ihatethebeatles...& so should you

test2

2009-09-15T00:53:00.001-07:00

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Artist	Song	Album	Label	Buy
Liquid Liquid	Groupmegroup [Fill]	Liquid Liquid	99	Liquid Liquid : Liquid Liquid Amazon: Single \| Album iTunes: Single \| Album
For Discos Only	Bitsh!T 2 (Love Shack)	12"	White	For Discos Only : 12" Amazon: Single \| Album iTunes: Single \| Album

test

2009-09-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hover over me!

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Hello I am a popup table

I now present our newest family member..

2005-10-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

She is a 4 year old Saluki, that we found at the Family Dogs New Life shelter. Her background story is pretty harsh. It seems that her old owners were evicted. A few days later their landlord went to enter the premises and found her in a crate in the backyard without any food or water. No one knows just how long she had been there, but she was way underweight and sick as can be.
She is still a little bit on the thin side, but otherwise she seems fine. Totally chill and mellow. In fact the only time we have heard her bark was when another dog at the shelter tried to fight with her, and she held her own.
We still have yet to come up with a name for her. The shelter named her Cinderella, but there is no way we are keeping that. Plus she doesn't respond to it anyways.

When's the next podcast?

2005-10-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Twice this week I've been asked when I am doing another podcast. That shocked me since I tend to forget that anyone else bothers to check this blog.
I'm still planning on doing a regular podcast. However, I need to get a few things lined up first.

A mixer - The low mic volume on my test podcast drives me crazy. I used PodProducer to make that show, and for some crazy reason it causes all WAV/MP3 files to boom over the mic level no matter how the levels are set.
My plan now is to get a small 4 channel mixer and hook it up to my Nomad Jukebox. This will also help squash the problems I was having with my system fan noise bleeding over the mic.

A way to record phone conversations - Now alot of people do this using Skype. The problem with this is you can only record one side of the conversation. The other side needs to be recorded seperate. Then you have to try and sync them up. It would be easier for me to get an attachment for my cell phone to connect it to my Nomad Jukebox. Then I need only edit one file. This means I also need to get a convertor for my Nokia phone, and a new headset.

Web space - My original idea was to use free web hosts, and start a new account for every MP3 I post. However, I learned after posting my test show that this is going to fail big time. In order to get decent sound I will need to encode at 128kb. That works out to about one megabite per minute. So a 30 minute show would be 30mb. Most free hosts don't allow files that big, and those that do cut off the site after about a gig a month worth of traffic. That means only about 34 downloads and then I would be cut off.
So that means I need to actually break down and pay for web hosting. Ugh!

All together I figure I will need to save up at least $200 ($60 for mixer + $40 for phone gear + $100 for one year of web hosting) before I can make a serious run at podcasting. Unless I win the Powerball I don't see that happening before the end of the year.

Test Podcast

2005-06-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

I've been threatening for awhile now to dip my toe in the podcasting pond, and now I have. This is just a quick test podcast.

Click here to Download

Songs played:

Artist	Title	Where to Find On The Web
The Dirtbombs	Underdog (Berbati's Pan 10-2-02)	Archive.org
Visqueen	Blue	Visqueenonline.com
Blag Dahlia	Metrosexual Man	Pitchforkmedia.com However the link to the mp3 is dead
Bob Mould & Grant Hart	Never Talking To You Again (10-21-04 Rock For Karl)	Dimeadozen.org

Show Notes:

All background music was was taken frm the CD "Arocknaphobia" by The Black Widows. E-mail Vital Gesture Records to buy a copy.
Visqueen will be playing Berbati's Pan on July 1st.

If you like anything you hear on this show, go out and buy the offical releases of these artists!!!

From Minor Threat to Major Crap

2005-06-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

The DC date on Nike's Major Threat tour should be very interesting, seeing how they didn't bother to ask Dischord Records before using their famous image.

(via Pitchfork Daily Music News.)

Anyone want to go to Austin in September?

2005-06-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

No word yet if the show will make the next seasons broadcast of Austin City Limits, but it was announced that Roky Erickson will be playing this years Austin City Limits Festival!!!
http://www.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=3547818

It's just a matter of time before Bill & Justin try this

2005-05-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

How they might do it can be found here

Trip to LA LA Land

2005-05-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend in L.A., for the 2005 Gadugi Celebration. It was a blast. Unfortunately, I was unable to make good on the bet since James Cromwell was unable to attend. That sucked because I was already to follow him thru the buffet line, waiting for him to take a second piece of fried bread and yell out "That'll do, pig! That'll do!".
The fact was that none of the listed chair members showed. Instead we had a large part of the cast from Into The West, including the famous Cherokee actor Gary Busey. What? You didn't realize that Buddy Holly was played by a native? I don't think anyone else did either, since it seemed like the words I heard most that night was "Is Gary Busey native?". Either way he donated to The College Fund, and his presence added a real edge to the event. You never knew when he was going to stand up and correct the Emcee Wes Studi about some minor detail, or when his girlfriend Katari(?) was going to storm the stage looking for the book she had won.
Lorrie along with most of the women there were more impressed that Wes Studi was Emceeing the event. He is one of those actors that I've seen in a ton of films but never seem to remember him. Not that he is a bad performer, it's just that his roles vary so much. He was the lead in Geronemo, played a cop in Heat and was "The Sphinx" in Mystery Men. Lorrie wanted to get a picture with him, but was never able to get the nerve up enough to approach him.
I'm still kicking myself that I didn't get my picture taken with Busey, but everytime I got around him he reminded me of my high school gym coach. So instead Lorrie and I got our picture taken with R. Carlos Nakai. He played solo for about 20 minutes for our little group of 100 people. Explaining the history of each flute before he played it. With the help of a little digital effects he was able to make a small bronze bone whistle sound like it was part of the wind in a desert canyon. It was pretty impressive.
The featured speaker was The Honorable Wilma P. Mankiller. How would you like to got to court, and find out that the judge handling your case had the last name of Mankiller? She was cool. She refused to give her speech from behind the podium on stage, instead having the mic moved to the floor. Not a long speech, and she was straight to the point "give us the money".
They also had three sets of dancers. Eagle Spirit Dancers, Apache Crown Dancers, & Hopi Eagle Dancers. All were amazing, but I liked the Hopi Hoop Dancer best.
I can't thank Nicole enough for inviting us to this event

The rest of our time was spent doing the tourist thing on Hollywood Blvd and Venice Beach.

Are all media companies retarded?

2005-05-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

I guess it doesn't matter anyway since the main reason I want broadband is under attack now. The MPAA has decided to go after torrent sites that post TV Shows.

I swear big companies are run by morons. If these guys had a fucking clue they would start posting their own shows on the web with commercials. Make their own bittorrent client that link directly to their own tracker, with people subscribing to their favorite show just like podcasters do now. Give the service away for free. It would put sites like btefnet out of business, and allow the networks to make advertiser dollars at the same time. Unlike TiVo the file would be seen as one piece, making it hard for people to skip the commercials. It would also put a huge dent in TiVo's market, with anyone who has a web connection being able to control their viewing habits. The worries about loss to DVD sales would be squashed by tagging the image with a watermark and using a mp4 or divx format.
It would also help people catch up on shows, that they might have skipped over earlier in the season. I for one would never have given the show Lost a chance if it wasn't for people sharing the show online. I missed the first few weeks, and friends kept telling me it was a show I would like, but nobody had episodes on VHS. (Who knows if it's even legal to tape a show on a VCR for a friend in the MPAA's eyes.) So I was off to search via bittorrent. Thankfully. I was able to find all the missing episodes, and now they not only have me as a weekly viewer, but Lorrie and our kids too. But that's not the story the MPAA wants you to hear, and so they shout it down with claims of piracy and loss revenue.
They could in fact increase their revenue using bittorrent. Charge the adverisers extra for ads sent with the programs. Advertisers would love this. Instead of their ad being over in 30 seconds, it would live on as long as the file remains traded. Who wouldn't like that? Not to mention that if the network produces it's own bittorrent client they would be able to get quick feed back as to how many people are downloading their show. No more having to pay Nielsen to cruch the numbers for them. The tracker would do all the work.
Eventually they could even use it to test market. Wanna know if a sitcom might find an audience? Just post it and within a day or two you'd have a focus group of thousands providing feedback.

These guys are on the dock trying hold on to the rope of a boat that is quickly moving out to sea. My guess is that they will be drug off the dock and drown at sea before they ever reach the new media land.

A second post in less than a week?!?!.... WTF?!?!

2005-05-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

So I figured I'd address the fact that this blog has remained dormant for the last 5 months or so. Some have claimed that it was Possibly Abbandoned, others have claimed I was lost in my Basement of Mystery. All of this is wrong. The truth is I unlike many of my blogging (so called) friends have a life... and no web connection.
In my neighborhood there is only one option for broadband, Comcast. gOD I FUCKIN HATE THEM!!! Having been a long time loyal customer means nothing to them.
When I moved into Lorrie's place a few months ago I had my cable tranfered over. With that tranfer they charged me $60 to transfer the internet, and $40 to transfer the TV. Now keep in mind that the level of cable TV I have is the very base level of channels 2 thru 32. Mostly just local broadcast stations, cable access and home shopping channels. They charge me $12 a month for it. That's right having a guy shimmy up a pole and hook up a wire is 3 and a half times the cost of the monthly service. Not to mention that this is the same wire they are charging me another $60 for when you add in internet. The guys spent less than 30 minutes from the time he knocked on our door to the time he drove away, and over half of that was just unwrapping cable that he thought was best run from one room to the other by leaving it lay in the middle of the hallway. No tacking to the baseboard. Just leave it loose in the middle of the floor.
So now we moved to our new house, and were thinking about transfering again. So I gave them a call.
Comcast: You will still have to pay the same transer fees.
Me: Can I get any of the deals that they endlessly fill my mailbox with?
Comcast: Nope. Those are only for people who are not current customers.
Me: Well Lorrie isn't a current customer, can she get the deal?
Comcast: Nope. She didn't pay her last bill from a year ago.
Me: What if she pays her outstanding bill?
Comcast: Nope. You are considered a current customer for 6 month AFTER you make your last payment.
Me: Then why do you send me all this mail saying I can get discounts?
Comcast:

So I am stuck for 6 months it seems.
I looked into DSL, but after the cost of getting a land line and the service itself I will be paying more than I would with Comcrap. Personal Telco claims to work in my area, but after hanging the PC out of the window searching for the signel, no luck. I'm not really down with investing $100 plus labor into mounting an antenna on my house just to see if it might work.

Anyone having another option?

The challenge is on

2005-05-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

Lorrie's sister Nicole invited her and I down to LA for a big charity fund raiser she organized for the American Indian College Fund. It's one of those black tie affairs with celebrities like Kris Kristofferson, and Benjamin Bratt, with music by R. Carlos Nakai. One of the listed guests is James Cromwell. My guess is that since he was in the movie Babe, barely a week goes by that someone doesn't ask him to say "That'll do, pig. That'll do." So Nicole has challenged me to be the one who walks up to him and try to get him to says his famous line.
So I want to find a novel way to get him to say it. My first thought is to make up a button with my picture on it, and the quote written in the background. So when I walk up to him he feels the need to read it.
Anyone have any other ideas?

Podcasting.. Ev-Ery-Bod-Dy!!

2004-12-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

So this being my last few days at work, I have very little actual work to do. I usually kill time at work listening to Howard Stern, but this week he is in reruns. So I must fill my ears with other bits of noise to avoid talking to the new contractors that are hanging around my office.
Today I'm going to be listening to Podcasts. I actually listen to a few of these each week, but I've been slacking lately so I have about a weeks worth of podcasts to catch up on.

Podcasts worth checking out:

The Rock And Roll Geek Show - Hosted by the bass player from American Heartbreak (formerly of Exodus). The show primarly features his ramblings on pop culture and a good smattering of rock n roll tunes.
Adam Curry's Daily Source Code - You knew him as "that tool who first hosted MTV's Headbangers Ball", now he is a computer geek who first planted the seed that spawned podcasting. His show is a good place to go to hear about other podcasts. The only downside is he spends WAY too much time tooting his own horn. He seems to have forgotten that people were webcasting ages ago, including my own (now defunct) Torque Radio.
This Unamerican Life - Absoultly the best podcast ever!! So far there has only been one episode, but it's worth listening to a few times. Mostly dealing with politics and The Evil Bible Monkey.
Reel Reviews - While I don't always agree with this dudes movie reviews, I still find them quite interesting to listen to. Plus it's nice to have these short little 10 minute pieces mixed in to a playlist of about a half dozen hour long podcasts, just to break things up.
The Bitterest Pill - Ex-stand up comic Dan Klass hosts this. It's mostly about his day as a stay at home dad, chicks he'd like to bang and how his kids are too fragle to deal with the real world. His show on the trailers before The Incredibles was a hoot. You'd thing the theater was showing Faces of Death the way describes it.

Eat shit MLB

2004-12-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

This makes me laugh
It's about time those corporations pay their own way. Just like all the other billion dollar businesses.

Say of execution... kinda

2004-12-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

Today was to be my last day at my current place of work. However, they just asked me to stay until the 23rd. Then I am out the door for sure.
Just in time for my birthday!!

Dead Man Walking

2004-12-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

There is little that compares to coming to a work place everyday only to know that no matter what you do that day you are on your way out the door. Things are made even stranger by the fact that you don't know when you are going to be shown the door. It could be as soon as you show up to the front door, while you at lunch, or when you are off on a bathroom break.
Today started day one of the "End of Employment Watch". My office mate seemed shocked when I got to work today. He told me the other day that he had heard rumblings that my days were numbered. So he has just been waiting for the day when he gets the whole closet to himself. Everyone else has been invisible. No body wants to get to close to the soon to be gone. My supervisor hasn't even bothered to give me a project to work on. So I spent most of today sending out my resume, and hitting up old contacts.
My plan is to have a job to go to on Jan 3rd. Even though I know I'd enjoy the time off, and my unemployment is high enough that my bills will be paid, I know it more important for me to keep working. At least for my own mental state.

So after an 11 month break the job search begins again.

2004-12-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

So today I learned that my days at work are numbered. It's funny because I was just starting to feel comfortable there. My manager came into my office and told me that my current project would be ending on Wednesday. She then asked me how I wanted her to handle it. My choices were:

1) Make Wednesday my last day and be off on my merry way
2) Continue to work on piss-ant work for a few weeks in hope that a more long term project pops up
3) Pick what day will be my last and do piss-ant work until that day comes.

I picked option 2.

I'm looking at the possitives of this. If I'm out of work, I can start working out daily again. I can spend more than just christams day with my folks this year. I can find a job that stimulates my mind more than my current one. And most of all, I can practice my Xbox skills, but only if you GET ME MY FREE XBOX!!!!

Get a free XBOX or PS2

2004-12-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

Suprise!! Once again I have started a blog just to end up neglecting it for over a month at a time. So what has me all jacked up that I feel the need to break my silence and post? FREE XBOX!!!
I finally decided to use this blog as a way to get something for nothing. The same people who run freeipod.com now have a deal to give away X-box, PS2s, Gamecubes, & DS Handhelds. While I never joined one of their past offers, I have heard of many who have received iPods, and even one news story about how too many people had successfully fufilled the requirements that the company had a back log of orders and was losing money. See they only make money when people fail to qualify for the item they are giving away.
So if you want to help me in my quest just go to http://www.FreeGamingSystems.com/?r=12768454 and sign up. You'll then have to sign up and complete an agreement with a 3rd party company. You can opt out of the agreement as soon as you get a credit. I needed a new credit card so I went that route. If you want something less risky, I'd suggest the Blockbuster DVD Trial, since it seems that once your 2 week trial is over you can cancel it and not be out any money.
After all that the pyramid scheme begins, because you have to get 4 more people signing up using your referral (did I mention that mine is http://www.FreeGamingSystems.com/?r=12768454 ?), and they have to complete their commitment to sign up for a service too.
So now that you know what to do.... GET ME MY FREE XBOX!!!!

My name is John and I approve this message.

BOO!!.... Merry Christmas!!

2004-10-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

It seems that right now all the big box stores can't wait for Halloween to get over so they can begin the (annoying) holiday shopping season. Most have had at least one isle of crappy Christmas decorations up for a week already. So I figured I'd post songs that merged the spirits of both holidays.

Of all of the SCTV characters, Count Floyd would be one of the last I'd figure to release a musical record. You'd think the Shmenges would have beat him to it. However, Count Floyd and the McKenzie Bros were the only ones from SCTV to lay wax. Luckily the Count was limited to only 4 songs (if only they had done the same with William Hung).
The best song on the Mini-LP is also the strangest, "Reggae Christmas Eve in Transylvania".

By 1976 The Chipmunks had long stopped putting out new records. This didn't stop imitators from continuing to pop up to carve up their piece of the rodent rock pie. Shirley and Squirrely's first single was the CB radio inspired "Hey Shirley (This Is Squirrely)". They then added a third member, the stuttering Melvin, and released the LP "Christmas With Shirley and Squirrely (and Melvin, Too!)".
As if listening to voices sped up to ridiculous levels wasn't freaky enough, someone in the S&S organization thought of adding the horror themed "The Christmas Haunted House" to the LP. Obviously someone was smoking more than cigarettes in the studio.

The Mosquitos

2004-09-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

The year was 1986 and Monkee-mania had taken control of the country. 2 members of the 1960's group The Monkees had regrouped and recorded "That Was The, This Is Now". The song reached the Billboard Top 10. However, many people didn't realize that the song had been released a year earlier by the New York band The Mosquitos.
The Mosquitos had made their name as a barn burning live act, and for writing catchy rock tunes. After years of building this reputation they finally went and laid it on wax. Yet some how all the wildness and fury that they were known for was lost in the translation. The 5 songs that appear on their one (and only) release "That Was Then, This Is Now" suffer from very dated production. At times the drum hits appear to be on a tape loop, and the guitars are so filtered that they sound like they belong on an instructional record. Even with these flaws the songwriting of Vance Brescia still shines through. It would have been interesting to see what would had happened had they had the production and push that was given to bands like The Romantics and The Plimsouls. The tunes here are on par with both of those acts.
Rumors have been around of live tapes, but none have surfaced anywhere to my knowledge.
MP3s

Put Your Foot Down

That Was Then, This Is Now

LINKS

Vance Brescia now plays guitar with Peter Noone's new band

Mosquitos lead guitarist Steve Prisco has his own blog too

Lost Bands Of The New Wave Era wrote about the Mosquitos too

All around garage rock know it all BlairB recalls The Mosquitos (about half way down page)

The Mosquitos got back together in 2000 to play Cavestomp! One track from their set can be found on the Cavestomp Vol. 1 CD. Buy it at Amazon.com

The unreissued Dickie Goodman

2004-09-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

No matter what MTV tells you, sampling did not begin with the hip hop era. Back in the 1950's there was a slew of what they called "Break-In" records released. These were usually a story or fake news piece with the song bits dropped in as punch lines to jokes. The most successful of these was Buchanan & Goodman's "The Flying Saucer". It was so popular, that the record label's whose songs were "sampled" for it decided to sue.
Buchanan & Goodman eventually won their case, but shortly afterwards decided to break up the act. Each tried a solo carrer, but only Dickie Goodman was able to stay successful. In fact he was able to keep the gimmick going with a constant stream of singles up until his death in 1989.
His son Jon has now started to reissue Dickie's records in a couple of collections. However, he appears to remain focused only on the A-sides. Flipping the original discs over uncovers some real gems. From sound plays that would make the Mercury Radio Theater proud, to smooth funk, to just plain weird. There is alot to digest when it comes to Dickie Goodman's unexplored musical talent.
Here are 3 samples of unreissued B-side by Dickie Goodman:

Martian Melody (B-side to The Touchables) - My favorite record when I was a kid, and the disc shows it. This record is litterally about the fall to pieces from being loved too much.
Flip Side (B-side to Ben Crazy) - Guitar played so fast that Joe Maphis must have been impressed.
Friends (B-side to Watergrate) - This is like stipped down Issac Hayes.

Read the whole story of Dickie here.
His son did a good piece on Dickie on NPR's All Things Considered in 2001.
Jon Goodman also wrote a book about his dad: The King Of Novelty.
You can buy 2 compilations of Dickie Goodman's work here

Time Killers

2004-09-21T00:56:00.000-07:00

I recently stumbled across a new feature on Winamp. It seems that pressing Alt+L opens the Winamp Library. It has some cool streaming media that's worth checking out. It even has PORN!!

Audio
Radio:
Beyond The Beat Generation (station for the site of the same name)
KPIG presents Cowboy Cultural Society Radio
ParaDynamic Roadhouse (Blues)
Turn Up the SKA

Full CDs:
Elvis Costello - Delivery Man
John Fogerty - Deja Vu All Over Again
Green Day - American Idiot
Johnny Cash - My Mother's Hymn Book
Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell
Talking Heads - Lifetime Disc 1
The Datsuns - Outta Sight/Outta Mind
They Might Be Giants - The Spine

Video
24/7 TV Channels:
Karaoke Live at The Bamboo! (this is more entertaining than it sounds)
RantTV (original shows for tech geeks)
WeenTV (all Ween videos)

Music Videos:
Basement Jaxx "Good Luck"
The Del McCoury Band "My Love Will Not Change"
The Hives @ Virgin Megastore in Hollywood (whole concert)
Junkie XL & Solomon Burke "Catch Up To My Step
Lou Reed & John Cale "Songs For Drella" (whole concert)
Mini-Kiss "Calling Dr Love"
Mini-Kiss "Hard Luck Woman"
Moby & Public Enemy "Make Love, Fuck War"
The Mooney Suzuki "Alive & Amplified"

First post

2004-09-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

Starting a new blog (again.. sigh).
I'll start posting for real after I get back from Seattle.