First off, the first short story will be forthcoming next week. Job search and other stuff has tied me up big time the past couple weeks. And, oh yeah, graduation too...

For graduation, Lori got me a new digital camera, and I have had a blast using it. For someone generally living on the technological edge, I was late to the iPod party, and now late to the digital camera party as well. Damn, I should've had one of these a long time ago!

Since Barry Bonds has been out of commission for a while, BondsCheated.com has been out of commission also. Its all set up and ready to go, but there's no use in promoting the site without much media heat on Bonds right now. Once (if) he returns, then it will be the time to start raising awareness of the site and its story.

I picked up three books over the weekend as I continue my effort to increase my reading..."1ndispensable: How to Become the Company That Your Customers Can't Live Without" by Joe Calloway, "Winning" by Jack Welch," and "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman. The last book is one that Satya recommended to me...its about how globalization has affected modern society...I'm sure I'll be posting about all three of these books as I get into them and finish them.

And now, to conclude, I have once again been called out - this time by Ben Stark - to complete another meme. Entitled "The Musical Baton," this meme requires me to post my opinions about music. This should be fun...

Total volume of music files on my computer

About 8 GB. And growing. Fast. I spend about $15 on music a month, mostly through iTunes, to keep the iPod fresh. But toss in the free songs from iTunes ("Free Song of the Week" and "Discovery Download") as well as new songs people send me, and its beginning to get a little out of control...


The last CD I bought

Stand Up by Dave Matthews Band. A solid effort from the group...these guys just tear it up.

Before that...I have no idea what the last CD I bought was (from a store). iTunes or bust!


Song I'm playing right now

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World (iTunes Originals Version)" - Tears for Fears

You gotta love those old-school 80's and 90's groups which have that one song everyone remembers, but really when you start to investigate them, they have several other songs you've heard before and liked. Tears for Fears are one of those groups for me. "Shout" and "Head Over Heels" are two great songs, but "Everybody Wants..." is the one everyone remembers. If you like it, go check this acoustic version out on iTunes. Its what the acoustic version of a slickly produced tune ought to be like.


Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me

U2 - "Pride (In the Name of Love)." What more, in the name of love? The Edge slams the door on any and all discussion, with this one song, that he is the greatest guitar player of the modern rock era (since 1980). His soaring guitar work, which made the delay pedal a staple of every guitarist born since then, makes the song special...but Bono's limitless emotion in the way he sings this song makes it so enduring. Larry Mullen Jr's. straight-ahead drumming and Adam Clayton's bass lay the foundation for the masterpiece. The crown jewel of the treasured U2 catalog, and a MUST-LISTEN when I'm getting ready for something big.

Van Halen - "Right Now." When you hear that piano intro...you KNOW something big is about to happen. Its a dramatic feel created only when the vision of a great band can be relayed through outstanding musicianship and clear, vivid lyric. This song is literally the perfect storm - a rock opera that feels like you've traveled for years in just a span of 5 minutes and 21 seconds. A remarkable tune that has never failed to get me pumped up and ready to go.

Sting - "Fields of Gold (acoustic unplugged)." Let me emphasize the "acoustic unplugged" there in the title, as this version is significantly better, in my opinion, than Sting's studio cut of the song (though its outstanding in its own right). Sting is notorious for being very demanding of the musicians with whom he chooses to play, and you can always tell they are incredible when you see or hear him perform live. The classical guitar and piano weave together to help Sting tell his story of making the most of love's (and life's) finite duration, and Sting's singular voice evokes so much more emotion than the sweetest harmonies that other entire groups can muster. You can tell the sun, in his jealous sky, that we walked in fields of gold.

Black Lab - "Wash It Away." This little-known group from North Carolina created one of my favorite albums of all time during the mid-90's ("Your Body Above Me"). This song, though, was the main single off the album, and once I heard it on the radio (Birmingham's 107.7 WRAX - "The X") I was captivated. A simple song, but with a U2-esque triumphant melody laid over a jagged and rough drums-and-guitar foundation. I had to know more about this group.

I have since listened to that album - a dark, twisted black raincloud of a rock album - so many times that I would be well underestimating the number if I said 500 in the 10 years that have passed since then.

The personal significance of the song comes from this little story: this same radio station, WRAX, had touring bands come into the area's primary music studio, Airwave Studios, to do lunchtime acoustic sets for a handful of people before playing at a venue in town that night. To win tickets, you had to call in and win them by being the 7th caller when they asked for people to call in. Well, I managed to win two tickets, and Carlos and I took in the show. It was the first time I had seen a rock band so up close and personal - I was literally 3 feet away from them, sitting Indian-style, watching them play on the hardwood floor of the studio's primary recording room.

I was intrigued by the group - they were strong players, but it all seemed so easy. I knew I could play, too, but I had never tried songwriting...it was that single show that day that made my mind up that songwriting was something I wanted to do one day. That show weighed on my mind a lot as I finally made up my mind to go take vocal lessons and get proficient enough to record the Jimmy B and the Fortune 500 albums...and I have continued to progress and improve in my vocal training to where I am really looking forward to recording a solo piano + vocal album sometime in the near future. My lesson for myself here is that sometimes, seeing something up close and personal, instead of at a distance like we're used to seeing it, really makes a tremendous difference.

A Perfect Circle - "3 Libras." While my favorite type of music is the upbeat, anthemic type of stuff of U2, Van Halen, and others, I love balancing out that type of music with the deep, dark, introspective stuff of groups like A Perfect Circle. "3 Libras" was a song that galloped me through many sleepless nights as an undergrad at Vandy (not to mention the priceless Days of the New albums, a good bit of Seal's work, among others). The fantastic production of the song's orchestral backing behind the band's precise playing really makes this a fantastic work, and one of APC's best songs. Difficult not to feel a little bit disappointed...and passed over...

Honorable Mentions: Anything off of Seal's self-titled second album; Smashing Pumpkins - "1979"; U2 - "One"; Billy Joel - "Lullabye (Good Night, My Angel)"; Coldplay - "We Never Change"; Vertical Horizon - "The Mountain Song"

(cheap way out of only being able to list 5 songs, I know, I know...)


The people to whom I'm passing the baton

Gaurav and Matt (two guys I know love their tunes as much as I do)