Archive for Music

That title might be slightly misleading if you think “mods” are hardware changes. None of the changes I discuss in this article have to do with modifying the hardware of the Apple TV. But many of the changes to the software go beyond simple hacks. They change the behavior of the device. So, I went with “Hacks and Mods.” You can gripe in the comment section all you want.

Okay.

The Stage

Allow me to briefly expound on my network and devices. My Internet connection is from Comcast cable with advertised speeds of 5Mbps/1.5Mbps. Lately, I have seen much faster speeds at fairly regular intervals, something I am not complaining about. Perhaps one hidden feature of the Apple TV is a handshake with the ISP that gets a hot connection for all those savvy HD downloads. Or not.

From the cable modem, I run into a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. The firmware is stock Linksys, last updated sometime last year, so likely up-to-date (haven’t checked though.) I use DHCP to dynamically assign local IP addresses to all devices except my main PC which takes the static local IP address of 10.10.10.100. If you see instances of a local IP addresses in any of the tutorials or articles linked here, be aware that you will need to modify that to reflect your own local network setup. Using hostnames for devices on the network seems to work without any problem on the Apple TV, even when connecting to a Windows PC using the local hostname. At least, it has been no trouble for me.

My main machine on the network is fairly modern, home-built PC running Windows XP Professional SP2. We have another PC and an old iBook G3 on the network as well, but all the hacks and mods done to the Apple TV were successfully achieved with the main PC. There are a couple of hacks that require frameworks and plugins from a machine running OS X 10.4. For those, I consulted friends who delivered the necessary files. I also had an install disc for OS X 10.4 that came with my wife’s iBook. I used that disc on one occasion. The hacks that require files directly from an OS X install disc or machine have to do with installing Flash, Quicktime and other rich media plugins in CouchSurfer, a WebKit-based web browser for Apple TV. We’ll get into specifics on that in a moment, but if you are not really interested in having Flash in a browser (you can still have the browser!) then you really don’t have to worry about having access to OS X as mentioned above.

Source

None of the hacks or mods that I used on my Apple TV were discovered or created by me. There is a fantastic community of folks who work really hard to make this magic happen. Up front, I’d like to give full credit to the folks in the Apple TV community who have made these things possible. Hat tip.

The majority of my information came from ATV4Windows and the ATV4Windows wiki, a site based on hacking the Apple TV using a Windows machine as the main rig. Much of the information compiled there has come from other popular Apple TV resources, like iClarified, AwkwardTV and others. As of yesterday, ATV4Windows has moved to a subscriber model. I wish the developer there lots of luck making money off of Apple TV hacks, but I prefer free information so I’ll try to disclose as much as I possibly can right here. However, I do plan on linking you up with many of the same tutorials I followed. I won’t reinvent the wheel. Unless that wheel now costs $15. If you do have a Mac that you’ll be manipulating your Apple TV with, no worries. There is a ton of information and iClarified currently seems to be one of the better resources. AwkwardTV is similarly geared toward Mac enthusiasts.

Enough yammering. Let’s do this.

The “Patchstick”

The patchstick is simple really, it’s a disk image that fits on any 1-4GB USB flash drive. When connected to the USB port on the Apple TV, the patchstick will install a few basic applications to help get you rolling with hacks and mods. The main thing you’ll need is SSH support. That’s the primary goal you should have at the onset. Get SSH up and connect to your Apple TV from another machine on the network. If you get there, the sky is the limit.

I used the Patchstick that is freely available from ATV4Windows. Since the author has chosen to hold the new version ransom, the older version of the Patchstick will have to do. Honestly, you only need SSH anyway. As of a few weeks ago, the tutorial he gives on the Patchstick page was accurate. I followed his steps verbatim. The new Patchstick he has made does install a lot of nice software, but at this point, it seems to be stuff you can do on your own (and for free). More than anything, I like the idea of having a more controlled install. Get what you want and only that. For another option, you can use this tutorial.

So I hope you have been able to get SSH installed on your Apple TV. Once you have that, connect to it using PuTTY (Win) or Terminal (OSX). Use the IP address of the Apple TV or the hostname, AppleTV.local. The username and password are both frontrow. You’ll have that memorized in no time. Trust me.

Once you’ve connected, you are ready to start hacking it up. What I did is not necessarily what you might do. Please browse the documentation at AwkwardTV and the other fine resources for Apple TV hacks. It’s only by knowing what is available to you that you can really make a decision about what you would like to achieve with your Apple TV. My goals once seemed radical, but as I studied I realized they could be rather easily accomplished:

• Have root control over Apple TV.
• Copy files to the Apple TV outside of iTunes “syncing”.
• Play media files encoded with alternative codecs, like DivX and Xvid.
• Play media files that use different file formats, like Quicktime, MPEG-4, AVI and WMV.
• Stream files directly from my PC to the Apple TV.
• Browse the web with a Flash-enabled browser (on the “bonus” list).

SSH

With SSH access to Apple TV, you have all the the root you can handle. All your base are belong to us. Again, this is a rather fundamental step in the process. For me, I was really quite excited just to get here. It was even more fun to connect to the Apple TV using WinSCP and browse the root files and folders. The main access point for the Apple TV seems to be in the frontrow directory:

/mnt/Scratch/Users/frontrow

You’ll become comfortable with the structure of the files and folders in the Apple TV fairly quickly. You’ll find it is mostly simple, although there are a couple of tricky folders with the same names under different paths. Just check the paths carefully when performing any modifications. Don’t just haphazardly hunt for folders to dump stuff in. You might dump something in the wrong place, which could lead to some frustration and troubleshooting.

ATV Files

This application allows you to add folders and files to the /frontrow directory and have direct access to these files from the Apple TV main menu. ATV Files will also play media files using the native Apple TV player, provided the proper codecs are installed. For that, we look at Perian.

Perian

Perian is really quite wonderful. I’ve used it on OS X since day one. It really is a Swiss Army knife for playing media in Quicktime on OS X. It works just as well on Apple TV. With Perian installed on Apple TV, you can really open up the device to become a more true “media center”.

CouchSurfer

If it’s sounds like a web browser, it probably is. And that’s exactly what CouchSurfer sounds like. Formerly known as SafariHD, CouchSurfer is a WebKit-based browser that will allow you to load and view web pages right on your television through Apple TV. The experience is nifty, but not really amazing. You’ll find yourself wanting a keyboard and mouse. Interacting with websites with the Apple remote and scrolling around the silly alphanumeric table quickly becomes rather mundane. There is a workaround that will apparently bring support for simple peripherals to the Apple TV, but I’ve yet to give it a shot.

I did manage to get the Flash plugin working with CouchSurfer. It was a pain to get there, because of the need for some proprietary Apple frameworks from the very specific OS X version 10.4. But I did finally accomplish it. It’s not exactly the experience I expected. I loaded up the fun hulu.com to try it out. Two problems emerged: 10 frames-per-second (at my visual estimation) and no full screen. I’m not sure if either of those problems will be repaired in later releases of CouchSurfer, or if there is just some weird bug with Flash in this environment, but it seems hardly worth my time to try and enjoy the tiny frame that most streams appear in or the sluggish frame rate.

It’s still cool! It just might not be quite the experience you thought you’d have.

Shared Network Drives

This one is amazing. Using the tutorial at ATV4Windows, I managed to get some of my media in shared folders accessible by the Apple TV! This means I can stream files right across the network from the original folders in which they reside without having to copy them to the Apple TV! I bet you can sense my excitement over this, and truly it is a notable accomplishment for several reasons.

1. You do not have to worry about the remaining space on the Apple TV’s native hard drive. Let’s face it, even 160GB can be used fairly quickly when it comes to media. I probably have half of that in photographs alone! And my music database isn’t far behind that. That’s not even counting the heaviest of all files, video.
2. You can maintain your current file and folder organization structure without concern for re-adapting it the Apple TV or having iTunes import and “manage” it all. Essentially, it all works right where it already resides.

The one problem with streaming from shared files across a network, particularly mine, is the latency that can often occur with slower networks. I’m on wireless-G here which both the Apple TV and my main PC use (my PC being wireless is a long story for another day.) So without having a hard cable in the house, other than from the modem to router, my network speeds are fairly slow compared to a nice 10/100/1000 wired network.

Streaming media to the Apple TV doesn’t always deliver smooth playback. I will experiment with some options (including getting everything hardwired—which for me means a visit from a cable technician to fix a few coax outlets) but until then, I have opted to copy over media with higher total bitrates directly to the Apple TV. They stream from that disk flawlessly!

That said, the option of playing back media on the Apple TV directly from a shared file or folder over a network connection is absolutely terrific.

In Conclusion

Like I said at the beginning of this now-lengthy article, I chose the hacks and mods that would give me the most value and that achieved the goals I set out to accomplish with my Apple TV. I just wanted to get a “media center” experience out of the device and I believe I have. I realize there are quite a few details missing from this article. I do have step-by-step instructions on each hack. If you have the slightest difficulty in tracking down a solid tutorial on any of the hacks I’ve outlined, please let me know. I can publish details about each. Obviously, this article’s length is well beyond the typical blog entry here and so I wanted to abbreviate it somewhat. It’s most important that you realize how potent the Apple TV really is under the hood. Yes, it takes a little time and energy to pull the greatness out of it, but once you do you will really be amazed at what you can accomplish with this tiny box!

Good luck with yours.

• Awkward TV

Technorati Tags: apple, tv, hacks, mods, modifications, software, SSH, WinSCP, Windows, OS X, Mac, media, Perian, codecs, CouchSurfer, WebKit, ATV Files

Last month, I received some disposable income for getting older. I had really become interested in doing something to make my digital media more accessible on the traditional medium of our living room television. While I really enjoy working on the computer all day long, sitting at a desk to watch podcasts and movies is really not a great experience.

So I started researching a few of my options. I really like the idea of a Sony PlayStation 3 and started to just save up for one. Then I thought about Apple TV. It’s moderately priced, would likely handle the “iTunes” side of things in a cinch, would certainly have good hardware and likely good software. I’m no Apple fanboy. I like the diversity of operating systems and believe each serves well in unique ways. But I do love iTunes and the way it handles media (generally speaking). And once I looked at what the Take2 upgrade to Apple TV enabled the device to do, I was sold.

Using craigslist, I managed to locate a 160GB model at a decent price ($250, new-in-the-box condition). Once I arrived home, I noticed the factory restore the seller had initiated put the firmware back to the original version, Take 1 so to speak, so I started the upgrade option immediately. Once it was all patched up and rebooted, I toured the menu, set up access to my wireless network and shared iTunes resources from my main PC. Then I perused the features, watched a couple of YouTube videos and linked up my Flickr account.

Take 2: YouTube and Flickr

I am really impressed with both the YouTube and Flickr features. While it is not very efficient to have to “type” in searches using the tiny remote to scroll around a few rows of alphanumeric characters, once you are in, each experience is really great. For what they are, YouTube videos generally look great and even the sound seems improved. But the real winner here is Flickr. Wow! This experience is stunning. The speed at which they are able to grab really great looking images for viewing on the TV is impressive. Though it has a few imperfections, like a bad habit of cropping the top and bottom from photos, overall it really makes the Flickr experience even better. It’s so handy when family is over to start up a slideshow to view Andrew’s latest antics or talk about an event I shot. When Apple TV goes idle, it goes into a screen saver mode with a cascade of my photostream! So even when we aren’t using the Apple TV, it becomes a part of our lives just like the pictures in frames strewn around our rooms. That is such a nice touch and though seemingly insignificant, it really adds value to the experience for us.

iTunes Integration

Smooth as silk. Yes. It was just so easy. All my tunes, videos, and podcasts synced to the Apple TV in just a few minutes. The iTunes Store is there too, albeit in quite a unique form. The UI is really slick and geared toward simple manipulation with the remote. I can rent movies, even in HD, right from the store and begin watching within just a few moments. The picture quality of an HD movie is quite stunning on my Samsung 32″ 1080i HDTV. In fact, I’m probably more impressed by how Apple gets the image to look so good and still stream to me so quickly and with zero buffer! It’s hot. A couple of small gripes are the way movies are displayed in the store. Essentially they show the cover art as a thumbnail for each flick. It can be a little hard to read the titles of each movie. Once you hover the cursor over one, a plain text title appears as a caption, but you must hover over it. So I generally find myself hovering over each cover to see what the title is, as opposed to scanning the screen for what I want. Perhaps on a larger screen, this problem is less noticeable.

Podcasts are really well done on the Apple TV. I love browsing the store and grabbing at some of the top podcasts and just sitting back and seeing what happens or throwing on my personal favorites to listen or view. There really is some fantastic content in the podcast space. Apple TV makes accessing that content fairly simple.

Conclusion

Apple TV is okay. Apple TV Take 2 is quite good. I have extended my Apple TV to make it great and I’ll cover some of those modifications in another article. Stay tuned.

If you are in the market for a $300 media center, I’d definitely encourage trying out the Apple TV if you have a store nearby. You probably will not be disappointed. Are there better media players out there? Well, given the recent developments on the PS3 front and given some really interesting things I’ve seen done with a Mac Mini and given the impressive abilities of a Linux box running MythTV, I’d say there probably are better setups. But each has it’s own price, either in cold cash or in an investment of labor. I feel like the Apple TV is a shortcut on both fronts, time and money, but has a significant ROI. I’m happy. When I explain the mods, you’ll learn why I am ecstatic.

• Apple TV

Technorati Tags: Apple TV, Apple, take 2, media, itunes, PC, Mac, upgrade, center, TV, television, technology, podcast, movie

Breaking Update: Looks like Blockbuster might be trying to weave into the Apple TV space. (Article)

Two packages are arriving soon. FedEx is helping me track it.

Everyone except Dave Clark is welcome to an educated guess based on all present clues.

Technorati Tags: fedex, track, package, guess

While it’s still unbelievable, even after nine days, I am thrilled to report that I am the the proud owner of a 2005 Limited Edition Taylor 512CE L10 acoustic guitar. A few weeks ago, Missy and I were chatting when she dropped the big secret: she wanted to buy me a guitar for Christmas. A guitar? Wow. And wow was really all I could say for a few moments—mostly because I was instantly reminded how blessed I am to be married to someone who pushes me into my dreams and drives me to be better and invests in my gifts. Missy believes in me. But it was also just incredibly cool to hear that she wanted to get me something that she knew would mean so much to me. Shoot, even beyond all that, I am getting a guitar. Yes!

Our holidays are generally a bit chaotic with travel and family–chaotic in a good way, but nonetheless chaotic. So we (she—but mostly I :)) decided that we should go ahead and get the guitar sooner rather than later so that we could focus on gearing up for Christmas afterward. So, last Saturday we loaded up and struck out on the hunt for the perfect guitar.

I haven’t purchased a guitar since June of 2000. That purchase was my 2000 Fender Deluxe “Fat” Strat that is now heavily modified. I did receive a wonderful gift in 2002 when a dear friend of my grandfather gave my a 1983 Ibanez Artist Series (AR1505) electric guitar. (There’s a touching story there and one day I hope to share it here.) The next year, I had another gift from my way cool groomsmen who snagged a very nice Alvarez nylon (most folks would call it a classical) guitar to celebrate my marriage to Missy. Of course, in reality, this new Taylor is just as much a gift as any of the other three, but this was a chance for me to experience the joy of shopping for a guitar. And that is fun, too!

Over the past year or two (or three), I’ve really enjoyed hanging out in music stores and playing neat acoustic guitars. I really love the boutique guitar brands like Collings—my all time favorite, Breedlove—a close second, and Goodall. These fine luthiers create guitars that are so rich and incredible—and also expensive. On this occasion, I set out not really intending to buy a boutique guitar, just something in the middle—not a $200 low-end guitar and not a $5,000 presentational. I just wanted a nice guitar.

I’ve really been scoping out the Breedlove Atlas series guitars since my first jaw-dropping experience with them a year ago. My friend Eric Thompson brought one over that he had just purchased. I think he paid around $600-700 for his Atlas and I was extremely impressed with the tone, action and overall build of the instrument. For the price, it was a very nice piece. So nice, that it was a bit tempting to go right out and find one for myself. But I withheld my eager ambition for the sake of the family budget. Still, I’ve always admired what Breedlove has produced in this range of guitars, so I really thought that would be the direction I would go when Missy told me to go for it.

There are several decent music stores in this area. As always, many of them are filled with the pretentious, snobby type of musician-slash-salesperson that really drive me nuts. Whoever thought of mixing musicians and sales should really have a strong scolding. I know it’s a tough racket to deal with, because you put up with 13-year-olds playing Stairway to Heaven at nuclear volume levels and you put up with big heads that cut a demo in 1986 with their hair band and almost “made it”. The class of ‘86—these guys are the exclusive experts on all things guitar. If it doesn’t say Ibanez on the head stock and Floyd Rose on the trem’, then why are you playing it? Anyway. I’ve nothing against 13-year-old guitar players. Seriously, keep playing Stairway or whatever else you are into—just never give up on your dreams. Nothing against hair bands or shredders either. Had I been born ten years earlier, that’s exactly the scene I would’ve dug as well. Props to you for keeping rock alive for all of us to enjoy. That said, you’d think that folks in music sales would realize that the nature of the game is that, like any business, you are going to deal with all sorts of people. So I still don’t think that answers why music store personnel fall into the trap of being really obnoxious to their customers. It makes no sense in a world that deals with the bottom line. And it makes a difference. Trust me, it does. Of course, I’m being over-generalistic here. There are some great shops out there that are staffed with great people. I would much rather spend my hard-earned money at a shop where the sales people are passionate about music, knowledgeable about the instrument, friendly toward the customer and not at all focused on a commission.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked into Appalachian Bluegrass Music Shoppe. It was fifty-minute drive to this store which stands in Catonsville, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. Once inside, I was pleasantly surprised with a very positive first experience as I was greeted with a simple no-pressure welcome. I milled around for a few minutes, mostly in their front parlor where the finer instruments are housed. They have large two-tier wooden shelves that display seventy or so acoustic guitars in a glass enclosed, humidified environment. (At least, I think it was humidity-managed.) I noticed the store continued beyond that front room, but a peek around the corner revealed a collection of banjos, mandolins and a few middle-of-the-line guitars and another room full of boring sheet music. I didn’t spot any jewels amongst the other instruments, so I stayed near the large case.

I plucked around on a couple of Atlas Series Breedloves. To my surprise, I wasn’t thrilled with either of them. They were fine guitars, but these didn’t feel like any Atlas I’d played before. Perhaps the action needed work or the strings were a bit heavy, certainly issues that can be remedied. But I was simply not feeling it. And feel is important to me. So, I decided to check out a few more guitars in the next price range.

By this time, I had enjoyed a couple of different conversations with some of the guys behind the counter and on the sales floor. Missy was across the street getting her nails done (a perfect boredom-preventer for her) so I had time to enjoy the experience. Even though I had a couple of other stores to hit on my list, I was really amazed at how cool the store was—I enjoyed their selection of fine guitars and I actually liked the people I was chatting with, specifically Joe and Tim. It wasn’t sales, it was conversation. Man, I appreciate that.

I asked to play a 300-series Taylor, just to see how it compared with the Breedlove Atlas. They are comparable in quality and not too far apart in price. Joe, one of the fellows who was assisting me, pulled a 314CE from the shelf and guided me to a room in the back where I could cut loose. Yes. A room in the back. Only the best music stores do this. If you can’t tuck yourself in a cozy closet somewhere, you can’t really evaluate a guitar. If you’re in a store that doesn’t do this, walk out. They aren’t serious about selling guitars. Appalachian Bluegrass is a serious store where serious musicians shop. Joe even handed me an electronic tuner to use the entire time I was there. This is my kind of guitar shop!

I didn’t dig the 300-series at all. I mean, they are nice guitars. Really nice, but not the right fit for me on a personal level. I think I played two different guitars in this series including the 314 and both were hard work for me to play. Again, it could have been a simple fix with action and string gauge, but I just didn’t have that feeling I was looking for.

So, I played a few in the 400-series. Now we were finally getting somewhere. This series is nice. In fact, I played a 414CE that I really liked. Enough so that I considered it for a few minutes. But I couldn’t resist peering into the next section of the wall case. I had played about six or seven guitars already and I had been in the store for a solid hour, taking each guitar back to my own little room and jamming for ten minutes or more. Time flies when you are cutting up like that. Nonetheless, I was intrigued by something in the next section.

What is that? Those were my exact words to Joe. I was pointing to a Taylor 512CE L10—a limited edition guitar that was brand new but had been in stock just over a year.

“Oh, this? No, you won’t want this. I mean, you don’t want to see this guitar. It’s one of my absolute favorites in the shop here and I really don’t want to show it to you for your own sake.” Sounded like a bit of a sales spiel, but I had mentioned that my budget was $1,500-$2,000 and this guitar was priced at nearly $2,400—and the retail was $3,300. Maybe he’s looking out for me, I thought. So I took the bait ignoring his disclaimer and said, “Let me see it.” Fifteen steps to my little room, a quick tune-up and I strummed the first chord. It’s tough to say it was love-at-first-strum, but I can say that within about five minutes of playing and really stretching it out, feeling it, holding it, exploring it, analyzing it, admiring it, I was really digging this guitar. Seriously digging it.

It caught my eye for one single reason: mahogany, mahogany, mahogany. Now that may be three single reasons, but the guitar is so striking because of the gorgeous use of a single wood throughout the guitar. Tropical American Mahogany on the top, on the back and sides and through the neck. The fretboard is a gorgeous and fast ebony with perfect pearl inlays. The rosette around the soundhole is a stellar abalone and the binding is a very tasteful tortoiseshell. The guitar features the Taylor Expression System, a high-quality pickup system that I have become quite familiar with since its release. (In my opinion, the ES is one of the best products Taylor has ever manufactured—and it’s an accessory, not a guitar!) The string action is dead on for my tastes and the guitar really plays itself in my hands. I know it may sound a bit strange to non-musicians, but I really wanted to find a guitar that simply played. I put effort into my playing, but I don’t want to put effort into the guitar. I need to play, not work. That may not even make sense to some musicians, but that’s just my personal process for these things.

The tone of the instrument is more amazing than I imagined and it performs even better than the beautiful aesthetics. As much as I am pleased with its beauty, it is the sound that is most captivating and important. The tone is heavy in the mid-range and, like most Taylor guitars, sparkly on the high-end. But I am most impressed by the depth of the low end, something I’ve usually found lacking in Taylor. This guitar is very different that any other Taylor I’ve ever played—different in so many ways. The clarity of sound is excellent and though I’ve read reports of other owners having the guitar “break up” (distort or lose tonal quality) under heavy strumming, I haven’t experienced anything negative. The tone is superb to my taste.

Well, the guys at the store and I had a long conversation about the guitar, about Taylor, about God, about life, about music and we chatted a little about money. I mean, this guitar was several hundred dollars over budget and as much as I loved it, I was having a tough time justifying it. Missy had come into the store just after I sat down with the guitar, so she experienced the joy of falling for the guitar with me, but I noticed her eyeing that price tag once or twice. And I was eyeing it, too. Maybe we were hoping the Wal-Mart smiley face would pop in a do a price drop on us. I mentioned the budget again to Tim (and honestly, it was a bargaining effort—it was my first and last negotiation tactic). He said, “Hang on. Let me go crunch some numbers.” Missy and I were praying for the best, but I told her I didn’t want it if they couldn’t do anything. I’d just keep looking, even though I felt like this was the guitar. I’d figure out a way to pry it from my clenched hands and carefully place it back on the shelf for someone else to come along and love.

After a few minutes, Tim strolled back in. “We can do the guitar and case for $2,000 flat.” Whoa! Seriously? Did he just say that? I was surprised and elated. Missy was too—and she gave me the affirming look. But I needed clarity so I asked her, “Can we do it?”

“Yep. You love it. It’s yours,” she said.

Woooo! And that was that. Nine days later, I still love it. And I’m still grateful, not for material possessions, but for a wife who believes in me and invests in my dreams through love and sacrifice. And I’m also glad I found a music store that employs great people who go the extra mile for the customers who share their passion for music.

Taylor Guitars

Appalachian Bluegrass Music Shoppe

Images of Taylor 512CE L10

Technorati Tags: guitar, Taylor, 512CE, L10, instrument, tone, wood, review, Christmas, gift, music, sales, customer service, Appalachian Bluegrass

I had the coolest lunch break today. A few friends and I went to see Mute Math at XM Live. My buddy Joe hooked us up! They did a cool three-song acoustic set but they gave it everything. There were about 30 people there not including a few XM staff and the Mute Math entourage, so it was a super cool and very interactive setting.

After the “show”, we got to meet and greet the band. I snagged some images from the day. Obviously, I couldn’t take any pictures during the show, but I got lots of before and after.

What a smokin’ way to spend a lunch. XM rocks!

Mute Math

XM Live

Technorati Tags: mute math, xm radio, dc

Right on. Here’s what I’m into lately.

Music

Chris Thile and the How to Grow a Band I had the pleasure of seeing these fine musicians last week at the Birchmere in Alexandria. Fantastic show in a fantastic venue. I got to meet Mr. Mandolin after the show. Total highlight.

Reshaping my guitar rig. I’ve added a new chorus pedal, the Electro Harmonix Small Clone, at the recommendation of a buddy. The chorus love is amazing on this thing. Good call, Chris. Here’s my current full rig in a nutshell:

Fender Strat (w/ EMGs) or Ibanez Artist Series AR-1505 → Boss TU-2 → EH Small Clone → Morley Bad Horsie Wah → ADA MP-1 Tube Preamp ↑ Alesis Compressor · Lexicon Alex · Boss DD-5 ↓ Peavey Classic 30

Web Technology

ExpressionEngine Wow. Worth every single penny.

Newshutch Digging my new newsreader. Thanks, Matt, for the heads up.

Script.aculo.us Finally had the opportunity to play with this small Ajax framework. Now I just have to figure out where to tastefully apply these js effects. They are quite lovely.

Projects

Finishing up a few projects. The most recent one is Crossings Church in Richmond, Virginia. A couple in the pipe are Binary Church, a personal project, and Chase the Lion, a microsite for our pastor’s recent book.

Technorati Tags: chris thile, guitar, electro-harmonix, expression engine, newshutch, script.aculo.us, crossings church, binary church

On Monday night, I experienced a highlight of my life. Pier Six Pavilion, Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland. Section 104, Row C, Seat 14. And Béla Fleck and the Flecktones!

The concert itself was absolutely amazing. The Flecktones had a couple of opening acts, both with suprisingly excellent musicianship. First, Marc Broussard from Louisiana brought in a little bayou rock. His band was tight and the boy could wail. (I saw him after the show and I got the impression he was proud of himself—but then who am I to judge?) I really enjoyed their groove too. The drummer was dead on, the bass player was very solid, the guitar was good (very prone to hanging on to those notes, but he did it with finesse) and the keys player was absolutely smokin’. To me, the keys guys really had the stuff and they didn’t let him unleash it enough. Béla also came out and jammed on a couple of their tunes. Overall, I was very impressed with Marc Broussard and company, especially to have never heard any tunes and to have barely heard his name before this show. They had to coolest seque into the second act. On the last jam (a tight one I might add), a second bass player showed up on stage and plugged in next to Marc’s bassist. After a few seconds of jamming together (same lines) Marc’s bassist left the stage. One by one, each musician was replaced by a musician from the second band. After it was over, the second band was fully in place and rocking the exact jam Marc’s band had “left” them with. Not totally original, but totally cool nonetheless!

Next up was a band I was completely unfamiliar with, Umphrey’s McGee. Wow. This was truly an experience. They really mixed so many genres that they basically landed in a genre all their own. Studying up on them after the show, I found that most people consider them to be progressive rock, even comparing them to Dream Theater. And I can sorta dig on this to some degree, but it’s a bit of a stretch. (One blogger I found even compared their guitar player, Jake Cinninger, to John Petrucci. Sorry, I just can’t take the parallel that far. Jake was excellent, but he’s no JP.) Still, Umphrey’s has a truly original sound. I can certainly say I’ve never heard anything quite like it and I very much enjoyed their tunes. Plenty of smokin’ 80s licks in there. And lots of neoclassical influence mixed with some really ambient, yet tight melody structures. Definitely one of those bands you just need to hear. And possibly one of those bands that make horrible CDs but sound incredible live. (I don’t know this to be true, just throwing out a theory.)

For the transition to the Flecktones, Umphrey’s took the same approach out that they came in on. First came Victor Wooten, then Jeff Coffin, then Futureman and finally Béla. I really enjoyed the jam they transitioned on as well. And they took a few minutes to have a mini showdown with Umphrey’s players. Pretty cool.

The Flecktones set was nothing short of stellar. I was so impressed with their musicianship and it was everything I thought it would be and more. Not only did they seem to just love what they were doing, they seemed so humble about their gifts and visibly encouraged each other on stage. This is definitely what music is really all about. Their interaction with the audience was superior. Several times I was able to kind of catch the attention of Victor and even connected with Béla just a bit. Who knows if they were looking at someone ten rows behind me, I sure felt like they were connecting with me personally—and that was so cool.

Victor Wooten is simply the very best at what he does. I was on the third row, looking on stage from the left (stage right) and Victor stood right in front of me for most of the night. So, I really got a great chance to watch him play. This dude is serious man. I mean, he has tons of fun. But man, when he lets loose, it is sick.

Jeff Coffin has this incredible gift. And it goes beyond what most people see or hear. For me, Jeff puts so much feeling in his playing that it literally makes my eyes water and I get that feeling that I should be crying. There is only one other sax player who can do that to me and that’s Kirk Whalum (one of the all-time greats.) Jeff, wow man. What more can I say?

Futureman. It really doesn’t matter who else Futureman is on stage with. When he’s up there, there is no doubt that he is the coolest dude there. I love the drum-tar live. It really gave a new dimension to that instrument (that’s hard to get from the CDs and DVDs.)

Béla Fleck is Béla Fleck. His name is synonomous with excellence and Monday night was pure perfection to me. I mean, I actually heard him flub one or two, but there was magic even in that—as though the raw nature of the moment helped solidify perfection. (Maybe that only makes sense to me.) Béla has this unique gift of producing and playing insanely creative music while gathering the most insanely creative musicians on the planet to his side. He’s the best. Bar none.

I took lots of pictures (thanks to the Flecktones sense of freedom), so dig in. It won’t be like being there, but I hope I captured some of that emotion!

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones: Official | Wikipedia
Umphrey’s McGee
Marc Broussard

My Photos of the Concert on Flickr

Technorati Tags: concert, Béla Fleck, Flecktones, Umphrey’s McGee, Marc Broussard, Balitimore, Inner Harbor

It has been an interesting few weeks. And I haven’t been in my little space here much. But that doesn’t mean the wheels aren’t turning:

• I’m excited about the beginning of our theaterchurch.com redesign process. I’m doing a bit of prototyping and wireframing and we’re “evaluating” the brand.
• I wonder what the Canary Reader (RSS) will be like. I am extremely excited about it. And yet the details are so vague… All I know is, I like everything else Steve Smith does.
• I upgraded the firmware in my Linksys WRT54G wireless router to Sveasoft’s Alchemy. Simple install process and lots of added functionality to the router.
• Just grabbed the new Desperation album today. Most songs I love. One song I do not. I’ll keep you posted.
• The mention at CBSnews.com is still tripping me out.
• I’ve been testing the new free project management web app, activeCollab. Looks promising.
• Enjoyed revisiting Dave Shea’s image replacement overview.
• Books are so cool.
• I can’t keep up with digg. Not enough time in the world. I keep finding stories through Google searches that are 150 days old but so cool and totally diggworthy. And yet I missed them. I enjoy contributing to digg, but the elbow room is gone in there.
• I love punBB, but Lussumo just released version 1 of Vanilla. And it looks sweet. The filebrowser seems like a neat app as well.
• Hamachi is incredible! I’ve never seen a better VPN solution in my life. It’s fast. It’s super secure. It’s lovely. And it gets out of the way of my bandwidth. I’ve successfully streamed 1100kbps videos from my machine at the office to home. Sure, that says a lot about the connection speeds on both ends, but it also says the VPN is doing it’s job well. Handshaking and then rolling.
• Sharing iTunes tunes over a network is sweet. Listening through a Hamachi-linked VPN from home is even sweeter.

Sometimes I just have some things floating about in my head (and on my Firefox tabs) that need a new home.

This should be fun—

Technorati Tags: design, brand, canary, rss, reader, linksys, firmware, hacks, wireless, wrt54g, alchemy, sveasoft, desperation, new life church, cbsnews.com, project management, activeCollab, Dave Shea, image replacement, digg, punbb, forum, vanilla, lussumo, hamachi, vpn, itunes, what a geek

Had a wonderful time last night with some friends of ours, Dave and Jenn. We made a quick road trip to Atlantic City to see Jamie Cullum at the House of Blues. In a word, this concert was phenomenal. The musicianship on stage was awe-inspiring and the showmanship was infecting. After two solid hours, things seemed to be winding down. Then, the encore set took things to yet another level and ended the night with some incredible performances by every single musician on stage.

The U.S. tour is still on, so if Jamie Cullum and company are in your city (or within a few hours) you need to shell out a few bucks to see them. You won’t be disappointed.

Jamie Cullum (and at MySpace and Ticketmaster.)

House of Blues

Technorati Tags: jamie cullum, jazz, pop, concert, house of blues

A few months back, I got a chance to jam with a few of my buddies—Chris Griffin, Adam Wright and Brad McConnell. Chris is one of my best friends and I’ve known Adam and Brad since college. They are all great guys and accomplished musicians. Brad is the singer/songwriter type. He’s always had an uncanny knack for writing songs with good hook. Just listen to them. Adam is also a singer/songwriter who has spent some serious time in the woodshed honing his mandolin and guitar skills. Chris is a virtuoso—a fretboard wizard. Not only is he multi-instrumental, he has serious expertise on every instrument he plays. He has a keen ear for great music and he excels at playing because of it. Chris and I have had some very serious jam sessions together. I always learn something from him.

So when I heard this trio of pals had actually orchesrated some semblance of a band, I was thrilled. Thrilled for them, because I know how much fun they’re having. Thrilled for us, because I know how much fun we get to have in listening to them create music. Still, with hectic schedules, it was tough for the guys to find the time to rehearse and it took an act of Congress to get them together. So goes the story behind the brand of Act of Congress.

In this brief write-up, I had planned on mentioning several genres that Act of Congress likely falls into. I thought about other bands that might sound like them, or at least influenced their sound in some way. But I keep falling short on accurately describing the Act of Congress experience. Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Doesn’t help me much. Well, sorry about that. But help yourself to a good dose of AoC and let me (and better yet them) know what you think. With Chris’ brauny guitar riffs, Adam’s good looks and Brad’s IQ, these guys have already made an impression in modern music. Plus, they have lots of peeps on MySpace. Surely that’s good for something.

Act of Congress

VIDEO: Song in F# (Live)

VIDEO: Home (Live)

Technorati Tags: music, guitar, mandolin, songwriting, skill, act of congress