What are you listening to right now?

Paranoid Dot Calm

Council Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,142
0
36
Hide-Away Lane, Toronto
Hey! Rick van Opbergen

You asked about "Andre Rieu".

I don't listen to the radio at all. I don't think I've turned on a radio in more than 3 years. I hate the advertising. One minute they play a nice soothing tune and the next minute they are getting me all hyped out for not having proper underarm deodorant. I can't handle that.

I deliberately stay away from watching music videos on TV. When I listen to a song, I wanna visualize my own dreams and not what the singer was dreaming about. If I watch the video, then everytime I hear the song, I think of the video.

I sort of found this guy's tunes by accident. I use a NewsReader to utilize NewsGroups. Well, I had to reinstall the program and thus I lost all my "history" .... the program did not remember which messages I read and those I had not. So, I had to download all the messages posted within the NewsGroup. As an example, the NewsGroup for Christmas tunes had 95 thousand messages. Once I download all the messages, and then leave the program. In the future, the program will only download "new" messages since my last visit.

Anyways; as I had downloaded the messages, I cruised through them and chose about 15 hundred tunes from various NewsGroups.
I just choose the tunes and go to bed. When I get up in the morning they are all downloaded and I begin to listen to each of them. I usually only listen to the first 8 bars .... if it don't turn my crank .... delete.
Out of 15 hundred tunes, I kept 168.

That guy "Andre Rieu" was a tune I found and rather liked. That was how I was introduced to his music.

Calm
 

Paranoid Dot Calm

Council Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,142
0
36
Hide-Away Lane, Toronto
I should also add:

I use a NewsReader to visit "Politics" NewsGroups. About every two days I visit 2 or 3 "News" or "Politics" NewsGroups and I generally review or read about 3000 messages.
My NewsReader only shows new messages posted since my last visit.
A message may only contain a link to a news story at the New York Times. I just launch the link and read the story there.
That is how I get my "detailed" news. That is how I grab all the latest cartoons.
If I like the story or if it is something that interests me, I copy paste the complete story to my data base. I include the link to the story as well. But, the reason I copy-paste the complete story into my database is because in 6 months time the link might be inactive and that is irritating.
My database is like a scrapbook.

Calm
 

Paranoid Dot Calm

Council Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,142
0
36
Hide-Away Lane, Toronto
Yeh! I like music.

I got another story .....

I've always had a better than average stereo. I always had a huge record album collection. When I was a kid, I signed up for all the Record Of The Month Clubs and used fictious names and I would just give "Room 8" or "Apartment 12" .... the same address though.
All yuh had to do was buy one album and you'd get 10 free, or whatever. But, the trick was to pay for the one you agreed to buy. When the bill came with your albums .... it was good to pay the 10 or 12 bucks. Because after that, your credit was super!

When 8 track tapes were the style, I had 650 of them! Not including my Records!

Anyways .... I was smokin' a joint one day with some casual friends. They asked me if I would supply music for their wedding. Well, after a few more tokes, we had the plans all made!
I never asked where it was going to be held, exactly. (It was good pot.)

After about a week, I contacted them and asked where it was gonna be held? They told me it was the "Biggest Hall" in town!
Oh! Wow!

Another thing .... I hate dancing. So, I had never been to a social gathering (like a wedding) and where there was a disc jockey. Never!

I began to worry!

In the end, I spent 25 thousand dollars!
Honestly.
I bought 8 speaker boxes and each contained a 20" Woofer!
I had a 45 watt system and bought a new 120 watt deal.
And on and on .....
I had a mirror ball extended over the dance floor.
I had 2 poles of 150 watt spot lights on stage which flickered with the "tone" of the music which was playing.

I worried about failing! So, I spent 25 thousand to ensure that I did not.

I called the "business"

----Music-Plus*----
(* A Bit More Class)

But, I'm a worrier! I'm a worse case scenario kinda' guy!

And yuh know what ? ? ? After 2 drinks nobody cared! Nobody knew if my sound system was good or not.

And .... I thought that I could be a good master of ceremonies. I had all the gear .... microphones and stuff .... but I was terrified! I could speak in front of 10 thousand union members about safety ..... but I could not get on a microphone and say "Let's Boogie". I'm just not cut-out for that!

But, my that pot was good!

Calm
 

Rick van Opbergen

House Member
Sep 16, 2004
4,080
0
36
The Netherlands
www.google.com
8O :lol: Haha I can imagine how that one must have been, spending 25,000 CAD to make sure everything's going fine, and then finding out people just don't give a rat's ass about the quality of the music ... Did these friends pay you back some way or another (out of sympathy maybe?), or did you have to pay it all by yourself? Like you I'm a worrier too. Last week, when I had exams, I woke up at 5:30 to ensure I was on time for one of the exams which was around 9:00 ... I get really sick when I worry, getting all cramps in the belly etc. it's just something within we which I can't get away. I know when I was young I once peed my pants in the class because I couldn't stand the thought of asking the teacher whether I could visit the toilet and all those classmates looking at me :lol: Thinking about it, that was just plain stupid.

Anyway.

It's nice to hear the pot was good 8)
 

Paranoid Dot Calm

Council Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,142
0
36
Hide-Away Lane, Toronto
I bought my puter 4 years ago.
Nothing has changed since I bought it except hard drives.

I have a SoundBlasterLive Drive.
(Creative Labs)

I have Digital Dolby Surround 5.1 speaker system.
I don't own a stereo. There is no TV in my livingroom. (Where my computer is.)
My computer is my entertainment system.

 

Paranoid Dot Calm

Council Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,142
0
36
Hide-Away Lane, Toronto
Oh!

What you don't quite understand is that this pot was really good. It was the 70's.

Yuh see, even after a week, I began to think, .... hey, this would be a good business to get into.
All the investment was because I decided to open a disc jockey service.
The fact that these people asked me to play at their wedding was not central to my money extravaganza!
They did not know my intentions .... they hardly knew me.

I didn't want to bore you with so much detail .....

I had such grand ideas.

I bought a parabolic reflector and microphone and taped their vows at the church. I played it back during their first dance.
I had business cards made with a small perforated edge which contained a ticket number. As each person came into the hall, they were given my business card. They were instructed to tear off the perforated part and put it into the drum for when a door prize was given. People tore off the ticket portion, but always went home with my card in their wallet or purse. (I thought that was brilliant!)

I typed (by hand on a damn IBM Selectric) my complete library of music. I photocopied and made booklets of about 300 pages of listed music. I made request forms and put them out on a table with copies of the library.
What a mistake that was!
Everyone picked slow songs. Romantic songs. And, once you said you had the song .... then they kept coming on stage and demanding or asking why I hadn't played the tune yet? Jezz ... I couldn't play 15 slow songs in a row!

Oh! After this initial booking, and after finding out I was totally incapable of being a master of ceremonies, I could not just walk away.
Each booking after that, I used to convince myself that I would be able to talk on the microphone this time. And .... as usual, I could not. I had all kinds of equipment to hide behind. My favourite place was behind my 10" reel to reel recorder.

I hired myself an MC. I hired an entertainer!
We rehearsed games and stuff. He used to get right out onto the dance floor.

My competition was getting 150 or 175 dollars a booking. I was charging 450 bucks.
I had lots of equipment. I had all the toys. I know sound. I know music.
I don't care about a singers biography or how many kids they have. I'm not a FanClub kinda guy.

But .... one day, my MC failed to show up! It was like me owning a car repair garage and my mechanic doesn't show up.
What do you do?
Well, I did the booking ..... I hid behind my 10" reel to reel.

But .... I decided right then and there that I could not handle the worry about whether my mechanic was gonna show up or not. I could not have my mechanic holding me as hostage.

I sold the speakers in 1981 - even trade for a completely refurbished 1972 Chevelle Super Sport, Hirst shift, with a 454 to my friend.

Calm