40 Million Watched Obama Thursday Night

I usually take the Nielsen ratings with a grain of salt, but this is a staggering and hopeful number.  40 million viewers watched Obama's acceptance speech thursday night, more than the American Idol finale, the Oscars, and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.  If you're one of the few that missed it, you can download the entire speech from iTunes.

Funniest line of the convention so far goes to Bill Richardson:

"John McCain may pay hundreds of dollars for his shoes, but we're the ones who will pay for his flip-flops."

 Although, if I never hear the word "flip-flop" again in a political campaign (from either side), I'll be a happy man.

Al Gore...

I really like Al Gore but he didn't win an Oscar.  I keep hearing this mis-statement every time he's mentioned on television, but it's not true.  Davis Guggenheim won the award as the director of the documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth".  Just one of those things that bugs me...anyhoo.

I nearly posted this on 31 photos a couple of days ago but went with "bell" instead. 

Amazing Live Music...FREE

Hey kids...what if I told you you could download Tom Waits's July show at the Fox in Atlanta, free & legal with great sound quality?  And what if I also told you you could get recent shows from She & Him?  Jim James?  Steve Earle?  The Black Keys?  Well, you're in luck.  Full-length concerts are available for download from the NPR Live Concerts from All Songs Considered Podcast.  You can subscribe here in iTunes or just download the shows you want. 

Aja - $0.99

Steely Dan's Aja is just 99 cents at the Amazon store right now.
I don't know how long the record will be available at this price, but it's worth a buck just for the tracks "Peg" and "Josie" if you don't already have them.

Myrtle Beach photos

Here are some photos I took during our week in Myrtle Beach. Some I wanted to post on 31 Photos, but we didn't have internet access for a good part of the trip, so they're here.

The End is Near

 

This is me last week in the dugout at Turner Field.

Great story in Wired today about a fellow who, for years, has taken his old 78s and digitized them and put them online as MP3s. Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Spike Jones, Fats Waller, Ernest Tubb, you name it. It's an amazing collection of music.

Hunter Museum's Five Free Hours This Sunday

Just a reminder to folks in the Chattanooga area who are looking for something to do on Sunday. The Hunter Museum is FREE on August 3rd from noon to five pm. You can read about their special exhibition in this previous post. I think it's pretty spectacular.

From www.huntermuseum.org:
FREE First Sunday

Visit the William Morris exhibition, stroll through the Hunter Museum galleries and enjoy free studio activities. Enjoy the big band music of Sweet Georgia Sound on the Hunter Museum Terrace from 2 to 4 p.m. FREE First Sundays are made possible by the support of Regions Morgan Keegan.