My brilliant, funny (and much younger) cousin Wendy does a weekly Facebook post in which she reviews a song – usually after having a glass of wine – that’s meaningful to her in some way at that specific moment. I’d point you to the posts but they’re only for her friends and she doesn’t know… Continue reading My Top 10 Latin [Dance] Songs
Category: Music
UE Boom 2 Bluetooth Speaker
One of the things I hinted for at Christmas was a Bluetooth speaker. I often like to have music going while working in the yard or the garage and while both porches and the garage have wired music capabilities, I like the idea of being able to remotely program the tunes. I didn’t have a… Continue reading UE Boom 2 Bluetooth Speaker
USAF/USMC Viet Nam-Era Recruiting “Infomercials”
Before we get started, take a listen to this (length – 39 sec): Your browser does not support the audio element. I’ve probably mentioned this before but I worked as a DJ at a small AM radio station in West Texas during my high school and early college years. That was back in the late… Continue reading USAF/USMC Viet Nam-Era Recruiting “Infomercials”
Blue Bell, Buzzards, and a Band: Labor Day in the Texas Hill Country
Our long national nightmare has ended Our Labor Day weekend had a definite theme: Hills, Heat, and Humidity. Three consecutive days of 100°+ temperatures were bad enough, but when you factored in the humidity levels (~90% in the mornings; >70% in the evenings), even the slightest physical activity entailed copious sweating. Fortunately, we had plenty… Continue reading Blue Bell, Buzzards, and a Band: Labor Day in the Texas Hill Country
New Toy: USB Turntable for Digitizing Albums
This arrived from Amazon yesterday afternoon…my first new turntable in, oh, about three decades. It’s an Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB direct drive model, and it’s pretty awesome, considering my rather modest needs and expectations. We have a turntable but it has a few shortcomings. First, it doesn’t play 78 rpm records; more about why that’s important in… Continue reading New Toy: USB Turntable for Digitizing Albums
Our Excellent Summer Texas Music Tour
July was Live Music Month here at the Gazette, as we had the opportunity to hear – and sometimes dance to – the music of an interesting variety of Texas bands. Here’s a quick rundown of what we saw and heard, and also a brief review of each venue in case you want to visit… Continue reading Our Excellent Summer Texas Music Tour
Filling the Dance Gap
I spent much of a Sunday afternoon downloading Seventies and Eighties TV show theme songs from iTunes and editing them* into gain-consistent 20-second clips with tasteful fade-ins and -outs to serve as fillers between songs in the playlist I’m compiling for an upcoming ballroom dance. If this sounds like fun, you must be a geek,… Continue reading Filling the Dance Gap
A [non-traditional] ballroom dance playlist
Once each year, the Ballroom Dance Society departs from its usual practice of having live music and uses a prerecorded playlist for a dance. This is done primarily as a fundraiser, saving the cost of a band, but it also gives us a chance to expose members and guests to music that they might not… Continue reading A [non-traditional] ballroom dance playlist
The Civil Wars || The Civil Wars
Here’s what you do. Go buy the best pair of headphones you can find. Not earbuds – not even those fancy-schmancy Sennheisers – get a good set of over-the-ear cans, although noise-canceling on-the-ear phones will also work. Set aside a couple of hours, and find a comfortable chair. Then go to the iTunes Store and… Continue reading The Civil Wars || The Civil Wars
Chicago: 40 Years Later
On Tuesday night we went to the Chicago concert at the WinPAC, along with however many other people it takes to fill that venue (oh, it’s 1,827 folks, according to the technical specs). The show was announced as a sellout and while I did see a few scattered empty seats, I’m sure it was due… Continue reading Chicago: 40 Years Later