TwangCity

We've been up pretty reliably for the last few weeks.

I expect a brief outage this week as we switch DSL providers, moving from Speakeasy to Raw Bandwidth.  I'll try to give you some more detailed advance notice, although that may not happen.

No, I have not given up on TwangCity. In fact, I've been spending lots of time reorganizing the files in the library , adding album artwork, etc.

Thanks for hangining in there with us.

Our music library, and our SAM4 automation system, is housed at my home. We connect to the stream servers via a Speakeasy DSL. And we've recently seen unacceptable degradation in our previously "pretty good" DSL connectivity. This weekend, it has gotten really bad.

I think that on Monday I may take the whole library, and a server, in to work with me and originate TwangCity from the network at work. It's not an ideal solution . . . I never like having personal computers at work . . . but I gotta have a more dependable connection.

I am also considering getting rid of Speakeasy (with whom I have been pretty happy until a couple of months ago) and replacing them with ATT Uverse. Don't really want to, but I think the Uverse "fiber to the node" approach might give me better results.

I'll keep you posted, This really sucks, and Speakeasy can't explain it and won't send a tech. Sorry for the outage.

On the todo list:

1) Restore the request functionality, in a way that is more secure, and is DMCA compliant.
2) Complete the stalled process of getting our nonprofit status
3) Move this blog to a platform that gives us more flexibility. I'm thinking Ning, which I like. OTOH, I may find some other solution. I'd like to build more of a community here, and I'm not sure Movable Type is the right platform for that.

Thanks to Rick in Hawaii for the recent generous donation (and everyone else who has helped out.) You support keeps us going.

Also thanks to Tim Pozar of StreamQ for our new Shoutcast stream hosting. Tim is the guy who got me interested in this streaming stuff many years back, and if you are looking for super-reliable, non-nonsense stream hosting at a good honest price, Tim is the guy to talk to. sales@streamq.net

And a belated thanks to Jay, who sent me a whole mess of CDs last year. I am just getting around to adding "the rest of them" to the library. The delay is a long story I won't get into here. But thanks Jay!

My sincere thanks to TwangCity listeners Joe and Peter for their recent donations.

Your generosity makes it possible for TwangCity to continue streaming.

The next step with this website is to move it to Ning, a white label social networking site. We will still offer "what's playing" and probably requests, but also more interactivity and community.

When we moved to a new server a few months ago, the "donate" button went away. Just got overlooked. 

Voila! The button, she is back!

TwangCity is an expensive undertaking, and all donations go to pay for bandwidth, rights fees, and new music. Right now, our coffers are empty, bills are coming due, and the donate button has miraculously reappeared (right side of the page.)

Please give generously.

Thanks much!

-Roger

We did a (fingers crossed) apparently trouble-free upgrade to SAM Broadcaster 4.3.6 today. Also fixed the issue with now-playing not working, which was unrelated to upgrade.

I know I haven't checked in recently . . . just incredibly busy, with no time for posting or much of anything else. I am spending  a bunch of time today on TwangCity housekeeping.

Early tomorrow morning I will be moving TwangCity's "studio"  to another localtion, where I hope I'll have better connectivity.The contrant issues with the DSL at the current location are a real pain in the neck, so we'll try a different approach. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

 

Meet Heidi. She hates weed whippers, just goes nuts when she hears them. And tonight she got into the studio, running around and freaking out, because the neighbor was running a weed whipper. Pulled the DSL modem out of the wall. Voila! No TwangCity. But we're back, it's cool.