music, culture, discourse, new media
Posts tagged boston
Part 4: We’re the Best of Friends
Nov 15th
A few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation amongst friends in the dark corner of a Chinatown Bar.
Of all things one could discuss on a Saturday night at 1a.m. we got to chatting about, well, chatting. Specifically, on voicemail, e-mail, IM, SMS, FB and Twitter.
Leave it to the nerds.
As biggest nerd ever, I thought more about this over the course of the next few days.
While the aforementioned mediums make it easier to communicate, while we participate we’re sacrificing the human experience and encouraging alienation from others.
My friends know that I generally dislike voicemail. It’s rare that I leave them and admittedly barely listen to them.
They’re like an awkwardly scripted one-way time capsule from the past. Why not leave the same message in real time – circa now?
In 1995 I signed up for my first email address. In the interest of self-disclosure for the sake of this story I (gulp) became semi-addicted to AOL chat rooms.
This was back in the day when we were all on dial-up – and paid for internet by the hour.
Like most people, I was beyond intrigued with the notion of chatting in real time with anyone from anywhere in the world. For a angst-ridden teenage girl growing up in the midwestern suburbs it was my portal.
Ironically enough, I quickly became friends with someone who happened to live nearby. We immediately bonded over our mutual obsession of music, media, the arts, and local underground parties (ok fine, “raves”).
There were no rules. We’d chat anytime of day or night when both of us happened to be online. There was no limit to the range of topics we’d discuss.
Over time, our lives became closer and he felt like a real friend.
One year we briefly met in person by total accident. We chatted for a few awkward moments until my friend pulled me away. “Who is that guy?” She asked.
She didn’t even have an e-mail address at that point so maybe she wouldn’t understand…or would she? I tried to explain.
“Ok, anyway…”, she replied. “Wanna get some frozen yogurt?”
When I moved away to college our friendship continued.
He’d give me feedback on various art projects and tips for acclimating to a newly vegan diet. I’d give him girl advice and let him know what I thought of his latest remix. We’d crack jokes, share URLs and pontificate the meaning of life years later as I procrastinated writing those 30 page papers in grad school.
He moved to Los Angeles, I moved to Boston.
We became friends on MySpace, then Friendster, then Facebook.
I moved to Los Angeles.
We slowly became friends In Real Life. Bonded by our mutual common interests, I’ve found myself on more than one occasion chatting with him poolside at the Roosevelt Hotel or under the skylights at LA hotspot Bardot.
My male companions give him the hairy eye wondering who the dude is I’m chatting conspiratorially alongside.
15 years later, we still communicate on IM. Now, we also communicate via SMS and e-mail too.
And sometimes, we’ll even drop the other a Voicemail.
Are our lives intertwined? Somewhat.
Will we ever connect on a deep and meaningful level? Probably not.
As part of different spheres, our interests overlap on a social level only.
Yet for someone I’ve hung out with for maybe an hour total in person, he probably knows more about me than anyone.
Communicating on IM can build a form of friendship. We’re missing the part that hanging in person brings – the adventures, atmosphere, lingering conversations, observations, body language. These things bring meaning to a surface-level friendship and make it come alive.
Can a real friendship be fostered online then, when all we have is type?
Leave your comments by clicking on “comments” at the top of this post.
dancey No. 1
Oct 27th
I’ve been a fan of electronic music as far back as I can remember. When I moved to Boston and especially LA, I started going to more shows and listening to all kinds of music. It really opened my mind to different styles and genres.
I had already been DJ’ing electronic music (mostly tech-house and electro) and began incorporating sounds from the rock, soul, funk, disco, hip-hop, and indie arenas into my sets.
Now that I program online radio stations, that knowledge has come in handy as I work on everything under the sun from country to folk to indie to Christian rock.
This set is back to the electronic scene. I’ve always loved this genre as I have a fondness for clean, minimal production aesthetics paired with uptempo and forward-thinking sounds.
I like this mix and find it a great one to listen to when going on a run or when you generally just like something upbeat to listen to.
It took me awhile to find my grounding after making the shift from vinyl to cd’s to mp3′s. Now I’m 100% digital and have found a good rhythm so to speak in which to create. So expect more mixes from me in the near future!
Check it, share it with your friends – lemmie know what you think!
// tracklisting
Mstrkrft “Heartbreaker”
Morgan Page “Fight for You”
Metric “Sick Muse (Adam Freeland Remix)”
Florence and the Machine “You’ve Got The Love (The xx Remix)”
Beni “Fringe Element”
Duck Sauce (A-Trak & Armand Van Helden) “Anyway”
Roxy Music “Angel Eyes (Serge Santiago Dub Remix)”
Lindstrøm and Christabelle “Baby Can’t Stop (Aeroplane Remix)”
Dan Black “U + Me”
The Gossip “Love Long Distance”
Disclaimer: As this was recorded live (aka on the fly) there were no edits or re-takes – so pls pardon any gaffes! 
Twitter, Facebook, and Fox News, Oh My. (or, how I was seduced by the internet on election night)
Nov 7th
Taking in the presidential election results on Tuesday happened in different places in various ways. Beginning at 4pm at work we tuned the TV to CNN. NPR was on the radio. and I had npr.org and the NY Times both open on my computer.
Later on I went home to twitter the unfolding results for KCRW, the Santa Monica-based radio station where I work. I felt particularly anxious – preferring to avoid the parties and mayhem on the streets of LA to enjoy and reflect upon on the outcome at home. But I didn’t feel alone, and I wasn’t.
I twittered as the results came in and people responded with comments like “Ooh. I like this show. One of my faves. Thanks.” and “Spanky, Spanky, Spanky, Ms Dole. Naughty campaign.” Twitter allowed for real-time conversation fostered among strangers and among friends. On Facebook, friends’ status messages lit up with their reactions and observations. My cell phone rang with calls from friends and family from Ohio and Los Angeles. It bleeped with incoming text messages from Paris, Boston, San Fran, and Columbus, OH. I excitedly chatted with friends on IM.
CNN’s live video feed was broadcasting in one window and Twitter’s election page was running in another. The NYTimes election module, San Fran Chronicle, and Current TV’s election coverage were open in other tabs. NPR was blasting through the apartment (and a few of my neighbors). When the final results were announced, people were dancing, shouting and hollering with joy in the streets on the sleepy block in the beach town of Santa Monica where I live.
I think back to how this relates to the last election. Sites like Twitter, FB, and Current TV were still babies – if they had even been born yet. The technology required to build nimble news modules was not nearly as evolved.
The ability to communicate with others with lightning speed and accuracy was nothing like it is now. The very way we communicate with one another has totally evolved. As Seth Godin recently said, “The transformation of communication is real, it’s permanent and it’s more powerful than most of us notice”.
The last administration was a secretive club that could easily manipulate voters perceptions. We’re entering a new era where we’re constantly being informed and always plugged-in, whether we like it or not.
The internet has finally become a forum for public discourse. I can quickly and easily express who I am voting for and why. I’m not going to try to convince you to do anything – just give you reasons why I think the way I do. And because we think in a similar way, maybe you’ll be open to what I say compared to, oh I don’t know, Fox News. When election time rolls around, being from Ohio becomes especially important to me. I grew up knowing lots of people (including myself at one point) who can be easily swayed by what they hear in their sheltered communities at church or around the dinner table. It’s a self-perpetuating mechanism with no incoming feed from the outside world.
Not anymore.
