Finally… I own an I-Pod. Sure, it’s an I-Pop Mini and it’s a girly blend of pink and purple, but it’s mine. Thanks to an unbelievably generous student (who was already in my book as one of the nicest kids I’ve ever known) I now have an I-Pod filled with 300+ of my favorite songs.
I decided to share it, so if you were to check my artists, you would come across Fergie, Gwen Stefani, Kellie Pickler, and a dozen or so more that are far from what I enjoy listening to. You would also find a Playlist titled “Disney.” Not hard to guess who that’s for.
I’m just so excited. I’ve spent hours already, syncing it up to my I-Tunes and getting as many of my songs as I can on there. I was really pleased o know that Nine Inch Nails is offering their new album The Slip for free online. Of course I downloaded it. It’s not as good as other albums of theirs, but hey, free music. You can get it by entering your e-mail here:
The Slip
I was also happy to find that Smashing Pumpkins (who were one of the first rock bands to offer an entire album online) still had Machina II available online. You can get it here:
Machina II
I think maybe I’m obsessed. I already have 433 songs on there and I still have more to go. I’m ripping some MP3s from CDs I have and putting them on, also. The CDs are just taking up space in my car.
If anyone knows of some other artists who offer MP3s of their music online, just let me know. I know Josh Ritter, an amazing songwriter comparable to Bob Dylan, has a few free MP3s on his homepage, as well:
Josh Ritter Music
Until later — “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”
In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell writes about “Connectors,” people who are responsible for spreading “social epidemics” to others. He has a test in the book that lists 250 surnames taken at random from the Manhattan phone book. The task is to go down the list and give yourself a point every time you see a surname that is shared by someone you know. Here is the list:
Algazi, Alvarez, Alpern, Ametrano, Andrews, Aran, Arnstein, Ashford, Bailey Ballout, Bamberger, Baptista, Barr, Barrows, Baskerville, Bassiri, Bell, Bokgese, Brandao, Bravo, Brooke, Brightman, Billy, Blau, Bohen, Bohn, Borsuk, Brendle, Butler, Calle, Cantwell, Carrell, Chinlund, Cirker, Cohen, Collas, Couch, Callegher, Calcaterra, Cook, Carey, Cassell, Chen, Chung, Clarke, Cohn, Carton, Crowley, Curbelo, Dellamanna, Diaz, Dirar, Duncan, Dagostino, Delakas, Dillon, Donaghey, Daly, Dawson, Edery, Ellis, Elliott, Eastman, Easton, Famous, Fermin, Fialco, Finklestein, Farber, Falkin, Feinman, Friedman, Gardner, Gelpi, Glascock, Grandfield, Greenbaum Greenwood, Gruber, Garil, Goff, Gladwell, Greenup, Gannon, Ganshaw, Garcia, Gennis, Gerard, Gericke, Gilbert, Glassman, Glazer, Gomendio, Gonzalez, Greenstein, Guglielmo, Gurman, Haberkorn, Hoskins, Hussein, Hamm, Hardwick, Harrell, Hauptman, Hawkins, Henderson, Hayman, Hibara, Hehmann, Herbst, Hedges, Hogan, Hoffman, Horowitz, Hsu, Huber, Ikiz, Jaroschy, Johann, Jacobs, Jara, Johnson, Kassel, Keegan, Kuroda, Kavanau, Keller, Kevill, Kiew, Kimbrough, Kline, Kossoff, Kotzitzky, Kahn, Kiesler, Kosser, Korte, Leibowitz, Lin, Liu, Lowrance, Lundh, Laux, Leifer, Leung, Levine, Leiw, Lockwood, Logrono, Lohnes, Lowet, Laber, Leonardi, Marten, McLean, Michaels, Miranda, Moy, Marin, Muir, Murphy, Marodon, Matos, Mendoza, Muraki, Neck, Needham, Noboa, Null, O’Flynn, O’Neill, Orlowski, Perkins, Pieper, Pierre, Pons, Pruska, Paulino, Popper, Potter, Purpura, Palma, Perez, Portocarrero, Punwasi, Rader, Rankin, Ray, Reyes, Richardson, Ritter, Roos, Rose, Rosenfeld, Roth, Rutherford, Rustin, Ramos, Regan, Reisman, Renkert, Roberts, Rowan, Rene, Rosario, Rothbart, Saperstein, Schoenbrod, Schwed, Sears, Statosky, Sutphen, Sheehy, Silverton, Silverman, Silverstein, Sklar, Slotkin, Speros, Stollman, Sadowski, Schles, Shapiro, Sigdel, Snow, Spencer, Steinkol, Stewart, Stires, Stopnik, Stonehill, Tayss, Tilney, Temple, Torfield, Townsend, Trimpin, Turchin, Villa, Vasillov, Voda, Waring, Weber, Weinstein, Wang, Wegimont, Weed, Weishaus.
When I took this test, I scored a 72. Gladwell says that “the first–and most obvious–criterion is that Connectors know lots of people.” One of my close high school friends used to joke that I know everyone because whenever we were out, I would see four or five people or more that I knew. There was a running joke that if I went to a different state, I would still see someone I know.
I never took this joke seriously until a few years ago my wife and I were at King’s Island and I bumped into a lady I used to teach with. The next summer, I was in line for a ride at Cedar Point and realized I was just a few people behind one of the school counselors at GW.
Wait… it gets better. The following year, I traveled to Disney World with my wife and kids. Keep in mind that Disney has four parks, each of which has hundreds if not thousands of people in attendance. We were walking through Magic Kingdom when I spotted a student of mine and her father, sitting on a bench.
Gladwell says, “Sprinkled among every walk of life, in other words, are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors.” I don’t know if I’m a connector or not, but I do know a lot of people. Gladwell also points out that most people score around 20 or less.
It isn’t hard to believe that I know a lot of people. I have worked in fast food, retail, and at the local movie theater. And as a teacher, I have approximately 125 students and I get to know many of their parents, as well. So I get the opportunity to get to know 200+ people a year. And I’m grateful for every one of them.
Try this test out and see how you score. I was thinking of trying it with a local phone book, but I don’t know if it would be as effective.
Until later– “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”
