WHY 2009 HAS “ROCKED”

At the start of 2009 I could have never believed that almost every single one of my favourite musical acts will go put out a new record in the following 12 months, but it happened.

Some albums have been better then others, some albums took bands in different directions, but truth be told, 2009 has been a very good year for my iPod.

My musical taste is very eclectic, but I always tend to come back to my roots of alternative-acoustic rock at the end of the day.

That’s not to say when I’m out at a bar I don’t mind when “a Jay-Z song is on” but that’s not for me every day of the week.

Check out some of my favourites from 2009:

Working on a Dream – Bruce Springsteen (January 27th)

Only a year following the release of Magic, The Boss returned with a bang. Thankfully staying away from a solo effort, he continues to amaze audiences with his E-Street Band. Springsteen got it all started February 1 with a performance at Superbowl XLIII, where he played amongst other songs, the lead single 'Working on a Dream,' a pre-emptive ode to the Obama era.

The Fray – The Fray (February 3rd)

Four years after the Denver quartet exploded onto the scene with How to Save a Life (thank you, Grey’s Anatomy) they returned with a self-titled disc in February. Although critics didn’t give this album as positive reviews as their debut, it was still very solid up and down.

We Are The Same – Tragically Hip (April 7th)

The men who define Canadian music were back again (although they never really left) with their twelfth studio album. Appropriately titled We Are The Same, this returns The Hip to their musical roots, giving it a very Phantom Power-esque sound. I managed to see them perform in concert twice this year, once in Toronto at the beginning of their tour, and once in Ottawa at the end of their tour and both times they tore the place down. The best Canadian musical act of all time.

City of Black & White – Mat Kearney (May 19th)

A relative unknown on the music scene, I was introduced to Kearney two years ago by my girlfriend. Another act that gained popularity thanks to Grey’s Anatomy, Kearney has a very mellow sound and delivered an easy-listening album that has been a mainstay on long nights of homework all year long.

Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King – Dave Matthews Band (June 2nd)

I could go on and on and on about the Dave Matthews Band. They are my favourite band ever and I was so thankful to hear that they would be putting out a new album for the first time in four years. It came at a tough time for the band though, as founding member and saxophonist LeRoi Moore passed away in August of 2008 as the album was being finalized. Critics have praised Big Whiskey as being the best DMB album in years, and I would have to agree. Seeing them in concert in June was odd without Moore, but as the old saying goes – “the show must go on.”

Draw The Line – David Gray (September 22nd)

Another favourite artist who hadn’t released an album since 2005, Gray even made an appearance on the Regis and Kelly Show to promote this album, something he had never done before. Gray is pretty unknown in North America, but has a huge fan base in the UK. Most North American’s would know him only for ‘Babylon’ or ‘This Years Love’, and hopefully on Draw The Line there will be a few more tracks that will help his popularity this side of the pond.

Vancouver – Matthew Good (October 6th)

After his departure from the Matthew Good Band in 2002, Good began a successful solo act. Vancouver is his fourth solo album, a concept album that critically examines issues surrounding Good’s hometown. Some songs clock in at four minutes, others at over nine minutes, but you can never tell. Another amazing Canadian performer.

Battle Studies – John Mayer (November 17th)

For all the complaints about Mayer being a ‘douche,’ you have got to give the man the respect he deserves. With Battle Studies, Mayer explores heart-break in a different manor then he has in the past. He still unleashes his world-class guitar playing on some of the harder hits (including a cover of Robert Johnson/Cream’s 'Crossroads') but still allows for his superb songwriting abilities to shine through. Besides all that, the duet with Taylor Swift just can’t be beat.

Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures (November 17th)

Usually not as much into the heavier stuff because I don’t want to be one of “those guys” on the bus who’s disturbing everyone around them with their choice of music but I make an exception for TCV. Clocking in at nearly an hour and fifteen minutes, it’s epic. But when you’ve got Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) just rocking out on the same disc, who’s complaining? And the award for super group of the year goes too…

WEB 2.0 AND THE IMPACT OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM

I know, I know. I've been a terrible blogger of late. So much so that I've had people come and ask me when the next post from Adam's Touch will be coming. Well like I said the last time I posted, school has certainly been taking it's toll on life for the last little while. Below, another blog post from one of my Communications classes, this one about Citizen Journalism. A very interesting topic that has really come into the spotlight the past year.

I'm also working on a special Blog with Jeff Close about a couple of things that we think you all should know about. It'll appear on both my page and his once it's completed so stay tuned...

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“Man attacked with bat and gun in Ottawa’s West End, say police.”

“H1N1 clinics have been working off the "honour-system," not really policing people belonging to priority groups.”

“Obama announces he will lift 22-year ban on entry into U.S. for people infected with HIV/AIDS.”

Yes, all important, newsworthy stories. But where did I find them… CBC? Globe and Mail? MacLean’s? Fox News?

No – on Twitter, of course!

This is the way that journalism has gone now – people no longer have time to read through a morning paper. Instead, they are looking to get 140 character bits of stories, and if they feel the need too, they will click onto a news website and read on.

Each of those Tweets sums up the stories quite nicely though, don’t you think? Why would I want to read on if I have already heard everything I need to?

To sum up the impact the internet has had on journalism in merely 1000 words is a more daunting task than being asked to sum it up in 100,000. I could go on and on about a variety of different issues and topics, but I’ll try to focus it down to just two: how journalism is presented now because of the internet, and the creation of the citizen journalist.

Slowly but surely, print media is a dying form. Each media outlet from television, radio, and of course newspaper all have websites where they post their stories online for free. Gone are the days of old-school journalists – personable types who track down the story and meet people and ask hard questions. Arguably journalists and journalism has turned lazy (I’m allowed to say that because I’m a journalism major… and I’m one of the lazy ones!) Accessing the internet has created whole new realms for journalists to send an e-mail, check a Twitter feed, double-check a blog, and throw together a wire story.

Perhaps instead, it’s the direction of the newspaper that has merely changed. News outlets of old like the paper now have slick websites were their content is uploaded, to be accessed for free by the public. People continue to read the newspaper looking for more of an analytical perspective on the news, but for the news itself, why shy away from the quick posts you’ll from the web? This has resulted in the 24 hour news cycle. The internet has influenced globalization more than any other tool (and arguably, vice versa) and living in this globalized world has assured us that news never stops.

When a rumour spread about ‘Balloon Boy’ floating through the skies of Colorado, the media exploded with coverage – TV stations were all plugged into the feed of this little town, websites of newspapers and of those same TV stations were providing live updates, and Twitter got so jammed with ‘tweets’ it nearly shut down for the whole afternoon. It’s a story like this that really speaks to where journalism has gone thanks to the internet, because for the first time, online journalists don’t have to just think about how he or she should write the story, but also how it should be presented.

Because journalists had to think about how to present the story, the audience also had the option to choose how they wanted to receive the story online. The internet gives the audience a much wider choice of ways in which to receive the news. They are able to get text, audio, and video, all in one place.

The internet has even created a new type of journalist, called the ‘citizen journalist.’ The idea behind citizen journalism, as written by new media reporter Mark Glaser, is “that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the internet to create, augment, or fact-check media on their own” (Glaser; 2006; PBS). More than ever before, people who never went to journalism school, or have received any formal journalistic training, can now participate actively online. It has become so easy to create a blog or film something and post it to YouTube, that the line between journalist and citizen journalist is sometimes blurred.

However, most mainstream media outlets, even some as well known as CNN, takes advantage of citizen journalists and their work. There is always a plethora of videos and pictures uploaded to the section of their website called “iReport” a feature that could never have been utilized by a media outlet before the internet. I mean, before the internet, a “Letters to the Editor” section could have only gone so far.

One of the main reasons behind the emergence of citizen journalism, besides ease of use, is also the fact that “mainstream media reporters and producers are not the exclusive centre of knowledge on a subject – the audience knows more collectively than the reporter alone” (Glaser; 2006; PBS). It proves to be the most useful during times of war and natural disasters – places where journalists may not be able to access. For example, during the tsunami in Asia in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the Iranian election, journalists, as well as audiences, turned to social media websites rather than news websites to hear from the front lines what was happening.

With the development of not only new types of journalism, but also new types of journalists, it’s impossible to forecast where the internet will take journalism in the future. I can only hope that I won’t start to be delivered news via txt msg 4 realz lol.