It’s more personal preference, but I will stick with Amazon’s MP3 Store for now. MP3′s are ubiquitous; everything plays them. I also prefer not to have my name and email address embedded within my audio files. I have bought only two items from iTunes in the past year – a Ray LaMontagne exclusive live EP and a Dave Matthews Band 2008 Live Sampler (which was actually free with concert tickets). I’ll gladly pay a couple dollars to upgrade those – the audio on the encrypted files really is noticeably degraded and it will be nice to get higher-quality versions of them.

This has to be seen as a shot back at Amazon, whose MP3 store seems to be gaining popularity, though it is still a distant second to the iTunes Store. I’m thrilled by yesterday’s annoucenment. The current DRM model needs to be kicked to the curb and I will welcome any step in that direction.

What was it?

Sandi Patti and Russ Taff.

That Sandi Patti album was literally out when I was three years old. Hearing it was like going back in time.

Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me memories of music that actually means something.

Oh, and speaking of Mom and Dad, yes, I know that I had a crush on Sandi Patti when I was three years old.

Figured I’d go on and head that one off right now.

The current front page of www.davematthewsband.com:

08/19/2008

We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.

One of many great Roi solos here.

If you didn’t know, they like to sue people. A lot. In fact, that seems to be their favorite pastime these days.

Don’t get me wrong – I am a fan of copyright protections. I know they protect artists and the revenue allows them to create more music, etc. I understand that. I buy music that I really like. In fact, I just bought a CD from this band that is local to Baltimore called The Bridge. I highly recommend checking them out.

Anyways, back to the RIAA and their seemingly limitless ability to be completely lame and attack all things awesome.

Their latest victim is a great little site called muxtape.com. Muxtape.com allows(ed?) you to upload several mp3′s and then it would stream them back to visitors of your site. Nobody could download the files you uploaded, but it was a great way to create random mixes to share with friends. We all made mixtapes back in the day and muxtape.com is a sort of Web 2.0 (I hate that term) equivalent.

The RIAA apparently had a problem with the site. I don’t know what it is. Their page simply reads:

Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA.

I assume the RIAA‘s problem is something along the lines of: “People are enjoying music and we are not directly profiting nor did we give permission.”

See, the interesting thing is this – I found The Bridge through someone else’s Muxtape page. I bought their CD. I have recommended them to at least five different people since I bought their CD Saturday and I know for a fact that two of those people have also bought their latest CD. That is three CD sales as a direct result of muxtape.

You see, RIAA lawyers, your attacks on harmless sites like muxtape do nothing but prevent people from discovering new music or frustrate them into turning to piracy. Seriously.

I’d never recommend people illegally download music, but people do. All the time. Perhaps the RIAA should spend more time developing new and innovative ways of getting their music into the hands of music lovers and less time standing in the way of technological advances and suing people for finding creative ways to listen.

Music lovers will buy good music. Just don’t prevent us from enjoying it.

Funny when you’re small,
The moon follows the car.
Does no one but me see?
Hey, the moon is chasing me!

On the way home last night in the car, Taylor was staring at the crescent moon in the sky. After a few minutes, he very hesitantly said, “Daddy, I think the moon is following us.” As we turned into our neighborhood, he noticed it again and excitedly hollered, “Daddy, the moon is chasing our car!

Gotta love a glimpse into the mind of a child.

I thought about trying to explain it to him, but why spoil the fun? We proceeded to try to beat the moon to our house.

We lost.

What a show! The band was on fire. Going into this tour, I wasn’t sure what to expect with the departure of long-term keyboardist Butch Taylor. The addition of guitarist extraordinaire Tim Reynolds certainly softened the blow. Wow. Drummer Carter Beauford, as always, was on the top of his game. Guest saxophonist Jeff Coffin was amazing filling in for the injured Leroi Moore.

They played many favorites, including Seek Up, Granny, Bartender, Cornbread, Tripping Billies, Too Much and Ants Marching.

It was an absolutely fantastic show from top to bottom. Even if you are not a huge fan of their work, if you love live music (or just good music), you owe it to yourself to check them out.

Can’t wait!

Anyways, what is interesting about this is that the soundtrack to the commercial is a piano demo by John Lennon called “Real Love.” It’s a great song that was re-worked by the remaining Beatles for release on Anthology 2 in 1996. I love this stripped-down version. It’s one of his acoustic home demos – he never finished it. This marks the first time to my knowledge that a Beatle or his survivor (Yoko Ono in this case) has permitted original recordings by a member of the band to be used in a commercial advertisement (The original recording of “Revolution” was used by Nike over the objections of the former band members.).

It’s a very strange commercial because it certainly doesn’t make me want to go Christmas shopping. Still, it is intriguing to me for some reason. It would have worked better as a movie short than it does as an advertisement. I do like it and I cannot get the song out of my head. Check it out below.

The song is available on a couple Lennon compilations – Acoustic and Working Class Hero: The Definitive John Lennon Collection.

Actually, if anyone cares, the exact version/take used is only found on the Working Class Hero collection.

Brief recap of the last couple weeks:

We had Thanksgiving at at my grandparents’ farm in North Carolina as we usually do each year. They have about thirty acres and it is absolutely, without question my favorite place in the world to just go and relax. This was the first time in several years that the entire family (from my mom’s parents on down) has been able to be there, so it was fantastic!

With the help of family and friends, we threw a surprise 30th birthday party for Marie at our house the other night. Her actual birthday isn’t for a few weeks, but last weekend was the only one available, plus, it being a few weeks early increased the chances of actually surprising her. It worked.

I’ve started running almost every morning. Two miles right now. It’s been long enough now that I am actually enjoying it (mostly).

Watching: Christmas movies with the kids, which is fun! The current most popular in our house: Frosty, The Snowman; Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Listening: Lots of Christmas music – The Carpenters (a staple when I was growing up), Mannheim Steamroller, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé and Burl Ives seem to be popping up a lot.

Other music: Shane & Shane – Pages, Desperation Band – Everyone Overcome, David Crowder Band – Remedy, Brooke Fraser – Albertine, U2 – Joshua Tree: 20th Anniversary Edition, Dave Matthews Band – The Lillywhite Sessions and John Lennon – Free As A Bird: The Dakota Demos.

Reading/Recently Read: Standing Next to History, Leadership, Reagan: A Life in Letters, What’s So Great About Christianity?, At the President’s Side and A Day in the Life.

That pretty much sums up the last few weeks. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

This Saturday, I caught a Dave Matthews Band concert in Atlanta with a few good friends. This was not an ordinary concert. It was a benefit for the Piedmont Park Conservancy. There were supposedly 54,000 ticketed people in attendance. Press reports since have said their could have been as many as 96-110,000 there! The entire event (minus a very limited number of expensive VIP tickets) was a general admissions affair, which means that there were no assigned seats. It was just a huge park, and you could get as close to the stage as you wanted to, provided you got there early enough. We also had early admission tickets from The Warehouse (the DMB fan club), so we were in a separate line that got in an hour early at 3 PM. We arrived in line around 10:30 and hung out for a while. We took turns going to grab some lunch. We got there in perfect timing though; there were only about 150 people in front of us and within an hour of getting in line, there were already more than that behind us.

One really cool thing was that the stage was insanely close to a street near where we were waiting. When the band soundchecked, we ran over there and could clearly hear them practice some of there new songs. Very cool.

There was another early admission line filled with people who bought their tickets through the park conservancy. Fortunately for us, they let the Warehouse people in about ten minutes earlier. We literally sprinted to the “lines” within the park, they scanned our tickets and we took off! It was a mad dash to the stage. I was shocked to see how close we got. We were within 10-12 feet of the stage when we got there. Insane. One annoyance is the fact that I did not bring my camera. They are usually pretty strict about not allowing cameras into the venues. They were not allowed here either, except, in this case, security did not check a single person that I could see. I got some pics with my phone, but I wish I had my camera. Oh well.

At this point, it’s like 2:55 and we are already getting pushed and crowded. That would be the story of the evening. We stood there the rest of the night. The entire night. No sitting. No moving. No eating, drinking or bathroom breaks. Finally, at 5:30, the opening act took the stage. It was The Allman Brothers Band. I have never really listened to their music, but they are definitely an amazing jam band. Warren Haynes tore it up and they had three people playing great percussion (2 drum sets and a true percussion set), but the highlight of their set was Derek Trucks. This man is absolutely amazing. He makes it look effortless, too.

Finally, at around 8:05, Dave Matthews Band took the stage and the place exploded. We thought we were crammed before…it was nothing like we were once DMB took the stage. They opened with a great version of One Sweet World, a favorite of mine and a great way to open a show. The energy of 54,000 people pumped for this band was incredible. The sound was unbelievable. We were close enough that we could actually hear their instruments’ sounds directly…not just from the speakers.

Carter Beauford, their drummer, one of the most amazing musicians alive, was on fire. His kick just absolutely owned that place. You could feel it in your chest. Once the opener was out of the way, Butch Taylor (keys) played a little impromptu version of “Happy Birthday” for Leroi Moore (sax, clarinet, pennywhistle) and the crowd sang.

The actual setlist was:

One Sweet World – Awesome opener!
“Happy Birthday”
Two Step – A great version that Carter just ripped to pieces!
Cornbread – My favorite of the new songs.
Don’t Drink The Water – There were some sound issues during the extended intro and the band kinda jammed around a bit while they were resolved. There was a loud bass hum or something going on. This song absolutely rocked though!
You Might Die Trying – Continued the pace after Don’t Drink The Water. This songs is really fun live.
Grey Street – Dave pulled out the 12-string and I was hoping that meant Grey Street. It’s my all-time favorite DMB song and I was thrilled to hear it live!
#27 (Hope You’ll Be By Me Then) – Another new 2007 song. I like it.
What Would You Say – Warren Hayes came out on this one and the place was on fire. This was old-school DMB at their finest!
Melissa – This is an Allman Brothers Band tune and Greg Allman came out to sing and play on it. There were a couple of communication issues between him and DMB, but it was a good song and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it.
Louisiana Bayou – A Stand Up song that I really don’t like on the CD, but it is terrific live. Boyd Tinsley (violin) had a long solo and was really working the crowd. (pic)
Dreaming Tree – Insane. This is one of my favorite songs, but it’s one that is very rarely played live. They owned this song. It was an absolutely fantastic version. Dave nailed this laid back fan favorite.
Eh Hee – This is another new song. It’s pretty good. I enjoyed it. Dave released it solo directly to iTunes. I prefer the full band version.
So Much To Say – Classic DMB song with a great intro.
Anyone Seen The Bridge – This was nuts. They segue from SMTS into this little bridge jam, but this time after the last song, the entire band literally froze in place. Then, over the course of the next minute or two, they made these perfectly syncopated hits. After the last one, they froze again, a few seconds later, Carter pulls this insane drum roll and Dave repeats the “Baby!” ending line of So Much To Say and they then actually go into Anyone Seen The Bridge. From there, it’s straight into…
Too Much – Again, classic DMB, though they mixed it up with a ridiculously slow tempo change. It was cool, but almost too slow.
#40 – This is a super-rare tune that is occasionally teased, but rarely played. Dave played the first verse and chorus all the way through. Apparently, it was in response to a guy right in front of us who had a sign that said “#40″ on it. Very cool.
Warehouse -It doesn’t get any better than this.
Stay – A good song that the crowd really loved. This closed out the main set and the band left the stage. A few minutes later, they came back out for an encore that consisted of:
All Along the Watchtower – This was just perfect. The band and the fans were going crazy during this on. Stefan’s (bass) intro was great. The only thing that could have made this any better would have been if Derek Trucks had come out to tear up some lead guitar on it! The last hit of this segued directly into the first snare hit of…
Ants Marching – An old classic and no better way to end a show!

In almost every way, it was just an incredible day. I doubt I’ll ever be as close at a concert again. When Dave thew out his pick, it flew over our heads. We were that close. Carter handed and tossed out some sticks, but I didn’t any, unfortunately. Musically, they are simply fantastic and they put on an amazing show! Dave Matthews Band is absolutely my favorite band or musician playing today, and it was an incredible experience to be so up close for such a phenomenal concert.

A few notes:

To the directly people in front of and behind us – you rocked. Early in the afternoon, we formed a bit of an alliance (Office reference) with these people. You see, there were more than a few morons who just showed up and tried to force there way to the front through 54,000 people…at least a few thousand of us who had been waiting for many hours. Well, those in our immediate vicinity held the perimeter relatively well and kept most of them back. In fact, one dude (green shirt) managed to con his way up through everyone, claiming he was just going to greet his friend and then leave. Josh sets the stopwatch on his phone and tells “Green Shirt” that he has five minutes. Well, with ten seconds left, about 75 people start counting down from ten to zero, at which point Josh yells, “Hey Green Shirt. Time’s up! You’re outta here!” to the cheers of those around him. Well done, Josh! Everyone looked out for those around them though – those who left were of course let back to their spots.

Beach balls are a staple at such events. A dozen beach balls in a crowd is cool. 500? Not so cool. These two guys in front of us started grabbing them when they came their way and they would literally rip them apart. Quite awesome. Stephen joined in the fun as well and must have been responsible for the deaths of at least twenty rogue beach balls. Nice work. Here is a crummy picture I took of Stephen’s beach ball graveyard.

Atlanta police apparently have no idea how to perform crowd control. If you watch the Central Park Concert DVD, you’d see a crowd comparable to this one, except that the police had organized rows of small gates, creating aisle ways and passages for access in and out of various areas of the crowd. They also had an army of officers out in force. In Atlanta? Not so much. I literally saw two uniformed police officers in front of the crowd. Two. When two girls got into a fight, this one lone cop had to work his way from the barriers in front of the stage through a sea of people and deal with these two out of control women by himself and then fight his way through the back to get them out of there. It was ridiculous. Fortunately, DMB crowds are relatively mellow. If this had been a hostile crowd of any kind, that poor cop could have had some issues.

There were numerous HD video cameras around the place, as well as microphones to capture crowd noise. There are rumors that this could be an official CD/DVD release, or perhaps a LiveTrax release through the band’s website. I’d love it if this were true. It’d be great to be able to re-live the evening. There are ten songs that were played though that were also played on their last official DVD release (Central Park), so they might not go that route. Still, a release of some sort would be awesome!

Finally, a big shout out to the Dave Matthews Band for allowing their concerts to be taped by fans and also to the fans who spend much of their own time, money and energy to tape the shows. I am in awe of how great these tapes can sound. Thanks to them, I have already (legally) downloaded two different audience recordings of this show.

Saturday night was an event. It was an evening I won’t soon forget.

Dave Matthews Band

DMB Almanac Entry