Monkinetic Weblog

country-feedback-live-in-atlanta-08-31-99 tags: "" tp_commentcount: "0" tp_favoritecount: "0" tp_urlid: 6a010534988cd3970b0120a55ce2a1970b

quoteIt's crazy what you could had, crazy what you could have had...
I need this, I need thisendquote

Country Feedback is one of my all-time favorite R.E.M. songs, from the album Out Of Time.

Of the 5 versions I have, the best one I think is a live recording from Atlanta, August 31, 1999. Michael Stipe's vocals are ragged and haunting, the live, loose, setting lends an even more desperate tone to an already impassioned lyric.

Peter Buck's guitar work goes on and on, with a lot more distortion, reverb, and yes, feedback than the (now seemingly) anemic album version. He plays all around the melody, lurching through his signature arpeggios, and even getting a decent solo feel to it, which was never his strong point.

One of the things I love about this song is it's determinedly languid pace. It flows and flows, Stipe's extra lyrics and vocalizations toward the end slide along on top of the music, drawing you in.

In my mind's eye I see the wooden shack above the bank slide by as the river carries me past - slow, green, and cyprus-choked...

quoteIt's crazy what you could had, crazy what you could have had...

I need this, I need thisendquote

Rands in Repose describes Nerd Attention Deficit Disorder. Hi, my name is Steve, and... hey! I have email!

No time to blog this properly, but Bill blogs an IM conversation we had about Mark Pilgrim's "Winer Watch". See Bill's site for links.

Well, after a couple years of enjoying wireless Net access at home, I found myself at Best Buy tonight buying one of those special workhorses of the wired world: a Netgear E104TP 4 port hub.

Dave says: quoteYesterday I asked for a feature in Manila, and today it's being tested with the most technical Manila users (also known as developers).endquote

John Robb is leaving UserLand. No reason given, and none expected.

Jodi and I are in Jacksonville, Fla. helping our with Jodi's grandmother who is recovering from surgery and fighting a battle with cancer. It's a hard experience for the family, watching someone who has been (and is) so respected and loved fight such pain. I'm posting from Jdi's grandmother's AOL connection (56k again!) but I should be on in the complex's computer lab tomorrow (broadband!)

I found a bug of sorts (no pun intended) with iChat AV's buddy list. There is a new feature where if you click a buddy in the list and drag a bit to the left, you can then re-order your buddies right in the list. That's the feature.

Something like this...

I've largely kept my nose out of the Echo v. RSS debate lately, but Mark Pilgrim makes some really good points, in a calm and logical manner, this morning.

Early-ish morning to avoid the heat: 6:40am

I was just itching for a ride today, even though it's about 110&degree out. I kept it short - any longer and I think I would have completely overheated. smile

I saw this OmniWeb 4.5 screenshot on Jason Friedman's site, and couldn't help but think of Mac OS 9's Platinum appearance. I wonder if this is an OS X theme, or is it the new Panther UI? Looks like a "Platinized" Aqua...

Last night Jodi and I went out to dinner at Buca Di Beppo, an incredibly popular italian restaurant in the area. Buca is famous for their "family-style" southern italian cuisine (read: "massive portions"), and 99% of their menu is made fresh daily.

...and today I'm 32. Funny, I don't feel 32. But I look at my face in the mirror and there are crow's feet forming around my eyes, the Arizona sun has roughed my face some, and of course I'm about 25% grey now.

Scoble says: "I'm glad I'm not in Silicon Valley right now, though. I heard it was 107 in my dad's car in San Jose yesterday. Whew."

So, Bill says I'm "B-list at best" in the blogging pantheon. Well, I'd be very happy to be B-List material, thank-you-very-much.

One thing I don't talk about much on this weblog (maybe never before) is that Jodi and I have been trying to have children for almost 4 years. We've explored various treatment options, and suspect what they call "male factor". Yes, that means what you think it means. Due to our current financial situation we're not actively exploring treatment right now.

I've found that my success using the new iChat AV and audio chat has been sketchy, and I'm thinking it's related to the fact that one or both of use is behind a NAT. Anyone work out what ports iChat AV uses for audio chat?