BLAZING UP

One of the cool things about Ted's new podblaze account is that it supplies real time stats on how many plays each "show" has gotten.

One of the cool things about being Ted's partner is that I have the password for the account and can check the stats.

As of today, here are the number of plays each show has gotten.

Solitary: 6
Tiny Violence: 1
Harlon: 1
The Wall Side Four: 5
The Wall Side Three: 6
The Wall Side Two: 6
The Wall Side One: 9
TEDSTOCK: 12
The Power Of Rock: 7
The Guitar Song: 9
Long Last Of Time: 13
Do What I Do: 11

The only actual "show" up there is "TEDSTOCK," and it's in a healthy 2nd place. People get ready, there's a festival a-comin'.

Ben Simon's "After A Long Last of Time" is in first, and that's interesting, because it really is a great song, with a crazy guitar solo.

Ben came in to the studio a couple of years ago with nearly 20 songs and an amazing backing band. We put the basic tracks down very very quickly - in a day or two - getting some of the best drum sounds I've ever gotten. (How much of the sound is in the player? I don't know, roughly 100%.) Then we started overdubbing, mixing, re-recording, bringing in turntablists and violin players, mixing, re-recording, re-mixing...

We worked a lot, but never really finished the entire project. Ben had to leave town, we weren't really sure what the plan was, and I don't know where he is now. (you out there, Ben?) But I honestly believed that his music was something very special. The songs were great, but I'm not sure if we were prepared for the enormity of the undertaking. Today I feel far more confident that we could get the record done, and done well.

We'll put up more of the (unfinished) product. I still like the music a lot.