Month: September 2017
The Starbucks Store online is ceasing
Well, damn…
Store.Starbucks.com is going
away, but you can still find all your
favorite coffee and merchandise at
your local Starbucks® stores.
This was sent via email this afternoon. It doesn’t reflect the frustrations that the store was causing me (and who knows how many others) this spring and early summer… Perhaps you can take that as a sign of what was to come?
I had been on the Starbucks Store site a few weeks ago as I wanted to see if its problems still existed. The shop had been upgraded, or so it seemed… and it’s product lineup thinned? I have a tendency to buy Verismo pods in bulk (and had done so regularly through the store) and that was no longer an option.
I took a run over to the onlien store after getting the email announcement, and while I ran into the login issue (“We must have taken a coffee break”), I found myself able to shop again. It made me wonder if I had been scammed with spam in my email inbox?
Nope. And you can read about it on BuzzFeed.
Regarding Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria relief
I just donated to UNICEF’s Hurricane Maria/Puerto Rico relief efforts. Join me, won’t you? https://t.co/LIegM6eaxJ
— John Fontana (@Johnny_Fonts) September 30, 2017
A pop playlist of “relaxing, easy favorites” on Spotify
“Relaxing, easy favorites… with less talk!” That radio pitch from how-many stations in collaboration or owned by the same company? Maybe I’m wrong on that, but “Warm 107 FM” / “Warm 107.3 FM”, “Warm 94.9 FM” all pushed he same type of easy-listening, or a toned-down variety of music from the past few years or longer. It wasn’t that distant to the past that the stations trekked from what I remember… except in rare events for shock or approval. Seeing I’m referencing stuff I heard on the airwaves in the 80’s and 90’s, basically those throw-back numbers were from the 60’s… if they happened at all.
A few years ago I started putting together a personal playlist on my iTunes that mixed together a number of songs that weren’t rockers, or necessarily pop… Then again, some are legendary (Yesterday by the Beatles, Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton, Hotel California by the Eagles). The song list grew as I remembered certain tunes from the past as well as picked up some indie songs by way of listening to Lonely Oak Radio.
That’s led to a playlist of 224 songs spanning a total of 13 hours and 49 minutes. Not all of them perfectly fit the motif of “relaxing, easy favorites” but that’s the title of the playlist. And my own recreation of it is available on Spotify.
The Spotify list doesn’t perfectly recreate things as I’ve taken certain songs off my personal list, I was unable to add others (such as Paul McCartney’s (I Want To) Come Home, Michael Stipe’s mixed-group performance of U2’s One, as well as others). It’s still 182 songs in length…
I could see people arguing “relaxing” does not describe performances by the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s (stuck in silence (for the rest of my life) and not mess with music that I miss. Who knows? The point is – the playlist is public on Spotify and maybe you’ll be interested in looking into it or – gasp! – listening.
Silence and song; the musical demo of “Slowly, Her Name Fades Away”
How does a deaf composer get the attention of the music industry? Think about that for a minute, would you? It happens to be a serious question asked by a man who is currently sitting in an unsound situation.
I’m not Ludwig van Beethoven – far from it – but I can say that my toe is in the proverbial water of the music industry at the moment. Okay, actually it’s actually my entire foot up to my ankle or lower shin (that comes by way of me having spent time trying to promote the Pretty Voices over the past year). It goes by way of words and actions, not so much plucking piano keys and writing orchestral symphonies.
See, I wrote a poem back in the fall of 1998 (a long long time ago in a galaxy not-so-far away) that I’ve clung to over the years. It’s a poem I had intended for inclusion in a self-published poetry book… It’s also something I thought could be done in a musical arrangement to make it into a song.
So, when I got frustrated and vastly slowed this past spring, and while I still had thoughts tying said-poem into a musical arrangement, I made an inquiry with the Nashville Song Service if the lyrical-verse really could be done as a song. Indeed, it got the green light. Read More
Wishful thinking and film; re-create this scene
As far as I know, this could have already played out but…
One scene, out of context, that I find hysterical (in context and as part of the film, it’s still funny but not as serious) is the opening confrontation of Mr. Miyagi and sensei John Kreese in The Karate Kid Part II. Forget Daniel LaRusso, forget the Cobra Kai students – just the fact Miyagi is being bigger in making his physical confrontation. Read More
This Labor Day Weekend, in memory of Jerry Lewis, let’s fight MD
My reaction to the news of comedic legend Jerry Lewis’ passing two weeks ago was to urge friend son Facebook to make a donation to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the organization Jerry work for with his annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon which aired from Sunday night of Labor Day weekend until Monday evening on Labor Day.
It’s short notice and I would imagine more people are having a weekend than on the web reading blog entries from someone like me (“Who the hell is this guy?” ). But I think we, the American public, should act this weekend for Jerry and for those stricken with Muscular Dystrophy.
I posted this on my personal Facebook account, aimed at friends. I post it here:
I’m not playing on this, ladies and gents: Starting tomorrow around 7 or 8 PM EDT (or was it 9? I forget) we may want to make donations to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (and press the idea until Monday night with friends and others we have contact with).
It’s in honor and memory of Jerry Lewis.
The idea of a time-to-do-the-deed is simply there for viral sake. As was already noted, the annual rite that was the MDA telethon’s hours of broadcast was from Sunday night until Monday evening.
It’s in honor of Mr. Lewis, ladies and gentlemen. It is out of sympathy and support of those battling MD. The time is not exactly prime for an effort like this, as the damage and suffering in Houston caused by Hurricane Harvey has already drawn generosity from America and the world…
Just consider the donation. the battle with MD goes on with or without national focus. It’s just going to be a dimmer battle without Lewis at the helm.
The MDA donation page can be found here.