Happy Birthday Les Paul!

I won't do Google any justice. Get there. Today. NOW!

And let your Wang Dang Doodle shine!

Ahead of its time

Many of you are aware that this past May I completed a master's thesis in the study of music and American urban culture. For those of you who don't know, the paper--The Subway Sessions--was a sociological study on how the iPod is changing the way people use music as a response to their urban environment.

The idea came to me last summer, while doing an extended piece for BreakThru Radio that looked at the Music Under New York (aka 'MUNY') program. As my team's investigation into street musicians deepened, I began to pay attention to the habits of people on the subway who were engaged with personal listening devices more than I did the musicians struggling to make a buck. "I wonder what they are listening to?" was the first thought, immediately followed by "And how is that changing their perception of the environment?"

As summer turned into fall, I thought more and more about this oxymoronic 'public-private' soundtrack that lives in and under our streets. I eventually became so fascinated by the topic that I decided to pursue it as my major piece of graduate work.

When my research began last fall, there was little to nothing to be found that had been written on the topic. In the early 80s, just after Sony introduced the Walkman, a small onslaught of academic articles and studies (mostly from Japan for obvious reasons) appeared in musicological journals; but that was it. More recently, some bloggers of little academic or professional credential had postulated on what the effects of the iPod were in our society and to musicians, but it was difficult to find qualified research into this urban phenomenon.

It seems to me that ever since I finished my studies, there has been a deluge of work on this very topic. Some of it has been academic, like the article "Wall of Sound" that first appeared as an excerpt on Slate and was later published in full print in New York's n+1 magazine. This particular publication stung a bit. I had interviewed one of the editors at n+1 back in November, and we had discussed my thesis in detail. I was hoping to get it published in his magazine and he seemed to warm to the idea, which is why I was shocked to discover that n+1 had published a paper on this exact topic only two weeks before my thesis was turned in. The article's author, Nikil Saval, is a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford and assistant editor of n+1. I couldn't help but wonder, "Just how many subways are there in Stanford, California?"

Alas, not all of this, "What's on your iPod?" is academic. And thank God for that, for if it was it could get quite boring quickly. Take this Tumblr Web site for example, "What's On NYC?" that asks random New Yorkers with headphones on what songs they are listening to, and then maps and tags them on Google maps. This is exactly what I sought to track.

Smartphone apps are being developed by the day as well, or so it seems. We are seeing more and more technology that looks for ways to have fun and take advantage of individual urban soundtracks. Perhaps most famously, and successful, is Grammy's developed "Music Mapper" app, an application that lets you drop songs, write stories, and share your own "audiobiography" as you wander through life. Or, if you are more into seeing others lives than you are about sharing your own, you can pick up songs left by others and read what they have left for you within a specific radii of your location. Similarly, there is Schematic Labs developed "Soundtracking" app. It's kind of like Twitter, but with music. You can share what you are listening to on your iPhone with those who are in range of you and also have the same app. Similar, but more like Pandora radio, is Soundtracker, except it lets you see what your friends are listening to at any given moment as well as sharing your own music and using the application like a radio station.

There were times during my research when I was kicking myself for going the unconventional route on my graduate work. When I tried to explain to contemporaries what I was doing, including some professors, I often received sideways glances as if to say, "Where is the academia in that?" Now, I am almost moved to shock to see just how trendy my topic was.

The words 'academic' and 'trend' don't seem to fit together all that well. All of this recent pop culture Youtube and Smartphone Application design surrounding the "What are you listening to?" inquiry risks making my thesis be received as cheap in many pretentious academic circles. Yet there is a whole other side to this argument--my graduate work was slightly ahead of its time. Too often the formal academy waits too long to begin to dissect major shifts in culture. There are some sound arguments as to why this is, staying power and effect being the most popular, but at the pace of information-exchange in which we now live, it may be that this patience bow to reality.

I don't know if my graduate work was "ahead of its time" or "cheapened academia". You can be the judge of that. What is for certain, is the amount of attention this curiosity is getting all over the world. It seems I am not the only one who started asking "What are you listening to?" and then set out to share these soundtracks with the rest of the world.

Two Thumbs Up for Rock n Roll

This morning I woke up to a very inspiring email from a very inspiring person.

Watching this video should bring a smile to your face. If it does not, I suggest you begin paying attention to that numbing in your left arm, the fading of your pulse, and call 911.

Recently, there was an article published in The New Yorker ("The Possibilian") that discussed David Eagleman's research into near-death experiences and the human perception of time. Eagleman is a Baylor College of Medicine Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, and Bilger's piece is well-written, but can be science-heavy at times. I will save you all a full-length synopsis in exchange for focusing on one very interesting anecdote to the research:

"One of the seats of emotion and memory in the brain is the amygdala," he explained. Basically, Eagleman's theory is that the more detailed the memory, the longer the moment seems to last. “This explains why we think that time speeds up when we grow older,” Eagleman said, "Why childhood summers seem to go on forever, while old age slips by while we’re dozing. The more familiar the world becomes, the less information your brain writes down, and the more quickly time seems to pass."

This small piece of science theory, if heeded, can play a very important role in our search for happiness. Once one is made aware that with age comes a dulling of perception, and this in turn effects experience and memory, one can begin to control for that variable.

Imagine if every day you tasted coffee for the first time, saw the sun rise for the first time, heard an engine click over for the first time, listened to the radio for the first time, or smelled the fragrances infused in bodywash and shampoo for the first time. According to Eagleman's science, the whole world would slow down, and your view of experience would precipitate accomplishment, pride, self-worth, and an ecstasy of what it is to be alive in this world.

Get out there and feel alive today; "feel happy of yourself."

The R.O.I Paradox

Scene: The Empire Hotel rooftop. 11:47pm, Friday night.

Attractive female: So... What do you do?

Me: Ummmm, I do a couple of things, but I am a student mainly.

Female: A grad student?

Me: Yeah.

Female: That's pretty cool. [Pauses. Sips cosmo.] MBA?

Me: No.

Female: What do you study?

Me: Ethnomusicology.

Female: Ethno-- what? I have never heard of that!

Me: I basically study the history of American music and how it relates to our culture and the American identity.

Female: That's pretty cool.

There is a long, awkward pause as I down the rest of my overpriced vodka and soda. She takes a long haul from her Parliament, staring off in another direction.

Female: So.... What are you gonna do with that?

The transcript is a conversation that I have had many times while living in New York. Ever since ditching my job in the Financial sector on Bay Street (Canada's version of Wall Street) and moving here to study the history of American music, I have been asked, and pondered myself, a million times what I was thinking. Like most graduate students pursuing arbitrary arts degrees, I quickly grew annoyed with the doubt and pity others have for those of us who have decided to forego a life in a cubicle in exchange for pursuing something desirous. Sadly, after two years of grad school and tens of thousands of dollars of debt, I wonder if the skepticism and pessimism directed my way was that unfair or inaccurate after all?

Fact: The amount of money Americans owe on student loans recently exceeded the nation's credit card debt. That's a tough pill to swallow, especially for those currently in or about to enter school. However, that cold, hard fact does not necessarily mean bad things if the debt is linked to someone pursuing a career in investment banking, software development, law or medicine. Regardless of how big a student's debt may be, for many professions, some simple budgeting techniques, discipline and common sense will see such students out of debt in five to ten years, and oftentimes much less. But what about the literature graduate student? Or the ethnomusicologist, the philosopher, Latin linguist, historian, or art curator? How will he or she get out of a $100,000 a financial hole on a $23,000 per year starting salary? The truth is most of them won't, or won't at any time soon, at least.

Making the decision to go back to graduate school has become tougher these days because of the costs involved. It calls into play the very old mathematical equation simply known as 'ROI'--an equation often used to measure problems in physics and economics, but is now used in so many other forms of logic. 'ROI' stands for "return on investment" and essentially measures how much of x one will receive back for every amount of x invested. X can stand for physical energy, mental energy, capital, time, effort, or whatever metric the person wishing to determine the calculation desires. It is a reliable formula that solves a simple problem: Am I going to get out more than I put in?

Perhaps the best example of this in modern science (or maybe the most important) that will fully help you to understand the importance of this equation is found in the oil deposits that run north-south through central-west North America. Scientists and geologists are fully aware of how rich the plains of Alberta, North and South Dakota, and Montana are. Just underneath the earth's surface are billions in oil sitting there for the taking. The problem is science has not yet figured out a way to extract the oil from the earth in a method that makes feasible sense. Yes, it can be extracted, but it takes more energy (i.e. 'use of oil in machinery') and costs more than would be gained from the oil itself. In other words, the ROI yields a negative result. Drilling on the other hand, whether it is in the ocean or from the sands surrounding the Red Sea, produces an ROI of great return and therefore continues to be the most profitable and used form of extraction. If we could just figure out a way to get the oil out of the plains as cheaply as we already do on our shores, the entire central-western region of this continent could become the new Saudi Arabia.

So what does all of this have to do with education and arts degrees? Well, it's simple--and depressing. The ROI of higher education in many disciplines is nil, if not grossly negative. That being said, one has to wonder why so many people still pursue it (including myself). It is fair to surmise that formal education is losing its clout on a resume. Employers seem to be less interested in one's classroom experience and more interested in practical experience when looking to hire permanent employees. Student financial aid expert Steve Kantrowitz has this piece of advice for those swimming in the decision: "It's smart if it's enabling you to invest in your future. But if you borrow more than your expected starting salary after you graduate, you're going to struggle to pay your loans." This is an excellent metric to use as a guideline. Before going back to school, one should ask themselves, "What job market will I enter upon graduating? What is the likelihood of being hired? And what are the starting salaries and long-term opportunities?"

To push the pessimistic reality even further, it is one thing to measure the starting salary versus the anticipated debt; it is another thing to determine if there will even be a starting salary! "I can see someone borrowing perhaps $10,000 a year if they're majoring in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computer science or nursing," says Kantrowitz, the publisher of the FinAid and Fastweb websites. "But I can't see borrowing that amount of money for a degree in art, or humanities, or sociology, because the jobs just don't pay as well for those fields of study."

Justifying $50,000 spent on a master's in ethnomusicology is tough to do, especially when the careers obtainable with such a degree are limited to 1. Teaching other students of ethnomusicology, or 2. Becoming a music librarian. It is critical to note that in a majority of the cases, both jobs pay very little. If music is your dream, however, and you are miserable doing whatever else it is that you are doing, and you know you are not good enough to make it as a professional musician, then this presents the paradox: What is the price of happiness? Is it worth the interest of paying back $50,000 over twenty years? The fiscal ROI may not be even close, but including the added value of happiness in what you do may be enough to balance the equation.

If you were to take a loan out today for 50 grand and it took you 20 years to pay it back, the total cost of the loan would be close to $86,000 (assuming a 6% APR). Now, you would have to ask yourself: Is pursuing a career in something you love worth $86,000 plus the lost years of income while you were at school? Some would answer that it is and others, not a chance. One thing is for certain--the ROI, financially, is a major loss. What has to be brought into the equation is the price of happiness.

There are two schools of thought here. Two old, retired men sit at a bar sharing a couple of pints. Both worked their asses off for their entire lives selling life insurance, and both were less than eager for the profession. The one man, when asked about the fruits of his labor and the opportunity to go back in time and do it all over again offers the following: "I wouldn't change a thing. I got up every morning, worked hard, saved money, and here I am--retired, happy, and enjoying all that I have worked for. A job is a job. Americans today seem to think a job is about fun and happiness. There is no work ethic anymore. The dignity of hard labor and commitment has been lost."

The other gentleman chimes in: "I'd go back in a second, even if it cost me twice as much as $86,000. I would go right back to being a young twenty-something and risk it all to chase my dream and live a profession I'd be proud of and wasn't a job at all. There is no price tag on that. My advice is to go after it, whatever it costs, and live everyday of your life doing something you love regardless of the financial burden."

Head's Up: Some Lingo fro the Front Lines

Slang comes from everywhere. It is born in the streets where less formally educated people discover new ways to communicate in a language they can call their own. Slang is invented in cultural melting-pot urban centers as a method for communication between peoples born of different languages. Slang rises from artistic expression, popular culture iconicity, and the many sporting cultures that exist throughout the world. Slang, really does come from everywhere.

If there is one common denominator to be pulled from each of the examples provided above it is this - esotericism. Finding a new way to express or refer to a particular thing and to a particular small group of people creates the feeling of belongingness, or perhaps taking it even a little further--exclusivity. The ability to speak in a tongue that is only understood by people one considers his or her peers is an intentional exercise in boasting membership. A great example of this is found in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. When the young, raw, and terrified Corporal Upham is forced to join a crew of soldiers deep into retreating enemy territory for a special operation, his status as a "non-member" is quickly established and vocalized:

"Brotherhood? What do ya know about brotherhood? Get a load o' this guy." (The other soldiers laugh)....

Private Reiben: "Even if you think the mission is Fubar, sir?"

Captain Miller: "Especially if you think the mission's Fubar."

Corporal Upham: "What's Fubar?"

Private Mellish: "Uh, it's German."

Corporal Upham: "Hm. I never heard of that."

Of course, it is obvious to the rest of the small outfit, and most keen viewers, that the word is not German at all, but instead holds a definition that one has to earn. After a few further references to the acronymic term, and Upham's realization that he stands on the outside of his admired "brotherhood," Corporal Upham finally receives the rite, and the inside language is bestowed upon him.

Nothing exists in of itself until it has a language. The loyalty and brotherhood that forms during a time of war is something that I can say I am fortunate enough to have never fully grasped; and let me hope I don't ever have to. It is clear that a certain amount of respect was attached to specific language, words, acronyms, and phrases. But when these terms come to be a part of our conventional language at home, have we somehow cheapened the institution from which they were born? The truth is, I don't know, because I have never been a soldier and therefore cannot relate to any emotions arisen when I hear a businessmen relate to cold calls as front lines; when I hear a repair man say he spent the day in the trenches, or when a rapper tells me to listen up as he prepares to drop bombs on me.

Much of our vocabulary was born in the military. Mark Peters of the online journal Psychology Today lists the benefits of such age-old practice. "Wars always generate new slang, which serves crucial psychological functions for soldiers. Among the benefits: Lightening the mood; Establishing identity; Connecting with home; Venting frustration; and dehumanizing the enemy."[1]

I spent this past Memorial Day Weekend in New York City, where I live, and for those readers who are unaware, it is a weekend in which our city is completely overrun by Marines, Naval Officers, and many other members of the U.S. Armed Forces. For any of the young men and women I spoke to, they were kind and courteous, as if their duties of respect stretch far beyond the bridges of their battleships. When eavesdropping on conversations between themselves at restaurants, bars, or just the sidewalk as I prepared to write this piece, I was never surprised to not-hear anything I couldn't recognize as their own language. The speed at which slang is appropriated because of social media has removed that rite of passage, a la "Fubar," that once tied itself to the lexicon of war.

Happy Birthday Ole Boy

Today is Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday. There is enough being written about this all over the Interwebs machines from Fiji to Greenland for me to add anything of historical value. For example, a professor of mine at Columbia added his thoughts on Dylan's pubescent turn-around as a 14 year old in Hibbing, Minnesota to the New York Times--an interesting op-ed twist to the mainstream birthday wishes. Click HERE to read more.

Rolling Stone Magazine has dedicated their entire current issue to Dylan turning 70 by listing "the top 70 Dylan songs" (a list I reviewed, and one I think they have made some pretty strange suggestions on). For all things RSM-Dylan, click HERE.

There is nothing really more to be said about this. In a recent letter to his fans and the media, Bob Dylan chastised people like me who focus all their energies on trying to unlock some magic truth behind the man in a sneering sarcasm that only he can pull off so perfectly.

"Everybody knows by now that there's a gazillion books on me either out or coming out in the near future. So I'm encouraging anybody who's ever met me, heard me or even seen me, to get in on the action and scribble their own book. You never know, somebody might have a great book in them."

I'm back. Here's to the city that puts the syrup on my flapjacks

It's been a while, I know.

Months getting through phase one of the Washington project, completing my thesis, and graduating, and I am happy to say I have come out alive.

More to come, but until I get to the writing--enjoy this little video that says it all about this great city.

Gotta love New York...