Music With The Masta

I just had one of those odd sessions that can happen when you chat/talk with friends. I was chatting with The Masta and he wanted to play his guitar for me. We powered up Skype and I listed to a bit of "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones and "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple.

The music was fun and lead to him listing the musicians on his ipod. Whenever I saw a musician I didn't know I copied the name into Radio Blog Club and listened to some music. This proved quite interesting as I explored artists like Daniel Powter and Fink.

This proves again how powerful messaging is. Two people of different ages in different areas of the world can share ideas and learn something.

No Rest

I am procrastinating a bit because I am tired and I didn't want to be busy right now. However I have people coming in to replace my water tank this morning. I got the notice around 5 p.m. last night (so much for 24 hour notices).

My big issue isn't the necessary things I have to do but the anti-embarrassment my-place-is-a-mess types of things I want to do. Meh, I hate intrusions.

Yesterday was fine. I had fun working with a friend on blogs and relearning new things. I like making time for people when I can. I remember the people who helped me over the years and how much I appreciated it.

I bought The Tain by The Decemberists. I have only listened to it once but I think it's very good.

Sunshine, Music And Ice Cream

Saturday was very hot and sunny. In the afternoon I went uptown to A&B Sound to look at CDs. I was going to buy The Dresden Dolls first CD and see if any other interesting ones were available.

The bought the CD I wanted and saw 'The Very Best Of Era' by Era and 'The Tain' by The Decemberists. I am just getting into Era's music right now and getting back into The Decemberists. I have been interested in 'The Tain' since I read a post about it.

One band I couldn’t find is The Automatic. I am hooked on some of their songs right now. I probably can't get their album in Canada and will have to see about ordering online.

After leaving the music store I dropped my CD off at home and walked to Fisherman’s Wharf. I enjoyed the sunshine and talked with a family from Brazil at the wharf. I also stopped in at Jackson's Ice Cream Float and had some yummy ice cream. The business has only been open three weeks and is run by a former coworker of mine. I talked to him for a bit and wished him luck.

One of the Harbour Seals was poking around looking for handouts. I also saw a Heron and took a photo of it.

Last night I chatted with friends and listened to my CD (it's great!). I was going to go to a movie but decided I had done enough for one day.

Over all yesterday was quite fine.

Audio Antics

Yesterday was a very good day. I was happy to work my usual Friday shift at the place I volunteer at. The afternoon was steady until about an hour before closing.

I was talking to a coworker about some blogs and I showed him Men's photo of two dogs playing. I explained about commenting in Dutch and the challenge it presented me. I added that I was slowly learning to read Dutch.

I was thinking about blogging when I had my supper and then when I walked home. I expected to write a quick text post but not work with any music or podcasts. Things didn’t turn out as expected.

The Interview

'The Masta' IMed me and then asked if we could switch to voicechat. I said okay and then found myself being interviewed in a podcast! What followed was a long series of impromptu gags and oddball questions. Topics included: terrorist dogs, rabid squirrels, Rambo, Oprah, and Michael Jackson. It was fun and weird.

The interview is quite long but is worth listening to. You can listen to it at The Masta's Blog. The podcast player is in the sidebar. The post you want is the latest one (the top one) called 'June 23, 2006 Phone call'.

Listen to the interview and leave comments in his blog and/or here.

Online Music

After 'The Masta' and I finished our interview and follow up chat I listened to the podcast for the first time. I laughed several times and IMed some friends and told them about it.

One of the people I talked to was Stephen. Part of our conversation was about the music at Radio Blog Club and other sites. Websites that allow people to listen to music or even download songs help promote musicians. I bought a Fall Out Boy CD after listening to them at MySpace and Radio Blog Club. I am thinking about buying another CD by a different band. Listening to this 'free music' got me interested in the songs and the musicians.

As Stephen and I talked we figured out the new and irritating method of song selection at RBC and posted songs at 2 Lazy 4 Radio.

I Was A Song Writer

I find music interesting but I am not much of a musician. I have had some training while in school but not enough to make a difference.

A friend used to love going to the bar to sing karaoke. I couldn't stand listening to people who couldn't sing mangling songs I didn't like. I sing occasionally (in private) but most people haven't heard me. You will (sort of) in an upcoming podcast.

I am a better songwriter than singer. Some of my poetry could be set to music but I don't have the knowledge to do so. I have created songs using computers. While most of my music goes unrecognized one song did win a prize.

When I was nine or ten the local movie theatre ran a songwriting contest. They were looking for a song to put in their radio advertising and offered free movies as prizes. First prize was a year of free movies and second prize was three months worth.

I was quite excited about the contest and I wanted to win. I worked on two submissions and listened to suggestions but made my own decisions. I was so happy when I won second prize and got to see so many movies. Sometimes they let me in to see stuff I was a bit young for so I got lots of use out of my prize.

So what was my prize winning song?

Ho ho ho,
Let's go to the show,
And meet Mr. Lowe,
He's the nice little man,
Who runs this stand.

The owner knew our family and that may be part of the reason I won. I do think that the song wasn't bad based on how old I was. I am glad I didn't follow my dad's advice and change 'nice' to 'fat'.

Cheers.

Musical Moods

I have been playing around in Gcast and Garageband. I cleaned up my podcast list and will add a music player to my sidebar.

I was looking for podsafe music to include in a podcast and found two songs I liked. Both are 'Indie' but one was listed in the 'Emo' charts. When I mentioned this to a friend he thought that was odd. I said 'Indie/Emo' could be a crossover style within Rock. Rock has many examples such as Country Rock. My friend disagreed saying that Indie and Emo are too different and added:

indie is like guys pretending to be girls and singing with high pitched voices, and emo is screaming, and singing about killing each other

Haha. I have trouble keeping track of the various genres of Rock. I have eclectic tastes and like to experiment with different music. I don't hate Emo or Rap or even Country. I just find it more difficult to find something I can listen to long enough to like.