st. joe's choir

Well, Wade, I hate to break it to you.

D the B — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:07:41 +0000

>t;My name is Wade Phelps. I am the creator of the Christian Choir Preservation Society. Please post any future concerts and events on the site so that we can get the word out. There is no fee and the goal is to get the word out to those in your area who love choral works.”

We do some lovely choral works. Right after the song about how Abel had it coming.

iPhone’s Guitar

D the B — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:24:10 +0000

I went out looking for a autoharp for the iPhone today, and I found Frontier’s Guitar. While it’s not quite as fun as playing a real guitar, it’s still a pretty solid good time, and certainly enough to meet the on-the-go “let’s write a song” needs.

There’s a demo here, and more info here.

Korg Synth for the DS

D the B — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:51:38 +0000

I’m having a hard time getting over how awesome this is: http://ping.fm/NVsEn

It’s a full synth! On a gameboy!

I am a real American.

D the B — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:21:51 +0000

A friend of mine — hi, Nathan! — had an idea for a site that’s an art project — something that would demonstrate that we are all real Americans.

On Tuesday night, we launched a site that aggregates videos of people giving their names, a line about themselves, and then saying, “… and I’m a real American.”

http://iamarealamerican.com

So far, the results have been pretty fun.

*Love* the square dance caller:
http://iamarealamerican.com/2008/10/ricky/

Here’s mine:
http://iamarealamerican.com/2008/10/dave/

We’d like to get more people to participate. … We’re impatiently waiting for “I’m a dominatrix, and I’m a real American.”

The Gospel According to Springsteen

D the B — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:17:11 +0000

Kitty pointed me to this NPR story about a preacher who uses Springsteen’s music as an aid for spreading the good word.

His book is here.

My Dad has often said, “Any event that brings men closer to God, or men closer to men, is a religious event.” The best concerts I’ve attended have done that — made me feel more full of life, and brought me closer to others — and Springsteen’s are among those. This idea was one of the reasons I named the band “St. Joe’s Choir.” Music, and concerts in particular, are religious events — a time to gather to celebrate what is right and condemn what is wrong, and to share the experience of life on the planet.

Still. It feels wrong to me to co-op one man’s words to support those of another — particularly without either’s consent.

New drummer!

D the B — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:54:05 +0000

Coco Brown, of Meganaut and Peter Elliott and the Sellouts, will be joining the Choir.

He’s a great player, and I’m really looking forward to what he’s going to bring to the band.

NPR Streams Tom Waits

D the B — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:45:33 +0000

A few weeks ago, I headed out on the road with a few friends (hey, Nathan, Kitty, Delia!) to catch Tom Waits in Houston and Dallas, because … well, because Tom Waits is one of the great musical artists of our time, and anybody who says different is LYING TO YOU.

I’d been looking for a pirated copy of the shows to pop up in the usual places, but, apparently, the pirates are either lazy or have shit for taste or, I suspect, both.

Fortunately, NPR has saved me the trouble by streaming Tom’s Atlanta show — all 2 hours and 21 minutes of it.

In the spirit of sharing, I would like to point out that there are any number of ways to convert a streaming audio signal into an mp3, including Audio Hijack Pro, if you’re Mac-friendly.

Update: Mel reasonably points out that you can just download the mp3 straight from NPR right here.

Smithonian Global Sound

D the B — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:50:00 +0000

The Smithsonian has a site for world music that’s crazy fun to browse around on.

I’ve been flipping around on the ‘genre’ list — ‘ale liwon’ is a genre? exorcism music? thank God for drinking songs… — but you can also search for country, culture group (because a Navajo party don’t stop, yo!), instrument, label, language, and year.

Tons of stuff, most of it fascinating in one way or another, and clips of everything.

Hooray, webbernets!

Bert and Ernie

D the B — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:48:53 +0000

breakin’ it down, gangsta style.

oh yeah.

lyrics are here, if you wanna bounce along.

iphone lust

D the B — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:15:12 +0000

Yeah, sure, I know. I’m like the billionth person you know who either wants one, or has one.

But look! … beatmaking! on the go!

Sin of the day: envy. Or maybe it’s greed.

lust?

whatever.

THUMPITY!

WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP!

bastards.