...is on the air!

My blog is of anything that pops into this brain of mine as well as what pops into other bloggers brains! If I read something I find interesting, I'll add it to mine and give credit, where credit is due!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

THE COOL 105.7 STUDIO

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Blue Moon?


Tonite is an astronomer's wet dream. Did I just say that? I know very little about astrology, but the moon in our skies is a blue one, or more precisely the second full moon of the month, with a partial eclipse, and it's made of (blue) cheese. It's also New Years Eve. The term, "once in a blue moon" has come to mean seldom, rarely, or perhaps never. Apply this as you wish, to whatever may be your current milieux. A full moon is prone to wreak emotional intensity or mahyem. Wolves howl at them, and singers sing about them.


"Blue Moon" is a Rogers and Hart standard. Lorenz Hart wrote four different sets of lyrics to it for four different Hollywood films. The one that stuck, has been recorded by hundreds of artists, and the Elvis Presley version of 1954, is in my mind, one of the most beautiful and haunting records ever recorded. Sam Phillips summoned up some real magic that day in Memphis. Another beautiful and different song of the same name, was recorded by Big Star, in the same city twenty years later with another shaman producer--the late great Jim Dickinson--at the helm.

Bill Monroe's 1947 hit, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" is also a standard, in bluegrass, country, and rock 'n roll. Elvis recorded it in the same sessions that yielded "Blue Moon." In Monroe's version, it's a sad, and plaintive waltz to a lost love ("It was on a moonlight night/ The stars were shining bright/ and they whispered from on high/ Your love has said goodbye"). The stars are whispering to Monroe and he asks the moon to shine on the one that's gone and left him blue." Bill Monroe was a spiritual man, and made some of the spookiest records I know. In some folktales, a blue moon has a face and talks to those in it's light. Elvis, states the same, but asks a favor of the moon in a new set of lyrics for the introduction, "Keep on shining bright and bring me back my baby tonite."

What does all this mean? I haven't a clue. Consult an astrologer.

Happy New Year, and may the moon shine on you and yours, brightly, tonight.
(courtesy of boogiewoogieflu.blogspot.com)

Happy New Year to all!!!!

2009 was supposed to be a year of hope, ended up being the year to cower to the REAL powers that be, The Corporations! So much for REFORM and REBUILDING, huh?
Here's hoping 2010 is better and that Obama and his fellow Dems grow balls.....

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Hey, now! It's my birfday!


I'm freakin' 37, man! 37.....

Monday, December 28, 2009

SUPERGROUP!

Beck, Bogert, Appice - 1973




Black Cat Moan


Why Should I Care?


Sweet Sweet Surrender

Jeff Beck of the Yardbirds, Tim Bogert & Carmine Appice from Vanilla Fudge/Cactus. How awesome is that?

Ronnie James Dio diagnosed with Stomach Cancer

Found this piece if news a couple of weeks ago....


Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic. After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans.



Thanks to all the friends and fans around the world that have sent well wishes. This has really helped to keep his spirit up.


Long Live Rock and Roll, Long Live Ronnie James Dio"

This was a quote from his website.
 
Here's a gem from the early days BEFORE the likes of Rainbow, Sabbath, etc.
 



1964 - Ronnie Dio & the Prophets

Friday, December 25, 2009

Ry Cooder - Soundtrack to The Long Riders

One of my all-time favorite movies!



This terrific Walter Hill Western follows the careers of the James and Younger brothers--and uses the nifty idea of casting actual clans of acting siblings in the roles. Thus, the James brothers are played by James and Stacy Keach; the Youngers by David, Keith, and Robert Carradine; the Millers by Randy and Dennis Quaid; and the Fords by Christopher and Nicholas Guest. Hill, working with an evocative Ry Cooder score, creates a film that is at once breathtakingly exciting and elegiac in its treatment of these post-Civil War outlaws. The Keaches in particular bring a surprising dignity to the roles of Frank and Jesse James, while David Carradine is a hoot as Cole Younger--and the Quaids mimic real life (as it was for them then) in their battles as the Miller brothers. Bloody, to be sure, but also bloody good. --Marshall Fine

Jesse James and his gang of outlaws ride again in this "extraordinary" (LA Herald-Examiner) western that pulsates with hard-driving action and electrifying drama. Four sets of acclaimed actor brothersDavid, Keith and Robert Carradine, James and Stacy Keach, Dennis and Randy Quaid, and Christopher and Nicholas Guesteach depict real-life siblings in emotionally charged portrayals of the Old West's legendary bandits.The notorious James-Younger gang is the most famous group of outlaws in the country, robbing banks, trains and stagecoaches with a sense of daring that makes them folk heroes throughout the land. But when the mighty Pinkerton detective agency swears to track them down, these criminals must face an awesome enemy that will stop at nothing to see them behind bars...or dead! Only through the strength of their loyalty and blood ties can the outlaws hope to survive the brutal pursuits, unexpected betrayals and blistering showdowns that mark the end of their dangerous ride.


The Long Riders - track 1
Jesse James - track 13

This is an EXTREMELY rare album... Hard to find on CD or Vinyl, however, I feel it's completely worth it! It's not a long album (30+ min), but so satisfying!

Megan Mullaly


Gotta love a woman that KNOWS she has a great chest!



The POWER of the 3 Wolf/Moon shirt! Not to be denied!!!!


The transformation was almost instantaneous! I lost 10 pounds, grew 2 cup sizes and my hair fell into soft bouncy curls. I no longer feel inclined to hide my insecurities behind ciggarettes, beer, foul language and belching. Thank you, Three Wolf Moon!


Somali pirates know the power of the wolves!


Shortly after this picture was taken, that car started.


On a slow day...


By B. Govern "Bee-Dot-Govern" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women

Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.

Muppet Xmas!


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

For you Facebookers....

This is what is called "a fail".... Where someone thinks what they are doing is correct, only to BE WRONG!
Funny stuff! Find more at http://www.facebookfails.com/


Click the one on the left to read clearly...

Monday, December 14, 2009

A review of The Beatles' stereo remasters.


THE BEATLES REMASTERED
14-album Stereo Reissue Set
Apple/Capitol/EMI

If you’re been resisting the Beatles Remastered in Stereo package and you’re an audiophile, you’re missing out on a memorable sonic experience.
 
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles For Sale
Help!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles
Yellow Submarine
Abbey Road
Let It Be
Past Masters

It's finally happened, similar to the recent Disney reissue of the classic animation features such as Snow White on Blu-ray, we now have the entire recorded catalog of the Beatles beautifully remastered on 14 single and double-CD enhanced CD albums, complete with 13 mini-documentaries on the recording of each album, as well as provided on a separate DVD - so you don’t have to put each CD into your computer to view them. A dedicated team of engineers at Abbey Road Studios in London spent four years using state of the art technology plus renovated vintage studio equipment to maintain the authenticity and integrity of the original analog recordings. There is also a separate Beatles Remastered Mono Set, gathering together all the Beatles recordings that were mixed for mono release (the stereo market was a small niche when most of the albums were originally released). It includes the mono album of both “Help,” and “Rubber Soul,” which have never been released on CD before. There are those Beatles fans who feel that the mono mixes are superior in every way to the early stereo versions, so let them indulge themselves in those if they wish.


I must say I held off on even requesting the stereo set for review since I had several of the albums in the excellent Mobile Fidelity reissues, plus a few British Parlophone vinyls of some of the originals such as Sgt. Pepper. Then I began to hear fellow audiophiles rave about the superb fidelity of these reissues and I decided to check into them. While I’m disappointed they were not released as hybrid SACDs like the Stones series, I’m bowled over by stunning results of the remastering to standard CD. They seem to come alive; one hears small details completely lost in all of the earlier CD transfers. I carefully compared the new reissue CDs to the Mo-Fi vinyls, using my highly tweaked SOTA turntable. I don’t really have any notes to consult, because the two sources sounded almost completely identical. The only obvious differences were observed when the level was turned way up and surface noise and rumble identified the vinyl vs. the CDs, or when the vinyl reach the last track close to the enter label, and the high frequencies began to be muffled vs. the clarity of the reissue CDs.


It was amazing how creative the Beatles and their producer George Martin were technically, considering they were restricted only to primitive four-channel recorders, and later on (by going to a more advanced studio than EMI) eight-track. Often they had to mix from one four-channel master to another to create more flexibility, and thus put all their vocals on one track, using the other three for additional instrumentals. Thus all the voices occasionally come out of just the left or right channel, but the newly-remastered versions often ameliorate this a bit by giving more of a center fill.

The original EMI tapes were in good shape, but the remastering engineers had to deal with a slight build up of dust. They transferred at 192K/24-bit via a Prism A-D converter. They removed electrical clicks, vocal pops on the mikes, excessive sibilance and bad edits, as long as it didn’t interfere with the original integrity of the songs. De-noising technology was used sparingly, with less than five of the 525 minutes of music subjected to the process. It was decided to use limiting only moderately so as to retain the original dynamics of the recordings. It is most satisfying to note that these reissues are not being compress to hell like most pop music on CD today. Comparisons were made with the earliest vinyl pressings as well as the original master tapes continuously during the remastering and equalization process.

While my set didn’t come with the boxed set detailed historical notes, booklets and posters, it had everything else. The only album without the Enhanced CD mini-documentaries is the double-CD Past Masters set. The short documentaries use mostly the “Ken Burns” zooming around effect on stills of the Beatles, but the soundtracks have comments by the various members and George Martin which give some background on the recording of the particular album. Some of the studio chat by the Beatles has never been heard before. Four of the albums are furnished in stereo on CD for the very first time: Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, and Beatles for Sale.

I became a Beatles fan originally with their Revolver album, and on the mini-documentary George Martin and the members talk about how working on that one opened up more sophisticated and complex tunes than they had ever created before. Without the creativity and wizardry of Martin the Beatles would probably never have achieved the high levels they did, but at the same time Lennon and McCartney should be recognized as among the greatest pop song writers of the century.

I should mention another aspect of this reissue of special interest to all surround sound fans: The Beatles stereo recordings have long been mined for surround sound effects (also Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Beach Boys.). I think part of their abilities in this area must be due to the simple miking and four-track recordings they were working with. The fact is most of them have a tremendous amount of L-R difference information embedded in the stereo signals, which can be easily decoded. I started many years ago with a simple single speaker in the back, hooked up to a Hafler derived surround circuit (connecting an efficient speaker to the two + terminals of an amp). Then I progressing to a Dynaco box. Now we have ProLogic IIx, which does an even better job of deriving surround ambience from the L-R information on standard stereo recordings. You will frequently hear a single guitar in one of the surround speakers, for example, or a chorus of voices coming from behind you during a portion of a tune. Since the stereo source is now so much cleaner and hi-res, you will get even better pseudo-surround effects using ProLogic or Circle Surround decoding.


If you’re been resisting the Beatles Remastered in Stereo package and you’re an audiophile, you’re missing out on a memorable sonic experience - even if you have a bunch of the best Beatles vinyls and a good turntable. This is a fabulous Beatles Bonanza.

- John Henry, Audio Audition

Calliope



We've Made It

The Roosters


You Gotta Run


Sheena Easton

Beautiful and talented! Remember her role on Miami Vice? She Married Sonny Crocket!



Saturday, December 12, 2009

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

BEHOLD! THE ICE AGE!!!!

This last enormous snow storm (the biggest since 1978) dumped a whopping 13 inches of snow with winds topping 50 mph! I live in a rural area that is 200 ft. from the city limits. With that said, I shouldn't have to tell you that there are 12-18 ft. high drifts down my road and that I haven't been home since I left for work at 5pm on Tuesday.... Snow plows are being pulled off the roads IN TOWN because of all the snow blowing back into the streets, after they plow - my road is an after-thought.


I have no pics to show you since my phone isn't taking great pics in this weather. If and when I do, I'll post...

UPDATE!
I finally got home Thursday morning. Max was missing me big time, and I him! Karna, well, she didn't have to deal with me for 2 whole days, BUT, did have to deal with Max all by herself. Glad to be home!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

29 years ago today....


...this photograh was taken.

This is John Lennon signing his latest release, "Double Fantasy" for a fan named Mark David Chapman. Chapman would shoot and kill John in about 5 hours after this meeting.

Remember John.


Here's THE album that has Chapman's forensically enhanced fingerprints and John's autograph.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

2001: A Space Odyssey Theme performed by High School Band

Also Sprach Zarathustra

Interesting news about the future of radio.....

...that is, if anyone with any decision making roles in the radio biz is ACTUALLY listening!
(courtesy or Eric Rhodes, Radio Ink Magazine)



Liberating This Chained Industry


The Good and Bad News About Radio and the Coming Renaissance


A message from Radio Ink Publisher Eric Rhoads


First, the bad news.

  • Radio will be down 18-20 percent in 2009 and is expected to finish the year at $15.5 billion, down from $21.5 billion in 2006.
  • Radio has lost over 10,000 jobs, and that number could increase.
  • Several radio companies are facing bankruptcy.
  • High fixed costs (much of which is debt), perishable inventory, and overcapacity are creating a deflationary spiral in rates, which continue to fall.
  • We have commoditized the radio business because it's easier to stimulate demand through price than to train people and hold them accountable for selling value.
  • Much of our industry has been forced to eliminate valuable localism, strong sales organizations with accountability, and much-needed promotion.
  • We face low-cost competition from online media, which is seducing advertisers with brilliant technology that makes offerings highly targetable and attractive.
  • The likelihood of increased federal regulation appears to be looming, with deeper controls on content and potentially increased costs through performance royalties.
  • None of us is immune. Every station owner, operator, employee, vendor, and supplier is impacted.

Now, the good news.



  • Unlike print, newspapers, and television, radio listening is alive and well, and radio continues to have a strong hold on audiences. Our audiences are not eroding.
  • New data suggests that radio has not lost its grip on the youth market and remains relevant with 18-34-year-olds.
  • Independent broadcasters and many small-market operators have been able to prevent severe declines in business with strong localism strategies.
  • Some radio companies are starting to wake up to the fact that digital media plays a significant role in our future and are integrating it deeply into their organizations.
  • Desperate times spawn great innovations. New plans seem to be emerging that will change the very nature of how we operate our business.
  • Bankruptcies and further consolidation will weed out many of those who have had a negative impact on radio.
  • There is money to be made even in a declining industry, and most industries cycle back eventually.
  • Breakups of some larger groups will spawn more independent, true-to-the core broadcasters.

The Best and Worst of Times

Historically, the worst of times bring the best of times. When things appear their darkest and coming storms create further disruption, we must stay focused on the idea that with storms comes a cleansing and dramatic change.

The Radio Reset Button

It won't be long till we see a massive reset in this industry. Though flushing out equity and handing companies over to lenders won't solve our problems, it might, at the very least, open eyes to the need to focus on sound business principles that have been ignored, and to simultaneously focus on true innovation. This innovation will be disruptive, will create further job losses, and will bring a true reinvention of how every radio station is operated.

One thing is for sure: Returning to the past won't work. Though elements of the past that have been ignored will become critical to continued survival and success.


Liberating This Chained Industry

We, the people of radio, are living in an important time. Those of us who remain committed to the radio industry will see days ahead in which we thrive. Those who understand that we must reinvent the way we create programming, the way we offer it to the marketplace, and the way we sell it, and those who are willing to challenge every assumption will thrive. Those who possess the important heritage skills, many of which have been ignored, will again have the opportunity to prove how radio can thrive with the right tools.

But this won't be your father's radio industry, or even the industry we knew pre-consolidation. The past won't return, no matter how much you pine for it, and you'll need to remain flexible and open-minded. Actions that may at first seem like bad ideas may in fact liberate this chained industry. It will be a different industry than we know today, but those willing to adapt their skills will see very bright days ahead.

Refusing to Repeat Our Foolish Mistakes

For decades I've watched this industry from the perspective of an industry publisher. My gut tells me that radio is about to experience a renaissance. No one can predict what it will look like, what the outcome will be, and who will emerge to lead it. I can almost guarantee it will be different from anything most of us can anticipate. With it will come great hardship, great change, and, sadly, many more of our industry brothers and sisters will be sacrificed. Yet this industry will emerge stronger than ever.

But only if we refuse to repeat the foolish mistakes of our recent past. Radio's future lies with debt holders, equity investors, and board members, whom we can only hope will demand higher levels of accountability from their CEOs and be willing to invest back into this industry, which has been stripped of its natural resources. We must have strong, accountable boards and stronger CEOs, who are willing to battle the whims of investors who not broadcasters and who will not be puppets or yes men.

We need experienced operators who can not only implement the core basics that have been removed from our industry, but are open to dramatic change in the way everything is done. Unless these debt holders start to understand that, in some cases, they've bought into the tricks of fools, and unless they begin to surround themselves with experienced people who have earned their stripes on the streets of radio rather than pretenders, we'll simply enter into phase two of a radio experiment gone bad. Yet somehow, I sense the bad eggs will be thrown on the grill, and the domino effect will be like bringing down the Berlin Wall, with the hope of returning this industry to great days ahead.

Are you ready to commit to the coming renaissance? It will be a wild ride, but well worth the effort.

Best,
Eric Rhoads
Radio Ink

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Just picked up these gems....

...over the past week or 2.


Mike Oldfeild - Hergest Ridge
Boz Scaggs - 1969
Johnny Rivers - Whiskey
Johnny Rivers - Here We Go Again (Whiskey)
Living Chicago Blues - 6
Living Chicago Blues - 1