Back From the Future

Yes, it's DJStan, back again after a long hiatus. I've missed blogging - there's been a lot of music between posts, and other things, too. I've decided that as part of the revival of Struts and Frets, I'll be posting about other topics as well as music. The focus will still be primarily music, but the other arts will also be discussed, particularly theatre (we see many shows), movies, literature, art, and television. I may even discuss a political question or two, although that is not the focus here.

I hope to be posting at least two or three times a week, as circumstances warrant. Meanwhile, if anyone has comments or suggestions about the general subject matter, feel free to pass them along.

A few quick notes: Steve Earle's new release, "Washington Square Serenade", is a fine set of songs. Steve is in love with both his new woman, singer Allison Moorer, and his new home - my own beloved New York City. The set leads off with a farewell to Nashville, echoing his hit, "Guitar Town", and includes songs about Pale Male, the hawk who lives on 5th Avenue, and the "City of Immigrants" in which he now lives. There are also songs about Oxycontin, a vision of the long walk down "Jericho Road", a sweet song about his new love, "Sparkle and Shine", and a neo-folk song tribute to the folksingers of Washington Square, "Steve's Hammer (for Pete)". All in all, an excellent addition to one of my favorite musicians' body of work. Highly recommended.

Bruce Springsteen's new release, "Magic", isn't. It's not bad, but it's no better than a 3 out of 5, which is about as not great as Bruce gets. Patti Sciafla's new one, "Play It As It Lays", is better - if I were to recommend one of these two, it would be hers (and I do recommend it). More on this anon.

Finally, there are now 13,997 songs on the DJStan Ipod. I'll break 14,000 this weekend (and will soon be in the market for an 80 GB pod). Incidentally, I've started buying songs from Amazon - they've got a decent selection to date (though not nearly as large as ITunes), they're slightly cheaper as a rule (89 cents for a typical track), they come down as high quality unrestricted MP3's, and the free Amazon client maps them right into your Itunes library. These days, if I'm looking to download music (fogey that I am, I still buy CD's, too), I check Amazon first. In the interests of competition and unrestricted downloads, others should do likewise - there's no downside that I can see.

More to come - watch this space!