Jim Alfredson

YAY! We did it! You did it! Thanks, everyone!

Arghh. We're so close but stalling. Only two new backers today. Again, if we fail to meet the goal, we get nothing.

We're at $9145. Need less than $3k to hit our goal. Spread the love!

$9k today? Dare to dream?

And how about $8k today?

Let's hit $7k today!

Hoping to hit $6k by the end of the day. Let's rock this!

Scarlett makes her musical debut at the end!

The Hump Day Bump. It ain't looking good.

I weighed using Indigogo instead of Kickstarter. I read a lot of comparisons. The thing I did not like about Indigogo is that there is no approval system for projects and also no system for people who pledge to complain if their pledge is not fulfilled. I'm not saying that affects my project, but I didn't think it would be good to be associated with a website where you can literally crowd-source anything and everything with no oversight. I also thought the idea of a set time limit and an all-or-nothing goal would entice people to pledge. Perhaps I was wrong on that one. I posted an update today which tried to convey a sense of urgency. I also want people to know that this CD is not something that only exists in our minds. The tracks are recorded. It is almost mixed; I've done all the pre-mixing myself, we just need to take it to the immensely talented Glenn Brown to refine and master. So many Kickstarter music projects are basically "give us money, then we'll record". That's not the case here. The record is done. It's ready to go for the most part. But I will not spend the money on a professional mixing / mastering situation (which is expensive) unless we have the money in hand because I simply cannot afford it. In other words, if we don't hit the goal, this record will not come out. I don't want to do things half-assed and sacrifice audio quality and the quality of the packaging. No, you cannot change the length of the project nor the goal after it is started. It should also be noted that your credit card is not charged until the project has ended and the goal is reached. So if you don't have the money right now, but will have it in two weeks, you can pledge now.

Thanks, guys. We cover international shipping. We're stalling. Hoping more people can get on board. If we don't reach the goal, we don't get any of the money (Kickstarter doesn't charge you until the end date and only if the goal is reached). Which means the project won't happen. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1364188191/dedicated-the-new-cd-from-organissimo

Mainly diet. Cut out processed foods (including processed meats... you know, bacon, sausage, deli meats), foods with synthetic dyes in them (which massively reduced my sugar intake), and I eat a lot of salad.

Honestly, I watch very little TV. Even on the road, the TV in my hotel room rarely comes on. I'm usually reading, working on music, or surfing the web. This will be good for the kids, too. We are very strict when it comes to the TV (we only have one, which is a rarity these days) but even so I think they watch a bit too much. Having a pool available all winter for them is going to be a sanity saver for us!

Today my wife and I made the decision to unplug the cable. We switched from Dish Network to AT&T U-verse about a year ago. I like the convenience of a DVR but honestly I don't really watch TV with the exception of the occasional sports program and The Daily Show. But I usually just watch TDS online the next day. My kids' TV allotment is almost always filled by something from Netflix on the Wii. My wife watches a few programs but with the exception of Mad Men, everything is either on Netflix or Hulu and we'll still get the local channels in HD via a digital antenna. So the idea is to just stream the things we want to watch when we want to watch them rather than worry about a DVR. So we pulled the plug. It was costing us over $150 a month for TV/internet/phone and now it's just $40 for the high speed internet. We're using the money saved to join the local YMCA. We have a really beautiful new facility just down the road from us where Zora has taken swimming lessons. A family membership is about $80 a month. I'm really excited about this! I've been on the road the last 3 years and I enjoy swimming in the hotel pools and using their ellipticals. I've lost 30 lbs due to changing my diet and working out when I can. I can't wait to take advantage of similar equipment at home. I think this is going to be a good thing. How many others here have pulled the plug?

Each track of the CD is dedicated to a different person / persons. We're 20% there! I posted an update. Let's see some more love, please!

The Friday bump!

In all seriousness, Chuck are you saying you did not start this thread? If so, has your account been compromised?

Dem New York Dues by Patterson, yes! Wait until you hear him on our original from the new record, our tribute to Don Patterson, "Patterson's People".

Here's a fan made iPhone video of us jamming back in January. Ralph Tope, the new guitarist, is featured nicely in this clip.

We'll cover the international shipping. You guys are going to love the guitarist. He's a young lion.

I'm excited to announce our newest CD, "Dedicated", is now available for pre-orders via Kickstarter. As most of you know, we've done "crowd sourcing" before, but just via this website and/or the Big O Store. I decided to use Kickstarter this time around because it allows folks to more easily use credit cards and you don't have to have a Paypal account. Check out the participation levels and please consider helping to make this CD a reality. More info will be posted in the next few weeks including an overview of the recording process and audio examples. Thanks! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1364188191/dedicated-the-new-cd-from-organissimo

Can we get back to the original topic here? I'm curious about the bootleg thing. If y'all want to discuss them and honestly think I'm being too cautious about potential litigation, then hey, that's cool. Although I still think blogs that post copyrighted material should be off limits. Concerning duplicate threads, I think the concept of how much time passes is a decent one. As someone mentioned, having multiple "RIP" threads on the same day / week is annoying. But if it's been a few months or a year or more, then it's probably not a big deal. Regarding Dan, he's still here because he's a personal friend. That's the honest truth. I've appealed to him via PMs before to calm down and he's always been respectful of that. Has he done things that would get other people banned? Yep. Is that fair? Nope. But he's a friend of mine and I own the board and there it is. Just being honest. No one can ban anyone except me. Or maybe Rolf (can't recall). If you have an issue with a moderation decision, bring it up with me or the other moderators. I honestly don't understand why you ("Blue Train") are here if this place is so unfair and lame. Look, the rules are in place as a general guideline. They are oftentimes stretched and yes, some people are treated differently than others. Welcome to the real world! If you expect everything to be completely equal and fair all the time, you're in for a lifetime's worth of disappointment, especially outside the internet. The moderators aren't perfect, I'm not perfect, neither are you or anyone else. We do the best we can and sometimes personal issues outweigh others. But I'm always open to suggestions and I try to treat people with respect. And yes, new registrations are still closed. Still trying to figure out how these spambots are getting through. Oh and one more thing: If you've never heard an original multi-track tape of an RVG session, then you have no clue about the effect of mastering. I had the pleasure, thanks to Mr. Nessa, of hearing just such a thing and it was mind-blowing. So yes, mastering (and mixing) is immensely important and worthy of endless discussion.

Tell that to PirateBay. They didn't actually host any of the torrents, they just linked to them. I'm just trying to cover my butt here and not be slapped with a lawsuit for providing easy access to copyrighted, that's all. If anyone has any suggestions on how this can be improved, I'm all ears.

The server is getting absolutely bombarded with new registrations lately, none of which are legitimate and some of which are getting through the security settings for some reason. I'm closing the board to all new registrations until I can figure out what's going on.