A quick thought since it's so late

A note about the internet.

I recently signed up for Twitter. You can see my little...*sigh*..."tweets" lower on this page. Other than updating photos for this site, I can really find no real purpose for it. But then I thought...Why is Twitter so bad? If it is, it's just as bad as Facebook, MySpace or even this site?

You've got me there. The internet is strange place for a human being. We've been reduced to quick answers and cliff notes. For now, I suppose it'll work for me. Plus...I'm following Larry David! How cool is that?

The whole internet thing got me thinking. Our access to information is no longer limited. The world really IS getting smaller. Which is both good and bad. Art isn't limited to just location. But without direction, lack of location could mean lack of art. "It's on the web and a million people have seen/heard/followed/commented on it." But you can't just go blindly picking up any scent of hilarity or good on your own. You need someone to TELL you where to go. To do that, you truly need a trusted source.

As for me, my source is usually people I know.....

ahem.

....After they've let me down, I look stuff up. Amazon, Myspace, Wiki's....Whatever. It's kind of a cool way of doing it. But there is another way. A better way. A way to listen to things that YOU might never ever hear before. Internet Radio Stations.

For example, there is Combat Music Radio (http://www.combatmusicradio.com/) . They have a radio show called Return to Zero hosted by Scott Kelly of Neurosis. I decided to download the shows unto my ipod while I deliver pizzas to people I hate (more on that later). Not only is the show eclectic (The Terminator Theme) but it's also full of rare demos and bands who I've never heard of.

While working at this job I hate, I heard this song and since I didn't have the playlist in front of me...I had to make a mental note to remember to look up the song that was playing and remember to get it as soon as I get near a computer.

Flash Forward to a few days later when I finally remembered to look it up.

Junior Bruce - Plague of Thieves. (Good southern stoned shit. Mucho potential.)

I couldn't find it. Not on iTunes, not on Amazon, last.fm, or even my torrent sites.

How could this be? You mean I actually have to GOOGLE this freakin' band? What is wrong with the world?

When I found them (Myspace), I realized that they some local band from Florida. I thought: "Wow, that's really cool. I can't buy a CD from them (not even illegally). But here they are. Playing a show in Florida with Mouth of the Architect. In order for me to get anything from this band...I'll have to see them live."

Which sucks. But also cool because I'll have to keep my eyes open.

Anyway, that was a long rant about the usefulness of the internet when we let people run it and not let it be run by machines. A radio show actually hosted and selecting songs to play on their show serves a purpose. I may never be able to hear Junior Bruce again, but at least I did. I'm glad for that.

The world may be getting smaller, but at least it can never replace the ol' fashioned need to buy a CD at a dive bar. It helps to have some guidance in order to keep it real.

But what I will say, as much as a dinosaur MySpace might be nowadays with everyone's need to get just the headlines and not read to full story. MySpace is still pretty cool place to find bands that are local and independent. Which is how I found Junior Brown.



Enough ranting. Time for Richard to find me this band on CD and give it to me!!









Command Image: Radio Commands Dog