It's been too long!

Yikes! Over a year since I have posted anything on this site. way too long. Now I need to find something out. Lots of things.
I have an HD TV.
I love the HD I get on cable.
I am mulling HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.
The Playstation 3 looks inviting, because it also plays SACDs.
But I'm not a gamer.
The multi-channel surround on PS3 is only through HDMI, and I don't have HDMI on my receiver.
I'd be happy to get a new receiver, but none of them have the right amount of inputs.
I also have an Apple TV box.
What's a boy to do?
To be continued.

Live on Cleveland radio this Wednesday!

As some of you might know, I did an Internet radio show with The Ghoul on a site called ClevelandHits.com back in 2002. This coming Wednesday, May 17th, I will be on WNCX 98.5 FM from 6AM to 10AM with The Ghoul for the morning show. Get up early and get ready for your day with The Ghoul and Me!

That's WNCX-FM, 95.5 FM - Cleveland's Classic Rock Station.
Omigawd.. I'm back on the radio again.
Wednesday, May 17th, 6-10AM.

New look for The Box of Sound

The Box of Sound podcast will soon be sporting a new look and a new direction. Rich Kegarise, good friend and guest for two previous episodes, will be a regular on the show as we talk about all sorts of entertainment media, mostly music from our unique point of view. Check it out.

Also, the Uncle Scratch album should be in my hands any day now. I hope to be posting information on how you can get your grubby little hands on a copy. It ROCKS!!!

Quick Update!

The next podcast will DEFINITELY be centering on Jandek. I spent a couple hours with Len from Jawbone on Saturday, helping him with some technical hurdles in his audio setup. He is a great guy and he spreads that niceness to the rest of his family. His kids are friendly, of course there's the lovely Nora (she was too busy to talk, but she popped in on us and said Hi), and the whole house experience that is the Nobbynees home.
Time to pick up dry cleaning and do grocery shopping for Mom. Later!

This is now a podcast.

Future posts will most likely appear as podcasts in the Box of Sound website. Why read me when I can talk to you?

OK, stop grumbling and start clicking, then start downloading. I'll talk to you again soon.

...and this is what's going on.

Jandek project is not stopped, but kind of on hold for now. The audio project part of my life has been getting busy and I'm getting tired of emails and phone calls saying, "Update your blog, dammit!!!"

I've recorded a couple of songs for the Jawbone Radio Podcast show. One of them, "Nora (&Len)" is played at the end of the show, and I've sent a little quick thing I call "MST Jawbone", a version of the theme to Mystery Science Theater 3000, with new lyrics about the Jawbone show.

Pre-production has begun for the next full-length D.Verada project. Songs are the main focus, this will be a genre-busting affair, if I do all the stuff I want. More as that comes together.

I'm also re-discovering my record collection, thanks to the unbelievable program SoundSoap Pro from BIAS Software. This thing takes recordings and removes the unwanted elements. In the case of phonograph records, the surface noise, clicks and crackles are removed to the point where a well preserved record sounds as good as a CD, with the warmth of analog intact.

Some of the records I've transferred lately:

Robert Rental and The Normal: Live
Bill Nelson's Red Noise: Sound On Sound
Hawkwind: A Space Ritual
Hawkwind: Quark Strangeness & Charm
Raydio: Rock On
Then there's the Sparks catalog. So far I've immersed myself in: Kimono My House, Propaganda, Indiscreet, Introducing, and Big Beat. Ron Mael is a terrifically under-appreciated composer.

Yes, I know that a lot of these records are available on CD, and sometimes with extra cuts. But a lot of these are over-priced imports and with the tunes I actually want to put on my iPod, it is much more rewarding to transfer the vinyl I loved originally. I also transfer records, cassettes, reel-to-reel and 8-track tapes for a fee. E-mail me for details.

Monkey Call is playing a new venue next weekend. More info in a separate entry.

I'm toying with starting a podcast later this year. This will be mainly about music and will feature lots of interviews I did in the 70s and 80s with now-classic rock and roll people.

The Hand That Mixes NIN tunes

In a fascinating twist to the typical means of record promotion, Trent Reznor, the man who basically IS Nine Inch Nails has released the first single off of the new album WITH TEETH, "The Hand That Feeds", as a free download in GarageBand format. This is absolutely cool as hell. Check it out immediately by going to nin.com, click on current, and see the link there. I have an odd feeling he'll take the file away soon even though the thing is completely saturated with copyright warnings all through the install.
This file allows you to listen to, remix, dissect, and otherwise de- and/or re-construct the new song, one instrument or track at a time. Oh yeah - this is only available to Macintosh users. Sorry, Windows enthusiasts.

In Jandek news, he's still scheduled to play live in England in May. His first live performance, in Glasgow, Scotland last October, has just been released as album #41. Quit yer bitchin, I'll continue the Jandek album review project soon. Much more fun stuff to come, including more Pro Tools fun, 8-track tapes, remastering scratchy records, and more.