Sure Enjoying the Music Here at the Driftwood Lodge on the Gulf of Mexico

The dj started playing his music about an hour and a half ago for out joint Mardi Gras party with the Osprey next door.  We'll be having Cajun food and all sorts of music this afternoon in honor of next Tuesday's Mardi Gras.  I myself am groovin' out to it right now while typin' away on this here laptop.

The waves of the Gulf of Mexico are crashing along the shore about 200 feet from where I sit.  The sun is shining and it is at least 77 degrees.  Not a bad way to spend a February 23rd.

The dj is also playing Motown and oldies.  Just the thing for us oldsters.

Good Times On the Beach.  --RoadDog

Some Streaming Internet Sites for New Orleans/ Louisiana Music

Last month, I did a fast search on Yahoo! for some sites to listen to this music. I found several sites at Last FM like Zydeco Music, Louisiana Music, Cajun Music. //// Other sites: Mardi Gras Music Radio, NOLA Radio (Times-Picayune) WWOZ and Mardi Gras Radio (Nola.com) //// Of course, I played plenty of my own CDs. My Ultimate Jukeboc is well-stocked with the stuff as well, with ten CDs of it. //// Great Music, Where Ya Been Before? --RoadDog

Back to Mardi Gras: "The Big Easy"

Like I said back in Novemberaround Mardi Gras, I never knew much about New Orleans/Louisiana music until the movie "Big Easy" came out and really floored me. How come I'd never heard of this music before? //// The movie came out in 1987 and was set and filmed on location in New Orleans and took 50 days to film. //// It featured Cajun, zydeco, R&B and gospel music in it as well as a healthy dose of Mardi Gras music. //// Dennis Quaid was the leading actor, about a sort of legit/illegal cop. //// A Great Movie, and Then there Was That MUSIC!!! --RoadDog

Sore Feet, Too Much Food, BUT, Didn't Buy Nothin'

A Day at the Wisconsin State Fair.

We did go to the fair on August 9th, and enjoyed ourselves despite the Chicago-level prices and light rain that we had early on. When the rain stopped and the sun came out, the heat became almost unbearable.

Met Rick and Chris at the Old Style Heartland Pavilion, our usual place to meet. We do some stuff together and others separately. If we get separated, we meet back here on the hour. However, now that we have cell phones, it's not such a problem anymore.

One place that still has reasonable prices is the Wisconsin Products Pavilion. They, of course, feature items made in Wisconsin and cheap prices as well as samplers. I had an ostrich stick, ice cream sundae, buffalo burrito. I also had three small cups of milk at Herb's Milk House which is sponsored by US Senator Herb Kohl. I like their different flavors like chocolate, mocha, and strawberry.

We saw several favorite bands like Hat Trick, the band that doesn't know where the stage is as they meander among the crowd and play Cajun and Buffett style music. Also saw the Rhythm Kings who play several summer dates a year out at Captain's Quarters on the Chain.

An Irish place by Old Style had a bagpiper and later a guy singing Irish songs- imagine that! Michael Drake had the crowd hopping at the Tropics.

My poor feet were very tired when we left, but I am happy to report that I didn't buy anything from any place out there, a first.

Well, Maybe I Will Go Back Despite the Chicago Prices.   --RoadDog

Internet Radio, Webcasts Threatened with Extinction!!!!

I'm sitting right here at the old 'put, bloggin' and listenin' to 'Fessa John Hook doing the Beach Music Top 40 Countdown on his Endless Summer Network. Sadly, come this time next month, I may not have that opportunity. Same goes with the Surf and Billy Smith down in North Myrtle Beach, SC. It all goes dark July 15th if the Copyright Royalty Board has its way and skyrockets the price of playing music over the net to the point that they will all go off the air. And I'm not just talking about Beach Music, I'm talking about ALL radio over the internet.

This would be a shame. And not just for the listeners, but also for many performers and groups who depend on this as a way to get their music out. The big radio station conglomerates have set playlists prepared by research companies. You just can't crack through to them.

Plus, people like me, who like a niche genre, like Beach Music, or zydeco, or Cajun, or reggae, depend on these stations as a way to get our "fix". You're not going to hear it on the big stations.

In case you're wondering, the stations and webcasters do pay royalties to the artists, just not what they'll have to pay under the new arrangement, if it goes through.

However, internet radio is not going down without a fight. They are asking us to contact our US senators and representatives and ask them to cosponsor the Radio Equality Act, S 1363 in the Senate, and HR 2060 in the House of Representatives.

You can go to www.netradio.org to get all the information you need, including the telephone numbers of you senators and representattive, and what to say.

Don't Let Them Take Away Our Music. --RoadDog