Project D Draft 2

I recently took a trip to Las Vegas to meet a bunch of the girls I had been talking to on the Betty Boards. A message board for fans of the group Pray for the Soul of Betty. We had all been talking for months and decided it was time to get together and have a big convention. It ended up only being about 15 people, because the band had toured early in the year and a lot of people had used up all their traveling money for that.

While we were planning it the idea of getting tattoos while we were out there came about. In the end 6 of us ended up getting tattoos. Everyone got a design that was them, but all of them included the musical symbol of the bass clef to symbolize our love for music.



Everyone had a different reason for wanting to get it, but mainly it was just something that we knew all of us would forever be able to look back on and smile thinking back to this time in our lives. Although we live all over the country I feel closer to some of these girls than I have to a lot of friends in my past.

The guy who did all of our tattoos was awesome. His name was Eric. When we walked into the shop I instantly recognized him as one of the former artists at Hart and Huntington, the shop that is featured on inked. He designed all of them out of his head by just listening to our ideas and concepts we wanted.

First up was Barb. This was her first tattoo and she wasn’t sure about the pain factor. So she went with something small. Her reasoning for getting it was "The music symbol means more to me than *just* the love of music. I chose the bass clef because a really cool person once showed me how too really *listen* to the music. Not just listen to the vocals or pinpoint the lyrics but to really feel and be taken over by the bass, the absolute start, middle and end to a song."



Then it was my turn. I already had a couple tattoos and had always said my next one would be a gecko. I wanted to get this tattoo because the band has brought me so many new friends and has helped me through some rough times. So no matter what happens with the band and my friends I will forever have this to remember them by.

Paula went next. She got her tattoo because "music has always been the storyline of my life...however I recently found myself mired down in a job I despised...on the outside playing to the socially expected drive for more money...more everything....but the music was missing.... then I found PFTSOB."

Sarah didn’t end up getting inked by Eric, because of time constraints and the other artist was just kind of standing around, but it still came out awesome! She said she was getting it because "To pay homage to this community that has meant so much to me, and the band that has made me open my eyes and really taste life, I will have a flaming bass clef inked. The soul of the music lies in the bass line. The flames signify the burning passion of the wonderful people I have met through the music."



Karen was next. We all deemed her the toughest one of all because she got hers right on the back of her neck. She described her design and reasoning as "Two swans (notice the bass clef as their neck)....throughout folklore swans are associated with music, love, purity. The swan is my animal totem and represents the soul - my soul - and my dedication to my friends and family and the things I love."

Last was Maryann. It was her idea originally to do the whole bass clef thing. She is the one who had started the thread on the boards that we had all met through, and helped a lot of us to stop and actually listen to and appreciate the bass. She described her reason as "Bass is what I hear in music and the element that influences my tastes. I have spent many years studying the history and listening and learning from a great friend who is a bass player."

Project D Draft 1

I recently took a trip to Las Vegas to meet a bunch of the girls I had been talking to on the Betty Boards. A message board for fans of the group Pray for the Soul of Betty. We had all been talking for months and decided it was time to get together and have a big convention. It ended up only being about 15 people, because the band had toured early in the year and a lot of people had used up all their traveling money for that.

While we were planning it the idea of getting tattoos while we were out there came about. In the end 6 of us ended up getting tattoos. Everyone got a design that was them, but all of them included the musical symbol of the bass clef to symbolize our love for music.



Everyone had a different reason for wanting to get it, but mainly it was just something that we knew all of us would forever be able to look back on and smile thinking back to this time in our lives. Although we live all over the country I feel closer to some of these girls than I have to a lot of friends in my past.

The guy who did all of our tattoos was awesome. His name was Eric. When we walked into the shop I instantly recognized him as one of the former artists at Hart and Huntington, the shop that is featured on inked. He designed all of them out of his head by just listening to our ideas and concepts we wanted.

First up was Barb. This was her first tattoo and she wasn’t sure about the pain factor. So she went with something small. Her reasoning for getting it was "The music symbol means more to me than *just* the love of music. I chose the bass clef because a really cool person once showed me how too really *listen* to the music. Not just listen to the vocals or pinpoint the lyrics but to really feel and be taken over by the bass, the absolute start, middle and end to a song."



Then it was my turn. I already had a couple tattoos and had always said my next one would be a gecko. While searching for ideas I came across a bass clef morphed into a gecko and knew that was what I wanted.

Paula went next. She got her tattoo because "music has always been the storyline of my life...however I recently found myself mired down in a job I despised...on the outside playing to the socially expected drive for more money...more everything....but the music was missing.... then I found PFTSOB."

Sarah didn’t end up getting inked by Eric, because of time constraints and the other artist was just kind of standing around, but it still came out awesome! She said she was getting it because "To pay homage to this community that has meant so much to me, and the band that has made me open my eyes and really taste life, I will have a flaming bass clef inked. The soul of the music lies in the bass line. The flames signify the burning passion of the wonderful people I have met through the music."



Karen was next. We all deemed her the toughest one of all because she got hers right on the back of her neck. She described her design and reasoning as "Two swans (notice the bass clef as their neck)....throughout folklore swans are associated with music, love, purity. The swan is my animal totem and represents the soul - my soul - and my dedication to my friends and family and the things I love."

Last was Maryann. It was her idea originally to do the whole bass clef thing. She is the one who had started the thread on the boards that we had all met through, and helped a lot of us to stop and actually listen to and appreciate the bass. She described her reason as "Bass is what I hear in music and the element that influences my tastes. I have spent many years studying the history and listening and learning from a great friend who is a bass player."

Podcasting

Printable Version

Podcasting is something that is sweeping the world with popularity. When people first hear the word podcasting, they usually ask, “What is podcasting?” Podcasting is defined by Wikipedia (an online dictionary) as: the distribution of audio files, such as radio programmes, over the internet using RSS syndication for listening on mobile devices and personal computers. A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to, and also the content of that feed. Podcasters' websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming .

I went to Yahoo and typed in podcasts and got over 55 million pages to search through. There are many different types of podcasts; such as entertainment, news, food, music etc. Anyone can find a podcast that they will enjoy and relate to. Some daily news shows are actually broadcasting through podcasts as well as on television.

With my love of music I enjoy the musical podcasts the most. Charlie Chapman (C.C. to all his friends) currently hosts two podshows, both playing nothing but unsigned and upcoming artists. His original podshow is Accident Hash http://accidenthash.podshow.com/ which he plays a variety of music on, but mainly the heavier loud stuff. Many of his listeners were commenting on how much they liked the mellower music when he would play it, which is why he started his second podshow U-Turn Café http://u-turncafe.podshow.com/ .

He gets his music from a website called Podsafe music. The site is designed so that artists can submit their music to be played on podcasts and so that podcasters can find new music to play.

Both of his shows have become a huge success. He has people from all over the world listening to his shows. He gets fan mail and phone calls from everywhere. One night someone from Ireland called him and they chatted on the phone for well over an hour.

When asked to describe podcasting in his own words he said, “Audio and video content on the web that you can get delivered directly to you and enjoy whenever you want. Think of it as Tivo for web content. Radio as we know it is doomed and podcasting is going to have fun kicking the sh** out of it. As more content gets produced more and more people are going to realize that they don’t need a TV or a radio. That they can get all the entertaining and informative content they want on the web through podcasts.”

His explanation for what got him started in it is, “I got an iPod and in researching software and stuff for it I came across the concept of Podcasting. Since I had blogged for several years it seemed like a no brainer extension of that and so in December of 2004 I did my first Reality B***hslap Radio. It quickly took on a life of its own and then I got into the concept of Podsafe Music and some people told me I should try a music show so I did. And well…the rest is history.”

His response to the question of did he ever think it would become as big of a part of his life was, “No. Not at all. I knew it was going to take some time and be yet another thing I was in to. In fact I remember Laura [his wife] shaking her head and going “oh great another hobby.” So it’s obvious neither of us thought it would get to the point where it is right now.” Like many things he has become involved in, it starts as a hobby and something fun and turns into a huge part of his life.

He listed some of his favorite things about podcasting; “Getting artists thanking me for playing their music. E-mail from complete strangers who had some sort of emotional connection to a show, tune or subject that comes up on my podcast. Discovering and sharing new music with the world. Meeting such a diverse and great bunch of new friends that I might never had.” The only thing he said was something that he dislikes about it was that “The fact that I don’t have nearly enough time to do all the adventures that I want to. If this was full time I could really make a difference.”

He has had many adventures already though. He went to a podcasters expo in California. He recently was a key note speaker at a conference in Atlanta. In May he is the key note speaker at a conference in Germany.

He said his favorite experiences so far have been, “There have been so many, but feeling like a rock start while in California for the Podcast Expo was a definite trip. Everyone knew who I was and it was great to meet people left and right. That was fun. Pulling off the Brother Love & Chance concert at the expo was cool as well. I want to do more of that!”

As much fun as he is having doing it, he knows that this will not be a life long thing for him. When asked if he thinks he will ever stop podcasting he replied, “Oh I’m sure at some point it with either evolve into something else or go away, but for right now I don’t want to think about things like that. It’s going to change a lot of things.”