On Your Mark … Get Set …….. GO!

/ / rantings

And we’re off on the 2014 blogathon! In an ideal world, I will update this every day with something amazingly cool–not just with music, but with stuff that I simply enjoy doing. This will involve game reviews, iPhone/iPad app/game reviews, tie-dye techniques that I use, shirts and other things I’ve made, music reviews, concert reviews, hockey-talk, my own personal missives on any of these subjects or others … I’m going all-out.

I don’t know if I’ll have a set agenda like some bloggers (read: CRYSTAL! She’s SO organized! I could only dream of reaching her level of awesomeness), but I do have a goal: EVERY DAY write something new.

Today marks the beginning. This is it. Get ready, world.

I’m sure I’ll post more later today. This is more of an announcement than anything else, and I needed to start somewhere.

Kickstarter Project: Ghost Town Jenny

/ / Kickstarter, Opinion, rantings

Well, as is so often the case with life, I’m just  now getting back into the writing mode again. Well … okay, blogging mode. I’ve been writing non-stop for the last several months, the bulk of which has been the last two months or so, but that was all work related and not music writing. Now that I have free time again, I’m going to be ramping this up a lot.

One of the things I had been writing about towards the end of June/beginning of July was various Kickstarter projects that I was hoping would get funded. So far, all of them have! However, I’ve also been tracking and funding other projects, such as Ghost Town Jenny. This is the musical child of Kim Kylland out of San Francisco (where a LOT of good music seems to be coming from lately!). She is trying to get to Iceland to perform a show at the Iceland Airwaves music festival. Great music! I love the electronic sound mixed with her ethereal vocals. Her new CD comes out in October, which coincides with the festival.

Anyway, I highly recommend checking out her Kickstarter project. She has lots of great backing rewards at various levels. I opted for the new CD and DVD of the Iceland show. Check it out!

More iPhone Fun

/ / review

So, I use my iPhone for a lot of things–music, blogging, staying in touch, reading up on news, playing, edutainment, etc. I’ve downloaded some pretty cool apps lately that I would highly recommend. Some cost; some don’t. If you have the means, I would highly recommend these.

  1. Shazam. Ever hear one of those songs on a commercial and wonder who’s performing it? Or you’re listening to your local radio station and you change the channel right as the last 30 seconds are playing to some song that you’ve been dying to hear, BUT you have to get out of the car before the announcer says who it is? Shazam to the rescue! The concept is that you launch the app, press “tag now” in the top right corner, then hold the phone up to the speaker. The app “captures” about 20 seconds’ worth of music, analyzes it and sends back the results. Once the results are displayed, you have a ton of options: tweet, send as a postcard, album review, biography of artist, discography, view youtube video, purchase the song from itunes … you can even geotag where you heard the song. Why you would want to do this is beyond me, but you can.

    It finds really obscure things, too. It’s found everything I’ve thrown at it. I especially like using this when I’m listening to the local college station when they have their indie music time slot. REALLY handy. REALLY free.

  2. Drum Kit. For all you Neil and Danny wanna-bes (and yes, I throw myself in that mix), you *have* to have this. 4 toms, 2 crash, 1 each of high hat, ride, bass and snare. Press the icon in the lower right, and you have access to recording and playback of what you churn out. Sorry, no gong.  🙂  Price: 1.99. Worth every penny.
  3. More Cowbell. Straight from Christopher Walken’s best SNL performance, you too can now bang cowbell with Blue Oyster Cult zeal and zest (or not …).  You can also select maracas, triangle, tambourine or sleigh bells. You know … for when it’s Christmas and stuff. 

    There are all kinds of fun things you can do with this. I won’t spoil the surprises here. Just get it. It’s 99 cents, for crying out loud. And SOOOO very worth it.

  4. Music Studio. Wow. Just … WOW. You really could write your own music on this thing. 128-track recording studio, replete with all kinds of keyboard sounds. WOW. Seriously … i’m going to use this to rework Ravel’s Bolero. All 13 sections.

    This one will cost you 19.95, but again, I say without reservation that you will be amazed at everything this little app can do.

That’s all I have right now. Well, okay … I have a few other apps I could discuss, but those are the maat and potatoes of my musical app time. Enjoy!

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