Boston’s Buffalo Tom might as well have been made by a mad scientist trying to construct the perfect crossover ‘90s alternative rock band. They had the indie pedigree: their first few albums were produced by Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis, and they were signed to the English indie label Beggar’s Banquet. But they also hit all the post-Nevermind stops—slicking up their sound on their third album, getting a hit single on the radio, and they even showed up on the seminal ‘90s teen soap, “My So-Called Life†(which might explain the disproportionate amount of Tom albums in the racks at used CD stores). They even showed up on that kick-ass School House Rock compilation with Blind Melon, Pavement, and others.
But here’s the thing: unlike a lot of bands who took the same route to radio (maybe trading “My So-Called Life†for “90210â€â€™s After Dark club), these guys actually rocked, and kept rocking even after their crossover success. Their slicked up sound actually made them better and their hit album may have been the best thing they ever did.
Starting out in Boston and being produced by J Mascis didn’t help these guys escape what many people were already calling them after their self-titled first album: Dinosaur Jr junior. Clever, right? The first time they showed signs of breaking out on their own was the title track to their second album, Birdbrain. Though remnants of the rough and ragged Dino Jr sound are still present, the song, simple as it is, showed that these guys could write a song to go with their riffs—and a damn catchy one at that; though the verses leave a little something to be desired, the beautiful chorus a sign of things to come.
After the revolution of ‘91, Tom didn’t jump ship from their label, but they did dump Mascis’s rough-around-the-edges sound for a more radio friendly sound. It worked. The slicked up Tom hit the airwaves with “Taillights Fadeâ€â€”essentially their one and only hit and a song that got lots of play on radio and MTV. The song (included on 1992’s classic Let Me Come Over) is basically a monster ballad, starting with a catchy acoustic guitar figure on the verses before building up to the monster chorus: “I hit the wall / I’m about to fall / But I’m closing in on it / I feel so weak / On a losing streak / Watch my taillights fade to black.†The lyrics went a long way towards helping this one get on some of those annoying “Slacker Anthems†lists, but it’s one of the few ‘90s-indie-band-turned-one-hit-wonder songs that is representative of the band, and is actually one of their best songs (unlike say, Flaming Lips’ “She Don’t Use Jelly†or Nada Surf’s “Popularâ€).
“Mineral,†included on the same album, follows a similar formula to “Taillights Fade†but might be the better song. It’s the perfect second single, giving more of the same but digging a little deeper and maybe even catchier; had it ever caught the public’s attention I might not be writing a “remember those guys?†type tribute.
“Summer,†from their last good album, 1995’s Sleepy Eyed, was an example of the band becoming more straightforward than ever, while still maintaining the melodies, hooks and hard-rocking ability that made them so appealing in the first place. They rock out harder than they have since Birdbrain, but where that album was loose and live-sounding, “Summer†is taut, focused and energetic (not to mention a perfect soundtrack for riding around with the sunroof open this time of year). Too bad this was more or less their last gasp. They made one more album, 1998’s stale Smitten before disbanding.
However, the epilogue is that the band is back together and about to release a new album on New West. Let’s hope these guys have at least one more great album in them; one that’ll take us back to the days when a band named “Buffalo Tom†could somehow show up on Casey Kasem.
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FAP772: Free stuff Friday, Lender of Last Resort, SREB
FAP772: Free stuff Friday, Lender of Last Resort, SREB
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Student Financial Aid News
+ At the SREB GoAlliance conference yesterday
+ Some revelatory facts - every 26 seconds, a kid drops out of high school
+ In some southern states, kids drop out as early as 4th grade
+ The causes are many - family influence, money, time, culture
+ Addressing the issue requires a multitude of approaches
+ My role was to help train GoAlliance members in direct to consumer marketing
+ Consequences are grave - statistically a college graduate makes more than $1.2M over a lifetime in earnings more than a high school graduate, $1.6M over someone with no diploma
+ That’s 3,323 kids a DAY - and that means $3.9 BILLION a day lost
+ NorthStar and Student Loan Xpress exit the student loan market
+ Chronicle: Responding to growing concern that student loans may be less available this fall, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the Senate education committee, introduced legislation on Thursday aimed at reducing borrowers’ dependence on private student loans and making it easier for colleges to find lenders for their students.
+ Mr. Kennedy’s bill, which comes amid a credit crunch that has caused a number of lenders to leave the federally guaranteed student loan programs and private-loan programs, would increase the maximum Pell Grant for the lowest-income students by up to $750. It would also increase federal loan limits by $1,000 a year for undergraduates who are dependents of their parents, and $2,000 a year for independent undergraduates and students whose parents cannot obtain PLUS loans because of their poor credit. The bill also aims to ease the process of applying for a loan under the federal government’s “lender of last resort” program, which would use guarantee agencies to provide loans if they become widely unavailable. Under current law, students seeking a loan would have to petition the Education Department directly and prove that they had been denied a loan by at least two lenders. Under Mr. Kennedy’s bill, the department could designate lenders of last resort on a collegewide, not a student-by-student, basis.
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com
Scholarship Update
+ Songs from the Heart
+ Rock, rap or riff an original song expressing your support for a cause or candidate you care about! Express yourself with an original song backing an issue close to your heart. The style of music is up to you! Create your original song, let your voice be heard and you could win $500! No purchase necessary. Open to anyone who is a resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, has access to the Internet, and is 13 or older at the time of entry.
+ $500
+ June 11 deadline
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site
Free Stuff Friday
+ How to Find Lost Objects eBook
+ Sync up all your calendars with FuseCal
+ Chel Pixie warns to read the TOS on Photoshop Express
+ David Allen’s GTD email eBook
+ TONS of stuff today via BalanceInDiet.com
+ The Backyardigans printable coloring book
+ Sample of Maybelline Mineral Powder
+ Sample of Ultra Xcid Antacid by Zicam
+ Sample of Vaseline Intensive Rescue
+ Sample of Dove Go Fresh deodorant
+ Sample of Post-It flags
+ Seattle’s Best Coffee Sample
+ Curel Life Stages Sample
+ Always Samples
+ Fiber One Cereal Sample
+ Jergens Natural Glow Moisturizer Sample
+ Vaseline Intensive Rescue Sample
+ FlexForce Trash Bag Sample
+ Gold Bond Lotion Sample
+ Purina One Healthful Life Cat Food Sample
+ Check out list #1
+ And List #2
Free Song of the Week
+ Adrina Thorpe, Midnight
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+ Financial Aid Podcast Live: Surviving the Credit Crunch
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Reminders
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+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook
+ Open an FDIC-insured savings account today!
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.
I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.
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Explainer: Why Don't Miners Carry GPS?
Why Don't Miners Carry GPS? Isn't there some way of tracking people underground? By Michelle Tsai Officials began drilling a fifth hole in the Crandall Canyon mine on Sunday, in an effort to locate the six men who became trapped inside nearly two weeks ago. Why don't miners carry GPS-tracking devices to help rescue workers find them? Because those gadgets don't work underground. The wireless signals that we use on the surface to make phone calls, send e-mails, or find our GPS coordinates have a hard time traveling through the earth. All of these signals can be obstructed by the concrete, mineral water, and coal in a mine. To send a signal through a tunnel that runs for miles, you might need to place wireless receivers in a relay at each bend or turn, which would be very expensive. On the surface, engineers can use high-powered transmitters to boost a signal and help it to get through physical obstructions like walls or doors. But this would be impossible in a methane-filled mine, where communication devices need to operate on very little power—say, 1,000 to 2,000 times less energy than an average cell phone. Otherwise, an antenna could put out enough energy to ignite a gas explosion. For now, miners have to rely on rudimentary locating means. They might call a dispatcher each time they move to a different part of the mine, using phone lines that are strung along the tunnel ceiling. A more high-tech version of this same system uses radio frequency sensors-RFID tags-on each person to track them when they reach certain areas. Placed at key tunnel intersections or work areas, RFID reader pick up each worker's tag and note when a person is in a particular place. All these data go back to the surface through a physical communication line, like the fiber optic cables that connect office workers to the Internet. The men in Utah did have one-way, wireless communications devices, called PEDs, that can receive short text messages from the surface. These gadgets use low-frequency waves that can travel very slowly through the earth and deliver small amounts of data. But it would take a lot of power to send one of these signals (not to mention a device the size of a small TV), so miners can't use them to pass messages back to the outside world. Accidents in mines often destroy parts of the main data lines, making phone communication or RFID tracking impossible. To address this danger, scientists are developing technologies to send wireless signals through hundreds of feet of coal, water, limestone, sandstone, and other types of rocks, which all have different transmission properties. (Sending radio waves through a layer of limestone turns out to be pretty easy, for example; coal and water tend to absorb the signals.) The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an agency charged with encouraging mine safety technologies, tested about 50 wireless systems after the accident in West Virginia's Sago mine, but none were up to snuff (PDF). Officials there now hope a hybrid wired-and-wireless system might be the answer. They want to take advantage of medium-frequency waves, which can travel through air as well as metal structures. In theory, a medium-frequency signal could jump onto a metal pipe to skip the damaged portions of a physical line.
