apple juice

When you try to cancel service, they transfer you to a “retention specialist”.

They did not retain.

Not a day after we watched the PBS Frontline Documentary, The Persuaders (you can watch it online) I received a phone call asking if I would like to be part of a focus group for a local auto dealer. I would be paid $75 for my time. Sounds good!

We met on wednesday, in a nondescript building in the warehouse district. I had a number of conspiracy-related daydreams as I approached the building, found it locked, saw someone inside coming over to buzz me in. Then he used his key card to call the elevator, punch the button, and tell me to “just follow the signs” as the doors closed between us.

Anyway, I found the office, and was amongst the first few to arrive. We made small talk about focus group participation and experience, of which there was none. About this time, the previous group came filing out of a room. They were, as expected, a cross-section of american, (or at least minnesotan) demographics. Roughly distributed in age, gender and color, they seemed to be, if nothing else, not traumatized by the experience.

As we settled into the room, they explained how everything was going to work. Questions, discussion, one person at a time, don’t worry about the people behind the two-way mirror. I pretty much felt like I was in “The Persuaders” the whole time.

The evening focused on a particular dealership attempting various “alternative” methods of advertising. We gave our opinions on a campaign that ranged from the standard print ads, to coffee cup sleeves, to fake parking tickets, to bike tags encouraging you not to bike (downright offensive, in my opinion).

It was interesting to hear what a few of the members of my focus group were interested in as marketing tools… free t-shirts, floor mats, and air fresheners.

There was a particularly good moment after we were asked what radio stations we listened to… (as a group, mostly NPR). Next question: what radio commercials do you remember recently? I raised my hand, and said, “they don’t have commercials on NPR”

All in all, a pretty interesting experience. I was hyper analyzing everything, having just watched the documentary about it all, and I really wanted to be on the other side of the glass, listening to what they thought of our answers. Maybe in my next career.

We saw a wonderful concert last night at the Cedar Cultural Center, Psapp, Juana Molina and José González.

This was my first time at seeing a concert at the Cedar, and I was quite impressed. I am one who enjoys the slightly slower speed of sitting down on a chair, and listening to a concert without getting jostled about. The sound, as advertised, was excellent.

Psapp was up first, and I think you could say they gave new meaning to the word eclectic. Between songs they were throwing little stuffed kittens into the crowd. During the songs they tapped away at toy guitars, little horns, and other strange toys. It was a fun time though, and the crowd was clearly into it.

Juana Molina came on next. I’m not sure the crowd new what to make of her at first. The way that she performs is very interesting. She played alone, but with the aid of a few keyboards and some very intense looping equipment. Each song builds into a quiet fury as she adds layer after layer. It took me a minute before the song would gel but once it built, it was very entertaining. She was also quite funny on stange, delivering some very strange interludes about the english language, cat and dog noises, etc.

Then finally José González took the stage. I was very impressed by his music from the very first listen, but I remember saying, I wish it were longer! As he performed his songs, there was little break between, and no introduction or information about them. A tad dissapointing because I want more, but the songs themselves were wonderful. At the end of the first set, there was a beautiful surprise when he covered TearDrop by Massive Attack. This is a haunting electronic song, and at first I didn’t recognize it. But the goosebumps were running up and down my arms when I spontaneously started singing along. The crowd gave a rousing applause as he left the stage. He came back for a short encore, which was greatly appreciated. I’m looking forward to hearing more from him in the future!

The past few weeks, as I’ve been making my morning and evening commutes, I’ve been listening to the radio more than usual. FM Style. I have an iPod with thousands of songs on it, but for this short 15 minute trip, I’m letting the DJs be my guide. We’re really blessed in Minneapolis at the moment because we have a number of excellent public radio stations across the FM dial.

I thought it would be fun to walk you across my presets. I have six of them, as you can see to the left in the photo. Since I am somewhat a geek, there would really be no other way for me to order them other than numerically sorted left to right.

Preset number 1: 89.3 The Current. This is the new “indie” station from Minnesota Public Radio. Well, actually it’s not as new now, since they’ve just had their 1 year anniversary. Perhaps what I enjoy the most is hearing Mary Lucia on the radio again. She used to be on the REV 105 way back in the day… okay, 10 years ago, but that station was awesome, and I dare say that The Current is awesome as well.

Preset number 2: 89.9 KMOJ – The People’s Station. This is a public “adult urban contemporary” station, whatever the heck that means. Basically, hip hop. Although they do stray into a bit to much of the slow jams in the afternoon for my tastes… The morning shout-outs are always a good time. I wish they would play more local artists, but a lot of that is covered by other stations on the presets as well.

Preset number 3: 90.3 KFAI – Fresh Air Radio. Since there are 24 hours in a day, I would say you have about a 8/24 shot of flipping on this station and hearing languages other than english. As far as I can tell, their day is split into hour long blocks, box o’ chocolates style– you never know what you’re gonna get: Pakistani club music? Cambodian folk music? Joe from Fargo on the Banjo? Good times.

Preset Number 4: 91.1 KNOW – MPR… Minnesota Public Radio. This is fairly self explanatory, news, talk, etc.

Preset Number 5: 99.5 – KSJN – Classical…

Preset Number 6: 106.5 – Radio K – The real college radio. To be honest, they play a lot of obscure stuff that I don’t like, but on the way home last night, there was a four song set of some crazy local electronica and I was in heaven.

So… what’s on your radio?

Hey Everyone! Happy 2006!

I haven’t posted any sort of retrospective about music for the past year. Since I’ve lost my thunder on any sort of Top 10 best albums, before having read all the other critics’ lists, I’d like to post “5 Albums from 2005”.

These are in no particular order, but these are the 5 that I listened to and enjoyed the most in the past year (thanks to iTunes for keeping all my stats).

• Much to Matt‘s chagrin, I loved Sufjan Stevens’ album “Come On Feel the Illinoise”, it’s been a soundtrack to many of the events of the past year: Road trips to (ironically enough) Chicago, lazy saturday mornings, working in my office at my new job.
• Next up is Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Much to Sonja’s chagrin this has been one of my top played albums from the past year. Yes, the lead singer sounds something like a bleeting goat (sonja says “cat in labor”), but he’s a vocal stylist, you gotta love it!
• Hello! My name is M.I.A.! It makes me want to go to India or Sri Lanka and boogey down.
• Dangerdoom – The Mouse and the Mask. This is a collaboration between Dangermouse and MF Doom. Dangermouse was behind last year’s “Grey Album”, and the beats on this new album are awesome. There is also some weird cartoon network thing going on in the background, you’ll have to google for the full story…
• Lastly, but not leastly, is Spoon’s “Gimmie Fiction”. They’ve made some of my favorite songs in the past 5 years, and their newest album is excellent.

Well, there you have it! These albums have my highest recommendation!

Here are some pictures I found on flickr from the arcade fire concert.

Pictures from chriswarren: arcade fire set

Just got back from the Arcade Fire concert at First Avenue tonight. It was an amazing concert. They have 8-12 people up on stage for every song, and they don’t hold back. The crowd was dancing and grooving, singing along to every song.

After the show, I played frogger with the moving mass of people and made my way over to the table selling t-shirts. At the table was none other than the violinist for the band, whose name is Sarah. She signed my ticket for me.

First of all, what band that plays before packed audiences and on national television has their band members come over and sell t-shirts after the show?

Secondly, I was trying to coach myself to say something all cool and poetic or something, but what came out was: “That was an awesome performance, I can’t wait to hear your new CD.”

Fine, I guess, but I should’ve said, “It’s awesome that you sing without a microphone up there.”

Oh well, members of the Arcade Fire, if you read random websites, I enjoyed your show, and I hope you always play as hard as you did tonight.

Here’s a review at the startribune