iTunes rocks...er sucks...well it depends

I have a love-hate relationship with iTunes, which makes my log-ins to the iTunes store infrequent, at best.

First, every time I open up iTunes it prompts me to download a new version. If I do that it inevitably takes at least half an hour to install the new software. And then since we have multiple users on our laptop with different iTunes accounts, we have to reinstall the software for EVERY user.

My most recent visit to the store was fueled by two weeks of listening to country music on the radio. There were a few songs I liked and wanted to listen to without the hassle of radio commercials and the fuzz that comes on all the stations in San Benito County.

On one hand I really like that with iTunes I was able to get the latest Taylor Swift album, the soundtrack to "Bandslam," and a few other random songs. How else but with iTunes would a playlist exist that includes Kanye West, Taylor Swift, David Bowie, Wilco, Darius Rucker and Kenny Chesney?

But the thing I now hate about iTunes is that Apple has implemented its new price structure so that all songs are no longer 99 cents each. Of course, most of the songs I wanted to buy over the weekend were $1.29. In fact, that is the main reason I ended up buying the entire Taylor Swift album "Fearless." I wanted five of the songs and at $1.29 each, I figured I might as well pay $11.99 for the entire album. I guess that's what the record companies probably want.

At any rate, I am enjoying my random mix in my recently added playlist. Most of the Swift songs I didn't know are growing on me, and I am really enjoying the "Bandslam" album.


It will still probably be awhile before I log in again since at 99 cents I was choosy about what I'd buy, so I will have to pick my downloads even more carefully now.

Local talent

In my few years as a reporter in San Benito and Gilroy, I've had the chance to read books by local authors, see performances by local playwriters and listen to songs by local musicians. Few people know that San Juan has a theater group with a decades-long history and connections with a Hollywood filmmaker - it's called El Teatro Campesino. Or that a Hollister dancer from West Coast Dance FX participated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few years ago. Or that a Hollister kid made it to the Vegas tryouts of "So You Think You Can Dance."

These small towns are surprisingly full of talent, be it performing, visual, musical or literary arts.

Back in August I had a chance to talk to a young musician who is probably just at the beginning of her career. Cally Nunes graduated from San Benito High School last spring and her goal for this fall is just to get as many gigs as she can. Though I haven't heard her sing live, I have listened to her songs on myspace and watched one of her videos on YouTube. And I hope to see her perform in person soon.

Her music has a country edge to it, but has more mature themes than other teenager singers, such as Taylor Swift. For anyone who wants to hear Cally live, she will be singing at the Mars Hill Coffe House in Hollister, on Sixth and San Benito Street, Sept. 19, at 9 p.m. She will also be singing at the Farmers Market in downtown Hollister for the next three Wednesdays, starting tomorrow. See her local gigs while you can because if Cally has her way, she'll be Nashville bound soon enough.

A Rising Star

Cally Nunes knew she wanted to be a musician when she was a 5-year-old living in Oklahoma.

"My first vivid memory is of when I was 5 and a song came on the radio, 'Shut Up and Kiss Me,'" she said. "I don't remember who it was by, but it was country and I knew then there was nothing else I wanted to do."

The song was a pop country one by Mary Chapin Carpenter, and the artist is one of many who has influenced Nunes, now 18.

A 2009 graduate of San Benito High School, she's like a lot of kids her age. She is short, with a small frame and shock of dark hair that is sometimes curly, sometimes straight. She looks as comfortable in jeans and sneakers as in a pair of cowboy boots. She isn't sure what she wants to do this fall, except find a job.

"I made a lot of plans, but life is crazy," she said, adding that her father was moving out of the area. "I'm just trying to get a job."

She's taking a semester off school, but plans to enroll at a local community college next spring.

Unlike other kids her age, though, Nunes has posted her first album online for sale at sites such as Nimbit.com and Cdbaby.com. The album, "Sadly Wrong," will soon be on iTunes. She has a MySpace music page, where a few of her songs can be played. The album contains five original songs by Nunes, and five songs by other writers that she selected with the help of a music developer.

Read the full story here.

Photo courtesy of Pinnacle file photos

Cally Nunes rehearses a few songs in August at Mars Hill Coffee House in Hollister.