収束ゾーンでのライフ: Life in the Convergence Zone

16 hours ago the Texas Observer – a 69 (nice) year old progressive newspaper and Mastodon trailblazer that I’ve linked here more than once – was going to shut down this Friday.

16 hours later the emergency fundraiser to save the paper is over halfway to goal already.

If you care about non-corporate-owned news now is a damned good time to step up. If you care about Mastodon mattering, how’s the headline “Mastodon Saves Historic Newspaper” sound to you?

In other words:

LET’S GO NEWSBIANS LET’S GO!

The GoFundMe was initially founded to help staff about to be laid off. It’ll still be used for that as a backup plan, but now, if it can reach $200,000 there’s a real shot at saving the paper outright. Not a guarantee, but a real shot. It works out to 1-2 months of operations, lets them get their next big paper issue out, and tells the overseeing nonprofit that there is in fact a will to save this paper.

I helped save KPLU (now alive and well as independent KNKX) under similar circumstances. This shit can actually happen.

We’ve done it before, we can do it again. But y’gotta BOOOOST!

BOOST BOOST BOOOOOOOST!

Which means share this shit around like nobody’s business, and do it right now.

And also, y’know – make donations. Do the money thing. It matters. Like it does.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

So Bone Walker is genuinely ready to go in download form. We’re holding the full release (iTunes, CD Baby, all that) until the book is ready too, closer to the CD release show at Conflikt.

HOWEVER! We realised over the weekend that since we are ready, it’s unfair to keep it back from the Kickstarter backers who have been waiting so long. And since the easiest way to get that sorted was to hand it out through Bandcamp, we’re gone ahead and made the Bandcamp edition LIVE.

Final Wraparound Cover

Yep, THE BANDCAMP VERSION OF BONE WALKER IS COMPLETE AND DOWNLOADABLE NOW. You can also still pre-order CDs, and one of you who pre-order the physical CD will get the little bonus we mentioned before. If you pre-ordered the CD already, you should have mail and download codes in your inboxes.

We aren’t ramping this monster up through the roof yet – the big event will be the book and album at the same time, and all that, and there’ll be the show and it will be awesome, like y’do. But the Kickstarter people have been incredibly patient, and sitting on it another couple of weeks just seemed rude.

It would be really nice if you post a review or comments if you let us know. That would be really excellent of you.

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come check out our music at:
Bandcamp (full album streaming) | Videos | iTunes | Amazon | CD Baby

I have seen a fair number of Kickstarter burnouts and explosions, but I have never seen one like this.

Oh rite, it’s Monday. Hi, Jango listeners! Nice to meet you! I should upload some more songs for you guys over there. For CONVENIENCE! But I hope you’ll look at the band website, because you can play everything here. ^_^

Private liquor sale is new in our part of Cascadia, and while I was busking at market yesterday, I discovered the local hardware store got themselves a liquor license. They’ll begin selling spirits in a couple of weeks.

Chainsaws, nailguns, and vodka! What could go wrong? All that’s missing are fireworks.

Suddenly, this seems like a good idea

I think they need a new name. I’ve already come up with NAILGUNS’N'GIN and AMPUTATIONS R US. Comment with suggestions, and I’ll make a poll on Wednesday. XD

Today, I’m working today on the soundtrack album for Faerie Blood and Bone Walker. The soundtrack was originally mostly for the first book, but it’s evolved into an equal treatment of both. There’s one song where I need to figure out licensing, but it should be pretty straightforward; we weren’t going to do any covers, but, well, Anna had an idea, and if we can get the right vocalist, it’d be awesome. But we need the right male vocalist, somebody who can be a bit of a crooner. I only know one who has the right voice, and he’s pretty busy. But I’ve asked. Fingers crossed.

Leannan Sidhe’s album kickstarter is on its last five days! (Yeah, it says four, the last day is day zero to go and it counts down in hours and minutes.) They’re quite close to funding now, so if you’ve been waiting, get yourself over there and back it!

These guys

They’ve come this far in a 21-day sprint run (vs. the usual 30-day), so their metrics are actually really good. It’d be cool to pop them back onto the Popular pages in the last few days, get a little bonus attention, maybe trigger their newly-announced stretch goal. I’ve already backed, so g’wan, do it.

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come listen to our music!

My partner Anna is a writer; her first book – Faerie Blood – appeared a few years ago, from Drollerie Press. It was out as an ebook and selling briskly, so Drollerie planned a paperback release, and to publish its sequel, Bone Walker, as well. But sadly, the founder’s health went bad, and they shuttered before any of these plans could materialise.

So Anna’s decided rather than shopping around, she’ll take matters into her own hands and launch a Kickstarter project to get both books back into print.

I made the video. Video is fun! I’m also her book designer, but not cover artist or editor – those are Kiri Moth and JoSelle Vanderhooft, respectively.

Faerie Blood‘s a good book. It got some great reviews. Something’s Coming is part of the Bone Walker soundtrack. (I also have a tiny, tiny cameo. :D ) So go over to the Kickstarter project, read the sample chapters, play the video, and if you like what you’re seeing, support the project.

And pass this around, too. Publishing books is expensive; she needs to hit $4000 in pledges or none of it goes through. She got almost a third of the way there in the first day, tho’! That’s kind of amazing. Girl has fans is what. :D

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come listen to our music!

I haven’t posted about this yet, but our previous mastering engineer has had to bow out – his studio is suddenly a construction zone, and he’s going to have to relocate. It will be weeks – at best – of delay, so he’s referring his pending clients around to other engineers. Thanks, John, and good luck finding a new place to house panicStudios!

I’m meeting up with Mark Guenther of Seattle Disc Mastering on Thursday. I think this is him, from his website – I’ve never met him in person:

He’s done some projects of which I’m aware (including working with Smoosh! <3) so hopefully that will go well. This of course means that the CD is delayed – but how much, exactly, I don’t know. I’ll show up at Conflikt with something, regardless – even tho’ of course I’m just attending as an attendee, not a guest, and I don’t have a show there.

At least this time, I won’t have to be chasing a dozen people down for Norwescon paperwork, unlike last year. XD

Finally, don’t forget to check out the Kickstarter project, and it’d be really nice if you told other people about it. After a great start on Friday, things have basically gone quiet, so – clickie! Thanks. ^_^

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil.