Apr
10
2008

As Far As I Can Tell...

(Add / View Comments) (0)Thursday, April 10, 2008 - 09:10:09 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
...if a man can't find a whore at 4, it's just as well.

I just worked out the lyrics to River Otis - not that I haven't tried before and gotten nowhere - and that line is just fucking great!
Now Playing: Dead Hot Workshop - River Otis
Apr
09
2008

Comments Module

(Add / View Comments) (3)Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - 10:41:29 pm
(Posted Under: Web Development)
Despite what I said here, I've gone ahead and written a comments module for my blog.

I actually wrote it towards the end of January (man, that time has gone fast), but had functional changes I wanted to make before putting it online. Tonight I updated the functionality to what I wanted, so it's all good to go. Now you can leave comments on my blog.

It's interesting looking back to that old entry that virtual says I wouldn't be added comments to my blog. It's funny how much things change in three years, as the ability for comments was something that I really didn't want for my blog, and of late I've been somewhat antsy to get it online. I guess the same applies for my first ever post This is not a weblog. I think it's safe to say this is now a weblog, and has been for some time. [wink]
Now Playing: Zubia Brothers - Gasoline (Live @ Last Exit)
Apr
08
2008

Myspace Links

And Why Myspace Is Full Of It

(Add / View Comments) (0)Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - 09:38:01 pm
(Posted Under: Rants)
Here's a message from myspace that has been really annoying lately:


The link you are trying to visit has been disabled.

You have reached a link that is no longer in service. That means the link was very naughty, and, much like head lice, had to be eliminated before it spread.

You may be asking yourself, "Hey, what was it about that link that got it in trouble?" An excellent question! Usually, it's one of the following reasons:

- The link was spam! No one likes spammers, and we don't like their links.

- You almost got phished! There are people out there who want to steal your MySpace password. They want to log in as you and send spam, harass your friends, change your profile, and generally run amok. Phishing pages are usually designed to look like MySpace to trick you. Other sites may also ask for your MySpace login information to customize your profile, insert videos or slide shows, track visitors, or any number of other things. Don't make it easy for them. ONLY USE YOUR MYSPACE LOGIN INFO ON WWW.MYSPACE.COM!!


Yes, no one likes spammers - kinda moot point if your using myspace though!

I almost got phished?! Okay, this one really gets my back up. Hey, myspace, don't get all fucking high and mighty about protecting people's passwords when you don't even have a secure site. I could have anyone on my network log in to myspace and steal their password without effort. The whole myspace link hijacking (by myspace) is for nothing but myspace gain (through extra hits, capturing downstream stats or whatnot). Call it what it is folks!

Oh, and by the way, I didn't almost get phished. I was pro actively protecting my own privacy by blocking my referrer.

End of rant. Here's privoxy rules that fix the fact that I haven't been able to use any links on myspace for however long. Luckily I don't care too much if myspace knows from where in myspace I clicked a link.

# Fix links in myspace.
{ 
   -hide-referer 
} 
www.msplinks.com
Edit...
Okay, so while I'm not fussed too much if myspace knows from where I clicked within myspace, this rule is more satisfying of a solution.
# Fix links in myspace.
{ 
   +hide-referer{http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm} 
} 
www.msplinks.com


Thank you, come again.
Now Playing: Zubia + DeGuvera - Absolutely Right And Wrong
Apr
06
2008

Cross Site AJAX

Using Script Tag Injection To Achieve The Same End

(Add / View Comments) (0)Sunday, April 6, 2008 - 02:26:43 pm
(Posted Under: Web Development)
Two weeks ago I did a bit of work towards adding Hitter (music that I'm listening to) to my website. Which was always a the end goal when I first wrote Hitter two years ago. Once I put it together, I ended up just leaving it as a stand alone application.

Last month when I first started working on bringing it into my page, my idea was to have it all work through AJAX, which once I build, looked at worked awesome. Aside from having it within my webpage, it was more responsive that looking at Hitter pages directly (because of the amount of information they provide). I was quite happy - until I realized the cross site AJAX problem, once I moved it online. The annoyance being that because of security, browsers don't allow AJAX calls to sites on different domains or subdomains. What a complete pain in the ass!

This is a particular problem since I don't store Hitter on my ISP hosted site. I couldn't (for one, they don't provide mysql), and more to the point, I wouldn't want to. Hence why AJAX was the perfect technology for getting this stuff onto my site, while hosting Hitter on my own server. Perfect, aside from that cross site AJAX caveat! I tried a few things to get around this, without success. I ended up going with iframes, which wasn't that bad, except that the iframes wouldn't resize, and I'd get scrollbars which wasn't particularly nice. But still working.

I brought up the annoyance of the security restrictions at work, and a colleague mentioned script tag injection (thanks Aaron [smile] ). After doing some research today, I came across this article which filled in all the missing parts. Kind of a roundabout way of doing things, but works beautifully!

Hence, now I have my embedded Hitter pages working the way I originally wanted! Sweet.
Now Playing: Tramps & Thieves - The World Is Waiting
Apr
05
2008

Point Of Ventre #10

The Long Wongs Tribute Show

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, April 5, 2008 - 12:38:39 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Point Of Ventre Episode)
On the 4th anniversary of the closing of Long Wongs, Sarah Ventre turned her Point Of Ventre radio show into a tribute to Wongs, and other closed venues of the Tempe scene.

As regularly listeners, we had known about this for about a month or so. Such a good call on Sarah's behalf to think of the idea. I was pretty anxious to get home and hear how everything went, especially since we'd arrange to be one of the callers for the show.

Right from Sarah's intro, it was obvious how much preparation she'd put into this. It was really fantastic from start to finish.

First up on the phone was Sara Cina, why of course. Because what would a tribute show to Wongs be without Sara?! Her commentary was great, and the coolest part is that she actually called in from the dirt lot where Wong's once stood. That was just really fucking cool. I've never met her, but that sort of cool shit is what you come to expect from Sara Cina.

Next up was Curtis from Dead Hot Workshop. Unexpectedly I got a shout of from Curtis, which was, well, just too cool for school. [smile] It sounded like he was calling from London, and if so, Sarah really did get guests calling in from all over the world!

Nico's story about documenting the scene was really cool, and I can't say how much I love that Mill Ave. Inc. will premiere at Valley Art Theatre slap bang in the middle of Mill Avenue. That's just awesome! It's also cool that they're also going to have bands playing after the premiere. If the Blossoms play, that'll be a major coop, since aside from the Tempe Music Festival they barely play locally. It's also really cool that that documentary is coming out, probably within a month. I first saw a clip of it in October last year (Mill Avenue) and it's really cool to see that it's not far off getting aired.

The choice of songs played tonight was also really cool, all live recordings from local bands.

  1. Nada (Long Wongs - Dec 15, 1998) - Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers
  2. Sara Cina
  3. Idiot Summer (Chuy's - Apr 4, 1990) - Gin Blossoms
  4. Curtis Grippe
  5. Burger Christ (Long Wongs - Oct 12, 2000) - Dead Hot Workshop
  6. Nico Holthaus
  7. King Of Last Call (Nita's Hideaway - ) - Steve Larson
  8. Sara Says (Dec 17, 2004 - Yucca Tap Room) - Zubia Brothers
  9. Okie From Miscokie / Where's The Grey (Acoustic Campfire - Nita's Hideaway) - Hans Olsen
  10. Clove Cigarette (Double Live @ Long Wongs) - Stephen Ashbrook
  11. Katie
  12. Halfway (Jan 7, 1999 - The Cajun House) - Gloritone
  13. ??? (Long Wongs - Dec 13, 1999) - Ghetto Cowgirl
  14. Leah Miller-Colins
  15. Cryin' Time (Balboa Cafe) - Jim Beach
  16. Interview with Robin Wilson
  17. Lead Thoughts (Long Wongs - Oct 12, 2000) - Dead Hot Workshop
Particularly cool was the version of Hans Olsen's Where's The Grey, which was on of the few recordings that I didn't have. Another one that was really cool and falls into the "hadn't heard before" category is Sara Says.

When it got to the solo, Katie immediate said that she thought that it was Jesse Valenzuela on lead guitar. Fairly spot on, as when Sarah announced at the end that it was from the Zubia Brothers CD release show, it made sense, because...well, she was actually at the show, and Valenzula indeed joined the Zubias. [smile]

Given that there was quite few bootlegs that I'd offered Sarah for the show, it was really enjoyable that there was good portion of songs that I hadn't heard before.

Last up was Robin Wilson who'd called earlier in the day and recorded an interview with Sarah for the show. I couldn't help but think how gracious Robin is to The Blaze which is really great. I thought it was great that they talked about Robin's shout out to the scene at the Tempe Music Festival last weekend, which I read about in Sarah's Phoenix New Times blog entry.

Point Of Ventre is great week in and week out, but I'd have to say this has been one of the best episodes. The whole thing was such a great tribute to Long Wongs on the 4th anniversary of it's demise. And also was a great reminder that there are still people out there that give a shit about this scene, past, present and future.

The consequences when you're belly are on the list, it's documented. Notarized, I never read it. The fine print and the writing on the walls...
Now Playing: Violet Wild - Got You Where I Want You
Apr
03
2008

Point Of Ventre Long Wongs Tribute Show

(Add / View Comments) (0)Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 09:30:00 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Tempe)
Should be a great show!

Reposted from myspace:


Very Special Point of Ventre Radio Show Tonight!

Tune in tonight (Thursday) for a tribute to Long Wong's and other closed down venues on the 4 year anniversary of its closing.

Special guests will include:

Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms
Sara Cina - former manager of Long Wong's, major part of local music scene and wicked cool lady
Curtis Grippe of Dead Hot Workshop and Ghetto Cowgirl
Leah Miller - Collins, DJ extraordinaire
Nico Holthaus - local filmmaker, "Dante's Arizona," "Mill Ave. Inc."
Mojo Nixon - psychobilly god
Mark and Katie - Australian Tempe music fans

10:00 p.m.- midnight, Arizona time
The Blaze 1260 AM
www.theblaze1260.com
Request line - 480-965-1260
Now Playing: Violet Wild - Water And Chemicals
Apr
03
2008

Google Is My Spell Checker

(Add / View Comments) (0)Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 10:56:19 am
(Posted Under: No Category)
So, I'm current writing up some meeting minutes, and need to spell the word "Surpurfulous". And so I'm lazy, type it really quickly and incorrectly, press space, and right click it to correct it. But Thunderbird doesn't have any suggestion on the correct spelling for 'Surplurfulous'.

But, y'know, that's okay. Thunderbird's spell checking isn't the best, and that's really fine, it relatively new, and to be honest, to have any spell checking in Thunderbird is such a great change.

So, I open up Microsoft Word, paste in the text and it also has no suggestions on the correct spelling. This is pretty shocking.

So in a last ditch attempt, I paste the text into a Google search box. Google comes back and says "Did you mean: Surpurfulous". Why yes, that is absolutely what I meant. Microsoft Word couldn't work it out, yet your search engine could! Thank you Google. [smile]
Apr
02
2008

Water & Chemicals Video

(Add / View Comments) (0)Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - 09:18:01 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
Okay, I've got to say, this is pretty exciting to me. Violet Wild have done a music video for Water & Chemicals!.



Don't know what Bobby Scott's doing right, but it's the second video I've seen for one of his (virtually) unsigned bands, the first being Mink Rebellion's Along For The Ride. This, in comparison looks a lot more professional and less of a local affair (while Along For The Ride was actually really impressive for an unsigned band, it was for the most part local footage @ Edgefest). Relatively speaking anyway - a lot of it looks like it's shot in Tempe, but it absolutely looks like a video that could be on VH-1.

Another cool aspect of the video is the footage of Bobby and Josh and Last Exit sitting beneath Saki Photography's "FU Wall"

Too fucking cool!

Shut me down and black me out now. It's alright, it's alright.
Apr
02
2008

Scott Thompson - New Guitarist For The Gin Blossoms

The State Of Publishing On The Net

(Add / View Comments) (0)Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - 10:11:01 am
(Posted Under: No Category)
Thanks to Google Alerts I read the following article on the Gin Blossoms with Scott Johnson - er, I mean Scott Thompson, this morning.

Gin Blossoms has their time in the limelight, and now, they want it back: Neapolitan : Naples Daily News

The days of research and editing in publishing must really be going by the wayside. Aside from other grammer mistakes, Scott Thompson?!?

Edit: It appears that they've now corrected the article with Scotty's correct name.

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