Too bad the weather doesn’t know it’s summer. Anyway, I digress…
I’ve lost track of how many times Jen and I have seen Poison in concert. But last night was a first – we took Arianna to see Poison and Def Leppard. So Jen and I decided to have a little extra fin with it. I put on a red bandana (I’ve never worn a bandana around my head) and wore my earring (I still dig it out every now and then). Jen… Well, she’s Jen. She put in green hair clip-ons, but this is something we would expect from her anytime anyway… And Arianna wore her tie-dye shirt and a bandana. Transformation Rockstar complete.
We arrived early to tailgate. I brought a little charcoal grill, some burgers, corn on the cob, sausage and hot dogs. I loaded the car with folding chairs and a table. And against my better judgement, I brought along some Corona Light and fresh limes (At least it was ‘light’ beer). We ate, listened to music out of the back of the car, then went to the concert.
We had a great night. Arianna has been asking for years to go and see Poison. She was looking forward to hearing “Ride the Wind” and seeing “C.C.” play.
In the traditional style, on the way home, we were listening to music that was opposite of the concert we just saw. I had the new Black Eyed Peas album on, but I kept the volume low since my ears were ringing from the concert. After the last concert we saw (Air Supply), I had Disturbed playing for the car ride home. Go figure.
This is a great song by Trace Adkins, but if you’re a parent, it’ll sure make you cry. It’s sure true. I came across this video by accident, but the meaning of this song is so true. It happened to our parents, and it will soon happen to us. I hate country music. It usually makes me feel terrible because many of the songs are so true and genuine… I can only do a little country. I do like many country songs, but most of them are heart-wrenching. Anyway, if you cry after watching this video, I don’t want to hear it…
After posting this blog about my anger towards the apparant copy-protection embedded in the new Linkin Park CD “Minutes To Midnight”, I received several unhappy messages and comments from people.
My blog was spammed by someone on a mission (RepentTokyo from the idolator.com message boards) to get me to take down my post.
Before I continue, let me address this. If my blog is spammed over and over again with childish comments and name calling, it will be deleted. That does not make me “technically challenged” nor not willing to accept other opinions. If you don’t like my blog and you write a response that attacks me personally, consider it deleted.
Other blogs like this one and this one posted negative comments as well. Some of them thought that I had no idea what I was talking about… Others blamed it on my Mac. Whatever. The point is that I could not copy my new CD into iTunes. And this is the only CD that I have ever had this problem with.
I buy most of my music on iTunes, because the albums are only $9.99. When the new Linkin Park “Minutes To Midnight” CD came out, I went to iTunes and to my surprise, the album cost was $11.99. No extra tracks, no videos, nothing extra. So I decided to buy the physical CD instead.
I bought the CD for $16.99, and when I went to pop it into my Macbook Pro, the CD never showed up in iTunes. And it never displayed in the Finder. I thought maybe my mac goofed, so I ejected it and inserted it again. No dice. So I popped it in my work PC, and it opened Windows Media Player and allowed the CD to play, but, when I tried to view the CD’s contents in Windows Explorer, it showed the tracks as 1kb files, which is obviously wrong. The true files are hidden. They secretly employed some type of copy protection to prevent my fair use. I have the right to copy or listen to my music on my computer.
Then I did a Google search and found out that other people had the same issues. Then I got angry. There was no disclaimer on the CD packaging. In fact, the CD had the compact disc logo, which as far as I know is a standard, but it seems that this Warner Bros. CD is not following the standard.
I decided to try the CD in my older Power PC iMac. It worked! I ripped the CD into iTunes and then added the tracks to my MacBook Pro. So I paid full price for a crippled CD from Warner Bros. And I pay for my music! Why are they trying to restrict my ability to open the CD on my Mac and rip into iTunes?? It’s conduct like this that will cause people to stop buying CDs and download illegally instead.
From this point on, I will no longer buy Warner Bros. labeled CDs, nor will I purchase them on iTunes. I will acquire music from this label by using other means. Warner Bros., this is your fault!!! And if this happens when I purchase any other CDs from other record labels, they will no longer get my money. And I will tell everybody that I know.
I’ve blogged several times about how music speaks to me. Sometimes, music can be inspiring, sometimes it can remind you of love, hurt, the past. It can make you feel like you’re immortal on a nice sunny day while you’re driving on the highway. The song lyrics that I’ve posted below is about the questioning of our own being. We’ve all felt like this before. The song doesn’t provide any answers – just questions that we sometimes ask ourselves.
