Posted by Rightdude at 7:40 PM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2007

What's New? A CD Review of "Exile on Mainstream" from Matchbox Twenty.

The Dude on the Right has one memory he tries to treasure, and that was interviewing Matchbox Twenty when they were matchbox 20, before they hit it big, and finally got a tour bus. But who in the hell gives a crap about that, what about their new CD, "Exile on Mainstream." The Dude loved the fact that most of the boys got together to write and record the new songs and gives the fan six new songs, at probably the best ratio of "new songs" to "greatest hits" songs ever on a "Greatest Hits" compilation. Now he just hopes for a tour and a chance to interview them again, some 10+ years later, and wonders if Rob Thomas ever got the boys to go to an off-ramp to record some songs.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:42 PM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2007

What's New? A CD Review of "The Soft Addictions" from Michael Stanley.

For this CD review of "The Soft Addictions" from Michael Stanley, The Dude on the Right gets a little reflective about living in Chicago and sometimes hearing "Midwest Midnight" on "The Steve Dahl Show." Then he reviews the CD and likes the fact that Michael Stanley has grown up and has maybe gotten a little more reflective about life. If you've grown up with Mr. Stanley you'll probably like the CD, and if you don't know who he is, well, you probably aren't from Ohio or never saw the Michael Stanley Band open up for Foreigner, or Steve Dahl.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:16 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2007

Dear The Mystery Dude and Tosh - Thank You for Springsteen!

By: The Dude on the Right
When I went for my walks over the past weekend I got to listen to something I haven't been able to in years, so I've got to give a big shout-out to a couple of fraternity brothers, namely our own staff member The Mystery Dude as well as another brother, Tosh. It all stems to, back in the day, when we had to walk to school, both ways, in the snow, and how we used to copy music and share it with our friends. That's right, the time of that plastic thing called a cassette.

In any case, one of my favorite concert recordings of all time was of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band doing the 10th Anniversary Concert for WMMS at The Agora in Cleveland. I don't believe I heard the original broadcast as I was eleven years old in 1978 when it aired and really don’t remember much of anything when I was eleven except a crush on a girl in my sister's class, but I ended up with a copy of the show which I really can’t remember how I got it, either. Maybe I recorded it off of the radio during a re-broadcast, maybe I stole it from my brother, or maybe it was God, but it is still one of my favoritist concert recordings of all time. Then, in college, either I made a copy for The Mystery Dude, or he borrowed my tapes to make a copy (The Mystery Dude is a Deadhead, so tape collecting of concerts comes second nature to him), but, as the CD world started to proliferate into my life, suddenly all of those cassettes found their way into a cardboard box; in fact, I still know where they all are, yet they are never played now.

Continuing on - With the other Bruce concert recordings I have gotten over the years, well, the box set of "Live/ 1975-1985" and some live stuff from "Tracks," every time I heard one of those songs I yearned for listening to that show from 1978 where Bruce explains that on the way to find God (during the song "Growin' Up") he bumps into Kid Leo (radio DJ extraordinaire from WMMS), who was "Prayin’ for more watts. I gotta blast this baby all the way to New Jersey." Bruce Springsteen, always the storyteller, but I left his storytelling from 1978 in my head and in a box of tapes, and I was too lazy to do anything about it.

But then, when a group of us got together to see "The Transformers" movie, The Mystery Dude handed me a CD jewel case and there it was, a copy on some CD’s of the copies of the cassettes of the Bruce Springsteen concert I had given him over a decade ago. If I have the story correct, Tosh offered to convert The Mystery Dude's collection of cassettes to the digital age, and made his way to the Springsteen copy. The Mystery Dude, being pretty cool, made a copy for me, which I proceeded to burn to my hard drive and put on my iPhone, and there I was, walking, being transported back years and years and years, and even though not fully remembering the origins and passing on of my tapes of the Bruce Springsteen concert, I was still knowing every word from the broadcast, from Kid Leo's opening of "And welcome, to the WMMS 10th Anniversary Concert. I’m Kid Leo, and I have the, ah, duty and the pleasure of welcoming, ladies and gentleman, the main event. Round for round, pound for pound, there ain’t no finer band around. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band!", to Bruce explaining going to Utah and driving to Reno and seeing a house an Indian had sculptered from stuff in the desert that had a picture of Geronimo with "Landlord" over it, and a sign pointing down a dirt road that said "Thunder Road," to Bruce explaining "fraternity rock," and the crowd understanding in its loudest.  Damn, it was so good to hear that show again.

So, Mystery Dude and Tosh, I would like to thank you for bringing that concert back into my life. And as I was listening, as I do every time I listen, I still wonder who Jay Cox from Cincinnati is, and why is Bruce dedicating "Darkness on the Edge of Town" to him?

Thinking about it, maybe I should give Tosh my box of old cassettes. I know I’ve got a bootleg of a Meat Loaf concert in there, as well as maybe George Thorogood, but I'm guessing The Mystery Dude was given copies of those as well, so maybe one day I'll relive those days. I suppose I could also get off of my lazy ass, hook up the old tape deck, and dub them myself, the old fashioned way, but then what would The Mystery Dude surprise me with the next time a bunch of us get together to see a movie?

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 8:04 PM | Comments (3)

September 8, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: A Parody of "Hey There Delilah," Baggy Pant Laws, and What's Up With Rick Ankiel?

For this podcast The Dude on the Right worries about the humiliation ammunition he has just given his niece and nephew, and hell, the rest of the world, for his parody of “Hey There Delilah” from The Plain White T’s. He calls his song “I Hate Delilah,” and decided to do it a cappella since he’s lazy. Nice timing for him since he wrote this song after it has already hit its popularity peak. He also spouts about Eddie Griffin dropping the “N”-Bomb, is worried about his Chicago Cubs, and is troubled by towns making laws about wearing pants that show your butt-crack. And, oh yea, what was Rick Ankiel with the St. Louis Cardinals doing with HGH (Human Growth Hormone) a few years ago. We all want to know.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:25 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2007

Garth Brooks Probably Isn't Touring, and I Missed Dreaming of Boobs.

By: The Dude on the Right
At first I was going to blog about going to see the Chicago Cubs play yesterday, how it was cool to see the flyovers because the Air & Water Show is in town, and how my friends and I were actually on TV during the broadcast. But partially since I haven’t been able to dub the video yet as proof we were on TV, but more because I sort of feel duped, or at least stupid, so I thought I would write a little about Garth Brooks.

You might be thinking something right now like "Garth Brooks?  Isn't he retired?" to which I would reply, "So I thought," but it started last night, when I finally got home from the Cubs' game and checked my Google homepage.  It has some links to RSS feeds I read, and one was from the Cleveland Plain Dealer mentioning Garth preparing a comeback, "a new three-disc album, and, quite possibly, a concert tour."  It mentioned a press conference at www.garthbrooks.com this morning.  So I go to the web site and sure enough, there is a header stating "You've heard the rumors, now get the answers.  Straight from Garth Brooks."

For whatever reason I totally bought into a blurb, in a blog, from a newspaper in Cleveland, OH, and quickly posted an entry at our sister-site, mostlyentertainment.com rumoring about a tour.  Then I went to bed with visions of Garth putting out an unprecedented release of new material, going back on tour, and dragging our staff member Trash to another concert and press conference where she can stare at his butt.

So, I woke up this morning, didn't get myself a gun, but I did do some more internet searching wondering about this wondrous announcement.  I checked Billboard, checked CMT, checked here and there and everywhere, but there didn't seem to be any "surprise" announcements.  And as my morning was progressing I had two options:  Sit around and wait for Garth's press conference, supposedly to be carried online, at 11:45AM my time, or go and see "Superbad."  Thank God I went to see "Superbad."

After laughing a lot in the theater I got back home, eager to see news of the press conference on the Garth Brooks web site.  Nothing, it still just showed the announcement of a press conference (figured they would at least have a replay link somewhere).  No headlines on Yahoo, nothing new on Google, then I went to the planetgarth.com site to see if they had anything, but there wasn't any new news on their homepage, either.  I remembered they had a forum area, surely something has to be listed there, and finally I found out that Garth Brooks squashed most of the visions that were dancing in my head the night before.

Now, although the Cleveland newspaper blog wasn't exactly wrong, from what I have found out Garth will be releasing a "box" set called "The Ultimate Hits" which will include 30 old songs you probably own, and four new songs, with the first single being "More Than a Memory."  The box will also include a DVD featuring 33 videos of the 34 songs in the box.  Garth said he doesn't plan on touring but will promoting the bejesus out of the thing, and from what most of the Planet Garth posted said, Garth is looking hot as ever, looking to have lost a good deal of weight.

With the news announcement, and being selfish I will put this out to Garth:

Dear Garth,
I know you are loving spending time with your daughters, and with Trisha, but if you ever wanted to tour, and give your girls an experience of their lifetime, you may not have a better time than now.  Right now your daughters are at that age when you still have a little bit of control, and if you took them on tour with you, especially with a double bill with Trisha, you could pull off that world tour that lets them see the world, in ways they could never imagine, all under the protective watch of their Dad.  They get to see the world, we get to see, again, one of the greatest concert performers of all time, your daughters get to spend your money buying lots of stuff around the world (oh, wait, scratch that last remark), and they get introduced to some of the safer ways to experience the world rather than finding out, in their late teens or early twenties, their ways to experience the world.  Yes, this is sort of selfish of me, because I would love to see you in concert again, but I'm just throwing it out there for you, because unlike the McGraw kids, your daughters are old enough to forever remember a tour with you.
Sincerely,
The Dude on the Right

P.S.  I'll still buy "The Ultimate Hits," because I'm a fan, but damn, I miss you man.

And so, letter to Garth aside, I feel bummed that I let myself get roped into the wind of internet rumor, about a tour, and 30 new songs.  I should have done a little bit more internet searching before going to bed last night so that visions of the girl with nice boobs behind me at the Cubs' game danced in my head rather than that vision of Garth touring, but then again, at a Garth concert, there are lots of girls with nice boobs.  Garth, please give me a three disc set of new material (I've got some songs if you want) and a new tour, rather than a box set of old stuff, and only four things that are new.  You know what, as I think about it, never mind - I don't have daughters and I don't have a wife - I guess I can't understand.  Wait a minute, that's a country song, and it's mine, unless, Garth, you want ...

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:46 PM | Comments (0)

August 15, 2007

What's New? A Couple of CD Reviews of Aerosmith and Bruce Dickinson.

By: The Dude on the Right
In the slow progression of my “All of The Dude’s CDs” project, I sometimes use it as a crutch to add filler when I get some brain cramps and can’t write. Such was today, when I intended to do a full review of Bon Jovi’s latest CD, “Lost Highway,” but had too many clichés in my head and I really didn’t want to include them in the review, and for the life of me, I couldn’t come up with the opening line for the review. That is sometimes the hardest part for me.

In any case, today I posted some quick reviews of “Pump” from Aerosmith, and “Accident of Birth” by Bruce Dickinson. The Aerosmith CD brought me back to some of the times I have reviewed their concerts, and they so much kick ass, and although not an Iron Maiden fan, I can respect what Bruce Dickinson does.

As I look to get back into more music coverage for the web site I guess I really should get back into the groove of reviewing all of the CD’s I own, and getting back to seeing concerts, things I have missed in my life for a while.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:53 PM | Comments (0)

August 1, 2007

Quick CD Reviews from: Neal McCoy, Sisters With Voices, Bruce Springsteen, Uncle Kracker, and Jewel.

By: The Dude on the Right
In continuing my project of reviewing all of the CD's I own, here come quick reviews from Neal McCoy, Sisters With Voices, Bruce Springsteen, Uncle Kracker, and Jewel.

I was a little surprised as I listened to "Pieces of You" from Jewel that I didn't like it as much as I seemed to remember I did, I need to get back on the Neal McCoy bandwagon because his CD review reminded me how much I like his music and his live show, and I did find it funny that Uncle Kracker put out a fantastic "radio friendly" song but the rest of the CD probably shocked the hell out of those that bought it.  Springsteen, well, I pretty much love almost everything he puts out, and Sisters With Voices doesn't hit a chord with me, but that not to say the CD is bad.

With this installment of reviewing all of my "older" CD's, I'm up to somewhere around 30ish CD reviews.  I've only got about 700 more to go.  I guess I better get listening!

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:51 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2007

What's New? A CD Review of "The Best Damn Thing" from Avril Lavigne.

The Dude on the Right wasn't sure if he would review "The Best Damn Thing" from Avril Lavigne, but since the web re-design is finished, and he doesn't give a crap about the Baseball All-Star Game, tonight seemed to be the perfect time. He also likes the second release from the CD, namely the ballad "When You're Gone," and has always been a fan of teenish, dudette pop. With that he doesn't care about the lawsuit from "The Rubinoos" because he thinks "Girlfriend" is a better song.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2007

What's New? A Quick CD Review of "Right Back at Ya" from Michael Stanley Band.

For this quick CD review of "Right Back at Ya" from Michael Stanley Band, The Dude on the Right puts this one almost as a "best of" of a band that, for whatever radio reasons, but most likely "money’s still the way they keep score," never made the uber-national stage. They will still, always, be one of his top five bands ever.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:20 PM | Comments (0)

February 5, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Go Bears? Prince was Great, has a Big Guitar, and The Dude Roots for Jessica from Survivor.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right is sad the Chicago Bears lost in the Super Bowl, but looks forward to being confused for both baseball and basketball. He also wonders why there hasn't been an uproar about Prince's guitar during his halftime show, and looks forward to the new season of Survivor with his new girlfriend, Jessica.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:14 PM | Comments (0)

December 7, 2006

December is a Clusterf&%^. At Least I Posted Some Short CD Reviews of Springsteen and some Presidents.

By: The Dude on the Right
I won't come out and say that I'm totally disliking December, but I'm stuck in a quandary of getting things done, blowing things off, or just not giving a damn.  The holiday season just seems to keep getting in the way of getting things done, unless, of course, I would win the Lotto.

Case in point:  I wanted to do a podcast tonight, but it didn't come together.  I've been redesigning "The Movie Theater" archive area, to make it more functional, and thought I had it all together.  The redesign looked fine in Explorer, but for a reason I eventually figured out, the Firefox browser side looked crappy.  So tonight I think I got the basic redesign of "The Movie Theater" archive section looking okay, and that cut into the podcast.

Then there were all of the topics I would like to write about in my last blog, which, my sister is probably right, I won't ever get to.  And who wouldn't want to hear about Farmers vs. Dudettes in Short Skirts.

Stu Gotz and I started our work on our next "Stu & The Dude Reviewin' the Movies for You!" for the Mel Gibson flick, Apocolypto, but knowing me and my OCD, or ADD (I always get them messed up), it might take a little while to get it posted.  I figured for at least tonight, I would post a couple of more CD's I own reviews, "The River" from Bruce Springsteen, and the self-titled CD from "The Presidents of the United States of America."

At least I got a couple of things accomplished today.  How about you?

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:52 PM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2006

What the Hell is the "Chicken Noodle Soup Dance" Anyway, and Some New, Quick, CD Reviews.

By: The Dude on the Right
Blog-wise, I was going to get on this weird rant about a new dance craze I heard about on the radio, but as I tried to do some internet research I became so utterly confused I had no idea where to go with it.  The dance craze is something called "The Chicken Noodle Soup Dance" and it's based on some wacky song by some dude named DJ Webstar.  I tried to watch some YouTube videos about it, but those things are all over the place, checked out the Wikipedia definition but that was no help, so I gave up on "The Chicken Noodle Soup Dance" because it doesn't seem to have nearly the structure as the "Chicken Dance."  I suppose I really need to see this dance done at a wedding to see if it really is the dance craze it is supposed to be.

Being done with my "Chicken Noodle Soup Dance" research I decided I would at least get something posted, so I've got a couple of new "All of the Dude's CD's" entries done.  With that there are quick CD reviews of "Fairweather Johnson" from Hootie & the Blowfish, "Tomorrow Today" from Al Jarreau, and "Always On My Mind" from Willie Nelson newly posted on the website.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 8:22 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2006

What's New? A CD Review of "Face the Promise" by Bob Seger.

For this CD review of "Face the Promise" by Bob Seger, The Dude on the Right loves to hear midwest rock and roll, and Bob Seger does it with the best of those he remembers. For you teens who like classic rock, check out this from one of those whose songs you probably listen to.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:25 PM | Comments (0)

August 31, 2006

What's New? More of the Dude's CD's: Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi, and The Nerds.

The Dude on the Right is still, and this will probably become a long "still," trying to review, or at least give a quick review, of all of the CD's he has. Two more are posted, both which he loves. One is from a band called The Nerds, a band he first saw at Joe Pops in New Jersey. That CD is "Poultry in Motion." The other is "Stranger in This Town" from this dude named Richie Sambora. You might know his name if you pay attention to the tabloids, but you probably know him more from his playing guitar in Bon Jovi. Yea, he's that dude.

The Dude on the Right would still love to see Richie Sambora, doing his stuff, at a small, blues bar, and he would probably even pay for it. So, Richie, if you do a solo jaunt, The Dude on the Right would love to review it.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:40 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2006

What's New? A CD Review of "Delusions of Grandeur" from Cathy Richardson.

For this CD review of "Delusions of Grandeur" from Cathy Richardson, it took The Dude on the Right a few listens to remember how much he likes Cathy's songs, and even though the CD doesn't rock a lot, he still liked it a lot. It might need a couple of listens to grow on you, but it will grow, if you take the time to listen.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:27 PM | Comments (0)

August 2, 2006

Four Syllables and Two Words that Equal "Janet Jackson," and "Chicago's Katrina."

By: The Dude on the Right
Maybe it's time I finally just do some investing for our podcasts, and I suppose even my blogs, and just buy a dozen VCR's or TIVO's, so I can start recording all kinds of the funny/bizarre/inane things people say when they are on TV.  My latest case for this happened yesterday when, as I was getting ready to get out of the door, I heard some dude, on the news, proclaim that with the power-outage they were having in the neighborhood, and it being really hot here in Chicago, that this was Chicago's "Katrina."  Hmm?  Let's see?  It was around 7 in the morning, the power went out the night before around 7, and the City of Chicago and ComEd seemed to quickly step-up and start making sure the elderly were cared for, that people were able to get plenty of free water, and, well, you could also find locals stores outside the power outage zone (it's not like it was the entire city), and buy water, in an air-conditioned building.  I have a feeling some actual Katrina survivors would have a few words for this dude, and I wouldn't even hold it against them if they took his free water.

But this blog isn't about my need to invest in the web site, this blog is really about two words, totaling four syllables, and those equating to:

Janet Jackson

Why would I even mention her name when I blame her for the advancement of many of our censorship woes today?  I mention her name because there was a news segment on our local news, that Janet Jackson was in Chicago, promoting something I hope no one buys, and the segment wanted me to just pull out my hair, throw the TV out of the window, and then go outside, watch out for the broken glass, pick-up my TV, bring it back inside, and pray it wasn't broken so I could watch some gratuitous violence, gratuitous laughs, and gratuitous nudity on one of my cable channels.  Or at least be able to watch Howard TV.

But getting back to the news' segment.

So our local station sent a reporter to this press conference of Janet's, and the reporter quickly stated that Janet would answer questions about anything.  Here's what the segment reporter found to be "questions about anything:"

• A question about the new CD
• A question about working with Nelly
• A question about gaining 60 pounds for a movie that was never made and how that felt.
• A question about how the 40 year old dudette has survived over the years.

I will give these admissions, that the reporter they sent to the press conference isn't one to usually be confrontational, so I don't see her ever asking questions that might be controversial, at least to Janet Jackson.  I also was not present for the press conference, so if someone was there, asking the hard-hitting questions, and Janet Jackson was actually answering "questions about anything," I haven't heard them yet, but here are some of the questions I would have like to have asked her, although I probably would have chickened out in a room full of people and just asked something like "Who influences you in your music today?"  I guess I would be better off sending our crack interviewer, Stu Gotz, to ask questions like:

• How do you feel knowing that your actions at the Super Bowl have created the excuse the government was looking for to start censoring what we hear and see on radio and television?
• Janet, this is a multi-part question:  What's with the "Wardrobe Malfunction?"  Who's fault was it, really?  Was it the seamstress?  Was it Justin Timberlake and his incredibly strong forearms?  If you planned it, did you really think that "Star" piercing would suppress the masses about nudity?  And couldn't you have ditched the piercing so we would have seen what most of us have been dreaming to see since that "Rolling Stone" cover many years back?
• My father always said that women are more sexually mysterious with their clothes on because you have to imagine them naked, so why did you ruin our imaginations by popping out your boob at the Super Bowl?
• Since the "Wardrobe Malfunction" wasn't your fault, and if your personal seamstress was involved in making your dress at the Super Bowl, or even if not, have you either fired them, or made sure whomever it was, would never work as a seamstress again, because they have ruined, for all of the rest of us, our radio and television viewing pleasure?
• After you gained about 30 pounds, why didn't you go to these film folks and ask them if you really needed to add another 30 pounds for the film?  And I read that Mariah Carey has gotten your role.  She's got a concert tour coming up, and I don't think she will be gaining 60 pounds anytime soon.  Did they change the role for her?  And why not you?
• What the hell were you thinking letting Justin grab your boob?  Do you know where his hands have been?

I'm pretty sure, with any of those questions, "Questions about anything" wouldn't really hold up for me, or even Stu, at that press conference.  But for all of these years, and I'm sorry, but unless some person stitching her outfit had it in for everyone, someone really knows why Janet Jackson really had her "Wardrobe Malfunction," and go ahead, call me an idiot, but I still think Janet really knows.  The thing is, that if she really was involved, and she just stepped up and said "I planned it, the TV folks had no idea, because I wanted to make a statement about..." whatever, government censorship might have a few more troubles getting things as laws, and she probably could have spinned the entire incident as a cheerleader for being a daring dudette.  Her actions, for whatever reason, and whomever let/made it happen, our world has changed where people are clamoring for the government to protect our children.  Our government should be there to protect our children in times of war.  Our government should be there to protect our children from criminals.  But it should always be the role of the parent to protect our children from radio and TV by doing one of two things - turning it off or changing the channel.  Sure, the Janet Jackson boob thing happened so fast, so maybe those options don't totally apply, but my parents would have at least had the balls to say something like, if we had even noticed her boob, "grabbing a girls bra isn't appropriate like he did, so don't do that."  Sometimes lessons need to be learned by watching TV, and most of the times, it should be our parents teaching those lessons.

Parents have a job to do, and for the sake of our country, they had better stop trying to make the government do their job.

And Janet Jackson I'm sorry, but until you come totally clean on this issue, I can't support you, or your music projects.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 9:46 PM | Comments (1)

July 26, 2006

What's New? More of the Dude's CD's: Orff, GWAR, and John Scofield.

The Dude on the Right is still trying to review all of the CD's he has, and here are a few more. He's got a great CD of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, done by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, his secretary was mostly worried that GWAR's CD had giraffes in the lyrics, and he's sort of sorry for giving the John Scofield CD a lower rating. The Dude on the Right still really doesn't get jazz.

Posted by Rightdude at 9:08 PM | Comments (0)

July 19, 2006

What's New? All of The Dude's CDs: The Who & Corrosion of Conformity.

The Dude on the Right is trying to get back to reviewing all of the CD's in his CD collection. He has many CDs, but a few reviews already "in the can" as it would be, so he'll be trying to get them out as quickly as possible. In any case, this time he's got a review of something from "The Who" and another from "Corrosion of Conformity."

Posted by Rightdude at 8:45 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2006

What's New? Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up: Guess the Celebrity, Rude Old Ladies, Going Potty Before the Omen, and Champions.

For this podcast, Stu & The Dude give their weekend wrap-up. It's an action-packed episode with talks about "Cars," "A Prairie Home Companion," rude movie-goers, kids at inappropriate movies, and new Chicago champions.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:08 PM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2005

Sorry Neil, I Didn't Buy Your CD Today.

By: The Dude on the Right
I was faced with my first ever CD purchasing dilemma today.  I had heard of the dilemma before, the fact that Sony music has been putting copy protection on some of their CD's, but today it stared me right in the face, at the f.y.e. store in my local mall, as I contemplated purchasing the latest CD from Neil Diamond called "12 Songs."

It seems, unbeknownst to most of the music purchasing public, you know, those who actually go to a store and buy the CD with the sole intent of just listening to it on their CD player, computer, or maybe iPod or other portable device, Sony has been encoding some releases with a form of copy protection.  Pretty much if you put the CD in your computer to play, the Sony player opens up, you accept their agreement without reading it because that's what you do, and in the background the CD installs a copy-protection scheme on your computer so you can only rip the music to the Windows protection scheme (sorry, no iPod installing for you), but even worse, installs this copy protection scheme in what is known in the hacking world as a rootkit on your computer.  Suddenly your computer is actually more prone to getting a trojan horse virus, and you didn't even plan on it.  That's the easiest way I can explain this issue, but for more, head to your favorite search engine and type in the phrase "Sony rootkit" and you can research it to your hearts content.

So, there I was, seeing that there were actually two versions of the CD, one with 12 songs, and another with two bonus songs, and just as I was ready to shell out the extra bucks for the two bonus songs, I turned the CD over, and low and behold, in what really just looks like your standard "To run the extra features on your computer you need" box, it vaguely referenced the fact it would load this crap on my computer.  I knew some work-arounds to this issue, but really, is it worth my time and frustration to get Neil's new music on my iPod?  And yes, I know I could actually save money by just downloading it from the iTunes store, even with the two bonus tracks, but  for me, there is something permanent about actually owning the physical CD, a fact I realized after downloading the latest Bon Jovi CD from iTunes rather than buying it.  I was torn, because I really wanted the CD, but it really pissed me off with the Sony folks trying to force copy protection on me, and not even in what was really a secure way.

So I didn't buy the new Neil Diamond CD.  I took a stand, and Neil, as much as I love ya, until Sony gets rid of this copy protection crap (and supposedly from the latest news the Sony folks are pulling the CD's from the stores and re-issuing them without the protection, but we'll see), and will let me put it on my iPod, I've got to take that stand, although it probably won't matter much, and in the end, I'll probably just download the songs from iTunes and save a few bucks.

The record companies, still, just don't seem to get it.  They didn't get it when file sharing started, they didn't get it when Napster exploded, and they sure as hell don't seem to be getting it now, especially by installing hidden software on your computer that can actually make it more vulnerable to getting a Trojan virus, or if you try to get rid of it, you actually f-up your computer.  Maybe instead of just someone who is a great business person, the record folks might actually try to put someone in authority who has a clue to the buying public, and how technology is affecting them.  "Don't steal our music," and "Dammit, we want more money from Apple" seem to be the music company's current mantras, and all those mantras do is make the music buying public seek out the same ways to get music they have been continually been fighting, by downloading it free from someone who has figured out how to get around the copy protection scheme, or at least from their friend next door.  Really, until the record company folks actually figure out a way to stop someone, in the most simplest terms of copying songs, from A:  Purchasing a legal version of a CD.  2:  Playing that CD on their stereo.  III:  Having microphones in front of their speakers, plugged into the "Mic In" on their computer sound card and using any generic sound recording software to record each track.  Quatro:  Making sure that the individual songs are in an mp3 format.  5:  Sending those songs to two of their friends, who then send them to two of their friends, who then send them to two of their friends, and so on, and so on, and so on, the record companies have no shot at really controlling music piracy.  But if they want my ten to twenty dollars to buy it, and I will, all I really ask is that they don't fuck up my computer, and they let me put it, easily, on my iPod.

I'm stepping off of my soapbox now.  My next Blog will be about the proposed size of Garth Brooks' unit, not by my recollection, but by something our crack reporter Trash witnessed at a press conference, and our dudette, Whammy, who really loves Prince, especially since he's back to using his real name, that being, of course, Prince, and her scientific study on how to figure out the size of a dude's unit.  I'll bet you will all be waiting for that.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:19 PM | Comments (0)