dauber

So....here in Chicago there's a place called Old Town School of Folk Music. It's a non-profit organization where, well...you go and take music classes! I've been going there for ten years. I've taken classes for blues harp, fingerpicking, songwriting, stuff like that. Some of the classes they offer are "ensemble" classes, which basically means you and a bunch of other people get together and play songs, and sometimes when the class is over there's a final performance -- often at what they call "graduation," sometimes at an actual performance venue (like a local dive bar or club or something)... Well...once or twice a year there's "Beach Boys Ensemble." Now...most classes at the Old Town School meet once a week for eight weeks...Beach Boys Ensemble meets for sixteen weeks because, well, that's how hard it is, what with the vocal harmony arrangements and other things that neeed to be worked out -- Brian Wilson just does not have the simplest arrangements in the world! Soooooo...anyhoo...2016 was the fiftieth anniversary of the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds, so the Beach Boys Ensemble class was dedicated to that album, and we actually performed the whole thing in front of a paying audience this past June. We played it in one of the performance venues that's actually at the school. And something I found out: whenever there's any kind of ticketed performance at the Old Town School, they record it on the soundboard, unless the artist specifically asks them not to...and I was just given a copy of our performance! woohoo! The first tune in the YouTube link here is the title track of Pet Sounds, an instrumental that Brian Wilson was planning to offer for use in the movie You Only Live Twice, but he says it was turned down. (Personally, I believe he never even submitted it for consideration.) This...is my debut on lead guitar. I am SO not a lead guitarist, but I practiced the HELL out of it for weeks on end. I made a few mistakes, but they were minor enough that those who don't know the tune wouldn't even know they were mistakes, and those who *do* know it would think they were just artistic improvisations. It also includes the album's last song, "Caroline, No." Anyway, just thought I'd share some of my non-gaming life with youse.

Can't believe I missed this thread....oh well... I'm a classic rock guy. Just can't get into a lot of the modern stuff. I was a weekend radio jock in the mid-90s though, and so I had to play a lot of (then-) modern stuff then, and I gotta say, there really was some killer stuff out then...Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, stuff like that... But what I'm usually listening to is among the following: The Beatles (who, to me, are the end-all, be-all) The Who (pre-Kenney Jones) Stevie Wonder (almost exclusively the "classic five" funk era) The Beach Boys (I consider myself a *Brian Wilson* fan, though, not so much a Beach Boys fan) The Monkees The Doors The Byrds Wondermints (basically the same kinda stuff as Jellyfish but less well known, undeservingly) And I have some controversial musical tastes, too: - I love Led Zeppelin, but only their first two albums. When they went all loud and (sort of) metal and mystical, they jumped the shark. And don't even get me started about my disdain for their fourth album. - Pink Floyd was ruined when Syd Barrett was kicked out and Roger Waters took over as leader. Yeah, I know Syd was really messed up and started to drive things into the ground, but Waters just made it so effing depressing. The Syd-era material was exciting and experimental, while just dreariness was starting to seep in and overcome starting with A Suacerful of Secrets. - I love The Doors, but Morrison's lyrics were basically the kind of stuff any high school student pulls out of his butt when he's bored in algebra class. - I don't care what anybody says...the mono version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a disaster. Definitely not the definitive listening experience of that album. Favorite albums: - Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys -- nothing will ever. EVER. top that. And when you first listen to it, you really have to be in the right atmosphere to get it, or else you'll brush it off. I just don't know what further to say. - Who's Next by The Who -- probably the greatest pure rock'n'roll album ever. IMHO, it's way better than its original Lifehouse intention would have been. Great listening on Fridays...side 1 on the way to work, side 2 on the way home from work! - What's Going On by Marvin Gaye - Marvin was coming out of a really bad time in his life when he recorded the album. His BFF Tammi Terrell had died from cancer, and that put him into a nasty depression. He tried playing for the Detroit Lions to take his mind off things, but that career didn't pan out. He came out of retirement with this album and based it on letters he and his brother wrote back and forth while his brother was off fighting in Vietnam. And when his brother came back home from 'Nam, his overall reaction to the state of the country was, "THIS is what I was fighting for?!" Pretty hardcore emotional stuff here. And it's a tragedy that Marvin just couldn't recover from all the demons he was fighting. They affected himself and those who loved him. - Destroyer by Kiss -- not a big Kiss fan, but I do have a soft spot for early Kiss. I was maybe four years old, and one morning when my parents had left for work, my brother (ten years my senior) woke me up and said, "Come on downstairs! I got the new Kiss album!" I was groggy and didn't give two whatevers about what album he just got. But anyhoo, it was Double Platinum. He took over the Zenith record player console and blasted the album, and...I loved it! And over the years I became really, really fond of the Destroyer album (and only in recently years realized that "Detroit Rock City" is actually a pretty depressing song!) and found myself appreciating the amazing production more and more. - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. by The Monkees -- their fourth album. Their third album, Headquarters, I think is generally considered their best, and certainly a favorite because on that album they actually not only had complete creative control but they also actually all played instruments themselves on every track. With PACJL, the Monkees went back to primarily using a lot of session musicians, but they still had creative control, and creative it was. And with "Daily Nightly" and "Star Collector," you have two of the earliest known uses of a synth in rock music; very groundbreaking. Even the always-groundbreaking Beatles didn't use a synth until two years later with... - Abbey Road -- the last album the Beatles recorded start-to-finish as a group (most of Let It Be was already recorded; "I, Me, Mine" would be recorded after Abbey Road), and arguably their best. My wife pointed out that Abbey Road is basically The Beatles' final thesis, as it puts together everything they learned in their career. You have just straight-ahead rock'n'roll with "Come Together" and "The End." You have the symphonic orchestrations (courtesy of George Martin) in "Carry That Weight." You have a paean to the reliable American rock'n'roll with "Oh! Darling." There's the Donovan-taught fingerpicking in "Her Majesty." There's the Sgt. Pepper's-esque combining of different songs into longer pieces with the two medleys on side 2. You have the multipart harmonies previously known from "This Boy," "Yes It Is," and "Nowhere Man" getting some practice once again in "Because." And those innovative Beatles, although a bit late in the game, did a first-time-ever-for-them thing in "Because" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" by using a synthesizer. Really, everything you'd expect from any Beatles era...except tape loops...probably because tape loops were so last year.

It breaks my heart that none of the stories about his death mention Tinkle Pit.

So here I am necrobumping. I play harp on and off. Took some blues harp classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music; had the honor of being instructed by Joe Filisko a couple of times, too.... Take my word for it: invest some money in a couple of good Hohner Marine Band diatonics. They're about $25 to $30 a pop but they're great quality. Get a B-flat harp and an A harp -- those are good blues harps. (They're actually meant primarily to be played in F and E, respectively: good blues keys!) Marine Bands are the gold standards. The Special 20s have plastic combs, and the non-Special 20 Marine Bands have wood combs. Different players prefer the wood combs for overall timbre, but I prefer the plastic combs because 1) they're easier to bend notes on, and 2) they won't absorb moisture. (But many players take apart their harps -- not easy with a Marine Band -- and seal the wood combs with beeswax though to prevent moisture buildup.)

First, the really bad: I recently tried a sniping service in search of a reasonably priced CIB Adventure...and found out that I beat out a friend's high bid at the last second...thankfully he's still speaking to me though. Now, the bad one that happened to me: Videogames Then & Now, the store in Norridge, IL that Sean Kelly owns...inside the store he has one of those glass cases where the more collectible stuff is. Loose Crazy Climber there that a friend mentioned before he needed to get. Picked it up for him as a Christmas present. And saw a Chase the Chuckwagon in there for a good price, too, on a previous trip (and bought it). Anyway, both times I went there was a copy of Atari Video Cube. Couldn't justify a purchase, so I figured I'd wait until after Christmas and a few more paychecks and save a few bucks up. So what happens? Before I get a chance to get back there....I found out that someone bought it. And who was that someone? Freakin' ED KELLY OF EDLADDIN!!! ARRRHGHGHGHGH.. :) heh. Turns out I ended up with a better deal: recently I got a copy of Video Cube CIB for the same price that Sean Kelly was charging for just a loose copy. (In all seriousness, I cannot say enough good things about Ed in terms of friendliness, customer service, and products.)

I think there are two things that would give a few people some reason/excuse to say 7800 is "bad" at playing 2600 games: - The cartridge slot can be kind of tight and doesn't play nice with Imagic cartridges and a few other third-party manufacturers' cartridges. Of course, you can cut away the plastic lip around the slot, and that solves that problem. (That was one of the first things I did when I got my 7800.) - Some versions of the 7800 have some compatibility issues with a few Activision (and other) games and the Supercharger. - Some people think the color on the 7800 isn't as good as on a dedicated 2600. Then again, there are some people who insist that heavy sixers are the only ones with decent color. Of course, the color is adjustable under the hood. Personally, I've never had a problem with 2600 colors on *any* machine -- I've had a coupla heavy sixers, a woodgrain 4-switcher, a Vader, and a couple of Jrs and they were all fine. Ditto my 7800. Heck, one of the reasons the 7800 is my favorite consoles is that it plays 2600 games, meaning I don't need a separate 2600 taking up space. And I'm lucky enough to have a 7800 that has so far proven fully compatible -- Robot Tank, The Activision Decathlon, and the Supercharger all work on mine.

Save some bucks and invest in these babies: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_list&c=23 And welcome. (Ninja Golf is fun, too. And I hate golf!)

I'm looking for feedback for a future episode of the Atari 7800 Homebrew Podcast (you can find it on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or use this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/homebrew78 ) What are your thoughts on Super Pac-Man on the 7800? This game will be covered on Episode 8. Yep, that's right: episode 8. And I'm posting this when episode 4 is still a week and a half away. Why am I posting this so early? Well, I'm not going to get into the details right now, but I'd just like to start prep on this particular one ASAP. You can also e-mail text or audio to homebrew78 -at- fab4it -dot- com. Deadline is, kinda-sorta, 11:59pm CST on Friday, April 7. Any comments from after then will be addressed in a later episode.

Seriously, Billy Mitchell in person is **not** the King of Kong Billy Mitchell. At all. Met him back in the summer when he, Walter Day, Joel West, and Tina and Tim McVey were guests at Underground Retrocade for a screening of Man Vs. Snake (which is a really, really good flick, by the way). During the panel discussion when someone brought up how Billy was portrayed, Tim said something like, "Well, let me put it to you this way...if you make a documentary that does nothing but tells the truth, you'll end up with a pretty boring movie."

I'm looking for feedback for the next episode of the Atari 7800 Homebrew Podcast (you can find it on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or use this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/homebrew78 ) What are your thoughts on Frenzy on the 7800? Feel free to share your memories of the arcade games Berzerk and Frenzy, too, as this title is an arcade conversion and includes both games. This game will be covered on Episode 4. You can also e-mail text or audio to homebrew78 -at- fab4it -dot- com Deadline is, kinda-sorta, 11:59pm CST on Thursday, February 9. Any comments from after then will be addressed in a later episode.

That, Phil, is why you play it in an emulator and use save states.

Episode 3 takes a look at the lesser-known Omega Race-inspired homebrew from Brek Brixius. Rumor has it Sean is also giving something away. Is that rumor unfounded? Listen and find out! Show notes here http://fab4it.com/homebrew78/media/hbh_episode003.mp3

There's a video game store not far from me...reasonable prices on the games themselves, but consoles? Forget it; highway robbery. (Although I wouldn't doubt it's because where they are, the rents are pretty outrageous.) But the guy there told me they use the AtariAge rarity guide as a way to price their Atari stuff. But FFS....Adventure -- rarity 1 -- very, very, very common, but man...try to get a CIB copy for a reasonable price. And Basic Math. It gives me a headache to see what people ask for CIBs of that one, too. For a rarity 1 game. I guess it's kind of like the "butcher cover" version of The Beatles' Yesterday And Today album. It is **not rare**. There were 750,000 copies in circulation. But the reason they command such high prices is that all the dealers bought 'em up. Makes my blood boil.

Still a very new year, and the Pie Factory Podcast guys get yet another riproarin groundbreaking episode out. What are the odds? You'll have to listen and find out. http://www.fab4it.com/piefactory/audio/PFP_Episode047.mp3

Ughhhh...1633. This challenge made me hate Cosmic Ark even more. I didn't think that was possible! FWIW, my score improved when I started shooting twice at a time during the asteroid screen.

First off, I should start off by saying I have a good-paying job, but I'm soooooo not rich and am in fact in a heap of debt, but...every Christmas I get myself an expensive Christmas present. A few years ago, for example, I told my loved ones, when asked what I want for birthday/Christmas, I said, "Just Guitar Center gift cards." I amassed a ton and got myself a nice amplifier. Last year I asked the same thing, but Apple Store gift cards...again, amassed a ton and bought a new MacBook Pro (didn't have nearly enough to cover the balance, but it was definitely a good chunk, and I financed the rest and paid it off in just a few months). This year....my expensive Christmas present to myself was actually one of the least expensive "expensive Christmas presents" I got myself: the GPD-XD. if you're not in the know, the GPD-XD is essentially a small quad-core Android tablet rigged up with a video game controller: two (analog?) thumb sticks, a D-pad on the left side, and standard four buttons on the right, as if it were, say, a PSX/Xbox controller. Also contains two shoulder buttons on each side. The unit I got has 32 gigs internal storage, and there's a microSD slot so you can add more. The purpose of its existence is to be a handheld gaming device, and I got it because I wanted some kind of handheld that would emulate a huge variety of systems at full speed and that I could take with me on my commutes to work, flights, etc. I just want to say I hate the Android OS...always did..just so clunky to navigate...but...as a whole, I'm really, really digging this GPD-XD. It comes pre-loaded with a couple of emulators and, I imagine, some ROMs that are either freely distributable or so freaking obscure that nobody would care. Personally, I downloaded MAME4droid, an NES emulator (forgot which one!), an N64 emulator (again, forgot!), a SNES emulator (again, don't remember which one!), and an Atari 2600 emulator (forgot which one again, but there are TONS), all from the Google Play store. I also tried out an Atari 7800 emulator that I couldn't figure out how to get working. :/ A few observations: - I find that I really love the "Kart" games...Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Kart on the N64 are fun and very usable on the device. - Not the best emulator if you're playing games that depend on a 4-way joystick...like, the Pac-Man games in MAME are a bit touchy; Donkey Kong, too. - GOOD LORD, THERE ARE SO MANY EFFING MAH JONGG GAMES FOR THE SNES!!! (And some for the N64, which itself has a much smaller library.) And a surprisingly huge number of pachinko games, too! - The screen is sharp but it's very sensitive to your skin's natural oil. IIRC, the device actually comes with screen protectors; I'll have to look into using 'em. (As it's an Android tablet, it's a touch screen.) - Only NES game I have on it: the original The Legend of Zelda...which I suck at. - Really cool -- yet simple -- outer packaging. The front of the box has a drawing of some kid with a caption that has both English and Kanji writing. The English writing says, "When you smile, he's happy. When you laugh, he's scared." (or something....this is from memory so it's not necessarily exact.) I...don't know what that's supposed to mean! And I don't know what the Kanji writing says. Probably the same, but I don't know how to read Kanji, so I can't say for sure! - Holy cow, this thing gets a BUTT TON of battery life!!!! I've had the thing for, what? two, three weeks? I think I had to fully charge it once. Anyway, yeah...I think I paid $170-ish for it...came with a case and some Mario decals (that I don't plan to use, btw -- if anybody needs Mario decals, just drop me a line and I'll get 'em in the mail for you!) to put on the case...definitely a worthwhile investment!

Dude, I hate the game NORMALLY, let alone the hard version. (I WILL participate, just haven't had the chance to play video games lately...) So I say, YES, it's OK to say you hate this game. In all honesty, this is my least-favorite game on the 2600. I'm dead serious about that, too, with Kangaroo being a close second. The collision detection just absolutely sucks.

The site says, "Want to tell us about an Arcade, Video Game Store or Convention? Submit at the bottom of this page." Unfortunately, there's nothing on the bottom that would indicate that. :/

It's...a pretty big deal. Probably not as big as PRGE, but still big. When I first went in 2006, admission was $10. But the thing is...it got so big that they severely jacked up the admission fee just to kind of discourage people from going -- too crowded. It's $40 for one day, $55 for two...don't know about all three days; I'm only going Saturday and Sunday, to represent Pie Factory Podcast....last year I went for just Saturday but I spent so much time at the table that I didn't get much of a chance to actually shop around and check out the arcade...

So....uhhh...who's going?

I believe this is it: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242654-alpha-race-for-atari-7800/?p=3326051

That's kind of what I was leaning toward. Besides -- the ROM can be downloaded from the discussion thread on AtariAge, so it can be done either in emulation or via some kind of flash cart...(Plus, I already have the main body of the episode recorded. )

Say, uhmm....I'm getting a lot of "never heard of it" responses here, and almost equally blank stares at AtariAge. I got my copy of Alpha Race from Good Deal Games, as AtariAge never sold it. (I think only GDG and, independently, SiO2 were the only ones who ever sold it to date.) With those two things in mind...should I perhaps cover a different game for episode 3 and put Alpha Race off to later (in hopes of a reissue), or just stick with my original plan?

The good news for me is if I keep getting "never heard of it," this will be a really easy episode to do.

FWIW, it was never (yet) available on the Atari Age store, but Good Deal Games, which is where I got mine.