Rare Vertebrate of the Week Vol. 2

This installment of RVOTW features one of the most rare and even controversial vertebrates on Earth.  Despite long standing reports of intense, idiosyncratic coloration and vocalization displays, this creature is intrinsically rare, and famously elusive.  The life history of this extremely charismatic megafauna is unique in many respects.  It lives essentially year-long in the arctic regions; experts suspect that only in this remote and intimidating climate can it complete it's life cycle with minimal interruptions.  Famously long-lived, it's thought to pair-bond for life.  However, it's also purported to live symbiotically with at least 2 other species.  It shares its arctic habitat with a related but more gracile and smaller form, which may out-number it on a ratio of dozens of even hundreds to 1.  However, these organisms live quite contently in a colony structure, and apparently assume much autonomy in the important tasks of the "hive" or "workshop," as it's known in this system.

Our vertebrate also lives mutualistically with a tundra-dwelling ungulate (known as caribou in North America).  Perhaps their most significant association comes during a highly seasonal migration which in most accounts--it must be said, quite unbelievably--takes these unlikely symbionts outside of the polar region and around the entire Earth.  The evidence points to this act as some form of dispersal, though not in the biological or reproductive sense.  The creature has been linked to the highly peculiar but also highly patterned leaving of a prized residue, often left around the coniferous trees and hearths of human beings.  Causal explanations are scarce--perhaps the creature seeks out both familiarity and warmth along its long and likely arduous migratory route.  It remains to be scientifically explained why it sets out on this journey in the first place.

The best hypothesis may come from the nature of the dispersal, and the peculiar form of symbiosis the creature seems to have with our own species, Homo sapiens.  As discussed above, the dispersal route does not seem to include any propagative function--in fact, the vertebrate remains very rare, with most experts agreeing that there may in fact only be 1 male left in the wild.  However, interdisciplinary efforts have yielded another viable, if shocking, hypothesis.  It may in fact be the case that this dispersal pattern and residue comprise not genetic but memetic reproduction--in essence, the spread of an idea.  There may be corroboration for this bold theory in the coincidence of both morphological and behavioral mimicry amongst H. sapiens leading to the annual migratory date.  Humans around the world will don this creature's bold colors, vocalizations, and assumed gregarious behaviors, and even more interestingly, mimic the creature's residue-leaving behavior.

Observation studies are perpetually ongoing, with a younger generation of citizen-scientists performing most field work in the hopes of proving the existence of this special creature.  However, we may already be able to make some helpful, if tentative conclusions on the matter.  Nature seems to operate on a "what works, works" basis, with little room for relationships that do not contribute to one's very own fitness.  Humans, however, in all their base desires and mortal considerations, have been shown to be a stark exception in terms of altruistic behavior.  The existing wide-ranging reports of another successful, active, and otherwise highly-evolved creature seem to add welcome company to our ranks.  It is a rare vertebrate indeed that can bring out the very best in an entire species, and a valuable relationship especially for our species, which can lose sight so easily of the best things that this world has to offer--a hearty laugh, a kind thought, and the company and love of our extended human family.

Merry Christmas!

Rare Vertebrate of the Week Vol. 1

Science!  I've been meaning to have this sort of posting for a while now.  I guess the tiger post counts as a forerunner, but I suppose the idea will be to introduce RV reader(s) to a more obscure creature.  So here goes:

The Tuatara:  Not a Lizard

This thing is not a lizard.  It's the last surviving member of a whole reptilian order called Sphehodontia.  (For some context, the group that contains all bear, dog, cat, and badger-like species is just one mammalian order called Carnivora.  Lizards and snakes are grouped in the order Squamata.)  So, yeah...rare indeed!  It currently resides only in a magical land called New Zealand, and its appearance and habits haven't changed since the first of its kind emerged to skulk amongst early dinosaurs and other weird reptiles, 200 million years ago.

But adding to its rarity is a fun fact that I just found.  Researchers at Emory University in NZ have discovered that, despite its implacable morphology, the DNA of the Tuatara HAS been changing at a record speed compared to all other vertebrates.  Double rare!  Not only does this deepen the mystery of this already peerless vertebrate, but it contributes to a hypothesis about how the rate of molecular evolution (i.e., how fast DNA sequences change over time) is "uncoupled" from that of morphological evolution (how fast the body and behaviors change).  This makes the study of DNA and evolution a bit messier, one might imagine, but also even more interesting.  Check it:

Cheers!

There are 2 Types of Bodies

There are 2 types of bodies,
human and non-;
depending on varied
opinions and facts,
in each you'll serve some time.

There are 2 types of bodies,
one dead and one not;
You may yet live if:
your meat is cold,
your bones' dissolved,
your blood's in blocks,
and your name is Dick Cheney.

There are 2 types of bodies--
some weak and some strong:
so,
honored are those 
whose feats find fame
from only fair footing
and a modest name.

There are 2 types of bodies--
yours and mine, and
our square meter secrets
persist like two planets
drawn together,
in all of space,
by only a line.

if you've got 10 minutes lying around...

freaky 80's TV

I stumbled upon this in my search for some of the cartoon samples from my breakdown of a song, and wanted to share it in this corner.  And that's a post, ladies and gentlemen.  Count it!

The Things I Like, Part: Now

Well first off, it's been almost a week since I last posted.  It's also been about 18 days since I started this blog.  So I've missed 33% of the days available for me to post.  I know I said that my goal is one post per day.  Let's just all agree that such a goal wasn't intended to be followed by the letter, but instead to create a guilt-invoking mechanism that would produce palpable shame over an accumulating lack of posts.  The good news is that I have certainly been blogging in my mind, and while my cup not runneth over with posting ideas, it also not runneth out. 

Anyway, I stumbled back across a download from about 2 months ago that I'm listening to right now.  It's by somebody named Baby Jazz.  It's a track called "Michael Jordan."  It's a mash-up of sorts, just over 12 minutes long and in something like movements--maybe 4 or 5?  Overall it has the personality of a Saturday morning cartoon.  It actually reminds me MORE of what those aliens in that movie The Explorers were probably listening to when they got high.

It's starts with creepy sounds of sped-up swing-sets and voices, various clicks and creaks, and finally a slightly manipulated, elegant loop of a woman singing down a simple 4 note scale.  Cartoon samples flit in and out, some gaining more foothold (and recognition) on the track than others.  The song really opens up with an electric percussion sample that carries along all the other miscellaneous vocals, voices, and loops. 

After a serious threat down from the Shredder (to the Ninja Turtles, of course), the song shifts ethereally at about 3 and half minutes in.  It sounds a lot like the way Panda Bear's "Bros" floods the front end of Person Pitch, in a wash of soft drum set and chimes, and bit of chanting--and always with the backing voice samples (whoo!...oh yeah...whoo!....oh yeah...).  Here we also find an iterated Atari or Nintendo sequence that might sound, out of context, like your video game character character dying!  But when embedded in the song, it's just one more constructive piece of construction.

The cacophony builds again until about 5:05, when the slowly building funk line finally precipitates, and forms the backbone for a new slew of samples.  It starts with somebody talking about "50 million dollars?!"; then a piano drizzling down scale; then the sound of video game coins being collected; then kids screaming!; then the building vocal loop going "la la la la la la" down the same scale as the piano and coins.  There are also some weird scribble noises.  It's another big, pleasant mess that ends more abruptly this time (at around 6:25).

Here we enter a more sensual movement, like if Nightmares on Wax had sampled Galaga here and there.  So yeah, there's some video game space sounds, but also the building sound of a ecstatic woman yielding various gasps, some footsteps, and miscellaneous husky breathing and talking.  The whole beat has slowed here, and this section is recognizable as an important interlude only as it picks right back up at 7:40 with a kick drum leading into a drum machine with a heavy back beat, some bells, and some TV action noises as well as one of most familiar sounding sound bites of them all:  "Nobody turns down drugs!"

After building to a peak of sorts, an acoustic guitar loop breaks the tension; the dissonant sounds all meld into what sounds like the business of a happy cartoon factory in the middle of the work day.  As the guitar leaves, the calmer voices that joined it sink together into an ambient scape of soft electric violins, a muted children's chorus, ticking clocks, and a slew of Saturday morning television noises.  A final drum solo lands the plane at almost the 12 minute mark.  Fittingly, though, the last sample and sound to hit the ears is one of those phrases that will exist forever in the 9 year-old region of my mind: "After these messages....[ruuuuuufff!]....we'll be riiight back!"

Hopefully if you actually read this, you listened to the song too!  I appreciate the creativity that it took to make this--there is almost nothing organically made here, as far as the ear can tell.  I am fine with that, since the artist makes a new and compelling composition out of a motley assortment of parts.  Give it a try!  And next time I see you, let me know what you think.

All I'm Sayin'! round II

A long debate on NPR and more on the TV news today about gays in the military.  A study is out now that surveyed about 115,000 military personnel, including combat troops.  It turns out that among service men and women who have served closely with homosexuals, they...do not really mind if they are serving next to any capable person, gay or straight.  Right now I'm watching The Daily Show show clips of John McCain in the congressional hearings about Don't Ask Don't Tell.  After hearing the pro-repeal opinions of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen--and supposedly hearing and understanding the results of the study--McCain said some interesting things.  I find it very funny (NOT ha ha) that the last rhetorical line of defense of some military stalwarts (and mavericks) is to suggest that the issue basically needs to be decided by subordinates.  Because they weren't just asked about it in a huge study.  Because giving subordinates a choice in the matter is definitely how the military has always worked.  Can anyone figure out why REALLY some people don't want this change?  Talk about a cock block. 

All I'm Sayin'

This feature that I just made up is called All I'm Sayin'.  Will it be topical and current?  Maybe.  Will it be profound?  Not if you read carefully enough.  Will it be short?  Now you've got it!

So here's all I'm sayin':  I've heard some public personae suggest that repealing the Bush tax cuts--currently a hot debate between the Congress and White House--is actually equivalent to RAISING taxes.  I mean, that IS the money of hard working Americans that "they" want to take!  Well, maybe more like not not take... Well, gee, how do you know when your taxes are going up or down compared to with what you should owe as a citizen?  Oh, wait--yes, you in the back with the highly-pinned vest--you "don't owe them government nuthin'"?  Ohhkaay....let's back up a little.

Putting aside the "question" about tax breaks for millionaires.  And billionaires.  And probably Exxon.  And...well, let's put all that aside--doesn't every citizen owe the government...something?  You know, just a little somethin-somethin for our ability to enjoy steady food, protection, socioeconomic mobility, and South Park?  To paraphrase a t-shirt I saw recently, "we're adults, and we understand the deal."  Please do raise your hand if you don't.  (Not that anything could happen to you, since this is America.)

For our "current" national need to save money, I definitely agree with limits on spending.  All I'm sayin' is that we still need to agree that income taxes are owed, then agree on where the tax owed line should be drawn, and then agree to pay them.

Overheard at the Rare Vertebrate Quarter-Annual Board Meeting

Haikus are easy.
Daily blog maintenance is
quite the opposite.

          or


Set ambitious goals:
life is full of excuses...
so there isn't one.


   and finally


If a zombie dies,
and no one is there to see,
Does Jesus grow wings?

The Things I Like, Part: Then

As the casual blog reader may discover, I enjoy music.  Who doesn't?  But I also enjoy procrastinating for other would-be tasks by finding, rating, and eventually organizing new music into playlists for mixtapes (always delivered on non-tape formats, but you know what I mean).  I suppose the mixtapes I make fall into about 3 categories:  1) the mixes of the best new music that I've come across (recently a common form, since I've had a lot of time to be looking); 2) mixes of a certain artist or type of music that I would like to listen to or share with someone else; and 3) mixes of any type of artists whose songs I can organize into certain themes (though sometimes for specific persons).  I enjoy discovering, perusing, and sharing any of my favorite music, but it's the third type of mix that I like the most to make.  It's also the third type that I invariably reach for in lieu of anything else to listen to that is new or otherwise compelling me.

Have you been able to see where this is going?  I'd like to post--and give a little bit of explication for--a few of my favorite type 3's.  So here goes...and also here goes me at my most self-important.  I'd like to take this opportunity to remind myself what everyone else already knows:  I didn't make this music; I just arranged the songs in ways that are probably novel (and hopefully interesting).  But I should also add that the arrangement is key for why I enjoy making the mixes.  Maybe the songs have emotional meaning specific to me, but I'd like to think the track listing makes the mixes work as albums, not just compilations.  I hope anyone I share them with feels the same way.  Either way, I'll keep on making them.  Onwards!

2007 was the beginning of the modern age of JG mixes.  The first three mixes I'll list were made between the summer and the very end of that year.  The first is a summer sort of mix, inspired by how damn hot it was in Virginia that year.  I got a little bit worried, and put my anxiety down for posterity.

Thingz R gonna Δ: 

An end-times primer

1.      Wildlife analysis – Boards of Canada

2.      Amazon – M.I.A.

3.      There was sun – Devendra Banhart

4.      I don’t wanna die – The Unicorns

5.      Volcanoes – Islands

6.      A method – TV on the Radio

7.      I will (LA version) – Radiohead

                    8.      This just in – Out Hud

                    9.      Broken Household ApplianceNational Forest – Grandaddy

10.   Nuclear war [version 1] – Yo La Tengo

11.   Postcards from Italy – Beirut

                   12.   Bride of Rain Dog [instrumental] – Tom Waits

13.   Chromakey dreamcoat – Boards of Canada

14.   Great God Bird – Sufjan Stevens

15.   Young folks – Peter Bjorn and John

16.   Glassy dusty (wordless) – Grandaddy

*

*

*

20.  Bonus track

OK, so by now you may have noticed the other things that I do that I'm over-proud of--the titles are usually unabashedly "cute" (this one may be the worst), and I've included a "bonus track" on each of the three from 2007 (and some from the future).  Bonus points if you can guess which song is the bonus track for these!

Next up is a mix I made for Halloween that year.

Pretty.Spooky: 

              Tricks & treats 2007

1.      Dirty knife – Neko Case

2.      Goblins and trolls – Quasi

3.      The amazing sounds of orgy – Radiohead

4.      Three days – Willie Nelson

5.      Mr. Moonlight – Clinic

6.      The color of the fire – Boards of Canada

7.      Moonlight drive – The Doors

8.      #1 – Animal Collective

9.      Reckoner – Radiohead

10.   It’s over – The Beta Band

11.   Ostrich &chirping – Elliott Smith

12.   Rose-petal-ear – Califone

13.   Nothing is ever lost or can be lost my science friend – Liars

14.   Where I end and you begin – Radiohead

15.   Dracula – Gorillaz

16.   I shatter – The Magnetic fields

*

*

*

20.  Bonus track

This was the first time I made a conscious effort to have a "featured artist."  In this case, it was Radiohead, which I selected NOT because I love them in an undying fashion, but because they go very well with the theme.  Moving on.

 

Winter chill

(Hold someone tight)

1.      Christmas blues – Willie Nelson

2.      Walkaways – Counting Crows

3.      Cymbal rush – Thom Yorke

4.      Oktober im park – März

5.      Hey mama wolf – Devendra Banhart

6.      Unknown song – Unknown Artist

7.      Carousel – Iron & Wine

8.      Work – RJD2

9.      Your girl – Blue States

10.   Van Helsing boombox – Man Man

11.   Ashes on the ground – Yo La Tengo

12.   Gatekeeper – Feist

13.   Aquarius – Boards of Canada

14.   The last hour – Elliott Smith

15.   Sodom, South Georgia – Iron & Wine

16.   Grey ice water – Modest Mouse

17.   Alone in Kyoto – Air

18.   Bog people – Xiu Xiu

19.   Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow – Dean Martin

*

*

*

23.  Bonus track

The featured artist here was Iron & Wine, with two unexpected cameos from Willie Nelson (I may have given away the identity of the bonus track).  I have to admit, this was, very consciously, the saddest mix I've ever made.  Sad was the theme (SAD, anyone?) but there may also have been some non-mitigating circumstances.  Okay, too much sharing...and on to two more.

The next two were made the following year.  The first is the most elaborately themed (dare I say, conceptual? <cringe>) and "features" Stereo Total and the Pixies; the second is my favorite mix ever that I continue to listen to...let's just say a lot.  It features Yo La Tengo.

UNDERWATER

1.        Deep water – Portishead [waking from a dream]

2.        Beach party – Air France [an inauspicious beginning]

3.        Endangered species (outro) – Nicodemus [solitude]

4.        Vilaines filles, mauvais garçons – Stereo Total [surf’s up]

5.        Surf wax America – Weezer [the sea lives]

6.        Sea ghost – The Unicorns [the sea speaks]

7.        Mr. Grieves – The Pixies [lost at sea]

8.        Instant death – Beastie Boys [uncertain future]

9.        Deep dark well – M. Ward [you brought this on yourself]

10.     It’s raining – Quasi [insult to injury]

11.     Danger of the water – The Futureheads [the beginning of the end]

12.     When the levee breaks – Led Zeppelin [climax]

13.     Swimmers – Broken Social Scene [survival]

14.     Wave of mutilation [UK Surf] – The Pixies [re-assertion]

15.     Underwater love – Smoke City [re-union]

16.     Die krise – Stereo Total [re-solution?]

*

*

*

20.     Coda [together…forever]

Folk Feeling Blues

1.      Dreaming – Yo La Tengo

2.      Whatever [Folk song in C] – Elliott Smith

3.      Her disappearing theme – Broken Social Scene

4.      Queen bee – Devendra Banhart

5.      Beautiful – Belle & Sebastian

6.      Blue turning gray – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

7.      You can have it all – Yo La Tengo

8.      Boa constrictor – Magnetic Fields

9.      Saddest vacant lot in all the world – Grandaddy

10.   Space beatle – The Beta Band

11.   Agave – Daniel Lanois

12.   Fuel for fire – M. Ward

13.   Tom Courtenay [Acoustic] – Yo La Tengo

14.   Loch raven – Animal Collective

15.   Ritournelle – Colleen

16.   Stolen shoes and a rifle – Blitzen Trapper

17.   Technicolor – Ms. John Soda

18.   You got yr. cherry bomb (alternate version) – Spoon

19.   Constants are changing – Boards of Canada

20.   Blue-green arrow – Yo La Tengo

So that's it for today's installment of over-sharing.  I feel much better having explained myself.  Thanks very much for listening.  If you would like a CD, inquire within.  If you have an idea for a mix, let me know.  Or try it yourself!

A promise and a poem

First, the promise.  It was to myself, and it wasn't really a big deal.  I made a pact with myself (and a blog buddy) to post something every day.  Yesterday I missed.  Oh well!  I hope very soon to let everyone in on exactly what was going on yesterday that kept me off the nets (hint: it involved pilgrims and indians).

Next, the poem.  So maybe it's cheating a bit because not only did I not write this very recently, but it's already been posted on Facebook.  However, I was reminded of the topic twice in the past few days, and moreover, it's what this thing is for!  The Notes section of Facebook just doesn't have the same flexibility of purpose as an individual blogspot.  Lastly, it's STILL the year of the tiger (2010).  There are a little over than 3,000 left out there.  So without further ado (except for some minor edits):

Earths With no Tigers...

...are planets
sans snow or even,
places;
worlds of ears without
a word to bear;
from pounds
and pounds of house,
we're down
to ounces of a home.

Our home, now--
a hushed no-where,
no longer
so willing to harbor
children
who have never heard
of stalking and stripes
or
fangs and fight
or really,
a truly righteous animus.

(With symmetry dead,
who will ever utter:
if only it were thus...)

Check please!

Greetings gentle reader,

For my compulsory posting tonight, I wanted to make a comment on the airport screening process controversy.  I hear that there is a move amongst some parties to encourage passengers to "opt-out," either of the revealing body scan or the full-body pat down.  (Incidentally, I'm actually not sure if one can legally opt out.)  I don't really have a serious, studied argument for one side or the other, so I'm not going to share anything more than two gut reactions to the whole thing.

First, I can't imagine that many people will actually want to make themselves spend more time in the airport when they could spend that time getting to their destination.  Nor would they want their young children to spend that time.  Nor would they want, one might hope, for all the other people that just want to be passengers to spend that time on the day before Thanksgiving.  Either way, I'm pretty sure that the hubbub there's been already in the news has been enough to call attention to the objections that people have, and the technology will be changed for the better (apparently, it's already developed and in use in Europe).  Maybe even the national and flight security infrastructure will adapt!  Maybe we'll all just get along.  But until then, and certainly through the damn holiday, people can put up with either 1) the same body search to which they've been potentially subject for several years now (I've had one!), or 2) a picture that is perhaps unflattering but also the best technology we have in a US airport to see if you got something on you that you shouldn't.  Or maybe it's that sketchy grandma character with the aisle seat...

My second point is merely the observation that, to the outside observer, it would seem we Americans love to be the voyeurs, but not so much the voy...ees?  I don't think that's really true on the individual level (more so than for any other earthling, anyway).  But it's funny how much sex and violence "we" can consume on the screen, but then deliver such shock and horror about the subtly displayed outline of our own naked body--this display being a trade-off that could help prevent more of the real-life violence that we witnessed not 10 year ago.

I suppose it's free speech either way, and I suppose that's why the terrorists hate us. And I suppose that the next time I pay hundreds of dollars to fly someplace, I'll be happy to get my whole money's worth.

zombie (a)musings

I'm watching The Walking Dead on AMC.  It's pretty entertaining, while fairly un-ridiculous.  And on basic cable!  [update: it just got some more ridiculous]  Anyway, I had two great questions brought on by the show that I quickly took to the web. 

The first question was--can zombies swim?  Inquiring minds must want to know, because a plethora of answers had been offered.  Some postulate they'd doggy-paddle; some reckon they'd sink; some figure they'd trudge across the bottom like old-school divers.  Eh.

The second question was, would any animal eat zombies?  Could an animal be relied upon to successfully defend one against zombies?  And might, one day, extinct animals be brought back to protect our zombie-laden future?
So this question wasn't immediately answered, but I stumbled across a website that just warmed the cockles of my heart:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly_p1.html

The very first reason mentioned (#7 on the list) answered my question pretty convincingly.  In fact, everything would eat them, down to bacteria.  And depending on the scenario, they'd rot, mummify, stiffen, become crippled, be destroyed by truly modern military abilities, or just be the newest target for all the NRA members currently repressed by the legal restrictions on killing things that move.  Each of these would qualify as, um, setbacks in the ability for zombies both to feed themselves and reproduce, which was related in my favorite point (#1):  both their primary food source and their sole means of reproduction are also found in the one creature that will actively hunt them back (straight from the article: "that's like having to fight a lion every time you to want to have sex or make a sandwich").  In what other creature is that the case?  Besides vampires--but let's not start on vampires.

One dissenter did mention that the list author had not made the distinction between supernaturally-motivated walking dead zombies, and virus-infected, deteriorating flesh hungry creatures who may or may not be wholly dead humans (though--in lieu of a cure--still without all traditional human rights).  However, since I'm worried about MY world being subject to a zombie apocalypse, I'll assume we are not dealing with anything supernatural; I'll proceed to sleep much easier tonight.

I did start wondering, though--if a zombie plague is carried by a virus, then wouldn't the viral genome be able to adapt like any other one?  And if zombies (or rather, the zombie virus) evolve, in which direction would that evolution proceed?  Across species lines, perhaps?  And for the human strain--wouldn't an adaptive virus evolve towards a human vector that doesn't succumb to the pitfalls of the list?  AND if this were true, wouldn't the pinnacle of zombie virus evolution be towards a vector that is essentially the same as a human?  AND if this would happen...well how do we know it hasn't already?

There goes my good sleep.

The Things I Like, Part: Now

As I flail about for some more specific bloggy themes, I'll keep posting in reference to the default one:  me.  Actually, waiting for a more concrete vision just means I'm not writing or posting or sharing anything, and nothing is a really hard place to start from.  So the things I like are the things that will be posted.  A lot of times that will be music.

With more time on my hands, I have been able more often to scour for free, new, fresh music.  Here's what helps:

http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/

Buried in the forkcast, I found this free album of some DJ work by Phaseone (whoever that is).

http://lefserecords.com/tracks/Phaseone-WhiteCollarCrime.zip

I might try out my album-reviewing chops later, but I'll give it a one paragraph plug and just say:

Phaseone has mixed some songs from greater and lesser known artists like (in order of appearance):  Raekwon, Burial, Animal Collective, Bon Iver, Panda Bear, and Radiohead.  A dubstep and hip-hop vibe is felt throughout, and it will run the gamut from mellow and reserved to scratchy and twitchy.  It has seamless transitions from track to track, which I find pleasurable.  It's not just a mix, though, but a proper album, with an ear towards variety in pace and mood.  It's at times ephemeral, soulful, bumping, and playful.  It has played very well through both stereo and headphones.  I've worked to it, cleaned to it; I'll soon test it out behind the wheel, and hopefully with other human beings in a social setting.  Check it out! 

And while we are on the subject of hot DJ work, here's a new free album from Girl Talk--"All Day."  Party time!

http://www.illegal-art.net/allday/

My First Post...

...won't be so much.  Just having it up is the biggest step.  I can now fulfill each foisting desire, and every over-sharing fantasy.  World, I consider you on a need-to-know basis.  Cheers!  And a pretty picture of somethings in my backyard.