the Friday Five

Finally some decent questions from the Friday Five.

1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why?

Smartass answer: Andy Williams. Because his songs are the prettiest.

Serious answer: the Early R.E.M. The songs were smart, they could be artsy or fun and there's nothing more fun than out Stipe-ing Michael Stipe when you're singing.

2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why?

Toby Keith. Bill asked the excellent question: Why couldn't he have died instead of Johnny Cash? Overexposure is the biggest reason. I don't listen to much country, but any time I do, there's the Giant, Toby Keith.


3. If your favorite singer wasn't in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person?

Never having met any member of R.E.M., I can't say for sure. Stipe seems a little artsy and pretentious for my tastes, but he shows an odd sense of humor now and then that I think I could dig.

I really would have liked to have met Johnny Cash

4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show?

Not many. Too expensive. Plus, I have extraordinarily bad taste in music.

My guilty pleasure band is AC/DC. But I was on an anti-AC/DC kick when they played at Murphy Center...a mere 3000 feet from my house. And I decided I didn't want to go. Because I'm stupid.

If you won't laugh, I'll tell you that I probably enjoyed seeing Ray Stevens when I was, like, 9 more than any other show. Just because every body else seemed to be having a good time, too.

Stop laughing.

5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums? Do you feel the RIAA is right in its pursuit to stop people from dowloading free music?

As a person who would one day like to make a living off of my created work...I would like to be paid for my labors.

The problem is, the people who think it's right to be downloading music (or movies or written works) without paying aren't trying to screw the artists. They're trying to screw the record companies.

The record companies really, really suck. They're the ones taking the money out of artists' pockets.

What the record companies need to do is find a way to capitalize on the downloading craze instead of cracking down on file swapping. That way they can pay the artists and get paid themselves.

The RIAA's pursuit is a desperate act by a desperate entity. I think they see themselves as badly outmoded, and instead of using the technology and ingenuity to catch up, they are instead entrenching themselves in the past and choosing to operate by fear and intimidation.