50,000 views = proud papa

I regularly remind myself that I'm blessed to have three beautiful, intelligent and funny women in my life: my wife and two daughters. They inspire me, keep me grounded, and otherwise make me proud.

I was reminded of that when I saw that a video my oldest daughter Allie co-created with her seventh-grade Fruitvale Junior High classmate Ali Castellanos had surpassed 50,000 views on YouTube. Amid millions of videos on the site, that's an amazing accomplishment.

Their "Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired" video, a 10-minute look at the life of civil-rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, was created as part of the 2007 National History Day competition.  They conducted a variety of phone interviews for the shoot, including celebrated politicians John Lewis and Andrew Young.

The message of the video is powerful enough, but even after dozens of viewings I get teary-eyed knowing it was created by two seventh-grade amateurs using ancient school multimedia technology.

And with more than 50,000 views, 70 positive ratings and more than 40 appreciative comments, it's wonderful to know others feel the same way.

Erasing audio history

Updated on Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 10:43 PM by Logan Molen

I'm reading a terrific book called "Perfecting Sound Forever" by Greg Milner that chronicles the history of recorded audio. So far I've learned about Edison and others who invented recording cylinders and discs, and A great book on the history of recorded soundhow the Lomaxes traveled across the South, using crude equipment to record raw versions of traditional folk and blues songs by performers that include the now legendary Leadbelly. Without those so-called field recordings, there'd be a critical hole in the audio history of the 20th century. And frankly, without some of those recordings, we might not have The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, even Elvis, all of whose early songs paid great homage to blues and R&B.

The topic of audio quality might sound boring, but it's not. Really, particularly in an age of digital song files and podcasts.

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Is the 8-track making a comeback?

Cheap Trick is getting great buzz for releasing its new album "The Latest" on 8-track (as well as other formats).

$30 will get you Cheap Trick's new album in the 8-track format

$30 will get you the pleasure of hearing what really is a very good album (yes, I'm a  Cheap Trick geek, but "Latest" really is their best in a long time) in a format known for crappy sound quality and the ridiculous switching of tracks, sometimes midsong.

Yeah, the 8-track version is a publicity trick. But is there more to it? Yep, if you believe the July 17 edition of Soundcheck, in which a caller suggests that 8-tracks are making a comeback because nostalgic classic car owners want their models to reflect the 1970s experience. The caller adds that 8-tracks are a hot item on eBay.

Time will tell whether Cheap Trick sells more than a few 8-tracks or whether more artists follow suit but given the hullabaloo over the retro feel of the new Camaro, I could see middle-aged car nuts wanting to relive the past and shelling out the dough to ensure there's some new tunes amid an 8-track mix more likely to be dominated by Zeppelin, Sabbath and Grand Funk.