Nick Bradbury

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I'm hopelessly addicted to Rock Band and Guitar Hero. I pretend that I bought those games for my kids, but we all know I really bought them for myself (and if the kids are nice, I'll let them play, too). It's a sure sign that you're addicted to these... [read more]

This was a rock-and-roll weekend for the Bradbury household. It started when my coworker Darrin Long let me know that Rush was playing at Red Rocks this summer. I mentioned this to my wife, who suggested we both go, and bring our two kids with us. I was able to get four pre-sale tickets, so fellow NewsGator-ites be forewarned: there... [read more]

My musical tastes lean towards the "loud and obnoxious" variety (for example, Avenged Sevenfold's latest CD has been blasting from my speakers this week). But despite not being my style of music, this performance by Nicole Atkins blew me away. If this woman isn't the next big thing, then there's something wrong with this country (via Rogers Cadenhead). [read more]

Instead of going to Gnomedex this past weekend, I chose to stay home with my kids because today is their first day at a new school. So I had big plans for the weekend, plans that involved spending "quality time" with them making sure they were comfortable with going to a new school. But then my son asked to play... [read more]

Niall Kennedy has the news about Apple's new My iTunes, which enables sharing your iTunes purchases, favorites and reviews as Flash-based widgets. This is a great move by Apple, although I do wish I could customize which purchases appear in the widget (for example, I'd like to exclude music I purchased for my wife, since her tastes are quite different... [read more]

I added this to my link feed earlier today, but since this is a slow blogging week for me, I figured I'd share it here, too. If you enjoy the acoustic guitar, then check out this YouTube video of guitarist Andy McKee. [read more]

Jason Calacanis just pointed to The Hype Machine, a free service which tracks MP3 blogs and builds a list of MP3 links that are downloadable by a podcatcher such as FeedStation. [read more]

Yep, I'm joining the ranks of bloggers who write about their favorite pop culture releases of the past year. Sad, isn't it? [read more]

Yesterday Scott Johnson said that I rock because I'm an "old school" programmer (Scott - thanks for the kind words!). Funny thing is, yesterday was my 39th birthday (yep, I'm one year away from the big four-oh) so it was kind of unnerving to hear that I'm old school already. But in the programming world, I guess I am old... [read more]

So, last night I went to a Sevendust concert, and for the first time in almost two decades I got into a mosh pit. Let's just say that today my aching 38-year-old self is very aware of the reasons why moshing is done by a younger crowd... [read more]

When I was a long-haired teenager, going to rock concerts was among my favorite things to do (I admit it, I grew up in Wayne's World). But my concert attendance has slipped since then - these days, I'm lucky if I see one show a year. Well, this year I decided to change that. Shortly after my ugly surgery I... [read more]

Although I use - and love - the iTunes/iPod combination, it bothers me how Apple continues to be opaque. At a time when a number of companies (including Microsoft, but not, I should add, Google) have made themselves more transparent by opening themselves up via blogging, Apple keeps everything close to their chest. That's their decision, of course, but it... [read more]

Like many developers I enjoy listening to music while coding, and my musical selection changes depending on what I'm working on. When I'm in mad scientist mode and can't seem to make my fingers type fast enough to keep up with me, I put on some variety of loud, obnoxious music to keep me going. But I usually put on... [read more]

As some of you know, I'm a bit of a Frank Zappa fan. So I was pleasantly surprised this morning to discover that 48 Frank Zappa albums are now available on iTunes. Given that Zappa himself proposed a very iTunes-like idea way back in 1983, it's about time his work appeared on iTunes. If you haven't listened to Zappa before,... [read more]

Wow. I never expected Green Day would put out an album as great as this. I've been listening to it practically non-stop for three days. [read more]

I love how the Web is full of unexpected associations that end up exposing me to new things. After reading Don Box's post about Frank Zappa's "Baby Snakes" DVD, I immediately bought a copy on Amazon.com. I'd seen Baby Snakes years ago, and although I wasn't wild about most of the music on it (I usually love Zappa, but there's... [read more]

This BlogCritics post just reminded me that Frank Zappa passed away ten years ago. Zappa was a unique curmudgeon, and I miss his brilliant mix of high-falutin' music and low-brow humor. I first heard Zappa's music while in college, and it was a welcome change from the unimaginative spew that filled the airwaves. Oddly enough, Zappa was an inspiration for... [read more]