If you were one of those folks wondering who would plunk down $15 for Radiohead's "In Rainbows" when, in effect, the music could be acquired legally for nothing, look no further.
I did it. I bought the record, for a number of reasons.
First off, I saw it in the store, I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket (as they always seem to do) and since I had acquired the album box last week, not having a hard copy of "In Rainbows" seemed, well, like an omission.
Second, I've always been a record geek and I like a CD I can hold in my hands. I like to look at the artwork, read the credits. So, despite the fact that I'm at least a vaguely technologically up to date person, a burned copy of a CD feels like a Xeroxed copy of a book. Sure, the words are there, but something's still missing.
And part two of "second," I have a huge pile of CDRs, CDs of backed-up computer stuff, discs of photos, etc. that is impossible to deal with. I've found no good way to organize them and the result is that if I have a burned copy of anything, it's almost guaranteed to get fewer spins because I likely will only rarely stumble across it (and then it won't have a list of the songs, etc.).
Anyway, why should anyone have to justify paying a fair price for a good record? I paid $11.99 for what many will agree is one of the best records to emerge in 2007. And on top of that, Radiohead decided to try something new with "In Rainbows" in terms of selling digital downloads, helping to keep the discussion of this new technology going strong.
Since the band basically released the record itself, it probably gets a lot more of that $11.99 than it would have in the past and that's great. They deserve it. I hope it's enough for one of them to get a pint at that bar in Oxford they love so much.
Cheers, boys, keep up the good work.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
