Freedom Riders

Anybody going to watch this? A little known fact: my cousin, Ray Arsenault, literally wrote the book on the Freedom riders, and by that I mean the book that this series is based on. He has been on Fresh Air, and was recently on Oprah, and my guess is he will get airtime in this. All kinfolk boasting aside, it does look like an interesting documentary.

Paberback Book Swap

So there's this service where you can post paperback books you want to give away. Somebody says they want it, you mail it to them and then you can order a free book from someone else. All it costs you is the postage to mail your book to someone else. The book you want comes to your mailbox. Cheaper, but a bit more trouble than Amazon. I'm liking the savings and don't mind the legwork so much. They have a CD service, too, but you bastards probably aren't into music.

If you sign up, tell 'em I referred you and I get some Tupperware or something. mcurtis@shareone.com

The $39 Experiment

This guy decided to use a roll of stamps (back when they were .39) and send out 100 letters to different companies asking for free stuff. His amusing letters and the chart of his successes is interesting to look at. I think he ended up with over $200 worth of free stuff for his $39 investment. Worth a look.

You Can Thank Me Later

Here's a blog that has an amazing number of mp3s for you music collecting bastards. Don't be put off by some of the strange selections on the main page; scroll down a ways and look at the alphabetical archives on the right hand side. A treasure trove for looking for that 'one' song of a band that you like. I have spent hours on this site, and the fruit of my labors is inspiring. Have fun, and don't forget your families.

Not That You Bastards Deserve It.....

...but Francine Talks Pretty! Join me, won't you, for the following:

Dirty Dozen Brass Band: The New Orleans Album
Before they tried to shorten their name to 'The Dozen' and embrace hip hop and all manner of other stuff, the DDBB were pure New Orleans. This album features songs by Kidd Jordan, Fats Domino, Dave Bartholemew, and many others. Just the thing for Mardi Gras.

Cheap Trick: Rockford
The latest album from our boys from Illinois. I find it particularly strong. Give it a listen or two; they haven't lost a step.

Rufus Wainwright: Rufus Wainwright
The debut album from the Candian wunderkind. I go back and forth on this one, but there's no denying his talent.

Steve Turner: New Wave Punk Asshole
Highly, highly recommended. This album, from Mudhoney's lead guitar player, is just a fantastic exercise in post-grunge punk pop. Highlights include: I Know You Scorpio, Sex Date Saturday Night, and Oh, Paula. Anxious to know what you bastards think of this one.

Dr. Tufnel, I presume?

Christopher Guest was recently awarded an honorary doctorate at Berklee. Link to this page to watch videos of a fifty bassist (combined IQ: 78) rendition of 'Big Bottoms' and other good stuff. The real treat for me, if you look under the videos, is an mp3 of Elvis Costello performing a pre-taped version of 'Penny For Your Thoughts' from Waiting for Guffman, one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite movies!

You guys put the F in my Teepee

Looks like we're going a little Freakin' Totally Psycho these days, what with all this tuneage. Check the Flat Trapdoor Palladium for the first Cheap Trick album, as well as the long-promised Parasites. Everything is a .wma file, so it should work this time.

Great Rock and Roll blog

Stumbled upon the site He's a Whore and was intrigued because that's the name of my favorite Cheap Trick song. Turns out the blog is very interesting and has loads and loads of free live mp3s from Cheap Trick, Wilco and lots of others. The guy is an 'almost-was' in the rock and roll biz who still records and plays out and has some entertaining anecdotes of his rock and roll journey. He also does lots of record reviews, career overviews and offers up the aforementioned mp3s. Last night I snagged stuff by the Beatles, Nirvana, and Weezer. Enjoy, paisanos, and Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Nice Web Service

Do you use this convenient service to bypass all those pesky registration requirements? They now have a Firefox plug-in that makes it even easier to use. When a site pops up a login & password box, you can just right-click in them and let BugMeNot drop in a (usually) valid entry. They also have an email address you can use when some site wants yours.

Google Analytics

Yo, bastards! I got bored last week and installed Google Analytics on the old blargh for shits & giggles. Whaaat? I hear you blankly asking your monitor as coffee dribbles down your chin.

"Google Analytics has been re-designed to help you learn even more about where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site."

Or don't, as the case may be. Yes, our suspicions have been confirmed - it's just us, which is good. Just so you have a greater appreciation for what I've done, GA used to cost $500.00 a month. It's free now, and incredibly powerful; the level of granularity is staggering. Unfortunately for us, it's like killing two copulating flies with a howitzer.

Lurker, send me your gmail address and I'll add you as an admin. You other guys are SOL.

Kinks Show At The Winterland (February 19, 1977)

Hey, free bootleg from Heather at I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS! Get it whilst you can.

Couldn't they have named it Pan or Apollo?

Some geeks who know more about music than Greek mythology have started the Pandora music service. It breaks down the essential characteristics of a song or artist into what they call genes and plays you songs with matching traits. You put in an artist you like to create a station, then give their song suggestions thumbs up or down for how well they match your taste. I issued it some major challenges yesterday, creating stations for Smoking Popes, Tom Waits, Anthony & the J.s and a "Sufjan Costello" station (your can use multiple artists for it to consider). On the up side, they served up some stuff I'd have been very unlikely to find through other sources, sometimes a single track from an artist you wouldn't associate with the musical type you selected. On the down side, they must have a lot of categorizing still to do, the play lists tended to be very repetitive. Also on the down side, if the service's name bears out, the product will unleash all manner of suffering and misery into the world. Probably worth it though, if the music is strong enough. www.pandora.com Joe: They're hiring! However, there's this deflating statement in the job description: "No musical experience necessary." Also, under job requirements: "White fur coat." Doh!

Download This Today While It's Free!

From Giveaway of the Day:

"Hard Drive Inspector is a powerful, convenient and effective program based on the S.M.A.R.T. technology, which allows controlling health of your hard disk drives.

Most computer users argue that information stored on their computer is the most valuable element of the computer system. With the help of the S.M.A.R.T. System, Hard Drive Inspector allows you to predict a possible failure of the HDD before this occurs. As the access to electronic information becomes more and more vital in business and at home, Hard Drive Inspector allows exceeding the traditional limits of HDDs reliability, thus extending the level of valuable user data protection.

Hard Drive Inspector has a flexible option system, which allows you to customize the functionality of this utility, according to your needs. Hard Drive Inspector has an easy-to-use, nice-looking interface. It also offers many useful features, which make the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring process full-scale and easy."

YOU MUST DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL TODAY or the deal is no good. Hard Drive Inspector retails for $29.95.