tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79867771583256265892024-03-04T22:03:25.619-08:00JerkatoriumJerkatorium - Geek Rock for Nerds. Nerd Rock for Geeks.Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-7103784320711992382020-11-27T17:54:00.000-08:002020-11-27T17:54:31.179-08:00Jerkatorium and Jerkatorium-Adjacent(?) "Original Flava" Extravaganza<p>Earlier I'd neglected to mention Jerkatorium's participation in the <a href="https://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11765" target="_blank">April-May 2020 "Original Flava" Cover Fight </a>at <a href="http://www.songfight.org" target="_blank">SongFight.org</a>. Original Flava is a project where SongFighters are challenged to make cover versions of songs composed by other SongFighters: participants are assigned (secret Santa style) to another band, and they have to cover any song from that band's portfolio. If this sounds familiar, it's because <a href="https://jerkatorium.blogspot.com/2016/04/jerkatorium-at-original-flava-cover.html " target="_blank">we also did this challenge way back in 2016</a> and it resulted in <a href="http://songfight.net/cf2016/" target="_blank">Jerkatorium's cover of Heuristics Inc's song "Control Yourself".</a></p><p>Anyway back in April 2020 we participated in <a href="https://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11765" target="_blank">Song Fight's "Original Flava Coverfight - COVID-19 Special Edition"</a> (named "COVID-19 Special Edition" only because at that time many SongFighters were stuck at home with little to do, and craving more music projects). We were assigned <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=vom_vorton" target="_blank">Vom Vorton</a>, a very talented artist who we'd had on the podcast, and who we admire a lot. Chumpy and I are big fans of <a href="https://vomvorton.bandcamp.com" target="_blank">Vom Vorton</a> and we had difficulty narrowing our selection down to a single one of his songs to cover... so we didn't narrow it down. We covered two of his songs.</p><p>We covered "The Sugary Goo Inside" by Vom Vorton. You can hear his original song at <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/sugary_goo_inside/vomvorton_sgi.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/sugary_goo_inside/vomvorton_sgi.mp3</a> . Our cover version is here:</p><p><a href="http://capybara.table2.com/of-covid/jerkatorium_thesugarygooinside_vowlvom.mp3" target="_blank">http://capybara.table2.com/of-covid/jerkatorium_thesugarygooinside_vowlvom.mp3</a></p><p>We also covered "Your Discarded Cigarette" by Vom Vorton. You can hear his original song at <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/your_discarded_cigarette/vomvorton_ydc.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/your_discarded_cigarette/vomvorton_ydc.mp3</a> . Our cover version is here:</p><p><a href="http://capybara.table2.com/of-covid/jerkatorium_yourdiscardedcigarette_vowlvom.mp3" target="_blank">http://capybara.table2.com/of-covid/jerkatorium_yourdiscardedcigarette_vowlvom.mp3</a></p><p>The "secret Santa" part of the challenge means that somebody did a cover version of one of our songs. We were fortunate enough to have <a href="https://songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=third_cat" target="_blank">Third Cat</a> cover <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/ocean_of_blood/jerkatorium_oob.mp3" target="_blank">our song "Ocean of Blood"</a>, and you can hear that cover version here:</p><p><a href="http://capybara.table2.com/of-covid/thirdcat_ocean_of_blood_jerkatorium.mp3" target="_blank">http://capybara.table2.com/of-covid/thirdcat_ocean_of_blood_jerkatorium.mp3</a></p><p><br /></p><p>This month (November 2020) there was another <a href="https://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11940" target="_blank">Original Flava Cover Fight at SongFight.org, and this time it was a "Video Edition"</a>, meaning that all of the participants had to submit a music video of their cover song. There were 17 participants including the Jerkatorium-adjacent band "Hanky Code" (just me), and everybody did great videos. As a bonus, occasional collaborator <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com" target="_blank">Micah Sommersmith</a> revised the Original Flava Theme Song [the song was made for the April/May Original Flava <a href="https://youtu.be/TlP5XpTIQp0?t=4797" target="_blank">listening party</a> - and that Original Flava Theme Song was in itself a revision of the Gift of Music Theme Song that Micah had written back in March/April 2020 (more about that below)]. Anyway Micah revised the lyrics and I gave it a much-needed remixing and remastering, and then we made a video for it. You can see it here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qpicrnXBpL0" width="320" youtube-src-id="qpicrnXBpL0"></iframe></div><br /><p>Here's a link if that embed doesn't work: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpicrnXBpL0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpicrnXBpL0</a> . Special thanks to Andrei and Buko for their formidable acting talents.</p><p>For the Cover Fight itself I was assigned Pigfarmer Jr, and I decided to cover <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/sugary_goo_inside/pigfarmerjr_sgi.mp3" target="_blank">his version of "The Sugary Goo Inside"</a> under the band name Hanky Code. You can see the video here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4k28MQ5EYy0" width="320" youtube-src-id="4k28MQ5EYy0"></iframe></div><br /><p>Here's a link if that embed doesn't work: <a href="https://youtu.be/4k28MQ5EYy0" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/4k28MQ5EYy0</a> . More thanks to Andrei for his excellent acting and his amazing hand modeling. </p><p>The "secret Santa" aspect of this challenge resulted in us getting <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/change_is_coming/jerkatorium_cic.mp3" target="_blank">our mid-2016 song "Change Is Coming"</a> covered by the wonderful <a href="https://sockpuppet.bandcamp.com" target="_blank">Sockpuppet</a>. You can hear that lovely cover and see the mesmerizing video here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OavIAgVHi-A" width="320" youtube-src-id="OavIAgVHi-A"></iframe></div><p>Here's a link if that embed doesn't work: <a href="https://youtu.be/OavIAgVHi-A" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/OavIAgVHi-A</a></p><p>I'm also going to recommend the videos from the rest of the participants. Everybody did something different, and it's all interesting and entertaining. You can see it all here (it starts at the 20:10 mark):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gVh1ky3VU8Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="gVh1ky3VU8Q"></iframe></div><br /><p>Here's a link right to the start of the videos if that embed doesn't work: <a href="https://youtu.be/gVh1ky3VU8Q?t=1210" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/gVh1ky3VU8Q?t=1210</a> . </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly: I'm not sure how I'd also neglected to mention this in a previous post, but Jerkatorium participated in the <a href="https://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11727" target="_blank">March/April 2020 Gift of Music Cover Fight: "Gift of Music - COVID-19 Special Edition"</a>. Jerkatorium has participated in three previous Gift of Music Cover Fights, which resulted in our covers of <a href="https://jerkatorium.blogspot.com/2016/01/jerkatorium-covers-hey-housebrick-by.html" target="_blank">"Hey Housebrick" by Hot Club de Paris</a>, <a href="https://jerkatorium.blogspot.com/2017/01/jerkatoriums-cover-of-sweets-fox-on-run.html" target="_blank">"Fox On The Run" by Sweet</a>, and <a href="https://todaysthedaycovers.blogspot.com/2018/05/jerkatorium.html" target="_blank">"Today's the Day" by Inverse T. Clown</a>. For this most recent Gift of Music we were randomly assigned to cover a <a href="https://nure.in/bands/22E659D5EC7F13E0F6094E778CA3D25F" target="_blank">Boffo Yux Dudes</a> favorite again, and this time we chose <a href="https://youtu.be/ohW49tIdy0c" target="_blank">"Heaven On The 7th Floor" by Paul Nicholas</a>. You can hear our cover version of the song here:</p><p><a href="http://capybara.table2.com/gom-covid/jerkatorium-heavenonthe7thfloor.mp3" target="_blank">http://capybara.table2.com/gom-covid/jerkatorium-heavenonthe7thfloor.mp3 </a></p><p><br /></p>Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-72315792635400898372020-09-19T22:53:00.000-07:002020-09-19T22:53:38.401-07:00New Jerkatorium featuring Micah Sommersmith video for "Flamethrower"<p> Hi everybody, there's a new Jerkatorium video for our <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/flamethrower/jerkatorium+micahsommersmith_flamethrower.mp3" target="_blank">Song Fight-winning song "Flamethrower"</a>:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pfWISTLlSaM" width="320" youtube-src-id="pfWISTLlSaM"></iframe></div><p>If clicking that video image doesn't work, try <a href="https://youtu.be/pfWISTLlSaM" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/pfWISTLlSaM</a> .</p><p>Our occasional collaborator <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com" target="_blank">Micah Sommersmith</a> did a ton of work on this song - that's him playing accordion, rapping, and doing backing vocals. He also contributed a lot to the composition and lyrics. Check out his music at <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com" target="_blank">https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com</a> and his videos at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MicahSommer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/user/MicahSommer</a> .</p><p>Also: Five or six months ago Jerkatorium handily lost the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=love_in_the_time_of" target="_blank">"Love In The Time Of" Song Fight</a> with our song about Beatlemania, you can listen to it here at your own risk: <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/love_in_the_time_of/jerkatorium_litto.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/love_in_the_time_of/jerkatorium_litto.mp3</a> </p>Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-26701101628135294392020-03-21T14:23:00.001-07:002020-03-21T14:23:15.892-07:00SpinTunes 16: Jerkatorium gets 2nd place in Round 3, & 2nd place in Round 4/FinaleJerkatorium won <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2020/03/st16r3-results.html" target="_blank">second place</a> in <a href="https://spintunes.bandcamp.com/album/spintunes-16-round-3" target="_blank">SpinTunes 16 Round 3</a> with our song <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/something-right" target="_blank">"Something Right"</a>, which you can hear and download for free on <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/something-right" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/something-right" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/something-right</a><br />
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That Round 3 challenge was to write a "<a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2020/02/spintunes-16-round-3-challenge.html" target="_blank">song of wisdom</a>"; an uplifting song to sing for a graduation ceremony, dedication, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, funeral, baptism, or similar event. We went with a general celebratory song about graduation.<br />
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Jerkatorium followed that up by winning <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2020/03/spintunes-16-round-4-results.html" target="_blank">second place</a> in <a href="https://spintunes.bandcamp.com/album/spintunes-16-round-4" target="_blank">SpinTunes Round 4</a> with our song <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/oh-pandora" target="_blank">"Oh Pandora"</a>, which you can also hear and download for free on <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/oh-pandora" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/oh-pandora" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/oh-pandora</a><br />
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That Round 4 <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2020/03/spintunes-15-round-4-challenge.html" target="_blank">challenge</a> was to write a song about something that seemed like a good idea at the time, but ended very badly, as in the types of situations described by the <a href="https://darwinawards.com/" target="_blank">Darwin Awards</a>. We went with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora" target="_blank">Pandora </a>myth, where Pandora was given a jar (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box" target="_blank">the popular misconception that it was a box, but it was a jar</a>) as a wedding gift from Zeus, and when she opened it all evils were loosed upon the world.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19rE6XNMmyoJJff6SEsN2hfdR_8wlVFnSHcSizWrUZyKP5hAxcKsOwsroWtCSRO9fxFkluWhpLgEAoUm98N_R5_Tfj2FOZrQI4yT_RLnbi0p1U3E-wYoZhcLm8xF0Up6ZpZYQI3FbLoU/s1600/Pandora.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="1039" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19rE6XNMmyoJJff6SEsN2hfdR_8wlVFnSHcSizWrUZyKP5hAxcKsOwsroWtCSRO9fxFkluWhpLgEAoUm98N_R5_Tfj2FOZrQI4yT_RLnbi0p1U3E-wYoZhcLm8xF0Up6ZpZYQI3FbLoU/s320/Pandora.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
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I'll admit that I buried the lead a bit here: When I write that Jerkatorium won second place in SpinTunes 16 Round 4, I am actually reporting that Jerkatorium <i><b><u>lost</u> </b></i>SpinTunes 16. There are only four rounds in SpinTunes, and only one winner, and we came in second by a wide margin. Second place out of 27 competitors is not shabby though, and we strongly agree that the band <a href="https://temnere.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Temnere</a> had a better song than ours, and he definitely deserved to win. Temnere (Wil Whalen) is also an <a href="https://www.artstation.com/wilwhalen" target="_blank">extremely talented visual artist</a>, and you can see some of his <a href="https://www.artstation.com/wilwhalen" target="_blank">great artwork at Artstation.com.</a>Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-52081784991982422482020-02-22T20:42:00.000-08:002020-02-22T20:42:57.273-08:00Jerkatorium Wins Round 2 of SpinTunes 16Jerkatorium is competing in <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a> 16, and <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2020/02/st16r2-results.html" target="_blank">we just won Round 2</a>. We did well in <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2020/02/st16r1-results.html" target="_blank">Round 1</a> with our song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heEkGJenufM" target="_blank">"In The Future"</a> placing 5th out of 27 entries, and now we've won 1st place out of the remaining 20 bands with our song <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/8-bit-love" target="_blank">"8-bit Love"</a>. You can hear it and download it for free at:<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/8-bit-love" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/8-bit-love</a><br />
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There are a total of four rounds in SpinTunes and scoring isn't cumulative, so <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2020/02/st16r1-results.html" target="_blank">winning Round 2</a> doesn't give us any real advantage or benefit other than bragging rights. It's nice to know that we're probably on the right track though, because 2/3 of the remaining bands (8 out of 12) will be eliminated in Round 3.<br />
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We also recorded <a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/st16r2/" target="_blank">a podcast of SpinTunes 16 Round 2 song reviews</a> with <a href="https://boffoyux.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tommy G</a> of <a href="https://boffoyuxdudes.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Boffo Yux Dudes</a> (<a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/bands/22E659D5EC7F13E0F6094E778CA3D25F" target="_blank">Tommy</a> is also the host of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMiMaFJsON_nJQfD0_52v1Q" target="_blank">Listening Parties on YouTube</a>), and that is available at <a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" target="_blank">Two Jerks One Vote</a> - but as I've mentioned before, I doubt the podcast would be of interest to anyone who isn't actually participating in the competition. You can find it at this link: <br />
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<a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/st16r2/" target="_blank">https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/st16r2/</a>Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-18100751878915687802020-02-04T19:20:00.000-08:002020-02-04T19:20:21.464-08:00"In The Future" Jerkatorium Music VideoJerkatorium is competing in <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a> 16 this year instead of judging. <a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" target="_blank">Judging and podcasts</a> are all well and good, but we noticed that they were taking time away from music production so we're going to avoid those for a little while.<div>
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The first song assignment in <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a> 16 was to write a song based on a scene on a book or movie. After a lot of consideration we went with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb6H14gVWjM" target="_blank">the introduction scene in Plan 9 From Outer Space</a>, and we made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heEkGJenufM" target="_blank">a music video for the song</a> just for fun:</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/heEkGJenufM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/heEkGJenufM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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If the video embed doesn't work you can get to it through this link:</div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heEkGJenufM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heEkGJenufM</a></div>
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You can download the song for free at bandcamp:</div>
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/in-the-future" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/in-the-future</a></div>
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We also collaborated with owl (from <a href="https://miscellaneousowl.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">miscellaneous owl</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/vowl-sounds" target="_blank">Vowl Sounds</a> and <a href="https://www.gentlebrontosaurus.com/" target="_blank">Gentle Brontosaurus</a>) for the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=try_me" target="_blank">"Try Me" Song Fight</a>, submitting as "<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/try_me/miscellaneousjerk_tm.mp3" target="_blank">Miscellaneous Jerk</a>". We did okay in that fight, getting 5th place out of 17 entries. You can hear the song here:</div>
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/try_me/miscellaneousjerk_tm.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/try_me/miscellaneousjerk_tm.mp3</a></div>
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More songs to come every other week (and maybe videos too?) for the next several weeks due to this SpinTunes competition. Check back for updates.</div>
Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-85949884572404158642019-10-26T15:21:00.001-07:002019-10-26T15:21:23.575-07:00Just in time for Halloween - a Super Creepy music video!Check out the new music video for Jerkatorium's Song Fight winner "Super Creepy":<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-E9hnTKigPI/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-E9hnTKigPI?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Link: <a href="https://youtu.be/-E9hnTKigPI" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/-E9hnTKigPI</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(13, 13, 13); color: #0d0d0d; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All of the footage was edited together from the few <a href="https://archive.org/details/breadandpuppet" target="_blank">Bread and Puppet videos</a> I could find at <a href="https://archive.org/details/breadandpuppet" target="_blank">Archive.org</a> that were listed as <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Creative Commons</a> and NOT listed as "No Derivatives" (most of their videos ask users not to distribute remixes of their footage, and I respect that restriction for the videos marked as such).</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(13, 13, 13); color: #0d0d0d; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://breadandpuppet.org/" target="_blank">The Bread and Puppet Theater</a> is an amazing group of artists that everyone should check out and support. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-xsDpLCa0iQWzctH9oGp9qJigbdPJ4ha" target="_blank">Watch their incredible videos on YouTube</a>, and <a href="https://breadandpuppet.org/tour-schedule" target="_blank">go to their performances</a> if you ever have the opportunity. Jerkatorium is not affiliated with The Bread and Puppet Theater, and this music video is just a shoddy collage of their fabulous and fantastic imagery. And this should go without saying, but The Bread and Puppet Theater is not super creepy (except on those occasions when they are trying to be super creepy).</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(13, 13, 13); color: #0d0d0d; white-space: pre-wrap;">Find out more about The Bread and Puppet Theater at:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(13, 13, 13); color: #0d0d0d; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://breadandpuppet.org/" target="_blank">www.breadandpuppet.org</a></span></span><br />
Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-8582163927106657892019-10-05T16:48:00.001-07:002019-10-05T16:48:32.187-07:00Jerkatorium Won the Silent Advance and Liquid Starshine Song FightsOkay yeah, I'm not good about updating this blog, I see it's been 9 months already.<div>
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Jerkatorium won both of the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">Song Fight</a> competitions we entered during that time. Back in March we won the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=silent_advance" target="_blank">Silent Advance Song Fight</a> by a very comfortable margin, and you can hear the song at this link:</div>
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/silent_advance/jerkatorium_sa.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/silent_advance/jerkatorium_sa.mp3</a></div>
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The cover art for that song was done by the super-talented artist <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/the-bomberanian" target="_blank">"happy triangle" aka The Bomberanian</a>:</div>
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=silent_advance" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="420" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zb0IqpQ3ySHCGTPoH0F7J5GKMrcR8cSzYX99hsdJtSfFzOymDCmgE-8GoF-qjVUOrdMHyfKL-0VLZuM8tEO2jBGJ8rO2Gj3sgafmNhowvVO7Z8T94zHOgrwdbfcCgiUr99H_LtjWbSo/s320/Silent+Advance+cover+art.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The art is a brilliant take on the Song Fight graphic/logo:</div>
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbEXhmgjV2EW27p5mmVRk5Kxv30eq3vNXyuO6E8YI4oMZ1OBWykpsqThpmy-aZ5jqHlZT_T-P2Rm1dCUiJEVdLKZy3ImuAYMkMuTkU-R-cbnjHsHSSMNf8CYU2dqzfwOsvOOzoNcVHWE/s1600/songfightdrawing2.jpg" /></a></div>
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If you want to see more art by happy triangle, you can check out her Deviant Art page at:</div>
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<a href="https://www.deviantart.com/the-bomberanian" target="_blank">https://www.deviantart.com/the-bomberanian</a></div>
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...or her Song Fight art submissions at:</div>
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/artindex.php?sortkey=artist&thumbs=false" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/artindex.php?sortkey=artist&thumbs=false</a></div>
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[You'll need to scroll down to "Happy Triangle" to see her list of submissions]</div>
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Jerkatorium also won last month's <a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=liquid_starshine" target="_blank">Liquid Starshine Song Fight</a> by one vote - so if you voted for us, thank you! You are definitely the voter who put us over the top. It was a big group of great songs and the top 7 entries were each just a couple votes away from each other so it could have gone to anyone, we just lucked out. You can hear the song at this link:</div>
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/liquid_starshine/jerkatorium_ls.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/liquid_starshine/jerkatorium_ls.mp3</a></div>
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As I mentioned on the <a href="https://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11560&p=212054&hilit=noon&sid=88538aaff74af49d02bd8a22ffa3583c#p212054" target="_blank">Song Fight bulletin board lyrics post</a> and also on the <a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/ls/" target="_blank">review podcast</a>, please remember that both turpentine and formaldehyde are toxic. Do not drink turpentine. Do not drink formaldehyde. Your internal organs will shut down and you will die.</div>
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And since I mentioned the podcast I'll also mention that we are still doing review podcasts, but not as regularly - we were good about doing a podcast for every competition until the beginning of July, but then we slipped a little and accidentally took a couple of months off. The podcast will only be of interest to bands participating in <a href="http://www.songfight.org/" target="_blank">Song Fight</a> and/or <a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/" target="_blank">Nur Ein</a> and/or <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a>, but they are available at the following link:</div>
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<a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" target="_blank">https://twojerksonevote.com</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Oddly enough, somehow we ended up on a list of <a href="https://travelingrockstars.com/top-20-songwriting-audio-podcasts-radio-you-must-subscribe-and-listen-to-in-2019/" target="_blank">"</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://travelingrockstars.com/top-20-songwriting-audio-podcasts-radio-you-must-subscribe-and-listen-to-in-2019/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Top 20 Songwriting Audio Podcasts & Radio You Must Subscribe and Listen to in 2019" at the Traveling </span>Rockstars</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://travelingrockstars.com/top-20-songwriting-audio-podcasts-radio-you-must-subscribe-and-listen-to-in-2019/" target="_blank"> blog</a>. And maybe at Feedspot.com too? I'm afraid to register at Feedspot.com so I don't know what that looks like, but the Traveling Rockstars blog lists "Feedspot's editorial team and expert review" as one of its selection criteria. They said we could display this badge on our podcast site, so hooray for us:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://travelingrockstars.com/top-20-songwriting-audio-podcasts-radio-you-must-subscribe-and-listen-to-in-2019/" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKBNFBZUS_XWQiFbXUPxXBht698gRK_ylFkjGrrVfSXhIMpLrIkf3i7HkhBjdtdtfzJzYkI_74JU37qprR3N0PTyiflm44U8zICCIUsVeqGqHL4UO1MHUO_WJcxrH1I9ILrA26-yK24N4/s1600/songwriting_podcast_216px.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I still think our podcasts would sound like gibberish</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> to anyone who isn't competing in Song Fight or Nur Ein... but hey, look at our shiny badge!</span></span>Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-10526413313506620982019-01-12T13:04:00.002-08:002019-01-12T13:04:55.785-08:00Way Overdue Update: More New Jerkatorium and Matchy Matchy Songs<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lots has happened since the last blog update, with <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium&sortkey=date" target="_blank">one new Jerkatorium song</a>, three new songs by our alter-ego band <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Matchy Matchy</a>, and fifteen (yes, fifteen) new <a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" target="_blank">podcast recordings</a>. In addition to that, there are also some podcast theme revisions and remixes, and a podcast-related <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/track/third-cat-wrote-a-very-good-song" target="_blank">Jerkatorium collaboration with Micah Sommersmith</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jerkatorium returned as judges to the <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a> 15 contest this year, which naturally prohibited us from competing again... but just like when we judged SpinTunes 14, we did submit non-competing songs (dubbed "shadow" entries) again under the name <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Matchy Matchy. </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><br /></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com" border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="924" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXsCsRgtTG4XeOjjga2PhTV5LWd0e0FUIzXUEnwGwBdbcAgRO1IG3csneNbViOAkvxYLTXXbOtRCtO55YO5rG1gT1ehVOM73uU8u416of1Z8BZOEk9JAD_epu7ZIc1ziXRfJjXP2eaUI/s320/Matchy+Matchy+logo1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first assigned challenge was to write a song from the viewpoint of an alien visiting earth. We submitted "<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/everything-everything-everything" target="_blank">Everything Everything Everything</a>":</span><br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/everything-everything-everything" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/everything-everything-everything</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Round 2 challenge was to write a song that expresses sincere gratitude. As an extra requirement, the song had to include vocal harmonies. We submitted the song "<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/thanks" target="_blank">Thanks</a>", which was heavy on the harmonies and light on the sincerity:</span><br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/thanks" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/thanks</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Round 3 challenge was to do a "pastiche" song; a song in the style of a different band. We decided to ape A Flock of Seagulls with our song "<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/eagles" target="_blank">Eagles</a>":</span><br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/eagles" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/eagles</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Round 4 challenge was to write a cumulative song a la "12 Days of Christmas" or "There's A Hole In The Bottom Of The Sea". Forces beyond our control conspired to prevent us from completing a shadow entry for Round 4, but <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Micah Sommersmith</a> (winner of SpinTunes 14, judge for SpinTunes 15, and <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium_feat_micah_sommersmith" target="_blank">occasional Jerkatorium collaborator</a>) accepted our offer of help in generating some backing music for a song he'd composed to supplement his Round 4 reviews - and the format of his song is also a cumulative song. It's entitled "<a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/track/third-cat-wrote-a-very-good-song" target="_blank">Third Cat Wrote A Very Good Song</a>":</span><br />
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<a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/track/third-cat-wrote-a-very-good-song" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/track/third-cat-wrote-a-very-good-song</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm also going to highly recommend the shadow entries Micah did for SpinTunes 15, available here: <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/album/spintunes-15" target="_blank">https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/album/spintunes-15</a> . And while I'm at it, I'll highly recommend all of the rest of his songs, available here: <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com</a> . He's an amazing talent and a great guy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">After our SpinTunes 14 podcasts last year we decided to start doing <a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" target="_blank">Song Fight review podcasts</a>, and then for Jerkatorium's SpinTunes 15 judging duties we returned to recording podcasts for our SpinTunes reviews too. <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">All of those podcasts can be found at </span><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">https://twojerksonevote.com</a><span style="background-color: white;">. The podcasts are free to stream or download, but </span></span>as I'd explained in a previous post: <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The podcasts are very specifically geared towards </span><a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://www.songfight.org/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Song Fight</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">, and they would probably not interest anyone who wasn’t already following those competitions. We try to add humorous bits and clips to the podcasts as time permits, but even those bits are mostly inside jokes. We've re-recorded versions of the </span><a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/spintunes-judges-theme" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">podcast theme song</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> to fit SongFight and SpinTunes as applicable, and lately we've been doing different podcast theme remixes for each of the more recent episodes. </span><a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Micah Sommersmith</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> composed an original alternate podcast theme for the "</span><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/st15r1/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">ST15R1: Strange New World</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">" podcast, and that version also reappears in the "</span><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/st15r4/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">ST15R4: It Grows On You</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">" podcast. We occasionally have guest reviewers (</span><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/THD_TJ1V.mp3" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Micah Sommersmith</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/bwy/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Brian</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/pits/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Raiter,</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/posts/naw/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Andy Hamlin</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">, and hopefully others soon). Regardless - the podcasts won't have much to interest anyone who is not following </span><a href="http://www.songfight.org/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Song Fight</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> or </span><a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">. </span><br />
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Jerkatorium took a pretty big step away from our usual approach to music in our submission for the October 2018 <a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=blue_woman_yes" target="_blank">"Blue Woman Yes" Song Fight</a>, going for a more hard rock sound. You can hear that here:<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/blue_woman_yes/jerkatorium_bwy.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/blue_woman_yes/jerkatorium_bwy.mp3</a><br />
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The Song Fight Fightmaster picked <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/the-bomberanian" target="_blank">happy triangle</a>'s cover art submission for that "<a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=blue_woman_yes" target="_blank">Blue Woman Yes" Song Fight</a>, and that was a great choice; it's an excellent illustration by a wonderful artist, and it includes calligraphy from <a href="http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/" target="_blank">Brian</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/br903?lang=en" target="_blank">Raiter</a>:<br />
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<br />Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-61799876597924471312018-07-12T16:54:00.002-07:002018-07-12T16:54:39.356-07:00New Jerkatorium video for "We Should"The new video for We Should is now on YouTube:<div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qtgIvPgQ1Qc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qtgIvPgQ1Qc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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If the YouTube thing within this post doesn't work on your device, you can find it at this link:<br /><div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgIvPgQ1Qc" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgIvPgQ1Qc</a> </div>
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Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-87454442687171568152018-07-04T16:23:00.001-07:002018-07-04T16:23:06.996-07:00Overdue Update: New Jerkatorium and Matchy Matchy songs<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It has been over two months since the last Jerkatorium blog update. Since then, we have recorded <a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/bands/98586CCE49D6CCBD705F145C691B0B72" target="_blank">five new original Matchy Matchy songs</a>, <a href="https://drlindyke.bandcamp.com/track/todays-the-day-34" target="_blank">one new cover song</a>, and <a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" target="_blank">three new podcasts</a>. I have no excuses for not updating this blog earlier. Let’s just launch into it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a> #14 continued through to <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2018/05/spintunes-14-winner-micah-sommersmith.html" target="_blank">its resolution on May 26</a>. We're thrilled that our <span style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69);"><a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium_feat_micah_sommersmith" target="_blank">occasional collaborator</a> <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Micah Sommersmith</a> won his well-earned and deserved victory.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I’d explained in previous posts, Jerkatorium was compelled to judge the competition this year because <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2017/08/spintunes-13-winner-jerkatorium.html" target="_blank">we won SpinTunes #13 last year</a>, and so we had to supply reviews for all of the songs throughout this year's competition. To that end, Jerkatorium continued to generate review podcasts for each round of SpinTunes #14. All four of those podcasts can be found at <a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" target="_blank">https://twojerksonevote.com</a>. The podcasts are free to stream or download - but I should warn you that they are very specifically geared towards SpinTunes, and they would probably not interest anyone who wasn’t already following SpinTunes #14. We tried to inject some humorous bits into the podcasts, but even those bits are mostly inside jokes for SpinTuners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As noted in the previous blog update, Jerkatorium’s alter ego band Matchy Matchy submitted those first two shadow entries (<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/one-of-these-days" target="_blank">One Of These Days</a> and <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/i-think-youre-ok" target="_blank">I Think You’re Okay</a>) for SpinTunes #14, but then time constraints and other projects prevented us from submitting shadow songs for the last two rounds. Instead, Jerkatorium completed a <a href="http://muppetlabs.com/~mikeh/ttd.mp3" target="_blank">cover version of Today’s The Day</a> by <a href="https://drlindyke.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Inverse T. Clown</a> for <a href="https://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11109" target="_blank">Song Fight’s 2018 Gift Of Music sidefight</a>. <a href="http://todaysthedaycovers.blogspot.com/p/about-this-site.html" target="_blank">Today’s The Day covers</a> are sort of a <i>thing</i> on the internet, and to date there are <a href="http://todaysthedaycovers.blogspot.com/p/the-album.html" target="_blank">over 30 different versions of the song online</a>. For <a href="http://muppetlabs.com/~mikeh/ttd.mp3" target="_blank">our cover</a>, we changed some of the lyrics to tone down some of the gender-specific derogatory remarks that seemed a little gratuitous and unnecessary; that judgment might be arguable, but regardless we’ll chalk up our edits to “artistic license”. You can hear our version here:</span></div>
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<a href="http://muppetlabs.com/~mikeh/ttd.mp3"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://muppetlabs.com/~mikeh/ttd.mp3</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Early on, we decided that we weren’t going to participate in the <a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/" target="_blank">Nur Ein</a> competition this year. The Nur Ein song challenge requirements tend to hurt the quality of the submissions: you might have a good song and then be compelled to include <a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/E996B83E08FFC9084E28CAC3258EB1C5" target="_blank">animal sounds</a>, or <a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/974E1066EF9BB306856519CAD6A12FEC" target="_blank">backwards recording</a>, or <a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/A387AE96B4F1A03E7C52BCC0C9C96122" target="_blank">jump through some other hoop</a> to have it qualify, thereby dragging down the appeal of the song. Also Nur Ein uses judges with no qualifications and no bona fides, who post their rankings anonymously. The judges are free to base their rankings on petty Song Fight resentments instead of any legitimate criteria. If Jerkatorium has no respect for Nur Ein’s challenges or judges, why would we make the effort to participate?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For some reason we changed our minds at the last minute and decided to compete in Nur Ein this year. Early on it was clear that the two least-qualified judges were dead set on giving us low rankings no matter what we submitted - a typical round would have two judges ranking us up with the very top songs and the other two putting us near (or at) last place. It was just a matter of time until the math caught up with us. We were eliminated after the fifth round (officially Round Four, but that’s still five songs because there’s a Round Zero). We never expected to win - the winning group (<a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/bands/8320C0567EF942BFE3C68BA3E3BE2B8A" target="_blank">Merisan</a>) is much more talented than us and submitted really fantastic songs every round - but it is disappointing that we didn’t get a fair shake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Due to either confusion or unilateral decision, Chumpy submitted our Nur Ein songs as Matchy Matchy instead of Jerkatorium this year, but everyone knew it was us. The judges and other competitors occasionally even referred to us as Jerkatorium instead of Matchy Matchy on the bulletin board and during the listening parties. You can find our Matchy Matchy Nur Ein songs at:</span></div>
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<a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/bands/98586CCE49D6CCBD705F145C691B0B72"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://nurein.songlander.com/bands/98586CCE49D6CCBD705F145C691B0B72</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Round Zero challenge was entitled “<a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/F14529BF5A7EDD21B7884E055616E0BB" target="_blank">Trial By Fire</a>” and we had to incorporate sirens. The incorporation of sirens was a terrible, song-ruining requirement, and obviously a very bad idea; all of the submissions for that round suffered from it. Round 2 was entitled “<a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/E4A4667CD553A4B8AFD3F592CB67C256" target="_blank">Internet Sensation</a>” and the challenge was to sell an imaginary product. Round 3 was entitled “<a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/FDBA62442953126B3CB6AF6705479773" target="_blank">3:20</a>” and the listed challenge was Ambience. Round 4 was “<a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/B7CA0E207CFBDB6D79ED97B916769467" target="_blank">We Should</a>” and we were required to have a guest play a household item on the track. We actually had two guests that round: <a href="https://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/" target="_blank">Brian Raiter</a> and Andrei Balitaan each played various kitchen implements and other household items as percussion instruments, and I think it turned out great. Round 5 was “<a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/97F9108AEC83694F49D18181AF2C38C3" target="_blank">Never Knew The Guy</a>”, and the challenge was to make the song a biography.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The day after submitting <a href="https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/we-should" target="_blank">“We Should”</a> to Nur Ein, Chumpy and I went back to clean the song up a little. Here is a better version of the song:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/we-should">https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/we-should</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m so happy with our “We Should” that I’m making a music video for the song, and I’ll post a link as soon as it is finished.</span></div>
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Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-74440527201253908352018-04-25T21:01:00.005-07:002018-04-25T21:01:51.819-07:00SpinTunes Judging Podcast And Some New Songs<a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2017/08/spintunes-13-winner-jerkatorium.html" target="_blank">Jerkatorium won SpinTunes 13 last year</a> (which is something I already <a href="http://jerkatorium.blogspot.com/2017/08/jerkatorium-wins-spintunes-13-and-three.html" target="_blank">bragged about in a previous bog post</a>), and SpinTunes winners are generally expected to be judges for the following SpinTunes. SpinTunes 14 officially started up March 2018, and Jerkatorium is participating as one of the five competition judges.<br />
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O<span style="font-family: inherit;">ur intent was to submit our reviews in the form of podcasts. Travel and other issues got in the way of submitting our Round 1 reviews as a podcast, so <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2018/04/st14r1-reviews-jerkatorium.html" target="_blank">Chumpy composed written reviews</a>. Since then, we have caught up and created the podcast for the Round 1 reviews. The appeal of these review podcasts might be limited to SpinTunes followers and contestants, but if you are interested in listening to us yammer for a while the various ways to access the podcast are listed below:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/" target="_blank">https://twojerksonevote.com </a> <-- minimal website</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twojerksonevote.com/ST14R1_TJ1V.mp3" target="_blank">https://twojerksonevote.com/ST14R1_TJ1V.mp3</a> <--- direct link to mp3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://twojerksonevote.com/feeds/podcast.xml" target="_blank">http://twojerksonevote.com/feeds/podcast.xml </a> <-- xml feed for iTunes or other podcast listening software</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The podcast does include a new short song from Jerkatorium, which is our <a href="https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/spintunes-judges-theme" target="_blank">SpinTunes Judge's Theme</a>. You can hear the theme separately at:</span><br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/spintunes-judges-theme" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/spintunes-judges-theme</a><br />
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This next bit is going to require a little bit of explanation: Bands may participate in SpinTunes competitions without actually competing, and they call that "shadowing". SpinTunes shadow entries are songs that meet the challenge criteria and are submitted and posted along with the competing entries, but shadow entries are not competing and they are not rated, and shadowing bands are not eligible to win SpinTunes. Jerkatorium's alter ego band Matchy Matchy has been submitting shadow entries to SpinTunes 14. Obviously it would be unethical for Matchy Matchy to compete in SpinTunes 14 while we are judging SpinTunes 14, but we didn't want to miss out on the fun of participation.<br />
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The first challenge was to "refer to your pet as your roommate and write a song about what your roommate did today, never mentioning its species in the lyrics." We submitted the song "<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/one-of-these-days" target="_blank">One Of These Days</a>" as Matchy Matchy, and you can hear it and download it for free at the link below (adult language warning):<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/one-of-these-days" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/one-of-these-days</a><br />
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The second challenge was to write a prequel to a famous song. We decided to do "<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/i-think-youre-ok" target="_blank">I Think You're Okay</a>" (as Matchy Matchy) as a prequel to "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family. You can hear the song and download it for free at the link below:<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/i-think-youre-ok" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/i-think-youre-ok</a><br />
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<br />Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-67780035683991429512018-02-01T14:37:00.000-08:002018-02-01T14:37:02.477-08:00Fan Art! Also Flamethrower Win, New Song, & Radio Airplay!A ton of thanks to artist/musician <a href="https://the-bomberanian.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Bomberanian</a> for this fantastic art for <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/forty_three_hours/jerkatorium_fth.mp3" target="_blank">our "43 Hours" song:</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/forty_three_hours/jerkatorium_fth.mp3" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8QDRMrn9nOtH4m6Yiowjy2G7HWsoI3YQPZVAMG_rTkLUaHz4_JxM3YIpfRQDV9sKLEcQjEllgj7Rph2sz6is_moTwQBDoyumJV3kmkIzIby1aWBrnWX4mmFcXwHQ9m5exAsAe_Y_1_jk/s320/43hours2.2-nologo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://the-bomberanian.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Bomberanian</a> explained that she "always felt like the song was about a dog with a phone", and now I can't hear the song without thinking the same thing. Thanks again, this is awesome.<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium_feat_micah_sommersmith&sortkey=date" target="_blank">Jerkatorium featuring Micah Sommersmith</a> won the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/flamethrower/jerkatorium+micahsommersmith_flamethrower.mp3" target="_blank">Flamethrower </a>Song Fight by a sizable margin, maintaining the 100% win percentage for our collaborations with <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=micah_sommersmith" target="_blank">Micah</a>. Sure, we've only collaborated on three songs so far, but three out of three is still a pretty solid score. Be sure to check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZkUcFYgdpI&list=PLJOOv93SUbTzZt2RH8Jx02TojndLf5xO1" target="_blank">Micah's fabulous "Tunesday" accordion performances posted every Tuesday on YouTube</a>.<br />
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Jerkatorium has a new song currently posted at <a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">SongFight.org for the "Until It Happens To You" fight.</a> You can hear it (and vote for it and/or download it if you like it) at the link below. It will be posted there probably until around February 10, and after that time you will find it in our <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium" target="_blank">Jerkatorium Song Fight Archive</a> (click the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium&sortkey=date" target="_blank">link</a> on the right side of the web version of this blog).<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/index.php </a><br />
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We recently discovered that our song <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/adele_in_the_car/jerkatorium_aitc.mp3" target="_blank">Adele In The Car</a> got radio airplay at least twice on college station <a href="http://www.wsia.fm/" target="_blank">WSIA 88.9</a> back in <a href="http://www.madmusic.com/playlist.aspx?Show=AOTA-160319" target="_blank">March 19</a> and <a href="http://www.madmusic.com/playlist.aspx?Show=AOTA-160326" target="_blank">March 26, 2016</a>, on Anthony LoGatto's weekly comedy radio show <a href="http://www.madmusic.com/series/21/A-Log_on_the_Airwaves" target="_blank">"A-Log on the Airwaves"</a>. Apparently we placed #2 on his "Wacked Out 5" countdown of the top 5 most requested funny songs for the week of March 26. He included a shout out to <a href="http://www.songfight.org/" target="_blank">SongFight.org</a> and to this <a href="http://jerkatorium.blogspot.com/">Jerkatorium blog</a>, which was very cool of him.<br />
<br />Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-26931097603114923772017-11-10T22:50:00.000-08:002017-11-10T22:50:32.087-08:00New Song "Flamethrower" by Jerkatorium Featuring Micah Sommersmith at SongFight.org. Also Lots More.An inexcusably late update:<br />
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Jerkatorium teamed up with <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Micah Sommersmith</a> again to write a song for the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">"Flamethrower" Song Fight</a>, and the song was posted for listens/votes at <a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">SongFight.org</a> over a week ago. That means if you want to vote for it, you probably have a day or less to do so at this link: <br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/index.php</a> <br />
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Whether you get a chance to vote or not, you'll still be able to listen and/or download the song later at the fight page (probably <a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=flamethrower" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=flamethrower</a>), or by accessing it through the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium_feat_micah_sommersmith" target="_blank">"Jerkatorium feat. Micah Sommersmith" Song Fight archive</a> at <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium_feat_micah_sommersmith" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium_feat_micah_sommersmith</a> . "Flamethrower" is a bit of a different approach for us, and it makes great use of <a href="https://micahsommer.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Micah's</a> considerable accordion and rapping talents. Come to think of it, I believe this is the first Jerkatorium song to have a rap section in it. I like the song a lot and I hope you do too.<br />
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We have also continued to generate music through our collaboration with <a href="http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/" target="_blank">Brian Raiter</a>. We made two songs related to <a href="http://seagl.org/" target="_blank">SeaGL</a> presentations (and/or presentation proposals, as it turned out). They are called "<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/talk-to-me" target="_blank">Talk To Me</a>" and "<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/block-trace" target="_blank">Block Trace</a>" and you can hear them here:<br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/talk-to-me" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/talk-to-me</a><br />
<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/block-trace" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/block-trace</a><br />
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No, I have no idea what either of those songs are about.<br />
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The most recent product of our collaboration with Brian is a song and video for our *very* loose interpretation of the lyrics Brian supplied for a ditty about golf:<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8h72JliVPNI/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8h72JliVPNI?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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(If the YouTube thing above doesn't work you can access it through this link: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h72JliVPNI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h72JliVPNI</a> )Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-89753866700219430252017-08-26T23:08:00.000-07:002017-08-26T23:08:52.433-07:00Jerkatorium Wins SpinTunes 13! And Three New Songs!Jerkatorium beat out 27 other bands to <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2017/08/spintunes-13-winner-jerkatorium.html" target="_blank">win SpinTunes 13</a>! S<span style="font-family: inherit;">pinTunes <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.11999999731779099px;">was a four-round songwriting elimination contest and we crushed it.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.11999999731779099px;"> </span></span><br />
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We won with our song <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/oh-no-sunblock" target="_blank">"Oh No / Sunblock"</a>, which you can hear and download for free at:<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/oh-no-sunblock" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/oh-no-sunblock</a><br />
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As with our other songs on Bandcamp you can download this one for free by clicking "Buy Now name your price", entering $0, and clicking through to the download prompt.<br />
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The challenge for the final round was to write two songs that can stand on their own, play them separately, then play them simultaneously as a single harmonious piece. We also had to include some mention of or allusion to an eclipse. <br />
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We took pains to make the separate songs sound as different as possible while ensuring that they would meld together well for the combination piece. I had an idea that if you used any given major chord in song #1, but in song #2 you didn't play the root note and instead stressed the third and fifth, then the major chord could sound like a minor chord with the third as the root in song #2. For example, if song #1 starts on a C major chord (<b>C</b>/E/G) then you could start song #2 on a chord that sounds like an E minor (<b>E</b>/G) while remaining harmonious when the two songs are played simultaneously. It worked better on paper than in practice, and the illusion is shattered after the first listening, but I like to think that the general gist had some effect.<br />
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Special thanks to our guest vocalist Sheri Hinshaw, who is singing the lead in the "Oh No" half of the song, and who had previously helped us out on <a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9" target="_blank">our "Regime Change" song for Nur Ein</a>.<br />
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I'm a little late in updating this blog, and as a result I have two other songs to announce. First off, our third song for SpinTunes (the one that squeaked us into the final) was "<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/center-square-redux" target="_blank">Center Square Redux</a>", which you can hear and download for free at:<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/center-square-redux" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/center-square-redux</a><br />
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The challenge for that o<span style="font-family: inherit;">ne was to <span style="color: #222222;">take our Round 1 or Round 2 entry and re-write the song </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">using the </span><span style="color: #222222;">exact same lyrics,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> with a completely new tune and style. We ended up re-doing our original <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLWU1YfcdOc" target="_blank">Center Square</a> song, but with a very different sound and feel.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: white;">We also entered into an agreement where at the beginning of every month we give <a href="http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/" target="_blank">Brian Raiter</a> a topic, and by the end of the month he gives us a set of lyrics related to that assigned topic. Then Jerkatorium spends the following month writing a song based on those lyrics, and in the meantime Brian is writing a new set of lyrics based on a different topic we'd assigned to him, and the cycle can continue like that indefinitely. Anyway the first topic assigned to Brian for June 2017 was "Derp Crew" (a specific in-reference that I don't know whether or not I'm allowed to explain), and the lyrics he submitted to us were turned into this song:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/derp-crew" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/jerkatorium/derp-crew</a><br />
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So that's the three songs. Since we're obliged to have a new song finished by the end of every month, we'll have another one out in less than a week - I'll try to update the Jerkatorium blog sooner after that one is finished.Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-9966597164334038252017-07-30T19:03:00.001-07:002017-07-30T19:03:40.307-07:00New Jerkatorium Song "Steady On" for SpinTunesJerkatorium has made it through the first two rounds of <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes </a>1<span style="font-family: inherit;">3, getting <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2017/07/st13r1-results.html" target="_blank">2nd place (out of 28 competitors) </a>for our song "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLWU1YfcdOc" target="_blank">Center Square</a>" for <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2017/07/st13r1-results.html" target="_blank">Round 1</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2017/07/spintunes-13-round-2-challenge.html" target="_blank">Round 2</a> assignment was: "<span style="background-color: white;">Write a song of advice, sung by your present self to your 15-year-old self, in the form of a letter." </span></span>We recorded and submitted "<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/steady-on" target="_blank">Steady On</a>", and got <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2017/07/st13r2-results.html" target="_blank">4th place out of 19 competitors</a>. You can hear the song at <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/steady-on" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/steady-on" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/steady-on</span></a><br />
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You can <a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/steady-on" target="_blank">download</a> the song for free at that link too (just choose "Buy Now name your price" and set the price as $0 and then click through to download). I did not make a music video for Steady On. Not yet, anyway.<br />
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No pic or video for this post, but if it's any consolation I can promise more new songs are just around the corner. We are compelled to have a new song before the first of each month so our next new song is just a couple of days away, and then the <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/2017/07/spintunes-13-round-3-challenge.html" target="_blank">SpinTunes Round 3</a> song will be due in a week.Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-61430793198845639742017-07-10T22:19:00.000-07:002017-07-10T22:19:02.045-07:00New Jerkatorium Song and Video: "Center Square" - for SpinTunesThere weren't any Jerkatorium updates for a month, but now you can expect some new releases in the coming weeks, followed by a minimum of one song per month into the foreseeable future.<br />
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Jerkatorium has entered a competition called "<a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a>", which involves writing a song every other week: nine days to write and record a song, followed by five days of rest while the judges rate the songs, followed by a new song assignment with another nine-day deadline, and repeating like that for a total of five rounds (or until we are eliminated). Unlike <a href="http://www.songfight.org/" target="_blank">Song Fight</a> and <a href="https://nurein.songlander.com/" target="_blank">Nur Ein</a>, the <a href="https://spintunescontest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">SpinTunes</a> song challenges are usually topics instead of titles. The first topic was "<a href="https://spintunes.bandcamp.com/album/spintune-13-round-1" target="_blank">Death Star</a>": write a tribute to your favorite deceased celebrity, but without using the celebrity's name in the song.<br />
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Naturally our first choice was Moms Mabley, but then we got insider information that literally all of the 27 other contestants were working on Moms Mabley songs so we decided to choose something else. I wrote most of a song about Hedy Lamarr, but then Chumpy got some great ideas about Paul Lynde so we went for that. After submitting the song to SpinTunes, <a href="https://youtu.be/hLWU1YfcdOc" target="_blank">I made a video for it using public domain footage</a> from <a href="https://archive.org/" target="_blank">archive.org</a>:<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hLWU1YfcdOc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hLWU1YfcdOc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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If the YouTube insert above doesn't work, you can find it at the following link:<br />
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<a href="https://youtu.be/hLWU1YfcdOc" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/hLWU1YfcdOc</a><br />
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You can hear and download the song for free at:<br />
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<a href="https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/center-square" target="_blank">https://jerkatorium.bandcamp.com/track/center-square</a><br />
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If you're not already hip to <a href="https://bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Bandcamp.com</a>, you just click where it says "<b>Buy Now name your price</b>" and <b>set the price at $0</b>. Then, when it tries to guilt you into giving us money again, ignore that and click where it sa<span style="font-family: inherit;">ys "<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Alternatively, continue with zero and download to your computer</b>,</span><span style="background-color: white;">"</span> an</span>d then another <b>download button</b> or two. Seriously, no need to pay anything for any Jerkatorium music.<br />
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Chumpy also anno<span style="font-family: inherit;">tated the lyrics to clear up any potential confusion about the content:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://genius.com/Jerkatorium-center-square-lyrics" target="_blank">https://genius.com/Jerkatorium-center-square-lyrics</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We have also launch</span>ed what we hope will be a regular monthly collaboration with our semi-irregular collaborator/wordsmith Breadbox. This should result in a series of new, original songs about subjects near and dear to our hearts. Mostly nerd stuff, probably.Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-72251532993771471252017-06-10T11:32:00.000-07:002017-06-10T11:32:40.236-07:00New Jerkatorium Music Video: Tired of TalkingI am happy to announce a new Jerkatorium music video for our <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9" target="_blank">Nur Ein XII round 2 submission "Tired of Talking"</a>:<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/g1XtQNL__-0/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g1XtQNL__-0?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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[Or click here if the YouTube insert above isn't working: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1XtQNL__-0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1XtQNL__-0</a> ]<br />
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This video was made from of edited-together clips from the 1979 move "<a href="https://archive.org/details/DrillerKillerUncut1979" target="_blank">Driller Killer</a>" -- but with none of the gory or scary parts, just footage of "Tony Coca-Cola and the Roosters" (the fake punk band featured in the movie). <a href="https://archive.org/details/DrillerKillerUncut1979" target="_blank">Driller Killer</a> is now in the public domain and available at <a href="https://archive.org/" target="_blank">Archive.org</a>.Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-88932422093228646552017-05-19T23:27:00.002-07:002017-05-19T23:27:51.561-07:00Three New Jerkatorium Songs! And Jerkatorium Loses! Twice!Jerkatorium tied for second place on the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/ocean_of_blood/jerkatorium_oob.mp3" target="_blank">Ocean of Blood</a> Song Fight. It's fine that we didn't win that one, Flaming Tiger had a great song that deserved to win. We had also won six out of the previous seven fights we'd entered, so it was good to have one in the loss column to keep us grounded.<br />
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Jerkatorium also continued to compete in <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/" target="_blank">Nur Ein XII </a>with three new songs: <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9" target="_blank">Tired of Talking, Regime Change, and A Sense of the Absurd</a>, all of which can be heard and/or downloaded at this link:<br />
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<a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9" target="_blank">http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9</a><br />
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As I'd mentioned in previous posts, extra non-optional requirements are imposed on the Nur Ein title assignments:<br />
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The lyrics for Tired of Talking had to be limited to one sentence. The rules stated that run-on sentences were fair game, and that the sentence could be repeated any number of times in the song. <a href="http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/" target="_blank">Brian Raiter </a>wrote our sentence for us, and I really liked how that song turned out. Some of the judges didn't like our approach, but we still made it through to the next round.<br />
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Regime Change had the added requirement of two guest singers, plus the added constraint that none of those guest singers could be current or former Nur Ein participants. <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jeff_desantis&sortkey=date" target="_blank">Song Fight semi-regular Jeff DeSantis </a>was one of our guest singers, and wow, he did a great job. Our other guest singer was <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1477251/" target="_blank">Sheri Hinshaw</a>, who also did a great job, but the recording quality was sub-par because her lines were recorded on her phone. We hope to revise the song with a cleaner take in the future. Regardless, the judges enjoyed the song and I really enjoy listening to it.<br />
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The lyrics for A Sense of the Absurd had to be written around a mondegreen (a misheard lyric). We struggled with this one a bit, working on and subsequently discarding three distinctly different approaches before settling on a direction. We were still writing parts of the song within two hours of the submission deadline. In my opinion A Sense of the Absurd was our weakest Nur Ein composition (my fault, not Chumpy's). We were eliminated from the competition that round by the slightest margin imaginable: We tied with another band for third-to-last place so the judges voted between us two tied bands, and we lost by one point. That other band was <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/DC4AA055AD53F2725A091310CCC4E795" target="_blank">73 Keep It Beautiful</a>, and I thought their song was one of the best from that round, so I'm only surprised we didn't lose to them by a wider margin... though I do think a couple of the bands who scored better than either of us had songs that were considerably worse.<br />
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So we were eliminated from Nur Ein after five songs. The way I look at it, <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9" target="_blank">we generated five great songs</a> in five weeks, and that's a good thing. So now it's back to the Song Fights - I'll keep you posted on our upcoming songs.Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-70395295592099981752017-04-27T22:34:00.000-07:002017-04-27T22:34:29.675-07:00Two New Jerkatorium Songs: "Fingers Crossed" and "After You"As I'd mentioned in the last two posts, Jerkatorium is competing in <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/" target="_blank">Nur Ein</a> this year. Much like <a href="http://www.songfight.org/" target="_blank">Song Fight</a>, Nur Ein assigns a title for all competitors. Nur Ein goes a couple of extra steps by imposing an extra non-optional challenge or constraint on each assignment, and by having a 7-day deadline (which is tougher than Song Fight's 10-day deadline). Another difference is that Song Fight competitors win if they get the most votes from the public, while Nur Ein is an elimination competition decided by a pre-selected panel of 5 judges.<br />
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So far we have done pretty well. Our first entry was in a 4-way tie for 8th place (out of 20 bands) for the <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/titles/974E1066EF9BB306856519CAD6A12FEC" target="_blank">"Fingers Crossed"</a> title, which had the added requirement of including some backwards singing or instrumentation in the song. We did even better with our third-place showing for the <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/titles/41EB1BF5A01EDBF210E81A3325DDDA0D" target="_blank">"After You"</a> title, which had the added requirement of a countermelody.<br />
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<a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9" target="_blank">All of our Nur Ein submissions</a> can be heard (and downloaded for free) at this link:<br />
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<a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9" target="_blank">http://nurein.songlander.com/bands/625B65FA9A10E109641A9A471F026BE9</a><br />
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A new Jerkatorium song will pop up there every week until we get eliminated.<br />
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Oh yeah, and take a look at what I found on YouTube:<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dX4ti9xjunE/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dX4ti9xjunE?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-65199055837358324982017-04-16T13:53:00.000-07:002017-04-16T13:53:31.502-07:00New Jerkatorium Song "Ocean Of Blood" Posted At SongFight.orgJerkatorium submitted an entry for the current <a href="http://www.songfight.org/" target="_blank">"Ocean Of Blood" Song Fight</a>, and you can hear it (and vote for it if you like it) at the following link:<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org</a><br />
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This song is just acoustic guitar and voice, which is a bit of a departure from our typical style. Other than the vocal layering, this is a "no-frills" effort from us. A couple hours prior to submission Chumpy found a neat new trick in Logic Pro X that helped us clean up the song, and we were at it right up until the deadline. There are some timing issues during the second verse that I'm sure we would have noticed and cleaned up prior to submission if we'd had more time and fresh ears, but I'm still very happy with how it turned out. The lyrics are darker than usual, but with title like "Ocean Of Blood" you'd have to expect some darkness.<br />
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I might post another update as soon as tomorrow, depending on how soon the <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/" target="_blank">Nur Ein</a> songs are posted. Jerkatorium is on track to submit our song for the "Fingers Crossed" round today.<br />
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I do not like to update this blog without pictures, so here is a photo of the sunset I took from the plane to Sacramento on January 9. It's a pretty photo except for the scratches on the window. It has nothing to do with Jerkatorium music, but here it is anyway:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbeHbRp8I_sSmUuQrueuMnDiS4ELiBzLP9ch7AqAzCC43bl4nN-lKUgmAcjxYvYPXS4OAuoe73Q2g65r8PjqauYdsnWOjNjQ5rNSH7-7a2uBYRWO0LR25SYG4pQntRyTDUANChPs5pSQc/s1600/Sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbeHbRp8I_sSmUuQrueuMnDiS4ELiBzLP9ch7AqAzCC43bl4nN-lKUgmAcjxYvYPXS4OAuoe73Q2g65r8PjqauYdsnWOjNjQ5rNSH7-7a2uBYRWO0LR25SYG4pQntRyTDUANChPs5pSQc/s320/Sunset.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-2820949236710979692017-04-11T22:44:00.000-07:002017-04-11T22:44:37.376-07:00New Jerkatorium Song "The John Benjamin Band Theme"As part of a recent <a href="https://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10900" target="_blank">"Themesong Fight"</a>, Jerkatorium created <a href="http://www.muppetlabs.com/~mikeh/Themefight_2017/jerkatorium-the-john-benjamin-band.mp3" target="_blank">a theme song for fellow Song Fighter and musical genius The John Benjamin Band:</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.johnorama.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMVIuqrc6GTy1FobXJQlXj9AVm8ishRsAJCnVyyEmODlEk5bOEWErOHQXPue1gMLMjQf9JFbIVxji-T1amOHZjvQTkoLYYEJ7dbbQ3PnJ3ix_49_qj8EnPxwjWxgbMbEcIleCvg_sxfk/s320/JBB+logo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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The song turned out great, and you can hear it <a href="http://www.muppetlabs.com/~mikeh/Themefight_2017/jerkatorium-the-john-benjamin-band.mp3" target="_blank">here:</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.muppetlabs.com/~mikeh/Themefight_2017/jerkatorium-the-john-benjamin-band.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.muppetlabs.com/~mikeh/Themefight_2017/jerkatorium-the-john-benjamin-band.mp3</a></div>
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The John Benjamin Band is genuinely as fantastic as depicted in the song, and you can hear a bunch of his music at his Johnorama.com website, and you can hear a bunch more in his SongFight archive:</div>
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<a href="http://www.johnorama.com/" target="_blank">http://www.johnorama.com</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=john_benjamin_band&sortkey=date" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=john_benjamin_band&sortkey=date</a></div>
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We have another new song coming out soon for the "Ocean Of Blood" Song Fight, and I will update this blog as soon as those songs are posted.</div>
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In other news, Jerkatorium is competing in <a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/" target="_blank">Nur Ein</a> this year, which means at least one new song every week from now until we get eliminated from the competition. Nur Ein is different than Song Fight because it's an elimination competition (like oh so many reality TV competition shows), and there is a set panel of judges instead of voting from the general public. It started yesterday and lasts until June 5, so there should be new Jerkatorium songs posted every week until we lose. I will post regular updates and links to the songs on this blog.</div>
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<a href="http://nurein.songlander.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhky6GNke2Z6afG-roRDAoJ2V9iJb4TOgFDFbDY_rcx7nLIv9Ndc3madd8Inaf2W-3F9d5kGFNtbmsqR8suxwNmmACwlDWrYhSPMegsQBrvBX-DjPjC8euBZOKujIvqlmluVvuDhB9FI6g/s320/Nur+Ein.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-18686389864888467782017-03-31T22:26:00.002-07:002017-03-31T22:29:54.125-07:00Jerkatorium Wins AGAIN for the "Old Friends" Song Fight<a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=old_friends" target="_blank">Jerkatorium featuring Micah Sommersmith won the "Old Friends" Song Fight by a wide margin.</a> As I'd mentioned in the previous post, <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=micah_sommersmith&sortkey=date" target="_blank">Micah</a> did a ton of work to make the song as good as it is. Extra kudos to Chumpy too for his contributions to the lyrics, for delivering a great vocal performance, and for his mixing mastery. You can hear the song at this link:<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/old_friends/jerkatorium+micahsommersmith_of.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/old_friends/jerkatorium+micahsommersmith_of.mp3</a><br />
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Early on we'd gotten a lot of good reviews for the song, and the host of the YouTube SongFight Listening Party had obviously enjoyed it (use the link below the image to go directly to his reaction):<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2a9CINozBw&t=2340">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2a9CINozBw&t=2340</a></div>
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Anyway that's four wins in a row (or two wins in a row, if you're counting it as <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium_feat_micah_sommersmith&sortkey=date" target="_blank">Jerkatorium featuring Micah Sommersmith</a> instead of <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium&sortkey=date" target="_blank">Jerkatorium</a>). We'll have another song posted soon for our ThemeFight entry, I'll post a link as soon as that is up.Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-44749136328498282002017-03-20T16:47:00.000-07:002017-03-20T16:47:29.267-07:00Jerkatorium Wins The "Ace In The Hole" Song Fight, New "Old Friends" Collab Posted At SongFight.org<a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=ace_in_the_hole" target="_blank">Jerkatorium won the "Ace In The Hole" Song Fight</a> by a pretty good margin. That's three wins in a row for us. <br />
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The song evolved a lot over the course of its composition; we had a sketchy original idea that neither of us was really excited about, until Chumpy and I started going back and forth, trading off huge revisions of the content and style until it all came together. Anyway I hope you liked it, and if you haven't heard it yet you can catch it at:<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/ace_in_the_hole/jerkatorium_aith.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/music/ace_in_the_hole/jerkatorium_aith.mp3</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">We also have an entry posted in the current "Old Friends" Song Fight</a>, and for the next week and a half or so you can hear it (and vote for it if you like it) at SongFight.org. This time around we did another collaboration with <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=micah_sommersmith&sortkey=date" target="_blank">Micah Sommersmith</a>, the Song Fighter and accordion virtuoso that we worked with on the <a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/baked_out_of_my_gourd/jerkatorium+micahsommersmith_boomg.mp3" target="_blank">"Baked Out Of My Gourd" Song Fight</a> almost a year ago. This time we went for a friendship/rivalry theme modeled on those Bing Crosby/Bob Hope road movie songs, where they are ostensibly singing about their admiration for each other, but end up insulting each other throughout the bulk of the song.<br />
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We submitted the song under the name <a href="http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=jerkatorium_feat_micah_sommersmith&sortkey=date" target="_blank"><i>Jerkatorium featuring Micah Sommersmith</i></a> in the interest of consistency (since that was the name we had for our other collaboration), but I should stress that Micah did so much work on the song that he should get equal billing, or maybe even top billing. It was a true collaboration, with everyone contributing, and Micah did so much work on the song that it seems inaccurate and unfair to present it as if he were a guest musician. We were considering reversing the order (<i>Micah Sommersmith featuring Jerkatorium</i>), or maybe coming up with a new band name for the collaboration (<i>Micahtorium</i>?), but Micah preferred <i>Jerkatorium featuring Micah Sommersmith</i> so we kept that. Anyway I hope you like it:<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/index.php</a><br />
<br />Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-422643465682915392017-03-02T22:44:00.001-08:002017-03-02T22:46:30.153-08:00Jerkatorium Wins The "Dominatrix" Song Fight, & New Song "Ace In The Hole" Posted @ SongFight.org<a href="http://www.songfight.org/music/dominatrix/jerkatorium_dominatrix.mp3" target="_blank">Jerkatorium won the "Dominatrix" Song Fight.</a> Only five bands submitted songs to that fight, and we won by a good margin.<br />
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We also have a song in the current <a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">"Ace In The Hole" Song Fight</a>, and you can hear the song (and vote for it, if you like it) at:<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/index.php" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org/index.php</a><br />
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Only five bands submitted songs to this fight too. This is not incredibly unusual - there have been a few Song Fights with <a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=love_me_a_little_bit_more" target="_blank">over 50 submissions</a>, and there have been several fights with as few as 3 entries, and at least one fight with <a href="http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=rule_of_thump" target="_blank">only 2 bands submitting</a>. I'm hoping this recent slump is very temporary. I would rather compete against more bands, even though it would decrease our chances of winning.<br />
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We are also participating in a new <a href="https://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10900" target="_blank">Themesong Fight</a>, where we write a theme song for a random Song Fighter. We were assigned <a href="http://songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=john_benjamin_band" target="_blank">The John Benjamin Band</a>, which is great because I have been a huge fan of his work for the past 15 years or so. The artist assigned to compose a theme song for Jerkatorium is <a href="http://songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=johnny_cashpoint" target="_blank">Johnny Cashpoint</a>, an extremely prolific musician who covered our "Watching The Riot" for the <a href="http://songfight.net/cf2016/" target="_blank">2016 Original Flava Cover Fight</a>. The theme songs aren't due until April 1, and they probably won't be posted until mid-April at the earliest, but I will put an announcement in this blog as soon as the songs are available.Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7986777158325626589.post-91723494877179813702017-02-21T16:06:00.001-08:002017-02-21T16:06:52.048-08:00New Jerkatorium Song Posted For "Dominatrix" Song Fight<a href="http://www.songfight.org/" target="_blank">Jerkatorium has a new song posted in the current Song Fight. </a> The title for this week was "Dominatrix". You can hear it, and vote for it if you like it, at the following link:<br />
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<a href="http://www.songfight.org/" target="_blank">http://www.songfight.org</a><br />
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Chumpy's idea was to do a take on the Gor novels (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gor" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gor</a>). The novels are notoriously sexist, pornographic 'sword-and-planet' space operas that by all accounts celebrate violence towards women and the sexual humiliation of women. Chumpy flipped the script to make the male narrator the slave in this song. Pairing that approach with his catchy, ear-wormy melody resulted in a piece that I'm really happy with.<br />
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My cover art was used for this Fight, though I feel like I should explain it and perhaps apologize in advance for any perceived sexism or disrespect. The Song Fight text block is the main logo for Song Fight:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixs2HPABM4odybJiIojj1q4WPD3HkxTY-PxbcEUzp3RWsz8T_BC6Tbb-aRuwzPoffgXWR95uGv028qNOC9EruGUiCWHkUxRd_M-BbBld28CH-leq5rWSpblVR2uoj9UAnbqwlc23n4BMY/s1600/sf_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixs2HPABM4odybJiIojj1q4WPD3HkxTY-PxbcEUzp3RWsz8T_BC6Tbb-aRuwzPoffgXWR95uGv028qNOC9EruGUiCWHkUxRd_M-BbBld28CH-leq5rWSpblVR2uoj9UAnbqwlc23n4BMY/s1600/sf_logo.jpg" /></a></div>
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In addition to that, Song Fight uses a sloppy, hand-drawn pic to accompany the text logo:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7C7fdub2xaj3EDZQUpAcxxzvVyVGM5pAjf-O1vVHvBcoQ753vAIvJ3g6w0AqD2Fn1QA0Uk_tyzNh7Y1tBaZE2vSMfK0ci9IZD-XZ57iu1X3m8AKRNF3KJOO2Rha1bQWZNzGUNv0Oosr4/s1600/songfightdrawing2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7C7fdub2xaj3EDZQUpAcxxzvVyVGM5pAjf-O1vVHvBcoQ753vAIvJ3g6w0AqD2Fn1QA0Uk_tyzNh7Y1tBaZE2vSMfK0ci9IZD-XZ57iu1X3m8AKRNF3KJOO2Rha1bQWZNzGUNv0Oosr4/s1600/songfightdrawing2.jpg" /></a></div>
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So my cover art was a take on that logo, and not some random S&M fantasy of mine (not one that I'm admitting to anyway):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1lDGUNGT5Sx_X8D4xwSg232wksCqzqcqVV84H48rV2ER4BxtjivwcsrXxBzG3PsRRFncZ4SOFYdSrodVEzmygArve0WDvWXnHaJijwMbpHrwoZf-QC75wUPpvBpD8LZFbWsLGDiTG7MM/s1600/Dominatrix400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1lDGUNGT5Sx_X8D4xwSg232wksCqzqcqVV84H48rV2ER4BxtjivwcsrXxBzG3PsRRFncZ4SOFYdSrodVEzmygArve0WDvWXnHaJijwMbpHrwoZf-QC75wUPpvBpD8LZFbWsLGDiTG7MM/s320/Dominatrix400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And one last quick item: I made a 'fan video' for a song called "Motor Scooter" by the Surrealists (a band from Olympia, Washington). It's a mostly-unknown song that I've been listening to and enjoying for the past 25 years. The video was put together using public domain footage I found on <a href="https://archive.org/" target="_blank">Archive.org</a>. Come to think of it, working on another Jerkatorium music video might have been a better use of my time, but this one was fun anyway, and it gave me more experience and practice doing some basic video editing:</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rh_WKd3h01c/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rh_WKd3h01c?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />Ryan Finhorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949386358427472826noreply@blogger.com0