Acoustika Blog

As I told you in a previous post here, the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza had to close down soon. Well that day has come - it will be closed on the 31st of March and that makes yesterday's (25th March) performance there the last! I had got used to playing to backing music coming from a CD player and the audience were still enjoying it - though its nothing compared to playing as a duo or trio. Well it had to end. Now Acoustika only have 3 weddings to look forward to this summer - one on the 30th of April and then another in June and the last in August. There might be the usual stint at the Hilton though - but there's no guarantee for that. In the meantime I will be looking around for another opportunity - this time hopefully at a hotel that will not be demolished so soon!

Phewwww the Acoustika website is back online. Let's hope it stays that way.

Hello all you who read this blog - not sure if there are any of you who do that anyway...but just in case...stop worrying about the fact that you cannot see the Acoustika website. It's nothing on your side. The server on which it is hosted has been having problems and I am waiting for them to be fixed. You will also notice that the calendar in plectrumpodcasts.blogpost.com is missing too - that's because it is hosted on the same server (the server where the website is hosted supports php code so I had to put it there). Same with the E-Card service in plectrumpodcasts.blogpost.com - it is php and therefore I had to host it on the same server where the Acoustika site is - ie..its not working too!
Sorry for any inconvenience if any. I will be waiting impatiently for the problem to be resolved - and if not I will have to find another place where to host the site (hopefully on a server that supports php and one that's free and has no ads - , hmm, who am I kidding:)lol)
Well that was to put your minds at rest. Now its time to start working on my new podcast so see you at http://plectrumpodcasts.blogspot.com (that still works).

Joseph

Some news to share with you. Some days ago I submitted the track Acoustic Dream from our CD to a site where people can download royalty free music for their podcasts. Well yesterday I received an email from the site informing me that the track was used and was given the details of where it was used.

"TruCast has played your song Acoustic Dream. Find out more about this PodShow at http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/podshow_details.php?ShowHash=fad2382f3d3c832d29447d80048"

I downloaded the podcast and after a long speech there was my music at the very end of the podcast.

Anyway - I sent a thank you note to the author of the podcast, telling him that I added a link to his podcast blog in my podcast blog, and he replied with the following feedback:

Thanks for the great plug! I just read the post on your podcast blog and really appreciate your kind words. This song, Acoustic Dream, has an almost ethereal quality to it; I felt myself floating away as I listened to it. Simple, yet impressive. I did read on your website that your percussionist had passed away, sorry to hear about that, but I'm sure you'll find a way to pull through and keep making great music.

Saturday 11th February 2006 - I tried my hand at Podcasting. Podcasting is the art of producing radio-like "broadcasts" which one can download via a podcast reader such as Juice Podcast Receiver. The format of the file is mp3 - but there are also video podcasts.

Well I intend to produce a podcast weekly - every Saturday actually. Should you be interested in listening to them please visit http://plectrumpodcasts.blogspot.com where you will find details and instructions.

I took the opportunity to include a selection from Acoustic Dream in my first podcast but from the next one I will only include my favourite guitar music (spanish, latin or jazzy) from the vast collection that I have.

Happy listening.

Hmmm as usual I speak too soon. The hotel food and beverage manager phoned..and guess what! He wanted us to play there at a mere Lm15 each and just once every fortnight! I would have still worked even if its such a misreable pay for our services...but not George! So now I have made arrangements to play on my own - it will not be fun at all for me BUT better Lm15 than nothing! There is a small chance that if I do well they will employ me regularly and not just fortnightly, and on the plus side, I will be entitled to Lm25 when playing alone! They are just short of cash and wanted to save Lm10 from our pay! What a shame!

Acoustika will start playing again at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza @ Sliema from Saturday 8th January 2006. We start at 7pm as usual. Until now we are still on. Will post here again when we are told to stop.

I would like to thank the Anonymous contributer to this blog who corrected my English. Thanks a lot my friend. It would have been nicer if you had signed your comment though - or otherwise provided an email address.

But anyway - thanks.

Mistake corrected.

Happy New Year.