New Night Lights community/artist pages

[ghost of miles]

Hey all, we just added two pages to the Night Lights website:

Night Lights community

Night Lights artists

The "community" page is a sort of friends/allies site--links there to Nate Dorward's blog, sheldonm's great jazz photography site, Stereojack's record store, Chris Albertson's wikipedia entry, the Blue Lake Public Radio site, etc. The "Artists" page is a collection of websites for various jazz greats who've been the focus of Night Lights shows (in the instance of multiple sites for artists such as Coltrane, Duke, etc., I tried to pick the one that seemed to me the best... suggestions/additions/revisions welcome as always). The new-page links are only on the home site right now, but our webmaster will be adding them to the navigation bars next week.

We're also going to update the Jazz News of Note page much more frequently... feel free to e-mail or PM me with suggestions for that as well. We talked about possibly trying to make it into a "Jazzmatazz" sort of page, but I don't have the time or resources right now to undertake such a project. Right now the only releases posted there are ones everybody on this board already knows about--the Mosaic Selects, the next round of RVGs, etc.--but I'd like to put up more news about items such as the Elaine Brown/Horace Tapscott Seize the Time reissue. In any event, we'll be stocking this page more regularly from now on.

Also very seriously thinking about starting a YouTube jazz cache page, with links to jazz videos that have been posted there (and other videos of cultural interest from the 1945-1990 era). Last but not least, hoping to finally, finally update the Book Nook page with post-Aug. 2004 additions such as Larry's book, Dan Morgenstern's anthology, and about half a dozen other titles. I'll be sending the webmaster that info this weekend, so with luck it will be up by Wednesday or Thursday.

Thanks much in advance for any feedback that might be offered.

[alocispepraluger102]

Hey all, we just added two pages to the Night Lights website:

Night Lights community

Night Lights artists

The "community" page is a sort of friends/allies site--links there to Nate Dorward's blog, sheldonm's great jazz photography site, Stereojack's record store, Chris Albertson's wikipedia entry, the Blue Lake Public Radio site, etc. The "Artists" page is a collection of websites for various jazz greats who've been the focus of Night Lights shows (in the instance of multiple sites for artists such as Coltrane, Duke, etc., I tried to pick the one that seemed to me the best... suggestions/additions/revisions welcome as always). The new-page links are only on the home site right now, but our webmaster will be adding them to the navigation bars next week.

We're also going to update the Jazz News of Note page much more frequently... feel free to e-mail or PM me with suggestions for that as well. We talked about possibly trying to make it into a "Jazzmatazz" sort of page, but I don't have the time or resources right now to undertake such a project. Right now the only releases posted there are ones everybody on this board already knows about--the Mosaic Selects, the next round of RVGs, etc.--but I'd like to put up more news about items such as the Elaine Brown/Horace Tapscott Seize the Time reissue. In any event, we'll be stocking this page more regularly from now on.

Also very seriously thinking about starting a YouTube jazz cache page, with links to jazz videos that have been posted there (and other videos of cultural interest from the 1945-1990 era). Last but not least, hoping to finally, finally update the Book Nook page with post-Aug. 2004 additions such as Larry's book, Dan Morgenstern's anthology, and about half a dozen other titles. I'll be sending the webmaster that info this weekend, so with luck it will be up by Wednesday or Thursday.

Thanks much in advance for any feedback that might be offered.

gonna check out rhythm ranch!

[ghost of miles]

You won't regret it... I wish Greg archived his shows. They're really amazing. And I should sing the praises of WFHB, the community station here; we simply walked in off the street with a proposal and a demo (and no prior radio experience) & were given an airtime slot. It's volunteer-programmed and features just about every kind of music except for top 40. Great place for anybody looking to get a start in programming, or for those who started long ago and still simply love to do it. If public radio ever dies an agonizing death, I'll no doubt be back there, lobbying for my old Wednesday-night rotation.

p.s. sheldonm's been there.. it's where we did the Henry Grimes live on-air broadcast a year or so back.

[alocispepraluger102]

You won't regret it... I wish Greg archived his shows. They're really amazing. And I should sing the praises of WFHB, the community station here; we simply walked in off the street with a proposal and a demo (and no prior radio experience) & were given an airtime slot. It's volunteer-programmed and features just about every kind of music except for top 40. Great place for anybody looking to get a start in programming, or for those who started long ago and still simply love to do it. If public radio ever dies an agonizing death, I'll no doubt be back there, lobbying for my old Wednesday-night rotation.

p.s. sheldonm's been there.. it's where we did the Henry Grimes live on-air broadcast a year or so back.

bettin' its some of your best work; not that all your broadcasts arent very high caliber.

[ghost of miles]

Well, I'll say that I do miss the more spontaneous, laidback approach of the three-hour mixes that I did over there (often after working all day at a major book/CD/DVD retail store that shall go nameless). Did a few shows, like a two-part, six-hour Coltrane documentary, a Hoagy special with Dick Sudhalter, and a couple of other similar projects that foreshadowed Night Lights...but often enough it was simply going in there with a big stack of whatever I'd been listening to in the past week, with an attempt to highlight at least one new release or reissue. At WFHB it's always a labor of love, because volunteers aren't paid (in fact, you have to donate several hours of task time every three months to keep your programmer status, though you can do this by reviewing CDs). I have a somewhat similar opportunity now whenever I sit in for our weekday afternoon jazz host... a chance, to a large extent, to worry less about NPR clock formats, and to be a bit more freewheeling. Don't mean to convey a bent or desire for sloppiness, lack of preparation, etc. in doing more freeform mixes; there are jocks, in both the community & public domains, who either haul in the same tired box of personal faves each week, or who just grab 'n go from the new-releases bin. That IMO is disrespecting the audience; it's still possible in such circumstances to convey a love/appreciation for/knowledge of the music, but inevitably it leads to ragged, erratic presentation. For a daily mix show I like to go in with a rough outline of what I'm going to play, a talking point or two for each track, and plenty of room and ability to make adjustments, improvise, shuffle things around, or what have you. That seems to allow enough flexibility to keep things real & moving and hopefully make a personal connection with the listener without sounding as if you're hunting around the studio deciding what to play next. Almost inevitably I have to drop some tracks, or substitute & reconfigure as I go along, and often enough that seems to yield something better than what I'd planned. I've been at this in one way or another for about 8 years now, and one of these days (when I grow up) I hope to be as good as, oh, say, Lazaro Vega.

Anyway, to make a long paean short... if there's a community-radio station nearby, I highly recommend Organissimo posters check it out, either as listeners or as volunteers.

[alocispepraluger102]

Well, I'll say that I do miss the more spontaneous, laidback approach of the three-hour mixes that I did over there (often after working all day at a major book/CD/DVD retail store that shall go nameless). Did a few shows, like a two-part, six-hour Coltrane documentary, a Hoagy special with Dick Sudhalter, and a couple of other similar projects that foreshadowed Night Lights...but often enough it was simply going in there with a big stack of whatever I'd been listening to in the past week, with an attempt to highlight at least one new release or reissue. At WFHB it's always a labor of love, because volunteers aren't paid (in fact, you have to donate several hours of task time every three months to keep your programmer status, though you can do this by reviewing CDs). I have a somewhat similar opportunity now whenever I sit in for our weekday afternoon jazz host... a chance, to a large extent, to worry less about NPR clock formats, and to be a bit more freewheeling. Don't mean to convey a bent or desire for sloppiness, lack of preparation, etc. in doing more freeform mixes; there are jocks, in both the community & public domains, who either haul in the same tired box of personal faves each week, or who just grab 'n go from the new-releases bin. That IMO is disrespecting the audience; it's still possible in such circumstances to convey a love/appreciation for/knowledge of the music, but inevitably it leads to ragged, erratic presentation. For a daily mix show I like to go in with a rough outline of what I'm going to play, a (talking point or two for each track, and plenty of room and ability to make adjustments, improvise, shuffle things around, or what have you. That seems to allow enough flexibility to keep things real & moving and hopefully make a personal connection with the listener without sounding as if you're hunting around the studio deciding what to play next. Almost inevitably I have to drop some tracks, or substitute & reconfigure as I go along, and often enough that seems to yield something better than what I'd planned. I've been at this in one way or another for about 8 years now, and one of these days (when I grow up) I hope to be as good as, oh, say, Lazaro Vega.

Anyway, to make a long paean short... if there's a community-radio station nearby, I highly recommend Organissimo posters check it out, either as listeners or as volunteers.

thanks, but my mouth waters for the ones i've missed. thanks for not succumbiing....

if you remember, shoot us a heads up before you next guest.

Edited January 25, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[ghost of miles]

And I don't mean to denigrate the new-release bin at all... in fact, I think it's important to play new as well as classic/vintage stuff (not a dilemma with Night Lights, which is a historical show). I hop around on the jazz-internet dial a fair amount, though, and sometimes it just seems as if the person on-air grabbed whatever came in the mail that day... and maybe didn't even listen to it before playing it on-air. (Not kidding--I've heard backannounces/remarks that sure make it sound that way.) Who knows--maybe they also had to do traffic logs that day, answer the office phone, run the board, and help put out any of the numerous metaphorical fires that can erupt around the station. Great thing about the Internet for me is that I can learn (in addition to learning from Joe Bourne, the very fine jazz director/host we have here, and Dick Bishop, the man who created Afterglow) from excellent jocks around the country like Lazaro. I can check out Steve Schwartz on WGBH, Michael Bourne on WBGO (he was here at WFIU, actually, from 1972 to '84... Joe, who's no relation, succeeded him), and many others. And speaking purely as a listener, I'm grateful for that opportunity... it beats satellite radio jazz, to which I still haven't warmed. (Something a bit generic about the presentation styles I've heard there, but maybe I haven't been exposed to enough of the channels and on-air people yet.)

[alocispepraluger102]

And I don't mean to denigrate the new-release bin at all... in fact, I think it's important to play new as well as classic/vintage stuff (not a dilemma with Night Lights, which is a historical show). I hop around on the jazz-internet dial a fair amount, though, and sometimes it just seems as if the person on-air grabbed whatever came in the mail that day... and maybe didn't even listen to it before playing it on-air. (Not kidding--I've heard backannounces/remarks that sure make it sound that way.) Who knows--maybe they also had to do traffic logs that day, answer the office phone, run the board, and help put out any of the numerous metaphorical fires that can erupt around the station. Great thing about the Internet for me is that I can learn (in addition to learning from Joe Bourne, the very fine jazz director/host we have here, and Dick Bishop, the man who created Afterglow) from excellent jocks around the country like Lazaro. I can check out Steve Schwartz on WGBH, Michael Bourne on WBGO (he was here at WFIU, actually, from 1972 to '84... Joe, who's no relation, succeeded him), and many others. And speaking purely as a listener, I'm grateful for that opportunity... it beats satellite radio jazz, to which I still haven't warmed. (Something a bit generic about the presentation styles I've heard there, but maybe I haven't been exposed to enough of the channels and on-air people yet.)

internet jazz is awesome. dont have enough hours or ears.

my satellite friends leave me unimpressed.

[Jim Alfredson]

Night Lights community? And no organissimo?

[ghost of miles]

Night Lights community? And no organissimo?

I realized last night that this was an oversight--I do already have a link to the forums on the Jazz Internet Resources page, but t'ain't enough... need mention of the band. I sent the webmaster an addition for the community pages this morning with a direct link to the band's home page. Apologies, gents! It should be up within the next day or two.

[sheldonm]

David,

Thanks for linking my site, appreciate it and the job you do on Night Lights; spend lots of time tuning in!!!

m~

[ghost of miles]

Night Lights community? And no organissimo?

You've been added.

[Jim Alfredson]

Night Lights community? And no organissimo?

You've been added.

[ghost of miles]

What, ain't my copy hot enough for ya?

Guess I'll have to atone by buying the new CD in bulk.