OK, so finally allowed to put weight on the (HEALED) busted ankle and getting tortured in physical therapy. Which is fine since that’s what’s gonna help me walk properly again.

I have been practicing as much as possible and have a couple covers that I’ll be putting together in time for December, I hope.

How quickly they forget; I’ve only been gone 5 months. :)

I also posted some new pics, too…

So, I’ve had messages from a couple of friends/fans unhappy with the way OurStage does things; one involving piracy another involving awards.

But I’ve heard other mutterings and had my own bad experiences here. Down voting being the least of them.

A quick search of google, of course, brings up only their marketing stuff. Bad results are buried deep in the list since OurStage can flood the net with all kinds of advertising and PR b/s.

However, their obvious inability to block spammers, lack of timely pay offs, general lack of communication with the artists and general methodology of not paying attention to how voting is really done is systemic to something run by AOL.

I had hoped, under the auspices of Time-Warner, that AOL had become more sophisticated, particularly in this sort of venue, I appear to be wrong.

There are other sites out there to show off you music and other communities to share with each other.

I do intend to keep trying here, just because I can, and we’ll see if things improve.

OK, so the company came through and my bonus allowed us to get a lot of stuff for around the farm AND my new gear!
I got a Yamaha PSR-213 keyboard and a Seagull S6 QI (the acoustic/electric 6 version of my 12). They are both AWESOME! The Yammie will let me add some more depth to my tracks, and the guitar will let me add some leads as well as provide an additional rhythm track (or two).
All I need now (as usual) is some time… With spring here, there’s a lot needs doing around the farm and out at the Ashram plus I got accepted into the Ocean Seminary College, so I gotta figger out how to squeeze it all in.

So, I worked hard at my judging again this month. Think I did OK, tried to stay fair even outside my usual genres.
Apparently pissed off a lot of people, got slammed in ‘covers", but I don’t do it for them, I do for me and the few who seem to enjoy the work.
Spring has arrived a little early here (subject to change on any given day) so I got some of the outside chores caught up here on the farm. Also had a GREAT, peaceful meditation out at the Ashram yesterday, so things are getting balanced.
Got a good bonus from work, so I’ll be getting some more gear to add to the music, have some things thought of, but not sure which way to jump; keyboards, for sure (if I can find the right one), prolly that nice Seagull 6-string to match my 12, new digital recorder(?), unlikely. Mikes are pointless until we get somewhere for a studio. But at least I’m blessed enough to have all these options.
Debating on re-entering covers with Heaven’s Door, but not sure. And since noone reads this thing, doubt if I’ll get any comments one way or the other. :)

As it turns out, there is a phenomenon here called “down voting”; a new concept to me. Apparently, if you piss enough people off (or whatever), they just demote your song every time it comes top a vote. Whatever.
I continue to judge as honestly as I can and will still continue to put stuff up here and at http://www.showcaseyourmusic.com/icgrate, where at least people leave comments.
Semi-finals are on, so gonna be a busy week!
Goof luck, y’all!