Tuesday January 08, 2008

Stiletto 2

I listen to a lot of music. When I was younger I would listen to music while working but over the last decade or so I've found that difficult. Attention wonders with words, thoughts, rhyme, and rhythm. Recently I've found I'm able to work to house, trance, and symphonic music. Until I discovered that my mechanisms for listening to music have been focused on either going to shows or listening to music in the car. I don't tend to listen to music when hiking as I like listening to nature. With my newly rediscovered interest in listening to music while working I was stuck with an old 20 GB Zen stuffed with music from another era in my life, a Zune I picked up sometime ago that I never really liked, and a 80 GB IPod I inherited from a relative which I'm slowly putting interesting music on. Over the past few years I have gotten really use to having Sirius satellite radio in my car. Those drives along 50, 88, 95, or 395 contain a lot of dead spots for conventional radio. Just in time along comes the Stiletto 2 Sirius portable satellite receiver. So far due to a wee bit of snow I've spent the last few days mostly inside. But one of the cool thing about the Stiletto is that it has a wifi interface that allows for easy access to the Sirius Internet feeds. Now I can work, wonder around the house, run on the treadmill, and, after changing my wireless router, shovel and snowblow to the end of my driveway while listening to whatever makes me happy at the moment.

Now that I've made it sound perfect I should mention that I havn't really used it receiving from a satellite yet. I tried at one point while snow blowing at a relatives house but the trees, cloud and show cover appeared to be too much. I really don't like the power indicator. Its a simple bar style indicator. What I really want to know is how much more time I can listen. The Stiletto will recharge via its USB connection but thats slower then slow. Even if its powered off that can still take a significant portion of the day. It recharges quickly via a power plug but usb cables are so much easier to carry around. I think it also uses a fair bit of energy while on standby (paused). Maybe thats the wifi? If you look at the list of stations when receiving from the satellite you will see the current song or program. But when receiving over the Internet you don't. Thats lame. Even lamer although expected in our current RIAA slavery you can't time shift off of the Internet stream. ( Jan 08 2008, 09:20:52 PM PST ) Permalink

Sunday January 06, 2008

memories AND adventure

There are many reasons to like music. I often see it as fleeting. As soon as a note is played it is over. A Phil Lesh quote would suggest that he and Jerry Garcia would have agreed:

Jerry put it the best, as he frequently did: ‘Let ‘em have it. When we play it, we’re done with it.’

The other day I was walking out of a Van Morrison concert at the Grand Sierra Resort talking with a friend about the show. It was the first time that either of us had see Van Morrison and while we had both enjoyed the show we were amused at the "curtness" of the show. The set started and songs came fast and furious and then Van walked off the stage with no encore. As we stood outside of the venue (inside the GSR) waiting for some friends we started chatting with another concert attendee. She was really disturbed with the show. Van hadn't played much that she had known and she had listened to all his recordings. My friend and I commiserated with her for a few moments and then moved on. At first I had been a little startled by our acquaintances reaction but then I realized that she saw live music as a way to retrieve memories where as I saw it as adventure. I have a pretty extensive collection of live and studio recordings. I see about 25 live shows a year. I don't want to hear what I can hear at home. I want/hope/expect that the band paints a sonic landscape that is another step beyond that which I've already heard.

I got a Stiletto 2 recently. That has reopened my interest in listening to varying types of music. My current presets include: 17 (Jam_ON), 19 (Classic Hard Rock), 20 (Pure Hard Rock), 27 (Heavy Metal), 28 (Faction; Punk, Hip-Hop, Hard Rock), 29 (Punk), 32 (Grateful Dead), 33 (Trance), 63 (Outlaw Country), 65 (Bluegrass), and 80 (Symphony). When I first started listening to Sirius in my car I had a limited number of presets and felt that the music silos were limiting. One of the things I liked about radio as a kid is that you were exposed to music you didn't know. Looking through this list I can see a lot of memories (I just shoveled my upper deck to 19 listening to nothing less then a decade old) but I hope I don't ever end up in my friend aboves state of never looking for the adventure in music. ( Jan 06 2008, 07:05:12 PM PST ) Permalink

why There are many reasons to live here. Even with all the hard work days like today are one of them.

( Jan 06 2008, 06:19:00 PM PST ) Permalink

Saturday January 05, 2008

glad I don't have to drive This is the reason to keep up with your snow blowing (roughly 36 hours into this storm sequence). But a little snow blowing and shoveling and at least we won't have to work so hard tomorrow!

( Jan 05 2008, 07:04:37 PM PST ) Permalink