1. I blame Geof Morris for his generous gift of bootleg CDs and getting me to experiment with torrents. [back]

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I should really start trying to find time to play more often.

My tip for any acoustic guitarists out there, try the Jim Dunlop Nylon Standard picks. I prefer the .88mm - soft enough to mute the pick/string click you get with hard plastic picks but still stiff enough to pick with. If you’re mainly playing rhythm, the .73’s are worth trying out as well. For electric, I like the Tortex Black Gold Standard.

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Here is the direct link.

Thanks to everyone who commented or contacted me to let me know that this is available now.

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The jazz version of O Holy Night at the end of tonight’s episode of Studio 60 knocked my socks off. When the voiceover said to go to nbc.com for more on tonight’s music, I was very hopeful. I thought, “perhaps they really are getting it!” After all, they are offering video of the episodes over the web now - maybe there will be an MP3 version of the song to download or purchase.

Unfortunately, all this hope turned to utter disappointment when I arrived at nbc.com, poked around for a while, and found only this:

A listing of the musicians and a pointer to a web site to support the rebuilding of music in New Orleans. Sure I think this is a good cause, but I was really hoping to get myself a copy of that O Holy Night performance.

If you missed the show, you’ll be able to see it online in a couple of hours. Jump to the end to watch and listen to the musical performance - it’s breathtaking.

I’ve been enjoying watching Studio 60 this season. It isn’t as good as the West Wing, but I really enjoy Sorkin’s writing. And I’m not the only one - love this quote (emphasized below).

Sorkin is at his best when dealing with conflict, and this episode takes on conflict. It’s not the explosive kind of conflict that is the result of the John-Wellsification of NBC TV, but the strive to explore both sides conflict that TWW thrived on. John Goodman’s character delights in thwarting the Hollywood suits’ expectations of him by messing with their heads, and Sorkin delights in showing it to us. Matt at one point sums up the culture wars by saying that “Your side hates my side because you think we think you’re stupid, and my side hates your side because we think you’re stupid.” These kinds of semi-in-depth looks at the culture wars could be the bread and butter of Studio 60.

It’s just on a different level then the rest of what I see on TV.

UPDATE: The let down continues:

UPDATE #2: Here is a direct link to the musical performance. Just beautiful.

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I’ve seen Vienna perform a few times in smaller venues, but not since I’d moved to Denver from the Bay Area in 2004.

As you would expect, her performance skills have matured quite a bit after spending the last few years on the road. She seems completely confident and at ease on stage, and her voice is strong and true.

She played a lot of the tunes from her new CD, which definitely has a different feel than her earlier albums. Adam has a nice write-up about the album on his blog.

If you haven’t seen her perform live and you enjoy her music, you really need to make sure you catch this tour.

Besides the great show, it was a treat to see Eric² again as well. Eric had the forethought to bring his camera, so perhaps we’ll get some photos from the show on Flickr or his blog. Also, great job on the new site Eric!

1. Nice venue, the French Dip sandwich was tasty as well. [back]
2. Yes, the infamous “the other Eric”, or if you prefer, “the all-powerful god of sex Eric”. [back]

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I think he’ll have more success sticking with the ballads that really showcase his voice than with some of the uptempo tunes, but what do I know.

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While woing my little workout, I hook up my iPod to the little stereo in there using the Kensington Stereo Dock for iPod³. It works quite nicely.

I created a smart playlist of songs I’d rated 4 or 5 stars and songs that were in my ‘Allegro’ playlist, however that doesn’t end up being enough songs⁴ and I’m getting a bit of repetition. Hence the question:

What are some good “workout songs”?

Please post recommendations in the comments and I’ll happily drop a few bucks at the iTunes music store. The more I can do to make the working experience good, the longer I’m going to be able to keep this up.

One other note, the Denver Craig’s List has way more workout equipment listed for sale than it does technology toys.

1. Since the workout room has been complete in the basement. [back]
2. I pulled the nordic track out of storage this weekend, so I’m going to try using that on the off days from lifting. [back]
3. Which can be controlled by a Harmony remote - pretty cool. [back]
4. I tend towards more mellow tunes and have only started building the Allegro list - why can’t I tag songs in iTunes? [back]

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Download version 0.2 beta.

Reports are now individual files in the ‘reports’ directory. Each has a header block (similar to a WordPress plugin) where you specify the name, description, etc. All reports in the reports directory are shown in the reports list on the Home screen.

Ok, now go make some cool reports!

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Download

What it does right now:

• Imports a Library.xml export from iTunes into a MySQL database.
• Runs a couple of queries as example reports.

This is totally unpolished at this point and requires PHP 5+ and MySQL 4+.

Installation

1. At the top of the index.php file is the SQL for creating your database.
2. After you create your database, put your database settings in the config.inc.php file.
3. Export your iTunes music as ‘Library.xml’ and put the Library.xml file into the itunes_stats folder.
4. Load the index.php page in your browser and click on the “Load data” option to import the XML into MySQL.
5. Click on reports, etc.

I’ve added forums for ideas/mods/support. I’d love for you to write your own reports and send them in or post them in the forums.

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Now that I have all this data, I want to see some stats on it. I’d installed an old version of Goombah at one point, but recent installs had resulted in crashing. Tonight, I downloaded it again and, before launching, trashed any relevant data I could find. That seemed to work, and I’ve got it up and running again.

The thing Goombah seems to want to do most is find musical neighbors for me, but what I’m most interested in is things like:

• What artists have the higest average song ranking?
• What about a highest average rank with a weight modifier based on total number of songs rated for that artist?
• What artists should I purge entirely since I’ve never rated any of their songs at even 3 stars?

Maybe I should just dump my iTunes library into MySQL and run some queries…

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In particular, I’d like songs to be in alpha order when I go to Artists - [Artist Name] - All Songs, but also within an individual album.

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Whew!

I’m back from my week-long vacation to Nova Scotia: some hiking, a little golf, got rained on, went whale watching, ate some lobster, listened to some great music, found occasional internet access, got (just a little) sunburned, spent way too long on an airplane getting to and from and had my first experience going through customs. A great time was had by all.

Here are a few photos from the trip, many from the Cape Breton area.

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This kid has an unbelievable voice, I’m sure he’ll get a record deal out of this one way or another if he wants one. I purchased his song from the compilation CD from the iTMS and look forward to being able to buy an album soon.

1. I watched the last couple of episodes of the first season and bought Buddy Jewell’s album. [back]

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