Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Music a reflection of who we are
I've often felt that music best expresses emotions and moods, better than visual images or words. Music is a universal language - how a guitarist bends a note, or a horn player breathes life through their instrument can convey an emotion that is universal. The emotion will conjur a memory or become associated with an experience, triggering additional feelings. The beautiful interplay between Miles Davis and John Coltrane on Flamenco Sketches comes to mind. It's such a luxurious, laidback track to put on at the end of a long hard day - no words are needed. The weight of the world vanishes like smoke when you let yourself get sucked in.
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Congratulations on creating your blog. Occasionally we'll be commenting on your posts--just our way of chiming in on what you've written. If you run into problems, you might try checking out a few of your colleague's blogs for tips. We're all here to help each other, so look in on your neighbor and leave a comment. If you need more help, you can IM the 20 for 2.0 team by using the "Talk to the Team" meebo box on the blog, or send us an email.
Cheers,
Jim
This week during my lunch break, I heard a Jim Hall/Chet Baker recording on CBC of one of the pieces also featured on "Sketches". Wow -- amazing interpretation, both versions just beautiful.
Oops...being tired is no excuse. Of course, "Flamenco Sketches" is on "Kind of Blue", and I meant "Concierto de Aranjuez" from "Sketches of Spain". So much for my hipster self-image...
Chet Baker was an amazing artist. Both in his trumpet playing and singing, he had such a a sweet, vulnerable quality. "Let's get lost" was an interesting look into the man's life. Like so many jazz greats, he struggled through addictions and hard times. His playing expressed all of those jumbled up emotions of course. From the carefree "Music to Dance By" to "The Thrill is Gone," Baker could really say just as much with that trumpet as any of his contemporary jazz singers. His discography and influence are huge.
Recently worked through step 7, IM'ing, streaming and flikr'ing away. Just posted some photos of a recent trip to Minneapolis and their beautiful sculpture garden at the Walker Museum. See them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/25634507@N03/
Just posted to Facebook. In putting my home information and education, it came up with some possible matches for people who may have been attended same schools/lived in the same city. I didn't recognize anyone. Wondering if my generation is really into this stuff.
YouTube provides easy access to anyone with a cheap digital camera (even a phone will do) to post video from the ridiculous to the sublime to the immediate. It really is quite revolutionary - one hopes it doesn't get too corporate.
Wiki's are alo quite useful - providing a nice alternative to email threads. These things are getting pretty sophicated - enough that it makes sense for us as an organization to weaving them more into the services we provide.
de.ilic.us certainly provides a good alternative to standard bookmarking, particularly for people like most of our library users who come in to use a different computer each day. I also like the social aspect of it - sharing common interests and turning others on the websites you've found.
OK, so this week, I'm working with the Overdrive audio download service. First of all, this is a very convenient service, provided they have the content you're seeking. I do find myself wishing that the book titles were as current as the printed (and CD versions), but it's still pretty good. A downside though the compression rate, which requires that you lose a lot of of the dynamic audio range, and also it is limited as to the platforms it will play on (iPod, anyone?). Licensing is going to be tricky for awhile, though it has gotten somewhat better in the last year or so. But if you have the right player, and aren't looking for latest best seller, the convenience is really pretty good.
Oh Mamma, another metasearch engine. I search Google every day, and am glad to say you can still teach an old dog new tricks.
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