Ze, Websongs, and More.

In eight days The Show with Ze Frank will move from active production to memory.

For those that don't know, The Show was started on March 17, 2006 by web impresario Ze Frank. Over the course of the last year, Ze's Show has grown from a one man act to a rapidly evolving web community that counts more that 200,000 members.

These members have become an integral part of The Show. Called Sportsracers, members of this community develop intros for The Show, collaborate on songs, dress their vacuum cleaners, and submit power moves to vie for a spot in the League of Awesomeness. In many ways The Show has morphed from focusing on Frank's musings of current events to his dialog with his devoted fans. The Show has become a true collaboration.

In that light I should rephrase my opening statement.

In eight days Ze Frank will step down as the voice of The Show. In his place, legions of Sportsracers will take creative control of the project and continue its growth on the ORG.

If you are interested in catching up there is no better place to start than with the first episode of The Show.

For a quicker synopsis I recommend checking checking out last night's episode. The bulk of this episode is dedicated to 10 minutes of original Show songs. In short, Ze played a game of chess against his viewers. He lost, and the price for his loosing was to spend 10 minutes on screen with a guitar, playing songs.

The songs in this episode stretch back to the earlier days of The Show. As such watching this episode is in many ways akin to a sitcom where the character sit around reminiscing of their previously televised escapades.

'Fun Winter' is the first of the songs played, and it is by far my favorite. Originally featured on January 3, 2007, 'Fun Winter' is awesome because it casts winter in a really exciting light. Perhaps that seems strange, but really, listening to this song makes me really excited about winter. Truly.

Anyway, I have featured 'Fun Winter' as the first song to be added to March's SoKT. This performance is from yesterday and features Jonathan Coulton on guitar and vocal.

Enjoy.

As a side:

While I wait for the many promised KTR shows to roll in I continue planning my own shows. This morning, while re-watching yesterday's episode of The Show, it occurred to me to host a KTR show of 'Websongs,' songs written for an audience on the Internet.

'Fun Winter' by Ze Frank is an excellent example of a websong. Other websongs are more abstract. Some of the mathematical / musical / visual engines on the Whitney Music Box would also work.

As I plan this KTR episode I am going to make a request from my few readers. In the model of Ze I am asking you to submit some of the websongs that you all have come across in your web journeying. Email them to me here.

In this way I will build an upcoming episode of KTR -- whith your all's help.

Danke.

Knock Twice, Five.

BTW the new episode of KTR has been up since Sunday. Its a simpler show that looks at a composition from 1985 and a performance from 1975. All instrumental.

Moving forward I looking for some more hosts. Carl is lining up the show for this weekend, and I'll be back for the following weekend. If the cards hold true Eric, Elisabeth, and one of the Mike B's are all contemplating shows.

Now is the time to act.

Knock Twice Radio, Third Episode.

The third episode of Knock Twice Radio is now being broadcast.

The first in a two part series that features the early days of recorded American music as captured on 78 rpm record and archived on the Internet Archive, this weeks episode focuses on folk, blues, ragtime, brass music, and jazz.

For long time readers, you might recall a series of posts that I did on Sounds and Pictures that also featured 78s. Called 'That Good Old 78', that series on S&P was the inspiration for this current show. If you like what you hear keep listening... the second episode will air on KTR in mid-March.

Knock Twice Radio, Second Episode.

My good friend Carl hosted the second episode of Knock Twice Radio.

Now live on the Internet, Carl's show features garage and psychedelic music from the mid to late 60's. Joyously kicking around in between the organ and the reverb soaked guitar, Carl has found some excellent examplars of the genre.

You probably haven't heard most of these tunes, which is excellent, because in a lot of ways they represent the energy, excitement, and exploration that typify rock's forgotten sound. This is indeed a celebration.

Carl lives in Brooklyn, NY and is the founder of and inspiration for Sounds and Pictures. He is also a part time fashion photographer and works full time, begrudgingly, as a quality control web developer.

Knock Twice Radio, Inagural Edition.

After many hours sorting, writing, narrating, cutting, and tweaking I am proud to offer up the inaugural edition of Knock Twice Radio.

To kick off this musical collaboration I decided to host a 'soul' show -- showing off not only my growing soul library but also my desire to be a soul DJ.

Next Sunday look forward to a show hosted by Carl.

Go here if you are interested in producing your own episode of Knock Twice Radio.

SoKT

Peaking at the sidebar you will notice that I have changed out the tracks on SoKT.

In order to keep things fresh I have decided to start a new playlist each month.

As promised I started this month with a Pete Seeger rendition of 'Clementine', one of my favorite American sing alongs... about death!

For those of you who miss the great tracks on last month's SoKT, please check out the new SoKT page: www.knock-twice.com/sokt.

The SoKT features January's excellent and Oldam-ish bonus track.

Also, don't forget to check out Knock Twice Radio this Sunday (Feb. 4). I will be debuting the inaugural episode around midnight EST.