Imeem bought out by MySpace

I was a big fan of Imeem.com since it started. Mainly because it allowed music fans to upload their favorite songs, so other people could stream them. It was a democratic music concept if ever there was one.

MySpace initially blocked Imeem playlists and songs from its website. Of course that was because MySpace was planning to essentially copy Imeem’s free streaming model.

Earlier in 2009, when Imeem pulled the plug on uploading videos, it was “the writing on the wall”. In early December of 2009, MySpace purchased Imeem. It was the end of  a classic site dedicated to free music. Much like the recent acquisition of LaLa by Apple, the acquisition of smaller Internet companies by corporate beasts continues (i.e. Google buying YouTube). Now the only question is whether Imeem will have any influence on MySpace’s Music section, now that most of the site’s users have migrated to Facebook.

The Crucified United Again

I found a link to this video on a message board. I just finished Mark Salomon’s book “Simplicity,” which is basically a biography of the Crucified and Mark’s life (although he tries to say in the book that it’s not). I once saw him in Wal-Mart during Cornerstone festival and I wanted to say something to him, but he just looked so intimidating with the tattoos and the shaved head. I had the Pillars of Humanity cassette when I was in high school and I bought the re-released albums from Tooth and Nail, so it’s cool to see the band back together. But I still fear Mark Salomon.

Phil Keaggy and Randy Stonehill Concert

I took this at a recent concert with Phil Keaggy and Randy Stonehill. Randy co-wrote the song with Keith Green and others. Phil recorded a version called “Your Love Broke Thru” on one of his albums and he played guitar on a demo with Keith Green, which was featued on his podcast.

White Cross – You’re Mine

I had a Whitecross autographed photo that I took a picture of and put on Flickr. I noticed that my picture made this guy’s video. It’s at about the 20 second point. The music is set to my favorite Whitecross song “You’re Mine”. It was from the original self-titled album. I got the autographed photo in 1987 or 1988 when the band was just starting out. Oh, the memories.

Starflyer 59 – Live in 1995

There are four videos in the set and they feature a young Jason Martin. The songs from the live set are: Monterey, Blue Collar Love, Hazel Would, The Dungeon and an instrumental track called “Jason’s Jamm,” which was never released on any album. It’s a cool little set of videos with Wayne Everett speaking French on the drums and Jyro from Mortal on the bass.  The interview with Jason is amateur—it’s an access cable show—but it’s fun to watch. It’s the only live recording from that time period from Starflyer that I’ve heard other than Plugged.

True Tunes Blog: One Year Anniversary

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year on this blog. I admit I haven’t been updating it much as of late. I’ve been trolling around at my favorite Christian rock message boards: ChristianBootlegs.com, Decapolis, the Vagrant Cafe, SF59 fans and the Joy Electric board.

I was contemplating this the other day and I came to the conclusion that the majority of my favorite music is already recorded. I know the music people are obsessed with pushing the new albums, but I still love the old albums.

With each passing year more bands call it quits. Bands like Cool Hand Luke and Delirious? are hanging it up. David Bazan and Starflyer 59 are basically solo acts these days and a lot of other bands I covered years ago broke up a while back. It’s not that there aren’t currently touring bands I’m interested in seeing, but I’ve already seen most of my favorites. In the last year it was a blast to get live video and audio recordings from a ton of different shows.

So I’m not sure if I’ll continue blogging in the next year. I enjoy writing, but I also enjoy being part of a discussion and I don’t know if that happens much here. It takes a lot of effort to update a blog and I’m not sure if I have what it takes to keep going. But I encourage all of you to check out what’s on this blog because it isn’t tied to a specific period of time other than the past.

On the Cover II Review

I remember when the first On the Cover came out and it was one of my favorite MxPx CDs. There were some great tracks on that one—Take on Me, Summer of 69, Drum Machine Joy, along with a Keith Green cover, a Buddy Holly cover and a song that introduced us to the Cootees. Other than the artwork and the fact that it is a cover album, the two EPs have nothing in common.

The music is more sophisticated with guitar solos and a plethora of guest stars. There is a wide variety of artists covered such as: Poison, the Descendents, the Ramones, Queen, U2 and a Japanese punk band. I haven’t heard most of the originals and I don’t know if their younger fans have either, so it’s hard to say how they stack up against the other bands.

Don’t get me wrong—this is a nice little cover album, but if I had to rate my favorite MxPx covers they would be: O Donna, Take on Me, Summer of 69, KKK Took My Baby Away, Seventeen, Rock and Roll All Nite by Kiss, No Action, Blue Moon, Zombie by the Cranberries and Sick Boy. Obviously none of these songs are on there, so I’m an impartial observer.

If you are one of those fans who buy everything the guys put out, then you should snatch this up. Otherwise wait till next year for the next album or pick up anything before Panic.

What’s Wrong with Christian Rock?

I came across this recently and it’s pretty fun to watch. I totally disagree with the guy, but he makes some good points about Christian T-shirts being sacrilegious. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should stop christianbootlegs.com.

Poor Old Lu – Sit and Stare

A long time ago I had a Poor Old Lu VHS tape called “Sit and Stare”. It came out around the time of the band’s album “Sin”. I was looking for it for a long time online and then it popped up on YouTube and on Vimeo. Gotta love the Poor Old Lu.

A Couple Cool Music Links

I wanted to share a couple music links that I found recently. If you’re a Steve Taylor fan there is a site called Sockheaven.net and it has a good amount of free live video and audio of Steve and Chagall Guevara. Another site that is pretty cool is ChristianBootlegs.com. It’s a free site where you can share audio from Christian concerts. It’s a non-profit forum with links to free music with lossless audio and video with wave files or flac.