Originally meant for publication on U.S. Labor Day, but some shenanigans related to Steem's HF22 upgrade left the userbase high and dry from Sunday afternoon till early today, effectively making Steemit read-only until the problems were resolved. These issues also affected Partiko, to the point where only the personal stats were showing up and everything else returned a "403 Forbidden" error.
Last night, Adanson's new management held its very first Music Time revue--a one-night version of their standard weekend parties. (Complete with the theme song of the same title, originally by Styx.) It also marked the début of their brand-new randomiser, corresponding to a handy-dandy feature only GoneMAD (among Android players) can provide.
Two-week trial or not, GoneMAD is a rather apt name in my case, as all I desired since last November or so was something with smart-/dynamic playlist capabilities similar to desktop iTunes, and nothing much offered what I demanded. Rocket Player (which I voted for when I began contemplating) is pretty close, but the lack of Live Lists by folder, tune count, and random selection has prevented it from earning a perfect five stars in my book; nonetheless, I'll still keep it around for previews of Upcomer candidates, replays of Adanson favourites, and the rare soundtrack listen. (I already sent feedback at its official Google Group, pending a future update.)
Since Adanson's (and Autrison's) ever-growing collection is getting a bit harder to manage AIMP-wise--remember, they and I had to assemble recent comeback tests and summer playlists one subcollection at a time, and manually at that--what GoneMAD has in store has definitely quickened and alleviated what was once a tedious, minutes-long process. (Unless it's the first time around--which was yesterday evening.) Although rules by playlist title are not an option yet (unlike iTunes), it's sufficient enough for the time being. That said, moving on with the $3.99 upgrade midway through this month, and using it mainly as a playlist manager/tag-correction utility. (Also scrobbles with the Simple Last.fm add-on.)
I meant to deal with GoneMAD much earlier on yesterday, but thanks to Steem's technical difficulties, the draft of this entry never made it to press, and the download and testing of you-know-what (starting at 2:05 that afternoon)--plus Adanson's next fling (from 6:49 till 11:56 that night)--went unreported until right this minute. (In related news: Ditching now-superfluous Vanilla Music, after a long while in the "Housekeeping" category.)
A one-night timeframe at Adanson's effectively means that the tunes are fewer and the playlist is tighter--to the point where extras, requests, or Sleepytime Selects are practically out of the question. The breakdown stats for yesterday's daring-do reflect this all too well:
- Upcomers (Free): 24
- Upcomers (Licensed): 12
- Library (Free): 18 / 195
- Library (Licensed): 17 / 3,559
- CariCon: 3 / 272 (featuring "Dominica Strong", that 2015 charity single which this Captain attributes to "Artists for Erika")
- Celebration (Birthdays): 1 / 7
- Deep Cuts: 2 / 113
- Eurovision: 2 / 191
- Grab-bag: 2 / 714
- Heatseekers: 1 / 16 (Albums or singles by artists represented in this subcollection respectively charted below the Billboard 200's upper half or the Hot 100, or their local equivalents in other territories.)
- Hitmakers: 3 / 1,848
- Artists: 1 / 762
- Songs: 1 / 544 ("El Paso", Marty Robbins; dedicated to victims of Texas' recent shootings)
- TSort Top 1000: 1 / 542 ("Sixteen Tons", Tennessee Ernie Ford--because Labor Day)
- Soundtracks: 2 / 371
- Specials: 1 / 20
- Library (Released for Free): 1 / 6
Licensed Lottery Picks (by Month):
- February
- "Wake Up Everybody", Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
- March
- "Baby, Come Over (This Is Our Night)", Samantha Mumba
- April
- "Mental Picture", Jon Secada
- "Miragem", Don Kikas
- June
- "Cadillac", The Hep Stars (before Benny & Bjorn became the men of ABBA)
- "Time in a Bottle", Jim Croce
Mandatories (by Month):
- February
- "Earth Song", Michael Jackson (Due to the Deet vs. the environment making recent news--plus the Amazon wildfires and Greenland thaw--eco-activism anthems are in high demand at Marigot #4270.)
- June
- "Back to School Again", The Four Tops (the only highlight of the otherwise unnecessary Grease 2; guess what's going on in Dominica right now?)
- July
- "Serendipity", Itachi-mode (Reserved as Adanson's "must-play" for the end of August, because they didn't want to leave visitors disappointed before summer vacation's end. Thanks to Dorian--more on that later--and the acetate overwhelm over at Autrison's, Adanson elected to hold Music Time #1 as an excuse to get that standout going. The original plan was 8-10 weekend sessions this summer, then the one-nighters in September and October, then the next post-Independence gala in early November.)
- August
- "Back to School", Jude Cole (theme of the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield comedy; again, no points for guessing why they chose it)
- "Kids Incorporated Theme" (in honour of the golden-age Disney Channel stalwart's 35th anniversary)
- September
- "Oh, Heavenly Salvation", The Persuasions (Once an outtake from the soundtrack to Unspooled #1, now in the critters' collection thanks to Tropical Storm Dorian sparing the Nature Island)
Once again, Autrison's next acetate shipment is on hold until Dorian has moved out of the U.S. East Coast; a couple of crates are stuck in Wilmington, NC for the time being. Meanwhile, the historic storm pummeled through Abaco and Grand Bahama on Sunday as a Category 5, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake, and hovering over Florida's eastern shores as we speak. Forget Ecuador and Peru for now: The old Adanson team, now stuck in Louisiana thanks to concerted efforts after Tropical Storm Barry, have elected to help more fellow victims there next month. (Prompting them to announce their next re.BUILD concert [scheduled for late October in either Marsh Harbour or Freeport], via a pre-recorded message at the tail end of last night's New World "Scherzo" montage. "Scherzo", as composed by Dvořák and performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra, has long served as the theme music for their charity concerts.) Plane tickets will be booked sometime in the next 4-6 weeks; further details in a subsequent entry. Thoughts and prayers go out to those in the northern Bahamas, as always; for now, here is the near-latest outlook from the NHC.
On a related note: Two years after Maria, Dominica itself will have its own free hurricane concert this September 19 at 4:00 p.m., at the Windsor Park Stadium in Roseau. Its name, "And Can It Be", was announced in today's edition of the DBS Evening News.
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In our next entry, stats from August 8-13. In the weeks ahead, a new score for the Unspooled saga; another app under consideration by Adanson's new management; and the resumption of draft development for Books 1, 2, 3, and 6. (Just don't expect any finished product to surface for another 2-3 years; I learned the hard way when I missed a November 2018 deadline for the manuscript. This was supposed to be my gift to fellow Nature Islanders on their country's 40th anniversary of Independence, but alas...)
GoneMAD user (past or present)? Living in the Bahamas or eastern Florida? Have loved ones or friends in the affected areas? Fellow Dominican Steemian? If you're in any of the above camps, then let me know in the comments.
From the one, the only, the all-new...
(2624/MN #407)