RasterWeb!

Mark Mallman is someone I’ve known since the early 1990’s. Back when he was a wee lad in Waukesha, he was in Uncle Smooth and the Lost Mayans, and then later did his own thing with an accoustic guitar. He’s always been a bit odd, or visionary, or weird, or nutty, or… well, you get the idea. A little bit crazy, a little big genius – that’s what I liked about Mallman. Oh, and he’s funny too!

But enough sucking up to Mallman, ok, not quite enough… I got to see Mallman perform at Mad Planet this weekend and wow, I was blown away!

I’m not even sure how to describe it other than a peculiar mix of rock and roll, keyboards, crazy lyrics, and that Mallman style, all mixed up into something very unique. I wish I could have seen Marathon 2 last year, where he (and many others) performed for over 52 hours!

Anyway, if you want to see something that’s entertaining, and rockin’ and (possibly) memorable, go see Mark Mallman, and tell him Pete sent ya…

(Oh, Mark get’s some bonus points for this: We haven’t seen each other in over 10 years, and he tells me I look young. Woohoo!)

Finally, after searching and searching we found something we can really get behind… We plan to support this cause with all we’ve got…

If you’re not into infinity like we are, we suggest you check out Support Our Ribbons where hopefully you can find some cause you believe in… or are against… or just make one up…

Is it any wonder that last night’s episode of Futurama (Fear of a Bot Planet) was my favorite?

As someone who deals with data files on an almost daily basis I can appreciate a “large properly-formatted data file” (though sometimes they are improperly formatted, which makes me sad and causes robots everywhere to leak coolant at an alarming rate.)

Oh yeah, so where was I? “Large properly-formatted data files” right. See, a mere 6 hours after the episode (at the inhuman hour of 4 AM) I was working with large properly-formatted data files (my favorite kind) and databases, and diffs, and greps, and perls, and sqls and… I just realized, I think I’m a robot. I mean, I was pretty sure I was a pirate, but I might be a robot, which is ok, because I can still live on Robot Pirate Island.

Anyway, I’m off to plan my Robanukah party!

(Note: Order more lugnuts.)

Wired tells us that Bands Embrace Social Networking, which, um, isn’t really news, as bands have been doing this forever, the just use computers/internet nowadays to do it… (Maybe it should have said “Social Networking Web Sites”)

Traditionally, bands toured cities and played dive bars to create buzz about their music. But with MySpace, bands can host demos of their songs, announce shows and connect with fans without spending weeks on the road.

Well, in my day, bands got promoted by word of mouth, zines, touring, demos, self-released vinyl, the occasional local college radio station, etc… The funny thing about the “without spending weeks on the road” bit is that the majority of bands I saw in the 1990’s were a bunch of guys (or girls!) who were friends, and loved playing music, and managed to get enough shows to do a tour. The tour was usually a “break even” event (if that) where the shows would cover gas, and some food, while most meals and lodging was provided by promoters, or other bands, or just “cool people” you’d meet on the road… I remember hearing at least one band saying they were basically “on vacation driving across the US, playing shows along the way…”

I planned the Trademark tour, and it was a pain involving writing letters, sending out tapes, making phone calls… lather, rinse, repeat… With today’s tools and the internet handy, I can’t even imagine how much easier/more of a pleasure it would be to promote your band and book a tour. (Remember punkcasting?)

Hmmm, what was my point? Did I have one? Oh, it must be that technology, computers, and the internets make things easier, and improve the lives of all who use them. (Yeah, that sounds good to me!)

Good: JK Audio QuickTap. Not so much: RadioShack Recorder Control.

We first tried the Radio Shack Recorder Control, which worked, but gave us a noisy recording. Of course it was done in the presence of a few desktop computers, but even with some noise removal in Audacity, the quality just wasn’t quite there.

As for the JK Audio QuickTap, it is twice the price, but so far it’s showing a lot more promise as far as good quality recordings…