eclectica, a weblog

I’ve been horrible these past months when it comes to updating the blog. Sorry about that. If anyone is still checking for updates, thanks!

Here’s what I’ve been listening to lately:

“A Larum” - Johnny Flynn. This is my newest find and I absolutely love the album. Johnny Flynn’s voice reminds me of a mix between the voices of Scott Hutchinson (from Frightened Rabbit) and Jose Gonzalez. The music is quite nice, too, and has that same folky sort of bluegrass and country sound that I find so appealing in Joe Purdy’s music. The first song I heard from the album was “Leftovers,” a fine example of what the album has to offer. I’m also quite fond of “The Rote and the Writ” and “Sally.”

“Last Days at the Lodge” - Amos Lee. The third release from Amos Lee shows more of his influences from soul music, I think, which makes for a bit of a change from his previous albums. I tend to enjoy his more folk-influenced music the most (Yeah, it seems I’m on a folk kick) . The album is actually quite eclectic, so if I’m not feeling one song, I can just skip to the next one and be happy. Some of my favorite songs from the album are “Listen,” “Truth” and “Better Days.”

“Unclear Sky” EP - Joshua Radin. This four-song EP is absolutely lovely! There’s something about Joshua’s voice that I find…just exquisite. All of the songs are delightful, but I’m especially pleased by “Sky,” which features Ingrid Michaelson, one of my favorite female musical artists right now.

“The Best of the Gipsy Kings” - The Gipsy Kings. I must have been living under a rock, as I only heard of The Gipsy Kings relatively recently. Oh, well, better late than never, I suppose. It makes for very pleasant background ambiance when I don’t feel like listening to English lyrics.

Paris in the Morning - Joe Purdy. I’ve written about this album before, but it’s still captivating me. It’s just a happy album, which is infectious, of course. He’s in love and it’s oh, so obvious. My favorite tracks are “Paris in the Morning,” “Waiting on Something Good,” “Brand New Set of Wings,” “Make it Up” and “I’ve Been to Holland.”

In music-related news, I’ll be attending two concerts over the next few weeks. I’m very happy to say I’ll get to hear James Blunt live on August 14 in Houston and then the Gipsy Kings in Corpus Christi on August 29. It seems it’s feast or famine for me when it comes to live music. The last really good show I attended was Paolo Nutini’s Austin City Limits After Show concert in Austin last September. Since then, I’ve had quite a dry spell when it comes to great live music, so it’s about time there are some shows I’m actually excited about!

I’ve more to write about, particularly about the books I’ve been reading in the past few months, but I think I’ll save that for a later post.

NPR has cancelled The Bryant Park Project. Over the past few months, it has become one of my favorite NPR programs; and I am sorely disappointed to hear of it’s imminent demise. The last BPP show is scheduled to air on Friday, July 25.

The Bryant Park Project was, in my opinion, highly engaging. With intelligent and funny hosts, content that ranged from hard news to pop culture, it simultaneously enlightened and entertained its listeners. By producing a podcast, a blog and incorporating Web 2.0 social networking methods such as Facebook and Twitter, it kept in touch with its audience and reached new listeners every day. According to this NY Times article, although it was only aired on 5 terrestrial radio stations, the program had 1 million listeners in May and June. Not surprisingly, the program attracted a younger audience than most other NPR programs.

The cancellation apparently wasn’t due to poor content quality, but to budgetary constraints, which is extremely unfortunate. I’m afraid the decision makers at NPR haven’t thought about all the ramifications of cancelling the program. They will lose a considerable audience and the large number of page views that that audience generates at npr.org.

I wish NPR would take the same route that the CBC took with Search Engine, a program that reminds me of The Bryant Park Project in many ways. Search Engine was aired on the radio, but it was produced by online collaboration with its listeners, which made for a very dynamic program. Unlike NPR, the CBC recognized the popularity of the program, especially with the online audience. However, the radio version of Search Engine was cancelled recently, though not for the same reason that The Bryant Park Project was cancelled. Jesse Brown, the host of Search Engine, was pulled from his spot on the radio program to appear on other radio and television programs instead, where I assume the CBC thinks there is an even larger audience. Although Search Engine, the radio program, was cancelled, a podcast-only version of the show will begin airing again in September.

I think such an arrangement would be the perfect solution for The Bryant Park Project, especially as the largest segment of its audience is online. NPR could then boast of being at the cutting edge of broadcasting while continuing to attract younger listeners. That said, it appears NPR doesn’t have the vision to imagine any kind of broadcasting other than the standard terrestrial sort, unfortunately.

In both the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections, I voted for third party candidates because I wasn’t happy with the Democratic and Republican candidates. This year, however, I’ve decided to support Barack Obama as I agree with his position on many issues. It’s not often that I feel proud of anything in the political sphere, but I’m proud that I was part of the reason Barack Obama was able to announce his victory in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination on Tuesday. If you’ve not had a chance to watch the speech, it’s available in full at YouTube.

As soon as Hillary Clinton concedes her defeat and throws her support behind Barack, it’s full steam ahead to November. The race between Obama and John McCain is sure to be interesting. I’m certain the media will highlight the obvious differences between them: Young vs old, left vs right, old school vs new school. Although I’m extremely interested in this campaign, I find all the media coverage tiresome. Oh, well, I can always switch off the Tv and radio and read something else online.

I was just startled to hear Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow” played on my local classic rock radio station. What the hell?! was my first reaction. Not because I thought the song undeserving,; to the contrary, it is a great song, but the thought that it is old enough to be considered classic was somewhat perturbing. After a quick search, however, I discovered that the album it came from, “Ten,” was released in 1991. Seventeen years ago. OMG, I feel old.

I was 10 in 1991 and only had the slightest impression of what the grunge scene was all about, mostly gleaned from the nightly news. I remember one of the anchors — it might have been either Dan Rather, Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw — trying to explain “slam dancing,” which I watched with interest. The grunge scene was extremely intriguing, but as I said, I didn’t really comprehend it. By the time Kurt Cobain ended his life in 1994, I was 13, but was not much closer to knowing anything about grunge. It wasn’t until I was older and had expanded my music listening habits that I began to appreciate the grunge sound.

I may be mellowing in my old age*, though, as I now tend toward listening to the music of the likes of Joshua Radin, Joe Purdy and Josh Groban, none of whose music can be considered anywhere near the grunge genre and which I can’t find on my local terrestrial radio stations.

Speaking of which, I rarely listen to the radio anymore as I’m much happier with the variety that podcasts and online radio offer me. I absolutely adore NPR, but almost never listen live. I don’t need to when all the shows I love are available as podcasts.

*I’m joking about being old, of course. Age is relative, after all.

The Oreo Invades Britain: “What fresh vulgarity have the Yanks brought now? Milk dunking.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I read the above article. It appears that the problem is that Oreos don’t lend themselves well to dipping in tea. As for dunking them in milk, yeah, that’s the way to go if you must try them. Personally, I’m more of a chocolate chip cookie fan myself, as they’re chewy and can be less sweet, depending on the recipe used.

The Things Younger Than McCain blog is cataloging items, events and people younger than the Arizona Senator. Ok, so he’s not older than dirt, but John McCain is older than chocolate chip cookies, Velcro, Cheerios, the Golden Gate Bridge and a plethora of things I’ve always taken for granted.

As an aside, the blog reeks of age-ism, but it doesn’t seem to be really mean spirited and it is fun. Maybe someone should start a “Things Younger Than the Time Obama Has Served in the Senate” blog or something like that. Heh.

How I Spent My Stimulus is a fascinating look into how people are spending their economic stimulus cheques from Uncle Sam. I love that it showcases a varied cross section of society, from those who plan to spend the money on their child’s education, to those who spent it all in one night at a bar. For the most part, it seems that everyone is acting responsibly, putting the money in savings, paying off debt or investing it in their homes. I know what I should do with my little bit of the economic stimulus package, but I would absolutely love to get a VictorReader Stream. *sigh*

I don’t remember the totaly rad fads of the ’80s very well, according to this fun quiz from mental_floss. I only scored 50%. Oh, well, my excuse for that: I wasn’t really conscious of fads until the mid- to late ’80s and most certainly wasn’t a Corey Feldman fan.

By the way, is it just me…or is everyone else feeling nostalgic for the ’80s, too? I’ve noticed everything ’80s is suddenly cool again. I can dig that, but please, dear God, don’t bring shoulder pads back into fashion. On the other hand, I think I may need to get myself a pair of jelly shoes. They’d be perfect for summer — and oh, so fun!

I just discovered David O’Doherty’s comedy on YouTube. He’s absolutely hilarious and reminds me of Demetri Martin, my favorite comedian. After listening to this clip from David and this one from Demetri, I’m weak with laughter. I haven’t laughed that hard in ages. Ah, I really needed that

Ah, I’ve neglected the blog again. It’s not that I’ve nothing to write about; it’s that I’m not in the habit of writing here often. Anyway, enough excuses. I’m writing now, aren’t I? Heh.

Some music related stuff that has made me happy recently:

Since first mentioning Joe Purdy, I purchased two of his albums, “Paris in the Morning” and “You Can Tell Georgia” from Amazon MP3. I’ve totally fallen in love with them, too, especially “Paris in the Morning.” I’m sure you’d laugh if you could see me singing along to the songs and dancing in my living room. ;) It’s not often that I find music that has such a dramatic effect on me, but There’s just something about Purdy’s songs that put me in a good mood. I’m listening to “Brand New Set of Wings” right now and it has me smiling like a fool. How can I not love that?

Speaking of music that has a dramatic effect on me, Josh Groban’s “Awake Live” CD/DVD will be released on May6th. I talked all about that on this week’s Random Fandom show, by the way. From the sound of the first single, “Awake,” the CD/DVD is going to be superb. The concert I attended last March was fabulous, so I’m really looking forward to reliving it through “Awake Live”! I’m sure it willhelp tide me over until Josh releases his next album, which is supposed to drop some time next year, I hear.