"Screw the nano"

My quote of the week:

"Screw the nano...Who listens to 1,000 songs?"

-Motorola CEO Ed Zander, in a leadership seminar hosted by the Churchill Club Friday, September 23rd.

Motorola was the co-creator along with IBM of the PowerPC processor, which has powered Apple's Macintosh computers since their introduction to the line in 1994. That relationship is drawing to a close as Apple moves from PowerPC to Intel chips starting in 2006.

More details on this moment of honesty here.

'The Producers' Trailer Online

Having not seen the musical version live yet, I'm intrigued and excited.

Due to hit the US on December 23rd.

See the trailer here.

Garbage Announce "Indefinite Hiatus"

FMQB

When Garbage announced recently that their European tour dates were being cancelled and their current trek would end in Australia, rumors immediately began that the band was breaking up. Now singer Shirley Manson confirms that while the band is not officially breaking up, they will be taking an indefinite break.

Manson told the Australian Herald Sun, "We always swore if it wasn't 100 percent fun we'd stop it. So that's what we've decided to do. It was important for us to say 'we're tired, this is becoming hard, we should stop right now'. It's something we all felt was the right move. We discussed it in an adult fashion over dinner one day and since then a burden has been lifted from everybody and our live shows have been incredible."

Garbage released their fourth album, Bleed Like Me, back in the spring, and the tensions within the band during its recording were well documented. However, Manson says that there is no animosity between herself and band mates Butch Vig, Steve Marker and Duke Erikson.

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Ten years is quite a lot. I wish Shirley well on some well deserved rest.

Gorillaz Confirm Five-Night U.K. Stand

FMQB.com


As expected, Gorillaz will come alive in November in Manchester, with the cartoon band performing the entire Demon Days album for five straight nights. The shows will be held at the Manchester Opera House with Gorillaz co-creator Damon Albarn leading an armada of musicians. It has been rumored that Albarn will attempt to bring together everyone who appears on Demon Days, including De La Soul and actor Dennis Hopper. Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, who appears on the second single "Dare," has been confirmed.

“I’m really pleased to be kicking off Manchester International Festival with such an innovative and hugely successful act whose song writer is one of the country’s finest," said Albarn in a statement. “It’s great to be in at the beginning of the Manchester International Festival. We’re very excited to be getting all the guest artists together in one place for these shows. The Festival is going to be an engaged, outward-looking event and that really appeals to me and to [Gorillaz co-creator and artist] Jamie [Hewlett], and it fits perfectly with Gorillaz."

Gorillaz had previously performed live behind a curtain, while animated films played on a screen. For the Manchester shows, it is expected that Albarn and company will play live in front of everyone like a typical concert. There have been rumors that somewhere down the road, a 3-D animated Gorillaz tour could take place, though the technology to do so does not fully exist yet.

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At this rate, I'm chomping at the bit for such a leap in technology to take place.

Comedy College - Lessons in Laughter

I just discovered this half-hour weekly, produced in 2003-04 by Garrison Keillor and Tiffany Hanssen, profiling some of comedy's great talents and many deserving wider recognition. From Lucille Ball and Jack Benny to Moms Mabley and Betty Walker, each half hour is an opportunity to experience the evolution of stand-up's golden age.

I'm just glad someone took the time and effort to highlight Betty Walker's phone humor - my kind of comedy, right up there with Newhart and Hudson and Landry! Not sure if the show's still on the air, but the archive is available at:

http://comedycollege.publicradio.org/index.html

Marshall Crenshaw's 'Bottomless Pit'

Singer/songwriter Marshall Crenshaw has another avenue for his unique talents - the radio.
Each week, Crenshaw hosts 'The Bottomless Pit,' a two hour foray into his personal tastes, inspired or not. From WKZE.com:

"Over the years I've always really gotten off on playing "guest DJ" on other peoples' shows, running my mouth in public about music that I love, etc.. After doing a Steve Earle show I seriously got the urge to try doing a radio show myself, and doing "The Bottomless Pit" on WKZE has been stimulating and enjoyable for me. I bring 99% of the stuff in from home. Most of the sets are thematic in some way. I try to make the show fun and interesting. It's a pretty eclectic mix, everything from Bessie Smith to The Stooges, Albert Ayler to Doris Day, but I think it works..."

'The Bottomless Pit' airs Wednesdays at 9PM ET

Listen to the station live here. (Windows Media)

Spamming comments

Just a quick observation. Isn't it more workload intensive to spam blogs?

Just curious. I guess nothing's truly safe.

Robert Wise Passes

One of my favorite directors, Robert Wise was best known for his thought provoking sci-fi classic 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' plus the Oscar winning film versions of 'West Side Story and 'The Sound of Music.' As many Trekkers will recall, another of Mr. Wise's movies was 1979's 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture.'

His IMDB filmography can be found here.

If they don't spend a significant amount of time paying tribute to this man at next year's oscars (coming in March, 2006), it will be a crime.

Friday check #3

My, what a week!

A short list of what's important. Make a point to donate to the Red Cross, the United Way or whoever you feel will get the help there and fast.

I make it a point not to state my political views. I just step into the plate and take one one for whatever team is pitching. I've laughed at enough presidents over the years, but I've had quite a few chuckles with our current commander-in-chief recently. There's too much to list, but here's just one link to a goodie.

Movies: What a crappy summer it's been! Other than Star Wars and Batman, I've pretty much written it off. Hopefully the fall will yield some redemption. Can't wait for the Wallace & Gromit feature fast enough! God Bless The Aristocrats!

Music: New albums from David Gray, James McMurtry, Greg Dulli and Eric Clapton.

Jamiroquai (video for 'Feels Like it Should')

I guess I'm anticipating quite a lot. Back to work.

New iPods and a renewed call to action

Apple's announced iPod nano and the partnership with Cingular notwithstanding, it's the updated iTunes, building on the podcasting feature and better managed search functions that have cajoled me into revisiting an interest in podcasting. Among the many program that exist, I found a podcast from none other than Nicole Sandler, one of the truly engaging AAA radio vets, whose resume includes stints at the much missed KSCA and WXRV among other stations. It's called 'Radio or Not' and she's pulled out some great interviews from her archive, including Steely Dan, Ray Davies and Dave Matthews. It's worth a listen.

I have to unearth interviews I've recorded over the years and figure out if that's a direction for me... Anyone into Stan Freberg?