Fifth Anniversary contest

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Tweetie for iPhone

The iPhone + Twitter is like bread and butter. They just simply go together. But since the introduction of the App Store and having Twitterific as the only option for a few weeks, there are now a slew of various Twitter iPhone apps, and the question that will boggle the minds of all twittering app store shoppers is: Which one to get? Look no further than Tweetie, now version 1.2, which is also in the #2 spot for Top Paid Social Networking apps, only beaten by Smule’s Zephyr, which is quite impressive nonetheless.

Tweetie 1.2 just adds more icing to the cake that I believe was Tweetie 1.0. With the first version, there was only the iChat bubble theme, which was a new and refreshing take to Twitter apps, making it feel as if it was made by Apple themselves.

The scrolling for the app has been perfect since the first version, and is the smoothest I have seen for any iPhone twitter app (and I’ve tried most of them!). There is even a built in web-browser so you do not even have to leave the app if you choose to tap on a link that someone tweets. It also handles multiple Twitter accounts, and makes switching between them a breeze. And if you want to save something for later, favoriting a tweet is as easy as tapping the Star at the bottom of the viewed tweet. Also included since 1.0 is the ability to view Trends and even search for keywords in tweets. All this in one simple package that cost only $2.99, which is quite a steal compared to other paid Twitter apps.



There have been several updates to Tweetie since 1.0, and as of right now it is on 1.2. In 1.2, there are added features, such as swiping across a tweet to bring up three options: Reply/Profile/Favorite. Swipe back to bring the tweet back into the timeline. Now, if you tap on a tweet to view it, you’ll notice an ‘i’ to the right of the username. Tap that, and it will view their profile, to which you can access Recent tweets/search @username, view following/followers, send a reply or DM, and block/unblock as well as follow/unfollow at the top.

If you go to the main Settings on the iPhone/iPod Touch, you can find Tweetie settings located there and you are able to pick between the Simple or Chat Bubbles theme, as well as pick font size (smallest will fit the most tweets in one screen). Also you will find Instapaper integration, useful if you already use that app. I don’t, so I can’t really review that part of the app, can I?

When creating a new tweet now, you’ll notice ‘New Tweet from @username’ at the top, which you can tap and then choose which account you want to send the tweet from, so that you do not have to go all the way back to the screen that lists all your various Twitter accounts. Also, if you are in the middle of a tweet, and need to answer that phone call or text ASAP, you now can, and return to Tweetie when you’re done, because it will pick up where you last left off! Or, cancel the tweet and you’ll be prompted to save a draft. If you do, the writing will appear again when you attempt to write a new tweet.

Tweetie also has a Nearby feature, which is pretty good for using the iPhone 3G’s GPS. Even though it is a Nearby feature, I’m sure that others would rather use Twinkle for location-based Twitter, however, if you have Tweetie, Nearby is pretty nifty and it’s already in a complete package (something I don’t see Twinkle as, I feel it lacks robust features like Tweetie, but I haven’t used it in a long time so I may be wrong).

On a more humorous note, the creator of Tweetie, @atebits decided to add a feature in Tweetie that is a snide criticism of the top paid apps, which include fart noises and flashlights, that seem to have multiplied like rabbits and there’s a new one fairly often. This feature is called PEE (Popularity EnhancEr) which, if you choose to activate it in the main iPhone Settings, will make fart noises whenever you swipe on tweets (as I mentioned earlier) and you’ll find a flashlight in “More” tab at the bottom of the app. With these two types of apps flooding the app store along with many other useless apps that are merely novelties for the consumer to waste their money on, Tweetie is now the ‘ONLY fart app that includes a flashlight and a built-in Twitter client,’ as claimed by @atebits on his site.

An awesome twitter client, and the creator has a sense of humor as well. What are you waiting for? Get Tweetie for $2.99 in the app store now!

Jody Gnant in the Podsafe Cafe

You’ve described your music as Bohemian Geek Soul. What exactly does that mean?

Bohemian Geek Soul is musically a cross between Janis Joplin and Jan Brady – at least that’s what I say…

Tim Sweeney (author of “Guide to Releasing Independent Records”) once told me, “When people ask you, ‘What kind of music do you play?’ The entire goal is to make them MORE interested in your music than they were when they initially asked you the question. Be descriptive. ‘Melodic rock’ doesn’t mean anything to anyone anymore.”


That really struck a chord with me, so I tried to pick three words that described myself and my art – Bohemian. Geek. Soul. – or BoGeSo, for short.  You know what?  Tim was right.  People usually are more interested in hearing the music after asking me what kind of music I play, than they were prior to asking.

That’s the whole goal. Each time someone is interested in the music, give them something to hang their hat on. Don’t let them wander away. Keep them engaged.  They might just stick around long enough to realize the brilliance of what you’re doing.

How did you first get involved with podsafe music?

The people in my IRC channel, #jody-gnant-live, would constantly ask me if my music was on the Podsafe Music Network – and I finally did it.  If I had known it was so easy to upload my music and get signed up, I woulda done it a lot sooner! 

What kind of impact has making your music podsafe had on your career?

For all the obvious reasons, making my music Podsafe has granted the opportunity for thousands of new people to hear my music without traditional radio promotion. 

My music is not only Podsafe – it’s free to anyone that wants to download it.  The business model of the music industry is changing, and I believe that the actual music is an independent artist’s ‘calling card’ to everything else monetizable – music licensing, merchandising, live shows, exclusive fan-based programs, etc.

I always say that, “Obscurity is far more threatening than piracy.”  All of my music is available on my website for free; And, you know what? I still get a check from iTunes every month.  I feel offering my music for free on the Internet has only increased the number of sales I’ve seen, as I find that people want to support the efforts of their favorite independent artists.

Where did you get the idea to start lifecasting? How has it since affected your life?

Kyle MacDonald (of www.oneredpaperclip.com) was really the first person to introduce me to the world of Social Media.  I had been looking for a way to fund the recording of my next album, and here was this guy trading up from a paperclip all the way to a house – using the Internet as his only means of getting the word out.  Somewhere along the way, Kyle had a “recording contract” up for trade; and I offered to trade Kyle a year of rent in my apartment in exchange for the studio time – which he accepted.

What made Kyle’s story so unique (especially for 2005/2006) was that he blogged his entire adventure, start to finish, utilizing free tools like Flickr, and YouTube, to aid him in telling the story.  It was fascinating to see people interested in tracking the progress of his journey via his blog. On the day Kyle finally traded for his house, his website got more than a million unique views in 24 hours – quite the information distribution center for an independent guy like Kyle!

Around June of 2007, I discovered Ustream.tv.  They had only been around since April of that year, so the company (and live streaming) was just getting off the ground as a new medium available to people on the Internetz.

If light bulbs actually went off above people’s heads, you would have seen one above mine the day I discovered live streaming. I knew that we were going to release the record, that we would need to find a way to promote it, and that people love to follow the adventures of people they support – via the Internet.  It only seemed like the next logical step – even though looking back, the concept of it see,ing “logical” is laughable.

Initially, I viewed lifecasting as a promotional vehicle. I thought it would be an interesting journalistic process to document the life and times of an independent artist.  What I did not know is that, in addition to promoting the music, I was also building a community of people – a legion of fans – many of whom I will now know for the rest of my life. They affected me just as much as I affected them.

What else do we need to know about you and your music?

Ha ha. After broadcasting my every move on the Internet 24/7, there’s really not a lot of new information to know about me, per say…Did I mention you can download all of my music for free at jodygnant.com? 
All of my contact information (including my phone number) is also on my website and I encourage people to reach out and say hello.

Also, I lurves the Interwebz.

BeeJiveIM 2.0 for iPhone

BeejiveIM is an iPhone application that, as the name implies is an instant messaging client. The app offers support for multiple accounts as well as multiple platforms, such as AIM, MySpace, Gmail’s talk service, MSN, etc. All the major IM clients are covered and accessible from one app. It also offers a nice use of the accelerometer by giving you a widescreen layout with access to the larger keyboard found in Apple’s own Safari landscape view, a nice addition especially for those with larger or less dextrous fingers. A final, and completely novel feature, is part of the reason for the price of the app – $15.99 – and this is that it allows you to receive IMs even after closing the app in an interesting workaround of Apple’s security policy of not letting apps run in the background.



BeejiveIM does not run in the background, and thus does not break Apple’s policies – rather, upon opening the app you log into one of the company’s servers and upon closing the app remain logged in to the server (for a period of time that you can decide upon ranging from 10 minutes to an 24 hours, or even turn off, via the settings menu). Then, when you receive an IM while the app is closed, Beejive sends an email to your phone alerting you of the text of the IM. This approach is novel and especially useful for those iPhone users who subscribe to MobileMe and have push email turned on, but there is also an interesting workaround if you don’t have push email enabled, but more on that later.



As a chat client, BeeJiveIM works quite well The initial setup pains are minimal and it is easy to get to IMing fairly quickly after “opening the box.” The IM interface is nice, and defaults upon launch to your buddy list showing online and offline buddies (though you can turn off the show offline buddies, again via settings).

Once you begin chatting, you can access the chats page via the icon on the bottom of the screen. This takes you to a list of active chats you have, allowing ease of choosing which chat to continue (chats are saved from prior sessions but can be erased using the edit button at the top of the screen). Once you get to the actual chat conversation, the UI is set up to resemble iChat or the iPhone’s text messaging conversations. A nice feature that is not immediately noticeable is a fast chat switching mechanism activated by tapping on the name of the buddy you are chatting with (at the top of the screen). When yo do so, a menu drops down that shows the buddy pictures of all of your active chat buddies. Tapping on the icon switches to that buddy’s conversation. Also available from this menu is a trash icon allowing you to end the chat, an email icon which allows you to email the chat log, a camera icon for inserting a picture from the iPhone’s album (or allowing you to take a picture right there) into the chat, and a microphone icon.

The microphone icon provides an interesting feature offered by BeejiveIM which is the ability to record “voice chats” and send them to your buddy. Essentially you use the iPhone’s microphone (or headphone microphone for iPod Touch users) to record a voice note that is saved and then sent via the chat. At first glance this might seem nice but strange until you consider the uses in terms of hands-free chatting Granted, you still have to read the response (unless your buddy also uses BeejiveIM) so it’s probably not best for chatting and driving, but it’s a novel feature.

Now, to return to the “logged off im” feature in detail: this is part of what makes BeeJiveIM a unique app, but also adds significantly to its price. Granted, the price is one-time (rather than some sort of subscription) and the justification of the price makes sense– they do need to pay for their server space and traffic, but is it worth it? This is a question that will probably rely on your amount of iPhone/iPod Touch-based IMing. If you IM frequently and like to change apps then this feature could very well be a life/headache-saver since you will not miss any conversations or IMs while you do so. Also worth mentioning is you can use this feature while your iPhone is screenlocked and effectively logged out of the app, so another potential use is that of battery-saver; you won’t need to keep your device unlocked and on in order to keep up with IMs.

But what if you don’t have a MobileMe subscription or don’t want to have push email active? Here’s the simple workaround: you can receive the IM notifications as email via text message. If you enter your email address as yournumber@txt.att.net the email message will arrive in the form of a text message. (I should mention that your number should have no dashes.



For example: 123456789@txt.att.net).

In the end, the question of price will probably return to haunt this app, as most people will likely question the worth of spending substantially more on an IM app, especially since most are free and those that are not only cost $1-2. However, if you IM frequently, and especially if you find yourself needing to change apps often, then BeejiveIM’s onetime fee suddenly seems worth it, especially if you want an easy to use and multi-platform-integrated IM client.

SlotZ Racer for iPhone

If you enjoy car racing games, then this one is definitely the one for you! SlotZ Racer will bring back your childhood memories of building tracks and car racing with your friends and family.



You can play against the computer or up to four players on a single iPhone/iPod touch! Click on “Race” and you are prompted with three options — Quick Race, Single Player, and Multiplayer.



Quick Race will put you in single player mode on a random track! Single player will allow you to race against the computer. And multiplayer lets you play with up to 3 more friends.



There are many racing tracks to choose from. I suggest starting with the “Basic Oval” track to get the hang of controls. To control your car, press the corner to accelerate and gently lift up when turning. Sharp turns can throw you off the tracks if you’re going too fast!



There’s a big variety of tracks to race on, but you can also “Edit Tracks” to make things more interesting! 



The video graphics and music are fantastic. You can also race for trophies and to unlock new circuits, cars, track locations, and championship challenges. This game is full of action to keep it exciting and fresh! It’s well worth the money!

The return of U2

Just like that, U2 took over the world again. And on Martin Luther King Day, no less.


It was late Sunday night, must have been four in the morning. I’d just finished working on the layout for our last issue, I was mostly asleep, and yet for some reason (I think I may have been double-checking the price of an iPhone app whose review we were about to publish), I ventured into the iTunes Store and was promptly greeted with a simple banner announcing that the new U2 album was available for pre-order. What’s more, the first single was available for download right then and there. Which meant I wasn’t about to get to sleep any time soon.



“Get On Your Boots” is only what I expected in the sense that I knew it would be unlike anything U2 has attempted before. After all, U2’s last two albums landed squarely in the band’s breadbasket, focusing on the kind of music that the band does best, and now that U2 had come fully back to center it was time to veer recklessly into left field again. And based on the first single, at least, that’s exactly what they’ve done with their new album No Line On The Horizon, which less than twenty-four hours after its release already occupied the #1 and #2 slots on the iTunes album chart, seeing as how it’s being offered in both a deluxe and standard version. Mind you, the people buying the album now won’t be able to download it til March.

How do I even go about describing this new song? The best frame of reference I can offer to U2 fans is that it more or less picks up where Vertigo left off in terms of straight- ahead brashness. But it’s got a style of its own. Where Vertigo sounded just a little too much like early middle-period Led Zeppelin, Get On Your Boots probably most resembles Love And Peace Or Else from U2’s last album. But then again, that song had an inherent plodding crunchiness to it, whereas this one is clearly looking to knock your socks off and blow them several miles down the street.

There’s a mechanical sound to Get On Your Boots, but not an electronic one (meaning that POP-phobes can fear not). It’s just…different, for lack of a more descriptive word. And the start-to-end song structure isn’t even close to being what you’d expect from a lead single. You’ll have to go spend the ninety-nine cents to judge for yourself. And while the first single tells me exactly what to expect from this album in terms of how unexpected it’s all going to be, I won’t even hazard a guess as to what the rest of the album sounds like. Just don’t expect much retracing of familiar territory.



And if nothing else, the release of the new song is yet more evidence that U2 knows how to come out of nowhere (what’s it been, five years since the last record?) and within a matter of hours retake the world. On Sunday the 18th they performed at Obama’s pre-inauguration jam, then released the new single the next day, which just happened to be not just a holiday but Martin Luther King Day, which couldn’t be more appropriate considering that the band created THE King tribute for the past quarter century – don’t tell me you’re too young to know who “Pride (in the Name of Love)” was written about – and of course the day after the song was released Obama became President. Only U2 could release a first single on a holiday, when no one is even supposed to be paying attention, and make it work to their advantage.



iTunes says the full album is expected to drop on March 3rd. The rather spare album cover (pictured at left) appears to depict an equal sign – could that be tied to the “free trade” equal sign that Coldplay’s Chris Martin often displays during performances? Or is U2 just having fun with us, calling the album “No Line On The Horizon” and then depicting two lines on the horizon on the album cover?

So many questions, so few answers yet. But U2 is back. It’s suddenly their world again and for the next year we’re just living in it. And that’s not a bad thing at all.

Five addictive iPhone apps

Top 5 Apps that will compromise your social life in 2009! You’ve cut back on cable, on lattes, and you’re wondering what to cut back on next. No worries, your iPhone or iPod Touch will save the day, and provide hours of entertainment that will even help you save some $$ on your social life – thanks to these 5 addictive apps:

#1 Tap Tap Revenge (free)


If you haven’t been near a TV, a street, or a magazine, you may not have heard of this app. Put simply, it’s the Guitar Hero of iPhone and iPod Touch, and it was so popular it stood on a 30 feet poster at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino when the iPod Touch came out. If you checked it out when it first came out, you probably remember it had 6 songs, and that was it. Since then, it’s been pimped up with some nice additions, including the latest tunes, such as “Hot ‘N Cold” (Katy Perry), “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” (Offspring) and “TroubleMaker” (Weezer). Better yet, the updates and new tunes keep flowing in. There’s no doubt it’ll rock your fingertips throughout 2009… leaving little time to text your friends back. If you do, invite them; there’s a fun 2 player mode in the game, and Tapulous provides online tournaments (who needs real friends anyway?).


My tip: play with 3 fingers on one hand rather than 2 thumbs, and tilt the device forward when you see the “Tap Tap Revenge” logo in blue – that’ll get you 8X points.



#2 Wordle (free)


My favorite word game out there, and bonus, it’s free! 6 letters appear on top of the screen, and you have 3 minutes to find the 6-letter word (which will get you to the next level) and score extra points by uncovering the shorter words (up to 24 words total). A nice take on anagrams, simple design, and endless fun. You can play alone when you have a couple of minutes, or play with friends and share the budget saving wonder. Some of the words don’t always make sense (and sometimes words you would play in Scrabbulous are missing), but if you’re unclear on the words you missed, you can tap on a word to view its (sometimes esoteric) description, provided you have wifi access.
My tip: the words discovered are placed in alphabetical order – a good hint to refine missing words from the list.

#3 Subway Shuffle Lite (free) – Subway Shuffle ($2.99)


You don’t have to pay for a taste of this addictive game: the developers are so confident you’ll be hooked that they offer a Lite version for free. Worked on me! This is a puzzle game with a simple premise: getting the train to the big red circle. The twist: there are colored blocks on the way, and each color can only slide on a line of its own (green on green lines, red on red lines, etc). The number on the top of the screen shows you the minimum number of moves you should take to get your subway to its final destination. 



The Lite version gives you a good overview of the levels up to level 30, but the full version (to date) goes up to level 85, with a breathtaking minimum number of moves at 589. That $2.99 will take you a couple of months of solitary time, and it’ll make you feel smarter too (if you solve the puzzle that is). Extra kudos to the developers: they keep adding on new levels of difficulty, making this a great value over time.


My tip: in the earlier levels, look at each colored line individually – it will help you find out which blocks to move first to clear the way.

#4 Frenzic ($4.99)


Ok, so you’ve given up on your lattes, and now I’m asking you to shell out a Lincoln? That’s right. Once you get a taste of this game, you’ll be addicted. Imagine 6 trivial pursuit pies in need of wedges. 3 colors available: green, purple, and orange. Your mission is to find an available space for the wedge as it appears in the center. Complete a pie, the circle clears. Complete one using wedges of the same color, you gain a life. If your wedge can’t find a pie, you lose a life. Of course, as the game goes on, you have less and less time to distribute the appearing wedges. You get 3 aids: the “clear all pies” (on top), the “slow time” (bottom left) and “X2 points” (bottom right). Use them wisely!


My tip: you can activate the aid next to a circle by completing a pie of a single color in that circle.

#5 Crazy Penguin Lite (free)


PETA didn’t endorse this game, but you don’t need a license to have fun! Crazy kamikaze penguins need to be catapulted to take down evil polar bears. Two steps in this game: catapulting the penguins to the site of destruction, and actually taking aim on the polar bears once the penguins are in flight. Following the laws of physics, the penguins drop at an angle towards the bears. You have three bounces (they have helmets that protects their heads), and then the kamikaze goes out of the screen. The number of bears to take down gets higher at each mission, as do the weapons. A simple principle that’ll keep you on your toes for hours – and when you’re done, you’ll be so endeared by the crazy penguins you’ll be tempted to donate to the World Wildlife Fund.
My tip: master the catapulting of the penguins in the circle of fire – without it, the later levels will be impossible to complete. Note that each level requires different timing on the penguin-launching – but the secret lies in when the penguins’ feet kick back.

Fifth Birthday photos

During Macworld Expo, the iProng Magazine staff shared birthday cake with a few hundred of its fellow expo attendees. Here are a few photos of the occasion…

Marware Game Grip

I might be more of a gamer if I weren’t so lousy at most games. You’ll note that iProng’s game reviews are generally handled by other staff members; I often lack the manual dexterity to make far enough into games to even be able to write about the more advanced levels. Don’t get me wrong, if it’s solitaire I’m your man. But much as I might enjoy taking a stab at some of the more impressive accelerometer-based games for iPhone, I tend to be mediocre at most of them at best. So short of an actual cheat code, I’ll take any iPhone gaming help I can get.



Enter Marware’s Game Grip, a device which basically just adds rubber handles to the iPhone or iPod touch. It wasn’t until I tried using this product that I began to understand (at least in part) why I’m so lousy at most of the games I’ve played on my iPhone: my dexterity is challenged enough as it is, but gets even worse when holding the iPhone while playing a game because I’m trying to cradle the iPhone in my hands while simultaneously using my fingers to operate the game. But once I placed the iPhone into the Game Grip and fired up some of the same games, I instantly found myself doing better at them. Case in point: I’d given up playing Freeverse’s Moto Chaser because I’d been stuck on the same level forever; I made it through the level with a few seconds to spare the first time I tried it with the Game Grip.



So count this skeptic as sold on the concept. The execution is a little less perfect though. The primary drawback to the Game Grip is obvious: it doesn’t come close to fitting in your pocket, meaning you’re limited in terms of carrying it around with you. So this is probably more of an “around the house” kind of product. It also bears pointing out another obvious fact: this product is only designed for games which function in landscape mode (which does include most accelerometer-based games). And while the Game Grip offers intelligent ways to connect a charging cable or headphones (see above photo), those users who don’t have their iPhone’s screen set to automatically turn off after a period of non-use will find that they have to remove the iPhone from the Game Grip just to press the iPhone’s top button – potentially a real hassle, considering that preserving the iPhone’s battery life is even more important than usual when gaming is involved.



Speaking of battery life, Marware has informed us that a battery pack for the Game Grip is on its way. That’s good news for frequent gamers, but we don’t have word on what that’ll do to the Game Grip’s price. In its current incarnation, the Game Grip costs $40 and comes with a simple silicone slipcase for either the iPhone 3G or the iPod touch 2G, or for $45 you can order the Game Grip with both silicone cases included (the iPhone or iPod touch is inserted into the silicone case before being snapped into the Game Grip). Forty bucks sounds like a lot until you consider that some companies charge half that much for a silicone case alone.



So is the Game Grip for you? Tough to say. It’s mostly well done, and it certainly helped this lousy gamer’s iPhone gaming experience. I suppose it comes down to where and how you would use the Game Grip – and whether you’d be caught dead carrying it around in public.

JBL OnStage 200ID

While JBL’s original On Stage speaker system was donut-shaped, the 200ID takes on a different elliptical shape entirely. The system is about a foot wide, but only about two and a half inches tall and not much deeper front to back. Although it’s not a portable system by virtue of not operated by batteries, it’s smaller and more lightweight than a number of battery-operated speaker systems we’ve tested.



For its $149 price tag, the overall sound quality of the On Stage 200ID is surprisingly strong, with a rich all-around sound and larger than life bass output. Which ends up being the 200ID’s most praise-worthy feature, as it lacks the ability to run on a battery, or an embedded alarm clock, or the ability to adjust the bass and treble output found on some similarly priced (or even slightly cheaper) competing systems.



While the 200ID’s audio quality doesn’t quite measure up to the best of the $200-range products (Altec Lansing’s T612 or inMotion MAX), it comes closer than I would have expected – particularly considering its small size. While it’ll take up as much surface space on your desk as a larger system like T612 would, the 200ID looks quite elegant thanks to the fact that the entire unit is just a couple inches tall; think of it as a standard iPhone or iPod dock on steroids. So for those users looking for a low-profile speaker system with a more understated look than some of the comparatively monster-sized competing products, the On Stage 200ID merits consideration.



As a bonus, 200ID is one of the relatively few (but growing number of) systems in this price range whose included remote control allows you to navigate up and down your iPhone or iPod’s hierarchal menus, provided you’re close enough to see your device’s screen. For those who like the look of this product but wish it had an alarm clock. JBL also offers an On Time 200ID (slightly larger, not tested) for $199.

Contour Showcase for iPhone 3G

How long has Contour Design’s Showcase been around? I vividly recall that it was by far my favorite case for the third-generation iPod – and that was nearly six years ago. Here in the present, the Showcase has evolved quite a bit and now adapted for the iPhone 3G. But the basic tenets of the Showcase remain the same: a combination of black hard rubber on the top, bottom, and sides providing impact protection, along with clear hard plastic on the device’s front and back to allow your iPhone to still be recognizable as being an iPhone while encased.

I like the Showcase for iPhone 3G, but some of the changes from earlier years detract from what has traditionally made the Showcase such a favorite: while past versions included a slider or clamp on the side of the case to ensure that it could be easily opened, the current design requires some tugging thanks to the fact that it’s basically a snap-together case (making it no easier to remove than most clear hard plastic cases on the market). And the large clear hard plastic window on the back of the case is only of real benefit if you have the white iPhone 3G model; the all-black iPhone barely shines through save for the Apple logo itself. And the implementation of the belt clip is such that you have to snap an entire extra hard plastic backing piece onto the case before attaching the clip itself, making it bulkier than it probably should be. Still, it’s one heck of a good-looking (and protective) case. I just wish I could give the iPhone 3G version of the Showcase more than four stars out of five. $35.

iProng Magazine’s Fifth Anniversary issue featuring Lady GaGa and much more!

Lady Gaga interview

iProng Magazine talks with Lady Gaga, in her first-ever cover story interview, about her transition from songwriter to pop star, the difference between fame and The Fame, and more…

Here in 2009 it seems there are only two types of people: those familiar with Lady GaGa, and those who are asking “who is this Lady GaGa I keep hearing about?” Her hit single “Just Dance” is simultaneously at #1 on six different Billboard charts, and yet her seeming meteoric rise to fame over the past few months belies the years she spent working as a hired songwriter for everyone from Britney Spears to the Pussycat Dolls while trying to break in as a performer but being told by record labels that she was “too theater” and by theater people that she was “too pop.” When I caught up with Lady GaGa she explained that “The Fame” she named her record after is very different from the kind of fame that landed her on the cover of this magazine – and during our conversation she went out of her way to be overly complimentary to everyone from Freddie Mercury to New Kids on the Block to yours truly. If Lady GaGa’s newfound fame is going to her head, she sure isn’t showing it…

How were you influenced musically by growing up in and around New York City and going to school in Manhattan and having that kind of childhood?

I studied classical music and I grew up hanging out in jazz clubs, and being in jazz bands and choirs and rock and roll and stuff. So I was just surrounded by it growing up. I wasn’t the girl that was hanging out with boys after school, you know? I was always doing something artistic.

When you sit down to write a pop song, what’s your approach for writing a song and trying to make sure it fits into pop music?

It’s got to have that undeniable melodic big chorus. It’s something that I’ll really, really look at, and I don’t know how to explain it, it’s like the song comes on and that thing kicks in, and you just know it’s a hit record. It’s not really explainable. I always say that the best songs ever written kind of write themselves. You start writing the melody and then you get the lyrics real quick and then it just kind of goes. If it takes you longer than, like, ten to thirty minutes to write a song, it’s probably not a good song.

Is your approach different when you’re writing for someone else as opposed to writing a song you know you’re going to be performing yourself?

Sometimes when I do something for myself I’ll be a little bit more risk-taking. I’ll just think about something that I could maybe handle that nobody else could. But I pretty much approach them the same way. Writing a pop song and a big chorus, it’s like it’s kind of just special for each song. And sometimes I’ll tailor-make something for a particular artist and use them as my muse, but in terms of melody and stuff I always sort of come from the same soul place.

Just Dance is your big hit single right now. Is there a deeper message behind that song, or is the message really “Just Dance”?

There’s a couple messages. The song is really an ode to New York and being out in the clubs, getting too drunk and you really should go home, but instead of going home you just dance through it and get yourself through the night. But I think on a deeper level, the song is about pushing through in general. I was at a time in my life when I was writing record after record after record, looking for that undeniable first single, and Just Dance was my hit.

Your album is called The Fame, which seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy because you’re at the top of the charts now. Do you consider yourself to be famous at this point?

I always thought I was famous, even when I wasn’t (laughs). So I don’t really consider it now. I mean if anything I’ve grown up a lot making this record. The fame for me is something that really comes from within and is really deep inside me and my work, and it’s something that has infected me and my group of friends in the downtown scene for a really long time. Fame, which I’m experiencing now, is very different from the fame. The fame is when nobody knows who you are but everybody wants to know who you are. I still experience a lot of that. As big as Just Dance is getting, and The Fame climbing the charts, because people are still discovering me.

That kind of fame, to me, is the kind of fame that everybody knows about, and the kind of fame that I write about is a very special kind of fame that I think is really positive and can affect people’s lives in a really, really amazing way. And I think that that other kind of fame that you’re talking about is much more ego-centric and has to do with making sure that people are recognizing me for my work. If anything I really love it when I see that my music and my fashion is affecting pop culture. That makes me feel famous.

For me it’s much more important to see young girls wearing shoulder pads, you know what I mean? Or having their hair in a different way or speaking differently or using new words or listening to music in a genre that they’ve never maybe tapped into before, that to me is what fame is. And it’s inspiring music to be less lazy. When I first started out people, I used to notice on blogs, they would say “We can’t tell if she’s the real deal or if she’s trying too hard.” But it’s kind of a mixture of both. It’s like I work so, so hard and I work tirelessly and endlessly on the fashion and the show and the music, and it’s because that’s what I love, that’s what I do. I don’t wake up in the morning and I’m too good to do an interview, or too good to write a new song, or too cool to play a show for a small stage. I do anything and everything because I really, really love what I do.

A couple of your songs have been featured on Gossip Girl. Do you watch that show?

Yeah, I like Gossip Girl. It’s very entertaining.

Have you ever been watching and one of your songs randomly comes on and you didn’t know it was going to happen?

That happens all the time, and I call the record label and I’m like “oh my god, I didn’t know that song was on that show.” There have been so many licenses recently that I don’t even hear about all of them. But that makes me feel great because it tells me that my goal, which was to analyze and reckon and struggle with ideas about pop culture, it’s really working because all of these shows that are so emblematic of modern television and modern film and modern movies and modern club shows, it’s like they’re all gravitating towards my stuff, because I guess it’s speaking to something that’s very today.

I have to ask you about the name Lady GaGa. I’ve heard different stories about how you got the name.

It came from the Queen song Radio Ga Ga. I used to perform at the piano doing these really theatrical stage performances where I would do hand choreography and then slam my fingers back down on the piano, and I would wear lingerie and it was kind of like this pop burlesque show, and he just told me “you’re so Ga Ga, you’re so Freddie Mercury.” And I was like, “you mean Radio Ga Ga?” I just thought the name was fitting, so I kept it. He kept calling me that in the studio, so it kind of stuck.

It’s almost like you’re a female version of Freddie Mercury then.

Yeah I think so. I think it’s part of me and what I do, there’s like an androgyny to my stage show. I’m super-feminine and sexy, but then again I sort of carry myself like a dude. You know, the music is a reflection of who I am, and I grew up as a theater kid and studying musical theater and auditioning in New York. I was a dancer, I was a singer, I was an actress. So doing theatrical pop music was a way for me to blend all of those worlds together. And Freddie Mercury was an inspiration for me when I was at a record label and they’d say “you’re too theater” and I’d be at an audition for a musical and they’d say “you’re too pop,” you know? I was able to bring both worlds together.

You’ve been touring with New Kids on the Block. What’s it like being on the road with them? Were you listening to them when you were a kid?

Oh yeah, they’re really really amazing, and I was a huge fan of theirs when I was younger. And they’re the ultimate in pop, in boy-band pop. It’s like they were the test kids, and I’m really inspired by them. If anything I’m so, so humbled by what they have achieved as a band that’s been around for so long, and how humble they are. As a new artist, for opening acts they usually hand you a microphone and an amp and they say “go, you’ve got five feet of stage.” But these guys, they really gave me a lot of creative freedom, and they knew how much my stage performance was an integral part of who I am, and they let me do the show of my dreams.

I’m looking at your tour schedule and it looks really packed. Do you have that workaholic vibe, like you need to be out there doing as many shows as possible?

Sometimes my tour manager and I will book shows on the fly. We’ll say “well we get off at nine tonight, why don’t we see if the gay club around the corner wants Lady GaGa to come.” And they’ll almost always say yes, and then we’ll do a show for free. I love to play and make music. It’s funny when you ask me about fame, because it’s like I’m not on the road right now working towards some ultimate orgasmic explosion of fame that I have in head. I’m living my dream right now. I’m on the road, I’m making music, I’m making art, I’m performing at arenas and in nightclubs and people know my lyrics, they know my fashion and they know what I’m trying to say and it’s affecting them. This is great. This exactly what I’ve always wanted.

What else should the world know about Lady GaGa?

I’d just like to stress that I wrote, obviously, the whole album and that I have a really heavy hand in all of the creative content and the videos and the films and the TV, and I just really care about what I do. So I actually really appreciate your interview. You asked some really poignant, amazing questions.

interview by Bill Palmer

iProng Magazine’s 100% Podsafe Issue!

iProng Magazine issue 30: Darius Rucker, on-site reports from Macworld and CES, Best of Show, Leah D’Emilio and more!

Darius Rucker interview

iProng Magazine sits down with Darius Rucker, the chart-topping country star who also happens to be the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish for a one on one interview at the Capitol Records building in Hollywood…

interview by Bill Palmer

Rock fans know Darius Rucker as the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, while country fans are more likely to recognize him as the guy whose new solo album Learn To Live has been in the top five on the iTunes country charts since it was released and whose first single off the record went all the way to number one. But for one recent sunny winter afternoon, I knew Darius Rucker as the laid-back guy sitting next to me in a conference room at the Capitol Records building in Hollywood as we chatted about everything from what happened to Hootie, to how he got off the ground as a country artist, to the shared pain we’ve both felt over the past decade as fans of the Miami Dolphins…

I was a little bit taken aback when I heard you were doing a country album, but then I went back and listened to some of the older Hootie, and there’s always been a country vibe there for you, hasn’t there?



Yeah, we’ve always had that feel. We’ve always had some country-influenced stuff on our records. And that was probably one of the reasons that the last couple records I thought about maybe just going country and playing country songs, because we had so much of that influence. When we sat around and jammed sat around and jammed with each other we still just played country and bluegrass songs. And so it was just like you know, let’s take it all the way. But they were right. We’re a rock band. That’s what we do. So I have no regrets. Everybody’s happy.



Is that why you felt it was time to break the band up, that you didn’t want to put out a country Hootie album, or was that more about being a solo artist?

I wanted to put out a country record and I knew I was gonna have to do that myself. And so I didn’t want to put out a Hootie country record. I didn’t want to put out a record that sounded like us with lap steel. That wasn’t my intention. And so it was like, not even that we’re broke up so much, it’s just that I knew I couldn’t tour with Hootie in the summer and try and do this country thing. And so it was like guys, we’re gonna take a break for a long time because I just want to do this for awhile. I want to make records and tour, and see what I can do in the country world.

How did they take it when you broke the news to them?

It wasn’t me. It was somebody else in the band who called the meeting, that said they wanted to take a break. It was just a perfect timing thing for me, cause I knew that this was coming along, and I had signed a deal with Capitol and things were gonna happen, and I was wanting to make a career move, not just do a record, I wanted to do a lot of records. And I was like yeah, that’s cool. I wasn’t more like “hey you guys, we’re not gonna play cause I’m doing this country thing.” It was more like “hey I want to do this” and another guy was like “yeah I’m kind of tired of doing it every summer too, I want to take some time off.” So it was a cool thing for everybody.

You’ve sold tens of millions of albums, you’ve got the famous voice and the famous name. But did you really think that you could have this kind of chart success? You’ve already got a number one single and a top five country album.

No, I didn’t think I would have that kind of success. This is the way I made the plan and the way I saw it, and the way [producer] Frank Rogers and I even really kind of talked about it, is that we wanted [Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It], we thought it was the perfect first introduction because it was a cool radio song, it was really country, nice theme of growing up. It didn’t show me as trying to be some kind of twenty-four year old kid. It was just a cool tune. And we hoped it would get in the top fifteen. And we figured if it got in the top ten, then man, we really could put out more singles. And it was a thing that we looked at where we were trying to grow a career. The single is probably not gonna be number one, and the next one is probably not gonna be number one, but maybe on number three we can see what happens and try to work it. And so it was just like let’s work this.



So when it started to get close to number one when it came out, I still can’t believe it. And I still think people are kidding sometimes when they say it, you know? Because new guys don’t come around. You’ve seen what everybody’s done. I watched a lot of records, really good records, songs I thought were great songs, get to around fifteen in the chart and just, that’s it. Then it starts to freefall. And mine kept growing. At some point you ask yourself “who’s playing it more? How can somebody be playing it more than they were playing it last week?”


How many of the people that are buying this record do you think are long-time fans of yours that are just following you into this genre, vs. how many of them are long-time country fans?

I think it’s a really great mix of both. Some of the people that are buying it because it’s my record, are people that might have not listened to country music before, but now they listen to country radio because my song’s playing on it. But while they’re listening for my song they hear ten other songs that they go “wow, this is country radio?”

On the record you sing about turning forty. You’re forty-two now. How are your forties playing out so far?

I love it. I had a great time in my twenties and thirties playing in Hootie and the Blowfish and partying and doing the things we did and having a great time. But I’ve gotta tell you, the forties, being married and having three kids and trying to see them and also balance trying to have some success in this crazy music business, I can’t say I’m having more fun or anything, but I can tell you that I’ve never been more content or happy in my life than where I am at forty-two. I just love being who I am.

On “If I Had Wings” you’ve got Vince Gill and Alison Krauss singing on there, and Brad Paisley is playing guitar on another track. Did you already know these country stars from beforehand, or are these all new friends?

I knew Vince. When I wrote “If I Had Wings” with Frank Rogers and Rivers Rutherford, and Frank produced the record, and write after we wrote it I said to Frank, “I want Vince.” And I thought I might be able to get Vince because of the golf tie, we both play golf in tournaments together, and I consider Vince a friend. So I thought we’d get him.



And so Frank saw him at a gym, and this is the difference from rock and pop. If I saw some rock star at a gym and said “hey man I’d love you to come play on my record,” they’ll say “yeah” but then they’ll tell their manager who’ll call my manager and by the time it’s all over it ain’t gonna happen. But he saw Vince Gill in the gym and just asked him, “Darius has got this song he’s crazy about and he really keeps talking about you singing on it, will you come sing?” And Vince Gill, who’s won twenty Grammys or whatever he’s won, says “yeah I’ll be there in a couple of days” and two days later there’s Vince Gill on my record.



And then after I hear Vince on it, I’m on my horse and I go “Alison Krauss would really be crazy on this,” and he sees Alison in a restaurant and says “Vince sang on this Darius song that I’m doing and Darius would love you to sing on it.” And she says “yeah I’ll be there in a couple days.” No one calls their manager, they just come down and they sing, we’ll deal with that later. That’s pretty cool.



“Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” is the first number one country song by a black guy since Charlie Pride twenty-five years ago. Do you think about it much in those terms?



I didn’t until it started to happen. When we got in the top twenty somebody mentioned it to me, and I went really? Cause I thought you know, Cleve Francis, Cowboy Troy, Trini Triggs, I thought one of those guys had a top twenty hit in the last twenty-five years. And it got crazy when it got to number one, the thing that’s crazy to me is somebody pointed out that it was twenty-five years to the week that Charlie Pride had his last number one.


I saw you co-hosted ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning.



Yeah, broadcast journalism was my major in college. My fallback job was being a sports journalist. That’s what I wanted to do. That was going to be my thing if I didn’t make it in music. And I’ve done some shows, I had hosted with Dan Patrick before and stuff. And a friend of mine had a connection up there and asked if I wanted to do it. It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do. Even my plans, after this country thing is over in ten to fifteen years, is I want to sit around Charleston and have my own sports talk show.



And so they asked me to do it, and the thing that amazed me is I loved every minute of it, and I really hope to goodness they call me back to do it again, because the thing that was amazing to me is how at the end of four hours, cause you talk for four hours, at the end of it I couldn’t believe how fast it went.


Were you on with one of the Mikes?



Nah, it was me and Erik Kuselias. It was great and actually, Mike Golic called in cause we played the Notre Dame golf tournament together a few years before. Those guys are great guys, and it’s one of my favorite shows, a show that I watch every morning. My kids have a joke for it, they try to say as many “Mike and Mikes” as they can before they say “in the morning.”



And so I’m sitting there on Mike and Mike, I’m hosting, and Tiger is a pretty good friend of mine, there I’m naming dropping but he’s a pretty good friend of mine, and this is how big Mike and Mike is. We’re sitting there and Tiger texts me, “I wake up this morning, I turn on my favorite show and I have to see your ugly mug?”



Is it different now that you’ve got the kids, do you have to structure your touring around that now?



Yeah, everything’s different. That’s also one of the great perks of being in the country world is country guys religiously, and I like to think of the family thing, I think it’s a couple reasons they do this. I think they do it cause country people are blue collar people who have to work, and they need to work on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday they might be able to go out and maybe Thursday. So country guys tour from Wednesday to Saturday, and that’s just beautiful to me because that means Saturday night I can get on the bus or get on a plane and fly home, and Sunday morning I wake up with my kids. Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning I’m home with my kids, and then I get back on the road again. That’s just a thing for me that’s a blessing. It’s something that I stress to my management now. I’m not doing the Hootie thing where I go out in May and come back in November. I’m doing it the right way and I’m going to have a family life.



Everything’s different. I mean I used to be a guy who, if we were off for three days, all I could do was think “man, I’m so ready to go back on the road. I’m so ready to go on the road. I want to go on the road.” And now I’m that guy who, I can be playing some of the best shows in the world, and it’s like “man, I’ve got to leave my kids?” But it’s my job, I’ve got to do it. I ain’t skilled to do much else. It’s this or talking on a talk show somewhere for twenty thousand dollars a year.



When you do a show, is it all new stuff or do you mix in some of the Hootie stuff?



Oh, I’m always going to play those Hootie songs. “Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna Be With You” and “Hold My Hand,” especially “Let Her Cry,” that’s a song I actually play every night that I play. I mean if I’m playing a three-song demo, I should play “Let Her Cry.” That song made my career. That made people go “man, that guy can write a song.”



You’re still going to play a few shows a year with Hootie for charity?



Oh yeah, we’ve got four shows already lined up for March and April, they’re really big shows for us. And there will be another Hootie album, another Hootie tour, sometime down the line. I just don’t know when.



Just not anytime soon.



No time soon. 



Do you think those shows will have a different feel when you play with them now?



I think the one thing about us is we’ve been together about twenty-three years, that when we do get together to play, even the shows we’ve played since the tour ended, it’s just what we do. No matter what everybody does on their own, when we get back together it’s still the four of us doing exactly what we do. And I think that’ll always be that way.



So Hootie’s not dead then.



Nah, we’ll never die. With all the stuff that’s happened to us in the last few years, if we haven’t died yet, we’ll never die.

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Learn more at DariusRucker.com

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