6 posts tagged “music”

Even though this year will mark the 5th Christmas without my mom, I still miss her as much, if not more, than I did the first year.  It's created an extra emotional burden in addition to the normal, pre-2004 ups and downs, joys and stresses of the holiday season.  I know I'm not unique in missing a parent, but for some reason it really isn't any easier for me.  Time is not healing this wound so much.  In addition, yesterday was the memorial service for a friend's husband, who finally succumbed to Alzheimer's last week.  A very important woman in my life is battling ovarian cancer (and winning, thank God, but it is still difficult -- can you guess who her ghostwriter is? ha ha).  And Christmas is my mostest favoritest holiday ever, but the recession means all everyone seems to talk about is money, which is depressing for two reasons.  First off, because Christmas, or any holidays this month, are not about money, but about friends and family.  Second off, because it sucks having less money available to celebrate Christmas.

Anyway, like I said, emotional. Me. Very much so.  (And no, I'm not pregnant)

However, with all these other emotional things competing with my tears, I take extreme exception to my Zune for it is conspiring to make me cry at work.

Since my mother has been on my mind so much, I have been dreaming of her, alive.  My imagination has created her as an independent woman, as if my parents divorced, and she comes in and out of scenes, especially when I need her most.  It's actually quite soothing, if a little disconcerting to me at first (we usually have some sort of conversation about her cancer and death before I accept that she's "there"), and I kind of look forward to my dreams now.  It's the only place I get to spend time with her.

My Zune though... argh.

There are songs that make me cry at the drop of a hat.  Ok, don't ask me why I even have them on my Zune, because I can only tell you that, while listening to them makes me cry, not having them available makes me sad.

One of these songs is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz.  That was "our" movie, my mom's and mine.  (Note to anyone who needs a great gift for me, pick something from Wizard of Oz, especially with the Cowardly Lion and/or Dorothy) Thus, the theme song is an overwhelming reminder of her.

This Woman's Work - Kate Bush (from She's Having a Baby)

Another is "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton.  Then, the upbeat "All I Have to Do is Dream" by The Everly Brothers, in light of my recent dreams, again reminds me of her.  And the worse, most emotionally-wrenching, hardest-to-listen-to song of them all is "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush.  You might remember this if you've watched She's Having a Baby.  It's a song about fear, hope, and regrets.  Kevin Bacon's character goes through all the great memories with his wife in the scene: I do the same with my memories of my mom.

So, of course... I decide to drown out the sounds of my co-workers and set my Zune to random.  Out of the over 500 songs available, the first song is "This Woman's Work".  I can't take it, so I skip to the next song: "All I Have to Do is Dream".  Argh... fine.  Skip - Cake's "Never There" is upbeat enough, but dammit, is this a theme?  Cyndi Lauper's voice sings the first verse of "Time After Time" ... Lying in my bed I hear the clock ticking, think of you... Skip.  "Surfer Girl" by the Beach Boys, yet another song that reminds me of my mom.  Coldplay, "42"... Those who are dead are not dead they're just living in my head...

So the Zune is turned off and I'm listening to the clackity-clack of keyboards and the low rumble of co-workers discussing business, the weekend, and everything in between.

Sigh.

What's your musical horoscope?  (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)

Horoscope for Cancer: Your next 10 songs will be seriously eclectic, just like you!

1. Cake: Italian Leather Sofa
2. Bryan Adams: Everything I Do (I do for you)
3. Cheech & Chong: Low Rider
4. The Nutcracker Suite: Act 2 - Trepak (Performed by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra)
5. The Shangri-Las: Leader of the Pack
6. Genesis: I Can't Dance
7. Tag Team: Whoomp! (There it is)
8. Herman's Hermits: I'm Henry the VIII I Am
9. Carrie Underwood: Before He Cheats
10. The Mamas & the Papas: California Dreamin'

It's dedication time.  What song are you sending out, and who is it dedicated to?

To Yod's petulant child outburst this morning:

Gravity Kills: Goodbye

Gravity Kills

I don't need this poison. 
I don't need control. 
I don't need forgiveness.
I don't need ...you.

Radiohead release their seventh studio album today and it's only available online and you set your own price.  Will you buy the album?  Do you buy the idea?

1. Yod already bought the album (and I'm not a huge Radiohead fan)
2. I think it is a BRILLIANT idea, but it will only work for certain artists who already have a well-established name and need only to say that the new album is available.
• Most artists don't see more than $1 of each record sale - it all goes to the retailer, the recording studio, and the record label.
• The record label spends money promoting the album with advertisements, buying playlists on radio stations, and hyping the artist.  That doesn't come cheap.
• An established name has already paid their dues, so to speak, and doesn't need the marketing investment so much anymore.  Therefore, this sort of distribution method is absolutely brilliant.
• This is also a cheap way to get more people to listen to your music if you're not established, but like mp3.com taught us, most new artists don't have a record label for a reason...
3. It still won't stop people from pirating the songs.  Even though it is a free download.  That is a cultural problem, like speeding, where people don't think it's a big deal, so they won't follow the laws.  Hey, I'm a speeder, I know these things. (But 95% of my mp3s are from albums I own, or albums I bought because I got to hear the mp3 songs first)

I have waxed poetic about how much I absolutely love AOL MusicNOW.  It is was a full-service all-you-can-eat music vendor that allowed you to build playlists and manage your music through a web interface.  You could also listen to you music online or download it to your PC/music device to listen without being connected to the intarweb (for a small increase in price).  It was the only music service that allowed customized playlists and wouldn't try to foist off crappy artists you had never heard of and didn't like onto your playlist.  And, the biggest bonus?  It used the intarweb ports and proxies, so I could listen behind the firewall at work.

Well, that is now over.  Napster bought out MusicNow and "seamlessly integrated" AOL MusicNOW customers to their community. Ha. HA HA. HAHAHAHAHAHA.  Yeah, right.  I knew it was going to be bad when the troubleshooting guide told me I had to download Napster's piece of crap software package and enable specific ports in the firewall.  Gee, I'm sure that would go over well. "Mr CIO of a Fortune 15 company, please enable ports, x, y, and z on our massive company-wide firewall.  Why? Um, because, I need them. Er, my job? Yeah... uh.. nevermind."

So now, I'm stuck here with no listening options, forced to hear the crap going on around me and try not to jump into conversations (even though I know the answer).  The ironly of it all... AOL finally develops a kickass product, only to sell it and have it be a broken heap of electrons. Blah.

I mean, seriously.. is it so hard? Are my expectations, desires, and needs so horrible? Do music companies not understand the larger audience and potential clients they are alienating by failing to develop technology utilizing standard ports?  I'm even willing to PAY for a service that allows me to:

• Choose tunes from a large music library
• Custom-build multiple playlists and store them on a centrally-located server that allows access from multiple computers.
• Allow playback from behind a firewall using normally enabled ports and proxies
• Stream high-quality sound

Anyway, here is the tidbit of "feedback" I left for my (soon to not be) Music Overlords:

I was forced to migrate to Napster from AOL last night.  I am adaptable: I don't generally get discombobulated with these changes, especially when I am assured that the change is seamless.  I chose AOL's MusicNOW service because I could create my own playlists and listen to my chosen music behind my firewall at work - which I have NO control over.  However, Napster did NOT adopt this technology from AOL's MusicNOW and thus has obliterated my ability to listen to music at work - where I do most of my music listening.

Don't try to placate me with telling me to download the music and play it back; I want the functionality and ease of use that AOL's MusicNOW software gave me, not this crap I'm forced to use now.  Don't try to assuage my anger by blowing sunshine.  You promised one thing and you delivered a product that falls short.  You failed.

I am EXTREMELY unhappy and EXTREMELY pissed off.  You promised that AOL music subscribers would enjoy a seamless integration into the Napster community.  Instead, I am cut off from my music and cut off from my account.  This is NOT a "seamless integration".  This is bull puckey.  Bull. Puckey.

Whatever revenue my account would generate for you will be unceremoniously discontinued if this situation doesn't rectify itself by Monday, March 19th.

Deliver your promised product and don't BS your customers.  It is rude, dishonest, and shows a complete lack of understanding of your customers' needs.

studio524, this one is for you!