Sorry folks, I’m wearing that Proud Mum cap again. A couple of you know that Sam (a.k.a. The Boy Wonder) played a gig at his school last week. It wasn’t much of a gig, 3 bands playing to an audience of maybe 60 people, but I was impressed at how much Sam’s singing and playing has improved over the past year. He obviously enjoys playing his music on stage!
Somebody recorded their set and I’ve just been given a copy of the CD, so I thought I’d share one of their new songs with you (and see if Maki’s instructions work for me!) – I sense an Arctic Monkeys-meet-the-Raconteurs influence…
(For anyone who’s managed to avoid my posts so far – Sam, Robin, Nick & Lennie are THE BOX, four 14 year-olds writing their own songs, guitar, keyboard, bass, drums)
The picture shows Sam’s biggest fan, Miss Ellie, showing off her disco leggings!
Much buffering, no music
what’ve I done wrong?
Was just going to ask you the same q, debby. Suggest you do your best Penelope Pitstop ‘A-heyulp! Aheyulp!’ in Blimpy’s direction. Meanwhile, we’ll enjoy Miss Ellie’s leggings – they’re ace!
Ok, trying to post one track at a time isn’t working either, ‘file not found’. The file in question is in my public DB folder – any ideas?
Debby did you type:
[audio http://dl.dropbox.com/u/556975/08%20an%20end%20%28live%20at%20HLG%29.m4a ] ?
Then it should work – unless the player doesn’t like .m4A and only works with mp3
Then maybe it’s the m4a. Damn it, the elves are off a-boogie’in’ this weekend…
Debbie – check your email.
OK, just tried this out in an email and the link works! That means it really is the m4a format that’s being rejected. Hmmm, what shall I do now? Anyone desperate to hear the lads can email me c/o alsterbrother [at] web.de and I’ll beam a song right back atchya.
oops, sorry for the “ie” – I meant “y”!
Maki, you are a GENIUS, man! How do you do that conversion thing? Have now edited post so’s people can hear at least one track (hope somebody likes it after all that!)
Please don’t worry about ‘ie’, you may spell my name any way you like from now on!
Debby
Send me the other files, if you want.
The conversion is done in a program called Format Factory that Maki jr acquired for me. I have no idea if it’s one of the better ones or not but it works for me!
Thank you sooo much, Maki (how would you like a T-shirt for your next ’round’ birthday?!): I reckon one song’s enough excitement for tonight, but I’ll try looking into that Format Factory thingummyjig…
Be warned, everyone, the boys are playing a Festival on May 13th and I’m hoping for some film footage thereof to inflict upon you all!
Debbie, I’m not much of an i-tunes user but I believe there’s a “convert to mp3″ function somewhere in there that could be of use.
My next “round” birthday (50) is still just over two years away – so no need to get cracking on the T shirt just yet!
Debby,
BoyWonder continues to impress.
I was serious with my opinion the other night … get your thinking cap on.
DebbyM – I’m not surprised your lovely daughter is a fan of the band.
ace all round
I sense a very Rock n Roll influence – interesting for a bunch of 14 year olds.
No, I can’t hold back my disgust at that photo any longer …
… FLARED leg-warmers?!?!?!?!?!?!?
14? What were you, 12 when you had him?
not Math questions again….
7 1/2, actually
sorry shane. was in metric too. double bad
7 1/2 Deb? Wow – I didn’t lose my virginity til I was 13
(mind I didn’t have a partner til I was 21. tish boom)
DsD, at the beginning of Lent, when we indulge in pancakes, all German children* are subjected to Fasching or Karneval, a celebration entailing at the very least one day’s fancy dress at school (*Adults in certain parts of the Republik do this voluntarily, but I’m naming no names). We’ve tried introducing themes for this at school (like one year the kids had built a castle from loo rolls, so we got them all done up as knights) and this year it was D-I-S-C-O. Ellie was ill and missed the party. so she gets to flare around the house.
Don’t you just adore that neon pink?!
debby – i grew up in the 80′s my eyes still hurt from the neon!
Time to change the subject, methinks!
Hey Debby, how were The Unthanks?
The Unthanks were actually rather disappointing (sigh). They had a very ‘sweet’ support group, Lucy & Johnny, whose rendition of a couple of traditionals was really enticing, but I didn’t enjoy their own compositions too much.
The audience got restless waiting for the main act to begin (and it wasn’t much of an audience at all, just over 100 people I reckon). The band consisted of keyboard, drums, guitar, cello and violin, and was – to my ears – too bombastic for the girls’ voices. The highlight of the evening was when Becky & Rachel had the stage to themselves, stepped away from the mikes and sang a shanty.
They kept fairly rigidly to the new record they’re promoting and didn’t do Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk – but we did get ‘Sexy Sadie’, one of my (two ever!) ‘A’-list successes!
did you get Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk?
Nah, 2 beers and my pocket money was gone
Have you heard the James Yorkston version of “Blue Bleezing”?
Good tunes too, by the way!
Ah, now funnily enough, a “bombastic” Unthanks would probably have pushed my buttons quite well, and had me purring. Each to their own, (as DsMam has taken to saying about sides of the bed!)
Hope you enjoyed the night ‘off’ anyway.
Yeah, they were a bunch of fine musicians, but the overall noise was overwhelming the girls’ voices. But that may just be a pet problem of mine!
The music is wonderful, and Ellie is gorgeous!
Debby, they sound great! And what a cutie Miss Ellie is!
If you’re ‘working’ in iTunes, to convert m4a’s to mp3′s, do as follows:
1) Pull down the ‘iTunes’ menu.
2) Click on ‘Preferences’
3) Click on ‘Import settings’.
4) Drag down the ‘Import using:’ bit to ‘MP3 Encoder’
5) Hit ‘OK’.
6) Hit ‘OK’ again in the ‘General’ box that is still onscreen (probably!).
7) Put your cursor on the track that you want to convert.
8) Drag down the ‘Advanced’ menu – there should be an option to ‘Create MP3 version’. Hit it!
9) An MP3 version should appear in your iTunes library just under the original version of the track!
10) Don’t forget afterwards to change back your Preferences!
Took me ages to work that out – poor the elves were forever converting my m4a’s in the ‘box!
bishbosh/ debby
-if the track is in your itunes
-hi-light it
along the top is ‘advanced’ click on it.
the dropdown says ‘create mp3 version’
-it’ll appear under the original.
that’s it on mine.
extra useful bit – for me anyway
(I shove 90 mp3s on 1 cd to send people – so need the format the same)
-to check it’s format – hi-light the song
then right click – (the dropdown will give you a list)
go to ‘get info’ 4 down
a new window will show you a summery of its info
Oh, clearly one can’t do an 8 and then a ‘close bracket’ without the computer thinking you want to do a daft emoticon in shades! What has the world come to, etc?! Grr…
Yeah, what Shane said, debby – only I was a bit more long-winded (and my default setting imports m4a’s not mp3′s – hence having to change the Preferences before creating)!
Super post, Debby, love the picture – all Sams are talented, it’s a fact.
Finally got round to listening… Very impressive; presumably they’re all too young to be chanelling the John Spencer Blues Explosion?
Where is the music? I want to hear it.
Scratch that, the player icon just turned up late!
They are great, I love their loose sound, very Jon Spencerish.
That’s ‘channelling’, obviously, rather than anything perfume-related.