As a small step towards some eventual blogcasting (no, they're not podcasts, 'cuz you don't need an iPod), I just set up my own Shoutcast server for Almanac readers. For now it's called The Almanac Bradcast, and it streams my entire 22,000 song music collection at 128kbps out over the wire, mostly at random, but sometimes specially programmed by yours truly. I can create playlists on the fly ('bands coming to town', 'new this week', 'Boston bands', or maybe by genre depending on my mood), and I can even take requests and drop songs in on a moment's notice.

Got a song you want to hear while you're sitting in your cube? Just send me an instant message at AIM screenname 'bradcast'.

Right now the stream is limited to 5 users at a time (including me, of course), but depending on how much bandwidth the (admittedly small) home-based connection can handle, I might bump that up (or down?). Hopefully I'll be able to keep it at 128k, though... we'll see. 192kpbs resulted in too much buffering, and I've only had 4 users max on it so far.

So get listening (open link in your browser, or open it with WinAmp or iTunes), and let me know how it sounds on your end... the more feedback I get, the better it'll become. Yes, I know the occasional mp3 tag will be messed up, but I'm fixing them little by little... and I make no apologies for some of the random stuff that might appear; the stream might be classified as 'indie', but I'd have a hard time arguing that my collection is all that. Mostly, yeah. Labels, schmabels.

A quick copy and paste of the 'recently played songs' gives you an idea what you're in for though...

14:29:48 Slowdive - Silver Screen (demo)
14:26:20 Yo La Tengo - Don't Say a Word ( Hot Chicken #2)
14:23:11 Sebadoh - Mystery Man
14:20:16 Wedding Present - Blue Eyes (Radio Remix)
14:16:02 Cure - The Funeral Party
14:12:03 Donelly, Tanya - The Night You Saved My Life
14:08:28 Jane's Addiction - Trip Away
14:04:48 Idaho - On The Shore
13:58:59 Bedhead - The Dark Ages (live)
13:53:48 Catherine Wheel - Ferment
13:50:33 Bonnie Prince Billy - Agnes, Queen of Sorrow
13:47:03 The Decemberists - Oceanside
13:41:36 Nine Inch Nails - Suck (Full Length)
13:35:47 Pinback - Tres
13:31:57 Lucksmiths - Point Being
13:28:13 Curve - Overground
13:22:45 Scrawl - Tell You What

Now that I've let this outta the bag, it'll probably get crushed in about 10 minutes, so beware the buffering, and of it disappearing suddenly. In the end, this thing is mostly for myself, so if you end up getting kicked while I'm testing it out, sorry in advance. Especially if it's during a song that's hitting you just right...

Movin' on then...


Ticket alert: Genius director Hal Hartley is coming to town in a few weeks to personally introduce a screening of his new movie, "The Girl From Monday". The film is playing at the Brattle on June 3rd through June 5th, and also at the Coolidge until June 9th, but Hartley will only be appearing at the Friday, June 3rd, 7:15 Brattle screening. Tickets are now on sale, and they'll no doubt disappear quickly, so go ahead and get yours here.


So we saw the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie last weekend, and as a pretty loyal fan of the books... I reeeeally didn't enjoy it. Well, most of it. And Amie, as someone who's never read the books... disliked it even more. She actually bailed about halfway through and caught a bunch of Kung Fu Hustle in the theater next door, which she loved, of course. I'll spare you a bunch of complaining about it, though. The friends I saw it with will be surprised to read this, actually, as I didn't really voice my opinion afterwards... didn't want to bring anyone who loved it down. Don't even think they knew that Amie escaped... but I do know they agree with the all-healing appeal of the Kung-Fu Hustle.

Tonight: We might just try to crash the Serenity screening, hoping that someone, anyone, has extra tickets. Oh please oh please oh please... I cannot hold out until September.


Speaking of Serenity, this is pretty damn cool...

Dark Horse Comics will be putting out a 3-issue Serenity mini-series from creator and super-scribe Joss Whedon that will bridge the gap between the end of the TV series and the movie. Let's hear it for sweet, sweet synergy.


At long last, a date: Word is that the very-much-awaited Miss Mary record, "Ready 2 Pop", the sophomore followup to 2000's "Hey Blue" (and followup to the recent 'release' of "Holly"), will be out on May 23rd. Check out her MySpace page for songs, details on (hopefully) future live appearances, and where to buy the thing. Nice to think she'll be playing out again, baby and bass player in tow.


Also on the subject of talented friends, the one n' only Colin Clary made a live radio appearance a couple days ago on Providence, RI's WBRS 88.1 FM, on the 'Phoning It In' program. As the name implies, guests perform live over the phone, and Colin played a whole bunch of random songs. The sound quality varies, but overall it sounds pretty good considering, so give the archived show a listen on your computer right here.


Fans of Ida get some long awaited goodies: Insound now has their hard-to-find (and limited edition) Last Affair Records releases for sale in their Annex. These include the one-time import only Dan Littleton solo record 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' coupled with his other ultra-rare solo disc 'Down By The Riverside', plus a limited double-disc live recording from San Fran's Bottom of the Hill in April 2000. That live show also apparently includes 3 new recordings. Mine are on the way.

That reminds me... I sent my artwork off awhile ago for Dark Beloved Cloud's Singles Club so I could get some new Ida songs. Wonder how long that usually takes? Anyone try it?


This is fairly random: Photos I took at Boston's first flash mob are being used this weekend as part of a symposium called "Sampling the Spectrum: The
Politics, Practices and Poetics of Mobile Technologies" at La Soci�t� des Arts et Technologiques in Montreal. It starts today, and a grad student asked if it was ok to display them during her Saturday discussion on "Flash Mobbing: �Hipster Sheep�, �The Clique Machine� and �A Love Rug�". In the unlikely event that anyone reading this actually attends, lemme know.


There's a brand new mp3 blog on the block, and it's called 'Last Post on the Bugle'. I guess Adam's a regular Almanac reader, so it's cool to see him joining in.


Most of you know this by now, but just in case: The Daily Show's Steven Colbert is getting his own show. Great news, and yet, I'll really miss his obvious (and usually successful) attempts to get Jon Stewart to crack up during his pieces. And what will become of The God Machine?! He'd better bring it with him, because no one else could punch it quite so perfectly.


Bruce Campbell returns to town: Boston is the next to last stop on his book tour for 'Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way'. It's not until September 16th, and yeah, that's a hell of a long ways away, but early notice is good notice.


The new Tullycraft disc, 'Disenchanted Hearts Unite' got released this week, and you can check out one song from it over at Three Imaginary Girls (just click the banner in the left column there), and another one over at the Magic Marker Records site. In honor of it's release, I'll be sharing up a live set on Monday from Crayon, the band that Tullycraft sprung from many years back.


Probably won't hear from me until Monday (although ya never know), so I hope everyone has a good weekend. Me? I'm so, so psyched for Saturday's Lucksmiths / Ladybug Transistor / Pipas show at P.A.s Lounge, and the get-together we're having beforehand. A guaranteed good day, despite the rain.