This is the best book I’ve read in the past year or so, and I have been recommending it to people ever since. Unfortunately, I didn’t follow all of the advice in my own investing, but it’s never too late to learn.
The author was just on Charlie Rose and he does a good job of explaining the book, including dispelling the myth that it’s an investing book. It is more philosophical than that, and it’s a philosophy that resonates strongly with me. My mom bought me the book on a hunch it was up my alley, and boy was she right! Always listen to your mother.
Please watch the clip below to save me the expense of buying you this book:
I’ve been spinning the hell out of this MGMT record all weekend. (formerly “Management”)
On the 4th of July we had a BBQ and my friend Carlos, who just moved back to Austin (they all do), had come over and I handed him the keys to the Sonos to DJ. Carlos is one of the biggest music fans I know, which is saying something after working at Musicmatch and Yahoo! Music for 4 years, so naturally I was a little apprehensive my 100 gigs of music would stand up to the scrutiny. The first thing he says is “you don’t have any management”. ‘Doh!
MGMT was the best band I saw at SXSW this year (thanks to Kirker for convincing me to go). They played at a small venue, the Rio Grande (an odd Mexican Restaurant transplant from Boulder, with suprisingly great food and very strong ‘ritas). After they rocked the house, I have been listening to MGMT quite a bit over on hype machine, but haven’t gotten around to acquiring the record.
So, fresh off the shaming from Carlos, I bought it on Amazon for $7.99 on Friday and loaded it onto my iPod and the HTPC that powers by Sonos at home (thanks to no DRM this bit of internal family sharing is not only legal, it’s actually convenient!). I guess this is referred to as “buying music”, something I’m trying to reacquaint myself with after years of subscription music.
I have to say that I’ve already gotten way more than $8 worth of value out of this purchase! This whole buying music thing is not as bad as it sounds. One of the tricks for enjoying music is to find something my kids dig (read: will dance to), and it’s an added bonus if Dianna likes it. MGMT fills the bill!
So I fired up hype machine over the weekend and hit play on the front page. In the process, I discovered a band called Mexican Institute of Sound which my whole family was digging (the kids went crazy). A quick scouring of the web uncovered a lot of great ways to hear more and buy some of this goodness.
I couldn’t find an easy way to embed the hypemachine player on my page. Surely I’m missing something… they also had a link to the emusic store to find their stuff, but emusic didn’t feature an embed option as far as I could tell (another reason Amazon is going to eat their lunch IMHO).
Two songs found on Project Playlist — was kind of a pain to create the playlists and of course all of the remnant (or “class 2″ as we say at Yahoo!) ads were pretty annoying…
Rhapsody full tracks of their latest album (if you haven’t used up your 25 free songs/month — or you’re a subscriber — too bad it doesn’t embed the playlist and player (just a link)): My Rhapsody Playlist
Seeqpod — I really like this site. VERY fast to find some songs, although there were duplicates. Note they found more than projectplaylist – also very easy to grab the code for their slick embed player. I have found that many of the tracks have problems with skipping since they are hosted on some individual websites like .edu etc… wonder if Seeqpod’s player could add some buffering?
All of the innovation in web music is really exciting and making it easier to love (and yes, buy) music than ever.
UPDATE: I tried searching for Yahoo! Music Videos but found nothing. On Youtube there were a bunch of kids dancing to the songs (so I guess it’s not just my kids that dig this stuff) and I also found out that this is a song in the new FIFA 08 which might explain the band popping up on hypem?
SXSW 2007 is done, and I did get to enjoy a bit of it here and there. In previous years, my mother in law came to town because she has the week off for spring break, giving Dianna help with the kiddos so I could pass out in ditches and so forth. Unfortunately, The in-laws bought and moved into a new house this week so I had to keep the ditch time to a minimum, which meant mostly going to day parties with the occassional late night on Wednesday & Saturday.
Wednesday
Steve, Michael and I headed to Pure to check out Dennis’s new company Slacker, which certainly made an impression. I’m pulling for these guys because 1) they’re not apple, 2) the satellite tech they are using was invented by folks in Austin 3) good group of people including my friend Steve Cotter who just joined to head up BD & Sales for them. They took over this bar on 6th and had their branding everywhere, which was very cool. Overall, it seems the launch was well received but the proof’s in the shipping product.
Next we hit one of my favorite restaurants (Moonshine), which never disappoints.
This is where it gets a bit hazy, but I recall having a couple of beers with Harris at Sidebar and then heading to the real music destination: Antones.
Antones was supposed to have a “secret” Spoon show at 1am so we went early. We saw:
The Broken West: eh, me no likey Spoon: Good, but I’m kind of over them. Always good to support an Austin band though
Thursday
Very low-key, but I heard a good band at Speak easy and enjoyed some free Dewars courtesy of some company that didn’t get their money’s worth (because I can’t remember). Same goes for the band. shit. too hung over.
Friday
I checked out the Island Records showcase at Bourbon Rocks, which was sponsored by Yahoo! Music UK. This was great music and I got to meet my colleagues Shannon & Trace. Good times! The venue is really cool too, with the stage in the middle of the room in a sense because the patio was behind the stage. I caught these bands:
Amy Winehouse: absolultely brilliant! The place was packed for her, with a line way out the door.
Another performance of hers on Youtube:
Scott Matthews: Dude with a guitar, eh (not that there’s anything wrong with that) The Rumble Strips: loved these guys, everyone just worked really hard and gave their all to the performance. Highly recommended. Love the sax! Buy them. The Fratellis: The band with all the buzz… I’d say they lived up to it, but they weren’t my #1 pick (see below). See Them, Buy Them. Saturday
We took the girls to the kids show at Auditorium shores. The highlight was definitely the Sippy Cups.
Clearly a group of musicians that found a way to feed their mushroom habit by entertaining kids (and adults) with crazy antics and covers of Pink Floyd. Bravo! Buy Them
Saturday night I took my brother in law to the Vice party, which was definitely not his normal scene (or mine for that matter). It was set in this incredible Elk lodge in Bouldin overlooking the city. Once again, another party with free Dewars but this time it was the only drink avaialble! They eventually busted out the beer though. My friend Jeff predicted there would be some crazy shit before the night was up, and sure enough (in jeff’s words) “some drunk chick fell off” the balcony (as you will) which shut down the party (as they do). In “some drunk chicks” defense, Apparently the railing gave out. Luckily we left before the mayhem set in.
UPDATE: BUY PIECES OF THE BUILDING FROM THIS NUTTER.
To summarize, the music I loved (in order)
1) The Rosebuds
2) Amy Winehouse
3) The Fratellis
4) The Rumble Strips
record all weekend. (formerly “Management”)
My Rhapsody Playlist
Yours Truly, Angry Mob [E-ALBUM]
