#we had a car with a cassette player until like 2017

[runandhideguys]

I feel like those "only people born before *insert date probably in the 80s or 90s* remember this" are so ridiculously middle class usamerican... (and wishful thinking but that's besides the point)

[purplesurveys]

1755

Millennial survey In which a Gen Z-er takes over a survey meant for millennials 😜

What year were you born in? 1998.

Do you remember a time before smartphones and social media? Yeah, of course. I'd talk to friends mostly through landline or text; memorizing the program schedules per channel was the norm because streaming and on-demand stuff were pretty much nonexistent then; and playing outside was the best way to have fun with friends. There was also still the element of surprise when watching...well, pretty much anything, because there was no concept of spoilers unless you had access to the (early days of the) internet, which had been damn near impossible to use anyway because of how expensive it used to be.

I remember when Friendster, Multiply, YouTube, and Facebook all started getting popular and it being very exciting because the concept of social media didn't exist til then and it was like discovering a new world that I thought I'd never get tired of, lol.

Were you part of the generation that experienced the transition from dial-up internet to broadband? Yes. We had dial-up up til the early 2000s and didn't get a taste of broadband until around 2008 - 15 years ago. That noisy dial-up sound is permanently etched in my brain.

Did you grow up watching Saturday morning cartoons? I absolutely did. For some reason they kept the actual entertaining shows in the early morning, so that's how I learned to want to wake up early even on the weekends to catch them. I hated the Nick Jr block they had on in the morning and always skipped over it unless Hi-5, my only favorite, was airing.

Do you have any memories of using floppy disks or cassette tapes? Not floppy disks, but I am very familiar with cassettes since our first family car had a cassette player. My first Beyoncé album is a cassette and I wasn't able to get the CD version til, like, well into the 2010s because it was the first time I saw the CD in the wild haha.

How did you communicate with your friends before the advent of text messaging? Landline.

Were you a fan of any particular boy band or girl group during your teenage years? Ok this is 100% where my Gen Z card would show because my answer to this would be One Direction hahaha.

Did you ever own a portable CD player or a Walkman? I had a CD player and my own radio.

What was your favorite video game console when you were growing up? PlayStation 1 and 2. I had always wanted to try playing on the GameCube but we never had one.

Did you ever use AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) or MSN Messenger to chat with friends? Not those, but I did have Yahoo! Messenger for a time.

Were you aware of the Y2K bug and the associated concerns leading up to the year 2000? No, I had been too young for that whole thing.

Did you ever rent movies from a physical video rental store like Blockbuster or Hollywood Video? I didn't.

Were you into MySpace or LiveJournal during the early days of social networking? I made a Myspace because I had heard of its popularity, but quickly realized that it was only popular in the west because what was big here instead were Friendster and Multiply. LiveJournal yes, I did do a few attempts to start blogs and stuff but I always ended up abandoning them after 1 or 2 posts.

What was your first experience with online shopping? I only started online shopping in like 2017 - the Philippines caught on pretty late. Before that I would either have to go to an actual store to get something, or ask my dad to buy something for me whenever he was in the US.

Did you ever participate in a flash mob or witness one in person? I've done neither.

How did you discover new music before the rise of streaming platforms like Spotify? It was mostly through either recommendations of my favorite celebrities or word of mouth in school.

Were you a fan of the "Harry Potter" book series or the "Twilight" saga? I was never into Harry Potter but I was obsessed with Twilight (still am, lol). I caught on to the hype in 2008 when the first movie came out – quickly breezed through all the books and got to watch New Moon up to Breaking Dawn Part 2 in the cinema.

Did you ever have a MySpace profile and customize it with HTML and CSS? I didn't do HTML on Myspace but I definitely did on Tumblr. This is where I learned all my website customization knowledge tbh.

What was your favorite TV show or cartoon during your childhood? In early childhood, my favorite was without a doubt Hi-5. I was hooked and I remember feeling so distraught when I graduated preschool and realized I was never gonna get to watch Hi-5 again once I'd start grade school and have full-day classes.

Growing up more I started to gravitate towards shows like Drake and Josh, The Suite Life, and That's So Raven. Apart from those, Spongebob also remains a favorite no matter what age I get.

How did you feel about the transition from traditional television to streaming services? It was hard to grasp at first. I remember in 2020 when my dad was asking us if we can get rid of cable and I felt genuinely scandalized lol like why would we ever get rid of cable when it's been part of our everyday lives since even before I was born??? Anyway, my siblings and I eventually gave in when we too realized that we never even went through the cable channels anymore.

Streaming services are definitely the 'new' way of consumption now and my family has fully eased into it - we're subscribed to Netflix, Disney+, and Prime Video. I don't have too many strong feelings about this topic, but if anything it does feel extremely bittersweet whenever we'd hear a channel permanently sign off for good – recently it had been NatGeo.

[thepinkwriterr]

Loner // IT 2017 Chapter Ten

Live - Lightening Crashes

--

I can feel It comin' back again like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind forces pullin' from the center of the earth again I can feel it.

//

He pulled away from the kiss, rubbing the back neck of his neck. “Uh…Sorry…” “No, no, I liked it.” I smiled. “Really?” He laughed nervously. “Oh yeah.” I grabbed his hand and led him to the bed.

I pushed him down, straddling his hips. “Is this alright?” I asked as I kissed his neck. “Yeah…” He trailed off. Lightening Crashes by Live croons softly in the background as he flips me over, kissing my neck.

Dani’s POV

I woke up to the sun filling the gaps my blinds created. Round Here by Counting Crows blasted from downstairs. Hm, James must be up. I got up, pulling on a green shirt and jeans rolled at the ankle.

I made my way down the stairs, the smell of pancakes filling my nose. As I entered the kitchen I saw Kali’s school stuff on the table and James making breakfast. Kali was sitting on the counter in her black sleepwear.

“Hey,Dani,” Kali hopped off the counter,”Can I borrow some clothes?” “Of course. Me aramrio es su aramrio.” I smiled. “Moi bien!” James joked, turning to face me.

Kali clomped up the stairs. “Hows it hangin?” I asked as James sat a perfectly circular pancake on a ceramic plate and handed to me.

He shrugged,”Nothin’ much, how about you?” He asked as I grabbed the syrup. “Boy drama.” I sighed, coating my pancake with syrup. “Who do I need to murder?” James asked. I laughed as he sat across from me.

“I’m serious.” He declared seriously as Kali walked in, wearing fishnet stockings, a black zip-up skirt, and a stripped sweater. “Wow…” I smirked,”Lookin’ hot. White hot.” “Thanks.” She winked.

Kali drove us to school, actually being on time today. “Finally! Friday!” She exclaimed as she exited the car. “I’m excited for that party tomorrow.” “Shit, me too.” Kali laughed.

Mrs. Kub was a smug cunt first period, as usual. I got to second period, Casey no where in site. I looked at Bill from across the room. He smiled back, his wide pink lips turning up at each corner.

Casey and her two friends: Amanda and Chelsea came stomping in. Casey rolled her eyes, sending the others into the same pattern. They mirrored her actions to a tee, to the point of it being just sad.

I rolled my eyes at Bill, throwing a scowl on my face shaking my head the same way they do. He laughed quaintly. Casey look at him, and he shot his head forward to look at the board.

I rolled my eyes again and turned back to the board.

Third period was History. Great, the most boring class ever. I sat through the lesson, wanting to throw my head through the cement wall. The teacher, Mr. Zigler, was explaining our projects toward the end of class. One of Casey’s pets, Amanda, raised her hand, sans Casey. Well, that’s new.

“Yes?” He asked, pointing to her. “Will we be able to work in groups?” He smiled,”I just about to say that. Uh, yes, partners, actually.” Everyone cheered, turning toward their designated “best friend”.

“But, I get to choose who you work with.” He smiled. Everyone stopped, then groaned. “Oh stop! It is not that bad.” He joked. He grabbed his roster, reading off each persons fait.

“-Amanda Shirtz and Dustin Henderson…” Thank god, I’m not with that barbie doll. “Eddie Kaspbrak and Danielle Sinclair…”

What? Eddie? Richie’s best friend? Great! He’s going to hate me.

The bell rang as I looked at the boy. His head was down, his shoulders slumped. I felt bad for the kid, actually. He practically married his mother, he didn’t have many friends, his dad died when he was ten, and everyone made fun of him.

Maybe working with him wouldn’t be so bad.

I walked to my class with haste, as it’s on the other side of the building. Why do I have to run to Gym class, and run again?

After gym class was lunch. I sat next to Kali at out usual table. “Hey.” I said as I sat at a blue stool. She bobbed her head with the music playing from her walkman into her headphones. I pulled off the noise canceling headphones,”Earth to Kali!” “Sorry.” She laughed.

I stopped the tape, popping the tape out of the device. “R.E.M? Did you take my tape?” “Yeah, sorry. I was gonna give it back.” “At least you finally gave into my pleas. I’ve been telling you to listen to this album for months!”

She laughed,”I know. Your bother recommended it this morning, so I looked for it when I was getting dressed.” I rolled my eyes,”You’re a tramp.” She laughed,”So are you.”

After lunch was study hall, which I spent in the library, doing my homework. I heard two people laughing and taking in hushed tones. I looked up to see Eddie Kaspbrak and George Denbrough. I smiled at Eddie, then returned to my work.

There was then loud noises and jokes, coming from a different spot. I looked up to see Richie Tozier, Bev Marsh, and Ben Hanscom. They were fucking around and laughing loudly. I groaned, pulling out the walkman I borrowed from Kali during lunch. I popped in the cassette James made me for my birthday.

Side One:

Tesla - Love Song

R.E.M - Strange Currencies

Smashing Pumpkins - Luna

The Smiths - This Charming Man

Joy Divison - Disorder

Semisonic - Closing Time

Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored

R.E.M - Losing My Religion

The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

Side Two:

Live - Lightening Crashes

Bush - Glycerine

Radiohead - Creep

Foo fighters - Everlong

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Soul To Squeeze

The Smiths - Girlfriend In A Coma

Counting Crows - Round Here

Fleetwood Mac - Storms

Stone Temple Pilots - Creep

Nirvana - Something In The Way

I got to Closing Time when the bell rang. I packed all of my things, and as I exited the library Beverly came up to me. “Hey, you comin’ to the party tonight?” “I thought it was Saturday.” “Yeah, but mine it tonight.” “Yeah, I’ll go.“ I smiled. “Saturday too?” She asked. “Of course! I love parties.” I smiled. “Me too.” She laughed. “See you then.” “See you there.” She waved as she turned the opposite direction of me.

I decided to skip Spanish today. Not for any reason other than that I wanted to sleep. I waited until the bell rang for the last time, and went back to the library.

After sixth period finished, I went to Biology. I wasn’t particularly good at the subject, but I loved the class. After the bell rang I went down to the detention room.

And guess who was there on my last day? You guessed it, Richie!

Thank god we only had half an hour detention today. It was due to the fact the janitor didn’t want to clean around pimple faced teenagers who couldn’t shut their mouths shut long enough to keep themselves out of trouble.

I rolled my eyes at him as I walked into the room. He didn’t move a muscle. I thought that was weird, but I sat down regardless. Five minutes passed. I didn’t hear a word from him.

I turned to face him,”What? No asshole comments for me today?” He looked up at me,”Nope.” I furrowed my brows,”Who are you and what have you done with Richie Tozier?”

He said nothing. I turned back around, but it didn’t feel right.

I shuffled around in my bag and pulled out my headphones and walkman. I stood up, walking over to Richie. I handed him the items. “Here.” I held them out.

He looked puzzled, but took the items anyway. He put on the headphones and hit “play” on the walkman. Lightening Crashes began to play through the large headphones.

I moved my stuff to the seat next to his and sat down.

During the song I saw his eyes grow glassy, tears threatening to take place. The song ended, he took the headphones off. He pressed stop on the tape player.

“I always carry the single, it’s my favorite song.” I smiled weakly. He pushed the walkman and headphones over to me.

I popped the tape out of the walkman and handed it to him. He didn’t say anything, he just engulfed me in a tight hug.

Before I could hug him back, his watch beeped. He grabbed the tape quickly and grabbed his bag, scurrying out of the room.

I sat, utterly confused. After a few minutes I gathered my things and left the room. As I opened the door to the back parking lot, I saw Richie’s blue car. I searched the empty lot for Kali’s car, but I couldn’t find it. I guess she forgot about me.

I dreaded what I was going to do, but I walked over to the old car. I knocked on the window.

I could heard Lightening Crashes playing. Richie’s head was down. He looked up, his eyes tear stricken. He wiped his eyes discreetly, then rolled down his window.

“Hey-uh-your sister isn’t here, so I was wondering if you’d give me a ride home.” “Sure.” His voice broke momentarily. I got into the passenger seat of the little car.

We were silent until the song ended, and then he started the tape over. “I still live on Oak Road.” He nodded at my words. We turned onto my street a few minutes later.

Before I opened the door he ejected the tape, handing it to me. I shook my head,”Keep it.” I opened the door and slammed it, walking up my driveway. I saw Kali’s car on the pavement. She’s waiting for me.

I opened the door, walking into the anti room. I looked back through the window and saw Richie’s car was gone. I slipped off my shoes and walked into the living room.

“Honey, I’m home!” I called into the empty room. “Hm…” I sighed. I went up to my room. Empty. I heard Candlebox coming from my brothers room.

I walked down the steps and made a beeline for his room. I heard Kali’s giggle from the room.

I opened the door to see her straddling his hips. She was shirtless, and he only had boxers on.

“What the fuck?” I yelled, backing away from the door.

[shewpthewewp]

State Of The Shewp Early 2017

Talking about things, and stuff.  Prepare for rambling, disjointed sentences.

So.  Lots of stuff happened this year.  Almost all of it was pretty darn good!

Things that are still the same from the last time I posted one of these:  Still living in Detroit.  Still living with Anastasia.  Still telling dad-joke tier puns all the time.

I’m working at a steel mill now.  It’s pretty cool, and by that I mean my desk is generally within ~100 feet of several hundred tons of lava at any given moment.

Actually, that’s not quite accurate.  Molten steel is much, much hotter than lava.

I have fancy aluminized protective equipment and everything, so I can get real up-close to it too.  It was kind of scary at first, but now the biggest annoyance is the fact that I have to wash my car every week or two or it gets super stained with ash (which is apparently mildly corrosive).

Currently interviewing for a management position in the same company.  I don’t think I’ll get it - there are some other people applying for the same one that are more qualified - but it’s nice that they considered offering it to me in the first place.  Not entirely sure what the long-term plan is on the job front.  You always hear people talking about a ‘five year plan’ but I generally don’t know what I’ll be doing in five hours, let alone multiple years.  

I bought my first car just a week or so ago!  Until now I have been driving a 2002 Prius that my folks let me borrow, but just a couple of weeks ago I got a brand new Ford Focus!  It was a leftover 2016 model that never sold, so I got a pretty good deal on it.  Mostly, it’s nice to have a car that I can actually hook an mp3 player up to (the Prius had a cassette player).  This also goes hand-in-hand with a few other things I’ve never done before, like buy car insurance.  I guess that’s one more box I can check off on my ‘trick everyone into thinking I’m a real responsible adult’ list.

It’s kind of weird, at some point I stopped getting (as) excited about buying things like video games, and now I’m thinking ‘wow, I have a complete set of matching pots and pans, this is fucking sweet’ or ‘gee wiz I am super excited to buy a new desk’.  

I finally managed to finish an RPG campaign that I was running.  Elder Scrolls setting, FATE for the system.  I learned a lot about telling a story, but man is DMing hard!  I have one more ongoing one right now, superhero themed.  This one doesn’t have as concrete of a stopping point as the last, so I’ll just keep it going until people get bored, I think.  Currently, I’m playing in a separate superhero themed game and an Exalted game.  I think I’d like to try a little more 5E at some point.  I got a taste of it a year or so ago, but I’ve heard nothing but good things.

Picked up WoW again with Anastasia when the new Xpac came out.  It was really fun for a while but eventually we just kind of lost interest.  Final Fantasy 14 is fun but different.  I’m sticking with it at least until I’ve gotten to the endgame.  The leveling experience has been pretty good, but ever since Cataclysm I just haven’t been able to enjoy raiding.  

DOOM was really, really fun.  I definitely recommend it if you like shooters.  Pulsar: Lost Colony has been quite a bit of fun, but the need to have at least 4 people to really do it right is a bit of a restrictive factor.  Saints Row 4 was completely looney and I loved every minute of it.  XCOM and XCOM 2 were also a blast.  Fallout 4 was fun, but kinda eh.  Never actually beat it, since the ending was so disappointing.  The GECK for mods and some DLC is out now though, so I should probably give it another try.  I was also really, really into Overwatch for a while, but the fact that I am an irredeemable terribaddie kept me from getting in too deep.  Payload?  What Payload?

I got to reconnect with a friend I hadn’t spoken to for a few years.  Glad we’re talking again, Jake.  

Haven’t done much new cosplay.  I have tons of fun ideas, but no time to actually pull them off.  Some of that is a bit of laziness, but some of that is the simple fact that I have TONS OF INCREDIBLY TALENTED, FANTASTICALLY GOOD-LOOKING COSPLAYING FRIENDS (seriously, you’re all so awesome) and it just seems like the bar is set super high, so it’s tough to get started.  I’ll get over it eventually >.<

Semi-related to cosplay, with Colossalcon just down the road I started going to the gym again a few months ago. 2 days a week, 3 if I can make it.  I used to go in the morning before work, but I already wake up at 4:30 most days and getting up even earlier destroyed me.  So now I go in the afternoons, which has its own challenges - dragging myself there after a 12 hour day is hard - but I think it’s a bit more manageable.  I used to almost be able to bench-press my own body weight, which might not sound super impressive but it was a big deal for me since I’ve always been on the scrawny side of things.  I’m slowly getting there again, a little bit at a time.

I discovered that I am very fond of tequila, and hummus.  Not at the same time though!  I’ve even started getting lettuce on my sandwiches, which may seem like a really small tiny thing but I’m trying new stuff, ok?  I’ve always been super picky about food.

I started seeing a therapist a few weeks ago.  Between moving super far away from pretty much all of my friends and family, the huge change between being in school and working full time, stress from this particular job, and a few more long term depression things... It was and continues to be a good choice for me. I was pretty resistant to the idea of going at first, and I still feel sort of... weak? for doing it, but I know that’s not a healthy attitude to have.  I didn’t even want to include it in this post, but I think just saying it is at least a good step, right?

Finally (because I like to save the biggest news for last), I did something pretty crazy.  I proposed to Anastasia on New Years Eve!  @sheshaventures must be at least a little nutty too though, because she said yes <3

Thirty minutes after popping the question, we got in a car accident.  We were both fine, but some chucklefuck hit us and then peeled out, running a red light to get away while we sat dazed on the side of the road (they knocked us over the curb and off the street).  Fortunately, some random bystander saw it, chased them down, and got their licence plate number so we could report it to the police.  Unfortunately, the person in question claimed that ‘they were at a party and an unknown person took their car and caused the crash’, so we weren’t able to take them to court or anything.  The most important thing is that we’re fine though, even if I was (and still am) mightily pissed off about it.

But even a car accident couldn’t ruin my mood that night!  I’m going to get married.  Do you have any idea how completely unfathomable that was a couple of years ago?  I would have given you a divide by zero error.

We don’t have a wedding date yet (’When is your wedding’ is the new ‘Oh when do you graduate’ or ‘Oh where do you work’ of annoying questions relatives always ask now), but it’ll probably be some time in early 2018.

Overall, I rate 2016 and early 2017 as 8/10.  Lots of awesome stuff in my life, with a few points docked for the rest of the country/world going absolutely bugfuck insane (see any major news network for why).

[theartofwarword]

Bill White -profile

All rights reserved © 2018, –author, USTAKNOW (alias)

(In 3 Part Harmony –part 1 of 3; all three below)

Until they throw dirt in your face, let them throw dirt… that’s what I say. What do you say?   – Thud, thud, thud…, anyone listening?

I met this guy about a year ago or so on FAWM (FAWM.org), – performer, singer, songwriter, architect of all things visual and audio and mapped to the brain via heart. Interesting, aye? It seems we all gotta little bit of this guy in us and what may all, connect us.

Tell me, who wouldn’t want to read a story about integrity of life, acute politics, high-life nights out, and tastefully refined debauchery?   – Read on.

Yes, it’s about MUSIC. Music and a 50 year in the making craftsman from Seattle Washington, USA, now a Peruvian exile to finally fresh air and great coffee! We should all be so lucky to live in an old Peach Orchard! It’s true. However, like Harlem, NY, it may not be what you think by mere words, – Harlem started as a Dutch outpost, became farmland, then a resort town, then a commuter town,  and it is what it is today… like Bill’s Peach Orchard. Paradise to him because there grows well, his wife, daughter, music and global Internet friend—ships. Here’s one launching now, again.

So, it’s funny how folks across history, lump labels of people, – like, keeping with the old “dirt analogy” attributed to “Farmers” (musicians?) for centuries (of Harlem and Peach Orchards), – “Oh, he’s just a dirt farmer… ”. Like musicians?, easy to forget until some life event you then want a “little music” to go with it. Farmers, – yeah, not important while the A&P is well stocked, – until it’s not.

  – Like the very generic current mainstream corporate music industry of Break-beat re-runs, midi-delic samples from what era sampled?, 1970 – ironic!, (well, if when then from). Then, that silly dirt farmer-musician becomes esteemed genius, warrior of manipulation from the hand of God for food, music and soulful fulfillment, – musician-warrior.

Ah yes, music…, that is what we’re talking about here?, – who can’t listen to music on a full stomach?

Bill White –profile:  (Part 2 of 3)

Consider Bill White, native of (yet again), Washington State, Seattle, USA. Oh my God…, it must be all of the great unending rain watering of all these musicated bands of people like in Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Heart, Hendrix –Experience, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, SoundGarden, and even before them Bing Crosby and still plucking strings Carol Kaye, et al! (Not all “great”, but from Washington State and arguably influential musicators.) Within our time line of music encapsulating Bill’s mainstream antithesis, we in brief see that the ‘60’s resolved the '50’s, influencing the '70’s which then moved bands of musicians forward which landed in the '90’s, –after commercial boundaries of the '80’s caged originality. Within that mix too, was Bill White, –doing his thing. Nirvana, Pearl Jam peaked from under the corporate music rubble with others of a different voice yet, like Alice in Chains. Black Sabbath becoming cliché yielding to –aggression of posture within music. Kurt Cobain’s kinda dark became loved, while monolithic riff monsters fell off the radar for real performing songwriting sung to a not yet commercialized audience laughing at the “devils triad” now ~“Beat” to death by corporate formulations. Within that mix too, was Bill White, –doing his thing. Depression, Disillusionment, Spiritual R&B Folk Grunge, (what the hell is grunge anyway?), had many players, and Bill White was one of them…, down in the “dirt of choice” to do their music as they saw fit, just like they brushed their teeth, and bathed themselves each night, –they did their music.  

  –Not for sale, unless taken as-is in the paradigm of which this all started down in the Delta, and American Slave Fields before all that birthed in the 1970’s “Rock Band Era” that bridge over to today’s now, – in peril music. 

Independent musicians are the new forever, suicide tide of music and Bill White was there 50 years ago, and still here TODAY and will be tomorrow until they are throwing fine Peruvian soil on his road worn “music factory”, temple of his music souled body, –birthed so many years ago from his parents love. – “Mom, said, never let the Blues leave your music.“ (Bill White, 2017)  

Bill White –profile: (Part 3 of 3)

Bill White was recently asked ”what do performing songwriters talk about" when they get together? Bill said, in summary, –nothing. He explains across a number of comments that, “they play songs to each other”, or as he said, they share an occasional Snickers Bar if found on he floor of the car they’re riding in, next to the soap.

I can only guess Tom Waits, part of this coming story comment, –was living out of his car at the time. Nice poetic license! However, Waits was actually living at the West HolLywood Tropicana Motel, Santa Monica Blvd. (click to follow link), and I understand this may be the car of which we speak, Tom Waits Lincoln (click to follow link). –Nice visual frame of reference for the rest below

So then, proceeding, Bill comments: “what does one talk about with Tom Waits? Barber shops, the statues of horse jockeys on the lawns of Beverly Hills mansions, – seldom about songwriting unless it is a question of what to name your female characters. The more you try to define something, the smaller cage you make for it.” Bill continued with: “Songwriters don’t so much talk about songwriting, as play each other the songs they have written and then talk about them specifically. Waits, played me a song once he was excited about because it sounded like a Springsteen song. Several years later there it was, –on a Springsteen album, ‘Jersey Girl’. Then he said he wasn’t going to make any more Jazz albums because, the company didn’t promote them.” Bill then explains: “when I started out on music, the people who were famous were famous because they were better than everyone else. In those days, my work was inferior to almost everything you would hear on the radio. Of course in those days we didn’t have the resources to approximate the quality of the top recordings. If you wanted to get the Clapton or the Hendrix sound, you had to work hard to figure out how they did it. Today you just push a button on your pod and you can sound like anybody you want. So at first there was no question of fame. It just was never going to happen. But then, after keeping at it for over a decade, the industry started to show interest in me.” Then Bill says something I personally have heard many times, and at risk of inserting myself here will say I did that too, in preface to the below comment, 

  –he ran. 

Bill explains: “I was a peer to my peers. although never successful in the songwriting business, I made more money at being a failure than 99% of the wannabes who fumbled around the streets of Hollywood with a cassette demo in their shirt pocket. Then a manager who was tiring of the monotonous fame of the super-group he managed showed an interest in developing my band, and I fled!!! The last thing I wanted was to sound like the shit I heard, and hated on the radio. On my own without a band, I had my good years and my bad years.” From what I hear from Bill, even beyond this one of many conversations with him over the past year is what I’ve observed within myself and as Bill says “there are100,000 other Bill Whites in the world”, – us all … : “I was so far outside what was happening that my stuff never really connected with the local scene in Boston, which is to where I fled. But then came along New England folk music revival. And while some kids were flocking to Seattle in hopes of becoming the new Eddie Vedder, hordes of songwriters were showing up in Harvard Square with dreams of becoming th next Tracy Chapman. With new venues opening for original acoustic music, I was finally able to stabilize myself musically and develop a fanbase. That went on for several productive years until…, bingo! I met Brett Anderson, Lead-singer for the London band "Suede”, and Rock and Roll reclaimed me again. When that scene passed, I moved to the South [southern USA states] where I was befriended by James Blood Ulmer, the most innovative Blues Guitarist since Hendrix. And I was back in the Blues, from where I started so long ago. I then went back to Seattle, worked at borders where I met some 20-something musicians, and became a Lead-guitar player for the first time in my life. Now, stepping away from the Mic and just playing whatever I wanted to play without having to worry if it was going over well with the audience. Finally, I teamed up with Toni Talia Marcus, who had played with Van Morrison from ‘79 to ‘80 and soon had my own band. I was writing new songs again. I always had decent sized audiences, but never built up a real, true fan base. I never stayed in the same location or state of music to be able to do that.” [Toni Marcus , –on the album, “Into the Music” (1979) Van Morrison, played violin, –entire album.] 

So, let me pause here to inject that,      –as I was reviewing the dialog Bill and I had over the past year (you should really read the Forum Posts after FAWM, 50/90 ends), I wondered what I could possibly write about him, worthy of both him and the reader, you-all. I feel anyone who “gets” this narrative will really “get” the state of music today and why it may well be one of the greatest times to be in the “music making” world. 

Bill responded to me when I asked him, –“what am I doing here with all this great real life music history of yours, ours, all of us?”: Bill said,    –“I think the hook in my story was caught by you on a few occasions, and that is…, there are 100,000 Bill Whites in the world. It is a universal story. We 100,000 Bill Whites who have endured, have produced a far greater body of work than the 10,000 successful pop stars who came and went.” –Arguably, the present state of musicators today! It’s why I personally refer to “us-all” as warrior-musicians. 

Bill continues within other comments: “For me, we could start with my archive, [https://billwhite.bandcamp.com].

   – The reasoning behind putting out 50 albums in 6 months, is the current emergence of the Arts, –now that the industry of art is collapsing. Moreover, is my home town state of Seattleists with no interest in becoming famous, and those who did become famous were destroyed by it, in one way or another. I managed to create 59 years worth of music that never stopped evolving because I was never trapped into repeating myself through deadend careerism. There are probably 100,000 Bill Whites in the world, people who have created bodies of work just as immense, diverse, and assured as the discographies of the most famous. There is enough unheard high quality material out there to fill radio play-lists for the next 100 years.” Bill continues: “why post 50 albums of songs I have written over the last 50 years. One reason is that whenever I give my opinion on something, I am asked what I have ever done that I would dare criticize the work of someone well known and loved. Well, now I can point them to the archive and say here, this is what I have done, I've been doing this shit my whole life and have the right to say whatever I want to say about it. Music is a language. Anyone can learn it, but like any other language, the important thing is what you say with it. Had I accepted the route of fame when it was offered me in 1981, I would never have written the songs I ended up writing. I would have had a brief career, and after that, nobody would have wanted to hear anything from me again. “He is so ‘80’s” they would say, and they would confine me there. Worse, I would probably be dead, along with most of the other People from Seattle that went down with the sucker punch of fame. In my life, I have managed to reach thousands of people with my music, and without ever becoming known!!! Now, how many people in their lives even manage to communicate what is inside them to even a dozen people? Not many people I would suspect. But every artist, no matter how obscure, reaches many many people, most of whom he will never know heard him.”

Well that’s true of well know famous, infamous, long time past writers, artists of our ancient past! However, Bill is on a cusp of almost famous, could be famous, should be famous, –one may only wonder. How many artist of any kind never knew their effect, e.g., –Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, (which is for me two dimensional music), is a global staple, yet he never knew what was to come of his legacy. [https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-starry-night/bgEuwDxel93-Pg?hl=en (click link to view)]

It’s interesting to me that we don’t often think about our beginnings until we actually arrive somewhere from which we may look back from and see well what we’ve done. Bill explains: “I started taking songwriting seriously when I traded my trumpet for a guitar in 1970. For several years the results were not very good. I wrote three songs a week to play at the open Mic, and never got much response. I was told my harmonic experiments were interesting, but my lyrics were overly influenced by the poetic theories of Robert Graves, and few people had much idea what I was singing about. Besides, the competition was so strong in those days that my primitive meanderings had no chance in the market. 

It wasn’t until Punk Rock opened peoples ears that I began to connect with the public. I wrote some pretty good stuff from ‘78 to ‘82 and had a decent following for my bands. Then I moved from Seattle to Boston, where nobody knew me. So I languished until ‘86, when I met Tracy Chapman, and a host of others in the New England songwriters revival. I recorded an album, but was dissatisfied with it and used it as a demo. That put me on the Folk circuit for the next five years. 

I also got involved in theater and wrote the scores for two plays that toured Russia. Then Brit-pop hit and I went back to Rock music. So I then moved back to Seattle and started a band with an old friend who had been Soundgarden’s drum tech, now out of work because the band broke up. We recorded an EP, which was enthusiastically received, but there was to much conflict in everybody’s lives so that’s when, [commented above], I headed South, where I was befriended by {James Blood Ulmer who led me into the world of harmolodic Blues. Click link for further} [–Add’l:  Ulmer’s album “Birthright” won Blues Album of the Year, “DownBeat’s” ‘05 Readers Poll. Click link for further.]

I stayed there until I was able to create my own style out of it, and made some 4-track recordings that I liked. However, that self production indie musician quality of that era could not be marketed commercially back then [unlike today’s tech]. So, eventually I returned to Seattle yet again, and wrote music for a young poet I had met. 

We started a band with him as singer and me as guitarist, and had a pretty good run until he got married and disappeared. It was then I teamed up with ex Van Morrison side-woman, violinist Toni Marcus [commented above], and returned to writing for and fronting a band. And as well then, joining a group called “Songwriters in Seattle” spurred me to new creativity in writing. However then [concerning Bills big move to Peru], for many reasons, to many to engage here in this narrative, other than the best one which I am glad to comment, – I then left the country to marry the love of my life, a girl from Peru. Here in Peru is where I discovered FAWM [http://fawm.org/fawmers/billwhite51/, 2014]. 

Now, generally speaking, I only write songs during the month of February, which gives a new cohesion to each group of songs. An exception was made last year, when I participated in 50/90 [http://fiftyninety.fawmers.org/user/billwhite51, 2017]     –which I used primarily as a vehicle to review my output, as well as write over 50 new songs and engaged a few dozen collaborations! 

When that was over, I spent the rest of the year putting together a career spanning 45 albums for Bandcamp [https://billwhite.bandcamp.com, 2018]. This year, 2018, is my fifth FAWM.”

So, Bill, –let’s revisit the above question which is what this discussion was anchored on, “what do performing songwriters talk about” when they get together?” To complete that comment started by Bill above, he provided several anecdotal examples:  

“I was at a wedding with Peter Gabriel, for several hours we hid behind the Crudite Table and said nothing to each other. On another occasion, in the back seat driving down Hollywood Boulevard with Tom Waits in the driver seat, I asked him if I could have the Snickers Bar I found on the floor, he said no, but the bar of soap was mine if I wanted it. Hanging out with Tim Hardin, all I did was look out for him when he was stoned. Another time, I was side by side with Elvis Costello on three occasions, and neither of us spoke a word to each other, as we had not been introduced. I made small talk with Jon Bon Jovi for half an hour backstage, thinking he was a roadie. Another time, I offered a part in a play I had written to Dar Williams, never knowing she was a songwriter, and a brilliant one at that. I asked Marianne Faithful if she would ever do another project with Mick Jagger and she laughed. I asked Rickie Lee Jones when Tom [Waits] would be getting home. I spoke with Lou Reed about the sequencing of the songs on Ecstasy and asked if he had stolen the idea for the cover from a certain unnameable Andy Warhol film. Brett Anderson and I talked for hours about the composition of the songs on Dog Man Star. And so, in brief, with songwriters, the matter of songwriting seldom came up.”

No, it seems we, artists, want to be heard, we want to play our songs and hear others, –it’s how we communicate best. Bill explains his experience with songwriting and feedback from peers: “In my early days of songwriting, I had an extended group of friends in real time and space, and we would talk [unlike on line today] and play and write all day and night, staying up for days sometimes, and always giving each other hell, –no sensitivity training then. But when one of us wrote something good, the praise would fall like rain. Otherwise, we were tough on each other, and each of us had a good idea of where we fit in the grand scheme of things. And we got better and better at what we did. Not because of the praise but because of the criticism. When somebody did something unusual they had to explain it. Now some of those same people are the touchiest creatures on earth. But it took them many years to get to that point where they feel they are beyond criticism. For all you who are new to the art of songwriting, this is no time to be touchy. Ask for the harshest criticism and toughen your skin and improve your craft. Study the odes and practice the forms. I aways like discussing songwriting, but am usually to busy writing songs to spend a lot of time on it, –just discussing it. However, I am glad to have friends here, though [on-line], who bring up the questions that are worth taking the time to ponder.

I spent ten years writing about music for a daily newspaper in a major US city, and my biggest challenge was interviewing inarticulate musicians and then writing an article that made them sound intelligent.” 

In the course of our conversations, mine and Bills, and skimming through the hours of tracks, albums Bill is archiving of his work I asked him about a “favorites” or “greatest hits” compilation, so to speak: “I have considered a greatest hits collection, but could never make the choices myself. But, if I were honest about it I could make a compilation of the songs that have been the most well received. 

That compilation would surely include “Junk” (from Manicure), “Sleepless dreamers” (from Tales From the Forsaken Art House), “White Boy” (from the Dimes), “Smoky Edge” (from Ravenna), “Five Seconds to Midnight” (from King and Country), “Pink Lipstick” (from Older Master Cute), “Esmeralda” (from Legends) and “A Billion Women” (from Rain City Blues). Thats six. There are probably another four in stuff I have not gotten to yet. So, maybe once I have ten I’ll take your advice and do a “greatest hits collection”.” 

Bill continues, explaining: “The worst thing is when a novelty song catches on. I wrote a satire on new age music called Walt Disney on Ice, and every where I played, there were requests for it. When I started refusing to play it, lots of people stopped coming to my shows. “Five Seconds to Midnight” (from King and Country) spent three years in the top ten of Neil Young’s “Songs of War Video Chart”, – twenty years after I recorded it! So those longevity things are pretty reliable. What people respond to on any given night should not be taken too seriously. Oh, with the exception of concerning my wife, – who first contacted me through Myspace after playing my song “A Billion Women” 100 times in a row! I checked the stats, –she had!” 

A good way to conclude this is with advice from “Mom”: “My mama used to warn me not to ever let the Blues go out of my music, for then my soul would be lost. There’s Blues in most of my songs and many are pure Blues. I’m currently putting together a “best of album” for Bandcamp to be called “20 Years of the Blues”.”

Look for it folks, Bill does Blues, –well. 

– Folks, if you read to here, thank you. We do hope you enjoyed it! (If all the “100,000 Bill Whites out there” bought each others songs, just one, how nice would that be!)

USTAKNOW, 2018  

[phatjosh180]

The thing about Joshua Trees ...

This weekend is a big weekend of running for me. I am running both the Snow Canyon Half Marathon (St. George, Utah) and the Joshua Tree Half Marathon (Joshua Tree, California) on Saturday. As I’ve pointed out before here on the bloggy blog, I am not just running two half marathons in one day, I am also running my name!

Pretty cool if you ask me. I mean, how many people can say that they can run their name in a day?

Now if I could find a Hansen race …

But, in all honesty, under “normal” circumstances I probably would be just running the Snow Canyon Half Marathon on Saturday. Doing two half marathons in the same day is kinda crazy. Doable, but crazy. But, I have to do the Joshua Tree Half Marathon.

There’s no question about it.

I just have to.

There’s a fascination, a love, that I have for the Joshua Tree. Yes, it has a lot to do with my name — but, it’s much, much more than that. There’s the whole story behind how they got their name, the plant’s anatomy and how that all relates to me. I find it very fascinating and very allegorical — not just to life, but specifically my life.

When you break down the history, anatomy and personal meaning it has to me — it makes sense. It’s been a source of inspiration to me and hopefully you too with a broken down view of it …

NAMING OF THE JOSHUA TREE

The scientific name of the tree is Yucca Brevifolia — not a very sexy name. And, if it wasn’t for a group of Mormon Pioneers trekking through the Mojave Desert, we’d probably know these yucca plants as something like — desert daggers, palm tree yucca or yucca palm.

Legend has it that as the Mormon settlers made their way westward into California the plants reminded them of the prophet Joshua in the Old Testament with his out stretched arms in supplication to the Lord. Because of the specific elevation and location that these trees flourished their sighting also signified that the half way point of their journey.

The name stuck.

The name was further entrenched into the national lexicon when President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated the area as a national monument. Almost 60 years later the monument was elevated to a national park — the Joshua Tree National Park — that we know today (23 years ago yesterday to be exact).

THE JOSHUA TREE’S ANATOMY

I didn’t know much more about the Joshua Tree until I was in college. I mean, sure, I knew what it was — but, the anatomy and story behind the plant was just something I didn’t bother to learn about. Why did I? A Joshua Tree was a Joshua Tree in my mind.

When I was at Southern Utah University I had to take a biology class, and not wanting to take human biology (I kinda hate science), I aimed to take the easiest class possible — which I was told was Southern Utah Flora.

I’m not going to pretend that it wasn’t easy. It was. It was a five week class that met once a week for a 4-6 hour field trip. We’d go down to St. George, Snow Canyon, Mesquite and the Arizona Strip along I-15 and a few places closer to Cedar City.

Each place we stopped our professor would stop and talk about some plants, we’d have to write them down and take a picture of it and then put it into a notebook — which was our semester final and only project.

I told you it was easy. And, yes, I got an A.

I don’t remember much from the class, besides a few yucca plants, differing sage plants and, of course, the Joshua Tree. When we stopped on along the Arizona Strip the area was home to a number of Joshua Trees — and we got the story and anatomy lesson from our professor.

He explained to us the life of a Joshua Tree. It relied on the adversity it endured in the harsh desert climate to not just take root, especially since it’s root system was rather shallow and the base of the plant large and extensive with it’s many branches. That adversity endured in infancy strengthened it and made it the sturdy — nearly unmovable — plant in it’s adulthood.

DRIVING THROUGH JOSHUA TREE

Another reason why I love Joshua Trees is more personal than the previous two. When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in Southern California. A lot. Each summer my family would visit aunts, uncles and cousins who lived (and many still do) in the Orange County area. These trips would always entail a trip to Disneyland, Sea World and of course the beach. Some of my most favorite memories from these moments as a kid.

Being a large family we never flew, we always drove. And, I remember that trek from Salt Lake City to Orange County. I dreaded it. So many long hours in the car — way before the advent of DVD players, iPods and smartphones.

We would make the trip in our large red van with an individual box of coloring books, gadgets and candy (which mine was usually gone by Cedar City) and my my Dad’s box of cassette tapes of Beach Boys, Beatles, Neil Diamond and classic rock. Those drives were brutal, but that’s also where I learned my love for good music — not just classic rock — from my Dad.

Even if we split the trip up in St. George or Las Vegas it was not a very enjoyable ride for me. But, once we were past Las Vegas and we’d hit a patch of desert with hundreds of Joshua Trees I’d always put away what was distracting me and just stare out my window. Not only did these hundreds of trees mesmerize me with their twisting and turning branches, but they were “MY TREES” as I liked to call them.

Well, and then of course there was the part that they were also a sign that we were getting MUCH closer to our destination of Disneyland, family and the beach.

But, even today when I am passing through a desert area with Joshua Trees my attention is caught by “MY TREES” and I can’t help but stare in wonderment. Especially coupled with personal feelings of them now.

MY LESSONS FROM THE JOSHUA TREE

There are many, many lessons that I’ve learned and applied to my life over the years. When I was a kid the association of Joshua Trees with family vacation, California and even music will always stick with me. I feel many of those same feelings even now at 36.

But, after my class in college I started taking what I’ve learned about the Joshua Tree to heart. At that time in my life, I had a lot of uncertainty and commotion whirling around me. Knowing that I could take that commotion — or adversity — and turn it into a positive force was really life changing for me.

Realizing that, I started facing my life differently — I embraced those trails and looked for the good in them. I saw a similar partner in struggle, determination and growth. The Joshua Tree was truly “MY TREE” in many aspects of my life.

Even in the very nature of how it got it’s name is a lesson of the importance of prayer. Just like Joshua of the Bible my arms should always be raised in supplication to the Lord for guidance. I am sure Joshua could have managed life quite well without the Lord’s guidance — he was one considered one of the greatest military generals in history.

But, nonetheless, Joshua relied on the Lord for his strength, knowledge and direction not just as a military leader of the Israelites — but, the spiritual leader as well. And, there’s a lot that can be said about Joshua, but that’s a post for another day.

There are many lessons we can learn from the Joshua Tree, but the biggest thing I take away from it is — really — anatomy of the plant and how adversity in our lives can be of benefit. The adversity of life strengthens our roots, resolve and outlook. And, we should really embrace that as much as possible, because we can all grow even in the harshest of circumstances.

Because, that’s how we grow.

A post shared by The Runcast (@theruncast) on Oct 7, 2017 at 6:32pm PDT

The thing about Joshua Trees … was originally published on PhatJosh | My Life Running.

[podcastcoach]

Simply Sonic SS1 and Second Line Dix WordPress Theme Reviews

Simply Sound Company SS1 PreAmp Review

While I've never used any preamps like the Triton Audio Fethead Microphone Preamp or the Cloudlifter CL-1, I was really impressed with the amazing amount of boost to the sound.

The large dose of extra gain can make help a budget microphone/preamp combination sound clean and more professional. Some microphones such as the Heil Pr-40 and the Sure SM7B are known for really low outputs. This creates a situation where you have to turn the gain up on your mixer or recording device. This can leave the door open for added hiss depending on your mixer or recording device.

The Simply Sound SS1 is designed for dynamic microphones only.

More Clean Gain

Triton Audio Fethead provides 27 db of clean gain with a price for $89

Cloudlifter CL-1 provides 25 db of clean gain for $149

The Simply Sound SS1 - provide 27 db of gain for $99

The Simply Sound website shows the Fethead at a $149 price tag, but at BNH, I show a price of $89

My Opinion

As I had said, never using any preamp (besides the one in my mixer, and I've also used the DBX 286,  and the Aphex 230) even without a preamp, I never thought I sounded bad.

With that said, the concept makes sense. I know that when I turn the gain up on any mixer there comes a point where noise is introduced. Using the SS1, I basically turned my gain all the way down.

The construction is super rugged and resembles the Cloudlifeter all-metal casing (but cooler looking in black) you're not going to break this. You do need some phantom power (so a typical route might be to plug your microphone into the SS1. Then plug the ss1 into your mixer. The mixer would need to have the Phantom Power Turned on.

For my recording today I had my EV Re320 going into the SS1 and that went directly into the Zoom H5. It was an amazing amount of boost.

How I did the test. I set my levels using the H5 recorded some audio, removed the SS1 from the chain, and plugged it back into my Zoom H5 without touching any knobs.

Do you NEED this? As with all things podcasting, it depends. If you're happy with your audio, no. If you struggle to get enough signal into your recorder, or the sound has a fair amount of noise, then this is well worth the money.

Check it out at simplysound.co

Second Line Podcasting WordPress Theme

I no longer recommend Appendipity themes. This is a theme I loved and have on most of my websites. The face of the company Joey Kissimmee was last seen online in late 2016, and they are no longer replying to any support emails that I send. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I've done this. Semiologic was a cool theme until Thesis came out. Then they went from needing no knowledge of code to having to know a ton of code.

I really like Appendipity themes as there was a lot of flexibility (and no need for knowledge of code). I love the Divi theme, but they come close to having too much flexibility and people can get overwhelmed because it does everything (and the learning curve can be a bit large). Divi is a well-managed theme, with a huge community and awesome support. You can join Elegant Themes (the creators of Divi) for $89 a year. I did the one time fee of $249 for lifetime access. In addition to their themes, they have some cool plugins.

One thing I just discovered is when you purchase a Second Line Theme, you can only use it on one website. This puts it int the "Depends" situation. The good news there is a one time fee. On the Evanto market, it shows six months of support with extended support for $17.63 a year. If you have multiple sites (for me I have at least four) that can add up ($59 X 4 = $236).

Second Line Theme Support

So far Second Line support has been great answering all my questions. The theme I'm using (Dixie) is skewing my featured image. When I informed this of the problem, they told me exactly what to do if I wanted to edit some files. The means you're going to need to understand FTP, and not be afraid to edit some code (always make a backup of any files you are editing when it comes to theme code). I was surprised that the theme allowed a featured image to be skewed disproportional as I don't know ANY designer that would allow an image to be reshaped (and if you have any text on your image it makes it blurry).

The Power Of Elementor

While the Second Line theme makes it easy to set colors, headers, and the theme seems to make it possible to adjust everything (except a skewing featured image...) what I also found amazing was a free plugin that they recommend you use (and they have some built-in features for it ) called Elementor. This is an open source page builder (That looks a lot like, Divi). This will work with most themes, and its a super easy drag and drop page builder. The cool thing is you can use that plugin on any theme. 

Always Consider Your Source

I hear people that advise new podcasters and they try to sell people packages and strategies that work for them. The problem is they are not you. For example, as I have multiple websites, I might lean toward Divi over Second Line. If you had one website, then a like Dixie or Satchmo might be just the trick if you only have one website. It might be a better fit for you.

What Is Up With Libsyn Stats?

Libsyn rolled out new stats back on September 18th. Here are our blog posts that go over the stats changes: https://blog.libsyn.com/2017/09/18/stats-overhaul-iab-compliance-podcasts-stats-libsyn-company-announcement/ https://blog.libsyn.com/2017/09/18/libsyn-stats-overhaul-need-know/ NOTE:  Libsyn sent out an email to all Libsyn users on September 18th - if you did not see that email - you might want to check your spam folder.  It would have gone to the email registered to your Libsyn account.

Rob Walch  also talked about it more on our latest episode of the Libsyn Podcast: http://thefeed.libsyn.com/105-stats-follow-up-and-apple-podcasts-feed-tags The conversation starts right after the promo at the 52 Minute mark.

My Poker Game Analogy

Picture yourself at a poker game (a really, really big table)

Ben Robins, Audible.com

Lindsay Lawrence, WideOrbit

Ilwira Marciszek, AdLarge Media

Eurry Kim, New York Public Radio

Earl Swigert, WideOrbit

Yukifumi Touya, Digital Advertising Consortium Inc.

Hirofumi Kanda, Cyber Communications Inc.

Dan Misener, Pacific Content

Mohammad Al-Abdullah, RhythmOne

Jose Alvarez Muguerza, BlogTalkRadio

John Zoephel, Pandora

Kevin McCaul, Acast Stories USA

John Rosenius, Acast Stories USA

Ilham Elkatani, DoubleVerify

Steve Mulder, National Public Media

Stephen Haptonstahl, National Public Media

Candace Williams, BlogTalkRadio

David Marple, Triton Digital

Conrad Trautmann, Westwood One

Robert Peterson, Westwood One

Bob Charish, BlogTalkRadio

Jason Cox, Slate

Bosko Milekic, AdGear Technologies, Inc.

Francois Fortin, AdGear Technologies, Inc.

Andy Toh, BlogTalkRadio

Bruno Nieuwenhuys, Adswizz Inc

Rob Walch, Libsyn

Joel Withrow, Slate

Erik Barraud, Adswizz Inc

Erik Diehn, Midroll Media

Robert Freeland, Podtrac

Dan Jeselsohn, New York Public Radio

Angelo Mandato, RawVoice

Hugo Martel, Triton Digital

Tim Clarke, Cox Media Group

Greg Batusic, PodcastOne

Hernan Lopez, Wondery LLC

Allan Bressler, CBS Local

Norm Pattiz, PodcastOne

Kit Gray, PodcastOne

Jim Kott, WideOrbit

Rob Kass, Nielsen

Millie Mrvica, Westwood One

Jaime Singson, Sizmek

Kelli Hurley, Westwood One

Brian Lynch, Westwood One

Ryan Granner, ESPN.com

Joe Mead, ESPN.com

Skyler Tobey, ESPN.com

Jennifer Susalis, CBS Local

Silvia Mihailescu, Adswizz Inc

Stefan Olson, Minnesota Public Radio

Karim Rayes, RhythmOne

Todd Cochrane, RawVoice

Jean-Luc Wasmer, Triton Digital

Peter deVroede, Midroll Media

Todd Pringle, Midroll Media

Yi Huang, Condé Nast

Gregg Rogers, Sizmek

Alixandra Liner, New York Public Radio

Brett Robinson, National Public Media

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership is comprised of more than 650 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital advertising or marketing campaigns. They were up to deal the next hand and they stated that "downloads are wild" and everyone went "WHAT?" at the table and they didn't want downloads to be wild.

For the industry to be able to move forward, the table had to come together and decide on what would constitute a download. Their answer can be seen in this report. They are currently working on a second version.  If you were going to "Sit at the table" you had to agree to the terms and they all did.

Much like when the music industry went from Cassettes to CD's it was a pain. This meant we had to buy all of our favorite music again. But the audio was better. As a music listener, I had no choice but to buy a CD player. It's the way the industry went.

Could Libsyn communicate better? I guess so, there is always room for improvement. It gets tough as no podcast company is going to peel back the curtain 100% as if they tell you how they do their stats, you open the door for people to game the system. I personally don't know the formula (I just help you "drive the car" as a Libsyn support person, I don't build it). This is similar to the guy who throws the chicken in the Fryer at KFC. He knows hows to cook the chicken but has no idea what the 11 herbs and spices are.

The numbers are lower as the INDUSTRY (remember to poker table above) decided to move toward a number closer to the unique downloads

This is an Industry-Wide Situation

I did a test over the last few weeks, and I released an episode that had tracking from Libsyn, Podtrac, and Blubrry. In a recent episode of Podcast Ninja, Todd Cochrane explained how years ago Podtrac, Blubrry, and Libsyn came up with specs for an organization for the Association of Downloadable Media (it starts at the 11:44  mark ). So for years, Podtarac, Blubrry, and Libsyn were close in numbers. Fast forward to today and due to how apps are now consuming media it appears that the larger the file size, the greater your numbers were being inflated. So last week I sent out a file that I encoded at 320 kbps (DO NOT DO THIS) and here are my numbers after 24 hours.

Libsyn: 1193 Podtrac: 991 Blubrry 1748

If you click into the episode on Blubrry you will see the number of 1247 unique downloads which is closer to the IAB standard that Libsyn and Blubrry are using.

You Didn't Lose Your Audience

I know it is quite a blow to your ego to have the total number of downloads decline, in some cases, people are losing large amounts of their audience. The truth is the same people that listened to your last episode are listening to your current episode. The way it is reported is different. In a way, it's like if we all told time in minutes. There were 1440 minutes in a day, and then everyone decided to tell time in hours and agreed there are 60 minutes in an hour. So now there are 24 hours in a day. That sounds like a lot less than 1440, but I didn't lose any time. I just changed the way I report it.

Obviously, those who have CPM deals with advertisers are in a completely different situation. Remember that some of the people on the IAB technical board were from companies like Midroll, Adswizz and other advertising companies. It doesn't make it any better, but they should have an idea of why this is happening as they were they during the planning.

Yes it Sucks

As I said, any time your numbers go down, it hurts. Hang in there, they will go back up (if you look at the Edison research on podcast listenership on the graph there is one year where it shows the numbers went down - why? They changed the criteria). In the long run, the podcast industry will benefit from this move.

It Will Get Better

I was recently in the Libsyn headquarters in Pittsburgh PA, and I got a brief tour of the new stats. It looked very impressive as libsyn continues to bring you the best media hosting in the industry. Use the coupon code sopfree.

Start Podcasting in Six Weeks 

I'm bringing back the six-week group coaching class where we meet live on Saturdays and we walk through the whole process. You can start with zero, and by the end of February have a well researched, properly planned, properly executed podcast. To be first in line go to www.startpodcastinginsixweeks.com

Where Will I Be?

Big Podcasts - Nashville, TN

October 21st I will be attending the Big Podcast Event put on by David Hooper and Rik Roberts about growing your audience in Nashville Tennessee see bigpodcasts.com

DC Pofest - Washing DC

November 10-11, 2017 I will be in DC at DCPodfest speaking on "Is Your Podcast Making These Mistakes?"

Podfest Multimedia Expo - Orlando Fl

February 8-10 I will be presenting at the Podfest Multimedia Expo in Orlando Florida see podfest.us

Social Media Marketing World - San Diego, CA

The ultimate event on Social Media. I will be leading a panel on Podcast Monetization See Social Media Marketing World

Ready to Start Podcasting Now?

Step by step tutorials

Private Facebook Group

Priority Email Support

Live Group Coaching

$49/month or get two free months when you sign up for a year.

Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start

Check out this episode!

[jessicakmatt]

From Discs to Digital: The Odd History of Music Formats

From Discs to Digital: The Odd History of Music Formats: via LANDR Blog

Physical formats have only been around since the 1870s— But in that relatively short amount of time, we’ve managed to come up with some pretty bizarre ways to release music.

Each format on this list had its moment of usefulness. But looking back might make you ask “what were we thinking?”

Regardless of how obsolete certain formats might be, they all led us to where we are today: streaming.

Most music fans choose to purchase their music digitally—either via download or streaming.

Smart artists are following suit as well. Many musicians are skipping out entirely on the cost of releasing physical formats—opting instead for digital music distribution that fits today’s music landscape.

Well, how did we get here?

Regardless of their popularity today, every format on this list played its part in the march towards digital domination.

We strolled through the odd history of music formats to explore where that journey has taken us—and where it might lead…

Here’s the music format timeline—from vinyl to digital and everything in between:

1948: The Record

Records, or discs, of varying speeds and materials have actually been around since the early 1900s—early versions rotated at 78 RPM (vroom, vroom!) and were made of shellac, which made them noisy (the bad kind of noisy, not the good kind) and fragile.

In 1948, Columbia Records produced a 33 RPM 12-inch ‘long play’ format, which we know, love, and donate the thrift stores today as the LP.

The first LP ever pressed was titled Columbia ML4001, and was a “Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor” by violinist Milstein with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Walter.

Shortly after, RCA Records developed a 45 RPM 7-inch ‘extended-play single’ format, or the EP for short.

Because of the fragility of shellac, which was frequently broken during transport, both Columbia and RCA Records eventually began producing their LP and EPs on vinyl.

Because of the fragility of shellac, which was frequently broken during transport, both Columbia and RCA Records eventually began producing their LP and EPs on vinyl.

Size and portability were the biggest strikes against vinyl. Eventually the music industry sought to find a solution and developed new formats that people could easily bring with them to work, parties, etc.

Despite the numerous physical formats that have been created since vinyl records, the market for them is still strong: according to the mid-year 2017 Discogs report the most popular physical music format sold so far this year is vinyl, with a year-to-year increase in sales of 13.92%.

But despite vinyl’s sustained popularity over time, vinyl was set aside as the go-to format as listeners looked for the next best thing.

1963: Compact Cassette

Compact Cassettes, or tapes, were invented by the Philips company and introduced to Europe at the Berlin Radio Show—Europe’s oldest tech convention with a rich history of its own.

Early cassettes featured reverse housing with a max play time of 45 minutes of stereo audio per side—significantly longer than a vinyl LP’s playtime.

Tapes also fit in a more affordable, compact package. The small size of tapes gave rise to portable players, making them a convenient development in the history of how and where we listen.

The cassette also fit perfectly into the post-war era. A boom in population and suburban expansion meant cars… lots of cars. So the need for mobile playback systems and formats was a hot concept.

The invention of tapes also introduced a volatile new concept into recorded music: Piracy.

The advent of cassettes and cassette recorders caused record companies to predict devastating effects on the music industry. After unsuccessful attempts to tax blank tapes, the DAT (digital audio tape) Bill was introduced in 1989, which restricted the amount of tapes consumers could by and prevented them from making copies of copies, aka the SCMS system.

Cassettes also birthed mixtape culture—a concept that runs the music industry as we know it today.

However, it didn’t help record labels, who believed that a tax should be paid to them. In 1991 the Audio Home Recording Act was introduced, which collected tax from media and record makers and distributed it back to labels.

But it wasn’t all suitcases, court cases and taxes on tapes… Cassettes also birthed Mixtape culture, giving amateur compilation creators a way to record audio off of multiple records and compile a single playlist—a concept that runs the music industry as we know it today.

These days tapes certainly aren’t our main mode of listening, but the industry is still active—In 2016, cassette sales grew by 74% from the previous year.

1964: 8-Track Tape

The 8-track tape was a collaborative invention between the unlikely trio of RCA Records, Lear Jet Company, and Ampex Magnetic Tape Company. This may seem like somewhat of an odd group, but Bill Lear of Lear Jet Corporation, along with his employee Richard Kraus, were responsible for designing the cartridge for 8-track tapes.

Lear, who manufactured private, luxury aircrafts, had an interest in audio and previously tried to create an endless-loop wire recorder in the 1940s.

The benefit of 8-track tapes over the compact cassette was their ability to house 8-parallel soundtracks with four corresponding stereo programs—they could play a lot of music in a relatively small package.

Much of the 8-tracks success is thanks to the booming automobile industry of the time. By 1966, Ford Motors offered 8-track players as an option in their complete line of automobiles produced that year.

At home players were introduced the following year, and many saw the 8-track as a solution to the portability issue of records and record players.

Despite 8-track’s popularity in the 60s and 70s, the compact cassette took over as the more popular choice for artists and consumers due to its favourable size and price-tag.

Despite their popularity in the 60s and 70s, the compact cassette took over as the more popular choice for artists and consumers due to its favourable size and price-tag. As a result the 8-track became largely obsolete then, and today.

It’s argued that the last 8-track tape ever released by a major label was Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits, released in November of 1988 by Warner Records—perhaps a sign that we’d never be going back to 8-tracks again?

1972: Floppy Disk

Floppy Disk’s are normally associated with data storage for desktop computers, but during the 80s and 90s a select-few artists began releasing albums on this somewhat unconventional format.

IBM introduced the 8-inch floppy disk to the tech world in 1972, which was followed with a 5 ¼-inch model in 1976, and finally replaced with a conveniently-sized a 3½-inch format in 1982.

The floppy release remained fairly niche and never truly hit the mainstream. Diskette’s most notable release was Brian Eno’s 1996 album Generative Music I, released through Opal Music.

There were also a handful of major releases on diskette that tried to bring a “multimedia” angle to albums, but the format simply never caught on.

Regardless of diskette’s ill-fated moment in music, the floppy represents an important foreshadowing of music’s digital future—a trend that would soon be taken up by the CD explosion…

1982: Compact Disc

The floppy represents an important foreshadowing of music’s digital future.

In 1974, Philips (yes, the same Philips of tape fame) had the initial idea for CDs as a replacement for records and cassettes. During the same time Sony was also working on their own prototype (CD wars!). Sony’s offering was first demoed in 1976.

Eventually the two companies came together and CDs were officially launched as a viable format in 1982. Sony also introduced the first ever CD player that year, the CDP-101 Compact Disc Player which cost $1000!

With CDs also came portable CD players, CD-ROM drives, writable CDs and the 16-bit/44.1kHz benchmark for audio formats, which all had their own effect on how we listen to music.

CDs also brought together the best of every format that came before it: High-quality audio, compact, portable, writable and inexpensive.

Overall the CD was an extremely important development for the music industry, becoming the defacto release format for decades.

It was a need the CD and Discman could only fill for so long.

But in many ways the CD was the beginning of the end for physical formats. Computers and the MP3 (more on this in a minute) quickly took over our listening habits. With the invention of the internet and as computers became more sophisticated, so did the constant demand for convenience. It was a need the CD and Discman could only fill for so long.

As soon as it became possible to access music through your computer or MP3 player, most people no longer wanted to have physical copies of music when they could store everything in a folder on their desktop.

Of course CDs didn’t just evaporate overnight. There’s still some Discpeople out there. Even though Discog’s 2017 mid-year report cites vinyl as the physical format showing the biggest growth, CDs have seen their own growth in sales with an increase of 23.23% on the used market.

1992: MP3

The MP3 was originally developed in the the early 80s by researcher Karlheinz Brandenburg. His post-doctoral work at the AT&T Bell Labs expanded on pre-existing codecs for compressing audio. In a strange twist, Brandenburg chose Suzanne Vega’s 1987 hit “Tom’s Diner” as a test song to perfect the MP3.

But it wasn’t until 1992 that the MP3 went mainstream, and not until 1999—with the creation of Napster—that the format really caught fire.

The music industry is just now starting to recover from it’s own digital dawn…

Napster allowed for free peer-to-peer file sharing of the MP3 audio file that resulted in widespread copyright infringement and understandable outrage from the music industry.

Despite its brief 3 year run in its initial form, Napster eventually paved the way for platforms like the iTunes store—allowing users to search, purchase, and instantly play music all with a few clicks.

The effects from the shockwave that the MP3, piracy and pure digital formats created are still being felt today. In many ways, the music industry is just now starting to recover from it’s own digital dawn…

2002: Streaming

With 24/7 internet accessibility expanding thanks to mobile, developers and entrepreneurs saw the opportunity for something big: The possibility of listening to, and discovering, new music without having to actually download files or purchase songs.

Additionally, streaming platforms aimed to (hopefully) make digital music a sustainable business model for everyone involved. In many ways it has, but there’s still a long way to go.

The release of the iPhone in 2007 is what really caused streaming and internet radios popularity to skyrocket. Apps that were previously desktop only, were now available at the palm of your hand.

The following year Spotify launched, which runs off of paid advertisements. Users have two choices: listen for free with ads, or pay a monthly fee for unlimited, uninterrupted streaming.

Streaming apps filled the creeping demand for non-physical access to music and ushered in our current chapter of formats: Dematerialized music.

If this list proves anything, it’s that nothing is forever—especially in music.

For better or worse, every music format played it’s roll in the march towards streaming. While streaming hasn’t made every other format obsolete, there’s no denying that it’s the format that’s leading how we access music. For now at least…

What Now?

If this list proves anything, it’s that nothing is forever—especially in music.

So what’s next on the horizon? Maybe we’ll all listen to music while our autonomous cars drive us around? Or is there a renaissance for video’s role in music on the horizon (I’m looking at you Hype)?

No matter what the future holds, the format that matters most is the one that your favourite artist is releasing on.

If you’re a fan, support the artist and buy their music on the formats they distribute music with. Do your research and find the format that fits you, and them, the best!

We can all do our part to help the music industry by paying for music—and the formats it’s released on.

Support independent musicians, support small labels and support your local record store!

The post From Discs to Digital: The Odd History of Music Formats appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog https://blog.landr.com/music-formats-history/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/165981480674

[johnsfirememoir-blog]

fire memoir

John M. Ortiz Professor English 1301 15 June 2017 Ortiz_John_3 I was about 20 years old and already I had worked at least 10 jobs. At this point in life I thought I needed to become financially stable before making my next big move in life. However a big change came when my girlfriend of 3 years left and I was let go from yet another company. I began to see the world as a ravenous place with little stability and a cold heart. My uncle then told me he was a fireman for 10 years. That it was a good stable job that might not make me rich but I would not have to worry about being let go because “production was down” or whatever other reason. Thus began my venture into that world. I started by seeing what it took to apply to be a fire fighter. It would take either being a certified fire fighter for the state of texas via going to college and going through a academy and earning college credit along the way or applying for a big city and having a lot of competition. College seemed the favorable option. Being young and not knowledgeable I thought I was going to have to pay for everything out of my own pocket. I was not one who made the best grades in high school and I assumed most scholarships were for kids who applied themselves a little more than I had. So  I went to the schools and they said classes would cost in the thousands. In my research I found a program. A place that would help someone like me. It was the “Texas Work Force Commission.”   They paid for classes books and even gave me a gas allowance. “Wow! I thought. Maybe this is meant to be” So I went and I spoke with a consultant who and after some paper work and some conversation I had what I needed to begin. Life was making a turn for the better. I felt I had a purpose and found new motivation. The schooling would be 1 semester of EMT and 2 semesters of fire academy. Speaking with counselors it seemed the best option would be to go to EMT first as that was the more academic side and the fire was more physical. I was 20 years old and had played sports through high school and in middle school. I was a varsity starter for a 5a school in Pasadena for 3 years. And after my separation from my ex I found solace by running at parks across Houston. It was settled do the hard then on to the fun. I would start in January 2010 Class starts at Houston community college on the southeast side on town. There I am nervous and not knowing what to expect. This is medical stuff I thought. I was pretty smart in school but I always fell behind. There isn't a teacher who is going to help me because she wants to see me play at the big game Friday night. Im going to be on my own. The instructor begins and starts to tell us how she is happy to see the career choice we have made and that it was honorable and that all that aside not everyone would pass. But she is here to help. There is a group of guys who had just graduated from the fire academy and are doing their EMT part 2nd. They seemed like cool guys but seemed “clickish” so I made friends with a older guy named mark and a young woman Megan. Orientation was over and the hard part began. The book for this class was huge I thought and the words at first daunting. It was just a different subject than what I was used to. I was raised by a family of boys and I was close to my grandfather who was the figure head. He was a mechanic and all 6 of his sons either worked on cars or raced them at some point. I found I was in a different world. I began to read 4 hours a day. Reading was tiresome and I would think about the guys in class talking about going to this bar or that place where they would watch whatever sport. Mark was old in comparison to the early 20 something year old’s in class. He had a wife and 2 daughters. He was about 35 at that time. When those other guys would talk abut going out. Mark would just look at me and say “look at those boys, they ain't even done anything and their already talking like they got this. They better get their heads straight.” I just nodded and agreed. I was pretty shy but I did want to go out and be one of the guys. Megan seemed indifferent. I couldn't tell if she just had a boy friend or was just that focused. Mark and I would talk and I had trade stories through the academy mostly about what motivated us. He was like me looking for work and not finding stability but also he longed ever so much to be a fire fighter for “The city of Houston!” As he put it. He wanted to work where he grew up and have his kids see him as a good man. Me on the other hand. My motivation was different. Along with looking for stable work. I told Mark that the year before  school started my girlfriend whom I proposed to left. A proposal that was I think immature and thoughtless I did love and have feelings for her but nothing substantial I always knew I my heart she didn't love me the way I cared for her. Mark would just say “boy you dodged a bullet.” I just nodded and agreed. Then came the fact I spent about a year roaming around between friend’s and relatives house’s. I didn't even have my own car. My father had multiple cars when I was growing up. He was a bit of a car hoarder. At least that's what I call him and he was not the easiest man to get along with. It was quite often we would fight. Well around this time he was quite stressed about his divorce and was afraid of losing his house. This created tension between us as I think. He never really spoke from the heart or showed emotion other than when he was mad. I am sure he wanted to provide but could not deal with life’s stress. Long story short we fought and he took back his car. I had to leave home. So I had no car to my name. No place that was a home. No special woman to stand beside me and I held jobs sporadically. Well it was sometime in October 2009 when I told my uncle Carlos what was going on that he told me I was going to live with him. The rule was I had to go to school and help out around the house. At this point I had bounced around that nothing seemed sure. However in time Carlos proved true and I had a stable place to stay. The next big help came from my grandfather. He was a mechanic and gave me a car. Not the nicest one but it ran and got me from point A to B. 2010 and I had a cassette player. Man I thought well at least girls won’t be a distraction with a car like this. It was a Suzuki side kick. Quite often I had to put water in the radiator and the paint job was well worn. Now my grandfather was a tough man. He had beliefs and he would stick to them. He came to America from Mexico and would always tell me stories how he was abandoned as a boy and he made it here on his own with no help and being betrayed by people here. He would always say “you if you do good I go with you but you if you do bad you on you own.” In his Spanglish. This is something I had seem him prove when he denied help to some uncles in the past for their own endeavors. He was a hard and stubborn man and I took his help with no expectations of a lasting aide. So it seemed mark and I had a lot to work for. We had study groups and in time even began to run together to get ready for the next phase. The fire academy. Megan came out to study but running was more of a Mark and I kind of thing. Sometimes we would go watch sports at a bar but that was rare and about as rare as me going out. Which I could probably count on 1 hand. I will never forget what it felt like to sit on the bed at home and just read and read and just think to myself if Carlos can have a stable pay check and feed himself then that's all I need. Just something solid until I can move on to the next phase of life. I did well for myself and was a B student. Something I was both really happy about and kind of disappointed. Happy because I passed and was making progress but kind of bummed because I put a lot of time in and thought I deserved more but a piece of paper saying you have your cert is the same for a A student or C student. So I continued with mark and Megan in our groups. Time passed and we all passed together. For the first time in my life I felt I accomplished something. Carlos being the motivational guy he was just shrugged it off and said wait for that fire academy. Though his face showed pride. I learned to read his face not his words. He always wanted better for me. As for my grandpa he just said good job and told me more stories of him struggling as a boy. He seemed to go on tangents a lot. He was retired and I guess he began to reflect on life more. Mark and I continued to run the time came and all we had to do was be ready for whatever physical punishment the fire academy would bring. I remembered Carlos coming home with red marks and bruises on his back when he entered the fire academy for the city of Houston. I did not know what to expect but I knew it would not be easy. Then came the surprising news. Mark my run partner and study buddy who had the same goals as me told me he had asthma. A shocking and concerning thing to hear. But then how have you been running? I asked. Not knowing how asthma would affect him and also so what does that mean if you’re a Fireman. Then came more news. Mark was not going to the fire academy with me. He found a job and decided he needed to work now and take care of his family. I was crushed for him. All that talk about being a fire fighter for Houston and now he had to change his plans. So I told him he was doing what any good man would do for his family. He put his hand on my shoulder and told me “don’t fuck this up” haha I laughed. He always talked like he was a father figure. In his mind he was but to me he was a good friend just older. The time came it was the first day of Houston Community Fire academy. I felt like a kid starting school for the first time again. Once again we had a orientation. The instructors introduced themselves and the whole feel of class was already different. In the last course the instructor was a larger set woman whom spoke of not everyone passing because the course was hard academically. This time I had lean male instructors who broke down their expectations and that physical repercussions would be a thing. Our head instructor captain Mayes his name was. He had a big black thick mustache that seemed to grow out then down and wrapped around the side of his lips down to his chin. I will never forget him standing straight up always stroking it when he went into deep thought. Next was captain Hernandez whom stated our mothers were not here to baby us and that he would be all the love we needed. A thicker guy but still toned but he didn't seem to be a runner but that was alright because lastly there was captain Del La Rosa he was a marathon runner and made it clear we would be running so many miles a day. Also if we did not comply with their demands we would run a tower. Which is a building that is 6 stories tall with access to a roof for a 7th floor. The guys in class were also young kids mostly leaner than me. I felt I had not prepared enough but I came to realize how tough I was mentally in the next few months. We also had 2 females. I found that interesting but cool. Day one and we began by standing up and introducing ourselves and our motivation to be a fire fighter. Some for money others for their family but really it is always about money. Only 2 guys said it was a family tradition. I thought it was cool that of the guys with dad’s and grandparents who were fire fighters that I was the only one who had a aunt fire fighter. She actually paved the way for my uncle and I really believe. Carlos had no ambition for the job like I until she gave him the steady job speech which I started to think he ripped off of her and gave to me. Geez Carlos be original bro. I thought. So my turn came and I said thoughtlessly that I wanted to be like my family and do something good for the community. I honestly had no idea what it took to do the job. In my mind Carlos was a soft handed man who preferred paper work to physical labor. And even with family in the Houston fire department I had little exposure to the world. That was day one. Day 2 and we were already in high gear everyone showed up with their uniforms pressed and starched. I also had my clothes ironed but not because im the type of person to be so prepared or type A. Simply my grandmother said it was a good idea in her way which means she will hound me into doing what she thinks is best. We were all in class early books out and ready to sit and learn like what you would imagine a college class is. That however was not the case. Del la Cruz showed up and said on time to run. We had 10 minutes to run from the classroom to the dressing room change and go do what I considered semi marathon training experiences. First hour of class and I was already soaked in sweat. We ran in cadence to what Del La Cruz called his running play list. Ill never forget them. Motor motor got a lot of motivation. Then we would repeat then dedi dedi got a lot of dedication. Then whatever variance he wanted followed. Push ups, sit ups, and a variety of other workouts would follow along with getting acquainted with the tower. A tall slender building 6 stories tall with access to the roof for a 7th floor was used also and that would become a dreaded place. Running up flights of stairs was exhausting. All the training I did before the academy and I felt like I was not ready for running up those stairs. Most of the other guys did well and we seemed like a solid class as in most guys were prepared. We had 2 girls in class one was married to one of the guys. She didn’t seem so well prepared meaning she looked about 50 lbs over weight and could not do any push ups. Now we had a guy named George who was also heavy set almost as wide as he was tall. But watching him run was like watching a grizzly taking stride. When I finished the runs before him I would like to watch that stride come in. Like a bad version of bay watch but its what I had at the time. After the morning work. It was back to class. That was only for that day. We started having our workouts after class the second week. Compared to the EMT program studying for the fire side was easy. It was interesting and I always just felt like I was reading brochures compared to the large foreign textbook I grew accustomed to using as a pillow. So the weeks went on and the guys got to know each other. Most people fell into clicks which is something I never liked because I never felt I fit in anywhere. At lunch the guys with military experience had one table and the black guys at another and so on. Racism was not a issue I think it is just people finding cultural similarities and their own comfort zones and so that’s how it was a for a little. Of course we all intermingled. But I didn’t find that group of guys I thought I was going to find that would be my drinking going out and having fun buddies. At least not in the beginning of the academy. By the end of the first month things became a little routine class at at certain time and then the end of the day workout. Always exhausting but I handled it. Besides I had the grizzly and the other girl to keep the attention off me. They would always be in the back of the pack. Although George was not as far behind like she was. I have forgotten her name. She only lasted a little over a month before she quit. My grandmother the woman who raised me as her own and is and always will be my mother always made me lunch. The mornings felt like elementary with the food being set aside for me as I went off to school. Well after 2 months I will never forget this day. I forgot my food. It was not a big deal that I didn’t take my lunch. I had money to buy lunch and a little Suzuki sidekick to get me to the nearby subway. But for whatever reason she had spoken to my grandfather that day and they were separated but still would speak from time to time. Well at some point in the morning around11 I see this familiar black truck drive up to the parking lot behind the tower. I thought nothing of it until one of the instructors called me and said someone was looking for me. It was my grandparents with lunch! Now my grandmother is mom but my grandfather was dad just as much although my father is in my life I was always close to grandpa. This brought a tear to my eye. He didn’t have to come but that wasn’t what hit me. I knew he wanted to come and see me in my fire academy uniform. He was a tough man and also routine. My uncle Ramiro once said that dad “has not left the 6 block perimeter of his house” just enough to pay his bills and buy food. We never asked dad to leave because we all knew he didn’t like to leave his house and so on special occasions like birthdays and anything really we had to go to him. Yet here he was at the academy. I felt motivation like I had never felt to do this and have him at my graduation. The first semester ended and I think I lost 15lbs. There is a picture of me and I had fallen asleep at lunch with my head in my chest and arms crossed. I never liked the picture it showed me that I was heavier than I wanted to be with big chubby cheeks and arms thick and you could tell did not have definition. That was clearly changing. The fire academy was a really really expensive workout program and it was working! Before the 1st semester ended we had a physical ability test as well as some academic tests. We started losing people. Both of the girls couldn’t do the physical and we lost one of the guys who although physical did not take the testing serious and came just short of the requirements. David was his name he and I remained friends for a little after that but he had to find other thing in life to do. At times the academy did not feel like school but like guys just hanging out and working out and shooting the shit together. Then when people were weeded out. It was like reality hit and we remembered why we were here. To get our certifications and find work. I sometimes forgot the gravity of what I was doing but always took class serious. We had lost 3 or 4 people the first semester. Semester 2 by comparison was a walk in the park. The tests became easier and we spend more time outside running drills than anything really. It does not take much brain power to advance fire hose. It really brought to life the phrase “getting paid from the neck down” we would pull hose here and there. Load it and deploy it. Semester 2 was all about being outside and sweating. Running around and doing the workouts then playing with fire fighter tools. I recall one day the guys in class were starting to relax and take things easy but the instructors decided to remind us that this is was and made us do 100 push ups. Then someone spoke up out of line. This was a paramilitary organization after all. I mean we did have to be clean shaved. So another 50 was added then another guy spoke up for whatever reason then another 50. All in all the class did about 400 push ups through the day not at once. I don’t think I could ever have done that. But I know this guy named belt a hard working carpenter pushed the envelope and hit 550 that day. I took the burden with him and another guy that messed up so the whole class wouldn’t have to suffer. I hit 600 push ups that day. Far from the 50 I could barely do in a row with the class first started. Towards the end of the semester all we had to worry about was passing the burns. These were training drills where we had to gear up and go into a training building with pallets on fire and we would have to perform whatever task they gave us. Burn 1 was easy. Just gear up and feel the heat inside a Konex box. It is pretty much one of those big metal shipping containers you see on commercial boats transporting goods. Burn 2 a little tougher gear up go inside and advance the hose to the fire then go out. Burn 3 is where things become real but no significant task for any of the guys whom like myself also found themselves in better shape. Conditioning was key here. We would gear up advance hose and pull out the dummy. The last burn burn 4 was a true test of physical conditioning and mental toughness. When you put on the gear. Your skin does not breathe. You sweat and it has nowhere to go and no air to wick it off and cool you. Therefore you stay hot. The gear itself is a heat barrier but works by absorbing the heat and keeping it off your body with its 3 layers. The outside absorbing and the inner 2 for moisture barrier and the inner most the inner lining. Burn 4 we went as a 4 man crew. We geared up in set time then went up to a door prop and used skills to open it. We went and advanced line to the door. Then came climbing up a ladder to the 2nd floor roof with tools in hand. Next we had to cut a hole on the roof using a saw then we went back in and pulled a dummy out and that was it. I think I drank near a gallon of water after we finished that. I sat there and watched other guys go and then fall to their knees and drink up water and their eyes fill with pride because they just did one of the hardest things they had ever done in their life and it is something that is a accomplishment. I think every boy wants to go on a adventure and be that hero. This was like that but set up and no real life to be saved but after it you felt like you could do something heroic should you be called upon. We only had a few weeks left in the academy after that I so I began to seek work as a EMT. I quickly found a job part time while in school that became full time after. I would take people in nursing homes to dialysis or the hospital if it was emergent. That was my time in the academy. I went from a overweight guy to one who had decent tone and had a father show up even though he never left his 6 block radius. Had felt like I had done something to be better and stand on my own 2 feet and support myself and did it mostly on my own. I didn’t need a woman to support me. I felt renewed. Graduation came and my whole family showed up. Carlos showed up in his decorated fire uniform and along with my mother pinned my badge. It was more than enough that my dad showed up. He didn’t have to get on stage.

After thought: these events happened in 2010 and it had been a long time since I had reflected and thought about these events that are significant in not only the path I ended up taking for a career. But as a stepping stone to other aspects of my life. I gained confidence in myself to do things I thought I could not do. I made friends whom I still speak to and even have worked with and fought fires along side. This reminds me of the young boy I was and shows me some of the man I became. Also my grandfather has since passed in may of 2016. Seeing him at the academy that day will forever be with me as one of my most cherished memories. This memoir should make people think that if they just go after something even if things seem against them they should just do it.

[myupdatesystems-blog]

How to Make Money Writing Books

New Post has been published on https://myupdatesystems.com/2017/04/14/how-to-make-money-writing-books/

How to Make Money Writing Books

We live in a world of quiet revolutions. Only a few years ago the idea of a flat-screen TV was considered to be in the realm of Star Trek. Today you cannot buy a traditional cathode ray TV. That’s just one example.

This report is about an equally quiet revolution that has massive repercussions for the publishing industry and reveals how ordinary people – some not even writers in the traditional sense of the word – can propel themselves into a new world of prosperity. And I will show you how one person used this to create six figure incomes from publishing, (believe it or not), a nine-page document.

A survey published by Readers Digest some five years ago revealed that 72% of people felt they ‘had a book inside them’, and the massive success of J. K. Rowling (real name, Joanne Murray) has prompted many to try their hand at writing for profit.

In many ways, this is mirrored by the music industry. Every day thousands, if not millions of young hopefuls write and perform songs they hope will one day be a big hit, and thanks to a quiet but spectacular revolution in the music industry, more of these new songs are successful than ever before in history.

To see how the Internet Publishing Revolution will affect you, let me show you how its equivalent has already affected the music industry.

For over a hundred years, the Producers dominated the music industry. These companies were household names – EMI, Columbia Records, HMV, Decca, Virgin, CBS, BMG to name but a few, and the only chance of success any aspiring songwriter had lay in getting noticed by a record producer who would accept and promote their work.

And for most of that hundred years, music production was mechanical – vinyl records followed by cassettes and CDs. Then the force of an Internet revolution hit the music industry full in the face.

First, the MP3 file was invented by the German company Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. In 1997, Tomislav Uzelac of AMP was the first to integrate player software into Windows and in 1999 a company calledSubPopbecame the first to distribute music tracks in MP3 format. (Info courtesy of About.com – inventors.)

Music had suddenly gone digital.

The real breakthrough came in October 2001 when Apple released the iPod, a refined DAP (Digital Audio Player). DAPs were invented by the British inventor Kane Kramer. Other DAPs had preceded the iPod but Apple has long been associated with design excellence, not to mention that indefinable quality is known as ‘cool’. The iPod took off.

What did these developments do to the traditional music industry, particularly music shops? It decimated it almost overnight. Sales of traditional CDs have collapsed worldwide and what’s left are sold on internet sites. The traditional local music store has either gone completely or diversified into gaming and accessories. On 7th January 2011, the Guardian newspaper wrote:

“In many US cities, it’s difficult to find a record store. The last US HMV closed five years ago, Tower Records stopped trading soon after, and the last Virgin Megastore finally closed its doors 18 months ago. You may find a CD section in consumer electronic stores such as Best Buy or at Walmart, but the selection doesn’t stray far beyond the top 40.”

And yet, this massive sea change, whilst hammering producers and retailers, released an avalanche of new talent who could now record and produce their own music in their own bedrooms using little more than a good microphone and a laptop. The massive power of social networking on the Internet using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can now propel new talent (or the lack of it!) into the public eye without the need to go near a producer. At the height of the industry’s crisis, well-known rock bands and individuals simply forced labels to renegotiate their contracts.

“Musicians can self-publish if they like, selling their own tunes off their own websites. This has meant that top performers make unbelievable sums – far more than their counterparts in 1969. The Carpenters used to have to beg for money for a new car, while their albums sold millions. Now, because they can guarantee the big audiences, all that money the label used to take, the musicians get. So tens of millions flow their way. If you have any doubt, look at the private jets and helicopters owned and flown by the lead drummer for Pink Floyd. Or about any rapper on late night MTV. It would make a corporate CEO envious.” (Adam Hartung – thephoenixprinciple.com)

This is what the Internet music revolution did: It moved most of the income away from a small number of record producers directly into the hands of musicians.

Now let’s look at publishing because what happened to the music industry is being repeated there. Let’s start with the technology first – the written equivalent of the MP3 file and DAP player.

In 1473 Thomas Caxton printed the first book produced in the English language using the revolutionary new printing press. With regard to the production of books, newspapers, and magazines, very little has changed. It’s a hugely un-green industry. Lip service is paid to using sustainable forestry but even if that were entirely true, the process is extremely invasive, akin to ripping the heart out of mother earth and waiting for it to re-grow. Many of the chemicals and bleaches used are less than pleasant and until recently, the carbon powder used for the production of inks was regarded as a toxic carcinogen. Something has got to change.

Ironically, readers of books are often people with conscience and have an intellectual leaning to being kind to the environment. I say ironically because a few of them are less than impressed with the idea of getting rid of traditional books in favor of the publishing version of the iPod – the eBook Reader.

When the iPod first came out, its slogan was, ‘1000 tunes in your pocket.’ I cannot imagine how many CDs it would take to replace the songs on the average iPod but I am prepared to wager that the total cost to the environment of creating those physical CDs is vastly more than one iPod.

The eBook reader (eReader) is the book lover’s equivalent of the music lover’s iPod. ‘1000 books in your pocket.’ The equivalent of the MP3 file is undoubtedly Adobe’s PDF (Portable Document File). Every computer has Adobe’s PDF Reader installed because nearly every computer program now has its manual reproduced in this format. Why? Because it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to stick a 200-page manual onto a CD than it is to rip down and process half a forest.

To be fair to those who still prefer paper books, there are a number of things about eReaders that are not as good as printed material.

First, the technology behind eReaders is still being developed. E-Ink screens still lack contrast and, like the first Ford automobile, you can have any color you like as long as it’s black. Colour screens are still in development unless you pick on an iPad which doubles as an eBook reader although it is still a computer at heart. And yet, the day of an eBook reader that is just as good as the printed version is not far off. It may yet be that the iPad becomes the new eReader of popular choice or that Amazon’s Kindle will take the flag. We shall see.

Another annoyance is DRM or Digital Rights Management. Quite understandably, this is to prevent people file sharing and breaching copyright. It is still a major problem with music downloads and DVDs. The problem is that it seems every eReader producer has their own system, involving downloading software to your computer and endless messing about with their limited book titles and not being able to download someone else’s. Forests will fall until someone makes it simple to just buy an eBook online.

Nevertheless, the writing is on the wall for paper publishing. Newspapers like The Times are going on-line and require subscriptions to see today’s news. More and more books have digital versions. And to be perfectly frank, if it wasn’t for the sheer size of the whole printing industry, any half-green government would put an immediate quote, and tax, on anything so destructive to the environment. If fact the opposite holds true for eBooks, which are seriously green and yet are all taxed at the full rate of Vat.

Although the eReader equivalent of the iPod is still in the making, the day of the digital book is firmly here and will only increase while traditional bookshops are closing down at a rate of two a week.

The power of information publishing

While this sounds ominous from the point of view of conventional booksellers and publishers, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to authors, or what I prefer to call, ‘creators of written digital products.’ Like the musicians in the iPod revolution, the power (and the money) has moved away from the big publication houses into the ranks of the writers. And in the same way that one, fairly short pop single can change the fortunes of a new musician almost overnight, so can a small written equivalent change the fortune of even the most elementary of writers, if they know what to do.

In the days of Beethoven and Wagner, composers didn’t write two-minute hit singles; they wrote symphonies – the musical equivalent of a large novel. Today, very few musicians compose long works. They compose singles. Singles are quick to create and are popular. They may go on to produce an album but this will invariably be a compilation of singles. Gone are the great symphony composers of old. Modern music is short, often short-lived but also very profitable.

This distinction is not so clear in publishing. Today, if I say I am a writer, the assumption is that I write novels. Not so. I am an information publisher, and that is about as far from novel writing as Wagner’s Die Walküre is from Turn My Swag On by Alexa Goddard.

It must also be said that the commercial mindset of the modern musician is far more advanced than that of the modern writer. Most writers would rival Thomas Caxton for still being in the dark ages.

The modern songwriter is very commercially minded, very savvy about the fact that music makes money, and takes pains to write music that is in demand. By contrast, the average aspiring writer hasn’t a clue about what is selling. They write the book they want to write and then spend years trying to find someone to publish it. Sometimes they strike lucky. Most times not. A writer with a bit of commercial nous would at least look at the New York Times Best Seller list and create something in the same genre. But that would still be wrong unless you want to lock yourself away for three years. Terrestrial book writing is still about writing modern symphonies, not pop songs. To make money publishing on the Internet we need to look at the written equivalent of pop.

The modern and soon to be successful songwriter no longer sends a private recording of his new hit single to a music producer in the hope of catching his ear. There is a new process and it is this:

First, he or she will have the commercial sense to look at the kind of music that is most popular and put together all the synthesizers and gizmos necessary to create a sound that is modern. The days of three guys with acoustic guitars and a drum set trying to copy The Shadows are long gone.

Next, they will create their song. It will be short, sweet and as highly polished as they can make it.

Next, they will have their own website. It will look smart and also contain lots of free ‘songlets’ with a video of them singing their latest creation. Their video, also home made, can still look professional using modern, inexpensive video editing software.

Next, they will use the power of the Internet to promote their work. To do this they will do a combination of two things – viral marketing and joint ventures. No longer do they need to kowtow to music producers. In the old days getting publicity was hugely expensive. Today anyone can have their 15 minutes of fame simply by doing something dumb on YouTube. Viral marketing (one person telling two others who each tell two others and so on) does the rest. Today, modern songwriters have become self-publishers, which is arguably the only area where publishing is ahead of the music game.

Self-publishers are people who write and publish their own work. It’s not new. Mark Twain self-published some of his own works. So did William Blake, Stephen King, Rudyard Kipling, Lord Byron, E.E. Cummings, Alexander Dumas, T.S. Eliot, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Hardy, Ernest Hemingway, D.H. Lawrence, Edgar Allen Poe, Alexander Pope, Beatrix Potter, Ezra Pound, Marcel Proust, George Bernard Shaw, Shelley, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Thoreau, Leo Tolstoi, Walt Whitman, and Virginia Woolf. So if you decide to self-publish you’ll be in good company. The question is what should you write?

The fact is that the Internet publishing revolution is about to become a new phenomenon for self-publishers. It actually has little to do with eReaders and the like. It’s a far bigger game that most websites haven’t quite grasped, traditional writers haven’t grasped at all, and the average person thinks they cannot do because they don’t think they’re writers. But that’s exactly the point. Writers do not succeed on the Internet. It’s the average person who makes money because they’re not loaded down with all the baggage that writers have about their art. It’s not writers who make money on the Internet, it’s product developers, in particular – ‘creators of written digital products’ otherwise known as eBook/eReport writers.

Let me show you how to make money on the Internet, almost overnight, and then give you an example. Please read this carefully because it’s pure gold.

Most people have no idea how big some websites are on the Internet. It’s difficult to tell unless they tell you. In 2003 I spotted a website called eDiets.com and on its pages, it mentioned it had nearly 14 million subscribers to its bi-weekly on-line newsletter. That meant that twice a week, this website sent an email to 14 million people.

Now suppose the proprietor of this mega-site phoned me up and said, “Hey, Phil baby. How’s it hangin'”, or something like that and asked me to prepare a ‘special’ report, not much longer than this one, about dieting – say – Top Ten Dieting Secrets. He suggested I put it together with a one-page website. But he wasn’t going to pay me for this, at least not directly. What he would do is endorse and publicize my report to 14 million people in his next newsletter. I could charge what I liked for the report and he would take 60% of sales. Is this a good deal?

Let’s work it out. Suppose I charged only ten dollars and he’s going to recommend it to 14 million people who already listen to what he writes so I don’t need to do any advertising. Let’s assume only 1% (140,000) buy the book. That’s total sales of 1,400,000 dollars of which I keep 40% which is just over half a million dollars.

Half a million dollars for a 12 page eBook? Does this sound like a good deal? I think so.

Of course, I did say that Hiram E. Cattle rustler Jnr. phoned me up to make this offer and that’s not going to happen. But what we can do is prepare the project and put the deal to him, after all, it’s worth 840,000 dollars to him alone and all he has to do is send out an email that he was going to send out anyway. It’s a no-brainer and not bad for a day’s work.

Okay, this is a top of the range example and the potential is actually higher than this. I would personally consider a 1% response to be very poor. My average is 20% but on smaller sites. It’s still good money though. And the number of websites is unlimited.

The Internet publishing revolution is this new power to act as an information provider to millions of people at virtually no cost using existing websites as bookshops. It’s easier than writing music and requires very little investment. There is no stock, no printing, no risk and a complete win-win situation for everyone concerned.

To give people a clue about the potential I often cite this story. Several years ago I got a kidney stone. A quick search on Dr. Internet revealed a guy offering a homegrown solution to certain types of kidney stones. Basically, he was selling a simple report giving his plan with a full refund guarantee. I examined the site very carefully and made inquiries with several knowledgeable American friends who are ‘in the know’. Estimates of income vary, but my personal view, having had some success myself, is that Kidney Stone Man made himself at least one hundred grand.

When I downloaded his book it was only nine pages long. Did this matter? No. His solution was sound and I have no complaints.

My first book was launched in 2004 at a price of nearly $20. It’s not a good example of a simple first attempt because it was a real book, and therefore quite detailed. Nevertheless, I used exactly the same marketing techniques used by new musicians and the result to date is at least 100,000 downloads despite that fact I have hardly done any promotion beyond the first week of launch. I still receive cheques every week.

A friend of mine in Manchester recently made himself over £30,000 in less than seven weeks doing this.

The new power of Internet publishing – the fact that millions of websites can now act as bookstores – is probably one of the powerful entrepreneurial movements since the World Wide Web was invented. The digital music revolution has to lead the way, but the potential of digital books is staggering. I believe that never before in history has it become easier for the average person to achieve incomes on a par with major executives of large corporations. Never before has fame and riches been so simple to achieve.