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iPad Immersion and the International Inoculation

Today, the iPad is fulfilling it mission of appropriately and coyly tempting international wanderlust.  Yesterday, closer to home, our two iPads finally arrived a few days before scheduled delivery after we purchased them online from Apple the first week of May.  After less than a day of playing with the iPad, I can confirm what I said way back on February 5, 2010:  The iPad is a killer device.  Here are my iPad-only Apps:

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Unwrapping the Mystery of Jandek

Shortly after the passing of author JD Salinger, I asked my coworkers in the office if they could think of any modern day artist that went out of their way to shun media attention while continuing to release material. One of my coworkers quickly piped up with the name Jandek. He replied so quickly that I thought that he was joking so I asked him to spell it out for me — it was not a joke at all.

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Guitar Pro 6 Review

Guitar Pro 6 was released last Thursday, and this upgrade is a total reinvention and reimagining of version 5.  From the moment of the first sight of the GP6 splash screen, you know you are in for a much more wild, but refined, ride:

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Insound and Record Store Day

Once a year, there is a special day that pays tribute not only to independent record stores but to the fans that have made it what it is. These are the very same people who come out in droves when a lime green seven inch from a band that they have never heard of is announced — limited to two hundred hand numbered copies, of course. Let us now look at all of the aspects that make Record Store Day as exciting as it is.

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Reviewing Jeff Beck's Emotion and Commotion

Jeff Beck is a great guitarist and musician.  He found his first musical success in The Yardbirds when he replaced Eric Clapton.  Beck then brought in Jimmy Page to play bass for the ‘Birds.  Jeff Beck didn’t find as much commercial success as Clapton and Page — probably because he didn’t sing or tie himself to a lead singer in a band — yet he still survives and thrives in the music scene as a major force majeure.  Jeff Beck’s latest album — “Emotion & Commotion” — was released this week.

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ZZ Top One Foot in the Blues

When ZZ Top became a band way back in 1969 — yes, it’s sort of hard to believe ZZ Top have been together for over 40 years! — they were a Texas Blues band.  Here is the album cover for one of their first efforts — “One Foot in the Blues” — a funky and cool Blues creation of grinding harmonics and driving rhythms. 
Here are the boys as they were:

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Plastic Clapton Confusion

On February 16, 2010, Eric Clapton joined Yoko Ono on stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to celebrate her 77th birthday and to make a joyful noise with her Plastic Ono Band.

I love this image from the performance.  Clapton is clearly shocked/awed/amazed/bemused by Yoko’s classic screaming-as-singing while her son, Sean, is obviously used to her raggedy voice and just plays along.

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