An Apology to the French

In a follow up to my rant about the French government blaming rappers for the riots, I would like to offer an apology.  I can now see how songs might induce rioting...

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69697,00.html?tw=wn_story_top5

NME News Flash - Lots of Belle and Sebastian Goodness

http://www.nme.com/news/belle-and-sebastian/21552

Belle and Sebastian are releasing an iTunes exclusive live album on 12/6.  All proceeds are going to charity.

B+S are also releasing a studio album on 2/6.  Jeff - you could buy it for me for Valentine's day.  ;)

Arrrrr matey

Just got Sid Meier's Pirates for my birthday (thanks, Jeff) and it is awesome.  I don't think I have ever found a Sid Meier's game that I didn't like, but this one is really great - it's an extremely open ended game so you can play about 100 different ways.  The graphics and music are really great too.  Pirates is a 2005 rerelease of an older version and it kicks butt.  Now if only they would rerelease Colonization - my all time favorite Sid Meier's game...

Pardon my French (ha ha)...

but you have got to be shitting me. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4469484.stm

The riots were caused by rap music???  And they want to prosecute the rap artists???

Smoking and Hearing Loss?

The most interesting thing about this article from Rolling Stone isn't that ipods can cause hearing loss (duh); it's the last paragraph in the article.  Smoking increases your chance of hearing loss.  Who knew.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/8841090/petetownshend?rssfeed=musicnews

Spanish Riding School Comes to DC

Since I was about 8 I have wanted to see the Spanish Riding School Lipizzaner stallions.  However, they rarely travel to the US, so I had pretty much decided at some point in my life, I would have to go to Vienna to see them.

That's right Vienna, Austria.  So why is it called the Spanish Riding School if it is in Vienna?  Because the horses they ride, Lipizzaners, are a breed from Spain.  As a matter of fact, when the SRS was founded in 1572 (making it the world's oldest riding school), the actual horses they rode were Spanish born. 

The SRS practices the riding style known as dressage, which is the type of riding I did for about 10 years.  I often describe dressage to people as horse ballet.  It might not be as exciting (for some people) to watch as jumping or cross country, but dressage is truly an art.  It looks easy, but it takes years and years of dedicated practice to truly excel.  Ideally, dressage is the horse and rider in complete harmony, with the horse performing many intricate movements at the rider's invisible command.  Watching a master of dressage (both horse and rider) is amazing, if you appreciate how difficult it really is.

At any rate, the Spanish Riding School is coming to DC this Saturday and guess who has tickets!  I'm so excited, and I think even Jeff is excited too.  ;)  though I would still like to go to Vienna (they actually ride in a palace and their arena has crystal chandeliers, gold leaf, and french doors - not quite comparable to the MCI Center), I can finally say I have seen *the* Spanish Riding School.

Yoko Jumps on the Digital Bandwagon

John Lennon's entire solo catalog goes digital on 12/6, two days before the 25th anniversary of his untimely death.  Paul and George are nowhere to be found on iTunes (or anywhere else online), though Ringo's solo work is there.  When it comes down to it though, how many people are really looking for any Ringo music?  I mean this is the person who brought us quite possibly one of the world's worst songs ever, Don't Pass Me By (on the White Album), which features the inspired lyrics: "I'm sorry that I doubted you/I was so unfair/You were in a car crash/And you lost you hair."  Um, yeah. 

Apologies to Ringo fans for that little Ringo bashing tangent.

So anyways, the good news is that another Beatle is finally going digital.  The bad news?  You still won't find it on iTunes.  As a result of the ongoing legal disputes between Apple Computer and Apple Corps, don't expect it any time soon, either.