The Wikipedia entry on Christmas is really facinating. Did you know the Puritans hated Christmas? Or that Christmas celebrations were once banned in England and in Boston? Or that Christmas was frowned upon in the States for years following the Revolutionary War, only to have its popularity resurrected by Charles Dickens and Washington Irving? I did not know these things.
Happy Holidays!
Posted December 25, 2009
Anthony Skelton's short film submission to the Nikon Festival includes the instrumental version of my tune Not The One. There are some very cool editing moments I really like. Check it:
UPDATE: looks like the film was removed from the festival site. So never mind, I guess. Anthony? You out there? What happened?
Working on a video? You can download free instrumental versions of all the songs from Save You From Yourself for your own multimedia projects right here.
Posted December 22, 2009
Warning: nerd talk ahead.
UPDATE: nuts, MySpace has discontinued the "Post To MySpace" feature in favor of their dumb "activity streams," so this plug-in doesn't work anymore. FRAK. Check back later to see if I've coded up a solution.
If you use Wordpress and are looking for a way to publish your WP content to your MySpace account, I've written a dead simple plugin that makes it pretty easy. Read on for the gory details. Otherwise, just back away nice and slow-like. Or watch the nice video in the post below this one.
(And yes, I know MySpace totally sucks and is still totally ugly and why are we still supporting MySpace anyway and they're owned by Satan's News Corp. and urf hurf a durf.)
Some backstory:
Until recently, the best way to cross-post items from Wordpress into MySpace was to use Roderick Russell's MySpace Crossposter plugin. Nice work sword-swallower guy! Anyway, as evidenced by the long string of complaints and pleas in the comments over there, Roderick's plugin stopped working as MySpace "redesigned."
I thought I'd be a hero and figure out why the plugin stopped working. But after spending a day untangling the code and the MySpace login process, I was getting nowhere. MySpace is crazy-making, hardened against automated access via scripts, usually involves a CAPTCHA, and most of my attempts ended up here anyway because MySpace requires JavaScript.
But then I did some digging and found that MySpace has an open endpoint for people to re-post any web content to their MySpace account as a blog, bulletin or link item. Perfect! Forget automation, how about we just make it easier than cutting-and-pasting.
So I made a plugin that packages up a Wordpress post and ships it off to MySpace with a single button:
There's no automatic publishing; you still have to log in at least once. But there's something really elegant about the workflow. You get a nice preview, so there's no worrying about your formatting getting mangled in transit:
The plugin itself is very brief and hardly rocket surgery, but if you're into hacking Wordpress it's a good example of how to create your own "meta box" menus to the posting/editing pages. Feel free to hack away.
Posted December 21, 2009
"Note To Self" is the only new song I'd call completed this year. I actually wrote most of it in August 2008, but it got stuck with a less-than-stellar vocal melody that was no fun to sing. I was pretty much resigned to abandoning the song when I caught a new melody driving home from rehearsal with Explone a few weeks back. That inspired me to bang out the rest of the lyrics. Consider this video a first draft.
Hope to post an audio demo soon, and more video stuff in general for 2010.
Posted December 14, 2009
My old buddy Ed Stenger (who runs this popular Rush fansite) snapped this photo of Laurie and I performing as the Walkingbirds in Cleveland OH. Wow. I'm guessing this was probably taken around 1996. There are very, very few photos of us from that time.
That's the same drum I use to record demos today. That smug lost-in-the-rhythm look makes wonder what I was thinking at the moment this was taken. 2009 me kind of wants to smack 1996 me upside the head.
If you're new here and haven't heard the Walkingbirds stuff, you can find it about halfway down this page right heeyah.
Posted December 12, 2009
Posted November 26, 2009
My bandmate Patrick from Explone is opening solo for former Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart (shown above) tonight at the High Dive. Go Pat!
In other news, I'll be playing a short 30-minute set at the KISS Cafe in Ballard on 11/28. It's only my second (and probably last) solo gig of 2009, and I'm thinking about playing nothing but covers, using a pseudonym, and possibly wearing a disguise. I'm opening for Kyle Stevens, who'll be dipping into his vast catalog of Collider, Kirby Krackle and eponymous tunage.
(Grant Hart photo courtesy of Bill Wilcox.)
Posted November 18, 2009
Posted November 17, 2009
Explone is embarking on a roadtrip this weekend, opening for Will Wakefield and his band. Here are some action shots of our last gig at the High Dive:
(Above pics courtesy of Seth Wonner.)
And here's an iPhone cam shot of rehearsal, from behind the mic:
Posted November 11, 2009
Explone recently snagged a gig opening for L.A. indie rock dudes Low vs. Diamond (shown above) when they come through Seattle on October 22nd. They're on Epic Records and have performed on both Letterman and Leno. NO FAIR. I will punish them for their success by sneaking onto their tour bus and trying on all their fancy rock clothes!
Just kidding! The judge warned me to stop doing that.
Advance tickets are recommended, get 'em here.
Posted October 10, 2009