Not sure why, but I started reading a little basic economic theory and I think that if record companies and muscians read this stuff they’d discover how incredibly flawed the business model of today’s music industry is. The most basic model of economic theory is supply and demand. Given the advent of mp3’s and high speed internet connections, the supply of all music recordings automatically becomes near-infinite. With an infinite supply of something, the demand is going to be on pretty uncertain terms when it comes to cost. How do you determine the cost of something that can be replicated infinitely? Todd Rundgren says it’s time for music to be viewed as a service rather than a commodity. I’m inclined to agree.
As I was walking to the microwave just now, a potential blog entry materialized in my mind:
"Every day at lunch when I go to the microwave to heat up my Campbell’s Chunky Soup® I take the Daily Cryptoquote with me to see if I can solve it in the 3 minutes and 30 seconds alotted for proper soup nuking. Most days I fail, today I didn’t."
3 minutes and 30 seconds later this prophecy came to pass. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt clairvoyant. I solved the cryptoquote with 7 seconds to spare.
I spent the weekend in the scenic Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, where the temperatures are already into three digits. I ventured south to attend my friend Sarah’s wedding, and to hang out with fellow Hendrix grad Allison D’Auteuil. Did I mention the heat?
I was rewarded for my struggle with 50 cent CDs! Wherehouse Music in Lewisville had a big used CD sale, so I merrily partook of these bargain-bin wonders:
Emmet Swimming – Wake
Josh Clayton-Felt – Inarticulate Nature Boy
The Apples in Stereo – The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
John McLaughlin – The Promise
The Spent Poets – The Spent Poets (4 copies of this gem I bought)
World Party – Egyptology (2 copies)
Jungle Funk – Jungle Funk (featuring Living Colour rhythm section Doug Wimbish and Will Calhoun)
The Soup Dragons – Hotwired
Dan Reed Network – The Heat
Baby Animals – Shaved and Dangerous
Girl Bros. – Girl Bros. (Wendy and Lisa from Prince’s Revolution)
Tackhead – Strange Things
*at this point the entire stack just fell off my desk…fuck!*
Oh, but the joys don’t end there…shortly after that I found my way to Half Price Books, where I picked up the following:
The Crystal Method – Vegas (for $4, I’ll mail it to Tara since she said she wanted it)
Michael Hedges – Breakfast in the Field (For ONE DOLLAR – I mean, can you believe it??)
T-Ride – T-Ride (I already own it, but it’s so great and so tragically out of print)
Also got some fine books – a hardcover copy of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs, in paperback, and a hardcover copy of Jeanette Winterson’s Gut Symmetries. I feel mixed about reading English Patient after having seen the movie – all the images will be pre-formed in my head, which I’m not so sure I like. However, I do love the movie, and I can imagine few things as enjoyable as being lost in the desert with Kristin Scott Thomas, or spongebaths with Juliette
Binoche, so…
A fine haul indeed. I almost bought Conversations with Wilder in hardcover, but a tiny voice inside my wallet said, "just stop."
What a weekend – canoeing in the rain! Driving in the rain! Shivering in shorts at Riverfest watching Nickel Creek! Sharing it all with Tara made it somewhat less painful. Plus we watched Almost Famous Saturday night and had brunch Sunday afternoon with the Morrisseys at Loca Luna. Monday DeLaine came over and we watched Hurlyburly which was really hard to watch so we stopped and watched the "Shoe Money Tonight" episode of Sports Night.
Dear god, save me from myself. Djangos.com had a $4.99 CD sale (plus free shipping over $50).
Here’s what I got:
Tears for Fears : Seeds of Love
Springfield, Rick : Best of Rick Springfield [UK]
Violent Femmes : Viva Wisconsin
Redding, Otis : Love Man
Oingo Boingo : Boi-ngo
U2 : Rattle and Hum
MC Hammer : Let’s Get It Started (the record he made before he went pop)
Third Bass : Derelicts of Dialect
X Ecutioners : Built From Scratch
Campbell, Glen : All-Time Favorite Hits
Harris, Emmylou : Pieces of the Sky
Invisibl Skratch Piklz : Shiggar Fraggar Show, Vol. 5
Anthrax : Persistence of Time
ABBA : Gold: Greatest Hits
Bissonette, Gregg : Submarine
Curfman, Shannon : Loud Guitars Big Suspicions
Incubus : Make Yourself
Chevelle : Point #1
the Churchills : You Are Here (yes, I already own it, but it's *that* good)
the Corrs : In Blue
Astley, Rick : Whenever You Need Somebody (not sure why I bought this…nostalgia maybe?)
Fishbone : Reality of My Surroundings
Devo : Greatest Hits
Kool Moe Dee : How Ya Like Me Now
This is purely for my own amusement and is not intended as any great refutation. Just a resigned "whatever" to the people that enjoy these kinds of email forwards. The best part is it pretends to have been written by Andy Rooney, who despite being a mean, clever old crank, is still a much better writer than this tripe:
