Category Archives: The Less Desirables Network

Picklebacking or: Losing a Fave

30 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by in Food, The Less Desirables Network

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I’m piggybacking, or pickle-backing, on The Man Who Ate the Town food blog today. Miss Jenny’s Pickles is closing as of tomorrow, May 31, 2017. We had Miss Jenny on The Less Desirables a year or two back and we actually got Eugene to eat a pickle (several actually). I really don’t know why she closed but I think it was just hard to compete with the big name pickle brands. Whatever it is she is doing or wherever she’s heading, she’ll “pickle up!”

To read the article, go HERE. There will be a mention on TMWATT podcast later today.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“I don’t do regrets and YOU shouldn’t either.” – Jenny Fulton (Miss Jenny)

Pardon The Interruption or: Back and Again

17 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by in Blogging, Life as We Know It, Podcasting, The Less Desirables Network

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Many apologies to any of The Less Desirables listeners who couldn’t access the latest show, be it via iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or any of the other aggregators that you may use to subscribe to the podcast. Additionally, if you tried to visit the website, it has been down since Friday afternoon.

Most of it was my “fault.” A few years back we had updated WordPress (the platform we do the site from) and the way the site had been built, the updates created chaos and the site went down. A new site designer was able to get it back into working order but said we couldn’t update WordPress. We decided to build a new site to overtake this one. Well, for whatever reasons, that didn’t work out and the site was used, but unupdated for about three years. There were several WP updates in that time. Well, that left the site vulnerable to malicious instances.

The hosting company that I use for everything except two of my websites flagged it and quarantined the site. I had to download every file from the server (13,000 of them!!) and run an Anti-Virus (AV) program on them. The AV showed nothing but one thing that had nothing to do with my site files. So, I had to delete the content of the server and reupload the files. Well, that wasn’t good enough. Even though my AV showed nothing, the software that the hosting company uses said some things were still malicious. I deleted those files and it turns out it wasn’t malicious, just old. The files were elements of the site that were outdated and not necessarily recognized by the software as “viable.” They restored those and, now, the site is back up and running. That means the quarantine has expired and all is back up and running. And, I did update all the WP software and things are working okay, still. Whew. That was a rough Easter weekend, at least in that aspect.

Okay, well, again, we’re back. Get back to the listening and enjoy! Thanks to our newest web designer, Jennifer Filipowski for her help in getting things back to order. She’s awesome. Thank you to Siteground (the hosting service) for their help, understanding and expertise.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Founded in 2004 by a few university friends, SiteGround gradually but steadily turned into a leading web hosting service provider.” – SiteGround

Take Your Stinking Paws off My Beer or: Craft Freedom!

21 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Beer, Life as We Know It, Podcasting, The Less Desirables Network

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Salutations™!!craft-freedom-dk.png

 

Dear Reader, did you know about the stupid law that stifles the employment and economic growth of the breweries (and local communities) in this state? Perhaps you don’t. To many, and understandably so, it’s under their radar. Most imbibers are blissfully oblivious because it’s not something that the big beer distributors want you to know. You’re asking what it is I’m talking about, I know. Well, I’m going to provide the copy of the petition from CraftFreedom.org and let you read it for yourselves. It goes like this:

In North Carolina, breweries are allowed to distribute their own beer – up to a certain point. A misguided law, created to favor local distributors, now threatens the growing craft beer industry. The law mandates that once a brewery produces 25,000 barrels of beer in a calendar year (which is equivalent to the amount of beer N.C. consumes in about 1.5 days), it must engage beer distributors to distribute all of their beer. The distributor gains ownership of the brand and control over all sales, delivery, distribution and quality control during transportation – basically everything that matters to a company. The brewery loses almost 30% of its revenue and margin to the distributor, a devastating financial blow to any company, and enters a bloated distributor beer-brand portfolio in which it cannot compete or be adequately supported. Finally, regardless of performance, N.C. law makes it virtually impossible to fire a distributor and regain control of the brand. The brewery is locked in forever. Brewery owners have no choice, and no say in what happens to their business. This is currently the law. And it needs to change.

What CraftFreedom.org is petitioning for is that the ceiling of 25,000 barrels be raised to 200,000 barrels. That way there’s more room and more ability for the smaller, more independent and guys trying to make a living (and supply jobs for others) to compete and provide a healthy service to the economy and community.

You see, when the distributors have your beer, it’s added into a pool of other brands that that distributor carries. “Big Beer” like AB-InBev, Miller, Heineken, and their ilk put demands and/or incentives on the distributor to push and promote their beer over the “little guys.” Ever wonder why your grocery store beer selection is 90% Big Beer and that little bitty section is for the better quality and usually better tasting craft beers get the last 10%? I’ll tell you, it’s certainly not because those beer brands taste better. It’s because those big boys pay to have their stuff shoved down your throat. That extends to the purchasers and consumers.

Here in Winston-Salem, while we can still find Olde Mecklenburg Brewing‘s beer here and there, it’s not as plentiful as it used to be. How often do you see Hell Yes, Ma’am!, House of Clay, Moravian Rhapsody here? Probably never, those are from Raleigh Brewing and they’re stuck in Distributor Hell. You’ll see some of NoDa‘s stuff here, but again, it’s not plentiful. These are just some of the breweries that are stifled by this ridiculous law.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think distributors definitely have their place and have done some good. They do push some of those smaller brands, especially to the bottle shops like City Beverage. But, like most of the smaller breweries, I believe the use of them should be voluntary and not mandatory.

I think the executives of those three larger/smaller breweries said it best when they served as guest columnists for Asheville’s Citizen-Times newspaper:

“Imagine for a moment that you start a small business. You invest your life savings, take enormous risks, and work long and hard to make your venture a success. Years later, your hard work has paid off, and your business is growing. You want to invest more money and hire additional employees to expand your production and sales.

“Then state government comes to you and says: Hold it right there. Since you have made your business a success, North Carolina law requires you to give up control of your homegrown product and to transfer your brand rights to a needless third party – outside distributors. These state-mandated middlemen have taken no risk or stake in your entrepreneurial enterprise, they just want to reap the benefits of your hard work and dedication.”

Does that sound right to you? Heck no! If it does, then you’ve got some issues. That or you work for or own one of those a-hole distributors. I would recommend reading the whole article, which you can find HERE. I could go on and on but I wouldn’t do the cause any justice. But, we need to do something about this travesty.

Again, CraftFreedom.org has set into motion a movement to have these nearly 90-year old laws changed. If this bugs you, then you can be part of the collective voice. Go to the CraftFreedom.org website, sign up and sign the petition. It costs you nothing. You can buy a t-shirt if you’d like, but other than that, it costs you nothing but time. If you don’t care and just want to drink the beer that you’re given, then fine, ignore this whole plea.

I, The Less Desirables, The Beer Dads Podcast, Sipping NC: The Art of Drinking and The Man Who Ate the Town, all support this cause and we hope you stand with us and the hundreds and thousands of brewers, imbibers and lovers of beer to give the beer back to the people. Give them Craft Freedom!!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“The craft beer industry has contributed to the return of local manufacturing jobs and a rekindling of the entrepreneurial spirit in N.C. Our state and world grow and change over time – and the craft beer industry here is both changing and growing along with it. It is common sense that a law that is outdated should be amended to reflect the current times – this is all we are asking for. It’s time for N.C. to support this industry instead of curbing its momentum.” – CraftFreedom.org petition

Indeed Another or: Just What I Needed

22 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by in Life as We Know It, Podcasting, Rant, The Less Desirables Network

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Salutations™!!

You know what I need? Yep, another blog. That’s exactly what I need. It’s not like The Man Who Ate the Town or The Man Who Walked the Town or The Beer Dads or Sipping NC: The Art of the Drink or this fantastical time killer that you’re reading right now, needed any help taking up my time. Add that, along with The Less Desirables, TMWATT (podcast), The Beer Dads, Fan Interference, SippingNC (and the others that I just produce) podcasts to the mix and yeah, I’m rolling in free time. *sniff* Yep, smells of sarcasm.TLDNetwork

Well, to tell the truth, the last things that I mentioned, the podcasts, or more specifically, The Less Desirables Podcast Network, is the reason for the latest of these spouting match vehicles. It’s actually called The Less Desirables Podcast Network, too. Yeah, there’s been a Twitter account and a Facebook account for TLD Network for a few years, now (and I’d appreciate if you still subscribed, followed and watch those).

The thing is, if you’ve ever listened to TLD or TBD (and you should have, Dear Reader, I don’t do those for my health, jk), you hear me have to be long-winded about how to find each show. I mention them and it would be easier to say, well, just put ‘.com’ behind each one and you’ll find the one you’re looking for. It would be easier to say but not easier to pull off, because, for one, Sipping NC isn’t a dot com, it’s dot ws (though I have registered the dot com, as well), two The Beer Dads is TheBeerDadsPodcastDotCom, and three, Fan Interference doesn’t even have a website, only Facebook and Twitter accounts, the latter which is very active. But, to go through all that, well, it takes what should be 30-45 seconds and turns it into 90-120 seconds of info.

So, whilst fiddling with a pseudo commercial for TLD to play on Fan Interference yesterday, I wondered to myself, Self… why don’t you just have a directory to catch all this on one page and be done with the long-windedness? And, truthfully, I’d been thinking about that for a while, so I decided to go ahead and do that. The first order was to register the name.

Well, there were a few considerations, details and complications in that. For starters, I didn’t want TheLessDesirablesPodcastNetwork or TheLessDesirablesNetwork dot com. I know attention spans are short these days, no offense, Dear Reader, it’s just true. I also know that even UselessThingsNeedLoveToo, while clever and, to me, funny, it’s a long URL to type in. So, I chose tldnetwork dot com. Well, apparently there’s some other company or person that already has that domain. Okay, well let’s try that dot net. Nope, also taken. After that, people aren’t going to worry about dot org and I’m not a non-profit (not that you have to be). I thought about it dot ws, but instead decided to change it. I could have called it TLDPodcastNetwork but if I’m going that far, then why not the even longer forms that I abandoned prior? Meh. I wanted something easy to type and easy to say, so I chose TLDPodNetwork dot com. Now, yes, I understand it’s only four letters shorter but it’s easier to say and rolls off the tongue easier, lessening the chance of sounding like I’m chewing on marbles. Listen, I have to make do, yeah?

Anywhat! I created a page that now I can direct people to using one common, easy-to-say web address/URL. It can be a directory/landing page for easy access to all the shows at once. It also includes embedded files of each podcasts under posts which correlates to the latest episodes, respectively. It gives a description of each show. It provides a “website” for Fan Interference. It includes Sipping NC: The Art of the Drink even though there’s no episodes released for that, yet. I have essentially killed an entire pile of proverbial stones with one bird (yeah, I know).

It will be easier, now. But, it wasn’t easy getting it going. I did a silly thing with my GoDaddy account and got a website builder, but it wouldn’t let me do what I needed. I couldn’t get that back. It was $12, but with it I got the $14 domain name for free, so I guess I saved $2, anyway? I couldn’t fool with it because I was getting ready to record Fan Interference. I had other work to do yesterday as well.

I realized that my hosting plans for TLD, TBD and Sipping all had multiple websites available and since I don’t have to have server space for this, I added it that way, including a new WordPress account.I did that at 3am this morning (zzz… or the lack thereof). One of the plugins that I use on almost all of my sites was having a glitch and that threw me off all day, today. It essentially kept me from designing my site to its potential and without the plugin I couldn’t tell how it was going to look, so I had to put it off and/or work around it all day. I finally got it set up around 4:45pm this after noon, which is why this post is late. I’m worn out and haven’t done much else other than a phone interview for Piedmont Local Magazine. My brain hurts and my eyes are sore, but I made it.

So, all that said, you can get to all of the podcasts from one place, now. You can do it by visiting HERE. We appreciate your listening. And, please, don’t hear this post as complaining, I absolutely love what I do, I am just verbose and needed to vent on it.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the contributors and are not necessarily shared by our distributors or hosting company. This podcast is copyrighted and any use of this product cannot be reproduced without written consent of Such-N-Such Limited, Inc. So don’t do it.” – disclaimer of every podcast on TLD Network.

Listen to Me! or: International Podcast Day

30 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by in Podcasting, The Less Desirables Network

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Salutations™!!

Do you know what today is, Dear Reader? Well, I’m sure you’ve already looked at the subject line, so I can’t hide it or make it a surprise (I’ll come out from behind the couch, now). Today is International Podcast Day! Today, that is September 30, 2016, International Podcast Day.

Now, if you’re wondering why this makes me excited, then I welcome you to my blog. You must be new here if you don’t know why this gets me going. There’s Secretary’s Day, tim-podcastingNational Librarian Day, Be Kind to Lawyers Day, National Bunion Removers’ Day (I made that one up), but none of those have anything to do with me, other than on those days, I hope the people it pertains to have a great one. But, International Podcast Day is a day that celebrates exactly what I do.

Six and a half years ago, I, along with my bud Brian started a little thing we call The Less Desirables. It was intended to be a mere 20 minutes long (the length of the local average commute) to give them a once-a-week dose of pop culture. We added Eugene a year or so into it and Caitlin after Brian moved away to take a major career step. When Eugene had to move on to other things, we added Bruce. Bruce went back to Chi-Town to be with family and we added Danielle. So, now Caitlin, Danielle, a plethora of guest hosts and I have welcomed, collectively, hundreds of guests (that sounds awesome to me) on what has grown to be a two hour show. 346 episodes of it, to be exact. Starting from a meager little bedroom on the ground floor of my house to the upstairs loft to two different studios on Fourth Street, downtown, to Test Pattern Studios on Seventh. We’ve come a long way.

But, it didn’t stop there. I wanted have a whole network of shows. Chad Nance of Camel City Dispatch wanted to do a weekly “news” program and we made that happen, once we moved downtown. That lasted almost 3 years. It wasn’t because the show wasn’t any good, it was the nature of the show and the direction Chad and Carissa (his better half) wanted to take the news organization in general. Chad and I remain good friends, now, and we still work together on various projects.

Ty Collins wanted to do a sports show. A national sports show that fell in the vein of Dan Patrick or other national sports talk shows. We made that happen. It is still going on and we record them on Mondays, generally right after all the sports happens. We call that Fan Interference.

The BCPF and I were eating at a restaurant (that is no longer there) and I posted about it on social media. Another local food blogger, Nikki, and I started a conversation about food and The BCPF said, “that’s your next podcast, right there.” We invited her to meet us a few doors down and we discussed and implemented what became Tart & Tangy Triad. That went on for almost three years. Nikki and I decided to take our food styles and wants and go in different directions, but I think we’re all proud of what we had with that.

I had become friends with Jon who truly introduced to Paul (we had met once and knew each other on FB), and grew tight and on the same page about wanting to be part of something big. The BCPF and their pilots along with us three started hanging out a good bit, together. That grew into a partnership that did two things. One, J&P are now part owners of Such-N-Such Limited, Inc., which owns Such-N-Such Media, which is the production company and owners of The Less Desirables Network and all of its shows. Two, our regular business meetings at Small Batch Beer company led to one of my favorite projects, The Beer Dads, a podcast about three guys who happen to be parents (Jon of 3, Paul of 1 and me of 1) and lovers of beer, so we sit and record our “dad” conversations whilst having a brew (or more). This part of my podcasting history, I consider the most important, other than starting The Less Desirables in the first place, which set all this roller coaster in motion.

This brings me to my (so far) last entry of my podcasting arsenal. At least what I’m directly involved with and responsible for. When Tart & Tangy Triad broke apart, I decided to focus on a food blog that I’d been working on for the last several years, The Man Who Ate the Town, and I’ll admit, sporadically. Once T&TT was done, I really turned it up. I wanted it to be the source for food news in town. Now, I know that it has a ways to go before that can even remotely be said about it and it may never get to that point, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to continue trying. Anywhat! I decided that I was going to put, in one shape or another, that concept into a brand new podcast and while it’s only me, for now, I am going to start incorporating some of the food personalities around town to be guests and have guest spots and segments. It’s growing and becoming somewhat popular, at least in the food industry around town. Check… And, coming soon, a video series (still can be used as a podcast) for The Man Who Walked the Town.

So, since 2010, I have produced 734 episodes of various podcasts and those are only the ones that I was the producer, host or owner or that has been on The Less Desirables Network. Before that, as far back as 2006/2007 I was doing podcasts for a comic book store that I was suckered into being a part of. So I’ve been podcasting for about 10 years. Longer than most, and certainly the most consistent of anyone around here that I can figure. Especially, at this volume. I’ve also produced around 15 episodes for several outside sources.

And that’s what I do, now. I produce. I produce for others.You like podcasts? You want to do a podcast but don’t know what goes into it? Well, fear not! I can help with that. I’m not going to get into the logistics of it because it’s 1000 words or more in and of itself. I’ve already run this one over 1000. But, let’s just say, I am not called the “podfather” around here for nothing. Let me help you. Contact me, we’ll talk.

So… Happy International Podcast Day to all of you. I absolutely LOVE what I do and I appreciate you all for listening to my work. I can’t thank you enough. But, I’ll try. Thank you thank you thank you thank you th… You get the gist. Listen to podcasts, it’s radio on demand! Listen to mine because I need to feed the fam. I’m not afraid to say that, either (wink).

Until tomorrow, same blog (and pod?) channel…
Scorp out!

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“Start the conversation…” – International Podcast Day website

Piggybacking the Melon or: Bradford Watermelon Goodness

22 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by in Food, The Less Desirables Network

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Salutations™!!

I’m under the weather today, sick as a dog (I hope it’s just a sinus problem), so because I wrote one post already today, for The Man Who Ate the Town, I’m piggybacking it. I wrote about the Bradford Watermelon even at Willow’s Bistro this past Sunday. Give it a read, won’t you? You can get it HERE.

2016-09-18-20-10-44

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“The heirloom Bradford Watermelon, long thought extinct, is being reintroduced to chefs, gardeners, and food enthusiasts around the world!” – Bradford Watermelon

Piggybacking on Some Piggy Products or: 1703, You Say?

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by in Food, Podcasting, The Less Desirables Network, Wine

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Salutations™!!

I released the sixth episode of The Man Who Ate the Town Podcast today. I hope to have guests, soon. Gonna start working on scheduling some in the next few weeks. Until then, it’s just me.

I’m leaving a hint about what’s going on in the show with this picture:

2016-08-23 15.24.05

Check out the episode, and what the topics are, including the link to the podcast itself, by visiting the post, HERE.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Podcast Addict, TuneIn or any aggregator that you use for podcasts. Same for The Less Desirables, The Beer Dads and Fan Interference. and, thanks for listening to our shows!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!!

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“You can do anything with beer that you can do with wine.” – Grant Wood

End of an Era or: Finished on Fourth

29 Friday Jul 2016

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Salutations™!!

Last Friday, I gave up the ghost on the nearly-cryptic news that we had made our move of The Less Desirables Studios to the new Test Pattern Studios. I, along with Jon and Paul, The Beer Dads, moved all the big stuff and then 3B and I moved the last essentials before setting up in the new digs. We left some stuff there for a bit whilst getting everything else figured out. Today, however, 3B and I went and cleared the last of stuff that I was taking away from the old space on Fourth Street and did a little cleaning before turning out the lights one last time.

It was a bittersweet moment, really. I owe a lot to that space. When we were doing The Less Desirables out of my bedroom, I had gained a little recognition for what I do, but I wasn’t in it, doing it. I was just figuratively tiptoeing around what I was doing. No one really knew what podcasting was (and there are plenty who still do not) and it was my job to get the word out there. I did so, also, with the help of sponsors that I gained along the way of being in that space: City Beverage, a/perture cinema, Finnigan’s Wake, King’s Crab Shack, The Garage and Washington Perk for TLD; Washington Perk for The Man Who Ate the Town; Omega Sports, Mary’s Gourmet Diner, Atelier on Trade and Hoots Roller Bar & Beer Company for The Man Who Walked the Town and Hoots for TBD.

Before…
…After

Making that move put me in the heart of the downtown of the city that I love and the city that I try to do my best to promote within about. I was there and in the middle of it. Listenership of the show grew. People started to know who I was for what it is that I do. That was in the first studio outside of the house. Same building but different spot, but still, I consider them both as one, just a different room

Moving to that spot also allowed me to do a few other things that I had wanted to happen: to record audiobooks, to do vlogging and perhaps the most important part – create a network of podcasts. That’s exactly what I did, all of it. All because I was able to be where I feel I was supposed to be. Some of the shows have come and gone but some are always right there. Camel City Dispatch News Hour (then Electric Camel Pod, now on permanent hiatus), Fan Interference, Tart & Tangy Triad (now defunct), The Beer Dads and now The Man Who Ate the Town and the soon-to-be blog/vlog/podcast, The Man Who Walked the Town.

However, time passed and we outgrew the space. That and the fact that I needed cell phone service, hated having 3 different keys  to go through about six doors to get to the studio, had to have a separate key and walk halfway around the building to get to and use the restroom and it was a mite scary place to be for people not used to it, especially women. All that, though, it still served me, and its purpose well. Now, it’s time to move on and so I have. Goodbye old friend, it’s been nice.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“It’s good to wander into the studio and walk out with something that’s better than you’d imagined it to be. If everything was as you imagined it to be, it just wouldn’t be as much fun.” – Dave Grohl

Cryptic No More or: The Test Pattern Studio

22 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by in Podcasting, The Less Desirables Network

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Salutations™!!

You know how I’ve been spouting nondescript and cryptic posts over the last week about changes and such? Well, it’s time to let that cat out of the bag, yeah?

All my podcasting, video production, voice overs, podcast consulting, audiobooks, etc. are all handled through the business of Such-N-Such Media which is owned by my (and my partners’) parent company, Such-N-Such Limited, Inc. We’ve been doing this media thing since at least 2010, or at least I have. It worked fine out of my house for a while but then we started having a lot of guests, guests were the feature and not just the hosts. That original studio was in my house, first in a downstairs room that became my son’s room and then in the upstairs “loft” that also housed my bedroom. That got awkward. So, I wanted a change.

In December of 2012, we moved downtown off of Fourth Street into the Chatham Building. The first location in that building was pretty cool. It was where we needed it and all was 2016-07-20 22.08.36right in the world. They had to do some building and improvements and that created a reroute of how to get into the building. Okay, no sweat. Then they added one of my favorite places downtown, Washington Perk right above me. That wasn’t too bad, either. But, then we realized that every time they would grind their coffee in the coffee shop, it would sound like a cat getting raped in the basement. I asked to move and the landlords accommodated me.

We moved into a new space directly diagonal from the old into a lonely, sometimes dark and cold hallway, which again, worked fine for me. However, after moving in that spot, I started getting more and more business and doing more and more podcasts. I was in there, sometimes, from around 8am until 11pm. Let me tell you, if you can’t see how the day’s progressing one day or so, that’s not too bad. When it’s almost every day, then it starts to get depressing. Add the fact that we had to have a separate key to go to the rest room and it was just a bit annoying. So, it was time to look for something else. It took us a while. I looked at several places, mostly around Main and Third and SOB40 near where DiLisio’s and Twin City Hive are. Those, for whatever reason, didn’t work out.

Back at the end of 2015 and into this year, our co-host was the “Right Reverend Cool,” Bruce Cole. He had a vision to start a radio station of some kind, whether terrestrial or internet radio, and was looking for places for us to do that, together. He found a place. It turned out that his brother, Brian Cole (from now on called BCole), owner of Single Brothers and Silver Moon Saloon had just purchased the Luna Lounge and Tiki Bar from its previous owner. In the back of this building was an extra space that once held the Lucky Strike retro store. It was sitting, well I can’t say empty, er… it was sitting unoccupied and needed something in there. Enter Bruce and me.

Bruce moved back to Chicago to be close to his wife (that’s a different story and it was sweet, but dang do I miss him) and that left me in negotiations with BCole. That’s fine, we’ve known each other for a while, even longer than I’d known Bruce. We had some talks and serious thoughts about what we could do. We came to an understanding as to what that was going to be. There were some repairs and mods to be made to the space, sure and there are still some that need to take place (and are taking place) but we decided that that was going to be the new The Less Desirables Studio. But, also, it wasn’t. At least we weren’t going to call it that.

When BCole and his lovely and brilliant wife, Drew, purchased the Luna Lounge and Tiki Bar, they had every intention of changing the name and theme. And, they did that. It is now called Test Pattern. It will go back to being a smaller music and performance venue and it has, because I’ve played there with The Threadbare Trio and will again in August. BCole and Drew decided that they wanted to be the “studio sponsor” of The Less Desirables Network and that they are. With that deal in place, every podcast that is recorded there (whether it is a TLD Network show or contract show) must state that they’re recording from “The Test Pattern Studio” and we’ll talk about what they have going on.

Now, that will not affect the sponsorship of The Garage. As BCole said on The Less Desirables this past week, there has always been a symbiotic relationship between The Garage and whatever Test Pattern has been and as far as he’s concerned, it will stay that way. I’m glad because I certainly don’t want to lose The Garage. So, located at the corner of 7th and Trade, 701 North Trade Street is where Test Pattern is located. Right behind there is where the Test Pattern Studio is where The Less Desirables Network now calls home. We’ve very proud and excited about this new venture.

Some of the highlights? Only one door (and a gate) to go through to get to it; a window that I can see out to the world and not be blocked off from it; a private bathroom that doesn’t need a separate key to use; access to glass washing (either mechanical or practical); accessibility to the area; an “On Air” sign that will light up when we’re recording; the ability to advertise that we’re there. There are more, this is just the beginning. Did I mention that we’re excited? So, while we’re still working out the bugs with things and getting everything just right, bare with us on the production quality of the shows as we’ll be working to tweak what we need to. Each room has its own personality and I’m still learning this one. But, no matter what… thanks for listening to all the TLD Network shows!

I do want, quickly to thank my landlords at Chatham bldg. (WRCP) for all they have done prior to me leaving. It afforded me the opportunity to grow and expand my biz. Thanks, so much.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“That literally and figuratively makes sense on the side of Test Pattern…” – BCole on the idea of TLD being in the new studio.