The act of listening to music has never been the same since the invention of the MP3 audio format. The ability to highly compress audio and still have the great sound quality associated with CDs, made it possible to easily pass music files over the internet and revolutionized the way people look at sharing and distributing music. (MP3 file sizes are less than one 10th of that occupied by the standard CD audio format.)
In a modern music scene dominated by manufactured teen pop icons from the Britney/Backstreet Boys school, the astronomical odds against finding success as a rock band deter many potential talents from pursuing music, particularly when the group's members have more traditional career opportunities.
As a close neighbor to Detroit, Ann Arbor has played a role in the evolution of the growing global techno music scene. In fact, one of the most important players in artistically motivated electronic music resides here in our quiet college town. You may have heard his radio show, bought his records, seen his performances or even passed him on the street, probably never even realizing the significance.
What did you do for New Year's? Did you reunite with your high school friends back home? Did you drive down to Florida for the Orange Bowl? Did you watch fireworks over the Thames or from the Champs Elysses?
After watching Winona Ryder pout her way through the recent "Girl, Interrupted," it's difficult not to be reminded of a film of a drastically similar setting made a quarter of a century ago.
"The Source," director Chuck Workman's ode to the Beat generation, examines the lives of three influential Beat writers - Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. The documentary film blends bits of newscasts, historical footage, movie clips and interviews to give us an idea of what these men meant and still mean to writers and people in general around the world.
There's a black ribbon in the middle of one of Ben's fraternity's composites. It's one of the older ones from the early '90's, and the ribbon covers the coat of arms. There's a smaller black ribbon on one of the brothers' head shots slightly to the right of the big ribbon.
Very rarely in this column do I ever pass judgment or spout social commentary, but today I have a little piece of advice in the form of a simple phrase:
