Let's update

Well, I must apologize for being lax updating this here blog. You see, I took half of Tuesday off to play in a charity poker tournament and the loss of those four hours has made this a miserable week for me.

But enough of that fun, let's talk about what's gone down since last week. One thing that didn't happen? No good CDs came out Tuesday.

Well, let me amend that: You won't ever catch me listening to My Chemical Romance on my own time, but, of course, I had to for work, and the band's new record, "The Black Parade," is a three-and-a-half-star album. It really is good. Let's just say it's not my kind of record, though.

One depressing thing announced this week is the liquidation of Tower Records. Now, I know Tower sold a bunch of overpriced CDs, but there was nothing like going into its huge stores and browsing through rack after rack of CDs. The Boston store was one of my favorite places as a kid. I used to look forward to taking the T in and looking around.

So no more Tower Records stores, for the most part. What does that mean? Well, it means CDs may actually be on the way out and that scares me. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to be melodramatic. There will always be music and kids and adults will always buy it. But what about the album as a whole, as a cohesive artistic statement? And let's not even talk about indie labels, that generate 5-6% of their sales from Tower.

I love my iPod, but as time goes by, with more and more people legally and illegally downloading music, we start moving toward a song-oriented world, not an album-driven one. I used to love having the liner notes out while listening to a disc, going over the lyrics and reading the thank-you section. A lot of new records won't have that luxury.

Sure, labels will still make CDs, but they'll probably get more expensive and harder to get, very similar to vinyl now. It all makes me sad.

On a happier note, go check out The Mountain Movers at Cafe Nine tonight. The local band releases its new CD, and let's just say it's pretty damn amazing.