My OCD prefers that I keep my iTunes organized by artist (with each artist arranged alphabetically by last name.)

But I am faced with a grammatical quandry – how does one file “Ghostface Killah” – as shown or as “Killah, Ghostface”. It is quite the conundrum.

I have to start this post with “I think the world of Bob Dylan”. I find him inspirational and extremely talented. There are a number of his tunes that I have rated with multiple stars on my iPod.

But what were they thinking having Bob record a Christmas album (Christmas in the Heart). Bob’s particular song styling now tend to put him in competition with the Chipmunks for Novelty Christmas album of the decade. It just doesn’t work – on any level. This just smells of crass commercial pandering – Bob sells well, Christmas albums sell well – voilà a Dylan Christmas album must be a winner.

Errr, not so much. But good for a giggle.

Recently my playlists have been filled with accordians and gypsy jazz. It started with seeing Pearl Django in concert again (in beautiful Anacortes). And again this week, when a random tweet sent me off to this silly video And next thing I know, I am searching out Elbow’s music.

When will the madness stop? Next I’ll probably start listening to klezmer bands. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)

I love this time of year. The Northwest has an amazing number of outdoor venues. And the lineup this summer is pretty good. I am looking forward to Chris Isaak, Sheryl Crowe, Al Green, Melissa Etheridge, and Pink Martini.

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It was kind of bitter-sweet but in the long run, like prunes, it is going to be good for me.

This week was another of the NY Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcasts. The day on the way to border was beautiful with snow-capped mountains from horizon to horizon. The performance of La Sonnambula put the view to shame. By the end of the day, I was ready to go back and see it again.

This may have been the perfect opera experience. Bellini’s music was beautiful, the casting and singing were spot-on, and the stagecraft (unlike some earlier operas) added to the impact of the scenes rather than fighting for attention with the performer. But the most amazing part is the director’s (Mary Zimmerman) re-imagining of this 19th century period piece transforms as it moves back and forth between the contemporary lovers and the opera within an opera.

It was a clever vehicle that added extra power to the performances as well as providing a means of carrying this story well into the future. No small feat for a story line that almost falls over into English farce (like a two-part episode of Frasier.)

There must be – I laugh out loud everytime I see this opening from the Craig Ferguson show (on after Letterman) I can’t even begin to provide the context. Just know that using puppets for the opening is a running gag. I MUST resist watching it more than once a day.

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I am mentioning this in case someone else is left scratching their head about why songs that they have left “unchecked” in iTunes are suddenly appearing on their iPod, iPhone or AppleTV.

It appears that the behavior around checked songs in iTunes changed in a recent release. Previously, if you had an item unchecked, iTunes ignored it for all intents and purposes. Now with release 8.0.2 of iTunes (at least that’s when I noticed it), each smart list has a new option “Match Checked Items Only”. I’ve had to go in and modify each Smart playlist to honor that condition. Annoying!

It is no surprise that the talented author, Bob Greene, has crafted an appropriate and eloquent eulogy for Paul Harvey – “He was famed for his voice, but the writing itself was so beautiful — his respect for words, his understanding of the potency of economy, his instinct for removing the superfluous. The world heard him speak, but the world never saw him write, and I think he honored both aspects of his skill equally.” You can read the full article on CNN

As it happens Bob Greene and I are about the same age (he is slightly more famous), we both grew up in the Midwest and Paul Harvey was part of the pastiche of our youth. Paul Harvey was so uncool but he was a pleasure to listen to. As a high-school debater, I was in awe of how few words it took for him to express a complete thought. His cadence was exquisite, leading you to the punch-line with a precision that you could only hope to allude to in your own arguments.

Paul never wore his patriotism on his sleeve as so many seem to do today. It wasn’t used to make a point but you had no doubt about his pride in the country and the many cultures and ideals that give its strength (and, on occasion, its failures.) Unlike the bombastic demagoguery that passes for radio today, Paul Harvey was a unique American voice that built upon that which is uniquely, the American experience.

Dave Winer reminds us that 25 years ago today this commercial introduced the world to the Apple Macintosh.

I distinctly remember, a few weeks later, walking through Marshall Fields & Company (now Macy’s Chicago – yech!) to look at one. The bright white 9″ screen, the few applications (Paint was amazing) and the overall design – unlike anything we had seen before.

It was a few years later in 1996 that I got my first Macintosh. My new employer already had one Mac Fan Boy working there and offered me the choice between a Mac Plus (the “new” Macintosh) and an IBM PC. I went Mac and have never looked back. While I have not made it a point to own every model since (thank goodness, some of them were awful), I have kept up with the times and couldn’t be happier.

I figure that I have probably saved months of time over the last 23 years by not having to fiddle with operating system, chase down viruses, solve incompatiblities, and otherwise suffering through the trials and tribulations of most Wintel PC owners. Now I’ll confess that I have had a PC or two over the years for testing and just to get along in the world (i.e. work with clients whose software product was PC-based.)

But my belongs to Mac – Happy Aniversary Macintosh. Here’s to another 25 years of togetherness.

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