I got hooked on Nickel Creek several years ago after hearing “The Lighthouse’s Tale”, like I imagine a lot of people did. When This Side came out, I didn’t like it quite as much at first, but after a few spins through it really started to grow on me. What at first seemed to just be rather esoteric, I later came to appreciate as a new level of musical maturity in their songwriting. I now list it among my favorite albums.

And now with Why Should the Fire Die?, I’m back in the same position — it’s just not doing it for me aside from a couple of tracks I love (especially “Best of Luck”, specifically Sara’s part). I’ll hold too much criticism in hopes that I’ll come to appreciate it more after a little time, but there are just some things that really don’t sit well with me on this album. The most prominent on my first listen was the “tin box” feel the whole album has. The opening track starts this guitar lick that sounds like it’s been recorded on a really old vinyl. After about 5-10 seconds it breaks open and the audio is much clearer… it sounds very nice. But even then, everything sounds like it were EQ’d really weird — I’m no audiophile, but I know enough about running live sound to recognize bad EQing. That isn’t to say Eric Valentine (who engineered and produced the album) doesn’t know what he’s doing. Quite the contrary, I’m sure the overall sound was very intentional and they worked very hard to get it to sound like it does, I’m just saying I don’t like it as much as what Alison Krauss delivered (she produced their first two albums).

Either she is just an incredibly cool girl, or she has got one hell of a PR person (or maybe both). Just everything about her was spot-on — the concert, after the concert, how she presented herself, everything. The music was exceptional, though I was a little nervous at first. I had never seen her live, and she was just a bit “off” on her first song (Citadel)… I figured she just wasn’t going to be a great live artist. But after a couple of songs she had loosened up and really began to have fun with it all. Her stage presence seemed very natural and relaxed — talking about her love of Southern style, joking about the band, and flirting a bit with the audience. The performance was great, but what really impressed me was afterward.

An autograph booth was set up off to the side of the stage, with two tables positioned between a length of chain-link fence on either side to provide a bit of separation between the artist and the fans. When Anna made it over to the booth, the first thing she did was pull the table back and sit on the front of it so that she was right there next to the fans - she apparently didn’t like the separation. This made it much more personal, and allowed for easy posing with fans for pictures (not having to try to lean across the table and all). Like any good artist, she had 8x10 photos there that you could have her sign. Most artists (including the other ones at this event) typically sell these for $1-2, not enough to really turn a huge profit, but at the very least cover their costs. Instead Anna simply gave these away to everyone. Sure she lost a few hundred dollars in potential revenue, but now there are 200-300 people with a nice professional photo of her that is personalized and signed, and is probably already hanging on their wall somewhere — instant fans. When signing autographs she was taking the time to talk to people and answer questions… certainly not in a rush to get out of there. When one of the event staff pointed out how long her autograph line was (she hadn’t really noticed), she kinda shrugged it off and said she didn’t mind staying as long as she needed to so long as the next band didn’t need the table to do their autographs. Again, it’s really the small things that can have a tremendous impact on how an artist is received.

Not that it had much to do with my opinion of the show, but I had a short moment to ask her about her music. There is a noticable spiritual undertone in several of her songs (namely “Wreck of the Day” and “Digame”), and I asked her if this was intentional. She seemed a little bit hesitant to say that she was “religious” but did say that she was a very spiritual person and that it was probably natural that it would show through in her writing. Now I don’t know if her hesitation was the result of a PR consultant advising her not to be too outright with her faith, or if she is into the kinda new-age “I’m spiritual, but not religious” thing so many celebrities have taken to. (Update: after reading her online journal, I’m quite confident it’s not the latter) She did however notice my ring with the Star of David (while we were taking a picture no less) and asked if I was Jewish. I get that question a fair amount, so I simply replied with my standard, “No, I’m a Christian, but I really admire King David.”

Anna Nalick “get’s it”. Amazing natural talent, welcoming stage presence, and a deliberate effort to be close and personable with her fans — if this is any indication of how other aspects of her career are handled now and in the future, she’s certainly going to make it big. (And in case you hadn’t noticed, she’s quite pretty too!)

Towards the beginning of the book, Glaucon asks Socrates what is the good of justice? He has always heard people argue for injustice, but he wants to hear the counter-argument. Glaucon then procedes to reiterate many of the arguments for injustice that he has heard in his time… Some propose that what people really want, the best case scenario, would be to do injustice and be able to get away with it. What they fear, the worst case scenario, is to suffer for injustice without any remedy. The result is a compact between the people to enforce justice. Justice is therefore a mere mean between the best and the worst, a compromise. Thrasymachus argues that “all rulers rule for themselves; they make laws that favor themselves alone.”

Glaucon then tells the story of the Ring of Gyges, in which a lowly sheppard comes into possession of a powerful ring. He then uses that power to kill the king, take his wife, and take over the kingdom. Here he makes the argument that even the just man, if he can get away with it, will do injustice. Think about it… why do people buy radar detectors? So that they can do injustice and get away with it. Does that alone make them unjust people? Not necessarily, it just proves that they will in fact do injustice if they know they can get away with it.

That example of the radar detector was given in class, but then I really got to thinking about another example, one that has come up in recent years. Why do people download music online? Are they somehow unaware that it is against the law? While you will find some that claim music should be free, or that these artists have enough money as it is, you will find very few that are actually ignorant enough to believe such file sharing is completely legal. So why do they do it? Because they can; because there is little if any chance of getting caught, especially if you don’t upload a large amount. This got me to thinking about my own music collection. I have around 8 gigs or so of music - some of which I ripped from CDs I own, but more often than not it was downloaded. I often justified it by saying, “well, I’m not really taking money from the artist because I normally wouldn’t buy these CDs anyway”. What a bunch of crap! The reason i downloaded them was because I liked the music, and if I liked it enough, I would go and buy it. As much as I try to be just, I was committing injustice because I knew I could get away with it… what a hypocrite.

That collection of 8 gigs of music took many months to accumulate, if not years. It took about 30 seconds to delete.

the other part i remember was that i was in the green room for the TechTV show The ScreenSavers with Patrick from the show and a bunch of people that i apparently knew were famous for whatever reason. the main thing i remember was walking out on the set and i went to a back part where there was a kitchen (no, there is no kitchen on the set of The ScreenSavers) and was rinsing my mouth out at the sink while some guy was up near the front singing some Metallica song. I kept trying to spit into the sink, but i couldn’t really spit… i was just kinda drooling into it. That’s when i woke up as i realized i was spitting/drooling on my arm.

[birthdays]
so yesterday was my 21st birthday. aside from one friend i called and a few people online, no one wished me happy birthday. not a single family member, none of my friends, notta. i’m not really upset per se… i didn’t do anything special - it was just another day. i just thought it was interesting that not a soul called. hmph.

[phones]
i’ve got a friend who doesn’t like birthdays and whose cell phone really sucks. well seeing as it is way past her birthday, i was going to get her a new cell phone and call it an “annual, because you are my friend” gift. well damnit, some other friends of her got her a cell phone… and she was really excited about it….. and… well…. damnit. i’m not really sure why i’m all that upset, though. i’m really glad she’s got a new phone cause she’s sure needed one, and i’m sure it was something special coming from who it did. i guess it’s just that the only reason i hadn’t been able to get one yet is b/c i was waiting for the final check from a client. well the only reason i hadn’t gotten the check yet was b/c i was being lazy and hadn’t finished up the project… so it’s really my own damn fault. i guess that’s why i’m upset.

i’m gonna try and write in here more often. i think it keeps me out of trouble. if anyone actually reads this, then get on my case if i don’t update at least 2-3 times a week or so. thanks.