überEllis.com

T'is the season to get married, and this year is no exception. This time, however, my participation extends beyond the usual "buy a gift for your free meal" responsibilities.

Yep, I've been given the honour (and difficult task) of controlling the music at said reception. Without doubt, the couple will have some tracks they want played, but I'm no stranger to music, nor do I approve of just anything (I don't know if I can live down another wedding with the fatal duck song, or the greek craziness).

Coming up with an eclectic playlist catering for the inevitable variety of guests is proving to be quite difficult. Fortunately, I've got a little more than a month to come up with it, and that's where you folks come in; I'll be posting my potential wedding-trax here, allowing y'all to comment with suggestions and/or advice (especially if you have experience in getting married and the music that worked, or experience in playing the music). So the list so far:

From Beta News: Death Knell Sounds for Nullsoft, Winamp

The last members of the original Winamp team have said goodbye to AOL and the door has all but shut on the Nullsoft era, BetaNews has learned.

Only a few employees remain to prop up the once-ubiquitous digital audio player with minor updates, but no further improvements to Winamp are expected.

As one of my top 10 great software titles, this news struck me as dire. Winamp will surely be missed, but honestly doesn't leave much to be desired - minor updates is probably all it will need.

Winamp's authors has made it abundantly clear that they love music as much as I do. Always catering for the larger playlist, always leaving the listener in control - without stopping the music.

Fare thee well Winamp! I will always love you..

The Counting Crows South African tour ended with triumph this Sunday...and I was there to experience it!

A mass of 17,000 fans, throbbing in perfect synchronization mirrored by the pure energy pulsing off the stage describes the 3 hours of what has to be the best live act I've ever seen.

Despite a little incident with the sound failing, the show was seamless, and Adam managed to keep the audience entertained during this period too - restecpah!

The highlights include an "acoustic" version of Rain King, Long December in the first encore and finishing off with one of my personal favourites, Holiday in Spain in the second encore. I would've cried if they didn't play it, but then...I cried while they played it too...

From Adam Duritz' personal page:
"We just had a stellar run through South Africa, playing four great gigs. I have to smile with satisfaction thinking about it even now. We played inspired music all four nights and we managed to have a great deal of fun. In Port Elizabeth, we had an absolutely outrageous night out with Just Jinger and the entire student population of SA. I got so drunk I almost started a bar fight. Not my proudest moment. Fun though. Lot of cool people there."

Catch Counting Crows live if you can - I can highly recommend it.

First off: A very warm and special thanks to Guy for taking me along - Guy: I had a great time and it rocked and you rock too!

I wish I could recall all the different emotions that went through me at the recent Live concert at the Dome @ Northgate.

I'm not one to cheer and bounce around - but the sheer energy of the crowd swept me up and had me participating in no time. I become one with the throb of the support for a truly amazing international act.

Live's stage personality was fantastic. The set-list well planned and execution was oiled to near perfection.

The local band, Prime Circle, lived up to expectations when opening for Live as well - and with this would like to say "kudos, folks - I, for one, enjoyed it thoroughly!"

From a (ex-)musician's point of view: What a venue! Menlyn was the high-point of my brief career in the industry - and the Dome looks like the only venue I've seen that might top that experience.

I also enjoyed the fact that even a top international band "rush" their songs when playing live. It's comforting. Very comforting.

To any musician's and/or aspiring musician's: I definitely recommend catching at least one international act - I've learnt a lot just by observing them in action.

Your first?
Posted by strider on Mon, 2003/11/24 - 11:11am.
You mean to say you haven't seen an international band Live (no pun) before?
Oh man, you've been missing out :)

Second, actually
Posted by MordracK on Mon, 2003/11/24 - 12:16pm.
Hehehe - No, I was the at Plettenberg Bay Hooty and the Blowfish concert - and that was a lot of fun too.

Back then, however, I haven't played live myself, so my view was purely as "audience". :)

A day at the office can be long and exhausting - what helps me through are the sweet tjoons from my music collection. Once in a while, a song will grab my attention and that's when I add them here (in no particular order, apart from latest added, first):

*update* Only the latest 10 will be shown from now on (read more to see the whole list)

1. Yoko Kanno - Green Bird
2. Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
3. Yuki Kajiwara - Echoes
4. Rob Zombie - Dragula
5. Verve Pipe - Freshmen
6. The Union Underground - Turn Me On Mr. Deadman
7. Lifehouse - Sky Is Falling
8. Jamiroquai - Love Foolosophy
9. Blur - Good Song
10. Toad the Wet Sprocket - Walk on the Ocean