Musicstar

1. October 21 - Ryan Adams, Massey Hall, Toronto

   The last time I saw Ryan Adams I walked out of his double set - to match a just released that day double disc Cold Roses - show at The Warehouse. I had even bought the new disc and listened to it all day before this concert so I could enjoy it. Adams, however, was being an absolute premadona prick to the audience and I left just as the second set start.

   Flash forward to this year and I reluctantly take an extra ticket from a friend. This time, however, the recipe is perfect: Adams is off booze, drugs and anything else illicit. His band is one sickingly tight set of musicians. Adams was upbeat and jovial. The set lasted nearly 2 hours. The range of material played included all the good stuff from now and then. Massey Hall equals indescribable magic.What more could a Ryan Adams fan want? How about the entire concert recorded directly from the board, post-mixed and made available for download with Ryan Adams blessing.

2. November 27 - Neil Young, Massey Hall, Toronto

   I really do not need to write much here. Watch the various YouTubes from any of the four night run Neil did at Massey Hall and you'll know what I mean. I was very very lucky to be given a ticket front row balcony almost centre. He played two of four of my favourites "Heart of Gold" and "Cortez The Killer". This is remarkable for me considering his own commented he made to a really annoying audience (one of the worst I've had to sit with) would not stop yelling out requests: "I don't know that one but I 600 other songs that all sound the same."

3. September 12 - Bill Callahan, Music Gallery, Toronto

   The Music Gallery is one of those venues that every good musician should play one day. It's small, intimate, has beautiful natural acoustics and makes me wish the church I went to as a kid was this cool. Bill brought a band with him. He dressed up nice and fancy. He played a great selection of songs from both his older Smog albums and his latest "solo" effort. His music is so earnest sometimes it hurts but when you see him play it live it's honestly is comforting.

1. Sleep Tonight - Stars (Junior Boys Remix)

   The Stars (technically) released two albums in 2008. The first was a remix of Set Yourself On Fire entitled Do You Trust Your Friends. The songs were preformed by a plethora of good Canadian bands including this one remixed by the Junior Boys. Other notable tracks were those coved by The Russian Futurists, Final Fantasy, Young Galaxy and Apostles of Hustle.

   Unfortunately, their second album, In The Bedroom After The War, was not nearly as good as both the original Set Yourself On Fire and it's remix. Perhaps their next album should be produced by the Junior Boys based on the strength of this as the perfect blend of Stars-pop meets electro-bliss.

2. 1234 - Feist

   My relationship to Feist's music has been an on and off soap opera. Years ago when I first met her, she left the bad first impression of a naive girl without originality or aloofness. As I got to know her, via her last album, she occasionally wooed and seduced me by her charms and wit. Now this year with the release of The Reminder I was initially in denial about my feelings but admittedly, after this song, the forever associated iPod commercial and quirky video, I believe I might be smitten.

3. Amsterdam - Peter, Bjorn & John

   Yeah, I know: "Hype, hype, hype!" But this song is damn catchy, it's sickingly cute and it's incessantly earnest... Not, of course, to downplay Peter, Bjorn & John's main massively catchy song... or the fact that for three guys from Sweden they put on a solid live show (as I witnessed this year in Austin SXSW). I thought at first this album was a happy accident but expect these guys to grow out the hype and remain a solid pop band. This song is proof they will not be one hit!

4. Diamond Dancer - Bill Callahan

   Indie folk with a twist of pop. Bill Callahan (aka Smog) released Woke on a Whaleheart which featured a more upbeat perspective than his previous albums. Diamond Dancer combines Bill's mysterious deep voice with a cheerful almost hoe-down melody in this song of infatuation.

5. Night at the Knight School - Thee More Shallows

   Slacker electro-pop at its best TMS' latest album The Book of Bad Breaks is chock full of ridiculous lyrics and raunchy synth noises like this song. Night at the Knight School is a prefect example of TMS unique song structure paired with phat sounds and nonsensical lyrics. If you catch them live observe the curiousity of the big red suitcase!

It has been a while since there was an official dispatch from blog headquarters.

I will start this one by posting a YouTube video link. This was shot during my "rare" solo gig a while back. Like I said before it's a rare occurrence when I take the stage all by my lonesome but now there is proof that it happened on the Inter-web.

With The Pickups on a break, while Sarah attends school in Halifax, I've been keeping busy playing guitar, lap, bass or whatever has strings for a bunch of other musicians around town. Of course, as always, I'm still playing with the lovely Emily Weedon. I'm now also doing some gigs with singer/songwriters Jonathan Seet and Renee North. I've included a full list of my all my upcoming gigs below.

Emily is actually getting ready to jump in the studio to do some recording. She's holding a recording fundraiser in December which will also include on the bill all of the aforementioned musicians and some others (can you say Gord Light).

On the topic of recording, The Pickups session is long over and the mechanics of our forthcoming EP are complete. We were originally looking to release it in December, however, due to scheduling delays it will now be released sometime in the new year. Regardless we are hoping to setup a gig in December just before the holidays.

Finally, my "solo project", Pirates, Ninjas, Zombies!, is happily producing "demos" and some of the fruits of these labours are available online in various places (CBC Radio 3, Facebook, the website, this blog). In fact, I have just setup the obligatory MySpace page and would love to have some new "friends" (beside Tom).

Well that's all for now. I hope this communique wasn't too long and tedious.

Emily Weedon & Delta

November 9 @ 8:30pm - The Rivoli $6
December 7 @ 7pm - 19 Atlantic Ave PWYC (Recording Fundraiser)

Jonathan Seet

November 8 @ 9pm - The Gladstone Hotel (Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival)
November 9 @ 8:30pm - The Rivoli $6
December 7 @ 7pm - 19 Atlantic Ave PWYC (Recording Fundraiser)

Renee North

November 12 @ 9pm - The Cloak & Dagger PWYC
December 7 @ 7pm - 19 Atlantic Ave PWYC (Recording Fundraiser)

Things have been quieter so far for me in August. What with the end of Wednesday nights at The Cameron House (I think because I had a bar tab bigger than Norm from Cheers) and the disappearance of a singer named Sarah Greene (reportedly to Halifax for some sort of educational experience). Yet, subversively, I have been keeping busy.

The Pickups did make it into the studio with Don Kerr at the end of July. We did manage to nail 5 songs to the digital computer box thingy. And I will be going back in Sept to mix that wonderful stuff with Don. We are going to an EP release when Sarah returns from her adventures in Halifax (around December). So, no fear The Pickups are still.. umm, err.. Truckin'?!?

Additionally, I have been working on my solo project, Pirates, Ninjas, Zombies! I've enlisted the help of vocalist Tanya Philipovich and techno-engineer Neil Parfitt and will have something to listen to soon. I promise. Lots of poppy jingle jangleness provided by DJ Ordinateur.

Finally, I've been doing a few shows with the talented Renee North backing her on the lappy guitar slidy thing that I play.

As for what is coming up...

Once again here is the monthly listing:

Myself (Solo)

August 30 @ 7pm - Stone's Place $10 (Fundraiser)

Emily Weedon & Delta

August 21 @ 9pm - Silver Dollar $7
Sept 20 @ 6pm - Gladstone Melody Bar PWYC

Tonight (July 18) and next Wednesday (July 25) will mark the end of my "multiple-night stand" at The Cameron House with Emily Weedon and Delta. If you have been meaning to come out and see what all the fuss is about, you have exactly two more times before the entire affair turns into a pumpkin!

That said, Emily is busy booking shows in August! So check here for more details. I'm sure I'll also have some sentimental blog entry to stating my love and romance for The old Cammy!

Here is my semi-monthly blog post for July about my life in music for all those interested...

To start things off I must say I have been extremely busy with The Pickups. The story goes that Sarah is about to leave in August for Halifax to study journalism for a year. As a somewhat triumphant send off are having our "Last Show 'Till Christmas" (when she'll be back on break) at Sneaky Dee's on July 12th (this Thursday). We have also been intensely practicing for a studio session booked with Don Kerr to record five new tunes to be released as an EP sometime in the near future. I am very excited about both the new songs and being able to record them with Don!

In between all that craziness I have also been starting work on my "bedroom project" (i.e. solo project ) called Pirates, Ninjas, Zombies! I have been successfully collaborating on some material with the ever-so-talented-agreeable-and-ego-free DJ Ordinateur. I have one song almost complete and ready for online consumption. I expect you'll here more in August from me on this. My goal, as lofty as it will be, is to release some sort of EP this year. More about this later.

Finally, I still continue to keep the fires warm in the homestead with Emily Weedon & Delta at the Cameron House every Wednesday 10pm and beyond, rain or shine or crazy people walking around Queen Street naked!

Once again here is the monthly listing:

The Pickups

July 12 @ 9pm - Sneaky Dee's 5

Emily Weedon & Delta

July 11 @ 10pm - The Cameron House PWYC
July 18 @ 10pm - The Cameron House PWYC
July 15 @ 10pm - The Cameron House PWYC

Emily Weedon & Delta

May 1st @ 9pm - CIUT 89.5 FM's It's Alive
May 2nd @ 10pm - The Cameron House PWYC
May 9th @ 10pm - The Cameron House PWYC
May 14th @ 10pm - The Bovine Sex Club
May 16th @ 10pm - The Cameron House PWYC
May 23rd @ 10pm - The Cameron House PWYC
May 30th @ 10m - The Cameron House PWYC

The Pickups

May 19th @ 9pm - Mitzi's Sister PWYC

Cheers to William Self for taking some great picturs of yours truly at Emily Weedon and Delta CD release party!

Also to help y'all out, you can listen to the CIUT It's Alive show (from the comfort of your own home) either on the radio (yes you know that thing with a dial and static sounds), or the Internet (yes, that thing hooked up to the computer driven that needs a mouse). Check the CIUT website (www.ciut.fm) for the how.

Wanted to make a quick post on night's CD release party for Emily Weedon and Delta while I have a bit of energy left in my body. From the children's recital show at 5pm until the last chord struck on Clark Street at 1am, it was a marathon hootenanny that left me sweating profusely and forgetting about the frigged temperatures outside.

There was a good audience in attendance at The Cameron House and the band, including yours truly, were rawking it hard, giving it like it was our last night on earth!

We were also fortunate to have talented photographer William Self on hand to take a number of great pictures to document the occasion. Check 'em out (as well as his other great pictures of Toronto).

Ok, back to bed, to recover from a good night...

Shameless self-promotion for April 11th, 2007: Emily Weedon and Delta (of which I am a musical participant) will be celebrating the release of All Out In The Open. Matinee at 5:30ish (including a children's recital, super cute) and then the full on rawk show at 10pm until late. Pay-What-You-Can. CDs are 10$. Special guests include Adam Warner (yeah!), Sarah Green (of my other band The Pickups) and newly minted rockstar Eileen of Les Parallelions. It looks to be a long and exciting night. Time to go practice!

Now ending the shameless self-promotion for April 11th, 2007.

The past couple of blog entries on SXSW '07 the Austinist have shown a lot of love for the CanRock indie rock overlords Sloan.

The former entry Tom Thornton includes them as his number five as part of the "Austinist Top Fives for SXSW 2007". He also gives respectable props to Malajube's and Martha Wainwright's performances.

The later post, however, is the more entertaining. It is a video on the fashion and style of SXSW. For some reason they interviewed both Jay and Andrew of Sloan — Sloan being one of the most unfashionable bands I can think of. Best parts of the video include: Jay proclaiming his love for denim, Jay being embarrassed over wearing two tones of denim (they do fade at their own rates, it's true) and Andrew accusing Jay of always wearing the same shirt that he wears. It's actually rather ridiculous to think that at an event such as SXSW that this type of a video be a good idea (those independent, unsigned, unknown artists sure wear a mean cloth with their "I'm a poo musician that spent all mo money on instruments!" style).

Here is the long awaited SXSW blog entry (okay, long awaited for myself only). If I could summerise a typical day in SXSW it would go as follows: 9am wake up, 10am catch a panel or two, 2pm catch a day party, 4pm drink free beer, 6pm eat free BBQ, 8pm catch the first showcase show, 3am hunker into bed. Needless to say 5 days of that schedule is bound to take at least a couple years off my life.

Now for the fun stuff..

First off, the picture to the right is of Buck 65, Sage Francis and Skratch Bastid at Spirro's courtesy I my friend 2nd Floor Living Without A Yard.

And now for the highlights in nomination category form...

In the category of Biggest Surprise Rock Show...
Peter, Bjorn and John — I have been enjoying their latest CD Writer's Block since I returned from New Zeleand. It is fun, quirky and dancable. It is also though musically rough around the edges so I was wondering what type of a show would translate and although they were high on my list of must see, I wasn't expecting much. Suffice to say the band rocked it hard putting on the high energy one would expected from country mates The Hives.

In the category of Biggest Disappointment...
Kiwi rock bands — Sorry, I love the country but the show case, aside from the free food and wine was boring.

In the category of Pregnant Dummers that Rock...
Imperial Teen — I was amazed that Lynn Perko, so obviously late in her term, was able to handle the kit with such gusto and energy. This was another high on the list to see band that did not disappoint (despite a bit of roughness from being out of practice). They played new stuff from an album coming out on Merge in the fall. This show also made it into the categories of Hipsters Not In Their 20s That Inspire As I Enter My 30s and Cute Boy/Girl Harmonies That Make You Dance.

In the category of What's in the Water in Montreal (aka The Next Big Thing)...
Kukai — I gives me great joy to see French Canadian bands, like Malajube, are coming out with a relevant sound to today and singing in their native language. Kukai were on the M Is For Montreal showcase and pretty much floored me. Their live show was tense and their hooks and melody indispensable. They will be the next big thing from Canada! As an aside apparently Malajube sold out their tour in the US!

In the category of I Wanted to Hate Them But Couldn't...
Tokyo Police Club &mdash Why? Hometown jealousy and nothing more! They are truly deserving of the hype they are receiving. It was 45 minutes of high-energy angular rock. They also proved to be the fasted band to setup and tear down at the entire festival. 10 minutes folks, seriously is all you need!

In the category of You Have To Be French Canadian To Understand...
Call Me Poupee — Entertaining, arousing and bizarre. Songs about beaches, long distance relationships and KY jelly. What is not to love? Makes me glad I took French immersion in grade school.

In the category of Who Needs to Understand the Words...
Asakusa Jinta &mdash Either described on MySpace sites as "Musical Gangsters from Tokyo" or "Pychobilly punk marching band". Caught them at the Japan night showcase and was completely overwhelmed. I had no clue what they were signing about but the groove they formed was so intense I couldn't help but dance.

Other bands I saw that were worth the trip to Austin included: The Pipettes (cute, adorable Brit girl pop), Sparklehorse (somber and beautiful), Apples In Stereo (scattered and catchy), Skratch Bastid (rap theatrics) and Luc Doucet (cause I've missed him all this time).

Other bands to check out that I discovered: Dosh (solo, loop station madnesss), Thee More Shallows (music out of a suitcase) and Midnight Movies.

Phew, done...

The official web site for Emily Weedon and Delta is now life! I help put it together before I left for SXSW, where I used my technical abilities for good not evol.

Delta is the band that I, of course if you know me already, play guitar and lap steel for every Wednesday at The Cameron House at 10pm until late (PWYC). The talented Weedon had recorded a handful of songs last year and is now officially releasing them as an EP named after one of the tracks All Out in the Open. The work is brilliant and although I had nothing to do with the recording I am very happy to be a part of the music now. So buy one and support the troops!

Thus ends shameless promotion for March 20th, 2007.

I am not one to promote my own shows on this blog — like tonight myself with Emily Weedon and Delta for our usual Cameron House gig at 10pm — let alone my friends bands shows. However, today Basia Bulat is an exception.

Why? One reason is that I personally cannot go, because of aforementioned gig, and feel that I must empower someone else to go in my place. Another more important reason is that Basia and her band are a bunch of really talent musicians that are also the nicest sweethearts (all of 'em) you'll ever meet.

They is an album on the way sometime over the next few months (April I think) that you can hear a sample of on MySpace. So, tonight if you're not going to see myself playing I urge you to go see Basia Bulat at The Horseshoe Tavern!

A few friends of mine always bounce around emails this time of year with our favorite songs and albums of the year. Since I am travelling at the moment I cued up this list prior to my departure from Toronto.

Top Songs 2006

• White Collar Boy - Belle & Sebastian
  Positively the most poppy track released in 2006. Kitchen dance party must!
  
  
• Out of Your League - Henri Fabergé and The Adorables
  Brilliantly egotistical, deliciously addictive.
  
  
• Running with Your Eyes Closed - Mojave 3
  Another one to add to the pile of really, really good Brit music you can dance and sing to.
  
  
• Music is My Hot Hot Sex - Cansei De Ser Sexy (CSS)
  Brazilian rock that makes you feel dirty, gritty and sweaty just listening to it!
  
  
• Doctor Blind - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
  The album was a disappointment but this track is erie and dramatic worthy of some recognition.
  
  

Top Albums 2006

• The Bicycles - The Good The Bad and The Cuddly
  No surprises here: 2006 was the year of The Bicycles with their locally long awaited debut. It will please anyone who loves pop music from the 50s until now.
  
  
• Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche (and) Songs for Christmas
  This guy is way too prolific for his own good. The Avalance, outtakes from his 2005 Illinois album, and Songs for Christmans, a 5 disc holiday set accumulated over the past 5 years, is proof there is no stopping this machine!
  
  
• Kat Burns & Forest City Lovers - The Sun and The Wind
  Forest City Lovers is a backing band that meshes beautifully with Kat Burns' slightly dissident melodies and open-tuning music. Not overpowering just the right balance. For folkies looking for something more edgy and indie-rockers looking for something to woo their hearts.
  
  
• Joanna Newsom - Y's
  Perfectly orchestrated, whispy, elegant. A tangent of creativity that will require your undivided attention, although, offers great reward for your patronage.
  
  
• Calexico - Garden Ruin
  Inevitable for me to include this in my list. A departure from the usual Calexico fare and a move to pop music put together by some of the best musicians around.
  
  

There are of course many other albums missed worth mentioning: The Dears, The Flaming Lips, The Golden Dogs, Ohbijou, Grandaddy, Jon-Rae and The River to mention a few.

I never, ever name my instruments, however, I figured since I'll be spending a fair amount of time with her (rule #1: always gender-ize your instruments as female) it should give my mandolin a name: Mandy!

Mandy and I have already had the opportunity to strum out a few new tunes in front of the mountains of National Park. I feel very much like the wandering bard travelling through middle earth now. Crazy!

November 2006 is shaping up to be a busy month before I head out to New Zealand in December. I do not often plug my gigging activities here, however, given that all three bands are doing somethingI figure I'll do it in one shot!

• Wednesday, 1st, 8th, 22nd and 29th
  Delta @ The Cameron House
  Our weekly residency, 10pm PWYC
• Monday, 6th
  Kids @ Lee's Palace
  Playing with some band from LA called Oliver Future, 9pm
  
• Wednesday, 15th
  The Pickups @ Sneaky Dee's
  Opening for The Gruff, 9pm
  
• Wednesday, 25th
  The Pickups @ Ric's Collectables
  In store performance, 2pm
  

And then that's if for me until February 2007! Creepy already a new year...

It's been a while since I've had my Mike Evin fix. It's been even longer since I've been able to see him and Andy Creeggan play duelling pianos together. Tuesday night I will be at The Supermarket to catch these two duke it out!

I discovered the POP Montreal guide on my kitchen table this morning. Another year goes by and I can't make it to see (or play) this mystical festival. So many good bands and not enough free time!

Upon reviewing the guide, however, I must say that the blurbs for each band provided rather useless. I gather the organizers are trying to come off with an anti-corporate music festival image. The results are, however, not doing the music justice. Case in point take this blurb for the much beloved Kat Burns + Forest City Lovers:

Sandy Pearlman loved these guys when he sat in on the listening sessions. They're kind of the opposite of heavy metal, as their delicate moniker implies. But they're not afraid to rock either, you know? Yeah, you know.

Damn, it's a good thing "I know!" The French blurb, of which the English blurb is not a direct translation of, offers a much more intelligent description.

Anyway my non-realistic (as in I ain't going to be there) POP Montreal line-up for 2006 includes: the aforementioned Forest City Lovers, The Bicycles, Basia Bulat, Castlemusic, The Golden Dogs and Henri Fabergé & the Adorables. Magnifique!

A couple of days ago Pitchfork posted a stream of the new Emily Haines video. I must say that this is a very creepy video that: a) reminds me of the Zellers from my home town and b) evokes the same curiousity as Radiohead's Just video.

This video also gave my roommate and I the opportunity to play our favorite game "scenster t-dot." How many people do you know from the video?

As for Emily Haines this is the first song I've heard form her solo album. I must say I am very intrigued to check out the album Knives Don't Have Your Back after hearing the song. I know I read that if would be a different more introspective (i.e. quieter) sound than Metric but with fellow BSSer Amy Milan's solo album promising the same was a bust I became dubious.

Also, what is it about Emily that makes people either passionately love or hate her? In my case it wavers back and forth? After she totally blew off a loser MuchMusic VJ during the "red carpet" walk for the music awards earlier this year it went from hate back to love. Ah, rockstars so fickle!

Last Saturday I played a good show at the Horseshoe with Delta opening for Eric Bachmann and Richard Buckner. Emily sent me this link to a review of the show. It's funny as this is the second time (with Kids) my ugly visage has been posted on this website!

Warning Obligatory Plug: Wanna see Delta? We play every Wednesday at the Cameron House at 10pm.

I am actually not crying sellout or anything like that on Mr. Guthrie. I think it's great that a musician can make money doing what they love doing.

But man, I was blindsided when I found out the catchy "Capital Please Stop Calling Me About A Pre Approved Credit Card One" teevee commerical song was written by none other than Jim Guthrie... Cool! Now I don't feel so guilty singing it on the way to work.

You can actually download the entire song from the promo website. Enjoy.

So last week I purchased the new Grandaddy release Just Like The Fambly Cat from iTunes. They offered a version with an "exclusive bonus track" for the same price as the non-exclusive one. Why they'd offer both is beyond me but of course I went for the exclusive.

After downloading it I started playing a random track and it sounded like a skipping CD. Humorously I wasn't sure, given Grandaddy's brand of slacker-stoner-indie-rock, if that was the way it was supposed to be. But after playing a few more tracks I realised that somethign was up as they all skipped that way. I even compared the previews with the non-exclusive release to hear what the sound should have been like... just to make sure!

Well I found the appropiate support form, after much searching, and stated my case. I received a response within 24 hours despite the web site saying more like 72 hours! They refunded my money and told me to hold off purchasing that release for a few weeks where at which time it might be fixed or removed... Hmmm I guess I wait and see what they do with Fambly.

I'm a technologist so I know things go wrong. I'm not sure how this can slip through quality control, especially as it was an iTunes exclusive (with a banner on the homepage), but they were quick to fix things which ultimately was all I wanted.

I stumbled upon this site the other day. It makes several arguments against Apple's iTunes Music Store (iTMS). The main argument being that it screws musicians just as they have been time and time before. The site states the following:

First of all, Apple gets 3 times as much money as musicians from each sale. Apple takes a 35% cut from every song and every album sold, a huge amount considering how little they have to do. Record labels receive the other 65% of each sale. Of this, major label artists will end up with only 8 to 14 cents per song, depending on their contract.

Following this quote that makes the breakdown approximately: Apple $0.35, Record Label $0.51 and the musician(s) $0.14 (best case scenario).

I am not going to argue whether this is accurate or not (as I believe it is a likely breakdown). I also do not disagree that musicians are getting a bum deal. I do not, however, see iTMS as inherently evil.

For one they do distribute indie and near-indie (i.e. BSS or Wolf Parade) bands. A record label cut of 64 cents equalling at most only 14 cents is not a problem with iTMS but with the record industry. Apple has not improved the situation but they haven't changed it for the worst either.

If anything I view iTMS as an enabler. Digital music is still not an easy commodity to acquire legally. Apple has successfully combined a simple music program with the concept of an e-commerce music store. They've leveraged their market share of the iPod to force the record industry to accept digital music as a valid means of distribution. Finally, they have gained world-wide user acceptance to actually buy digital music as opposed to take it. This is no small feat esspecially considering the heavy-handed approach of the RIAA and the activity of many illegal channels such as Kazaa.

I feel I should also address the topic of Digital Rights Management or DRM as it is often referred to. This is even more topical in Canada with this press release from a couple days back annoucing the formation of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition. DRM is essentially placebo. Any DRM implementation is always a target for hackers to attempt to crack (and crack it they can and will).

DRM ultimately only protects music from the everyday user, who is not typically a bootlegger redistributing or worst reselling music en mass illegally, but merely is looking to make copies for personal use or to share music with a few friends. In fact in Canada we pay a media levy to allow us to do this legally.

Apple's DRM, FairPlay, is even more of a concern. Apple owns the rights to the FairPlay specification and have choosen not to open it to non-Apple products. This means music bought at iTMS will never work on your home sterio without the aide of an Apple product. This means only a limited usage of the digital music bought.

Alas admittedly, I am a semi-frequent consumer of iTMS. I do enjoy the convience. I believe that most of the music I buy not be mainstream and therefore that most of my money does not end up in the hands of the record industry. Also the work around to Apple's DRM? Burn a CD and re-import!

I had heard this song covered many times before but never realised it was a David Bowie song (in fact I barely realised it was a cover as it was always the same person covering it). Last night my landlord was practicing with his band downstairs and as I heard it drift through the vents of my apartment I realised it was Bowie song (and also a cover).

It was originally release on his The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Startdust album which comes from the era that David was at his best (i.e. before the Eighties). I always forget how much I like Bowie and feel guilty that I only own a compilation of his greatest hits from the aforementioned time period. Well time to change that and get a copy of this brilliant classic.