Wednesday, January 25, 2012

"Winter" in Kansas City

Well, according to the calendar it's Winter.  It's hard to tell by any other means this season.  Today is January 25.  So far this season here in Kansas City, we have had an official total of 0.4 inches of snow.  And that was spread out over two "snow events".  And furthermore, temperatures have been consistently above normal.  Many, many days in the upper 30s, 40s, and 50s.  Very few days in the 20s.

I love Winter.  I love cold weather and snow.  Give me a season where it doesn't get above 40 between Nov. 15 and March 1, throw in lots of snow, and I'm good.

The last two Winters here we had over 30 inches of snow each season.  Where are you Old Man Winter?  Is it because I restocked the firewood?

It's looking like we'll be into February with less than a half inch of snow.  Maybe we'll finally get a snowstorm next month.  Or, we'll get one of those mid-March huge, heavy snows...

Thus endeth the Wintry Lament.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Housekeeping: Links, free downloads, etc

During the Christmas season with my main focus being sharing out vinyl, I didn't have much time to post information about new music.  I did a few mini-reviews this year, and a couple full-CD reviews, but a lot of the information about new music that I received went un-acknowledged and un-posted.  Fortunately, Stubby excels at keeping us all informed about new Christmas releases each year, especially the artists offering free downloads.

Here on New Year's Day, I want to list out some of the info I received during the season in the e-mail box.  My apologies for not being able to give these artists the attention they are due.  Hopefully these links are still valid when you, the readers, try them out.  So, without further ado, here are links to some new music released in the 2011 season:

Amanda Lamb:  Free download and artist info  link
TimPermanent:  Joy to the World  link
The Bopst Show:  Christmas-music podcasts, as well as others  link
Alternate Root Holiday Sampler:  zip file download
KDHX Radio Holiday podcasts:  link
No Ninja Am I: free download  link
Soujourn Music:  free sampler download link
Jeff Mellin:  free download link
That Band from Holland:  free album  link
The Very Most:  free EP zip file download
Stratocruiser:  free EP  link

There is some very good music in the above list.  I enjoyed Stratocruiser and Amanda Lamb quite a lot, but I just didn't have the time to do them justice with a full review.  I hope you enjoy them, and the other artists and podcasts listed above, as much as I did.