Against Me! – New Wave. The single “Thrash Unreal” was really cool to me. I saw the video on Fuse, and then decided that I loved it. It requires some singing at the top of your lungs about how “no mother ever dreams that her daughter’s gonna grow up to be a junkie.” “And if she had to live it all over again, you know she wouldn’t change anything for the world.” If I had to hear it again…it would be about 100x again.

All Time Low – So Wrong, It’s Right. These boys are my age, and they play to the little pop-punk AP reader within. “Dear Maria (Count Me In)” was by far my fave. “Make it count when I’m the one that’s selling you out.” They released an EP the previous year, and played Warped for the second year running. And their publicity? Photo spreads in tighty-whities. Sweet.

Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha. With Andrew Bird, you can’t go wrong. Lucky for me, I worked in college radio when this was released. Oh, yeah. Bird in all of his anti-folk glory.

Avril Lavigne –The Best Damn Thing. Look, no matter what she puts out, Avril is inspiring all generations of punk rock-turned-pop princesses out there to just have some damn fun with music. Say what you will, but Avril has that “you go, (white) girl” thang…

Blaqk Audio –CexCells. Who says Davey Havok won’t make you think about 80s glam? And…you know that scene from House, Season 2 “Hunting,” where Cameron is tripping on meth and jumps Chase? Well, Goldfrappe’s “Crystalline Green” was playing, and I could hear so many of these glam-techno-esque beats going in its place.

Boys Like Girls –Boys Like Girls. Finally, pop-punk my cousin and I can agree on! I mean, aside from talking about drinking and going out driving (wtf?), “The Great Escape” is relatively flawless for the genre. But I thought “HeroHeroine” rocked my summer.

Bright Eyes –Cassadaga. Bright Eyes has been known on college campuses and indie hipster blogs for quite some time now, and Oberst got some good ol’ mainstream glory this year. I saw a video on MTV for it…or maybe Fuse or VH1. Point is, it got my radio-only friend asking me if I’ve ever heard of “Blue Eyes or whatever it is.”

Cake –B-Sides and Rarities. Sexy stuff. Cake doing a cover of “Mahna, Mahna”? Oh, yeah. I’d hit it. Other exciting covers on here, but “Mahna, Mahna” covers will get me to buy anything.

Chiodos-Bone Palace Ballet. Yay! Stayed on AP’s tongue for half the year and impressed me the whole time. Some emo awesomeness if I ever heard it.

Circa Survive –On Letting Go. Aside from being devastatingly beautiful, Anthony Green’s voice is the Claudio Sanchez of the…well, relatively same genre, I guess. Sort of experimental-progressive, yet still on the touch of emo side. “The Difference Between Medicine and Poison is the Dose” is chock-full of great lyrics about writing. How self-aware. But seriously, I am in lurve.

Colbie Caillat –Coco. It wasn’t so bad to feel girly to this album. She’s sweet. I kept wanting cookie dough. And “starts in my toes, makes me crinkle my nose” made me think of my little baby cousin.

Dropkick Murphys –The Meanest of Times. Oi! I still haven’t gotten around to listening, but it’s on my to-do list, and I predict that I will want to purchase it.

Fall Out Boy –Infinity on High. Hellz yeah, it’s on my list! Again, say what you will about FOB (sell-outs? Yeah, cuz they’re good), but I am going to definitely have this as number three of my top albums of this year, possibly within top 15 of all time…obviously, this in my opinion, so back off. Anyway, Patrick Stump vocals stay awesome throughout all tracks, putting the oomph into the livelihood of Wentz’ lyrics. “Hum Hallelujah” is probably one of my favorite songs ever. “I sing the blues and swallowed them, too…I could write it better than you ever felt it!” The opening track, “Thriller” is a great start to a fantastic album, with jay-Z callin’ out them haterz in his shout-out. “Golden,” a piano-driven track with such gems as “I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies, and all the lovers with no time for me,” and “tongues on the sockets of electric dreams,” Stump shows wonderful vocal feeling. The singles were well picked, also. Thnks fr th mmrs.

Feist –The Reminder. Anyone with a TV, and probably an iPod, new “1234”’s chorus from the commercials that wouldn’t stop, but I think it suited another company better, but was never used….KASHI! The roundness of the sounds, like drops of water, sound just like what Kashi wants. And I also kept thinking about the Where The Hell Is Matt? videos.

Finger Eleven –Them vs. Me vs. You. If only because “Paralyzer” is a song I’d wanna hump to. Wait, what? Oh, and referencing one’s own song in lyrics? Totally rad.

The Format –B-Sides and Rarities. I’ve been trying to have sex with this album since late November. So far, nothing but a broken heart and emotional exhaustion. But, figurative physical relationships aside, The Format blew me away. Seeing them perform The Kinks’ “Apeman” on Conan got my hopes up, and the album’s release kept satisfying me with every track. “Seven Digit Pin Code” is awesomely Format, with the vocals and just an acoustic, the Arizona group continued to wow me. “Do You Believe in Magic” made me want to fall in love again. This one comes super-highly recommended.

Hanson –The Walk. The band of Okie Bros. is still releasing music, and I’ve unironically loved their stuff since 2005’s “Penny and Me.” Actually, I unironically loved Middle of Nowhere, but, well, you don’t need to know that. They’ve matured a lot, and listened to a lot of indie rock, and gotten laid since then, and it has served them well.

Jimmy Eat World –Chase This Light. Sweet-JEWy-goodness. “Big Casino” is so wonderful as a first single, with the trademark buzzing guitars, and Jim Atkins’ voice going to the brink, complete with “New Jersey success story” lyrics, and other lyrical awesometude, I was caught when I first heard ‘em on Steven’s Untitled. They’re keeping their decade-long fans happy, and the new ones won’t be disappointed.

Juno Soundtrack – Sexy stuff there. The roundness sounded like a Kashi commercial, but the sheer indie-love was undeniable. All tracks are absolutely sweet and cuddly in a simple way, and I’m not sure what other words I should use here. They’re so…Bleeker/Juno! I’d actually gift this. The Moldy Peaches’ (and the version with Michael Cera and Ellen Page) “Anyone Else But You” made me think of my guy friends and want to be with them for those short-lived sweet “If we were to date” moments.

Kanye West –Graduation. Three albums of solid awesome in a row. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve liked Kanye since I heard “New Workout Plan.” (All them mochalattes, you gotta do pilates) And then, lest we forget, “Heard ‘Em Say,” with Adam Levine. I have a bitchin’ Kanyte playlist, and he deserves a Grammy this year to go with his ego. Even if he does quip some ig’nant stuff, his rhymes be solid, and I love that wit. When you sample Daft Punk, you excite me.

Lucinda Williams –West. When you get a song on House, MD (“Are You Alright?”), you’re in me good books. And when you have the ability to make me feel quite okay about being downright lonely because I now have a soundtrack to my solitude, you are in me really good books. I think that if the Distillers’ Brody Dalle were to be doing folksy-country-bluesy-singer/songwriter stuff, she’d sound like Lucinda Williams.

Motion City Soundtrack –Even If It Kills Me. TIED FOR BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR. Seriously. Firstly, I love MCS. Second, marriage has not killed Justin’s lyrical talents. It’s so catchy, and it’s so witty and it’s so wonderful. Pop-punk manna, really. There’s a Moog in most tracks, and I love it. “Fell In Love Without You” makes me want to run, sing, and jump a lot. “It Had To Be You” is a great song about recollection, and “oohs” in the chorus. “The Conversation” takes a good piano lull in the album, and it’s good an break-uppable. “Where I Belong” is fantastic with its percussion. “Point of Extinction” is one of my faves, definitely. And there’s a good voice strain in it. “Antonia” is an adorable song about his wife, and any boy after my heart will replace these lyrics with quirks about me (Gobstoppers and Captain Crunch contain the same number of syllables, FYI). Oh, wait…Adam did it for me. “Even If It Kills Me” was one of my anthems for the year. Redemption, rethinking, realization…it’s so real to me, and the build-up to the chorus, it’s just so wonderful. I’ve probably quoted the lyrics to it too many times to count. “Broken Heart” is just so great, because it’s a great MCS started track for the mainstream. Of course, I think MCS should be more well-known than they are, but, I can’t have everything. I love love love it as a single. And “This is For Real.” So great, because it’s so relatable to anyone that wants a second chance. And it’s clear. And it’s…oh, just go buy the album.

New Found Glory –From Your Screen to Your Stereo II. Of course I’m picking this in the top 5 of the year. Still rocking the covers after all these years, some better than the originals. And the guest vocals on here are great. If you’ve been out of the loop, NFG released an EP back in 2000 of covers songs that had been associated with movies: “That Thing You Do,” “Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing,” “My Heart Will Go On.” Now, they’ve got a full length album of awesometude. Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara drops in for “Love Fool,” that Eisley chick on “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” Dashboard’s Carrabba on “The Promise,” FOB’s Patrick Stump on “King of Wishful Thinking,” and (my fave!) Max Bemis on “Crazy for You.” And we cannot forget the other shiny tracks: “Iris (feat. Cartel’s Will Pugh),” “Kiss Me,” and “Head over Heels.”

Paolo Nutini –These Streets. Sexy tunes. He’s pretty. He played Bonnaroo. He drunkenly got a tattoo of the LoneStar Beer star. Damn right. “These Streets” caught my attention during a late night study/chill session in AJ’s room right around finals last year. She wrote the name of the song on my forearm in eyeliner. Hard to forget stuff like that. “New Shoes” was apparently an ad campaign staple.

Paramore –Riot!. People younger than me can be cooler than I, and have much more bitchin’ hair, and Haley Williams is that people. I want her hair. And her awesome rocking awesometude. Catchy and singable, the Warped-friendly tracks rocked my summer mix CDs. “For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic” caught my attention early on, and I always belt it out when it comes up on the iPod.

Radiohead –In Rainbows. Now, technically, I purchased this one, because I named my own price. Radiohead again became the talk of the music biz, this time not only for Thom Yorke’s awkwardness, not only for the ironic, deep, and experimental tunes, but much of the hype came from the sales strategy. Surely, you’ve heard about how, in early October, it was announced on the website that in ten days a new album would hit the press. The press, though, was an online-only format, in a never-before-seen band sanctioned name-you-own-price, be it nothing to a zillion bucks/pounds, and all things in between. Clever bastards. And the album lived up to what we have come to expect from a Radiohead release. Nonsensical sound blurbs, falsetto, and whirliness abound, my fave track was “Videotape.” “Bodysnatchers” sounded like early-punky Radiohead, and “15 Step” catches you at the start with the quirkiness. Sweet. More Radiohead.

Reel Big Fish –Monkeys for Nothin’, Chimps for Free. First off, if there’s an RBF release, you know it’s on the top of my list, even if it were like a Britney Spears comeback performance at the VMAs. Seriously. I love this band. They continue to come out with the candy-coated fury that I fell in love with in the first place. Songs about girlfriends (“Please Don’t Tell Her I Have A Girlfriend,” which is funny, ‘cause they’re all married, I believe…), drinking (“Everybody’s Drunk,” complete with an homage to Twisted Sister and lovely spoken bits), partying (“Party Down,” which is reminiscent of all of their different styles they use for “S.R.” in concert), cussing (“Another F.U. Song,” which was fucking great), and revolution (“Will The Revolution Come?,” reggae joy, with wonderful lyrics, “If we won’t wise up, then how can we rise up?”). Plus, other stellar ska standard setters appear in the forms of “New Version of You,” “My Imaginary Friend,” (super clever), “Another Day in Paradise,” “Slow Down,” and redone versions of “Hate You,” and“I’m Her Man.”

Reel Big Fish and Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer –Duet All Night Long. Covers featuring the vocals of Zolof’s Rachel Minton (sugary sweet) and RBF’s Aaron Barrett (delightfully cheesy). Me loves the cover of The Smiths’ “Ask,” in which both vocals blend so wonderfully. Another appearance of the “It’s Not Easy” song from Pete’s Dragon, which I have always found a voice to sing along to. Also on the EP: “Don’t You Want Me,” “Dress You Up,” “Say Say Say,” and Slightly Stoopid’s “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.” Yay for catchy power-pop and ska!

Regina Spektor –Begin To Hope. My mom felt quite hip when she knew who Spektor was, having seen stories on the Russian lady on Good Morning America or Today on NBC or VH1 or something. Don’t get me wrong though, she’s great, and this was a great album to hit mainstream with. “Samson” managed to hit me a thousand times over with a small ice hammer of sound to the knee caps, achieving by far the highest play count this year on my computer (323), but bear in mind, it’s on every sleep playlist I’ve had since January, and I sleep a lot. Okay, so it’s not really from 2007, it was released in ’06, but my mom will need this to recognize at least one album I liked recently. Delicate loneliness.

Say Anything –In Defense of The Genre. TIE FOR BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR. A double-disc, chock full of what I love about the emo genre. Max Bemis (my favorite Jew lover), writing in the midst of bipolar breakdown and rehab and the whacko basket, manages to jew his way to the top of everything fantastic. Guest vocals? Oh, yeah. If they weren’t guesting on NFG’s Screen to Stereo II, they were on here. MyChem’s face of emo Gerard Way hits the mic for the title track, a huge “LOOK AT US” for the genre, featuring such phrases as “toss my caustic salad”, and “I’ve got an empty wallet and a record cover…so I spew a comet of verbal vomit, it’s full of piss and we’ll never stop it,” it’s pure emo greatness. I love every track of both discs. Of course, I don’t have the attention span to say all of them, but highlights: “Sorry, Dudes. My Bad (feat. Saves the Day’s Chris Connelly,” chronicles life on the road, with styles to ensure the analogy of Saves the Day/Say Anything :: The Used/MyChem. “Skinny Mean Man,” personifies the toll drugs take on a girl of interest (“gasoline to make it go faster”). Bemis goes all Queen on Broadway/cabaret with “That Is Why,” which caught me immediately (“slender slave with sluttish sleepy eyes”). Hayley Williams is the girl looking so good in horn-rimmed glasses on “The Church Channel,” telling of Max’s institutionalized days (“they let us play with markers, but I keep trying to draw infinity,” “I wake up in a room and realize I’m insane again, this is the fifth time straight in a year I’ve ended up in here”). We’re reminded of the sound of “Wow I Can Get Sexual Too” in the single “Baby Girl, I’m A Blur,” a computer-generated beat exhibiting great vocals. Jewish heritage is the highlight of “Died A Jew.” Probably one of my favorites has to be “About Falling,” on which Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba gets a lovely spot:
and i don’t really even care if i’m alone now
their flesh is sustenance; i cackle as I prey upon the weak and poor
i have no feeling and this prison is a home
i have no heart, i sold my soul
and i don’t really even care if you’re listening.”
I love the guitar on that track. “Spores” is another shiner, it has a fantastic guitar-backed intro. “Have at Thee!” throws a well-received curveball, and definitely gets me happy and rocking,, especially the John Ramsey-friendly use of the word “crunk.” To close off the album, a lovely acoustic track dubbed “Goodbye Young Tutor, You’ve Now Outgrown Me,” which I can sleep to, but lovesick and lonely in my easy dreams. “Maxim, I love you, I need you, and no one will do but you.”

Yellowcard –Paper Walls. “Shadows and Regrets” is a great Yellowcard standard, with the gimmick of the violin, and reminiscing.

The presentation lacked the revolutionary fervor of previous years, but the Apple CEO did introduce a slew of useful and sexy products.

It’d be a cheap shot for me to say that Steve Jobs’s Macworld keynote this year was a little bit of a let-down. It’d be true, but it’d be a cheap shot.

I think Jobs himself was aware this isn’t a revolutionary year for Apple — he omitted his characteristic “one more thing,” the statement used in past years to signal the introduction of game-changing technology.

Still, Jobs introduced a slew of meaty and attractive new products and services at his keynote Tuesday. The ultra-thin MacBook Air is guaranteed to be the notebook computer of choice for the fashionable geek this year. Updates to iPhone and iPod Touch software will make the devices more easy-to-use, useful, and fun. New wireless backup technology will make it a lot easier for users to protect their data.

And one of the announcements might prove revolutionary after all: The package of movie rentals over iTunes, along with upgrades to Apple TV. But it’s too early to tell whether movie rentals will transform home theater the way iTunes and the iPod transformed the music industry. iTunes movie rentals will launch with a very limited selection — although the business could prove formidable indeed if Apple can ramp up its catalog rapidly.

Everybody’s talking about the MacBook Air and iTunes, so I’ll run down the keynote in chronological order, which will let me highlight some of the less prominent — but still interesting — announcements, and describe what it was like to be there.

Introducing Time Capsule

The keynote kicked off with a viewing of a recent I’m a Mac/I’m a PC commercial, with a “Happy New Year” theme. The Mac guy was happy because he had a great year. The PC guy… not so much. But the PC guy was looking forward to a great 2008, copying what the Mac did in 2007.

Jobs took the stage dressed as always in black mock turtleneck sweater and jeans. “Thank you for an extraordinary 2007,” he told the audience, and then trotted out the statistics: Leopard shipped 5 million copies in 2007, making it the most successful Mac OS ever. Nineteen percent of the Mac OS X installed base has upgraded.

He introduced Time Capsule, a hardware companion to Leopard Time Machine backup software. When Leopard shipped in the autumn, Time Machine required backing up to an attached external or internal hard drive, which is especially inconvenient for notebook users, who need to be able to take their devices with them. Apple introduced the Time Capsule home backup server to allow wireless backup. The Time Capsule includes a built-in 802.11n Airport Extreme base station, with a server-grade hard drive. “You can back up every Mac in your house to one server,” Jobs said.

The Time Capsule will come in a 500 Gbyte configuration, priced at $299, or 1 Tbyte for $499.

Jobs broke for another I’m a Mac/I’m a PC commercial. This one showed the Mac guy duplicated many times, to illustrate Time Machine, which the PC guy found annoying. Oh, that PC guy, how put-upon he is!

What’s New For iPhone

iPhone Upgrade Jobs then transitioned to talking about the iPhone.

“Today happens to be exactly the 200th day since the iPhone went on sale,” he said, “and I’m extraordinarily pleased to report that we have sold 4 million iPhones today.” That’s a rate of 20,000 per day, he noted.

In its first quarter of availability, the iPhone became the second-most popular smartphone available, with 19.5% market share, topped only by the RIM BlackBerry, with 39% market share — statistics which Jobs attributed to Gartner. The iPhone has more market share than Palm, Motorola, and Nokia. As a matter of fact, those three vendors combined have only slightly more market share than the iPhone.

Jobs mentioned the upcoming software developer kit, which will allow third-party developers to write software for the iPhone, only in passing. Instead, he talked about a significant new upgrade to the iPhone software, made available after the keynote Tuesday.

The new version upgrades the Maps application so the iPhone can find and display its current location, by triangulating on nearby cell towers using technology from Google. The mapping also triangulates on Wi-Fi hotspots using technology for Skyhook Wireless, which has mapped 23 million hotspots worldwide, and can triangulate based on beacons from known hotspots even if the user isn’t logged in to the hotspot.

The Maps upgrade gives the application a less-confusing user interface. Users can drop a pin on a specific location and bookmark the pin.

Users will be able to use Web Clips to bookmark Web pages on the iPhone home screen. Users will be able to create up to nine home screens, which they can toggle between similar to the way they now browse photos. The iPhone will also support sending SMS messages to multiple recipients. Video upgrades include adding chapters, subtitles, and graphics.

Web clips not only work as bookmarks, they remember the specific zooming and panning in the browser, and return to that location and zoom level — handy if you want to mark your place on a specific section of a specific page, like the technology section of the New York Times home page.

Users can rearrange icons on the iPhone home screen by simply tapping and holding on any icon for about three seconds. At that point, all the icons start to wiggle, and can be slid around with a fingertip, or moved to another home screen.

And the iPod application was upgraded to allow displaying song lyrics, where those are available. (Good. Now maybe I’ll be able to figure out the lyrics to “1-2-3-4″ by Feist — which, by the way, was playing just prior to Jobs coming on stage.)

The upgrade is free to iPhone customers.

The iPod Touch — often described as an iPhone without the phone bits — gets an upgrade to incorporate the iPhone’s Mail, Stocks, Weather, and Web Clips applications. The upgraded software is being built into new Touches immediately, and it’s a $20 upgrade to existing users.

You Ought To Be In Pictures

Movie Rentals Jobs said the iTunes store reached a landmark last week, selling its 4 billionth song. On Christmas Day, the store sold 20 million songs. In the history of the service, it has sold 125 million TV shows and 7 million movies. “That’s more than everyone else put together, but it’s failed to meet expectations,” Jobs said.

Buying movies doesn’t really fit the way that most people consume movies, Jobs said. They’ll listen to a favorite song thousands of times, and so it makes sense to own it, but they usually only watch a movie once.

To boost sales and better fit how people use movies, Apple introduced movie rentals in iTunes. Jobs said that Apple has lined up the six major American movie studies: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Walt Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony. “We have every major studio supporting it,” Jobs said.

The service includes all popular first-run movies, and a library of old movies.

Jobs said that the service will have over 1,000 movies by the end of February, and movies will be available 30 days after their DVD release.

Movies will be viewable on Macs, PCs, current generation iPods, and iPhones. Users will be able to start watching movies instantly if they’re connected to broadband. Users will have 30 days to start watching, then 24 hours to finish. Movies can be transferred from one device to another — for example, they can start watching a movie on their Mac, and finish on the iPod.

Pricing is $2.99 for movies in the library, and $3.99 for new releases — $3.99 and $4.99 for high-def. The service launched Tuesday in the U.S, and internationally later this year.

The movie rentals are an intriguing offering, especially when paired with the new Apple TV (more on that later). Ramping up the selection will be essential to the service’s success. One thousand titles sounds like a lot, but actually it’s not much at all. Netflix has a selection of 90,000 DVDs for rent, plus 5,000 available for viewing on demand.

Jobs then turned to Apple TV. He reviewed the history of media-center PCs briefly, noting that Microsoft, Apple, TiVo, and others have tried interesting users in media-center PCs for their living rooms. “And you know what? We all missed,” he said. No one has been successful.

Apple introduced Apple TV last year, a device for viewing movies and TV downloaded from iTunes. It required a network connection to a PC or Mac running iTunes.

Apple TV Take 2 removes the requirement for a second computer, allowing users to rent directly from their televisions. The machine will support high-definition movies with Dolby 5.1, allow users to view photos on Flickr or the .Mac service, or YouTube video.

Apple TV will also allow users to buy TV shows. Jobs made no mention of renting TV shows, which seemed a gap in their service. If people are more interested in renting movies than owning them, surely that goes double for TV shows.

The user interface for Apple TV borrows elements from hotel-room pay-per-view services, Amazon.com, and TiVo. Users can browse by genre, see what other movies people who rented a given movie also rented, and search using text.

The service also supports over 125,000 podcasts.

The Apple TV demo was the occasion for the only glitch in the demo that I could spot — the Flickr photos didn’t come up. Jobs was very calm about the whole thing — he just waited a little bit to be sure the screen remained blank, commented, “Nope, I’m afraid Flickr isn’t serving,” and moved on.

The new capabilities are a free software upgrade for Apple TV.

Apple also announced a price cut for Apple TV. “Now, it sells for $299, ” Jobs said, “but not anymore.”

“Wow!” I thought to myself. “They’re cutting the pricing to $199.”

But the new price was $229. That’s a respectable discount, but it lacks that sub-$200 thrill.

The new Apple TV will be available in two weeks.

Fox will offer DVDs with technology on it that allows consumers to copy the content to an iPod or iPhone.

Something In The Air
The MacBook Air The tiny MacBook Air was the big gun at the keynote. Jobs said the device is the world’s thinnest notebook computer.

He compared it with most ultrathin notebooks, which, he said, weigh about 3 pounds, with 11-12″ displays, miniature keyboards, and 1.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

The MacBook air also weighs about 3 pounds, but other than that, it’s different from and more advanced than other ultrathins, Jobs said. He compared it to the ultrathin Sony Vaio, which, he said, is a wedge-shaped notebook that’s 1.2″ at the thickest and 0.8″ at the thinnest. In contrast, the MacBook Air is 0.76″ at the thickest, and 0.16″ at the thinnest. In other words, the thickest part of the MacBook Air is thinner than the thinnest part of the Vaio. It fits inside a big manila envelope — the kind that closes by looping red thread around buttons. Jobs showed a TV commercial demonstrating just that, and removed the MacBook Air from a manila envelope onstage.

The notebook has a magnetic latch, a 13.3″ instant-on wireless display with LED backing, built-in iSight camera, and full-size keyboard with backlight that automatically switches on when ambient lighting dims. “This is possibly the best notebook keyboard we’ve ever shipped,” Jobs said.

The notebook has a large trackpad, which supports multitouch gestures similar to the iPhone. Jobs demonstrated a few gestures using iPhoto: Double-tap and drag to move a window, pan a large photo by dragging with two fingers, rotate the photo by rotating two fingers, flick through photos by swiping a finger, and pinch in and out to zoom on a photo.

The notebook comes with an 80 Gbyte hard disk drive standard and optional 60 Gbyte solid state disk option. The spinning drive is a 1.8″ hard drive, same as on an iPod. The processor is a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with option to go to 1.8 GHz, same as in other notebooks and Macs. The processor was built specially by Intel to make it 60% smaller than the standard Core 2 processor.

The notebook has a magsafe connector and 45 watt power adapter. A latching door on one side of the unit accesses a USB 2.0 port, MicroDIV connection, headphone jack. The unit supports 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1.

Missing from the notebook: A hard Ethernet connection.

Also missing: An internal optical drive. Eleven years ago, Apple attracted criticism when it shipped the candy-colored iMac without a floppy disk drive built in, now it’s shipping a notebook without an internal optical drive. Apple will sell a detachable USB optical drive for $99. “But you know what, we don’t think most users will miss the optical drive. We don’t think most users will need that optical drive,” Jobs said.

Users use optical drives for movies, to burn backup disks, burn CDs for their cars, and install software, Jobs said. But iTunes will provide movies, Time Machine and Time Capsule will provide backup, and users can listen to music in their cars using iPods.

And for software installation, Apple is introducing technology to allow the MacBook Air to borrow optical drives from nearby PCs or Macs over a network. Users install special software on the remote machine, and the Air can address the remote machine’s optical drive as though it was the Air’s own. The Windows version of the software will allow PCs to run Mac installation programs on the Air’s behalf.

The unit has a five-hour battery life. Many ultrathin notebooks only have enough juice for an hour and a half.

The price will start at $1,799.

Jobs said the MacBook Air is designed to minimize harm to the environment. The aluminum case is fully recyclable. “As a matter of fact, it is an extra desirable recyclable material,” he said. It uses the first display that’s free of mercury and uses arsenic-free glass. And retail packaging is 50% less volume than previous MacBooks. Apple has been taking heat from Greenpeace, which claims the company’s environment practices are unsound.

The keynote concluded with music from Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Randy Newman, who wrote and sang for the soundtracks of Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and other Pixar movies.

He sang a satirical song about the end of the American empire. It was kind of a downer, actually, and added a political tone to the keynote that I thought was inappropriate.

But Newman saved the day by singing “You’ve Got a Friend In Me,” which, he explained, he wrote for Toy Story. “I actually wrote a great love theme, but they cut the Buzz-Woody love scene,” he said.

There’s certainly a massive amount of talent in the clubs in the Big Mango, much of it students working to pay off their college fees. They start by working for tips and slowly slip in to doing more adventurous things for their money.

A couple of years ago I had the good fortune to meet an absolutely stunning Uni student in a cocktail lounge on Sukhumvit Soi 33. She had looks, figure and enough English to be fun and to also make it clear to me that there would never be anything in it for me beyond company in the bar. Over a period of weeks I got to know her a little better and we exchanged e-mail addresses. Over the following few months we communicated more by e-mail than in person, (I was in Pattaya, she was in BKK), and a familiarity developed that probably wouldn’t have in the bar.

One day I get a ’sick buffalo’ mail from her requesting 7,000Baht urgently for Uni fees. She said she didn’t want to do something she’d regret to get the money but was desperate and would be especially grateful if I could help her. I gave it plenty of thought and eventually sent her the 7,000Baht. I didn’t see her in person for another 2 months but when I did she made it clear she wanted to come round to my hotel room. My imagination was running wild and I was hoping it wasn’t misplaced. It wasn’t and she was equally as stunning without her clothes as she was in them.

I received the same special and free attention for 3 separate visits to BKK but the gaps between my visits grew longer and then Loy Kratong came round and she wanted me to spend it with her. I couldn’t make it so things just sort of fizzled out from there. Some months later she confessed that she was no longer attending Uni and was working the club in the Conrad Hotel for big paying Japs. She had the looks and the personality to be a big earner so maybe the nightlife became more attractive to her than slogging away in Uni for a moderately paid office job.

It stills saddens me to think of such a beauty slipping in to the life. She had options but still chose what is reportedly the oldest profession in the world. I can only hope she finds a wealthy man to care for her before her looks begin to fail. One things for sure, if I’d had the money she wouldn’t have made it to the Conrad.

Summer 2003, when “Crazy in Love” was released, Black Eyes member Daniel Martin-McCormick recorded his own cover version of the track. We were finally able to procure an mp3 of the song from the one disintegrating cassette it has existed on for past four and a half years (hence the slightly dumpy quality) and we have it for your download. Black Eyes were in FADER 20 later that year, and you can catch that article after the jump. And check the Californian 2/5ths of Black Eyes now known as Mi Ami.

WEIRD-BEARDS story:

“We’re interested in percussion,” says Daniel, guitarist, co-vocalist, and sometimes half-kit drummer for Washington DC’s Black Eyes. The band is sitting outside of Cornell University’s spic-and-span student center, sweating and smoking, and the comment seems a little understated after the half hour of chaos that’s just gone on inside. At one point during the just-finished gig, Daniel laid his guitar on top of his amp, grabbed some drum sticks, and started beating the holy shit out of some combination of cymbals, his guitar a cowbell and a drum with a huge tin bowl on top of it. Meanwhile, Dan and Mike, the two (yes two) other drummers, chopped away in unison, while Jacob’s sax lilted and squealed and singer Hugh half-sang some mostly indecipherable lyrics. All of which probably seems like a bit much.

Conceptually anyway, Black eyes are a bit much. They switch instruments constantly. They quote Yusef Komunyakaa, Langston Hughes and Derek Mahon in their lyrics. They claim Sappho as an influence. Daniel declined to show his face throughout The FADER photo shoot. A Calvino book sat on the dashboard of the tour van. Yet, despite all the instrumental schizophrenia, despite the hyper-literate context of the lyrics, and despite the admirable but moot attempt at making a statement in the photos, the music that the band manages to distill out of all those ideas is unpretentious, carefully-wrought, grit n’ shout brilliance. Distinct melodies and grooves emerge from the chaotic stomping. Snippets of lyrics rifle from the call-and-response of the two vocalists and invoke the anxieties of high school better than any band since the Violent Femmes. It’s post-punk, post-hardcore, post-night-of-drinking-and-drugging-and-kissing and oh-shit-does-she-know-what-I-mean and can-I-handle-what-I-want and no-I’m-on-my-way-home-and-I-can-barely-drive-straight-and-what-the-hell-am-I-gonna-tell-my-folks? And it’s danceable as all hell, even if it is a little bizarre to shake your ass to songs about predatory sexuality, fear and paranoia.

When asked if they specifically intend to make music that’s danceable, the band fervently barks back “No!” in unison. But 20 minutes ago they were hitting on all cylinders, a kid with a hearing and a kid with earplugs had elbowed a mini-pit into existence, and Cornell’s indie-finest were all getting down around the aural fire being set onstage. As the harrowing but funky “A Pack Of Wolves” came to a close, one sweaty dude in the crowd noted, “this shit…this shit rules!” That may not exactly be the reaction Black Eyes were looking for when they penned the song’s lyrics, Komunyakaa’s poetry in hand but maybe Komunyakaa wasn’t expecting anyone to respond to his poetry with insane, smart, frightening, beautiful rock & roll either.

Zuma – Always Always
The duo Zuma consist of Henrik Njaa and Alexander Stenerud. Zuma was formed already back in 1995, but it’s 2001 that stands as the breakthrough year. That year the album “Jumo” came out, and sold nearly 18 000 copies. Two years later the second album “Rainboy” was released. Zuma has also worked with producing for other artists, but in 2008 the participation in MGP, and a new album will be on their program. The song is written by Alexander Stenerud. With the song he attempts to procure the feeling of spring, as he experienced a spring night on his way home after a tour on the city. - The song came to me as a lightning. I didn’t have a Dictaphone, but that wasn’t necessary because the song was so catchy.

Cube – Would You Spend the Night With Me
The band Cube was formed in the summer 2007. The band-members had actually played together before in other band and the coverband FlashBack. The guys from Drammen have many talents. The singer Øystein Hellkås has won three internal championships in beerdrinking. Bass-player Jon Einar Hagen still has the bandrecord in waltz. Thomas Ustaheim on keyboard has won many rounds in bowling, while guitar player Jørgen Mandt Pettersen got most girls in the class at Junior high school. And the drummer was the first in his street who learned the multiplicationtable. Their common measure is to publish a CD, and win MGP. Cubes MGP-history started with a playing job on the same place as Wig Wam (Norway 2005). After the rumours Cube deliveranced Wig Wam with their pyro-show, and since that they’ve kept contact. The song “Would You Spend the Night With Me” is written by Åge Sten Nilsen, the lead singer in Wig Wam, and is about a guy who doesn’t has a way with women, and because of that he makes a strong desire to someone else than the one he is.

Anne Hvidsten – A Little More
Since she borrowed her mothers worn guitar, many songs has come by itself to Anne. For the money she got in her confirmation, she bought her first guitar. - The composer talent has always been inside me like something that bubbles and has to get a natural issue. Anne Hvidsten had big success with the song “Need To Know” that she sent a demo of to a bigger recording company and later signed her when she was 19 years old. In 2004 her debut album was released with the same title. The last years Anne has been writing many songs in her home studio, and now she is ready to take the step out on the stage again. - I’m looking forward as a child to be on stage in MGP, tells Anne, who is ready to give “A Little More”. The song “A Little More” is written by Anne Hvidsten herself, both the lyrics and the music. She wrote the song right after she met the man who today is her husband. It is about to be in love, living in the present, to throw away all inhibitions and to love life.

CRASH! - Get Up
CRASH! is the only one of last years MGP artists that performs again this year. That time they qualified directly to the final, and ended up on third place. Last years participation gave them the change to show up for the Norwegian people, and it also gave many great commissions and a lot of good experiences. The future plans for CRASH! is to play many concerts and make cool discs. Their debut disc has just been finished. Their song “Get Up” is about to take the possibilities when you have it. It’s written by the Wig Wam member Trond “Teeny” Holter, who also wrote Wig Wam’s “In my dreams”, that represented Norway in 2005. Holter picked up the band after they published an EP and went out on a mini-tour in 2005. He is the one who introduced the band for MGP 2007. CRASH! states Trond to be their music- adviser and is practically a part of the band.

Sven Garås – I’m In Love
Sven Garås comes from Mjøndalen. He has his studio where he writes and produces both commercials and other artists. As a DJ one of his remixes picked up bye the worldwide known DJ Tiesto. In February his debut album will be published. - I want to make out-turned pop music with directions and meaningful lyrics. So far he has got positive comments on the singles he published this autumn. - The coolest I’ve heard is when people tells they know themselves again in my music. I’m In Love is a decent powerballad written by Robin Nordahl (music) and Ingrid Nørsett (lyrics). It’s about the hard love, and that is a feeling most of us recognizes. - When I heared this song for the first time, I was immediately thinking that this was something I could have written by myself. The theme was not just well-known, but Sven thought that both the lyrics and the music fitted well to his own material.

Maria Haukaas Storeng – Hold On Be Strong
Maria Haukaas Storeng from Troms was spending parts of her adolescence in Oslo where she played the lead part both many musicals. Later she studied on the artist course on Bårdar Akademiet in Oslo. In 2004 she went to be well-known when she participated in the TV-show Idol. That autumn she gave up the single “Breathing” who sold to gold, and the winter after her debut album came out with the same title. In Kongsvinger she sings a contribution by the well-known Norwegian artist, Mira Craig. Maria is very glad for the cooperation, even if she doesn’t know Mira Craig personally. She hopes that this type of music will be something that she can work with in the future. Mira Craig has written both lyrics and the music in “Hold On Be Strong”. It was actually the first song Mira ever made. She was only fifth teen that time. - It is in a way words that are going to help a young girl who in way feels lonely. I feel that I wrote it to myself. I remember a feeling that it was someone else who said the words to me into my head, and then they just came out of my mouth, tells Mira Craig about the song.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled a way to back up computers without wires, new software that lets an iPhone and an iPod touch find themselves, iTunes movie rentals you can download without using a computer, and a laptop that fits in an interoffice manila envelope.

The tiny, ridiculously thin MacBook Air got the loudest applause, but the movie rentals have to rank as the more important news. By both taking the computer out of the video-download equation and making rented downloads iPod-compatible, Apple’s new iTunes offerings could fix two of the biggest sources of pain in online movie viewing.

New releases will rent for $3.99 each, while back-catalog releases will cost $2.99–matching prices as at Amazon’s Unbox video store. Jobs–who said Apple’s earlier movie-download sales efforts, with 7 million titles sold to date, “did not meet our expectations”–told attendees at the Moscone Convention Center here that iTunes now stocks 1,000 rental titles. It also stocks “over 100″ high-definition movies, which rent for a dollar more.

These releases come from all of the major studios, not the minority who had participated in iTunes movie sales before. (The big record labels, however, still seem to be stiffing iTunes when it comes to offering their music without “digital rights management” restrictions–as they already do on Amazon’s MP3 store; Jobs didn’t even mention Apple’s iTunes Plus no-”DRM” downloads during the hour-and-a-half keynote.)

Back to movies: In two weeks, Jobs said viewers will be able to rent movies directly through Apple’s Apple TV media receiver, courtesy of an upcoming, free software update. Apple also just knocked $70 off the price of the two Apple TV models available: a unit with a 40-gigabyte hard drive now sells for $229, and a 160-gig unit now costs $329. As before, the Apple TV also serves as an extension of your computer’s media library, providing easy access to your digital music, photos and videos. (But it seems that it still can’t do Web radio, which just looks silly at this point.)

Those prices compare favorably to the HD-movie media the electronics industry all but anointed at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show: Blu-Ray disc players start at more like $399.

Apple is not the first to offer no-computer-required movie rentals; Microsoft’s Xbox Live has provided that feature since late 2006. But Xbox rentals can’t be viewed on an iPod or an iPhone. Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg dismissed the odds of any video service that won’t work with Apple’s iconic media players: “If it doesn’t work on the iPod, it might as well not exist.”

On the other hand, that same problem applies to the iTunes Store’s HD rentals. As Apple’s terms of service spell out, you can’t take an HD rental off the Apple TV: You can’t transfer it to a computer, even if the machine has an HD-capable display, nor can you put a lower-resolution copy of it on an iPod or iPhone for viewing on the go.

The iPhone and the iPod touch both had significant updates showcased during the Jobs keynote. A new, free software release [QuickTime video] for the iPhone lets its Google mapping software find itself by detecting nearby cellular or wireless signals; the latter feature relies on a nationwide network of WiFi hot spots compiled by Boston-based Skyhook Wireless. iPhone users can also rearrange the icons on the phone’s home screen (a giggle-inducing process during which every icon wiggles to indicate its adjustability), send text messages to multiple people at once (the lack of that was one of the weirder omissions on the original iPhone) and save “Web clippings” that capture just a part of a favorite Web page.

If only Apple would also put copy and paste commands on the iPhone too! But I digress…

Users of the iPod touch can also get this new self-locating ability (limited to WiFi signals, because the Touch doesn’t include a cell phone) and mail, note-taking and stock and weather look-up programs, but that update will cost them $19.99. (That last bit momentarily quieted the crowd.)

Although the MacBook Air had been rumored for months, this little laptop still got the loudest cheers when Jobs took it out off an envelope that had been sitting on the podium the whole time. Apple says this $1,799 machine will run for five hours on a charge and includes a standard-sized, backlit keyboard like those on its MacBook Pro machines and a 13.3-inch screen as big as the display on its MacBook laptops, but weighs only 3 pounds and measures just .16 inches “thick” at its thinnest point (or three pennies stacked on top of one another), .76 inches at its fattest.

“It’s the world’s thinnest notebook,” Jobs declared.

It may also be the coolest–in the sense of “not hot.” A display unit on the show floor barely felt lukewarm at the end of yesterday, even right at the point where its MagSafe power adapter connected (usually, the toastiest spot on any laptop). It also includes the usual extras on Apple’s computers: an iSight Webcam, WiFi and Bluetooth.

The tradeoff for that skinniness is that the MacBook Air doesn’t include any sort of CD or DVD drive. Apple will sell an external CD/DVD burner for $99, but Jobs predicted that “we don’t think most users are going to miss the optical drive.” He said iTunes downloads can provide all the movies and music you want, while a new “Remote Disc” will allow a MacBook Air to borrow the CD/DVD drive of a nearby computer when you need to install software off a disc.

The MacBook Air also includes only one USB port and leaves out the usual Ethernet port for wired networking (a $29 adapter plugs into that single USB jack). And its battery is sealed inside the case; replacing it will cost you $130 and a trip to an Apple Store.

The Time Capsule device that led off Jobs’ keynote takes the Time Machine automatic-backup feature of Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard operating system and does away with the need to have a hard drive plugged into a computer. Instead, Time Capsule–a $299 box with a 500-gigabyte hard drive–includes a complete wireless access point, allowing any Mac on that wireless network to save a copy of your files to Time Capsule on the fly.

Jobs, wearing his usual black turtleneck and unbelted jeans, also threw out some numbers as evidence of Apple’s “extraordinary” 2007. He said that the company has sold 500,000 5 million copies of Leopard since its release in late October, and that 19 percent of Macs had already been upgraded to the new operating system. He said that 4 million iPhones had been sold, giving that device almost 20 percent of the smartphone market in the third quarter of last year according to data from Gartner Research. That made the iPhone the second most-popular smartphone; Research In Motion’s Blackberry let the category with a 39 percent share, and Palm was the third biggest vendor with 9.8 percent share.

And Jobs revealed that Apple sold its 4 billionth (!) song on iTunes last week.

Jobs did not mention anything about Mac market share, although recent figures suggest he’d have plenty to brag about there as well. There was also no news about new consumer-oriented Macs or Apple’s consumer-oriented software.

And the keynote (which singer-songwriter Randy Newman closed out with a two-song set in which he admitted that “I always root against corporations, just because that’s how I am–but not this one”) didn’t feature the magic phrase “And one more thing…” which Jobs has often thrown out to introduce a special surprise at the end of a Macworld keynote.

I don’t think anybody minded much this time.

So what do you think? Are you ready to break out a credit card for some iTunes rentals or a MacBook Air? The comments are yours…

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a leading manufacturer of flash memory products worldwide, proudly announces the latest addition to its T.sonic(tm) family of MP3 players, the T.sonic 850. This sleek new MP3 player is easy to carry due to its compact size (81.5mm long x 41.5mm wide x 12.7mm deep) and elegant lightweight design (just 48g). With a bright 1.8-inch high resolution full-color TFT-LCD screen, the T.sonic 850 is designed not just for great-sounding music playback, but also for viewing video and photos while on the go.

The stylish T.sonic 850 supports many audio and video formats such as JPG, BMP, MTV, MP3, WMA, DRM10, and WAV. Up to 8GB storage capacity ensures endless hours of video, music, or photo entertainment whether you’re relaxing at home, on the road or at the gym. In addition, the T.sonic 850 is equipped with 7 equalizer effects, including a customizable USER EQ mode that lets you create your own music style. On a full charge, the T.sonic 850 supports up to 22 hours of continuous playback, so you can sit back and enjoy high quality music all day long.

More than just a portable entertainment center, the versatile T.sonic 850 also provides many useful functions including a digital voice recorder, a recordable FM radio with 20 station presets, and a time-zone adjustable world clock. The T.sonic supports 13 languages, not only in the user interface, but also in the included e-book text file viewer and during synchronized song lyrics display. With its adjustable playback speed and A-B repeat functions, the T.sonic 850 can also help you learn foreign languages, review voice memos, meetings, and class lectures more effectively. The built-in Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connector provides quick, easy charging and straightforward data transfer. Transcend’s T.sonic 850 is now available in two capacities: 4GB (Ivory) and 8GB (Onyx Black), and comes with a protective silicone cover.

Mitchell De Rubira sits in the corner, smiling gleefully, with a bass guitar in his arms and a tambourine on his right foot. Suddenly, all his band mates stop playing. De Rubira giggles, and starts singing the band’s characteristically nonsensical lyrics: “Jim went out in his pajamas. His pajamas was the cat’s bananas.”

De Rubira, as well as drummer Kirby Cool, pianist Ian Delaney, trumpeter Ian Lindsay, trombonist Nick Druzhinin and saxophonist Graham Travenick, students at Las Lomas High School, make up the band the Hawthorne Fog. The group is part of a diverse, talented collection of teen musicians in our neighborhoods.

Disheartened, they say, by a lack of ingenuity in mainstream music, these young musicians look to bring passionate, meaningful music back into the spotlight. They have different ideas of what great music is all about, but all share a love and respect for it.

For De Rubira, today’s mainstream barely classifies as music; he and his band mates prefer music from the ’60s.

These days, he says, “It’s all getting less about the music and more about the extreme emotions that people feel.” He’s referring to new styles of music such as emo and screamo. Shaking his head, he adds, “People just keep getting progressively louder. “There’s no counter-culture,” he adds.
“That’s where we come in,” Delaney finishes. The band looks to emulate the ’60s counter-culture.

“We play what we want to hear,” Cool says.

The Hawthorne Fog, which plays a fusion of jazz, rock, folk, Latin and blues, differs from most other bands, mainstream or otherwise. For one, the band accentuates its songs with an eclectic collection of instruments, including the banjo, the pan flute and charango. Most of the Hawthorne Fog’s songs are instrumental, but a few contain humorous lyrics in Russian and Spanish as well as English.

Though the members of the Hawthorne Fog have no ambition of pursuing careers in music, they say they will never stop playing music. Making music “(gives us) a certain freedom to express our emotions in a way that we wouldn’t normally get to,” Druzhinin says.

Although the Hawthorne Fog isn’t into loud music, another Las Lomas band, Spindle Tree, prefers creating “huge gigantic sounds.”

“When someone tells us, ‘That was really loud,’ we say, ‘Thanks,’” says the band’s lead singer and guitarist, Travis Reeves.

“In my garage, even we have to wear ear muffs,” drummer Lucas James adds.

But Spindle Tree, the collaboration of Reeves, James and bassist Cameron Simmons, aims to achieve virtuosity as well as volume.

“We want it to be absolutely perfect,” Reeves says about the band’s performance during a recent rehearsal.

Band members joke around, but “music is definitely our number one priority,” Reaves says. “It’s something we really enjoy. … We can’t really see ourselves doing anything but that.”

The band has been recording a demo, and Reeves says interested listeners can request copies of the demo on Spindle Tree’s MySpace Web page.

Unlike the Hawthorne Fog, Spindle Tree sticks to more traditional rock sounds and arrangements — driving beats and thundering bass. But the band adds its unique interpretations and twists, occasionally incorporating bluesy guitar solos into their songs.

“We’ll try anything,” Reaves says, “It’s just a matter of what sounds better.”

The members of Spindle Tree aren’t too enthusiastic about current mainstream music. Simmons says that his generation’s music lacks profoundness, emphasizing that today’s rap doesn’t feature any iconic artists, whereas “rap in the ’80s actually took talent.” However, as rising stars who play “progressive rock,” they’re optimistic about the future.

“I think good music is back on the rise … five years and it’ll be pretty big,” says Simmons. Reeves says he admires current bands like Via Coma, Dredge and Circa Survive. “People are playing better and incorporating more influences. It’s starting to sound better, at least in my opinion.”

Sam Haese, the drummer for the jazz ensemble Flying Solo, agrees: “I think this generation is really experimenting with music.

“Sometimes those ideas can be monopolized,” Haese says. Artists sell out, but “what I love about music is that there’s no limited number of sounds and ideas,” Haese says.

In addition to Haese, Flying Solo members include bassist Will Prinzi, pianist Brenden Buller, trumpeter Nathan Falk and saxophonists Sammy Barton and Erin Grant. All members attend Acalanes High School, except Barton, who goes to Campolindo High School.

Even when he’s not playing, Haese’s voice reveals his utter reverence for music. He recounts playing at the Concord KidsFest in May 2007. “Everyone would say, ‘Nice job,’ and I loved that feeling of people just appreciating (our music).”

Prinzi, who loves all musical styles, says that he also loves playing for a receptive crowd. “If I can just play music for the rest of my life,” he says, “I’ll be happy.”

VICTORIA — Had things worked out, had bureaucrats not changed their minds, had negotiations been fuller and motivations made more clear, the concert behind bars likely would have been a smashing success.

Inmates could have enjoyed a respite from their tribulations.

A Canadian would have re-created some of the spirit of one of the greatest live recordings in popular music. In doing so, a son would also know more of his late father.

Instead, most everyone is singing the Folsom Prison blues.

“It was going to be a beautiful event,” Jonathan Holiff said from his mother’s home in Nanaimo.

The cancellation left him in tears.

Mr. Holiff had proposed a free concert on the 40th anniversary of Johnny Cash’s landmark show at Folsom State Prison in California. The warden agreed.

As producer, Mr. Holiff lined up W.S. (Fluke) Holland, the drummer at the original show. He had tracked down the son of an inmate whose song Mr. Cash had performed. He had arranged postconcert interviews with a retired guard on hand that day, and inmate Larry Kennel, who attended the show on Jan. 13, 1968, and four decades later still had not fully paid his debt to society. (The prisoner caught one of the harmonicas that Mr. Cash tossed into the crowd and traded it a week later for a package of peanut M&Ms.)

Last week, state authorities rescinded permission, leaving prisoners disappointed and Mr. Holiff enraged. He feels the proposed show was cancelled due to the “gross incompetence” of officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Mr. Holiff, 42, had not yet celebrated his third birthday when a prison cafeteria became a temporary stage for the Man in Black. The concert was recorded and released that summer as Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. It remained on the rock and country charts for years, reviving a career in danger of being extinguished by drink and drugs.

Mr. Cash was managed at the time by Saul Holiff, Jonathan’s father.

The senior Mr. Holiff was born in London, Ont., to Russian immigrant parents. He became a restaurateur, moonlighting as an impresario. Touring rock ‘n’ roll artists used to hold autograph sessions at his Sol’s Square Boy drive-in restaurant. After one of those signing sessions, Mr. Cash asked Mr. Holiff to become his manager and wrote up a contract on a sheet of yellow paper.

The manager envisioned the rockabilly star playing Carnegie Hall instead of small clubs. He brought June Carter into Mr. Cash’s show, and during a performance in his manager’s hometown, Mr. Cash announced on stage his intention to marry her.

Little Jonathan grew up in a world of comic book heroes, not all of whom were two dimensional.

“To me, Johnny Cash was a living, breathing superhero, standing 6 foot 4, all in black, with a voice as deep as the ocean. He would play with us and give us candy. As far as I was concerned, he wore a cape and could fly.”

Over time, though, he realized Mr. Cash was responsible for his father’s many absences. Saul Holiff resigned as Mr. Cash’s manager in 1973, tired of the star’s unpredictable behaviour and certain his popularity had peaked. Father and son had a falling out that was not resolved before the senior Mr. Holiff’s death - “at a time of his own choosing,” as his funeral notice delicately stated - in 2005, aged 79.

The Holiffs are an entertainment family. A cousin discovered and managed Jim Carrey and Howie Mandel, while another cousin was talent co-ordinator for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Jonathan Holiff went into public relations, eventually switching to television production, including work on the televised NHL awards shows.

He moved to Hollywood and became a personal assistant to Alan Thicke, later founding a networking group for others in similar positions. In 1993, he joined the William Morris talent agency, before leaving to open the Hollywood-Madison Group, which helps pair celebrities with companies seeking endorsements.

After his father’s suicide, he returned to Canada. He said he had either a breakdown, or a midlife crisis, vowing to abandon Tinseltown to do something productive like protecting the environment. After all, he realized his foray into the entertainment world was an attempt to win his father’s approval.

His parents’ apartment held no evidence of their time in the music industry, during which their clients had also included Carl Perkins, Tommy Hunter and the Statler Brothers.

However, his mother gave him a key to a storage locker containing boxes of letters, handwritten song lyrics, and gold records, including a 45 rpm for A Boy Named Sue.

“I had come here to escape my father’s shadow and I ran smack right into him.”

Inside one of the boxes he found reel upon reel of audio tape, including recordings of telephone calls between his father and Mr. Cash, as well as memorandums and daily musings, more than 60 hours of material.

He decided to produce a book and a documentary feature to be called My Father and the Man in Black.

“It was a way,” he said, “to reconcile with a distant and unloving father.”

While working on the documentary, he befriended Folsom warden Matthew Kramer and suggested the concert.

The night before the 1968 concert, a preacher had visited Mr. Cash at his motel with a tape including a song written by an inmate doing five-to-life for armed robbery. After listening to the song, the singer wrote the lyrics in a notebook.

The next day, after opening with Folsom Prison Blues and performing for more than an hour, Mr. Cash said: “Here’s your song, Glen Sherley. Hope we do it justice.”

He then played Greystone Chapel. “A house of worship in this den of sin,” he rumbled, as inmates cheered.

After his release, Mr. Sherley had a performing career, before dying, perhaps by his own hand, in 1978. Mr. Holiff tracked down Mr. Sherley’s son for the anniversary show.

Mr. Holiff is out $50,000. He is upset that the four non-profit groups that were to share in the proceeds of the concert will do without. He is disappointed to not be able to entertain the prisoners.

While he is not currently on good terms with prison officials in California, he is not yet ready to abandon plans for another concert. The 40th anniversary of the live recording released as Johnny Cash at San Quentin approaches.