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Big Media: We can’t link to you…

I first mentioned the Blogging Summit put on by local broadcasters WTMJ 620 on June 12th, 2007 in a post title Citizen Blogging Summit.

The Summit was on June 14, 2007, and I recapped in a post title Citizen Blogging Summit Report.

There is a very good chance that in a few years, those links will still work. There are links to this site that still work nearly 10 years after I first created them. There’s an old saying: Cool URIs don’t change. WTMJ 620 doesn’t get that.

When we were at the Summit, someone mentioned they were re-launching their site in the next few days. The second I heard this, I was pretty sure all the bloggers they invited, who actually linked to the Summit page, would have dead links within a week. I was right.

I’m really hoping they fix this, but as of right now, links to http://www.620wtmj.com/blog_summit.asp get a 404.

And there are links pointing there. I mean, we’re bloggers! You invite us to talk about something, and we will, by linking to it. Will I link to anything on 620wtmj.com again? I don’t know, since there is a good chance it’ll disappear with the next web site re-design.

I might just be a little sensitive about this issue because I’m in the middle of doing some URL re-writing for a site that just underwent a major rebuild. But really, is a permalink so much to ask for? Honestly, I’m pretty disappointed. Just when you think someone is starting to get it, they let you down.

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Gettin’ Hitched!

I’ve been looking for a trailer hitch for our Honda CR-V. I found a local shop that will install one for about $170, which sounds like a lot to a cheapskate like me, so I looked online…

I’ve found hitches ranging from $80 to $150. I’m not real concerned about towing weight, as we don’t plan on pulling anything, we just want to attach a 4-bike rack to haul the bikes around. (I believe we need to look at “tongue weight” which is what it can hold vertically, which should be the bikes plus the bike rack combined.)

All of the sites I’ve looked at ship the hitch to you with instructions, and say you can install it in well under an hour without drilling anything. A few have testimonials from people saying how easy it is, but I sort of feel lost… At least when researching technical stuff (computers, electronics, etc.) I have a comfort zone, but with this, I just feel like there’s a lot I don’t know. Maybe I’m over thinking it.

I’ll just have to do a bunch more research, and see if I can find people to answer some questions. The last thing I want to see is 4 bikes falling off the back of our vehicle while going 65 on the freeway.

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Shelf Life

I created another song and got it uploaded to Ourmedia using SpinXpress.

It’s called Shelf Life.

I’m getting a lot more familiar with GarageBand, and experimenting a bit now. I even recorded a few guitar tracks, the bass track, and a vocal track (which you won’t recognize as vocals) for this one. The drums mostly came from a loop.

(See Also: Wave Goodbye, and A Song at Ourmedia)


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Citizen Blogging Summit Report

Well, we attended the Citizen Blogging Summit (Mike Rohde and I were on a panel, and Jeramey came along for backup) and it was… interesting.

Citizen Blogging Summit Citizen Blogging Summit

As I mentioned in a previous post, we didn’t know what to expect, but Sean did a good job of moderating, and basically just asked us questions, and took a few questions from the (small) crowd. KeVron of Dork Factor Prime was there, but other than that, it was all people I’ve never met before. Kim and Jason of kimandjason.com came in from Madison and were on the panel with us. They seemed like nice folks.

Rohde Pushing Need Gas!

We couldn’t stay for the panel after ours, so I don’t know how it all ended, but on the way back towards downtown to drop off Jeramey, we ran out of gas. Jeramey and I managed to push the car about a 1/2 mile down North Avenue, in the 90 degree heat, to a gas station. After that it was smooth sailing… So all in all, it was a pretty exciting day. I can’t wait for the next Citizen Blogging Summit!

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Laptop + Open Mic = ????

Every city has an open mic night, so why shouldn’t today’s electronic musicians take advantage of it?

I used to play live music, but I wasn’t exactly the stool-sitting, guitar-strumming type you’d find at an open mic. (I could be wrong, I don’t know what variety you see at an open mic nowadays.) Recently the music I’ve been creating has been on the Mac using GarageBand, Audacity, sound loops, etc… Does that make me any less of a musician? Why shouldn’t I perform for people?

So my idea is this: Show up at an open mic night, plug in the laptop, and start playing my songs. I have no idea what the crowd reaction would be, which is what makes the idea interesting. Sure the “playing” might only consist of clicking a mouse, but still, it’s music, right?

I can see this going in a whole nother direction as well. We all know that sometimes to entertain you must annoy (some would even say torture) the audience. So I suggest this twist, show up, connect the laptop, and just start a drum loop. Let that play for as long as possible (until they throw you off, cut the P.A., etc.) and for good measure, you will need some friends in the audience, who at first are unsure (obviously they should pretend to not know you) but a few minutes into your drum loop solo, they should start to go nuts, screaming “yeah!” and “owww!” and if possible, getting up and dancing.

Anyway, if you guys want to be the crowd, I’ll bring the laptop…