Month: November 2023

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Pod Save Us

The next step in my slouch toward senility is being a pedant with AI-based customer service. The above: me trying to interact with Xfinity as my home wi-fi goes rogue. Pretty sure it’s not a real person anymore, but a bland descendant of HAL-9000.

The phrase is “please rest assured” NOT NOT NOT
“please be rest assured.”

Old man yells at Chat-GPT server.

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Experimental Matrimony

Ah, the emptiness of modern comforts…

Can a song be both great and ridiculous?  Fifty years on, I’m still wondering.  But I still love this and almost everything from Roxy’s first five albums.

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Who Woulda Thought

If someone had told me in the 70’s that Al Green would one day cover Lou Reed, I might have urged that someone to get mental help.  But here we are.  Predictably, there’s quite a difference.  Al sounds like he’s genuinely enjoying a perfect day, whereas Lou sounded like he was suffering through someone else’s idea of one.  Maybe he thought he should be enjoying it but couldn’t, or maybe he was enduring it to preserve domestic peace.  Or maybe he was participating out of sheer boredom.  Or maybe he was mocking someone else’s “perfect day.” Whatever the reason, Lou (or his character) was clearly not thrilled with his perfect day.

A good cover should offer a fresh take on a song, not just fill time or gratify a singer’s narcissism.  This qualifies.  And Al sounds great for someone pushing 80.

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Ogg Vorbis

While downloading a pleasant tune from the Bandcamp recently, I was offered this stunning array of options. I stayed with my mp3 because I like overly compressed crap.

Those of you who recently released albums, did you offer the FLACs and the AIFFs? Those cowbells really pop in AIFF!