Turn out the lights.

Close the door.

Click Play.

Lean back.

Close your eyes.

Enjoy.

Radio Rivendell is a non-commercial, non-profiting web radio station that plays fantasy music 24x7. The station has been online since 2001, growing out of a Shoutcast experiment.

Blah blah blah, right? Well, I think it's a cool little site. I won't bore you with all the reasons why I like the idea of a 24x7 stream of fantasy music. If you're into the genre, you already get it. Here are a couple other things I like about Rivendell:

Interviews: Everyone can do interviews, but the Council has integrated then into the site in a slick way, giving each group their own mini-page on the site. On the mini-pages, you can see a complete list of albums, and even a list of all the composer's songs.

Just Played: I'm loving this page, where you can see what has recently played on Rivendell. Each song/album/artist is linked to internal pages.

Anyway, check the channel out.

This is one powerful song. What can I say, it's Floyd...

Another spell of melancholy hit me today.

I've been very nostalgic, lately, for some of the music I grew up on. Is it a bout of personal melancholy? I don't know, but I can't these songs out of my head. This one in particularly:

I had a wonderful conversation with jazz vocalist Leonie Smith today. She's a very charming woman, and a talented performer. If you're in Oz, you can catch her live on the "Jazz at 5" Fri Afternoon Show on FM99.3 & "Northside Rhythm and Jazz" where she heavily promotes local contemporary Australian jazz musicians and singers.

Visit her home page: Leonie Smith.com

Jazz @ 5 Podcast: Subscribe

A good friend of mine just sent me this video. On the right is his nephew (Josh Halberstadt); the guy on the left is named Dustin. Funny thing is that Josh looks just like Mitch... but with hair.

After poking fun at Bulgaria, in my last post, I figured it only fair to say something nice. The audio for this clip is my favorite Bulgarian folk song. It's beautiful. Enjoy.

'Glory Days' by Bruce Springsteen.

It's probably not the first song I remember, but it's the first one I have a distinct memory of. I was riding with my Uncle and cousin up to their house in the Catskills. It was just the three of us, crammed in the cab of his pickup. Billy (that's the cousin) turns the radio over the PXY 106, and 'Glory Days' starts up. It was a perfect moment, the three of us driving by corn fields and apple orchards, singing along with the Boss. Good memory.