Take An Online Adventure

My good friend Sigmadog (see Almost Daily in the "links" over in the right column) regularly posts links on his blog to online games that never fail to cause me to immediately quit working and start goofing off. I think he does it because he gets addicted to them himself, so he figures that he'll cause the rest of the world to experience a similar detour in the middle of their work day. Well now its my turn. I found this great, free, online adventure scenario, I guess you could call it a game. Its called Samorost 2. Its really well done, and has several levels or "chapters" before the game is finished. It took me a long time to get through it, but it was a fun journey. It requires you to think about your cyber-surroundings and use deductive reasoning. If you enjoy this one, it looks like they have several others.

Album Of The Year

My good friend Willy and I have a tradition. Most years, we will discuss which recorded music album was the best of the previous year. Some years we agree and some we don't. Occasionally, the choice is obvious. Other times the choice is tougher. This year, we've come to separate opinions.

2005 was a weak year for the music business. The good vines weren't producing in abundance. I did not come across that collective presentation of songs that "knocked me out". I've tried to find a way out of picking a winner this year, but I feel that I have a responsibility to uphold. The Grammy Awards Committee can't just abdicate, now can they? There were some albums that I liked... or at least they had several songs that I liked. I've considered the lot of them and offer these opinions. You can click on any of the following titles to link to these recordings on iTunes.

And my winner is...

"Plans" - Death Cab For Cutie
Most of the songs on this record are great. DCFC is an interesting band that started out as college friends in Bellingham, Washington. They have since relocated to Seattle. Lead singer Ben Gibbard's vocal stylings help create their distinctive sound. Its hard to categorize... a little bit folky, for sure, but its too eclectic to fall neatly into any single genre. Their music shows up frequently on TV and movie soundtracks. If you like this album, listen to their previous one, "Transatlanticism", from 2003. It might be even better.

The other nominees, in no particular order...

"Love, Angel, Music, Baby" - Gwen Stefani
"Illinois" - Sufjan Stevens
"How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" - U2
"Speak For Yourself" - Imogen Heap
"Devils & Dust" - Bruce Springsteen

As for my friend Willy, his award goes to...

"Righteous Love" - Joan Osborne
In his words... "My winner caught me way off guard... and late in the game. In many ways, similarly to the way that Lisa Loeb got me a few years back. Joan Osborne "Righteous Love". Can't stop listening to it."

Willy's runner-up is...

"American Idiot" - Green Day

In conclusion, let me say that I think 2005 was the Year Of The Single. The Year Of The Mixed CD. Maybe thats because it was the way I bought my own music. I've become an iTunes junky. I don't, by the way, see that changing anytime soon.

So now its your turn. Who was the best? What music did you like this past year? Post your opinion to the blog comments if you wish.

Remembering Joni Mitchell

I often wonder which artists of my generation will be remembered for their creative contribution centuries from now. Who will be the Picasso, Mozart, Van Gogh, or Beethoven of the past fifty years? One who certainly deserves that sort of remembrance is Joni Mitchell. As a musician, she followed no one, and set the creative course for countless artists that have followed. As a songwriter and lyricist, she was without peer. Never driven by commercial success, she followed her creative muse wherever it took her, and that was quite often further than the record companies were willing to follow. She also is an incredible painter. I expect a Joni Mitchell painting a hundred years from now will reach the highest price levels.

Why am I remembering Joni? Well, for a few reasons. I just watched two incredible DVDs about her. The first was called "Joni Mitchell, Painting With Words and Music". It features Joni's "final" concert, which was actually an orchestrated event put together simply for the DVD. It marks Joni's final performance before a live audience. And she is simply incredible. The set list covers the breadth of her career. Her mature voice is near perfect and her jazz-oriented backing band follows her every turn with great skill. I never got to see Joni in concert, but this video helps make up for that in at least a small way. The second DVD I watched was called "Joni Mitchell: Woman Of Heart And Mind". Through interviews and recordings, it is a biography of Joni's artistic career. I learned a lot. Joni began in the early sixties, hoping to follow in the folk-footsteps of Joan Baez and Judy Collins. It was not long before she had eclipsed all other female performers and was defining the role of singer-songwriter by the early seventies. Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Graham Nash, David Crosby and Jimi Hendrix were all under her spell. Her original use of non-traditional guitar tunings set her apart as a guitarist. She had the voice of a goddess and her lyric writing was quite simply at another level... only Dylan might be in her league. Her discovery of jazz in the mid-seventies took her to a whole deeper level of musicianship. It didn't always work well, but she was always on the cutting-edge of musical inventiveness. And when it did work, like on her 1976 album "Hejira", it was literally a masterpiece.

Finally, I'm remembering Joni because she has decided that she is no longer a musician. That's right, she's all done. Mostly due to her frustration with the music industry of today, she has decided to quit once and for all. In a way, its sort of refreshing to see her go out when she still "has it". But it leaves me feeling very sad to know that's all we're going to get. So now she is Joni Mitchell, painter. If you have not seen her paintings, I encourage you to go find them somewhere on the internet. I wish she would put together a retrospective of her paintings and send them on tour, but that has yet to happen. And if you have not seen these two DVDs, I encourage you to see both of them. You'll be reminded just how important an artist Joni Mitchell was. There are few artists of her ability in today's music business. I expect her legend will outlive them all.