August 2006

HeyLetsGo unveiled a new logo and website design today and it looks good. I created a new group at HLG called Boston Rocks for anyone curious to check out a concert once a week featuring a Boston band.

I’ve had the same WordPress layout for a couple years so I thought I’d try out a new layout compliments of headsetoptions.org. I’ll be adding stuff to the sidebars, modifying the colors and changing the header graphic. You know, with all that copious free time. ;)

WFNX has been running a great Friday night music series at Bill’s Bar on Lansdowne Street. It’s hosted by Dave Duncan, DJ for WFNX’s weekly New England Product show that features an hour of Boston bands. They note themselves as the place to hear Boston band’s first. Of course, that isn’t quite true anymore. The night features three Boston area bands for $5 with doors at 9pm and the first band going on around 10pm. I was there this past Friday to see a new (to me) favorite: The Blizzard of 78 and to finally see awesome power popsters Anushka Pop who I’ve been playing on Exploit Boston Radio for a long time.

Boston is full of great bands. There are so many that it’s impossible to know about all of them. Which I guess is what happened with me and The Blizzard of 78. Prior to 2003 they were known as Delta Clutch. That name at least sounded familiar but I had never seen them live or had any of their music playing on Exploit Boston Radio. Four of the original DC ensemble (minus Phil Aiken) make up The Blizzard of 78: guitarist/bassist Nate Leavitt, bassist/guitarist Christopher Cugini, drummer Paul Myers and singer Pip plus new(er) guy Brian Syrjala on keyboards.

The Blizzard of 78 were so ridiculously good Friday night. They describe themselves as “supercharged soul” and that sums up their live sound perfectly. The band’s debut CD “Where All Life Hangs” came out a couple months ago and it’s worth a purchase either as a regular CD or as a download through iTunes.

I had my camera settings a little messed up at the show; but Matt saved the day and helped me tinker with them in PhotoShop. He also gave me excellent tips for the next time I take photos at a concert. I’m looking forward to doing just that on Tuesday night for the Catherine Rosenzweig benefit concert at Great Scott featuring The Campaign For Real Time, Robby Roadsteamer, Bon Savants, (acoustic) HUMANWINE and commedianne Shane Webb..

I’m looking forward to PodCamp Boston that is coming up on September 9-10, 2006. Chris Brogan and cohorts have put together what looks to be an excellent event at Bunker Hill Community College in Charlestown. I really haven’t done much podcasting yet and I’d especially like to learn more about video blogging. There’s already a big list of session topics. If you’re going to be in the area that weekend, check out the Podcamp website and then register — it’s free! They need donations, too.

Jon at Bostonist clued me into Tourfilter recently. It’s a website to keep tabs on where and when your favorite bands are playing. You can also subscribe to other people’s alerts. I set up my Tourfilter list based on who I play on Exploit Boston Radio. It’s handy!

I use Meebo to log into all my various IM accounts. It’s a handy web-based IM client. They recently unveiled MeeboMe that lets you place a Flash widget on your website to have private instant message conversations with your website visitors. If you’d like to say hello while I’m logged into Meebo, enter your tidbits in the SoozIM widget on the right sidebar area. (If you’re reading this in your RSS reader you will have to actually visit my website. Crazy!)