Month: January 2007

Categories
Created Narrated

Tracing “Cain”

Ted Leo - Blurry Hands

“We literally wrote this this morning.”

August 26th of 2005: a crowd of us gathered at the South Street Seaport watched as [Ted Leo and the Pharmacists](http://www.tedleo.com/) played the one song of the night no one knew. No one sung along, no one lipped the words – we just listened. And I, in a moment of lucky forethought, held my camera aloft and [captured the whole thing](http://timorousme.org/movies/tedleonewsong.mov).

The [MP3](https://vjarmy.com/junkbin/newtedleosong.mp3) was at first labeled just “Untitled Ted Leo Song” – but soon [renamed](http://mligon08.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_mligon08_archive.html#112527994739896106) to the best guess off the set list, “The Sons Of Cain”. After getting heckled by a fellow fan, I asked Ted for his (albeit late) permission to distribute; he was kind enough to grant it.

A few months later, the song was again performed on KEXP; the considerably better audio quality led to an MP3 of that making the rounds as well.

Both of the TL/Rx shows I went to after that featured Sons Of Cain on the setlist, and it was an odd feeling to hear it played live again – not only because I had played a role in people recognizing it, but because every new performance was a little more refined than the one I had heard prior.

It’s weird (and a bit possessive) to think about, but Sons Of Cain is the first new song Ted wrote for an album since I started listening to him. There’s a strong attachment there, as each new playing gets it closer to being “done”.

Skipping to the end: Pitchfork, in conjunction with Touch & Go, have released The Sons Of Cain as a free MP3, in preparation for the release of *Living With The Living* on March 20th.

All four versions I’ve come across on MP3 are below. So compare, contrast, and listen as the song evolves:

* [The Sons Of Cain: South Street Seaport, August 26th 2005](https://vjarmy.com/junkbin/newtedleosong.mp3) (self-recorded)
* [The Sons Of Cain: KEXP, September 27th 2005](https://vjarmy.com/junkbin/sonsofcain/kexp.mp3) ([source](http://content.digitalwell.washington.edu/isilon/1/8/39/39398ebd-e00c-4dca-8110-5c9be51c4187.mp3))
* [The Sons Of Cain: South Street Seaport, August 25th 2006](https://vjarmy.com/junkbin/sonsofcain/seaport06.mp3) ([source](http://www.archive.org/details/tedleo2006-08-25.flac16))
* [The Sons Of Cain: Album Version](https://vjarmy.com/junkbin/sonsofcain/album.mp3) ([source](http://www.touchandgorecords.com/media/3739.mp3))

As a special bonus option: I’ve mixed the four songs together, each version getting about a minute. Most of the difference in feel comes from the various recording methods, but you can still listen as the song evolves.

[Download The Sons Of Cain (Four Ways Mix)](https://vjarmy.com/junkbin/sonsofcain/fourways.mp3)

(thanks to [Alan Williamson](http://sixeyes.blogspot.com/2007/01/ted-leo-sons-of-cain-first-live.html) for the inspiration for this post)

Categories
Endured Puzzled Over

Draft Report on the 2006 Blackout

It feels like ancient history at this point, but it’s worth realizing that it’s only been a scant six months since the blackout that downed most of Astoria and many other parts of Queens.

Jen Chung was nice enough to point out to me that the Public Service Commission filed [a draft report](http://www.dps.state.ny.us/06E0894SR070117.pdf) on its investigation into the matter. While it *is* a draft (and therefore, not finished), there is a lot of meat contained within the 185 pages. What I have been able to read this far has been fascinating – covering technical details of the power grid, monitoring systems, and the plight of those affected.

Let’s hope the recommendations in the document take effect by the date specified (most of which are June 1, 2007) – I don’t want to go through this again in 2007.

Categories
Debated

Social Network De-evolution

The first social network to rise to any degree of prominence was [Friendster](http://www.friendster.com/). Friendster allows you to punch in a bunch of your interests, link to other friends, pull in your blog posts, share photos, etc.

Then came [Orkut](http://www.orkut.com). Orkut grew quickly because of it’s exclusive “you have to be invited in” rules, but then quickly burned out as everyone went to [MySpace](http://www.myspace.com/). MySpace was – and is – ugly as sin, horribly non-functional, and generally is a contradiction of all that had gone to move the web forward since its inception. This, somehow, made it immensely popular.

Since MySpace has become the unstoppable force in the “this is all of who I am” space, recent social networks have forced you to specialize. Music users can plug in to [lastfm](http://last.fm) or [iLike](http://www.ilike.com]; people looking for business connections can network on [LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/). [Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/) can act as a glorified social network for photographers. And so on.

Meanwhile, activity-based social networks sprang up. [Dodgeball](http://www.dodgeball.com/) broadcasts your location to your friends. [Upcoming](http://www.upcoming.org/) lets you plan events – Evite on steroids.

The many splinter social networks are interesting, because each one limits your scope. I can’t find my friends who aren’t into digital photography on Flickr. I’m not going to link up with people outside of NYC on Dodgeball. Each network becomes more insular, more specialized.

And so now we reach [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/). Twitter is, as best I can tell, the exact reverse of the original sorts of social networks – your profile is meager, your interests unimportant. Twitter allows you to bomb your friends with updates about what you’re doing in 145 character or less – like Dodgeball, only without the locations. Or neighborhood detection.

I’ve been using it a bit more today after signing up last month – and while Twitterific is a nice client, I’m still trying to get the appeal. It’s certainly an interesting sort of party-line chat that doesn’t require you to be constantly signed in, but there’s something I’m not quite catching. Maybe it’s because after two years on Dodgeball, I know that most people aren’t using the chat functions.

My profiles for all the sites mentioned above: [Friendster](http://www.friendster.com/dandickinson) – [MySpace](http://myspace.com/remydwd) – [last.fm](http://last.fm/user/remydwd) – [iLike](http://ilike.com/user/Dan_D2) – [LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/in/remydwd) � [Flickr](http://flickr.com/people/remydwd) � [Dodgeball](http://www.dodgeball.com/user?uid=16789) � [Upcoming](http://upcoming.org/user/384/) � [Twitter](http://twitter.com/Remy)