The Beginning Of A New Year!

First of all, I just wanted to wish everyone who comes to this blog a Happy New Year...I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted!!  The New Year did not started well for Australia due to floods and North Queensland being hit by the biggest cyclone in Australian history, Cyclone Yasi.  I won't go into details here but Mum has some details on what happened on her blog, along with links to other informative sites about the floods and cyclone.

Secondly, I want to announce that my sister Michelle gave birth to a beautiful baby girl called Mikayla Rose in December 2010. You can read all about her and see pictures on Michelle's blog and also on Mum's blog!  That makes me an Uncle to Mikayla and, while I know I'm already an Uncle, Mikayla will be the first niece I'll have a lot more involvement with!  I'm so happy!   Michelle came over to visit on Monday and I didn't want to stop admiring Mikayla. She is so beautiful!  It's going to be weird but feel great at the same time, hearing little Mikayla say "Uncle Bradley" or "Uncle Brad" when she starts talking!  Below is a picture of me holding Mikayla 2 days after birth!  I love her so much!

Me holding Mikayla 2 days after birth!

Since July last year, I'd been having a lot of computer problems, where my computer would either restart on me without warning, show a Blue Screen of Death (what we Windows users call the dreaded blue screen error message that renders your computer useless until a restart is done), even a complete computer freeze, sometimes with nothing showing on the screen.  Mum and I kept trying to solve the problem, but to no avail.  We also noticed that my computer seemed to be getting very hot after being on for a while.  My computer was a Windows XP desktop (not a tower case) PC, probably built between 2002 - 2004, and given to me second hand by a friend of the family who also gave Mum the exact same type of computer.  We were given them around 2007 - 2008 and have had a lot of use out of them upgrading the RAM once to help them run faster.

The funny thing is that while my computer was playing up for a while, Mum had absolutely no problems with her computer at all until, one day out of the blue, it went out with a bang while she was using it.  Luckily Mum was able to get a brand new HP Pavillion computer with Windows 7 that very same day.  It took Mum a little while to get used to but she seems to love it now.  A week and a half later, I went to turn my computer on at the wall, heard a bang, and then realised my computer had finally given up too.  Thankfully, I was able to get a new computer as well, exactly like Mum's new one so, she and I have twin computers again.  The only difference is that Mum's one came with a 20 inch wide screen LED LCD screen as part of a bundle deal from Harvey Norman, our local computer store. I only needed to buy the PC tower as I was able to use Mum's SONY 19 inch LCD (not wide-screen) from her blown computer.

So far, I'm loving my new Windows 7 PC and, thankfully, all my data was on my external hard drive so I didn't lose anything when my computer died!  I know I've said in a past post that I'd be getting a new computer and putting some form of GNU/Linux on it after what I've read about Microsoft and the bad things they've been doing (look for the Windows 7 Sins banner in my sidebar and click it to go to the website to see what I mean) however, given the circumstances, my plans changed for now.  The only way I'd feel safe enough putting Ubuntu (my choice of GNU/Linux operating system) on my new computer without voiding the warranty is by installing VirtualBox and running Ubuntu as a Virtual Machine, which I did in Windows XP for a short time.  The only way I'd feel safe enough putting Ubuntu fully on the computer is by waiting for the warranty to end. I eventually plan to buy a custom built computer and I'll definitely be putting Ubuntu on that alongside whatever version of Windows is out at the time.  With Ubuntu being released every 6 months, who knows what it'll be like when that happens which is why I'll continue to buy both the monthly Linux Magazine and quarterly Ubuntu User (both published by Linux New Media AG). I totally recommend these magazines to people wanting to know more about Ubuntu and Linux in general.

I'm really sorry about the wait between my last post and this one (nearly a year) but I can assure you I'm back with plans to post more regularly so watch this space for new posts. There will be CD reviews, games reviews and whatever else I'm into at the time!  So stay tuned.....

MY LATEST DISCOVERY

Allison’s 6th album released in 2008 – picture courtesy of AllisonCrowe.com.

You may all be wondering what the widget at the top of this screen under my blog heading is. Sometime in January, I was looking through the Jamendo website to see what it was all about and, while browsing the site, I came across a page by a Canadian singer called Allison Crowe! I’d never heard of Allison Crowe before and I was curious as to the type of music she does so I previewed some of her songs on Jamendo.

When I heard her sing, I liked her music instantly to the point where I wanted to get her music! Thanks to Jamendo being a free service, I was able to download some of Allison’s albums! On Jamendo, I noticed that some of the album covers have the word Originals on them. I was wondering what that meant until I went onto Allison Crowe's official website. On Allison’s website, I noticed that the albums had a few more songs (in the case of the double live album Live At Wood Hall, a lot more songs). I found out that the reason it was like this is because on Jamendo, you’re only meant to upload music that has a free license such as Creative Commons and some of the songs on Allison’s CDs are cover versions of songs by well-known people (such as Leonard Cohen, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Counting Crows just to name a few) and those songs are under non-free licenses like ASCAP or BMI, which means that they can’t be freely shared, copied, remixed, etc., by other people or free services like Jamendo.

All of Allison’s original songs that she wrote are all under a Creative Commons license and that’s why they’re available as free downloads through Jamendo, which I think is great! You too can go to Allison Crowe’s official website, click on an album cover, scroll down until you find the track list, click on a song title and scroll down to the bottom of the page that comes up. If it says “All rights reserved” beside a copyright symbol, that means that it isn’t a Creative Commons licensed song, but if it says “Some rights reserved” beside 3 symbols, that means that it is a Creative Commons licensed song. If you click on those symbols or “Some rights reserved””, it’ll take you to a page that defines what the license covers and what you’re allowed to do with the songs. I like the Creative Commons way of doing things, it’s just a pity none of the big named singers/groups will transfer their music to Creative Commons instead of the other companies.

Allison’s 5th album released in 2006 – picture courtesy of AllisonCrowe.com.

Anyway, enough talk about licenses, now on to the real reason I wanted to write this post!

I thought that rather than doing a review on one of Allison’s albums (I don’t have any of them yet anyway, but I hope to get them sometime, I’m just going by some of Allison’s original songs on Jamendo), I’d review Allison’s music in general! Allison has such a great, strong voice and she uses it well! My favourite songs by Allison Crowe have to be “There Is” (that song makes me think of Joni Mitchell in a way), “Whether I’m Wrong”, “Sea Of A Million Faces” and “Secrets (That Aren’t My Own)”. I also like Allison’s versions of the traditional Christmas songs “Silent Night”, “O Holy Night”, “The First Noel” and the a cappella version of “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”, which are available on Allison’s seasonal album “Tidings”! The song “How Long” is also a great song from the album “Secrets”! I also love the song “Effortless”, which is on Allison’s “This Little Bird” album, which is a great mixture of lyrics, voice and music! I could go on about other great songs I’ve heard as there are too many that I like!

The music of Allison Crowe can not really be placed into a single music genre as she covers a vast range like Rock, Pop, some Jazz and blues, soul and other types of genres, which is a pretty good diversity! Because I like a vast majority of musical genres, I get drawn to singers like Allison! Allison also plays piano for her songs which I think is great to hear as the piano is my favourite musical instrument. I soak in as much of the piano playing as I can when I listen to singers who play piano like Elton John, Billy Joel and now, Allison. I do wish I could play piano like they can! Allison is a pretty good guitar player also and that is proof on songs like “Northern Lights”, “Hold Back”, “Wedding Song”(these 3 are from Allison’s “Little Light” album), “Now”, “Silence” and other great songs! Allison also has an EP out called “Lisa’s Song + 6 Songs”, which is actually her debut album released in 2003, I like the title song “Lisa’s Song” and “Midnight”!

Allison’s 4th album released in 2005 – picture courtesy of AllisonCrowe.com.

The name of Allison’s next album will be called “Spiral” and includes the song, “Going Home Tonight”. There is a preview for this song on Jamendo. "Going Home Tonight" starts off with nice piano playing from Allison and, while she is singing, you hear strings added nicely to the piano. Allison’s voice and the lyrics to the song are lovely to hear! I feel the piano, strings, Allison’s voice and everything else on the track all blend in perfectly! I honestly can’t wait for “Spiral” to come out and to hear “Going Home Tonight” among the other album tracks, which I’m sure will be just as good! If I had to rate “Going Home Tonight” out of 5 stars, I’d give it 5 stars!

As Allison Crowe is an independent artist with her own record company called Rubenesque Records, she is slowly becoming known around the world! I'm hoping that a lot more Australians discover Allison's music because then, she may one day tour Australia. I'm sure her concerts would be a real treat to see! At this current time, from what I understand, the only place Australians can buy Allison’s albums is through Fishpond, a New Zealand based online store but, if you want, you can go straight to Allison’s website and check out the Shop link where you will be given options on how to buy the CDs and/or a poster! I don’t know the availability of Allison’s album in Europe, but I’m sure the rest of the world can probably order Allison’s albums through Amazon!

I totally recommend Allison Crowe’s music to anyone. If you don’t know who Allison Crowe is, I strongly recommend you use the widget at the top of this blog (click on an album cover in the widget if you want to see that album track-by-track) and use it as a preview. You can listen to the whole songs too. If I have to rate Allison’s music (well, what I’ve heard so far anyway) over all, I give it 5 stars and I'm looking forward to buying some of her CDs.

Allison’s 4th album released in 2004 – picture courtesy of AllisonCrowe.com.

UPDATE: I just thought I'd also mention that the News page on Allison Crowe's official website says Allison's next album "Spiral" was completed on February 14, it also states that the CD will be released on March 17, 2010! I'm sure many people who are Allison Crowe fans will be eagerly awaiting its release!

Why are European Elton John fans so lucky?

Picture courtesy of Concert Live.  Click image to go to their web site.

Not only did they have Elton John tour there for some of the 2009 year (that includes Red Piano concerts, normal band concerts and concerts where he is solo with percussionist Ray Cooper), but they also got to take the concert home with them on CD straight after the concert thanks to Concert Live!  I was just browsing through their Elton John lists (3 of them; The Red Piano, Elton John With His Band and Elton John featuring Ray Cooper lists) and counted 23 CDs in total!

The great thing about these CDs from Concert Live is that you get them pretty much instantly after the concert is finished!  They are 3 disc sets; Elton John and His Band is 2 CDs containing the full concert (whatever one you choose) and a DVD containing photos of the performance and back stage images, whereas, the Elton John Featuring Ray Cooper and The Red Piano CDs are full 3 CD sets (CD3 with the Elton John Featuring Ray Cooper ones contain encores and I think The Red Piano  Disc 3 is a continuation of the concert along with the encores); the first 2 discs you can get straight from the concert, but you get an “Encore” disc with 2 songs that can be downloaded, but only if you have a code that you get from the concert (well, the ones with Ray Cooper anyway, not too sure about The Red Piano).  However, when you order the CDs over the Internet through Concert Live themselves rather than getting the discs straight after the concert, the 3rd disc is included, meaning you don’t need to download it.

Picture courtesy of Concert Live.  Click image to go to their web site.

I really hope that when Elton comes to Australia again, he’ll have something like this at his Australian concerts.  If not by Concert Live, hopefully a similar Australian company!  If I wanted to, I could order these CDs through Concert Live myself as from what I’ve read on forums, you could be living anywhere in the world and buy them.....but I think it would be more fun if I got to experience the concert too.   I applaud Concert Live for doing this for Elton fans, especially for those who want to get the CDs straight after the concerts!  It is pretty cool!  When you go to the Concert Live website, you’ll find all 3 Elton CDs on their Home page; the Ray Cooper and Red Piano CDs are under New In and Elton John With His Band is under Recent Recordings!  The cool thing is at the moment, Concert Live is offering 3 CDs for £35 (AUD$63.35), which is a great deal!  If you’re an Elton fan like I am, or you want to hear what an Elton concert sounds like with no edits and cuts, just head over to the Concert Live website!  You’ll even find other singers and groups as well!

Picture courtesy of Concert Live.  Click image to go to their web site.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to 2010!  A new year and a new decade has begun!  This year, I plan to do a lot more blog posts and I hope you’ll enjoy what I’m going to come up with!  I hope you all have a prosperous and Happy New Year!  May 2010 be a great year for everyone!