Author: James McNally

More Moozeek

A couple of more links for the music fans:

As well, I’ve been using Sam Ley‘s excellent iScrobbler plugin for iTunes for a while now. Unfortunately, the Audioscrobbler site itself has been down for several days with more database woes, I assume. When it comes back up, check out iScrobbler!

As the result of a sales contest at work, I won an iPod a while back. On Friday, I finally received it, and have been deliriously happy ever since. I have almost 2500 songs packed onto the little thing, and am doubly happy I received it in time for my annual trek to SxSW. Speaking of which, if you are going, and have any last minute requests for Canadian candy or maple syrup or Rheostatics or Sloan CDs or mukluks or what-have-you, now is the time to let me know…

Mod Pop Punk

The Mod Pop Punk Archives is a nice site documenting the late 70s music scene, and includes a large selection of MP3s from some mostly-forgotten bands. It’s a nice way to immerse yourself in another time. I felt like I was 14 again, that’s for sure.

The reason I’m linking it is that, in compiling my annual Compilation Champs CD for South by Southwest, it came to my attention that a whopping 40% of the music on it was made in the 1970s. I suppose that’s because the 1970s were when I was discovering music in the first place. The first LP I ever purchased was Led Zeppelin’s first album, from Halliday’s TV shop at the Parkway Plaza. My ten-year old impression was that the band could play, but man that singer had a crappy voice. But most of the music that means the most to me was released between 1976 and 1981. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that those years correspond to the years between 11 and 16 for me. Does this hold true for the rest of you as well?

1337 Syncopations

Brooke took me to the ballet again today. I’m not the dance fanatic that Brooke is, but I do appreciate the hard work and creativity. The highlight of today’s performance was Elite Syncopations, a ballet choreographed to the ragtime music of Scott Joplin and others. I loved the looseness of the dancing, which seemed sometimes like a cross between ballet and the choreography of Bob Fosse. The costumes were wildly garish, too. The best piece was The Alaskan Rag, a number danced by the tallest female dancer (my newest crush, the gorgeous Julie Hay) and the shortest male dancer (the impish Daisuke Ohno). It’s played for laughs, but making yourself look clumsy takes real skill.

Another highlight of the mixed programme was The Judgement of Paris, a twist on the classic Greek tale where Paris must judge the beauty of the three goddesses Juno, Venus, and Minerva. Choreographer Antony Tudor has updated and turned the tale on its head, setting it in a sleazy “nightclub” to the music of Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera. A “customer” is choosing between three aging “dancers” who end up robbing him.

For more information, including our seat numbers, check out Brooke‘s site. 🙂

Voice Box

Voice Box is a cool program for Mac OS X that will read text out loud in a variety of voices. The neat thing is that in the new version (1.3), you can have it read RSS feeds. It can also save the results to a sound file that can be transferred to your iPod. A great way to catch up on your favourite weblogs and news sites on your way to work.