Ken McGuire

Author: Ken McGuire

  • First Podcast Of The New Year

    After a nice pod-break (since Christmas Day) for the Playlist Mix, the podcast is back with the 16th show and the first of 2008. To that extent I’ve also done a bit of work on the blog behind the podcast as well.

    Through KilkennyMusic.com we’ve worked with over a hundred different acts (on a face to face basis) and through the Playlist Mix I’ve been introduced to and had many a conversation with some great bands. If anything it’s also encouraged me to buy more music and new cds, today’s order being a copy of ‘An Offering’ from Inner Surge. That said, I’ve also got a list of albums to buy from bands featured on the podcast – nice to feature the acts, but also nice to support them in anyway possible.

    Later this year I’ll be entering my third year of podcasting, something I’m quite happy to do! So, here’s to another fine year of podcasts and meeting more bands….

    Playlist Mix #16 – Download (29mb)
    [audio:http://www.playlistmix.com/podpress_trac/web/33/0/podcast016.mp3]

  • First Purchase From AllPosters.com, Satisfied

    Just before the weekend I ordered a few ‘door posters’ from AllPosters.com and I genuinely forgot I had ordered them. There was money sitting in my PayPal account, enough to cover the investment, so I placed the order and arrived home yesterday to find a note from An Post – failed delivery, collect tomorrow, foreign package (not from the UK).

    Foreign package? Still hadn’t a clue.

    So it was a genuine nice surprise to arrive at the post depot at 8:30 this morning, having witnessed the school bus in front of me skid sideways on the ice, to collect said posters.

    Pay by paypal, speedy delivery from the US (4 days), and studio B is about to get decorated with door size posters from Trainspotting, The Godfather and Scarface.

    How very “cribs” of me.

    I was part of the affiliate program for AllPosters.com a few years back, when KKM first started but I can’t say that I’ve actually bought something from them until now. The swaying point? PayPal. When I got to the checkout I was thinking “wouldn’t it be great if they accepted PayPal”. Partly because I couldn’t remember where I left my wallet, but also because of the funds sitting in the account. Some online advertisers pay direct to the bank, some direct to PayPal and rather than put the transaction on my credit card, wait 7 days for a PayPal request to send money to my bank account (while losing a euro in process), I can purchase straight away.

    AllPosters.com, I’ll be back.

  • Happy New Year To One And All

    I’m back, refreshed and missing the water. Having spent almost two weeks away I’m back in Kilkenny well rested after the Christmas. The battery on my E50 died around Stephen’s Day and I never bothered charging it up – thus giving up access to Jaiku for the extra week or so.

    2008 is seemingly going to be a year of change in the McGuire clan and sure what harm of it!

    I did manage to sneak in six days in a row of kayaking (on lake and kayak surfing) around Sligo and had a blast. Mind you, Stephen’s Day in Iniscrone (which has a dozen varieties of spelling, as with a lot of Sligo towns) could have killed all of us and gave even the seasoned sailors in the group a scare – when in that situation it’s just best to bail to the nearest pub, and we did.

    Christmas itself generally consisted of kayaking, drinking, gigging, some photography (thank God), rescuing a car from a soggy Charlestown bypass, plenty of eating, buckets of DVDs, and just general relaxation. Last night was the first time since the Christmas weekend that I gave my laptop any attention.

    Hell, I even got to gig on New Years Eve with ‘The Boxty Band’, taking to the stage at 10:30pm and finishing at 2:28am. Talk about a savage way to kick off the new year.

    So here I sit, freezing in Kilkenny with the family in Sligo – there’s recording to be done, things to be shopped for, plans to be made for 2008 but all I fancy doing is putting my feet up with some more episodes of CSI (yes, I’m firmly hooked having watched 18 of 24 episodes of Season 1 in the last few days).

    To each and all of you, I hope the Christmas was great and here’s to a prosperous 2008 for everyone.

    Quick tip too – if you’re on the lookout for a coffee in Ballina (Mayo), hit ‘Mocha Beans’. Beans roasted in store, coffee to go is reasonably priced at €3.30 for a grande vanilla cappuccino and the tasty is just amazing.

  • Happy Christmas To You All

    I’m done for the Christmas, the office is closed, voice mail is changed, vacation autoresponders done and dusted and I’m set to enjoy some time with the family!

    I’ve no blog posts scheduled and in a way, it’s liberating.

    Eircom, on the other hand, seriously busted my balls yesterday and I’ve a post to piece together once I get over how untrained and unresponsive their staff are. Bar one guy I spoke to (out of seven – Eamon – actually made an effort to understand my problem with hotspot registration yesterday, fair play to him), the hour spent department hopping in the call centre was one I’ll never get back.

    So, barring my topped-up Meteor mobile (Nokia E50 I’m using for Jaiku / Twitter), I’m cutting myself off for a week and before I do I wanted to wish everyone a happy Christmas!

    To everyone I’ve spoken to during the year, those who I’ve conversed with over email, Jaiku, Twitter, IMs, to everyone who reads the blog via RSS, and everyone I’ve had the pleasure of meeting during the year (from BarCamp in January through to PodCamp in September) or ArtLinks work through to December. To all who attended performances by The Devious Theatre Company and to my terrific company of actors and friends to the most talented bunch of individuals at KKM and in the office (past and present), I say this..

    Happy Christmas to you all and may your New Year “be only savage…”

    Here’s to meeting many more faces in 2008!

  • Creative Camp Gets Colour

    Creative Camp

    Creative Camp has gotten a little colour, and a tagline to match.

    This is the logo we’ll be using for Creative Camp. I think ‘Business – Technology – Creativity’ encompasses the spirit of the day and of the event. On the creative side of things I’ll be speaking with ArtLinks in Kilkenny in the New Year about their involvement in the event.

    Offers to participate at an early stage are quite good with some nice ideas coming from the Waterford contingent in relation to design talks and workshops. We’re currently awaiting hosting and once it kicks in I’ll be tackling the blog end of things.

    The three strands of activities have been pretty much decided, as have the caterers, the venue (The Parade Tower at Kilkenny Castle) and of course the date – Saturday March 8th.

    As Creative Camp is operating in place of “Bar Camp Southeast” and is subject to portability (as in moving out of Kilkenny), it was decided not to localise the logo (like Galway ran with the claddagh and Dublin ran with the castle).

    If anyone would like a high resolution copy of the logo (300 dpi JPG, 300 dpi transparent PNG or Adobe Illustrator), feel free to contact me.

  • Mark All As Read

    My Google Reader feeds

    I’m gearing up for a Christmas period without internet use. Podcasts will wait, blogs will wait and the world will keep on spinning.

    So, over lunch today, I pressed the lovely ‘mark all as read’ button in Google Reader. Sure, I went through all my Irish blog subscriptions, skipping daily links, browsing over the meaty posts and at the end I abandoned every one of my tech blogs, podcast blogs, football blogs, music blogs by pressing that nice grey button at the top of Google Reader.

    At least now maybe I’ve a chance to catch up with stuff, or keep abreast of new blog posts. I’ve been swamped in the last fortnight, flat out busy in all directions. I’ve started blogging about Euro 2008, I moved and revamped Liverpool Access (which got re-ranked on request) and behind the scenes I’ve been working more with some local bands and putting spare time into getting a plan of attack together for Devious Theatre next year.

    And all the time, the unread messages count in Google Reader keeps climbing, and climbing.

    It is likely that the same will happen over Christmas, a week’s worth of activity from some daily news sources can mount up. Not finding the time to pour over all my subscriptions of late I’ve been using Google Alerts, while keeping a daily eye on activity in the land of Jaiku (where I can filter subscriptions people publish).

    I’m sure the mobile text alerts will keep me going over the holiday period. While I’m telling myself I’ll nip into town over Christmas for some coffees and an hour or two on the laptop, I’ll likely be more inclined to spend some time on the lake with my new kayak (arriving this Saturday) or spending time in the pub catching up with the McGuire clan.

    Mark all as read – just a good a feeling as cleaning your desk before leaving the office for Christmas.

  • Podcasting Over Christmas

    I’ve got three podcasts left to do before January, starting with Sound System Podcast #37. Under the KilkennyMusic.com umbrella we’ll have all the staff on board for the show, the intention on looking back at what 2007 has meant to us (a lot). The podcast should be an hour long and will feature music from a selection of Irish bands who we’ve worked with through 2007.

    The Sound System Podcast is into it’s second year of production, varying between music news and chat to recaps of the One Take Sessions (every three weeks). This podcast has been a learning experience for all involved and with a change of approach to it’s delivery back in the September/October it seems to have found more of a grounding, again something that will be developed through 2008. The final podcast of 2007 records this Thursday night (December 20th) and should be available online on Friday December 21st.

    The Playlist Mix, which I’ve been using to both hone my own approach to podcasting and develop contacts with bands overseas has two shows left this year, one this week (likely online before midnight tonight) and one scheduled to go up Christmas week. The latter will feature a selection of bands heard across the last thirteen podcasts and again should hit close to the hour mark. I reckon between the two podcasts I’ll at least have enough musical content to get me from Kilkenny to Athlone on Saturday.

    The Sound System Podcast takes a break Christmas week, returning with show 38 likely on January 4th, while the 16th Playlist Mix should arrive the day previous.

    I’ve been talking to a few people in music circles about producing a limited number of shows for a new project in 2008, something going on my New Years Resolution list (which I tend to get done). I’m hoping my Eircom hotspot access arrives via email before heading off to Sligo, the O2 store promising us that they wouldn’t have any mobile broadband coverage close to the lake so I’ll be looking for good WiFi coffee spots in Ballina and Tubbercurry over Christmas!

  • Microfilms & The Kris Kringle Konundrum

    Tomorrow morning I’ll be making a cameo appearance with Microfilms, a new production company established in Kilkenny by some good friends of mine. If you’re in Kilkenny tomorrow morning, I’ll be the one freezing in a Santa suit on Kieran street, making a quick appearance as a decoy Santa before hitting the office for my day’s work.

    It is great to see more of the creative talents in Kilkenny hard at work.

    Microfilms are, as their MySpace suggests

    … a filmmaking collective in Kilkenny operating with the intention to create new short films, music videos, animation, features (fingers crossed). We want to utilise the talents of many of our local filmmaking brethren and create top quality entertainment produce geared towards internet distribution.

    Because sometimes, just sometimes, Irish films don’t need to be about men chasing cows around fields to fiddle music.

    Our first production is VULTURES and it’s currently into it’s second week of shooting. It’s a web based sitcom following a hapless trio of private detectives as they run a humdrum business in a small Irish town. Our first online episode is entitled THE KRIS KRINGLE KONUNDRUM and will be aired around Christmas 2007. It’s preceded by a promotional trailer for Vulture Private Investigations which can be viewed above.

    I’m sure that discussing the development of ‘webisodes’ and the video production sequence for the online market would be a welcome addition to the billing at CreativeCamp in Kilkenny come March.

  • Remote Desktop Mac To PC (Windows)

    I picked up the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac last week and immediately thought ‘where have you been all my life’.

    Connecting to the PC (or any number of PC’s) is a breeze, entering the machine name or IP address on the network, you’re pretty much good to go. The majority of my remote desktop work comes with managing an Apache install on a windows box in the office. Since I upgraded the RAM in my Macbook Pro a few months back I’ve been doing the majority of my office work on the laptop. Yet every time I want to make changes on the server I’m logging into another PC, remoting into the server PC (no physical display unit) and then going back to the Mac.

    Not any more says he.

    It is a beta product, and it does expire at the end of next March but it does exactly what it says on the tin and means I’m doing less moving around the office to get simple server changes done.

    The DMG installer is about 4mb, give it a whirl if you’re a Mac user looking for a remote desktop connection to a Windows based PC.

  • Creative Camp For Kilkenny (And It’s In A Castle)

    As Keith outlined earlier in the week, we’re set for Creative Camp in Kilkenny on Saturday March 8th. Formerly trading as Bar Camp South East, we’ve a bit of work to do yet in terms of the brand, URLs etc (I’m keen to try out the previously suggested barcamp subdomain idea and get the ball rolling there) but we’ve got a lock on March 8th with the venue set to be the ‘creatively inspiring’ Parade Tower at Kilkenny Castle.

    I’ve been going back and forth with Keith and Tom (Corcoran, WIT) over the last few weeks and we’re looking at locking down the theme for the day, interweaving the traditional BarCamp elements of technology and business with the creative flair so ripe in Kilkenny.

    Some good feedback came out of the inaugural PodCamp, held here in Kilkenny at the end of September which we hope to carry forward to Creative Camp. While three of us have been in discussion organising sponsors, caterers, the venue and theme, don’t hesitate to have your say or get involved in the day! Drop one of us a shout (knowing I’ve already had a great chat with Bernie and Keith has been speaking to others).

    I’m looking forward to the fact that it’s in the Parade Tower. I know the venue quite well (having been involved with another event held there only last week). The main room would sit 120 quite comfortably, has it’s own bar area, full sound booth, several in-house wireless microphones and one seriously large projector. Several breakout / boardrooms are also available, all in keeping with the original decor of the castle itself.

    The castle itself has also gone WiFi in recent months and we’re currently talking with the team there in relation to getting a WiFi network opened up for the day.

    If anything – you get to hang out in a castle for the day and experience Kilkenny at a good time of the year! Keep March 8th in your diary for Creative Camp in Kilkenny.

  • Videos From Paddy Valley

    Jan Blanchard is busy with the video camera (Damien’s camera, he did say he was packing one?) and now, for those of you interested in what’s happening on the Paddy Valley trip to Silicon Valley.

    Last night was due to see Tourist Republic, Putplace, Nubiq, Spoiltchild and Pix.ie all pitching in front of some VC panelists after a panel discussion on raising cash for Irish Web 2.0 companies hitting Silicon Valley. The videos though, available here, are giving a little insight as to what is happening the far side of the world for the week the Irish invade.

    If you’re a Jaiku user, I would suggest tracking Damien Mulley for the week to catch his updates direct on the tour.

  • Young Irish Film Makers Go YouTube

    I’ve been distracting myself with other blogs, client launches, giving talks in Wicklow, a chest infection, an ingrown toenail (which got sorted yesterday) and so many other things that I’ve missed a few posts here over the last few days. Today too is the first time my laptop has been switched on since Sunday.

    That much aside though I should say that one of the things I was working on towards the end of last week was getting Young Irish Film Makers on YouTube and sorting out some kind of online direction for them for 2008.

    While some of the members have been posting to Google Video or YouTube under their individual accounts, there was nothing centralised to view the works produced by members, those involved in outreach activities and more. At present they’ve posted the second trailer for upcoming 2008 feature release ‘Suckers’ along with a clip from 2006 release ‘Stealaway’.

    I’ve been assured there will be several clips added to the YIFM YouTube channel a week so if you’re interested in following the works produced by members (aged 10 upwards) then keep an eye on it.

    Related link: YIFM.com

  • Headcolds And Podcasts Don’t Go Hand-In-Hand

    Ever since I got back from the weekend I’ve been struggling with a headcold / chest cold / general coldness. I went through this last year only to wind up with near pneumonia. I had taken Monday off work, agreeing to myself to record the 11th Playlist Mix podcast on Tuesday night. Little did I figure that come Tuesday night I’d barely be able to breathe let alone speak.

    But, the show must go on, right?

    If you’re struggling with a headcold but need to record a podcast at the same time, I did find the following things helpful.

    • Wrap up warm – body heat induces comfort, comfort suggests less movement and relaxation.
    • Halls Mentho-Lyptus Honey & Lemon – not the soothers variety. While they’re doing a less-than-par job for me this morning, they worked wonders last night in opening up my nose and removing that ‘bunged up’ feel.
    • Record, pause, breathe, record, pause, breathe – You’re not broadcasting live so you’ve got time on your side. Have your speak, take a deep breath (let the halls kick in), you can cut out the white space / dead air afterwards.
    • Tea. The body’s best friend. Make sure it’s in a big a mug as possible and that you’re sipping Lyon’s gold blend (shop around and you’ll be able to get 33% extra free).

    The end result, 31 minutes of music and notes from myself with six more independant acts from around the globe. While the 10th podcast was a bit more on the mellow side there’s certainly more of an edge to number 11. Listen below and be the judge for yourself, subscribe to the podcast, or drop by PlaylistMix.com to listen to past shows.

    Tip of the hat also to Bernie for what I reckon is the first review of the PlaylistMix.com podcast.

    PlaylistMix.com Podcast #11 (Download 29mb)
    [audio:http://www.playlistmix.com/podpress_trac/web/18/0/podcast011.mp3]

  • Off For The Weekend

    It’s been a while since I actually took a day or two off work with the intention of doing nothing (I took a week off in August to produce / direct / act in a theatre production which lasted from the crack of dawn to well into the night). This morning, says he with one foot out the door, I’m off to Sligo for a few days. No email access, no wifi, no mobile broadband, no TV. I’ve the Jaiku mobile packed and that’s about it.

    I’m aiming to be at the house (family home) before 12, allowing for a stop in breakfast in Athlone around the 10 mark. Gotta love that Kilmartin roundabout. What I do plan on doing is

    • Trying out my new wetsuit by kayaking on the lake this evening followed by some kayak surfing over the weekend.
    • Following up the kayaking by trying my hand at sailing on Saturday / Sunday.
    • Finishing the Vernon God Little script.
    • Polishing off a blog theme I’ve been working on for another new venture.
    • Taking in some of the WRC stages – the D70 and hiking boots are packed, along with the earplugs.
    • Getting stuck into a few pints of the black stuff at a the Saturday night trad session.

    Above all else I just need to get away for the few days so I’m outta here until Monday night. 8am is the “hit the road time” so to all, have a good weekend!

  • The N95 Is The Next Gadget I’ll Buy

    I missed yesterday’s Science Week blog post but couldn’t Thursday’s one as it’s an easy one for me. The question is asked, “What’s the next gadget that you want to buy?”. My answer, the 8GB Nokia N95.

    As mobile devices to it’s a massive step forward and one towards the ideal mobile device. Connectivity-wise you’ve got everything you need if you’re working in an online environment – bluetooth, 3G and WiFi. The recent opening up of some Eircom wifi hotspots if you’re already an Eircom BB customer makes public internet access that bit easier. I won’t always have my laptop with me but need a solid mobile device that will allow me to

    • Make and take calls (a given).
    • Have a good quality camera. The N95 shoots at 5mp and I would miss the 3.2mp on my Sony Ericsson K800i.
    • Access the internet over WiFi thus allowing easier access to emails, connections to the office, grabbing music and last minute details around gig weekends, upload photos on the go to my Flickr account and more.
    • Keep up with Jaiku via the S60 client (thus reducing my SMS bill).
    • Allow me to grab and store podcasts on the go (to feed my habit).
    • These points are just for starters…

    Again, in a non-laptop situation there’s always the possibility of mobile blogging, VOIP calls, mapping and more. I’ve written about the N95 being my Christmas present to myself this year, though admittedly it looks like I’ll be waiting until the New Year or whenever O2 sort out getting the N95 8GB model so I can make use of my contract upgrade. You can discover the N95 yourself here.

    When it comes to phones I’m not a gaming person and in the 13 months I’ve had the K800i I can recall just the trip to Toronto last year that lead me to play games on the phone. I’m more about getting things done and having a device that will assist me in day to day activities.

    Having used the first N95 briefly (briefly as in for a few minutes) and working alongside an N95 owner I can see the benefits of the device immediately. The use of IM before / after a client meeting, the ability to hop online and pull messages from MySpace or grab last minute mails before a gig (when you’re dealing with bands that communicate primarily through social networks as opposed to your actual phone then this is a must), passing spreadsheets or PDFs or word documents, plotting a trip on a map before you head away somewhere – and keeping that map in your pocket – that and the abundance of S60 applications that are available to run on the Nokia N95 to enhance your working experience.

    Plus, it fits nicely in your hand or pocket and the call quality and speakerphone quality is also good (somewhere the K800i lacks.)

    It’s been decided and I’ll wait patiently for my upgrade I think.

  • Favourite Invention From My Childhood

    The Irish blogging community was asked to offer up their thoughts on various elements of the science world this week as part of Science Week (see Jaiku channel here also). That said, I must oblige.

    My favourite invention from my childhood or something that at least stands out to me as a fond memory has to be the “blank tape”. I could be guaranteed a set of five tapes at Christmas or on a birthday and I was more than happy to oblige in making recordings for myself. It started off with the news, which I thought was hilarious. It started off with the old radio (which now resides in Sligo and has served many a builder and carpenter over the years), recording the news. I thought it was funny to hear it coming back to me, but it gradually moved on to recording songs off the radio – as everyone did.

    I was the master of mix tapes and continued the tradition right up to college (before making mix MP3 playlists, CDs and minidiscs).

    I took to a blank tape like a painter to a blank canvas. Every little second of room on the tape would be filled, thought having the end of your song cut off was a pain in the neck but it didn’t matter – flip the tape over and it was game on all over again. I’m sure I’ve still got a 1997 Radiohead recording from a 2FM Live set (possibly Glastonbury), some cheesy dance mixes from 1995, some worse dance mixes from 1992 (I was all of 9 years old) and it goes back further.

    It set me on the road to ruin and a fascination with audio so I’ll happily claim the blank tape as one of my favourite inventions (or my favourite) from my childhood. All that BASF and TDK or Memorex chromey goodness.

    Bliss.

  • GoDaddy Phone Support

    I’m a patient person, but there’s only so long I can spend on hold. Part of my Friday was spent on hold. About three years ago I changed job, spent 21 minutes on hold ringing the tax office trying to get a new certificate and I nearly lost my mind. I used to work broadband support for AOL and hated putting people on hold for any length of time (and rarely did).

    That’s why I’m giving the GoDaddy phone support a thumbs up.

    I’ve had occasion to ring them in the past, perhaps a year ago or more, when average waiting time could be 10-15 minutes, everything was call > email > call > email > call at an unusual hour (like your mobile ringing after 9pm, given the time difference).

    I’ve no idea where the call terminated today but I popped their US sales support number into Skype for a phone call around 11am or so. My reason being that a .eu domain I had registered had slipped by me a week ago and had gone into ‘Quarantine’, according to the EURid whois.

    So I dial out, punch through the menu, select sales support, punch in my existing customer number and I’m immediately speaking to an operator. The chap in question, Nick, was quite helpful. I explained the domain had lapsed, was in the redemption period and had disappeared out of my customer account. No problem he says, only been a few days so we’ll charge you the original price for the domain and you’re all set.

    Is this now the normal for GoDaddy, that their phone support be so prompt? Or did I just happen to catch them opening the doors? Lord knows in working for AOL there’d be a string of people on hold at 8am in the morning when the phone lines opened.

  • Some Weekend Playlist Listening

    In case you missed it during the week or you’re on the look out for some new music, see what you think of the ninth playlistmix.com podcast. The sounds of The Modern Hypocrites, Gum and Cedar Falls might just be what you’re looking for for the weekend. You can also subscribe to the podcast, which I’m putting out weekly, by clicking here.

    Speaking of podcasts, thanks to Tom for taking my questions to David Berlind on this podcast, don’t think I mentioned it before.

    Listen To Playlist Mix #9 (Download 26mb)
    [audio:http://www.playlistmix.com/podpress_trac/web/16/0/podcast009.mp3]

  • TheatreCompany.ie – Getting There

    Being involved in the direct running of a theatre company has it’s benefits when it comes to research, testing, getting opinions and feedback from people when it comes to developing a project to assist those in the industry.

    Of course, when you do so many other things, time and resources that you can dedicate to a solo project can become a problem. That said, I’m getting ready to push out the first phase of TheatreCompany.ie, primarily as a blog / news resource / community forum for those involved in professional and amateur theare (be it drama / opera / dance) in Ireland. Having declared myself out of bounds from next Friday to the following Monday (just so happens to coincide with the WRC stage in Sligo) I reckon I’ll be in a good position to get the final few bits done to open the blog up.

    While a theatre news resource might sound uninteresting to some, it is phase two and three of the overall project that will take development over the early part of 2008 that will be fun to toy around with.

    Too many ideas… not enough time.

  • No Sir, I Won’t Be Presenting This Weekend

    Just as I opened my mouth yesterday about the proposed ‘Getting Ahead In The Music Industry‘ day to be held in Kilkenny, the plug has been pulled by ArtLinks.

    It will be going ahead in Wicklow on November 24th, some of the speakers (including myself) remaining the same but for the moment it won’t be happening in Kilkenny and should be rescheduled for a date in early 2008. So, no sir, I won’t be presenting this weekend. Pity, as we were looking forward to trying out the brand new KKM powerpoint template – or at least I was anyway.

    What I will be doing instead on Saturday (as opposed to as well on Saturday) is hosting Vesta Varro and Frantic State in Cleere’s Theatre, if you’re interested, drop down – only a fiver.