seticat

Okay, a total change of mood with my other favorite holiday song. FWIW it really doesn't snow anywhere near this much in the lower areas of W. Washington especially since the areas being shown are in/around the City of Gig Harbor which is at sea level on the Puget Sound right on the water.

[Error: unknown template qotd] There are a lot, but the two that come to mind right off the bat:

Lee Greenwood's "Born to Be an American".
The night before my unit deployed to the Gulf back in 1990, we had a 'nursing unit gathering' at one of the rec centers. Not everyone came, which in some ways was good. We were a 1000 bed general hospital with a staffing of around 375 folks assigned to nursing. To meet those numbers we had to pull from other units from pretty much everywhere and many of us had never met before this week. As the evening came to a close, the finial piece the DJ played was 'Born to Be an American'. Little groups began to form all throughout the room, merging into bigger and bigger groups. And with arms around each other's shoulders we started singing along. This disparate groups of people, brought together from all parts of the US West Coast, came together as one - at least for those few moments.

Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
We'd been in country for a couple of days and things were still pretty quiet. It was still 'Operation Desert Shield' and hadn't transformed into 'Operation Desert Storm' quite yet. I was up in my 3rd floor billets room doing a pile of paperwork with the window open trying to catch whatever breeze there might be. And then I heard a faint voice singing. I couldn't make out the words so I went to the window and hung my head out and heard somewhere down below in the quadrangle between the four buildings we were housed in singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" Over the next minute another voice joined in, and then another. And then everyone in the quad was singing.

So here we were, this collection of young and old, all who had taken 'The King's Schilling' and answered the call when it came for them to deploy, getting ready to face an unknown war, singing one of the premier anti-war songs of the '60's. But not singing in anger, not with malice, just gently and softly and with the hope that nothing would happen, no one would be harmed and we could all go home to our lives and loved ones. As strange as it may sound, at that moment, it wasn't a song of protest, but one of hope.

Two very simple songs that captured all the feelings of those few months in '90-'91.

These two online radio stations have been added to my old tried-and-True 'Live 365' radio station, creating more on-line live streaming loves.

First up will be 'SOMA FM Commercial Free Radio' based out of the San Fran area. They stream a wide variety of genes.



SomaFM has several ecletic channels:

Our playlists are updated live via the recently played tracks link, which shows the last 15 songs played. Forther song histories are available via the Twitter link at the end of the listing.

Our charts show the top artists, tracks and newest adds for our channels. Charts are listed by spin (the number of times we played the song that week) and by listeners, which is the sum of the number of people listening to a channel each time we played that song or artist.

Groove Salad: A nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves.	[charts] [recently played]
Secret Agent: The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. For Spies and Pis too!	[charts] [recently played]
Drone Zone: Served best chilled, safe with most medications. Atmospheric textures with minimal beats.	[charts] [recently played]
Indie Pop Rocks!: New and your favorite classic indie pop tracks.	[charts] [recently played]
cliqhop idm: Blips'n'beeps backed mostly w/beats. Intelligent Dance Music.	[charts] [recently played]
Beat Blender: A late night blend of deep-house and downtempo chill.	[charts] [recently played]
Tag's Trip: Progressive house / trance. Tip top tunes.	[charts] [recently played]
Illinois Street Lounge: Classic bachelor pad, playful exotica and vintage music of tomorrow.	[charts] [recently played]
Space Station Soma: Tune in, turn on, space out. Spaced-out ambient and mid-tempo electronica.	[charts] [recently played]
Doomed: Dark music for tortured souls	[charts] [recently played]
Boot Liquor: Americana Roots music for Cowhands, Cowpokes and Cowtippers	[charts] [recently played]
Lush: Sensuous and mellow vocals, mostly female, with an electronic influence.	[charts] [recently played]
Digitalis: Digitally affected analog rock with a DIY mentality.	[charts] [recently played]
Suburbs of Goa: Desi-influenced Asian world beats.	[charts] [recently played]
Sonic Universe: NuJazz + avant-garde EuroJazz. Transcending the world of jazz with experimental takes on tradition.	[charts] [recently played]
Xmas in Frisko: SomaFM's wacky and eclectic holiday mix. Not for the easily offended.	[charts] [recently played]
Christmas Lounge: Chilled holiday grooves and classic winter lounge tracks. (Kid and Parent safe!)	[charts] [recently played]
Mission Control: Celebrating NASA and Space Explorers everywhere.	[recently played]
PopTron: Electropop and indie dance rock with sparkle and pop.	[recently played]
Covers: All covers. All the time. Nothing by the original artists!	[charts] [recently played]

And than there's 'Radio Rivendell' for those times you want to feel like just sitting down sharing a cool pull of draught just before leaving to discover how many weeks it will take you to hike from Longbottom to Rivendell.

For those who are online and can stream music into your gaming or virtual life environments, I've found these two group to be pretty easy. I know there are a lot of shoutcast streams out there, but Rivendell is currently the one I have playing in my little snow dusted corner of Second Life - the place I call 'The Barrowdowns' on the North-East corner of the Eternal Calm sim. Normally I have my security system in place because having a ;ot of unknowns dropping in on me make me a bit nuts, but for the holidays I have it off. So if you're a SL gridder, Come visit the Barrowdowns and say 'hi' to Tmayla Rotaru, the land owner there: sometimes in human guise and sometimes wear feline fur. It just depends.

My recommendation is to watch this and enjoy. But you might want to put your drink down first.




Note: The actually singing was done by an acapella group called Moosebutter, but the vid was created with their approval.

My guitar calluses are *really* out of shape. :{

But that's what happens when you don't pick the damn thing up for a year or so.