friday morning update
1. I wrote another game review for IGN: 2005's PS2 game Shadow of the Colossus. It's interesting how one develops a more critical eye for things when they know they'll plan on reviewing it afterwards. Next up: started "Metal Gear Solid 4" last night.
2. I'm going to be heading down to CT later in the month to do 2-3 days' worth of recording with Chris Moylan, who produced the most recent [bert] album as well as the Shark and Bear and the Score One For the Fat Kid albums. We don't really have a gameplan, just a collection of solo songs from throughout the last ten years that we'll use as a starting point. Whatever comes out of it, I'm excited to work with Chris again.
3. I'm on Twitter now. Behold the minutiae: twitter.com/randrewwagner
4. Tim and I saw Paul McCartney last week at Fenway. Our seats, directly behind home plate, wouldn't have been that great (they set up the stage on the opposite end of the park, in front of the bleachers), but the 75' HD screens made it easy to see everything. Paul's voice is, at 67, almost as good as it was as a young man; the first half of his set focused on his prolific solo career, with a lot of tunes from the last decade (even including a Fireman song), and the second half was all Beatles/Wings. This culminated in an incredible first-set finale with a fireworks/flashpot-laden version of "Live and Let Die" into a ten-minute riff on "Hey Jude"-- the closing melody of which I would have happily sung along with for half an hour. Good times.
5. RIP Les Paul. Sarah and I were at the Experience Music Project in Seattle on my birthday a few years ago, and in their comprehensive guitar history exhibit, they had a video of Les shredding on one of his prototypical electrics in the early '40s, and I was hooked. Tim saw him perform earlier this year at his weekly residency in NYC (which he continued pretty much up to his death); I wish I'd made good on my desire to do so. The man's influence cannot be understated; I mean, we pretty much owe both the electric guitar and the concept of multitrack recording to his genius. But I'd rather celebrate his life than mourn his passing; he lived a rich, long, and amazing life.
6. I've been getting pretty involved in the debates over healthcare reform. I've worked in this field for about half my professional career, and to try and reduce the monstrous complexity of healthcare to a soundbite or a black-and-white philosophy is not going to cut it. A public option doesn't mean the end of private healthcare; the government is already involved, and their influence (Medicare, tax benefits for employer-sponsored programs) has been almost uniformly beneficial. We have a healthcare mandate in Massachusetts; since its inception, I've made four doctor's appointments, none of which required a wait time of more than six days. And I've said it before, but it bears repeating: if you endorse violence against democratically elected officials simply because you disagree with their position, you are endorsing terrorism.
7. And finally: I love fall for a lot of reasons, but one of the best is the copious album release schedule. Here's what I'm excited or curious about through the end of sweater weather:
August 25
Patton Oswalt -- My Weakness is Strong
September 1
Jim O'Rourke -- The Visitor
September 8
Phish -- Joy
Polvo -- In Prism
September 15
Tyondai Braxton -- Central Market
September 22
Pearl Jam -- Backspacer
September 29
The Swell Season -- Strict Joy
October 6
Sufjan Stevens -- Run Rabbit Run
Air -- Love 2
Mountain Goats -- Life of the World to Come
Mission of Burma -- The Sound The Speed The Light
Boston Spaceships -- Zero to 99
October 13
Flaming Lips -- Embryonic
Wolfmother -- Cosmic Egg
October 20
Sufjan Stevens -- The BQE
Flight of the Conchords -- I Told You I Was Freaky
Spiral Stairs -- The Real Feel
October 27
Them Crooked Vultures -- Never Deserved the Future
Weezer -- 4th s/t
2. I'm going to be heading down to CT later in the month to do 2-3 days' worth of recording with Chris Moylan, who produced the most recent [bert] album as well as the Shark and Bear and the Score One For the Fat Kid albums. We don't really have a gameplan, just a collection of solo songs from throughout the last ten years that we'll use as a starting point. Whatever comes out of it, I'm excited to work with Chris again.
3. I'm on Twitter now. Behold the minutiae: twitter.com/randrewwagner
4. Tim and I saw Paul McCartney last week at Fenway. Our seats, directly behind home plate, wouldn't have been that great (they set up the stage on the opposite end of the park, in front of the bleachers), but the 75' HD screens made it easy to see everything. Paul's voice is, at 67, almost as good as it was as a young man; the first half of his set focused on his prolific solo career, with a lot of tunes from the last decade (even including a Fireman song), and the second half was all Beatles/Wings. This culminated in an incredible first-set finale with a fireworks/flashpot-laden version of "Live and Let Die" into a ten-minute riff on "Hey Jude"-- the closing melody of which I would have happily sung along with for half an hour. Good times.
5. RIP Les Paul. Sarah and I were at the Experience Music Project in Seattle on my birthday a few years ago, and in their comprehensive guitar history exhibit, they had a video of Les shredding on one of his prototypical electrics in the early '40s, and I was hooked. Tim saw him perform earlier this year at his weekly residency in NYC (which he continued pretty much up to his death); I wish I'd made good on my desire to do so. The man's influence cannot be understated; I mean, we pretty much owe both the electric guitar and the concept of multitrack recording to his genius. But I'd rather celebrate his life than mourn his passing; he lived a rich, long, and amazing life.
6. I've been getting pretty involved in the debates over healthcare reform. I've worked in this field for about half my professional career, and to try and reduce the monstrous complexity of healthcare to a soundbite or a black-and-white philosophy is not going to cut it. A public option doesn't mean the end of private healthcare; the government is already involved, and their influence (Medicare, tax benefits for employer-sponsored programs) has been almost uniformly beneficial. We have a healthcare mandate in Massachusetts; since its inception, I've made four doctor's appointments, none of which required a wait time of more than six days. And I've said it before, but it bears repeating: if you endorse violence against democratically elected officials simply because you disagree with their position, you are endorsing terrorism.
7. And finally: I love fall for a lot of reasons, but one of the best is the copious album release schedule. Here's what I'm excited or curious about through the end of sweater weather:
August 25
Patton Oswalt -- My Weakness is Strong
September 1
Jim O'Rourke -- The Visitor
September 8
Phish -- Joy
Polvo -- In Prism
September 15
Tyondai Braxton -- Central Market
September 22
Pearl Jam -- Backspacer
September 29
The Swell Season -- Strict Joy
October 6
Sufjan Stevens -- Run Rabbit Run
Air -- Love 2
Mountain Goats -- Life of the World to Come
Mission of Burma -- The Sound The Speed The Light
Boston Spaceships -- Zero to 99
October 13
Flaming Lips -- Embryonic
Wolfmother -- Cosmic Egg
October 20
Sufjan Stevens -- The BQE
Flight of the Conchords -- I Told You I Was Freaky
Spiral Stairs -- The Real Feel
October 27
Them Crooked Vultures -- Never Deserved the Future
Weezer -- 4th s/t