web analytics

Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

music-news-from-breakups-to-the-lastest-buzz

  • A new computer

    A new computer

    Sometimes, when you hard drive unexpectedly crashes, it’s time for a new computer…

    And that’s what happened to me on Sunday. My trusty iMac, just four years old, died in its sleep. The hard drive went completely kaput. My husband Bill and I went out and bought a new iMac. This one is bigger and sexier than the other one was. I didn’t actually want the 27 inch screen, but it was either that or waiting for a new machine to be shipped to me. And I know there are far too many people out there in Internetland who are hanging on my every word. (yes, I’m kidding)

    Anyway, changing computers is a pain in the ass, even if the new machine is sleek and sexy. One major project I had was migrating my enormous music library. I use iTunes and Amazon music and both were conducive to transferring the library. But the bulk of my music was ripped from CDs. Fortunately, I backed up some of the music on an external hard drive and almost my entire library of over 13,000 songs was on my iPod. I also had a new app at my disposal, which I bought last week. Macroplant has a tool called iExplorer, which I bought so I could save an especially touching voice mail I got from my mother a couple of months ago. I know there are probably cheaper and easier apps out there, but this one worked great for my needs. And after I downloaded my mom’s message, it came in handy again, because it allowed me to move all of those ripped CDs from my iPod, too. It could even tell if some songs were already in the library, so they didn’t get doubled or tripled. And it also moved my playlists.

    As I was moving the music, I ended up playing some long lost songs I had almost forgotten about. And it occurred to me that I could listen to my whole library for about 40 days and not hear the same song twice.

    The only major bummer in the death of my computer was losing some music I had recorded for my mom. The touching voice mail she left for me included a request for me to record some hymns for her. I was almost finished with that project and had neglected to back it up on another machine when my hard drive croaked. Yesterday, I spent the day re-recording everything. In some instances, I think I did better, though. Since I had already learned the songs and figured out style and harmony, it took about seven hours instead of several days.

    I happened to mention the death of my computer on Facebook and a few people actually took me to task over it, wondering why it died at only four years old. Truth be told, I am a power user and my computers get pounded on daily. The Mac lasted longer than the two PCs before it combined. Anyway, now that I have a new machine, I can keep communicating with the masses. I can’t remember how I got by without having a computer.


    This song cracks me up. It was ahead of its time.


    But really, when it comes to computer songs, I am partial to Prince’s “Computer Blue”…

  • Happy German Unity Day…

    Happy German Unity Day…

    I am old enough to remember when East and West Germany reunited. And now that I live in Germany again, happy German Unity Day!

    Maybe it seems odd to write about a political event on a blog that is supposed to be about music. But as of today, I’ve been living in Germany again for two months. I had forgotten that today is a public holiday in my current home. However, as a person who came of age in the 70s and 80s, I remember when Germany was divided. I was eighteen years old in 1990, when the two sides formally reunited. This holiday is not actually about the reunification of Germany, but rather it’s about the “unity” of Germany.

    I notice a bunch of my neighbors are home today, which is why it’s probably better if I write rather than work on any musical projects. And given that I remember when Germany was divided into the Eastern and Western portions, maybe it’s good to reflect. I bet I can tie this to music, too.


    A 1990 era news broadcast about Germany’s reunification…


    Germany’s lovely national anthem…

    Actually, as I sit here thinking about October 1990, I suddenly feel very old. At that time, I was a college freshman. The music that was popular in October 1990 didn’t appeal to me that much. I also went to college in a rural town in south central Virginia which really didn’t get very many radio stations. So I kind of quit listening to radio at that point, except what was played on our college station which had all of ten watts of power. I eventually became a disc jockey there, but not until the following year.

    But what I do remember about that time was that songs like “Close to You” by Maxi Priest were popular… Egad.


    Damn, this makes me feel old.

    I did like James Ingram’s “I Don’t Have The Heart”, which was popular around the same time period. I always thought it was a pretty ballad.


    Of course, now that I listen to this now with its many electronic keyboards, I’m reminded a little of the soundtrack for Saved By The Bell. But it also has nice strings, which gives it sort of a majestic air.

    Another popular song in October 1990 was Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”, which ripped off a vastly superior collaboration between Queen and David Bowie.


    I never cared for this song, but I have to admit Vanilla Ice is sort of a guilty pleasure for me. He won me over when he was on The Surreal Life with Tammy Faye Messner and Erik Estrada.

    I’m not sure if the Germans were into these songs, but they were kind of the soundtrack for this American in October 1990. And October 1990 is when Germany officially started to celebrate its unity, although it’s not the day when the Berlin Wall started to crumble… That event occurred on November 9, 1989.


    This was very exciting news at the time…

    I think we need to make a point of visiting Berlin while we’re here. I have been to so many European capitals, but I have yet to see Berlin, other than the airport. Berlin’s airport, as I remember it, sucked… though I understand a new one is either in the works or already constructed.


    This report has footage as the Wall started to fall…

    My husband, Bill, was in Germany when this was going on. He was on his first Army tour here. I remember the last time we lived here, from 2007-09, we visited the Czech Republic a few times. He always marveled as we approached the border, remembering that he was here when that border was off limits and guarded by very large female Czech guards. It turned out the Czech Republic was happy to abandon communism and quick to bounce back. It remains one of our favorite European destinations for the beer alone. Hungary runs a close second, especially since there’s some great music coming from Hungary.

    David Hasselhoff was once much loved in Germany. He was at the Berlin Wall on New Year’s Eve in December 1989 and here he is, rocking out with revelers celebrating the new freedom for East Germans!


    I want to hassle the Hoff!

    Anyway, since it’s Friday and the weather is fine, I imagine we will celebrate too. Maybe we won’t party like the Germans on Unity Day, although it is pretty exciting to be here now that the whole country is united.

    Have a great weekend, y’all!

  • Playing SongPop against random Germans…

    Playing SongPop against random Germans…

    Ever since our move back to Germany, I’ve taken to playing SongPop against random Germans I don’t know…

    A couple of years ago, there was a hot new game on Facebook called Song Pop. Since I am a “music nerd”, I took to that game with a vengeance. In fact, I was such an enthusiastic player that I caught the attention of George Bounacos, owner of Pop Rock Nation. He realized I knew a lot about popular music and asked me to contribute to this blog. For awhile, George and I squared off regularly, wasting lots of time on the fast paced music identification game.


    A demonstration of SongPop on YouTube.

    Since 2012, most of my American Facebook friends have abandoned SongPop. I only have one actual Facebook friend who still plays regularly. Truth be told, I had kind of slacked off on the game myself, like I inevitably do with most games on Facebook. But then in August of this year, I found myself stuck in hotels and a temporary apartment, with not enough things to do to occupy my time. I picked up SongPop again, but I started issuing challenges to suggested opponents. Since I am now in Germany, my opponents, I presume, are all Deutschers!

    It’s been interesting playing SongPop with these folks. For one thing, they are all uniformly really good at the game. It’s a challenge to beat them. In fact, one guy I’ve been playing goes by the name of Yotam. He lives in Berlin and regularly whips my ass at Song Pop. I have found only a few genres he doesn’t know well and he has found many more with which I am unfamiliar. He seems to really like dance music and I picture him as at least ten years younger than I am and big on the club scene. Given the nature of Song Pop and the fact that you only hear a few seconds of each song, it’s hard for me to get much better at the Trance, Electronic, and Hip Hop categories he seems to favor. On the other hand, I can’t deny that I have been exposed to some interesting new sounds. I will have to do some exploring soon.

    There’s another guy named Thorsten I’ve been playing who lives in Vaihingen Enz, which I don’t think is that far from where I live now. He likes industrial music and 70s era punk. He’s not as hard to beat as Yotam is, but he is definitely a respectable Song Pop opponent. I feel good when I achieve a victory over Thorsten. So far, those two have stuck with me the longest.

    For awhile, I was also playing “Adriane”, who knew her stuff when it came to modern country music. I’m not sure if she’s German or not, but based on some of the games we played, I suspect she is. And she was also challenging me to genres I have no clue about like Brazilian pop divas! But then, I am guilty of such gamesmanship, too. I’ve been known to challenge people with Christian rock, national anthems, and opera. I’m usually pleasantly surprised when it turns out they know about those categories!

    I don’t know if Germans are uniformly tougher opponents in SongPop than Americans are, but I do know that the ones I’ve been playing have been as good or better than I am at the game. And I think, too, that the categories SongPop players choose say a lot about the type of people they are. If I were still academically inclined, I might even do a formal study on it. But as it is now, SongPop remains a fun way to pass all the free time I have.