A few years ago, I tried to start a music news and reviews blog to counter the poor writing, always upbeat character, and limited coverage of underground music by the existing local outlets. That effort failed. I am finally parting ways with the Web site, dcmusicblog.com. If you are interested–and I know there is interest in this URL–contact me and we can ensure a proper transfer. My registration of the site will expire in about a month.
Tag Archives: Internet
Galaxy Hut Sucks (at Informing People)
Galaxy Hut has been unable to properly market itself for a long time. The biggest annoyance, though, is that you can’t see the music venue’s calendar unless you are a fan (or whatever they are calling it these days) on Facebook. Sure, this is easy/lazy for the booker, but it screws people looking to quickly check or for people who don’t participate in Facebook (dudes, the ‘net is about being open, not about giving away your private data).
Galaxy Hut isn’t the only music venue with silly calendar practices. For example, Rock ‘n’ Roll‘s calendar page used to note that its calendar is not a reliable source of upcoming shows.
And the problems don’t stop there. Other music venues fail basic spelling tests (Red and Black) or mobile technology (HR57), just to name a few current quibbles. None of these issues are much of a problem given the “quality” bands/groups these venues book, with the exception of HR57 (although it does feature a rather stale rotation). Plus, the vast majority of sites use a splash screen for some reason.
Just to prove I’m not a total hater, Black Cat is always a reliable and informative site, as is Velvet Lounge, which I consider to be the best basic DC-area music-venue site.
And to demonstrate I can criticize the things I still–because I’ve moved on from these scenes–I consider the Kennedy Center‘s page to be nearly unusable.
Kyoto/Japanese/Cold Slow Drip Coffee and Internet Fail
The Internet has failed me. And I’m increasingly cynical about the state of journalism and, more importantly, people’s ability to follow-through on curiosity. But then I remember Mos Def and the state of hip hop:
Listen.. people be askin me all the time,
“Yo Mos, what’s gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?”
(Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin?)
I tell em, “You know what’s gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever’s happening with us”
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Hip-Hop like it’s some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We (are) Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
Til you get a clear idea
So.. if Hip-Hop is about the people
and the.. Hip-Hop won’t get better until the people get better
then how do people get better? (Hmmmm…)
Therefore, in my hunt for some real information about Kyoto Slow-Drip Coffee Makers (aka Japanese Slow-Drip Coffee Makers, aka Cold Slow-Drip Coffee Makers), I have to stop criticizing everyone else’s sloppy reporting that focuses on where these devices are and not how these devices are constructed. Instead, I need to work on researching blueprints to build one.
The first step, though, is that if I want the coffee reporting to get better, and the coffee reporting won’t get better until the people get better, then how do we get the people better? Well, I’m going to jumpstart things by asking if any of you have experience with these devices and insight into how they work and how I can build one. That’s step one.
Step two is that I’m going to harass coffeeshops.
Stay tuned…and post a comment if you know something!
p.s. Thanks to ZS for exposing me to this awesomeness.