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  1. A Real Commute

    My office is moving to another city and my commute is going to drastically change. For drivers, this move will be fairly trivial. For low-car folks like me, it poses some significant challenges.

  2. Upcoming Gigs

    I play double bass for the Bottom Dwellers, Matt & George and their Pleasant Valley Boys, and a few other acts in the area. Need bass? Email me. Pay me.

    1. w/ Pleasant Valley Boys at Idol Beer Works - Lodi, CA More info
    2. w/ Bottom Dwellers at Father Paddy’s - Woodland, CA More info

    3. Private Event

      w/ Pleasant Valley Boys at Park Winters - Winters, CA

    4. Davis Farmers Market

      w/ Pleasant Valley Boys at Davis Central Park - Davis, CA More info
    5. w/ Bottom Dwellers at Sutter Creek Provisions - Sutter Creek, CA More info

  3. Record Bird is Shutting Down

    I just received an email from Record Bird, a new release tracking app, announcing that they are shutting down due to financial difficulties.

    Over time, we witnessed that it became more and more expensive for us, but also for artists to get fans to download an app. Yet scale was the only way to create a sustainable and economically profitable model.

    Source: email newsletter from Record Bird not published online

  4. Burn the Priest (aka Lamb of God) Legion: XX

    [Apple Music affiliate link] Burn the Priest (aka Lamb of God) has released an album of punk and hardcore covers, including Kerosene by Big Black and Honey Bucket by the Melvins. I’m not the biggest Lamb of God fan, but it’s cool to hear modern recordings of these songs. Kerosene sounds interesting as a metal song. I think they did a pretty good job with it.

  5. Office Chair

    As most web developers do, I sit in an office chair for a significant portion of my day. As most web developers don’t, I take regular breaks where I walk briskly around town, or cycle across it. Ergonomics are not my primary concern, but comfort certainly is. Is their a chair for me?

  6. Physical sales outsell digital downloads in US for first time since 2011

    Which is to say that digital downloads decrease much more dramatically than physical media, thanks to vinyl record sales.

    Will Butler for NME:

    That said, the difference between physical and digital sales is a mere 2% between 17% and 15% respectively. Streaming still dominates the music market taking up 65% of the total listenership.
    This isn’t to say, also, that physical sales are growing. In fact, physical sale [sic] dropped 4% last year while downloads fell 25%. The report notes that this is “a lower rate of decline than recent years”. This is due to vinyl sales’ growth of 10%, while other formats saw a decline…

    The Bottom Dwellers will be releasing our new record on vinyl this year. It is quite expensive. Too bad the RIAA doesn’t track t-shirt sales, which is the way most touring bands make money.

  7. Has Streaming Really Changed Music?

    Pleasant Valley Boys 78 and digital download art

    In episode 7 of The Menu Bar podcast, Zac Cichy and Federico Viticci go deep on streaming music services. They talk specifically about how streaming services have not only changed the way we listen to music, but the music itself that artists create. It was an inspired and extremely enlightening discussion—as is par for the course on The Menu Bar (consider supporting their Patreon). I have a counterpoint, though.