Tom Smith

Luke FuMPed. And I heh'ped! (Love the drawing.)

New Muppetry (h/t doodykrista in muppets):

smallship1 has a new album. All instrumental. There's a preview track (just below the album cover art). Strings, flute, drums, piano, harp. Nice.

Anybody have any new music they want to promote?

ETA: Zander clued me in about the preview.

New Moon, new FuMP.

Two out of three, that is.

I had a fantastic time as Filk GOH of WindyCon. And I was lucky enough to have incredible concert sets, with great audiences and a lot of energy. Two of those sets, the Friday and Saturday evening shows, are now available as Live Show downloads -- $2.99 each, or $4.99 for both. Recorded by sethb, these are each about 75 minutes of music and banter. Special guests for the first set include ericcoleman and Jason Neerenberg of Toyboat and violinist Amy McNally (sweetmusic_27).

Got anything new you'd like to pimp/promote? Link 'em up.

ETA: Amazing how four misplaced characters can screw things up. If your links weren't working, they should be now.

Just getting ready to go downstairs. I've had a bad headache all morning, and I just had a burger, which helps. But not as much as the ibuprofen.

The set last night was incredible. If today's 3:00 is anywhere as good, I'll blow out the walls. Eric and Jason of Toyboat did join me on stage for "PQR", and Amy McNally and I got a standing O for "Dervish", and Eric played drums again for "Rocket Ride". Gooooooood noise.

How's your weekend progressing?

All weekend. Bunches of nice folks already seen and talked to, including Uncle Vlad, Pat Sayre-McCoy, Cassie, Steven Silver, etc., etc., etc. Spent time talking with Bill Roper, Jodi Lynn Nye, and Phil Foglio. Got hellos from Bill Fawcett and Mike & Carol Resnick (who were also at my Dragon*Con banquet set and told me how good it was, whoo hoo), met Toastmast Christian Ready and the lovely Kaja Foglio. I had the guitar to play in the Con Suite, but the conversations were too varied and enjoyable for me to feel good about interrupting them. 'Salright. I've got all weekend.

• Friday 6:00 Lilac A & C - Technobabble Quiz
• Friday 7:00 Lilac B & D - Opening Ceremonies
• Friday 9:30 Junior Ballroom A - Tom Smith Concert (Very Important! This is listed in the program book as being me and Eric Coleman's band Toyboat. It isn't. We simply didn't have time to get things together. But I very much want to do this next WindyCon, and having a full year of set-up should give us the time to get it right.)
• Saturday 3:00 Junior Ballroom A - Tom Smith Concert (a completely different set)
• Saturday 9:00 Lilac A & C - Masquerade (I'm doing halftime)

I don't think I have anything else, but ya never know. ;) Also, Amy McNally and Luke Ski have concerts, and there are a bunch of other fantastic folks running around, like Author GOH James Blaylock and Fan GOH Chris Garcia and Phyllis Eisenstein and Eric Flint and Bill Higgins and Jim C. Hines and Gene Wolfe and and and and and.

So, who's gonna be here (or is here already)?

The fan-made prequel.

Today is the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. Here is how cool they are: They make me like Elmo and Adam Sandler... together, even. If you want to link up to any particular favorite video clips, go for it; I'll start with "Rubber Duckie, "Bein' Green", and "Batty Bat".

The big video release today is Pixar's Up (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition + Digital Copy and 4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD [Blu-ray] Anti-Planned-Obsolescence Edition). There's also Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days and, if you haven't got a version already, Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut (integrating Tales from the Black Freighter, Under the Hood, and possibly some other live-action footage). Anything else just released we need to know about?

Happy Birthday, Neil Gaiman!

My Friday concert at WindyCon was going to be TomBoat, i.e., me and Toyboat. Reasons of time and practicality deep-sixed that for this weekend, although we really, really want to do it soon (I hope CapriCon, possibly not till DucKon). So, I was gonna drag out a bunch of stuff I don't usually do. Any requests? ("Heat of the Blood" is excluded from this offer.)

Dragon Age: Origins rocks really hard. It's funny: the forums are filled with people who can't get it to load, patch, work, nothin' (I've had no problems, apart from a single crash to Desktop); they complain because it's too hard, too easy, too old-school, too innovative, they hate that it's party-based, they want multiplayer and MMO; they say that the graphics are dated, and point to the game being in development for years. But BioWare did what they wanted to -- they created a new game world, which I think looks very good, with a superb, detailed story filled with rich characters and cool plot twists and astonishing detail. It's not a loot-fest, a click-fest, a FPS with orcs, or anything besides what it is. It's tough, at least to a duffer gamer like me; I set it to Easy, and I'm still getting slaughtered in some fights, the first or second time through. But dang is it rewarding, shocking, and fun. If you're interested, I think you will like it a lot. If not, no big.

What's goin' on in your quadrant?

Just hangin' and relaxin' and gettin' lots of hugs. I did okay in the Pegasus Nomination Concert, and a lot of the performances were amazing, especially Ookla, Heather Dale, Wild Mercy, and most awesomely the whole audience singing "Stray Dog Man" so Bill Sutton didn't have to. :)

Today will be much more intense. At 3:00, Luke Ski and I represent the whole FuMP in a concert guaranteed to be either the Most Awesome Thing Ever or the Biggest Crash And Burn In History, possibly both.

How's your weekend so far?

Sadness. Songwriter Vic Mizzy, best known for writing the themes for Green Acres and The Addams Family, has passed away at the age of 93.

What are some of your favorite TV show themes? Link up, if ya got 'em.

Booga booga.

This is gonna be so cool.

And here's some bonus cool.

atlantapendrag lets us know that, for a limited time, Amazon is giving away downloads of damn near everything ever recorded by the mighty Mojo Nixon. (You will have to install the Amazon MP3 Downloader, but it's a small piece of software that has never given me any trouble.)

Any music you've found online lately that we absolutely have to hear?

Today. I'm not doing anything for it; I thought about it, but a little too much is going on right now with projects I need to finish. huskiebear made a suggestion, though, and I really like it -- both in the spirit of 24HCD and the RPM Challenge:

24 Hour Music Day.

Write, record, release as much music as you can in a single day. A thirty-second commercial jingle, a ten-minute chamber piece, a half-hour of ambient, three or four soft-rock love songs, a couple of original barbershop quartet numbers, a six-minute gangsta rap, whatever you can manage.

My intention would be to publicize the heck out of it, and see how many people we could get to sign up. I'm thinkin' a day in April, when peoples' schedules are not crunched by holidays or lots of conventions, and it doesn't conflict with RPM. Also, sign-ups could start on New Year's Day

Does this seem like a good idea? And who among you might be interested? Any thoughts you have to contribute on the matter will be greatly appreciated.

ETA: Just to help those of you who aren't comfortable making music with your computers yet, here are some resource pages I think you'll find useful:

• the Wikipedia page on Digital Audio Workstations, including lists of both free and commercial programs
• KVR Audio
• the KVRwiki
• Home Recording .com
• Making Music, in particular their free software section
• Musician Tutorials

I posted this in comments, and it made sense to put it here.

Thanks to invader_tak_1 for noticing that Spiff has a new JoCo WoW video:

Just a reminder post -- I may do it again tomorrow, 'cause I'm looking forward to this. The wonderful S. J. Tucker (s00j) and I will be performing in Ann Arbor tomorrow night:

S. J. Tucker and Tom Smith Live at Great Oak in A2!
So much Filk-win it oughtta be illegal!
• Host: Sj Tucker
• Date: Friday, October 2, 2009
• Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm
• Location: Great Oak Cohousing Community - Common House
• Street: 500 Little Lake Drive (down the street from Sunward)
• City/Town: Ann Arbor, MI
• Phone: 734-368-6984
• Description: Great Oak Cohousing has welcomed SJ back again...Little do they know what musical mayhem they're in for! Sooj will proudly welcome special guest Tom Smith at this concert for the first time in history. Consider holding onto your hats, folks, because we suspect the silly is gonna fly tonight! All ages are welcome. Join us!

Crazy mad fun for all.

Who all's planning to be there?

I'm not paying attention to these as much as I should. Buddy Rich, arguably the greatest drummer ever, was born on yesterday's date in 1917. I had three drum lessons from him when I was a kid (some of you may recall that my mom was a nightclub singer; I met a few celebs like that, and every once in awhile my brain reels to think that BUDDY RICH CAME TO OUR HOUSE).

I was gonna hook up to some video, but greggp at Daily Kos did it for me.

Who are your favorite drummers? Rich, Krupa, Collins, Liberty DeVitto, Tyler Stewart from BNL, Fred LeBlanc from Cowboy Mouth, Brian "The Thundergod" Rosenworcel from Guster, and do not underestimate Ringo Starr, who isn't all that flashy but provided one hell of a solid foundation.

Several items of interest:

• The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition:
  • Two-Disc Special Edition
  • Ultimate Collector's Edition with Digital Copy and Amazon Exclusive Set of 4 Collectible 8x10 Character Posters
  • Ultimate Collector's Edition with Digital Copy and Amazon Exclusive Set of 4 Collectible 8x10 Character Posters [Blu-ray]
  The restoration is the same as the 2005 edition; the Ultimate editions have the same content as the 2005 edition, but with a whole disk full of new stuff
• Monsters vs. Aliens:
  • Standard Edition
  • Ginormous Double Pack (double-packaged with an extra feature, like Kung Fu Panda was; this one's called B.O.B.'s Big Break in Monster 3D)
• Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (adapting the Loeb/McGuinness graphic novel):
  • Single-Disc Edition
  • Two-Disc Special Edition
• Celebration: The Video Collection (pretty much all of Madonna's music videos)
• How I Met Your Mother: Season Four (I've gotta start watching this just for the Neil Patrick Harris)
• Life on Mars: The Complete Series
• The Real Ghostbusters: Complete Collection

Anything else just released on video that we need to know about?

... that this video of "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, made by students at the University of Quebec, will put a big smile on your face:

(h/t hughcasey)

In case you hadn't heard, the luminous S. J. Tucker (s00j) is gonna be back in Ann Arbor a week from tonight, and she's got a special guest -- me! I'm looking forward to this one a lot. Details:

S. J. Tucker and Tom Smith Live at Great Oak in A2!
So much Filk-win it oughtta be illegal!
• Host: Sj Tucker
• Date: Friday, October 2, 2009
• Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm
• Location: Great Oak Cohousing Community - Common House
• Street: 500 Little Lake Drive (down the street from Sunward)
• City/Town: Ann Arbor, MI
• Phone: 734-368-6984
• Description: Great Oak Cohousing has welcomed SJ back again...Little do they know what musical mayhem they're in for! Sooj will proudly welcome special guest Tom Smith at this concert for the first time in history. Consider holding onto your hats, folks, because we suspect the silly is gonna fly tonight! All ages are welcome. Join us!

I believe it's gonna be the standard house-concert pass-the-hat or ten-bucks-suggested or somethin', and of course we'll both have CDs for sale. It should be a very silly and fun time.

I missed it -- yesterday The Boss turned 60. I can only hope I rock a tenth as hard as he does when I hit that age.

Favorite Springsteen songs? "Thunder Road", "Born To Run", "Pink Cadillac", "Blinded By The Light" (any version), "Because The Night", the amazing "Jungle Land", "Rosalita"....

Incredible sadness. Mary Travers, of the seminal folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, has passed away at the age of 72.

Which of their songs touch you? For a start, of course, there's "Puff the Magic Dragon", and "If I Had A Hammer", and "Leavin' On A Jet Plane", and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" and and and....

Programming track is online. There's a pun panel on Friday at 3:00 p.m. I might have to worm my way into. I've got a set Friday at 9:00 p.m. (just after Carla Ulbrich [singingpatient] and just before The Great Luke Ski [lukeski] [I love that he's listed in the program as "L. Ski"]), and another Saturday at 1:00 p.m. (with the ultimate lead-in, the amazing Joe Giacoio). Lots of other concerts, including the GOH concert by Carla at 5:00 p.m. Saturday, another by Luke, Bill Roper [billroper], Bill [bedlamhouse] & Brenda [ladyat] Sutton, Margaret Middleton [msminlr], and more. FenCon was superb when I was GOH a couple of years back, and the Ropers and Suttons keep schlepping down there from Indy and Chicagoland, and if you're gonna be in Dallas-Fort Worth this weekend you could do a heck of a lot worse.

So. This time, no kiddin' around. Where in D-FW can I get some good, Texas-style barbecue? Ribs, brisket, pulled whatever.

Hittin' the road today. Ideally, this will be a blast and a half. I soitenly hope so.

The pocket program has most of my sets listed in Filk, rather than Live Concerts, so I thought I'd put them all here for those who care. :) Remember that the musicians' tables are at the Marriott this year, but all of these performances are at the Hyatt.

• Friday 8:30 p.m., Intl N
• Saturday, 7:00 p.m., Awards Banquet, Regency VI-VII
• Saturday 10:00 p.m., Intl N-South
• Sunday 3:30 p.m., Concourse Stage
• Sunday, 7:00 p.m., Regency V

It's a little frustrating that the filk concerts are not automatically lumped in with the live concerts, given that [a] we're not dead and [b] if you don't know to look for 'em, you'd hardly know that such excellent performers as Marc Gunn, Pandora Celtica, and the Bedlam Bards are here. The pocket program has all the Filk information on pages 24 and 25.

So. Who's gonna be there?

"As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work."

As far as "work", I've got a few songs along the way that count, but the most prominent, I think, is "Two Guys Kissin' (Ruined My Life)".

At its new, easier-to-find hotel. If you haven't been there before, very book-centric (although they have a goodly portion of the other stuff, and a special deal with the anime-centric MatsuriCon only a mile away). James P. Hogan, James Sizemore, Christopher Golden, Catherine Asaro, and about three dozen other writers and editors. Music GOH is Michael "Moonwolf" Longcor, and Juanita Coulson will be there with all of her hats -- writer, editor, musician. My concert is tonight, Friday, at 9:00 p.m.

So. Who's going? Or, if you're not going, how's your weekend shaping up?

Sadness. Singer-songwriter and producer Ellie Greenwich has passed away at the age of 68. She wrote or co-wrote such classics as "Da Do Ron Ron", "And Then He Kissed Me", "Be My Baby", "Chapel of Love", and "Leader of the Pack". (Her official web site notes that last one is included on the RIAA [Recording Industry Association Of America] and The NEA [National Endowment For The Arts] list of the Greatest Songs Of The 20th Century, and it's been recorded by Frank Alaimo, Alvin and The Chipmunks, Jana Anderson, Bandit, Buddies, Melissa Etheridge, Wayne Fontana, Bette Midler, Annie Golden, Hit Crew, Good Riddance, Twisted Sister, The Carpenters, The Dixie-Cups, The Fabulous Singlettes, The Green Bay Packers, the Shangri-Las, and The Shirelles.) There's even a Broadway musical based on her life. She also was one of Neil Diamond's early producers (the one you'd know is "Cherry Cherry").

Most people have a bunch of favorite songs. But they're not necessarily the same ones you sing all the time. What do you find yourself singing when you want to sing? Some of mine lately include "My Freeze Ray" (which usually leads to me singing the entire Dr. Horrible soundtrack), "The Soviet Machine" (from Chess), and "Shop Vac" and "Re: Your Brains" by Jonathan Coulton.

In town and everything. Right around the corner from where I shop, actually, and just down the street from Zingerman's Roadhouse, which is a pretty expensive (albeit very good) sit-down restaurant but they've got a trailer out front, the Roadshow, which sells amazing whole-hog pulled pork barbecue sandwiches with an Eastern North Carolina vinegar sauce for less than six bucks including mustard slaw.

My Saturday afternoon concert was scheduled for 11:00 p.m., which will not happen because I will be in bed. So I'm going to perform at 5:00 p.m. Who's gonna be there? Or, if you're not there, what's your weekend looking like?

( I am as happy as a little girl.... )

(This may end up being a duplicate entry. DreamWidth is being funky re: crossposting, so I just manually posted this.)

( Homina homina homina.... )

( Boy, am I tired.... )

( Warning: Way more name dropping than I usually indulge in.... )

Incredible sadness. One of the true gods of both guitar making and rock and roll, Les Paul, has passed away at the age of 94. Hell of a musician, hell of an inventor, all-around genius. Rest well, sir, and thanks.

persis (along with, presumably, jslove) proudly announces that Love Song Productions is up and running, with notice of their latest album, Kathy Mar Live!

Anything artistic or craftish you want to promote? Link 'em up.

If you're planning to attend Construct-A-Con in Ann Arbor on August 21-23, I'm giving a concert, and I'm taking requests.

Who's planning to be there?

If you're anywhere near Pittsburgh, this is the place to be. It was my fond hope to be able to make it there this weekend, but I simply can't justify it, either in time or money. Ticks me off, because I haven't seen some of those people for a lotta years. mrgoodwraith runs a hell of a music track, and John Scalzi is the Author GOH, and the music is the inestimable More Difficulties, and what are you waiting for?

So, who's there? Or, if you're not there, what are you doing this weekend? I'm trying to finish a commission job, and Miranda's birthday party is tomorrow.

Both jannyblue and therck aimed me to this:

Sometimes we in filk fandom forget how lucky we truly are.

Here's a pretty sad article, the very short form of which is that the writer loves live music but hates:

• everybody standing
• waiting for the show to start
• stragglers getting in front of you
• beer, for making you go to the bathroom. Stupid beer!

The moral of the story is basically, "Don't go to music clubs". The article even ends, "If there weren't any music played at concerts, I'd probably never go."

See, this is why, even if I do ever have a Real Music Career, I'm never ever giving up filk. We have time when we're scheduled, and everybody's there. We have chairs, and leg room. If we come in late, we hang around the fringes, at least until between songs, and don't block the view. We bring our own beverages, and hardly ever drink too many during the show. Best of all, the rapport between the performer and the audience is almost as important as the music. Oh, and you can hear the music. We even think that's kinda the point.

What performers do you like seeing live? I love getting to shows with Christine Lavin, Uncle Bonsai, Barenaked Ladies, and Leon Redbone. Paul and Storm impressed the hell out of me in March. My fellow FuMPers lukeski, partiallyclips, devospice, and wormquartet all do pretty well, but it's amazing how much better we do in tandem. (And pixelene works into that mix surprisingly smoothly.) And I will not at all gratuitously throw in the entirety of OVFF, especially anything involving quadrivium, bedlamhouse, tarkrai, Michael "Moonwolf" Longcor, musicmutt, Ookla the Mok, vixyish and tfabris, Wild Mercy, and fuggit everybody else. And y'dang youngsters oughta sit down with Juanita Coulson now and again, if you haven't for awhile. She knows how the hell to work a song.

The wonderful Merav Hoffman (who I'm pretty sure is ladymondegreen on LJ) sent me audio and video of the concert you guys did for me back at ConTata. Sadly, the video doesn't want to work -- keeps crashing my computer, in fact. And the audio is vewy vewy quiet. But that's easily taken care of. And so I've been listening to it.

As if I didn't already have more than enough reason to love you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

There's gotta be some East Coast con in the next year that doesn't conflict with my schedule, so I can come out there and rock you guys. Anybody? Beuller?

( SO not safe for work.... )

Wow. Getting multiple reports (not yet confirmed) that Michael Jackson has died of a heart attack.

ETA: It does seem to be confirmed. Wow. This will take a little while to wrap my head around, but the long and short is, what a life the guy had. And I sincerely don't know how good a life it was.

We'll talk about his music later. But not now. For now, we mourn his loss. He had a profound impact on pop music, and a lesser impact on pop culture, and for all the weird things that he did or that happened around him, for all that he took to bodyhacking as a lifestyle, he had immense talent, and for all his faults he seemed himself quite sincere. I hope you have found some measure of rest, Michael. Condolences to your family and friends.

I'm not feeling physically wonderful today. And I'm tired, and worried about money, and hoping that the summer gigs go well, and I've gotta straighten up this place, and it's hot and a little humid and I'm cranky.

Doesn't matter.

As long as things like this can make me smile, I know I'll be all right:

markbernstein and I have done this one a couple of times. We should do it more often. :) And all praise to Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly, and for that matter to Garrison Keillor.

We haven't had a joke thread for awhile, so please indulge yourselves. Don't make 'em too crass -- the vid above has about the right limit.

Got my DVD today.

A couple of years ago, I got the Star Wars Original Trilogy (Special Edition). (Sucker's still in a box somewhere, along with the other Special Editions, e.g., West Side Story, Lord of the Rings, all the season sets of Babylon 5. Good box. I want to frickin' find it.) I decided on that Friday evening to put on Ep 4, A New Hope, i.e., the original movie. Watch a few minutes, a few scenes out of that.

Ended up watching all three, one after the other, like crack-laced popcorn. Fell in love with Star Wars all over again.

I just finished the end of Act I of Chess In Concert, with Josh Groban absolutely nailing "Anthem" and getting a well-deserved standing ovation. The crowd went bugfuck. So did I. I've been laughing and tearing up and falling in love with Chess all over again, and I'm not even to the second act yet.

Idina Menzel is every bit as lovely and every bit the actress that I expected, and, while her voice does not quite fit my image of Florence -- a little too piercing, a touch too brittle -- she does the job nicely. Groban and Adam Pascal, on the other hand, are revelations. And the rest of the cast is pretty damn fine too. And the use of lighting and video and dance and occasional costuming and props (it is "in concert" rather than a full production, after all) is clever and engaging throughout.

Sorry, just had to gush a bit. You can either discuss your favorite musicals, your favorite public-domain games, or a public-domain game you'd like to see turned into a musical.

Yes, I'm fishing.

Anyone else having trouble loading TheFuMP.com today? I get the page, but not the graphics. I presume the CSS file is missing or somethin'. Shame, really, because there's a new studio version of me and lukeski doing "Cthulhu Fthagn".

ETA: The page is just fine. I had something set wrong in stupid effing Firefox. All better. The direct FuMP page is here.

ETA2: Ya gotta go to Luke's LJ and see the nifty art he did for it. :)

Really, it's just a big fat guy sitting in the middle of the screen.

Singing "Storm Dancing".

Thanks to blackpaladin.

( A lot happened yesterday.... )