The podcaster’s dilemma. Do I take time to post media, or go record more?
Last night at the Twisted Pines Festival was exceptional. I recorded an interview with Washboard Hank for an upcoming For The Sake of the Song. I caught Washboard Hank and Karla Crawford’s showcase sets. The legendary Garth Hudson sat in with the Wye River Band then gave a wonderful introduction to the Daniel Lanois movie in which he appears. The evening ended with a spontaneous jam of about a dozen festival musicians led by Mansa Sissoko. I recorded many pictures and about 3 hours of audio last night but I’ve no time to post. Here are 4 youtube clips from, 2 from Washboard Hank, and 2 with the Wye River Band and Garth Hudson.
The Twisted Pines Festival Continues until May 19. Information on showtimes and tickets for the festival can be found at http://twistedpines.com.
On the afternoon of May 15, the Wild Turkey Outfit performed at Bayview Elementary School for 300+ appreciative children and their teachers. They wowed the children with their down-home charm and their tight blugrass and western harmonies.
In the evening, the wonderful Brian Blain and Noah Zacharin were booked as dinner music at the Quarterdeck Restaurant in Victoria Harbour as part of the Twisted Pines Festival. Some amazing musical bonding happened. I was also able to interview each of them for upcoming episodes of For the Sake of the Song.
The evening ended with high energy performances by the Creaking Tree String Quartet and Hamell on Trial.
The Twisted Pines Festival Continues until May 19. Information on showtimes and tickets for the festival can be found at http://twistedpines.com.
Tonight there was a wonderful preview performance by African musician, Mansa Sissoko and Canadian drummer, David Finkle. The podcast features about 10 minutes of it. They will be performing again on Saturday May 17, after a screening of Road To Baylea which features Mansa and several Canadian musicians.
Information on showtimes and tickets for the festival can be found at http://twistedpines.com.
The May 11 performance at Twisted Pines featured a showing of Song Sung Blue followed by a performance by The Great Lake Summers. I recorded a great interview with Tony Decker from Great Lake Swimmers for an upcoming For the Sake of the Song.
I also spoke with Nicolas and Conlin from the Metis Fiddler Quartet, who gave a dynamic performance in the lobby. Here is a short video clip of their performance.
Information on showtimes and tickets for the festival can be found at http://twistedpines.com.
In the Podcast I talk with Darrin Atkinson, drummer for the Wholigans, who grew up in Midland. I also talk with Andrew Nicolls, who introduced the evening. I close the podcast with Paul Northcott giving an overview of the events of the festival this week upcoming. The Festival continues all week from May 11-19 with be nightly presentations of movies about music followed by great live performances, lectures and more. During the daytime, festival performers will be going to local schools.
Information on showtimes and tickets for the festival can be found at http://twistedpines.com.
Ben Sures is a veteran singer songwriter with 4 CDs to his credit. His song, Any Precious Girl won the John Lennon Songwriting competition and placed second in the International songwriting competition His new album, ‘Field Guide to Loneliness was released at the end of February. In February, we had Ben over for a house concert. We recorded the interview just prior to dinner before the concert. Sorry for the background noises, but people were beginning to arrive for dinner and the concert.
Tomorrow, the Twisted Pines Music in Movies Festival kicks off in Midland and Penetanguishene. From May 9-22 there will be nightly presentations of movies about music followed by great live performances, lectures and more. During the daytime, festival performers will be going to local schools.
In this special podcast I play the trailer for About a Son, a biography of Kurt Cobain told in his own words from his writings and personal recordings. I interview Ricki C., who is the road manager for Hamell on Trial, who will be performing on Thursday May 15 and Friday May 16 and at other events throughout the festival. I play Hail from Hamell on Trial’s 2003 Album, Tough Love. I close the show with a trailer for Control, a documentary about the life and death of Ian Curtis, the lead singer for Joy Division.
Information on showtimes and tickets for the festival can be found at http://twistedpines.com.
In one week, the Twisted Pines Music in Movies Festival kicks off in Midland and Penetanguishene. From May 9-22 there will be nightly presentations of movies about music followed by great live performances, lectures and more. During the daytime, festival performers will be going to local schools.
In this special podcast I play the trailer for Amazing Journey, the Story of The Who, (May 9, North Simcoe Recreation Centre with a performance by the Wholigans). Paul Northcott gives an overview of the events festival. I play a trailer for Song Sung Blue, a documentary about a couple who have a Neil Diamond and Reba McIntire Tribute act (Sunday, May 11, 2008 at the Inn at Bay Moorings followed with perfomances by the Great Lake Swimmers and the Metis Fiddler Quartet). . I close the podcast with the trailer for All Hat which can be seen on May 12, 2008 at the Inn at Bay Moorings followed with a perfomance by theLive Performance of The United Steel Workers of Montreal.
I’m having some trouble with an overzealous indexing bot repeatedly scraping the media files on my site thousands of times. I’ve temporarily restricted access to all the podcast files of For the Sake of the Song while I straighten this out. I should have things back up tomorrow or Saturday. Thanks for your patience.
UPDATE: May 2. It turns out it was an overzealous indexing bot but there was no significant impact to the site. I’ve turned all the podcast episodes back on and everything should be working properly. Sorry for the one day break in the availability of my podcast.
Rob Heath is an Edmonton based singer-songwriter who I met when I was visiting my parents a couple of years ago. He writes thought-provoking country flavored songs. His CD , Couple of Times Around the Sun, is a polished collection songs from a songwriter at the top of his game. Rob has a new CD coming out in the spring. Be sure to watch for it at his website, robheath.com.
You can leave comments on the blog, send me an email to ductapeguy at hotmail dot com, send me a voice feedback at 206-337-0611, or join the For The Sake of the Song Podcast group on Facebook.
Tomorrow is April K27 and it’s on a weekend, woohoo.
This week there are a few initiatives on the Net you may wish to comment upon.
1) In some sad news, Ross from the Dry Shave podcast has had a heart attack. Mark Blevis has organized a campaign to send Ross funny get well cards. For more information, you can check out Mark’s post at http://www.markblevis.com/humourous-get-well-cards-for-ross/ .
Please send your humourous get well cards by May 5 to:
Zee
c/o Mark Blevis
PO Box 4813, Station E
Ottawa, ON K1S 5H9
Canada
Mark will forward them on to Ross to enjoy.
2) Mike the Birdman Dodd of This Week in Geek has organized a campaign to help his friend, classmate and podcasting partner, Pierce Derks. In short: Pierce is an American Citizen applying for Canadian Residency and the process is stalled. This is putting his education at Niagara College in jeopardy unless he can come up with about $10000 for International student tuition fees. You can find out more at http://www.savepierce.org.
3) Congratulations to Dave Fleet ( http://davefleet.com ) for completing the Boston Marathon, and for using his marathon run to raise $2315 for cancer research.
That’s all for me today
Take some time tomorrow to send some feedback to a podcast and continue the conversation.
Over the past few weeks, several of my peers in the podcasting community have reached the milestone of 100 shows. Congratulations to Mark and Bob at the Canadian Podcast Buffet, Isabelle and Dave at Broca’s Area, Mitch Joel at Six Pixels of Separation, and Javier, Gerard and the crew at the Hands and Feet Show. The Bob and AJ show is at show 98 and should be able to release their 100th show before Podcasters Across Borders in June.
My current episode of For the Sake of the Song with Kyle Heimann from Popple is Episode 50. I was feeling a little down that it will be some time before I reach my 100th episode, then I started doing soime math. I currently have 6 more shows ‘in the can’ to be released between now and the end of June. With podcast extras, and other special episodes I have 65 produced shows on my For the Sake of the Song site. I also produced 25 audio podcasts for my Lenten multimedia project, 40 Days of Catholic Media on my Catholic Canadian site. We produced 14 episodes of the Podcamp Toronto Podcast this winter. My recording of my brother in law, Drew Beatty’s podcast novel, White Trash Land has 23 sections. Since October 2006, I have hosted about 20 episodes of the Librivox Community Podcast. I have also completed 89 sections of public domain books and poetry for Librivox. There are probably a couple special one-off projects with groups like Twisted pines that I’m overlooking as well.
Just a sec while I do the math here.
65 plus 25– carry the one, add 14 plus 23, then 20 more add 89 equals…
236 audio programs that I have produced in the last 18 months or so.
(give or take a few)
Well none of my projects is currently near the century mark, I do believe I’m amassing a fair body of work.
Enough of blowing my own horn. I now return you to the regularly scheduled conversations with some wonderful songwriters.
Fortunately, I was able to arrange an interview with Kyle Heimann of Popple. Popple are getting quite well known around the podosphere for their quirky, funny nerdy songs about life and faith.
Unfortunately, we had to reschedule the interview.
Fortunately, Kyle installed Skype so we could record in relatively high quality using his professional mic and mixer.
Unfortunately, his connection would cut out for about 4 seconds every minute or so.
Fortunately, he was willing to use Skype just as a conduit and record his own end of the conversation then I could piece them together.
Fortunately, that meant he could play songs live on the recording.
Unfortunately, the problem wasn’t with Kyle’s internet connection. His computer was taking a 5 sec nap every few minutes.
Fortunately, I just spliced in the album cuts of Popple’s songs.
Unfortunately, my editing program crashed just before I finished the editing, and I neglected to save it.
Fortunately, I had the original files, and just edited them together again.
Unfortunately, just as I finished saving the Mp3, I was tidying my hard disk and DELETED the WHOLE WORKING FOLDER!!!!! AARRGGHHH!!!
Fortunately, I edited it back together again and it’s awesome.
Podcast Special: Remembering Willie P. Bennett [10:05m]: Play in Popup | Download (160)
For many years, I have loved the music and antics of Washboard Hank, both with his own band and as a member of Fred Eaglesmith’s band. Last week, he was in town performing and schools and playing a couple of promotional events for Twisted Pines Music and Art. I caught up with Hank and we reminisced about the life and death of his good friend Willie P. Bennett.
We were joined by Paul Northcott the A.D. of the Twisted Pines Festival who shared some of his memories of Willie P., and gave a sneak peek into some of the events happening at the Twisted Pines Music in Movies Festival on May 5-19 in Midland and Penetanguishene. Washboard Hank will be performing at the festival, and I hope to record a full episode of For the Sake of the Song with him, showcasing his songwriting and his music.
About 18 months ago, we made the difficult decision to close the Mundy’s Bay Folk Society after 17 years due to rising expenses and declining attendance at our monthly live music performances.
I was quite excited when a new organization in our town sprung up to present live music. Twisted Pines Music and Art produced a 5 day festival of music, movies and visual arts last Victoria Day weekend at a variety of locations in Midland and Penetanguishene. I helped out stage managing one of the stages, and recording as many interviews as I could for my podcast. It’s not often that so many songwriters are in one place in my hometown.
Over the past year Twisted Pines has been quite active in producing a variety of events in my area: concerts, movies, author readings at local libraries, performances in local schools and regular after school workshops at the Penetanguishene library.
This May 9-19, they are presenting Twisted Pines Music in Movies featuring nightly screenings of music themed movies and documentaries, followed by Q and A sessions with filmakers and musicians involved in the movies and performances by some amazing bands. Festival Performers will also be doing presentations at a number of local schools during the weeks of the Festival. I’ll be there recording interviews, helping out where I can, and enjoying the general vibe of the festival.
Over the past year I have produced nearly a dozen programs in conjuction with Twisted Pines Music and Art. Check out the following:
A smattering of the November 30th Evening Featuring an introduction by Paul Northcott, Music by Pork Belly Futures, poetry by Holmes Hooke, and a reading by Claire Cameron with background music by Pork Belly Futures. A good time was indeed had by all.
In November I was asked to give a presentation on listening to and creating podcasts at the Penetanguishene Public Library in conjunction with Twisted Pines. Here are my slides and notes:I have a podcast and you can too
To Be Released: Interview with Washboard Hank and Paul Northcott remembering Willie P Bennet and promoting the upcoming Twisted Pines Movies and Music Festival.
Episode 49 with Paul Quarrington and Pork Belly Futures [50:02m]: Play in Popup | Download (139)
For many years I have enjoyed the novels of Paul Quarrington. Paul is a Canadian author who has written novels, magazine articles, screenplays and songs for over 30 years. He has received the prestigious Governor General’s Literary award for English Fiction and the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. In the early 80’s, he had a number 1 Canadian single with Martin Worthy as Quarrington-Worthy. He and Martin Worthy also toured for many years with Joe Hall and The Continental Drift. They are still together as the core of Pork Belly Futures, which also includes Chas Elliot, Stuart Laughton and Rebecca Campbell.
This episode of For the Sake of the Song is a bit unusual. In November, Pork Belly Futures played a benefit concert for the Twisted Pines Music Festival in Penetanguishene. Paul Quarrington and Claire Cameron also did public readings at the Midland and Penetanguishene public libraries. Their day was so tightly booked that I could not record a dedicated 1/2 hour interview with Paul. Instead, you will hear us at the library readings, performances by Pork Belly Futures at the concert that evening, and short interviews with Paul Quarrington, Martin Worthy and Chas Elliot.
You can leave comments on the blog, send me an email to ductapeguy at hotmail dot com, send me a voice feedback at 206-337-0611, or join the For The Sake of the Song Podcast group on Facebook.
There is a wonderful music store in Downtown Midland, Johnstone’s Music Land which has been run by 3 generations of the same family. It is a funky small town music store which has over the years sold musical instruments, stereos, rented rehearsal space, sold records, then tapes, then CDs, and rented PA equipment. They also were great about having a rack in front of the store for recordings by local musicians. In short, it is much like any other small town music store. I pop in there when I need strings for my guitar or just to shoot the breeze. When I went in the other day to chat, I noticed that the CD racks have been replaced by shelves and shelves of sheet music and more floor space for instruments. I asked Steve if they had gotten out of CD sales. He said that it was no longer profitable for a small business to stock and sell CDs. It’s been many years since I bought a mainstream CD, so I asked when they had had gotten rid of the CDs. He said that it was 2 years ago. I hadn’t even noticed. It was the only retail store where you could buy my CD. Ouch.
I also noticed a couple weeks ago that the gigantic Music World in a mall in Barrie has closed down and has not been replaced. I guess the world really has moved to digital.
Kevin and Jessica Lockhead are an Orillia duo who perform under the name, Chinook. They initially began performing as a Lightfoot tribute band but quickly branched out into playing Kevin’s original songs. Their CD, Long End of the Road, can be purchased from their website, or atThe Fireside Shop (79 Mississaga St.W. Orillia, Ont., (705) 326-4606). You can often hear their music on Swisssh Internet Radio, Orillia’s own streaming internet radio station.
As always, you can leave comments on the blog, send me an email to ductapeguy at hotmail dot com, send me a voice feedback at 206-337-0611, or join the For The Sake of the Song Podcast group on Facebook.
I realized that I have enough feedback and responses to For the Sake of the Song to prepare a feedback episode, so here goes.
K7 Day on March 17 was a resounding success. I sent out voice messages to about 11 podcasts, and I received 3 voicemail messages: 1 for a Catholic Canadian and two which I’ll play here. Just a reminder that tomorrow is March K27. Take 7 minutes to send some voice feedback to a podcaster or two. K7 Day was also featured on the Canadian Podcast Buffet. Thanks Mark and Bob.
Check out the K7 Day group on Facebook. Join the group and remember to add to the conversation by leaving a message for a podcaster on the 7th, 17th and 27th of the month. P.S. my K7 feedback number is 206-337-0611 . I am hoping that this meme will catch on as the months go by.
A few episodes back, I featured an interview with Tom Slatter. Apparently that interview inspired Tom to think about why he started the Songwright blog and podcast. Here is Songwright - A Manifesto (kind of) « Songwright. I’m flattered to have inspired a manifesto– sort of.
Voice Feedback from: John Meadows of the exceptional On the Log podcast. Drew Beatty also left a voice message.
I recieved an email from Stevie Z from The Sieve recommending that I check out Robbie Hancock. I will definitely do that.
I got another email recommendation from Maria Johnson suggesting that I interview Joe Tunon (holymoly.net). I’ve done that and it’s scheduled for release on June 20. I love getting guest recommendations from my listeners. I figure that if someone likes another person’s songwriting enough to recommend them, then I should check that writer out. Thus far I’ve done about 4 shows based on listener recommendations. Keep them coming.
My daughter has taken to writing lovely songs. I have a recording of her singing Alley Cat.
For the Sake of the Song and A Catholic Canadian are finally available on the Itunes Music Store. It took me some time to get around to it because there is no Itunes client for linux and in order to submit a podcast, you have to have an Itunes account which requires that you give Apple a credit card number. Don’t get me started on that.
As always, you can leave comments on the blog, send me an email to ductapeguy at hotmail dot com, send me a voice feedback at 206-337-0611, or join the For The Sake of the Song Podcast group on Facebook.
Tim Chesterton is an Edmonton based folk-singer-songwriter, novelist, prolific blogger, and Anglican minister. His blog, Talespin is a central repository for his music, his photography, the evolving drafts of his novel, A Time to Mend, and his insights on the Internet and everyday life. He has produced one CD, The Falcon Carol, which can be purchased through his website. Proceeds from the sale of the CD go to Habitat for Humanity. I met Tim at an open stage in Edmonton when I was visiting my parents there a couple years ago.
I had a bit of a brainwave. Alot of podcasters use the free K7 voicemail service to receive voice comments. A drawback of the service is that like many free internet services, if you don’t use it for 30 days, you lose your K7 number. I also know that podcasters love to receive voice feedback, so I have a simple proposal:
I am declaring the 7th, 17th and 27th of each month as K7 days. On a K7 day take 7 minutes to leave voice feedback for some of your favorite podcasts.
In my feedback I may mention that it’s K7 day and ask the recipients to pass it on. It can be a kind of chain of good will, … and it will reset the counter for the recipient’s voicemail number.
If your like me, you’ve been meaning to respond to a few shows at any given time. On the K17th of March, try to reach out to other podcasters.
P.S. my K7 feedback number is 206-337-0611.
Remember that K7 numbers are in the Seattle area code so normal long distance charges may apply. I use SkypeOut, so I have almost unlimited North American calling.
Update: I set up a K7 Day group on facebook. Join the group and remember to add to the conversation by leaving a message for a podcaster on the K17th.
Today marks one year since I recorded Episode 01- For the Sake of the Song-The Podcast. It’s been a fun time. In that year I’ve released 45 podcast episodes of For the Sake of the Song, but I’ve actually produced 54 episodes. I have shows ready to release on the 10th, 20th and 30th of each month up to the middle of June. I have enjoyed interviewing other songwriters and it has certainly given me many insights into how and why people write songs.
I’m not going to say which episodes or guests were my favorites. Like songs or children, they are all my favorite. However, I’m interested in knowing which guests or songs were your favorites in the past year.
You can send your comments to ductapeguy@hotmail.com, leave me a voicemail at 206-337-0611. (Long distance charges to Seattle may apply),.or leave me comments here on the blog.
If I get enough response over the next few days, I might prepare a best of … clip show.
Tom Slatter is a London, UK based songwriter and podcaster. He is half of the acoustic pop duo We’ll Write and produces the wonderful Songwright blog and podcast where he explores music theory to get inside the structure and process of crafting a song.
For 20 years, Manitoba Hal Brolund has been travelling all over North America, perfecting his blues sound. He is a master of the blues and a Master of the ukelele. He is also a master at using the internet to promote his music, expand his audience, and develop new revenue streams. He has 8 CDs available at manitobahal.com, CDbaby.com, Apple iTunes, Bitmunk, PayPlay, Tradebit, MusicIs Here, Chondo, or GreatIndieMusic.
Tomorrow, February 29, 2008, he is releasing his new CD Worn Out Shoes. The show will be live from Montreal Canada and also happen simultaniously in Second Life at the House of Flames. A couple live versions of songs from that CD appear on this episode. Enjoy.
Discography
Worn Out Shoes - 2008
Come The Ruination– 2006
Resonator - 2005
Ukulele Bluesman - 2005
This Condition - 2003
Kick At The Stones - 2002
Railroad Bill and Other Folk Blues - 2000
When Hal Freezes Over - 1999
Flatland Cafe - 1997
When he’s not on the road on an endless tour, you can find him on Second Life: performing as his alter-ego Forsythe Whitfield. He is currently working on a new CD with David Essig and Mae Moore, which should be ready this spring.
For the Sake of the Song
