Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man...

Things I love this week:

Songs: Since I got my pretty red iPod for Valentines Day I've been sort of going crazy with the iTumes downloads.
This week my most favorite download is the live version of Ben Folds covering the Elton John classic Tiny Dancer. I can't stop listening to it!
Usually live recordings drive me crazy. All I can hear is how I would have mixed it differently, or where I would have placed the mics, or how I would have boosted this and put more of the room mix here and tried to compress that a little... But every now and then I get a live recording that really captures the essence of something. By far, the best 99 cents I've spent in a while!
Biggest guilty pleasure download: Shoop by 80's sweethearts, Salt-n-Pepa because it makes me wanna shake my booty.

Speaking of music...

Best Software Download: a friend of mine turned me on to something that has changed my life.
Audio Hijack Pro
For the price of two CD's you can get this awesome little bit of software that will let you record ANYTHING that streams online. This means you can record any of those songs on Myspace that are not set for download. (Not that I would do that because that would be illegal, just saying that you could.) In theory one could use this to make MP3s from any live radio stream, any Myspace profile that have unreleased versions of songs up, or even your Skype conversations, making it perfect for Podcasting!
It is really easy to use and super user friendly. Just be warned, if you use the FREE DEMO version to try it out, the MP3s you create with that are set to self destruct. I tried to add a demo one to my iPod and it froze it, causing me to reset the whole thing and reload all 1000 songs. This does not happen with the paid version! (Sorry PC users, this is Mac only software for now)

Speaking of people who have recorded a frustrating amount of unreleased songs that I would love to get my hands on... (Like my segues here?)

Books: I finally picked up local hero Sean Nelson's book, Court and Spark. It is always cool seeing your friend's name on a book jacket, but even better when you actually, honestly love what they wrote. I have always liked Sean's writing, but I think this book proves that he's got the chops to jump from journalist to novelist without breaking a sweat if he ever wanted to. (Not that I ever doubted him)


Speaking of people who used to be film editors...

Travel: We just booked our tickets for the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC. I'm really excited to spend some quality time with my favorite city again. I've been looking over the festival website and it all looks pretty awesome. Jon is going to play a couple of showcases for people, so this is as much a business trip as it is a mini break. I'm also looking forward to spending some major quality time with my beloved H&M store (Why isn't there an H&M in Seattle? WHY?!?)
Who knows, maybe I will get really lucky and get to meet Mr. Robert De Niro. But what do you say to a living legend? (Anything will be better than babbling about jalapeno poppers like I did at Shatner when I first met him.) Must repress urge to say, "Are you talkin' to me?"