Snowshoeing

I grew up in Georgia so I've never had any need for snowshoes. Until this weekend I had a vague notion that they only really existed in black and white photographs and that they were worn by men with huge mustaches. We hiked near lake Mohonk in New York and it was quite beautiful. This photo is from the top.

Crazy Idea? Apparently not.

Years ago I had an idea that must have sounded crazy at the time. If we're looking for renewable energy, why don't we harness the energy we exert every day just by walking down the street? I figured some genius out there could design a system beneath the world's sidewalks that could channel the energy exerted from foot traffic to power grids all over the world.

Well, I don't know how I missed this, but apparently there are folks working on a very similar project right now. It's called the Pacesetter's Project and it's happening in the UK. You can read more about it here and here.

Super Freak

All you folks out there with CMT are really lucky. You'll get a chance to see the entire episode of Crossroads featuring Bruce Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs on Saturday night at 9pm.

Because I live in New Jersey and have a subscription to a cable system that doesn't believe that anyone in New Jersey would be caught dead watching country music on television, I've got to settle for this AWESOME video of the duo performing Super Freak. Yes. The Rick James song. Don't miss it.

Pan's Labyrinth

We saw Pan's Labyrinth this weekend. It was fantastic.

Further evidence that I know absolutely nothing...

Ghost Rider made over 44 million this weekend.

Free Music

I was telling someone the other day about free content to fill up their iPod.
There's plenty of it out there if you know where to look. Here's a few places to try:

1) iTunes always has free tracks. They change them periodically. Some are good. Some are not. But hey, they're free. And it's not just music. There's often free television shows and short films as well. Just poke around. What do you have to lose?

2) archive.org
The live music archive has some great artists, both widely and slightly known
including Jack Johnson, Los Lonely Boys, & Infradig. These are bands that are known as "tape friendly". They don't tend to get upset (or litigious) if you record live shows and pass 'em around. Just beware the sound quality varies GREATLY from recording to recording.

3) Subpop Records is doing something pretty amazing. They're giving away a few unrestricted MP3 files for most of their artists. And these aren't the filler you'd expect. They're the choice tracks from some of their most well-known artists like The Shins. You like their new single, Phantom Limb? Don't buy it on iTunes. Download it for free. Other artists include Sleater-Kinney, The Postal Service, Wolf Parade, & Iron and Wine. I recommend The Great Salt Lake by Band of Horses.

4) KEXP Song of the Day podcast gives you a new song each day from some artists you'll know: Death Cab for Cutie, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and some you've never heard of. Who knows....maybe you'll find your new favorite band.

5) Even better, in my opinion, is the KEXP Live performances podcast. You get up to 40 minutes of live music from acts like Beirut, M. Ward, Jose Gonzalez, Billy Bragg, and one of my favorites, Drive-By Truckers.

6) Myspace is another place to go. Some artists, like Jason Harrod, offer free downloads of a few of their songs.

7) Finally, go to the pages of the artists themselves or their labels. Great bands like R.E.M. and Sigur Ros make free MP3s available on their sites. If you go to Anti, you can download SEVEN Tom Waits MP3s absolutely free, including three great tracks from his latest, the amazing three-disc set, Orphans.

Musical Boy

Love this video of Matthew. He's watching tv and wants to play along with the music so he picks up the ukelele and gives it a try.

Steve Jobs on selling music online

Remember about a week ago when I posted about how the record companies build restrictions into the music files they sell online, yet their biggest money-maker in history, the CD, was an unrestricted digital format?

Well, Steve Jobs (Apple's CEO) released a very interesting letter today along those lines. Here it is.