ZumaPhoto » music

Holiday Music 2010 | Zen’s Christmas Toybox Stream

Mitch — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 04:42:41 +0000

It’s BAA-ACK!

As featured on Arcade Fire’s News page!
(seriously – we’re about halfway down under ‘Technology’. LOL!)

ZumaPhoto’s tradition of streaming Christmas/Holiday music continues for 2010!
More songs! More merriment! 13% MORE MIRTH!

(Works for iPhones/iPods/iPads too! Read on to play!)

Many ways to play:

Flash-enabled browsers:

Just click the play button in the player below.

Configuration Error!

Also, there is a pop-out version of the player above left (the one that looks like a play button) for those of you who would like to close this page but keep listening.

-/-

iTunes/WinAmp/Windows Media Player:

Just click the appropriate icon in the upper right left, above
(just above the embedded player).

Great for pushing to AirPlay devices, Roku, etc.

[Note: depending on your system configuration, rather than opening the stream
automatically in your player you may instead download a 'listen.m3u' file.
Just drag that to the player of your choice to start the delicious tunes....mmm...
The file is available here should you have any problems.]

-/-

iDevices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch):

Just click this link and it will load up in Quicktime!

http://xmas.zumaphoto.com

(or you can enter the URL into Safari manually)

TIP: If you have the new iOS 4.2 update try using it with AirPlay to push the deliciousness to your good speakers!

Enjoy!

And as always, if you have suggestions or request to add to the playlist, drop us an email at zenbox@zumaphoto.com or just leave it in the comments section.

-/-

Holiday Music from ZumaPhoto to You | ZumaPhoto

Mitch — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:23:11 +0000

When I was a child my father had a 4+ hour reel-to-reel mix of Christmas music that he would bring out every December and that labor of love became an integral part of my holiday memories. About 5 years ago I began to gather all of the songs on my father’s original collection and have been adding my own selections to that core group ever since. Today we have nearly 1200 songs in nearly every genre and period, including timeless classics, contemporary updates, irreverent satire, and the just plain strange…. ZumaPhoto would like to share it with you as our way of saying thanks, and of course Happy Holidays!

This is a tradition that I wish to pass on to my own children, and so I have named the stream after my son Zen. So far, he isn’t really showing what I consider to be appropriate appreciation, but then he’s not yet 2.

And so without further ado, we offer for your listening pleasure Zen’s Christmas Toybox.

Click on the link above or the widget below and a javascript player will pop up (pop-up blockers may mess with this, so be aware). After an annoying 30-second ad you’ll be connected to the stream and should have hours of uninterrupted tune pleasure.
We’re always on the lookout for new, cool, and especially unusual things to add to the collection, so if you have a suggestion, please drop us a note at toybox@zumaphoto.com

In addition to the default pop-up javascript player, there are other options for listening:

Live365 iPhone App
It works surprisingly well! Just search for it in the App Store. Once loaded, look for ‘Zen’s Christmas Toybox’ in the station search.

iTunes
Especially useful for streaming to your main speakers using Airtunes!
Just download this playlist and drag the resulting file onto your iTunes dock icon and it will be added to your music listings! May also work with WinAmp and WMP.

RealPlayer/WinAmp/Windows Media Player
You will need to set up a free account with Live365 in order to set this as your default player under the Listen Settings preferences. Also, try the iTunes playlist file listed above.

Xbox360
As far as I can tell, Requires Windows Media Center – once set up use the connector to stream to your Xbox 360.

Carrier Pigeon
Not really recommended as the sound quality is degraded, but its doable. They also tend to get easily distracted, caught in windmills, and are prone to migrating in the winter. Keep plenty of seed on-hand if you want them to keep coming back.

Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary Show | Part 2

Mitch — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:43:17 +0000

Continuing on from yesterday’s post… after M.I.A., New York’s Star F*ing Hipsters (hey, its a family blog) took the stage for a high-energy and varied set. After that came U.K.-style political-tinged commentary from Bath, England’s own Citizen Fish, featuring former frontman of the influential Subhumans, Dick Lucas. And finally it was time to make way for the man himself as Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine took the stage to demonstrate once again why Jello is such a legend. Stirring performance.

~ Star F*ing Hipsters ~

Stza!

First an impression of a bunny, and then a knock-knock joke. It was a variety show!

Quick jump outside to visit the culture between sets.

~ Citizen Fish ~

This is Max. He flew in from Quebec City for this. He seems happy.

The Guantanamo School of Medicine’s axes lie in wait. They seem so peaceful…

Nick (M.I.A.) talks shop with Phil (Citizen Fish) while clearing the stage for Jello.

Because there’s always room for Jello.

~ Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine ~

The many faces of Jello Biafra…

Jello is a great motivational speaker.

Reach out and touch someone.

Here’s the crowd participation part of the show.

Surveillance photo of friend Skøt enjoying the beautiful chaos.

Members of Citizen Fish enjoy from the sidelines.

And then it was over…

UNTIL, M.I.A. returned to the stage to back Jello in some Dead Kennedy’s classics.

They were well received indeed.

Even Pete smiled on the proceedings.

Happy Birthday, Alternative Tentacles.

Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary Incest-A-Thon | Part 1 – M.I.A.

Mitch — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:20:02 +0000

So here’s a bit of a diversion from the usual…
Back in 1979 American punk bands had just a pickle of a time getting records made and distributed. One of the most active, influential and notorious of these plucky groups was The Dead Kennedys – true pioneers of hardcore. In the true spirit of the punk DIY ethic, they started their own label, Alternative Tentacles, which rapidly grew to be the home of dozens of varied acts with an eventual catalog of hundreds of ground breaking, important albums. The DKs and many of the other bands that Alternative Tentacles carried were a huge part of my early life and the memories are so vivid that they seem like yesterday…. Well, they weren’t! They were exactly 30 years ago! To celebrate, Alternative Tentacles invited a representative cross-section of acts from throughout its history. My buddy (and amazing photographer in his own right) Nick Adams is the guitarist for one of those invited bands, M.I.A. Nick was kind enough to invite me out for the show! Part 2 is here.

Pre-show anticipation and culture.

Paul noted that punk love is the truest love there is. So true. Paul is wise. He’s like an owl.

This is the back of Jello Biafra’s favorite stage manager, Pete. The man was a machine during the show!

Nick and his lovely and talented wife Signe enjoy a bit of cool air while waiting for drummer Larry to arrive.

Larry experienced some of the inexplicable delays for which SFO airport is so well known and adored and there were a few tense moments
as to whether M.I.A. would get to their soundcheck.

I was under instructions to photographically shame Larry upon his arrival, but he’s so good-natured that he wasn’t buying in.

I include this because once the house-lights go down you can’t get an appreciation of this historic theater.

And then its a waiting game. Here Nick practices his soulful look.

Nick, Larry and one of the members of Houston’s Molotov Compromise (in the mirror) hang out in the dressing room.

Todd (vocals) gets a shot of Paul (bass) during his method-influenced, pre-gig ritual.
It really worked! I actually believed he was a bass player and he never broke character once all night!

Finally, the call to arms…

Punk and thrash bands are particularly tough to shoot because they never stop moving!
While not technically great, I thought this shot conveyed M.I.A.’s kineticism

Todd…so angry.

Yeah, so the focus on this is off, but I really love the expression that Nick makes during heavy string bending!

Jesse at work.

Paul triumphant!

What can I say – these guys still kick out the jams! M.I.A. is available for weddings and bar mitvahs.

Now go check out Star F*cking Hipsters, Citizen Fish & Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School of Medicine in part two!