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Carlton Bale

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music (Page 2)

INXS – Ruth Eckerd Hall – Clearwater, Florida

2006-02-25
By: Carlton Bale
In: Concerts
With: 0 Comments

My wife has been a avid INXS fan since high school. INXS and Genesis were my favorite bands then, but I didn’t have her same level of devotion. When I found out that there were going to do a reality show to find a new lead singer, I was excited. When my wife found out, she was ecstatic. Fast-forward a few months and we’re in Florida and the show is about to being. Nicole is hoping the the show will measure up to previous show from she’d seen in the 80s and 90s. I’m hoping they don’t sound like a cover band of album-version tuner.Read More →

O.A.R. – Bloomington IU Auditorium (2006-02-20)

2006-02-20
By: Carlton Bale
In: Concerts
With: 0 Comments

Seats: Row 1, Section B, Seats 107 and 108 Attend with: Nicole Setlist: link (O.A.R. Setlist Archive) I was first introduced to O.A.R. at the 2004-06-20 concert in Noblesville, IN where they opened for Dave Matthews Band. Although I thoroughly enjoyed DMB, it blended into the many others shows I’d attended; what made the impression was the opening act. I’ve since purchased several O.A.R. albums and finally tonight, saw them perform live again. I’m very impressed with how the band has grown, matured, and blended over the past year-and-a-half. Lead singer Marc Roberge retains the same crackling and raspy voice, but has improved dramatically inRead More →

FLAC Music playback in Windows Media Center

2006-01-16
By: Carlton Bale
In: Home Theater
With: 27 Comments

Update 2010-Jan-21: For playback of FLAC in Windows 7, use either the xiph.org Directshow Filters or the Shark007 Codec Pack. The Lossless Audio Blog is reporting that FLAC lossless audio files can now be played in Windows Media Center 2005.  This is great news, because every music player I own now supports FLAC, the format I use to encode all of my music files.  So I can listen to my FLAC music files at my PC using dbPowerAmp or one of many players, around the house on my Sonos, in my car with my PhatNoise PhatBox, and now in my home theater with Windows MediaRead More →

Diesel Brothers

2005-11-09
By: Carlton Bale
In: Concerts
With: 0 Comments

Nicole and I went to see the Diesel Brothers last night at Wild Wing Cafe in Mt. Pleasant, NC. We were looking for something fun to do on a Wednesday night during our vacation, and these guys were just what we were looking for. We were pretty lucky, because there is not that much live music around Isle of Palms during the week, off-season. We were lucky to find such a talented duo. Lot’s of interesting covers and they have a CD of originals as well. Their talents go beyond playing well. They can play well while thoroughly intoxicated. True professionals of the late nightRead More →

Created guide for bit-perfect lossless CD audio extraction

2005-11-05
By: Carlton Bale
In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

After working on it for several weeks, I finally finished my guide for audiophile-quality extraction of music from CDs. To get the best possible audio quality, it is necessary to have bit-perfect extraction from the CD (with no unnecessary error correction trying to reconstruct misreads due to CD drive offset). Then, the perfectly-extracted audio should be compressed using a lossless format to maintain the original quality. The guide shows how to use setup and use some free programs to do this: EAC, FLAC, and AccurateRip. To be honest, I’m not positive I could identify the difference between a “regular” extraction and a bit-perfect extraction, andRead More →

Music in my car. . .

2005-10-19
By: Carlton Bale
In: Automotive, Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

I finally took the first step in getting my music collection back into my car. I used to listen to CD’s all the time when I had my Pioneer 6-disc changer and a bunch of cartridges. However, after my headunit when bad, I had no changer and starting listening more to the radio. Today, I ordered a PhatNoise PhatBox for my Infiniti. If all goes well, I’ll probably get one for my other vehicles as well. I was seriously considering the Omnifi devices (with openfi add-on) because of WiFi synchronization, but decided on the PhatBox because of FLAC support, OEM headunit interface, and voice promptsRead More →

Hootie & the Blowfish Covers List

2005-10-09
By: Carlton Bale
In: Concerts
With: 11 Comments

I love learning how musicians are influenced by each other. One interesting display of this is which songs certain artists choose to cover in live and/or album performances. In going through some live recordings today, I found that Hootie and the Blowfish have covered quite a few artists from a surprisingly diverse spectrum. I knew about the covers on their album “Scattered, Smothered, and Covered”, but that’s just a portion. What got me started with seeing them in concert a last month and hearing a several songs but not being able to place the original artist. Below is a list of every cover song I’veRead More →

Hootie & the Blowfish – Military Park – Indianapolis (2005-09-04)

2005-09-04
By: Carlton Bale
In: Concerts
With: 0 Comments

Wow! I’ve always liked Hootie & the Blowfish, since I first heard them around 1994. At least 3 times since then, I’d considered going to one of their concerts, but never did. Today, finally, I did. I was expecting a great concert. It was, but it was better than that — it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. I liked the new material, loved the older material, and enjoyed the covers. The band was full of energy and the songs had grown and matured from their album versions. With between 6 and 8 people on stage, the layers of sound and avenuesRead More →

Here Come the Mummies – The Patio – Indianapolis (2005-09-03)

2005-09-03
By: Carlton Bale
In: Concerts
With: 1 Comment

I attended my second Here Come the Mummies show at The Patio in Broadripple. These guys are so much fun. In the past year, the songs have grown into “live performances” rather than “songs from an album”. My favorite song of the night was definitely Ra Ra Ra; the percussion break and solos were much better than any other version I’d heard. My other favorites from their first album (Terrifying Funk From Beyond The Grave) were Believe (in Things You Cannot See), which started the show with mummy march cadence into the building and on to the stage, and Strange. Songs from their second albumRead More →

Dave Matthews Band – Verizon Wireless Music Center – Indianapolis – Noblesville (2005-06-13)

2005-06-13
By: Carlton Bale
In: Concerts
With: 0 Comments

A new album and re-found energy. Dave Matthews Band seems refreshed. As always, Grey Street was fantastic. Smooth Rider was a bit boring. You Might Die Trying is an awesome live song that sounds similar to live version some under-appreciated songs from the Everyday album. Louisiana Bayou sounds like one of the few songs from the new album that has long-term live show/fan appreciation potential; Robert Randolph owned this song. All Along the Watchtower as the finale – classic Dave Matthews Band closer. Setlist: Dave Matthews Band June 13, 2005 Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN American Baby G1 The Stone G1 Best of What’sRead More →

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