Category: Local Music

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My 2008 Forecast in Review

Last year, on January 2, 2008 I posted my 318th entry titled “1st Annual Forecast – My Predictions for 2008”. Now I’m going to look back at it and see how close I was.

“Financial: A major US recession is coming due to the massive credit bubble bursting, an inability of the central banks to continue using credit to create a false sense of prosperity, and continued stagflation. Look for expanded government backed plans like the sub-prime mortgage rate freeze to combat the falling value of the dollar.”

While there was never a sub-prime mortgage rate freeze passed as legislation the rest of this prediction was, well, right on the money.

“Health: Health care costs will continue to rise during a long period of stagflation as health corporations attempt to increase profits or reduce profit loss for their shareholders.”

I guess that was pretty open ended. I don’t know that costs rose exponentially but I’m pretty certain they didn’t go down.

“Politics: My prediction is that the race will be tight. It will be a race between those who support Holy Wars against Muslims and legislating morality verses those who know that if we keep this up “Fascism will come to America wrapped in a flag carrying a cross”. – Sinclair Lewis”

Well it was close (up until the end at least) and after 8 years logic and common sense prevailed over failed fundamentalist ideology. Finally.

“Music: Look for me at any nearby shows performed by KT Tunstall or The National.”

Neither one of these acts came anywhere close to Raleigh. So sad.

“Technology: Microsoft will continue to take a beating for creating Vista and if the new 2008 Server is released it will not be embraced at any influential rate…

Look for more touch screen cell phones to flood the market in response to the iPhone rage…

Flat panel LCD and plasma TV’s will fall below $750 for a quality 42″ 1080p model…

Playstation 3’s will fall to a steady $299 this year and Wii’s will be more widely available as Nintendo increases production…

IBM Network Services Division contractors should be wary of the coming acquisition by AT&T. This could mean more layoffs in Research Triangle Park…”

These weren’t exactly predictions made on the level of Nostradamus but I nailed every freakin’ one of them… Boo-ya! Makes me a little more comfortable going into 2009 since I am suppose to be technology literate by trade.

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1st Annual Forecast

My Predictions for 2008:

Financial: A major US recession is coming due to the massive credit bubble bursting, an inability of the central banks to continue using credit to create a false sense of prosperity, and continued stagflation. Look for expanded government backed plans like the sub-prime mortgage rate freeze to combat the falling value of the dollar.

Health: Health care costs will continue to rise during a long period of stagflation as health corporations attempt to increase profits or reduce profit loss for their shareholders. When was the last time you heard of a hospital corporation posting a quarterly profit loss? Based upon direct influence of the insurance industry lobby more “mandatory health insurance” laws will be passed at the state and federal level. This will further reduce access to health care for millions and provide fuel for the aforementioned recession. No end to this cycle is in sight based upon public opinion that health care costs should not be influenced by the government (the aging free market argument).

Politics: This is a hard one. My hope is that the Christian Coalition, Southern Baptists, and Evangelical Church don’t win any elections (i.e. Huckabee). By now anyone that knows me should understand that I don’t interfere with the worship practices of anyone but I have strong disdain for anyone supporting pulpit politicians. Remember, we’re fighting to keep terrorism at bay, not Muslims. This includes stopping domestic terrorists in the form of abortion clinic bombers and other extreme activists. The United States is not Jesus Camp. Nor was it founded as a “Christian Nation” under any written doctrine.

My prediction is that the race will be tight. It will be a race between those who support Holy Wars against Muslims and legislating morality verses those who know that if we keep this up “Fascism will come to America wrapped in a flag carrying a cross”. – Sinclair Lewis

Also, Ron Paul will not be your next President. Sorry Internet.

Music: Look for me at any nearby shows performed by KT Tunstall or The National. I may finally start my review of local shows on this blog and if I don’t get in trouble for it I might join a blues band to start playing dive bars.

Technology: Microsoft will continue to take a beating for creating Vista and if the new 2008 Server is released it will not be embraced at any influential rate. For this reason the number Mac sales and Ubuntu installations will continue to rise while XP will continue to be the dominantly installed OS (boy I hope I got that one right huh?).

Look for more touch screen cell phones to flood the market in response to the iPhone rage. Don’t expect better service though.

Flat panel LCD and plasma TV’s will fall below $750 for a quality 42″ 1080p model.

Playstation 3’s will fall to a steady $299 this year and Wii’s will be more widely available as Nintendo increases production.

IBM Network Services Division contractors should be wary of the coming acquisition by AT&T. This could mean more layoffs in Research Triangle Park and more IT workers on the market in NC. Unix Admin’s will all be moving to Lenoir where the new Google data center is located.

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Looking through my old shoebox…

My shoebox is what I call my media collection on my PC. I ran across the old demo tracks from Lassiter Mill, the band I was in when Amy and I first started dating five years ago. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m for sure a daddy now and I love it. But listening to these tracks makes me want to go get half drunk at Hibernian Pub and play drums in front of about 150 people. I loved all the bands I was in and miss every one of the musicians I ever played with. Yes, even Justin. Hopefully he’s not in jail. I can’t wait to pass my sticks on to Connor one day.

Sam Hindmarsh may be the only one still performing from Lassiter Mill. Last I heard Sam was playing with both The New Me and Evenfall. Jay Rehm might still be playing bass somewhere but I’ve lost touch. There are two reasons I like the LM songs better than many of the others I’ve recorded. First, they were done at Osceola Studios by Dick Hodgins, the best studio in Raleigh and two, they had more potential and discipline than anything else I’ve ever worked on. I can actually listen to these and not think to myself, what in the hell were we doing?

I’m floored at the moment. I just saw something quite shocking when visiting Sam’s MySpace page to retrieve the link above. I wasn’t aware of this and should have been. Nathan Davis passed away on August 22nd. He was only 30. He has a two year old baby girl. That distresses me. Go immediately and buy some of his music to spread his talent – all the proceeds go to his little girl.

I’ll never forget Nathan as a hard core fan of The Boss. He was incredibly talented and played many of the same dives in Raleigh as I did while in several bands over the years. This is quite a shock. Did I say that already? Now I have to post the LM tracks I was listening to as I learned this news. Here’s to the love of music. Nothing else is more inspiring or motivational. Those who do it have only one goal: To make themselves and others happy.

Time To Change

Self Sufficient

Story Jamboree

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Bret’s Chet.

imageThe other night I learned that Bret Hedican ended up getting himself a sunburst Gibson Chet Atkins SST a while back. Good choice dude. It’s the same guitar Sam Hindmarsh played when we were in Lassiter Mill together a few years ago. [I feel] it’s a solid six string for anyone torn between electric and acoustic. Everyone knows I talk a lot about these guitars but I hate to think I ever acted like I knew what I was talking about. Na, not me.

Chet’s are really smooth electric acoustics. Almost all the best players out there have owned one. Sean Aitken can be caught playing his around town on many a weekend. Check him out if you get a chance (Sean’s got another baby comin’ soon too). And check out Sam’s new band Evenfall also. They’re pretty high energy now. Next show is January 14th at the Brewery.

P.S. – I’ll be posting some of the holiday pictures soon. I just haven’t had much time for new entries lately.

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New Catagory: Local Music

I’ve just added another catagory to file entries under. I’m going to use it to write reviews of live performances I attend which will be pulled from the raleighmusic.com and Independent music calendars. It should help give this blog some purpose and direction. I promise to be fair but honest in my opinions. And that’s all it will be is opinion. Anyone who doesn’t agree is welcome to respond with their own comments.