What a day! Monday, January 18th, 2010, was a fantastic day indeed, as I was thrilled to participate in a wonderful program celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC! I was privileged to share a new piece of music entitled “Dream of Freedom” which I composed specifically for the event, to which my wife choreographed an inspirational dance. She and the lovely Duncan Dancers performed this beautiful new dance in front of an audience of 2500+ people who had gathered together to honor Dr. King!

I can’t imagine a more beautiful venue for the event, with the soaring cathedral lifting the spirits of the entire audience, as we all reflected upon the profound legacy of Dr. King. The program was filled with inspirational music, dance and spoken word that helped capture the message of freedom and dignity of the human soul.

I have to admit, I was excited when the MC — the Godfather of Go-Go himself, Chuck Brown — announced our names before our segment of the program. His incredibly deep, signature voice was unforgettable to me, and put a huge grin on my face. And then the dancers performed the choreography with a lightness of step, beauty and hope that conveyed the message we wanted to share. Their majestic, spiraling motions and Isadora Duncan-inspired tunics and scarves recalled a sense of freedom and a dream-like quality I tried to capture in the music. The music and dance came together to hopefully uplift the audience and take them on a journey of reflection, into a dream of freedom.

The project was a collaboration with my wife, Valerie, and it had additional personal meaning for us. We’ve had several collaborations before, but this one was the most challenging so far, taking into account the short time for preparation, the audience, venue and desire to convey just the right message. I guess this one worked out, so I expect more collaborations to come in the future!

Finally, a word of thanks to the staff at the National Cathedral. They are a true class act and were consummate professionals. Thank you in particular to Cori and Mark for making our experience so seamless. It’s always a distinct pleasure to work with pros.

Below, you will find a link to the National Cathedral website, where you can view the performance. Skip ahead to 1:10 if you just want to see our segment.

http://www.nationalcathedral.org/webcasts/mlk2010.shtml

The streaming video above is low-resolution, so I’ll see if I can get a higher-resolution clip in the near future. The audio is also low-res, so below you can click on a better recording of the music. It’s not a perfect mix for sure, but given the time I had available, it was able to convey the essence of the message.

If you enjoy this music and dance, please feel free to share it!

Click below to listen to Dream of Freedom :

Download audio file: “Dream of Freedom” (11.4 MB)

Warm Regards,

James Durham

FETIDUS! Holy #$@*! I am stunned and amazed at the tremendous outpouring of support for FETIDUS! And I’m thrilled to announce that FETIDUS has won TWO Parsec Awards here at Dragon*Con!

I was blown away with the first Parsec award, for Best New Speculative Fiction Podcaster/Team, and rendered speechless by the second, for Best Speculative Fiction Story – Novel.

It was a tremendous honor to have been included as a finalist with such podcasters/artists/creators/writers/storytellers that I admire so much — people that I listen to and love their work.

And I am just so incredibly grateful to the podcasting community in general, to the kick-ass FETIDUS listeners and fans, to the podcasting trailblazers and masters who have been simultaneously kicking down the walls of new media and lifting up the new guys (like me), audio sages, aural artists and alchemists and frankly some of the nicest human beings I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.

I’ve never met a more supportive group of brilliant, amazing people and all I can say is…

THANK YOU!!!

.
I will go into more detail and thank you more personally in an upcoming Unmortem Report over at the FETIDUS website when I get back from Dragon*Con, but for now I am just stunned, amazed… and grateful.

Sincerely,
James Durham

Well, P.G. Holyfield had his “Damn you, Holyfield!” and now I guess I have my “F**k you, Durham!” And yes, I take that as a compliment… twisted though it is… This is how it all happened. A FETIDUS listener by the name of Shane wrote me a decidedly terse note on the FETIDUS website, and I wrote him back. Here’s the exchange for your enjoyment. [ Language warning for my readers sensitive to the F word! ]

As posted by Shane:

“I love Fetidus. But you know what I am really fucking sick of.  You expect an invest from us. But you’re not invested in us. You take so god damned fucking long to release new episodes and we’re invested in the story.

So fuck you. I am cutting my feed from Itunes and will sign up again maybe in a year. When I am positive that all of the episodes have been released and I don’t have to wait so long.

This is really not fair to your fans.”

My response:

Hey Shane,

Wow, man, I almost don’t know what to say! First, I’ll take your post as a profoundly twisted compliment, so thank you, sir! I guess P.G. Holyfield had people tell him, “Damn you, Holyfield!” and now I guess my version of it is “Fuck you, Durham!” — although perhaps for different reasons. But I’ll take it as a good thing anyway. And I’ll just add this:

1) I deeply appreciate all my listeners. I try to say that as often as I can, and I hope that’s coming across. Getting to know some of them has been one of the highlights of producing FETIDUS. When someone transitions from being a listener to a full-fledged “fan,” I can’t say how awesome that is, and how much I appreciate it! It’s humbling and amazing. You guys completely blow me away!

2) You’re right, it does take a long time to release new episodes. As far as I know, I’m the only podcast novelist who is also writing all his own music for the episodes, and you know I have multiple voice actors as well, etc… this is basically a totally custom audio drama including all the music, and I don’t exactly have a staff, other than the split personalities in my poor, demented, contortionist mind. Plus I want to make sure each episode has a certain minimal level of quality. In fact, if I did it to the perfectionist level I wanted to, the episodes would take far longer to release!

So, yes, that all takes time, more time than I would like it to. But alas, this is how I’m doing it. Since FETIDUS is free, and I also have to make a living, have other creative projects going on, and more importantly I have a family I love spending time with… it’s the reality of the situation. As you know, I don’t charge for FETIDUS, don’t have any sponsors and thus far have refused any sponsors or ads, and I haven’t asked for donations (and I don’t plan to). So when you factor in the time it takes me to produce it, FETIDUS is costing me a huge amount of money. And I wish I could work on it full-time. I believe the way I’m doing it will eventually be worth it, and more importantly, I’m enjoying the hell out of it, and hope my listeners are too, even at the expense of torturing them with long waits in between episodes.

Now, in between episodes, it’s not that I forget about FETIDUS, or just ignore it or the listeners. I’m constantly trying to work on it, but I have other obligations in life, as I’m sure you do. For one, I have to make the money to make the time to work on it, so unless you want to write me a really big fat check to cover all my expenses, this is the only way I can do it.

Other podcasters struggle with the same issues, as I’m sure you know. They have different ways of dealing with it, all of which are completely understandable. For example, they may choose whether or not to include some of the production elements I’ve chosen to include. Some take sponsors. Some have a volunteer or a paid assistant helping them, or even a team or partners to work with. Some have real budgets. Some have big (or not-so-big) publishing deals and this is part of their critical marketing effort for their book launch (and I have supported more than one podcaster in that situation). Some are passionately trying to get that magical “big book deal.” Some are experimenting by charging for content. Some strip down the production to the bare minimum (quite effectively, I might add). Some secretly have a slave clone of themselves working night and day, etc., etc… In fact, I know of some podcasters who think I’m insane that I write my own music for FETIDUS and I’ll frankly, happily concur. But since I love doing it this way, I’ll continue investing the time.

3) Finally, how can I say this except, thank you for listening! I totally understand if you want to hold off until the whole project is done. I get where you’re coming from, and I’m honestly thrilled to hear you’re so pissed off at me that you’d let me know. I guess I must have done something right, otherwise it wouldn’t have been worth your time to contact me. And I sincerely wish you didn’t have to wait so long as well. In the end, I hope it will be worth the wait, and you come back to experience the full story. I just wish you didn’t cut the feed before episode 8, because things are about to get even more juicy.

Best Regards,
James Durham

P.S.: And by the way, cool artwork on your site! (I clicked there from the link you provided on your name.) Nice work, man!

> Click here to read the original exchange on FETIDUS.ORG

Today is the day, folks! The day that new media changed forever. JC Hutchins has released his groundbreaking Personal Effects: Dark Art novel and it is nothing but a revolutionary scream in the face of that old, tired, worn-out paradigm of old-school media. With this release, and the ridiculously cool trans-media, pseudo-reality audience-participation activity JC has launched with it, he has redefined how stories can be told and experienced.

If you are a new media creator, if you are a new media consumer, if you want to know why I think new media has just taken one thrilling step forward, please do yourself a favor and check out JC Hutchins’ website, and make sure you look at all of the Personal Effects content and related brilliance (from the Suicide Girls to the artifacts to the Brinkvale site to the promos, to the YouTube clips to the Twitter avatar to the audio promos… it’s all-out WAR on the status quo of new media). And then take a moment to buy an awesome piece of history that will chill you to the bone.

Now you can see why I’m honored that he accepted my invitation to be an evil guest judge as part of the FETIDUS Great Evil Laugh Contest! Thank you, JC, and congratulations on your amazing launch! May you rise to the top of the charts and keep pushing the bleeding edge of new media!

Breaking News! My friend James Melzer, the sick brilliant SOB behind the terror-inducing thrill-ride known as The Zombie Chronicles: Escape (coming this fall from Permuted Press) has a mysterious new project starting June 17, 2009. I’ve been confidentially told that it is NOT Volume 2 of the The Zombie Chronicles, but I can say it is “related.” I couldn’t help but share it with you. If you value your life, I strongly urge you to check it out at www.thezombiechronicles.net.

Announcing the Great Evil Laugh Contest! I am looking for the Greatest Evil Laugh in the World! Do you have it? If so, you can win immortality and an awesome iPod touch, just by laughing! EVIL laughing, that is. Contest entries are due by June 21st, 2009. Click here to visit the FETIDUS website and find out more!

And now, for Episode 7 of FETIDUS: The Damned Heir! Please check out this thrilling episode! I didn’t have enough time before heading up to Balticon to announce it here on my personal website. I was literally scrambling at the very last minute before jumping in the car and cruising up to Baltimore (well, technically, Hunt Valley)! My wife and son were so patient with me as I wrapped up the finishing touches for Episode 7, but I think the extra effort was worth it.

Episode 7 is special in a couple of ways — first, because Matt Selznick finally makes his appearance as one of the characters, and he does a fantastic job. Second, because I actually sing in this episode. Yes, my singing voice! There’s a song near the end of the episode where I experimented and recorded my own voice, which is a FETIDUS first. I hope you enjoy it! I continue to experiment with the type of content and production I throw into FETIDUS, which is one of the reasons I love working on the project so much.

Finally, another bit of news: I finally released a 60-second verison of promo 1 of FETIDUS, which you can download here.

Check back soon, or subscribe for free via RSS or via email, since I’ve got some exciting developments cooking in both podcasting and film scoring!

Woo-Hoo! I just found out today that FETIDUS hit page 5 of the featured podcasts in iTunes Literature! Feels good to be in such great company! The undead are cheering!

Now, you might think this is a silly thing to celebrate, but the truth is, it gives me a great excuse to say THANK YOU to everyone who has joined with Art Blanchard and entered the fetid alleys of Washington DC of 2034, to set some things right and help the innocently damned! Each month, our audience has been growing — we’ve had thousands of downloads, and we’ve only just begun! Six episodes in, and the best is yet to come!

Thank you also to the great cast — you’ve done a fantastic job! I encourage all our listeners to go and support their work! Check out the FETIDUS cast page and please take the time to check out the talented people involved with FETIDUS!

For those that haven’t subscribed yet, please do so! You can subscribe in iTunes by searching for “FETIDUS” in the iTunes store, or try clicking here on this link.

Thank you all again, and I can’t wait to bring you Episode 7!

Best,
James

I was thrilled to have an interview about FETIDUS with the great team of Shannon and Matt over at Seattle-Geekly last week! They had a special zombie episode and I was honored they’d call me and ask about my take on zombies, among other things, to add to their massive zombie special. Their podcast continues to surprise me with how much content they cover, and they managed to put quite a bit of our lengthy conversation and some excerpts of my music in there! Thanks, Shannon and Matt! In our discussion, I geekishly wax verbose on the five types of zombies in the FETIDUS universe, as well as some of my influences and thinking processes as I developed FETIDUS. Check out the interview in Seattle-Geekly episode 12! Click here for the show notes and click here for the huge MP3 file, or you can subscribe to Seattle-Geekly in iTunes.

Hello everyone! I just posted a “special music episode” of FETIDUS over at FETIDUS.org and it’s a wee bit relevant for this website as well. Visit the FETIDUS.org version of this page or feel free to download the music below. Here’s the text from the other page:

I have something special here for you, folks! I’ve taken some of the music I’ve written for FETIDUS and put together 13-14 minutes of excerpts for your listening pleasure. They’re not final versions, but they’re close enough to give you a good feel for how the soundtrack is shaping up, and to give you a tasty morsel of that special FETIDUS atmosphere. Enjoy! And let me know what you think! Please, download it, close your eyes, and enter into the world of Art Blanchard and FETIDUS.

Special Music Episode 1:
00:00 – Intro from James
Music Excerpts:
03:09 – Retribution
05:07 – Mahrud Movement #9
08:15 – Deathsquad Reaper
09:34 – Intense Cogitation
11:27 – Activation by 5
12:42 – KA Texture
13:45 – A Slow March Through Hell

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy this special music episode, please share it!

Click below to listen to FETIDUS: The Damned Heir – Music Excerpts 1:

Download audio file: “FETIDUS: The Damned Heir – Music Excerpts 1” (30.7 MB)

Damn you, Holyfield! Now you’ve done it! You’re on the verge of completing your podcast of Murder at Avedon Hill and I had to put a little something together for you in celebration! Consider it a thank you for not just your excellent podcast and novel, but also for being part of the group of cutting-edge podcast novelists that inspired me to launch my own podcast novel. You also took the time to share some of your wisdom with me many moons ago, and I appreciate it. Thank you, man! So, huge congrats for wrapping the podcast, and I join with many others who wish you the best success in the months ahead! And for those who don’t get the whole “Damn you, Holyfield” thing, well, then, I invite you to get to know P.G. Holyfield and listen to his podcast at www.pgholyfield.com. ‘Nuff said.

Click below to listen to “Damn You, Holyfield!”:

Download audio file: “Damn You, Holyfield!” (4.0 MB)

Yes! Episode 6 of FETIDUS: The Damned Heir is now posted over on the FETIDUS website! I’m very excited about this episode, especially because so many of the cast had parts in this one. Almost everyone is there… Prebble Ramswell, Jose de la Mar, Patrick Nugent, Liliana Ayende, Bob Holmcrans, Sara Barrack and Valerie Durham — so it was really fun to edit, and quite the learning experience as well. The whole cast did a great job! Thank you, guys! You can read about the cast on the FETIDUS cast page. They are a wonderful group of people to work with, and I can’t wait to bring you more of their performances. I’m having the best time working on FETIDUS, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, I invite you to give it a try. After all, FETIDUS is about making the world a better place, isn’t it? Well, you’ll see…

I love Linux. It is a fantastic operating system/platform with ridiculous power and flexibility, and I wish I could use it for all my computer needs. I’ve attempted to do just about everything with it, and try as I might, there are some areas where it just doesn’t fill what I need with my creative work. Don’t get me wrong, it’s more than capable in many areas, and I use it exclusively for production servers for my clients. But for creative work (such as for music production), I have yet to find a way to integrate Linux into my workflow. That doesn’t stop me from trying every once in a while.

True to my inner geek, I will admit that I periodically enjoy sitting down and relaxing with new Linux distributions and open source apps and seeing what they can do. Yes, I’m not embarrassed to confess that fiddling with Linux is one of my many strange, entertaining past-times.

If this post doesn’t interest you, dear reader, please skip it, but do come back some other day when I post something else that might fascinate you. For now, I will briefly engage my inner Linux geek and share my brief impressions of the current state of Linux on the desktop with Ubuntu Linux 9.04 Beta, while watching a sci-fi-horror-zombie-martial arts movie.

First, while I’m an advocate of open source software, that doesn’t make me a detractor of traditional commercial software or other operating systems not normally associated with the open source movement. I’ve paid my dues in the Windows and OSX universes (not to mention *nix, and earlier Mac OS, AmigaOS, OS/2, BeOS, DOS and others), but Linux holds a special place in my heart. I don’t completely know why. I just like it. I’ll have to explore why I like Linux so much in another post.

One of my areas of creative work includes producing music and audio. Unfortunately, Linux and open source software in general have yet to deliver what I need for music production on the Linux platform. Yes, there are some outstanding music and audio applications (and I’ve tried just about all of them), but out of necessity I have to continue to use commercial pro audio apps, like Sonar, Cubase, ProTools, Live, Reaper, etc. and my library of plugins and sounds.

I’ll discuss my platform of music production choice in another post, but for now I’ll just say that if I could do what I need to do with music in Linux, I would consider completely switching most of my computers exclusively over to Linux. But alas, for my personal music production needs, Linux is still out… which means that I must continue to straddle the OS worlds. But what about other computing needs?

What about writing, browsing, listening to music, burning, daily in-and-out things? Can Linux on the desktop handle all that? Well, the short answer to that is YES, of course! It’s been great at that for quite a while, if a bit quirky around the edges sometimes. What about the desktop experience? Is it easy to use? Short answer: YES, of course! Provided you invest a few minutes to learn your way around. Any user-friendly variant of Linux includes outstanding desktop interfaces from KDE and/or GNOME, and a vast array of awesome apps and tools, from office productivity programs to simple games. And it all works beautifully (for the most part), it’s FREE (in the open source way) and it’s fun!

Why hasn’t Linux taken over the world by now? Well, that’s a great question I’ll reserve for another post, and there are some very real, obvious and not-so-obvious reasons why it hasn’t and won’t completely take over the world any time soon. But is it a really usable platform for desktop users, today, in 2009? Oh yes, it can be, and the latest incarnations of Linux are better than ever. Compelling, really. Amazing, often!

So what about this famous Ubuntu Linux distribution? Is it that good? Damn right, it’s that good! I decided to take the Ubuntu Linux 9.04 beta out for a spin, and I can sum up my experience with it so far simply like this: IT ROCKS!

I was simply blown away by how smooth the whole experience was, compared to some other Linux distros I’ve tested and used in the past. Especially for a beta.

I decided to try out the Ubuntu 9.04 beta on my new little computing friend, my MSI Wind netbook. Like many people recently, I bought a tiny, cheap netbook that I take around with me when I don’t want to lug around a “normal” laptop or worry about breaking/losing something really valuable. A netbook plus Ubuntu 9.04 seemed like a match made in laptop heaven.

First, to begin my relaxing Linux installation evening, I decided to watch a movie. I discovered to my delight that my Tivo had recorded another mindless sci-fi channel special called “I Am Omega” that was just perfect for the task of installing Linux… not too riveting to prohibit me from multitasking, and not too idiotic to force me to channel surf. The film piqued my interest. After all, it had zombies, and was loosely (er-hem, very loosely) inspired by the excellent sci-fi classic novel I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson, from what I can tell. Yes, I Am Omega also appears to be a blatant attempt to profit off of Will Smith’s version of I Am Legend, while also hearkening back to the Charleton Heston classic Omega Man.

I Am Omega. Get it? Good. Oh, they got me without trying so hard. I Am Legend + Omega Man = I Am Omega. How could I not at least press play and see to what mysterious new heights these brilliant, original filmmakers would take such a venerable story?

On top of that, I was intrigued by the familiarity of the actor playing the main character of I Am Omega. He was driving me crazy, but then I realized — the Chairman from Iron Chef America! Yes, Mark Dacascos himself. So now I was hooked.

Mix classic sci-fi influence with an indie-film spirit, derivative script, impressive and yet sometimes glaringly out-of-place martial arts moves, then throw in a connection to one of my favorite Food Network shows, and I had the perfect background film for installing Linux and tweaking it to my heart’s content! With the subtly-refined acting skills of Mark Dacascos on display in the background, I was ready to begin.

I just had to get Ubuntu onto my netbook, and so I downloaded the ISO image from Ubuntu’s website (www.ubuntu.com).

But since I have no optical drive on my netbook (an MSI Wind variant, remember?),  I had to install the ISO onto a USB key. I was too lazy to do it the hard, normal way, so what about the quick and easy way? From Windows no less? Well, I found an awesome little utility called UNetbootin that was so insanely easy to use, I have to mention the original author’s name and send him a big thanks out of pure respect! Thank you, Geza Kovacs! Great work!

After installing the beta Ubuntu ISO onto an old USB key via UNetbootin, I rebooted off of the USB key right into a Live version of Ubuntu. Beautiful! How easy was that? Zero effort so far.

I threw caution to the Wind (pun intended), and I just installed it right to the hard drive. I allowed Ubuntu (a beta, no less) to handle the messy work and repartition my hard drive and install itself, right then and there. I decided I wanted to see how it managed the repartition and saving of my Windows XP boot partition, plus installation of a boot-loader. Now, folks, don’t try this without taking precautions! I had a backup and I urge you to do the same. While it went well for me, your mileage may vary (obligatory exculpatory comment).

Then, I rebooted the netbook off the hard drive and to my utter shock and awe, the simple interface of Grub bootloader came up and gave me the option to boot into Ubuntu Lunix or back into Windows, without a hitch. Nice! Very smooth, no hiccups so far!

I chose Ubuntu for boot, and in under 30 seconds I was running Linux off the hard drive… smooth as can be. Now for the tricky part… wireless. I was fully expecting I’d have to do some work to get the wireless adapter working, but oh no, not with this version of Ubuntu! Wireless worked without a hitch, right out of the box! Again, your mileage may vary.

Maybe I lucked out with the wireless adapter I had, but man, was that easy, and surprising. Prior versions of Ubuntu didn’t have compatible drivers ready for this model of netbook, from what I understand, so I was more than pleased with the results.

I spent 15 minutes customizing the desktop, and adding several packages for basic functionality, such as Flash 10, MP3 playback, Skype, etc., all without breaking a sweat.

Just as things couldn’t get more bleak for Mark Dacascos in I Am Omega, things couldn’t get better for me. I was up and running, surfing, testing YouTube, WordPress, OpenOffice, some games, audio playback, and so on. Wow! This beta of Ubuntu really is amazing. It actually works on this cheap little netbook. And it works well!

In fact, I was outright humbled by the collective skill of all the passionate experts and open source developers that made Ubuntu the perfect one-stop OS experience. As I sat there, waiting for the dramatic and disappointing ending to I Am Omega, I was stunned at how my little Ubuntu installation and testing session turned out to be as great as the movie was un-great.

Not to be disrespectful to the filmmakers, since I know how hard it is to make a movie… and I’m scoring an indie film this year that will undoubtedly be criticized by folks like me, but well, I Am Omega wasn’t exactly fine cinema, let’s put it that way. In other words, Ubuntu rocked, and I Am Omega un-rocked… but I’m still a Mark Dacascos fan!

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the “official” release of Ubuntu 9.04 but as far as I’m concerned this beta version is ready for what I need on this netbook.

In one ridiculously easy installation, I have a fully-featured Linux installation that does everything I need a netbook to do. I’m not done testing it, but for any basic cloud-computing need, it is beyond totally usable. In fact, maybe it’s ideal.

So far, it appears to boot faster than Windows, is inherently more secure, and in one quick install, I have a powerhouse little machine. Plus, it looks good. As always, I appreciate the attention to detail the Ubuntu and GNOME folks invest into their work.

Well, that’s it for now, my geekish friends who have made it all the way to the end of this post. I’ll install the final version of Ubuntu 9.04 when it comes out, and I’ll probably go so far as to kick Windows altogether off this netbook, with a few well-placed kung-fu moves inspired by Mark Dacascos himself. Hi-yah!

Now, before you do anything else, I dare you to say the title of this post five times fast … waiting … waiting … waiting … Okay, great! Now we’ve got some reader interaction, and this is already heating up! By way of introduction, I am a total Twitter neophyte and a complete social media newbie. However, with my keen powers of insight I have been able to pull five seemingly random tips about Twitter for new Twitterers out of my magical tip generator and now I will share them with you in all their glory!

Twitter Tip #1 – Make your own way, blaze your own path, be your own guru, and explore!

Every single week I see another brilliant new application of Twitter, another new development, approach, or clever idea! Twitter is still evolving at a break-neck pace and who the heck can possibly consider themselves a Twitter guru or expert at this point? I’ll concede that I’ve seen a few who do genuinely seem to know a lot, but I contend Twitter is so remarkably complex and far-reaching in its potential, that we all have a lot to learn… and a lot of room to experiment in.

What we’re witnessing with Twitter, I believe, is the beginning of a mighty change in the fabric of human relationships, where new social paradigms are evolving at an insane pace! We’re in the middle of a revolution! So that means, I believe you can make your own way, blaze your own path, and be your own guru! And by all means, explore! Learn Twitter, embrace Twitter, investigate the nooks and crannies while it is still a young and wild frontier! Have fun with it, enjoy it! I’ve been blown away by what I’ve found so far.

I believe that the social and anthropological ramifications of Twitter are deep enough for dozens of doctoral dissertations and “how-to” books! I know a great guy writing one right now, and I can’t wait to read it. And while you should obviously listen to the people you want to listen to, I humbly suggest that you reserve judgment for yourself and try your own ideas too! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Twitter Tip #2 – Equip yourself with the best tools for taking advantage of Twitter!

One of the first things I noticed was how overwhelming it could be to have a stream of tweets slamming me in the neural cortex in 140 character bursts like a fire hydrant gone amuck. In no time at all, I wished for a superior Twitter interface and some tools to manage and explore the Twitter universe.

Well, apparently the Twitter developers thought the same thing and they made an extensive API (Application Programming Interface) available to third-party developers so that clever little programming elves could create new, amazing Twitter programs to help you enjoy Twitter even more.

I won’t bore you with my current list of cool Twitter apps that I use, since whatever I say will be out-dated soon anyway. Just know that there is a Twitter application for almost anything, and if it doesn’t exist right now, it probably will soon. In fact, maybe you should develop it!

There are multiple apps for your iPhones and BlackBerries (or is that BlackBerrys?), special websites with funky statistics and tools, and stand-alone Twitter apps that cut through tweets like butter. I will only mention TweetDeck for now, but the best thing to do is ask people in Twitter itself what the coolest and best tools are. This is a constantly evolving landscape, but you’ll soon get a handle on it, and your tweeting experience will vastly improve.

Twitter Tip #3 – Following is fun, and plus, it’s a great way to gain your own followers!

When I joined Twitter eons ago, yes, those many, many, many days ago, I didn’t initially get the whole “follow” thing. What the heck was that all about? See what a neophyte I am? I’m not ashamed of being a total newbie at this. It just makes me want to learn! And so I began to learn without any preconceptions by simply following interesting people. And I discovered that following is fun!

There are so many fascinating people out there! And as time progressed, I noted that some of them followed me back. I read what they wrote, and interacted with my new-found fellow Twitterers.

Now let me be clear here. I’m not suggesting you follow just to get followers. (Although, that appears to work to a degree for many people who are interested primarily in numbers.) I’m suggesting you follow people that interest you, for whatever reason, and then let human nature take its course. Interact, and you will be followed back by many.

So how do you find people that are interesting to you in the first place? Ahhhhhh… that’s why I have another tip for you!

Twitter Tip #4 – How to find great initial people to follow, then expand your network by following the people they follow and those that follow them!

Make sense? I thought so. So how do you find those initial interesting people? Well, three ways for starters:

First, start by clicking “Find People” at the top of the page. Pretty obvious. Look up favorite writers, artists, musicians, friends, celebrities, real-world experts, etc., who are already on Twitter, and follow them. Inside the Find People menu you’ll also see “Find on other networks,” “Invite by email,” and “Suggested users.” Use those tools!

Second, use the “search” box on the Twitter page… and search for anything that interests you. If you like zombies, search for zombies! And there you will find the pulse of Twitter as it pertains to zombies… and the people who are talking about zombies at that very minute. Check them out, and follow people who are interesting to you!

Third, pay attention to the other websites you normally visit out there on the Internet! Many people that you normally get content from are already on Twitter… but you may not easily find them via the two methods above… so as you visit their sites, check out if they have a Twitter account, and if not, encourage them to get one! I’ve already invited or found a quality group of friends, colleagues and businesses this way, and it’s great to connect with them on Twitter!

Then, once you start to find that initial core of people, tap into their networks! One of the beauties of Twitter is that you can see who anyone is following, and who follows them… once you find someone that interests you, look through the profiles of some of both their followees and followers, read what they have to say, and you may find yourself amazed at the cool and fantastic people out there in the Twitterverse. Click “follow” on anyone that interests you!

Twitter Tip #5 – Tweet unto others as you would have them tweet unto you!

Well, there’s always room for the Golden Rule. Basic kindergarten behavior that seems obvious, but apparently some Twitter users somehow forget this basic social concept. I’m all for inventing The Great New Way to Use Twitter, and would love to see where brilliant new Twitter minds take us, but for most people, basic common-sense respect and even a little kindness go a long way. Please remember the “social” in social media! Those are human beings on the other side of those 140 characters. (Well, most of the time. )

On top of that, I’d humbly suggest never taking anything personal in the Twitterverse… I’ve already seen numerous little bouts of misunderstandings break out and much-needed apologies issued over things that were never intended to hurt someone. Actually, they were kind of hilarious to watch unfold, but sometimes let’s face it, we take things personally that don’t need to be.

Well, that’s it for now! My humble “Top Five Twitter Tips for New Twitterers from a Top-flight Twitter Neophyte” is now coming to a close — I have more, but the title wouldn’t have been nearly as fun to say out loud, so I’ll save my other ideas for my next Twitter-related post. Above all, I hope you enjoy Twitter and I hope to tweet you around! Oh… almost forgot… if interested, you can follow my tweets at:  twitter.com/jamesdurham

Alright, I will admit, I’m slipping into heavy geek mode here with this post, but I just had to write something about my favorite science fiction and fantasy convention… <drum roll please>… Balticon! But why is that? Why do I love thee, Balticon?

Here’s why: The people.

That’s the most exciting thing about Balticon, “The Maryland Regional Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention” held every Memorial Day weekend in the Baltimore area (www.balticon.org).

Yes, it’s because of the people that I enjoy it so much.

Unique, stimulating, intelligent, opinionated, educated, strange in good ways, creative, and unashamed of their areas of interest, the Balticon attendees seem to come from every walk of life and a vast array of personal and professional backgrounds. To be honest, I think it would be a great seed group of humans if some alien civilization wanted to abduct one hotel in its entirety and start a new human experimental colony. Okay, that might be disgusting… back to my point.

The people I have met there are creators, artists, fans, writers, gamers, scientists, journalists, musicians, avid readers, teachers, professors, techno geeks, programmers, publishers, artisans, dreamers, thinkers, social bunnies, anti-social hermits, entrepreneurs, IT experts, engineers, anime experts, social media gurus, obscure dance technique evangelists, fantasy nuts, hard SF veterans, Browncoats, trans-humanists, uber-bright kids, movie fanatics, indie filmmakers, podcasters, critics, history authorities, linguists, researchers, whole con families, people with wildly different concepts of personal hygiene, experts in arcana, open lovers of the bizarre and fascinating and more, more, more!

But that’s not all. What makes Balticon especially good for me is the unique mix of people — the size and ratio of attendees and “official guests” of different backgrounds and expertise. Goldilocks would say, “This con is just right!”

That’s the best part of Balticon for me now… meeting amazing people. And at Balticon, all the best features of large cons and small cons seem to co-exist in a unique, almost paradoxical combination.

From long conversations with admired (or even not-so-admired) writers on a lunch break, to running into favorite gurus in the hallway, to meeting a like-minded fan who you just know could one day be a life-long friend, to putting a face to someone you’ve always wondered about, to meeting a scientist with fascinating theories you never considered, to meeting a genius kid that knows more about gaming than you thought possible, to sitting next to a world-class author by accident at a local restaurant, to discovering new and unusual things to explore, Balticon is my favorite convention!

Let me put it this way. I believe Balticon has reached a magical critical mass of size and quality. Just so, that you can maintain anonymity and just “browse” if you want to, but also intimate and personal enough so that you can dive in and get to know a lot of people who really know what they are talking about. Also, any personality type is welcome, and you are not forced into one con social behavior pattern over another. There is enough diversity there to support several “sub-clans,” so to speak, with their own unique pools of people and activities, and yet they seem to be open enough to anyone new. And because of all that, they have reached a very well balanced program that covers a wide range of topics from some seriously top-flight presenters and a great group of fans and peers to interact with, should you choose to do so.

One specific example is how I had the great opportunity to meet Matthew Wayne Selznick (www.mattselznick.com) a couple of years ago. Matt is a pioneer in the podcasting community, and he was incredibly gracious to spend quite a bit of time discussing his perspective of new media with me. It was partly because of him that I was inspired to start my own podcast, and I’m very grateful for his willingness to connect with me that fateful day a couple of years ago. I believe that Balticon helped facilitate our meeting with just the right combination of factors that made it possible for us to talk in such detail. Had Balticon been any smaller, or had a lesser podcasting track, for example, Matt might not have come. Had Balticon been any larger, neither Matt nor I might have found the time or circumstance to cross paths and interact. Thank you, Matt, and thank you, Balticon!

And Matt is just one of many examples of fantastic people I’ve met because of the unique properties of Balticon. I’ve started new friendships and expanded my creative horizon, in part because of what Balticon offers.

And thus, In my years of convention attendance I’ve seen enough now to know that not all cons are created equally. Balticon has its own unique signature and for me, I look forward to it more and more each time. I hope to see some of you there this year, and get to know a few more amazing human (and not-so-human) beings!

Sincerely a Balticon fan,
James Durham

In response to a post over at Suvudu about DRM (Digital Rights Management), I couldn’t help but post some of my thoughts about this controversial topic here on my own site. The initial thread that inspired this post is located here, although this has been an ongoing discussion in the music and publishing universe for a long time, and has been a subject of much consternation in my own creative work.

I’ve wrestled with the pros and cons of DRM for my own content and just a few years ago I will admit I was a strong proponent of DRM. But now, as I’ve begun to look at how the world is changing right under our literal and virtual noses, I have completely changed my point of view. This is what I will post on the Suvudu site as my contribution to this compelling topic:

As a musician, aspiring writer and technophile, I see little value in DRM. I believe society is in the midst of a huge paradigm shift, particularly for artists and how they relate to their audience, and DRM simply gets in the way. Is that what the artist really wants? Obstacles to his content?

For me, DRM is the annoying cockroach on the proverbial banquet of universal content and it does nothing but keep the lawyers — er, exterminators — primed to the brim with self-indulgent enthusiasm and lustful finger twitching.

DRM has its place, however… and that is to provide false comfort to those artists who wish to remain in their citadels of old-world thinking, when it comes to the brave new world of digital media.

Having said all that, I’m all for copyright control. It’s just that I believe DRM is approaching the issues from the wrong direction. If an artist wants to protect their work and get his due compensation, I take no issue with that, of course. But in the end, trying to put digital content in a vault is like trying to store precious wine in a sieve. It just ain’t gonna happen.

What I believe will matter the most for artists in the 21st century is the human relationship between the artist and the audience. That personal connection is what will propel their audience to purchase the novels, music, films and so forth. That relationship generates trust, loyalty and even pricks the conscience of those audience members who have partaken of pirated fruit.

And that relationship takes work… a kind of work on the part of the content creators (and their teams if they have the budget) that is sometimes more difficult than the creation of the art in the first place. And I think it also requires a higher standard of merit for the work itself, raising the bar to a new level for the highest level of success. That’s where I come to the opinion — yes, this is just opinion so please disregard all this if you disagree — that a paradigm shift is upon us.

This generation, frankly, looks at content differently than prior generations. Content is not an object to them. It is to be easily and freely passed between devices, and yes, even between friends. When content loses its physical properties, something has to take the place of that which is lost. And that is where the relationship comes in.

In this short space I can’t go into more of my theories on this topic, but suffice it to say that DRM simply prevents the natural movement of content to the audience for which it is intended. And the audience of the 21st century will almost certainly take the path of least resistance. If it takes more effort to access or use an artist’s content, many won’t bother with it at all.

For those that choose to stoically defend DRM, please, have at it. But please don’t wonder why the content you are trying to protect is distributed without your control anyway and all that effort (read: time and money) you put into vaulting it up and chasing after pirates could have been spent building good will, trust and loyalty with your audience, one paying customer at a time.

Welcome to my personal website! I hope you come back often and enjoy the content, old and new, that I will be posting here in the coming months. I’ll also be updating you about some of my exciting personal and commercial projects, such as FETIDUS, Arothea, and my score of the feature-length indie film, 95ers.

I decided the time had come to overhaul this site, and add proper blogging and RSS features, along with an expanded collection of content and topics that I’ll be covering… including the dreaded and dangerous written form known as commentary. It could get controversial here in the coming months.

This is a quiet “soft” re-launch, with much more content on the way. Please subscribe for updates and you won’t miss a thing, including the slow-but-sure posting of some of my favorite previous content and music, including songs from Aeolian May – Port of Embarkation.

In the meatime, as this website is built up, please don’t miss out on FETIDUS: The Damned Heir… Episode 6 is around the corner!

Best,
James

As I begin to repopulate this website with content, old and new, I had to post one of my favorite songs from my Aeolian May – Port of Embarkation album. This song is entitled Alexandria, and tells a passionate story of longing in a distant land and ancient time. I tried to capture the feeling of timeless, mythical love by taking you to the fabled shores of classical Alexandria, the bygone seat of mankind’s knowledge and culture. I hope you enjoy it!

Danan Healy sings beautifully with her trademark ethereal voice, and Matt Ellison provides superb, nostalgic guitar. Click here to visit the Aeolian May website.

Music written and produced by James Durham.

Click below to listen to “Alexandria” from Aeolian May – Port of Embarkation

Download audio file: “Alexandria” from Aeolian May – Port of Embarkation (7.2 MB)

On January 14, 2005, NASA/JPL/ESA landed the Huygens probe on Saturn’s moon, Titan, and to commemorate that historic and inspiring event, I wrote a piece of music entitled, Titan Descent. It was the first time mankind landed a probe on another planet’s moon (other than our own, of course), and its long-term significance is a milestone that cannot be understated. What an extraordinary event, and what an extraordinary success for the fantastic international team of scientists and engineers that accomplished their historic mission!

I was thrilled that the folks at NASA, ESA and JPL circulated the music around among the Cassini-Huygens team and posted it on their website, and I was overjoyed that my wife choreographed a modern dance piece for it, which she has performed numerous times to the enthusiastic response of her audiences.

The music opens with actual excerpts from the press conference announcing the success, and at about 3:14, I work in the actual alien sounds recorded by the probe as it descended into the Titan atmosphere. Yes, that’s some of the sound of what the probe sent back to us.

While I wrote the music, I tried to imagine the rapid spinning the probe engaged in, and its journey approaching, then travelling through the atmosphere of this strange new world.

You can read more about the Cassini-Huygens Mission at JPL’s Cassini site and a good summary can be found at Wikipedia here and here.

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did creating it!

Click below to listen to “Titan Descent”

Download audio file: “Titan Descent” (9.7 MB)

Originally posted back on March 20th, I would be remiss in my newly minted duties to this personal website if I didn’t announce that Episode 5 of FETIDUS: The Damned Heir is now LIVE over at www.fetidus.org.

But now that I have announced it here, the hungry appetite of this website is now satisfied, albeit temporarily. In fact, if you subscribe to this blog, you will get all sorts of interesting updates… not just about FETIDUS, but about all of my other creative mayhem, commentary and cognitive diversions. And there are some things I’m positively certain you will be absolutely thrilled to know about.

Here’s an early test track from Arothea: The First Attempt at Breaking the World. This one is called “Telsun’s Dirigible” and it is a little electronic piece with some sound design that acts as a quick portrait of the mythical thaumaturge Telsun, as he flies high over Arothea in his old beat-up dirigible. I can’t wait to bring you more about him and his story. But for now, here’s the first pass at his theme.

Click below to listen to “Telsun’s Dirigible” from Arothea: The First Attempt at Breaking the World

Download audio file: “Telsun’s Dirigible” (3.4 MB)

Wow, this has taken way too long. But I’m getting closer to re-launching my personal website. These things often take longer than I expect, and I almost always run into a few elements that I didn’t anticipate. Such is the creative process. In this case, I did a gut-check yesterday on some of the design elements I had been working on, and they just didn’t make the grade.

Sometimes, you just have to put your creation out there, even if it isn’t all the way to the point that you originally intended or hoped for. The “80% solution,” as one of my clients says. In the case of this website, which is mainly just a personal platform for my creative mayhem (it’s the content that matters most!), I just have to get it up so I can get back to my real creative works, like FETIDUS and Arothea and Threads of Heaven, and the actual content I want to put here on this site.

However, yesterday, when I felt I was within inches of being semi-satisfied, I did a final gut-check. I dispensed with the filter of looking at the site from the point of view of someone who had already invested many hours into it, and I looked at it with fresh, dispassionate eyes. And… I hated it.

Yes, it’s funny, and I can laugh about it now, but I wasn’t too thrilled yesterday. Realizing that I had very little time left to put into the site design and layout at this point, and realizing that my prior path of ideas resulted in a soggy, goofy, confusing and essentially lame result, I did what I have trained myself to do. I used my carefully honed creative ninja skills, and I threw out the parts I hated.

Sometimes, that’s the hardest part. When I create something, especially when I’ve put many hours into it… then realize it truly needs to be thrown into the waste bin because it stinks so badly, it can be very difficult to do what’s right… sometimes I wrestle with salvaging it and re-working it, and I resist the inevitable, painful truth.

Yes, there are times when a failing idea does merit saving and reworking, and perhaps just putting it on a shelf for a while to let it breathe. And yes, there are ugly, misshapen, bastard ideas that do deserve much more “love.” But knowing which ones do not merit that attention is one of the most difficult skills I’ve been trying to master over the years.

In the case of the prior test version of this website, I knew I had crossed into the realm of putrescence. Yes, into a form of simple-minded and surprisingly inane mediocrity, and the only way to salvage the situation was to jettison the offending parts.

And with what little time remained for this site redressing, I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull together the “perfect” layout or design… but I knew it would be better than the last iteration. Maybe this version is a bit “safe.” Maybe I’m not “rising to the challenge” of great creative heights with this site design. Yes, it is very, very simple. But then again, all I minimally needed was one that would pass a level-1 gut-check. The content is what matters the most, and the frosting for the site itself can come later. So, for now, this will have to do.

Next time, I’ll hire a designer.

But that’s a different lesson for another day.

The website is undergoing massive, earth-shaking changes. I’m currently updating the website using a new back-end system and refreshing the design. Please check back over the next several days (and weeks, and months) as I put the pieces together and add old and new content! It may be a little sparse at first, but eventually, this website will be overflowing with content.

In the meantime, please check out my FETIDUS project at www.fetidus.org!

Best, James