California's wasted on me.
Musical stuff update!
I think I mentioned that on our New England vacation earlier this year, most of our driving was done to the soundtrack of a couple of mp3 cds that I made years ago, and I was reminded that I really missed listening to Toad the Wet Sprocket. After we got back, I saw on the Net that they had reunited and recorded a new album, and were doing a Kickstarter to fund the production and distribution. NICE, thought I, I will have to get in on that! But I didn't at the time, and pretty much forgot about it until I saw on their Facebook this week that the Kickstarter was about to end, so I jumped in and contributed. They started out with a goal of $50k and ended up breaking the $250k mark, which I think is just plain awesome. I love the idea of artists who played such a big part in the soundtrack of my life--as Toad did, for a good number of years--getting some direct love (and cash!) from their fans instead of losing it to greedy record execs, you know? Anyway, this morning I got my download code for the album, New Constellation, and I've been listening to it today at work. I am very pleased to report that it is really quite good. Very Toad-like, which may seem to have been expected, but was by no means a sure thing since they'd been split up for so long. Good stuff, I am pleased. I contributed at the level to get a physical cd as well, so I'll look forward to that!
I don't make it to many concerts these days (I actually missed Toad themselves at a little show at the Hard Rock Hotel a couple weeks ago, darnit), so I always look forward to the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT, which has a concert series that generally includes a number of artists I like--and since it's EPCOT, the wife and kids don't mind humoring me to go out there. This year's lineup has plenty of returning favorites (Night Ranger, Sister Hazel, Dennis DeYoung of Styx fame, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy) and some changes--new this year: Spin Doctors! That is outstanding, I loved those guys in their heyday so I definitely plan on seeing them. :)
Aaaand.. I guess that's about it, actually. Back to work!
I think I mentioned that on our New England vacation earlier this year, most of our driving was done to the soundtrack of a couple of mp3 cds that I made years ago, and I was reminded that I really missed listening to Toad the Wet Sprocket. After we got back, I saw on the Net that they had reunited and recorded a new album, and were doing a Kickstarter to fund the production and distribution. NICE, thought I, I will have to get in on that! But I didn't at the time, and pretty much forgot about it until I saw on their Facebook this week that the Kickstarter was about to end, so I jumped in and contributed. They started out with a goal of $50k and ended up breaking the $250k mark, which I think is just plain awesome. I love the idea of artists who played such a big part in the soundtrack of my life--as Toad did, for a good number of years--getting some direct love (and cash!) from their fans instead of losing it to greedy record execs, you know? Anyway, this morning I got my download code for the album, New Constellation, and I've been listening to it today at work. I am very pleased to report that it is really quite good. Very Toad-like, which may seem to have been expected, but was by no means a sure thing since they'd been split up for so long. Good stuff, I am pleased. I contributed at the level to get a physical cd as well, so I'll look forward to that!
I don't make it to many concerts these days (I actually missed Toad themselves at a little show at the Hard Rock Hotel a couple weeks ago, darnit), so I always look forward to the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT, which has a concert series that generally includes a number of artists I like--and since it's EPCOT, the wife and kids don't mind humoring me to go out there. This year's lineup has plenty of returning favorites (Night Ranger, Sister Hazel, Dennis DeYoung of Styx fame, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy) and some changes--new this year: Spin Doctors! That is outstanding, I loved those guys in their heyday so I definitely plan on seeing them. :)
Aaaand.. I guess that's about it, actually. Back to work!