Click the pic above (or the link at the bottom/below) for the music
[Purchase song @ amazon: El Rayo X]
Like JDavid, I am a relative new-comer. If I don’t dis-remember,
I ran across boyhowdy’s personal site (coverlaydown) before I discovered
StarMaker. My communication with him led me to my current role: when Darius pulled back, I somehow ended up
managing SMM – with major support from J David. (Obvious, ain’t it? Who else
has posted most of the recent material?)
Several of the SMM bloggers are one-time radio DJs - often from
their days in college. I am no different. Way back in the 70’s, I did a
middle-of-the-night slot at WQFS out of Greensboro, NC. Some of the SMM
bloggers are musicians themselves: 2-3 times a year I myself take the stage to
a captive audience. In one form or another, all SMMers “live” for the music.
At about the time I took on the admin role, SMM was reeling
from legal restrictions: many of us used to post links to MP3 files hosted in
various personally controlled online resources and outside pressures had made
hosting mp3s impossible. Despite the blog’s policy of “..[we] post only one
song per album for a limited time … and
will take it down…” , many of the 30 plus bloggers from 2 years ago have moved
on. The number of bloggers had seriously
dropped off by the time I took over from Darius and most of the links to songs
had become YouTube videos. Speaking of
which, I work and write from Turkey, where the powers that be have recently blocked
tweets and “the tube” – if you follow international news, you must know. (I
hope my link below works, since I had to search and access it using
devious/outlawed means.)
The mission of SMM, as I understood it, was that the
bloggers posted links to music and associated commentary that would drive the
audience to further engagement. It is for this reason that the top of each post
includes a [purchase] link.
The right side of the blog notes that we are always looking
for additions. Let me put it in the middle of the page: if you have an interest
in joining the ranks of bloggers, follow the link, top right, and email smmmod2000@gmail.com. We’d be glad to
have you on board.
As to “going deeper” - our current theme: I am an inveterate
fan of Ryland P Cooder, and it was through his music that I learned about the
Cuban music scene. It was through his music that I learned about David Lindley.
Nigh on a year ago, I posted about one of his pieces.
Never much of a front-man himself, Lindley has played second
fiddle for a number of other folk. Once, previously, in our “work” theme, I
posted his rendition of “Do You Want My Job”, a wonderfully island-lilting
piece with a message for our times. From his “El-Rayo-X” here is the title
track with Jackson Browne: