In my previous post, I talked about my MIDI interface suddenly crapping out on me over the weekend.
Well, this morning I woke up and my Internet connection isn’t working. I’ve tried all my usual tactics to kick-start it, but none are working.
I’m “borrowing” a wi-fi signal in my complex to post this.
Ugh…looks like I’ll be making a prolonged call to Earthlink this evening.
Crap.
While I dealt with a slight infection of my right eye the day after my Apple Store adventure, I hooked my synthesizer up to my steadily deteriorating PowerBook and recorded what could be a song in the making.
But I got stuck on a bridge so I put it to rest for the night. I woke up and played around with some ideas late Sunday morning. I finally came across something I liked and went to insert it into the GarageBand recording I worked on Saturday. Unfortunately, I discovered that either the MIDI cable I have hooked up between my MIDI interface and my keyboard is bad, or the interface itself has crapped out on me. This happened a couple of months ago, but it was resolved when I just happened to switch out my USB cables as a last resort. This time, though, that didn’t do the trick. Since the cable doesn’t look bad (i.e., no kinks, no exposed wiring), I suspect it is the MIDI interface (which was a generous gift from my friend, Jason).
So…since any future recording won’t be done until I get around to replacing the MIDI interface (unless it suddenly springs back to life), I give to you this very incomplete song idea that, in my mind, was influenced by Keane (since I love their new single so much):
Here are some photos I took at Friday night’s Grand Opening of the Apple Store Fifth Avenue in New York City.
A couple of shots of the glass cube entrance to the underground store…
One of the friends Katie made while in the queue to get into the store uses a new black MacBook while waiting outside…
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (with “friend” Robert Smigel) makes fun of the Apple geeks in front of the entrance to the store. To get into a Triumph mindset for a moment, I will say that I love Mac OS X Tiger, but Windows XP is also a good operating system…FOR ME TO POOP ON!
Katie reacts to news from an Apple Store staffer that the free T-shirts being given out to the first 2,500 people in the store should still be around by the time we got inside.
A shot of the sprial, glass staircase and the Jetsons-like elevator in the middle of it…
Looking up through the cube from the sales floor of the Apple Store to the General Motors Building above…
Some pics of the Apple Store itself…
Film director/writer/producer/actor Spike Lee does some shopping…
Actor James Woods, who starred in one of my all-time favorite movies, “True Believer,” talks to Spike Lee on the staircase…
Katie tells a guy with a camera about how she nearly elbowed James Woods in the head while walking down the staircase into the store…
John Legend, winner of this year’s Grammy Award for Best New Artist and University of Pennsylvania alumnus, picks up some Apple gear…
NOTE: Not pictured are SNL cast member Finesse Mitchell and hip hop/rap/R&B superstar Kanye West. Katie actually bumped into Finesse and told him she thinks he’s funny. Meanwhile, Kanye descended down the glass staircase escorted by about a dozen Apple employees after I had put my camera away. By the time I turned my camera back on, Kanye was mobbed by gawkers and whisked away to what I assume is a VIP room (since I also saw Spike Lee go in there at one point).
Two shots of the Apple Store entrance at night…
My Apple Store T-shirt…
And here is a pic of Katie and me with the fellow Macheads she made friends with while waiting for NJ Transit to finally get me to NYC…
Almost there!
The glass-cube entrance to the Apple Store, Fifth Avenue, the new flagship store in New York City celebrating its grand opening tomorrow night at 6 p.m. It will be the first Apple Store to be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
This place looks freakin’ awesome. I’m going up to NYC for the opening. If I have to wait until 2 a.m. to get through the doors of the Great Cube of Jobs, I will do so. Besides, there is incentive…the store is giving away a new MacBook each hour for 24 straight hours to celebrate the opening.
Here are more pics from AppleInsider.com:
I became a big fan of Keane as soon as I heard the single “Somewhere Only We Know” from the 2004 CD “Hopes and Fears.” My fandom reached new heights when I saw them perform at Philly’s Electric Factory on Feb. 4, 2005—just two days before the Eagles played…and lost…in the Super Bowl. (By the way, that was one of the best shows I have ever seen because it’s rare when you get one decent opening act, let alone two…and this show featured two outstanding openers in The Zutons and The Redwalls.)
However, when I first heard “Is It Any Wonder?” from Keane’s upcoming “Under the Iron Sea” CD, I wasn’t thrilled with it. I told Katie just the other day that the song just didn’t do anything for me.
Well, a couple of days later and I can’t get the damn song out of my head (which could be the result of that “earworm” intro). I love it…so here’s the video, courtesy of YouTube:
UPDATED (5/16/06)…See note before video below.
The BBC put a cabbie waiting for his fare in the reception area of the Television Centre on live TV to discuss the recent decision in the lawsuit between the Beatles’ Apple Corps and Apple Computer, Inc. Apparently, they confused the black man with a French accent for technology expert Guy Kewney, who is white, bearded and a regular BBC contributor.
If you read this story from The Mail, you can watch the actual video of the interview. The cabbie’s reaction when they introduce him as Guy Kewney is classic!
Mr Kewney, an IT journalist and founder of newswireless.net, watched as the cabbie, who has not been named, gamely attempted to answer questions fired at him by BBC consumer affairs correspondent Karen Bowerman.
The man, who had been waiting for his fare in the reception of Television Centre, found himself being ushered into a studio and fitted with a microphone after raising his hand when a producer called out the name Guy Kewney.
On his website, the real Mr Kewney, said that the man “seemed as baffled as I felt” when asked about the consequences of the lawsuit live on BBC News 24.
It is unclear why the driver identified himself when Mr Kewney’s named was called but it is thought he had been waiting to pick the computer expert up.
What’s funny is that this is apparently common at the BBC…even with BBC Wales. During production of the last season of “Doctor Who,” a politician at the BBC Wales studio for an interview was confused for an extra and was seconds away from being turned into a tree-like alien creature for a “Doctor Who” episode.
NOTE: According to this AP story (via CNN.com), the mystery guest turned out not to be a cabbie as initially reported. His name is Guy Goma (same first name as Mr. Kewney) and he was at the BBC Television Centre to apply for a technology-related job. I hope the BBC hires him after all that.
Getting back to the confused cabbie, you can watch the video below that I ganked from YouTube (this was apparently packaged by the BBC to explain the mix-up to viewers).
I’m sure this video will be taken off YouTube at some point due to copyright issues, but it’s there now and I want to share the incredible, face-planting catch made by Phillies center fielder Aaron Rowand to end a bases-loaded threat by the Mets in the first inning of last night’s game at Citizens Bank Park. Rowand broke his nose and will have surgery today.
Meanwhile, Phillies phenom pitcher Cole Hamels makes his major league debut tonight in Cincinnati. I have been following his Triple-A starts rather closely on my Phillies site on Tribe.net. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to watch it because Katie and I are going down to South Street in Philly to catch They Might Be Giants at the TLA. And, of course, that means pre-show cheese steaks from Jim’s!
Just a side note…TMBG provides those catchy tunes being heard in Dunkin’ Donuts’ “America Runs on Dunkin'” series of commercials.
(By the way, sorry about the back-to-back baseball posts…that’s what happens when the Phillies win nine in a row and 10 of 11.)
Photo by Miles Kennedy/AP.
Went down to Citizens Bank Park on Sunday night to see the Phillies take on Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants. As a Phillies fan, I mainly went to see them go for their eighth straight win. However, I also wanted to see if Bonds—just two homers shy of Babe Ruth’s total of 714—could make history.
Well, I saw the Phillies win their eighth in a row, 9-5. And I saw Bonds pull a little closer to Ruth with this titanic home run off the façade of the third deck in right field.
Bonds hits career home run No. 713
Plus, I got to experience a Philly crowd in the presence of a much-despised individual, which is always entertaining…and somewhat embarrassing.
Some more photos and links to additional video clips below…
More video:
Bonds Gets Philly Welcome
From this AP story via CNN.com…
Two voting-age sons of a northern Ohio candidate didn’t go to the polls Tuesday, and their father’s race ended in a tie.
William Crawford, trying to retain his seat on the central committee of the Erie County Democratic Party, and challenger Jean Miller each received 43 votes in the primary balloting…
…Crawford was able to laugh about it Wednesday, but he said his sons are going to be getting an earful for skipping the election.
“Oh they will, let me tell you,” Crawford said.
Brian Kelley 