Who needs an iPhone, when...

I'm an archaic fossil, I guess, having just gotten my first cell phone (a MotoRazor v3m if you're keeping score). But after listening to a hail storm of publicity for the new iPhone this week, I found myself yearning for the days when life was simple.

There was a phone company.

You had a phone in your house (in the kitchen). Maybe another in the bedroom if you were "with it."

You didn't have many choices of phones, either.

Ah, but what phones they were! The phones of my youth were built to survive a thermonuclear detonation and were heavy enough to knock a hungry mutant dog senseless if you were one of the fortunate survivors. But those happy days are gone...

Or are they?

Seems there's a pretty good market for restored vintage phones out there. I don't know if they're being bought by old-timers with a nostalgic bent (kind of like me), or by young urban hipsters looking for the ultimate ironic addition to their Tiki bar-styled living room.

A quick Google search turned up many UK sites, so if you want an old-school continental look, there are plenty of options. The Robert Opie Collection impressed me the most. I especially liked the Swiss Wall Model.
Uncommongoods.com has some real beauties. These restored Argentinean phones have a pleasing roundness to them, with lovely pastel shades. Eva would have used one of these (if she'd lived long enough).

But in my book, you've got to go with the classic Bell System phones. CustomPhones.com has a great selection, including the classic "500" model, in black or colors. But if you've made a big investment in shag carpeting, you can't go wrong with the "Princess" model. Pink, anyone?

Ken

Parsing the possibilities

Undoubtably the best source for Washington area broadcast industry news is Dave Hughes’ DCRTV.com. DCRTV’s coverage of the WGMS debacle has been outstanding –- especially this past week. In quick succession it was reported that

1) Bonneville would kill the classical format even if Dan Snyder didn’t by the station.
2) When the story broke, Bonneville officially denied it, stating they were “absolutely commited to doing everything possible to keep classical music in this market.”

While there was some speculation that the deal was just stalled rather than dead, Snyder was quoted in the Washington Business Journal that he probably won’t buy it.

Make sure you read DCRTV’s analysis of the whole thing, it’s well worth it.

What I want to hold up for consideration is the danger of assumptions. As you read the Washington Post and the various other news and industry sources commenting on these events, it's assumed that should WGMS change formats, WETA will, too. There’s also a certain amount of wishful thinking that WGMS will remain intact.

Look at the language. Bonneville doesn’t say they’ll keep WGMS classical. Read the quote again. They’ll do “everything possible” (as defined by them) to “keep classical music in this market.”

WGMS as listeners knew it, is already dead. The staff’s been fired, services have been discontinued –- if the deal goes through Bonneville’s already in the position to flip the station to another format. Sports/talk appears to be the front runner. They could put classical on one of their other stations, but hold that thought for a moment.

The second assumption is that WETA will automatically go to classical if WGMS changes. What actually happened was that WETA’s board authorized management to consider reverting to music programming. Not quite the same thing.

So Bonneville can dump classical, and WETA doesn't have to change. Bonneville can say they did “everything possible,” but it was too difficult rebuild the station with a classical format. And besides, they thought that WETA would pick up the slack. WETA can point to Bonneville as the bad guys, and say they considered the change, but it wouldn’t serve their listeners as well as their current news/talk programming.

And no one’s done anything they said they wouldn’t.

Too cynical? Possibly. Stay tuned and we’ll find out together.

- Ralph

And what makes the picture appropriate? While everyone's watching the battle, I'm looking at the unnecessary path of destruction created by these monsters that, in the end, will just walk away no worse for the wear.

Major Label Misperception

Ethan Smith's recent article in the Wall Street Journal (Music Industry Changes Its Tune on Podcasting) talks about the major labels' first tentative steps towards licensing music for podcasts. I have no gripe with the primary point of the piece. As Mr. Smith accurately points out,

"…podcasts have been blocked from using [major label] music, at least legitimately. That has stopped music-oriented radio programming from being available as podcasts."

A casual reader could easily interpret this to mean that there is no legal music podcasting available. I did the first time I read it, and judging by the commentary rocketing around the Internet, so did many others. It is true that you can't use major label music in podcasts –- which has been a godsend for independent artists and labels.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't possibly list all the independent music podcasts available. Some of them sound just like radio shows; some sound better. Any kind of genre you can think of is being offered, and there are some damn fine artists waiting for you to discover them.

The BBC even has a podcast devoted to indie artists. "The Best of Unsigned" has the host of their Unsigned show, Huw Stephens, interviewing acts and showcasing their recordings –- just like he does on the radio.

I've been listening to fantastic music podcasts for almost two years now, and have discovered several really great artists. I also expanded my record collection in the process, gladly purchasing CDs knowing that most –- rather than 12% -- of the money went straight to the deserving artist.

Don't know where to start? Below are some recommendations, but that's only the beginning. The majors may control of 75% of the music recorded, but there are still thousands of great artists and tens of thousands of killer tracks waiting for you to discover in the remaining 25%. C'mon, there's more to music than Fergie, American Idol winners and Il Divo.

After you've explored a while, post a comment and let us know what you've found.

- Ralph

Association of Music Podcasting – an international association of over 50 music podcasters.

Podcasting News Music Podcast Directory – over 2,000 different music podcasts categorized by genre.

Podcast Directory – 50 musical categories to choose from. There's 75 music podcasts in "Classical" alone (including the DCD Classical Cast).

Barnes & Noblise Oblige

We received another comment from Sarah Honenberger for our post "Ignoble White Lies." According to Sally,

"Barnes & Noble confirms they can and will order WHITE LIES for any reader who asks at any B & N store. It's in their warehouse (they're actually on their second order from publisher's distributor), but they won't stock it right now. They will have it in Charlottesville store for the February 21 author's talk and reading."

Of course any additional distribution is always good news (especially for smaller publishers), but I'd like to take a closer look -- and not to knock Barnes & Noble (although creating the headlines has been fun). It can, though, show the difficulties of a large retailer trying to match swift changes in the market.

First off, the book was released on November 30. On the second of January I get word through Sally's post that B&N is finally "officially" carrying it. Well, there goes the holiday buying season.

Secondly, B&N says they'll order the book for any reader who comes in and asks for it. So.... you can't find it on the shelves, but if you know the title and author, you can order it at the help desk. Well, if you know title and author, why not order it online? I suspect most already have.

Thirdly, the Charlottesville store will have copies in for the author's reading on February 21. But apparently not one second sooner than they have to (at least that's the way I read it).

B&N seems to be doing the absolute bare minimum they can with this book. And that's the point. Even with their whole-hearted support, "White Lies" probably won't do the numbers of "Hannibal Rising" for B&N. The big retailers can only put their support behind the big titles -- which is why the Internet is good news for authors and readers alike. B&N isn't the bad guy here. They're just too big to react quickly or appropriately.

The Charlottesville Barnes & Noble won't have Sally's book in stock for another full month -- at which time Amazon will have enjoyed three months of healthy sales. And that's what this post is really about.

- Ralph

BTW: Ken brought up an interesting point. I haven't had a chance to check local bookstores. If any reader goes to the New Dominion Bookstore or the University Bookstore in Charlottesville, please let us know in a post if "White Lies" was in stock.

Good criticism and where to find it

Ralph and I see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues, and criticism is one of them. In the previous post, Ralph lamented how often viewers don't stop to think about why they enjoy a film -- they just watch it without worrying about the context of the film or the techniques involved. How sad.

Criticism isn't, of course, just a negative act. And critical writing, be it about art, food, books, or film, is often some of the most entertaining writing around. Think of the film criticism of James Agee, or Pauline Kael. Their classic writing defined and legitimized a new art form.

With the abundance of blogs, criticism is alive and well. Although finding good critical writing can be a challenge. If you want to read more good criticism, take my suggestion and go "old-media" by subscribing to The Atlantic. You'll find outstanding writers in residence, like food critic Corby Kummer and literary reviewer and jack-of-all trades Benjamin Schwarz.

As a bonus, you'll get excellent writing on foreign and current affairs, technology, and travel, to name a few. It's something I look forward to every month.

Ken