Time for me to ask the questions for once

Last Updated on September 30, 2010 by Dave Farquhar

OK, I’ve got some questions for once.
I heard a song that held my attention for about four blissful minutes tonight. Of course the DJ didn’t tell me the artist or song title. I grabbed a pen and transcribed a couple of lines:

I am hungry for something that will make me real/ Can you see me and/ Do you love me cause/ I am desperately searching for something real

Google tells me the artist’s name is Plumb, and the song is, appropriately, titled “Real” and it’s off an album called Beautiful Lumps of Coal. The song is supposed to be a protest of our sex-crazed/centered society.

Question #1: Anyone familiar with Plumb? Is this one of her best songs? The lyrics for the rest of her stuff look promising, but I figure I might as well ask for other opinions.

Now for my other question… I finally put in some wireless networking equipment, which makes connecting a computer to my stereo practical. I can control it over the network so I don’t have to have a keyboard and monitor there, and I can make it play MP3s through the stereo, or make it broadcast them over the LAN with Icecast or something similar so I can listen when I’m in the office or somewhere else. I’ve found a few Linux-based MP3 jukeboxes, several of them with nice web-browser interfaces that include a “Never play this song again” button–perfect for when a song like “Where the Birds Always Sing” by The Cure comes on–but I haven’t found one with a function that emulates a radio station’s “heavy rotation” orders.

So, Question #2: Has anyone out there messed with LAN-based MP3 jukebox software? Anyone have any recommendations? The one I’ve found that looks most promising is Gronk, by the legendary jwz, but there’s no heavy rotation option.

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5 thoughts on “Time for me to ask the questions for once

  • September 2, 2003 at 12:46 pm
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    Jeez, I am a putz.

    I guess I did the “heavy Rotation” thing using WinAmp (yes, Windoze) simply through adding multiple copies of the same title to the playlist. Then randomizing. Without the multiples, I’ve got a playlist that runs something like 65 hours (that’s not including holiday or “annoying as heck” tunes) – but with the “heavy rotation” playlist – the same songs, just my favorites stacked up – some 20 or more times – the play-list lengthens to over 600 hours.

    In theory, I could listen to over a month’s worth of music, 24 hours a day, before the list restarts. Worked for me, but as usual, YMMV.

  • September 2, 2003 at 2:00 pm
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    Plumb is an excellent band. I can listen to their albums all the way through without disliking a song.

  • September 3, 2003 at 12:49 pm
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    I use “edna” for accessing my own mp3’s, both at home and at work (or wherever I am). Works really well although it is short on features. It is a python program that will index your music in an easy way. Check it out over here:

    http://edna.sourceforge.net/

    I have showed the program to several people who have also gotten hooked.

    /Dave T.

  • September 5, 2003 at 10:18 pm
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    Although Edna’s short on features it looks much, much easier to set up than the others. I’ll definitely give it a look. Thanks!

  • September 6, 2003 at 10:51 pm
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    Thanks for turning me on to Plumb–her singing, especially on I’m Free, reminds me of my son’s wife.

    Also, have you heard Debra Killings? Write up I read compared her singing to india.arie, and she plays bass too. How cool is that? So I charged over to the local Family Christian bookstore that included her recent release in their flyer, and they didn’t have the disk. So I’m shopping too

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