Mark McCabe's Blog

Festival on RTÉ 2XM

2010-03-28T19:46:16Z

Hey.

I've turned my efforts into audio and am now presenting a show on digital station 2XM. You can listen live online, on dab and on NTL Chorus channel 944 or else catch up here:

2010-What lies ahead...

2010-01-06T23:47:36Z

Plenty of veterans are returning to the recording studios this year. We can look forward to new music from the reclusive Sade (it's hard to believe that the ice queen of Brit soul has been a star for three decades now), the ancient genius of Leonard Cohen, a rock opera from Pete Townsend, a further collaboration between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and new music from Plant's Led Zeppelin colleague, Jimmy Page.
Now in the sixth decade of their existence, the Rolling Stones will be keeping their hat in the ring by re-releasing their greatest album, 1972's Exile on Main Street, with long-lost extra tracks.

Paul Weller remains as prolific as any youngster, returning with his 22nd studio album, the urgently titled Wake Up the Nation, which features Jam bassist Bruce Foxton.
Pick of the oldies may be 60-year-old jazz, blues and soul fusion adventurer Gil Scott-Heron, with his first release in 16 years, which promises to be as bold and original as his pioneering classic work.

Plenty of other returning stars get the new decade off on a good foot. We can look forward to the return of Hot Chip, Goldfrapp, Nick Cave's rocking side-project Grinderman, Glasvegas, Mark Ronson (following up Versions with his first set of originals), Amy Winehouse (if she can keep it together in the studio), Babyshambles (if Pete Doherty can stay out of jail), MIA (can the experimental UK rapper replicate her US success at home?), LCD Soundsystem, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, the Strokes, Eminem and Kanye West.

Later in the year we should hear new music from Britain's rock elite: Elbow, Coldplay and Radiohead. And, if Liam Gallagher is true to his word, there may even be a new album from the surviving members of Oasis. But what are they going to call themselves without big brother Noel? I propose Noasis.

Whether it proves to be a triumph or a tragedy, its sure to be interesting. Indeed, from this end of the year, 2010 has the makings of an eclectic classic.
Let the games commence...

Oh and one more thing...

2010-01-05T00:40:54Z

Go see Avatar. Don't listen to what anybody else says..go see it

This interview will get you in the mood!

And after...if you get bored, try this.......or maybe not. BTW-Asian make up Youtorials are all the rage these days.

When I was in school...

2010-01-05T00:35:47Z

We never did cool stuff like this :(

Happy New Year

2010-01-05T00:19:52Z

Well here we are - another year rolls by and another decade settles underneath us. What better a way to welcome the possibilities that may present themselves to each and every one of us, than to take a stroll hand in hand with nostalgia in the form of the legendary Dr Who theme tune. Dr Who? Well....just watch and realize how far we have come.....

Sometimes you wonder if its gone right the way back around again.

If ever there was a WTF?, this is it !

2009-10-22T22:04:38Z

WTF ?

Real Beauty >

2009-10-18T21:16:34Z

Song of the week

2009-09-28T16:34:03Z

Light Peak-You heard it here first

2009-09-27T22:08:36Z

You know the way your computer has a bunch of cables for hard drives, video cameras, music interfaces, external displays-and as always, you can never find the right cable at the right time.

Wouldn't it be great if there was just one universal cable and connector that you used for your phone, your camera, your external hard drive-Well next year, there probably will be !

Forget USB, Firewire, E-SATA and mini DV, "Light Peak" will change the way we plug and un-plug external devices to our laptops and PCs, running speeds of 10GB/s already. Hopes are to max that to 100GB/s within a few years.

It may not mean much to you now, but I guarantee that come this time next year, you'll wonder how you ever managed before!

Oh, and rumour has it that Apple has been pushing Intel to develop the technology, so hold off on buying that new MacBook for a little while yet.

Engadget reported the news first, based on "an extremely reliable source." The site said it reviewed evidence that Apple began talks with Intel in 2007 to develop a new cabling standard with the capacity to handle "massive amounts of data" and replace a variety of existing ports, including USB, FireWire, and DisplayPort.

The article said initial conversation and fleshing out of the Light Peak standard began between Steve Jobs and Intel CEO Paul Otellini. Apple expressed a need for a single port and that optical signaling made the most sense.

Apple is expected to incorporate Light Peak quickly and will use it to replace other legacy ports, much as it did with USB on the original iMac, albeit on a smaller scale. Engadget said that based on what it saw, it expects Apple to roll out the new connector on machines next fall, replacing existing ports for networking, display, and general peripheral use.

Within another year, it expects Apple to begin rolling out a low power version suitable for use in mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod touch, and a version of the tablet device Apple is expected to bring to market early next year.

Light Peak uses optical rather than electrical signaling to achieve an initial throughput of 10Gbps ("you could transfer a full-length Blu-Ray movie in less than 30 seconds" Intel says). That's similar to high-end optical Fibre Channel or HDMI, and ten times faster than Gigibit Ethernet, more than twenty times faster than USB 2.0, and three times faster than eSATA/SATA 300. Within a decade, Intel expects to achieve speeds of 100 Gbps.

Unlike bulky copper cables (like HDMI), Light Peak achieves its speeds over fibre optic strands the size of a human hair. And unlike existing ports focused on solving a specific problem, such as USB for simple peripherals, DisplayPort for video, SATA for disk drives, and Ethernet for networking, Light Peak can handle multiple protocols over a single cable.

Replacing nearly all of the external ports on existing notebooks or mobile devices with Light Peak would enable a new generation of industrial designs without sacrificing features, as the MacBook Air had to do to achieve its thin outline. It would also enable users to run a single cable to an external display to provide video, audio, touch input, and peripheral expansion that included blazing network performance and high speed disk access.

In an introduction of the new standard, Intel explains on its website, "existing electrical cable technology in mainstream computing devices is approaching practical limits for speed and length, due to electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and other issues. However, optical technology, used extensively in data centers and telecom communications, does not have these limitations since it transmits data using light instead of electricity. Light Peak brings this optical technology to mainstream computing and consumer electronic devices in a cost-effective manner."

Silly Lilly

2009-09-26T18:55:52Z

After Lily Allen sparked friction between not only thousands of people on the Internet, but also her colleagues in the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), yesterday they met up to try and forge a united front. Now Allen has done a U-turn, stating that disconnecting pirates is too draconian and instead supports FAC calls to slow connections to a crawl.

This vid somewhat sums it all up !

Up until yesterday, Lily was one of the most prominent supporters of a proposed 3 strikes regime to deal with alleged file-sharers - crucially one which would ultimately lead to disconnection from the Internet for those accused. However, this put her at odds with the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) who felt that disconnections are too draconian.

Yesterday, despite saying that she would not attend due to a feared media scrum, Allen attended a meeting in London of around 100 musicians including representatives from FAC in order to find some common ground to move forward.

The artists took a vote and instead of backing up Allen's disconnection calls, went for a more palatable option - maintaining a basic level of Internet access for alleged pirates but throttling their bandwidth so that file-sharing would become impractical.

"Our meeting voted to support a three-strike sanction on those who persistently download illegal files, to consist of a warning letter, a stronger warning letter, and a final sanction of the restriction of the infringers' bandwith to a level which would render file-sharing of media files impractical while leaving basic e-mail and web access functional," said the artists.

Lily Allen closed down her anti-piracy blog yesterday after just a few days in operation, claiming that the abuse she suffered there was too great to continue. Nevertheless, despite the fact she has backed away, the artists said they wished to express support for her anti-piracy campaign.

"We are trying to find a proportionate response to a real problem that is damaging our industry. I hope it will convince the record labels that this is a way of sending a message to file-sharers," said Billy Bragg of FAC.

With Lily's crowd, the Featured Artists Coalition and also UK Music likely to support throttling instead of disconnections, there appears to be a unified voice forming from the artists.

However, while we predict that Internet users will fail to respond to threats (even reduced ones such as throttling), there will be even stronger objections to the stance taken by the artists yesterday from the Big Four labels.

Having ruled out going after individual file-sharers in court, they have put all of their eggs in a single basket which relies on ISPs taking disconnection action against alleged pirates. It is hugely unlikely that they will support these watered-down proposals but we won't have to wait long to find out. According to The Times, the labels will meet this morning and are expected to draft a letter to Lord Mandelson shortly.

Microsoft-WTF ??

2009-09-25T08:47:31Z

I am a Mac. Not a PC

This is why I am a Mac ! Not a PC

Microsoft-FAIL.

Avalanche !

2009-09-24T15:26:01Z

Ever wondered what it would be like to get caught in an avalanche ?

Check out this video. The avalanche starts at 1:18 and they find him at 6:06. Scary stuff !!

I love you !

2009-09-16T12:26:31Z

Sometimes, all we need is a little love :)

Pink Floyd - Money

2009-08-20T09:38:55Z

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and yourO.K.
Money it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team

Money get back
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack.
Money it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the hi-fidelity first class travelling set
And I think I need a Lear jet

Money it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away

Away, away, away, away, away, away, away

(Spoken)

"Yeah... (laughs) I was in the right!"
"Yes, absolutely in the right!"
"I certainly was in the right!"
"Yeah, I was definitely in the right. That geezer was cruising for a bruising!"
"Why does anyone do anything?"
"Yeah!"
"Why does anyone do anything?"
"I don't know; I was really drunk at the time!"
"I was just telling him it was in, he could get it in number two. He was asking why it wasn't
coming up on freight eleven. After, I was yelling and screaming and telling him why it wasn't coming up on freight eleven. It came to a heavy blow, which sorted the matter out."

R.I.P Les Paul

2009-08-14T14:09:15Z

The guitar legend Les Paul passed away this week.

You will know his name from the legendary Gibson Les Paul, but did you know that he could also play like a mo fo! Watch his genius and check out 15 legendary Les Paul players below.

15 Legendary Les Paul Players:

Slash: Guns N' Roses' former guitarist Slash is probably best known for three things: his messy mop of black hair, signature top hat and sunburst Gibson Les Pauls. In fact his Les-Paul-through-a-Marshall-stack sound is responsible for some of the most popular guitar riffs of all-time: "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Sweet Child O' Mine," anyone?

Oh and speaking of the latter riff, if you really want to nail the tone be sure your pickup selector is in the rhythm position -- and despite Slash's own preferences we don't recommend downing a fifth of Jack Daniel's prior to plugging in.

Jimmy Page: Led Zeppelin's Page has penned so many classic rock riffs that it's hard to even know where to start with the guitarist's list of accomplishments. However he couldn't have done it alone and the chunky sound of his Les Paul was intrinsic to tracks like "Whole Lotta Love" and "Black Dog" and helped add a welcome dose of heaviness to the classic rock formula. Regardless of what you think of rumors of the upcoming Robert Plant-less Zep reunion, you can bet that Mr. Page and his Les Paul will both be present.

Randy Rhoads: As the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, virtuoso Rhoads was the first guitarist to meld classical guitar chops with a heavy metal sensibility to create a unique hybrid of music that still sounds groundbreaking today. In order to accomplish this impressive feat, when he wasn't playing on nylon strings he was finger-tapping and sweep-picking on his white Les Paul. Sadly Rhoads died in 1982 at the age of 25, but tracks like "Crazy Train" continue to be karaoke staples and inspire future generations of guitarists to strap on their own Les Pauls.

Zakk Wylde: Ozzy Osbourne has been blessed with a plethora of amazing guitarists, but next to Rhoads he's probably best known for enlisting the bearded shredder Wylde. Although Wylde started out playing tracks like "No More Tears" with Ozzy, armed with his bull's-eye-painted Les Paul Wylde has further established himself via his metal outfit Black Label Society and his solo work. While it'd admittedly be tough for any guitar to endure Wylde's hard-partying lifestyle and playing, the Les Paul is the only axe that's been able to rise to the challenge thus far.

Ace Frehley: Frehley could have picked any kind of guitar to install a smoke bomb inside, but he picked -- you guessed it -- a Gibson Les Paul. In fact his arsenal of Les Pauls is almost as closely associated to the guitarist as the make-up he rocked every night during KISS' '70s heyday. Not only was Frehley's Les Paul-fueled sound responsible for riffs like "Cold Gin" and "Shock Me," it also helped make KISS one of the most recognizable bands (or as bassist Gene Simmons describes it, "brands") in rock history.

Duane Allman: Allman was best known for donning Gibson SGs and other axes from time to time, but the most famous era of his playing featured him rocking sunburst and Goldtop Les Pauls. Allman's Southern-fueled brand of rock was partially due to the Les Paul's unique tone and his most famous solos, such as "Whipping Post" from At Fillmore East, proved that Allman had a special symbiotic relationship with his guitar. Sadly, Allman passed away when he was only 24, but that only makes his accomplishments with the Allman Brothers Band and Derek And The Dominos even more impressive.

Eric Clapton: Although Clapton experimented with different styles of guitars throughout his four-decade-long career, his time with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and the Yardbirds were both defined by his use of the Les Paul. In fact it's remarkable how many versatile tones the British guitarist was able to coax of his favorite axe as he channeled the ghosts of classic delta Blues acts and recontextualized them into a rock context.

While you can debate all day what your favorite era of Clapton's career was, we'll always have a soft spot for the sonic discovery of his Les Paul years.

Joe Perry: Perry is known for a lot of things -- including avoiding the aging process -- but his most recognizable trait is the Les Paul that you can find hanging around his neck when he performs with Aerosmith. In fact, Perry is such a Les Paul enthusiast that in addition to playing nearly every variation of the axe for the past 30 years he also has his own Custom model. Perry reportedly has a collection of over 600 guitars and we're betting that his Les Paul arsenal alone could give any Guitar Center in America a run for its money.

Pete Townshend: Townshend is another guitarist who's experimented with different axes, but his '70s output is largely defined by his Gibson Les Paul Deluxes. It's safe to say that Townsend's legendary windmill guitar strums wouldn't look nearly as impressive if he wasn't rocking out on a giant slab of mahogany.

If you want a great example of Townshend and his Les Paul obsession in action we recommend checking out the classic Who documentary The Kids Are Alright.

Paul Kossoff: Paul Kossoff may not be a household name, but as the guitarist for Free, Kossoff was able to take soul, blues and rock and merge them into a unique amalgam of music with a little help from his Les Paul. In fact you can hear some of his extended guitar solos on Free's early output such as Tons Of Sobs and Free. Although Kossoff passed away at the age of 25, his playing has been immortalized in several posthumous selections such as Koss.

Gary Moore: Moore is another terminally underrated Les Paul player who has played with Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II and Greg Lake among others. For a sizable chunk of his career his axe of choice was a 1959 Les Paul Sunburst, which used to belong to British Blues legend -- and Moore's close personal friend -- Peter Green. While it's impossible to know whether the warm tone of the Les Paul influenced Moore's sound or vice versa, it's hard to argue with the fact that Moore left an indelible mark on the music world with his playing.

Peter Green: When you have a musical superstar like B.B. King saying things like "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats," you know you're doing something right. King was talking about Fleetwood Mac guitarist Green whose axe of choice was incidentally a 1959 Les Paul.

The secret to Green's tone was the fact that a magnet of his neck pickup was reversed, creating a unique effect. However, if Green wasn't such an inventive and original player we highly doubt he would be as celebrated as he is today.

Bob Marley: Marley is unquestionably the most influential reggae player ever and it's no secret that he often utilized the Gibson Les Paul to help craft his sound. While most of the other guitarists in this list used walls of distortion to bring out Les Paul's inner beast, Marley utilized clean tones and upstrokes to develop his own signature sound and proved that the Les Paul isn't just one of the heaviest-sounding guitars in existence but it's also one of the most versatile.

Billie Joe Armstrong: Although Green Day's Armstrong didn't start out on a Les Paul, these days you can see him sporting his own signature edition of the Les Paul Junior. However don't let the diminutive nature of Armstrong's axe convince you that his tone is any less aggressive than his peers, because listening to the band's opus American Idiot, it's clear that the exact opposite is true. Green Day's next album will reportedly be out next summer and we can't wait to see what Armstrong is able to pull off with a little help from his Les Paul Jr.

Steve Jones: As guitarist for the Sex Pistols, Jones is responsible for arguably the greatest punk album of all-time, 1977's Never Mind The Bollocks. His aggressive guitar sound ushered in a whole new era of music -- and out of all the guitars in the world, Jones decided that the Gibson Les Paul would be the best conduit for this pioneering new sound. These days this former iconoclast is just one of many influential guitar players to have his own signature version of the Les Paul, which will hopefully motivate today's neophytes to craft their own musical sea change.

Les Paul: Let's not forget to mention he who invented the instrument! Les Paul is as legendary as the guitar that bears his name, and still performs every night at a club in New York. Besides being a guitar legend, and inventor of one of the most iconic musical instruments of all time, he also pioneered multitrack recording techniques.

Thank you, Les Paul!