Music

AwesomeCast 38: Now with more Watson
Another great show where we welcome our robot overlords. It was great to catch a little bit of the historic Watson Jeopardy right before the show. It’s also been great to have our new run down system that Chachi is keeping alive that AJ brought in in my absence the week before.

Wrestling Mayhem Show 257: Leave No Rock Behind

A nice, tight show with the core group after the long winded TNA hat-a-thon that was the week before without me. We really locked down a flow this night, giving me a decent time on the post-production (and some much needed sleep I usually don’t get on Tuesday nights).

While I still want to work Chachi into starting the AwesomeCast edit during WMS, leaving some of the final touch ups and WMS audio posting to an earlier rise Wednesday morning worked out really well.

Another issue has been my recent decrease in my Verizon FIOS package. My main goal was to lower some cost. Cancelling the land line, dropping to the standard package so I can still see my Penguins and Monday RAW. Unfortunate side effect? The bundle drops me from a healthy 25/15 upload/download flow to 15/5. And that 5 is more substantial than I expected. Uploaded the video versions of the show are now a set it. Forget it. Make a sandwich. Make dinner. And done! Ouch. We may be justifying a re-upgrade in the near future…

Chachi Says 22: Please Don’t Kill Us

It’s clear that the G2 isn’t holding up with some motion.  Lessons learned.  Either way, it seems that his previous series about robot domination was a tremendous precursor to the Watson hoopla that carries over from AwesomeCast

Music Funtime Show 33

No subtitles!  This was a weird week for me.  I picked a random Austrailian pop song, and one song solely for the Walker Texas Ranger sample.  And somehow, that fits my tastes to a T.

Chachi Plays for Kids

It doesn’t end!  Not only did Chachi have the completely dynamite idea to do a time lapse of the ENTIRE 24 hours of play, which shrunk to only 13 minutes at the limit of what Final Cut Pro would do for a Speed Change, but an email came in from City Councilman Bruce Kraus inviting Chachi down for a proclaimation honoring his efforts.

And your mom said video games wouldn’t accomplish anything.

AND that’s not all! While I don’t have the usual tired podcasting aftermath video from last Tuesday night, I do give you…a cat in a box…ready for shipping…

Posted recently for my Music Funtime Show site.

I was passed a copy of the new X-Pistols album, thinking, “oh great.  Yet another rap/rock mashup album”  After listening for a bit, I realized “That’s right1  I love rap/rock mashup albums!”

The way Suburban Noize crunches out these alternative albums and main group albums at such an incredible pace, I’ve been consistently amazed at the consistency in quality.  X-Pistols has that fast paced feel that makes me feel like no time has passed before the album’s done.  (It does clock in at 52 minutes with 18 tracks, though).  For Kottonmouth Kings fans, it really feels that if you stripped all of the hip hop influence out of their albums, you’d have X-Pistols.

I wasn’t very aware of the punk legends D.I. when they were signed to Suburban Noize last year, but if this is the sort of mash up craziness we’re going to get from new signees, I’m happy to have them.  It makes me wonder what more we could see in the future with mashup groups including groups like hed pe, who I’ve been a fan of for ages.

A review I wrote for Music Funtime Show’s web site.

I enter this review as a long time fan of hed pe.  I recall the thrill of seeing them live on the Jaegermeister tour (alongside the rather disappointing-live Saliva).  I was broken in on Broke, which was responsible for a lot of mainstream explosion for the group.

This album marks half of the band’s album career on the independent Suburban Noize Records.  I’ve talked from the start about the difference in style from this newfound freedom since they made that move from the major label situation for their first four albums.  Truth Rising feels like a perfection of the styles expanded on in the three previous independent albums.  My first feel of this album was how listenable and solid it was the whole way through.  Partly harkening back to the days of Broke that I still spin to this day.  On the bonus CD included with my copy, Skull & Bones, Jered actually discusses about how they didn’t limit their song styles and let the intros happen.  Some may not like the expanded intros, like my colleague on Music Funtime, but I enjoy the narrative that hed pe is attempting to put out there.  This bonus CD adds to that even more to clarify the message that Jered’s put out there for four albums now, on the internet, and in interviews.

Some of that throwback sound tat surprised me was Lajon Witherspoon of Sevendust on the track “Stand Up”.  The elements of punk rock and hip hop are present, almost as if by sections on the album, and not quite as jarring as in past releases to go from track to track.

Altogether, one of the best, solid releases from hed pe since their earlier major label days.  This band is further proving the Suburban Noize move was a good one for their longevity.

You can find more on this album in our first “head to head” review between Chachi and myself on Music Funtime Show 25.

Chachi Says 7: What it all comes down to…

More and more, I realize we need to get Chachi some better cameras.  This is one of those episodes.  But this is the conclusion of one of the first “arcs” in the show.  It’s been interesting how Chachi has put it together, and I hope we’ve both learned a bit from it.

AwesomeCast 22: As Addictive As Farmville

We had Mitch back on, and it as always, it was a fun time.  Oddly, every time we have him on, he has a knack for mixing in surprise topics like pornography or birth control into the week’s topics.   More proof he fits right in.

Wrestling Mayhem Show 241: Through A Child’s Eyes

Another one of those shows that was just “on” for some reason.  We had some extra fun for the WMS Gold app with Hotwheelz at a local wrestling show.

Music Funtime Show 22: MC Frontalot

Happy to finally get this one up!  Had a great time hanging with Front here in Pittsburgh.  Will (@djlunchbox) did a great job with the interview, being someone a bit more fluent in the nerdcore world than I am.  Front even worked with us on a few “extras” that will be popping up shortly.

And, as usual, I’ve been continuing my own personal “SorgCasts” post recording.  They’ve been fun.  So, I sort of go back to the beginnings of this line of videos.  So I’ll be renaming the future videos in this line “SorgCam”.  It was sort of my way of picking the random videos I posted on my YouTube channel from the more thought out content like podcasts, interviews, and music.  After some thought, and the redundant use of the term in this very post, I think I’m going to step back to that, then.

Here’s this week’s, including a bit of a WMS throwback on where, exactly our studio wildlife came from…

It was a week of newfound energy after my week off.  And we came back in force this week.

Chachi Says 6: When Roombas Attack

Chachi hits us with part two of his Apocolypse series.

AwesomeCast 21: Caffeine Induced Psychopaths

Rob and Chachi on this week.  We ended up hitting on three topics, total, which spun off into a myriad of sub-topics.  This is some of the best, organic discussion we’ve had on here yet, and I think my co-hosts are getting pretty comfortable.  I listened back to this just today and was thoroughly entertained.  And if you’re material can’t entertain you, then you’re not doing it right.

Wrestling Mayhem Show 240: Hey Cena Fans! How is Your God Now?

I shot at a wrestling show this past weekend to find that WrestleFan2000 has something of a fan club.  I don’t know what’s going on with that kid, but he has turned on the crazy switch when it comes to his involvement on the show, and I’m enjoying every minute of it.  Mad Mike and LB filled out our core group once again, and we had a tremendous discussion about the TNA Bound for Glory show, Cena’s Nexus turn, and I vented about PPV prices, in what was some of our vest recent conversation.  Everyone was great to keep their cool in some potentially heated discussions.

Music Funtime Show 21: Basick Sickness

My first return interview to this show (not counting rehashed WPAJ Interviews) and I was honored to have Basick on the week of his album release.  He’s one of the guys that’d always been cool to me and my fledgling musical experiments, and it was great to have a talk with him again.

I’m back from vacation.  A very solitary vacation couped up in the house.  A beach of my couch and scores of Netflix and Hulu shows to catch up on when I wasn’t running around with last minute appointments and car fixing errands.  Better luck with vacation next time, right?

Of course this meant there was no New York Comic Con content to speak of since we hardly left the county, let alone the state.  But hopefully next year, we’ll be able to follow through on our plans and get up there.  In the meantime, we’re looking at other such events to put out there in the near future.
Chachi Says 4: The Problem With Pants
This was the culmination of the Podcamp Pittsburgh 5 experiment previewed back on AwesomeCast 17 when we invited the audience to film an impromptu, live version of his vidcast.  We found ourselves with about six different angles passed along (plus one flipCam I couldn’t convert off the share site).  I know there were plenty that also shot this that didn’t pass along footage, but that’s ok.  Six angles kept me plenty busy in Final Cut keeping them straight, lip synced, and juggling formats from pocket cams, iPhones, and Rob’s insanely detailed HD shooting still cam.  It came together nicely, and was entertaining to see Chachi do his schtick with a live audience chiming in.
AwesomeCast 19: AwesomeLab
This show saw us bringing in Mike Woycheck of the AlphaLab.  We’ve already talked to Nick Pinkston of CloudFab, and Spike Katora of VivoLive, two products of the tech incubator, so it was great to get Mike in to talk about the group from the source.  AlphaLab is a great program I’ve been a fan of for a while, and have had the pleasure to meet a lot of people that have been through the program with nothing but positive things to say.
Wrestling Mayhem Show 238: Wrestlefan is on Acid
This was another fun, barebones, episode.  I was really impressed with WrestleFan’s “They” revelation from the Abyss/TNA Wrestling angle.  Some may not know, but this kid’s 17, and just joining up his school’s Media class this year.  He really seems to take to the show production and discussion.  I hope to see him take it somewhere as he moves on to college and such.
Music Funtime Show 20: Kottonmouth Kings
FINALLY!  It took far too long to get this one up.  I had a lot of fun talking with the guys, as always.  It felt a tad rushed since I knew the guys were about to go on stage.  (They head out right after we talked, actually).  I had some fun mixing one of their tracks with a portion of the live footage I took during the show.  I was ecstatic to discover how great my camera worked in that lighting atmosphere, and made the Rex look huge in comparison to how it feels in person.  This was my first shoot at a show like this with my Panasonic DVX-100B.
AwesomeCast 20: The Social Coffee Shop
Since I was determined to not do a regular Tuesday show to have a “full week” of vacation ahead of me for once, the timing was perfect to coincide with the opening of The Social Network.  I had been buzzing the idea of doing a post watch roundtable, originally thought to be independent of any of the shows, with the area’s social media peeps.  This couldn’t have worked out better.  Mulango and Chachi joined us to watch the show (for some of use for the second time) and had a great conversation afterwards at the local Caribou Coffee, who were nice enough to let us do our weird shoot in the corner of their shop.
Wrestling Mayhem Show 239: What Really Happened at Hell in a Cell
It was a weird, shorter show.  Will (aka DJlunchbox) joined me to talk the news of that week so far, and some “results” of that very night’s Hell in a Cell, which hadn’t happened yet.  It was fine for a fill in show, but I can’t wait to get back to the old way of doing things.
Chachi Says 5: Zombies Imminent
Chachi ventures into two topics dear to his heart.  Boobs and Zombies.  He’s venturing into helping with Breast Cancer Awareness Month in his own little way, and warning the world about the coming Zombie Apocalypse.  He’s prepared a series on this topic, of sorts, and I think people are going to have fun with it.

This week, it’s back to the grindstone, and the normal schedule!  Lets get to it!

If I never make a dime from this podcasting thing over the years, it’s at least given me a lot of really cool memories.  The day before Podcamp Pittsburgh 5, I had the chance to sit down, finally, with ALL of the Kottonmouth Kings on their bus for a quick interview for my Music Funtime Show.  I’ve had the fortune to talk with The Dirtball, Daddy X, and Richter in the past, most over the phone.  These are guys that I genuinely enjoy over the past several years.   It’s really good mash up music with a positive, though somewhat anti-establishment, message.

Of course, despite all these years, I still confuse Richter and D-Loc…to their faces.  It was a longtime nightmare realized.  But there it is.  You can’t be afraid to put your faults out on the line, and dammit, I’m bad with faces/names, and for all the hours logged listening to them, I’ve not frequented the music videos and DVDs to really know the two apart.

Here is an excerpt of the Music Funtime Show for those simply interested in the interview:

A big thanks to Chachi from ChachiSays.net and the Chachi Says: The Vidcast for the interview camera work!

AwesomeCast 10: Building a Podcast in 3D

This week, we welcomed Nick from CloudFab.  This is the first attempt we’ve had, as I’ve wanted to, to use the show to showcase some of the cool stuff that’s happening in our town (Pittsburgh).  They basically act as a middleman to take files and turn them into 3D objects.  I was a little concerned that maybe the talk got a little over geeky, but altogether, I still enjoyed learning about it.

Wrestling Mayhem Show 230: WM 2.0: One Last Squeeze

This was the return of Hotwheelz to the show.  I finally decided to pull the veil on a local group I didn’t allow on the show, but thanks to my videography work, I’d had the pleasure to see some really cool matches locally.  We also had some Skype issues with LB, which gave us a chance to try some alternative methods of sticking him on

video only, and using that SkypeOut service we pay for to get interviews on air easier.  The show was a lot of fun this week.  Highlighted by the extra content before the show when we were having fun with old ’80′s wrestling music videos and TV Themes that made it to the WMS Gold iphone app.

Music Funtime Show 14: The Space Pimps

The biggest surprise of the night.  Thanks to a hook up by old friend Dr. E, I had the chance to talk to Rhisi of The Space Pimps.  It was great to hear from a group doing so well out of Pittsburgh, and about to tour Japan and China.