Macgirl Media Pick of the Week: Holiday Picks: A Very Special Christmas

A Very Special Christmas was created as a charity fundraiser for the Special Oylmpics in 1987. It features such heavyweights as U2 (Christmas(Baby, Please Come Home)) and Run DMC (Christmas in Hollis).  There have been five sequals to this gem, but the first is by far the best.

I can remember listening to this album (on a shiney new CD!) in the late 80's and feeling so cool.  Maybe I was cool because all 12-year-olds think they are sooo cool.  Or maybe, it was the cool music.  This is still the best Christmas album created during my lifetime.  The songs still hold up, I still get weepy listening to Stevie Nicks singing Silent Night, and I still feel cool listening to it.  Well, about as cool as a 12 year old can feel...

If you don't own this album, definately check it out.  Here's a link to it on iTunes, or you can order the CD from Amazon here.  Or, ask your big brother or sister to borrow it.  I'm SURE they still have a copy...I still have mine!

Macgirl's Media pick of the Week - U2 360!

The stage, pre-showThis week I'm giving a shout-out to a concert.  The current U2 stadium tour, U2 360, is a fantastic spectacle and a great example of using technology for art.  First, the obvious-the music was good.  If you are even remotely interested in U2, you will enjoy the playlist.  The amplification in the area we visited (the soon-to-be defunct Giants Stadium) was great; they sounded wonderful, and the instruments were highlighted without being over-blown.

The stage was a huge spidery-looking structure at the far end of the stadium.  It is supported on 4 legs, and open all around.  I was surprised that it was not in the center of the stadium, being the 360 tour, but it was still fairly accessible for everyone in the stadium.  The technicians and directors did an amazing job, effectively creating a high-quality concert video on the fly, using another part of the set- a huge circular/conical screen hovering above the band.  Some of the best moments of the show were captured on this huge screen.  The production of the show seen on the screen was fast-paced and entertaining.  The constant switching and careful coordination was really impressive; I was envious of the talented video crew in the production booth.  They also incorporated color and lights throughout the show, on par with some of the most dazzling Disney shows I've seen. 

mid-show, taken with iPhone

If you go, be sure to take note of the massive coordinated effort behind the scenes to make it all work.  It will make you appreciate the show all the more.

If you can't make it, re-live some of their greatest hits on iTunes: U2 The Best of 1980-1990

I had a chance to make a panorama before the show, using an iPhone 3GS with the app "Pano".  It worked very well, considering the size of the venue and the camera quality of the phone:

Where's the Love, Bono?

Our friends from atu2.com just got the scoop on the new U2 / RIM Blackberry collaboration. Blackberry will soon be introducing something called the U2 Mobile Album. The application will let fans get the latest tour news, listen to music, watch video and share photos.

You may remember Bono stating they switched to RIM due to Apple's unwillingness to grant them "access to their labs and people." Well despite being huge U2 fans, we're just not buying that. This Blackberry app doesn't appear to do anything more than what Trent Reznor is offering with his NIN app available on iTunes right now. We think U2 was looking for a tour sponsor and Apple was unwilling to part with the money, and now fans are stuck using a boring Blackberry instead of a sexy iPhone 3GS.

Bono, next time leave the technology decisions to The Edge.

U2 and Revenge of the Apple Mac

We believe this is how the story goes, but our memory is a little fuzzy....

It's 1996 and U2 are in the middle of recording what would eventually become their POP album. It's 1996 and the the internet is still an unknown place for many of us and certainly for U2. They have no website or real web presence, but they do have a web cam on the Island Records site that posts images from inside their studio. At some point the web cam gets pointed at a whiteboard on which someone has scribbled song titles. Amongst titles such as "Miami" and "Discotheque" are the words "Revenge of the Apple Mac." The POP album is released in 1997 with no such Apple inspired song.

Fast forward 12 years. The bands latest, No Line on the Horizon is about to be released. It includes the track "Unknown Caller." The Edge tells Rolling Stone Magazine " The idea is that the narrator is in an altered state, and his phone starts talking to him." But we would describe it as a snythny, heavily Brian Eno inspired tune with an 80's vibe that includes the chants "Force quit and move to trash" and "Restart and re-boot yourself" and "Password, you enter here, right now" Is it possible that this tune includes pieces of the long lost "Revenge of the Apple Mac?" Sure Bono could have sang control, alt, delete and move to recycle bin, but he didn't!

We're probably making a connect between two songs that doesn't really exist, but either way we are loving the album so far. Don't be swayed by the mediocre "Get on Your Boots" single. This is U2's most ambitious and experimental album since Zooropa and it deserves a listen. It's available on iTunes March 3rd.