what he wrote: that Apple is perfectly happy to make its money selling iPods and by competing based on the quality of their products and user experience?
I’m afraid I don’t trust them that much.
The Dude: It’s like what Lenin said… you look for the person who will benefit, and, uh, uh…
Donny: I am the walrus.
Look, David Byrne agrees:
[...] once DRM is removed, iTunes will no longer “have a monopoly,” and labels will be better prepared to deal with Web sales.
David da man as I said before.
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