Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Signs of Hope The Mariners have been underwhelming this season.  They've been purging themselves of suspected causes:  Randy Winn is gone.  Bret Boone is gone.  Ron Villone is gone.  And they've got no hope of a playoff berth.   They desperately needed some reason for fans to stay interested, something on which to pin next year's hopes. Meet Felix Hernandez.  The line from last night:  eight innings, 94 pitches, five hits, six strikeouts.  Zero walks.  Zero runs.  I watched part of the game, and Hernandez may very well be the best pitcher on the team right now. 6:54:21 AM     Speak up!  []

Rationing Music EMusic, as mentioned before, has a dazzling array of children's music.  After Neal Pollack's blistering breakdown of the choices available,  I've been trying a few different choices (read:  songs not by Dan Zanes.)  Then suddenly I realized I was getting lots and lots of children's music and no music for grown-ups.  I gotta save some downloads for me, too. Downloaded this month:  Laura Cantrell - Humming by the Flowered Vine Zuco 103 - Whaa! Jason Ringenberg - A Day at the Farm with Farmer Jason Matthew Shipp - Matthew Shipp's New Orbit Woody Guthrie - Nursery Days (selected songs) The best (or most intriguing) albums on EMusic that I haven't gotten yet: Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs M. Ward - Transistor Radio Death from Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine Bloc Party - Silent Alarm Picaresque - the Decemberists (I can't make up my mind about these guys.  Can someone please tell me what is the deal with the Decemberists?  Are they good?  Are they cloying?  Will I love them, or want to throw myself out a window?) Brian Eno-Another Day on Earth Bob Mould -  Body of Song (and "The Last Dog and Pony Show" and "Bob Mould," not to mention all those Sugar albums) The Mountain Goats - the Sunset Tree Xiu Xiu - La Foret I might have to do one of those booster packs, just to snatch these up before they disappear.  EMusic has been known to get deals with labels only to lose them (example:  Six Degrees.)  I don't want to miss out of any of these.  Note:  EMusic also just got a deal with Smithsonian Folkways.  It seems like it's new, anyway.  So they just took a big bag filled with Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy, and other American legends, and dumped it out all over the website.  Woo-hoo!  6:30:52 AM     Speak up!  []