Musicolet Music Player for Android

I've been struggling with using VLC as a music player on my Pixel phone. While it's very versatile and will play almost any format, the interface is clunky and it lacks some basic functionality, like easily playing all songs in a folder or an album.

I've found a good alternative if you are looking for something to play local file, IOW files that you've transferred to your phone. Musicolet is fast, has no ads,  a clean interface, all the options you are likely to need for playing music, and it's free. 

About the only thing I've found missing is an option to increase the text size in app. That aside, it's exactly what I was looking for. 

There's no IOS version, so iPhone owners are out of luck.

VLC Is Getting Dark Mode - UPDATE

UPDATE: Finally, VLC has dark mode. It's been added to the Preferences dialog in version 3.0.23 and seems to be working fine.  This is good, because the hack that I mention below stopped working and VLC has been a real strain to use without dark mode. 

I generally use VLC for media playback but it's been a struggle because it doesn't have dark mode, which with my vision problems is essential. Well, it does now if you download the latest nightly build, version 3.0.22. 

The current stable version seems to be 3.0.20, which the  Check for Updates option says is up to date. Version 4.0 is in development but I'm not going to try that one for now..

Instructions on downloading it are in this blog post by Gordon Glas. Note that Windows Defender will probably give you a warning about installing it, but considering it's coming from the developer's website, you can ignore that. 

Given that the build is still under development, it may not be stable, but so far I haven't noticed any major issues. The dark palette could use some tweaking for better contrast in places like the Help > About dialog and the playback buttons , but it's still far easier on the eyes than the previous version. 

Photo of the Week - January 18, 2026

It's winter here in the Great (and very) White North. We had a heavy snowfall on Wednesday, about 40 cm. or 16" for you US folks. That's a rare snowfall; the last one like that was about four years ago. Fortunately, it was light and fluffy, and we didn't have to go anywhere that day. 

This is a picture of the rain barrels in our backyard, taken with my Pixel 8 Pro when I went out to clear a space for the dog to do her business.

Rain barrels buried under snow

Saturday Sounds - Bob Weir - Blue Mountain

Although he was best known as the rhythm guitarist for the Grateful Dead and their later offshoots, Bob Weir had a flourishing career with his own bands (Ratdog and Wolf Brothers) and as a solo artist. In 2016 he released a lovely folk country album called Blue Mountain and toured with a crackerjack band to support it. 

This is the Blue Mountain album, one of the best solo albums from any member of the Grateful Dead. The band includes Steve Kimock and members of The National.

To follow it, here's a concert from the Capitol Theatre on October 16, 2016. I watched the webcast at the time and was blown away and I still am. (The date on YouTube is wrong, by the way; it was definitely 2016, not 2017, which I verified on Setlists.fm.)

If you liked that, here's another show from the same tour, on October 10. This one is an audience recording but it's very high quality and I think I prefer it to the webcast.

Bob Weir RIP

I was deeply saddened to hear the news of the death yesterday of Bob Weir at the age of 78. The Grateful Dead have been a big part of my life ever since I heard their first album sometime in 1967. I saw them perform eight times between 1970 and 1992 and Weir with Ratdog twice in the early 2000s and I have a large collection of thwir music that I still explore. 

Jerry Garcia may have been the spiritual core of the Dead but Weir was their rock and roll heart. After Garcia died, his music took a turn into Americana and a jazzier mode with Don Was in Wolf Brothers. He wrote some of his best songs outside of the Dead and this are two of them, "Two Djiin" into "Ashes and Glass", performed with Wolf Brothers in his TRI Studios in 2011.

Saturday Sounds - Phish - 2025/12/31 Set 3, Madison Square Garden, New York

Over the last few years, Phish have continued a tradition that was started by Bill Graham at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco by performing a theatrical New Year's Eve production. They have become quite elaborate and this year was no exception, running for almost an hour starting with the song "It's Ice Cream". 

I don't think it was the best music of the 4-night run, but it is certainly fun to watch. This is an official band video so the sound and video quality are first rate. Enjoy. 

Remember Her Name

 So Trump is claiming that the ICE agent who shot and killed Rene Nicole Good in Minneapolis yesterday was run over when the videos clearly show she was driving away from the man who shot her.  From Heather Cox Richardson:

This morning, a federal agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good as she was driving away from ICE agents on a residential street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to Minneapolis leaders, Good was a legal observer: a volunteer trained to observe police conduct in case of future legal action.

Three videos taken at the scene show a maroon SUV perpendicular on a snowy street. A silver SUV driving up the street stops. Two officers wearing badges that say “police” and body armor get out of the vehicle and walk toward the maroon car.

One of them says, “Get out of the f*cking car,” and the other reaches through the open driver’s side window while trying to open the door. The driver backs up the vehicle, and straightens the wheel as if making a three-point turn. Then she starts slowly to accelerate along the street.

A third officer who has been standing on the side of the road pulls out a gun as the car is turning away. He shoots three times. The maroon car does not hit anyone as it rolls up the street, hitting another vehicle and then a utility pole. The shooter walks briskly away, apparently uninjured."

Clearly Trump and his minions are living in an alternate universe. 

Rene Nicole Good. Remember her name.