Radio Free David Blog

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Let’s get back to some great music, shall we?

We’re pleased to add the cut I Feel Surreal from Sky Parade’s newest album Love Is Forever into our rotation for you today. We’ve long been a fan of Sky Parade, and this song is no exception. Plus, it’s self-released, and we’re really into that, so make sure you give it a listen.

As always,
Enjoy!
david

Radio Free David is participating in the Internet Radio Day of Silence on Tuesday, June 26. We will be OFF THE AIR all day long, and if you don’t act, this will not be the only day we are OFF THE AIR.

In March, the Copyright Royalty Board announced that it would raise royalties for Internet broadcasters (that’s us!), moving them from a per-song rate to a per-listener rate. The increase would be made retroactive to the beginning of 2006 and would double over the next five years. After the announcement, a group of broadcasters spearheaded by National Public Radio petitioned the CRB for a rehearing, but a panel of judges denied the request less than a month later. Internet radio sites would be charged per performance of a song. A “performanceâ€? is defined as the streaming of one song to one listener; thus a station that has an average audience of 500 listeners racks up 500 “performancesâ€? for each song it plays. Clearly, we cannot afford this here at Radio Free David. And we’re not the only ones who can’t afford it.

What can you do? That’s easy… and very important.

Call your senator and let them know this issue is important to you, and specifically mention the Internet Radio Equality Act, (S. 1353 in the senate): http://www3.capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9738601

Send your congressperson an electronic letter, which is quite easy, and specifically mention the Internet Radio Equality Act, (HR 2060 in the house): http://capwiz.com/tellthempublicmatters/issues/alert/?alertid=9758181&type=CO

Want more information on how to contact Congress? Here’s what you need… just click a state on the map and get all the email addresses…
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Whatever you do, do SOMETHING. Don’t let this silence for a day become silence forever. Your own silence is one way to ensure that today’s silence is permanent.

david

So, it was a Friday morning here in the studio and we’re in a funky mood. We’re sorting through the playlist looking for something that fit our mood exactly, but alas, we couldn’t just that right tune. We were thinking along the lines of Blues Traveler, but we wanted a jam. A good, long jam. But… we didn’t have any of those. There was, of course, only one thing to do…

From their live album Live From The Fall we’ve added in some long Blues Traveler jams. Of course, given their propensity to flow from one song to another in concert, this wasn’t as easy as it might otherwise be (that’s a good thing!). First off, we replaced our paltry live version of Low Rider with the medley of Low > Go. It really lengthens the song up, although we had to make an edit because it mostly runs into Run Around (pun intended!). We made that up to you by adding Run-Around in its own right, though, so you’re not missing a note.

Finally, we added the previously unreleased tune Closing Down The Park. It’s nice, a good jam, not heard everyday, and long and so fits our mood perfectly today.

But, as we were adding that album in, we started wondering where Hook was (and that is a little odd since the Live From The Fall album supports the Four album) and then we started thinking of you, our loyal listeners, not being able to hear this. Fear not, and we’re hear (hah! get it?) for you! We dug out Four and promptly added Hook to our playlist for you, too!

Oh… why not? Since we’re already here… from their Straight On Till Morning album we’ve added wonderful numbers Canadian Rose and Make My Way.

Enjoy the jams!
david

We’re adding in some more live music today: this time from Heather Nova’s Wonderlust album.

Heather is an awesome live performer, with a very nice stage presence, making for a very good live show. Her Wonderlust album is no exception, and we are delighted to bring you some cuts from it. Recorded in Germany in November 1998, it captures her magic and, well, the wonder, that is Heather in concert.

Naturally, we’ve upgraded our previous studio version of Walk This World with the live version, and added in I’m The Girl, the ever classic Sugar, and rocking Heart And Shoulder.

As always,
Enjoy!
david

We’ve got two new artists to our playlist, and we’re delighted to have them both. First up is John Batdorf. John has been cranking out tunes since 1970 (although he did take a minor 30 year break from performing as himself in there). He is a great singer/songwriter, and has opened for some of the greatest acts (Seals and Crofts, Dan Fogelberg, The Doobie Brothers, Harry Chapin, just to name just a few… and you’ll recognized these from our playlist, of course) and written tunes for the likes of America and Kim Carnes. And he’s sung background vocals on a ton of recordings.

But now… he’s released a new album, Home Again, and we like it! A lot, in fact! We are running the very nice title cut (Home Again, of course) from it. We really like John’s style and sound, and think it is a perfect compliment to our playlist. Make sure you give him a good listen.

Next up is Edie who found us on MySpace. She reached out to us to be a friend of Radio Free David, and we took a listen to her music. Needless to say, we liked what we heard and she was gracious enough to send along her newest album, Realities. We just had to get this into rotation for you, since we like her style, her tunes and her voice (which has the most wonderful tone to it)… we think you will too! We’re running the cut Through (which was featured in the movie “Zerophillia”) We’re really very keen on Edie, and are really happy to be spinning her for you.

As always, enjoy!
david

We’ve got a new EP running today for you from Telograph: Little Bits Of Plastic. Teleograph has a nice, clean crisp sound, and you might be tempted to classify it as “indie pop”, but we would classify it as “good”. Hailing from the East Coast, these guys have a great sound: you’ll find your feet tapping along before you even know it. Made up of Arash Ardalan, Andy Boliek, Gary On and JB Whittenburg they really tear it up. Plus, they’ve been touring with another of our favorite artists here on Radio Free David: O.A.R.

We’re running their new single Beneath Your Feet and the catchy tune Eye For An Eye.

We’re also adding in another artist today: Mike Gaito and his album The Beard Of Bees. Mike has a very interesting sound, to say the least, and each and every song on this album is, well, different from the other ones. Sometimes, he re-invents himself within the same song, too, which some might find disconcerting. If you like sheer diversity within an album this one is for you. However, Mike had a vision and a dream to put this album out, and we applaud his tenacity in getting there. To help him with cause we’re running the title cut Beard Of Bees.

As always, thank you for listening, and
Enjoy!
david

We’re excited about our latest artist in our playlist: Margaret’s Daughter and their debut album Margaret’s Daughter. Hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa, Margaret’s Daughter is Etienne Ghyoot and Adri-Mari (Ami for short). Their music is absolutely wonderful to listen to, and they show off many styles throughout this album; each tune has its own feel and flavor and discovering each one is a joy. Ami’s voice is vibrant and strong, and packs some power (and she plays a mean guitar); we love how she soars to wonderful highs, then back down to a sulky and rich tone. Etienne’s musicianship shines through on the guitars, keyboards, violin and backing vocals and he brings a wonderful flair. The songwriting is very well done on this album, and we have to warn you that you will find yourself singing along in no time. We definitely recommend Margaret’s Daughter for your personal collection.

Although we had a hard time choosing which songs to put into rotation (we like them all!), we’re running the uplifting cut Where Is The Sun, the tune 24 (and the lyrics here are incredibly poignant and the sonicscape is incredibly well done), Daydream (well done with a great break in the middle of the song) and Prayer (we like the background and mood of this song, as well as the message).

As always,
Enjoy!
david

Radio Free David is partial to wonderful and fresh new voices, as you well know. And in that tradition we’re really excited to bring you Melissa Erpen. Melissa has the voice of an angel; strong, sultry, sexy and amazing all rolled into one.

Mellisa comes to us from Perth, Australia and she was kind enough to send along her album, Desire, to us. We like it, a lot in fact, and are happy to be running the title cut (Desire), along with Radio Play and Surrounded By You. Although her songs tend along the pop and soul lines, we think her voice, music and lyrics warrant a place in our rotation. And, we’re not the only ones who think she is a great talent: she has a ton of awards to her name including being the winner of the Italian Song Festival in 1999, the winner of the Pop Category Star Search in 1999, Winner of Rock, Country and Overall Best Performer of Star Search in 2001, winner of Reach for a Star Talent Competition in 2002, overall winner of Star Search 2003, winner of “Sing Your Way To Indie” in 2004 AND 2005 and, well, those are just a few of her accomplishments.

We are very, very keen on her and are proud to have Melissa Erpen in our main rotation. This is what Radio Free David is all about: great music.

As always,
Enjoy!
david

Radio Free David is more than proud to introduce our newest artist to our line up: Darren Geffre!

Darren has an absolutely wonderful sound: soulful, melodic, and oh so sweet. I first met Darren at a small place in downtown Albuquerque; he took the stage and absolutely blew me, and everyone else in that place, away… he has a wonderful stage presence, is an incredibly likable person and scores about a billion on the Way Cool scale. Seriously, he is humble, great to talk to, and when he hits the state… wow.

Right now, we’re running a couple of cuts of his that I think you’re going to love. From his Uncivilized CD, we’re running the title cuts Uncivilized and Josephine.

And from his EP Audiobiography, we’re running Falling and Numb (and we like the Hip Hop feel to this one). Pay special attention to his lyrics, for Darren, in addition to being a very fine musician, is also a very fine storyteller.

We’re not done with Darren… oh no. He was extremely nice to us, and gave us permission to take his show; look for the results of that taping coming up in our next podcast!

Until then, we trust you will enjoy his music.
As always,
Enjoy!
david