I closed out my eMusic account the other day. I had steadily fallen out of love with the service over a year or so. For three months I had the account on hold, and didn’t miss it, so canceling it seemed like a good way to trim from the household budget. During three months on hold, I didn’t give eMusic $36, and only spent $12 on music (at Target). At that rate, I’ll save about $80ish a year. That buys a lot of baby food.

Which brings me to the mindset I occupied while selecting my final tracks. A little daddy imp found its way to my shoulder, and through the whole process kept whispering, “Would you jam to that with an impressionable kid around?” I listen to all kinds of music, and was grooving to a Kool Keith b-sides release on the site. No, the imp admonished. I checked out a Danzig release, his first, out of sheer nostalgia. (I met Danzig once. He’s really short. But that’s another post.) Nixed by the imp. So, I settled on Pearl Jam: few swear words (if any) and music that rocks, but not usually hard enough to scare anyone. The imp approved, so I downloaded “Vitology” and spent the rest of my credits on several singles.

That imp is my new friend. I know that our new infant, when he or she arrives, won’t understand crude language right away. Still, I’d hardly choose to blare N.W.A. while I clean the house anymore. Welcome to dadrock, says the imp. It’s where “parent” finally inserts itself in the “parental advisories” on all the music you’ve bought up to this point. We’ve been expecting you the imp says, um, impishly.

Thanks, buddy, I reply. Now, how about a little help when it comes to all those diapers changes?

Ed. note: This is the latest in a when-I-feel-like-it series of meditations on “third places,” spots to spend time that aren’t home or work.

The best record store in St. Petersburg is Daddy Kool Records. Bananas Music has a better selection (actually an enormous selection), but something about Daddy Kool reminds me of record stores of my teens and twenties: dusty affairs with big selections of new and used CDs and vinyl.

What makes a record store a third dimension? As I wrote before, the barrier for entry falls at or under the cost of a movie ticket. In short, cheap, public ways to kill time.

A record store may not offer a lot of stimulus for the non-music fanatic. But, a person incline to purchase anything from jazz to country to hip-hop can spend hours thumbing through stacks. I fall into that category, and shudder to think how many weeks of my life I’ve spent digging through dusty crates of music. In college in East Lansing, Mich., I went to Flat, Black & Circular so much they could’ve charged me rent. After I moved to the Ann Arbor, Mich., area my disposable income went to Wazoo Records and PJ’s.

Wait, you keep talking about spending cash. That doesn’t sound like a viable third dimension.

Yes, I’ve dropped more than my share of ducats in record stores – and probably your share too. Just as often, I’d spend time but no money. The soft, dusty act of running my fingers through vinyl LPs offers a meditative comfort. The clacks of jewel cases as I speed through the used CD selection lends a sort of inspired energy.

Today, I spent $16 and two hours in Daddy Kool. If I hadn’t gotten greedy, I could’ve just as easily spent $8 (the theoretical threshold for a third dimension). The titles I bought today: The Coup’s fourth release
Party Music and The Replacements’ Don’t Tell a Soul.

A big-boxish mall store might have stocked both titles, but not for $8 a piece. A big-boxer also wouldn’t have offered the kind of personal service that a store like Daddy Kool can. The clerk at Daddy Kool gave honest, informed opinions on each. He also hipped me to a couple upcoming concerts he knew I’d want to know about. Of course, being on a first-name basis with the guy behind the counter helps.

Readers probably noticed that I opened this post with the term “record store,” even though vinyl long ago lapsed as the dominant format. Old habits are hard to break. As digital distribution grows into dominance, I hope iTunes Music Store and other sites don’t force me to give up the record story experience. It stands as one of my favorite third dimensions, and clicking through the tracks on a download site just doesn’t have the same feel.

P.S.: Daddy Kool will be moving from their Central Avenue location to a yet-to-be disclosed new storefront at the end of September. A developer plans to raze the whole block to put up yet another condo tower. I wish them luck with their move.

The AP has another story today on artist holdouts finally giving in to digital music distribution. From the article, this stuck in my craw:

“We’ve always thought certain artists put out albums that aren’t meant to be compilations with 50 other artists,” said Ed “Punch” Andrews, manager for both (Bob) Seger and Kid Rock. “We’re hoping at some point albums become important again like they were in the past 30 years.”

Wah!, people aren’t listening to our entire LP. Wah!, artists are only getting a dime per download. Almosts makes you want to toss your iPod. Oh, wait, did I say iPod? I meant cookies.

People haven’t been listening to entire releases since the creation of a) shitty songs that pad otherwise decent LPs

Genius can prove more than one man can handle. That was the case with Syd Barrett, who apparently died a few days ago.

He co-founded Pink Floyd, but let drugs – particularly early and powerful versions of LSD – get the best of him and was forced from the band in 1968 in favor of David Gilmour. He had a brief solo career, but dropped from the public and the music industry around 1972.

His reclusion and eccentric state pushed him from fame to infamy. Though he checked out more than 30 years ago to the safety of his mother’s Cambridge basement, his creativity helped fuel the creation of psych rock. His presence (or lack of it) had been somehow comforting all these years, and he’ll be missed. Shine on, crazy diamond.

I welcome the passage of the “iTune’s Law” in France. The measure would compel Apple Computer to open its iPods to competing music formats. It’s a step in the right direction (even though Apple may react by pulling out of the French market).

Music players should either allow the use of all file formats, or all online music stores should sell their tracks in the same format. Falling short of those goals hurts both consumers and the industry. It’s ridiculous that, as an iPod user, I can’t buy songs from Artist A on-line because his record label made a deal with Sony, not Apple. If I preferred Sony’s music store selection, but would rather own an iPod for its simplicity, I’d be rightfully miffed.

Let’s put this in the context of the long-gone good-ol’ days. Would it have made sense if a CD I bought at Brick-And-Mortar Tunes ‘R Us could only play on certain, specially equipped stereos? I don’t think so.

And for those who say, Why don’t you just convert everything to mp3? I do. Still, that puts an unnecessary burden on the consumer. Remember him? He’s the one you want buying your products.

If on-line distribution is the model of the future (and it is), let’s settle on a good, high-quality format, knock off the proprietary bullshit and get on with enjoying the music.

I used to call it a mixed tape. I’d spend hours with a two-deck casette boom box getting just the right tracks in just the right order. Then, I’d play the hell out it until that blessed Memorex magnetic tape pulled out of shape and warped.

But enough “back in my day” bullshit. Here are 10 tracks in high rotation on my iPods.

• “Comatose” by Pearl Jam. A rocker that can actually follow “World Wide Suicide” on the band’s new LP Pearl Jam.
• “There for You” by Damien Marley, from the release Welcome to Jamrock. Haunting. Thanks Miss K.
• “Desecration Smile,” which leads the Mars side on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium.It reminds me a lot of their big 90s hit “Breaking the Girl.”
• “Mary-Christ” from Sonic Youth’s 1990 album Goo. If this song doesn’t rock you, it ain’t the song that’s wrong.
• “Let’s Push Things Forward” from the Streets’ Original Pirate Material. “Let’s put on the classics and we’ll have a little dance, shall we?” Thanks BT-Killah.
• “The Number of the Beast” from Iron Maiden’s 1982 LP of the same name. Could that song really be almost 25 years old? Rocks like new.
• “Pump Up the Volume” by M.A.R.R.S. I provides the answer to the eternal question, what happens when you launch a club track into orbit.
• “Truth is Out of Style” by MC 900 Ft. Jesus. It’s both dated and prescient.
• “Makiballilia” by Aceyalone, from his limited release Grand Imperial. It’s live and large, and puts the beat from “Billy Jean” to work.
• “From the Ritz to the Rubble” from Arctic Monkey’s debut Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. Again, a catchy rocker, even though the cockney’s dense as fog.

While digging around for my old passport the other day, I found the envelope I’ve kept concert stubs in for ages. Here, I offer a selection of those dates and shows for the sake of amusement/ridicule.

• Cypress Hill and Rage Against the Machine, Dec. 10, 1993

• Allen Ginsberg reads Howl, Feb. 4, 1994
• H.H. the Dalai Lama, April 23, 1994
• Green Day, July 26, 1994
• Pink Floyd, July 15, 1994
• Tori Amos, Oct. 16, 1994
• David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails, Oct. 3, 1995
• Joshua Redman Quartet, Feb. 15, 1996
• P-Funk, Oct. 19, 1996
• Snoop Doggy Dog, Jan. 24, 1997
• Ani Difranco, April 6, 1997
• Jane’s Addiction, Nov. 4, 1997
• The Roots and Goodie Mob, May 24, 1998

This is what we get with tape-delay censorship:

Two sexually explicit lyrics were excised from the rock legends’ performance Sunday. The only song to avoid the editor was “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” a 41-year-old song about sexual frustration.

In “Start Me Up,” ABC’s editors silenced one word, a reference to a woman’s sexual sway over a dead man. The lyrics for “Rough Justice” included a synonym for rooster that the network also deemed worth cutting out.

Of course the rock legends are the Rolling Stones.

My question is, what’s the point in censoring a song that has been played ad naseum on the radio for years intact?

“Start Me Up” and “Satisfaction” were risque, um, like a generation ago. As far as their new song, I haven’t heard it, but I presume the objectionable word was “cock.” Double entendre aside, is it really that graphic coming from “rockers” eligible for AARP mailings?

For the record, here’s the lyric in context:

One time you were my baby chicken
Now you’ve grown into a fox
Once upon a time I was your little rooster
But am I just one of your cocks

It seems pretty obvious to me that they’re talking about a bevy of male chickens, but you never know. Somebody might snicker Beavis & Butthead-style at that.

Impressionable minds might be watching. I’m glad ABC saw fit to protect me from that.*

* Obviously sarcasm. Shakespeare used worse double entendres, and he’s taught in high school without a 5-second tape delay.

Vinyl LPs played the role of “state of the art” for decades, and I’m reminded that time ended not so long ago. I came across this quaint note last night on the Elvis Costello album Get Happy!:

Hi!

You’ll have noticed that there are ten (?) tracks on each side of this, Elvis’ new L.P., making it a real “long player”!

Elvis and I talked long and hard about the wisdom of taking this unusual step and are proud that we can now reassure hi-fi enthusiasts and/or people who never bought a record made before 1967 that with the inclusion of this extra music time they willl find no loss of sound quality due to “groove cramming” as the record nears the end of each face (i.e. the hole in the middle).

Now get happy.

Your friend,

Nick Lowe

Producer

We’ve used space-age polymers and other NASA technology to cram those grooves. Those peaks and troughs in the songs, we got ‘em covered.

The year? 1980. In 25 years, we’ve gone from cramming grooves to practically unlimited groove capacity. Rock on, brother.

Somehow, it all works.

I was checking out the media diets of the Poynter roster, and found this site – 180° News. The site aggregates news based on reader interest.

After adding a few feeds to NetNewsWire, I found this item. It mentions a British band called Arctic Monkey, which apparently tears up the UK charts.

ITunes only has five tracks on two EPs. I bought three songs that caught my ear. The band’s Web site lists an album that came out today, Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not, which is also mentioned in the Yahoo news item. It’s a shame they don’t have a US store on the site.

They drive hard, maybe a bit rougher than say, Supergrass (one of my favorite current British rockers), but just as catchy.