Mature Rock Club: a Pandora Station

Station Link: http://www.pandora.com/station/play/2384084906898078383

Main Page:  http://www.pandora.com/profile/craig.hamilton.newletters

Flatt & Scruggs                             John Hartford

Old Crow Medicine Show            Chubby Wise

Doc Watson                                  The Osbourne Brothers

Earl Scruggs                                 Alison Krauss

Town Mountain                            Tony Furtado

Bruce Cockburn                            The Wailin' Jennys

The Steeldrivers                            Tony Rice

Blue Highway                               Pert Near Sandstone

Bonnie Rideout                             Atlantic Wave

The Dubliners                               Gaelic Storm

Altan                                             The Bothy Band

The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem

Planxty                                          The Boys Of The Lough

Cherish the Ladies                        Kevin Burke

William Coulter & Friends           The Pogues

Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy

Mark Arrington                            The Devil Makes Three

Wolfe Tones                                 Celtic Fiddle Festival

The Pogues & The Dubliners       The High Kings

Liz Carroll And John Doyle         Mike Tramp

Sarah Jarosz                                  Cosy Sheridan

Madeleine Peyroux                       Lyle Lovett

Imelda May                                   Parov Stelar

Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire         Solace & Fury

Caro Emerald                                 Mirah

The Pierces                                    Dirt Daubers

Skittish                                          Eilen Jewell

Good Lovelies                               Clare Fader

Katzenjammer                               Squirrel Nut Zippers

The Klezmatics

Giving Up Music and Software Piracy

The other day I started throwing out unlicensed software and torrents with full discographies of various bands burned on to DVDs because in a discussion with a Rabbi, as this is what he advised me to do, and as opposed to just not downloading anymore, and enjoying what I have (no longer).

This was the advice of Rabbi Yisroel Cotlar for Chabad.org 

- You can be careful about it in the future. 

- You can spread awareness to others.

- You can erase files of music that you did obtain illegally 

- You can make a point of supporting the artists in the future

For some time, I had promised myself that I would not engage in software and music piracy, even before I found Pandora.com. Honestly, when I first heard of Pandora, I thought I was going to be majorly disappointed; however, now I think they are great!

With Pandora I feel like Gd has given me a multitude of blessings. And no, they, Pandora, don’t have all my favorite music, but they do have a lot, and especially they do have enough! (I am a huge consumer of music)

This actually made today’s next step easier; today I threw out hundreds of pirated cds. Some of them I cherished, but many of them would have disappointed me if I bought them. However, before today, yesterday to be precise, I wanted to listen to music while on my way to play MTG (Magic the Gathering). This became a problem for me as I told myself I would give one last listen to a Flower Kings cd on my way to the store, and then when I got home, I would throw it out.

Well that last pirated cd; well guess what, I wouldn’t work in the player, so I had to switch it out with a purchased cd! Imagine that, a miracle of Hashem! Being the religious geek that I am, I was glad that the player wouldn’t play the pirated cd, as it was a way to break the melancholy of giving up something loved. So instead, I popped in my personally purchased Niacin cd (with Dennis Chambers and Billy Sheehan), and listened to it, before bringing the cd notebook holder inside order to fill with music that was personally purchased, or gifted.

Don’t get me wrong, while I have thrown out hundreds of discs, I have yet to fully purge all my music; that I am here today is thanks to Gd’s mercy, and may Gd reward me with much blissful music in the years to come for following His Law!  I will probably get around to destroying all I have pirated someday, but now it is enough to get rid of many with the intent of completely erasing the history of my piracy altogether.

I can rest today knowing that I have done some good deeds. There is no need to be a zealot over this, but I feel Shalom in the home knowing that I have done a good thing, and by doing so, I will be serving my son and family by being a good example, and hopefully, I will be helping bands and the music industry get the money they deserve.  Maybe I will get more rewards from Gd for my works in return.

Facebook Complaint Causes Need for Major Overhaul

Good grief! When will Facebook allow multiple channels so we don't have to miss out on what we like? I want to be able to toggle between animals, music, politics, etc.  Sometimes I might want to shuffle or randomize my channels.  This is not new technology.  Randomization has been a part of music players since the shuffle button was invented, and then they probably borrowed that idea from something earlier, like the lottery.

Facebook SHOULD STOP TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A SINGLE INTEREST FOR ME, and recognize that its customers', such as yours truly, likely have many interests, especially interests that are not being catered to!

We are frustrated with Facebook!

The solution is to make Facebook.com similar to Pandora.com, asking customers how we want our feeds grouped.  Let us switch between user tailored preferences.  For each like I have in a particular group, ask me if I favor this sort of material in my feed, not whether I "like" it or not.

I don't like horrors, yet I feel some things in the news should be reported on that I don't like.  It is a problem for honest people if we don't like horrors, because when Facebook.com sees us not liking it, not matter how horrible it is, they jump to the conclusion that we don't want it in our feeds.  Rubbish! 

This is a complaint that people have had about Facebook since the beginning, and that is Facebook is telling its users what they like according to Facebook's idealistic grouping, and not serving its customers.

Dear Facebook, please put me in control of my feed!

Faith in Hashem's Providence

I am really liking Pandora. Today is my first day trying it because we now have internet. This stuff is so inspirational for me to practice while it is playing in the background. It has occurred to me that all this guitar practice may one day lead to a paying job. However, if I have one student who is successful, - even if it is learning only patterns that help with memory, not necessarily a gig - and has no money, I would take that over several students that were not serious, but padded my bank account. Gd is not money. Work with what you have, money or not, and I have a firm belief that anything is possible with faith.