I’ve never attended a high school reunion (and don’t ever plan to) and there are only a few old friends from my childhood that I keep in touch with. I got to spend time with one today, which was really nice. We hadn’t seen one another for nearly 20 years, but we’ve kept in sporadic touch.
It’s a Clipse weekend. Let God Sort Em Out is out (and on repeat) and so is the Tiny Desk performance. Pusha T and Malice are BACK.
I took the plunge this evening. I now have the Tahoe developer betas running on my iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and MacBook Pro. I had previously only had it running on my iPad and MacBook Pro. On the MBP, it is running on a separate volume, which seems to work well.
Someone in a Slack group I’m in shared a video from some dude that applies high voltage to battery-powered toys. I can’t help but feel like watching tickle-me Elmo is going to result in some questionable videos coming to my YouTube home feed in 4…3…2…1…
đ¨ Attention coffee lovers â The Moccamaster KBGV Select is 45% off on Amazon! Look at this beauty!
Got my invite to Perplexity’s new Chromium browser called Comet. Similar to Dia, I understand why AI browsers might be a thing for some people, but I really haven’t found a solid use for them yet. I do appreciate that the AI stuff is subtle and not in-your-face.
Whether you put the cart in the correct place after loading your car with groceries tells me everything I need to know about you.
David Werthheimer has a long-running (and great) blog that Iâve been reading for many years now. In a recent post, he answers the prompt, âIf you could go back and listen to one song for the first time again, which song would it be?â I couldnât stop thinking about how I would answer, so I figured I would write it down.
I think my answer is âAirbagâ by Radiohead, at least right now. The simple reason being that itâs the opening track of OK Computer, which changed everything and came along during a huge transition in my life. A transition that would take me from Lawrence, Kansas to Los Angeles. I was dumbfounded when I heard it for the first time. It cracked my brain open. And it wasnât just that the song, but the journey of the album. “Airbag” was just the first stop. I remember listening so intently, late at night, in the glow of my CRT computer monitor in my house at 545 Louisiana St. I had either already been hired or was working on getting hired at BoxTop Interactive. I distinctly remember listening to OK Computer, New Forms by Roni Size & Reprazent and Richard D. James by Aphex Twin constantly.
Some other songs I considered were:
I remember hearing âOcean Sizeâ by Janeâs Addiction for the first time through Brent Zacharia, a friend who lived in Omaha, Nebraska and gave me some Janes Addiction bootleg cassettes that I still have.
When I heard âLetâs Go Crazyâ by Prince & The Revolution on the radio for the first time, I remember thinking how different it was from so much other stuff. I didnât really develop an appreciation for Prince until later though.
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me by The Cure was one of the first albums I ever bought on vinyl and not when it initially came out. I would regularly ask my dad to take me to Streetside Records, which eventually ended up being my second job. âThe Kissâ is the opening track and itâs a doozy! I canât recall my state of mind when I heard it, but I know I was going through stuff and must have been 14 or 15. I remember listening on headphones and it feeling immersive in a way that other music had not at that point.
My dad had Future Shock by Herbie Hancock on vinyl and âRockitâ blew my mind. I knew about Herbie Hancock because of my dadâs love of his music, but this was not like other Jazz. I was into computers from an early age and I remember this song being a distict moment that I realized that computers could make interesting and exciting music, especially when brilliant musicians like Herbie was composing with them. The story of how this song came to be is so good.
When I worked at Streetside Records, one of the first things I bought with my employee discount was the Led Zeppelin Box Set. I didnât know a lot of their music, but I knew I should and the box set represented my commitment. I drove around with those CDs in my car and for weeks, thatâs all I listened to. âCommunication Breakdownâ was one I remember immediately connecting with.
My friend Kevin Aaron (RIP) introduced me to The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Are You Experienced became one of those albums that seemed to always be playing every time we hung out. âPurple Hazeâ was the opening track and I remember feeling so desperate to have been born when Jimi was alive. He encapsulated everything I was into (and wanted to be into).
If you’re on Apple Music, I threw all of the songs on a playlist.
