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Let’s talk music shall we?  Or another way of putting it is how I’m enjoying the new method of music distribution.

It started last year with Radiohead offering up their In Rainbows album for any price you want, in a digital format (digital meaning that you can download it from the Internet but if you wanted a physical copy you would have to burn a CD yourself.)  Fast forward a few months later and they went ahead and released a CD version anyhow which is great for guys like me who like to have that kind of thing (hi-fidelity and all, yo).

Then we had Saul Williams’s new album (which was produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame) come out with two options…$5 for the album, or free.  The meaning behind the $5 is to support the artist, whereas the free option is…well…read into that as you will.  I would like to think it’s more of a try before you buy option instead of just take it and never compensate the artist.  But we all know that’s an optimistic view.

Now we have Trent Reznor releasing a new Nine Inch Nails album within a year of the last release.  Crikey.  That’s fast.  Especially considering NIN’s track record (5 years on average for a new album).

What’s the big push?  Maybe creativity?  Who knows?  All we know is that NIN is no longer with a record label and can do whatever the heck they want.  May I also point out that the Smashing Pumpkins are also in the same boat but that’s for another day…

I would like to talk a little about the options that NIN has offered his fans to nab some music.

Free – Well, at least the first 9 tracks from the 36 instrumental track are free.  I like this idea.  Not giving away your entire album but at least giving people a taste for free.

Full Album (Digital) – $5.  Let’s be honest here.  $5 for an album is a steal of a deal.  Especially if you want to get into the price per track comparison with 36 tracks.

Full Album (Physical) – $10.  For $10 you get a double CD in the mail in April.  BUT, because they are awesome, they will let you download the album for free so you can listen to it right away.  Amazing!

Deluxe Package – $75 – This is where things get interesting.  For the super fans out there, you can get the CD, a DVD with a slideshow (tracked to the tracks) and a bunch of other stuff.  Let’s be honest here…$75 is quite steep for a CD and a DVD and some photos in some album liner notes.   But that’s not the whammy of it all.

Super Ultra Deluxe Edition – $300.  For $300 you get everything that is in the deluxe package along with the album on vinyl (4 LPs) as well as it being signed by Trent Reznor himself with the guarantee that it’s limited to 2500 pieces.

I want to talk a little about how I think Nine Inch Nails have covered all their bases on distribution.  First off, they have a sampler pack for free and the whole album for $5 if you don’t need a physical copy.  When it comes down to it, he’s trying to nail the technologically incompetent folk with this one.  If you didn’t really know where to look for ‘pirated albums’, and usually if you buy these things straight off an MP3 store, it’s around $10 an album, then you would probably opt for the $5 choice.  Of course, Trent can’t stop the swashbucklers out there and I’m sure there are tons of people downloading the album for free.  But he doesn’t care about that…in fact, he’s known to support the downloaders.

Let’s go onto the other path, the ‘let’s make me some money path’.  All the way at the top, we have the $300 package of the album.  Now, most of you would say “Good lord.  Who would spend that kind of money on music that they can buy for $5?”

The answer is, the ultra-fans who want to have everything that the band releases and love the smell of something called ‘limited edition’.

Case in point, merely three days after the album went live to order, all 2500 pieces are sold out.  Simple math dictates that 2500x$300 =  $750,000.  I have no idea how much it costs to produce such a package, so for the sake of not wanting to look into this kind of thing, let’s say it cost $250,000 to produce so he clears $500,000.  This is quite the achievement considering we have heard stories over the years of artists making peanuts from album sales…a mere dollar or two for each album sold.

We’re not even starting to count how many regular albums they will sell in the stores, how much money they will get from digital downloads off their website…

If anything, this distribution model puts more money into the artist’s hands, and in the end, isn’t that where we would want our money to go to in the first place?  I don’t care if a record company gets my money.  I want the artist to get it.

And if they want to offer a super deluxe edition for $300, more power to them if they can sell out in three days.  That’s pretty impressive.  Heck, Nine Inch Nails have been around for years and have a killer fanbase so I don’t know how a new band could compete…but even new bands could probably make more money through this distribution model than through a record company.  Now, if only we knew how to market these new bands without a record company…let the discussion begin.

I don’t usually talk about TV shows around here because I am one of those people who don’t like to be spoiled but I just watched the most incredible episode of Lost last night….I would say I haven’t been this excited about the show since they opened the Hatch.  So please join me in the comments section for a little discussion (which will definitely be full of spoilers!)

 

This weekend was fairly low-key.  After an excellent supper by Vero in which she introduced me to the greatness with is PESTO (PRESTO!), Mike came over with some beer and we waited until Philipp came into town.  I picked him up from UofO, headed back to Vero’s had some beers, looked at some pictures from the Dominican Republic, and watched some excellent YouTube videos of guys doing 300+km/h on the autobahn.  That was intense.

We then headed back to Orleans, went to Johnny Canuck’s for a nightcap and headed home to start watching the Knight Rider 2008 pilot.  All in all, it’s not bad so far.  Don’t know if it warrants an entire series though.  But we only managed to get half way through it and there’s no David Hasselhoff.  What the heck?  But Val Kilmer is the voice of KITT which is awesome.

The next day, I was not feeling the greatest but I managed to bring myself to grab a burger at The Works with Jill, Krista and Mike.  I got the Richie Butte’ special and if anyone can tell me who Richie Butte is, that would be appreciated.  It was an excellent burger, topped with some swiss cheese and Canadian back bacon.  Yum!  The fries were excellent as always.  I would highly recommend the Richie Butte as a not-so-extravagant choice, but one that will leave you with a smile.

We then headed home, meandered around and in the evening ordered some pizza and watched Goldfinger, Talledega Nights and Die Another Day.  I was impressed that Vero managed to stay awake for three films, two of which were James Bond flicks!

The next morning, I dropped Philipp off at the bus station, headed home and watched First Blood (the first Rambo film) with Mike.  Mike was amazed that he had never seen this film before and how different it was from the other Rambo films.  I thoroughly enjoy this film of the series and I also like how the Rambo we all know and love comes out at the end!

A good weekend had by all.  A few beers consumed here and there and some good times had by all.

Benoit is trying to make room in his basement to paint so he’s slashing the price on a television of his.  If anyone is interested, let me know!

7 year old high-end Projection TV set… great working order. It’s 50 inches big. Would be great for a basement game room to play Guitar Hero or Rock Band.    Paid over 4000$  It’s gotta go… we are renovating the small front room and the TV is too big for that room.   400$ gets it.

Hitachi 50SBX78B
Product Description:
Hitachi’s UltraFocus SB lens technology provides 10 percent more brightness and 30 percent more sharpness than the previous Hitachi UX series. Now with a total of six lenses, Hitachi’s UX line has a dramatically improved lens design, 19 percent more lens diameter, new improved red and green lens filters, and a new high contrast lens coating providing 35 percent more contrast. This projection TV also has a built-in UltraShield, Dolby Pro Logic surround sound, and TV Guide+ interactive programming service.

Product Specifications
– Exclusive UltraFocus SB Six Element Lens System.
– Exclusive UltraFocus SB Wide Neck PRTs.
– Resolution 1000 Lines
– UltraBlack Screen with Surface Diffuser.
– UltraSensitive Velocity Scan Modulation.
– First Surface Mirror.
– Dynamic Focus.
– Red & Green Color Purity Lens Filters.
– A.I. Home Theatre Modes.
– Wide Band Video Amplifier.
– MTS Stereo/SAP.
– Bass Reflex Speaker System.
– 181 Channel Tuner w/Auto Programming.
– Picture in Picture option
– Closed Caption Decoder.
– Power Resume.
– Front Panel Menu Controls.
– Sleep Timer.
– 4 Event On/Off Channel Timer.
– Channel ID/Video ID.
– Child Lock Set.
– Channel Skip.
– Special Event Reminder.
– Multi-Color Plug & Play Interactive Set-Up.
– Advanced Auto Link.
– 2 Level Mute.

Mike passed me word that Jeff Healey passed away yesterday due to cancer.

It is a shame that we have lost such a great musician.

Here is the article talking about his passing away.

Here is a review of us seeing Jeff Healey back in 2006.

Yesterday Vero, Larisa and I went to Greg’s memorial service.  Point #1 – Church parking lots aren’t what they used to be, indicating to me that this is a clear proof that membership is down.  I had to park approximately 23 kilometers away (at least it felt that way after walking back to the church in the biting -30 cold) but I survived the chilling walk (barely.  I think my ear fell off along the way.)

It was a packed house and we managed to get a spot in the back pew (oh memories of Christmas) and I managed to find a chair to sit on outside of the pew (as there wasn’t enough room for me).  An excellent memorial service in my opinion…it had a choir (Greg was part of a choir back in Montreal), it had insightful readings, it had some great hymns (although SOME people didn’t hear the point about Amazing Grace’s third verse being sang in French and they gave me some strange looks) and some excellent memories brought up by friends and family.

We then headed to the kitchen area to munch on some food (where we noted that there was no crust on the sandwiches usually at a funeral…why is that?).  There was a massive lineup and we discovered that it was due to Greg’s parents (or I’m assuming they were his parents, I’ve never met them) at the entrance of the room.  It was nice to see some photos of Greg and they had some of his music playing in the background.  It was also nice to see Phil there and we got to chat with him for a few moments.  I personally felt a little out of place considering I didn’t know any family or friends of Greg (other than Phil) so I didn’t spend too much time there.  I came to pay my respects to a friend and hear some great memories of the guy.  On my way out, I picked up a hacky sack that they left in memory of Greg as he was known to carry one at many times.  That was a thoughtful possession to give to everyone.

I was commenting with Larisa and Vero on how being at a memorial service makes you think about your own life and more specifically, how you would want things happening at your own memorial service.  Some may say this is a morbid thought process, but I think it’s just natural to think about aspects of death while at a memorial service.  For example, I would hope that somehow they get a choir in for my funeral (otherwise everyone in the church will have to belt the tune and you know nowadays 99% of people don’t like singing unless there’s a karaoke machine in front of them) and they rip into a Christmas-powered singing of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” because for some reason, they never sing that one at the church at Christmas anymore and that disappoints me.  That’s a killer tune.  Silent Night has nothing on it.  Get me the planning committee for the Christmas service at St. Mark’s!

I was thinking, where do your thoughts of your memorial go?  Are they with your will?  Are they with a loved one?  I’m going to make a wild assumption that the older you get, the better idea of what you want to happen (or the sheer fact that you don’t even really care) and you’ll let someone know, whereas a young buck like me doesn’t really sit and think about these things until something snaps and makes you sit up and realize that death can come at anytime.  It’s a scary thought…unless you are Socrates, chances are, you have some fear of death.  However, I think that this fear is correlated with your age.  Once you reach a certain age, you may be comfortable with the prospect of death.  Plato writes of how Socrates was not afraid of death because if a philosopher’s main goal in life is to obtain ultimate truth/knowledge, then the only way to do this is to escape the body, as the body brings the soul down into material wants/needs…health issues, want for a better body, better wealth, etc.  The soul can’t obtain the truth as it wants until it sheds the vessel that keeps it tethered here on Earth.  So that being said, once you realize this (and if you believe it) then I suppose you’d have a much easier time with the acceptance of death.

I suppose that if you really care a lot about certain aspects of your own memorial service (like how they should play some classic AC/DC tunage and have everyone do their best leg-guitar move, even the old timers!) then you should write it down somewhere and let someone know where it is.

Anyhow, that’s that.  Greg, you were a good guy, and judging from all the amazing memories and the amount of people that showed up at the service, you were loved by all because you gave your love to all.  Here’s to you, brother.

iplaying: The Water – Feist (The Reminder)

As you may or may not know, Krista is my work buddy.  I wonder if everyone has those work buddies…those people that you talk to ten times a day, go to break and lunch with, etc.  The great thing that comes of our meetings are our radical ideas for the office.  Here’s some thoughts over the past few weeks…feel free to skip these if you have lunch with us each day considering you’ve undoubtedly heard about them.

Our summer student film crew – In thoughts of resurrecting the Morning Show, we talked about how we usually have some interesting conversations and that our lives (in our minds) are pretty exciting to the outside world.  So then we thought that we need a film crew and what better way to get one, but to apply for a grant from the Federal Government for some summer students!  Note the pluralized version because we would need two cameras…one to follow myself and one to follow Krista.  Considering we need 22 minutes of footage to make up your regular 30 minute sitcom, we feel that we can definitely gather enough daily material to get this done considering we spend a minimum of 1.5 hours together.

Survivor in The WorkPlace – We’ve all had bosses who just don’t make the cut.  Of course, we can talk about those who do make the cut (Hello Catherine!) but let’s focus on the negative for a moment.  There’s always some managers who just don’t seem to grasp reality and you wonder what plane of existence they are on and whether or not (probably not) they are sharing the same plane that you are working in.  A prime example is from our good friend Mike who comments how after every team meeting, someone goes to a ‘higher-up’ meeting, but when they are sharing the information, they say something like “Well, they talked about Topic X, but I don’t know much about that.” and then some team member has to fill them in.  I will excuse ignorance only to a certain point…if you’ve been around the block for two years…not so much.

So, we recommend that a Survivor-type probation period be in effect.  USUALLY there is some form of formal competition process to get a promotion which is fine and dandy if the person who wins is great, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way.  There should be a six month probation period for the manager and then you go to Tribal Council.  Your team decides whether or not you stay on or off the island.  Now, the manager can do whatever they want to ensure they remain there…bribes, beer, women, whatever.  Heck, this is what a good manager should provide anyhow!  But this way ensures that if you’re good enough, you will obtain the respect of your team and if not, well you weren’t cut out to lead that particular team anyhow.

Ratings – What employees need are ratings to show them how they are doing around the block.  Let’s say you just came out of a meeting and someone pissed you off by hogging all the talk-time by focussing on their issues.  That’s just plain rude.  We should be able to go back to our office, and indicate that this person should have a decrease in their ratings due to their rudeness.  While this method hasn’t been ironed out yet (and we would hope it doesn’t affect your rates of pay!), we feel that if we saw that our rating was low, we would definitely be calling up Trish ASAP to make us some cookies that we could give to co-workers to win them over (however we would never tell her this.  We would tell her it’s for some firemen.)

There you have it.  What goes through my mind in a given day.  Don’t even get me started on how I think we should hold a raffle to get rid of Benoit’s 50″ television (which he can’t seem to sell for $400 anyhow, if anyone’s interested).

Is there a celebration needed considering this is the 996th posting on the website and soon enough, it will hit 1000 posts?  What would you like to see?  A retrospective from the past three years?  A Top Ten list of posts?  Guest Speakers trying to emulate Palmer in the way he writes?

If anyone has a copy of the Montreal Gazette from Saturday, February 23, 2008, it would be much appreciated if you could send me a copy of this great article about my friend Greg.

The original e-article is here but I’m copying and pasting it also considering I’m sure the article will be lost in a reshuffle on the original site but will always have a place here…

——-

Musicians played and died together

Alan Hustak

The Gazette

Saturday, February 23, 2008

CREDIT: Courtesy of Steven Barker Greg Barker: “loved challenges.”

Jérôme Petitgirard and Gregory Barker were talented Montreal freelance musicians who were just beginning to achieve recognition on the local scene when they were killed Feb. 13 in a car accident on Highway 158  in the Laurentians between Lachute and St. Sauveur.

Petitgirard, 39, billed as The Horns Guy, was a tenor saxophonist originally from France.

Barker, 29, who was from from Ottawa, was a pianist who obtained his arts degree at Concordia two years ago and had recently joined the St. James United Church choir.

What they had in common was music; both loved to entertain at the drop of the hat, whether there was money to be made or not.

“There is always push and pull in launching a career, and Jérôme died just as he was starting to come into his own, do recordings and make a day to day living at it. Greg had already basically built up his own network,” said saxophonist Adam O’Callaghan, who knew both.

“Jérôme lived every day for the moment. Everyone who knew him remembers him as an incredible musician and as a very social person, out there hustling to get gigs.”

Petitgirard was born in Paris Oct. 22, 1968. Both his parents are pianists, and he started taking piano lessons when he was 6.

He took up the saxophone and continued studying classical music and jazz at a Paris conservatory. He was 16 when he started teaching and playing professionally

He emigrated to Canada in 1997 and took out Canadian citizenship.

“He lived for music. He played flute, trumpet and saxophone,” said bassist Thomas Viardot.

“It was his life, and he wasn’t in it for the money. He lived on a plane of his own. He decided he was going to make a living from his music and not take any other jobs. He was super nice, always ready to play even if the gig didn’t pay. He was even into marching bands, big time.”

Drummer Ray Newton remembers travelling in the early morning hours with Petitgirard after doing shows with Petitgirard sprawled in the back seat of the car playing the sax.

“He was hilarious, a lot of fun,” Newton said.

“Considering he was 6’4″, he was also the hardest guy to find in a club. After he finished his solo, you could never find him. He’d leave the stage, get lost in the crowd, or sit at the bar drinking beer until it was time for him to play again.”

Friends at the wake in St. Sauveur Thursday recalled an insouciant, devil-may-care character who was lackadaisical about everything except his music.

“He was hopeless at paperwork. You knew he would show up for a gig, you just never knew when he would show up,” said Newton. “But he was really cool. He worked everywhere. All the jazz musicians in town knew him.”

Gregory Barker, the youngest of three sons in a retired civil servant’s family, was born in Ottawa Dec.11, 1978, and began piano lessons at age 9. He obtained a degree in computer programming from Carleton University, but after he graduated in 2002 he decided he didn’t want to be a computer geek and he moved to Montreal to study music, obtaining his degree in 2006.

Even as a youngster, he was socially committed, volunteering at area hospitals and championing environmental causes. He especially enjoyed playing for seniors in retirement homes.

He was an avid cross-country skier and cyclist who often biked the 100 kilometres from Montreal to his family cottage near Ste. Agathe and once hitchhiked across Canada.

“Greg was very much a free spirit, fiercely independent and resourceful,” said his brother, Stephen. “He loved challenges and shunned the safe and easy way of doing things. His anti-materialism, love of jazz and classical music, travel and living each day to its fullest, was like a character out of a Jack Kerouac novel.”

Petitgirard is survived by his 9-year- old son, his parents and a brother. Barker leaves his parents and his two brothers.

Petitgirard was buried in St. Sauveur on Friday; Barker’s funeral was Saturday at St. James United Church in Montreal.

ahustak@thegazette.canwest.com