music

Recap of 2013 Concerts

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Well, although 2013 left a lot to be desired for me, in the area of music it was pretty good. It wasn’t jam packed or anything, but it was good.

April was kind of an odd one. I actually went to Colombia for a British car show, but it was being held in conjunction with the local “Tartan Day South” festival. The show was good, but the festival was where the real fun was. From dog herding demonstrations (think Babe The Pig) to music, food and art, there was a plethora of things to see and do. The part we probably enjoyed the most was the music. I love Celtic music, especially when amped up a bit.  An example of that amping up certainly be the band Rathkeltair. I have included a short video of part of one of their performances below. Hopefully, we will make this one again in 2014.

In September I went up to Simpsonville, which is just outside of Greenville, South Carolina, to see Mumford & Sons. It was a wonderful show with not one, not two, but three opening acts. What made it even better was that all three opening acts were quite good. But the real prize was the long performance by Mumford & Sons. For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple of videos I shot at the concert.

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The Songs I Sing – Day #5

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I like today’s exercise a lot better than yesterday. Less introspection and more music! According to the list today I need to share about the “10 songs you love right now.” Being partially a data analyst in my day Most Recently Played Songs from iTunesjob, of course the first thing I did was go pull a report from iTune of my most played songs in the recent past. That is a pretty good list! But, I will need to edit it a bit to make it the songs I “love”. Why? Because although I have selected a group of songs for a playlist in iTunes, I have it on shuffle. That means that some I like may rank higher up that ones I really love. Just the luck of the draw. So, here goes.

First off, I am actually going to put Frank Turnerir?t=palmettobugdigit&l=ur2&o=1 over Mumford & Sons. We will get to them in a minute. But Frank Turner is a very new discovery of mine. I heard his song “Recovery” on the radio, went home and listened to a bit more, and was hooked. Within the next day or so I had bought the last five of  his albums.  I like the folksy nature of this ex-punk rocker, and I think he brings something of that punk sensibility to the folk music. But what really keeps bringing me back is the lyrics. He has some phrases that just catch me and hook me on the song.  So, for our first three songs out of ten, I will go with these tunes from Frank Turner….

1) Frank Turner – The Way I Tend to Be

2) Frank Turner – Losing Days

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Million Dollar Bill by Dawes

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There is something very intriguing about this song to me. Not only that, but Dawes will be here this October for the Southern Ground Music Festival. The festival, headlined by The Zac Brown Band, will include Willie Nelson, Band of Horses, Dawes and at least a few other bands. I really want to go to … Read more

Let's Talk About Podcasts

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Podcasts are similar to radio programs. Their formats can be talk shows, call-in sports shows, Podcast Subscribeaudiobooks, poetry, music DJs, news, sightseeing tours, and much more. Of course, in our case, our podcasts are mainly our Sunday sermons and the occasional special event. Podcasts are different from radio in that a podcast is a series of audio files you get on the Internet and you don’t have to be tuned in at a specific time.

Most websites provide on-screen controls for you to listen to our podcasts. But, the best thing about podcasts is that they can be downloaded to your own computer or audio player device. This lets you listen to them anytime – such as in the car or while on a walk or maybe doing those household chores.

You can subscribe to podcasts, just like a magazine. In the same way a magazine arrives in your mailbox when a new edition comes out, a podcast uses software on your computer called a podcatcher to automatically download new shows whenever they become available. To subscribe and download podcasts requires that bit of podcatcher software and perhaps your audio player device. Below are some instructions to help you with that.

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