I’m semi-obsessed with this singular song today:

” Kärlekens Alla Färjor” – Detektivbyrån

I’ve played it seven times so far, and it’s not even lunchtime. It’s like happiness in a cup, which I wish I really could buy.  It’s put together so well. The band Detektivbyrån is from Sweden. Here’s their Myspace. Here’s a video of them playing mostly live real instruments. Pretty cool.  I think that makes them my new All Time Favorite Band (of the Week). The full-length album came out last month, so you can say you heard some “new music” today!

Update: According to this online translator, “Kärlekens Alla Färjor” means “Love all ferry.”

You really want to know what happened? I’ll tell you: Wednesday was slouching off into the sunset, and I got off work too late to do anything about it. Still, I grabbed my cam with an eye towards checking out the Santa Monica Pier with the ol’ fisheye. At the last minute, I grabbed the nifty fifty and clipped it to my belt. Just in case, I thought.

The Pier killed all remaining hope in me. I did get one photo I liked — mostly of emptiness — but I failed to solve any of my problems. I’m not sure who gave up first, me or the sunlight, but I floated back towards my car in a daze of anticipathos. Just before I got there though, I saw a red stoplight reflecting off the always-polished Santa Monica sidewalk. I found a perverse, masochistic cry of inspiration and swapped out to the fifty-millimeter lens. My goal, suddenly,  was to capture these forgotten shadows in this artificial light. Shadows left behind by people who didn’t need them. Shadows of strangers, my best friends.

I walked down the Promenade, not seeing what I wanted to see. I told myself, hey it’s the trying that counts, knowing that trying has always counted for nothing unless you’re worth it to begin with. Once again, back towards the car. Defeated, quixotic.

On the final street corner, last chance, I got the photograph below. No one will ever love it as I love it. It’s what I was hoping for. It’s a dream. It’s real. It’s everything that gets ignored.

I even matched it with a song that jumped into my head as soon as I saw this photo enlarged on my screen. It’s rather …well, you know. Make up your own mind.

Play: “Shadowplay” – Joy Division

To the centre of the city where all roads meet, waiting for you,
To the depths of the ocean where all hopes sank, searching for you,
I was moving through the silence without motion, waiting for you,
In a room with a window in the corner I found truth.

In the shadowplay, acting out your own death, knowing no more,
As the assassins all grouped in four lines, dancing on the floor,
And with cold streel, odour on their bodies mad a move to connect,
But I could only stare in disbelief as the crowds all left.

I did everything, everything I wanted to,
I let them use you for their own ends,
To the centre of the city in the night, waiting for you.
To the centre of the city in the night, waiting for you.

Looks like the news is out. I work for MTV now.

Updated post with a better link: MTV Networks buys Social Project platform

MTV Networks Buys The Rest Of DIY Social Networking Platform Flux (Social Project).

w00t!

Play it now: “Bridge To Better Days (Live)” – Joe Bonamassa

As promised, I ventured south of the border (I mean south of the 10 freeway) to Redondo Beach in order to  bear witness to blues shredder Joe Bonamassa. He did not disappoint! It was at a small bar called Brixton, formerly Harvelle’s. Probably won’t be too many more chances to catch him at small venues.  But, they weren’t small enough to allow real cameras in, so this is what I got.  Guitar geeks may want to note my obligatory pedal board shot as well. Note, he shreds without using a guitar pick. Just his fingers slicing and dicing the guitar strings. It’s pretty unbelieveable.

Also, I think the shades may exempt him from my Open Eyes Theory, I’m not sure.

Listen while you read: “The Compromise” – The Format

Remember when The Force let Anakin Skywalker down? He was totally all into learning The Force and being a good guy, and then Natalie Portman died anyway? He trusted in The Force and believed it would help him out, but it didn’t so … well you know what happened. Vader happened!

Well, I just found out that The Format broke up! Never mind that they broke up in February (oops). So yeah, I only went to their Myspace like once every six months. Did Stereogum even cover this? Trust me they were one of my favorite jangle pop bands ever! Really, they were! The melodies on the 2006 album Dog Problems were some of my all time favorite. Now they’re gone. Sam and Nate have gone their separate ways.
And, I blame The Force!

In this story, The Force is Web 2.0 or New Media or whatever you want to call it. Myspace and iTunes and muxtape and imeem and Pandora and the Long Tail were supposed to guarantee that hardworking indie bands with limited audiences would be taken care of! Hundreds of thousands of fans were supposed to hear them and say “Oh I’m totally going to spend money on this instead of Call of Duty 4 or Sin City on blu-ray.” They were supposed to make a million dollars! Because they’re totally way better than Fall Out Boy and stupid rappers and if only everybody had a chance to hear them, then tons of people would totally pay lots of money for their music! The Format even gave away an album for free! How 2.0 of them! And, The New Long Social Force 2.0 let me down, and now The Format is dead.

Yeah right.

Truth is, bands like The Format are (were) exactly as popular as they’re supposed to be and no amount of technical ingenuity is going to help them. At one point, I believed in building these cool tools that made technology irrelevant to the distribution of music to the people who consumed and paid for it. It’s where I guided my career. But, I think those problems are pretty much solved now. A band like The Format can produce a single, they can get it on iTunes and distribute their music to a worldwide audience and they can build connections with fans around the globe on Myspace. Then, they go out and play live and build a base. That’s really the end of the story. No amount of recommending it to someone who likes Linkin Park is going to change the bottom line. People like what they like. A lot of people like “popular crap” for a variety of completely valid reasons that have nothing to do with injecting marketing into the social graph.

But, there are acres of pixels devoted to that contentious issue. I’ll never convince the True Believers that people don’t actually want more music choices. So no, I’m not going all Darth Vader on anyone – that’s Andrew Keen’s gig now. I really just wanted to write a blog post about demise of The Format.

Oh, but also the new band Fun (http://www.myspace.com/fun) featuring Nate from The Format – a guy whose talent and writing I really connect with. They just posted a demo on their Myspace page, one that really makes me happy. I’ll add them as a friend and keep an eye out for when they’ll release more. I’ll probably really love it, but I won’t expect technology –- despite the billions of dollars changing hands on social media startups — to make the band any real money.

Addendum – more of my favorite tracks:

“Time Bomb”

“I’m Ready, I Am”

“I’m Actual”

At the risk of being a complete corporate shill, I just got the press release from Activision about the setlist for the upcoming release of Guitar Hero World Tour, and I’m gonna post the tracks. And, I’m gonna highlight the ones I wanna play the most:

· 311 – “Beautiful Disaster”

· 30 Seconds To Mars – “The Kill”

· Airbourne – “Too Much Too Young”

· The Allman Brothers Band – “Ramblin’ Man”

· Anouk – “Good God”

· The Answer – “Never Too Late”

· At The Drive-In – “One Armed Scissor”

· Beastie Boys – “No Sleep Till Brooklyn ”

· Beatsteaks – “Hail to the Freaks”

· Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”

· Black Label Society – “Stillborn”

· Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Weapon Of Choice”

· blink-182 – “Dammit”

· Blondie – “ One Way or Another”

· Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – “Hollywood Nights”

· Bon Jovi – “Livin’ On A Prayer”

· Bullet For My Valentine – “Scream Aim Fire”

· Coldplay – “Shiver”

· Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Up Around The Bend ”

· The Cult – “Love Removal Machine”

· Dinosaur Jr. – “Feel The Pain”

· The Doors – “Love Me Two Times”

· Dream Theater – “Pull Me Under”

· The Eagles – “Hotel California”

· The Enemy – “Aggro”

· Filter – “Hey Man, Nice Shot”

· Fleetwood Mac – “Go Your Own Way”

· Foo Fighters – “Everlong”

· The Guess Who – “American Woman”

· Hush Puppies – “You’re Gonna Say Yeah!”

· Interpol – “Obstacle 1”

· Jane’s Addiction – “Mountain Song”

· Jimi Hendrix – “Purple Haze – Live”

· Jimi Hendrix – “The Wind Cries Mary”

· Jimmy Eat World – “The Middle”

· Joe Satriani – “Satch Boogie”

· Kent – “Vinternoll2”

· Korn – “Freak On A Leash”

· Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth”

· Lenny Kravitz – “Are You Gonna Go My Way”

· Linkin Park – “What I’ve Done”

· The Living End – “Prisoner Of Society”

· Los Lobos – “La Bamba”

· Lost Prophets – “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)”

· Lynyrd Skynyrd – “ Sweet Home Alabama (Live)”

· Mars Volta – “L’Via L’Viaquez”

· MC5’s Wayne Kramer – “Kick Out The Jams”

· Metallica – “Trapped Under Ice”

· Michael Jackson – “Beat It”

· Modest Mouse – “Float On”

· Motörhead – “Overkill”

· Muse – “Assassin”

· Negramaro – “Nuvole e Lenzuola”

· Nirvana – “About a Girl (Unplugged)”

· No Doubt – “Spiderwebs”

· NOFX – “Soul Doubt”

· Oasis – “Some Might Say”

· Ozzy Osbourne – “Crazy Train”

· Ozzy Osbourne – “Mr. Crowley”

· Paramore – “Misery Business”

· Pat Benatar – “Heartbreaker”

· R.E.M. – “The One I Love”

· Radio Futura – “Escuela De Calor”

· Rise Against – “Re-Education Through Labor”

· Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacant”

· Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye”

· Smashing Pumpkins – “Today”

· Steely Dan – “Do It Again”

· Steve Miller Band – “The Joker”

· Sting – “Demolition Man (Live)”

· The Stone Roses – “Love Spreads”

· Stuck In The Sound – “Toy Boy”

· Sublime – “Santeria”

· Survivor – “Eye Of The Tiger”

· System of a Down – “B.Y.O.B.”

· Ted Nugent – “Stranglehold”  <<<—— THIS!!!

· Ted Nugent’s Original Guitar Duel Recording

· Tokio Hotel – “Monsoon”

· Tool – “Parabola”

· Tool – “Schism”

· Tool – “Vicarious”

· Trust – “Antisocial”

· Van Halen – “Hot For Teacher”

· Willie Nelson – “On The Road Again”

· Wings – “Band on the Run”

· Zakk Wylde’s Original Guitar Duel Recording

Guitar Hero® World Tour comes out Oct 26.

A KZSU (Stanford) DJ liked one of my old photographs of Jason Falkner enough to use it for his interview with the power pop minstrel:

Palo Alto Pop Overthrow: Final cut: Exclusive interview with Jason Falkner

Listen while you read: “Flashing Lights” – Kanye West

This story of Kanye vs. Paparazzi is burning up the wires! From the AP:

Airport police arrested [Kanye] West and his road manager, Don Crowley, who also serves as a bodyguard, on suspicion of felony vandalism shortly before 8 a.m., LAX spokesman Marshall Lowe said. He said early reports indicated that a camera valued at more than $10,000 was broken.

I was wondering what camera might be worth $10K — even a 1Ds MkIII with a 70-200 2.8 isn’t quite that much.  I checked the video on TMZ though, there was a lot of smashing going on. It looks like a video camera got smashed by the bodyguard and Kanye himself smashes not a camera, but a speedlight! Kanye trashed a  flash!

Nooooooo! Kanye West hates Strobists!

Side note: The very first time I went to Coachella with a press pass, Kanye was the very first artist I tried to photograph “professionally” — but I couldn’t find the entrance to the photo pit! Dumb rookie! I missed it.

Ann and Nancy Wilson, known to rock fans as Heart, are not pleased with a certain campaign’s use of their 1977 guitar hero track “Barracuda“

According to TMZ.com, the pair has sent a “cease and desist” letter to McCain and Palin’s representatives.

SFGate: Daily Dish : Heart Duo Furious Over Republicans’ Use of ‘Barracuda’.

There’s still the 5,6,7,8′s song “Barracuda” though:

So, there you go. Grrl power! Whoever put this video together is totally psyched over the thought of a woman in the White House.  The fact that Palin’s against equal pay and for banning books really doesn’t stack up to pink guitars!

The past never dies, it gets repackaged as retro chic — or at the very least it always comes back as an ironic indie band name.  ESPN writer Jeff Pearlman highlights a great example of this immortal truth this week.

“We should be ‘Randy Ready,’” one said.

“No,” said the other. “We can do better.”

“We should be ‘Lou Whitaker,’” one said.

“No,” said the other. “We can do better.”

“We should be ‘Steve Balboni,’” one said.

“No,” said the other. “We can do better.”

And then, as if emerging directly from the lips of God, words of inspiration struck.

“We should be … Von Hayes,” one said.

“Yes,” said the other. “We should.”

The result: Von Hayes — the rock band.

Read: ESPN Page 2 – Pearlman: When baseball and music collide

An indie rock band named after one of my favorite old-school Philadelphia Phillies baseball players from the 1980s? There’s no way that could suck!

“Mr. Guts” – Von Hayes

“Superballs” – Von Hayes

Actually, they do kinda suck. (More at http://www.myspace.com/vonhayes09)  But, that’s okay! All music sucks in some way. It’s  a great story and I hope the real Von Hayes calls them back at some point.  I was a big Von Hayes fan in my time.  Cool name, looked cool in Philly pinstripes, and hit two home runs in one inning. Very cool! Bonus Cool Points for ESPN’s nickname machine Chris Berman calling him Von “Purple” Hayes back in the day.

But guys, just don’t let him invite you onto his boat.

Now, onto some bonus video comparison:

Von Hayes, the ex-Phillie and current minor league manager:

Von Hayes, the enthusiastic indie rockers: