Well, we did it… Sorta… Last night at The Temecula Wine and Beer Garden (I kept getting it backwards by putting Beer first in previous posts, guess it’s just a personal preference:b) we fired up our Mogulus Channel and attempted our first live Internet feed of a Trunkmonkey performance. What follows is the blow by blow…

So, the initial idea was to borrow a WiFi enabled laptop, slap a camera on it and just let it rip. With the right equipment, it really is that easy… with the right equipment. I have a Panasonic PVGS320 with a screwed up tape carriage that makes for an excellent web cam connected to a Mac via firewire. Much to my disgust, the same can’t be said of a USB 2.0 connection made to a Windows box… I discovered this maybe two hours before show time. So fucking typical that the only way this camera will communicate via USB 2 with Windows is through some bullshit Microsoft movie editing software you have to buy. Piss on them, and that. Still determined to use the laptop, I abandoned the PVGS320 for my HVX200 to see if that would make things any easier. It didn’t. I mean, I don’t know, I never tried to use the HVX200 as a web cam and I don’t know that it even has that capability but I had to at least try. Since I didn’t have time to do any reading I just fired everything up and hoped for some “plug ‘n play” love. The machine recognized the P2 cards in the camera as removable discs but that was about it. Shit…

Not wanting to have to explain another abandoned live feed attempt (like last week) I simply bit the bullet and decided to go with what I knew worked. I took my freakin’ iMac to the gig and set it up behind a hot dog counter and wired the 320 to it. My iMac picked up on Old Town’s WiFi immediately (Macs rule by the way… And I was born wired to a PC) and a quick network test claimed we had 570kbps on the upload. Mogulus recommends a minimum 400kbps so it was lookin pretty good. Unfortunately, it was too close to go time to get logged in and cue up the mogulus/meetube studio so I just had to wait until the first break to actually start web casting.

We played a set, as soon as the break came I went back to work on the computer. I logged in and cued everything up and at 8:33PM we went live for the first time! It was exciting to see everything actually working the way it was supposed to. Or at least so it appeared…

For some reason, the Mogulus software defaults to what it calls the “built in mic” (the computer) for audio when you hook up a web cam. I wanted to use the mic in my PVGS320 (the camera) because the mic in the computer is shitty and the computer was sitting behind a hot dog cart. Anyway, I didn’t realize the audio had to be set manually until the second break. Our team of viewers we had strategically located throughout the country were armed with their cell phones and the calls came in… They all were saying the same thing, “We see you guys, but we can’t hear anything…” Shit…

Okay, third set’s a charm, right? Well, not exactly… Apparently once the audio situation was corrected, it became obvious that there was considerable lag time from camera to cyberspace… After the third set when I went to look at the computer, I still saw myself on stage in the monitor… Huh??? What’s going on here? Sadly, I don’t have an answer… After a few phone calls we kept getting the same report, the audio sounded good but the video stuttered tremendously. The only thing I can guess is that the connection simply wasn’t holding steady at the 570kbps it tested out at.

Based on the fact that I’ve done short web casts from my living room that worked pretty darn good (with my machine hard wired to the network) I can only assume that WiFi is the issue. I’ve also read up on some of the issues with the current build of Mozilla Fire Fox leaking memory when processing video; next time, a different browser.

So that’s it I guess… Kinda disappointing considering all the effort but, at least now I think I have a firm grasp on what doesn’t work. Live Beta 2, the sequel will be in another couple weeks. The next test will be in a situation where we’re hard wired and I’ll probably run Safari just to see if it makes any difference. It will be great if it works out but I can’t help but feel that this “technology” won’t be all that it can be until you can whip out your laptop and “go live” on a moments notice the way the girl does on the Mogulus video. Our first experience in the field was that it just doesn’t quite work that way, yet…

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Well, this is it… We’re going to have another run at the live feed beta test starting tomorrow night at 7PM PST when we attempt our first live web cast from The Temecula Beer and Wine Garden. I really wish I could get up there ahead of time and test their connection speed because if they can’t crank at least 400kbps (preferably 500) we could have a problem. Either way, we’re going to let the camera run and hope for the best. If everything works out and it makes for a good web experience, I’ll go through and do another post detailing the process, what equipment we used, and basically anything else you need to know so that you can start doing this for yourself.

Keep your fingers crossed and tune in tomorrow to check it out!!!

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Okay, lets try this again; a few days ago I did a post on what I thought was the 2008 Miller Lite/FM 94.9 Independence Jam and it turned out to be a preview of LAST year’s performance… Nice… This time, I did some serious homework so while you may not agree with the opinions expressed here, I tried to get the facts right. We’ll look at the bands, their labels and how much juice they have on MySpace in the form of friends and profile views, just to give you some added empirical data you can use to form your own theories and opinions as to whether or not you want to attend this event. We’ll take a look at the bands in the order they’re listed on The Independence Jam web site and give each a final yea or nay as to whether we would pay money to see them or not.

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***Flogging Molly*** - Sideonedummy Records - Indie label representing about 20 bands including the likes of Goldfinger, Gogol Bordello and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones just to name a few. MySpace friends = 273,141 / Profile Views = 5,225,404

In their own words: “We’re not a traditional band,” explains Dublin born singer/songwriter, Dave King. “We are influenced by traditional music and inspired by it, and we put our own little twist on it.”

For the sake of brevity, Celtic Punk is how I classify this stuff and I’ve always been of fan. Not to mention that Matt Hensley (accordion, vocals, etc.) from the band has a club in Carlsbad about 15 minutes from where I live. Hensley’s Flying Elephant is one of the venues that sadly has been affected by the bullshit legislation about noise in Carlsbad and while they have kick ass live music there, they have to wrap it up by 10PM. I’m sure the noise from the freeway Hensley’s overlooks quiets down at 10PM too… Gimme a fookin’ brreak cantcha?

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Final word - This is a band worth seeing - Yea

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***The Hold Steady*** - Vagrant Records - Indie label representing about 36 bands including the likes of Rocket From the Crypt, Alkaline Trio, Dashboard Confessional, Paul Westerberg (The Replacements), and The Lemonheads. MySpace friends = 29,281 / Profile Views - 650,027

MySpace Quote - “We might get rich. You know, we might get busted.” Okay, that was borrowed from the Steve Miller Band so check them out and glean from it what you will.

The first thing the web geek in me noticed was that their link on the Independence Jam site was not responding. Tsk, tsk… That’s a big no no and somebody needs to take a look at what’s eating that server at theholdsteady.com. Also, Vagrant would do well to actually use their artist’s NAMES in their links instead of just applying them a number. What they’re doing sure doesn’t help their SEO any. As for the music itself… Meh, it just doesn’t do anything for me. The first song on their MySpace player sounded like The Pretenders but the stream died before any vocals kicked in to let me know some dude had replaced Chrissie Hynde. I went to the next tune and started getting whiffs of Jersey wind bag Bruce Springsteen and I immediately lost interest.

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Final Word - I’m not paying to see this band - Nay

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***Cold War Kids*** - Downtown Recordings, Indie label(? They’re tied in with Atlantic Records) representing 13 bands including the likes of Gnarls Barkley, Mos Def, and fellow Independence Jam artist Santogold. MySpace Friends = 114,505 / Profile views = 2,844,113.

This is where I’m probably going to lose friends because I’m getting ready to take a giant shit on what I know is a popular band. I simply don’t get this music or it’s appeal. I can’t stand that whiny voice and that whole Hang Me Out to Dry thing is just SO FUCKING REPETITIVE I could just blow my head off. I know I’m in lonely company on this one but I find the music of Cold War Kids to be tedious and unpleasant. In a word, it SUCKS.

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Final Word - Spend money to see this band? Not on yer fucking life - Nay

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***MGMT*** - Columbia Records - Definitely not Indie. MySpace Friends = 49,353 / Profile Views = 3,232,754

As MGMT is not an independent artist I was just going to glaze over them to save myself some time and energy but unfortunately, this is more music I hate so I have to say something. The single currently being pushed Time to Pretend is just trite, adolescent garbage that’s so sickly sweet it almost put me into a diabetic coma. Just really horrible stuff. I listened to a couple more tracks on MySpace and didn’t hear anything to make me feel different.

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Final Word - I’m not spending my money on this band - Nay

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***The Whigs*** - ATO Records Indie (label formed by Dave Matthews and Michael McDonald) representing the likes of Crowded House, My Morning Jacket and, what? RADIOHEAD? MySpace Friends = 11,716 / Profile Views: 368,505

I like this band, Right Hand on My Heart is actually one of their more down tempo numbers and the rest of their stuff sounds like they could really kill it during a live performance. I want energy from a band more than anything and it sounds like these guys have it. Especially compared to some of the aforementioned…

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Final Word - I’ll take a chance - Yea

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***The Ting Tings*** - Columbia Records - Definitely not Indie. MySpace Friends = 35,540 / Profile Views = 2,305,979

Again, wasn’t going to spend a lot of time on a major label act but I LOVE these two… I was hooked the first time I heard Great DJ and then I checked out a YouTube video where they did a live performance of That’s Not My Name… I totally dug it, It’s like Bizarro World White Stripes. Chicks rock… Worth noting that they don’t even have their own Web site, just a MySpace…

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Final Word - Alone worth the price of admission if they could do that for two hours - Yea

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***Santogold*** - Downtown Recordings, Indie label(? They’re tied in with Atlantic Records) representing 13 bands including the likes of Gnarls Barkley, Mos Def, and fellow Independence Jam artist Cold War Kids. Profile Views: 2,060,237 MySpace Friends = 44,963

I dig it… Whatever it is, I dig it and would be curious to see it live. Their MySpace is vague as far as band members with the exception of Santi White and Johnny Rodeo being the core of this… creation. I don’t know that I would go out of my way to see them on their own but they look like an added treat at this kind of event.

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Final Word - I’ll take a chance - Yea

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Nortec Collective - Nacional Records - Indie label representing 9 bands you never heard of. MySpace Friends 16,162 Profile Views: 335,055

I’ll have to pass. Modern alternative mariachi is not my thing.

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Final Word - I’m not spending my money on this band - Nay

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According to the above stats, I’m looking at 4 bands (that I care anything about) for $40… So far I’d say that’s not too shabby considering we haven’t even gone over the six local bands appearing on the Casbah stage…

We’ll look at them next time…

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I’m taking a guess that a ton of people must have tried to check out the live feed performance last night we were going to do from Dublin Square in The Gaslamp because when i checked the server stats this morning, there was crazy activity. The kind of numbers that can make a server crash if you’re not careful. Hopefully that didn’t happen.

So anyway, apologies to all who were looking to watch us play on their computers yesterday, but not to fear… The only reason we didn’t go ahead with it was because there was a Padres baseball game going on last night Downtown. What does that have to do with the live feed? Easy, let’s just say that when it takes you 45 minutes to park you car, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time left over to do anything but get the sound dialed in and start playing. So that’s what we did…

I’m really disappointed we didn’t at least tape last night’s show because it went over huge. Caroline (a totally smokin hot bar tender who was kind enough to give me a hair tie) told me after the show that never in her three years at the bar had anyone ever called for an encore from any of the bands that played there. Encore? Sheeeit… We had to play THREE of them because every time we tried to end the last set, the whole bar kept chanting, “one more song, one more song!” Somehow, one turned into three and finally we just had to pull the plug to start getting people outta there. That ain’t no shit either.

So, the short end of it is that after last night, they booked us like, 10 more dates starting with TONIGHT. However, I decided we’re going to put off the first live feed until next weekend. We’ll be back at Dublin Square next Saturday (like I said yo, they gave us like 10 more dates) but things are just too hectic Downtown and I need to be in a good head space when I’m getting ready to play. Next Friday, we’re playing The Temecula Wine and Beer Garden and I think the conditions are going to be ideal for the first live feed. It’s an outdoor gig that starts early (like 7:30) so the lighting should be really good. We’ll keep ya posted as the week progresses. We’re gonna whip this puppy yet, or at least find out if the technology is ready to make something like this doable on a regular basis…

Stay tuned!

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Okay, so now I feel like a complete tool… Because I’m so web-centric in everything I do I just assume (STUPID) that when I’m reading information on a “commercial” web site, it’s reasonably current. (Annoying buzzer), thanks for playing… I should totally know better by now… Anyway, I was working directly off the FM94.9 Web site yesterday when looking at the bands for Independence Jam and the information WAS from last year. I should have fucking known better because I remember thinking it was strange that it appeared to be EXACTLY the same line up as the previous year… Anyway, I heard them pimping the show on air today and I was like wait a minute, this is a completely different line up than what I saw online just yesterday… I sent them a WTF e-mail and they simply responded by suggesting I discontinue any and all drug use. Sound advice as that may be, I know what I saw yesterday… Shame on me for not being more careful, shame on them for not keeping their site up… Anyway, I’m not going to take the previous post down but rather let it stand as a monument to my stupidity and a place to possibly glean a little info from last years event. In the meantime, I’m working on something for THIS years event, thank you very much…

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As a local San Diego Independent music source, naturally we had to look into the FM 94.9/Miller Light Independence Jam coming up on Sunday June 10th to be held on the Devore Stadium Field at Southwestern College. This is an annual event so we figured the best thing to do is start with last years experience since so many of the same bands will be appearing. Her are some reviews from last years Independence jam found on Yelp.com.

Lee F. says:

“My take on the day - I loved the venue (having a choice of sitting on the grass, heading up into the bleachers, going up to mosh, back to the 21 and over area, or up to the local stage is good), loved being able to bring in a backpack with a sweatshirt and blanket and whatnot (desert air gets cold quick!), and loved the people watching (hipsters, emos, pretty people, etc. … i love you all).

But the bands were all exceedingly mediocre. It wasn’t like The White Stripes, who blew me away at Street Scene two years back, or like Death Cab, one of my favorite bands who sucked big time at SS last year. Just a whole bunch of performances that left me saying “eh”. ”

Tiffany S. says:

“Hey Lee, I’m still wearing my Miller Light wristband, exhausted at work. I got there a little late, around 4:45-5 and was bummed that I missed the Aggrolites. Oh well. I agree, Spoon was incrediby disappointing. Kings of Leon left me yawning, and Interpol cut their set 20 minutes early!

The highlight was definitely locals Grand Ole Party. If any of you get the chance to see this band (and seeing as they’re local, there will be plenty of chances) GO!!! The singer/drummer burns on the drums and sounds like a combo of Karen O. from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Shirley Bassey. I liked Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects too, although the sound really sucked.

I think the local stage was the highlight of the event fer sherr, and you don’t need to pay $40 to see locals. Boo on not being able to bring food in, yay on the people watching (I kinda wished I had dressed up a little bit more), boo on climbing stairs, yay on the grass, yay for bringing back an old school venue, boo on expensive beer (although that is a given).”

Colleen C. says:

“I loved the venue, it was so nice to get there early and lay around in the sun listening to good music! The Aggrolites were fun but their show didn’t really “flow” very well. Parking was a breeze, toilet lines sucked, beer was reasonably priced and the margaritas were fantastical. As for the music…Spoon could have been better, K of L were pretty awesome, and Interpol was a good set even though it was short. I personally loved the Soft Lightes on the Casbah stage, I thought they were awesome!”

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There are a couple more reviews on Yelp that kind of echo a lot of the same sentiments. All in all, it sounds to me like the locals out did the major labels but as for the event itself, it sounds like the good time is what you make of it. You can take a look at the top acts listed and linked below to decide for yourself how things are shaping up. As a confessed Web geek, I couldn’t help but throw in some observations regarding their Web sites (seein’ how I was there anyway). Have a look…

[Interpol] - Personally, I like their music… But they’re riding under the flag of Capitol Records so clearly they’re not an indie band. Of course they’re there to help expose the truly independent artists also performing, but if they cut their set short… That leaves me scratching my head. Their website is interesting but the video was very glitchy and there were no player controls.

[Kings of Leon] - Another band I dig but again, not an indie artist as they’re flying RCA colors. Also getting mixed reviews on last year’s performance, you almost have to wonder if the signed artists aren’t giving their all at these shows. They have one of the most user friendly web sites… Not real fancy but glitch free and easily navigated.

[Spoon] - These guys are one of my favorites and are “sorta” indie compared to the first two bands being on Merge Records (a label that also handles the likes of The Buzzcocks, Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr. and Arcade Fire) but again, apparently fans weren’t all that impressed by the live performance last year. Merge is kinda borderline indie if you ask me because they represent more than 75 bands. Not Capitol or RCA, but still pretty big in this idiot’s opinion…

[Living Things] - I’ve always heard that these guys rip live and they have more of an edge to their music than a lot of these other bands (which I’m totally down with). Living Things are on Zomba, another label that just looks too big to be called indie… Cool web site with some interesting Flash that still leaves for easy navigation.

[The Aggrolites] - Not really my cup of tea, they’re on Hellcat along with bands like Rancid, The Transplants, HorrorPops, and Dropkick Murphys just to name a few. Their Web site is pretty much an online calendar of tour dates so you might be more interested in the MySpace.

[Test Your Reflex] - Another RCA band, I don’t honestly know too much about them other than they don’t have any tour dates posted on their Web site. That leads to another interesting point I forgot to mention… Many of these artists make no mention of The Miller Lite Independence Jam coming up on their Web sites. There’s probably something to that that is commonly understood amongst industry insiders but I sure don’t get it… Why not be pimpin’?

That covers the main stage for this year, at least for now. Next post we’ll go through and take a look at the locals appearing on the FM94.9/Casbah stage.

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