Yesterday, Natalie pointed out a typo on my website. “Oh!” I said. Without leaving my chair, I picked up my phone, opened the WordPress app, and fixed the mistake. In 10 seconds, it was instantly updated. I then gasped, “Whoa, the Internet is like so fast now!”
Fact: Natalie already made fun of me for that astute observation.
Now, I recognize reminiscing about dial-up Internet and AOL is going to be my generation’s version of “When I was your age, I had to walk to school in the snow up mountains without shoes!” But seriously, yesterday, I was reminded how good we really have it technology-wise.
I’ll admit it: I’m still impressed with the speed of our digital world. In my defense, I was using a typewriter to complete essays for school 15 years ago. I can still remember the feeling of anxiety while typing with two fingers. One mistake and I’d be fighting with whiteout, ignoring my dad’s observation: “Face it, Mike, you have to type that essay again.”
Fact: The first time I said the “f” word in front of my parents was because of the typewriter.
Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat cites Windows 95, the World Wide Web, and Netscape as influential in changing–flattening–our world. I know Friedman’s right, but when I first saw AOL at my friend’s house, my initial reaction was, “Wow, this is really slow. Let’s go play Mario Kart.”
Using the Internet in 95 was like watching a turtle cross the road. I would have rather played Frogger. Remember the dial up noise from the modem? I bet you’ve forgotten how common it was to get knocked off line. We complain about our cell phone coverage now-a-days, but fifteen years ago teenage boys waited twenty minutes to download a 1000KB JEPG of Alicia Silverstone.
Fact: My parents claim Kurt Cobain ruined their son, but it was actually Aerosmith’s music videos.
And let’s not forget the worst part of the dial-up Internet era: Parents yelling at us for tying up the phone line! My mother’s first experience with the Internet was picking up the phone and hearing a harsh dissonance. Or maybe it was hearing the dial-up modem late at night when she was trying to sleep.
Fact: My mother hated the Internet in the 90s.
When I was in high school, I couldn’t stop complaining like a toddler how the Internet was slow. Now I’m 29 and can’t stop commenting like a senior citizen how fast the world has gotten.
No really! It’s so fast! I can stream a gig live using UStream; I can record and upload a video in HD to Youtube; I can record a demo of a song and publish it Facebook; I can write this blog. All on my fricking cell phone!
I’m not sure if I should be jealous or thankful that my teenage self didn’t have this power.
Here’s a trail of technology working today that encouraged me to buy “new” music:
However, I read Jeremy’s bio on iTunes: “Jeremy Fisher ignited a massive amount of interest with his homemade Youtube video for ‘Cigarette…'” Oh yeah! I remember stumbling upon that video two years ago!
And now technology will promote the song further:http://www.myspace.com/jeremyfisher & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8hOPs0g2nk
I’ll be appearing on Les Zaldor’s Bounce Radio show Monday, August 2!
Zaldor Unleashed Mondays 8p-10p ET at http://www.bounceradio.net
Burning the Boats is here! My recordings with Dan Achen and Michael Chambers at Catherine North Studios are history. Special thanks to Joe Lambert for mastering the EP, and Nick Skalkos and Mike Marcone for performing on the record. All songs are being streamed at www.myspace.com/mikevial.
I wrote a song on Friday last week a few hours before a gig in Grand Blanc. I was contemplating my anger at being taking for a ride on a business agreement recently, having someone take advantage of my trusting nature. I was strumming an interesting chord progression including an E minor major 7th chord (021000) to E chord (022100) change, and the first verse wrote itself:
“I might be a little too trusting
My troubles always start with a smile
My head might need some examining
‘Cos my heart always wins out but loses the trial
I attribute my tribulations
To being a hero who never could fly
I’ve never learned a lesson that’s let my heart get by…”
Three hours later and the song had taken form with a demo recorded on my iPhone. Letting one heart’s get by… Easier said then done, right?
I don’t know if you are like me, but I’ve always been the type of person who dwells on problems, rethinking the situation in my head for hours and discussing ad nauseum with close friends. Fortunately, Natalie, my girlfriend, is not only a good listener, but patient person! I need to talk in circles before clarity is found, the important themes are hard to see even if obvious. I hadn’t found that clarity of the situation until Natalie reminded me, “Mike, it’s good to be a trusting person, to be honest and expect that honesty from others. Money is simply another way humans interact and show their true colors.”
Natalie’s logical thoughts helped reenforce what I was trying to say to myself in my writing, especially in the song’s bridge:
“It’s true that the best lessons are learned
When we are young enough to earn
Some saving grace, and clean the egg off our face.”
I guess that is true lament of the song: Making mistakes is about learning from them, not dwelling over them.
- Photo credits: David Armano 2007
