Saint Louis Gateway ArchI keep going back to my Flickr account to look at this picture of the Saint Louis Gateway Arch that I took while we were listening to Ani DiFranco at Live on the Levee. We pretty much had the perfect spot for this picture and the concert.

Live on the Levee is a fantastic free event that happens every Friday and Saturday night throughout the summer. We had planned to go to several concerts this summer, but we only made it to see Ani. With the Arch in the background, you couldn’t ask for a better setting. Other artists that appeared this summer were Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Los Lonely Boys, and G. Love & Special Sauce.

I was actually surprised by how manageable the crowd was that night. Back in Chicago, the free concerts in Grant Park were always very crowded, but Live on the Levee was much more enjoyable because of the smaller crowd. I suppose that comes with living in a smaller city, but I think it’s something I can get used to.

For all of you St. Louisans that didn’t make the trip downtown this summer, you really missed out. Get out next summer and enjoy the events that make this city unique and great.

There was some great news from the iTunes Store yesterday. John Lennon’s solo catalog is now available for download from the iTunes Store. You can choose between the normal tracks with DRM or the new iTunes Plus files without DRM at a higher bit rate. I personally buy albums most of the time so I always buy the iTunes Plus songs because the album prices are the same regardless of file type. Plus, they sound better.

Now that Paul McCartney and John Lennon both have their music on the iTunes Store, it is only a matter of time before the Beatles’ catalog is available. I have some of their albums on CD, but there are others that I would love to buy through iTunes. I’ve read that the recordings are being remastered for their digital release so the music should sound better than ever. I can’t wait to see what kind of exclusive albums and tracks Steve Jobs talks EMI into releasing on iTunes first.

It’s been a long, long time, but the real Van Halen is back! After 22 years of pretending that they didn’t need or want each other, the Van Halen brothers and David Lee Roth are getting back together to rock the world. The band has announced twenty-five dates so far for what promises to be the biggest tour this fall. In their press conference, they seemed to be together for the long haul, and it will be awesome to hear new songs from one of the greatest bands of all time. What’s sweet is that Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, is the new bass player for the band. Michael Anthony was a decent bass player, but I always found him a bit annoying. Really, nobody listens to Van Halen to hear the bass lines. It’s all about Diamond Dave and Eddie Van Halen. Alex Van Halen is no slouch either. Wolfgang should bring new life to the band and bring a younger perspective. I’m sure he’ll learn a few things on tour with his dad, uncle, and DLR. It should be a great show to watch!

This Is Ryan Shaw

We were back in Chicago over the 4th of July holiday to visit our families and friends. One of the nice things about going back to Chicago is that we actually get to listen to good radio stations like WXRT. Well, on one of our drives, one song just blew me away. Why hadn’t I heard this great new song on the stations in Saint Louis? It turns out the song was called Nobody by a new artist named Ryan Shaw. When we got back home, I downloaded the album, This Is Ryan Shaw, and have been listening to it ever since. Ryan reminds me a lot of the old time soul singers like Marvin Gaye and Al Green. He’s a really good mixture of old school soul mixed in with new school rhythms. Nobody is a perfect example of that.

I’m not sure what it is that draws me to his music. Maybe it was all of those summers spent at Probst Glass and Screen Shop listening to the oldies station with my dad and Bobby, or maybe it’s just because he’s a really great artist. Whatever it is, the album is definitely worth a listen. Check it out when you have a chance.

I’ve been checking out the Live Earth website and all of the different video feeds from all over the world. Like they said on the Live Earth Blog, it’s almost impossible to choose which concert to watch. Everything is so good! I’ve been flipping back and forth between all of the different concerts and have been enjoying every minute. A couple bands that I’d never heard of really impressed me: Paolo Nutini at the UK show and Blues Nation at the DC show.

If you haven’t checked out the website or tuned in on television, you really need to see what you’re missing. This event is for all of us, and if we can all do something small to help the environment, it will add up to a lot.

Jeff Rocks

While reading TechCrunch earlier today, I was reminded that Yahoo was closing down Yahoo Photos in favor of Flickr. I personally like Flickr so much that I paid for the pro account and try to post photos as time permits.

Just for kicks, I logged into Yahoo Photos to see if I had ever posted anything in there, and sure enough, I found a great photo of my brother playing guitar back in 2001. Jeff was an incredible musician and played guitar and tenor sax from a very early age all the way through his 20s. Just like me, he’s kind of gotten away from playing as other priorities have taken over, but I’m hoping we’ll play together again some day. There’s nothing quite like jamming with your brother on stage while the crowd goes crazy. Good times!

Anyway, when I logged into Yahoo Photos, I was asked to transition my photos to Flickr or another service, and the whole process went very smoothly. Of course, I only had one photo to move so I guess it would be tough to mess that up. Now that Yahoo has finally decided that having two photo services doesn’t make a lot of sense, I hope they continue to put resources into Flickr to improve an already great service.

I’ve been meaning to blog about this video I first saw early last week.

This has to be one of the coolest offices ever. I’d love to work there, but I’m afraid these guys would think I was an old fart at the ripe old age of 33. From all of the comments on CrunchNotes, these guys work for a company called Connected Ventures in NYC. If I were 20 something and in New York, I’d be busting down the door to work for this company. Enjoy!

From CrunchNotes and Internet Business Daily.

For those of you who know me well, you know I do a little beat box from time to time. Having played trumpet for a bazillion years, I can make some fairly strange noises with my mouth. A couple weeks ago, my buddy, Paul, hipped me on to this video on YouTube. It’s Rahzel from The Roots doing some crazy cool beat box. He breaks into Iron Man towards the end. Now, this is must see TV.

Apple launched a great new feature in iTunes on Thursday called Complete My Album. The basic concept is that you now get credit for the singles you’ve bought when you buy an album. This works really great when you’re checking out a song or two from a new band and you decide that you want the entire album. I tried the feature yesterday and got the remainder of a Wynton Marsalis album (five songs) for a couple bucks. Although the feature will benefit all of the artists selling music on iTunes, I think this will be a huge benefit for new bands. Listeners can buy a song or two to check things out and go back for the album for a reduced price. Complete My Album will be a great opportunity for artists to sell more albums and for consumers to expand their musical horizons.

Okay, I admit it. I watch American Idol, and I can’t wait to see what happens every week. One thing has been really bothering me this season. It’s the continued presence of Sanjaya on the show. This guy is clearly the worst singer and performer on the show, and he’s wasting space. Last night, Chris Sligh got booted off the show. He really blew it the night before, but he has actual talent. Sanjaya, on the other hand, has a lot of learning and growing to do as a singer. He’s just not ready to perform at this level.

Now, to all of you American idiots out there voting for this guy, stop and think next week before you vote for Sanjaya. So far, three insanely talented singers have been voted off the show. Let’s prove to the rest of the world that Americans can judge talent by voting Sanjaya off the show.