So today, in twenty-eight States, is Juneteenth. It celebrates the day of announcement that slavery was abolished. For those unfamiliar with it, you can brush up on your history a bit over here.

I saw OneRepublic in concert a week and a half ago. Wow. I figured they would be good, but they blew me away. Even with the lead singer having to come out on crutches and not move around too much, they still put on a great show. They made me enjoy their music even more, perhaps putting them up there as one of my favorites. I’ll definitely be seeing them again next time they come to Toronto… I recommend them to anyone…

Next concert? On July 30th, I’ll be seeing Coldplay at the Air Canada Centre. Unfortunately, they are the “worst” seats I’ve had at the ACC to date, but that’s not saying much since I’ve lucked out with all of my past shows there (within the first 10 rows every time). ha. I’m about halfway back in the lower bowl (section 120). Not too bad. Either way, the place sold out in about 5 minutes, so I’m just glad to be going…

Speaking of Coldplay, has anyone picked up their new album, Viva La Vida? I’m really, really digging it… Very impressive record. It’s going to be one of my favorites of the year for sure… Pick it up if you haven’t already. You can even buy it in LP format…

Firefox 3 debuted on Tuesday and I like it a lot. It has some new features that are cool, it seems to be even more stable, and basically it reaffirms my belief that Firefox is the best web browser out there right now. You can also watch a real-time counter to see how many downloads it has received. So far it is sitting at over 11 million. Impressive.

I’m trying to decide what my next BlackBerry should be… I have the silver Pearl now and I love it, but I could do more with a more powerful unit since I have unlimited data. Out of the ones available, the only other one I’d get is the Blackberry Curve. But there is also the Blackberry Bold and Blackberry Thunder coming later this year… The Thunder doesn’t interest me too much because I don’t want a full blown touch screen phone. But I’m holding out to see what the Bold ends up looking like, because right now I think it may end up being my replacement…

I finally got around to putting my entire Beatles collection onto my computer and, in turn, my iPod yesterday. ha. It took quite a while…. Twenty albums later (three of which are double discs)…

Anyway, off to work… The two days off were definitely nice but it is time to head back, unfortunately…

So Mute Math is in the studio working on their next album… I’m very excited. I have a feeling this next album is going to be a big one for them.

As they record in the “studio” (it’s more like equipment simply set up inside a house), they are updating their YouTube account with vlogs. Check it out here.

In other news, U2 is also in the studio and apparently their upcoming release is a lot more artsy than their last couple of records. According to Daniel Lanois, it’s just about done. Here’s a quote he recently said in a newspaper in Europe:

… Again the content is very much driven by the aspirations and dreams people have. At the core it is the same U2 but the tones and textures sometimes take a slight different turn sonically to provide a slant on the song and a complexity that listeners will keep coming back to. That’s what we as human beings appreciate in art, the hidden corners that reveal themselves over time.

Complexity that listeners keep coming back to? Hidden corners that reveal themselves over time? I’m pumped already. Sounds like it could be one of their best ones in a while…

Both Mute Math and U2 are hoping for albums around the September time frame.

I’m such a sucker for pop music… Right now my addiction is Maroon 5’s new single. They re-recorded If I Never See Your Face Again with Rihanna… So infectious. It replaced Madonna’s 4 Minutes, which features Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. Of course, that’s not to say I only listen to pop tracks. I’ll usually listen to them in between other stuff, including classics like The Beatles or REM. Still, I can’t help but listen to the catchy mainstream stuff… It’s like a drug.

So I went to Ottawa for a few days last week for business… It was pretty crazy, but fun. Microsoft gave everyone in attendance (250-300 people maybe?) a Microsoft Zune, which doesn’t come to Canada until June 13th. I think it could give the iPod a run for its money… It has some really, really cool social/interactive features…

I just finished reading the book Bringing Down The House, which is what the movie 21 is based off of. It’s a true story, actually. What a fantastic book… I wish I read it earlier. I couldn’t put it down. It definitely gets my recommendation, especially if you enjoyed the movie. I really enjoyed the movie, but the book blows it out of the water. It’s pretty intense. Oh, and for those wondering, the movie comes to DVD and Blu-Ray on July 22nd. Looking forward to it…

You know summer is coming when all of your favorite TV shows are winding down… Everything is ending either this week or next week it seems. How sad… Tonight is American Idol (I’m still sticking to Cook winning) and next week is Lost. Now what am I going to do to unwind after work on Thursdays? Hmm…

Anyway, thanks for the feedback on the new layout. I’ve had a number of e-mails on top of the few comments, most of which was positive. It’s been growing on me more too… It was time for a change.

The XM and Sirius satellite radio merger may finally be coming to an end… It’s taken them long enough. Insiders are saying it looks like it may be entering the stage where the FCC is just going to push it through quickly because it’s been so long… If you are one to play with the stock market, you may want to take that as a hint. But it’s also a gamble since we don’t know for sure what is going to happen…

PC got an iPhone! ha. You have to laugh at this one…

Speaking of Apple, rumor has it they have been playing with new ideas of distributing music. First, Universal Music has approached Apple with the idea of releasing a device that contains the label’s entire catalog. Interesting. Apple has actually been trying for the past six months to negotiate with the major labels and allow a Total Music concept with the iPod. This means that you would have completely free (and legal) access to all of the major labels and their subsidiaries’ music, but the files will only work on your specific iPod device.

Coldplay has announced the name and release date of their upcoming album. It’s Viva la Vida and will street on June 17th in North America. People like to give Coldplay a hard time, but I will admit that I’m looking forward to hearing it…

So apparently Gibson is suing video game companies over patent infringement for Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Oh Gibson, I’m ashamed…

You knew it was bound to happen, but people have now proposed over Twitter… ha. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think it would have the same emotional effect. Not near as romantic. Wait, so maybe I’m not a geek after all? Score.

Oh, I just realized I still have last night’s episode of Lost to watch… Off I go…

Wow. What a crazy holiday season. Final exams for the semester took up a lot of time, then the day after I finished the last exam, I was at work essentially every single day. Oh retail, how I love thee. Things are finally beginning to die down though. I have today and tomorrow off work, which I’m strategically using to play catch up on many things I haven’t had time to do in the past month and a bit. Then on Monday it is back to school until April for semester number two…

Not a whole lot new has happened since the last update, however. It’s just been crazy busy with work. If I’m not working, I’m sleeping to get ready for the next shift. Ha. But there are a couple of minor updates…

First, the KT Tunstall concert at the end of November was amazing. I’m even more impressed with her now that I’ve seen her live. Great show and cool venue (Koolhaus in downtown Toronto)…

Secondly, I did in fact score Matchbox Twenty tickets for next month’s concert. I was able to get tenth row, center-floor seats at the Air Canada Center in Toronto (it holds about 18,000 people I believe). Crazy! So I’ll be seeing MB20 and Mute Math nice and close… Can’t wait! The concert is less than a week before my birthday too, so it’s a good birthday present to myself. Ha.

Anyway, now I’m just picking up the pieces and trying to reorganize and rethink a number of areas of my life at the moment. I think 2008 is going to start off with some changes. Nothing too major, but still changes nonetheless. I’m changing departments at work after two and a half years of the same position, I may be switching programs at college for next year, plus a few other things may see some shifts. Then there’s the whole magazine thing… Who knows what’s going to happen with that yet…

Well, that’s all for now. Nothing too exciting has surfaced other than work and lack of sleep. I should have more of an online presence again very soon though, so stay tuned.

I’ve had many e-mails from readers asking about Renown Magazine and the lack of a website currently up at RenownMagazine.com. It’s a bit of a long story, but I’ll try to sum up what’s going on…

Basically, the website was running on an unsecured back end CMS (content management system) that was outdated and prone to hackers. In order to ensure the site (and server the site is hosted on) isn’t compromised, we needed to move the website from the old CMS to a brand spanking new one. So the site has been taken down and the conversion process has started. The only downside is it is a very lengthy and tedious process that could take a week or two from now. But that’s okay… While there may be nothing up right now, it’ll be back soon enough. Thanks for the concern and support!

On a completely different note (because we all know I can’t just focus on one thing at one time after all)… Matchbox Twenty has announced their tour! I’ve been planning on going to the show all along if they happened to come to Toronto, regardless of who is opening for them. But it ends up that one of the supporting acts is just icing on the cake… Mute Math will be one of the supporting acts. Hecks yeah! So, provided I get tickets, I’ll be rocking out to both Matchbox Twenty and Mute Math on February 22nd at the Air Canada Centre… That’s my birthday week too, so I’ll consider it a present to myself. ha. Now hopefully I can get good seats…

Anyway, sorry I didn’t post about the Renown issue sooner. This past couple of weeks have been brutal at college in terms of the workload and many exams… We’re in the final stretch of the semester though. Almost there!

This is it. We’re in the final stretch… The geek in me is showing and I’m excited that we are less than a week away from the release of Apple’s new operating system, OS X Leopard! Streeting on October 26th, the new OS is doing a major overhaul and adding over 300 new features from it’s previous version. There are a number of cosmetic changes too, such as the new look for the dock. I like a lot. So much so that I pre-ordered it and Apple promises I’ll receive it by the 26th. Let’s see if they hold their end of the bargain…

You know which CD I’ve gotten into a bit lately? Timbaland’s Shock Value. I heard it prior to its release through an advanced copy, but I never really focused too heavily on it until three solid singles hit airwaves back to back: Give It To Me, The Way I Are and Apologize (my favorite). The song he recorded with Elton John is pretty cool too…

Nearly a month until the KT Tunstall concert at the Kool Haus in Toronto! Again, looking forward to that…

Apparently U2 is in the studio working on two different projects. One is with producer Rick Rubin and is expected to be their next official album. But, on top of that, they are also recording tracks with the very successful production team of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanios and many are wondering if it could be a Passengers II disc. Man, I want them now though. ha. The clips of material I’ve heard from the current studio sessions sounds fantastic… Speculation has it we may see one of them in the spring (likely the side project) with the other one releasing in the fall.

Anyway, I’m exhausted. Off to bed…

So much for trying to keep this updated… ha. It’s been a while and you know what that means: a fragmented entry to try to bring you up to speed quickly! I can smell the excitement.

- College is going well… It’s a fairly big workload with my other various jobs, but that comes with the territory. The first semester is over in two months and then I am a quarter of the way through the program. Booyah. So what would I like to do afterwards? I’m not sure yet… Eventually I wouldn’t mind ending up in California…

- I finally got around to seeing Across The Universe. Really cool movie. It was one of those movies where you aren’t quite sure what to think immediately following the movie, but as you think back more and more you realize it was really good. It is a bit of a ‘rougher’ movie though, so I wouldn’t recommend it for a young audience or the easily offended. But for the most part it should be an entertaining watch for the majority of Beatles and music fans alike. I’m considering seeing it again, actually…

- I’m going to see KT Tunstall in concert on November 22nd with my friend Krystle. Looking forward to that a lot… She’s supposed to be awesome live and I’m a pretty big fan of her music. You can bet I’ll be talking about it more as the date approaches. My ticket arrived today actually…

- I ordered a new 80GB iPod Classic and it arrived. The only thing that sucks is there is a stuck pixel on the screen. Grr. That’s what I hate about LCD screens. So I’m going to see if it goes away, otherwise I may call Apple and see what they say. I don’t know if it’s going to be more of a problem to fix if there is a custom engraving on the back or not…

- Aside from Xbox 360’s Halo 3, I think the next four to six months are the PS3’s season for new games. There are so many I want to pick up that are coming out… One of which is the new Ratchet and Clank (releasing October 30th). The free demo went online yesterday and it’s awesome. Then there is Uncharted, Simpsons (though its on the 360 too), Little Big Planet, Haze (not 100% sure on that one yet), Killzone 2, Unreal Tournament and more. I may not play games as much as I used to, but I definitely love my PS3 to play when I get the chance…

- The new seasons of Heroes and The Office are both awesome so far… Not a bad episode yet. I love Mondays and Thursdays…

- So the Canadian dollar is currently three cents higher than the American dollar. What a weird situation. It’s too bad we’re being charged more up here now for goods and services than in the States. They need to adjust that so we’re not being ripped off… Rumor has it they will early next year (after the holiday, of course).

- Speaking of rumors… Rumor is OS X.5 Leopard will be releasing on October 26th or 27th. Can’t wait!

- To the industry personnel who have asked: yes, I’m aware my bio is over a year old. Ha. But unfortunately it isn’t that high on my list of priorities right now. So unless someone would like write one for me (ha), it’ll have to be put off for longer. I should try to quickly re-do the links section though, since I barely read any of the current list anymore…

Well, I think that’s enough for now… I’ll try to update more frequently from here on out…

So for those who haven’t been following, my online magazine has had numerous updates in the past few weeks. Though many of you have probably already seen them, I thought I’d list some of the newest articles to join the ranks. To show I’m not biased, I’ll list them in alphabetical order…

Interviews:
The Cheetah Girls
Finger Eleven
The Last Goodnight
12 Stones

Reviews:
Casting Crowns - The Alter And The Door
Half Past Forever - Take A Chance On Something Beautiful
John McLaughlin - Indiana
Kelly Clarkson - My December
KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic
Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight
Thousand Foot Krutch - The Flame In All Of Us

Okay, fine, I’ll be biased for a second. The new KT Tunstall album is freaking awesome… End biased-ness…

After years of waiting and hoping that one day it would see the light of day, the time has come. U2’s PopMart: Live In Mexico City concert has finally been released onto DVD today! And yes, I bought it already. And no, I didn’t cheap out and just get the single disc version, I bought the two-disc deluxe edition.

Sure, the 90s was the controversial era of U2, but it was also my favorite. I’ve always been a big fan of Pop and PopMart in particular, even though it was rushed a little and Bono’s voice was in dire need of a break. Perhaps that is why I enjoy it so much, it’s just so raw yet also over the top at the same time. Seriously, who wouldn’t love seeing a band come out of a giant mirror ball lemon?

Do yourself a favor and pick this one up. Highlights include Bullet The Blue Sky, Last Night On Earth, Discotheque, Please and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. I really hope they do an elaborate tour like this again. The theatrics are awesome…

Gosh, thank goodness for a day off. I have so much magazine work I need to catch up on today, plus I need to go to an orientation thing for college that runs from 10am to 2pm. First things first though: I need to prep some questions for an interview I’m doing with The Last Goodnight tomorrow. If you haven’t heard of them yet, don’t worry, they are brand new and their debut is releasing on Tuesday. You may have heard their first single, Pictures of You, on the radio though as it is doing quite well. The first time I heard the song a few weeks ago, I had the feeling these guys could really take off. There is just something about their sound… It’s a very infectious pop vibe that reminds me of Maroon 5 at times, without the incredibly high vocal range.

Speaking of The Last Goodnight, we’re actually running a contest on Renown Magazine right now where the grand prize is a digital camera and copy of the new CD. It’s open to residents of the United States and Canada, so boogie on over and enter! Click here for the link. Here’s a link to their MySpace profile too if you want to check out some songs…

It’s hard to believe the vacation has arrived so quickly. As I said before, it’s our first family vacation in about fifteen years (at least), so we’re all excited. It should be a lot of fun hanging out in the House of Mouse for a week. I’m just checking out some of the extra benefits Disney gives their resort guests and I sure am impressed. They really know how to treat their guests with incredible service. Three more days….

For those new to this blog (and there are a lot of you), don’t forget to check out my other profiles around the net too:

- My Tumblr account is where I link to various interesting news articles, links, photos, videos, and so on that I find throughout the net. It’s what they call a Tumblelog and it’s nice because it doesn’t clog up space here.

- My Twitter account is something that I absolutely love. I jumped on the site a couple of months before it exploded at SxSW early this year and now tons of people use it. The question is simply “What are you doing?” and you answer it in 140 characters or less. It’s like an up to date mini-blog that you can use to tell people, well, what you’re doing and other tidbits of information. You can send in entries via web browsers, e-mail, AIM, third party apps or, my favorite, via text messages on your phone from anywhere. Really cool. People have already heard big news through twitter long before on the TV or internet (such as a big earthquake that just happened). So sign up and add me as a friend!

- Flickr is another site that I couldn’t live without. For about thirty bucks a year, you can have unlimited storage and bandwidth to host all of the pictures your heart desires for the world to see. You can then link to them easily and efficiently anywhere, such as the little banner I have on the column to the right. You can bet lots of Disney photos will be coming up afterwards.

Those are just a few of profiles on the net. You can see more of them over at ClaimID. So if you’re on these sites, add me as a friend and make sure you say you found it from my blog…

Okay, off to this orientation thing, then I need to get going on that interview…

My copy of iWork ’08 came in last week. It’s a fantastic piece of software and is definitely worth the upgrade from the previous installment. The new word processing aspect of Pages removes the need for Microsoft Word, Keynote’s brilliant transitions and effects make it arguably the best slideshow presentation software out there and the new Numbers program allows you to create incredibly professional spreadsheets in minutes. The cost for the full version? $79. Much nicer than the hundreds of dollars a Microsoft Office suite will set you back… Now I need Leopard…

I just realized that I bought the greatest hits from Bon Jovi and The Police a month or so ago and they are still sitting on my shelf, sealed in their shrink wrap and begging to be played. I need to get on that this week…

So the reason why I haven’t updated in a while is because I’ve been insanely busy working full time at work. Insert your pity here. ha. Of course, I’ve had some deadlines pop up with music industry work on top of that, which didn’t help any. The good news? Only four more shifts of work left, then I’m off to sunny Florida come Sunday morning! Man, I can’t wait. Less than six days to go… Hanging out inside Disney World for a week will be a blast (we’re staying on property), but I’m also looking forward to the flying portion. It’s fun traveling down to the States. Of course, it gets boring quick, but it’s still fun nonetheless. You can expect lots of pictures from the trip…

So Canadian Idol update… Canada sure got Greg’s elimination wrong a couple of weeks ago. Sheesh. But at least they got last week right with Tara. That was long overdue (as is Jaydee)… Now, for those keeping score, my pick of Brian Melo winning the whole thing is still in play as they enter the Top 5. I always like to choose one (or sometimes two: a boy and a girl) at the auditions level for who could win the whole thing, then see how far they go. It’s usually easy enough to choose once you hit the Top 10, but the auditions level is always a challenge. Brian was my primary choice, then for the girls I chose Carley Rae. We’ll see how things turn out… The last time I went all of the way was with Carrie Underwood, though I’m usually in the top few. ha.

I’m loving my PS3… I think I’m going to play some for an hour to unwind before heading to bed. I work the early shift tomorrow (story of my life the past couple of weeks) and then only three more shifts to go until Florida! Hooray!

So I finally got around to watching yesterday’s Apple keynote. Man, I always walk away impressed after watching their presentations… I need to pick up iWork ‘08. I was wanting to pick up iWork ‘06 but I heard the rumor about a new version launching soon, so I held off. It definitely came a lot faster than I expected. Sneaky Apple.

I’m very tempted to jump the Windows ship altogether and buy a Mac desktop. I don’t play many games, so one of the new pretty iMacs would probably do me just fine. I just need to do my website work, photo editing and video editing mainly. A Mac Pro would be very nice, but too expensive for me.

I really dig the new look of the iMacs though, especially for the keyboard. But I’m going to fight the urge and wait until Leopard launches in October at the very least. Besides, I need to cut back on my spending. But oh how I sure would love one. I’ve decided that I can say the Mac can take care of my needs… Now I just need to wait until the bank account agrees with me. Besides, it’s not like my current Windows PC is terrible as it’s only just over two years old (and thankfully not running the garbage that is known as Vista). I’m just pretty confident now that when it is time to replace it, a Mac will be taking its spot on my desk to coincide with my MacBook Pro…

So I heard a new band the other day on the XM satellite radio at work and they grabbed my attention from the other side of the store. Their name is The Last Goodnight and their debut single is called Pictures of You. I’ll attach the video below. As a sucker for pop and music scout, I’m very intrigued with their sound. The few songs I’ve heard from their upcoming album leads me to believe that they are going to be huge, provided the label puts some marketing behind them so people can actually hear the music (which they seem to be doing). The songs are catchy and addictive, they have a good social awareness (something that could be considered as “in” right now) and they seem to be pretty down to earth guys. Great formula for success. You heard the prediction here first. ha. Anyway, you may be hearing more about them from me in the future… Take that as a hint…

Well, I’m heading to bed. It was a long day today and I have an early morning tomorrow…

Oops… Sorry, things have been crazy busy. If I’m not working my butt off, I’m in meetings or am out and about…

I did a couple of phone interviews since I last updated. The first one that will be going up is an interview I did last week with Finger Eleven. Their song just went to #1 in the USA, so we talked about that as well as a bunch of other things. It was actually a really good interview. The band member I spoke to was a good guy and liked to talk. It’ll be going online soon…

I bought a Canon 430EX Speedlite flash for my Digital Rebel XTi… I did my first “shoot” today for a new business venture my dad and partners/friends are starting up. They turned out not too bad considering the lack of lighting kits. The focus had issues at times though, which is the lens’ fault. Man, I wish I had some extra money kicking around to buy a nice lens…

Apparently I’m getting a three day weekend this week. Can’t wait! I have to go into work tomorrow and then that’s it…

Anyone following Canadian Idol? It seems Canada is doing not too bad for who they choose to send home… So far the ones who have gone home have been in my top two or three choices of who should go next. There are a couple who really need to get the boot though… Yikes…

I’m really digging this new Matchbox Twenty single… I’m looking forward to the “new” disc in October. It’s a greatest hits project with six new songs, including the single How Far We’ve Come. I’m most excited about the fact that they’ll be touring to support the disc. I’m definitely going to that show.

Alright, off to play some Resistance: Fall of Man…

Okay, as promised, here is my rundown of various singles currently on the radio today. It’s been a while since I did the last one, so obviously I won’t cover all of the songs that have hit the airwaves since then.

How does it work? I just start listing off random songs on the radio in no particular order, then say a short opinion of the song. Sort of like a bunch of Tweets (side note: join Twitter already and add me as a friend!). Some will be longer, some will be shorter… That’s just the way it goes…

Let’s begin! Click the link…

Read the rest…