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I’ve heard Randy Bachman (yes, the BTO guy) interviewed a few times. In fact, it was perhaps one of the greatest moments on radio I ever remember when I heard him interviewed by Howard Stern many years ago; I couldn’t get out of the car to go into work it was so compelling. He is not only the tremendously accomplished songwriter and musician we know for many years, but he is a great speaker and tells a story well. If you get a chance to hear him talk you should take advantage of it.

Anyway, Guitar Squid has this little YouTube link (audio only) to him talking about a rare opportunity to explore original Beatle’s master tapes. A great story, and it closes with the great sound that reminds us why the Beatles are where they are in music history.

Tags: music, Randy Bachman, The Beatles
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Maybe you love Tron. Maybe you love duct tape. Either way, great advertising.

Duck Tron on Vimeo on Vimeo

via Duck Tron on Vimeo.

Tags: duct tape, funny, Tron
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Performance date was December 15th, 2010.

This show is starting to be a seasonal regular for us.  It seems like Aaron has appeared at the Birchmere in December the last few years, last year’s event being canceled due to a huge snowstorm.  Formal title on the marque included “featuring Charles Neville”.

It’s really a great show to see.  They performed a long set, more than two hours on stage without a break.  Part of the fun is a sprinkling of Christmas tunes throughout the night, although Louisiana Christmas Day was skipped (and one of our favorites).  The set included a wide number of types of songs, some of the more familiar Neville Bros. type arrangements, a medley or two, and great covers for Aaron to do like Under the Boardwalk.  It would be a great job to be the person who says “hey Aaron, play this song now.”  Of course, he does a great job of this on his own; we’ve seen him or the Neville Bros. more than 4 times over the last few years, and its always feels fresh because the set list is always different.

Charles is great, too.  We have heard his cover of Besame Mucho a few times and it doesn’t get stale.

Tags: Aaron Neville, Birchmere
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FAIL TO THE DEADSKINS.

Sent to me by someone busting on the Redskins.  In reality, a site run by Redskins fans.  And, a nice collection of links concerning the one position that should be traded, but can’t be.

Tags: mean, Redskins
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Found this thanks to my RSS feed from “Cool Tools”.  Nice replacement for Radio Shack, now that it doesn’t sell parts any more.

Bulk Cable, Network Cables, Audio Video Cables, Cat5E, HDMI Cables, Computer Cables, Networking Cables and Structured Wiring, Fiber Optic and more!.

Tags: cables, shopping
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The Neville Brothers were at the Birchmere, this was the second time we saw them there and the third time overall.  They always have put on a very fun, high energy performance, and its always great to see someone as iconic as Aaron Neville perform just a few tables away.  They played about 2 hours, and we were really impressed with the solo work Aaron did at the end; he was well warmed up and knocked a few songs out of the park.

Their version of Iko Iko was fun as always.

Tags: Birchmere, music, Neville Brothers
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It’s here, and as cleverly packaged as their other products. However, we’re not using it yet. The first time you turn it on it wants to sync with iTunes, which was unexpected. I would have thought it could do this over the cell network, so we haven’t really used it yet. We’ll see if we get some time to do this over the weekend.

Other obvious gripe: the little manual is printed in a font so small that a magnifying glass is needed to read it. I thought this document might just be the legal stuff which no one ever reads. But, it was the real instructions.

Tags: Apple, iPad
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This is a review in absentia. Because of travel, a friend of mine went to the show. Her report made me sorry we missed the show. More than two hours of playing, including an encore with six songs, followed by another with three. Lots of covers of old Elvis tunes with the new band, Stones, country tunes, etc. She reports tremendous music, and a very entertaining presence on stage. The Warner Theater is also a great venue for music.

Tags: Elvis Costello, music
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Walked down to the Apple store today and held the new iPad in my hand.  It is a very impressive bit of engineering.  Has enough heft to it that it feels substantial (most likely the weight is all glass and batteries), yet is held easily in a single hand.  The Email and book reader applications were particularly impressive, and using this instead of a laptop for these functions seems like a real step up.

Looking forward to a more extended exploration, once the hordes of teenagers are back in school.

Tags: Apple, hardware, iPad
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We hadn’t been to the Kennedy Center for a long time.  It’s a great venue to walk around – very recognizable from television (at least in the DC area).  A top tier venue for performances.  The down side is that its about the hardest place to get into if you haven’t been there before.  It’s surrounded by several protective layers of highways with poorly marked entrances like many areas in downtown DC.  It took us three tries to actually get into the parking lot.  We were glad we left plenty of time to get there.

We had great seats, 10th row, and its always very cool to see someone as recognizable as Wynton Marsalis be right on the stage in front of you.

Two sets, first one was mostly Basie tunes. I expected museum pieces, but they were lively and spontaneous. The second set was an original suite inspired by artists (a Monet movement, a Van Gogh movement, etc.). Some were a little too experimental for me, but others were great composition and performance.

The big surprise was how much an ensemble experience it was.  Wynton was the MC for the performance and took a few solos.  But, he was a member of the band and not the star of the show and I think all the players had a chance to solo throughout the night.  It was very cool to see him in this role and we enjoyed the performance very much.

Other perk; the audience was much better behaved than most DC area performances.  Very little moving in and out during the performance and the common distractions of public events.

Tags: Kennedy Center, music, performances, Wynton Marsalis
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