The New Record Store

I went to Borders Books last night to do some research on a design project. I used to love to wander around the music section at that store, hunting for the next great CD. I'd dig through the racks of plastic jewel cases, hoping to unearth a treasure. Sometimes I'd get lucky and stumble across an incredible record like Frou Frou. But something has changed. I had no interest in looking around over there any more. I simply don't go that route now in my quest for new music. Don't get me wrong. I'm just as driven to find new bands and fresh sounds as I was when I was 13 years old. I've just found a better way.

Like many people these days, I look for music almost exclusively on the internet. I'm getting more ideas all the time about how to discover music there. One thing I do is to listen to online radio streams. My current favorite is called Radio Paradise, and you can link to it on iTunes Radio under "Alt/modern Rock". They play excellent commercial-free music 24 hours per day. I'm constantly writing down the names of songs and bands I've never heard before. Later, I'll take all of those names to the Apple iTunes Music Store and explore these bands in greater depth.

Another approach that works for me is to explore the huge variety of playlists on iTunes. For example, remember Death Cab For Cutie? I gave them my Album of the Year Award a few weeks ago. Well, they show up on iTunes today with a DCFC Celebrity Playlist where they recommend 83 different songs that have influenced them. How cool! Not surprisingly, their suggestions send me in new directions I've never been before. I find interesting bands like The American Analog Set, Teenage Fanclub and Burning Airlines. Before you know it, I'm using up another iTunes Christmas Gift Card.

I suppose there will always be a place in the world for a truly great record store like Music Millennium in Portland, Oregon. But for me, those types of stores are holding less interest these days. What I really miss are the album covers.

A Conversation With John Lennon

So if The Beatles were the most important musical group of the last half-century, who was the most important Beatle? That's an argument for the wee hours over a bottle of Syrah. But if you ask me, I'd say John Lennon was.

John was the brilliant ying to Paul McCartney's incredible yang, but he was also the person that gave The Beatles their edge. He was the deeper thinker. He was the live wire that struck the raw nerve. He was the force that had The Beatles raising new ideas not just musically, but intellectually. He was funny, talented, usually humble and sometimes angry. When asked if he was a genius, John responded, "I don't know if there really is such a thing, but if there is, I am one." Many would agree. He was one.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of his tragic death, Rolling Stone magazine has released the The Rolling Stone John Lennon Interview Podcast. It is the audio version of a conversation between Editor Jann Wenner and John Lennon in December, 1970. The Beatles had recently disbanded for good. Paul McCartney and George Harrison had released their first solo recordings, McCartney and All Things Must Pass. John had just released his own epic solo recording, Plastic Ono Band. Yoko, as was usually the case, was right by John's side during this interview. She does not speak much, but her presence is noticeable, as John refers to her frequently. John is not in the happiest state of mind (just listen to Plastic Ono Band). He's still angry about the painful collapse of The Beatles and he's upset about how he thinks the whole world is treating Yoko. He's undergoing Primal Scream Therapy to confront his own demons. He especially is mad at Paul, and has much to say about Paul's new music, which he can't stand. In later interviews, he comes to a more peaceful reflection about The Beatles, and life in general, but at this point in time, he's on edge.

If you go to this web link, you can download these fascinating interviews to your iTunes Player or even to your iPod. They are being released in weekly sections. So far, Rolling Stone has released 3 parts that total over 2 hours of conversation. I don't think they're done yet. I have found them to be extremely interesting. Since this interview was intended to be for print only, the recording quality is less than perfect. In fact, the only microphone was aimed at Lennon. Mr. Wenner's voice is in the distant background. For this online audio version, the volume on Wenner's questions have been boosted a bit, so we can have Lennon's answers in clearer context. I encourage you to go check them out. You might learn a little something about the most important of the most important.