Back to the (Vinyl) Future

vinyl-7723Lady GaGa is making news with her latest album, just released. Oops, I mean “dropped.” Some of the new songs were recorded on analog equipment, on tape, as it was done way back when, before the 1s and 0s of digital recording took over in the nineteen-nineties. Digital recording has the advantage that a song can be pieced together from numerous takes, a few seconds from here, a section from there. The off-key parts, whether vocal or instrumental, can be corrected with a bit of digital wizardry called Auto-Tune.

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Defending the Purity of Country Music

Copyright CBS Broadcasting Inc., All Rights Reserved
Copyright CBS Broadcasting Inc., All Rights Reserved

I don’t like country music, but I don’t mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means ‘put down’.” – Bob Newhart

 

Queen Bey and the Dixie Chicks, I thought that was just power, just raw power. I just love that it was feminine raw power.” – Garth Brooks.

We were okay with Charley Pride and now Darius Rucker, but this? Here’s what outraged country music fans at the recent Country Music Awards. Read about it here.

My personal favorite country music outrage: Del McCoury does Richard Thompson.

The Cubs Won; That’s What Matters

Aroldis Chapman, closer for the World Series champion aroldis-chapman-girlfriend-cristinaChicago Cubs throws the fastest pitches ever recorded: 105 miles-per-hour. He also is the first player to be penalized under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence rules. Not to worry, though, his accuser, Cristina Chapman, mother of one of his children, was the special guest of the Cubs at Wednesday’s game.

The allegations had caused the Dodgers to void a trade deal with the Reds for him. They made a deal with the Yankees, who subsequently traded him to the Cubs.

And the $1 million in lost salary for his thirty-game suspension? Chapman’s share of the playoff pool will be close to half that.

Airlines Love Their Customers

airport-congestionIf you’ve flown on a commercial airline in the last twenty years or so, you may have noticed a disconnect between their advertising about pampering their customers and the general romance of flying and the reality of a la carte air travel.

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