Happy New Year, everybody. In case you missed the individual notes posted along with all the other regular episodes over the past few weeks, I just wanted to let you all know that as of today we will no longer be posting new episodes of the GaragePunk Podcast Network here on the ol’ GaragePunk blog. After managing this network for well over four years and in light of other recent news, I’ve decided it’s just time to retire from managing this “network” day in and day out and start the year off by giving the show hosts the freedom to do their own thing. Basically, what that means is you will still be able to subscribe to the various programs you’ve come to know and love individually—just as you always have—as well as listen to them in streaming audio—on the hosts’ pages at the GaragePunk Hideout, since their Music Players should all be programmed with their podcast feeds. Those guys will actually also now have more flexibility with their programs in that they’ll be able to post new episodes whenever they please, rather than trying to stick to some sort of schedule, which, frankly, was a pain in the ass to try and maintain when you’re juggling 25 or so different shows. So while they’re all looking forward to the added independence in not having a schedule to follow, I’m looking forward to having more time on my hands, time that won’t be spent managing the schedule and posting the shows every day on this blog. Win-win!
Below you will find links to where you can now find each show as well as each show’s RSS feed for subscribing in iTunes or whatever podcatcher you choose to use. So be sure to bookmark your favorites, or, better yet, add them to your friends list on the Hideout if you haven’t already. I imagine that they will all keep you posted about new episodes and will appreciate your continued support. I’ll leave this list up for a few months, but at some point I’ll probably just redirect GaragePunk.com straight over to the Hideout. At that point, the archive of old, defunct shows may disappear from here forever, unless those old hosts (such as Blair, Steve, Nick, Comptroller, etc.) also want to archive their old shows on their Hideout blogs. Remember, too, that almost all of our podcasts are available to hear over on Blip.tv (the hosting site for about 95% of our podcasts).
Spreadshirt is offering time-sensitive discounts on all shirts produced in the GaragePunk Store for a limited time, but these only apply to U.S. and Canadian customers. They are as follows:
December 6-8, 2008
20% off all orders over $30.00, shipping costs do not apply
December 9-11, 2008
15% off all orders orders over $30.00, shipping costs do not apply
December 12-15, 2008
10% off all orders over $30.00, shipping costs do not apply
Well, since it’s been live now for a couple of days, I figured I’d go ahead and tell you about our new custom-designed WordPress theme here on GaragePunk.com. Basically, this was the final step in a complete design overhaul here that began earlier this year when we unveiled the “GRGPNK” fuzzbox logo on our podcast feed and Myspace page, and it’s now in line with new look of The Hideout and other various enclaves of the GaragePunk.com global industrial complex, and you’ve no doubt seen some of the art featured prominently on several podcast posts over the past few months.
The guy that came up with all of this great artwork is Röntgen (otherwise known as Sebastian Klebe). He first contacted me last November with his idea about creating a GaragePunk “corporate” design for a school graphic design project. His idea was to create old-school punk-style, xeroxed artwork in black and white with one other color to accentuate the design. I even recall him using the phrase “fucked up and photocopied” at one point. The concept and his initial designs looked fucking great to me (I’ve always dug that style of xeroxed, low-budget artwork, anyway) so I gave him the green light to proceed and told him that I’d be more than happy to adopt the concept on the site when the project was finished.
I was going to try and tell you a little bit more about Röntgen, but I thought I’d just let him do that himself:
I’m 29 years old and live in Hagen/Westfalia, Germany. I am studying graphic design and started the GaragePunk.com thing for a college course in conceptional design (I was listening to the GaragePunk Podcasts a lot while working, so this was obvious). The idea was to create a raw design where all elements are reduced to the absolute minimum, no silly curlicues or superfluous effects (just like the music) and so I used the big white torn sections to transport the information, and put the wild and noisy aspects of lo-fi rock’n'roll to the image plane, containing tons of ready-made images from the pop culture around the music.
One part of the project was to create a website, and because I have no idea about how the modern media works I asked my friend, Jan Eckhoff, to help me realize the website. He’s a freelancer making a living with public relations stuff and he’s doing a lot of shit for the local punk scene in hagen, organizing concerts, writing for fanzines, all that.
Besides this thing I do a lot of rock’n'roll graphic artwork like record covers, shirts and concert/gig posters, and I also play in a rock’n'roll band called The Separates. My own website (www.amazingxrayvision.com) will be online soon, but at the moment you only find a link to my gigposters site and an email address.
If you dig Röntgen’s work as much as I do and would like to own a limited-edition, two-colored, screen-printed “GaragePunk.com” poster exactly like the one at the top of this post (23″x33″, limited to 30 copies, signed and numbered), shoot him a message via the Hideout. They’re just $10 plus postage and handling.
If you would like to get in touch with Jan (the guy who applied Röntgen’s art to WordPress), email mail@janeckhoff.de.
Lee LeFever, the guy that made the great Twitter in Plain English video to help explain Twitter to people, has recently produced a new video that does the same thing for podcasting. I know there are still many people who come here to listen to our podcasts that are still confused about what podcasting really is and why it’s so much better than traditional broadcasting as well as streaming audio, and as such are not really taking advantage of the benefits that podcasting offers as it pertains to listening to (or subscribing to) your favorite shows, so I wanted to post the video here for those people to watch.
There’s no podcast today so I thought I’d tell you about a few new T-shirts which were just added to the GaragePunk Store. This one (pictured) is $16.99 and features the very same header logo that you see on the new design of the GaragePunk Hideout (thanks, Röntgen!). Not bad, eh? The old logo is still available as a shirt choice, too, by the way. The “GRGPNK” fuzzbox sticker design that was posted here a while back is also available as a shirt choice in case that’s more up your alley. Some of the other shirts are a bit pricier because they’re different styles (like the fitted American Athletics one, which is a few dollars more for some reason) or because they also have the site URL printed on the back. I can totally vouch for the quality of these things, too. I’d say they’re even nicer than a screen-printed shirt. That’s just my opinion, though. These are made by Spreadshirt.com, by the way. Check ‘em out! They make excellent, uh… birthday gifts!
We’ve got some brand-new GaragePunk.com stickers featuring Röntgen‘s great “GRGPNK” fuzzbox logo available now for just a buck each (postage paid!). If you’d like one, just click the “buy now” button below…
Lately I’ve been trying to figure out why the GaragePunk Podcast hasn’t gotten listed in the iTunes Podcast Directory like it was, oh, maybe a year ago or whatever. The podcast used to get a lot of exposure and literally hundreds of new subscribers due to that listing, and I wanted to find out why we weren’t listed any longer, so I went on Apple’s website and dug into the Podcast Technical Specification page, where I read the following (I’m pretty sure that by “iTunes Home Page,” they mean the Podcast Directory):
Getting Featured on the iTunes Home Page
At iTunes, we’re constantly on the lookout for podcasts that are breaking new ground with this medium, have new or unusual content, or just capture our interest. When we find them, we like to feature them on the Podcasts home page. While there are no sure-fire ways to get your podcast featured (and no, we do not accept payments for promotion), there are some minimum requirements. To be featured by iTunes, podcasts must have:
An attractive, original image that does not include the iPod (emphasis mine) or other Apple-branded content. For image specs, see the iTunes Image section below.
A robust and accurate description.
Proper language, category, and explicit tagging.
In addition, featured podcasts must be regularly updated with new episodes. We occasionally feature a podcast after its first episode, but we generally like to see podcasts with at least 3 episodes, and we like to see that the most recent episode has been added in the past month. Ideally, the episodes should be released on a regular and predictable basis. More than 100 podcasts are submitted every day, so it is impossible to feature all of the good ones.
D’oh! So that’s why our podcast hasn’t been featured in the Podcast Directory lately… OK, so I grabbed some goofy clipart books at work and started flipping through them looking for something–ANYTHING–to replace that iPod with, and I found this goofy dog caricature with “KEEP SMILING” in big bold letters beneath it. So I scanned it in and stuck that dog face where the iPod used to be and added it to our RSS feed, and I think the combination of the dog with his tongue hanging out, dangling over the old logo’s juicy crossbones kinda works. I dunno why… something to do with giving dogs bones to chew on or something, I guess. Go figure…
So, I guess if Wikipedia deletes it, then it doesn’t exist, right? I mean, certainly it’s not a legitimate style or sub-genre of rock’n'roll. Why else would they completely remove the page? If you’re in a garage punk band, you must simply cease to exist! *Poof*
Wikipedia needs to get a fucking clue, especially this “Anthony Bradbury” moron. And I’m hoping all fans of garage punk rock’n'roll will help send that message to them.
I’ve been meaning to post about this but keep forgetting… So here goes:
The GaragePunk Podcast recently got added to the “Featured Podcasts” section of the iTunes Music Store under Music Podcasts! We’re not really sure how this happened, or what sort of criteria a podcast must meet in order to get listed here, but it probably just boils down to someone at Apple taking a liking to us. Whatever the reason, it is VERY cool that we’ve garnered this listing because it means a lot of great exposure for our shows and the music featured on ‘em.
The iTunes listing has obviously directed a lot of traffic our way, as our subscription numbers recently jumped to almost 700 and the number of downloads has also jumped to somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 downloads per show. These are pretty staggering numbers when compared to where we were just a month ago, when our shows were lucky to get more than 1,000 downloads each. Anyway, if you would like to check out our iTunes listing and add a comment, please do! Here’s how to find it:
Technology Editor Tony Glover reports how in the iPod age the record industry is going forward by returning to the days of vinyl
BESET by digital piracy and increasing customer reluctance to pay for CDs, the music industry is fighting back with its latest technology – black vinyl records.
Music labels and high street retailers are busy turning back the industry’s clock to a time not only before internet song downloads, but also before CDs or even audio cassettes. The irony is that the vinyl revolution is being led by teenage consumers who are prepared to stand in line for the latest 45 rpm single or 33 1/3rpm LP (long-playing record) in much the same way that their parents, or in some cases their grandparents, did.
According to Rob Campkin, the head of Music at Virgin Megastores, vinyl is now outselling CDs when it comes to the latest records.
“Up to 70% of sales of new releases are vinyl. The fans of popular new rock bands like Arctic Monkeys and The Raconteurs prefer vinyl to CD,” said Campkin. “When the Raconteurs’ latest single was released, 80% of high-street sales were for seven-inch vinyl and only 20% were for CDs.”
“We are not just talking about vinyl singles but also about albums – the format is just continuing to grow,” said HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo.
Had a little break in the podcast schedule so I thought I’d post about some stuff that I’ve been wanting to post lately but haven’t had the time…
OUT OF THE VAULTS, INTO YOUR EARS
We are actively soliciting live tapes for more Out of the Vaults, Into Your Ears podcasts. Feel free to do them yourself (basically record an intro and an outro for them) OR send them to either myself (see contact page) or to outofthevaults@gmail.com and we’ll add the vocal intro/outro ourselves.
No hurry, of course, as there are already some in the pipeline, but we would love to have more people submitting these.
SURF/INSTRO SHOW WANTED!!
We would love to be able to add a regular surf/instro rock’n'roll show to our podcast lineup. I’ve been actively posting this on some surf music message boards and Myspace groups but so far no one’s taken the bait. If you would be interested in putting together a podcast show like this for us, or know someone who would, by all means get in touch! Looking for something that could cover the entire gamut of surf/instrumental rock’n'roll from the late ’50s straight up through today, so someone with a good knowledge of the genre would be appreciated. I’m planning on playing nothing but surf/instro-mental crud on the next episode of Savage Kick, but it won’t be a regular thing. Hence the need for someone to do a regular (twice per month) show… Thanks!
YOUR TOWN/STATE/COUNTRY ROCKS AGAIN!
I was also hoping we might have more regional shows being submitted similar to Florida Rocks Again. How about Texas Rocks Again, or The Pacific Northwest Rocks Again? What about Detroit? Boston? New York? New Orleans? Canada? Australia? An all-Japanese show would be great, too. We have someone interested in producing a Memphis music show for us right now, so that’s a start, but we’d like more. Again, if you’re interested, get in touch. Note: You can name it whatever you’d like. I was just using FRA as an example…
GARAGEPUNK PODCAST MYSPACE PAGE & PODCAST PLAYER Click here for our Myspace page. If you aren’t currently on our friends list, go ahead and send us a friend request and we’ll get you added. Please check out the new podcast “Feed Player” on the page, too (in the “Sounds like…” section). This feed player downloads and immediately starts playing the latest GaragePunk Podcast show the minute you load the page. Pretty cool! You can even leave the page up and the player will play the TEN most recent shows back-to-back. Load it up when you get to work and let it run all day! Great entertainment at no cost!
NEW LOGO(S) WANTED!!
Any aspiring artists, graphic designers or other creative types out there bored and looking for something fun to do? Create a new logo for the GaragePunk Podcast! We like our current one, but would love to be able to have others we could use from time to time, or to even switch to as our main logo if it’s good enough. Only requirement for the podcast art is it has to be square (like album art) and say “GaragePunk Podcast” on it. The rest is up to you!
Thanks. That’s it for now. Hopefully we’ll have a new podcast ready for you to download later tonight or tomorrow. -kopper
LO-FI SAINT LOUIS is having a screening next weekend (Saturday Feb. 25th) at the Philip Slein Gallery. There will be cocktails served and Kopper (a.k.a. DJ Momo the Monster) will be spinning before the show. Casey Reid will follow the screening with his own special brand of acoustic blues. Starts at 7pm and the gallery is located at 1319 Washington in downtown St. Louis. $5 cover (all ages)… CHEAP!! (Music for this promo was by M.O.T.O.)
Congratulations to GaragePunk.com’s co-admin Bill Streeter on being this week’s coverboy in the Riverfront Times! I could go on and on and tell you what it’s all about and how great it is, but why the hell should I do that when you can just click the link and read Mike Seely’s article for yourself?
Here’s a great way to subscribe to this site by email. This FeedBlitz RSS subscription service will email you each time there’s a new post to this blog (or a daily digest if there’s more than one post in a particular day). The subscribe form is below and has also been added to the sidebar on the right. Check it out and subscribe this way if you’re not already using a Web-based news reader. Hopefully this service will work a lot better than the email plugin I was trying out a couple of months ago that kept burping out multiple messages…
Note: This will subscribe you to the regular GaragePunk.com blog RSS feed, not the podcast. To find out how to subscribe to the GaragePunk Podcast, click here.
Just an FYI: From this point on, all GaragePunk.com Podcast shows will be posted on this blog, not on the old blog at podcast.garagepunk.com. The old blog will be going bye-bye and that URL will be redirected here eventually. It just didn’t make much sense to have two separate blogs on the same site, so we’ve merged them into one and there’s now a new Podcast category here. However, there are still two separate RSS feeds, one for this blog and one for the podcast. You can subscribe to one or both if you’d like to be updated anytime a new post or podcast is published. The info on subscribing is in the sidebar on the right, but basically it’s like this:
target=”new”>news aggregator you’re using:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/GaragePunkPodcasts
And to subscribe to this main audioblog, use this feed URL:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/GaragePunk
Oh yeah, and we’re still looking for more people to produce shows for the podcast station. If you think you’d be interested, just read this and let us know.
Anyone who tried to watch that crap on ESPN last night knows what I’m bellyachin’ about. It was a complete JOKE. A farce. A few minutes of live rock’n'roll interspersed with DOZENS of minutes of commercials and SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS of the past year (yawn)… and what the hell was A Puddle of Mud doing on there? Ugh… I guess I shouldn’t really have expected anymore out of ESPN. Really, why would I think it would be any different? Well, because “Mr. Underground Garage Rock Radio,” Little Steven Van Zandt, was involved, of course. He is, after all, the new SAVIOUR of ROCK’n'ROLL, ain’t he? Anything Miami Stevie touches turns to pure RETRO GOLD, right? Harumph. I guess somehow I had held out hope that they might actually feature a live show and not interrupt everything with cheesy “sports moments” and tons of commercials. What a fuckin’ wake-up call. A few minutes of semi-swallowable live rock’n'roll (The Troggs so-so live reincarnate version of “Wild Thing”) spread over an entire HOUR of CRAP SPORTS PROGRAMMING makes for good publicity for those bands, eh? Fuck that. Fuck the Hard Rock Cafe. And motherfuck Little Fuckin’ Steven and ESP-fuckin’-N and whoever the hell thought this thing would actually be a good programming concept. And Happy New Year to each and every one of you that come to this site in search of REAL rock’n'roll salvation.
Well, in case you’re like us and have kids and/or just don’t feel like going out that night, you might consider inviting some friends over and flipping on the tube for what just might be a pretty interesting New Year’s Eve show. Little Steven’s Underground Garage, in collaboration with ESPN (WTF?) is hosting a big shindig at the (yawn) Hard Rock Café in Times Square, featuring the New York Dolls, The Troggs, The Mooney Suzuki, The Woggles, The Chesterfield Kings, and The Charms. No, it’s not thee most stellar lineup in garage rock history, but it might suffice as background entertainment for an evening partying at home. Those in the NYC area (and beyond) who shell out the THREE HUNDRED clams to see this live in person, though, must be outta their friggin’ skulls since there’s something else going on that night that you could take in for just $20 that’s a HELLUVA lot cooler (see below). And while I think this might make good background noise for a party, I seriously can’t think of a more UN-rock’n'roll event. Since when has ESPN or the Hard Rock Cafe had any interest in REAL rock’n'roll? And a $300 ticket price? C’mon! Let’s face it, the only reason any of this is happening is because of Little Steven and his show. I guess I have mixed emotions, feeling sorta torn between thinking this is a cool thing that can somehow be good for “garage rock,” and being completely disgusted by it as nothing more than overt exploitation. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how the whole thing plays out that night. By the way, don’t count on ESPN or ESPN2 to carry the whole event, because from looking at their online schedule, it appears that they’re only carrying this thing from 11pm (Eastern Time) ’til shortly after Midnight (although ESPN2 will be there until 1am, at which time it looks like it repeats), so I doubt seriously that you’ll see any footage of The Charms, The Woggles, The Mooney Suzuki [no big loss there, IMHO] and maybe even the Kings), but no matter how you slice it, it’s gotta be better than watching the ball drop. OK, so let’s hear some shit, right? Yeah, that’s all you fuckers ever want. Heh, can’t say that I blame ya! So, below I’ve posting some MP3s of some shit you might hear. But keep in mind that 3/5s of the Dolls are dead (I believe the current lineup consists of David Johansen on vocals, Sylvain Sylvain and Steve Conte [the latter of Johansen's '80s solo band] on guitar, Sam Yaffa [of Hanoi Rocks] on bass, and Gary Powell [of The Libertines] on drums), so I’ve no idea what they’re going to end up sounding like. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping it doesn’t end up sounding like Buster Poindexter doing Dolls covers.
The Troggs – Lost Girl (MP3) New York Dolls – Pills (MP3) The Chesterfield Kings – I Don’t Understand (MP3) (from The Mindbending Sounds of… on Sundazed) The Woggles – My Baby Likes to Boogaloo (MP3) (from Live! at the Star Bar on Blood Red) The Mooney Suzuki – Half of My Heart (MP3) (from People Get Ready on Estrus) The Charms – Action (MP3) (from Pussycat on Red Car Records)
For those of you in the NYC area…
NORTON NEW YEAR’S EVE BLAST!
Make plans to send this old year off with a bang by Crashing The Party here in Brooklyn, USA with MC MIGHTY HANNIBAL, as the A-BONES—with the GREAT GAYLORD in tow—and their special guests the BLACK LIPS (insane new album—and commemorative dinner plate—LET IT BLOOM out on the In The Red label, kids!) blast off on New Year’s Eve at Union Pool (484 Union in Williamsburg/Greenpoint, Brooklyn), with one-man band sensation BLOODSHOT BILL starting off the nite just rite plus the creme of the local disc jockey crew spinnin’ their tiny little brains out all nite long: WFMU‘s DAVE THE SPAZZ and REX of Fool’s Paradise fame, Crypt Records‘ TIM WARREN, fab tag team faves BAZOOKA JOE & XTINE 16 and the Little Killers‘ ANDY MALTZ. Union Pool boasts a beautacious old bar, excellent bathroom facilities, and a new showroom with all new fabulous sound system, lights, dance floor and full bar—plus a great big stage with velvet curtains, plus under-the-stars smoke-n-booze patio lounge for huffers, puffers and overheated Booty Greeners! Rumor has it that the Mighty Hannibal will instruct the curious with Fishing Pole dance lessons, and that the Great Gaylord may be squatting to the E! Also, the 24-hour Kellogg Diner is a block away for wee hour eggs and grits! Pass the hot sauce! Tickets $20. Union Pool, 484 Union Ave. at Meeker, Brooklyn, NY. (718) 609-0484
The A-Bones w/ The Greay Gaylord – Squat With Me Baby (MP3) (from Daddy Wants a Cold Beer… and Other Million Sellers on Norton) Black Lips – Can’t Dance (MP3) (from Let it Bloom on In the Red) The Mighty Hannibal – Big Chief Hug-Um an’ Kiss-Um (MP3) (from Hannibalism! on Norton)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Someone recently told me about this site and it took me a while to figure it out, but I think I finally got it. Basically, it uses what looks like Google maps to show locations of people (your friends or whatever) from all over the world. I created a group there for GaragePunk.com, check it out and click where it says “Add Yourself” on the left…
Bill called me on the phone this morning and had me tune into today’s edition of Adam Curry‘s Daily Source Code podcast because a portion of it focuses specifically on artists’ rights as they pertain to podcasting (not to mention live performances in Europe, specifically Finland). Adam (yes, the former VJ for eMpTyV) has been nicknamed “The Podfather” because of his work in helping to propogate this new medium, and earlier this year created a company called PodShow which is dedicated to the production, promotion, and marketing potential of podcasting. PodShow owns indiePodder.org, the base podcast directory on the Web, and the PodSafe Music Network, dedicated to helping podcasters find independent music to play on their podcast and for artists to promote their music through podcasting.
Anyway, going back to this particular podcast… Basically, in a nutshell, European artists organizations are getting more and more strict with podcasting restrictions as they continue to try and put a stranglehold on this new medium. What’s happening is that when a band signs up with their country’s version of ASCAP/BMI (and it’s not just in Finland but also Germany, France, and The Netherlands), they are not allowed to give away any other rights to anyone else, PERIOD. So if you belong to (for example) Teosto in Finland, you can’t give a podcaster permission to feature your music on their podcast for free. That would be a breach of your contract with that rights organization. What does this mean? Bottom line is it means that Teosto OWNS YOUR MUSIC. They own the copyright, and there’s nothing you can do about it (unless you can somehow break your ties with them). Any and all musicians, band members, DJs, podcasters, audiobloggers, independent music fans, etc. should listen to this short (3:49) segment of Adam’s show from today and get the full gist of what’s going on (MP3 linked below), and then do yourself a favor and subscribe to his podcast (iTunes users click here) so you can check it daily and stay on top of this developing news story. It may not be too long before other rights organizations (such as ASCAP/BMI here in the U.S.) go down this same road, which would fuck over not only all of us podcasters, but the artists they’re featuring as well!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Just an FYI: From this point on, all GaragePunk.com Podcast shows will be posted on this blog, not on the old blog at