Archive for the 'Site News' Category

Chunky Homestyle Breakdown

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
The web stream that accompanies the Audio Kitchen blog (“Chunky Homestyle Radio”) is down. My non-stop audio-stream of found and obscure recordings is on hiatus until I can resolve a technical problem here at the house. The other day I noticed that the cranky old Pentium II box that sends out the chunky sounds  had shut down. And then after rebooting the old boy a couple times and restarting the stream I’ve come to realize that the computer will only run for an hour or two before passing out again. My hardware guru tells me it’s probably the power supply or the processor fan. I have yet to actually open it up and learn more.

So, Chunky Homestyle Radio will be probably be down for over a week or two as I try to resolve this issue. I’m going to hold back on buying parts until I take a look at a newer machine (a Pentium 4, I believe) that a friend has promised me. If I see that it’s actually fit I may upgrade to the new computer, which will take at least a few more days or longer to set up.

However, I have to admit that I wish I could report that I’ve received numerous complaints about this outage. But sadly, nobody seems to have noticed but me. And frankly, I’ve been surprised and a little dismayed at) how few people have actually taken advantage of the Chunky Homestyle station I installed with this blog. Perhaps I haven’t promoted it very well, but since I opened this site for business there was only a smattering of interest in Chunky Homestyle Radio. And within a few weeks the listenership dropped down to little more than a handful of people tuning in at one time, and then often none at all.

While it takes me quite a bit of time to get the posts where organized and written, but the Chunky stream has always been a way I could easily and indiscriminately share my bulging collection of home recorded detritus. It’s no surprise to me that providing some context would drum up anticipation and curiosity and make the make listening to the blog post audio more popular than clicking on the Chunky Homestyle stream and its random deluge of found sound. There’s many hundreds of hours of conversations and performances and untold numbers of lost dispatches and messages in the Chunky Homestyle Radio library. I personally find it an intriuging stew of words, noise and situation. But there is no announcer or  blogger to guide your mind through the arbitrary blather. Maybe it’s too much for anybody to handle. I don’t know. Either way, the Chunky stream will be coming back sometime soon. At least for a while.

Also, sorry there hasn’t been a new post here in a little while. But the good news is that I’m taking a little break from working on a new Audio Kitchen post just to let you know why the Chunky Radio link is not operational right now. And to be honest, I’ve been posting more often over at my radio blog (The Radio Kitchen) just because I’ve been getting substantially more traffic and feedback over there so far. Which is kinda funny, because my original inspiration was to only create this blog. The Radio Kitchen site was sort of an afterthought.

And in the spirit of after-thinking, let me append this post with some mildly savage multimedia content out of the many hundreds of files that have been in rotation on Chunky Radio. This is some burnin’ some lo-fi tribal rock unearthed on a soiled cassette tape by the late and great “Georgia” Todd Butler. As I recall, this was the only audio recorded on this particular tape. The subject matter is ostensibly about a certain earring and a back door. The real meaning is anybody’s guess.

Wang-Q - Q-Shaped Earring  1:22

(download)

That’s it. Now I’ll get back to work on the next Audio Kitchen post, which should be up soon. Expect more tales of youth, desire and passion. And less.

Posted in Cassettes, Found Sound, Georgia Todd Collection, Musical Performance, Site News, Teenagers | 5 Comments »

Still Here, Still Happening

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

When I started this site (and its sister blog) a month ago I wasn’t sure how the rhyme and rhythm of posting would play out when creating content for two blogs became part of my day to day reality. But now I’m starting to get a better idea. At least for me, blogging takes time…

I certainly understand that the conventional wisdom for successful blogging is to generally write short pithy entries and to post often– daily or more if possible. And as I’ve been putting together (and editing) content, I keep these things in mind– cutting back on windy diatribes and pushing myself to finish a post so I can move on to the next. However, it’s become obvious to me that the way I like to work doesn’t lend itself to putting out a steady stream of short concise posts. I like to ruminate a bit.

So if you like a look to a blog for lots of quick chuckle-packed posts– I’m not the guy. As much as I’d like to be posting here everyday, I can’t seem to squirrel away enough time to make that happen. My personal goal has been to try to get two or three posts a week up on each blog, and maybe I’ll get there. But when I dig into some found recordings, it takes a little time to get acquainted with the audio. There’s often some discovery (or re-discovery) process I have to go through before I can write something meaningful. While I hate to give away too much of the plot or engage in a lot of speculation, I think that posting audio with a brief “this is really weird,” or “this is a laugh riot” is rather boring and uninspiring. With each substantive post, I hope to write something that will have some meaning without actually listening to the audio, and perhaps encourage someone who might not otherwise listen to the accompanying to actually click on it.

My writing background is in journalism, and long-form non-fiction. And I’m here at this blog to write, as much as I am to offer you compelling captures of radio broadcasting. It involves taking the time to listen, research and cogitate on each recording I offer here. And I like discovery. It’s just that it takes time, and blogging has to compete with work, life and raising a kid.

Perhaps not surprisingly, after pounding away to edit down the last three posts I’ve written for these two blogs, they still weighed in at over two-thousand words each. I suppose there will be times when there’s not so much to say, and some entries won’t take as long to put together. I do know there are some bloggers who just put up a picture of their cat or post a bunch of inane animated GIF files when they have nothing to say, or no time to say it. If that’s what it takes to keep the blog traffic up, then I guess I’m in trouble. I’d like to think I’m offering a different kind of blog– an online magazine for people who still have a little patience, a moderate attention span, and curious ears.

I have noticed  more people finding this blog and then checking back for new content. And as the operator of two new blogs in search of an audience, I want you to know that I’m not forgetting you, the browser. While I was putting up posts at a pretty good clip since the launch of this thing, a large block of work and a short holiday weekend getaway kind of put the kibosh on my personal production line for a few days. Now I’m back, working on two or three posts at once here (including this one). And I hope you’ll keep coming back to see what’s cooking.

And then there’s the good news. While I’m discovering that I’m a bit bound by my own pace and way of doing things, what I do have in abundance is ideas for posts and lots of recordings to offer you. I really am looking forward to dipping into the piles of amateur recordings in search of finding entertaining and enlightening audio to share with you here. And thanks a lot for all the nice email, and encouraging feedback. It means a lot.

Just keeping you informed. Thanks for coming by. Now, I have to get back to work…

Posted in Found Sound, Site News | 3 Comments »

The Audio Kitchen Is Open For Business

Friday, October 26th, 2007

Howdy. Welcome to my blog, or at least one of them. More about that in a minute.

The Audio Kitchen is actually an audio blog, featuring found and amateur recordings, and discussions of where they come from and what they contain. The focus will be on audio artifacts found in resale shops and piles of junk that have been created (and misplaced) by ordinary folks, often for ordinary reasons. But similar amateur recordings will be presented here as well, despite the fact that they were never really “lost.”

As far as my inspiration for undertaking this blog and my interests in doing so, you can read more about that here. But suffice to say that this blog will present many types of amateur recordings people create on their own time for any number of reasons, and audio of the recordings themselves which you can easily stream or download as MP3’s to your computer or portable player. If you have any questions about how to use this site (and hear the audio) please check here.

However, my intention is not just to offer selections from my own audio collections (and my opinions and descriptions of the contents), but to provide a forum where other collectors of found sound can post their finds as well. I’m working on providing on-site functionality so folks can easily upload their audio and blog about it here, but it’s not quite ready at this writing. But that doesn’t mean you can’t share your recordings here right away. It’s just not as simple as it should be very soon. Read about how and why you might want to contribute (and blog) your recordings here.

Okay, that’s the news. Things may be a bit shaky around here for few weeks as I work out the bugs and get used to operating the equipment (if you know what I mean). If something doesn’t work, you see an awful typo or find some other odd problem, please send me an email. And I always appreciate any feedback offered to make this site better.

You may notice (and I should admit) that this site has a very similar sister blog, The Radio Kitchen. While I do wonder if it’s a bit counter-intuitive to start two blogs at the same time, I bravely (or unwittingly went ahead and) decided to create two different web venues dedicated to a couple of my personal fascinations. In my judgement, the subject matter of each is little too divergent to occupy the same forum. However, they both elucidate (at least) two sides of my fascination with fringe media and lo-fi audio. But I like to focus, and as a blogger I prefer to write about what interests me and not about myself. I suspect that some may find something of interest in both blogs, but I imagine that each one will find its own separate audience.

Maybe it doesn’t look like much, but the debut of these two blogs is the result of a long and somewhat trying ordeal of planning, listening, learning, typing and configuring. And it’s not over yet. But the time has come to quit fooling around and make it real. And speaking of that, let me close this inaugural post by thanking two new friends I made along the way to getting these projects off the ground. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Amy and Cam, who offered me a helping hand when I really needed it and made all the difference in making both of these blogs a reality. And a special thank you to Amy, for making them look so nice.

Oh, I almost forgot. This site comes with its own web radio station: "Chunky Homestyle Radio," a non-stop stream of found sound and homestyle noise. It’s a work in progress which may at times be as annoying as it is entertaining. If you’ve got the stomach for it, click the Campell Can radio in the sidebar whenever you’re in the mood.

I do hope you have fun visiting The Audio Kitchen.

Posted in Found Sound, Site News | 2 Comments »