2/1/2010 - Marion-Crane.com Launched Tonight

Sorry for the lack of news as of late.

This most certainly is not a sign of inactivity on my part! I have been cranking away on my website templates.

Marion Crane is a very active northern Florida based Alternative Hard Rock band. Their sound rides that line of being radio friendly without losing the interest of the metal fan. I am very much looking forward to their first full length release that is slated for release in March 2010.

Check them out at Marion-Crane.com

10/2/2009 - Purchase MP3 Downloads Directly From My Sites

I have added the option of selling MP3 files to my Content Management Tools. The customer has the option of buying individual files or purchasing the entire CD + PDF download of the CD booklet. Hydrogyn.com is now selling their two latest CD releases HERE.

Once the PayPal payment is received, the customer is directed to a download page containing the links to the files they purchased. When the customer downloads the file, it is logged into the database and the link is deactivated immediately preventing any illegal distribution of the link.

There is an admin tool available to the bands for reviewing each and every MP3 purchase. A convenient date filtering tool is available so you can track your sales from date A to date B. I will transfer each bands profits into their PayPal account on the 1st of each month.

The following sites have been setup to sell the 60 second 96kbs MP3 samples available on their Audio Samples page for the reasonable price of one cent each. Feel free to review this new feature on any of the following sites:

Hate Ammo | Todesbonden | Twelfth Gate | A.D.D. | Sacred Dawn

9/26/2009 - Stratovarius and Pagan's Mind

I have been longing to hear Timo Kotipelto for about 8 years now. Due to the turbulent relationships present in Stratovarius over the past 4 years, I had no idea if it would be his solo material or with Stratovarius.

Well, Timo Tolkki has officially quit Stratovarius and I got to see them in Addison, IL last night. I really enjoyed the show, but was sorely disappointed by the tiny stage and poor light show available at The Pyramid Club.

I also had the pleasure of listening to one of my favorite vocalists, Nils K. Rue, of Pagan's Mind. Their performance was fantastic and now I long to see these bands again at a properly equipped venue in the near future.

You can view the pics in my Photo Galleries section of my site.

8/11/2009 - Hydrogyn.com Launched Today

Hydrogyn is a West Virginia based Hard Rock/Melodic Metal band. I was introduced to them when I photographed their performance at the Flight of the Valkyries female fronted music festival in St. Paul on June 27, 2009.

I have worked closely with Jeff to include quite a few brand new features to my CMS website tools. Jeff was the person responsible for pushing me to develop a multi-language website template, as well as a categorized web links section.

We have communicated primarily through Gmail chat, email messaging, and a handful of phone calls to ensure the site turned out exactly the way Jeff & Julie envisioned it.

Click HERE to view the site.

7/14/2009 - Holy Smokes.. I Actually Won Something!

This was a total shocker. I never win anything... ever.

Well, today was my lucky day when I discovered that I was one of the 30 grand prize winners of a NewEgg.com flash drive giveaway contest.

I figured I had nothing to lose, since I am already on their daily deals email list.

David also brought in bagels to work today for his birthday. I hope the rest of the day goes this well.

7/31/09 Update.. I finally received this little beauty packing 8GB of storage. It is a welcome update to the 2GB Verbatim flash drive I have been carrying around with me the last 2.5 years.