CNET Networks, Inc announced today that it has acquired certain assets of MP3.com, Inc. Please be advised that on Tuesday, December 2, 2003 at 12:00 PM PST the MP3.com website will no longer be accessible in its current form. CDs will be available for purchase through Monday, November 17, 2003 at 12:00 PM PST.
This means that my MP3.com website as well as my web radio stations will also go offline permanently on December 2, 2003. For the time-being my CD will not be available anymore either, which is a dirty, rotten shame (not the CD, but the fact that it won't be available anymore). Well, it was nice while it lasted, and of course the MP3.com website will be missed by many independant artists as well as music lovers, but we'll get over it. In time. I think.
But seriously: I will have to find another virtual stage for my music. Perhaps I should focus on the Vitaminic website, which already holds some of my songs, but other suggestions are also welcome.
Well, that is to say, my virtual Hammond B3 organ... just give me a minute and I'll explain. Last week I've downloaded a demo version of a stunning piece of software: B4 by Native Instruments. This software emulates a classic Hammond B3 tone wheel organ by using advanced software modelling techniques. This results in a sound that is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.
The B4 not only features the drawbars, vibrato, percussion etc. of a real Hammond B3, but it's also equipped with a virtual Leslie speaker system with tube overdrive. All settings can be controlled by mouse clicks and/or through MIDI. The B4 can be used stand-alone, in which case it functions as an extra MIDI port, or it can run as a VST 2.0 plug in. I'm running it stand-alone, and so far it's very stable with almost no latency whatsoever.
At the moment I am completely in love with the B4. I've never played a real Hammond B3, but from what I've read elsewhere on the internet this is close enough.
This week the total plays counter of my MP3.com website passed the 10,000 barrier. Yes, then means that more than 10,000 times someone has listened to a song of mine via the MP3.com website. An astonishing number, although it should be said that CD sales are considerably lower... ;-) To celebrate this (the 10,000 plays, not the CD sales), you can now for the first time freely listen to and/or download "Going to Sunny California" from my CD Sweet Lady of Flowers. Of course some other songs are also still available.
MP3.com is a website at which you can listen to, download or buy music from many great artists. The website does require you to register, which is entirely free, and after which you will instantly gain access. MP3.com is the main website through which I publish my music. At the website you can listen to my songs, download them or buy my CD. They also keep charts of many kinds of musical genres, and in which you will almost certainly stumble across my songs again.
I am in the process of writing some new songs, which will probably be recorded later this year. Preliminary lyrics to these songs are already available right here at this website.
"Chasin' the Moon" is the story of Bonnie and Clyde before they were Bonnie and Clyde. It should turn out to be a country rock (Americana?) song. "Erika in the Water" is almost a classical murder ballad, in which the both the murder and the murderer slowly reveal themselves. The music to this song honours The Handsome Family, and therefore it will reflect their sound. In "Get Out" the ex-lover is almost literally dissected in every thinkable and unthinkable way. I've already tried warm but sober vocal harmonies on this song, so that's probably going to be in there somewhere. Other songs I'm working on are "8:53", "Justine", "Lenehan the Leech", "Thief on the Cross" and "When the Night Will Fall".
A while ago I've written music for a song by Scott Thomas Lowe called "A Leaf on the Wind", which currently is being recorded. When this recording is ready, it will probably be published somewhere on the internet. I'm also co-writing some new songs together with guitar player "Fast" Hugo van Waard, with him writing the music and me doing the lyrics.
The last couple of days I have been restyling the entry page of my website, which now (hopefully) makes it even easier to navigate my website. The news items that were previously featured on my entry page can now be found in the improved news section. I have also improved my digital songbook and my list of bookmarks, which both are indexed alphabetically now.
I'm featured in this week's CELTIC MP3s Music Magazine, an ezine of free Celtic MP3 downloads, in which my CD Sweet Lady of Flowers was given a great review. :-)
I've just joined www.garageband.com, which is sort of a community of independent musicians and music enthusiasts. They let you review songs, and after you've done enough reviews, you are entitled to upload one of your own songs. Your song will in turn be reviewed by others, etc. etc.
Just like the philosophy behind www.garageband.com, the website itself is also very adequate indeed. While you're reviewing it provides you with steady RealAudio streams of reasonable quality, and afterwards you can download full quality MP3 files of the songs you really like.
So, whether you're in a band yourself, or you just like to listen to music: If you're in for some originality in these over-commercial and fashion-dictated days, then join www.garageband.com and tune in.
I've just completely renewed my MP3.com station The American Tradition. This 4th edition of my station once again offers a well balanced mix of folk, rock, country and Americana, featuring artists like Porter Hall, TN, Treasury and the James Theroux Band. And many, many other wonderful artists. ;-)
The songs on my MP3.com website are also featured on some of the many MP3.com web radio stations. I have collected the stations that feature my songs on this website, so listen to me and many other (independant) artists on one of the MP3.com stations.
At the moment I am writing new songs, which will eventually be recorded for a new CD. Two of these songs are more or less ready, and lyrics to these songs are already available here. The songs are "Justine", which was inspired on a character and chapter from Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (the 1818 edition), and "Thief of the Cross", which is kind of a western outlaw song.
March 17th is the day Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, died (in 461 AD), and that day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since. You should celebrate this day in an (Irish) pub with your friends, but meanwhile you can already tune into St. Patrick's Day Around the World at MP3.com, and have a pint at home. :-) Happy St. Paddy's Day!
If you haven't already checked out the excellent MP3.com station Forever Young Radio, then do it now! :-) It features mostly Americana, rock and blues music.
The 3rd edition of The American features a lot of blues, but also a fair share of folk, rock and Americana music. There's old time folk by 2 Dollar Bill ("Children Get Your Parents"), "Seafood Dept. Blues" by Bourbon Street bluesman Jeff Chaz, the funny "It's Big!" by Scott Thomas Lowe & Atascadero, and 29 others. So lean back and enjoy this two hour show.
I am giving away free copies of my CD Sweet Lady of Flowers on my MP3.com website. Just click to the "Contact" page of my MP3.com website, and let me know what you think of my music. I will send a free CD to the most original entries.
Now you can see how my songs are doing in the MP3.com charts. And if you think they ought to do better: Well, just go to my MP3.com website and give them a play a day! :-)
Music
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, Treasury and the 
