Rubénerd!

The illustrious, talented and super friendly Esther Golton in Alaska. Independent singer songwriter, hammer dulcimer player and flutist. Floutist? Fluteist? Flautist? Ah okay, the spell checker liked that last one.

I have Unfinished Houses and Aurora Borealis: A Conversation with Alaska's Northern Lights, signed and everything! ^______^ When was the last time you got that from a commercial, mainstream artist I ask you right now?!

If you follow the life and times of independent folk musician, singer and songwriter Esther Golton you're probably already well aware of and excited by this news, but for those of you who many not be so well versed in the life and times of independent folk musician, singer and songwriter Esther Golton you're probably already well aware of and excited by this news, but for those of you who many not be so well versed in the life and times of independent folk musician...

Sorry, I got caught in an infinite loop. It's a mental condition, I'm having it checked out. If you're not aware by now (isn't that a Simply Red song?), Esther is releasing a new follow-up album to Unfinished Houses which I've loved and in a more personal way has got me through some tough and challenging times in my life to say the least.

Hello Folks, (including everyone in my entire mailing list) -

It was 2 years ago that I released Unfinished Houses and began to immerse myself in the life of a traveling singer-songwriter. It's been great. Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm, whether you are fan, venue, house concert host, 'WheatHead', press, radio, fellow musician, family or friend.

So, two years later, I have an exciting announcement. I have in my hands a brand new CD, ready to go out into the world. It's called Aurora Borealis: Conversations with Alaska's Northern Lights. You can listen to samples and purchase pre-release copies directly from my website.

Snow Leopard got me in the mood for preordering stuff, so I've gone ahead and preordered my own copy of Aurora Borealis. If it's even a tenth as enjoyable as Unfinished Houses was I'll feel as though I got my money's worth :).

Amongst many of her stunning artistic abilities, my beautiful late mummy was a woodwind, keyboard, harp and dulcimer player, and Esther's voice, mannerisms and style of music remind me so much of her it brings back tears sometimes, but more often than not it makes me smile. At the risk of sounding overly cheesy and nostalgic, it's like having a small part of my mum kept alive in spirit whenever I listen to Esther's music.

Also as a matter of disclosure for legal reasons my solicitors have advised me to inform you all that Esther did not pay me for this post, though I wouldn't be adverse to her doing so later at her discretion if she chose to ;). Or anyone else for that matter. Terimah Kassih.

I have all the room I need
My bed is wide enough for three
I can stand up tall and stretch my arms up high
I can step outside and wander through the trees
I have all the room I need.

Whole Wheat Radio's Last.fm profile viewed when I was logged in this afternoon

In response to my post where I talked about passing 10,000 plays on Last.fm, Jim Kloss directed me to the Whole Wheat Radio Last.fm profile page. Our calculated musical compatibility is "HIGH".

In one word: I approve! And it definitely is interesting to check out the trends.

I'm surprised though that it's saying that the aforementioned artists are the only ones we have in common... unless they're the artists we have in common that I've played the most. I'm surprised Marian Call isn't listed there for example.

Wait, I just read it again, it says music we have in common "includes". I should learn to read things before making myself look silly... or at least more silly than I usually do. I'm not Bill Kurtis.

This post took just under a week to type because of constant distractions such as studies and work. (isn't that always the case?). Because of this, it may seem a bit disjointed. Then again if you're used to reading my ramblings, this probably will seem normal.

My beautiful late mum always said to start everything you write by setting the scene. Considering I'm typing this and not writing it I'm not entirely sure if this rule still applies, but for the sake of posterity I'll indulge in it here. I always thought the word posterity was funny because it looks like posteria. I'm sitting at a coffee shop in Singapore in the early morning; the sun has just recently risen and (at the risk of unintentionally sounding risque) so have I. I'm enjoying an Americano and a slice of Tiramisu, a cute Japanese girl at the table next to mine just winked at me and I said ohayo gozaimasu which made her blush - which made me blush - and for some reason am feeling intrigued, a little confused and quite excited - but wait, it's for another reason!

A warped bookshelf impending doom!

Due to a particularly disastrous night sleep involving a bookshelf falling on my head (note to self: use all the screws Ikea gives you in the box, and don't stow a copy of The God Delusion high up because that's just tempting the powers to get back at you) I found myself at 3am listening to Jim Kloss's 11am Shoe (sic) despite promising myself I was going to try to realise a regular sleeping pattern again. I don't understand why one of the most entertaining and interesting people on radio and the intertubes does a show at such a bizarre hour of the day; I've been told it has something to do with time zones, but I can't shake this feeling that somehow he's involved in a conspiracy to turn me nocturnal, or to use the biological term: nocturnal.

ASIDE: I studied biological in high school, but I was mush better at chemistryical and enjoyed it much moreical.

In retrospect though I wish I had built that bookshelf ever so slightly worse than I did so it could have whacked me in the head twenty minutes or so earlier, because when I tuned into the 11am shoe at the misleading time of 3:24am I was downright fascinated by what I heard. Mr Kloss proposed that Whole Wheat Radio could be the world's first truly community driven radio station!

The idea infuriated me as I had not thought of it myself first, but as the initial anguish subsided I realised: Jim was absolutely right. Whole Wheat Radio is a community powered radio station.

To get a feel of why I thought Jim was right, consider regular, traditional terrestrial radio:

• It exists for the sole purpose of generating advertising revenue (a business model that I've never been a fan, or indeed even an air conditioner, of).
• Playlists of songs are generally created in advance
• The music itself generally conforms to only a select few genres and stays that way
• Music can be chosen by listeners only through request shows, and even then the chances of your chosen tune being played are lower than my doctor's opinion of my coffee intake

And now consider Whole Wheat Radio:

• It exists for the purposes of creating a community of people who listen to, appreciate and support independent music
• Playlists of songs can be created in advance, but not by the "management", but literally by the listeners themselves.
• The music conforms to no set genre, meaning the community can choose what music fits their mood at any particular time
• Individual tracks can be requested and are almost certainly played

To put it as bluntly as possible, it's a friggen damned eye opening comparison! But there's even more to it than that: not only do wheatheads listen to and request the music that's played in Whole Wheat Radio (a fact that in itself would be enough to distinguish it from traditional radio), we are also directly involved in the music playing infrastructure itself.

• We rate songs which determines what music stays and what music gets the boot. We tag songs depending on mood, genre or any other arbitrary categorisation scheme we can think of, which can be used to create shows and make the tracks easier to find
• We purchase music which supports this artist as well as the site, not just a record label.
• We engage in heartfelt discussions on the state of world affairs, the global music scene, what coloured socks Jim should be wearing, the draconian copyright laws that make our lives so much more complicated and less rewarding than they could be.
• We create, update and maintain the information on (hopefully eventually) every song, album, artist on the collaborative wiki system.

For these reasons I can't help but agree that not only am I fortunate enough to be part of this beautiful community, but that I'm also a part of possibly the first truly completely community driven radio station. I'm positive there have been other radio stations that can boast community driven elements, but I doubt there's been one that's been driven by real people outside "management" to the extent Whole Wheat is.

ASIDE: I tried being community driven myself once.

I posted on Twitter that I would do whatever people told me to. After five minutes of hopping on one leg in public wearing three sandwich boards, a clown shoe on my left hand and a saucepan in the other, a tea cozy over my head and shouting "THE IRISH ARE COMING!!" in a faux Russian-Africaans accent while riding an imaginary flying hexagonally-wheeled bicycle, my self preservation instincts kicked in and I abandoned the project.

For what it's worth, my therapist says I'm making admiral progress.

It does present an interesting problem though; what do we call such a phenomena?

• Collaborative Radio?
• Community Driven Radio?
• No BS Radio?
• People Powered Radio?
• Listener Powered Radio?
• Shared Direction Radio?
• Cheese Steak Jimmy's?

And those phrases don't even account for the international community behind it! Since Jim encouraged us to come up with our own ideas though, and given the fact I'm a fan of FLOSS software, I also propose this name which is 100% Rubenerd:

International Open Source Radio

Think about it: the term "open source" implies we are allowed to see how software works and take an active or passive role in it's future direction. As a community of people from around the world constantly changing, adding to and improving Whole Wheat Radio, and who know how it works from the top end, the term seems to fit perfectly. Considering the wiki software that powers the website is open source too, and the fact that everyone who listens to Whole Wheat Radio is either a computer programmer or someone who's obsessed with electronics, it's a great choice. To use an Elke phrase: "... uh, yeah!"

Not impressed? Okay, what about this?

International Free and Open Source Independent Music Distribution and Collaboration System... Thingy

You could call it IFAOSIMDACST (pronounced eye-faw-sim-dak-est) if you wanted a catchy acronym too!

I think I'd better just stick to programming. Hey, it's the thoughts on the subject that counts right? If not, I just wasted a lot of time :-)

ASIDE: How much Whole Wheat Radio could a woodchuck Whole Wheat Radio, if a woodchuck could chuck Whole Wheat Radio?

I'm not good at telling jokes either it seems.

Back to you, Jim.

"It could feel as overwhelming as standing in a room with too many masterpieces"

On Monday morning at 07:01 here in Singapore I wasn't tucked in bed asleep, I was plugged into the computer listening to Ed Craver reading some of his brilliant prose and works on Whole Wheat Radio!

Ed Craver and Esther Golton at the Wheat Palace in Talkeetna, Alaska, USA

I was expecting to type up a short review of Mr Craver's readings shortly after hearing them, but as I sit here listening to how much Esther Golton would love to grow lots and lots of sweet corn, I'm absolutely, completely speechless. It's as though anything I attempt to put into words here would be hopelessly insufficient, if that makes any sense at all. I've rewritten this entire post now well over a dozen times, and it still seems inadequate!

Mr Craver took us to the rich farming land in Alaska, to his Island with his livestock, even to a sticky situation he found himself in involving a gigantic boar and a certain sensitive operation! The imagery he conjured up with his brilliant grasp of language was intoxicating and transported me right to frigid Alaskan winters as I sat on my balcony on the seventh floor of our apartment block in hot, humid downtown Singapore.

Ed Craver and Esther Golton on the other side of the world on an early Monday morning

As a young man who grew up entirely in cities around Australia and Asia, Mr Craver's stories of farm life and living out in one of the most isolated places on earth particularly touched me, and his wicked and witty sense of humour literally had my laughing out loud, much to the dismay of my sister trying to sleep in the room next door!

And to top it off, we had Esther singing Shadu during intermission... what's the technical musical term I'm looking for again? Oh yeah... YAY!

I'm hoping Jimbob will upload this as an audio magazine so that if you couldn't catch the performace you can listen later. Heck I want to be able to hear it again myself!

ASIDE: Corn corn! Sweet corn! I'd grow lots of corn!
Corn corn! Sweet corn! All I'd grow is corn!

So there ends my hopelessly inadequate review of Ed Craver Live at the Wheat Palace with Esther Golton. Thank you guys, you were brilliant and made a usually dull and depressing Monday morning into the high of my week! Cheers :-D

For those who follow the developments over on Whole Wheat Radio, the queen of the airwaves Esther Golton has just arrived back from her latest musical tour!

I know I speak for all the wheaties, wheatheads and wheatypeoples when I say it's good to have you back, and we're all looking forward to hearing your voice again from time to time on the morning shows with Jim. Cheers from Singapore!

If you don't know about Whole Wheat Radio, it's an online radio station produced in Talkeetna Alaska, in the States. They play only independent music, and have a thriving listener community which I'm proud to be a part of. You can rate songs you hear, you can edit their wiki pages and if you listen in for long enough you might hear Jim and Esther speaking live :).

The Whole Wheat Radio Episode! How I found WWR in November 2004, the first morning rant I ever heard, discovering the site and becoming hooked, creating the WWR page here on this site, and listening to my first live morning rant! Audio clips from WWR by Jim Kloss and Esther Golton

Download MP3 ↓ 10:00 minutes, 4.8MiB

You can also stream it and view its Internet Archive page.