Queen Anne St.: The Backbone of a Community

The sun was shining in Queen Anne on Tuesday, a rare sight this time of year anywhere in Seattle. People were out everywhere, encouraged to leave their homes and offices to enjoy this sunny exception in an unusually cold winter. I'm out too, walking down Queen Anne St, a bit south of the Seattle Center. This street is the main throughfare for the Queen Anne neighborhood, and contains enough hotels, restraunts, coffee shops, and businesses to spend an entire day shopping without ever leaving the street.

The first place that I come to is a park that it's impossible to come to this area without noticing: The Seattle Center. Built in the '60s as the site for the World's Fair, it's known as a place for tourists by most Seattle locals. Walking into the center, the huge fountain glistening in the sun, a woman and her child play in the water jets, while a man wails on his saxophone in the background. There is lots to do here that isn't necessarily the expensive tourist traps that the Space Needle elevator and the EMP are - The Pacific Science Center has laser shows to classic rock music on the weekends, as well as huge-screen IMAX movies all week. There are several theatres scattered around too, and currently the Seattle Repretory Theater is doing a production of "The Diary of Anne Frank."

This huge park always has something going on, and it's definitely a place that Seattle residents should visit more often.

As I continued my walk down Queen Anne St, I made it to a more commercial area with shops lining both sides of the street. I found myself inside Twice Sold Tales, a bookstore which only deals in used fare. The store was tucked away on a corner, and once inside it's clear that this isn't an ordinary bookstore. The sterile, expansive, corporate America feeling you get from stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble is gone.

At Twice Told Tales, it's been replaced with a dark cavelike feeling, with books packed in everywhere you look, and several cats roaming around at their pleasure. It's hard to get cash for your old books here, but easy to trade them in and find something else in the store instead. A friendly staff, huge selection, and the good feeling you get supporting local businesses will bring me back to this store the next time I'm looking for a good read.

My next stop would be Uptown Espresso. In a city with coffee shops across the street and next door to other coffee shops, to be successful is to be different. The first thing I noticed about Uptown is the lamps that were on the tales - every one was different from the others.
Mine happened to be a windmill, and I sat down and enjoyed the best cup of hot chocolate I've had in a while. The textured walls, festive lamps, and general atmosphere made this coffee shop feel more like I was enjoying a cup at my own home. The woman at the counter looked over to me and asked "If you were a superhero, which one would you be?"

I quickly responded: "Batman, duh."

Queen Anne St, (and Queen Anne in general) is an exciting place full of good businesses and good people. I only spent an hour walking down the street and visiting stores and parks, but I'm sure one could spend much more time here if he had it. As I came out of Uptown, the sun had been hidden away behind growing cloud cover. I knew it wouldn't last long.

Easy Street Records: A Queen Anne Staple

As I walked in to Easy Street Records last Tuesday, I was greeted with a familiar smell that I can only describe as "music store." The musty smell of old records in their cardboard cases mixed with plastic CDs makes me feel at home in any store, and Easy Street Records in Queen Anne isn't an exception.

Since opening up shop 5 years ago in 2003, Easy Street records has been offering free in-store concerts for bands who want to be able to promote their music without much hassle, and they are always well attended by Queen Anne residents and music lovers all over the city of Seattle.

Tuesday's show was an album release party for an indie rock band out of Portland, "The Helio Sequence." As the band set up at the end of the store behind a garage door, the crowd found spots to watch among the shelves of records and CDs. There was hardly any lighting and a bare bones stage, but what matters most to the people attending was the music. The Helio Sequence rocked out hard playing songs from their new album, and the several-hundred strong crowd was definitely enjoying it.

The staff at Easy Street records said that they enjoy doing the in-stores, and that it's always interesting to see what bands decide to make a stop there -- usually accompanying another show in a bigger venue around the same time. The in-stores are usually lower key performances - sorter and with less glam, and that's an element that can draw some people to them that might not want to be part of a 500 person mosh pit at the Paramount. There are more than 20 shows at Easy Street every year, and in the past such famous artists as M.I.A and Pearl Jam have performed, all for absolutely no money.

"Pearl Jam was definitely my favorite of the in-shows because we didn't announce it," employee Tanya Jessen said. "They just showed up and started playing, and before we knew it the entire store was packed."

Most shows are announced however, and if you're ever broke in Queen Anne looking for something to pass the time, check out the big rotating sign outside of the store to see if there are any good bands scheduled to perform. They also post upcoming store events on their website.

Mobile Video

Recently in a conversation with my mom, she was telling me about the recent cell phone boom in India.More people are getting cell phones, and that's great. Businesses and the whole economy of that country can benefit by more people being connected. The interesting aside to the growth, however, is that because of it more and more people in India are using their new cell phones to consume media. While here in the US we may have a TV and an iPod too, that definitely isn't the case for most people living there, and televisions are much more rare. So what do Indians do instead? Gather round the ol' cell phone and watch a translation of Friends!

Mobile video is popular here too, whether it be on an iPod or on a cell phone. People are consuming more and more media on the go, and more and more media on small screens and stock earbud headphones. Mendel had brought up the point in an earlier entry that he disliked this because it results in people never having any time to just "be" since they can watchSouth Park during all their free time on the bus, and although i agree with him, I also dislike this new trend for a different reason , and David Lynch seems to agree with me :P

It seems to me that as more people start watching their television and movies on smaller screens, the people producing that media might start having to compensate for that with a different style of production. The music industry has compensated for the fact that 50% of iPod owners use stock earbuds with the "loudness wars," which are virtually eliminating dynamic range in new music and can ruin it in extreme cases. Are we going to start seeing new TV shows doing something similar? Are we going to see cinematography with more close-ups and detail shots so people watching on an iPod nano screen can actually see what's going on? Are directors even going to bother with small details and good sets if most people aren't going to see them anyway?

I myself have never watched a TV show on my iPod, and maybe used the stock earbuds for about 1 day (mostly to advertise my new iPod owner status). Are these things sufficient for anyone reading this? I guess I maybe don't understand since I like to consume media in the best environment possible, or else I don't think it is worth it. The director intended movies to be viewed on a screen the size of a room, and while watching them on a television is acceptable, I just will not have the same experience on a cell or iPod, period. Same with music, if I can't hear everything that's in the song, why even bother?

Maybe I'm just a media perfectionist, but I'm sure that there are others like me, and we're getting the short end of the stick.

Late Night Ramblings

I've been thinking recently, as always, about file sharing.

What I've been pondering is what the next step should be for the record industry. What, in my opinion, should happen so that they will make money and keep the consumers happy at the same time, neither of which seems to be happening recently.

Obviously one of the main factors in this debate is the money. Recording artists require inflated coke addict inducing salaries, and bands are wondering why their albums aren't selling. Some of them are even choosing to independently distribute their albums. Record sales are going down, and they can't support themselves, so they blame it on the pirates and start a crusade. This is the largest mistake they could have made.

The people who used OiNK were the people who had such an extreme addiction to music that they could never get enough of it. We're the people who hear songs we like and spin them on a dance floor for hundreds of people to hear, and possibly go home and buy from iTunes. More importantly, quite a few of us are the people who also buy music in addition to pirating it. Every month I spend large amounts of money on used CDs. I love collecting them, having the linear notes and the pretty artwork. To me that is worth the money - I may have pirated the album before, but having that CD makes it feel more real to me. Having lots of them on a shelf just looks GREAT.

Since this is the case for many other music addicts that I know, they are doing the wrong thing by pissing us off. We're the people with the 200+ CD collections, not the ones who listen to the same 100 $.99 iTunes songs over and over (Grace Carosio). Because we're angry at our peers and fellow file-sharers being sued and tired of DRM, we're all off buying only used CDs and directly supporting the artist, and then pirating the new releases so they see none of our money.

Here's what I think a solution could be that logically follows from all these things. I know I'm living in a dream world, but this could really work.

Firstly, they need to accept that piracy is never going to stop. They need to compete with the pirates by doing one thing: meeting their price, creating a free online database containing large quantities of music. A place where all of the music you'd ever want is available in a bare bones form: as a V2 VBR mp3 download. Ads would be fine, p2p would be fine. They could still make money on this. A monthly fee could be charged for a subscription which removed the ads and allowed you to download in better qualities. The site would be highly used, and advertising could provide large amounts of money.

In addition to that, they need to boost album sales in the physical realm by emphasizing what makes it different from the digital version."Alive 2007" was packaged as a book, and contained a 50 pages of photos from the concert it was recorded at, as well as a bonus disc with music videos. This kind of stuff can easily happen more with some effort. Innovative packaging, and sweet incentives to buy physical copies. Vinyl is coming back in a big way, another thing that can be capitalized on because vinyl offers a completely different experience. Mass producing it means that prices could go down and audiophiles like myself would squeal with joy. People pirate because there isn't much of a unique experience when an album contains 3 pages of linear notes and 40% filler songs. Ringtone rappers record a whole album based off of one 30 second ringtone. Why do they expect it to sell?

“The main problem is that the artists are not getting as much help developing as before file-sharing. They are now learning to peddle ringtones, not records. They don’t understand the value of a perfect piece of art.” - 50 Cent.

When the internet came and people could get their news for free, traditional newspapers didn't attack the new technology, they embraced it. They understood that people would still buy their product even if it was available for free online. Today, up to 20% of the profit of a paper usually comes from its website, and they still have just as many, if not more subscribers than before the internet. The digital age is here, and it's not going away. The only solution is to embrace it.

The 10 Best Albums of 2007

As 2007 is winding to a quick close, I figured it was time to round up the best music that I’ve heard this year. Lists like these are fairly hard to make when they get long (I still don’t understand how Rolling Stone can pick the best 200 albums of all time), but I think I can fairly accurately pick my 10 favorite albums of 2007. These are the albums that changed the way I think about music, that tried to do something out of the cookie-cutter mold that is becoming so easy to follow when making music. The albums that made me want to get up and dance, or just sit down, listen, and think. The albums that are so good that I will be listening to them long past the time that ball drops and brings us in to 2008.

10. Wincing the Night Away - The Shins

I technically had this album in 2006 because it leaked on to the internet very early (R.I.P OiNK). Since the street release date was January, it belongs in the tenth spot on this 2007 list. The Shins have consistently released good music, but something about this album made me like it much more than their other efforts. Obviously produced and perfected much more than the others due to them being signed to a major label during the album’s production, the sound they are going for here is significantly more poppy than their other releases. This is definitely not a problem for me, though, and reminds me of the golden age of pop-rock that happened in the late 90’s. Catchy pop melodies, infectious drumming, and fairly silly lyrics put this album in my best of the year. Best tracks: “Australia”, “Sealegs.”

9. American Gangster - Jay-Z

Jay-Z has been around the block a few times. This is his tenth studio album, and minus a few missteps like 2006’s “Kingdom Come,” they’ve all been very good. This time, he decided to do an album based off of the crime epic movie of the same name. This makes for a great marketing scheme, and I’m sure it has resulted in Jay making even more money. Throughout the album’s first 13 tracks Jay details the criminal rise-and-fall that we’ve seen in so many movies. Bangin’ beats and his trademark smooth flow are abundant, and I always really like it when an album tries to tell a unified story. Jay knows what he’s doing, and this album has made me realize that he definitely isn't starting to fade away. Jay is here to stay. Best tracks: “Blue Magic,” “No Hook.”

8. Common - Finding Forever (Produced by Kanye West)

While some people have problems with Kanye West as a rapper, I don’t think many people have a problem with his amazing skill as a producer. This album is a great example of how great of a producer Kanye is, and also an example of how great of an M.C. Common is. A perfect album to chill out to, or to put in the background at a house party. Common’s lyrics are powerful, and the beats are a great mix of chill smoke-up-to-this grooves and more exciting “I want to hit the dance floor” thumps. Kanye West and Common make an amazing team. Best tracks: “I Want You”, “Driving Me Wild.”

7. Gorillaz - D-Sides

I was debating whether this album really counts on this list, as it isn’t technically a Gorillaz “studio album,” but actually a compilation of B-sides and outtakes left over from the production of 2005’s “Demon Days.” I realized then that it was much better than most other albums released this year despite it being a compilation, so I put it on the list. All over the place stylistically, it’s a fun listen and contains some great tracks. While I can’t talk about it like a whole piece since there’s not much of a unified theme, “People” is a great look at how songs can change (it is an early, very different, version of “Dare”), and “We Are Happy Ladfill” is a catchjy dance track with hilarious lyrics. “Hong Kong” doesn’t even sound like traditional Gorillaz, but still makes for a great listen. Fans of “Demon Days” should definitely check out this album. Best tracks: “We Are Happy Landfill,” “Rockit.”

6. M.I.A - Kala

What can I even say about M.I.A? Her music sometimes doesn’t even warrant accurate description without actually being able to listen to it. “Kala” is her sophomore album, and it is every bit as good as her previous effort "Arular". In “Kala,” this Sri Lankan woman embraces world-music sounds such as tribal chanting and hand drums and mixes them with loud electronic bass and hip-hop beats. The combination of those two very different sounds serve to create a sound that I’ve never heard before, and one that makes me want to listen to this disc over and over again. Dance club material for sure, the majority of the tracks are produced by electronic artist Switch, with a pair of them produced by the everywhere-right-now Timbaland. Definitely an album for anyone to pick up and give a listen to. Best tracks: “Paper Planes,” “Bird Flu.”

5. The Flaming Lips - UFO’s at the Zoo

This album is full of memories for me, rocketing it to the #5 spot on this list. “UFO’s at the Zoo” is a live album recorded by the Flaming Lips during their fall tour in Oklahoma City. I saw them later on here in Seattle. As most tours go, the set list is very similar throughout the dates, so listening to this disc reminds me of one of the greatest shows I’ve ever been to, complete with aliens, santa claus, and giant bubbles (you had to have been there). A great overview of the Flaming Lips’ very large catalog, I’d recommend this album in a second to any Lips’ fan, or anybody who wants to try to get into their music and doesn't know where to start giving their intimidating catalog. Best tracks: “Race for the Prize,” “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.”

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4. Graduation - Kanye West

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an album as hyped everywhere as this one was. Between his media frenzy record-sales battle with 50 Cent and the fact that nobody could stop talking about it, when it finally dropped my excitement was immense. The hype was justified though, as this is definitely the best hip-hop album of the year. Kanye West shows in this album that his production skills have only gotten better with time, utilizing sick synths in almost every song and picking only the best guest stars (Lil’ Wayne, Daft Punk, T-Pain) to accompany him with a verse. A great listen all the way from beginning to end, this album (and the fact that he won said album sales battle) will only give Kanye more reason to be full of himself. Best tracks: “Good Life (Feat. T-Pain), “I Wonder.”

3. Radiohead - In Rainbows

Originally scheduled for a 2008 release, Radiohead pulled a quick one on their fans and randomly posted on their website in October that the album would be released in 10 days. The “catch,” if you will, was that it would be only available online, and you could pay however much money you wanted for it, including $0.00. Already a great album, the fact that with it Radiohead is trying to change the way music is distributed is what makes the album and the whole idea surrounding it awesome, and what puts it so high on this list. Record companies, listen up: this is the future. You can’t stop it. Best tracks: “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi,” “Bodysnatchers.”

2. Daft Punk - Alive 2007

Another live album, the only difference being that this one would still occupy this spot even if I hadn’t gone to the show. Daft Punk, the electronic music gods, have put together what’s essentially a greatest hits album with a twist - all of their back catalog has been mashed up with itself, distorted, scratched, and combined with a good bit of new material into a show (and an album) that won’t be forgotten. Tracks from 2005’s disappointment “Human After All” gain new life in the mix with other tracks of theirs, and even Thomas Bangalter’s solo work gets the spotlight in the 10 minute long encore. Going to the show would be the best way to experience this set, complete with a mind-melting light show, but since that tour is now over, this album is the best way to experience the magic that was the “Alive 2007” tour. Best tracks: The whole thing.

1. Justice - †

If OiNK hadn’t have existed, I never would have found this album. After seeing it in the top 10 most downloaded albums, I checked it out, loved it, and immediately went out and purchased it. I would have never bought it if it wasn’t for me “stealing” it first. This is, hands down, the best electronic music album that I’ve heard since Daft Punk’s “Discovery.” From beginning to end, Justice employ distorted synths, the same drum beat in almost every song (but boy is it a good one), and stadium-rock style production that crams the frequency spectrum into a mid-range band so loud that it feels like it’s slapping you in the face. The bass thumps, the highs hiss, and the whole album changed the way I thought about electronic music. I dare anyone to listen to this album and not want to immediately get up and dance. Amazing. Best tracks: “Genesis,” “DVNO.”

I really had no idea what to expecct. All I knew is that this concert was one that I couldn't miss.

$85 later ($35 concert and $50 bus), I was on my way to Portland early Sunday morning. I listened to the entirety of Gunther's first album, "Pleasureman," on the bus ride, complete with such mega-hits as The Ding Dong Song, and Tutti Fruitti Summer Love. It still hadn't sunk in that later that night I was going to meet this man. What was I going to say? Does this man take himself seriously or is this just some brilliant stage persona that he fools all of us dumbass Americans with all the way to the bank?

The show was at the Hawthorne Theater, a small club venue in east Portland. After waiting in line for more than an hour, we filled the small room along with about 200 other people. Everyone was just as excited as we were about this show, and it was very evident. The DJ spinning hip hop wasn't going to cut it: few were dancing, most were standing around talking about Gunther and when he was going to come out. "GUNTHER. GUNTHER. GUNTHER!" The crowd chanted with no avail. An hour plus later, at 10:45, he finally came out.

The entirety of the show would have been underwhelming if it was any other man besides Gunther. He had no set, a bare club stage with some cords and things running around, and a table at the back where his dj "spun" backing tracks for all of the songs. As he weaved through the hits from his album, his behavior on stage didn't change much. He would go from singing to dancing with his "sunshine girls" pretty sexually, to sticking his hands out on the crowd so people could touch him.

He hardly talked, aside from saying what song was next and such memorable lines as "I LOVE AMERICA!," and "Where are my pleasure men in the crowd?" "What about my party ladies?" which caused some intense audience screaming. His "Sunshine Girls" were obviously lipsynching, and one was a whole lot hotter than the other one.

The ugly one


The hotter one

Regardless of how underwhelming the entire stage performance was, the audience made up for it. Everyone was just as into the rediculousness as I was, and was dancing, jumping, and singing their hearts out for the man on stage. Everyone knew the words to every song (not a hard feat), and Gunther would regularly stick his mic out into the crowd and let us sing over the fake Sunshine Girls vocals. Everyone (including myself) was loving every second. I didn't understand how this was possible.

He seriously must have had us all under some kind of spell. I don't think anyone else could have gotten away with putting on such a show and charging $35. I mean, come on, Daft Punk was $40.

After his set was over, since we had backstage passes, we got to meet him. That basicially entailed about a minute on stage for a photo and a couple words.

A: "Great show man. When's the new album coming out?"
G: "Thank you. The new album should be out next summer. It's a summer album."

$85 well spent? Hell yes.

The RIAA

So recently, one of the first RIAA Filesharing Lawsuits actually made it to court. Since the majority of people just pay the $3000 and settle, I really thought that if someone actually took them to court, they would have a fighting chance. Unfortunatley, the woman had a terrible defense, and The RIAA won $9,250 per song, for a total of $222,000.

This crusade of theirs is growing to the point of insanity. $9,250 per song for 24 songs she was sharing on Kazaa? Once again the RIAA fails to realize where the industry is heading, and succeeds in nothing more than digging themselves deeper and deeper into their own grave. All this and all of their other bullshit does is make people want to support them less, and make piracy look like more and more of a better option.

DRM isn't working to solve the piracy problem? This is obviously because it isn't good enough, and needs to be made MORE restrictive. Album sales are down? This must be just because of piracy and lack of restrictive DRM, and not because our customers are growing tired of the way they're being treated, or the fact that we're willing to make an album for any black person willing to sign their life away, and expect it to sell. (1, 2).

So here's my message to you, RIAA. Sign artists who actually have potential for artistic development, not artists who can make one single last the length of an entire album. Let me do what I want with my music (including make it into a ring tone). Stop using your settlements to pad your pockets, and actually give the money you make from lawsuits to the artists who MADE the music these people are "stealing" (for the record, not one penny of the countless $3000 settlements has made it back to the musicians).

Until then, I'm only buying used music, and more and more of your precious remaining real artists will show you that they don't need you.