Something Shiny

What? It’s the end of October already? Crap. Ok, well, I went overboard last year with the Halloween posts and underboard this year. Check out some of last year’s posts here which include some good themed songs.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Just some random links that turned up October 30th:

• What’s going on? Halloween Weekend edition.. » More Cowbell Nice roundup of activities for the weekend
• Turbo Charge Your New XBMC Installation – Xbmc – Lifehacker More XBMC media center resources
• Coast Guard Plane Hits Helicopter – NYTimes.com Who names their kid "Jetta Disco?" Furthermore, who makes anyone named "Jetta Disco" a Coast Guard spokeswoman?
• Trillian Astra 4.1 Beta Boosts Twitter and Facebook Functions – trillian – Lifehacker Hmm, an IM client that might finally have something that can lure me away from Pidgin.
• Myspace.com: Music – Show Details I'm really starting to like Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. Turns out they have a show coming up at the Varsity Theater on 11/29. $12. Check it out.
• Andrew Bird Minneapolis, MN live at St Marks Cathedral on December 11, 2009 Andrew Bird live in Minneapolis, MN Fri Dec 11, 2009 at St Marks Cathedral
• The Twilight Hours: Uptown Bar’s Final Show

Did I miss anything exciting? Let me know in the comments.

This just popped up on random and it reminded me of the first time I heard the album (Murder Ballads). I had picked up the album on a whim used at Cheapo. After listening to a few songs I ran into the living room where my roommate was at the time (who was more “music cool” than I was) and excitedly asked if all of Nick Cave’s songs were about killing and other assorted, related unpleasant things.

He said, “yeah, pretty much.”

Obviously with a album title like Murder Ballads, well, murder is going to be a common topic, but the rule seems to hold true for a surprisingly high percentage of his body of work from The Birthday Present to Grinderman.

So, let’s all take a minute to remember how awesome Nick Cave is.

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• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: The Firstborn Is Dead (jambase.com)
• Nick Cave on Bunny Munro (guardian.co.uk)
• Plans Put on Hold for Gold Statue of Semi-Naked Nick Cave (pastemagazine.com)

That song “I like to move it move it” does make me want to move it… away from where that song is playing. (RT @jimgaffigan)

Just some random links that turned up October 29th:

• Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap [Winter Upgrades] A HDMI home theater PC for $200? Tempting.
• Faux Jean Tonight at the Uptown, get there before they close this weekend.

Did I miss anything exciting? Let me know in the comments.

The Uptown Bar used to have some great shows “back in the day.” A wildly impressive list of bands that later made it big, I mean BIG. Eventually they dropped the live shows and later tried to pick them up again, but never managed to book much other than generally mediocre local bands.

The Current did a series of well done videos looking back on the heyday of live music at the Uptown. I really can’t say it enough, try to get out there this week before they close. It’s a historical site that may or may not come back. But regardless of whether or not it makes it back, it will never be the same.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Save the Uptown Bar (morecowbell.net)
• Recession Hits Uptown (fimoculous.com)
• Catch a show at the Uptown Bar before they close (somethingshiny.com)

Two weeks in a row, that’s like a pattern or something… This is the second installment of the Thursday Shuffle feature. Here’s the lineup for the week:

Sugar Water by Cibo Matto
And the Same by Fugazi
Make You Cry by Jonathan Coulton
Five Man Army by Massive Attack
Life of Leisure by Rainer Maria

I almost wound up with two silly Jonathan’s in one mix, but alas, Reno from Jonathan Richman was nowhere to be found. In the spirit of full disclosure, these are song that came up on shuffle, I wasn’t able to include because they were not available on Grooveshark:

Bunny Boom by All City Affairs
Reno by Jonathan Richman

Just some random links that turned up October 28th:

• It's Not a Good Day to Be a GPS Manufacturer – Google Maps – Gizmodo
• Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 With any luck, they'll be putting this on other phones as well. This reduces the value of Sprint's Everything packages (which include internet connected, turn by turn navigation) when there's a viable free solution out there. The Everything plans are required for pretty much anything smarter than a flip phone on Sprint's network, and adds about $20 to the monthly bill. Navigation is $10 a month on its own which made me feel better about the upcharge, even though I wouldn't have added on the feature if it were not included.

Did I miss anything exciting? Let me know in the comments.

Guess I missed this too… Anyone have a recommendation for a decent album release calendar?

Anyway… Electric Six’s latest, Kill is out now. It doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s still fun. And don’t forget, they’ve got that show coming up in November at First Ave.

Just some random links that turned up October 27th:

• Official Google Blog: Use Google Voice with your existing number I'm not sure how this works (that wouldn't have worked yesterday). I assume it's just forwarding your mobile to a Google Voice number, but why that wouldn't have worked before the announcement, I'm not sure.
• Google Wave: we came, we saw, we played D&D – Ars Technica Google Wave, what is it good for? Apparently it's good for classic role playing collaboration.

Did I miss anything exciting? Let me know in the comments.

I can’t tell if they’re going for playful sexy, or it just kinda happened, but to see this from Qwest surprised me. Next we’ll see a Bank of America ad with a girl in a t-shirt that says “Access in the Rear” advertising their bank located ATM locations.

On a related note, I have Qwest and while I haven’t had an opportunity to use it yet, I do appreciate the free WiFi add-on.

I’m pretty sure my signal strength display is based on a random number generator as it seems unrelated to signal quality. 5, 1, 3, 1, 4, 5

So, tis the season for the public radio stations to beg for money to make ends meet. Sure, we complain about the interruption, but you know, if you’re irritated by what you’re hearing that means two things:
1) You’re listening to the station
2) You like the station enough to sit through the pledge drive

I’d donated to Radio K in the past, before the Current was around. I like Radio K, but depending on the time of day, location in town, whether or not school was in session, and the entrails of a freshly slaughtered chicken, I could be flipping between a couple FM frequencies, as well as the old standby 770 AM trying to find a solid signal.

The Current has a somewhat more dependable signal and with DJs like Mark Wheat (a Radio K alum) and Mary Lucia (a Rev 105 alum), they’re not just using a formula to appeal to a niche, they actually like the music they play and it shows.

So, head over to thecurrent.org and throw ‘em a couple bucks.

Need a reminder why? Listen for a bit…

3 Google Voice invitations up for grabs