Scamwagon

A couple of days ago, a new, large Verizon Store sprung up down the road.  At about the same time, Verizon finally announced the availability of the new and long awaited Samsung  Galaxy Nexus  phone - The phone that was hyped by Google and Samsung in early October , announced in Late October , promised to be released in November , and then delayed and delayed until the middle of December.  It's been all over the news and in people's faces. I figured the timing was no accident, and sauntered in to see if I might be able to have a look at this  Ice Cream Sandwich  laiden beast.  To be honest, I was half expecting them to tell me they didn't have one.  As a Verizon Wireless customer in Vermont for over 15 years, I've gotten used to being a second-class citizen.  We are the usually the last to get network upgrades, good stores with good phones, or sales people who can handle technical questions. I walked in and quickly surveyed the store, ...

A long time ago, I posted The Trouble With Greylisting .  My latest rant is brought to you by the current state of e-mail server blacklisting .  I'll relate to you the following anecdote, to help with the specifics: My client recently purchased a new internet pipe from their ISP - (I won't specify, but let's just say they're "Vermont's largest wireline provider.")  Along with this new connection came a new block of public IP addresses.  This has been standard fare - they have switched connections 3 times in the last 2 years, and for a variety of reasons, each time it's been a fiasco to get everything migrated to the new block. This time it almost went incredibly smoothly (without question, this was at least partly due to the help of an  Astaro Security Gateway , and its almost infinite flexibility).  The only snag was when I moved the mail server over to the new IP block.  Within 20 minutes, people were reporting bounces (undeliverable me...

As Steve Jobs' authorized biography is released, we are getting some of the first public looks at his perspective.  I'm not surprised to hear about his  view of Android as a "stolen" product .  Android is a smartphone OS that features a lot of the same usability aspects as the iPhone OS.   However, the reality is that Android fills a need that the iPhone's closed architecture doesn't: The freedom to run almost anything you want on the device you own .  Apple created the market, now largely owned by Android, when they decided to withhold that freedom from their developers and users.

After 3 successful albums, several appearances on the late night shows of David Letterman , Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, and others, Mutemath, the 2007 Grammy Nominated alt rock band known for their creative and energetic performances finally descended on Burlington's only "little big venue", Higher Ground .  Why then, was the show tucked away in the smaller Showcase lounge, with only around 70 or so people in attendance? Concert review, photos, and video after the jump.

A Letter From the Sound Crew  Dear Indie Rock Musician, It has come to our attention that we will be working your show at our venue.  This letter is to identify the  preparations we have made, in order to minimize any responsibilities on your part.

Last Sunday, I, along with some of Vermont's highest profile bass players (which I don't count myself among) attended the Victor Wooten bass clinic held at Daddy's Junky Music  in Williston, VT.  Wooten, who was in town for the Flynn Theater show with Bela Fleck and (the original) Flecktones, held the clinic from 1-2pm. While the chance to meet and talk to one of the worlds foremost electric bass players was at hand, the Vermont bass players in attendance also received some assertive and off-the-beaten-path advice.

We saw Toad The Wet Sprocket at Higher Ground last night. It was a great show. The last time they came to Higher Ground was apparently 15 years ago, before they had broken up. The band played a few new unreleased songs, as well as, of course, all of their most popular songs from the 90's. As a 6 piece, the arrangements and overall sound of the songs were pretty much exactly as they are on the albums, with the addition of lap steel and keyboard player Johnny Hawthorne to fill out the sound.

This afternoon we were delightfully surprised to receive a report containing 30 RADIO STATIONS across the US who have picked up November Guest this week. Here is the current list of radio stations you can now hear us on: KAXE (Grand Rapids, MN) WROQ (Greenville, SC) KRSC (Claremore, OK) WKPS (State College, PA) WKWZ (Syosset, NY) WMSR (Auburn, AL) KCLC (St. Charles, MO) WIZN (Burlington, VT) WMBR (Cambridge, MA) WMEB (Orono, ME) WNCW (Spindale, NC) WOAS (Ontonagon, MI) WQAQ (Hamden, CT) WSUP (Platteville, WI) WUMD (Dearborn, MI) CFMU (Hamilton, ON) KDHX (St. Louis, MO) KFAN (Fredericksburg, TX) KOTO (Telluride, CO) KPUR (Forest Grove, OR) KSUT (Ignacio, CO) KUMD (Duluth, MN) MSPR (Moorehead, KY) WBZC1 (Atco, NJ) WJHU (Baltimore, MD) WMLU (Farmville, VA) WMNF (Tampa, FL) WMPG (Portland, ME) WPMD (Norwalk, CA) WUTK (Knoxville, TN) And btw, wow, there's a place called Farmville, VA? I wonder if they'll be sued out of existence by Zynga.