Do you remember Napster?

The Napster corporate logo

In 1999, Napster was for me, in one word, Amazing.  Suddenly I could download pretty much any MP3 I ever wanted, free and (relatively) quickly.  I would spend days hunting down entire catalogues and my hard drives quickly filled with the music I thought I wanted.  Nine years later, and the necessity of actually having to download the tunes is disappearing. With the ubiquity of in browser flash players like the Hype Machine, and now Grooveshark, there really isn’t any need to download the tune.  Play pretty much any tune you want, right in your browser, on demand.  Nap-what?

Tree goes up in blaze of Pixie Dust

At the 2008 edition of Nuit Blanche this year, some of the artists that participated were not sanctioned.  While in the dog park at Trinity Bellwoods, I heard that there had been a guy who had climbed up a tree and that at midnight he was going to light the tree up wiht Pixie dust.  As luck would have it, I happened to be there at that time.  There were about 20 people gathered around the tree, and the artist began climbing the tree, in the pitch dark.  Being a careful sort we had to wait about ten minutes for him to get into position.  He then dropped a bag of flour from the tree, which exploded on the ground and pulled out a small canister torch and heated up a piece of metal to glowing red.  He then hit the metal with a hammer, each strike sending down a shower of sparks and…. nothing.  The disappointment in the crowd was obvious as we voiced it simultaneously.  “Wait” cried the voice from the tree top, “I have one more bag, I can try it again!”  The audience screamed their approval.  It was now half past midnight.  Another sack of flour was launched, and the artist again heated the metal, slower this time.  By the time he had it hot enough to begin striking it with the hammer, I was sure that the cloud of flour dust had dissipated too much to catch.  I was wrong.

Bank economists predict: ‘worse than a recession’

The word “recession” wouldn’t describe the deep structural problems affecting everything from the U.S. housing sector to the Canadian oil industry, said Bank of Nova Scotia chief economist Warren Jestin.

“You have to invent a new word to describe what we’re in now,” he said after the banks presented their perspectives at the Economic Club.

Trust me brother, the word already exists. Nobody wants to say it…yet.

CTV.ca | Bank economists predict: ‘worse than a recession’.

Stereogum Presents… DRIVE XV: A Tribute To Automatic For The People

I have been a huge R.E.M. fan for, well a very long time, seing them live a whack of times, including the unforgettable Yonge & Dundas show.  It’s been fifteen years since their Automatic For The People album, and Stereogum has done a great job putting together an eclectic, amazing tribute album.  From the essay:

Unlike most other celebrated, canonized records from the early ’90s, R.E.M.’s eighth album stands separate from the prevailing cultural trends of the era. Whereas most other rock bands at the time either embraced the aggressive, self-destructive angst of grunge or the brainy, aloof irony of indie rock, the Athens quartet presented something far more singular and timeless in the form of a tightly composed, occasionally baroque song cycle obsessed with mortality and the passage of time.

you should see the stereogum.com drive xv player here if you have flash

Stereogum Presents… DRIVE XV: A Tribute To Automatic For The People.

An amazing meal from the Pacific Northwest.

This past Saturday Lauren and I were lucky enough to be invited over for dinner by my good friend Mike Cipollo and his wife Paula.  Mike is chef at the Bier Markt and always ensures that the food Lauren and I serve at our BBQ’s is top notch.  For Saturday’s dinner, MIke prepared the following:

Puget Sound Chowder – crisp bacon, mixed chives, grilled San Francisco sourdough

Victoria Island Sablefish – encrusted with red miso and served with soy glazed baby fennel.

Organic BC Salmon – plank roasted, pan glazed Yakima Valley baby beets.

Pacific Waters Lobster – citrus & chardonnay beurre blanc, chevalis County five grain rice.

This amazing menu was written out on little cutting boards for us like so:

This was probably in my top 3 dinners of all time, and has completely convinced me that the only way to truly live is to have your own personal chef.