Keith Laidlaw: San Francisco-based writer and editor

KQED: Making Sense of SF

2010-02-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

For the past year, Julie Michelle has been photographing city residents and posting their portraits on her deceptively simple website I Live Here:SF. They are a mix of Bay Area natives and transplants from across the States and beyond. In short texts the subjects write themselves, some tell linear stories that begin with where they were born or grew up, while others talk about specific moments or events, like how they fell in and out of love, or found their calling. Many describe the journey that brought them to this city. Some entries are fragmented to the point of poetry, like one person's random snapshots of the city.

This city, any city, has as many narratives and perspectives and ideas of itself as it has inhabitants, which means there is no shortage of tales to tell. My favorite is by Travis, the writer, photographer, and skateboarder who is pictured above. The story he tells revolves around the homeless guy who used to hang out in the street outside his Victorian in the Lower Haight. It is touching and beautiful, but its emotional punch sneaks up on you from a place you might not expect -- a description, like so many, that could just as easily apply to San Francisco itself.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

The Computer Is Dead, Long Live the iPad?

2010-02-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

There's something I've never really understood about computers: Processors speed up, memory grows, software evolves ... and yet, where's the real benefit of all this breathless, constant development to the vast majority of end users? All we seem to be getting is added complications. Sure, computers these days are marginally cheaper than they used to be, and there are tasks you can perform with today's machines that you simply couldn't in years past for want of power or memory. But most people don't use their home laptops to edit video or design three-dimensional models. Plus, many of my elderly machine's most impressive capabilities, such as video streaming, rely more on external factors like fast internet and WiFi than internal ones.

In fact, the majority of users generally only need a computer for a limited list of relatively simple tasks -- surf the web, send emails, play MP3s, write a letter, store some pictures -- none of which require much raw power. And yet, year after year, it seems that computers must increase in speed to cope with the increasingly bloated operating systems and expanding software suites that few of us know how to use properly because they're so complicated and change so frequently.

Which is why I've been so excited about the idea of netbook-style computers. None has yet delivered the right mix of usability, price, battery life, and size, but the general movement toward simplicity and value seems like a shift in the right direction. Why should you have to buy the computing equivalent of a powerful, temperamental sports car when all you need is a cheap, reliable runabout to get you to the shops?

And this, of course, is the hole that Apple is hoping to fill with the iPad. Lots of tech-focused commentators have been quick to point out its various perceived flaws: it doesn't multitask, the software is closed, it has a silly name. But the reality is there's an army of people who simply don't care about the first points, and will quickly get over the third as long as the thing works as intuitively and reliably as promised (and, judging by the iPhone, it probably will). If it does what you want it to, who cares what's going on inside?

Which is not to say that the iPad is perfect (a front-facing webcam wouldn't go amiss, for example), but I don't think Steven Frank's talk of it heralding a new age of computing is too far off the mark, either. This is the machine that is getting Rob Foster's grandma and technophobic friend excited, people who don't like computers as they are right now. And it's this huge untapped market of non-technically minded end users, not tinkering enthusiasts and experts, that Apple is aiming for.

Originally published at Ludovician.com.

Scoop! Local Reporting Not Dead After All

2010-02-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

Living on one of San Francisco's more vertically inclined streets, I don't get many unexpected visitors. Even the most dedicated charity workers and zealous religious evangelists rarely climb the steep hill and stairs leading to my door. So I was doubly surprised -- and impressed -- when a pair of Mission Local reporters turned up last night making inquiries about an attempted burglary near our house this past weekend. I thought this kind of labor-intensive doorstep journalism was a thing of the past, especially at such a local, police-jotter level. Seems I was wrong.

Now all we have to do is come up with a way to pay people for doing it.

Originally published at Ludovician.com.

Digital Life After Death

2010-02-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

SFGate.com has an interesting report about what happens to our online identities when we die. The main focus is the difficulties bereaved relatives have when trying to obtain access to their deceased loved ones' password-protected email accounts, social networking profiles, and so on. Apparently there are companies now selling solutions to this problem, basically offering to set your online status to "dead" after you check out.

This article, and another in last week's New Yorker about cryonics, got me thinking: why not aim for online immortality instead? It would be simple enough to write an application that would offer digital life after death. After signing up with the service, it could analyze your status updates, likes and dislikes, favorite links, etc. for as long as you remained connected to the land of the living. Then, after you logged off for the final time, the program would continue posting similar items -- "ooh, isn't the weather cold," "loving my new iPad 5," "still breathing," and so on -- creating an online presence that would never expire. It could even copy your face and paste it onto new photos posted by your living friends, to make it look as if you're still having a fine old time with them all.

If the idea took off, soon there would be a thriving online community of the undead, filling out Facebook quizzes about the afterlife, retweeting one another's posthumous musings, and making amusing mashups of Adolf Hitler in Downfall. Hrm, perhaps there's money to be made from offering this service to the living too.

Originally published at Ludovician.com.

KQED: Nneka Is Here To Save Us All

2010-01-25T01:43:00.000-08:00

If the past decade has taught us anything, it's that mainstream American music can be subverted in many suprising and subtle ways. Sure, the bestselling artist in the nation right now may be the vanilla-voiced, bland-as-bread Taylor Swift, but just take a look at Rolling Stone's 100 best singles of the 2000s. It's a list dominated by massively successful outbursts of eccentric pop genius: "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, "Hey Ya!" by Outkast, "Paper Planes" by MIA, and on and on. All huge commercial hits, but each, in their own wonderful ways, really rather odd.

And it is this America that stands ready to welcome an unlikely pop hero called Nneka and her album Concrete Jungle. It switches through smoky blues, biting rap, and howling soul without missing a beat. But it also has something extra, something you don't normally hear in the US charts: the sounds of unfamiliar cultures and places. With a Nigerian father and German mother, Nneka spent her childhood in Africa before moving to Europe to study aged 19. This transcontinental journey has given her both an impassioned political perspective and an unusual set of musical influences. And now Nneka arrives on these shores to promote a record packed with more pop hooks than the Jackson 5 dressed in Velcro.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

KQED: Lymbyc Systym - More Fun than Your Sofa

2010-01-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

So you overdid it during the holidays. You've resolved to subsist on a diet of raw vegetables and fruit smoothies for the month of January (and possibly February too). Right now, you probably want to do nothing more active than retreat to the sanctuary of your sofa and watch reruns of Scrubs. But let's face facts: you can only find solace in Zach Braff's puppy-dog eyes for so long. Eventually, you're going to have to leave the house. So why not get your year off to a proper start by braving the arctic chill of our northern California winter and going to see Lymbyc System play the Cafe du Nord?

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

KQED: Curiously Arbitrary Music Awards 2009

2009-12-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

As yet another year stumbles drunkenly to a close in a similar fashion to one of Lady Gaga's weird death dances, it's time to take a look back at some of the highest highs and lowest lows from the world of music in 2009.

Most Obviously Self-Sabotaging Band Name:
King Kong Ding Dong

Killjoys of the Year:
California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control

Best Album that Should Have Sucked but Didn't:
Karen O and the Kids, "Where the Wild Things Are Motion Picture Soundtrack"

Special "The Music Industry Is Killing Music" Award for Encouraging the Illegal Downloading of Music:
EMI

Biggest, Silliest, Deluxest, Specialest, Most Limited Box Set:
Pixies, "Minotaur"

Hat of the Year:
Aretha Franklin

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

Chow: Gordon Ramsay's Live Nightmare

2009-12-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

Billed as “the biggest cooking event America has ever seen,” Gordon Ramsay’s Cookalong Live on Fox last night was certainly an exciting televisual challenge. But the toughest part wasn’t keeping up with the pace of the onscreen culinary endeavours (as we were encouraged to do at home), but to endure Ramsay’s weirdly uncomfortable agitation for more than a few minutes. What was wrong with the man: Hasn’t he ever cooked and talked at the same time before?

Granted, he was juggling a stack of studio guests and multiple live satellite/Internet feeds from around the country while simultaneously demonstrating how to knock together a three-course dinner in less than 60 minutes. But he’s also a Michelin-starred chef who has (presumably) endured far more stressful cooking environments than this. The nonexpert guest participants seemed positively laidback next to Ramsay’s bouncing bundle of nerves.

You could put it down to first-time jitters, except El Gordo has already done a whole series of similar shows for Channel 4 in the UK. Maybe it was just the strain of making it through a live broadcast on American TV without losing his temper and dropping the F-bomb. Or perhaps Ramsay just needed to pee really, really badly. Regardless, his performance was possibly the most uncomfortable thing to appear on TV since Glenn Beck went public with his experiences of hemorrhoid surgery.

By Keith Laidlaw. Originally published at Chow.com.

KQED: Home is Where The Rural Alberta Advantage Are

2009-12-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

When a Canadian indie outfit is touring the U.S. to promote a record called Hometowns, the temptation to turn to matters geographical is almost overwhelming. But The Rural Alberta Advantage's folk-tinged debut can also be viewed from a more scientific perspective. As the plural in the title implies, this record is concerned with both place and time, and the two don't always interact in a straightforward fashion. Like Einstein said, time can stretch or contract depending on where you are and what you're doing, and all distance is relative. Of course, he was interested only in the laws of the physical universe, whereas these songs aim to examine how movement interacts with our inner, emotional lives.

The one constant according to The Rural Alberta Advantage is that hometowns are places to leave rather than return to. Some of their songs are written from the point of view of the person who has escaped but can't shake off the past; in others, the perspective shifts to the one left behind in abandoned stasis after events have overtaken them.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

Dragon: Just Say the Words

2009-12-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

The new Dragon Dictation app for the iPhone is incredibly impressive. It even understands my strange foreign accent. You want proof? Well here it is. This post was dictated ~~within a single mistake~~. Okay, without a lot of mistakes. But for a free application it really doesn't get any better than this. Download it now (before you have to pay for it).

Originally published at Ludovician.com.

KQED: Yo La Tengo's Unpopular Populism

2009-10-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

On the evidence of Yo La Tengo's most recent release, Popular Songs, these perennial indie darlings are in danger of slipping into meandering meaninglessness. It isn't so much a bad album as it is a disappointing one. It's the kind of record that has you reaching for their older releases to see if they are as good as you remembered (they are), or wondering if the band recently "did an REM" and signed some creativity-killing megadeal with a major (they haven't). You could almost be forgiven for thinking it was a collection of B-sides, if only Yo La Tengo hadn't already released at least two collections of far more interesting offcuts.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

KQED: A Timeless Classic You've Never Heard Of

2009-10-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

Forget the Beatles' remastered cash cows, and check out the reissue of Harmonia & Brian Eno's obscure mid-seventies krautrock/electronic/ambient masterpiece Tracks and Traces instead.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

The Best iPhone App Review Site, Reviewed

2009-09-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's not just the best iPhone app website, it's also the only one I've seen that's any good at all. One might imagine that anyone setting out to help users sift through the 85,000+ programs now available via Apple's app store would take a cue from the gadget itself by creating a website that's reasonably simple and intuitive. Instead, pretty much all of the dedicated app review sites available are bloated, hard to use, and ugly.

In contrast, First & 20 takes a simple idea and executes it beautifully: it has asked a growing collection of "designers, developers and tech writers" to provide a pic of their iPhone home screens and to write a little about some of the apps they use most. The website's simple design also takes many cues from the iPhone's user interface. But most of all, it answers the first question if want to ask anyone with an iPhone: what apps do you like and use the most?

Of course, it would be even better if the net was widened a little to include people from some other, less techie industries. Judging by the choices up there right now, you'd be forgiven for thinking that everyone who uses an iPhone is also obsessed by Twitter (the two most popular apps are Tweetie and Birdfeed). And the running count of white/black phones seems rather superfluous. But, these small grumbles aside, I love it simply for introducing me to a bunch of excellent apps people with brains actually use.

Originally published at Ludovician.com.

KQED: The Most Serene Republic's State of Distress

2009-09-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder as "a persistent pattern of inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity that is more frequently displayed and more severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development." I only mention this as an illustration of the lengths I went to in trying to find some sort of useful description for the manic, breathless, ever-changing, and generally unclassifiable confusion that is The Most Serene Republic's third album ...And the Ever Expanding Universe.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

The Last Post: When and How to Close a Blog

2009-09-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've just posted the final entry on my other blog Strange Things Will Happen. I started it a couple of years ago when I moved to the States from Britain, and it was my first adventure in blogging. Closing it was therefore a difficult decision to make, but ultimately the central idea -- me writing about life on the wrong side of the pond -- had run out of steam. Over time, the lack of desire to write fresh posts tells its own story. But, after realizing that it's time was up, I decided to finish with a definite full stop rather than just let it die through neglect alone: hence the concluding post.

Still, I feel slightly weird that it will continue to be available online for the foreseeable future. Part of me wants to delete it now, rather than let it grow old and stale in plain sight. But I realize that this is just my inner print journalist talking. Sure, libraries always do their best to make sure printed copies of newspapers and magazines don't ever disappear completely, but prior to around 1996 the effort you would have to make to find any publication more than a few months old meant that, to all intents and purposes, it had ceased to exist. The same is still true for many print-only publications. Being put in an archive box or relegated to microfiche may not be death, but it's close enough.

Here online, everything stays as it is -- or at least it's supposed to. Google is even digging up old books and resurrecting their pages through the god-like power of scanning. Soon nothing will disappear, and everything will be available with a few taps of a keyboard -- unless one of those taps is marked "delete," that is.

Originally published at Ludovician.com.

KQED: SFBC's Bike-In Movies

2009-09-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

Some things are just better outdoors. Food, for one: why else would so many otherwise sane people choose to endure traffic fumes and jostling pedestrians while dining at sidewalk tables outside restaurants? Alcohol also gains something special from alfresco consumption (although it seems that our local abstinence authorities would prefer that we kept our beer drinking hidden away indoors). Even culture benefits from a little extra space now and then, as pale, sun-deprived performers of all kinds are dragged blinking and confused to play at outdoor festivals across the land. But in our age of 3D movie megaplexes and surround-sound high-definition nuclear-powered plasma screens at home, are we in danger of forgetting the simple joys of seeing a movie beneath a blanket of stars?

Thankfully, help is at hand and fresh-air filmgoing seems to be undergoing a mini revival in San Francisco. Two annual programs (Dolores Park Movie Night and Film Night in the Park) have already blazed a trail, and now these established screeners are being joined by an unlikely new champion of non-movie-theater big-screen movies: the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Not content with harrassing city officials into building a labyrinth of bike lanes around town that will eventually form a picture of Greg LeMond's face visible only from space, the SFBC has also been busy organizing a series of free Bike-in Movie Nights in a SOMA hotel parking lot.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

KQED: The Amazing Vivian Girls Time Machine

2009-09-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

We all know about the well-worn link between smell and memory. One sniff is apparently all it takes to whisk your mind to some moment from the past. Music can spark a similar experience and, because tunes can be recorded, you get to examine the strange tricks your brain plays on you in ways you can't with a fleeting whiff. Did that cheese really smell like your best friend's sweater from elementary school? Who knows (or cares). But do fresh-faced Brooklyn-based lo-fi power pop trio Vivian Girls really sound like my life circa 1991? Well that's a different matter entirely.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

KQED: Wavves of White Noise

2009-09-02T05:01:00.000-07:00

Here's an incontrovertible theory for you to agree with: anyone who doesn't like loud music is OLD and BORING. Of course, I first developed and proposed this subtly nuanced hypothesis when I was a) young and b) incredibly excited by music that involved as much overwrought amplification and obnoxiousness as possible. But even as I've grown up (a bit) and matured (a little), I can't quite bring myself to admit the underlying premise is in any way flawed. Sure, these days I tend to listen to music that's more muted, understated, and fragile, but I'm also developing an ulcer and a beer gut. Aren't all these things just so many signs of middle-aged tedium and fast-approaching death?

So thank the gods of noise for the arrival of Wavves in my life to shake things up a bit.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

Euphemism Watch: Working for Free

2009-08-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

As a freelance writer and an editor, I feel a strange compulsion - no, a duty - to check the writing/editing job listings on Craigslist on a regular basis. It has become a depressing and humbling ritual in recent times. In fact, about the only pleasurable part of it for me is marveling at all the creative ways the only prospective "employers" left these days attempt to infer that working for them for nothing is somehow a lucrative opportunity, while simultaneously avoiding any explicit mention of, you know, having to work for them for nothing.

Indeed, I heartily recommend this sleazy exercise in euphemism-spotting to others. Rubbernecking through these lonely missives from a dying industry can be a darkly amusing experience, especially if you're the kind of person who greets news of any major disaster by packing a picnic and loading the kids into the car, or if you enjoy seeing the English language being abused to within an inch of reality.

To give you a taste, today I saw perhaps my favorite attempt yet at turning a lack of meaningful pay into a benefit. This ad seeking a voluntary editorial manager for some unnamed, underfunded internet startup helpfully mentions "... if you happen to be on unemployment insurance, this work will not jeopardize your benefits." No, and it won't trouble your bank balance either.

Interviews will be taking place soon; please leave your dignity at the door.

Originally published at Ludovician.com.

KQED: Kronos Quartet on Grass

2009-08-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

I love experiencing art in weird places. Unconventional settings challenge our entrenched ideas and opinions, and are normally lots more fun too. Which is why I jumped at the chance to see the Kronos Quartet at Rancho Nicasio in Marin on Sunday, August 16. True, this is a group that's known for straying far from the traditional confines of classical music, and they've made this appearance an annual tradition in recent years. But let's face it, it's still pretty unusual to see an internationally-renowned string ensemble play in the beer garden of a rural Californian bar.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

How Stupid Is the US Postal Service?

2009-08-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

This letter arrived at our house yesterday. I've messed around with the photo a little (to protect our privacy), but on the original you can clearly see our house number and street address, under a long-departed previous resident's name. Well, you can as long as you ignore the large black cross my wife added to the envelope the first time it passed through our mailbox about a week ago, along with the big circle round the return address and the lettering that says "return to sender addressee unknown."

Maybe we missed some detail of the US Postal Service's protocol for correctly marking return mail, but the intention seems fairly clear. While I realise that much of the sorting system is automated these days, I was still labouring under the delusion that someone human would look at a letter before it gets delivered. Perhaps not.

We've now released this salmon-like letter back into the wild, intrigued to see if it manages to find its way to the wrong destination for a third time.

Originally published at Ludovician.com.

KQED: Bowling for San Francisco

2009-08-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

The biggest cultural smackdown in San Francisco for years has ended, but with no clear winner. In one corner, Gap founder Donald Fisher has been forced to abandon his plan to build a monumental new gallery in the Presidio, but he hasn't had to give up on his vanity art project completely. Let's face it, anyone looking to spend $100 million on a showcase for a billion-dollar art collection is unlikely to have too much trouble finding an alternate location. Meanwhile, the venerable Presidio Bowling Center, which was facing destruction to make way for Don's mega art shack, has escaped the wrecking ball for now, but its long-term future is still far from secure.

You may think I'm overstating the cultural signifigance of this battle royal, and you're probably right. The Fisherarium was never going to make much of an impact on the arts scene of an area already well served with internationally renowned exhibition spaces. But the Presidio Bowling Center is a different matter. It's pretty much the only place to roll in San Francisco, and losing it would leave a deep gap (no pun intended) in the city's leisure landscape.

Of course, my perspective on the importance of bowling may be a little skewed...

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

KQED: When Service Is Just Another Word for Screw

2009-07-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

Can anyone explain gig ticket charges to me? What are those "convenience costs" and "building fees?" And why do the supplementary costs get bigger as the tickets themselves go up in price? Are more expensive tickets heavier or made from swan's tears and gold leaf?

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

KQED Music: Blonde Redhead - Business as Unusual

2009-07-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

New York indie sophisticates Blonde Redhead are hitting San Francisco for two nights this week on a strange and unique musical mission. They aren't in the middle of a tour. They have no promotional schedule to speak of. Their most recent album of idiosyncratic mood music, 23, was released more than two years ago. Sure, they're in the early stages of writing a follow-up, but no one knows when that might be released, not even their PR rep. Indeed, if it wasn't for the dubious claim that their gig is being held as part of the Bicycle Film Festival (yeah, that's right, a film festival) then they would be crossing the country for absolutely no reason at all.

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.

KQED Music: SF Music Venues Against ABC

2009-07-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

As a seasoned music fan who has had the misfortune to follow bands into too many shitty night spots and bars to mention, I was overjoyed when I first heard California state officials had gone on the attack against a bunch of Bay Area venues. They were probably fighting against over-aggressive bouncers and surly bar staff, right? Maybe they planned to clean up the sweat-soaked walls, broken toilets, and sticky, drink-stained floors. Or perhaps they were leading a crusade against those stingy, undersized plastic beer cups. Yes! Go for it, fearless warriors of law and order.

But then I discovered the big problem was that the venues weren't selling enough burgers and fries. Huh? Indeed, it turns out that the dispute between the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and several of San Francisco's finest music venues makes almost no sense to anyone outside the administrative body that started it. Nevertheless, it could yet rip the heart out of the city's vibrant live music scene ...

By Keith Laidlaw. Read the full article here.