I got introduced to Nujabes by a few a friends, and am now HOOKED!

I found a bunch of tracks on Youtube and decided to make a Youtube playlist. Here it is:

Playlist Link

This was a Goodphil inspired mix that I did about 8 years ago on Sonic Foundry’s Acid Software. It was my first attempt at making a mix of different cuts here and there on the program, so be warned its very, very raw.

The beginning gets pretty hype, but after awhile it gets rather annoying because of the repetitiveness. I call it the “Art of the KLF BodyRock Nation”. Anyways, enjoy

I got this in my inbox earlier from Tim (founder of Pandora):

Hi, it’s Tim from Pandora;

After a yearlong negotiation, Pandora, SoundExchange and the RIAA are finally optimistic about reaching an agreement on royalties that would save Pandora and Internet radio.  But just as we’ve gotten close, large traditional broadcast radio companies have launched a covert lobbying campaign to sabotage our progress.

Yesterday, Congressman Jay Inslee, and several co-sponsors, introduced legislation to give us the extra time we need but the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which represents radio broadcasters such as Clear Channel, has begun intensively pressuring lawmakers to kill the bill. We have just days to keep this from collapsing.

This is a blatant attempt by large radio companies to suffocate the webcasting industry that is just beginning to offer an alternative to their monopoly of the airwaves.

Please call your Congressperson right now and ask them to support H.R. 7084, the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 – and to not capitulate to pressure from the NAB.  Congress is currently working extended hours, so even calls this evening and over the weekend should get answered.

If the phone is busy, please try again until you get through. These calls really do make a difference.

Representative Lloyd Doggett: 202-225-4865

Thanks so much for you ongoing support.

Tim

Make an effort and contact your congress person and let them know you don’t believe that the NAB’s  (National Association for Broadcasters) persistence and lobbying on this matter is right.

We can’t let these corporations continue to make music less enjoyable. I, for one, am tired of listening to the same song run 10 times in 1 hour. Pandora and many of the music web products out there don’t do that. Again, I know this sounds like a pain to do, but you could make a difference and actually see a great product emerge in a positive way…and be completely legal!!

====================================

UPDATE: Another email from tim. The house of reps took the leap and are supporting the bill, now its time for the senate…

Hi, it’s Tim from Pandora;

Today, thanks to the extraordinary support of many Pandora listeners, we took a giant step forward when the House of Representatives supported Pandora and Internet radio and passed the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008.  Now we need your help so that the Senate will pass it also – and quickly… The finish line is in sight!

After a yearlong negotiation, Pandora, SoundExchange and the RIAA are finally optimistic about reaching an agreement on royalties that would save Pandora and Internet radio.  The legislation would give us the extra time we need to finalize the deal.

Please call your Senators Monday morning starting at 9:00 (Eastern) and ask them to support the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008.

The person who answers the phone in your Senator’s office may ask for the bill number – it’s H.R. 7084 (if they ask for a Senate bill number, you can assure them that in this unusual case, the Senate is actually voting on the House bill number).

Senator John Cornyn: (202) 224-2934

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison: (202) 224-5922

If the phone is busy, please try again until you get through. These calls really do make a difference.

Thanks so much for you ongoing support.

Tim

New mix up from Steve, the Marathon Mix. Be sure to check it out on Beat Savvy.
Comments always welcome. Thanks

South by Southwest Interactive has been amusing, fun, and strange….all wrapped into a tight little package. Actually, maybe not so little…but it’s definitely been a huge experience.

I’ve been to a few conferences, AjaxWorld being one of them (which in a way could have been a complete waste of time if it weren’t for the networking aspect of it). Don’t get me wrong, a few of the panels at AjaxWorld were very good, but not $1500 worth. Not to mention, I saw alot of the same panels weeks before online. The best way I like to look at it is, if you’re a developer….don’t go to AjaxWorld! You live and you learn I guess.

But I digress, back to SxSWi. So the entry fee was very reasonable in comparison to what I’ve been paying before for other conferences, but it made sense as I walked amongst many of the attendants. Everybody was in a startup, or had been in a startup. I’ve never had the pleasure of being where most of these people were, and I envy that. Big adventure, struggles, working together on something new….its exciting stuff. And here’s little old me trying to find out about the latest and greatest in web tech so I can jazz up our company site, while everybody else is trying to understand the pitfalls and bottlenecks of a starving company. I don’t think I’m ready for that (plus I don’t think I can survive financially at this point in my life), but it’s a dream to be there sometime in the future.

The conference touched on everything imaginable related to the web tech industry: developers, designers, bloggers, artists, venture capitalists…you name it, they were there. And to see big names like Adobe, Sun Microsystems, and Microsoft amongst all these little guys, and the way they were there to help the community, rather than take over, made it that much better. I had just learned that AOL finally decided to make AIM open source….which is just great! I knew they had API’s available to the public, but to actually go out and release the code, finally gave me the nerve to respect them (just a little bit at least). [I haven't actually gone out and looked at the code yet, so this statement could change, fyi].

Onto the parties. The parties were great (except for the Facebook parties, don’t go to them unless you like boozhee, shiny shirt, and god-wannabe door people). Yeah, sure, BT was there, but it just seemed too much like a commercial party. Which brings me to how the 16-bit party was….lame!! Too many dam people, no free drinks (apparently the check didn’t clear?), a line from hell (luckily we got there early), aggravated people (as my friend Andy likes to say: it’s like the many components packed into a notebook with a crappy heatsink). If there were a 32-bit party, no possible way am I recommending that to anybody.

Anyway, the Pure Volume Ranch parties were awesome! The Gametap party was even better (the food they had was amazing!). The Frog Design venue was nuttz. The 16-bit party should have used that venue instead of the Scoot Inn. The Digg party (at pure volume ranch) was pretty good as well, apparently Mark Cuban was there (cool I guess, but the Rockets are winning the championship this year). Midway through, I got a text from a friend about Moby being at the Mohawk, so we headed out there. That venue is AMAZING! Not just because I know some people, that know people, who know people that are affiliated with the place (yeah, I’m practically just a normal citizen at that point huh?), but from what it looked like a year ago in comparison to today….all I have to say is WOW.

Anyway, I’m not the biggest fan of Moby, but he did rock it that night, and the crowd responded very well which is always good to see. He did make an appearance at the Digg party afterward as well, so I’m sure they were thrilled to see him (better than just Mark Cuban….Ha, just kidding).

-

You can find out about the adventure in Eugene Hsu’s post on Ungerground Online’s website. More pics of the Moby event are available there as well.

So now that the Interactive conference is done, the music portion of SxSW has started, and I’m attending a few events here and there for that. I’ve got a few videos, and photos up, but I’ll save that for another post (maybe).