Extraordinary Machine

Hey there! Remember me?
Yeah, the one that tries to commit to something and then, almost always, falls through. Ok, so maybe that's not totally the case - but sometimes it sure feels like it. I honestly can't believe that January is practically over. That's just crazy! Crazy I tell you!

Ok. Enough of that. Here's something to blog about. Miss Apple.

No, not Gwyneth's baby. The all intriguing subject of baby names is another post inside of itself. I am, of course, being the music junkie that I am, talking about Fiona. Fiona Apple. Remember her? Yeah - she's kind of disappeared since her 1999 release of "When the pawn . . . " She really seemed to have it going for herself for a few years there. Following her 96' release of Tidal, she enjoyed success on titles such as "sleep to dream" and, more famously "criminal". Here's the interesting part. I remember going to the music store some time shortly after the release of Tidal - before I had even heard anything of Miss Apple. I remember noticing her CD and deciding to take a listen cause the listening booth said that she was a "hot new artist" - and I remember deciding that it wasn't for me. What in the world was I thinking?! It took a whole year and a recommendation from another friend for mine to finally give her a true listen - and I was hooked by the first track. I guess my tastes changed a lot over those months. I know they did.

Summer of 97' - Fiona toured and made a stop in downtown Salt Lake. I didn't even know about the concert until a few days before it even happened when my friend gave me his ticket. He had something else come up and was heartbroken that he couldn't attend - but he knew that I would enjoy it more than anyone else. I was excited. There was one catch though. 1 ticket - no ride. I did all I could to find a ride, but to no avail. My parents would not allow me to make the drive by myself, and I was stuck at home that night, ticket in hand, very disappointed. Such is life. Maybe someday I'll get to see her live - that is, if she can get her music through to us. Here's the problem:

The executives of Sony have shelved her latest album. It's actually been shelved for quite some time now . . . about a year, I think. The album is titled "Extraordinary Machine" - and apparently the execs have decided that it's just not selling material. Of course Fiona's thousands of fans across the globe strongly disagree, and they're doing all they can to raise a stink. I wonder if we'll ever get through. All of this just makes me wonder - if Fiona can't get through to the market, how does all of the other unoriginal homoginized "radio friendly" music get through. It just drives me nuts. Two of the tracks from extraordinary machine have leaked out onto the internet, and I can tell you that there is nothing lacking here. This is good music. Sure, it's different. "Tidal" and "When the pawn . . ." were different, and they both raked in huge amounts of money. I just wonder . . . what has the music industry come to? If Fiona wants to express herself, then let her! Sheesh.

The execs are still under a lot of pressure from the fans . . . but I really don't know if anything will work. The odd thing is that through this whole ordeal, nobody has really heard from Fiona. Maybe she herself was not happy with the album? Who knows. All I know is that we would love to hear the whole thing. It's been over 5 years now. We're ready to be fed some new music again. So - all you out there reading who have not yet given Fiona a listen . . . I highly recommend her. She's good. And now, it's definitely time for bed.

In the words of Kip: "Peace Out"

ps. - still watching 24. half way through season 3 now.