The Tater Blog

Posts Tagged ‘web’

(But that trick never works!) Well, we’ll see. We were finally able to record the coast-to-coast CD release party for menagerie this past Saturday, and it should be broadcast this coming Saturday, Feb 27 on Mike Lidskin’s TWIRL radio in Sacramento, CA. We tried doing the broadcast live over a Skype connection, but had some drops on Mike’s end, so fortunately he recorded the whole show and will re-broadcast in its entirety this weekend. The Taters have basically the whole show, which will be Mike playing lots of cuts from the CD, interspersed with live performances and interviews with the band.  We all gathered around the mic in the Fabulous Zebra Room here in Richmond last weekend, with a full party going on in the next room, and Mike & Amber had guests on their end as well. You can tune in via the web at the TWIRL radio site this coming Saturday and find out!  The show broadcasts at 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern time.

In the meantime, there are several cuts from the live portion of the show over at our YouTuber site. Here’s one example:

We’ll call this a tribute to that other band that all played around the mic just a scant 45 years ago (yipes!). There’s also a pretty fun medley of Roger Miller songs, but I’ll have to hear the show this week to remember why that was happening!

menagerie won Best Album in the 2010 Twirlie Awards last night in Sacramento. Mike and Amber Lidkin, the hosts of the show were able to hook up a conference call with Brad & I during the show, and I think the whole thing will be on a podcast soon. Here’s a past Tater bit from Twirl Radio, and Mike also has another show on Recharged Radio, The Tuesday Night Dinner Show on… well… Tuesday nights! You can listen to both shows over the web thru the 21st century magic of streaming audio (those crazy kids and their computers!), and Mike has started posting podcasts of that show, too. He’s been a great supporter of the Taters over the years and a big fan of indie music.

TWIRL Radio also has, as you might expect, a Facebook Page and a Twitter feed so go out and become the fan you want to be.

And don’t forget to tune into TWIRL on Feb 20 for our coast-to-coast CD release for menagerie!

If all goes well, we’re planning to try again for the coast-to-coast hook-up on Sat, Feb 20. The show airs at 4pm Pacific time, and 7pm Eastern. For the rest of the world, I’m sure Google will help you figure it out. The show will stream over the TWIRL Radio site, so you can listen live, no matter where you be, and Mike may be planning on recording and podcasting it as well. The “plan” is to setup a Skype connection on both ends, and we’ll play some songs live during our party on our end, Mike will have the live feed, as well as the CD cuts he’ll play on his end. Who knows – maybe it’ll all work out?

Strange but true!

Also, a plug for Mike’s other show on Recharged Radio. He’s played Tater cuts there as well, so go check that out

no maybe’s about it, it’s bitter! Thermometer says 20, but a lot wind blowing bits of snow onto the frontal plane! We had to cancel the coast-to-coast CD release party tonight -- snow on our end will keep us from gathering around one mic, and Mike’s sick on the Sacramento side, so we’re both under the weather! Hope to reschedule in Feb -- maybe I’ll have the whole Skype thing figured out by then. The connection seems to work fine, but I’ve got to work out a way to let us talk and play on this end but still hear Mike on the other end without feeding back. We’ve only ever done this over the phone in the past, so it wasn’t an issue.

In the meantime, since I’m snowed in I’ve been wandering about YouTube finding fun things. Here’s a great video of some early Nick Lowe, from the Brinsely Schwarz days. The TV tag says 1973. Love the 70’s Monchichi cut!

things have been quite busy in Taterland over the last few months, and most times I clean forget to add updates! Sorry, I promise I’ll try to try harder. Or at least I’ll try.

I’m sitting in the studio now listening to final and near-final mixes on menagerie. There have been a few setbacks, but it’s still alive and kicking, just taking longer (always!) than I thought it would. I’m also working on finishing the cover art, liner notes, all the publishing stuff, etc, and working with the pressing plant to get that all setup. But all that notwithstanding, I’m hoping for a Halloween release, so keep your bony fingers crossed!

On a related note, watch for the October release of  Virginia Creepers: THE HORROR HOST TRADITION OF THE OLD DOMINION.  It’s a documentary featuring stories and clips of classic Virginia late night horror show TV shows. The Taters have a song in the soundtrack, a menagerie cut called “Wolfman Told Me Tonight”, so you’ll want to get a copy of the film ! A lot of you know the song from our shows over the years, but this is the debut of the recorded version. On an inexplicable note, the website for Virginia Creepers lists our tune as a “romantic ditty” (??), so I don’t know what to tell you about that. Not a big Valentine tune to my way of thinking but hey, it made the cut so we’re happy!

Spread a little Tater around

Think about the last time you bought something from a friend’s recommendation, or because you read a review of a book, movie, album, whatever. Chances are that review or recommendation made more of an impact on you than any “official” advertising from the manufacturer. One of the most beneficial aspects of the web is this ability to spread “word-of-mouth” recommendations across a much larger audience.

Same is true with Tater tunes. We have all sorts of people who come to see us or buy the CDs because someone told them about us, or they read a recommendation from someone. You could be a big part of spreading the word about The Taters, not only by telling your friends but also by posting reviews of our music or shows on the web. Nearly every place that sells the music online – CD Baby , iTunes , Amazon , you name it – has some way for you to post reviews and comments. It would be a great help to what we’re trying to do (merely get every single individual on the planet to hear us) if you’d add some reviews of your own. Say whatever you like, tell about your favorite song on an album, what you like about the music, etc. If you use iTunes, make a playlist that includes the Taters music and share the list so others will find it! Every single voice helps, believe me!

Just a quick posting, so I can get something up here! Here are a few videos posted by a Tater fan on YouTube. These are from a recent show we did with Willie Nelson in Richmond.

The Kiss

That’s Where I Belong

There are lots of other Tater videos from a variety of folks over at our YouTube site -- Tatervids

OK, I just noticed tonight that I have 2 entries on IMDB.com, and I think that’s a hoot! I was looking up long-time friend and “real” animator Eric Daniels after watching a movie. I noticed a film we both worked on way back in 1987 when I was living in LA and working in animation. In a pure fit of six-degrees-of-separation-post-modernism I searched my name and sure enough, I’m listed out there. Just seems funny to me!

the world just got smaller…!

No matter how many hours or years I spend on the computer, mostly online, I’m still always surprised at how many hours and years I can spend on the computer, mostly online. I get very easily distracted and before I know it I’m 12 more tabs away from what I was originally reading or working on.  I love tabbed browsers, but they have their cost!

Recently found 2 tools that may help a lot if I can remember to use them. Readability is a tool that removes pretty much all but the text on a web page, and formats it to your liking for easy reading. Try it and see if it doesn’t help!

Quietube does a similar thing for videos. Just use the bookmark while you’re on a YouTube page, and it will show you the video without all the rest of the page behind it. Granted, if you’re out just browsing for things to look at or listen to, or are in an exploring mode, these tools will be at cross purposes, but if there’s something you want to concentrate on, they are great!

Song clip

Here’s another clip from an early mix for the new CD. This one, Lonely Like That, is one of the quieter songs on the CD, and features guest-Grandson Alan MacEwen on trumpet.

Lonely Like That (early mix, clip)

We’re in the mixing stages now, with almost all recording finished. As always, time and money are slowing things down – never enough of either – but it’s coming together. Thanks very much to the folks who have made donations toward the completion of this behemoth – I hope you’ll love the results! We’re looking at a few fund-raising opportunities to help finish the thing up, so I’ll let you know about that as soon as I figure it out!

The Taters music was included in another podcast, this time on the Indie Music Sampler blog. We have several songs out on the Podsafe Music Network, a site that is sort of a host for bands to share their music roylaty-free with podcasters looking for songs to add to their online shows. It’s a great way to get people to hear the band, and we often end up with new fans and CD sales as a result, so it’s a win-win in my book, especially for indie bands. Check out the Indie Music Sampler, download their podcast, and be sure to tell them you’re a Taters fan!

Here’s a few other shows that have played Tater music on their podcasts. Several have played us multiple times, and in most cases you can contact the podcast owner and ask which episodes we’re on:

Dalecast (we’ve been on episodes 164, 165, 204, 206… oh, just lots!

Bugcast

Poddycast

Inside My Head

A Quiet Time

UC Radio

WLSO

My Pocket Player

The New Forest

Filmed But Not Forgotten

If you or anyone you know hosts a podcast, be sure to tell them about the Podsafe Music Network, and point them to the Taters on there!

continuing to try to find ways to link all the various web stuff we have out there. Found out how to link this blog over to our Reverbnation blog, so that helps some. Now, if I could just get all of our sites to read from the same calendar…!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, and takes a little time to remember some things you’re thankful for. If you’re anything like me, I’ll bet there are probably a few you’ve forgotten.