Jeff Bridges and the Net

Starman, The Big Lebowski, Arlington Road, Nadine, Jagged Edge, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and over 40 other films and television appearances embody the work of actor Jeff Bridges. Some of us remember the late 50s television show Sea Hunt, starring his late father, Lloyd. It comes as little surprise that the younger Bridges hosts a web site. While it is not uncommon for Hollywood celebrities to have a web-presence, unique features of the Jeff Bridges (www.jeffbridges.com) site puts it in a special category.

 

First Impressions

When arriving at the site, the visitor is struck by the unusual style. The splash screen and menu are black and white hand written graphics. Not only is there an absence of color, but navigation within the site is performed via graphics hand written by Bridges. (A view of Jeff Bridges’ eBay memorabilia confirms that this indeed is his script.) There are no Javascript mouseovers or Macromedia Flash graphics often found on celebrity sites. The casual simplicity of jeffbridges.com is frankly refreshing as it provides (at least to this writer) a personalized feel to the content. A few main themes such as ending hunger and music dominate the site. Profits from personal photos available for purchase go to the charity. Neat.

 

The Music

A visitor cannot help but be struck with Bridges’ strong interest in music as a second career. With friends (fellow artists) Michael McDonald and Chris Pelonis, Bridges formed Ramp Records, a cyber-recording label. A grass-roots effort, Ramprecords.com currently offers two albums, Bridges’ (Be Here Soon) and McDonald’s (Blue Obsession). Nevertheless, the Bridges/McDonald/Pelonis team has a larger vision as expressed in the press release for the web site: “This label, and many like it, are the result of so many artists feeling the need for this industry to re-invent itself. Not unlike FM radio in the sixties, the Internet could become the free airwave of this generation, and the new small independent labels could just be responsible for bringing the same kind of unique, organic talent to the public’s attention that labels like Sun, Scepter, Chess, and Stax-Volt were able to do.”

 

My Experience

One song from the “Be Here Soon” album can be transported over the Net in either MP3 or liquid Audio format. A click on the icon brings the file to the visitor’s computer. I sampled the free offering “She Lay Her Whip Down” (file name: whip_mp3.mp3, size: 4.63 mbytes) file. To enjoy the music use Windows Media Player which is available on most Windows 98 systems. Try it. The quality is high and the 4:56 minute tune is characteristic of the Bridges style. The entire album is available for $16.95 at the Ramprecords.com site.

 

Napster And The

 Future Of Music

The media attention reporting the exchanging of MP3 encoded files (mostly copyrighted material) over the Internet makes clear that the music industry will have to change. Bridges and lesser known artists have the opportunity to have their work heard and held up to review by a worldwide audience. While many in the press and the entertainment industry have denounce the “theft of copyrighted material” using Napster, Gnutella, and similar tools, I am encouraged by the Bridges web site. Right now, it still does not go far enough. I feel most Internet users are honest, and given the chance, will do the right thing. Also, I believe the study that shows music lovers would pay for the music (such as on a subscription basis) they pulled off the Net and hear through computer speakers. The widespread use of Napster is the deafening defiant outcry from music fans everywhere expressing the view that the traditional channels of music distribution no longer work in the new Internet technology era. Today, many feel music is difficult to obtain and inefficiencies cause inflated pricing. Instinctively they know only a small amount of the money paid for a CD or tape finds its way to the artist and/or songwriter. Perhaps people like Jeff Bridges and the fledgling Ramprecords web site can find a way through the current chaotic scene. Time will tell.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

 http://www.jeffbridges.com/

http://www.ramprecords.com

(This is the 210th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the Internet. Next, “EBay in the News –- Again” is the subject on tap. Stay Tuned. Until next week, happy travels through cyberspace. Previous issues of Internet Info for Real People can be found: http://www.thebee.com. Please e-mail comments and suggestions: rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)