So, Notes From the Vault is no longer just about Crescent Station.  An episode went up called Let the Dead Lie .. and *shiver*

I’ll confess, I was a little bit skeptical.  There was concern that without the whole space station setting, Mr. Rossi’s scary stories might lose some of their creep factor.  This is ENTIRELY not the case, however.

This episode creeped me out in particular because it centers around a pair of paranormal investigators who visit a ghost town.  I, myself, am part of an amateur ghost hunting group, and we have been cleared to investigate three - count them THREE - ghost towns in west Texas in the up and coming months.  So, yeah.. this was a chill I didn’t really need, ESPECIALLY now that I live alone.

If you’re looking for a scary @$$ story or seven, check out Phil Rossi’s stuff.  He never ceases to give me the willies.  i do hope there will be more Crescent Station based stories.. but this recent episode did not disappoint at ALL.

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P.S.  The dude also does music.  He recently put up a bunch of new songs on his music website, so check that out too.

Every moment, every life deserves a theme song.  Depressed? There’s a song for it.  Upbeat and thrilled?  There’s something for that too.  All you want to do is have some fun?  Well, yeah, that’s almost a title right there.

Songs aren’t the easiest thing to share.  Especially with the RIAA cracking the whip, but then you get webgadgets like TinySong who let you link the song you need to something in their databases.  Talk about convenient.

This site lets you search for the song by name and then pulls up all available songs by that title.  For instance, one of my main theme songs is Queen’s The Show Must Go On.  I mean, come on, is there anything more perfect for the angst and depressed just trying to find the tiniest of lights to follow?

So to share this song with Nick and Jenn I would pull up TinySong.com and enter The Show Must Go On in the hand dandy search bar and hit enter.  A few seconds later it gives me a list of all the songs with this title, from The Alan Parson’s Project to Queen and includes every recording known.  Select the one you want by clicking on the title and voila, you have an instant link that they even put directly into your clipboard for sharing.

This is an excellent way to share your favorite songs with people and if you want to do a whole playlist of them just paste the last url into notebook to await your pleasure and click the search again option.  It looks like there’s no end to the available genres, alternative to country to world music there’s something for everyone.

Don’t have a song in mind, enter an artist.  Found Eddie Izzard singing “The Benefit of Mister Kite” and let me tell you it’s a hoot!

Check it out.  I think I can already see a plague of TinySongs on Twitter and I hope people will feel encouraged to share their favorite music and artists with this site.

Oh?  My theme songs?  Currently?  One of them is the aforementioned example with Queen, the other is Garth Brooks When There’s Noone Around.

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Bitch enough to people about free music sites demanding money and someone will point you to something better.

In this case, the better is Spiralfrog and the pointer was my dad. He and I were discussing music, one of our favorite topics and I told him about the mess with Last.fm. He in turn told me about Spiralfrog. The name alone tickled me pink.

I’m still checking out all the features on this site and learning how to make it play music for me if I don’t want to download it all. If any of you have used it before I’d love some pointers. What I like about this site, aside from being FREE, is its got a nice selection of music. True, it doesn’t have the massive selection that some music sites have, but it lets you download full albums to your computer. Additionally, as far as I can tell, these can be played on any media play, though they can only be played on select MP3 players (which are listed on the site).

Spiralfrog isn’t perfect, the music you download, while free, is tagged with DRM, which does give it some limitations. Primary limitation is that its locked to YOUR computer and YOUR MP3 player. Anyone else trying to take it off your system and play it on their own is doomed, at least that how DRM was explained to me. I’m hardly omnipotent and am often wrong. Hey I admit to being a techtard, which would be why I converse with my dad as much as I do. This would also be why you read more about entertainment and not how to access your entertainment.

There is not cost to the user, it really IS free, which is just awesome. You are required to register and renew every 30 days, but the only information you ever have to give them is your username and password, that’s all they want. To download the music to your harddrive you do have to download a little widget that takes next to no space, am guessing this widget is how it ensures you don’t go sending this music to your best friend and letting them play it.

So I’m going to go play with this program some more, and I encourage you to check it out. I would love to know what you think of it if you decide to use it. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy some Reba McEntire and ignore the “ews” from the country haters. 

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The Brobn–?
The Brobnogdi–?
The Bropdognog–?

How the hell do you pronounce that?

Sound it out. Brob-ding-nog-ee-an, at least, that’s the best way I’ve ever come up with trying to pronounce it and I still can’t do it 4 times out of 5. If I’m not thinking about it, I can say it. But the moment I think about it, it’s simply not coming out of my mouth right.

Okay, pronunciation aside, lets got down to business. Who and what are the Brobdingnagian Bards? Hence forth, we’re just using The Bards by the way. Even spelling it tangles me.

The Bards are comprised of Marc Gunn and Andrew McKee. That covers the who, unless you want to go read about how they met and where they came from here. That alone is actually an interesting read.

Now that the who is covered we’ve reached the what. Marc and Andrew perform a mix of traditional and comedic Scottish and Irish folk songs across the states. They bounce from Renaissance Faire to Convention and even touring Ireland to promote their music and find new things to write and sing about. They even do house concerts, how cool is that?! And kilts… yummy kilts!

In addition to traveling and performing they have a semi regular podcast for promotion and the joyous consumption from their fans. Each podcast includes two to three, or more, of their songs as well as witty banter between Marc and Andrew. Truth be told, it’s made me a bigger fan of the duo because of their candor.

I’ve been listening to the Bards for a few years now, catching their music where I can and saving up to get some of their discs. In hearing about A Brobdingnagian Minute I decided it was high time I learned a bit more about the Bards and finally hit their homepage to subscribe to newsletters. Thus did I discover I should have been banging my head on the desk because they’re practically in my backyard! In all this time I’d had no CLUE the duo hailed from Austin, Texas. They have won awards at the Austin Music Awards and I felt like an idiot for not knowing about it.

Ah well, the past is the past and now that I know they’re local, I intend on trying to catch their next performance in Austin. In the meantime, everyone else can catch them on their website and even enjoy some streaming music. Give The Bards a chance. I promise it will be time very well wasted!

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Jenn told me about this site that sounded really cool.  A place called Last FM that offered music streaming online for those unfortunates who can’t access an MP3 player or download things, like podcasts, to their workstations.

I just spent the day playing with the site.  It definitely looked like time WELL wasted, and it wasn’t until the bitter end that I discovered it was not.  At least, not for me.  I’ve downloaded the software, let it snoop into my music library, add things that I’ve listened to during the day on WinAmp and looked forward to using it.

In addition I went through and started tagging music.  The site says to do this.  Tag your favorite artists to make playlists and listen to them any time.  I spent most of the day tagging artists.  I got really excited because not only were the Brobdingnagian Bards on the site, but so was a lot of Marc Gunn’s other work (more on both in later posts) and a bunch of other hard to find filk and bard music.  So by now I have four categories of tags, ranging from comedy to rock and decide that I want to listen to the various category that I set up.  I want to listen to the Bards and the filk and the various score composers I found.

I get a notice that you have to be subscribed and therefore can’t listen to my tagged artists.  Subscribed? But that makes no sense, everything said FREE.  I already created an account, I’m logged in, and maybe it’s just a glitch?  I go from the desktop application to the website and try again.  Only to be taken to a subscription page.

At this point, I’m livid, I’d already praised Jenn for finding such a cool site and recommended it to Nick (Flippant).  Being that I review things that are good for wasting time with, much of which someone can multi-task to, I’m in the habit of reading fine print.  The print was so fine that it was concealed at the bottom of the main page, at the very bottom below where all the important links about contact and job options are at.

While looking at what Tags were and why they were worth doing for this site I found jack fiddly about having to SUBSCRIBE to listen to my tags.  No, the charge isn’t much, it’s three bucks American a month, grand total of thirty-six dollars for a year.  Right now they’re in a beta mode for the free service, which doesn’t read like it will stay free forever (at least it read that way to me).  Disappointing, immensely disappointing, particularly because I had a hard time finding out there would ever be subscriptions involved.

Outside of my general outrage and the thought that they should be a bit more forthright about it being/becoming a subscription based service it’s a nice service.  It’s got an excellent catalog of music, but I should have known free was too good to be true when I saw the extensive Beetles catalog.

Will I subscribe in the future?  I admit I might; when I don’t have better things to spend my money on, like compact discs and MP3s that I can buy once and listen to for the rest of my life without worrying about a rate hike.  I’ll certainly look for the fine print a bit harder in the future.

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Not all wastes of time are created equal. Oh no, ladies and gentlemen.

You see, some are full of words and talking, while others have pretty pictures and funny punchlines. There are those with items to buy and spend lots of money on, and there are those with games to play for points that more or less do nothing but sit there and make you feel virtually successful.

And then, there are those sites that dredge up your old, childhood memories, give them a twist and letcha’ enjoy them in a whole new, groovy way. Today, I would like to yammer about just such a site.

http://remix.kwed.org/

Once upon a time, back before full scrolling, 360 degrees of splodey awesome cake. In an age that had not yet known little green dudes that stomped all over maps at your cammand saying things like, “Jub jub” and whatnot . . . Preceding Duke Nukem’ and his Nazzi blowing-uping, castle Wulfenstein adventures . . . Before plumbers took their battle with studly reptilian tyrants to the go-cart battle circuit. . .

There was Commodore 64

Now, if you were one of the many, the slightly less than proud, the Commiedorks (like yours truly) you must think back to the clunky lil’ box’ world-moving, tri-voice sid music. Even up into the 90’s a PC out of the box could not compete with the Commodore 64’s built in graphics and sound capability. We, my friends, had it goin’ on!

Well, times change, and C64 steps down to the Amiga, which, sadly fades from public consumption in the U.S. What we’re left with is a collection of rich, fond memories.. Memories of sprites, multicolor graphics, and music. Ooh, the music

The music, my friends, lives on.

Now, there are quite a few c64 remix, rom and emulation sites out there. And Kwed wasn’t my first. But, Kwed is the one I come back to week after Commiefreakin week.

The library can be sorted by remix date, rating, arranger, and original composer. There’s a quick ref box that lists the top handful of highest rated remixes that have posted in the last week / month / forever. You can search for any game theme you want, and will likely find SOMEthing.

Spy Vs. Spy
Comic Bakery
Crazy Comets
Maniac Mansion
Comets II …

The list goes on and on and on and on.. Some of the remixes sound just like old-school sid files, some are more midi, some sound like mid-80’s tech pop, some are bands with guitars and drums and singers and everything.

Dude, I’m serious. Pop by and give it a browse. Even if you never touched a C64 in your life, You’ll find SOMETHING worth wasting your time on there.

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Something I don’t discuss enough here is music. I mention a song here and there, but it’s definitely lacking, which is odd for me because there is always something playing in the background. Silence and I are not friends, hell I’m not even sure what silence is.

Lately I’ve been focusing on two bands that are such opposites from one another that some wouldn’t even consider adding them into the same play lists. One of them I’ve briefly discussed in the past, which would be Blue October. The other is TOOL; which is decisively harder and even a bit more violent in the lyrics and music.

Sloane introduced me to TOOL when I moved down here with a pair of songs. Prison Sex and Ænema, neither of which I can really get into lyrically. Something about vulgarity and language that readers might find offense, but never the less it’s good music. Ænema became a quick favorite because it’s all about the flooding of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas and the destruction of people who are more worried about their coffee, hair and law suits and advises the populace to “Learn to swim.”

The best way to describe Prison Sex, however, is to yank a cleaner line from the song. “Do unto you now what has been done to me.” Lyrically the song isn’t that bad, but it does call up some interesting mental images.

You can find the videos on You Tube, though I suggest you don’t try it while you’re at work.

They remind me of Pink Floyd in their heyday. The music comprises of sweeping intricate melodies and rhythm, they have a god by the name of Danny on the drums after all, perhaps one of the best drummers I’ve heard honestly. Lyrics are comprised of vivid imagery and given forth in the impassioned voice of James Maynard Keenan, and to my knowledge he writes all the songs as well.

It’s a dance of lyric and music that has no problem taking on some of the issues in society. The recently released Vicarious from the album 10,000 days tackles the issues of media violence and watching death from afar like the addiction it is.

TOOL can’t be shuffled into another box of words talking about how wonderful they are. Like all good music and like any great band they have to be experienced as simple description fails to embody what the music is like.

At least it fails me to come up with the words to truly discuss the band as I’m still caught up in the experience of the music. Give them a try; check out the audio samples found on their site. If you don’t like them, all you’ve lost is a few minutes of time. If you do like them, let it open a whole new world of music for you.

In my attempt to cover more than just movies, which seem to have an abundance of posts, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of who I could cover musically. There are so many artists that I adore, so much music available in the world to be listened to, and the one standout in my mind, no matter the mood I’m in, is the late Harry Chapin.

Probably because I got my name from one of his songs and grew up listening to his music. Possibly because no matter how grim some of his songs are, Sniper and Dance Band on the Titanic, they are a comfort to me. Some people have comfort foods; trust me I do too… I love to cook, but additionally I have comfort music and I really cannot explain how much his music is a comfort to me.

Chapin was a unique blend of singer-songwriter-artist and activist. This man was doing things for hunger and poverty long before Bob Geldof and Willie Nelson. To my knowledge he wrote everything he sang. The man was simply amazing and his music is a nice reflection of the soul, touching on many subjects in his time period that even today most artists won’t touch.

Yet even amid his darker songs there are love songs unparalleled. She Sings the Songs without Words and Shooting Star are some of his best compositions in my opinion when it comes to expressing unconditional love and adoration.

Is Chapin’s music known today? Yes, but unfortunately for one song alone for the majority of the populace. And trust me, it’s one everyone seems to know and desire to cover. Cat’s in the Cradle.

Unfortunately Harry Chapin was killed in a car accident on his way to a concert in 1981. His music is hard to find in stores, his name forgotten among some. His legacy lives on in his family with daughter Jen performing and writing just like her father did. Even uses one of his guitars.

Can his music be found? Yes. His family has a site set up that has all his music on CD, and you can find a decent collection of it at Amazon as well. These are some of the few places you’ll find it.

I can go on and on about Chapin and his music, but here all I can do is encourage you to have a listen. I cannot tell you you’ll like everything, but I believe you’ll find something you’ll enjoy.

Oh… and the song? Corey’s Coming.

I can’t remember if the actual memory of Queen’s music came with Flash Gordon or Highlander. I do remember I was young… eight or nine I think. I remember getting a further introduction to their music because it was a bonding experience with my Dad, kicking back on the floor of my parents’ room while he played A Night at the Opera for me.

Given the amount of music Queen had released by the time I was eight, I’m sure I probably heard some of it before then and just didn’t know who sang it. At that age I don’t think I cared about any music other than what my mother listened to. Still, the time we spent listening to Queen opened a door of commonality for us and he has had a great influence on my taste in music.

I digress however. I’m here to discuss Queen, not my past.

I think what brings this particular post is a wonder if Freddie Mercury would approve of the advertisement use of their music, were he still with us today. Coke used “I Want to Break Free” for their Coke Half or whatever it was and now Dr Pepper is using “I Want it All” for Diet Dr Pepper and I know I’ve heard another set of advertisements using one of their songs, but at the moment its not coming to mind. It’s probably the Harry Chapin I have playing on the radio at the moment, but that’s a whole different subject and musician, isn’t it.

I do know that while the ads don’t drive me to go out and get a Coke or a Dr Pepper, they do drive me to computer and my massive collection of Queen discs. After that introduction to their music I glutted myself on Queen’s music. I still find myself looking through the selection at the music store to see if there’s anything I don’t have. There are a few, admittedly, that I’m missing, but the three collections of their greatest hits keep me sane on a bad day.

I always found their music uplifting, despite some of the connotations of the songs. There are days I tend to think of “The Show Must Go On” as my theme song. Then again, I’m sure everyone has theme songs and they just don’t share them.

I know, after having only been introduced to their music in those tender years that I was distraught when I learned of Mercury’s death in 1991; got my hands on Innuendo as quickly as I could since it was the last of Queen’s recordings. That disc has another of my personal favorites with the song “I’m Going Slightly Mad,” which I recommend for anyone having one of those nervous breakdown days. Read the rest of this entry »