This
all starts with one of my favorite songs I
wrote last year, Tape & Sticky. For
the first time ever, someone liked it
enough to record a cover and posted a
video response. It was such a cool honor.
I post the original version here so...
well, so you can see... uhm. He's having a
helluva good time singing it. It's
contagious...
...and
very sweet. (sigh). Christ, I feel like
I'm trying to compliment someone with
Down Syndrome. LOL. Only because we are
now friends can I rib him, but he
apparently decided I fucked up the
melody something awful - so he just
redid the entire thing.
LMFAO.
I
believe you would call this more of a
re-imagining right? I kid, I kid.
Anyway - I bring it up because we
struck up a friendship after this and
it ends up he's one helluva programmer.
And simply put, he has changed The
Journey forever.
From the outside,
you may not realize this - but this entry is being
made on software from 1998. It's always worked, so
I've never felt the need to upgrade. Little did
I realize however that web software from the 20th
Century adds so much "junk" coding that it makes you
nearly invisible to search engines. So Gordon P.
Hemsley, singer extraordinaire, started cleaining up
my code. Pretty soon he was able to make it extremely
accessible with a new template (which I will be
implementing as soon as shit dies down and I can learn
it) and then he went to the next level.
-An RSS (Atom)
Feed that updates automatically. Sound confusing?
It completely is and I'll leave it for another
entry. But it's something every other blog in the
world has, but because I started mine in the late
90s I pretty much designed myself OUT of having
one. He figured away around it that's just awesome.
Again, more when I launch it officially and explain
the benefits etc.
-Automatic
month pages! Have you any idea how awesome this is.
I do the entire site by hand meaning I insert all
the entry bars in the month page - put hotspots on
them so you can link to the entry or the video,
then do it again for the "current" page. It's a
process that when it's all said and done - adds
another good... 30 minutes to every entry. Now? I
do absolutely nothing. He wrote a program that
automatically updates the month and current page
whenever I upload an entry. It pulls all the
information, creates the hotpsots - instantly. It's
an absolute dream for me.
-Going through
the site, finding where search engines are pointing
people, and directing those links to other parts of
the site we would rather then go to. A time
consuming process that he has done on his own time
- just to help.
His reason for
doing this? 'Cause he can. He has never asked for a
dime, and all I can tell him is that when I can - he's
my first hire. And I put that in writing as clear as
possible. I believe I will get to a point where I'm so
busy that I will need an "on-call" tech-geek like me
that can do the site work I can't. Believe me, the
site is so gigantic - it needs a LOT of work, because
it really is stuck in the 90s. He isn't. And I
couldn't be more grateful.
He is also a HUGE
Beatles fan. Knows all the ridiculously stupid bits of
trivia that no one should know, etc. Basically he is
me at 20. Little known fact, I was the "King of
Beatle trivia" when I was 19/20 on WTVN. A lot
has faded from memory as I'm not tested on a weekly
basis... but he would have given me a run for my
money. So, the only thing I could think to give
him was a Part Two of "Front and
Center"...
YOU MUST HIT THE "HQ"
BUTTON WHEN IT STARTS!!!! (the low quality
is nearly unwatchable)
And I'm sure many
of you are happy he's a Beatles fan... I'm also making
him a DVD of the entire hour of footage I have. It's
the least I can do, and I'm fairly certain no one on
the planet would be more appreciative of it than
him.
It's also very
clear from the reviews/reactions to this night... that
this needed a 2nd video/entry. It was a bigger night
than I even realized.
Looking
over the footage that I got, I noticed Paul
wiping tears from his eyes quite often, and I
really wanted to show you the "Give Peace a
Chance" video... and of course, one of my
favorite songs of Paul's "Here Today" which
is just gut-wrenching as a Beatles fan. Paul
& John were well aware of their own
stereotypes. Paul is the sappy melody guy,
John is harder, wry 'caustic one. Paul
embraces that difference in the song and it's
just such an incredibly raw and open song...
that John would totally have made fun of.
:-)
As well, it turns
out I actually did capture the very first "Beatles
Rockband" footage. PaulMcCartney.com confirmed
that it was an unannounced premiere and so I wanted to
make sure I got all the footage I had up and included
some of the earlier stuff in the video where they show
the Beatles in black and white:
This game is going
to cost me dearly. I will take the day off work. I
will play it until I can't move my wrist - and I will
be the sucker that pays $100 for a freaking plastic
version of Paul's Hoffner Bass (this is without the
game mind you). But it's the first Beatles videogame
ever. I mean... come on. I've only waited for this my
entire life. Seriously - when I was playing the
original NES in 1988, I remember listening to
Sgt. Pepper and thinking: "If the Beatles were around
today, I bet they'd be producing video games... how
trippy would those be?". Not exactly expecting a
mind-altering experience, but I will have an absolute
blast with it.
Oh and I included
the "Obama" song which is entitled "Sing the
Changes". Just an awesome new song. Which I have to
admit... is why this man continues to inspire me. He
doesn't stop. I relate so much to how he operates. He
sings/writes/records because there is no other option.
And it's why I cannot understand what the hell is up
with Billy Joel. One of the next generation's premiere
songwriters and he just STOPPED in 1993. How does
he do it? I could never, ever, ever stop writing music
- it's like breathing to me. I have to get the
songs/words out or I'd be a crazy man. I guess Billy
has another release, but it's too bad it isn't more
productive. How many goddamn times can you play Piano
Man without wanting to write another, freaking,
song!?!?!
Alrighty... time
to put this weekend to a close. I'm beat. Thank you
so, so, so much Gordon for adopting this site like
it's your own. It's going to allow so many more people
to find it and your changes could very well open the
door to greater opportunities for me. I will do all I
can to repay the favor.
