I’m in the middle of comparing three popular online radio services: Pandora, Last.FM and Slacker Radio. All three offer you the choice of picking a favorite artist and “training” your own custom stations. Given my recent experiences, my success rate varies among the three companies’ offerings. In their free modes, there are limitations, which I will outline in my coverage of all three. Look for the full comparison in a few weeks. In the meantime, I’ll outline each one individually in separate articles, including a how-to guide to get the most out of them.
Stevie Ray Vaughan SACD Reissues
Listed on the Music Direct website are five essential albums by Stevie Ray Vaughan: the four original albums Texas Flood, Couldn’t Stand The Weather, Soul To Soul and In Step, and also the posthumous collection The Sky Is Crying. These are being remastered and released on hybrid SACD by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. SACD afficionados remember that the first two original albums were issued on SACD by Columbia, but the reissue program was scrapped thereafter. The first album, Texas Flood, is slated for an October release, with the remaining four release dates to be determined at a later time. These are essential for any fan of Stevie Ray’s guitar and vocals, as well as aficionados of guitar blues in general. The current remastered CDs sound really good, but the Mobile Fidelity releases will take this to an even higher level.
Detroit Jazz Festival Memories
Over the Labor Day weekend, Detroit will once again host their international Jazz Festival. The lineup this year is impressive, which is surprising due to the economy. We are planning on visiting the festival for a few hours on Saturday, if the planets align themselves properly and we can be in the area for the weekend. Highlights include Terrence Blanchard, Yellowjackets, Branford Marsalis, Allen Toussaint, and dozens of others in a three-day festival of jazz.
I do have a few good memories of the festival over the years. I did have a few missteps, like the time I tried to go see Wynton Marsalis and couldn’t even get near the Hart Plaza stage to see what was happening. But I did get to be a part of the festival a few times in various capacities.
Demystifying Facebook Privacy (Part 1)
Facebook is not only a social phenomenon, it is also one of the most successful companies in the world. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg in a college dorm room, Facebook has proven to be immensely popular, 400 million members strong, using the site daily and searching for friends, past classmates, childhood friends, potential dates, and many other people. Facebook also features games, created by outside developers, the results of which can be shared with your friends. Along with all of this social activity comes a price: privacy. Facebook has had its share problems regarding its lackadaisical approach to privacy, including recent FTC filings against it, and numerous articles in the popular and computing press and privacy watchdog websites, all of them bemoaning the terrible things Facebook is doing to our private information. There is no reason to abandon Facebook because of this, however. Facebook can be made into a reasonably safe and private social network experience, as long as Facebook members take proper care to modify and continually monitor their privacy settings, fully understand what these settings do, and understand exactly how their information is used.
Bebel Gilberto – All Around
Despite having two newer albums since this was recorded, “All Around” from her self-titled second album is still a major favorite of mine. A great late-summer song. Here is the song, with video…enjoy!
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