I Accidentally Promised to Run a Big Tech Summit Music Stream!

The Origin Story: From Prague Summit to Virtual London Event

This week, I have a couple of things scheduled that I need to do. And one of them is because I talked myself into a project that I wasn't necessarily ready for.

A few years back, I played at a summit that happened in Prague. It was for the Ubuntu Summit. It's a summit that's for free and open source culture, and mainly is about the operating system Ubuntu, which is a Linux operating system.

My band played there because we are Ubuntu users and we are open-source artists. They announced that they were going to be doing another one this year from London. They were going to announce the details and all this and I was like, I would like to go to London.

So, I contacted them and they were kind of like, well, we're not really doing it the same way this year. And I'm like, well, what's going on? And then they finally announced that it is going to be an online streaming event that is being hosted from London, but it's meant to be virtual.

Talking Them into Letting Me Run a Separate Music Stream

So, not wanting to admit defeat, I was like, "What if you had a separate music event stream that happened, and I could get other musicians, including my band, to perform. It could have creative commons music all day, and we could have it so people could listen to it in the background during the summit".

And they're like, "Great, let's talk about it. Let's do it". I'm like, "All right, this will be awesome" and this will give my band good exposure and everything.

But the problem is I've never done something like this before. I've never done a live stream event that would involve other people in a different location. So I've been working on how to manage this, how to find in the bands.

Hitting the Deadline: October 23rd and 24th

I mean, my band will be able to record something, but, having this live music audio stream in place is what I'm working on right now.

This is really just - I'm trying something new. I took a gamble and said to this organization, "Hey, what if you let me run this?". And they said, "Great, do it because it's a great idea and you're saying we don't have to do anything". They went, "Go for it". And then I went, "Oh crap, I have to learn how to do this, and I kind of am". So, there you go. I've got to get going on that stuff.

Artwork for the original Candy Land game by Milton Bradley from 1955.

I have a vintage Candy Land game from 1955 by Milton Bradley and I was about to sell it so I thought I would add it to my personal art history course concept I've been doing . I'm going to try and see if I can find out how this game was created, designed and why? Here is what I found out about this game https://candy-land.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land_Wiki Candy Land is a board game about children exploring a world made out of candy and other sweets that originally came out in 1949. In every version of the game, there are a group of children that go through Candy Land. In the earliest versions of the game, it was a realistically drawn boy and girl. Drawing of the Candy Land kids I did on my phone ☝ https://board-games-galore.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land The game was designed in 1948 by Eleanor Abbott , while she was recovering from polio in San Diego, California. It's rumored that Eleanor also did the original artwork but I didn't find anything that...

Some history about artist Alex Toth

So recently I decided I was going to try and learn something about each item in my toy collection and the artwork behind it . Kind of like my own impromptu art history class. Then I'm going to sell it so I can start collecting more! :) Moltar One of the first things I put up for sale was this Space Ghost Coast to Coast Moltar Action Figure from back in 2000. By the way, I learned a valuable lesson when shipping this item to the person who bought it. Never let the people at the post office touch your collectibles! The Space Ghost Coast to Coast show actually used the original artwork from the Hanna Barbera Space Ghost cartoon from the 1960s. Those characters were designed by Alex Toth . I knew his name but didn't really know anything else about him. Here is a sketch I did of Moltar on my phone. So I decided for my first art history lesson I would do a little bit of research on Alex Toth . he died at his drawing table on May 27, 2006, from a heart attac...

How I use one Gmail address for multiple Soundcloud accounts

Do you know the Gmail "+" trick to use one email for multiple accounts on one service? Here's a little trick I use that works for any service. I talked about this on the podcast episode I did with artist Mortimur K . In this case, let's say I used up all the uploads I have for my free Soundcloud account . With this trick, I can open a new free account and use the same Gmail address. I don't want to create another Gmail account to sign up again. Using my one Gmail address for multiple accounts on the same service I don't remember when I learned this but you can alter the name on a Gmail address. Like, let's say mine is "tom@gmail.com". To be clear that is not my email. I wish it was, but this is just a short example. Start with the original Gmail address Add a "+" after the email name Where it says "tom" on the address I can put a "+" after that. Add a "+" after the email name After that "+" I ca...

Call out for musicians: Looking for creative commons musicians for a global streaming event!

Hey everyone! If you're a musician dedicated to the open culture movement, or you release your work under Creative Commons, I'm organizing a unique online streaming music event for October 23rd and 24th that's designed specifically for you. What's the Opportunity? This is more than just another online show. Our event is going to coincide with this year's online Ubuntu Summit , a major event for the open source community. This is a really unique opportunity to perform for a global audience of people who are already enthusiastic about free and open culture. I know from experience how great this community is. My band, Lorenzo's Music , performed at the Ubuntu event in Prague a few years ago, and I even gave a talk there about how we use GitHub to collaborate on music. This is a fantastic chance to connect with a tech-savvy audience that truly understands and supports the open ethos behind your music. We Need You! Right now, I'm looking for musicians and bands ...

Tom Ray

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