The day after Thanksgiving, we are back at it today, finding all kinds of exciting news and events for your review.  Today we changed the order.  Wherever the information took us, we went.  It started with Bowie and the ten bands he influenced, touched on a gift-giving list, a 500-year-old Christmas market in Germany, and a favorite remix album from days ago.  Happy Friday!

Radio X wrote a story on the 10 Bands That Owe Their Existence To David Bowie.  A title that gives a little too much to Bowie, but that’s what headlines are for.  The first band on the list, The Sex Pistols – were it not for the recent biopic on the Pistols, we would not have put Bowie as one of the top influences.  In the opening scene of the biopic Pistol, Steve Jones is stealing the mics used at a Bowie show in the UK.  Throughout the miniseries, Steve Jones (guitarist) and Johnny Rotten (voice) talk about the influence of Bowie.

The following four bands could have been plucked from our favorite UK bands from the 80s.  Siouxsie And The Banshees, Siouxsie could have taken makeup tips from Bowie and is said to have been drawn to Bowie as a reaction to punk’s chaos.  Joy Division, which began after seeing the Sex Pistols perform in Manchester, is said to have initially named themselves Warsaw, after a Bowie album track.  The Cure’s Robert Smith also claims Bowie’s album Low changed his life.  The Smiths, Morrissey (voice) was a fan of Bowie’s style and music, and Johnny Marr (guitarist) said Bowie was his ultimate icon.

David Bowie may be one of those rare individuals whose influence is more significant than his artistic output.  In a final twist of fate, another OG Influencer Prince, who gave the world much more than he received, died unexpectedly three months after Bowie.  The heavens must sound wonderful these days!

There is so much going on in digital and social media these days.  Apple’s decision to make it harder for an app to track you, Twitter’s continued meltdown, and TicToc fear to name a few.  At the same time, hundreds of thousands of users are overwhelmed by alternative social media apps as users try to move away from something that feels like commercial-grade influence in several cases.

We want content, connection, and a safe space to get the information we are interested in, and we want to know that there is a clear line between opinion and commentary and fact-based, sourced, and cited news.  Many of us know how fast the new media came online, and even if we have to go back to a start-up like Mastadon or Cohost, it’s better than having to scroll through media designed (by trolls) to keep us scrolling.

The 2022 mid-terms, where we voted down troll city deniers and said yes to our vote matters candidates, is the beginning of the digital wake-up call we need.  With patience, more of us can unplug ourselves from the Matrix, spend less time on new media, and curate the media we spend our time with.  More user involvement and fewer advertising and shareholder value calls.  This Thanksgiving weekend is something we can all be thankful for.

We are writing this on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and a traditional crazy shopping day.  Black Friday, which is a story all its own.  Today we are highlighting a gift list from CIODive.  A gift list for the tech leaders in your life.  Any A-Type will like all of the items on the list.  Our favorite is the P6 French Press, Coffee Maker.  Everything in our office starts with coffee!

Thanks, Nik; we can always depend on you for inspiration and a new way of looking at life!

Back in the day and by the day, we are again referring to the 80s, a record company put out a sampler CD called Just Say Yes.  This album complication had several tracks from alternative bands and some hard-to-find remixes.  This was a new way to get new music out to people who otherwise might not have gone looking for it.  Some of us at With A Shout are big fans of this sampler, and when it recently appeared on our Pandora playlist, it brought back many memories.  Check out the link to see more from the sampler.

Words | Music | Art | Unknown

The best lemon drops.

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us!

With A Shout Team