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| Author |
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| 25 new of 154 responses total. |
krj
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response 100 of 154:
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Oct 16 07:01 UTC 2002 |
Bandwidth is continuing to be a problem, and I don't know if it's
going to be a solvable one.
The bandwidth graphs indicate that there should be plenty of bandwidth
left after our recent campus upgrade, but I am usually getting an 8K
stream, the lowest possible quality for Real Audio, in the afternoon.
In the evenings I can do somewhat better,
but it's still way below the quality I had for the spring and summer.
I can never get 64K on BBC Radio 2 and Radio 3 any more.
Celtic Connections had a very fine show today with a live appearance
from Myshkin's Ruby Warblers, from the USA.
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krj
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response 101 of 154:
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Oct 18 13:33 UTC 2002 |
The description of today's Andy Kershaw show, for Mike McNally --
I seem to remember he's a Robyn Hitchcock fan:
22:15 Andy Kershaw
Andy features an exclusive session from the Soft Boys, who,
never to be hurried, have burst back onto the scene with their
second album in 23 years.
The new album, Nextdoorland, boasts suitably surreal songs
from Robyn Hitchcock and the shimmering guitar of Kimberley
Rew.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/andykershaw.shtml
and click on "listen to the latest program" for a week after the
show airs.
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mcnally
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response 102 of 154:
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Oct 19 13:26 UTC 2002 |
I wouldn't really describe myself as a Robyn Hitchcock fan,
though I have a couple of original Soft Boys albums and one or
two of his solo discs. I've been mildly curious about the new
Soft Boys album but "mildly curious" is no longer sufficient
to motivate a disc purchase..
I don't know why, but I thought Kimberley Rew was dead..
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krj
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response 103 of 154:
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Oct 24 01:45 UTC 2002 |
Radio Scotland had some web page problems during the Celtic Connections
broadcast yesterday; neither Mickey nor I could get the show to come
up on the live broadcast. Tonight I came back to the replay, and it's
a worthwhile listen. Highlights from the first hour include
an instrumental band Elephant Talk, and a singer/flute player Eilis
Kennedy. The second hour opens with an instrumental track from
Eliza Carthy's new album.
I'm getting a solid 33K Real Audio stream on the replay. I suspect
what I'll have to do now, as much as possible, is move
listening into the evenings. The replays are lower quality than
the theoretical maximum bitrate of the live streams, but I can no
longer get that theoretical maximum during the daytime -- I
can rarely get better than a minimal 8K-11K stream in the afternoon
I don't think the problem is within the campus network any more.
I haven't got enough evening time to cover all of my shows, until
I come up with a system for unattended recording.
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other
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response 104 of 154:
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Oct 24 02:02 UTC 2002 |
You were probably a victim of increased latency as a cascading result of
the coordinated DDoS attack on the 13 root DNS servers yesterday.
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krj
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response 105 of 154:
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Oct 24 03:00 UTC 2002 |
I'm not sure what problem you're addressing. The link problems
yesterday were, I think, claims from the BBC servers that the
Radio Scotland live Real Audio
link did not exist, and that error wouldn't involve the DNS attack.
I had no trouble getting text pages from the BBC site; I didn't
try any of their other audio streams, though.
The bandwidth problems have been ongoing for two months now;
the campus here has throttled back some of the residence hall
traffic and we should have available bandwidth, but something
else between me and the BBC is choking in the afternoons.
This has been an ongoing problem -- continuing even today --
and I don't see the DNS attack having any role in it at all.
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krj
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response 106 of 154:
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Nov 1 20:37 UTC 2002 |
Very nice Travelling Folk show yesterday, with Fiona Ritchie substituting
for the regular host Archie Fisher. There was yet another great track
from Irish singer Eilis Kennedy, who's had three tracks on various
BBC folk shows in recent weeks, and whose CD seems to be somewhat scarce.
Also a live track from bagpiper Susana Seivane and her band, offered
as a teaser for a longer live set from a recent festival, to be
played in next Tuesday's "Celtic Connections" show.
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krj
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response 107 of 154:
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Dec 13 06:39 UTC 2002 |
BBC Radio 3, the home of Lucy Duran and "Late Junction," is offering
"World Music Day" on 1 January, with 12 hours of concerts
originating around the globe. If we're really lucky, some of this
will be available for later streaming, like the Womad sets.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/wmdhome2003.shtml
-----
In non-programming news: The Guardian reports that private British
publishers (including the Guardian itself) are complaining about
the BBC's extensive online presence, which is subsidized with
the license fee/tax money. The BBC is spending about 100 million
pounds per year on its Internet operations, which are much
bigger than the folk/world music stuff that Mickey and I soak up.
"BBC Online face inquiry" is the headline.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,7496,858003,00.html
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dbratman
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response 108 of 154:
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Dec 13 20:31 UTC 2002 |
Bigger than the classical, too, I bet.
If that great stuff in their archives goes away, I shall be very
sorry. But not a bit surprised.
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micklpkl
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response 109 of 154:
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Jan 3 15:58 UTC 2003 |
Here's something some of you classic rock fans might appreciate --
Radio 6 has a programme called "Dream Ticket" ... The premise is that
the host assembles a fantasy festival line-up, using the BBC's
extensive archive of live shows.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/bbcsessions/dream_ticket.shtml
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micklpkl
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response 110 of 154:
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Jan 7 22:15 UTC 2003 |
BBC Radio Scotland is gearing up for the 10th Celtic Connections
Festival, beginning 15 Jan 2003 and running until 2 February.
From the looks of this page -
http://www.celticconnections.co.uk/whatson/broadcasts.htm
there will be a motherlode of broadcasts from the festival (and, no
doubt, many sessions recorded live for broadcast throughout 2003).
It's the next best thing to being there, I suppose. One of these
years....
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krj
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response 111 of 154:
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Jan 17 23:02 UTC 2003 |
Andy Kershaw (Radio 3) is presenting two shows from Mali.
Today's show (available for a week in the "Listen Again" archive)
is from a music festival in or near the Tuareg desert, near
Timbuktu. Around 40 minutes into the show -- you can skip forward --
is a nifty cover of Led Zepplin's "Whole Lotta Love."
More from Mali next week.
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krj
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response 112 of 154:
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Jan 21 21:27 UTC 2003 |
Radio 3's Late Junction had an excellent show Monday, with lots
of recordings Fiona Talkington had brought back from the Kaustinen
Folk Festival in Finland. I'll have to key in some names after
the BBC gets the play list up; they were mostly artists unknown to
me. Lots of good accordion work, and three songs from a group of
women who were from the same village (in the Karelia area?) as
Varttina.
I have got to make some time in my life for Late Junction, even
if I don't have 8 hours a week to be a completist about it.
"Celtic Connections" today played something I liked; turned out it
was a Sheila Chandra track from A BONE CRONE DRONE, compiled on her
MOONSUNG album which I think I already have. Sigh.
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krj
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response 113 of 154:
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Jan 23 18:56 UTC 2003 |
Here's an article which quotes a top BBC executive appearing at a
European music conference:
http://musicdish.com/mag/?id=7375
The article discusses the BBC's "... renewed concentration on transforming
radio from a one-way broadcasting to a two-way 100% interactive medium.
And through online tools such as chatrooms and instant messaging, the
BBC has high aspirations on building a vibrant community around BBC
programming which will then, in turn, be completely influenced by
the online community."
You can see the early wisps of this happening now on the BBC web site,
and when you hear the DJs respond to listeners around the world.
Ah, around the world... the DJs seem thrilled at the foreign audience,
but the BBC exec sees us as a cost problem: "... domestic BBC Radio
is heavily financed by licensing fees paid by UK listeners as opposed
to advertising revenue. Needless to say that Mr. Kimber ((BBC exec))
has not been very keen on the idea of non-UK BBC listeners taking
advantage of the streaming audio without being a license payer
while further augmenting the streaming cost to the BBC."
I can see his point, and I do stand ready to offer the BBC some money for
the radio programming when they demand it. On the other hand, if
the Beeb did not want US listeners, they didn't have to put a major
network node in New York, with ties to several major US backbone
carriers, as described in the "support" section of BBC's web pages.
(The BBC license fee is, I think, about USD $100. UK grexers in
party tell me it is charged to television owners only; there is no
attempt to bill radio owners, and BBC radio is funded from the pot of
money generated by the TV licenses. The whole BBC structure comes up
for reauthorization in 2006, again if I remember correctly.)
(The BBC license fee is comparable to what I would pay to become a
XM customer, and it's pretty clear that, for my tastes, the BBC on the
net has pre-empted XM and Sirius.)
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krj
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response 114 of 154:
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Jan 31 00:03 UTC 2003 |
BBC Radio's coverage of Glasgow's Celtic Connections music festival
(resp:110) has exceeded my expectations, and probably Mickey's as well.
When it's done we'll probably have heard about 15 hours of music from
the festival, spread across four of the shows we listen to.
But today the BBC outdid itself -- today, at least for this folkie,
might have been the best day of the entire 10 months of BBC listening.
The second hour of Radio Scotland's "Travelling Folk" show was a
concert divided among English harmony singers Coope Boyes & Simpson;
singer-songwriter Maria Dunn (just OK); and Scottish instrumental band
Diamh (pronounced "dive"). Just glorious.
Then, Late Junction, the Radio 3 night time show, had live appearances
from Mary MacMaster (harp player in Sileas, The Poozies, and Shine)
and some live recordings from Altan, and they were winding up
with a live appearance from Swedish/British fusion band Swap
-- when the stream crashed and wouldn't come back.
These shows should be available on the BBC Radio Player for a week
and they are most highly recommended.
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micklpkl
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response 115 of 154:
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Feb 18 03:00 UTC 2003 |
I thought I might mention this here before I cleared my paste buffer :)
"Performance on 3," The BBC Radio 3 live classical music programme will
be broadcasting performances of Beethoven's piano sonatas in March.
Here are the details from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/pizarro.shtml
(NOTE: all times are GMT)
Renowned Portugese pianist Artur Pizarro will shortly be commencing an
epic 8-concert cycle of the 32 Beethoven sonatas, all performed at St
John's Smith Square, London. Radio 3 will be broadcasting the cycle
on 'Performance on 3' throughout 2003-4 (more details below).
Details of the first four Performance on 3 broadcasts are:
Tuesday 6 March, 7.30pm
Sonata in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1
Sonata in C minor, Op.13 'Path tique'
Sonata in G major, Op. 14 No. 2
Sonata in B flat major, Op. 22
Tuesday 13 March, 7.30pm
Sonata in C major, Op. 14 No. 1
Sonata in E flat major, Op. 7
Sonata in F major, Op. 10 No. 2
Sonata in C major, Op. 2 No. 3
Monday 19 May, 7.30pm
Sonata in D major, Op. 10 No. 3
Sonata in G major, Op. 31 No. 1
Sonata in E flat major, Op. 27 No. 1
Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 'Moonlight'
Thursday 22 May, 7.30pm
Sonata in G minor, Op. 49 No. 1
Sonata in G major, Op. 49 No. 2
Sonata in D major, Op. 28 'Pastoral'
Sonata in C major, Op. 53 'Waldstein'
Sonata in F major, Op. 54
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micklpkl
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response 116 of 154:
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Feb 21 23:42 UTC 2003 |
I arrived home just in time to hear the last song played on Andy
Kershaw's world music programme, and I'm so thankful I did.
It was a new song from Algerian singer-songwriter Souad Massi,
called "Deb" from a NEW CD that will be released in the U.K. at the end
of March.
Yay!
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krj
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response 117 of 154:
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Feb 24 17:21 UTC 2003 |
My recollection is that Souad's first album was fairly light instrumentation,
and when we heard her live stuff on BBC this summer she was singing with
a large band. Am I remembering correctly? If so, what's the style on
the new track?
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micklpkl
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response 118 of 154:
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Feb 24 19:25 UTC 2003 |
I think you are remembering correctly, Ken. Souad Massi's first album,
RAOUI, was a very light sound --- some electric guitar, but mostly
flamenco guitar, Arabic lute and other acoustic instruments.
This new song, "Deb" is one that we heard her play live on BBC this
past summer. The song begins with samples of birds singing & something
that I think of as a jazz scat, except in Arabic. The sound is still
mostly acoustic, but there seems to be more percussion than there is in
most of the songs on RAOUI.
It's a beautiful song, one that I remember missing when I finally got
RAOUI ordered from the U.K. and discovered it wasn't on that CD.
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krj
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response 119 of 154:
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Feb 28 19:02 UTC 2003 |
Wow, that new Souad Massi track *is* really good. I don't remember
feeling this enthusiastic about her first album, though I did like
her live WOMAD appearance from the summer which we heard on the Beeb's
festival coverage.
I liked a lot of the rest of last week's Andy Kershaw programme too.
(I just finished listening to it, it gets erased from the BBC's
"Listen Again" archives in about five hours.) I was much more positive
about this year's session by the Be Good Tanyas; maybe they've grown
as musicians in the last year? And there was also a 1990-era
guitar-based track from Kaba Mane, from Guinea-Bisseau, which
wrapped up everything which originally drew me to African pop.
Next week will be our one-year anniversary of listening to all
these wonderful shows.
Hooray for socialist radio! :)
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krj
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response 120 of 154:
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Mar 18 21:28 UTC 2003 |
Great world music selection on today's "Celtic Connections" show.
Grab the replay from Radio Scotland if you are so inclined.
Tomorrow, Wednesday March 19: BBC Radio 3 is scheduling a
huge show, 19:30-00:00 UK time: "A Place Called England," an
"examination of the state of English folk and traditional music."
Live sets from the Oysterband, Jim Moray, Boka Halat, Spiers & Boden,
Waterson:Carthy. Interview and chat segments with June Tabor,
Tony Engle (Topic Records), Ian Anderson (FRoots magazine) and
Shirley Collins. This conflicts with Mike Harding on Radio 2 but
it sounds like it is not to be missed for me. The web page says the
live music segments will be available for later listening.
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anderyn
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response 121 of 154:
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Mar 19 13:06 UTC 2003 |
What time is that here?
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micklpkl
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response 122 of 154:
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Mar 19 14:36 UTC 2003 |
Those times are from 2:30pm Eastern (1:30pm Central) until 7:00pm
Eastern.
Might be good to check, though. I'm often wrong.
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anderyn
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response 123 of 154:
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Mar 19 15:05 UTC 2003 |
I don't know If I'll get to listen, but I'll try.
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krj
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response 124 of 154:
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Mar 20 18:20 UTC 2003 |
The "Place Called England" show was rather too massive to absorb
in one go, all 4.5 hours of it; I'm going to have to replay the
recordings at about one hour per shot. Highlight of the night
for me was the introduction to a new band, Boka Halat, who
play English trad folk songs with some African drummers.
Most of the other live tracks were at least worthwhile, though I
thought Waterson:Carthy were maybe a little dull. The live Oysterband
set was fine.
Host Fiona Talkington promised some followup English folk stuff on
today's Late Junction show on Radio 3.
Notes for Mickey, via the new issue of FRoots Magazine:
Portugese singer Mariza is featured on this Saturday's "World
Routes" show with host Lucy Duran. (March 22) And, in
September, Andy Kershaw's world/rock/roots show is moving from
Friday nights to Sundays.
Question for Mickey: what do I have to remember about the UK change
to Summer Time, vs. the USA change to Daylight Savings?
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