Entrecard: The Internet Business Card…
OK, I’m trying out this new advertising/networking service called Entrecard. Just installed it yesterday and, to be honest, still haven’t completely “grokked” the entire concept yet. However, my gut instincts tell me it is very interesting, and I learned a long time ago to trust my gut instincts. Once I wrap my head completely around it I’ll have a follow-up post about it.
Any of you other ‘SoulSite’ bloggers out there familiar with this? If I remember correctly I first saw it mentioned on Twitter. WayneSutton? Vanessa? Fave? Somebody give me some feedback on this thing. You guys are much more savvy about this internet marketing stuff than I am! {smile}
SoulTrackin’ – SoulBounce.com’s Christmas Giveaway…
SoulBounce.com is giving away presents for Xmas!
Actually, it’s their first annual holiday giveaway contest. Head on over there, correctly answer the 5 trivia questions that test your knowledge about the site and you could be the one person to walk away with all the goodies:
- Sparkle DVD
- Dave Chappelle’s Block Party DVD
- Donnie’s Daily News CD
- The Harlem Experiment CD
- Felicia Pride’s The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs (book)
Contest closes at 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday December 11, 2007
Winner to be announced on Friday, December 14, 2007
SoulTrackin’ – A Word To The Wise…
Filed under: BlackBlogs, Culture & Society, General/Misc, SoulTrackin'
Dr. Spence is looking for a little help: A Wall of Wisdom For My Eldest Daughter
Stop by and lend him a hand. (This is a great post, IHMO. I’m looking forward to the responses he gets)
BTW {smile}, I’m especially tagging Vanessa with this one. I just know you’ll have something good to add!
Jena 6: Wear Black On September 20th…
Taking time out from the music for a “public service announcement”…
Normally I don’t use this blog as a forum for non-music related items, but the atrocity of the events currently going on in Jena (pronounced “gee-na”), Louisiana are hard to ignore. While I can’t do much, this site allows me to have a voice (as small as it may be) and express my outrage at the social (racial?) injustice that we are witnessing.
Anyway, I said all that to say this: there is a call for all people everywhere (doesn’t matter if you are black, white, red, yellow or brown) to show their support for the Jena 6 by wearing all black as a show of solidarity on September 20, 2007. If you are reading this, please pass the word along.
Here are some links for more information:
- Michael Baisden Supports the Jena 6
- Groundswell of Support for the Jena 6
- National Days of Protest To Free the Jena Six
- Jena Six (a summary found on Wikipedia)
- Jena 6 Online Petition
As we attempt to deal with and correct this latest assault on our civil rights, I leave you with some of the words of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ And Vanity comes along and asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ But Conscience asks the question ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.” –Address at SCLC Ministers Leadership Training Program
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” –Letter from a Birmingham Jail
“When evil men plot, good men must plan; when evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind; when evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love; where evil men will seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.”
And the one quote above all others that I think about most often when I hear about the Jena 6:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” –Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Remember, show your support/solidarity. Wear all black on September 20th.
RFC: Request For Comments…
Even though sometimes I tend to forget it these days, first and foremost I’m a computer geek/nerd/enthusiast. And that’s where today’s message post title come from, RFC, “request for comments” (the link will take you to a formal definition of the term).
However, the goal of this RFC is not to request feedback on the formation of another Internet standard… it’s just to request a little feedback.
While I really enjoy authoring this site (and my companion MP3blog, Rhythms In Black Satin) and I know that people do stop by the sites to visit, I figured I post a friendly request that every once in a while during one your visits (I hope there is more than one! {smile}) you leave a comment in one of the message posts here or especially on the TPTD music mixes over on RIBS. Just quick word or two (although you *can* write a whole paragraph if you want {smile}) just to let me know what you like or what you dislike. This way I’ll have a better idea of what changes/modifications I can implement to make this place better and more appealing.
And the best thing of all… leaving a comment here is completely FREE. I won’t charge you a single penny! {BIG smile; couldn’t resist}
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So, What IS the Real “History of Blogging”?…
Ha, I love it! Nothing get the blogosphere more fired up than trying to define the ‘history of blogging’.
Yesterday I referenced Saturday’s Wall Street Journal article about the 10-year blogiversary of blogging. Now the blogosphere is in high gear with all sorts of corrections, criticisms and commentary on the “facts” presented in that article. I know this has nothing to do with the main music focus of this site (“Trackin’ the SITES, Trackin’ the SOUL”), but I have lived through the entire evolution of this thing we call blogging and I find it fascinatingly interesting. Here are a few links to some of the commentary:
rexblog.com: The history of blogging founding-myths–based solely on what I can rememberoff the top of my head
duncanriley.com: Wall Street Journal Tries To Re-Write Blogging History
Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard: There Is No “First Blogger”
Declan McCullagh (CNET): Blogs Turn 10–Who’s The Father? (referenced in the Rosenberg post)
While it is far beyond me to specifically identify who the very first blogger was/is, my blogging “forefathers” are (in no particular order) Cameron Barrett (Camworld), Jorn Barger (robot wisdom) and Dave Winer (Scripting News). AAMOF, Userland’s hosted Manila application (Dave Winer founded Userland) and the follow-up, Radio Userland, were my first two weblog platforms. Later I moved on to Blogger by Pyra Labs (now owned by Google) and finally to WordPress my current platform of choice.
Technorati Tags: blogs, blogging, history, camworld, robot wisdom, scripting news, WSJ
WSJ: Blogging Turns 10…
TG’s Notes: Interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on the impact of blogging as it turns 10 years old this year.
It’s been 10 years since the blog was born. Love them or hate them, they’ve roiled presidential campaigns and given everyman a global soapbox.Featured here, then, are a dozen brief meditations on what the blog has come to mean and on the role blogs play in the usual tussles of any civilized society. The appropriate question about blogs, 10 years into their first appearance, is not whether they are a form of exhibitionism, or journalism, or theater. It is, instead, this, and I pose it with a courteous apology to Tom Wolfe: What would we do without blogs?
Technorati Tags: wsj, wall street journal, blogging, bolgiversary
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NetInfoWeb’s 1st Blogaversary!…
Today, July 5, 2007, is the 1-year anniversary (”blogaversary” as we like to call it) of this site (in it’s current format) and my companion MP3blog, Rhythms In Black Satin (although technically, RIBS didn’t show up until five days later on July 10th). Whooo Hoo! It’s been a fun year, filled with fun, excitement, making lots of new friends and, course, plenty, plenty, plenty of music.
Now, I had planned to mark this occasion today with a massive, 4-part, 4-mix post over on RIBS in celebration of this milestone. Well… due to some time constraints and other issues, things didn’t quite work out and get completed on time. However, instead of one giant post I figure I’ll just break it up into 3 or 4 smaller ones over the next few days, which means we get to celebrate all through the weekend!
Check back later today (about noon time)… I should have Part 1 and2 ready to go by then…
ADDENDUM:
Parts 1 & 2 of the 4-part, 1st Blogaversary celebration mix are now posted over on Rhythms In Black Satin…
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Prince Plans New Album Give Away, Music Retailers Have A Conniption…
TG’s Notes: Ha! I just love stories like this. When will they ever learn?…
For years, some have been saying that the real problem holding back the music industry from embracing digital distribution hasn’t been the record labels so much as the record stores. In fact, in the Rolling Stone article about the suicide of the recording industry, one of the key stumbling blocks was that the music retailers threatened the record labels if they embraced digital distribution such as Napster. So, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that music retailers are spitting mad over Prince’s plans to give away his latest album.
I’ve Been “Memed”…
Well, this is certainly one of those, “I’ve Arrived!” moments… the first time someone has sent me a web meme. Hats off to my friend RK over at The Brown Spoon for hittin’ me up. He must have known that I wouldn’t be able to resist the subject of this one!
It took some time and there were a number of different ways I could have gone with it, but in the end I felt there was only one group that could give me just the right answers:
Pick a band and answer only using song titles: Parliament/Funkadelic
Are you male or female: Uncle Jam
Describe yourself: Colour Me Funky
Your best piece of advice: Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
Describe your last relationship: Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication
Describe your last crush: Super Stupid
Say something to someone you have a crush on: Let’s Take It To The Stage
Say something to an ex: All Your Goodies Are Gone
Say something to someone who hurt you severely: Take Your Dead Ass Home
How do you feel right now: Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On
Cool! Now to throw this one over to a few musical minds to see what they can come up with… EJ (EJFlavors), GL (SOULcrates), Kev (Got The Fever) and BWM (Buffalo West Music). Catch!
Technorati Tags: netinfoweb, ejflavors, soulcrates, got the fever, meme
RIBS: What’s A “Double Triple”?…
Filed under: General/Misc, Music, Playlists, Podcasts, RIBS, radio.blog
You may have heard of a “triple double” (especially if you’re a basketball fan), but what, exactly, is a “Double Triple”? Ahhhh…. that’s the end result of the new RIBS recipe we were telling you about.
Enjoy!
RIBS: Trying Out A New Recipe…
Just a quick “heads up”…
We’re trying out a new recipe and cooking up something special for this week’s RIBS TPTD mix. Sort of an “extra treat” for the holiday weekend.
After you finish enjoying EJFlavors’ latest OSW (it’s really, really good this week!)… make sure you stop by Rhythms In Black Satin tomorrow and check out the new mix.
And remember:
- Rhythms In Black Satin’s Triple Play Thurs-Day, a triple treat every Thursday of the week!
Technorati Tags: netinfoweb, RIBS, Rhythms In Black Satin, podcasts, TPTD, tripleplaythursday
ARRRRRGGGGHHH! Computer Crash…
Filed under: General/Misc, Playlists, RIBS, SoulSites, radio.blog
No, no, no, no, NO! {sigh} I was just about to upload the latest RIBS mix and… disaster! Well, as Bullwinkle would say, “Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat” (and no, it is NOT going to turn out to be a lion). Stay tuned…
“I Got Soul” – Dallas Soul Music Conference…
Neo Soul Cafe presents the, “I Got Soul Music Conference 2007″, a soul music conference in Dallas, TX this weekend April 27-29, 2007 at the Black Forest Theater. This event also features a tribute concert to Stevie Wonder on Saturday night, April 28, 2007 hosted by Erykah Badu. For more information log onto the Neo Soul Cafe website (http://neosoulcafe.com) or e-mail them at: events@neosoulcafe.com.
Technorati Tags: neosoulcafe, soul music, conference, dallas, erykah badu, stevie wonder
Parliament/Funkadelic 2007 Tour Dates…
Dates kick off April 21 in Houston and roll steadily through May, with a handful of shows also booked in June, July and August, according to Clinton’s MySpace page. Details are listed below.
Technorati Tags: george clinton, parliament, funkadelic, P-Funk, funk, music
How To Track 50 Soul Music Websites All On One Page…
First, the link: NetInfoWeb’s SoulSites Aggregator Page
One of the things I have always wanted to do since I started this new direction for the site is to create a place where people could go to discover soul music sites and easily find out what they are talking about. Well, today that goal has partially come true!
Phase 1 of the “SoulSites Aggregator” is now ready for you.
A little background as to how this is being done (for now)…
A couple months ago I found this great service called SpotBack News. Basically, it is a personalized news website that let’s you rate news stories and customize the site to present you stories from your topics of interest. One of the options SpotBack provides, NewsSnacks, let’s you build a custom news page from sources (i.e. RSS feeds) that you supply and presents it to you in a format similar to sites like Original Signal, POPURLS, Digg View, etc. Perfect! All that was left to do now was:
- Export an OPML file from my web-based aggregator
- Select the initial sites to display
- Create a subdomain (soulsites.netinfoweb.com) on my web server
- Add a 301 redirect to the default page of the new subdomain to display the page
Now, as I have mentioned, this is only the first step towards the eventual goal. Ideally, I would want to have this service running 100% on my own server without the need to rely on an outside site or service which could disappear at any given time. So… the development continues, but this first step is the realization of a dream I’ve had for a while now. It feels pretty damn good.
Technorati Tags: netinfoweb, soulsites, aggregator, soul music
March Is ‘Soul Diva’ Month!
Want to be a Soul/R&B diva? Then you should be born in the month of March! 3 out of 10 of my own personal list of the Top 10 “Queens of Soul” celebrate birthdays this month: Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. Here’s my list:
- Aretha Franklin (March 25)
- Patti Labelle (May 24)
- Chaka Khan (March 23)
- Whitney Houston (August 9)
- Tina Turner (November 23)
- Gladys Knight (May 28)
- Nancy Wilson (Feb 20)
- Diana Ross (March 26)
- Phyllis Hyman (July 6)
- Dionne Warwick (Dec 12)
Agree? Disagree? What names would go on *your* list, and in what order?
Technorati Tags: netinfoweb, soul, soul divas, birthdays
Luther Ingram – Rest In Peace
Luther Ingram, whose recording of If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don’t Want to Be Right was a No. 1 hit in 1973, died Monday in St. Louis of heart failure. He’d had a kidney transplant several years ago and fought kidney failure for most of the last decade. Obituary.
Technorati Tags: soul, soul+music, luther+ingram
All That Jazz: In Celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month
I don’t talk about my love for jazz enough on this blog so I figure jazz appreciation month is the perfect time to do so. I have to admit that my knowledge is lacking. Mama Vivrant Thang was never really into jazz so it wasn’t played much around the house. She did love Kenny G though and [...]
The “Boys” Are Back In Town…
Remember the Four Brothers Beats blog? Well, the boys are back! BUT... not quite in the way you may have been expecting. It's, how shall we say, "the same, but different!"
Vendors, Authors and Artists– Sell Your Items in This Year’s Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest
Last year's Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest was a musical celebration while vendors sold their products to eager to buyers. Book authors, including Felicia Pride-- writer of The Message and activist author Devin Walker were among some of the top authors who sold their books. The 2009 Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest will be held this year on Sat., July 25 in Marvin Gaye Park in Washington DC. While the musical acts are still being selected, vendors are able to reserve their tables now to receive our Early Bird Discount. For more info, email us at CapitalHipHopSoulFest@gmail.com
Fusion: Where Music, Technology, and Artist Creativity Intersect
Hello readers and listeners. I trust all is well today. This post is a follow-up to the previous post about the subject of an upcoming podcast I hope to resurrect entitled Fusion. The concept of this podcast came to me via an off the cuff discussion I had a few years ago with a fellow podcaster/recording artist/graphic designer. Both of us, being musicians in our own right, began discussing our backgrounds and influences in making music, which invariably talking about how technology (past and present) played a role taking the music from inner to outer. I began to see the different paths ...
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Cupid’s Hunt: 2009
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By N2H