Rest In Peace, MOGger CrashPryor

If you didn't know about Chris Pryor, you should. Read his thoughts from his MOG, it's worth the time and the thoughts.

http://mog.com/CrashPryor.

Goodbye Crash. Thanks.

Yet another reason why Carlos Santana is awesome

I've always liked the music and personality of Carlos Santana. He's always had something to share and something to say. He's given us tons of great, memorable sounds.

For the past while, Carlos has been making even more interesting music. He's not resting on his laurels, or sitting in ivory towers looking down on the vast landscape of amateurs below his stature (like so many artists at the top of their game(s)).

Carlos strikes me as someone who is reachable. He strikes me as someone who feels the music, loves the collaboration, and relishes making different music from different perspectives with different people.

So, other than the richness of his music, what makes Carlos Santana one of the finest contemporary musicians? He's not stuck in a rut making the same stuff over and over. He's working with a truly diverse base of musicians.

It would be an honor to tune his guitar, so it must be a real lifetime treat to play a piece of music with him. And yet, through it all, he still smiles that warm smile, looks like he's having a great time, and plays yet another wonderful and surprising piece.

Thanks, Carlos. Please keep it up!

You can see Carlos' web site here: http://carlossantana.com/.

Radiohead - Awesome Pay-what-you-value New Release!

Radiohead releases a new album, and does it with a twist...

Read about it here: http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/.

The group is allowing the listener to download the album, and lets the listener decide how much she/he thinks it is worth (is it $0 or is it $20?).

I honestly don't know how much they're going to take in on this. But I have this to say: GO FOR IT! What a wonderful thing to do. Folks who are interested can get to the music and share it profusely, and Radiohead gets more play/airtime, and maybe gets a hoard of new fans! (I love their music - this just makes me like the group even more.) I sincerely and honestly hope they take in a great deal of money for their efforts, and the money goes directly to the band (and their helpers/engineers/techs/etc.). I'd love for them to make a ton of money on this.

Perhaps if more big well-known names would follow suit, there would be a good sea-change for the music industry itself.

Many artists have given away their music (CDs, online downloads, etc.), so giving the music out without expectations isn't new (Heck, I give away almost all my music - perhaps it's free and worth twice as much ;-). It isn't a secret formula for success. But Radiohead has class, musicality, good sense, and an opportunity to get in lots of ears - I hope they rock the world!