Crawling from the wreckage...

Too early to call it a comeback but, there seems to be some listener activity afoot for NOTIMEWARP RADIO. With a short and sweet playlist coming in at just over three hours, it basically gets to the point, revisiting some of the old flavors served up when the station was a bit more active than it has been the past year. The library did grow somewhat and I've been visiting the site of a service for artists and radio stations to get music out for airplay. Grabbed the new Dr. John record as well as the phenomenal 4 disc (!) set of the complete Rockin' the Fillmore recordings. Some other great stuff too. Yeah, there's some work to be had. So, we'll keep an eye on things and see what happens. Who knows... there could even be (gasp!) expansion! Til next time...

Kaboom kaboom...

With sand gettin' scarce at the top end of the glass, I decided to go ahead and press the red button. Totally wiped out the old 12 1/2 hour playlist and replaced it with a brand new, just shy of 3 1/2 hour one. What the hell? VIP listeners weren't really swarming to the station and telling alla their friends. Hell, people weren't doing it when the station was available for free! So, let's see what happens with a new set of, not exactly scientifically placed, songs on there. As I've said here before, Freeform radio isn't a big draw. It's not that people can't handle a crazy mixed bag o' nuts, they just wanna handle their own nuts. Sure, they may groove on my nuts for a while and even come back for more. But eventually they wanna pick out their own stuff. Hey, that's cool... I've always just wanted to turn people on to something they didn't know about and hope that led them down the path of more good music. So, here ya go. Since there isn't much there, I supposed I'll get in there and change stuff up more often and try and keep it a bit fresher then times past. But, if nobody tunes in, the clock might strike twelve and that'll be all she wrote. Still no change in circumstance to entertain paying for the thing again and opening up to the non-paying music lover. Hafta wait and see what cards are dealt...

The living dead...

Well, hello potential blog reader! Welcome to the official blog of the NOTIMEWARP Music network! Things have changed a bit since I last visited these parts to blab to no one in particular... NOTIMEWARP RADIO somehow continues to live on despite it's VIP only listener status. Wayward listeners drift in and out, staying for minutes to hours at a time. Sometimes on consecutive days, sometimes weeks apart. I now am finally back to having a secure internet connection, at least for the time being (that's good).
 Things aren't secure enough at the moment
to consider reviving the station to all listeners (that's bad). I am able to change the songs currently on the playlist (that's good). Without paying the fee to start it back up, I'm limited to only a few hours of music if I do decide to start changing the music that's on there (that's bad, but the music's always good). So, for now, I'll leave things the way they are until I decide to do an overhaul. Being that it's not costing me anything and basically living on borrowed time anyways, it might be fun to mess with things and throw whatever in there for whoever might happen to stumble by. Crazy as it sounds, I won't be able to listen to it either 'cause I don't have a VIP membership. Kinda like a Beethoven programming approach. Ok, enough for now. Thanks for reading and, if you can or do, listening. By the way, the old notimewarp.com link isn't mine anymore. It goes to some weird ass motivational site or some shit. Anyway, it's got nothing to do with music so don't bother looking for the station there. Click on the widget to the right (or top right when this post starts moving down the page) or just go to the Freeform stations on Live365.com and hunt for it there. 'til next time...

End of an era?

Hello music lovers! Well, it looks like NOTIMEWARP RADIO is getting ready to bite the dust. The score; without any listening hours in the past 30 days, Live365 will rub the station out as inactive. With money being not very damn funny for a while now, there's been no money for the station's operating fee. It also doesn't help not having money for internet either. The station's been in VIP membership only status for about 10 months now and, I must say, I'm impressed it's coasted this long. Now it stands at 10 hours in the past 30 days. It seems like the curtain's gonna come down any time now. Hopefully, I won't be writing the NOTIMEWARP obituary next time out. So, there's still music on there that hasn't been changed in a while but it hasn't gone bad! It's still good! If anyone who has a Live365 VIP membership wants to listen for a while, that'll keep it alive for at least another 30 days anyway. More to come...

State of the groove...

Thanks to a generous donor, NOTIMEWARP RADIO stays available for free to listeners without Live 365 VIP memberships. Being a hobbyist station, I don't make any money offa this gig. I just spend time and effort to put some songs on that people probably don't get to hear all that often, if ever. Without donations, it's completely up to me to pay the fee to broadcast every few months (which I've been doing for 9 years now). Live 365 has been a great option for people who wanna start their own stations. Relatively inexpensive, easy to use, they pay royalties for you... all you hafta do is add music. Unfortunately, the host site has been having regular hardware issues that effect broadcasters and listeners alike. For quite some time now, around the middle of the month, things get funky at Live 365 and web pages can't be reached, listeners can't log in, live broadcasts don't connect, song info doesn't update... It can be disheartening at times when money's tight and you put in alla the effort for what can be for few listeners. I know as a listener, I just wanna hear something good and I wanna hear it now. No hoops, no interruptions, just music. There's so MANY options out there to listen to music for free, you really gotta bring the goods these days. Gotta have great music that people wanna hear, it's gotta be easy for them to find / listen, and be there when they want it. Hopefully, and soon, Live 365 gets it together and puts out a product that can really compete with the big boys and make it easier for listeners to find and listen to alla the great stations they host, like NOTIMEWARP RADIO!

Today the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has their annual induction bash, this year in Los Angeles. With it, brings the legions of whiners who wanna know "Why not this band?" or "How can blah blah blah be in there but not blah?". Yeah, there's some in there I scratch my head at and others I wonder what the hold up is but there is a process to it all. Most people who complain never bother to go to the Rock Hall site and read what the induction process is, most importantly the part that sez "The Foundation's nominating commitee selects nominees each year in the Performer category. Ballots are then sent to an international voting body of more than 600 artists, historians and members of the music industry. Those performers who receive the highest number of votes - and more than 50 percent of the vote - are inducted". I gotta wonder about these people who whine on the Rock Hall's Facebook posts. Why are you following them if you think they're such a joke? Anyways, I'm most happy to see my favorite Blues player of all time, Albert King, get in there. I'm also happy to see Rush and Heart get in as well. I loved Public Enemy's 'Fear of a Black Planet' from the first second I heard it.I'm looking forward to the airing of the induction ceremony on cable, in a few months I guess. Til next time...

Not again...

Well, not exactly the way I wanted to revive my blog but, got some bad news to pass along. Due to financial circumstances (again), I will be forced to put NOTIMEWARP RADIO on temporary hiatus until further notice as of April 19. The station will only be available to listeners with Live365 VIP memberships (around $24 every 3 months).  HOWEVER, there is a way to keep the station available to non-VIP members; go to  www.notimewarp.com and click on the blue "donate to this station" button. I need to raise $40 by April 18 (next Thursday) to keep the station available for free (for another 3 months anyway; hopefully things will be better by then). In the event I do hafta go VIP only, I WILL still be able to make changes to the playlist so it won't be the same songs playing over and over. Please accept my apologies, as I would like to make this great music available to as many people as possible. Follow NOTIMEWARP RADIO on Facebook for updates. Thanks for listening!

But it's alright now...

Photo by Helmut Newton

The newest Rolling Stones documentary, "Crossfire Hurricane", finally making it's way to the U.S. courtesy of HBO, is a celebration of the Stones 50th anniversary as a band. Based on interviews conducted on the eve of their 50th anniversary date (with no cameras allowed), "Crossfire Hurricane" is an amazing collection of mostly previously unseen footage, presented largely in chronological order. Even a good deal of the familiar footage is offered with alternate views / takes. The film opens with a segment with Dick Cavett and Mick Jagger backstage at Madison Square Garden before a show in 1972, followed by the band onstage launching into "Street Fighting Man". Then it's back to the beginning of the band's history. From interviews to concert performances to television appearances to offstage footage, this is just a dazzling movie for any Stones fan. The band interviews (which include Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor) mesh magnificently with the film. Part of the pre-release hype noted that "no subject is taboo" and, true, not too much goes left unsaid. But the film does stop a little short on the band's history, basically ignoring the last 20 years. Alla the unseen footage makes it an definite must see for any Stones fan worth their salt. For those who've lived in caves or the very young, it also is a great document of one of the greatest bands in rock history. As a fairly serious Stones fan, I absolutely loved this film. "Crossfire Hurricane" is on HBO On Demand until December 17.