Music

Anything music.

There are 319 posts filed in Music (this is page 9 of 32).

Neuse Radio almost here

I’ve been perfecting my Neuse Radio streaming station lately and I’ve almost gotten it to the point where I can let the world listen.

It’s running on the open-source Rivendell radio automation suite, patched through the open-source JACK audio server, encoded with the open-source DarkIce encoder, streamed with the open-source Icecast2 server, and hosted on my CentOS-based VPS in Ashburn, Virginia.

It’s so automated that I don’t have to do anything to keep the music flowing. If I want I can add some chatter (called voice-tracking in the industry parlance) between songs to give it a live sound, but I tend to let the music run without interruption.
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Too Much Time On My Hands

This not-having-a-job stuff is getting old.

Too Much Time On My Hands
Styx

Yeah, I’m sittin’ on this bar stool talking like a damn fool
Got the twelve o’clock news blues
And I’ve given up hope for the afternoon soaps
And a bottle of cold brew
Is it any wonder I’m not crazy?
Is it any wonder I’m sane at all?
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Karaoke

Belting it out (with bonus Elvis sneer)

We went to a neighbor’s 80s-themed birthday party Saturday night which featured a karaoke machine. I’d been bragging about how it’s impossible to drag me away from a karaoke microphone, and that I used to work at a karaoke company, but this was different. I love to sing but I usually only do it when I’m alone. My previous karaoke performances have always been around family and good friends. Could I get up in front of total strangers and sing?
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R.E.M. calls it quits

R.E.M. called it quits today after a three-decade run as a band. The band had this statement on their website:

“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” R.E.M.

In their own words: The guys share their thoughts on why now.
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Magic

Magic
Olivia Newton-John

Come take my hand
You should know me
I’ve always been in your mind
You know that I’ll be kind
I’ll be guiding you

Building your dream
Has to start now
There’s no other road to take
You won’t make a mistake
I’ll be guiding you
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Pandora-ed out?

I was impressed to learn that the Roku’s Pandora channel had been redesigned, allowing one to link it to an existing Pandora account. Now I can get all of my Pandora channels on the Roku, making the Pandora channel much more useful to me. A few nights ago when Travis and I were alone, I cranked up my Intoxica surf-rock channel and we rocked out to that while I was cooking dinner.

Having enjoyed the tuneage from my Roku, yesterday I fired up my Intoxica channel on my laptop. You know what? It didn’t last longer than an hour. I became bored with the music and turned it off.

I think this is one of the flaws with Pandora: you can build a channel so exactly that the music begins to sound the same. It doesn’t take long for me to start wishing for a little more variety. With Pandora, one can box oneself into a corner.

There are some new music services out there now like Spotify, which might fit the bill, but I’m not in the mood right now to have to learn another service all over again (and there’s no free Linux client as of yet). For now I’ll stick with Mondomix and it’s world music stream.

The Brewery and Farmhouse to be razed

I’m bummed to learn that The Brewery, one of Raleigh’s oldest music venues, is closing its doors for good this weekend. The building’s been bought and will be razed for a mixed-use development. The last band will take the stage Friday evening.

I’ve seen many shows at the Brewery and made some fantastic memories there. It was small (or shall we say, intimate) and had a lacking beer selection, but those are about its only faults. You could stand anywhere in the room and have a great view of the band. And it had the best sound guy anywhere: the bands always sounded great. I’ve seen many local and national acts there: Cracker, Mojo Nixon, Whiskeytown, Dig, Southern Culture On The Skids, and many, many others.
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Joe Strummer

Joe Strummer


I finished watching the documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten last night. The film interviews former bandmates, fans, and friends of Joe Strummer, the iconic musician who rode to fame in the legendary band The Clash. It was a fascinating look at Strummer: a guy who lived a most colorful life.

Director Julien Temple interviews Strummer’s friends as they sit around campfires, which is a great way to relax people and get them comfortable talking. Campfires were also a feature of the camps Strummer loved. His wife, Lucinda, created a music camp in Strummer’s honor called Strummerville.
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How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?

Informative look at music industry math.

Recently, the UK government passed The Digital Economy Act which included many, perhaps draconian, measures to combat online music piracy including withdrawing broadband access for persistent pirates. Much was proclaimed about how these new laws would protect musicians and artists revenue and livelihoods. But how much money do musicians really get paid in this new digital marketplace?

via How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?.

International TV

I’ve been enjoying my free-to-air satellite dish and the varied programming it brings in. I’ve got hundreds of channels of TV and radio, many from around the world.

Last week, I bought another dish that was posted on Craigslist. While my motorized dish can reach most satellites aimed at the United States, it’s not positioned to get the birds at the extreme end of the satellite arc. I needed another one.
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