Cleaning House

Today, there will not be a review dedicated to a single album. Consideration was given to reviewing something by Echo and the Bunnymen, or possibly even Drive-By Truckers, but ultimately recent developments trumped traditional format.

Today's blog post will cover the following topics:

• Pandora internet radio adds pricing structure
• Michael Jackson apparently still in tabloids
• 80/35 Festival in Des Moines
  

Recently, the Pandora internet radio service changed its delivery format somewhat. After having offered free and unlimited internet radio, allowing users to create 'stations' based on their tastes, for some time, it is now offering a modest pricing structure. Radio is free for the first 40 hours each month; beyond that mark, listeners will have to pay $0.99 for the privilege of listening. This comes on the heels of progressively integrating more advertising into its programming in recent months, with short audio advertisements representing the most intrusive of these.

It remains to be seen whether Pandora will survive. This decision is hardly a surprise, given the court-approved raise of internet radio music licensing fees in 2007 (I believe) and the RIAA's general money-grubbing, but it is still something of a disappointment. I don't know that I will continue to use Pandora, despite its great utility to me over the past twelve months or so; the fee is modest, but something of a nuisance. Still, Pandora is probably something that I will choose to remember fondly and may consider in the future.

In other news, Michael Jackson passed away recently. You may have heard this. If not, I would advise you to reconsider your use of Support Your Local Catgun as your exclusive news provider and connection to the outside world. Apparently this is a great tragedy, despite Michael having done very little of musical or social worth in the last fifteen years or more. A grand funeral service was held earlier this week, in which the Jackson family and other people interested in furthering their own celebrity through public displays of grief were present.

My thoughts? My upbringing and particular age left me largely unexposed to Michael Jackson, musician and celebrity, and only later was I privy to the existence of Michael Jackson, obscenely rich personal spectacle. His death is certainly a tragedy, in the sense that the death of a parent of young children is, but otherwise, it's probably hyperbole. For most, I suppose that his passing represents lost youth never to return. Personally, I feel guilty for having devoted so many words to such a thing.

Finally, the 80/35 festival took place last weekend in the Des Moines metro area. The festival was fairly well received, though there were notably fewer ticketbuyers than the previous year. Also, Flava Flav, of first-day headliner Public Enemy, did not show up. I can only assume this is a direct result of Flav's perception of Des Moines women, and their presumed inability to reach levels of skankiness appropriate for Flav. Come on, local skanks!

In Other News:
Sorry about all the yapping in here today. I feel a bit like one of the attention-hungry vloggers on Youtube, and this makes me feel like taking a shower.

The Echo & the Bunnymen album, Crocodiles, is pretty good if somewhat dated.

Perhaps a review of Mogwai's latest, The Hawk is Howling, will take place next week.