Category: music

Life, music, Politics, politics2 Comments

Britain vs America

Mark Cathcart

On a pure headcount basis, for talent Britain appears to beat America hands down. Of course, it doesn’t there is so much “undiscovered” talent in America. As a Brit’ abroad, I regularly get asked why either people or a certain style or culture seems to catch on and then move over to the US. Most recently this came up on Greg Wilsons’ blog in relation to electronic dance music and here is the answer I gave. It does though, in my opinion, apply to almost everything. America is a very different place from the movies, and a massive country compared … Continue reading Britain vs America

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American pie

Mark Cathcart

The irony of tonight caught me off guard. I watched the 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony over the Internet live from London via some web trickery, then I set out at 8pm here in Texas to deliver neighborhood association newsletters. After about 50 of my 134 houses I realised as I sweated in the 95f temps that the iconic Don MacLean song had finally come home, Back in 1972, age 14, in the UK,  I had a paper round, I had one odd those cassette players with the piano style keys, I had a rack on the back of my bike … Continue reading American pie

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Sun God – Ramsey Lewis

Mark Cathcart

I really didn’t know what to expect from Ramsey Lewis, and having never been to the One World Theatre in Austin, my anicipation was high. I wasn’t disappointed. The One World Theater is the corollary of many of Austins music venues, its small, intimate and and has great sound. The Ramsey Lewis trio, plus Lewis, barely needed amplification and were all very clear. I was in the isle seat, center left just 3-rows back. I bought my Olympus SLR camera and got it in without trouble, but based on an early experience with a woman shooting video, taking pictures was … Continue reading Sun God – Ramsey Lewis

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Fore music

Mark Cathcart

The great thing about music is it brings people together in so many great ways, the great thing about sharing love of similar music with my kids, is I get recommendations on some great stuff, I’m totally hooked on this Jamie Lidell track after a 3 a.m. skype session with Oli. Then last night Kathleen organized line dancing lessons at the Broken Spoke, all I can tell you is there was a lot of trepidation in this house before Ronnie and I left. I got to learn the Texas 2-step with Leslie Tom and she was a great partner. Continue reading Fore music

Life, mp3, music, triathlon2 Comments

Sven gets vocal again

Mark Cathcart

I just ran the stats on my little Sandisc Sansa MP3 player, I’ve had it for 3-years now, it was a great buy and yep, cheap, and no it doesn’t work with iTunes. I’ve done a few file reloads and am starting to think about music selection for the marathon I have to run at the end of the Challenge Roth ironman-distance triathlon in July. Yep, MP3 players are allowed on the run. Overwhelmingly, the number one MP3 played on my sandisc is my Houston dance-music friend, Sven Neers’ “sven gets vocal again” mix from February 2010. It’s a perfect, … Continue reading Sven gets vocal again

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Fee’s how much longer?

Mark Cathcart

I’m so over paying fees for events, it’s such a rip-off. I just bought a ticket for my first ever visit to the One World Theatre here in Austin[the home of star’s from the 1970’s and 1980’s], I’m going to see Ramsey Lewis do Sungoddess Revisited. It was this track and the album, Sungoddess that introduced me to Earth Wind  and Fire and a life long love of their music and harmonies, heck I even got the tattoo in 1976. So I wanted to get a decent seat and went for a “prime seat”, price $75. Yeah, I know. Then came … Continue reading Fee’s how much longer?

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The implications of “Mastered for iTunes”

Mark Cathcart

NPR has an interesting blog entry on “What ‘Mastered For iTunes’ Really Means”. I hadn’t spotted this since I’ve been a life long Apple avoider. It’s not that I think Apple has bad products, it’s just they always, always look for a way to lock users into their systems. I’ve felt for a long time that the music industry would eventually find a way to strike back at MP3. In this case it makes perfect sense. Pay particular attenion to the last two paragraphs. http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/02/24/147379760/what-mastered-for-itunes-really-means Continue reading The implications of “Mastered for iTunes”