Music: Gregg Alexander (New Radicals)

  Okay – I’m hooked!  I’m putting Gregg Alexander on my list of great songwriter’s/musicians right along with Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Imogen Heap, and my old favorites: Sarah Mclachlan, Toni Childs, Dave Mathews, Yes and Supertranp.   His music is amazingly versatile. If you haven’t listened closely to the New Radicals only album “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, too” try it.

  For that matter, if you haven’t listened to any of the above named artists closely, check them out. Particularly Imogen Heap. The beats, musicality combined with lyrics are deep – like Gregg Alexander.

  So if you could decide who played at the ultimate concert, who would you pick?

MP3 Players and Audio Books

  It seems that just about everyone has at least one or three of these things floating around in their world somewhere. Mp3 players are such handy devices for creating the environment that you want or need instead of being subject to what is around you.  Like riding on a bus for instance. It’s more enjoyable to be listening to your own taste in music or a podcast than staring at people’s shoes and listening to their every day conversations while on their cell phones, right?

  Okay, so I’ve had an Mp3 player that I hardly used for the first year of ownership. I hate those ear buds. They don’t fit me at all (is this just me?).   

  My biggest wish was to listen to audio books. I found that our county library system has many audio books online for download and I could listen to them in the car, working in the studio or when I’m traveling and too tired to see to read.  I thought it would be a snap but apparently everything, absolutely everything is geared towards music and podcasts.  However I have finally sussed it all out.   For today, that is.  

  If you’re interested in listening to audio books from the library then any mp3 player will do since those audio books are mp3 files.  Subscription files are where the tricky part comes in. Those protected files only play on some players!  Audible files are AA format (a WMA DRM or protected format), for example. Not all players have the ability to play that format so really check into a player to see if it will play subscription service files like Napster or Audible.

     I’ve found that the Creative Zen V Plus is a small, light, model that bookmarks with a nav to bookmark feature, includes a clock with alarm/snooze, syncs to Outlook, does data storage, has a line-in so you can record CD’s directly to it, shows video and .jpgs, and plays files of all types (protected and unprotected) so works with Napster, Audible, library systems, etc.  It comes in 2- 16 GB models and weighs only 1.5 oz.  because it’s a flash drive.

  Have you figured out what I’m thinking about getting?  

     =)

Artful Links for You

So I took a day off and fiddled around. Here are some great things I’ve found online:

http://fiberartsmixedmedia.ning.com/  – really great mix of stuff. Inspiring and energetic!

http://www.layersuponlayers.com/how-to-make-leather-look-felt/ -
a tutorial on making plain old felt look like leather, the RSS feed contains other great stuff like yarn bombing, experiments with Golden Products new digital mediums and more.

http://www.printablepaper.net/ - a website that has free printable papers like music score sheets, ledger, lined, graph, penmanship papers and a ton more. It’s quick and easy since all the files are in .pdf format. Think backgrounds, collage, book pages…

www.pocketmod.com - a configurable, printable template for little books folded from one 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. Choices include diary, checkbook balance, date book organizer, or blank sheets, etc.  Just the folding template is cool!

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/catsofmirikitani/film.html - you can see this film online. It’s a documentary made of Jimmy Mirikatani, a Japanese American artist that was born in Sacramento, CA, grew up in Hiroshima and was sent to Tule Lake internment camp in his early 20’s.  This is an amazing film – not to be missed.  The delicate treatment of his bitterness and resolution of that bitterness is humbling and beautifully done. His art is worth seeing, too!  Really a gem.

 I hope you enjoy these links and find some expansion of your personal artistic world in them!