Square One

You are so right Nancy and I do think they should be able to decide. I have a good friend that I grew up with who got Hodgkin's at 18 (her dad had it as well and died from it) and she went through chemo/radiation and is now a 40 year old mother of two and is completely cured. How do you make that decision? If they feel that strongly about not doing it, the docs should just let them be.

ah, I want to work for Google too! Employers just don't realize how making work a little bit funner can help productivity.... About a year ago, I interviewed at the company of a well-known energy drink that was starting an independent record label and they had a giant (huge!) skate ramp in the middle of the office area and all I could think was... that must be really distracting!! but they seemed to like it.......... lol

Happy Birthday - hope you had/are having a great day!!

Thanks beebee! Likewise..............

^ Thanks for posting that, BeeBee. such great points I have been feeling for so long like "I miss Rock and Roll" - I miss guitars - Everything is so genre specific now, it drives me absolutely nuts (Brit Pop, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Electro Pop, Alt Rock, Neo-Soul, Dance Pop, blah, blah, blah). Going to see Mudcrutch at the Troubador was a re-awakening for me of sorts. I felt like I got back that little piece of my soul that was really in love with music. I try to pass that love on to my oldest son because he is really interested in music, so I'm thinking that's just one element of changing the tide - pass on what we have loved over the years to the next generation. Although we have some healthy debates because he insists the band The Living End is "way better" than Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. In any case, as far as the business is concerned - I maintain if there was a way to get back to artist development by the labels by people who actually had something invested in it other than money....like an actual love of the craft...etc. You can still let technology do it's thing, just put a little more care into who you are signing, etc.... but there is always waves of different styles - hopefully more and more rock will come back - weird but nice to think that Mudcrutch feels so refreshing considering the origination was years ago.

I actually liked Kris and thought he would win (cue tomatoes being thrown) - lol... Did anyone see his performance with Keith Urban - it was fantastic!! You know, I know Adam had the whole instant star quality thing, but I never jumped on his bandwagon. I just think his Axl vocals are only going to take him so far. Having said that, Kris could use to spice up his personality a little - lol - but it's really going to depend for both of them moving forward what types of songs they come out with. If they don't write, I hope they hook up with some good songwriters. That will make or break either one of them, so in that sense, it will be kind of interesting to watch. I enjoyed the season, but for the most part, I think you have to take it with a grain of salt.

If a hamburger counts, then I had In N' Out last night - otherwise, it's been awhile and I can't remember.

I said 50's to 60's but I think each decade has been incredible for the shifts in diversity...Like Ref said above, in the 70's, I had one brother who was into Rock, one brother that was into Punk, my friends down the street liked Pop and Disco, their brother liked only KISS - lol - there was a wide array of influences for the time.

Steven Van Zandt (right) wants musicians to have a sense of history and care for their craft. "I want to spend just a minute on a topic that never ever gets discussed in the music business -- the music," the Bruce Springsteen guitarist and "Sopranos" star said in a speech to the SXSW music and arts festival in March. "The reason nobody wants to talk about it is because it mostly sucks! "Who are we kidding here?" he said. "Nobody's buying records? Because they suck!" He called the speech "A Crisis of Craft," and implored listeners to get back to rock 'n' roll's roots. Learn how to play cover songs, he said. Get people to dance. Harness your working-class energy. Take pride in craft. It's been two months since that speech, and Van Zandt is still passionate about the subject. "[Rock 'n' roll] is a craft that has to be learned," he tells CNN. "There are things you learn by listening to great records, copying heroes." He believes that he said some things that people were thinking, but haven't said out loud. But the rumbles are out there. The music business is in a state of flux, with the sales of more profitable CDs continuing to fall even as single downloads climb. "American Idol's" season is coming to an end, with rock purists once again assailing the show's slick pop sensibility. Commercial radio, country, rap and hip-hop -- they all have their critics, many of them wishing a return to the way things used to be. Van Zandt has sympathy for all sides, coming at the issue from what he calls "a unique perspective" -- he's a musician, a DJ (with his radio show and Sirius XM channel, "Little Steven's Underground Garage") and record label honcho (Wicked Cool Records). He's quick to observe that he's not slamming all pop music. There's vibrancy in some hip-hop, he says, and he admires "Idol," particularly when it promotes music history. "But it's quite an alien world to my traditional rock 'n' roll world," he adds. "It has nothing to do with it."Within that rock 'n' roll world, he worries. Today's bands, he says, look down on performing covers, and as a result many have gotten lost in a musical wilderness. "The result is an extraordinary amount of mediocrity," he says. "There are no standards to live up to." Which is part of the problem with rejuvenating rock 'n' roll, says Steve Greenberg, founder of S-Curve Records, which includes alt-rockers Tinted Windows and We The Kings among its acts. Technology is one problem, he observes. "I think in the old days, in order to even be decent, it took a lot of work," he says. "And today, relatively untalented and uncreative people can actually make rock 'n' roll music that sounds kind of decent. And I think that kind of fools people and causes people to be lazy." But for Greenberg there's also a sense that the "square pegs" -- the naturally rebellious types -- are getting shoved in round holes. "A lot of opportunities inevitably these days go to people who fit the format, whether the format is Top 40 radio or 'American Idol' or [Radio] Disney or whatever it is," he says. "There's so much pressure to fit those slots. And it's the square pegs ultimately who are going to change the world." The spirited Greenberg wants to channel that rebellious energy. He's high on a band he signed named Care Bears on Fire, a trio of 13-year-old Brooklyn girls who sound like the Ramones with a touch of Shonen Knife. "Their attitude is maybe one size doesn't fit all," he says. "I feel like the spirit of rock 'n' roll lives in those guys. ... They're having fun playing rock 'n' roll. "Scott Booker, the manager of the avant-pop band the Flaming Lips ("She Don't Use Jelly," "Do You Realize??"), is also hoping to foster creativity. He's serving as the CEO of the Academy of Contemporary Music, a music school based at Central Oklahoma University. Drawing from a British concept, the school plans to offer courses in music, music production and the music business, many starting this fall. Booker observes record labels aren't spending as much money on developing talent. He hopes the ACM not only makes bands more signable, but also teaches them business strategies, such as setting up their own label and distribution apparatus. "This could become a think tank for how the industry could go," he says, musing aloud. "People think of music as a throwaway cultural item [nowadays]. I want to change that. ... Make things more exciting. "Technology, adds BMI executive Phil Graham, can also be rock 'n' roll's friend. "The opportunities the digital world give the population as a whole to throw their talents to a very wide audience is a very good thing," he says. More people have gotten the chance to put their music out there and connect with fellow music lovers, he says. Of course, there are also old-fashioned connections. BMI sponsors dozens of showcases for new acts; young bands play clubs and hawk their CDs (or Web page). Van Zandt welcomes the efforts, but hopes there's also a connection to rock 'n' roll history. He's founded a Rock and Roll Forever Foundation to foster music education in schools. (To its credit, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has similar programs.) "The spark comes from whatever people are into these days -- and that very well may be 'American Idol,' " he says. "You start with whatever singer you're rooting for, and you start to trace back where they come from. It's up to the artists themselves to make sure that their fans know where they're coming from, to make it clear that music doesn't fall off trees."

Give it up. But I am right there with you Starfish, chocolate would be really difficult to say goodbye to......

Thanks to everyone for posting all this - so great to hear about and see - Athena, I love that picture of you and Derek!!

^ Yeah...they've just been these baby ones, but we've had about 3 in just a couple of weeks...hmm....

Just had another one! :eek:.....why do we keep having these little quakes? Let's hope it's just releasing the pressure of the fault and not gearing us up for a big one..... !

Everyone

Dream On - Aerosmith

A friend of mine is HR at a company and said that it is part of their background search to look on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter....etc. I do admit whenever I write something on here or wherever, I have that immediate feeling of wanting to delete it. You get in a bubble where you feel like you're just talking to the people on the thread and then realize anyone can see it. Not that anything I am saying is noteworthy, it's just a realization of that it's not private....

I Don't Like Mondays - Boomtown Rats

I wanted to copy Pawie's, if she doesn't mind... 1. There's no time to regret mistakes you've made or wish for things to be different than they are. 2. I believe that all will be okay.

Not going anywhere....hopefully have a BBQ at home or something.

^ me too - If I could just make it to fit the kids school schedule...that would be ideal.

Happy Birthday Softanimal!! Have a great one!

^ do you still have it wild1forever? I confess that today has already started out to be one bumpy ride... ugh.

^ looks like they are selling it on the graphics site under Posters For Sale .... it is a cool poster.

I am afraid to answer this because it will start me on a rant - but what the hell....apologies in advance...I agree with Mudcrutch ^ that I don't see any of these totally happening because everything is changing so much all of the time. Most of the major labels have all but disappeared already and the Indies are working with artists that are "radio ready" and "have the full package- fanbase, selling own CDs, touring, etc". Some majors are still there structurally but working with much smaller crews. I know quite a few people that are out of work now due to label re-shifting. Where a major label once had as much as 10 A&R reps, they now have two to four tops - except Warner Bros ! - and the the lay off victims are all starting their own mom and pop music library businesses to try and get film and TV placements for artists (a whole other revenue source that has shifted so much over the last 10 years - songs that could make big $$ on television/film are getting very small licensing fees now and relying solely on the backend royalties) Seems everyone is scraping the barrel for any revenue they can. Anyway, if major labels could have some innovative force come in and reform their current way of doing business - scale things down but bring back artist development somehow and not rape the artists in the process... (I’m dreaming) there ultimately has to be some kind of smart resolution. Did I say yet..."don't get me started".... I'll shut up now.

I like holding the book itself - I don't know too much about Kindle but overheard a woman talking the other day about how she had downloaded 8 new books....is that what it does? I kind of like going to the bookstore and picking one out.